LaMelo Ball Games Played Prediction Thread for 26-27 Season

[Carlos Danger]

Also, how much draft capital do the Knicks have? Oh, they didn't bother to check since they are still celebrating their NBA title!

As Drew said in his earlier white paper, it's value that matters. If this team ends up falling on its face and we have guys that want out, then it's probably time to re-build. Well, guess what? Look at the individual components of the team. It's like carving up a conglomerate whose total equity value is less than the sum of its parts (think Motorola, GE, DuPont, and ITT for those of you that love the world of investment banking! I know you're out there!).

Ant, Jaden, and Ball would all still hold significant trade market value in 2-5 years in the event this thing just falls apart, as they will still all be in their prime. OKC made a mint from selling off Russell Westbrook and Paul George when that team couldn't get very far. They now have an embarassment of riches, much of which can be traced back to trading those two guys.

Yeah, well, we are not OKC. Here's what we got for our star player: DDV, Julius Randle and Joan. And now we got nothing for Randle. DDV is hurt. And Joan we still have no idea about. So...pretty much the opposite of an embarrassment of riches. It's easy to say "we can spin them off for big hauls". But how's that worked out for this franchise? KG? Love? KAT?

I know TC isn't done. But as of this moment, I am not convinced the roster (as it stands now) could win more games than the roster we had to end last year (with Ayo). We've lost three of the top scorers from last season (Randle, Reid and DDV). We've added Ball and a couple of 2nd round picks.

TC still has plenty of work to do IMO.

It's simply not true that we got nothing for Randle when trading him has opened up the cap flexibility to go get a superior talent. Also, you do realize that LaMelo scores the basketball too?

We didn't have Ayo for most of last season, so I consider him an addition to the roster as well.

And finally, don't sleep on Josh Green, who was a valuable bench wing for Charlotte last year and had one of the best Net Ratings on the team.

Losing DDV definitely hurt and still does. That's certainly not Tim Connelly's fault!

What are we doing here? Ummm...yes. I do know LaMelo scores the basketball. You think he's going to score 3,700 points this season? Because that's what the combo of Randle, Naz and DDV scored. The most Ball has ever scored in one season is 1,500. Where's the other 2,200 points going to come from just to cover what we did last year?

[BeenLurkin]

Yeah, well, we are not OKC. Here's what we got for our star player: DDV, Julius Randle and Joan. And now we got nothing for Randle. DDV is hurt. And Joan we still have no idea about. So...pretty much the opposite of an embarrassment of riches. It's easy to say "we can spin them off for big hauls". But how's that worked out for this franchise? KG? Love? KAT?

I know TC isn't done. But as of this moment, I am not convinced the roster (as it stands now) could win more games than the roster we had to end last year (with Ayo). We've lost three of the top scorers from last season (Randle, Reid and DDV). We've added Ball and a couple of 2nd round picks.

TC still has plenty of work to do IMO.

It's simply not true that we got nothing for Randle when trading him has opened up the cap flexibility to go get a superior talent. Also, you do realize that LaMelo scores the basketball too?

We didn't have Ayo for most of last season, so I consider him an addition to the roster as well.

And finally, don't sleep on Josh Green, who was a valuable bench wing for Charlotte last year and had one of the best Net Ratings on the team.

Losing DDV definitely hurt and still does. That's certainly not Tim Connelly's fault!

What are we doing here? Ummm...yes. I do know LaMelo scores the basketball. You think he's going to score 3,700 points this season? Because that's what the combo of Randle, Naz and DDV scored. The most Ball has ever scored in one season is 1,500. Where's the other 2,200 points going to come from just to cover what we did last year?

Can we get Jason Giambi And David Justice to come in a get on base for us?

[BeenLurkin]

But for real, TJ and Ayo will help the scoring, Jaden needs to become more of a scorer. And ball should add 5 points a game to Ants scoring by way of getting him good looks.

[Carlos Danger]

But for real, TJ and Ayo will help the scoring, Jaden needs to become more of a scorer. And ball should add 5 points a game to Ants scoring by way of getting him good looks.

I agree we can hope on those things to happen. Jaden especially has shown flashes including the playoffs that he has the ability to score more. Ball is going to help, but I feel we are still short as of this moment considering we are down three guys who scored a lot of points for us last season. I know TC isn't done. We shall see.

[Lipoli390]

Yeah, well, we are not OKC. Here's what we got for our star player: DDV, Julius Randle and Joan. And now we got nothing for Randle. DDV is hurt. And Joan we still have no idea about. So...pretty much the opposite of an embarrassment of riches. It's easy to say "we can spin them off for big hauls". But how's that worked out for this franchise? KG? Love? KAT?

I know TC isn't done. But as of this moment, I am not convinced the roster (as it stands now) could win more games than the roster we had to end last year (with Ayo). We've lost three of the top scorers from last season (Randle, Reid and DDV). We've added Ball and a couple of 2nd round picks.

TC still has plenty of work to do IMO.

It's simply not true that we got nothing for Randle when trading him has opened up the cap flexibility to go get a superior talent. Also, you do realize that LaMelo scores the basketball too?

We didn't have Ayo for most of last season, so I consider him an addition to the roster as well.

And finally, don't sleep on Josh Green, who was a valuable bench wing for Charlotte last year and had one of the best Net Ratings on the team.

