NBA Offseason Thread

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

New Orleans, the city that the league thinks the team belongs to, even though Oklahoma has embraced the team better.

[Kinetic 0]

The NFC South is like the scrap heap of the four divisions, though.

 

This is completely off-topic, but I think it needs to be mentioned that the NFC South has been represented in four consecutive NFC championship games (Tampa Bay, Carolina, Atlanta, Carolina) and in that span has achieved two Super Bowl berths (Tampa Bay, Carolina) and accounts for the last Super Bowl won by an NFC team.

[Guest]

anyone else find it slightly strange that, Carmelo and Wade immediatly signed max extensions with their teams, while Cleveland's offer is still floating out there? What's Lebron waiting for?

I'm positive that he won't sign it, at least until the end of next year, if at all.

[Brett Favre 0]

Channing Frye went Kobe this offseason; gaining 17 pounds.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

anyone else find it slightly strange that, Carmelo and Wade immediatly signed max extensions with their teams, while Cleveland's offer is still floating out there? What's Lebron waiting for?

I'm positive that he won't sign it, at least until the end of next year, if at all.

 

That's like the third time in this thread that you've mentioned he won't sign it. Do you have any justification or reasoning? Why would he turn down a max offer to play for peanuts the next two years before going to the free agent market and getting significantly less money than Cleveland is offering? It doesn't make any sense.

[Guest]

He's not going to sign it this year because he wants to be sure of the direction that the franchise is going. Obviously, he doesn't want to enter into something that he has no way out of when he can do it down the road, or he would have already signed it.

 

Their core can't get better, and as it is the core in Cleveland can't win a ring.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

He's not going to sign it this year because he wants to be sure of the direction that the franchise is going. Obviously, he doesn't want to enter into something that he has no way out of when he can do it down the road, or he would have already signed it.

 

Their core can't get better, and as it is the core in Cleveland can't win a ring.

 

But you don't want to run the risk of injuring yourself in the process and blowing the chance at $80 million. The Cavs are in okay shape for the foreseeable future. The only teams that would have a chance to sign him in 2008 are those with massive cap room, and as we've seen in recent years teams with that sort of cap room aren't that close to a championship. In the event he signs and Cleveland doesn't attempt to put a winning franchise around him, he'll simply have his agent request a trade.

[Guest]

Trust me, if he got hurt and Cleveland didn't want to sign him, the rest of the league would be trying to dump cap space to line up for LeBron.

 

I think it would be a disaster if Cleveland didn't keep him or had to trade him, myself. It's his decision and he hasn't made it yet, so we'll see.

[Fökai 0]

He's not going to sign it this year because he wants to be sure of the direction that the franchise is going. Obviously, he doesn't want to enter into something that he has no way out of when he can do it down the road, or he would have already signed it.

 

Their core can't get better, and as it is the core in Cleveland can't win a ring.

The Cavs are in okay shape for the foreseeable future.

 

They also have no cap room for that future, provided Lebron signs. Who can they lure in within that period? The only position they can supplant is point and power forward, and they won't have the money to improve both.

 

The only teams that would have a chance to sign him in 2008 are those with massive cap room, and as we've seen in recent years teams with that sort of cap room aren't that close to a championship.

 

2008 is a quick turnaround for any team. And those with cap room in that timeframe could include Orlando, Chicago, Indiana, New Jersey (VC expires), Philadelphia (Webber expires) and possibly Miami (Shaq's future). And that's just the Eastern Conference. Let alone only mentioning the contenders, because Atlanta, Charlotte and the Hornets aren't that far away from competing, either. The man has too many options to worry about building the team himself. If they provide a similar performance next season, which everyone but Hughes likely will, he has to consider the possibility of leaving.

 

In the event he signs and Cleveland doesn't attempt to put a winning franchise around him, he'll simply have his agent request a trade.

 

And that sure worked for the Lakers, didn't it?

[Guest]

As an aside, LeBron with Dwight Howard would be insane.

[Fökai 0]

I'm hoping and praying it doesn't happen. But nearly all of Orlando's contracts are off the books in that time (save Howard, Jameer and Turkoglu), so they could make a really serious offer.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

What's so bad about Cleveland anyways? They won 50 games last year and were thisclose to making the Eastern Conference finals. It's not like they are the drizzling shits or anything.

[Hawk 34 0]

What's so bad about Cleveland anyways? They won 50 games last year and were thisclose to making the Eastern Conference finals. It's not like they are the drizzling shits or anything.

