What an unbelievable Dame performance late last night. 55 points on 24 shots and hitting every big shot...and tough shots. Just unbelievable.
Must be frustrating for Blazer fans to not be able to build a serious contender around Dame's brilliance. What is there move if they lose in the first round? CJ has always been trade fodder but he is really good too (but not good last night). I would prefer keeping him and trying to get better wings but it seems they have been trying to do this for the last several years with little success.
RIP Rick Bonnell, Charlotte Observer long-time writer. Enjoyed reading his articles.
(06-02-2021, 06:57 AM)ClutchDirk Wrote: [ -> ]https://twitter.com/Farbod_E/status/1399944893460488192
Ha...poor Laker fans. Ha.
It is funny how fast things can change. One moment, you are built for the future and a lot of success, then quickly you notice your window has closed.
Last week the Clippers future looked really bleak. They still have plenty of work to do, but they may be the betting favorite to come out of the west now. They are the Clippers though.
As far as the Lakers go, maybe they have two more years. But eventually Lebron is not going to be Lebron any longer. It always gets tricky when an all time great is not that great any longer. Because they typically do not change how they play when they are past their primes. Now with some health issues with Davis, things get dicey. I would predict they are one of the handful of teams who could win next year, but that window could close sooner than we all think. Suns still need to take care of business to close them out first though.
(06-02-2021, 09:19 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: [ -> ]As far as the Lakers go, maybe they have two more years.
Mark my words: Just like KP in DAL....
![[Image: ae072070163758984243215cabd3bf71.gif]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/07/20/ae072070163758984243215cabd3bf71.gif)
Wow...Ainge is out and Stevens moving to front office. Didn't see that coming.
Ainge in our FO would be pretty good I think.
Wow, this eliminates rule number one.
RC for two firsts.
KP and JRich for Jaylen Brown.
(btw I don't think KP island will sink this summer and RC isn't going anywhere)
(06-02-2021, 09:36 AM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Ainge in our FO would be pretty good I think.
My first thought tbh, but I then remembered there is no chance it happens. Seems Jazz is favourite to get him.
My 2nd thought was they will go after former Celtics RC , but think Stevens will go for young coach.
(06-02-2021, 09:36 AM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Ainge in our FO would be pretty good I think.
Ainge is a great wheeler dealer, but his last 5-6 years in BOS where he was ruthless absolutely killed them. Isaiah Thomas debacle has certainly steered players away from the Celts.
This is my roundabout way of saying that I think Ainge is snake bit and him coming here could harm the Mavs reputation.
The shit thing is that Brad Stevens isn't going to be available as a coach. Would've loved him here to replace RC.
Having Brown and Tatum is a nice foundation for the Celtics. But they are in a difficult spot. They, like the Mavs, really need to find something with their last few draft picks. They need a few of those guys to develop into real good rotation pieces/starters in time. If they don't they are going to in a difficult spot to improve to a contender again.
They appear to have made some questionable first round picks, but you also have to give Ainge credit for Tatum and Brown. A lot of draft guys had others guys rated above them, so you need to give them credit. Getting those picks right typically can change a franchise around.
Also, the Celtics had bad luck (maybe some bad karma too). Gordon Hayward was injured in his first game. The Kyrie situation was a mess, but I think most GM's would have taken that gamble. Kemba has been injured and you can certainly question Ainge on that sign and trade. They had a unprotected pick from the Kings and the Kings were surprising decent that year. They also had a Memphis pick that looked really good until Ja showed up.
If you replayed these last few years over 100 times, I think most times they would have wound up in a better spot. And again having two young all star wings is a nice foundation.
(06-02-2021, 09:56 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: [ -> ]Ainge is a great wheeler dealer, but his last 5-6 years in BOS where he was ruthless absolutely killed them. Isaiah Thomas debacle has certainly steered players away from the Celts.
I mean they landed Kemba on a max contract, so Kemba was okay with their ruthless org more than he was the Mavs player-friendly org.
(06-02-2021, 09:54 AM)khaled1987 Wrote: [ -> ]My first thought tbh, but I then remembered there is no chance it happens. Seems Jazz is favourite to get him.
My 2nd thought was they will go after former Celtics RC , but think Stevens will go for young coach.
He and Donnie have a good relationship. He and RC do too. I think it might be his second choice to the Jazz since Utah is where the majority of his peeps are. If they decide they don’t want him for whatever reason, I can see a spot for him here where he is the pitch man to FAs and a part of the trade/draft team. The rhombus of trust! He doesn’t take Donnie’s job, just covers for his weaknesses.
If Rick was ever going to get traded it would make sense that it would be to the Celts. I don't think that happens unless there's a Rick/Luka problem (which I don't believe there is) or the Mavs are convinced that Mosley is ready to take over. There just aren't enough good coaches in the league to risk a new guy.
(06-02-2021, 09:56 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: [ -> ]Ainge is a great wheeler dealer, but his last 5-6 years in BOS where he was ruthless absolutely killed them. Isaiah Thomas debacle has certainly steered players away from the Celts.
This is my roundabout way of saying that I think Ainge is snake bit and him coming here could harm the Mavs reputation.
The shit thing is that Brad Stevens isn't going to be available as a coach. Would've loved him here to replace RC.
Certainly could be a bad thing, but he has enough skins on the wall to go toe to toe with Cuban when he requires Rondo be traded for. Snake bit or not, we need that guy (whether it’s Ainge or someone else)!
I know people want to run Donnie out of town but when you land Dirk and Nash on the same day then Luka you are basically set for life. Cubes is the one that ran Nash off. Donnie built a team (finally) that won a championship. Luka is arguably the best player in the league, especially if you account for his age. The KP trade was still good in terms of risk/reward even if it hasn't panned out. I suspect Cuban's meddling has caused more problems than it has helped. Cubes has gotten a pass while Jerry Jones who has been a figured head for years now still gets killed for being a meddling owner.
(06-02-2021, 10:14 AM)StepBackJay Wrote: [ -> ]If Rick was ever going to get traded it would make sense that it would be to the Celts. I don't think that happens unless there's a Rick/Luka problem (which I don't believe there is) or the Mavs are convinced that Mosley is ready to take over. There just aren't enough good coaches in the league to risk a new guy.
Once the Nets get beat in the 2nd round, Nash is let go and we trade RC to Bos for two 1st round picks (orchestrated by newly acquired Ainge). We get Nash and bring Dirk out of retirement to be Co-Head Coaches!