Year one of the superteam(ish) Thunder will be remembered as a disappointment. Slotting Paul George and Carmelo Anthony alongside Russell Westbrook only increased OKC’s win total by one and couldn’t prevent another first-round playoff exit.
But there were enough elite women nfl jersey moments before Andre Roberson’s season-ending injury to make one wonder what might be possible if George sticks around.
The Thunder had a 4-3 record against the Western Conference finalists, Golden State and Houston. OKC also posted an eye-popping plus-14.2 net rating in the 539 minutes china nfl jerseys nike George shared with Westbrook, Anthony, Andre Roberson and Steven Adams.
“That definitely changes a lot,” George said in April of Roberson’s injury, per Royce Young. “Andre is a big piece, and him going down, it definitely was a big blow to us. … You’ve got to look at where we can be, imagine what we would be if Andre was here playing with [us] now.”
If the Thunder keep George, they might be closer to contention than most realize.
While Utah finished a perfectly average 15th in offensive efficiency, there were times this attack felt held together by frayed yarn.
Donovan Mitchell was by far the best scorer while also being a 43.7 percent shooting rookie. Rudy Gobert and Ricky Rubio were nominally the second and third point-producers, respectively, but each did his best work on the opposite end.
At full strength, though, this defense is the Association’s most suffocating unit. It finished the season second in efficiency, but it was tops in 2018 and nearly where to get nfl jerseys five points stingier per 100 possessions than anyone after the All-Star break.
The Jazz are one of the rare teams with both a winning record and spending money for this summer. The key will be shrewd handling of that flexibility. Utah might consider keeping most of its focus in-house, both to retain its most critical free agents (Derrick Favors, Dante Exum) and to potentially realize the value of continuity.nfl jerseys china nike
The Lakers’ success in free agency will determine if these odds are too high or far too low.nfl jersey for sale
LeBron James and Paul George will discuss potentially teaming up on the Lakers, according to ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Brett Dawson of the Oklahoman). Marc Stein of the New York Times mentioned LeBron and Chris Paul as another possible Lakers duo. If the San Antonio Spurs ever field offers on Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers are expected to place a bid, sources told Sporting News’ Sean Deveney.
Even with the Lakers coming off a 47-loss season, there’s too clearance nfl jerseys much superstar smoke to leave them out of the top 10.
James can single-handedly transform teams into contenders. Paul, George or Leonard would all fit the superstar sidekick role that Dwyane Wade and Kyrie Irving filled on previous champions. That might not make L.A. the favorites, but it would get this organization on a short list of realistic championship hopefuls.nike nfl jerseys on sale
There’s also a chance no one comes, and the Lakers load up on one-year contracts again to roll over their cap space to next summer. That’d make 2018-19 a developmental season, during which they wouldn’t sniff the playoff picture.where to buy nfl jersey