I figured it's a good time to set this up, because all manner of shit is going to start coming through.

-Obviously Dwight and Paul are going to dominate talk for awhile. There's a lot of intrigue here on many fronts. It seems like a natural move to pair these two together. ATL or the Clippers are the only real possibilities for that, and I still think the Clippers have a strong shot of making this happen.

-Josh Smith is the third domino in all this, but it just feels like wherever he winds up is going to be anticlimactic based on his rumored suitors. Bucks and Boston seem like the only teams to be strongly considering him. He and Rondo will make a nice pair, but who the fuck is the go-to player on that squad? Jeff Green?

-I won't be shocked to see Aldridge moved. I'm not sure what team has the assets to pull him right now, but that's a sleeper deal that could shake things up in a big way. In my dreams, Mitch snags him for Pau's expiring deal.

-What's the market for Big Al? I've read Utah may simply let him walk. What about Milsap, for that matter? Intriguing pieces to be had there on established teams. Houston probably makes a play for Al and/or Smith if they miss out on Dwight. Put OJ in this category. These are all guys who could be very nice pieces on the right team. OJ would be nice for, say, Chicago or the Clippers.

What kind of trade movement will we see, sans S&T deals for free agents? I'm hoping for an off season of unexpected deals and power moves.

making more room
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/rockets-waive-delfino-brooks-190006723--nba.html

If this is true, fuck!

I heard it from an insider and now Howard Beck is tweeting this.

Portland will send Houston two future second-round picks and the draft rights to two foreign players, league sources tells Y!

for Kostas Papanikolau and Marko Todorovic and two second round picks

i've got a heavy heart this holiday season due to the fuckshit team dolan is on, but I love player movement season.

Aldridge: As @ESPNSteinLine reported, Pelicans will meet with Tyreke Evans late tonight. Told they will have an offer sheet in hand--a big one.

Man, that shit isn't going to work. Phily fans should be celebrating if that is true. That pick's going to be good.

put up better numbers than dudes like klay thompson
they'd have to move e.gordon though ...which is something they should do anyway

Klay would average 25 a night if he got to dominate the offense like 'Reke does. I like 'Reke but he makes zero sense alongside Holiday.

Essentially a 3 guard lineup, with Reke guarding the bigger wings.

I have my skepticism too, since he can't shoot. But his potential is as high as any player available. He has all the tools to be a dynamic off ball wing, but so far he has not embraced that role.

My guess is he wants a situation where he is ball dominant, so I still don't think we sign him.


But if he buys in to being more flexible? Sky's the limit for him, and this squad has crazy potential.

>Klay would average 25 a night if he got to dominate the
>offense like 'Reke does. I like 'Reke but he makes zero sense
>alongside Holiday.

dude is an even more streaky scorer than evans is
and evans attemped 3 fewer shots a game than klay last yr re: ur ballhogging comment

https://twitter.com/InsiderJayNBA/status/351559617496629249

Source tells me the Hawks are hoping Howard goes to Houston if its not them, plan on offering to s&t Smith for Asik or get Asik outright.

and this isn't likely, however this is what we're in for over the next 10 days.

with Dwight Houston would have to make Asik a backup center.
Josh Smith fits their uptempo offense and is a rim protector
and versatile defender

Atlanta gets a true center in Asik. that would allow Al Horford to play the 4.
I'm just now realizing how dope the Hawks offense could be next year
if Coach Bud
uses Horford similar to how San Antonio has used Duncan in the high post

>https://twitter.com/InsiderJayNBA/status/351559617496629249
>
>Source tells me the Hawks are hoping Howard goes to Houston if
>its not them, plan on offering to s&t Smith for Asik or get
>Asik outright.

3 crazy

For him (or anyone) to go 3 crazy...it's 3's and drives.
It'd be tough to convince Smith NOT to take 3's

other than that, perfect fit lol

KBergCBS: As free agency opens, the Charlotte Bobcats are pursuing Jazz forward Al Jefferson, a league source tells @CBSSports.

Jordan wtf are you doing???

