Westbrook wasnt a bad pickup. He provided 13-6-5 off the bench on a veteran minimum which is honestly fantastic value. He was also the only other player than Jokic who could run an offense. He’s nowhere near as bad as the Saric and Nnaji signings.

No one will tell me he was bad for a minimum, was their 6th best man the whole year

Yeah Booth was way too interested in his prospects to go out and get Westbrook. He wanted Westbrook benched for Pickett

Maybe not the best word choice, but they won’t renew is you light them on fire in advance.

He traded a first and 3 seconds for DaRon Holmes.

He traded a top-5 protected for Strawther.

He basically just threw draft picks in, but not to get proven guys. It was to get young guys who weren’t super highly regarded. Watson was the 30th pick. Strawther was picked 29. Booth was basically like “I’ll give you a likely lottery pick in a few seasons if you give me the chance to pick a guy at the very end of the first round, who isn’t likely to be ready to contribute for years, or even pan out at all. That’s how I’m going to address our immediate needs”.

So unbelievably stupid.

Every time people bitched about Westbrook, I just had to assume they were forgetting what he was being paid.

Oh definitely. I didn’t mean that was his biggest mistake. Russ’ signing was fine. Booth made plenty of big mistakes.

My point was more that after truly just throwing away picks for no good reason and falling in love with his own draft picks to a ridiculous degree, they went into this season really needing an upgrade. Not a single person looked at their roster and thought “you know, I think Watson and Strawther will hold up fine in the Finals this year.” Booth needed to do something to upgrade the roster to take advantage of Jokic’s prime. Signing Russ for the vet minimum was his move. It was… not enough.

Booth was really bad.

Not if you trade them away in advance, which Booth did recklessly.

He’s actually perfect for a young team trying to draft. He’s a great scout and even better at tanking his team with his FA signings. As soon as you’re close to taking the next step, you fire him for a good GM

That’s the prevailing theory. But he definitely has a different connection with Sabonis than he does with any other guys in this league. Very different vibe of being the backup to a friend rather than being the backup to some guy, even if that guy is the MVP.

Charu4lokos is legit tho

Yes, that usually happens when the bench gives up the lead the starting 5 gave them. In the Nuggs/Thunder series, the Nuggs starting 5 out scored the Thunders. The Thunder bench won that series for them. Jokic was also very tired at the end of the games in the latter part of their series. I just want him to rest because that means their bench is playing okay.

It’s in the CBA. NBA rights only apply to the NBA.

It’s a system that assumes the absolute global market dominance of the NBA.

It’s also why LeBron’s business partner got so much attention for his plans to found a rival league.

It would work. If he wanted to come back to the NBA, the team he was on last still has his rights.

From what I understand this is what happened but who knows

Yeah because he was asked what he wanted. 

All there is to know is that he evidently can get more than the Nuggets are willing to give him. He’s in a situation he didn’t ask for so by not giving him what he can get elsewhere or by not letting him go in return for money, you just fuck him up because it’s convenient to you. So it would be totally ok if he fucks them up in return by not a giving a fuck.

This is the only place on reddit where workers rights are endlessly demeaned. In any other industry you just know you would be on the player side of this. He should be allowed to quit his job that he doesn’t like in a foreign country and go home if he wants. But I guess it changes when you’re an athlete

The question is how many players will “weasel” out of the contract, i.e. not accept NBA money to play

Weasel? He plans on giving up his entire guaranteed salary because he/his family wants to go back to Europe and not be traded again. He’s giving up the money so he can get his freedom.

Yep. I can already see the scenario. JV doesn’t make any effort, they put him on the bench without any minutes and he still gets his 10 million. Sounds like a W for the player.

There’s no scenario where Nuggets end up being the winners by keeping him against his will

Yeah lmao I feel like you have to make special considerations when the situation is “guy you traded for quit the league to play in a different country”

As a Panathinaikos fan, our owner is not in the same realm as Kroenke. Although as a percentage of his wealth he definitely cares/spends more

He was tackled and handcuffed and dragged out, call it what you will but it doesn’t change the point that ICE with their $150B budget and the Nazis in charge don’t give a fuck about how much you make or what your social status is.

Yeah but $12 million over 3 years. If he plays well in Denver he could easily get more in the nba