Losing DDV definitely hurt and still does. That's certainly not Tim Connelly's fault!

What are we doing here? Ummm...yes. I do know LaMelo scores the basketball. You think he's going to score 3,700 points this season? Because that's what the combo of Randle, Naz and DDV scored. The most Ball has ever scored in one season is 1,500. Where's the other 2,200 points going to come from just to cover what we did last year?

I guess we could have run it back with Randle, Naz and DDV but without DDV. We were going to deal with the loss of DDV no matter what. And I’ll note that we didn’t have Ayo until the end of the season. Admittedly the Wolves face a challenge. Instead of starting the season with Randle, Naz and DDV, they’re starting the season with Ball, Ayo, Green and Evans. I guess we can think about how many total points each of those four will score. If TSJ isn’t injured most of next season like he was last season, then we should add his points to the total. If basketball is more than totaling each player’s average points, we can also consider the synergistic impact of having an elite playmaker who statistically elevates the scoring of his teammates.

I’m certainly concerned about this trade, but not terribly concerned about scoring. I’m more concerned about Ball’s durability and his defense. Heck I’m concerned about Ant’s defense too. Both of then need to be more consistently intense and smarter defensively to optimize this team’s chances of success. I would think they’ll both have far more energy to devote to the defensive end because both of then will have an elite offensive teammate to share the team’s offensive burden.

[Monster]

It's simply not true that we got nothing for Randle when trading him has opened up the cap flexibility to go get a superior talent. Also, you do realize that LaMelo scores the basketball too?

We didn't have Ayo for most of last season, so I consider him an addition to the roster as well.

And finally, don't sleep on Josh Green, who was a valuable bench wing for Charlotte last year and had one of the best Net Ratings on the team.

Losing DDV definitely hurt and still does. That's certainly not Tim Connelly's fault!

What are we doing here? Ummm...yes. I do know LaMelo scores the basketball. You think he's going to score 3,700 points this season? Because that's what the combo of Randle, Naz and DDV scored. The most Ball has ever scored in one season is 1,500. Where's the other 2,200 points going to come from just to cover what we did last year?

I guess we could have run it back with Randle, Naz and DDV but without DDV. We were going to deal with the loss of DDV no matter what. And I’ll note that we didn’t have Ayo until the end of the season. Admittedly the Wolves face a challenge. Instead of starting the season with Randle, Naz and DDV, they’re starting the season with Ball, Ayo, Green and Evans. I guess we can think about how many total points each of those four will score. If TSJ isn’t injured most of next season like he was last season, then we should add his points to the total. If basketball is more than totaling each player’s average points, we can also consider the synergistic impact of having an elite playmaker who statistically elevates the scoring of his teammates.

I’m certainly concerned about this trade, but not terribly concerned about scoring. I’m more concerned about Ball’s durability and his defense. Heck I’m concerned about Ant’s defense too. Both of then need to be more consistently intense and smarter defensively to optimize this team’s chances of success. I would think they’ll both have far more energy to devote to the defensive end because both of then will have an elite offensive teammate to share the team’s offensive burden.

A couple other smaller factors to a reasonable question about scoring :

Gobert's scoring will go up and might be even more efficient (which is saying something) with Ball getting him more good looks.

Conley will likely play less than last year and he was almost non-existent in the scoring column for a chunk of the season.

The Wolves will likely add another reasonably significant contributor in the frontcourt who will probably add to the offensive output.

[Mnwild1128]

Game 2 season ending acl tear.

[Wolvesfan21]

It's simply not true that we got nothing for Randle when trading him has opened up the cap flexibility to go get a superior talent. Also, you do realize that LaMelo scores the basketball too?

We didn't have Ayo for most of last season, so I consider him an addition to the roster as well.

And finally, don't sleep on Josh Green, who was a valuable bench wing for Charlotte last year and had one of the best Net Ratings on the team.

Losing DDV definitely hurt and still does. That's certainly not Tim Connelly's fault!

What are we doing here? Ummm...yes. I do know LaMelo scores the basketball. You think he's going to score 3,700 points this season? Because that's what the combo of Randle, Naz and DDV scored. The most Ball has ever scored in one season is 1,500. Where's the other 2,200 points going to come from just to cover what we did last year?

I guess we could have run it back with Randle, Naz and DDV but without DDV. We were going to deal with the loss of DDV no matter what. And I’ll note that we didn’t have Ayo until the end of the season. Admittedly the Wolves face a challenge. Instead of starting the season with Randle, Naz and DDV, they’re starting the season with Ball, Ayo, Green and Evans. I guess we can think about how many total points each of those four will score. If TSJ isn’t injured most of next season like he was last season, then we should add his points to the total. If basketball is more than totaling each player’s average points, we can also consider the synergistic impact of having an elite playmaker who statistically elevates the scoring of his teammates.

I’m certainly concerned about this trade, but not terribly concerned about scoring. I’m more concerned about Ball’s durability and his defense. Heck I’m concerned about Ant’s defense too. Both of then need to be more consistently intense and smarter defensively to optimize this team’s chances of success. I would think they’ll both have far more energy to devote to the defensive end because both of then will have an elite offensive teammate to share the team’s offensive burden.

Could we package DDV and Green for a 4/5?