2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I guess it's always first time for everything..
Haliburton has 0 points ,his first career 0 points game before half
Pacers haven’t lost back-to-back since March 10

 

4 point game
C'mon Pacers

 

don't see okc blowing a 3-2 lead

will be interesting to see how they navigate salary cap challenges from here

 

If Haliburton injured there's no game 7

 

Too much firepower.

this series doesn’t make it back to OKC let me try to get my money back and lay it all on OKC next game.

 

Carlisle should’ve left Mcconell in there.

 

That line will probably be OKC -11 1/2. I’ll give it.

 

second straight year the underdog in the finals has a calf injury impact the star player for most of the series.

 

Agree. I like to see the teams in the finals to go at it at full strength

 

i think the clear (and very boring) lesson is that whoever's healthy wins, almost every time. thunder-zero injuries, basically for all 4 rounds. won't happen again next year is my bet, and this is why we don't see repeat champs anymore, too. just nobody makes it two full years with the level of health required to pull off the feat.

each year, there's probably about 5 or 6 teams that could win if it if healthy, and one of them stays that way--lately it's rarely more than 1.

 

No Lakers C Bags this one sucks.

 

if indy could have just closed game 4 it would have been really interesting.

really well-played series from what i saw, which was a good chunk of the first 4 games. team i wanted isn't going to take it, but it's good basketball, not just iso (ok, okc does this a bit too much for my liking, but so do we...) and three chucking.

 

indy trying to save some cash this year and open up more trade avenues in the future? must not have loved what they saw at 23.

 

One thing it wasn't as heavily discussed is our long term plan. Yes, we should attack this last Bron's window with Luka, but when you have a generational talent like Luka, you aim for the stars.

So I was looking around the league at the best pair for Luka and ended in a switch army knife 4. If you look at the teams in the finals since the boom of 3s and spacing, guys like Draymond Green, Siakam or Gordon have been in the Finals a lot and being key players for these teams. Their defense flexibility throws your team to another level and they can punish teams in different ways on offense.

Looking at the league and the younger versions of this, my favourite is Scottie Barnes. He and Luka would be fire. I'm not counting on Wemby. Jalen Johnson is the next guy for me. There's Banchero too, but not a fan to be honest.
Then there's similar but not quite prototypes like JJJ, Mobley or Markannen.
Cheaper versions of this would be Jabari Smith or Collins, who we may bite this year.

I think short or longer we will/should end up with one of these guys

 

beauty of luka is you don't really need another offensive superstar on the roster. a guy in reaves's class is perfectly fine, imo. so the long-term plan should be finding guys who can defend and finish plays at the other three positions, imo. hopefully, the scouts have mobilized in that direction for both draft and FA purposes.

 

I think we can/should aim a little higher than that. Luka best 2 stars playing with him were Kyrie and Brunson. And while he had relative success, the truth is he hasn't won it all.
I think we have a shot with Luka/AR and strong 4/5 guys for the other positions but I think a forward may give a higher ceiling.
I also think AR is not on the level of the 2 above and is not consistent when defenses prepare for him, so we would need something else

I think if Toronto goes all in on Giannis, they open the gate for Scottie to be available when that window closes.

 

I would try to get something for a specific trade. So an all in trade for me would be.

Austin Reaves Dalton Knect The 2031 first round pick unprotected.

for Jalen Johnson. That’s the kind of player that would really solidify what we are trying to be with Luka.


Young jumping jack athletic forward can shoot if he has to. Can defend 1-5 guard 1-5 pick and roll. Can help LeBron.

that’s the trade you need to make. If you’re not trying to make a trade like that. Then you don’t need to be trading Reaves or Knect or that pick.

 

LeBrons my guy. But I’m pretty pissed at him. Out of all the garbage that he pushed on us from Klutch how did he not force Jalen Johnson on us????

I really liked Jalen Johnson outa Duke. You could just see the potential. Raw but a lot of skill. Lakers should’ve pounced on this guy.

 

Reason Johnson trade can be a reality. They drafted Risser

and it puts some shooting and Ball handling around Trey Young. And you have the rim protection at Center still have perimeter defense with Levert on your wings and Risser.

That’s why I really wanted that Mark Williams allowed us to be young and get a guy 23 years old to go with Luka. Had no idea Charlotte would allow us to get him.