2024 NBA Season

[Oasisman]

wow, what a powerful team!
PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - LeBron James
SF - Mello
PF - AD
C - Howard

Something interesting I was thinking to myself.
Howard and Melo are not performing well lately, but I believe that only them playing together with AD, LeBron and Westbrook, and created this excellent team, will give them confidence and consequently they can play inspired

I don't think Melo will be in the starting line up.
And LeBron might play much at the PF position, while AD might do a little bit of playing the Center position.
However my current prediction with the Lakers starting five would be;
Pg : Schroeder
Sg : Westbrook
Sf : LeBron
Pf : Davis
C : Howard
If the Lakers decide to have a quick and aggressive starting line up, they could put AD at the Center and LeBron at the PF and add Ellington at the SF position.
Melo would be a good depth for the second unit for the Lakers.

[mirakal]

The National Basket Association has opened an investigation to evaluate the possible violation of the so-called anti tampering rules during free agency. According to ESPN sources, the league's offices are looking into the sign and trade that brought Lonzo Ball to the Chicago Bulls and Kyle Lowry to the Miami Heat.
Sanctions against tampering were tightened only two years ago. In case of proven irregularity, fines up to 10M dollars are foreseen for the team, with possible charges against the guilty managers, possible subtraction of draft picks and invalidation of contracts.

Can you put more specifics regarding that rules, I can't follow what you are talking about, to be honest as I'm not aware of that rules. What do you mean by tampering? Who made the violation? the players, the managers, or the teams?

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

The National Basket Association has opened an investigation to evaluate the possible violation of the so-called anti tampering rules during free agency. According to ESPN sources, the league's offices are looking into the sign and trade that brought Lonzo Ball to the Chicago Bulls and Kyle Lowry to the Miami Heat.
Sanctions against tampering were tightened only two years ago. In case of proven irregularity, fines up to 10M dollars are foreseen for the team, with possible charges against the guilty managers, possible subtraction of draft picks and invalidation of contracts.

Can you put more specifics regarding that rules, I can't follow what you are talking about, to be honest as I'm not aware of that rules. What do you mean by tampering? Who made the violation? the players, the managers, or the teams?

As far as I know, anti-tampering rule refers to team approaching players way before their contract expires with their respective teams. For instance Chicago might be talking to Lonzo Ball when he was still in contact with New Orleans before their actual sign and trade deal (I might be wrong with my interpretations though). And to add to add, the investigations might center on the player or the team itself.

[danherbias07]

I doubt the Blazers will trade CJ McCollum, they don't have enough shooters on the floor, they are a good duo on the floor but they need someone in the starting lineup who is good defensively but they can't still get Simmons. The best trade that I'm really waiting for is the Warriors - 76ers because it's a win-win situation for both.

No recent updates about this rumor and the clock is ticking for Ben Simmons. I love what is happening and I might root for this underdog kid this year.
They are underestimating him because of his lack of shooting but there is so much room for improvement in his passing and rebounding skills.
Right, the Warriors could be his best place to sign in because of his capability to rotate the ball. That unselfish play will be loved by the splash brothers but is Thompson at complete recovery for them to risk giving out Andrew Wiggins.

Nice to know that there's someone that agrees with my opinion,  ... I really feel the pain and disappointment Simmons felt during the last playoffs and it seems he was the one that was blamed for the loss, they have a high expectation from him but he does not show that in the playoffs, maybe there's something wrong inside, I don't know, isn't it because Simmons and Embiid are not in good terms? so even if they are a superstar but if they don't have chemistry, the team will fail.

That's true and it's not just an inside problem. The media did some crazy rumors about those two stars using "expectations" that ended up pretty bad. Sometimes, the media forgets this players are human beings too that are being affected by anything said to them.
Some may say they should just shrug it off but it ain't that easy especially in this time where social media is your friend to boost your number of fans but it could also be the reason to destroy you. Obviously, from how Ben is acting, there is either a locker room issue or a management problem.

