Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[KillerLeft]

I have to admit, this was my thought on him until some guys were saying his defense and rebounding are good and his offense needs a new team.

He's the exact right, ideal TYPE of player, imo. That's why I've been so into him over the years. And, I be he grabs some rebounds from time to time just based on his elite combo of size and movement ability. He's the prototypical dream, physically. 

I don't know if I agree about the defense, however. I don't think he's ever really learned to play basketball, which includes realizing his defensive potential. I for sure think he's unplayable on offense. The Bulls have kept playing him because they drafted him 4th, so they kind of had to just keep hoping he'd start to figure it out. But, everyone I've heard talk about him, guys like Holinger, Duncan, Lowe and others (not the end-all-be-all, but for sure guys who actually watch these guys play before speaking) have basically given up on him. He's kind of a punch line, frankly. 

Even if we don't buy that, what I can't get past is that the Mavs already have a guy with that, exact set of physical tools (which, again, is all there is to like about Patrick Williams). And by all accounts, their guy, O-Max, is a great person with a great work ethic. I really, truly think O-Max is closer to being a contributor on a good team than Patrick Williams is. 

Having said that...I bet Williams could be gotten VERY cheaply.

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I also agree the Mavs need to take some time to figure out if Maxi could be the switchable 4 with size we need already. But I will say his shot looks so broken it makes me wary. Im not sure what happened to him but he's developed this hitch in his shot and it looks awful. And I can't even blame the toe injury because he was shooting like that at the beginning of the season.

Ok. Valid.

But, the whole time he was out, people were acting like he'd never be a good defender again. I don't know about you, but he looked pretty damn good on defense to me the past two games. I feel pretty confident they'll get the shot figured out, too. 

If they want to move him for a better or more consistently available player I won't object, but I feel that Kleber has some high level basketball left in him.