Somebodies going to throw a ton of money at him after missing out on Dwight, but I haven't heard any rumors about interest in him. Is this really the year that teams get smart about giving guaranteed money to bigs with significant injuries? I don't believe it, I think Cuban goes after him.

prob team option on year 2.

not only can he not stay healthy, he gives not one fuck.

you sign up for that for 4 years and he goes space cadet or gimp in year 2, you're gonna go to lunch and you're keycard's not gonna let you back in the building.

But I stopped banking on NBA free agency decisions to make sense many years ago. I mean, there's not going to be at least 1 GM with a bunch of cap space and no one of significance to spend it on who talks himself into overspending on a legit 7 footer who is easily a max player when he's healthy and motivated and conveniently forgets that he's almost never healthy and motivated?

i've seen silly season live and in person.

Teams will want him on a one-year deal at a high price so the competition will settle first by which team(s) want him for two and then by how much they are willing to pay.

If somebody gives this guy a four-year deal, then the lockout was literally for NOTHING.

CBSSports.com reports that the Rockets, in their seemingly never-ending pursuit of max cap space to completely rebuild their team, are looking to trade Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin or both. Berger singles out Detroit as a possible landing space for Lin in a swap for Jose Calderon.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/22586891/nba-free-agency-buzz-630-pistons-interested-in-josh-smith

Some things have already been mentioned...But there's some interesting tidbits...Pistons going hard after Josh Smith...



----



Free agency officially starts at 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday. At least that's when teams can begin contacting and negotiating with free agents. Here's all the latest buzz and free agency rumors:

1:24 a.m. ET --

1:00 a.m. ET --

* Yahoo Sports reports the Bucks are exploring sign-and-trade oppotunities involving J.J. Redick.

* The LA Daily News reports the Lakers have interest in shooter Chase Budinger.

* The Blazers badly want a new center and have reached out to free agent Chris Kaman, ESPN reports.

* USA Today says that Budinger has also received interest from Dallas, New Orleans, Milwaukee, and Indiana.

* ESPN also reports former Lakers guard Jordan Farmar, who left during the NBA lockout two years ago, has had discussions with LA about a return.

* The LA Times says that the Lakers have started looking at Carlos Delfino who was released by the Rockets Sunday.

* ESPN reports the Bucks, bizarrely enough, have looked at Hawks point guard Jeff Teague, making their Brandon Jennings position al the more confusing.

* And finally ESPN NY reports the Jazz and Lakers have had talks regarding Knicks free agent Chris Copeland.

12:07 a.m. ET --

12:05 a.m. ET --

* USA Today reports that the Wolves, Bucks, Mavericks, Blazers, Pelicans, Pistons and Grizzlies are all interested in Thunder free agent guard/forward Kevin Martin.

* The Pistons are meeting with Josh Smith immediately and have brought a huge offer sheet, according to Yahoo Sports.

12:01 a.m. ET --

* Free agency is officially open.

10:07 p.m. --

* Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports that the Rockets, in their seemingly never-ending pursuit of max cap space to completely rebuild their team, are looking to trade Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin or both. Berger singles out Detroit as a possible landing space for Lin in a swap for Jose Calderon.

* The Knicks and Raptors agreed to a deal to trade Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks, but the league office was closed so the deal will have to be restructured. Everything about this is funny.

* Yahoo reports it's looking less and less likely that J.J. Redick returns to Milwaukee.

* Jerry West joins the Warriors' contingent when they meet Dwight Howard for their pitch, USA Today reports.

7:25 p.m. ET --

* The Mavericks have declined extending Darren Collison a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent, according to Yahoo Sports.

6:05 p.m. ET --

3:50 p.m. ET --

* Kobe Bryant will be part of the Lakers' presentation to Dwight Howard, according to Yahoo Sports.

3:45 p.m. ET --

* Per the San Antonio News-Express, the Spurs have extended qualifying offers to Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal, making both restricted free agents.

2:50 p.m. ET --

* Via USA Today, O.J. Mayo is drawing interest from the Jazz, Bucks, Timberwolves, Clippers, Trail Blazers, Bobcats and Bulls.

