frankw

When the Raiders and Jets don't even want you anymore you're toast. Hope he's been saving.

He can fug right off somewhere else for that kind of money.

I hadn't heard this but I appreciate the info. I could not agree more I despise that MFer. But he is one of the better offensive minds in league history so I will listen to what he has to say if he is truthfully assessing our situation. And yes he is correct.

Yeah our FO has absolutely no poker face when it comes to the draft. This should be plainly obvious to anyone paying attention. But all that aside as for the topic at hand if we pick Warren I think he will be a stud for us.

I think it depends on where the money is going. Obviously our secondary needs work but the Dline should be the key focal point and it would be unrealistic to expect it to get better overnight with rookies. In general nothing is being "fixed" in a single offseason but we can and should use free agency strategically. But we also cannot overpay from the jump like we did last offseason. That will be a recipe for another mess. Long time fans know how these stories go.

I agree it's time to reset the RB room outside of Hubbard. I also imagine the decision makers have seen other teams around the league getting high quality production out of mid round and undrafted RB's. Example the Buccaneers with 4th round pick Bucky Irving. All I can do is hope Dan Morgan learned a very tough lesson in his first year.

The right answer.

It's cool he was in involved in the Mahomes pick and I am optimistic about hiring him but that honestly doesn't even move the needle for me. Show me something with this draft and then we'll go from there.

At this juncture we have hope for the future but that's it. Absolutely no reason to even consider something like this right now. And it should also be pointed out the entire reason for trading up for a 22 year old QB is to get maximum value out of their rookie deal. We've already invested upwards of $150 million in the oline. Are there people out there that actually think we can afford to toss out a 100 million dollar contract and still somehow field a competitive team with a black hole on the defensive side of the ball a unit btw that just gave up the single season most points in league history? I try to give everyone here a little grace but threads like this just make me grumpy. Stupid.

I have no idea what kind of career he will carve out but we've spent a ton of money on the oline recently and as long as we continue to invest wisely there we should be able to plug in a mid round RB and keep it pushing.

We are a couple tiers below poverty. Don't even belong in the NBA. At this point I feel sorry for whomever will end up being drafted by this franchise.

I've changed my stance somewhat. 6'6 257. He's a Monstar. It would immediately give us a jolt of life especially in the redzone. If he's there at 8 you take him. That defense though... we've got our work cut out for us. It won't be solved in a single offseason though regardless.

Love Shaq. Wish him the very best. This probably should have already happened a few years ago if I'm being honest though.

OnlyFans is a billion dollar company. People will keep being who they are the cycle will continue that's just humanity unfortunately.

Unfortunately some of this could be said about many of today's players. It's a generational disconnect. These guys simply don't want to be greats or hall of famers. They are getting several hundred million either way. Gordon fuging Hayward made 268 million dollars in career earnings. These guys nowadays live on social media they live to blow money on ridiculous things etc and it shows ten fold. I've been a LeBron critic in some ways but I do give him infinite credit and appreciate him for his approach to the game and playing as long as he has he's put in the time and work. And even he's publicly called out these younger generations of players for having misplaced motivations and focusing on off the court distractions over greatness. I'm not trying to ramble here sorry just trying to get to my inevitable point. I've been one who has been steadfast against possibly trading LaMelo but at this point I don't think it matters either way. I see less than a 10% chance of him becoming who we want him to be here in this environment and I don't know if he will be that elsewhere either. It sucks it really does. I don't want to sound ungrateful because he has had moments where he's made it fun to be a Hornets fan but I'm just tired of being beaten down as a franchise. I mean the East has been weak for years now guys. Years. And now Luka is in the west too. There's just no reason for us to continue floundering to the point we can't even compete for playoffs. The Magic and Thunder have been in better shape than us ffs. It's time to at least start listening for offers. I don't think anyone on this team should be fully off limits from trades. Especially if we get a top 3 pick or somehow end up with #1 overall. This is the reality we now face IMO.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying he shouldn't be able to get even in some capacity all things considered. But I don't think he absolutely needs social media to do that. Though that's our culture now. Everything is reality television. Anyways if she's been arrested twice for domestic assault I'm assuming against him or a previous ex before him then that marriage was doomed from the start. Sounds like this man should be celebrating. You only live once. Why waste it on a crazy skeezer? Get that divorce lawyer to work and go enjoy your life.

I understand and sympathize with the husband who was cheated on but honestly that was corny and cringe and just makes him seem like all he cares about is trying to go viral. It sucks and all but you aren't the only person out there that's had a marriage fall apart over cheating. Kick her to the curb file for divorce and get that out of your life. You don't need to make a spectacle on twitter. And honestly with how open she was texting things like that this guy had to have had suspicions already. There had to have been red flags when you married her. This can't all be a complete shock. I feel sorry for Steve's wife and family who now have to publicly deal with this clownery. And that is exactly what it is on Steve's part. You are blessed multiple ways over and you are not a young kid anymore. Well he's gonna be paying up now. Good luck with that.

