2024 NBA Season

[danherbias07]

The news that came out recently is mostly about Robert Sarver (Phoenix Suns managing partner) and his 1-year suspension.
https://www.nba.com/news/nba-investigation-robert-sarver-suns-official-release
But I don't know him that much and I guess many of us feel the same way so it will be a boring talk. 
The good part of the story is that NBA won't stand by if the issue is about racism. Even if you are in one of the high positions.

Brunson in Knicks.
How do you guys think they could maximize his skills? He did great during the last run in the Mavs playoffs. He became a leader while Luka was injured.
Could the Knicks also do the same and let him handle their offense or lead the team?

[ultrloa]

A variable I've seen discussed here a few times is the AD situation.
Unfortunately he is in a delicate situation and has regrettably spent more time off the court due to his injuries than playing.

But anyway, I believe for the Lakers to be champions in this season, they need to evolve a lot, not specifically improve their roster (this is an important factor), but something more relevant, is the chemistry between the players, which I saw a few times in some games the Lakers played in the previous NBA season.

It's difficult to create strong chemistry if they keep on rotating new players on their roster. It cannot even be compared with the likes of GSW, Phoenix Suns, and Grizzlies. There's a savior though, Lebron James. He had been a leader for a long time and he knew how to create chemistry in a short span of time. I remember him creating events for the Lakers players a lot of times to strengthen that chemistry so it will just depend on them if they want to join.
AD and Lebron won't have a problem and they kept Austin Reaves which I think will be a lot of help to them.

Lakers need to retain what rooster they have if there current rooster are skilled ones its just they really need chemistry so that they can work all things out, but the problem with them maybe LBJ request to overhaul their team is they change their player to new once they get bad run in a season. And I think what LBJ did last time did not work since they end up on bad position last season. So maybe its best for them to have young potential talents and develop them since this could bring good future to LA rather than trying to create a super team surrounded  by ball dominant players since for sure they really get a problem again with that.

They already got a powerful roster last 2020 but after they won the Finals, the team decides to let go some of the players so that they can afford Westbrook in the process, and that's where they did some mistakes. Now, they cannot blame Westbrook alone just because he didn't meet the standard they expected from him but because they already have some good players and still decided to let them go. One examples for that is Alex Caruso.

We can't say that they have to blame Westbrook for what had happened to them last season. It's the breaks of the game, they started good in the first 10-20 games if I'm not mistaken, but as soon as Davis get's injured, the Lakers suffers and they can't recover in time to make the playoffs. For Caruso's case I think it's more of the salary offer and it Alex is not satisfied that's why he chooses to go to the Bulls with good offer.

Those injuries really destroyed their campaign and technically we cannot blame what happen to them on Westbrook because he provably do all just to give good performance even if there team is in awful situation. His consistency is somehow commendable because they can use his presence to get more better output on next season. If they can make this guy feel comfortable on his position and let him do what he used to do on other team for sure we can see him became more productive.

[Natalim]

Brunson in Knicks.
How do you guys think they could maximize his skills? He did great during the last run in the Mavs playoffs. He became a leader while Luka was injured.

Big boost for the Knicks, his playoffs experience would help the team to be a good playoffs contender. He became a superstar in the Mavs during the last playoffs, so for sure, he can bring that confidence in his new team.

Could the Knicks also do the same and let him handle their offense or lead the team?

I'm not sure if he can be the main man, but with consistency, he can be a good starter.

[yazher]

Even the pre-season there are signs that the combination is not going to work well in the long run. Yes, they have games that show some brilliance of Westbrook and even has some posterized dunks but that's it. They slowly losing the momentum and then going down to the 8th spot and deep. And then the finger pointing started as to who is to blame for the Lakers worst season specially for Lebron as a Laker.

If only they didn't trade the players that helped them to win the championship, they could have been one of the strong teams for the last 2 seasons but they wanted to experience furthermore and the result is obviously one of the most worse failed experiments of all time. Why can't they just make those guys stay and give them some bonus to play more good games with their team instead of sending them to the other teams? Now it's really hard to get back on track with these players left.

[Maslate]

Even the pre-season there are signs that the combination is not going to work well in the long run. Yes, they have games that show some brilliance of Westbrook and even has some posterized dunks but that's it. They slowly losing the momentum and then going down to the 8th spot and deep. And then the finger pointing started as to who is to blame for the Lakers worst season specially for Lebron as a Laker.