[Jating]

wow, what a powerful team!
PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - LeBron James
SF - Mello
PF - AD
C - Howard

Something interesting I was thinking to myself.
Howard and Melo are not performing well lately, but I believe that only them playing together with AD, LeBron and Westbrook, and created this excellent team, will give them confidence and consequently they can play inspired

I don't think Melo will be in the starting line up.
And LeBron might play much at the PF position, while AD might do a little bit of playing the Center position.
However my current prediction with the Lakers starting five would be;
Pg : Schroeder
Sg : Westbrook
Sf : LeBron
Pf : Davis
C : Howard
If the Lakers decide to have a quick and aggressive starting line up, they could put AD at the Center and LeBron at the PF and add Ellington at the SF position.
Melo would be a good depth for the second unit for the Lakers.

Yeah, Melo will likely come out of the bench to replace Lebron in the forward position. Maybe we can see them together in the court but not that often though. But with a deep bench, the Lakers can experiment with their starting 5's and shift players around to find a perfect combination. Ellington could also be inserted as you have said, specially if they needed an outside shooter in the mold of KCP.

[freedomgo]

wow, what a powerful team!
PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - LeBron James
SF - Mello
PF - AD
C - Howard

Something interesting I was thinking to myself.
Howard and Melo are not performing well lately, but I believe that only them playing together with AD, LeBron and Westbrook, and created this excellent team, will give them confidence and consequently they can play inspired

I don't think Melo will be in the starting line up.
And LeBron might play much at the PF position, while AD might do a little bit of playing the Center position.
However my current prediction with the Lakers starting five would be;
Pg : Schroeder
Sg : Westbrook
Sf : LeBron
Pf : Davis
C : Howard
If the Lakers decide to have a quick and aggressive starting line up, they could put AD at the Center and LeBron at the PF and add Ellington at the SF position.
Melo would be a good depth for the second unit for the Lakers.

Yeah, Melo will likely come out of the bench to replace Lebron in the forward position. Maybe we can see them together in the court but not that often though. But with a deep bench, the Lakers can experiment with their starting 5's and shift players around to find a perfect combination. Ellington could also be inserted as you have said, specially if they needed an outside shooter in the mold of KCP.

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

[Japinat]

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

That's normal, Lakers are a big team, they can afford to sign more players, and having Lebron in the team makes the team confident that they will again win a championship. I think they learned from their mistakes, they miss the chance for a repeat because of an injury, having more players that are capable to carry the team when one star player are injured would still make them a good contender.

[carlisle1]

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

That's normal, Lakers are a big team, they can afford to sign more players, and having Lebron in the team makes the team confident that they will again win a championship. I think they learned from their mistakes, they miss the chance for a repeat because of an injury, having more players that are capable to carry the team when one star player are injured would still make them a good contender.

Having those veterans who do have good playoff experienced gives them some breathing once star suffer from any injuries,
unlike what happened last season where there's nothing from their supporting cast after LeBron and Davis needs to sit,

nothing or no one comes up and continue their rally they all lean from this two super stars.

Now that they've got WB and Melo which still questionable because of their ages, no longer on their prime but still they can
adds up some fuel in times that LeBron or Davis needs to rest.

[Reid]

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

That's normal, Lakers are a big team, they can afford to sign more players, and having Lebron in the team makes the team confident that they will again win a championship. I think they learned from their mistakes, they miss the chance for a repeat because of an injury, having more players that are capable to carry the team when one star player are injured would still make them a good contender.

They are signing short contracts for veteran players as they think chemistry won't be an issue for them.
With their experience, they could just go out individually in offense and if they miss, they will just to do better defensively which most of them are good at.
It's a good experiment but I doubt it will work with teams that has great chemistry like Bucks and Suns.
Let's analyze it maybe after 10 games. They may show worse at the first few games.

[Yogee]

...

Now that they've got WB and Melo which still questionable because of their ages, no longer on their prime but still they can
adds up some fuel in times that LeBron or Davis needs to rest.

What if these veteran reinforcements end up on the sideline as well during playoffs? Call me nasty but I find that would be very unfortunate and very funny at the same time hehe.

...
It's a good experiment but I doubt it will work with teams that has great chemistry like Bucks and Suns.

There's a first experiment from the same franchise and it didn't work in the Finals. The new experiment could get them as far as semi-finals if they don't make any changes in that roster.

[btc_angela]

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

That's normal, Lakers are a big team, they can afford to sign more players, and having Lebron in the team makes the team confident that they will again win a championship. I think they learned from their mistakes, they miss the chance for a repeat because of an injury, having more players that are capable to carry the team when one star player are injured would still make them a good contender.

