Lakers lose Kawhi and immediately drop 46 million on Danny Green KCP.

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And Jimmy Butler.

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Kawhi screwing over the Lakers is GLORIOUS. Everyone was laughing at the Knicks for being overshadowed by little brother but this is even better. I also love Lakers fans having to deal with Woj being right about the Clippers, but from what I've seen they're just gonna ignore their conspiracy theories about him getting blown out and go back to creating new conspiracy theories about Lebron being to blame for everything.

My immediate hot take about the move itself is that I'm not sure how well this will work for the Clippers but it's going to be fun to watch. My main concern is that I'm not sure the Clippers have the depth to let Kawhi load manage properly and still cruise in the regular season the way Toronto did, especially because the West is so much tougher than the East. That being said, Beverley/George/Leonard immediately becomes one of the scariest perimeter defenses I've ever seen and I can't wait to see them play.

Is the west stronger than the east? I don't think so. After the two LA teams who else is there? Denver and Utah come to mind. Houston is a joke. The Blazers are pretenders.

Milwaukee Philly and maybe Boston are stronger than any team out west.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I was talking top to bottom in terms of conference strength since I was referring to the regular season, and I think the West is undeniably still tougher in that regard. It's a conference that had only one team finish with less than 30 wins last season and most of the teams that missed the playoffs only got better this offseason.

Wow what a deal for the Clippers. They gave up a haul for Paul George. But man are they going to be able to guard people. Beverly, PG, and Kawhi...they will be able to shut some folks down.

The west is going to be a lot of fun to watch this coming year. I would say the west is stronger than the east right now. Milwaukee, Philly, and Boston all are weaker than they were last year.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

You spelled stronger incorrectly.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Pacers-Jazz Finals will be NBA TV only.

I just don't see it.

Milwaukee is going to miss Brodgon more than they realize. They should have kept him over Middleton. Also, there is no way Brook Lopez has the same year he had last year. He will take a step back.

Philly needs shooting. They are going to miss Redick. I do like Horford there. They are still going to be a strong team, but not quite as good as last year.

Boston has the ability to be better than last year, but they are going to really miss Horford. They are not going to get that from Kanter. If Taytum and Brown take big steps forward they can be better.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Philly will easily be better next season. I'd take Horford straight up for Butler and I believe that Richardson is a better overall player than Redick. They will have one of the top defenses in the league.

Boston will take a dip I believe and so will Milwaukee and obviously Toronto.

Indiana until Oladipo returns will be worse and the Nets will be slightly better.

East will not be as good as the West next season. The gap will not be closed til Durant and Oladipo return. Hopefully they will close to their pre injury selves after they return.

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Going to be interesting to see where Westbrook ends up and what it takes to get him.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I don't know which teams would be willing to trade for him. It's going to be difficult given the salary. You're paying him to be a No.1 option but Westbrook as the No.1 guy gets you nowhere.

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Some Bulls fans on twitter wanting the Bulls to go after him....Porter, Dunn, and Felicio for him...

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Boogie one year deal to the Lakers.

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I've seen stuff like that. I guess the hope is OKC just wants to dump him for salary relief and draft picks. I would think OKC could get a young player + contracts + draft picks for him - is his contract that prohibitive?

Love it...Those Lakers/Clippers games are going to be must-watch. Love the West in general again....No easy games out there with teams like Utah, GSW, Houston, Denver, Portland, SA....some younger teams like Sacramento appear to be improving.

Even OKC, if they make no moves, got a good return with George. I do expect RW is traded though so that's a full rebuild coming.

NBA is going to be great entertainment this season. Wide open, and lots of competition.

Trade Lavine, Porter and a 1st rounder for Westbrook. Coby can start at the 2.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Nah fuck that. Give them Porter and Felicio and no picks or tell them to find some other dumbass team willing to take on that albatross contract.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

+3 wins

I meant Carter.

But I'd do Lavine, Dunn and Felicio also.

I'd do anything to get Lavine shipped out. It's also a bad contract.

_________________
Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Lavine’s contract is fine. If he doesn’t improve any further that contract is still an asset, not a liability. Terry Rozier is now making the same amount over the next 3 years as Lavine.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Is his contract really an albatross? It's not like he's not going to produce. Let's face it, the Bulls with this FO are not going to compete for a title for at least 10 years. At least Russ will keep butts in the seats.

Bulls best chance to get a star player is to draft him.

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Bulls are incapable of drafting a star player. There best chance to get one is to trade for one who has a contract most teams don't want.

Trading for guys with terrible contracts is a terrible idea. The worst thing that they could do is settle for someone else's junk. Thats what led to the Otto trade

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I heard some guy on Jim Rome today and he said that Loud Mouth Magic Johnson basically fucked the Lakers out of Leonard. He immediately leaked the entire conversation between the Lakers and Khawi.

Did it on purpose, I’m sure.

Brooklyn didn't mind grabbing 3 terrible contracts.

I'm a Westbrook fan. He's tough, efficient, passionate. But hard pass on acquiring him. He will not age well.

Kyrie Irving isn't a terrible contract and neither is Jordan. The only one that may be might be Durant.

Westbrook is a different case all together. If he is that great then he should at least be able to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Particularly when his is considered to be the more talented team going in.


The 2nd part of this also relates to playoffs. Last we saw of Westbrook he was getting destroyed by Damian Lillard. I know there are guys that pooh pooh that sort of thing but it matters. Particularly in the playoffs. If you are that guy then you have to be able to hold your own. Westbrook hasn't in the past 2 playoffs he has been involved in.

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