If only they didn't trade the players that helped them to win the championship, they could have been one of the strong teams for the last 2 seasons but they wanted to experience furthermore and the result is obviously one of the most worse failed experiments of all time. Why can't they just make those guys stay and give them some bonus to play more good games with their team instead of sending them to the other teams? Now it's really hard to get back on track with these players left.

That's part of the changes, in order to acquire Westbrook, lots of players will be moved, and they also consider his style because they think they could get what they are expecting from the triple-double guy, but it turns out it's a mess. Let's move on, let's just wait for this new season, if Lakers would still disappoint us, then they have to trade Westbrook.

[Jating]

Even the pre-season there are signs that the combination is not going to work well in the long run. Yes, they have games that show some brilliance of Westbrook and even has some posterized dunks but that's it. They slowly losing the momentum and then going down to the 8th spot and deep. And then the finger pointing started as to who is to blame for the Lakers worst season specially for Lebron as a Laker.

If only they didn't trade the players that helped them to win the championship, they could have been one of the strong teams for the last 2 seasons but they wanted to experience furthermore and the result is obviously one of the most worse failed experiments of all time. Why can't they just make those guys stay and give them some bonus to play more good games with their team instead of sending them to the other teams? Now it's really hard to get back on track with these players left.

Maybe the Lakers wanted to follow the Warriors blue print, unfortunately, the players that deliver them championship have been traded the following year. Even Howard (who came back but wasn't given minutes), and Javale was let go. And Kuzma and KCP was worst the following year that they have to give them up for Russ. I guess bad decision by the management and hopefully they should learn from their mistakes on how to rebuild a successful team or a dynasty like the Warriors did.

[inthelongrun]

Brunson in Knicks.
How do you guys think they could maximize his skills? He did great during the last run in the Mavs playoffs. He became a leader while Luka was injured.

Big boost for the Knicks, his playoffs experience would help the team to be a good playoffs contender. He became a superstar in the Mavs during the last playoffs, so for sure, he can bring that confidence in his new team.

Could the Knicks also do the same and let him handle their offense or lead the team?

I'm not sure if he can be the main man, but with consistency, he can be a good starter.

Jalen is the highest-paid Knicks player right now. He is also older than most of the core young teams. Maybe he can be their captain bull although there's also Derrick Rose on the team. New York is now full of very talented young players yet they also have a huge cap space which means they are also capable of bringing a superstar into the team. But right now, their main guy is Randle and Barrett though they are not that experienced when it comes to playoffs. Maybe they can also try acquiring any of the remaining stars in Utah; Bogdanovic, Clarkson, and Conley.

[freedomgo]

Conclusion, their roster should be well-balanced and composed of veterans and young players.

I agree and not just for the Lakers but also for the other teams. Some teams got 1 superstar and then no helper inside the court and all reliant to it.
In the end, that superstar looks like he's hardly playing with his teammates because there's no balance in the team. I like the idea of well being balanced and composed with young players, superstars, and veterans. It is a good team composed of energetic, athleticism, experience and wisdom in all aspects, ball handling, shooting, under the ring and crucial times.

I definitely agree! That's what the Lakers need and some other teams in the league too, having a couple of veteran players in the roster is not a bad idea at all because they can still produce some nice production for the team or give the team an extra defense, lastly, these veterans will be highly needed to lift up the team's morale so that the young players will work together with their superstars.

[mirakal]

Getting rid of Davis is not on the Laker's radar for now because as of this moment they are prioritizing Westbrook on a trade to avoid paying his high salary in fear of getting minimum production from him, they just wanted to get rid of him asap while getting a valuable player in exchange. Also, I seriously don't think that the Blazers will trade Lillard for Davis, that's just not true.

I don't think the Lakers are prioritizing on Westbrook trade. If it does, we should see them aggressively talking with other teams.

Trading Westbrook is just open and they are just waiting for good offers. If none satisfies them, then they will just keep Westbrook instead.

We know how the Lakers do business and if they want to trade players, they can easily do it even if there are issues. But since the Lakers just seem relaxed, it's optional for them if Westbrook will be traded or not.

It's safe to think that Westbrook was given another opportunity to prove himself, for a superstar like him, he should show up and reach the stats that he used to achieve in the past, and also, improvement is very important, if he has the same stats like last season, no way the Lakers will still hold him.