Not just the injuries, but letting go of the majority of players that bring them the championship, Rondo, Howard, Avery Bradley, Danny Green and Javale. And chooses to keep Kuzma, KCP, Caruso who didn't perform well in the playoffs. And now they have overhaul the whole system and get this veteran are last 1 year minimum contract to help them win another ring.

[Baofeng]

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

That's normal, Lakers are a big team, they can afford to sign more players, and having Lebron in the team makes the team confident that they will again win a championship. I think they learned from their mistakes, they miss the chance for a repeat because of an injury, having more players that are capable to carry the team when one star player are injured would still make them a good contender.

They are signing short contracts for veteran players as they think chemistry won't be an issue for them.
With their experience, they could just go out individually in offense and if they miss, they will just to do better defensively which most of them are good at.
It's a good experiment but I doubt it will work with teams that has great chemistry like Bucks and Suns.
Let's analyze it maybe after 10 games. They may show worse at the first few games.

Yeah, it's early to tell about the chemistry thingy, give them some time to play with each others. We also said that to the Nets in the beginning, that KD, Irving and Harden is bad because of chemistry issue but we have been proven otherwise. I think James being the leader of the Lakers can command all this stars to work better and just aim for the goal of chasing that NBA title, specially for WB and Melo.

[dezoel]

I do not get all these "investigations" that are selective, I mean we knew that Durant would be joining Irving and do this Nets deal waaaaaay before it ever happened, even Warriors were aware of this before it happened and there were even talks about they didn't care about pushing Durant on finals because even if he got injured he would not be their problem.

In the past 10+ years of NBA there is probably at least 20-30 deals I could count that was done way before the time, tampering is not as weird as it gets, like even Lebron did the whole FA thing way before deadline started. This is just way too boring of a case, even if they penalize these teams, others will still do it anyway.

[freedomgo]

It seems like the Lakers likes to experiment with their line up, when they won a championship, they still added more players and shifted some to other teams, now this is the biggest change of their lineup as they have a lot of additions, more veterans mean more playoffs experience, and with that, it will result to better chances of success next season.

That's normal, Lakers are a big team, they can afford to sign more players, and having Lebron in the team makes the team confident that they will again win a championship. I think they learned from their mistakes, they miss the chance for a repeat because of an injury, having more players that are capable to carry the team when one star player are injured would still make them a good contender.

Not just the injuries, but letting go of the majority of players that bring them the championship, Rondo, Howard, Avery Bradley, Danny Green and Javale. And chooses to keep Kuzma, KCP, Caruso who didn't perform well in the playoffs. And now they have overhaul the whole system and get this veteran are last 1 year minimum contract to help them win another ring.

They made a wrong decision though but even if they did not let those players, I think they will still not win a championship because of the injury of Davis. He was big with the Lakers, he contributes really hard to win that championship, it's just that his problem happen again and that's the injury that he is facing all throughout his career, just not at the right time.

[gagux123]

Melo's game has someone go down in the last 3 years and I would say that he is already past his prime. But he can still hit those outside shots that's why he was given a second chance by the Lakers base on his performance with the Blazers.

For Howard, he already lost his spot as the center position and has been playing on different teams. If he will be the starting center for the Lakers, then maybe he can increased his ppg and rebounds and that will be big enough contribution coming from him. And we have seen how he blend with the Lebron type of game, so again, he might have a good output as a Laker.

I don't think Melo will be in the starting line up.
And LeBron might play much at the PF position, while AD might do a little bit of playing the Center position.
However my current prediction with the Lakers starting five would be;
Pg : Schroeder
Sg : Westbrook
Sf : LeBron
Pf : Davis
C : Howard
If the Lakers decide to have a quick and aggressive starting line up, they could put AD at the Center and LeBron at the PF and add Ellington at the SF position.
Melo would be a good depth for the second unit for the Lakers.

So, these are variables that can be analyzed.

I have no doubt that Melo or Howard can start as a starter in some games. We see for example what DRose has shown in some games in the past.

LeBron is a wild player (I think he is the most flexible and well-rounded player in NBA history). He can easily play as SG, SF and PF. (maybe PG or C)

The Lakers will have several options to mix the team, with the goal of building a team that has great chemistry.
If Melo and Howard only play half what they were in their prime, I'm pretty sure the Lakers will be champions this season! But it's too early for me to say this accurately
But I still believe they will collaborate much more with their experience than their Lakers skills.

