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⭐ OFFICIAL 2020-2021 NBA Off-Season Thread: Olympics begin 7/23; NBA Draft 7/29⭐
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by MVP,
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HOU$TON
formerly convertibleburt
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Porzingis is 7’3” and zero players fear him.
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7'3" & got hit in the face in his home country
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KP might be the biggest diva in history of the league.
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Not that it's a rumor just a quota piece, but Bradley Beal to OKC is proposed. I don't even think I like it. I trust SGA to convert to full time PG, but if the plan was to bump them up a position and either has to be a SF, I don't like it. Presti has always been in love with Beal, almost traded up for him in the draft and almost traded James Harden for himin 2012
Seems like KP's sexual assault allegations have been 0 amount of a thing. Do we just not believe his accuser, is it because she's black, or because she agreed to a hush agreement and was still pursuing him romantically?
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This was covered when he was traded.
Son paid her off which means he's guilty as ****
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They swept that under the rug so well that it almost doesn’t even exist
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KP washed. I’d trade him to the Magic , Sac or Detroit for draft pics or cash consolidation
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Maybe one day we’ll see Steve Clifford with talent
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Does Sacramento still hate Buddy?
lawdog1
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KP isn’t the one to be complaining, but I could see other players having reservations about playing with Luka because of how high his usage is. If they bring someone else in, that might have to change a bit. Plus, it might help him from burning himself out during the course of games.
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Harden and Green should be back i think before game 5.
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Jayson Tatum could be primary Team USA building block for Tokyo Olympics
In the closing moments of an overtime game in Shanghai, way back on Sept. 3, 2019, Jayson Tatum rolled an ankle.
At the time, team doctors didn’t believe the injury was serious. But it sure was impactful, with ramifications perhaps stretching two years into the future.
Team USA points to that ankle injury for Tatum as a deciding factor in its FIBA World Cup misfortunes. Had the Boston Celtics star been healthy, the Americans feel they would not have fallen in the quarterfinals to France, and surely would not have finished a sorely disappointing seventh place. Tatum, of course, believes that too, and if his urge to avenge that injury, and what happened because of it, is strong enough, he might very well lead Team USA into the Tokyo Olympics next month.
“It definitely is something to think about,” Tatum said last week, after the Celtics were knocked out of the playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets. “Obviously, going two or three years kind of without much of a break, but obviously that’s an incredible opportunity, and something I’ve got to think about further down the line.”
The NBA’s first round of the playoffs is complete, and a whole new crop of stars are now free to commit, or not, to Team USA for Tokyo. Tatum headlines that group, along with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards, and Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat. They join a pool that already included Stephen Curry of the Warriors, Zion Williamson of the Pelicans and Zach LaVine of the Bulls, among others.
There are two other big names whose NBA team lost in the playoffs, perhaps you’ve heard of them? LeBron James and Anthony Davis are officially on vacation, after the Lakers lost in six games to Phoenix, but neither LeBron nor Davis is expected to play for Team USA due to their terrible seasons of injuries, according to a source close to both players. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are on the list, but their Clippers survived Game 7 against Dallas (which has no American stars in the Team USA pool) on Sunday — the final game of the entire first round.
Curry, according to a source, is “50-50” on whether he takes his first crack at Olympic gold. Lillard is believed to have strong interest in playing, though no final decision has been made.
Tatum is the kind of linchpin around which Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo could build a roster. Conversations with prospects are “ramping up,” he said, though he chose not to disclose with whom or name which players out of the pool of 57 NBA stars had expressed a desire to play.
Training camp in Las Vegas starts in early July, and now that the first round of the playoffs is over, the pace to begin putting the 12-man roster together is accelerating.
Tatum, 23, is coming off the finest season of his pro career, with averages of 26.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. He hung a 50-piece on the Nets in in Game 3 of that series, Boston’s lone win. The Celtics made a deep playoff run last fall, playing into the Eastern finals in the Disney bubble, in September. And then their new season started on Dec. 23, followed thereafter by Tatum battling for weeks a case of COVID-19, which left him short of breath even after his return to the court.