We cannot never be too sure though, maybe one day we will be surprised about Westbrook being traded already. If he is not having a good season, I don't think the Lakers will still finish the whole season before trading him. Westbrook IMO does not belong to the Lakers, his style does not blend with other superstars like Lebron and Davis.

It will be much better for the Lakers if they will send Westbrook in other teams and acquire another point guard that will sync with Lebron and AD, they should already get Clarkson before he will be snatched in any other teams because they will have some problems soon if they will let Westbrook stay.

And if he will have another bad season, the Lakers will once again find another problem because chances are that there would be no team who would be willing to accept him anymore. So, the Lakers will have to deal with him until the whole season ends.

[carlisle1]

Even the pre-season there are signs that the combination is not going to work well in the long run. Yes, they have games that show some brilliance of Westbrook and even has some posterized dunks but that's it. They slowly losing the momentum and then going down to the 8th spot and deep. And then the finger pointing started as to who is to blame for the Lakers worst season specially for Lebron as a Laker.

If only they didn't trade the players that helped them to win the championship, they could have been one of the strong teams for the last 2 seasons but they wanted to experience furthermore and the result is obviously one of the most worse failed experiments of all time. Why can't they just make those guys stay and give them some bonus to play more good games with their team instead of sending them to the other teams? Now it's really hard to get back on track with these players left.

Maybe the Lakers wanted to follow the Warriors blue print, unfortunately, the players that deliver them championship have been traded the following year. Even Howard (who came back but wasn't given minutes), and Javale was let go. And Kuzma and KCP was worst the following year that they have to give them up for Russ. I guess bad decision by the management and hopefully they should learn from their mistakes on how to rebuild a successful team or a dynasty like the Warriors did.

Wrong decision with sending away the squad who gave you another title. If they kept that squad the chance of winning another

title is better. They are not all superstars, but good enough to play the role of helping LeBron and AD. After the Bubble, the team struggle.

The experiment of having veterans stars didn't work and worse, they've got an early break last season, now they are forming the team with the

same trio, AD,WB and LeBron. the question now is if those role players will be blended well with the type of system these trios understand.

[Japinat]

Hot topics are still about the Lakers, Lebron, AD, and Russ.

1 more month to go and the new season starts. I honestly would like to see Russ traded so the Lakers will have a strong line-up with no excuses if they can't compete on top. But I agree with the odds, the Boston Celtics are the real favorites next season with even more additional acquisitions for this season. My main focus will be on the 76ers and T'wolves though. I am just super curious about how the new twin towers perform when the league is currently going smaller.

Any NBA ESPN or Yahoo Fantasy player here?

I agree with you that the Boston Celtics are the real favorite next season but I also have to say that if the players are in good form the Lakers can also be really deadly in every match. But for that King LeBron James and his teammates have to play really well. I think that if LeBron James can get enough support from his teammates, the Lakers will do really well this season. But also I am concerned that injurious might have a really bad effect on the Lakers as I think that their players are quite fragile compared to other teams.

Honestly, I don't think the Celtics will be a favorite, and it's unlikely they'll be able to reach the final series again. As for the Lakers, it's pretty hard to predict their results in the upcoming season because Westbrook is unpredictable, and Davis is unreliable due to injury prone. It seems to me the Lakers can only reach the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs. At least I wouldn't expect much more from them.

Too premature to say that the Lakers will be having that outcome or at least the same results they got last season, the season hasn't started yet and we might see some changes in their roster in the next few days.

Speaking of the upcoming new season, the Celtics won't be the favorite because they will be one of the few favorites to win in the Finals this time. Honestly, you're quite underestimating the Celtics because I don't think that there are some reasons that they cannot go that far this season as they are now much stronger because of the experience they acquired as well as the other young teams who made the conference finals.

[OgNasty]

Too premature to say that the Lakers will be having that outcome or at least the same results they got last season, the season hasn't started yet and we might see some changes in their roster in the next few days.

I think you're probably right that a big change is coming for them in the near future.  Russell Westbrook just put his multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home up for sale, so he's expecting to need to find a new place to live in the near future.  I would think that you wouldn't put your home up for sale unless you knew that a change in scenery was imminent, which leads me to believe in spite of all the friendly talk, Pat Beverly and Russell Westbrook won't be playing on the same team.  I'm even starting to wonder if picking up Pat Bev was a way to help nudge Russell towards a buyout.

