This post was more about the potential. Can be, meaning he has the upside and potential. Maybe not top 5 like Giannis, Luka or KD, but top 15.
What upgrades are needed to make us a contender?
- Thread starter George W
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Yea
To be fair, its not really his game. He is so fast with the ball and needs to use that speed to be at his best. Spreading out and playing catch and shoot is not best for his skillset.
Yeah exactly that. Move ball movement, less dribbling.
To be fair, its not really his game. He is so fast with the ball and needs to use that speed to be at his best. Spreading out and playing catch and shoot is not best for his skillset.
Doesn't matter if Lauri is no. 1, 2 or 3 option. The beauty of him is he could potentially be any number of those options but because of his unique skillset at his size, he is essentially the perfect player to build around especially given his contract situation. For arguments sake if Mitchell was still on the roster than as a heavy usage guard to be able to partner him with a low usage but incredibly efficient scorer would be very valuable. Likewise we could trade everything for a Bam Adebayor type of C and have elite defense with playmaking/scoring capabilities that would form an elite front court.
Personally I really want to get either Kuzma or Jerami Grant in the off season as a free agent then draft/trade for an elite guard/centre in due time. It also why Im tempted to trade for Myles Turner for two reasons. 1 to see if he is capable of more than he has shown due to injuries and the players he has played with previously potentially denying him room to show what he is capable of. 2 to see what our team looks like with elite help defense opposed to Kelly Olynyk who tries but is too small and unathletic to do anything.
Personally I really want to get either Kuzma or Jerami Grant in the off season as a free agent then draft/trade for an elite guard/centre in due time. It also why Im tempted to trade for Myles Turner for two reasons. 1 to see if he is capable of more than he has shown due to injuries and the players he has played with previously potentially denying him room to show what he is capable of. 2 to see what our team looks like with elite help defense opposed to Kelly Olynyk who tries but is too small and unathletic to do anything.
So far there is a lot of parity in the NBA this season. I don't see any team as being truly dominant and running away as title favorites. I guess it's been that way for a couple of seasons, but seems even more so this year. Right now on top of the Western Conference standing is Portland, Denver, and Utah. The highest point differential is Phoenix at +6.4. There are a lot of question marks for those teams.
It seems like with the right acquisitions a team could put themselves ahead of the pack. We certainly have enough assets to make something happen. It will be interesting to see how things continue to evolve and how the front office is feeling around the trade deadline.
It seems like with the right acquisitions a team could put themselves ahead of the pack. We certainly have enough assets to make something happen. It will be interesting to see how things continue to evolve and how the front office is feeling around the trade deadline.
LogGrad98
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Really Milwaukee has to be that team right now. They are flat out killing it, and the greek freak is at his best, even better than his MVP year. Should win it again if they continue winning at this clip.
Yeah, I agree, they are the front runners, but I was focusing more on the Western Conference. Even then they only have a +4.5 net rating over an extremely easy schedule. To be honest I'm not sure what their injury outlook is looking like, but if they don't have everyone back and in good conditioning by the playoffs then I'm not sure they are that scary either.
I would be very surprised to see this team make any win now moves. You mention the parity in the west but I think that actually makes us more likely to trade pieces away because we don't have to be nearly as bad to get into that bottom 4 of the west. A few calculated moves and we could be right there.
I think it is quite the opposite. We likely can only win about 10-15 more games to end up in the bottom-4. We have such a large lead already over Houston/Detroit/Los Angeles/Orlando/Charlotte etc.
We would probably have to trade Conley, Clarkson, and Lauri to be that bad to drop to the bottom-4.
Handlogten's Heros
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There is regular season parity. In the playoffs we'd be in trouble. That is where the teams with top end talent ride that talent further than we can go.
We are winning with some numbers magic and with solid players... some which might be shooting a bit higher than their averages. We got some shooting luck as well. We aren't a contender at all and aren't one move away unless that one move is getting KD while giving up the bare minimum in terms of win now talent. That would be short sighted. By all means acquire some guys that can help you now and in the future if a good opportunity arises, but we need a HUGELY talented player to say yes before we are even in the discussion... like Paul George would be the minimum player add.
There is parity but conference finals teams include teams led by Luka, Booker, Jokic, Steph, Paul George, Lebron. If I had to guess, without Ainge Intervention this team will play at a play-in type level rest of the year (also assumes decent health). Maybe we make the top 6 based on the head start we got. We may not be able to tank to bottom 5 (its kinda impossible without wild irrational trades) but if an opportunity arises to get us to bottom 7-8 and delivers future assets or flexibility... go on ahead and make that move.
If we get a chance to buy low on someone that may add a few wins... by all means go and do it. Its a tough place to be in but its also a nice place to be. We have a 3 on 2 fast break and a good ball handler coming down the middle of the floor... figure out a way to score.
I'm not suggesting we will or should make win now moves, just that it will be interesting to see what happens. As you said, the parity can go the other way as well. We might get to a point where we see an easy path to a much better draft pick and become a seller.
Right now I think Houston is clearly in the lead for race to the bottom. They are bad and want to be bad, with Orlando right there with them. Detroit/Charlotte are probably next, but I'm not sure either team is committed to being as bad as possible.