LaMelo Ball Games Played Prediction Thread for 26-27 Season

[Monster]

Lamelo's injury history is the most concerning thing about this trade. Hopefully he can put that behind him with the Wolves award winning medical staff.

I agree, Monster, but it's encouraging that he is young and played 72 games last season.

I just hope the team is smart with him. This past season they limited his minutes to around 30mpg. With the Wolves having Ayo (and TSJ) they should easily be able to keep Ball's minutes in that range.

In a recent podcast Jon K did make a comment about Ball that the Wolves staff have won awards and the Wolves have all the resources available to them. He said something like Charlotte hasn't had those type of resources the past few years. Idk if that's true but it's a more interesting comment today.

[TheGrey08]

I just hope the team is smart with him. This past season they limited his minutes to around 30mpg. With the Wolves having Ayo (and TSJ) they should easily be able to keep Ball's minutes in that range.

In a recent podcast Jon K did make a comment about Ball that the Wolves staff have won awards and the Wolves have all the resources available to them. He said something like Charlotte hasn't had those type of resources the past few years. Idk if that's true but it's a more interesting comment today.

Yeah very good point with the staff, plus Ant and him will no doubt talk about staying healthy, recovery, etc since Ant has been heavily invested into that the past couple years. I didn't know they were friends before today, but that's another plus.

[D-Loser25]

There's still a lot for me to unpack regarding this latest move. I've only caught/read headlines. I make no secret of the fact that Naz was one of my favorite players...so my initial thoughts are not great. It was just last night that I started trying to put a positive spin on the Randle dump by realizing it might lead to Naz starting at PF this season.

I'm also a little concerned with the draft capital going out on a lot of TC moves. It's starting to remind me of (former) Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah. I look at sending out future draft picks as like spending on a credit card. Yes, it can work short term on occasion. But it's generally not a recipe for long term success. We shall see....I gotta read up more on this when I have more time. And it seems like there are still more moves coming, so I will just take a deep breathe and let the dust settle.

Hey! You stole the credit card line from me . It’s so true though. I don’t think this guy is anywhere near as smart as he’s given credit for.

[guest81]

There's still a lot for me to unpack regarding this latest move. I've only caught/read headlines. I make no secret of the fact that Naz was one of my favorite players...so my initial thoughts are not great. It was just last night that I started trying to put a positive spin on the Randle dump by realizing it might lead to Naz starting at PF this season.

I'm also a little concerned with the draft capital going out on a lot of TC moves. It's starting to remind me of (former) Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah. I look at sending out future draft picks as like spending on a credit card. Yes, it can work short term on occasion. But it's generally not a recipe for long term success. We shall see....I gotta read up more on this when I have more time. And it seems like there are still more moves coming, so I will just take a deep breathe and let the dust settle.

All of their core is under 25 and on long term contracts including a top 5 player, a top defender, and a top 10 point guard. But yea sure they won't be able to draft 27th in 4 years from now.

[Q-is-here]

There's still a lot for me to unpack regarding this latest move. I've only caught/read headlines. I make no secret of the fact that Naz was one of my favorite players...so my initial thoughts are not great. It was just last night that I started trying to put a positive spin on the Randle dump by realizing it might lead to Naz starting at PF this season.

I'm also a little concerned with the draft capital going out on a lot of TC moves. It's starting to remind me of (former) Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah. I look at sending out future draft picks as like spending on a credit card. Yes, it can work short term on occasion. But it's generally not a recipe for long term success. We shall see....I gotta read up more on this when I have more time. And it seems like there are still more moves coming, so I will just take a deep breathe and let the dust settle.

All of their core is under 25 and on long term contracts including a top 5 player, a top defender, and a top 10 point guard. But yea sure they won't be able to draft 27th in 4 years from now.

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.

[Carlos Danger]

There's still a lot for me to unpack regarding this latest move. I've only caught/read headlines. I make no secret of the fact that Naz was one of my favorite players...so my initial thoughts are not great. It was just last night that I started trying to put a positive spin on the Randle dump by realizing it might lead to Naz starting at PF this season.

I'm also a little concerned with the draft capital going out on a lot of TC moves. It's starting to remind me of (former) Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah. I look at sending out future draft picks as like spending on a credit card. Yes, it can work short term on occasion. But it's generally not a recipe for long term success. We shall see....I gotta read up more on this when I have more time. And it seems like there are still more moves coming, so I will just take a deep breathe and let the dust settle.

All of their core is under 25 and on long term contracts including a top 5 player, a top defender, and a top 10 point guard. But yea sure they won't be able to draft 27th in 4 years from now.

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.

[AussieWolf3]

All of their core is under 25 and on long term contracts including a top 5 player, a top defender, and a top 10 point guard. But yea sure they won't be able to draft 27th in 4 years from now.

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.

Thats one way of putting it....

Or you could say you added a player at THE position of need who is the same age as your superstar and under contract for just as long who had the 9th highest ORTG and 4th highest OFF on/off. He makes significantly less than Kat and his peak years are ahead of him and not behind him.

Ball is an extremely polarizing player so it's no surprise that opinions are really divided but I promise you that if we covered up the names (Kat, Randle and Ball) and all you saw were the ages, stats and contracts you'd all say the Wolves ended up with best player among those combined factors

I'm no real fan of Ball and have honestly watched very little of him play, but his underlying metrics throughout his career are VERY VERY good and everything about this move makes so much sense on paper.

[Q-is-here]

All of their core is under 25 and on long term contracts including a top 5 player, a top defender, and a top 10 point guard. But yea sure they won't be able to draft 27th in 4 years from now.

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!

[TAFKASP]

I'm going with 50, as per my usual. It has to hit at some point, right?

[Carlos Danger]

There's still a lot for me to unpack regarding this latest move. I've only caught/read headlines. I make no secret of the fact that Naz was one of my favorite players...so my initial thoughts are not great. It was just last night that I started trying to put a positive spin on the Randle dump by realizing it might lead to Naz starting at PF this season.

I'm also a little concerned with the draft capital going out on a lot of TC moves. It's starting to remind me of (former) Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah. I look at sending out future draft picks as like spending on a credit card. Yes, it can work short term on occasion. But it's generally not a recipe for long term success. We shall see....I gotta read up more on this when I have more time. And it seems like there are still more moves coming, so I will just take a deep breathe and let the dust settle.

Hey! You stole the credit card line from me . It’s so true though. I don’t think this guy is anywhere near as smart as he’s given credit for.

Sorry - if you posted that earlier (and it sounds like you did) I give you full credit. I was all onboard the TC train the first few years but I'm now starting to pump the brakes. He deserves credit for helping turning around a failing franchise. But I'm struggling with some of his more recent moves which seem like mistakes to me.