2022-23 NBA Thread: “you’ll never let me down like the Heat did”, Miami fan says to giant pile of cocaine (2 Viewers)

[mr. furley]

since every NBA players goal is to win a championship, at what level do we stop saying a guy is "chasing a championship"?

Giannis, KD, Curry, Jokic, Embiid.... if they move to a team it's "chasing". who else is on that list?

is everyone below that tier simply just a great guy who loves to play ball but doesn't care about winning?

 

[Juxtatarot]

The bar has been set with the Gobert trade. Brooklyn needs to get back more than that for Durant.

 

[Ghost Rider]

There’s a ‘significant obstacle’ on the Kevin Durant to Miami trade front, per @sam_amick 

“Durant, it seems, would only want to play on a Heat team that includes Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry.”

Dude wants the whole enchilada.

Dude wants a cakewalk.

Give me a break.

I am sure Durant will get on Twitter and scream and yell at anyone who dares criticize him for this, but he is such a weak superstar.  He has shown that he cannot be the leader of a team and win a championship, unlike guys like LBJ and Curry.  He is soft as Charmin. 

 

[Frostillicus]

since every NBA players goal is to win a championship, at what level do we stop saying a guy is "chasing a championship"?

Giannis, KD, Curry, Jokic, Embiid.... if they move to a team it's "chasing". who else is on that list?

is everyone below that tier simply just a great guy who loves to play ball but doesn't care about winning?

Gobert clearly ring chasing too. 

 

[Frostillicus]

I would love the Wolves to sign Dragic, Jeremy Lamb, and Eric Paschall to finish things out this offseason.

 

[ShamrockPride]

I am sure Durant will get on Twitter and scream and yell at anyone who dares criticize him for this, but he is such a weak superstar.  He has shown that he cannot be the leader of a team and win a championship, unlike guys like LBJ and Curry.  He is soft as Charmin. 

I been saying that dude has been sooooo active on Twitter these playoffs and offseason so far. Like way more than usual. Like bruh you 34 years old clapping back at actual 14 year olds. It's weird.

Hindsight is 20/20, but him and Kyrie were doomed to fail. They're both incredibly weak leaders mentally. They can't take any criticism. Someone like Bron just ignores haters and talking heads. Then you have Kyrie who validated Stephen A responding to him on Twitter. You got Russ validating and responding to Skip on Twitter.

Idk what these guys are doing, but they gotta have better things to do in life with 9 figures in their bank accounts.

 

[DJackson10]

If you haven’t seen the thread, our guy Wikkid passed away overnight. I hate when people say these things but I am sure he would want the basketball talk to continue in here, however this is extremely sad to me and I really don’t know what else to say. He was the first reply to this thread, he was always here with his extremely unique posts. Just very sad. 
 

https://forums.footballguys.com/topic/804870-rip-wikkidpissah/

I just saw he thread title and came in here to see what you had come up with on a title. I thought it was an NBA joke like usual but what a kick in the balls this news is. Such a good guy 

 

[ShamrockPride]

Such a good guy 

"nufced"

 

[DJackson10]

"nufced"

I had such a horrible day with Work before even coming on here and seeing this. Talk about a ball kicker. Only good things in my day were the Bulls signings and My soccer team keeping their two FO guys. 

 

[geewill]

Our last texts were the day after Celtics lost.  I’m a warriors fan, so we bantered.  

 

[Frostillicus]

Well Wolves twitter hates the trade. Wolves reddit loves the trade. And Bill Simmons hates the trade for the Wolves. These are the exact reactions you want to let you know it's a good trade. 

 

[Frostillicus]

The Timberwolves have agreed to terms with Bryn Forbes, sources told

@TheAthletic

There's the Beasley replacement. 

 

[Navin Johnson]

Boston next year looking like

Smart, Brown, Tatum, Al, Rob

Bench: Brogdon, Gallo, White, Grant, Pritchard

Seems like an improvement, especially adding a year of playoff experience to everyone's belt. Would love to see them add in the front court. See if any vets wanna sign up with the team. Grant had his one big game in Milwaukee, but he didn't contribute much besides that. And will be wondering what the efficiency/minutes they can get out of Horford with another year older.

ETA: wowzers, didn't realize Al was getting paid that much, jeebus. When his deal is up after next year, that's a #### ton of money freed up.

They'll still be over the cap when Horford expires

 

[DJackson10]

The bar has been set with the Gobert trade. Brooklyn needs to get back more than that for Durant.