 

The team, maybe. The city? That's a different story.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

ESPN is apparnetly saying that he's waiting to see what kind of improvements the team makes, ie sending a message that he wants a championship calibur roster, but that he's not really looking to move to a different city, moreso that he's willing to make em sweat a bit to show he's serious.

 

It's ESPN (stephen A i think) so take it for what its worth.

[Ripper 0]

I am still trying to figure out who is going to play the two for New Orleans, since they traded smith and the other two guard they have on the roster said "Hills of gold would not bring me back". Thats deep.

 

But for all the "Chandler is garbage" people, you have to remember that his point guards have been Jamal Crawford and Kirk Hinrich. They ain't giving up the ball. He did what he was supposed to do well. He rebounded the ball and he played defense. That is a good addition for the Hornets. Paul, ?, Peja, West, and Chandler is going to be a strong starting lineup.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I am still trying to figure out who is going to play the two for New Orleans, since they traded smith and the other two guard they have on the roster said "Hills of gold would not bring me back". Thats deep.

 

But for all the "Chandler is garbage" people, you have to remember that his point guards have been Jamal Crawford and Kirk Hinrich. They ain't giving up the ball. He did what he was supposed to do well. He rebounded the ball and he played defense. That is a good addition for the Hornets. Paul, ?, Peja, West, and Chandler is going to be a strong starting lineup.

 

Kirk Hinrich is one of the best distributing point guards in the league. With Chandler's height and athleticism and Kirk's court vision he should have gotten 10-15 PPG easy. He did what was asked of him and it wasn't much. The Bulls won't miss him.

 

And did I miss something with the Hornets? When did Desmond Mason say he wouldn't come back. I thought he was happy in NO.

[teke184 0]

I am still trying to figure out who is going to play the two for New Orleans, since they traded smith and the other two guard they have on the roster said "Hills of gold would not bring me back". Thats deep.

 

But for all the "Chandler is garbage" people, you have to remember that his point guards have been Jamal Crawford and Kirk Hinrich. They ain't giving up the ball. He did what he was supposed to do well. He rebounded the ball and he played defense. That is a good addition for the Hornets. Paul, ?, Peja, West, and Chandler is going to be a strong starting lineup.

 

Kirk Hinrich is one of the best distributing point guards in the league. With Chandler's height and athleticism and Kirk's court vision he should have gotten 10-15 PPG easy. He did what was asked of him and it wasn't much. The Bulls won't miss him.

 

And did I miss something with the Hornets? When did Desmond Mason say he wouldn't come back. I thought he was happy in NO.

Unless he's signed an extension, his current contract runs through the end of the 2006-2007 season.

[Gert T 0]

Andrea Bargnani scored 20 points and had 4 rebounds on 7-11 shooting.

 

Not a bad debut, not exactly world class competition. People said they were impressed with his willingness to put the ball on the floor.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

With all those scorers on that team + Andrea with them now, does that make Toronto at least a playoff team now? I would think so. Indiana probably just fell off the playoff wagon, and Toronto can make a leap up.

[Guest]

A court ruling just came down that said the Hawks could not sign anyone to more than a one year deal. Something about ownership. They can only trade for players on one year deals as well.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Great article from Bill Simmons breaking down the 40 players with the best trade value in the NBA. He does this each year, and it's a great read.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index

 

Check the sidebar for the 25 worst contracts in the league. I think they're are like 6 Knicks players that show up on the list. Oh, and he absolutely kills, kills the Villanueva-Ford trade that went down last week. Funny stuff.

[naiwf 0]

Great article from Bill Simmons breaking down the 40 players with the best trade value in the NBA. He does this each year, and it's a great read.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index

 

Check the sidebar for the 25 worst contracts in the league. I think they're are like 6 Knicks players that show up on the list. Oh, and he absolutely kills, kills the Villanueva-Ford trade that went down last week. Funny stuff.

 

Hey, we only have 3 of the top 6. . .

 

# 3 Marbury (3 yrs, $59.2M)

# 4 Francis (3 yrs, $ 52.7M)

# 6 Jerome James (4 yrs, $25M)

# 11 Q (4 yrs, $33.2M)

# 15 Curry (5 yrs, $52.5M)

# 23 Crawford (5 yrs, $43M)

 

For fuck's sake it'll be 2016 before the Knicks can even hope to contend. Isiah is the worst GM that ever lived in any sport, but optimistic Knicks fans can hold out hope that he's not the only guy who is a HOFer that's screwed up before as. . .