[stadus]

Getting rid of Davis is not on the Laker's radar for now because as of this moment they are prioritizing Westbrook on a trade to avoid paying his high salary in fear of getting minimum production from him, they just wanted to get rid of him asap while getting a valuable player in exchange. Also, I seriously don't think that the Blazers will trade Lillard for Davis, that's just not true.

I don't think the Lakers are prioritizing on Westbrook trade. If it does, we should see them aggressively talking with other teams.

Trading Westbrook is just open and they are just waiting for good offers. If none satisfies them, then they will just keep Westbrook instead.

We know how the Lakers do business and if they want to trade players, they can easily do it even if there are issues. But since the Lakers just seem relaxed, it's optional for them if Westbrook will be traded or not.

You think so? I understand mate, but I'm really sensing the opposite thing because the Lakers are trying to avoid giving Westbrook his last salary and they prefer acquiring a player with a much lesser value but can play better than Westbrook. Also, trade speculations won't keep on surfacing if they aren't looking a new home for Westbrook.

[Vaculin]

Hot topics are still about the Lakers, Lebron, AD, and Russ.

1 more month to go and the new season starts. I honestly would like to see Russ traded so the Lakers will have a strong line-up with no excuses if they can't compete on top. But I agree with the odds, the Boston Celtics are the real favorites next season with even more additional acquisitions for this season. My main focus will be on the 76ers and T'wolves though. I am just super curious about how the new twin towers perform when the league is currently going smaller.

Any NBA ESPN or Yahoo Fantasy player here?

I agree with you that the Boston Celtics are the real favorite next season but I also have to say that if the players are in good form the Lakers can also be really deadly in every match. But for that King LeBron James and his teammates have to play really well. I think that if LeBron James can get enough support from his teammates, the Lakers will do really well this season. But also I am concerned that injurious might have a really bad effect on the Lakers as I think that their players are quite fragile compared to other teams.

Maintaining to be physically healthy for the whole season is a really big challenge for the Lakers, especially for Anthony Davis, or at least he'll just have some minor injury that can be healed in-between games but if the worst thing will happen again then I don't think that the Lakers will reach the playoffs because Lebron cannot possibly carry the team always.

[wheelz1200]

Getting rid of Davis is not on the Laker's radar for now because as of this moment they are prioritizing Westbrook on a trade to avoid paying his high salary in fear of getting minimum production from him, they just wanted to get rid of him asap while getting a valuable player in exchange. Also, I seriously don't think that the Blazers will trade Lillard for Davis, that's just not true.

I don't think the Lakers are prioritizing on Westbrook trade. If it does, we should see them aggressively talking with other teams.

Trading Westbrook is just open and they are just waiting for good offers. If none satisfies them, then they will just keep Westbrook instead.

We know how the Lakers do business and if they want to trade players, they can easily do it even if there are issues. But since the Lakers just seem relaxed, it's optional for them if Westbrook will be traded or not.

You think so? I understand mate, but I'm really sensing the opposite thing because the Lakers are trying to avoid giving Westbrook his last salary and they prefer acquiring a player with a much lesser value but can play better than Westbrook. Also, trade speculations won't keep on surfacing if they aren't looking a new home for Westbrook.

It's not that the Lakers don't want to pay Westbrook.  Dude is on an expiring contract and if they trade him have to match salaries to do so, most likely on longer contracts.  It's not about the money at this point.  It's about maximizing lebrons last 2 years here and getting him someone who compliments him better than Westbrook.  Trust me Lakers don't care about paying, they just want to win the chip.

[dwyane36]

I think you're probably right that a big change is coming for them in the near future.  Russell Westbrook just put his multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home up for sale, so he's expecting to need to find a new place to live in the near future.  I would think that you wouldn't put your home up for sale unless you knew that a change in scenery was imminent, which leads me to believe in spite of all the friendly talk, Pat Beverly and Russell Westbrook won't be playing on the same team.  I'm even starting to wonder if picking up Pat Bev was a way to help nudge Russell towards a buyout.

Honestly, I still have no idea if any other team would risk getting Westbrook, but it's clear that his decision to put the house in Los Angeles up for sale indicates that there is a good chance that the Lakers will get rid of him before the start of the season. By the way, this situation reminds me of Ben Simmons, who also put up for sale his real estate in Philadelphia before being traded to the Nets.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Too premature to say that the Lakers will be having that outcome or at least the same results they got last season, the season hasn't started yet and we might see some changes in their roster in the next few days.