* According to ESPN.com, the Hawks extended a $4.5 qualifying offer to Jeff Teague, making him a restricted free agent this summer.

* The Wizards will make calls to Eric Maynor, Beno Udrih and possibly John Lucas III to back up John Wall, according to the Washington Post.

* The Portland Trail Blazers don't have interest in Andrew Bynum, according to CSNNW.com.

2:46 p.m. ET --

* Per Yahoo Sports, guard Kevin Martin expected to draw interest from the Thunder, Bucks, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Mavericks and Pistons.

2:40 p.m. ET --

2:37 p.m. ET --

With the Rockets waiving Aaron Brooks and Carlos Delfino, the team saves close to $4 million, thus clearing even more room for their chase at Dwight Howard.

2:35 p.m. ET --

2:30 p.m. ET --

* The Pistons will not waive guard Rodney Stuckey, according to NBA.com, which would have saved them about $4.5 million. Instead, his contract becomes fully guaranteed next season at $8.5 million.

* The Nuggets, bringing new general manager Tim Connelly and new coach Brian Shaw, will meet with Andre Iguodala in Los Angeles on Monday, according to Yahoo Sports.

* Per USA Today, Iguodala is also expected to draw interest from the Hawks, Pistons, Kings, Mavericks, Pelicans, Warriors and Rockets.

* The Grizzlies will meet with Tony Allen soon, but Allen is also drawing interest from the Bucks, Pacers and Knicks, according to Yahoo Sports.

* According to ESPN.com, Josh Smith is expected to hear from 5-6 teams, with the Pistons being one of them.

Aldrige is worth offering Klay or Barnes for in that deal, I think.

Anyhow Portland apparently turned that down. The odd part about that report is that it says GS offered Lee for Bargnani, which is absurd to me even for financial considerations.

It was worth a try....

The Aldridge trade would obviously be a huge upgrade for the Warriors while the Bargnani trade would've been a downgrade. But in either instance, the new ownership group has been big David Lee supporters for the last couple of years. It makes sense that they would start to look at moving his overpriced contract but given his reputation in the organization I'm still surprised to see it happen.

Mainly they were looking for either a bonafide star (Aldridge) or a shorter, smaller contract (Bargnani).

Those two deals make sense for different reasons.

But the Warriors owners have been very gung ho in there support of Lee the last couple of years, just surprising to see them shopping him so openly now. I'm a big Lee fan but he's absolutely overpaid by at least 50% so I'm all for seeing what his worth is on the open market.

who isn't on a rookie deal still?

I'm a big Lee fan but
>he's absolutely overpaid by at least 50% so I'm all for seeing
>what his worth is on the open market.

Anybody?

He's probably overpaid, but unless I'm misunderstanding your percentage use, not by that damn much.

10 is preferable but his productivity+D+hustle+energy, all as a big man in a league with precious little of them=he's gettin paid.

12 mil is fair and anything above is overpaid.

7 mil is completely absurd.

which i think is fair to call overpaid for what he brings.

10-12 seems about right to me too. $7? I mean Charlie Villanueva makes $8.5.

which is what GS did.

Once you try to be a contender, can Lee be your 2nd best player? Probably not..maybe 3rd or beyond which should put him in that 10million range.

A bad team would def take Lee or an over the cap team trying to improve (uh knicks) lol

That works out to almost $15M per year, I think he's probably worth around $10M. I understand the contract he got though, the Warriors were a shit franchise when he signed here so we had to pay the shitty franchise tax. I'm just saying that it makes sense that know the franchise is starting to get better they are looking to see if they can move his contract for a better value.

https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBgpaHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0cGljLmNvbS9zaG93L2xhcmdlL2QwNjJiMy5qcGcUkAMUrAIAFgASAA&s=GtK9KDLF5BC7hG5fwRz0Zv4Q0tCVpuOcPix9hEYg37o

https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBgpaHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0cGljLmNvbS9zaG93L2xhcmdlL2QwNjJsZS5qcGcUkAMUrAIAFgASAA&s=quYHkDhZi6amv-Oekc0S9v03DotTnJ_ly7IdtT1ngQM