 

(By the way, congrats to Joe Dumars for parlaying Ben Wallace, Carlos Arroyo and the No. 2 pick from a draft that featured LeBron, Wade, Bosh and 'Melo into Nazr Mohammed and Orlando's 2007 No. 1 pick. Well done.)

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Funny how much difference a year can make when Joe Dumars is considered a bad GM and Elgin Baylor one of the best. It's like bizarro-NBA.

[Guest Felonies!]

How do you think I feel in baseball where all of a sudden Kenny Williams is a baseball genius? There's like a whole chapter of Moneyball dedicated to him getting outclassed by Billy Beane.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I think that there are more than 1 formula to success in any given sport.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Andrea Bargnani scored 20 points and had 4 rebounds on 7-11 shooting.

 

Not a bad debut, not exactly world class competition. People said they were impressed with his willingness to put the ball on the floor.

 

Is this the time to mention that Steve Novak, John Lucas III, and Pat Carroll had 22 each for the Rockets' summer league team?

 

Anyway, yeah what reviews I've seen said that Bargnani looked good. Ball movement, shooting touch, everything. Trying to keep away from the "Nowitzki" comparisons though.

[Ripper 0]

A court ruling just came down that said the Hawks could not sign anyone to more than a one year deal. Something about ownership. They can only trade for players on one year deals as well.

 

 

Yeah which I thought pretty much killed any chance for a Harrington sign and trade.

 

But then it was on the sport stations here that they can actually sign players for longer contracts as long as Belklin agrees to it. So that is some silver lining...yep...silver lined shit.

[Golgo 13 0]

Tidbit on the Nene signing from TrueHoop via Denver Post and the News.

 

Bret Bearup: Nene's Worth It

 

Financial adviser, and former NCAA basketball player, Bret Bearup is known to be close to the goings on in Denver. He has been reported to be one of the few people who truly has the ear of Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke, for instance.

 

I e-mailed Bearup to ask why the Nuggets had seen fit to spend $60 million over six years for the young, Brazilian, bench-warming, post-ACL-surgery, power forward Nene. The knee-jerk reaction, at least in the blogosphere, (Deadspin and YAYsports! for instance) had been that this was too much contract for this player. Here is Bearup's response:

 

The Nuggets had 75% of the teams in the NBA call with interest in a sign and trade for Nene. Now, realize they know Dan Fegan is his agent, and has a rep for getting his people top dollar. I have no doubt the Nuggets would have been faced with either a $70+ million sign and trade, or Chicago or Atlanta miss out on their first target and Denver would be forced to match a larger number, or he would have played for the tender and Denver would lose him. The Nuggets intend to sign him July 12th and have announced such, but are STILL getting phone calls from teams wanting to sign and trade for him, even though Fegan would get another $10 million for Nene in that kind of deal.

 

The deal was 6 years and 60 million, but a significant portion of that is deferred, such that the true cost to the Nuggets will be millions less. In addition, there are further "stretch" provisions that will lessen the burden if he doesn't hit certain games played and minutes targets. This was a "Troy Murphy" deal, not an "Erick Dampier" deal (both are Fegan clients... Murphy got $58 million two years ago, Dampier got $70 million).

 

The average starting big men (4s and 5s) in the NBA make $7.3 million. Nene starts very close to that.... and there are indications he'll be above average. He's huge (6-11, 265) quick, and athletic. He was Denver's best player in training camp last year before going down in the first game... he was really coming on. And he's only 23.

 

Given the uncertainty of Kenyon Martin, and the injury history of Marcus Camby, the Nuggets could not afford to let Nene slip away. Further, signing Nene takes a talented "big" off the market. In this game of supply and demand, talented "bigs" are in short supply, and this will only serve to stimulate interest in Martin in the marketplace. Given the calls the Nuggets have received today, it already has.

 

It could be exaggeration, since this Bearup guy isn't the most impartial party, but there it is.

[teke184 0]

A court ruling just came down that said the Hawks could not sign anyone to more than a one year deal. Something about ownership. They can only trade for players on one year deals as well.

 

And we thought the franchise sucked NOW...

 

No matter what happens with this ownership dispute, the Hawks probably have a lock on at least 1-2 more lottery picks.

[alfdogg 0]

The Pacers could still afford Harrington, but they'd have to let Fred Jones leave. Unless the Hawks want to trade him for Jonathan Bender's contract, which is $7.8 million off the books next summer.