I think you're probably right that a big change is coming for them in the near future.  Russell Westbrook just put his multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home up for sale, so he's expecting to need to find a new place to live in the near future.  I would think that you wouldn't put your home up for sale unless you knew that a change in scenery was imminent, which leads me to believe in spite of all the friendly talk, Pat Beverly and Russell Westbrook won't be playing on the same team.  I'm even starting to wonder if picking up Pat Bev was a way to help nudge Russell towards a buyout.

I don't think that the Lakers management will go that low to pick up Bev just to mess with Westbrook. Although I believed Russ knows that his future with the Lakers might end anytime that's why he is selling his home. The problem is as much as the Lakers wanted to trade him, no one wants to because of the big contract that he still got in his last year.

[wheelz1200]

I think you're probably right that a big change is coming for them in the near future.  Russell Westbrook just put his multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home up for sale, so he's expecting to need to find a new place to live in the near future.  I would think that you wouldn't put your home up for sale unless you knew that a change in scenery was imminent, which leads me to believe in spite of all the friendly talk, Pat Beverly and Russell Westbrook won't be playing on the same team.  I'm even starting to wonder if picking up Pat Bev was a way to help nudge Russell towards a buyout.

Honestly, I still have no idea if any other team would risk getting Westbrook, but it's clear that his decision to put the house in Los Angeles up for sale indicates that there is a good chance that the Lakers will get rid of him before the start of the season. By the way, this situation reminds me of Ben Simmons, who also put up for sale his real estate in Philadelphia before being traded to the Nets.

Think people are looking too much into that.  Market is high a good time to sell.  And yeah he might be gone soon but he should know his contract will be incredibly hard to move, much harder than Ben Simmons.  Ben basically told Philly he won't play for them either, russ ain't doing that.  So it could be as much as he just wants to move.

[OgNasty]

I think you're probably right that a big change is coming for them in the near future.  Russell Westbrook just put his multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home up for sale, so he's expecting to need to find a new place to live in the near future.  I would think that you wouldn't put your home up for sale unless you knew that a change in scenery was imminent, which leads me to believe in spite of all the friendly talk, Pat Beverly and Russell Westbrook won't be playing on the same team.  I'm even starting to wonder if picking up Pat Bev was a way to help nudge Russell towards a buyout.

Honestly, I still have no idea if any other team would risk getting Westbrook, but it's clear that his decision to put the house in Los Angeles up for sale indicates that there is a good chance that the Lakers will get rid of him before the start of the season. By the way, this situation reminds me of Ben Simmons, who also put up for sale his real estate in Philadelphia before being traded to the Nets.

Think people are looking too much into that.  Market is high a good time to sell.  And yeah he might be gone soon but he should know his contract will be incredibly hard to move, much harder than Ben Simmons.  Ben basically told Philly he won't play for them either, russ ain't doing that.  So it could be as much as he just wants to move.

I don't think so.  Russell Westbrook makes so much money that he isn't trying to time the housing market.  I also don't think you just move away from a 30 million dollar home because you want a change of scenery.  More likely Russell has some information we don't about his future and he's been told to start making preparations.  This isn't that uncommon with NBA players and it's definitely writing on the wall.  I don't think Russell plays a single game in a Lakers uniform this year and I think it's unlikely he'll report to Laker's camp in 2 weeks.

[harizen]

I think you're probably right that a big change is coming for them in the near future.  Russell Westbrook just put his multimillion-dollar Los Angeles home up for sale, so he's expecting to need to find a new place to live in the near future.  I would think that you wouldn't put your home up for sale unless you knew that a change in scenery was imminent,

But take note that the house was bought way back in 2018 where there's not even a plan that Westbrook will join the Lakers soon. In that year, he was playing for the Houston Rockets then a year later, he was on the Washington Wizards. As reported, he was active in real estate in previous years and was able to sell 3 properties in 2020.

Maybe just for business purposes that's why I can't consider it "for now" as a sign that Westbrook will be traded prior to the start of the season. Again as I mentioned previously, if the Lakers will have a good run in the early phase of the upcoming season, then that will decide if they will keep Brodie or not.