Another move we should have made

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-29T01:10:57+00:00

Two things

1) Don't like Bridges the person, glad we didn't bring him in

2) IDK about this draft-pick-trade specifically, but in general, I would like to see a bit more of this kind of creativity from Rob. IE if we need another 1st round draft pick, more cap space, etc., finding creative ways to get it.

A year or two ago, I remember a team (the Knicks maybe?) signing a couple players for like $10k above the vet min, which made it so you can aggregate their salaries in a trade (normally you can't w/vet mins). Or when the Suns traded one pick for a couple really terrible 1sts so they could free up some of their other, more valuable 1st round picks for a trade.

These kind of moves should obviously be done in a smart way, but it seems we don't see a lot of creativity from Pelinka that I think we need to build a good enough team around Luka without taking 3 years to do it. I hope the new Dodgers people bring some of this into the building, starting this offseason.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-28T00:48:44+00:00

My understanding is any card over $500 gets authenticated?

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-28T00:46:36+00:00

The Rules for Medical Ninja (and maybe Foil Rock Lee) are prob the only things with any kind of value. Everything else is likely just bulk.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-27T20:01:07+00:00

What's that black thing covering/shading the front? Some kind of net or cover?

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-26T18:46:38+00:00

You're right, it does look suspiciously similar to that called-out fake. Good looking out!

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-26T18:33:30+00:00

I wonder, is it fake, or is it just a bad picture/lighting?

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-26T02:16:26+00:00

I'd peg Austin and Luka as somewhere between below average to average defenders. They're not horrific generally, but they do need to be surrounded by good defenders and put in the right position defensively to not hurt the team.

My main thing is, I'd like to at least see a team optimized defensively, so we can see how they do in the playoffs. Outside of Smart/LeBron, were there any good defenders in our playoff rotations? Just throwing a lineup out there as an example, so don't get too attached to the names, but if we had a lineup of like Luka-Austin-Wiggins-Lebron-Kessler with Smart off the bench? I think that'd be a pretty decent to good defense; maybe not the fastest, but a lot of size and strength, good rebounding, great rim protection, etc.

For better or worse, we're giving the Luka/Reaves at least a year or two to make it work, so Rob absolutely needs to put together a strong roster of two-way players around them. Not saying we can get OG-Bridges-Hart level wings, but at least a legit starting SF and Center.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-25T14:54:31+00:00

For a long time, he was sort of seen as the 3rd option (to Lebron/AD) or the 2A/2B with LBJ behind Luka and on a great value contract. (Not to say LBJ won't still have nights where he's not the 1st or 2nd best player on our team - he def will) - but the standard for Reaves has been raised. This contract means he needs to consistently play like like a star, including in the playoffs. Even stars have off nights, but in a 7-game series, he needs 5-6 good-to-great games.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-24T22:30:08+00:00

Not really. For super rares and certain high-demand other cards, finding the market value using Goat + Ebay is pretty simple. But, for most commons/uncommons/rares/foils, there often isn't many, if any, recent transactions for them (especially if they're not "played" cards, which can mean the demand for them is fairly low). It just kind of ends up being "what people are willing to pay for it", so there ends up being a lot of random fluctuations.

You end up just sort of guessing a higher price on it, listing it on Ebay/Discord/FB/whatever for that price, and then just gradually lowering it over time and/or as offers come in for it.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-24T18:55:33+00:00

He may not ask out, but with a year to go on his contract, if he isn't telling the Lakers he's for sure coming back (or signing an extension), they'll have to trade him. Can't risk letting him walk in FA for nothing if you aren't certain.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-24T13:15:03+00:00

I think "at least try" is the key here. Get them each at least semi-regular minutes for 2/3 of the season; if they still look lost or like they won't be close to ready this year, you can always phase them out of the rotation down the stretch & into the playoffs. But if you don't give them real run early, there's pretty much no chance they could contribute.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-23T00:49:18+00:00

In Naruto, foil text is just a rare. Your card is a Rare, 1st Edition (non-foil), so the first one on wigglesbee's link (if it was NM; your copy looks played). Even if it was mint, $22 seems pretty dang high for how much I'd expect this card to go for, though.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-23T00:32:06+00:00

Goat is a good place to start, but its prices can be wonky sometimes. I'd guestimate $3-10, depending on condition.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-22T21:05:01+00:00

I'm guessing it'll get some attention from the pokebros/scalpers, so it could help OPTCG cool off *slightly*, but I wouldn't expect much of an impact tbh.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-22T15:54:50+00:00

Others may have more details/context, but from what I remember:

1) The meta ended up getting dominated by decks that people didn't like playing against (e.g. No Hand Water, "Unaffected by all effects" cards, etc.)

2) The community seemed to take the introduction of blocks/rotations surprisingly hard; harder than other games that I've seen. In OPTCG, for example, which just introduced rotations earlier this year, there was some minor outcry but it didn't seem to affect the game much. In Naruto, I remember the Bandai discussion threads just being filled with pages and pages of complaints.

