The Official Dwayne Wade <<<<<< you thread

Not really devil’s advocate as much as wrong.

Gasol was great last season. He’s washed, but washed compared to his old self. He’s still a valuable role player in the league.

Ariza is really the only one who’s truly suspect.

33 isn’t old. Not in this league for a 3 point shooter lol.

Also THT has shown more in the playoffs than plenty players lol. He’s clearly a big talent. Also he’s 20. When is lack of playoff moments a valid critique for someone younger than most people drafted two years after him.

CBarca wrote:I'll play devils advocate:

Gasol - washed
Melo - washed
Ariza - washed
Dwight - average
Nunn - slightly above average
Monk - slightly above average
THT - Has shown very little in playoffs or even the regular season, and not a shooter
Ellington - Old/inconsistent career...I won't even try to evaluate this dude, but generally just been a decent shooter who offers nothing else
Russ - Needs a spacing center to be maximally effective, which AD only kind of is, and Gasol won't play much, and Dwight isn't at all
Bazemore - I have nothing to say about him

Plus, this group as a whole are not made of defensive grit, intensity, and most importantly ability.

Lakers aren't dumb, the thing I'm leaving out when I play devils advocate is that while I really don't rate these players very highly, they are good shooters. The construction to surround AD/LeBron with shooters has already worked once and it may work again.

Now I'm just playing devil's advocate. I think these are generally good hauls. Getting Monk and Nunn are fantastic gets, in general. However I'm sincere in that I'm not sure I rate this squad all that highly.

Them being washed is irrelevant. No one signed them for what they used to be, they are signed for what they can contribute with their current ability.

It's not a criticism of THT, it's just my evaluation. He hasn't shown anything yet. That doesn't mean he won't, but he hasn't yet. I don't think he will, but I'm wrong all the time.

@vibe sure but what they are right now isn't very good. Again let me be clear, on vet mins I would take Gasol, Melo and maybe even Ariza. However I wouldn't say they're good players. In the same way that I don't hate getting Rodney Hood on a vet min, but as he is...he's not a very good player.

I'd be surprised if any of those three manage to meaningfully contribute more than 10 mins a game in the playoffs.

This Lakers team is gonna have a tight rotation come playoffs imo (and they should! When you see the salary the team is playing out OF COURSE it's gonna be a tight rotation). I'm trying to push against the narrative that this team is deep. Which I'm not saying people here are saying, but I'm seeing a lot of hype over players who...i don't get the hype over. The question is, who from that group is gonna emerge to be a guy who can contribute 30+ meaningful minutes in the playoffs? Nunn is my guess. Maybe Ellington.

@EG don't even start, this Lakers team is miles above the warriors lol

LeBron, Davis and Westbrook need to carry that team hard. I think they will. Anthony, Nunn and Monk is decent secondary scoring. Howard/Gasol good veterans but how many minutes those guys can take ??

Ariza, Bazemore, Ellington they are bad. Terrible rotation for this position. Although LeBron can play 3 and Davis/Anthony/Ariza rotate 4. And other players will be signed

So i think Lakers will be a strong contender as long as nobody from the star trio is injured. This team is not deep by any means, less than last year even.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:If memory serves you won the first 2 and i won the next two.

Then you ran from the ass whooping.

Spoiler:

I won before?

Well sounds like I got out at the wrong time if Freeza prevented the 3peat.

How can you have won FANTASY and not know it

I will laminate my box scores if i ever win the final

El G probably has it written on his resume

Warrior wrote:How can you have won FANTASY and not know it

I will laminate my box scores if i ever win the final

El G probably has it written on his resume

Im dying.

In my defence, it was like 8 years ago. Its not much of a defence but it is all I have.

On the FA shake up.

I think Mills is a good pick up for the Nets, with Blake returning, its not like they needed much else.

Lakers is interesting. I know its an old team which is subject to alot of players being way past their best but I think in the playoff's, that experience is better than youth who dont know how to play. For example, I think come playoffs time someone like Nunn will be barely play in big moments but someone like Ariza or Howard, will have a significant 5-10 minutes to win a game.

My problem is Westbrook. He simply isnt a winning player. Doesnt even try on defence, cant shoot yet shoots too much and I dont know what he does if he is relegated to shooting 12 times a game and not stat padding rebounds and assists. So I dont see how that will happen, he will always get his numbers somehow but what will that do for the Lakers?

Trey Murphy looked really good in Summer League (like way too good for Summer League type of good)

I'm excited to watch Zion and Bi not be forced to play in a phonebox this year even if the FO made some admittedly stupid decisions in FA.

I was sure the Hornets would take Sengun tbh

Anyways, Schroder signs 5.9M/1 year with the Celtics that's what you call a discount

El Gunner wrote:

How nice must it be for Rockets getting Alperen Sengun at #16 too after landing Jalen Green. Surprised Spurs didn't take Sengun, because he's their type of player - smart and savvy.

Im going to steal Bill Simmons take on this, because I felt the same way. It was almost like the Spurs didnt take him simply because it would have been the Spurs thing to do and they just wanted to zig when everyone thought they would zag.

Though this Primo guy they got does look good too tbf.

Zach Lowe really didn't watch us at all last season.

In his article today he was saying we won't improve and cited Adams and Bledsoe as reasons why.

I don't want to be too harsh on Adams (Valenciunas is clearly better tho) but Bledsoe was literally our worse player last season and was literally an anchor around Zion's neck.