Fair enough. A lot of people have suggested Ingram/Kuzma and a first round pick from the Lakers as a fair package. Is two lottery picks and Nance tangibly different?
I'd say yes because we know Ingram and Kuzma are good players whereas lotto picks are complete unknowns but I'm also skeptical that Spurs would trade Kawhi to LA for those 2. The Spurs organization hates the Lakers. They're not going to giftwrap Kawhi to help them out. Ingram is a nice player but I don't see him as a rebuilding centerpiece.
I think the Philly dream plan is as follows:
That may be Philly’s dream plan but I think LeBron signing there would be Step 2, not Step 1. Were I him, I wouldn’t sign there until Simmons is moved. He can’t take the chance of signing and then getting stuck playing alongside a guy who won’t be nearly as effective without the ball in his hands a lot. Unless he develops a jump shot, but again, I don’t see LeBron taking that risk.
It's doable, but it's a lot. The LA pick certainly isn't staying in Philly under those scenarios. Which complicates things a bit, because you either have to trade it in a package before the draft or wait for the 2 months or whatever it is to trade it elsewhere. Which is fine, but it's not the same as having the consensus #1 to dangle like Cleveland had with Wiggins, and knowing that Love was 100% on the move.
I'm not unaware of the similarity issues but they are very close and of course LeBron has talked about playing off ball more.
The assumption I'm making is that Kawhi is on LeBron's list of pre-approved star list as long as he's deemed to be healthy next year. Doesn't matter what LeBron wants if Paul George doesn't want anything to do with Philly, which is certainly possible.
Yeah, I think I'm more of the mind that LeBron doesn't have a pre-approved list so much as an extremely short list of a couple players that he has long-since been in talks with about teaming up. Of course, given the sudden weirdness around Kawhi this year, it's certainly possible that he is one of these players.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/celtics/2018/06/08/lebron-james-celtic-now-that-fantasy-sports/59na2ubNctk1KvIJizseaM/story.html
If your Kyrie, and you just spent a year getting used to Boston and you saw how good this team is and how great they are going to be next season with Hayward and the kids another year older; and then you are told your being shipped back to Cleveland; who won’t have a quarter of the supporting cast in Boston?
Yeah, Simmons with 7 years of team control left is one of the more valuable assets in the NBA. If the Spurs don't think Kawhi is re-signing, Simmons blows away almost anything else they can get.
Just a note, Simmons doesn't have seven years of team control left. It's only five.
Which is still a very good return for a guy who may not want to stick around past 2019. Spurs would be all over a Simmons for Kawhi deal. Sixers would only do it if it were part of a bigger LeBron play.
LeBron seemed to know, before he signed with Cleveland, that Wiggins was going to be traded for Love. So it can get worked out ahead of time.
I have seen varying opinions on this board as to how well Simmons would mesh with LeBron. I would take both of them on my team every day and so would everyone. But the odds of a LeBron/Philly title in 2019 are better with Kawhi than with Simmons and you probably can't have both. And LeBron is likely (but who the f really knows) to be looking for immediate results. Simmons is obviously a draw but a healthy Kawhi would be a bigger draw.
I think there is more than one way to beat the warriors, saying it's iso ball plus shooters and a switch happy defense is the rockets play.
Agreed that there is more than one way. I think New Orleans has the right idea with a guard that can hound Curry at the point of attack and two post players that just destroy their smaller lineups. Unfortunately the Pelicans need at least one more wing and additional shooting and they have no way to get it with their cap situation and lack of picks.
I agree in so far as I think it's an outside shot, but that still looks to me a better scenario than staying in Cleveland. You look around the league and there's probably 6-7 places that he probably wouldn't give a second thought to that would still be better than the Other Cavs (tm).
Spurs are not trading Kawhi Leonard to the Lakers. No chance of this happening. I’ll eat a log of Rocco Graziosa’s shit if that happens.
I don't think there is any chance that Lebron goes to the Lakers without PG. I just don't think there is any chance that PG isn't already going to the Lakers. I agree Kawhi is more questionable, but he ain't going back to San Antonio, so they gotta find a spot for him somewhere, and it doesn't sound like he's of a mind to make it easy on them.
It’s way more extreme than LMA but I agree that there is still a decent chance of a Gronk situation here where a sit down “fixes” things, at least for another year.
Fun season is about to begin. This thread will be lack crack to me even though we’ll have like a 0.0001% chance of actually landing him.
Agreed. If he wants to take down GS, we are the best option. He’d also probably take joy in getting Kyrie banished to the Knicks or wherever.
This. I’ve been telling people the past few months that I fully expect 3 of the following players to be on the Lakers next year: Lebron, Kawhi, PG, Cousins, Lillard, McCullum, or Wall (Dark Horse candidate).
Pop would take about 3 seconds to throat punch Magic Johnson if this offer came to his desk. Wall for Ingram/Deng would be even worse, a horrid abomination of a trade. Maybe if you throw in Ball to either of them, though.
Depends a ton on what the picks are. If the Spurs are unwilling to sign Kawhi to the supermax because of injuries, he's out the door anyway. If the picks are spaced to be 3+ years out and are unprotected, Nets style, that's a killer deal for the Spurs because of the upside variance.
Well, LeBron plus Warriors or Rockets would be overwhelming favorites too. LeBron plus George and Sixers would be picked to win by many.
If you are adding George to Lebron, Randle has to be renounced to get enough space. If you are adding Kawhi to that, some combination of Ball/Kuzma/Ingram are gone in the trade.
At what cost? I really like the young core Danny has built here.. the C's could be good for the better part of a decade. LeBron's best years (even though he was still very good this year) are behind him and wouldn't you be worried about his regression over the next couple of years? What players remain if you've traded to get Bron?
