Chaos in the Middle of a Pandemic: 2020 NBA Off-Season Thread

phillycavsfan

phillycavsfan

WAHOOWA
Supporter
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
22,792
Reputation
1,672
Daps
45,291
Reppin
Philadelphia
I was just reading David Aldridge's Offseason Power Rankings - ranking a team's offseason moves, not the final team itself - on the Athletic. He had the Lakers 8th, I woulda thought they were top 3 though. He makes some good points though.

The Skinny: It is instructive that GM Rob Pelinka was not at all sentimental about the team that won it all. The Lakers did not hesitate to replace Playoff Rondo with Regular Season Schröder, the latter being younger and much more dynamic on the ball. Matthews will step right in for Green. Harrell and Gasol have a lot more to give to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis on offense than McGee and Howard did. But a lot of veteran brainpower and defensive heft in the middle has gone out the door. The Lakers won it all because they became a shutdown defense, and because Rondo and Howard were outstanding in supporting roles in the postseason. I don’t see that going forward with this new nucleus, though Gasol is still really smart and is still a solid team defender.

Top 5:

Sixers
Blazers
Hawks
Raptors
Clippers (Disagree with this one)
 
Flex Luger

Flex Luger

Job Is Finished
Joined
Jan 23, 2017
Messages
39,583
Reputation
3,108
Daps
132,191
phillycavsfan said:
I was just reading David Aldridge's Offseason Power Rankings - ranking a team's offseason moves, not the final team itself - on the Athletic. He had the Lakers 8th, I woulda thought they were top 3 though. He makes some good points though.

The Skinny: It is instructive that GM Rob Pelinka was not at all sentimental about the team that won it all. The Lakers did not hesitate to replace Playoff Rondo with Regular Season Schröder, the latter being younger and much more dynamic on the ball. Matthews will step right in for Green. Harrell and Gasol have a lot more to give to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis on offense than McGee and Howard did. But a lot of veteran brainpower and defensive heft in the middle has gone out the door. The Lakers won it all because they became a shutdown defense, and because Rondo and Howard were outstanding in supporting roles in the postseason. I don’t see that going forward with this new nucleus, though Gasol is still really smart and is still a solid team defender.

Top 5:

Sixers
Blazers
Hawks
Raptors
Clippers (Disagree with this one)
Click to expand...

:mjlol:
 
Professor K.

Professor K.

rap game Paul Millsap
Joined
Sep 5, 2013
Messages
7,936
Reputation
2,268
Daps
30,930
Reppin
Atlanta, GA
phillycavsfan said:
I was just reading David Aldridge's Offseason Power Rankings - ranking a team's offseason moves, not the final team itself - on the Athletic. He had the Lakers 8th, I woulda thought they were top 3 though. He makes some good points though.

The Skinny: It is instructive that GM Rob Pelinka was not at all sentimental about the team that won it all. The Lakers did not hesitate to replace Playoff Rondo with Regular Season Schröder, the latter being younger and much more dynamic on the ball. Matthews will step right in for Green. Harrell and Gasol have a lot more to give to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis on offense than McGee and Howard did. But a lot of veteran brainpower and defensive heft in the middle has gone out the door. The Lakers won it all because they became a shutdown defense, and because Rondo and Howard were outstanding in supporting roles in the postseason. I don’t see that going forward with this new nucleus, though Gasol is still really smart and is still a solid team defender.

Top 5:

Sixers
Blazers
Hawks
Raptors
Clippers (Disagree with this one)
Click to expand...

Sixers got a shooter and a coach to put some fire under their asses so that's fine but in what universe did the Blazers have a better offseason than the Hawks?
 
phillycavsfan

phillycavsfan

WAHOOWA
Supporter
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
22,792
Reputation
1,672
Daps
45,291
Reppin
Philadelphia
Kaedus said:
Sixers got a shooter and a coach to put some fire under their asses so that's fine but in what universe did the Blazers have a better offseason than the Hawks?
Click to expand...

Blazers added some much needed defense on the wing in Covington and DJJ, and kept Melo and Rodney Hood. I don't like Kanter much, but in limited minutes he can score and rebound.

I might in the minority on this, but I think the Hawks added too much too soon. Plus I don't what they're gonna do with Hunter and Reddish since Gallo and Bogdan will take some of their minutes.
 
Professor K.

Professor K.

rap game Paul Millsap
Joined
Sep 5, 2013
Messages
7,936
Reputation
2,268
Daps
30,930
Reppin
Atlanta, GA
phillycavsfan said:
Blazers added some much needed defense on the wing in Covington and DJJ, and kept Melo and Rodney Hood. I don't like Kanter much, but in limited minutes he can score and rebound.

I might in the minority on this, but I think the Hawks added too much too soon. Plus I don't what they're gonna do with Hunter and Reddish since Gallo and Bogdan will take some of their minutes.
Click to expand...

BB and Gallo > Covington and DJJ in a vacuum. Blazers have needed wings for the longest, but I don't see either as enough of an offensive threat to take that team to another level. Covington looked like his defense was declining in Houston too IMO but maybe that's because they had him playing Center :pachaha:

As far as the Hawks doing too much too soon, that's not how the team sees it. We have the most complimentary "young core" in the league that's only getting better and replaced our completely inept bench/role players with the exact type of players needed around Trae Young.

There will be plenty of minutes to go around. There are 96 total minutes on the wings, we play small a lot, and Gallo will play the mass majority of his minutes at the 4.

If we play to our potential, we're getting homecourt 1st round :hubie:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top