The link features the pics

http://rockets.clutchfans.net/4212/fan-tracks-rockets-dwight-howard-caravan/

Tracking Down Houston’s Dwight Howard Caravan
JULY 1, 2013 12:12 AM
By Shriram Bhat 26 Comments
The Rockets had a caravan in Los Angeles tonight in their attempt to sign the most coveted free agent of 2013 – Dwight Howard. As a Rockets fan that has been living in this town for 28 years, I know that trying to find someone in this city is a proverbial needle in a haystack. Unless you know beforehand where someone is going to be, it’s complete luck.

As luck would have it, I knew where they were going to be as the hotel where they were staying was tweeted out less than an hour before the meeting. The hotel was a 10 minute drive from my place so I knew what I had to do.

I got there a few minutes before 9:00 pm local time. I did not see any activity so I thought maybe I had missed it and instead would just be stuck with a very high valet tab. Fortunately I spotted Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, so I knew I was in the right place. Though the Rockets did have a conference room reserved at the hotel, the meeting was not to take place there.

I was on my way upstairs to check out the conference room when I heard a voice – a familiar voice – making its way down the stairs. I went back down and sure enough it was Hakeem Olajuwon and Rockets owner Les Alexander coming down the stairs. The caravan was getting ready to make its move.

I stood in awe – Dream is the only person that I’ve ever met that can do that to me. He returned the greetings and Les stepped in to say he liked the shirt I was wearing. (It was a red Rockets dress shirt- a compliment later echoed by Daryl Morey and Rockets CEO Tad Brown)

Two names I did overhear uttered by Les to Olajuwon were Jarrett Jack and Josh Smith, though I think he was talking about Smith in relation to Detroit chasing him.

As Les and Dream made their way out of the hotel, the rest of the group started to emerge. Daryl was in front with not one but two IPads in his hands. He was flanked by Brown and assistant GM Gersson Rosas. Then came Coach Kevin McHale and Rockets Legend Clyde Drexler, and bringing up the rear was Chandler Parsons, James Harden and trainer Keith Jones.

The whole spectacle was simply amazing. Daryl was in an upbeat mood and when I asked about the chances of landing Dwight, he just smiled.

“We’ll see,” said Daryl.

There was a large party van that was waiting for the team and everyone piled in, their destination a secret as that location was set by Dwight and his agent. But make no mistake, the team was pulling out all the stops in trying to woo Dwight. Bringing their two current franchise players in Harden and Parsons and two former ones in Dream and Clyde, the Rockets were putting on a complete full court press.

Contrary to belief, the Rockets did not meet with Dwight at 12:01 eastern. Depending on where they were going (even if it was nearby), their meeting probably didn’t start until around 12:35-12:40 eastern. From what was said at least, the meeting was going to take several hours.

I can feel it though. There is excitement back with the Rockets, excitement that hasn’t been around in about nine years. July 10th can’t come soon enough.

the rumor is it was Josh Smith.

If so that makes sense as to trading Lin and Asik.

Maybe they worked out a sign and trade with ATL to send Omer and some PFS over for Josh + sometyhing

You bout to make me choke on my oatmeal cuh

I will definitely gladly accept that other bamma ass nigguh too tho

http://nba.si.com/2013/06/30/nba-free-agency-2013-rumors/

NBA free agency opened at 12:01 a.m. ET Monday. What’s the latest chatter surrounding Dwight Howard, Josh Smith and other coveted players? Find a roundup of all the most recent news below.

MORE COVERAGE: Top 25 free agents | Potential bargains | Buyer beware

July 1

10:48 a.m. ET

• CBSSports.com: “he Knicks expressed an interest in pursuing a deal with Bucks shooting guard Monta Ellis, league sources told CBSSports.com. … Ellis, 27, and his Washington, D.C.-based agent, Jeff Fried, are known to be willing to compromise in order to sign with a contending team. And the Knicks, who face the free-agent loss of sixth man of the year J.R. Smith, would provide ample opportunity for Ellis to showcase his scoring prowess deep into the playoffs.”

