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Series Thread: 2023 Western Conference Finals: 1) Nuggets vs 7) Lakers (Bubble Rematch)

shopson67

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Lots of articles stating James is pressuring the Lakers to get Kyrie (head-case dude). I would venture a guess that James' talk of a potential retirement may be perceived as part of the pressure package. If I was Pelinka, I would encourage James to take a year off and then come back to play with Brony somewhere else.

I think that's mostly conjecture by the writers, as I don't believe Lebron's talked to anyone much yet.

If he's leaving, taking a year off then leaving does nothing to help the Lakers with that $50M cap hit for at least 23/24. If he were to formally retire, then come back later to play with Bronny, the Lakers would have his remaining cap hit lifted, but would still have his rights for one more year in case he did return.
 

trojanfan12

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I think that's mostly conjecture by the writers, as I don't believe Lebron's talked to anyone much yet.

If he's leaving, taking a year off then leaving does nothing to help the Lakers with that $50M cap hit for at least 23/24. If he were to formally retire, then come back later to play with Bronny, the Lakers would have his remaining cap hit lifted, but would still have his rights for one more year in case he did return.

Yeah, they were just talking about this on Dan Patrick. Apparently it's what ESPN is trying to push.
 

msgkings322

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that is the widespread belief.

2024 is also, right now, a perceived weak class.

Curious to see if Lebron is jus gonna take the hair cut to play with Bronny. It has been the talk for a while.

But man....that is a lot of money to walk away from lol
Relative to what he already has it's not. That's so freaking obvious and it's bizarre how some of you miss it. Of course a much less rich guy like Kyrie or Draymond or Westbrook or whoever wouldn't turn down $50 mil, but if you have a billion already and you have other strong priorities like playing with your son, the calculus changes. He's also on the way out, it would be different in his prime.
 

wingsauce7

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not the only reason they lost but it helped. for the series i think denver got every call they could. there was rarely any call they didnt get especially on offense. they got all the calls in denver which ok home court and all. but the same thing happened in LA. the jamal murray bs flagrant was repeated on lakers 3 times and they got nothing out of it. any 50-50 call where they could or might not make a call favoring denver they did call it 90 percent of the time. point to any denver missed calls where you can say they really got screwed there?
Give me a break brother. Everyone knows the way the refs favor LA. I'm not saying it happened in this series, but it's real.
 

shopson67

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Give me a break brother. Everyone knows the way the refs favor LA. I'm not saying it happened in this series, but it's real.

If it didn't happen in this series, when are you expecting it to happen? Throughout the regular season when they were under .500 until late? Every fan sees the missed calls against his team more than the missed calls committed by his team, the Lakers just have more haters than most.
 

Duffman

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The media: let’s focus 99% of our coverage on the big market teams and ones with a rich history.

Also the media: no one cares about small market teams it’s not our fault we don’t know about them or they’re not popular with the majority of NBA fans.
 

fightinfunbags

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The media: let’s focus 99% of our coverage on the big market teams and ones with a rich history.

Also the media: no one cares about small market teams it’s not our fault we don’t know about them or they’re not popular with the majority of NBA fans.
Half of the people in the Nuggets geographic area can’t even get access to local coverage of games for like 3-4 years because of a cable dispute. In real sports cities, that shit lasts a weekend before people scream bloody murder.
 

The Q

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Relative to what he already has it's not. That's so freaking obvious and it's bizarre how some of you miss it. Of course a much less rich guy like Kyrie or Draymond or Westbrook or whoever wouldn't turn down $50 mil, but if you have a billion already and you have other strong priorities like playing with your son, the calculus changes. He's also on the way out, it would be different in his prime.

I get it.

He also could’ve taken less at other points in time, like Miami, to have more depth (or picks to make a trade) and didn’t

He’s losing more with this than ever would’ve lost doing that

Who knows. Maybe he just takes the mle.

