Marcin JBL

Luka Magic 🪄

[Jovan Buha @jovanbuha]

My extended thoughts on the Lakers’ moves today (for those who didn’t catch my stream):

— I think the primary goal should’ve been to land a long-term piece next to Luka and Austin. There was no scenario in which the Lakers built a team as good as OKC's or SAS's in one offseason (especially after losing LeBron). They landed that foundational player in Walker Kessler, my top offseason target (at any position) and clear top C. Perfect fit. Franchise cornerstone who can be top 5 in FG%, rebounds, and blocks next season. Monster on both ends. Love the signing. Think the AAV is fair and in line with market value, especially re: poaching him in restricted free agency. From that perspective, the offseason is an unequivocal success. I give the Kessler trade an A (would’ve liked to have kept one pick and/or one swap out of it -- trade price was high). Add in Deandre Ayton and Mamu, and I think the Lakers have one of the strongest center cores in the league.

-- I also think the FO deserves credit for emptying the clip and going all-in for Kessler. The price was high, but I've criticized them for years for refusing to trade picks and meet some of the asking prices for young starters. It's only right to commend them when they actually do it. They went three transactional cycles with Luka without adding a high-level young starter. They finally did that.

— As for the other three moves, I like all three players individually, particularly on the offensive end. I see the vision there. Collectively, they check a ton of boxes: youth, speed, shooting, dynamism, ball-handling/playmaking, rebounding (Mamu). This can be a top-five, if not even top-three, offense.

-- At the same time, I view all three players as largely bench-level guys on a true contender. I view Grimes as a fringe starter/6MOY type, and Mamu and Sexton as high-level bench players. As of right now, two of those three project to start. It's similar to last season, when multiple guys were slotted into higher roles than they should've been (Smart, Rui, and Ayton).

-- I think LA overpaid each player by roughly $1M-$2M in AAV, based on the market and similar signings. Not the worst thing in the world, but I also don’t understand why those contracts also came with player options. Should’ve only been POs with lower AAV deals (or fewer years). Or the agreed-to AAV with no POs. Feels like they paid max market value on each player + gave the PO on top. Perhaps that had to do with waiting on Kessler S&T, but I think they needed to negotiate the AAV or PO down.

— I’m probably lower than consensus on Grimes. But I’ve come more around to the signing. I just think that, for now, they’re asking him to be: 1) the No. 3 option on a title contender, and 2) the defensive stopper on a title contender. I’m not sure either one of those is an appropriate ask of him. I think a proper slotting would be him as the fourth-best offensive player and the No. 2, or even 3, defender in a starting group. Offensively, he's an amazing fit, and the Lakers haven't had a role player with that skill set in years. Defensively, he'll need to channel his best stretches of defense far more consistently. Even then, I don't think he can be the best POA or wing defender on a title team (which he currently is among LA's top 7 players).

— Love Mamu’s game and skill set. Just don’t think he’s a starter on a contender -- especially defensively. The Lakers are now set up to have him or Luka defend wings that play at the 4. Not ideal. If the Lakers add a 4 and move him into a third big role, I love the fit and see the vision. He can shoot, pass, drive, and rebound. He’s going to unlock a ton for them offensively in two-big looks or as the single big. I think it’s close between him and Rui, but I understand why they picked him. He has a more well-rounded game. He's the one that I have the most issue with contract-wise. That deal should have been 3 years at $39M, or 4 years at $40M, with no PO (same AAV on the shorter deal or a lower AAV on the 4-year deal).

