Jump to content

Off-Topic: The Washington Wizards Thread


turtle28

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

Worked for OKC and Paul George

True, but reports are that both Kawhai and DeRozan are not happy with the trade. Kawhai doesn’t want to go to Toronto and DeRozan is telling everyone that Toronto just told him a few weeks ago that they wouldn’t trade him and that they’re back basically stabbers/liars.

This seems like a different situation than with George, but it’s true you just never know.

Toronto can offer Kawhai a 5 year deal next year worth $50 million more than any other team can. So, that could factor into his free agency decision next July.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What’s crazy to me is that the Spurs had to throw in Danny Green along with Kawhai Leonard. That’s a heck of a trade for Toronto. They got a starting SG /SF (a poor man’s Otto Porter) and a huge upgrade and super star at SF when they added Kawhai.

I think they’re the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. It seems like it’s between them and Boston.

Edited by turtle28
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Danny Green was just salary filler. He’s a $10M expiring contract, which is the primary value he probably provided to the Raptors in the deal. 

He’s not very good anymore. Just a 35.7% 3pt shooter over the last 3 seasons, a big drop from how well he used to shoot it, and that’s the only value he offers on offense. His defensive numbers are still relatively good, but how much of that is Pop’s defensive system inflating his performance? And he’s 31, so the consistent 3-year decline in his overall production seems like a trend that’s likely to continue. 

In terms of the secondary exchange, I actually value Poeltl a good deal more highly than Green. I thought Poeltl was pretty damn tough against us in the playoffs, and his season numbers seem to bear that out. And he’s only 23 and still on a rookie contract. I think that’s a very underrated addition for San Antonio, and I bet it was a pretty big part of their decision to take this deal. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, e16bball said:

I think Danny Green was just salary filler. He’s a $10M expiring contract, which is the primary value he probably provided to the Raptors in the deal. 

He’s not very good anymore. Just a 35.7% 3pt shooter over the last 3 seasons, a big drop from how well he used to shoot it, and that’s the only value he offers on offense. His defensive numbers are still relatively good, but how much of that is Pop’s defensive system inflating his performance? And he’s 31, so the consistent 3-year decline in his overall production seems like a trend that’s likely to continue. 

In terms of the secondary exchange, I actually value Poeltl a good deal more highly than Green. I thought Poeltl was pretty damn tough against us in the playoffs, and his season numbers seem to bear that out. And he’s only 23 and still on a rookie contract. I think that’s a very underrated addition for San Antonio, and I bet it was a pretty big part of their decision to take this deal. 

That’s true, I definitely remember wanting one of the back up bigs the Raptors had during they playoff series. They all seemed to outperform our guys except Mike Scott. 

Of course we added Jeff Green and Dwight Howard but it remains to be seen what they do for us. I think they will be good additions, but we can’t know that for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the guys on ESPN seem to be all hyped up about the Raptors too, so maybe I’m just missing the boat here. But I just don’t see it. 

As always, their depth will probably make them a tough regular season team. They’ll win a lot of games by virtue of their ability to wear teams down and keep their guys fresh. But that’s not winning ballgames in the postseason, so I’m not real moved by it.

Lowry is a tough, really good player — but he turns 33 in the middle of next season and he’s already showing signs of decline. For small guards like him, the cliff often comes very quickly. They don’t have size/length to use as a weapon to cover up their declining quickness.

But aside from Kawhi, he’s the only player they have who remotely approaches the elite/impact level. The rest of the starting lineup (Anunoby, Ibaka, Valanciunas) is decent enough I guess, but those are all bit players. And they’ve still got a good, deep bench — but none of them look like guys who could break out and emerge as excellent starters. 

Which leaves Kawhi. If they get the fully healthy, fully engaged 2015 and 2016 version — then maybe they’re a force to be reckoned with. At his best, he’s a superstar. But what makes us so sure they get that? He didn’t want to play, or risk further injury, for the team and teammates he spent his whole career with and won a title with — but we think he’s gonna be fully motivated to go all out on a team that he’s just joining, probably just for a year, before he goes out to chase that FA bag?

 

Honestly, I think the Raptors are caught in between right now. This feels like an in-between move, just like the Kyrie trade did for Cleveland. It feels like they’re trying to take a shot to get over the top by shaking things up — but also leaving open the possibility of hitting that big bright red flashing *RESET* button if it goes sideways. They currently have the second highest payroll in the NBA, but by moving out Derozan’s contract for expiring deals in Leonard and Green, they could be down to about $18M in expected committed money by the summer of 2020. In essence, if the Kawhi thing doesn’t work out, they’re positioned to slide right into full tank mode. Just as the Cavs tried to set themselves up with Lebron. And I don’t think things like that usually work out well — Redskins fans know better than anybody how it falls apart from a team standpoint when everybody knows your “star” player has one foot out the door.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, e16bball said:

All the guys on ESPN seem to be all hyped up about the Raptors too, so maybe I’m just missing the boat here. But I just don’t see it. 

As always, their depth will probably make them a tough regular season team. They’ll win a lot of games by virtue of their ability to wear teams down and keep their guys fresh. But that’s not winning ballgames in the postseason, so I’m not real moved by it.

Lowry is a tough, really good player — but he turns 33 in the middle of next season and he’s already showing signs of decline. For small guards like him, the cliff often comes very quickly. They don’t have size/length to use as a weapon to cover up their declining quickness.

But aside from Kawhi, he’s the only player they have who remotely approaches the elite/impact level. The rest of the starting lineup (Anunoby, Ibaka, Valanciunas) is decent enough I guess, but those are all bit players. And they’ve still got a good, deep bench — but none of them look like guys who could break out and emerge as excellent starters. 

Which leaves Kawhi. If they get the fully healthy, fully engaged 2015 and 2016 version — then maybe they’re a force to be reckoned with. At his best, he’s a superstar. But what makes us so sure they get that? He didn’t want to play, or risk further injury, for the team and teammates he spent his whole career with and won a title with — but we think he’s gonna be fully motivated to go all out on a team that he’s just joining, probably just for a year, before he goes out to chase that FA bag?

 

Honestly, I think the Raptors are caught in between right now. This feels like an in-between move, just like the Kyrie trade did for Cleveland. It feels like they’re trying to take a shot to get over the top by shaking things up — but also leaving open the possibility of hitting that big bright red flashing *RESET* button if it goes sideways. They currently have the second highest payroll in the NBA, but by moving out Derozan’s contract for expiring deals in Leonard and Green, they could be down to about $18M in expected committed money by the summer of 2020. In essence, if the Kawhi thing doesn’t work out, they’re positioned to slide right into full tank mode. Just as the Cavs tried to set themselves up with Lebron. And I don’t think things like that usually work out well — Redskins fans know better than anybody how it falls apart from a team standpoint when everybody knows your “star” player has one foot out the door.

 

It’s because of Kawhai. If he comes in focused and wanting to play “BIG IF,” he’s now the best player in the Eastern Conference. The rest of their starters are good even if they’re not great. Like everyone else their issue was they couldn’t beat Lebron, now that’s not an issue. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, MKnight82 said:

DjDX_AKUUAAYykN.jpg

How hungover was John wall at USA Basketball practice?

He needs a haircut, that picture is hilarious though! Lol

I just saw a clip that Chris Miller poster of Wall knocking down jumper after jumper on practice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...