Minny Severely overppaid 

 

[DJackson10]

Holy Crap I just read about the Bridges Situation. What a piece of garbage and useless waste of oxygen. Hopefully he never plays another game ever again. Dude is lucky he's not part of my family considering he'd wished the cops got to him first. Playing sports is a privilege not a right and some of these guys are just absolute entitled idiots 

 

[Frostillicus]

Minny Severely overppaid 

Nah

 

[Frostillicus]

I know I'm completely unbiased, but if DeJounte Murray is worth 3 picks and a pick swap how is Gobert for one more pick "insane" and "severely overpaying"?

 

[Capella]

Minny Severely overppaid 

Nah. They gave up 5 mid to late round picks and swaps for an all-NBA defender. One of the best defenders ever. People fall in love with draft picks all the time, the odds of any of those picks ever being as good as Gobert is right now is <1%

 

[Desert_Power]

I don't think the Wolves overpaid, but I don't really like the KAT-Gobert fit.

 

[Frostillicus]

I don't think the Wolves overpaid, but I don't really like the KAT-Gobert fit.

That's interesting because, even before this trade, I considered Gobert the absolute best fit next to KAT. The new regime had already decided to roll with KAT at the 4 next to a defensive center. Who better than a 3x DPOY?

 

[Frostillicus]

And, if they do end up having to sit Rudy at the end of some playoff games since they didn't really have to give up any main pieces from last year's team they just go with the team that pushed Memphis pretty hard last year, but with another year of development for Ant and Jaden. In other words, championship and we goin sizzla. 

 

[ShamrockPride]

The West will be interesting next year for sure. I think Minny has the chance to top out as like a #3 or 4 seed if things go optimally.

GS & PHX are still clearly better.

But I've said before, I just think Memphis will have a tough time repeating what they just did. Probably a slight regression. Dallas losing Brunson will definitely be felt.

A fully healthy Denver & Nola are very interesting teams.

Unfortunately, I think GS is still going to repeat out of the West (fairly easily), so none of it really matters for anyone.

 

[mr fancypants]

The dubs lose another bench player as Damion Lee signs a 1yr. deal with the suns.

 

[Frostillicus]

Forbes deal with the Wolves is 1 year for the minimum.  Can't hate that.

 

[scoobus]

And, if they do end up having to sit Rudy at the end of some playoff games since they didn't really have to give up any main pieces from last year's team they just go with the team that pushed Memphis pretty hard last year, but with another year of development for Ant and Jaden. In other words, championship and we goin sizzla. 

Beverly was a pretty main piece to last year's team.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

The dubs lose another bench player as Damion Lee signs a 1yr. deal with the suns.

Addition by subtraction.

 

[Frostillicus]

Beverly was a pretty main piece to last year's team.

That's the sneaky negative to the deal I'm trying to pretend isn't there. 

His impact on teh culture was shockingly big, and I'm hoping the Prince signing helps mitigate his loss. Also I mean, these guys got a grown ### man teaching them for a year. Keep it up. Keep that attitude. Or be babies and lose. I'm drunk. Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuddddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[jvdesigns2002]

That's the sneaky negative to the deal I'm trying to pretend isn't there. 

His impact on teh culture was shockingly big, and I'm hoping the Prince signing helps mitigate his loss. Also I mean, these guys got a grown ### man teaching them for a year. Keep it up. Keep that attitude. Or be babies and lose. I'm drunk. Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuddddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

I think you have to love the move as a T-Wolves fan.   They already had a young core of talent—and Gobert just adds to that.  I’m not sure what kind of leader Gobert is—but having another all star big on that team might motivate KAT to not have those occasional head scratching games where he legit doesn’t show up.   Yeah—losing Beverly does sting a bit—but you aren’t going to trade for a player like Gobert without losing at least one or two decently valuable pieces.  The West is looking pretty insane again. Utah probably drops out of the playoff picture—but the Clippers got better, the T-Wolves got better, the Pelicans should have a full year with a healthy Zion (and McCollum, Dallas got better. Feels like teams there could be some more major moves coming—as it looks like some teams are going all out to try to win now, while others are going full tank mode. 

 

[Anarchy99]

I think you have to love the move as a T-Wolves fan.   They already had a young core of talent—and Gobert just adds to that.  I’m not sure what kind of leader Gobert is—but having another all star big on that team might motivate KAT to not have those occasional head scratching games where he legit doesn’t show up.   Yeah—losing Beverly does sting a bit—but you aren’t going to trade for a player like Gobert without losing at least one or two decently valuable pieces.  The West is looking pretty insane again. Utah probably drops out of the playoff picture—but the Clippers got better, the T-Wolves got better, the Pelicans should have a full year with a healthy Zion (and McCollum, Dallas got better. Feels like teams there could be some more major moves coming—as it looks like some teams are going all out to try to win now, while others are going full tank mode. 