— Sexton is the signing I have the most reservations about. I think the Lakers would’ve been better served spending less $ — or even the same $ — retaining Marcus Smart or signing Kelly Oubre Jr. Both are much better defenders than Sexton, and could switch between POA and wing stopper roles at a higher level. Sexton is the better offensive player — better scorer/passer/shooter — but the Lakers’ obvious weakness with a Luka/AR/Kessler core is perimeter defense. I get the appeal of a scoring bench guard; I just think that archetype is easier to find than a (playable) wing/POA stopper. You can find the former on min deals every summer. You can't get the latter — most of the min. defenders aren't playoff-level guys. You can’t solve every hole in one transaction cycle, but the Lakers once again prioritized a small, offensive-minded guard over adding wing/perimeter defense. Sexton’s reputation as a defender is far beyond his actual defense. Even in the best-case scenario, he’s a 6-2 guard with switching limitations. The Lakers need good defenders in the 6-6 to 6-9 range. I would feel much better about this roster with Smart or Oubre in Sexton's place.

— The Lakers didn’t address the wing defense for the sixth consecutive offseason (post 2020-21 season). It’s been a real blind spot for them post-KCP/Caruso. Grimes and Sexton are not good enough to be the primary POAs/wing stoppers on a title team. If you consider the Lakers a top 10 team (which I still do), I think they have the worst collection of 1-4 defensive talent among those teams by a decent margin (NYK, SAS, OKC, TOR, PHI, DEN, MIN, HOU & DET). That’s before mentioning CLE, ORL, PHX, POR, etc. DEN is maybe the exception -- depending on their offseason -- but I’d still take Gordon or Watson over any Laker perimeter defender by a good margin.

-- I believe Kessler can be in the non-Wemby/Gobert conversation for best rim-protector in the league. He'll put out some of these fires, and is a massive upgrade over Ayton/Hayes. LA was the second-worst rim-protecting team in the NBA last season. That won't be the case this season. At the same time, he's not Wemby. He's not an elite defensive system in and of himself. He needs support. And the Lakers have built a rotation that is basically, "Let Kessler save us."

-- There are three wild cards in all of this: Adou Thiero, Cameron Carr, and Jake LaRavia. Adou and Carr have the athleticism and defensive upside LA desperately needs. Perhaps one of them pops and quells some of these concerns. I think that's a big ask for a second- and/or first-year player, respectively, but that's the challenge ahead. LaRavia's shot and offensive confidence declined over the second half of last season, and if he can return to shooting like SAC/MEM (high 30s), he can be a bench stopgap.

-- For those mentioning Vando, JJ has never used Vando as anything more than a 9th man when the team has been healthy over the past two seasons. They have clearly not clicked. JJ values shooting above almost all else. Perhaps LA is injured enough for Vando to factor in more, but I believe Jake will be ahead of him (again), and Adou and Carr may even be given opportunities ahead of him as well. This is all before factoring in the possibility that LA might trade him at some point.

-- Overall, I commend LA for going all-in for Kessler. They added their center of the future and a third foundational piece. I think they also added three high-level bench players, albeit on contracts that are far more player-friendly than team-friendly. I think they've probably taken a step back from last season. It's been a successful offseason, but I think they need to start prioritizing perimeter defense more seriously and look beyond players whose primary strength is having a bag.

-- As for comparing this group to last season, I don't think the new starting group or bench is as cohesive as last season's group. I think LA has 7 guys who could play in a series vs. NYK/OKC/SAS. Last season, I believe they also had 7, but they had more top-end talent with LeBron. Maybe Kessler is transformative enough defensively to offset that. I could be wrong. I think this group has a higher floor than last season's but a lower ceiling.

[Molly Morrison @mollyhannahm]

I wrote about Ja.

https://t.co/zYiS6ZmxYd

[książulo @ksiazulo]

Gołębiewski w Pobierowie czyli 4843 zł za dobę (3os) :
- w pokoju ok. 32 stopnie (niedziałająca klimatyzacja)
- 315zł opłaty za „przyniesienie” jedzenia do pokoju (dopłata do room service)
- żółta woda w wannie.
Cały materiał z testu hotelu👇
https://t.co/nrVQoRDrZf

[The Culturist @the_culturist_]

I don't think anybody really grasps how desperate this situation is.