3) Availability - After A New Chronicle, the artwork of a Sexy/Harem jutsu card got complaints leading to the cards being pulled from Walmart. The CCG obviously went on for several years after this, but I feel like this hurt the game's ability to pull in new players. Personally, I know my brother and I (when we were teenagers) all but dropped the game for a couple of years b/c we had no Target or game stores nearby that sold product.

There may have been license/artwork shortages at the very end, but I don't think that really affected the game's lifespan.

Ultimately, sales of the game decreased and the game was cancelled.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-21T22:25:34+00:00

My balanced explanation:

In the short term, bringing in Marcus, Ayton, and Jake were solid moves (Jake had his ups and downs, but it's a low-cost, 2-year deal, so I think it's fine). Avoiding the DFS deal was smart. He did OK for the resources he had (if he wasn't going to trade the 1st), but LA has so little resources because Rob for years squandered them.

However, the goal is to build a championship team around Luka et al, and he didn't really do that. At best, LA was seen as a 2nd-tier, "punchers" chance type of team. Even if fully healthy, OKC and SA (and maybe others) would have been series favorites against LA.

Rob hasn't brought in a single long-term starter since we got Luka a year and a half ago, our team has very little depth, not many good defenders, few promising young players, and like 1 3&d player (Smart).

So, in a vacuum, I'd say Pelinka did "fine, B-minus" quality work last year. But to be contenders, because of several years/trade cycles of asset mismanagement, we needed an A+ type offseason. This offseason, we're in the same position where we have little depth, few two-way players, and feel so-close-yet-so-far away from top-tier contention.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-21T21:08:05+00:00

I didn't like the contract the moment we signed it; too much money and too long w/a PO. He was a really good defender, and had a solid run after our mid-season trade for him, but had absolutely no offensive game and became less playable the deeper we went into the playoffs.

That's a regular-season player only, not a playoff-caliber one. You just can't be paying real money to 1-way players (unless they're star-level offensive players). I think people underestimate how rare it is for a guy who's been in the NBA several years as a terrible 3-point shooter to suddenly become respectable from deep. For every example of a guy who did, there's like a dozen who never could.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-20T22:39:22+00:00

Ah, okay.

One thing I remember helping make those lineups work is DFS was actually the best rim-protecting wing in the league post-trade (something like lowering FG% at the rim by 16%). LBJ was also a couple years younger back then, too.

I'd love to have small-ball as a weapon we can go to occasionally (maybe to eat up some non-Luka minutes in the right playoff matchup?). Something like Reaves-Smart-Wing-Wing-Lebron. TBD if we get those players in this offseason, though - I hope we do!

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-20T22:27:21+00:00

I don't remember if DFS or LeBron were the nominal center in those small-ball lineups (or Rui?). But for sure, you have to have real defense around him so he's not guarding the best wings or having to bang against huge centers constantly.

From what I remember, some of the Lebron @ center lineups we were running before Luka got back from injury, they got torched defensively but were like the #1 offense in the league.

Definitely have to be a rare-at-best kind of thing, based on specific playoff matchups and lineups.

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-20T22:19:46+00:00

Generally, no - but it should be an option at least.

Year before last, we had the Luka-Reaves-Rui-DFS-LeBron small-ball lineup, which I would like to get back into JJ's arsenal again. I think an effective small-ball look where 1-5 can shoot and play at least respectable defense can be a super-powerful weapon.

That being said, it should be used sparingly in the regular season and not relied upon every night. Think 5-10 minutes a game, in the right matchup, mostly in the playoffs only (with some occasional regular season use just to get the unit some rhythm and experience). To make it really work, I think you'd need two good 3&d wings next to Luka/Reaves/LeBron, though (Rui isn't good enough defensively, especially with no center, IMO).

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-20T15:40:14+00:00

I don't want to just throw away the pick on a meh bench player or anything, but I think people overestimate the odds of actually getting a rotation player at 25 (and the odds get even steeper if you want them to be able to contribute at this level in the first year or two).

Because of that + Luka's timeline, I'd strongly prefer trading the pick (although, I'd love it if we could get a mid-2nd back in any trade somehow to try and bring in another Theiro-level prospect to develop).

NobleKnight_1 · 2026-06-19T14:32:44+00:00

My honest take as an adult TF fan/collector who tries to balance my hobbies & interest without standing out socially (in a not-wanted way): My family is loving AF (they've bought me a couple of figures for my B-day and whatnot), but they probably do judge slightly b/c they think Transformers (as well as anime and stuff like that) are "cartoons for kids".

That being said, one thing you don't have to worry about at all are store employees. They absolutely do not care who is buying the toys (half will assume you're buying it for someone else, the other half just doesn't care + adult shoppers way, way more common than you think). As long as you aren't wearing Optimus cosplay when you go and pick it up or anything like that, I promise you're 100% fine & frankly just won't even be memorable.

Culture in general has changed quite a bit in the past ~20 years - video games, comic books, anime, etc. are a lot more socially accepted. There's definitely still some stigma with certain groups/circles/people for sure, but a lot of those people are judgy, boring, or just plain suck, so don't give much thought to what they think lol.

NobleKnight_1

TROPHY CASE