Minnesota could (most likely) have sent the same package to Brooklyn for KD. Would Wolves fans rather have KD or Rudy (and which one would have a bigger impact)?

 

[Boston]

Minnesota could (most likely) have sent the same package to Brooklyn for KD. Would Wolves fans rather have KD or Rudy (and which one would have a bigger impact)?

No knock on Minny but I don't see KD being good with that...the players have a lot of power in the NBA and that has a major influence on deals that involve the stars.

 

[jvdesigns2002]

No knock on Minny but I don't see KD being good with that...the players have a lot of power in the NBA and that has a major influence on deals that involve the stars.

You literally posted exactly what my response was going to be.  I don’t see KD wanting to go there.  He wants to leave Brooklyn because of immaturity.  Even though the T-Wolves have talent—they are young—and frankly  have a decent amount of immaturity.  

 

[Capella]

Minnesota could (most likely) have sent the same package to Brooklyn for KD. Would Wolves fans rather have KD or Rudy (and which one would have a bigger impact)?

If Minnesota could have done that deal, than they would have done that deal. 
 

Also, that is not enough for KD. 

 

[Anarchy99]

If Minnesota could have done that deal, than they would have done that deal. 
 

Also, that is not enough for KD. 

The highly competitive teams will struggle to come up with a combo of picks and players like the Rudy trade, especially if they want to have a core of top players left to be a top contender. MIN gave up what, 10 assets to get Rudy. What will it take to get Durant? 15?

 

[Navin Johnson]

The highly competitive teams will struggle to come up with a combo of picks and players like the Rudy trade, especially if they want to have a core of top players left to be a top contender. MIN gave up what, 10 assets to get Rudy. What will it take to get Durant? 15?

Considerably less.  KD has suppressed the market.

 

[the moops]

They'll still be over the cap when Horford expires

Over the cap is irrelevant. Nearly zero contenders act as under the cap teams. Luxury threshold is the only number that matters. 

 

[Navin Johnson]

Over the cap is irrelevant. Nearly zero contenders act as under the cap teams. Luxury threshold is the only number that matters. 

It matters when you are trying to sign free agents.

 

[Zow]

I know I'm completely unbiased, but if DeJounte Murray is worth 3 picks and a pick swap how is Gobert for one more pick "insane" and "severely overpaying"?

As a fellow Wolves fan I’ll concede that my initial reaction was “whoa that seems like a lot.” 
 

But I thought about it and I like the fit and ideally those picks are mid to late firsts. Which, if true, using historical values it’s not an overpay. So it’s kind of like betting on ourselves to succeed - which is kind of refreshing to see. 
 

I say this as once having had to watch late round first Ndudi Ibi air ball a layup in Wolves camp (I still distinctly recall Garnett just shaking his head in disgust). So yeah if it’s four of him we got a steal. 
 

 

[Zow]

Minnesota could (most likely) have sent the same package to Brooklyn for KD. Would Wolves fans rather have KD or Rudy (and which one would have a bigger impact)?

No way. 

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

KD wouldnt go to MN

He wants to win.

 

[Zow]

As a fellow Wolves fan I’ll concede that my initial reaction was “whoa that seems like a lot.” 
 

But I thought about it and I like the fit and ideally those picks are mid to late firsts. Which, if true, using historical values it’s not an overpay. So it’s kind of like betting on ourselves to succeed - which is kind of refreshing to see. 
 

I say this as once having had to watch late round first Ndudi Ibi air ball a layup in Wolves camp (I still distinctly recall Garnett just shaking his head in disgust). So yeah if it’s four of him we got a steal. 
 

Note: the irony of my post given where Gobert was drafted isn’t lost on me. But most late round firsts aren’t Gobert. 

 

[Kiddnets]

I dont understand the obsession with late round picks - they are easy to trade for and even buy in the past.  You are basically praying that the team falls apart or the picks are far enough out to matter.  Id much rather have good players than picks. 

 

[msudaisy26]

Over the cap is irrelevant. Nearly zero contenders act as under the cap teams. Luxury threshold is the only number that matters. 

Everything has to be a sign and trade or some type of exception if they are over the hard cap. So they can't just sign free agents when Horford's deal is up unless they dump a lot of other salary as well or the cap goes up by a lot. 