• Charlotte Observer: “The Charlotte Bobcats have reached out to representatives for Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson to gauge his interest in signing here, an NBA source confirmed to the Observer. … The question is how much Jefferson would cost, in both salary and guaranteed years, and whether he’d still be a contributor once the Bobcats are improved enough to make a playoff run. Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins told the Observer last month that he’s wary of overpaying a free agent just to show progress.”

• ESPN.com: “Detroit’s top priority this summer is to get Josh Smith or Andre Iguodala.”

• @MarkHeisler: “This just in: Source tells me #Clippers no longer targeting Afflalo but Tony Allen, whom Doc coached w/#Celtics.”

9:30 a.m. ET

• Yahoo! Sports: “Houston has emerged as the frontrunner to sign the Los Angeles Lakers center, league sources said, and those close to Howard confirmed late Sunday that the Rockets did nothing to dampen Howard’s enthusiasm for the possibilities of playing for Houston.”

• ESPN.com: “One source told ESPN.com that the Bucks were now leaning toward not even making an offer to Redick … Then came word, via another source, that the Bucks are in the process of launching a hard run in free agency at Hawks restricted free agent point guard Jeff Teague at the behest of new coach Larry Drew, who just had Teague in Atlanta.”

• Yahoo! Sports: ”After Josh Smith’s meeting w/ Detroit GM Joe Dumars, source close to Smith tells Y!: “Good, productive talks. Intriguing to say the least.”

• USA Today Sports: “The Warriors took care of some expected housekeeping to start free agency, contacting free agent point guard Jarrett Jack about his possible return as well as forward Carl Landry. Jack appears to have been pegged as the bigger priority of the two for the Warriors … “

We might be better off wit dantoni over woody coaching this team though smh

Bargnani

D'Antoni would find a way to make him play the PF...lol
Funny thing is, Bargnani would be PERFECT for D'Antoni

Funny thing is, Bargnani would be PERFECT for D'Antoni

>
>
>
>http://nba.si.com/2013/06/30/nba-free-agency-2013-rumors/
>
>NBA free agency opened at 12:01 a.m. ET Monday. What’s the
>latest chatter surrounding Dwight Howard, Josh Smith and other
>coveted players? Find a roundup of all the most recent news
>below.
>
>MORE COVERAGE: Top 25 free agents | Potential bargains | Buyer
>beware
>
>July 1
>
>10:48 a.m. ET
>
>• CBSSports.com: “he Knicks expressed an interest in
>pursuing a deal with Bucks shooting guard Monta Ellis, league
>sources told CBSSports.com. … Ellis, 27, and his Washington,
>D.C.-based agent, Jeff Fried, are known to be willing to
>compromise in order to sign with a contending team. And the
>Knicks, who face the free-agent loss of sixth man of the year
>J.R. Smith, would provide ample opportunity for Ellis to
>showcase his scoring prowess deep into the playoffs.”
>


What can the Knicks offer Monta? Ain't they capped out?


>• Charlotte Observer: “The Charlotte Bobcats have reached out
>to representatives for Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson to gauge
>his interest in signing here, an NBA source confirmed to the
>Observer. … The question is how much Jefferson would cost, in
>both salary and guaranteed years, and whether he’d still be a
>contributor once the Bobcats are improved enough to make a
>playoff run. Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod
>Higgins told the Observer last month that he’s wary of
>overpaying a free agent just to show progress.”
>

If Al goes to Charlotte, that's him basically saying, "I don't care about the playoffs ever."


>• ESPN.com: “Detroit’s top priority this summer is to get Josh
>Smith or Andre Iguodala.”
>

Lol.....good ole Pistons.


>• @MarkHeisler: “This just in: Source tells me #Clippers no
>longer targeting Afflalo but Tony Allen, whom Doc coached
>w/#Celtics.”
>

Afflalo would be better for them. Not as great defensively, but still good. Younger. Healthier. And can shoot. And not crazy.