[arwin100]

wow, what a powerful team!
PG - Russell Westbrook
SG - LeBron James
SF - Mello
PF - AD
C - Howard

Something interesting I was thinking to myself.
Howard and Melo are not performing well lately, but I believe that only them playing together with AD, LeBron and Westbrook, and created this excellent team, will give them confidence and consequently they can play inspired

I don't think Melo will be in the starting line up.
And LeBron might play much at the PF position, while AD might do a little bit of playing the Center position.
However my current prediction with the Lakers starting five would be;
Pg : Schroeder
Sg : Westbrook
Sf : LeBron
Pf : Davis
C : Howard
If the Lakers decide to have a quick and aggressive starting line up, they could put AD at the Center and LeBron at the PF and add Ellington at the SF position.
Melo would be a good depth for the second unit for the Lakers.

Did Lakers sign Schroeder back? last time I heard about him he became a free agent and struggling to het a huge contract to the other team since no one grab what contract he likes that's why he's slowly losing a chance to get one.

 But if this the case well this line up is much better line up compare to their last season and if they can work out their chemistry also can rotate the ball then  this is the team will get a huge chance to win on Finals.

[danherbias07]

After being the Vice President of the NBPA, CJ McCollum is the new elected president of NBPA.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31982133/sources-portland-trail-blazers-cj-mccollum-elected-nbpa-president

Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has been elected as the president of the National Basketball Players Association, succeeding two-term president Chris Paul, the union announced on Saturday.

Regarding the issues about the investigations being shared by others. Why now?

The NBA has opened investigations into possible tampering violations involving two sign-and-trade deals completed in free agency, Chicago's acquisition of New Orleans's Lonzo Ball and Miami's acquisition of Toronto's Kyle Lowry, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

The NBA's probe will examine illegal contact among teams and players ahead of the opening of free agency on Monday at 6 p.m. ET, sources told ESPN. Team executives, players agents and players have been notified of the opening of the league office's investigations, sources said.

Draymond Green also met with KD years ago to pursue him and join GSW before trades opened. Lebron had been meeting players to put them in their Lakers roster.
What is the difference with Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry and they are being attacked? They say it's a complicated issue, we may need to wait for NBA to stretch the details about it.

[agustina2]

What is the difference with Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry and they are being attacked? They say it's a complicated issue, we may need to wait for NBA to stretch the details about it.

We need more information about this as I read some articles related to this, I still don't get it. Trades are public and there are official negotiations right so I don't think they will violate something that is an obvious mistake.

And before the final trade to be finalized, NBA is in the middle to approve the trade, right?

But if this the case well this line up is much better line up compare to their last season and if they can work out their chemistry also can rotate the ball then  this is the team will get a huge chance to win on Finals.

There are sayings that Schroder is hard to form chemistry. When he joined the Lakers, he has his own gameplay mostly. But let's see if next season, if there will be a change.

[gagux123]

Did Lakers sign Schroeder back? last time I heard about him he became a free agent and struggling to het a huge contract to the other team since no one grab what contract he likes that's why he's slowly losing a chance to get one.

 But if this the case well this line up is much better line up compare to their last season and if they can work out their chemistry also can rotate the ball then  this is the team will get a huge chance to win on Finals.

Wow, I didn't even realize @Oasisman had lineup Dennis Schröder on Lakers team.
I just did a quick research and i found, Schröder has great chances to play for the Celtics.
Let's see what the Lakers will get in this exchange!

By the way, I liked Schröder, he was a good player (not an allstar), but he's still a missing player on the team.

[Reid]

Looks like Michael Jordan liked the way James Borrego handled the Charlotte Hornets.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31981228/sources-charlotte-hornets-finalizing-multi-year-contract-extension-head-coach-james-borrego

The Charlotte Hornets are finalizing a multiyear contract extension for coach James Borrego, sources told ESPN.

Mostly, they just fire them if they can't reach the playoffs after their contract but it's different.
I think what changed everything was when LaMelo came. Not all rookies are given that amount of minutes in their first year but Borrego took the risk and it ended well until Ball was injured.