I'm hoping this downtrodden cursed franchise is going to turn things around somehow but you are probably right. But. He's still stuck with "LeGM"

You summed it up for me. In the future for a trade of this magnitude if something like this happens it should automatically go to an independent physician and from there that particular determination paired with the information from both teams should be compiled and put forth to the league and the league should make the final call IMO. Otherwise this is what you get. Chaos for no logical reason. I wouldn't say it was exclusively about Knecht the unprotected first was certainly the larger motivating factor for them. At the same time right after news of the trade began to circulate rumors started about Knecht being traded because of a perceived rift with Bronny James. Now I'm not arguing it was true or not obviously we can't say. But all of this combined with the widespread conclusion that the Lakers got taken advantage of because they were desperate had to have had a heavy impact on their final determination. I just refuse to buy they were concerned about a decade from now that to me just reads like an excuse a child would come up with. But I feel bad for Mark and Dalton. They didn't do anything wrong in all this. However Dalton isn't the one who had his reputation dragged through the mud. I certainly think other teams in the league will reconsider dealing with the Lakers after this. At the very least other teams will cover every possible base and go out of their way to leave nothing to chance because obviously the NBA doesn't care.

Well look I can agree it is absolutely a very valid notion to question if Mark Williams will even be in the NBA in ten years. But that could be said for most guys his size and playing into their mid thirties. That I feel like is for a different conversation because these newer generations of players are built differently physically and mentally. There are so many distractions now with social media and off the court. Anyway on principle I concede your point has merit. I'm not saying you're wrong I just think the reasoning on their part as they presented it to the Hornets and the league was nonsense. They got buyers remorse over the compensation they gave up. They weren't making that trade for 10 or even 5 years from now. LeBron will be long gone within half that time and Luka at this point while possessing very significant offensive talent has huge questions looming about his future conditioning and defensive effort. That will be a completely different franchise ten years from now regardless of trading for a Mark Williams or any other big man. They went all in on that trade for the short term and when the league at large gave the Hornets credit for effectively getting the better of them on the deal they looked for any reason to pull the plug knowing Adam Silver would back them up. Anywho it's over and done with. Personally I hope that whole situation over there ends in a spectacular debacle for the Lakers. But I'm petty

Remember when some folks here declared the position a resounding success for years to come? Good thing we didn't trade up into the 2nd round to draft an injured RB instead of taking a center

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/mark-williams-agent-disputes-lakers-rescinding-trade-for-hornets-center-due-to-failed-physical-210454614.html "The overwhelming sentiment, after conferring with multiple, nationally recognized doctors, is that the Los Angeles Lakers should not have failed Mark Williams on his physical,” said Excel Sports Management's Jeff Schwartz in a statement. “Mark was ready and able to play for them and should have been given that opportunity.” "I don’t know for them, if it was what they gave up or went into that reasoning. But I don’t think it was solely because of my physical,” Williams told Sportskeeda's Mark Medina. "I’ve been playing all year. And I think my minutes and production on the court speak for itself." The more I read about this the more it's plainly obvious the Lakers got cold feet over the compensation they gave up and Adam Silver ran cover for them. The Hornets were never going to be given a legitimate opportunity to challenge a storied big market franchise. Take one on the chin and move on is what our front office was told. That's pretty much it.

I tend to agree with you and I was frustrated with that as well but we do not know what conversations went on behind closed doors. I think the likelihood is ultimately the front office did speak to Silver and raise concerns but he basically dismissed them thus nothing "official" was filed. The league knows the Lakers are their money maker. They are not going to let that all go down. Stuff like this is why I've largely detached from basketball when I used to be very passionate about it when I was younger. Small markets in this league don't stand a chance.

I wouldn't root for any of these big market teams if you paid me. I am thrilled the lowly Hornets embarrassed them in their own city. That's the absolute least they deserve.

Well. Let's just all be up front with one another here. I mean we've been optimistic and hopeful because generally every fanbase is this time of year even for the worst teams like ours. But what percentage would you say our odds of finishing with a winning record are this upcoming season? 25% at best? And that's being optimistic. At the point where our season is over and we've moved onto a backup it would be only about the development of the core young players on the roster. Unfortunately there won't be much if any development with a 38 year old QB that finished with one of the worst passer ratings in the league. And whom let's just be completely blunt here. Played so horrifically after that lone Raiders win that the Panthers logged as much mileage as humanly possible out of a thumb sprain so that they wouldn't even have to so much as look at Andy Dalton behind center again. My opinion is that the Panthers are once again banking on comfortability. For Bryce Young. Maybe it will work. Then again. This is the logic of a franchise that has the worst win percentage in professional sports so it's perfectly rational to be skeptical. The biggest plus we have right now is that our #1 pick finished the season on a high note and looked very confident and in command. Of course that doesn't guarantee anything going forward unfortunately. And while I am more confident in Bryce going forward I am also remaining of the opinion that revamping this QB room to a point where guys are actually pushing one another on the field and in the film room would be significantly more valuable than paying someone who is nearly as old as Derek Anderson that has been retired for 7 years shouting "go get em' Bryce!" and giving him high fives on the sideline. We hired a young offensive minded head coach who is well known for his communication and QB development for this purpose. If the Panthers kick Jack Plummer to the curb and bring in an actual young QB prospect that has potential and isn't an afterthought at best I'll feel at least marginally better. But I still see this as a missed opportunity. Time will tell who here was right about this. But we all do want the same thing. I've got no personal hard feelings toward anyone that feels differently to be clear. We will see how it shakes out.