 

[ShamrockPride]

KD wouldnt go to MN

He wants to win.

Breaking: KD's agent says he will only go to MIN if they have Rudy, KAT, and Anthony with him. Also says they need to get Pat Bev back.

 

[thecatch]

I dont understand the obsession with late round picks - they are easy to trade for and even buy in the past.  You are basically praying that the team falls apart or the picks are far enough out to matter.  Id much rather have good players than picks. 

The draft pick capital for Gobert is arguably excessive, but I don't hate that part of it.  My concern is more that, in a league that's moved away from centers, the Wolves are now spending about 60% of their cap on two of them, each with pretty glaring flaws, who I think will have a lot of problems playing at the same time.

 

[AAABatteries]

I dont understand the obsession with late round picks - they are easy to trade for and even buy in the past.  You are basically praying that the team falls apart or the picks are far enough out to matter.  Id much rather have good players than picks. 

I think the idea is grabbing assets to eventually move up.  I don’t think Utah (for example) is expecting to get the next LeBron or MJ with those picks they got from MIN directly.

 

[Kiddnets]

I think the idea is grabbing assets to eventually move up.  I don’t think Utah (for example) is expecting to get the next LeBron or MJ with those picks they got from MIN directly.

I hear you - assets are assets - but late 1st rders are bottom of the barrel assets - Id much rather hold out for a better player.  

 

[Juxtatarot]

Minnesota could (most likely) have sent the same package to Brooklyn for KD. Would Wolves fans rather have KD or Rudy (and which one would have a bigger impact)?

From The Athletic:

By Friday morning, sources said, the deal was in peril. Both sides were sticking to their guns and the Timberwolves started to look hard at other available rim protectors. In addition to Gobert, they had been linked to Indiana’s Myles Turner and Atlanta’s Clint Capela in previous reporting. The Wolves also made several calls to Brooklynon Kevin Durant, sources said, but the Nets were asking for established All-Stars and a mountain of picks. Minnesota was unwilling to part with either Edwards or Towns in a KD-centered deal, so there was no traction. Had they gotten more aggressive with San Antonio in talks for Dejounte Murray, they could have outbid Atlanta. But they didn’t, making it clear that they always valued Gobert more.

 

[SayWhat?]

From The Athletic:

By Friday morning, sources said, the deal was in peril. Both sides were sticking to their guns and the Timberwolves started to look hard at other available rim protectors. In addition to Gobert, they had been linked to Indiana’s Myles Turner and Atlanta’s Clint Capela in previous reporting. The Wolves also made several calls to Brooklynon Kevin Durant, sources said, but the Nets were asking for established All-Stars and a mountain of picks. Minnesota was unwilling to part with either Edwards or Towns in a KD-centered deal, so there was no traction. Had they gotten more aggressive with San Antonio in talks for Dejounte Murray, they could have outbid Atlanta. But they didn’t, making it clear that they always valued Gobert more.

This is extremely interesting, as last night a buddy asked me if I’d rather the Wolves did this type of deal for Gobert or Dejounte.  I said Dejounte, and pretty easily.  Despite Murray not being a lights out shooter, which is something the Wolves badly need, I’m just nervous about two slow afoot bigs playing at the same time in todays perimeter oriented game.  But now we roll. Really hope Ant takes his game to the next level.  

 

[msudaisy26]

KD is a PITA, but you guys making fun of him for wanting to go to a place to win and then not wanting that team to trade all their best players to get him so he has the best shot to win seems odd. 

Do you guys go to work everyday and hope they let go of all the best employees so your job is more difficult?

There is so much to make fun of him about, wanting to win seems like the last thing we should tease him about. 

 

[ShamrockPride]

KD is a PITA, but you guys making fun of him for wanting to go to a place to win and then not wanting that team to trade all their best players to get him so he has the best shot to win seems odd. 

Do you guys go to work everyday and hope they let go of all the best employees so your job is more difficult?

There is so much to make fun of him about, wanting to win seems like the last thing we should tease him about. 

FTR, I generally don't, just piling on since I saw the opportunity.

But nah, hell I don't care if he ran back to GS. I love KD as a player, have since he's been in the league. For my   , he's the greatest all-around scorer to ever pick up a basketball. Would love to see him win a few more rings.

Just bums me out a little on the personal side of things how similar he is to Kyrie. Not the crazy part, but how for whatever reason, he just seems like a dude that's always miserable. Not even from just a basketball standpoint, seems like he carries that attitude off the court too. Idk if the media pressure got to him somewhere along the way, but just seems like a dude who forgot how to smile & laugh.