Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert had some differences with Donovan Mitchell over the years but he feels his former Jazz teammate will thrive with the Cavaliers, he told Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops.net.
“I think he has a bright future,” Gobert said. “He’s one of the best young players in his position. He’s going to keep getting better. I think it’s a great opportunity for him to just get to a new system, a new team and be able to show what he can do.”
Gobert also praised Utah executive Danny Ainge for the players and draft picks he collected from Cleveland in the trade: “I think he definitely did a great job in getting as many assets as possible.”
We have more Western Conference news:
- Jazz fans will need to get acquainted with all the players the team has acquired in the Gobert, Mitchell and Patrick Beverley trades. Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune takes a quick look at each of the acquisitions, highlighted by Collin Sexton and lottery pick Ochai Agbaji.
- Russell Westbrook is expected to show up if LeBron James hosts a players-only minicamp before Lakers training camp, as James has often done in the past, Marc Stein reports in Substack article. The mini-camp would help ease any lingering tensions among their veteran players. Citing well-placed sources, Stein adds that the franchise won’t sit out Westbrook if he remains on the roster, unlike what the Rockets did with John Wall last season. New coach Darvin Ham will carve out a role for Westbrook if he’s not dealt.
- Kings draft-and-stash prospect Sasha Vezenkov said he’s not focused on a potential jump to the NBA for the 2023/24 season, according to Semih Tuna of EuroHoops.net. “It’s a big season, I have a big priority with my team Olympiacos in what will be a very difficult year,” he said. “My only thought is to stay focused and stay healthy, to give everything I can [to Olympiacos]. And then we will see. Next summer is ten months away.” Vezenkov, 27, was a 2017 second-round pick. The Bulgarian star is the leading scorer in the EuroBasket event.
I have enough information to write a book
Cost of trading Westbrook
Bench Westbrook and he’ll be good. He can’t play with Bron and AD but he’ll be a good leader with bunch of backups.
Westbrook would pout if that happens
Not sure why the media seems to think there is “tension” between LeBron and Westbrook. Is Westbrook a fit? No! One of the benefits the Lakers have with letting LeBron have control of the roster is when it doesn’t work, he can’t be mad at management. He can only be mad at himself. LeBron is why Westbrook is here. He turned down DeMar DeRozan in favor of the Westbrook deal. Sacramento had a better offer on the table.
I worked out well when Bron deceived to trade away the young guys for AD and they won a chip. Worked out well for the Cavs when they traded number 1 overall pick for KLove and won a chip.
GM Bron isn’t as good LeBron the basketball player but he’s not bad. You’d think a championship winning team with the addition of a former MVP would have been a good recipe for success but obviously it hasn’t.
Lakers need to just simply move off Russ and give up the 2 first round picks to do so. I’d be going hard for Heild and Turner that’s an excellent combo. One of the best three point shooters in the league plus one of the best rim protectors. Not to mention Heild can handle the ball a little and Turner can also space the floor.
Throw in a late move for Tristan Thompson, Dennis Schroder, Carmelo Anthony or something like that and you have a stacked team set for a deep playoff run all over again. The only hold up it’s seems is the reluctance to give up 2 firsts.
15 man roster
Beverly Heild Bron AD Turner
Schroder Walker Brown Jr Melo Thompson
Nunn Reaves JTA Jones Bryant
Would you have rather had KCP, Harrell, Kuzma, and Jackson instead of WB? Probably yes. You could have made deals at the deadline with their contracts much easier than trying to ship WB off.
DeRozan wasn’t signing for 5.9M and if he says anything other than it was a money thing, he’s lying. And the Lakers weren’t doing a S&T that would hard cap them. So stop w/the DeRozen nonsense.
DeMar DeRozan himself said he thought it was a “Done Deal” that he was headed to the Lakers! He had been talking to LeBron. Westbrook got wind of it and went to the Wizards owner and told him going “home” to play for the Lakers was his dream. He then got with LeBron and AD, and the deal got done!
It was all talk by derozan. There’s no way he would have taken less money..
False! Only sticking point contract-wise was DeMar wanted a 3-year deal. LeBron and the Lakers front office went Westbrook because they wanted to have that cap space open for 2023 free agency. This is why DeMar DeRozan is NOT a Laker! Don’t know where you got this $5 million nonsense from.
Lakers could only offer taxpayer/partial MLE.
I heard from a close source to DeRozan that he first tried to sign with PHX. Mavericks also had interest. Turned to LA. Said he wanted a title instead of money. Then the source said he signed a 2-year deal with the Lakers. Must not have been official because the Spurs were able to do a sign-and-trade with the Bulls first. Guess he thought their chances were just as good and got more money in the process.
Lol. Lakers aren’t making a deep playoff run.
It’d be good to link the ‘RG had some differences with DM’ statement with an actual evidence since all there was to it was speculation afaik.
They said publicly that they worked it out after the COVID incident. Everything after is speculation based on their behavior on the court. I do think there was tension, based on the final season together. Something happened around January when they sat half the team for the game in Toronto. The team fell apart after that.
Could’ve been the coach for all we know. There was a rumor that Coach Snyder wasn’t helping or wanted them mad at each other, etc. I’d guess that he instead just got tired of their arguing. Got burned out and decided to step down. He did look tired all the time. His hips didn’t help.