I get your point. It isn’t a lot right now. But every little bit helps
 

trojanfan12

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not the only reason they lost but it helped. for the series i think denver got every call they could. there was rarely any call they didnt get especially on offense. they got all the calls in denver which ok home court and all. but the same thing happened in LA. the jamal murray bs flagrant was repeated on lakers 3 times and they got nothing out of it. any 50-50 call where they could or might not make a call favoring denver they did call it 90 percent of the time. point to any denver missed calls where you can say they really got screwed there?

lol

No. The Lakers beat Memphis and the Warriors because they were bigger, stronger and more aggressive. They were able to dictate how the games would be played and they were able to defend without fouling. Meanwhile, the Grizz and Warriors were unable to defend without fouling.

Denver was the first team they saw that was able to match and even top the Lakers size and they were aggressive too. They also did the best job of attacking the Lakers lousy transition defense.

Even with all of that, you can make a case that the series could have just as easily been a Lakers sweep. But, as I posted earlier, the Lakers roster not coming together until the trade deadline caught up to them. At the end of those games, the Nuggets played like a cohesive unit while the Lakers played like 5 guys trying to make a play.

In short, the Nuggets were the better team, especially at the end of games.

That's why the Lakers lost.

The refs had absolutely nothing to do with it.
 

DJ

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lol

No. The Lakers beat Memphis and the Warriors because they were bigger, stronger and more aggressive. They were able to dictate how the games would be played and they were able to defend without fouling. Meanwhile, the Grizz and Warriors were unable to defend without fouling.

Denver was the first team they saw that was able to match and even top the Lakers size and they were aggressive too. They also did the best job of attacking the Lakers lousy transition defense.

Even with all of that, you can make a case that the series could have just as easily been a Lakers sweep. But, as I posted earlier, the Lakers roster not coming together until the trade deadline caught up to them. At the end of those games, the Nuggets played like a cohesive unit while the Lakers played like 5 guys trying to make a play.

In short, the Nuggets were the better team, especially at the end of games.

That's why the Lakers lost.

The refs had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Exactly.
 

DJ

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It is hilarious there is speculation that Irving could go to Phoenix.

Irving and KD 2.0? LOL.
 

trojanfan12

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Relative to what he already has it's not. That's so freaking obvious and it's bizarre how some of you miss it. Of course a much less rich guy like Kyrie or Draymond or Westbrook or whoever wouldn't turn down $50 mil, but if you have a billion already and you have other strong priorities like playing with your son, the calculus changes. He's also on the way out, it would be different in his prime.

Yeah, I get that $50 million is a lot to walk away from. But I'm not a billionaire, that's why it's hard for me to even fathom someone turning that down.

Unless someone else here is a billionaire (and if you are...PM me about a job. lol) they can't fathom it either.

But when I give it some thought...if I already was a billionaire, I was down to my last season or 2 and I had to go from being paid $50 million to $12-15 million to play those last 2 seasons with my son? Yeah, I could see doing that.

I'd just start charging him rent. lol
 

Retroram52

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Yep. It is becoming increasingly clear that despite James' reported pressuring, the Lakers will not sign Kyrie or trade for him.
 

trojanfan12

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Yep. It is becoming increasingly clear that despite James' reported pressuring, the Lakers will not sign Kyrie or trade for him.

Yeah, it seems unlikely despite how hard ESPN is trying to push the narrative. The funny thing is, if there were a way to keep his crazy in check, he provides just about everything the Lakers needed to beat the Nuggets (playmaking and hitting shots late in games) and didn't have.

With the right tweaks, a full training camp and a little injury luck, the Lakers could easily contend again next year. Unfortunately, Kyrie is more likely to screw that up with his crazy than he is to help it with his actual play on the court.

I think Dan Patrick nailed it yesterday. He said that if they can find a way to keep Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura and get Kyrie...then maybe they entertain getting Kyrie. But he said that even then, they're probably better off just adding two more Reaves and Rui level players.
 

shopson67

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The media: let’s focus 99% of our coverage on the big market teams and ones with a rich history.

Also the media: no one cares about small market teams it’s not our fault we don’t know about them or they’re not popular with the majority of NBA fans.

I loved how Chuck and the crew discussed how the Nuggets didn't get enough respect from the media as if they weren't implicitly involved in that lol.
 
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