Magic took a lot of heat for not adding more shooting. What's Sam Presti's excuse? Supposedly one of the better execs in the league and nobody on OKC can shoot worth a shit..other than George at times
They haven't reached out to Myers. Media throwing shit at the wall. I keep going back to Pop. Pop may be ready to stop coaching and just do his exec thing, but what's being reported is that the person is okaying their targets..and Monty is a Pop disciple. That the name hasn't been leaked makes me believe it could be a serious guy. Maybe RC Buford too..Monty worked under him in S.A.
Morey has a guy in Houston that's supposed to be pretty good. He may or may not have been there when Pelinka/Morey got the deal done for Harden. Gersson Rosas..Minny eyeing him for a lead exec job
Oh and Luke has told Ty Lue not to take the job. Ramona failed to hide the source behind " very close friend to Ty Lue "..which just means Luke because they are very close friends and it's just obvious Luke should be ashamed of himself. Owes the entirety of his NBA existence to LAL. Gave that bum a 6 year contract worth $30M as a player and then a 5yr contract to be HC
Lol shelborne also reporting that "Everyone in the league" is telling Monty Williams not to take the Lakers job. Everyone? Really? Sounds like Ramona has an ax to grind with the Lakers. They must have cut down on the food available in the press room or something.
And now Luke hops on with Vlade, who he met in '05 when Vlade returned to LAL, Laker connection still paying dividends. LAL better beat the hell out that ingrate next season
Ray Allen on the idea of stars not wanting to play with LeBron @ this stage of his career - " I think what will change people's perspective is if he just gets a 2nd player that jumps in there that makes it enticing. Similar to me landing in Boston. It made it so much more enticing for KG because KG was looking at going to the Lakers. That was a potential landing spot for him, so now, I get traded to Boston and he was like ' wow, Paul and Ray? ' It looked so much more enticing because now we have a legitimate shot. " Spot on. Get the AD trade done @ draft time. Now, you have Kawhi's/Kyrie's ear for real on July 1st.
Well, openly pondered if the Sixers should trade Simmons, and the report now is that Brand did want to trade him at the trade deadline and that Brett Brown has " lost the locker room ". So it's Aussies Brown and Simmons VS everybody else. Lol And Jimmy's best position is actually PG and pick and roll ball handler is his niche. Just not a fit. It's just gonna be hard building around and playing with Simmons because he won't and can't shoot. It'd be one thing if they didn't have Embiid and Simmons could run to the post whenever he wanted, but even that would be taking away from his strength
Imagine being so god awful at shooting that defenses play you like that lol Just look at the Portland defenders. Only thing they're worried about is Ben's next pass and are basically defending Philly 5 on 4. It's a huge flaw considering where today's game is and though he's skilled in many areas, it's going to be really hard to win anything significant with Simmons. The Celtics have owned the Sixers the last two years and the biggest reason is Simmons. He's a nightmare in half-court sets and his only form of offense comes through transition buckets.
And Embiid isn't even on the floor there, so we know how that effects their play calling. It's funny, but it could also be bad news for us because 1) Monty Williams is probably their #1 choice to replace Brown..and that's not even close to being the being the worst part of it because Ty Lue is a fine choice as well. The worst part of it all could be Brand offering Simmons to New Orleans for AD this summer. We would just sort of have to hope that Griffin doesn't want to try building around Simmons either. He's super-high on Ingram, so maybe he'd still lean LAL's way? You look at that pic and all of a sudden you say to yourself, " I'm cool with Lonzo. " Lol
33 and 9 for simmons tonight. cant shoot, so what. hes far ahead if any of our young guys. Guy is a playmaker and scores at the rim.
I see Simmons as a suped up Draymond Green, now that Draymond can't shoot anymore, that is. Simmons needs to be on a team with a 5 that doesn't demand touches on the low block, that spaces out behind the 3pt line 100% of the time and just shoots. A 5 like Muscala or even Moe when he plays the 5. That'd give Simmons free run of wherever he needs to go and let him be the dynamic force of nature he can be. He just needs the right setting..it's just not easy to toss your whole philosophy out the window and strap TNT to your entire roster to build it up around him. No Embiid tonight and Simmons dominates..clear indicator. If the Lakers weren't able to land AD, and instead set out for somebody like Bradley Beal and brought in other sharpshooters as well, Simmons could probably fit with that model. That actually wouldn't be a bad backup plan for LAL. A set up where it's all 5 players on the floor playing outside, including LeBron.. " 5 out ". And I think LeBron would figure out how to put him in position to succeed and be a much better version of Draymond. Simmons can defend his ass off and against multiple positions, and he can impose his will on games, as we saw in Game 2 and tonight. He has a real motor. But you couldn't have Simmons and Lonzo on the same team, I don't think because Lonzo runs so hot and cold as a shooter. I think Lonzo would have to go to Philly in that scenario. Ingram would have to go as well, maybe not to Philly, but somewhere..maybe DC for Beal. Because obviously, Ingram's shot from the 3pt line is so hot and cold as well..more cold than hot. If Simmons would buy into a role that would be bigger in the reg season due to LeBron's mileage, but do so knowing that they'd need him to do more as a secondary playmaker in the postseason, he could be hell of a force on arrival. He'd have to buy into being a better screen setter..setting the screen for LeBron and allowing him to get downhill or pass it off back to him and make the right decision with the ball from there ala Draymond. He would have to play a little 5 as well. Right now this bum Jared Dudley is talking shit about Simmons and how " he's average in the half court "..it's really because Brett Brown hasn't gotten him to buy in and then there's Embiid's presence. They're pretty much stuck because he can't/won't shoot. Grab Simmons while his cap number is peanuts and have LeBron get him to buy into the role..if you can't get AD and/or Kawhi. Lonzo's durability issues and Ingram's blood clot..out. And LAL should definitely try the Simmons' path before they pay for Kemba Walker's little ass who'll be trash in a couple years when he loses a step or three.
I turned the Clips\Warriors off too early. Zu pulled a Wilt in garbage time Lol Told you he'd do something one of these games, 18pts and 15reb in 17 minutes
Wouldn't want to be Brand this summer. Pretty reasonable to want to deal Simmons, but a solid case could be made for dealing Embiid as well. Embiid's just always hurt. And Simmons on the other hand has been about as durable as anybody since missing his 1st year. Kicking the can down the road on the decision was probably for the best..let it play out and see what happens in the playoffs. Some major eval probably going on right now in their FO. You don't even really need the classic all-world center to win in this era. But Embiid is also loved in Philly, is the face of " the process ". Tough decision. May end up kicking the can down the road again even though they're probably better off going their separate ways
I hated that idea when I first read your post. But then I thought about it for a minute and came to the conclusion that Embiid in LA would be epic. Not sure the team would be any good, but he'd probably wind up as mayor in a few years.
25 in the 3rd for Dame Some pressure on OKC McCollum VS Russ to start the 4th is key Lol No Russ to start the 4th..can't say I blame Donovan