That’s what he means by saying he hasn’t had much of a break. He suffered a bad break when he turned his ankle in the waning moments of that early round World Cup win over Turkey, as he passed the ball to Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton for the game-winning bucket in overtime. That game — which you can read about here — was bonkers, with coach Gregg Popovich being run over on the sideline and Joe Harris nearly getting into a fight. It also turned out to be the last game Tatum played in the tournament.
The Americans won three more after the injury, including over Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, but lost to Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert and Frank Ntlikina and France after leading that game late. The Americans lost again the following night to Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and the Serbians, before winning a seventh-place game over Poland, in Beijing.
Team USA entered the China tournament with a lesser roster, one mostly void of the star power the Americans usually possess when they field a team of pros. Tatum, though he’d already played in a conference finals, was not yet an All-Star — that would come the following February. But he was gifted then and a potential difference maker Team USA didn’t have.
There were four Celtics on that 2019 American squad. Jaylen Brown missed this season’s playoffs after wrist surgery and is a “no” for Tokyo. Kemba Walker has said he is looking forward to a long, full offseason to heal his ailing knee, which would make him an unlikely candidate. Marcus Smart could do it, but he was among the players Colangelo had to recruit after all the stars turned him down. The Americans are hoping to avoid a repeat.
From the Wizards, Westbrook captured Olympic gold in 2012. Beal, meanwhile, wanted to play for Team USA in 2019, but withdrew his name to attend the birth of his child.
The Lakers have three other players — Andre Drummond, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma — who are in the Team USA pool. The Americans had trouble recruiting big men for the 2019 team (settling on Brook Lopez, Myles Turner and Mason Plumlee). Kuzma was originally on that team, but a leg injury forced him off the roster.
Julius Randle, the NBA’s most improved player, is in the pool and available after the Knicks fell to Atlanta in the first round. His injured teammate, Mitchell Robinson, is in the pool, as is Miami’s Duncan Robinson.
If you’re wondering, Memphis’ Ja Morant and the Blazers’ CJ McCollum are not in the American pool of 57.
In the closing moments of an overtime game in Shanghai, way back on Sept. 3, 2019, Jayson Tatum rolled an ankle.
At the time, team doctors didn’t believe the injury was serious. But it sure was impactful, with ramifications perhaps stretching two years into the future.
Team USA points to that ankle injury for Tatum as a deciding factor in its FIBA World Cup misfortunes. Had the Boston Celtics star been healthy, the Americans feel they would not have fallen in the quarterfinals to France, and surely would not have finished a sorely disappointing seventh place. Tatum, of course, believes that too, and if his urge to avenge that injury, and what happened because of it, is strong enough, he might very well lead Team USA into the Tokyo Olympics next month.
“It definitely is something to think about,” Tatum said last week, after the Celtics were knocked out of the playoffs by the Brooklyn Nets. “Obviously, going two or three years kind of without much of a break, but obviously that’s an incredible opportunity, and something I’ve got to think about further down the line.”
The NBA’s first round of the playoffs is complete, and a whole new crop of stars are now free to commit, or not, to Team USA for Tokyo. Tatum headlines that group, along with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards, and Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat. They join a pool that already included Stephen Curry of the Warriors, Zion Williamson of the Pelicans and Zach LaVine of the Bulls, among others.
There are two other big names whose NBA team lost in the playoffs, perhaps you’ve heard of them? LeBron James and Anthony Davis are officially on vacation, after the Lakers lost in six games to Phoenix, but neither LeBron nor Davis is expected to play for Team USA due to their terrible seasons of injuries, according to a source close to both players. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are on the list, but their Clippers survived Game 7 against Dallas (which has no American stars in the Team USA pool) on Sunday — the final game of the entire first round.
Curry, according to a source, is “50-50” on whether he takes his first crack at Olympic gold. Lillard is believed to have strong interest in playing, though no final decision has been made.
Tatum is the kind of linchpin around which Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo could build a roster. Conversations with prospects are “ramping up,” he said, though he chose not to disclose with whom or name which players out of the pool of 57 NBA stars had expressed a desire to play.
