I'm not convinced either Ivring or KD will ever stay healthy again or even be as good as they were before, so even assuming they keep all 3 in this deal, I think they still run into plenty of problems, health, play and cohesion wise, to where it's not gonna be the super team some people might think.
We will still be looking to acquire players once FA opens, but this team also has way more ammo now for something like a deadline day trade. I can see Richardson playing more like he did with the Heat, which will make his and THJ's expirings valuable (assuming THJ continues his shooting from last season). Plus all 3 draftees can contribute straight away IMO and will be like the draft capital we lost in the KP trade in terms of tradeable pieces if there is a chance to acquire a big fish in a trade.
(11-18-2020, 05:01 AM)omahen Wrote:Its still all reliant on Luka taking the next step. The only two big questions left for him development wise are shooting and defense. If we see genuine improvement on both those fronts this season (I definitely saw defensive improvement in the bubble), IMO he can carry this team on his own back to the 5 seed even with KP missing a bunch of games.(11-18-2020, 04:49 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: Lakers/GSW/Denver/Clips are all locks. I think the Mavs can be a top 5 seed for sure now that OKC has taken a step back and HOU is on the verge of imploding.
Without improving, I don't think that is realistic thinking, especially with KP missing significant number of games. Phoenix and Portland are considerably better than they were last season, especially taking account their key players were missing huge numbers of games. Utah was better than Mavs last season and are probably running it again with the same team.
We will still be looking to acquire players once FA opens, but this team also has way more ammo now for something like a deadline day trade. I can see Richardson playing more like he did with the Heat, which will make his and THJ's expirings valuable (assuming THJ continues his shooting from last season). Plus all 3 draftees can contribute straight away IMO and will be like the draft capital we lost in the KP trade in terms of tradeable pieces if there is a chance to acquire a big fish in a trade.