University professors are now saying they are unable to teach history because reading long books and passages is how a person learns history. College kids are incapable of reading more than a few pages.

Some classes don't assign any reading at all now, only lectures.

There is an assumption among the people managing this decline that reading is just a way of receiving information. It isn't. Proper reading is how we build the mental muscle to synthesize ideas and evaluate them.

If the catastrophic decline in reading and literacy is not addressed now, we risk losing everything.

Western civilization cannot survive the death of reading because it was built by people with the kind of cognitive depth that a culture of deep reading brings:

Complex reasoning, extended internal dialogue, the capacity to hold opposing ideas in tension. Our systems and institutions are complex, and they require well ordered minds to maintain them.

Reading forms minds, and the West was built by the richest minds in history.

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@LukaDonkicks Are there any details re the events esp in Ljubljana?

[Jovan Buha @jovanbuha]

Everything you need to know about the Lakers' offseason:

-- LA's offseason roster-building paths
-- LA's needs + free agent & trade targets
-- LA's projected FAs + roster entering offszn
-- LA's trade assets
-- Key dates + decisions and much more

Wach: https://t.co/CXQsEqL4uc

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@wyjazdowy Na sierpień będą bliżej sierpnia? :)

[Evan Sidery @esidery]

The Mavericks received the following for Jalen Brunson and Luka Doncic leaving:

Brunson: Nothing

Doncic: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 unprotected 1st (via Lakers)

Two colossal mistakes that will haunt the franchise for years to come.

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

The sheet of faces taped to his camera is there because, up close under the lights, NBA players barely look like their team photos. So the second an announcer says a name, he gets a split second to find that exact guy in a tangle of moving bodies and swing the camera onto him.

And finding the player is the easy part. He's running three jobs at once that a movie crew would split between three people. With one hand he aims a heavy camera and works the zoom. With the other he keeps the shot in focus. The whole time, a director is talking in his ear, calling out what to grab next, and none of it gets a second take. On a real film set, there's a person whose only job, all day long, is keeping the picture sharp. For this guy, focus is just one of the things he's juggling at once.

The lens itself works against him. The long lenses used for live sports can fill the whole screen with a single player standing at the far end of the court, and the good ones cost as much as a Lamborghini. The more he zooms in, the thinner the strip of court that stays in focus. Zoom in tight, and only a few inches are sharp. A player leans in for a layup, drifts half a step, and just like that, he's a blur.

So he can't just follow the ball. By the time his eyes catch a pass and his hands react, the shot's already soft. He has to guess. He reads the play a beat early and aims the focus where the ball is about to go, like a point guard firing a pass to a spot before his teammate even gets there. One of Canon's top lens engineers summed it up: he said he wouldn't want to be the one keeping a snowboarder sharp on a halfpipe with the whole world watching.

Wemby is the best athlete in that building. But the guy making sure you never miss a second of him might be the one person in there nobody's supposed to notice.

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@Piegziu Dokładnie tak powinno funkcjonować społeczeństwo

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@M_Robertson100 What a fun group that was. Awesome season even without a title. Never felt the same joy watching nba afterwards….

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@realDynastyPL Mavs nie Magic! I oni wygrali

[LakersMuse @LALMuse]

JJ Redick blamed the Lakers mistakes in OT on himself and then praised the ENTIRE team for the win after that 🤝

This is why we love JJ 💜💛

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

What a game.

[vibesmerchants @m_rch_nts]

that was the most pathetic pump fake i've ever seen

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@dj__keynote Zgadzam się , to przeoczenie

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

Check out my NBA Awards Ballot on RealGM https://t.co/EGSI1rbCBW

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@mikolajdymek Pistons in 5
Celtics in 5
Knicks in 6
Cavs in 5

OKC in 4
Spurs in 4
Nuggets in 6
Rockets in 5

[Marcin JBL @MarcinJBL]

@mikolajdymek Ja chcę