Windhorst: Wasting money if you bet on Lebron to Rockets

In football, when they try to rig the calls, you (almost always) still get another chance at the play just farther back. A bad call doesn't necessarily mean you lose the possession. A rigged call in basketball means you almost always lose the possession.

 

Welp, time to go after our LeBron stopper: Jimmy B

 

I remain hopeful about the LeBron Situation.

I don't go to Whataburger. You know why? Because they do something that should be made illegal. They use liquid malt. Yes, liquid malt! One of the most god-awful substances known to man, and sure to destroy the flavor of any malt made on this planet.

My cheap burger place of choice is Dan's Hamburgers, here in Austin. They use Carnation powdered malt, the kind of malt that will give just a hint of crunch when you're slamming them down. My second choice? P. Terry's. Where do I go for an "expensive burger?" Mighty Fine, like Dan's and P. Terry's, a local chain here in Austin. Like P. Terry's, Mighty Fine doesn't serve malts. Just shakes, so I don't hold the absence of a good malt against them. They have some mighty fine burgers and great fries. The shakes are made from Blue Bell. I'm working on them. Mighty Fine added onion rings, finally. I had complained about MF not having them, and I've been complaining about the Malt Situation.

Will they listen? Only the Shadow knows.

Spoiler

 

LMAO flawless execution here

 

The problem I have with this "analysis" is that it's merely stating the obvious. Everyone knows the Lakers will have the cap space to sign LeBron and Paul George outright. That was the whole point of the trade deadline deal they made with the Cavs.

The more pertinent question(aside from does LeBron want to go to the Lakers?) is can a roster of LeBron, PG13, and those youngsters win right now against the Warriors, Rockets, and Celtics? Or if they deal some of those younger players for vets, can a roster of LeBron, PG13, another veteran star or two and minimal depth make it through those aforementioned teams to win the title?

The Lakers give LeBron his toughest path to a championship and the most uncertainty of any of the teams heavily favored to land him. And he's gonna be 34 next season. This isn't 26 year old LeBron joining the Heat. Or even 30 year old LeBron returning to Cleveland.

 

its funny because no matter what narrative the media pushes, non will have more of an influence than the man probably talking to him right now ... Point GOD!!!!

 

They are pretty consistent from store to store and city to city and state to state. Are there bad days or poorly run locations?? - you can say that about most restaurant chains.


But how good is a Whataburger? Really good. Really. In fact, summer before last, Texas Monthly administered a carefully controlled blind taste test in which Whataburger faced off against four worthy competitors, including recent California transplant In-N-Out Burger. Spoiler alert: Whataburger won. And it wasn’t even close. From the eleven impartial judges, Whataburger earned 46 out of a possible 55 points and five first-place votes. In-N-Out came in next to last with nineteen out fifty-five points and five last place votes. There’s burgers and then there’s burgers. In the immortal words of Mel Tillis, “it’s not just a hamburger. It’s a . . .Whataburger.” Plus, from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. there are taquitos.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/fast-food-faceoff-n-vs-whataburger/

Doesn't look flat to me:

 

It's about cap space not the style!! At least listen to it.

 

Laker fans are just trying to talk this into existence.

 

Imagine going from a meeting with Magic Johnson, Jeanie Buss, and Lavar Ball (joking) to Daryl Morey in the same day.

 

Lol y’all keep saying fit, and I know the bs from last year was just that... bs. But he was talking about fit cap/transaction wise... not stylistically

 

Even if Lebron wanted to come here, he could still plan B to LA if the numbers and teams don't work out.

Carmelo Anthony?

Brian sure as hell wasn't talking about physical fitness.

 

Honestly Bogut has had the best analysis so far. All the deals have been done already. Draymond called Durant from the parking lot. CP3 has already pitched to Lebron as has James. Pretty sure Morey has already done the gymnastics necessary to make the cap room work.

There are no more "tells" or anything. Just wait until early July to see what's already been decided. All these meetings and stuff is just posturing. I for one am looking forward to the greatest sporting event in the universe happening in a couple of days.

 

You're most right, imo.

Where I differ is that I think Lebron thinks... and frankly this is true... that he has LOTS of power in the NBA. With his agency relationship (which honestly shouldn't me "legal" in the NBA, huge conflict of interest there), he has the ability to "force" stuff.

If you think about his return to Cleveland, he thought he'd have a way to make them into a contender, but certainly couldn't have known for sure. But he looked at the assets and determined he'd be able to get there, and he did, to the tune of 4 straight Finals.

Now he couldn't have and didn't predict GSW. Which I think perhaps further plays into his thought process on why LAL would be ok. Doesn't matter how good he is or how much he can influence trades and player movement, there's always the unexpected.

Eg. does Houston have the better team on paper right now to join? Sure. What if CP3 gets injured. What if James gets injured. What about the playoff failures? How will he mesh with DM? How will he mesh with MDA? Are there enough "balls" to go around?

The LAL situation is VERY similar to his return to Cleveland. For one, he's VERY familiar with and has a home base in LA. For two, it's a young team that isn't there yet, but has A LOT of assets. For three, he'd basically be in control. For four, it's a much better media story... for a guy that is so so so so so much more media savvy now then he was in 2010. Philly is similar, but in the east (not the same home situation though).

So while I agree with you, the Rockets are the better choice on paper for paper odds to win a ring, every other thing points to other teams. And based on his decision last time, best basketball choice wasn't what swayed him.

 

Relative to Windhorst, and others in the media.

There's certainly a tendency on this board to think the media "hates" us. Partial truths in there, perhaps. Obviously Chuckwagon did. Obviously there's some analytical pushback. But the media doesn't otherwise randomly hate teams from Texas, or Houston, or whatnot. I'd venture to guess MANY MANY media members would be happy to have had the Rockets beat GSW. Harden will win his MVP this year. Lots of all star games and superbowls in Houston, with generally very positive comments from the media... heck, they keep coming back.

I don't think Windhorst has a ton of inside info, and think this was more just his opinion than anything... but I think it prudent to at least read the tea leaves a bit.

With Dwight, I recall there was a slow movement in the tea leaves towards it becoming more and more definitively Houston. Not necessarily by ESPN or by all media - always some deniers - but just in general tidbits and pieces of info you'd hear, from quasi-insiders, and the like. With CP3, or even Harden, it was completely out of the blue.

This seems to be trending the opposite. Houston seemed to be an early favorite, and increasingly its getting away from that, imo, at least from reading the "tea leaves". While LAL is picking up a lot of steam. I mean Boston?? San Antonio?? These were afterthoughts or crazy thoughts a few months ago.

This may not mean anything, or it may point to an increasingly connected world where really its impossible to keep a secret these days.

We shall see... my fingers are crossed but I am REALLY REALLY hoping DM has a backup plan.

 

I don't trust a man with small hands and a large abdominal girth.

 

Yeah I dont trust Trump either

 

lol. Everyone with a checkmark has an opinion.

Trump - I talked to Bron last week. He said he was going to Knicks. It's going to be HUGE!!
(not to be political, just the first person I could impersonate)

 

wtf.....i was just gonna mortgage my house.

thanks for ****-all windy