Training camp in Las Vegas starts in early July, and now that the first round of the playoffs is over, the pace to begin putting the 12-man roster together is accelerating.
Tatum, 23, is coming off the finest season of his pro career, with averages of 26.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. He hung a 50-piece on the Nets in in Game 3 of that series, Boston’s lone win. The Celtics made a deep playoff run last fall, playing into the Eastern finals in the Disney bubble, in September. And then their new season started on Dec. 23, followed thereafter by Tatum battling for weeks a case of COVID-19, which left him short of breath even after his return to the court.
That’s what he means by saying he hasn’t had much of a break. He suffered a bad break when he turned his ankle in the waning moments of that early round World Cup win over Turkey, as he passed the ball to Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton for the game-winning bucket in overtime. That game — which you can read about here — was bonkers, with coach Gregg Popovich being run over on the sideline and Joe Harris nearly getting into a fight. It also turned out to be the last game Tatum played in the tournament.
The Americans won three more after the injury, including over Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, but lost to Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert and Frank Ntlikina and France after leading that game late. The Americans lost again the following night to Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and the Serbians, before winning a seventh-place game over Poland, in Beijing.
Team USA entered the China tournament with a lesser roster, one mostly void of the star power the Americans usually possess when they field a team of pros. Tatum, though he’d already played in a conference finals, was not yet an All-Star — that would come the following February. But he was gifted then and a potential difference maker Team USA didn’t have.
There were four Celtics on that 2019 American squad. Jaylen Brown missed this season’s playoffs after wrist surgery and is a “no” for Tokyo. Kemba Walker has said he is looking forward to a long, full offseason to heal his ailing knee, which would make him an unlikely candidate. Marcus Smart could do it, but he was among the players Colangelo had to recruit after all the stars turned him down. The Americans are hoping to avoid a repeat.
From the Wizards, Westbrook captured Olympic gold in 2012. Beal, meanwhile, wanted to play for Team USA in 2019, but withdrew his name to attend the birth of his child.
The Lakers have three other players — Andre Drummond, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma — who are in the Team USA pool. The Americans had trouble recruiting big men for the 2019 team (settling on Brook Lopez, Myles Turner and Mason Plumlee). Kuzma was originally on that team, but a leg injury forced him off the roster.
Julius Randle, the NBA’s most improved player, is in the pool and available after the Knicks fell to Atlanta in the first round. His injured teammate, Mitchell Robinson, is in the pool, as is Miami’s Duncan Robinson.
If you’re wondering, Memphis’ Ja Morant and the Blazers’ CJ McCollum are not in the American pool of 57.
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I hear you on his usage and I agree but his teammates need to be consistently able to produce. In this series it appeared that Hardaway was the #2 when he's really a #3 at best.
KP as the #2 is simply not going to work as the guy's mentally shot maybe as a result of injury limitations or external factors. It was suggested earlier but the Mavs need to move on from buddy and take whatever they can get for him. He may be able to regain some type of form playing for a smaller market team, that's NOT a playoff contender.
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This random dude again
Yeah he's completely useless.
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If Harden's usage in Houston didn't prevent KD and Kyrie from saying "go get that guy here now", Luka's won't be a problem I wouldn't think.
There's a role for KP as a high-end rotation guy on a contender - but he's gotta mentally buy into the idea that he's probably not a frontline star at this point given how hard the injuries have hit him. But there's no reason he can't be an 18-20 point, 9-10 rebound guy that defends with effort. He spent that entire Clippers series standing around in the corners like his feet were glued there because he felt like he was asked to be a decoy.
It's 100% a mental mind **** with him at this point.
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Mavs should trade KP for Buddy Hield
Hield made the 2nd most 3s this season
Hield made the 2nd most 3s this season
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That's been one that made some level of sense to me. But does KP/Bagley make sense?
Do the Thunder for Horford make some level of sense? Decent potential reclamation project for OKC without taking on much more money. But that might be selling too low if you're the Mavs.
Someone mentioned Orlando... I don't really know if I see any fit there for either side.
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There's going to be a million KP/Kemba rumors this summer. Already seeing it start.
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I can't see the Mavs going that direction, but yeah, it'll be all over the place.
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