>9:30 a.m. ET
>
>• Yahoo! Sports: “Houston has emerged as the frontrunner to
>sign the Los Angeles Lakers center, league sources said, and
>those close to Howard confirmed late Sunday that the Rockets
>did nothing to dampen Howard’s enthusiasm for the
>possibilities of playing for Houston.”
>
>• ESPN.com: “One source told ESPN.com that the Bucks were now
>leaning toward not even making an offer to Redick … Then came
>word, via another source, that the Bucks are in the process of
>launching a hard run in free agency at Hawks restricted free
>agent point guard Jeff Teague at the behest of new coach Larry
>Drew, who just had Teague in Atlanta.”
>

Give up on Brandon Jennings for Jeff Teague? That's like trading a Ciara cd for an Amerie cd. Same difference. Both mediocre.

>Give up on Brandon Jennings for Jeff Teague? That's like
>trading a Ciara cd for an Amerie cd. Same difference. Both
>mediocre.

If one costs 14.99 and the other comes in at 7.99, guess what? $7.99 is the better option when you're running a business, all intangibles considered.

as JT.

And the Clips, to be honest.

I don't see why they aren't breaking down Iggy's door though.

>I don't see why they aren't breaking down Iggy's door though.

not to escape denver

and he's damn sure better than Crawford and Billups lol

and he was fine in memphis until they put him in that 6th man role.

like i said, he'd be an upgrade at sg for clippers.

15 ppg is still 15 ppg. Especially on a team that needed offense last year.

He's mediocre.

is he better than Jamal crawford?

is he better than Chauncey Billups?

He couldn't hang with The Marine at the Y.

>is he better than Jamal crawford?

Probably not

>is he better than Chauncey Billups?

Probably. I don't know if better than 40 yr old Billups is a great criteria for finding your starting sg, but shoot...go ahead.

times.

O.J. was a starter in Memphis. They sucked.

They put him on the bench in just a scoring role. The team got better. He didn't really flourish.

He went to the Mavs to be a go to guy. Played well at the beginning of the year. Then fell off a cliff. Underwhelmed Carlisle. Didn't get an offer.

Now he's a UFA.

C'mon man.

started out hating the guy, now i appreciate what he does. he's a little better defined than mayo, though i wouldn't use the word "consistent."

that 15 ppg player. He'll also not be expected to carry the day. The heavy lifting will be done by Paul and Blake.

How are you not getting that?

He abandoned ship after the 3rd week of the season though

He's not an all star. He's not The Man.

A third offensive option who can effectively backup the point in certain situations though?

That's a great role for him.

There's far too much agenda with a lot of players. People look at draft positions and initial expectations instead of looking at the strengths of a player in proper context. There's definitely a place for OJ Mayo in this league, and a third, even fourth wheel role on the Clips is one such place.

I didn't say he needs to be kicked out of the league. I just don't know why we're acting like teams should be going out their way to get O.J. Mayo in 2013.

What's next, people scheduling meetings with Nick Young?

>
>What's next, people scheduling meetings with Nick Young?

They should go out of their way if he's better than their current option.

>I didn't say he needs to be kicked out of the league. I just
>don't know why we're acting like teams should be going out
>their way to get O.J. Mayo in 2013.

Who is doing this? Where is this happening?

And OJ as your third best offensive option is perfectly fine when you have a bonafide HOF player running the point and an All Star stud at the 4.

>What's next, people scheduling meetings with Nick Young?

Lets see..... a gunner guard/small forward good teams can generally live with because he provides instant offense off the bench?

Yeah, THAT'S not a role that's always in demand.

LOL

Come on now

You're on some bullshit

Doc contacting him the first day of FA = the Clipps going out of their way.

But I'm the bitch? Okay, Player.

That's that good cunt logic for you.

Sorry, but there are players in the NBA who are not good and are mediocre. O.J.'s one of them.

You're either not good, or you're mediocre. You'll say that's splitting hairs, but the two couldn't be more distinct.

You're basically shitting on the idea of signing the guy because he's
"mediocre", which is funny because that's the bulk of the league.

After that top 25-30 or so, there's like 200 mediocre players, and OJ is in the top third of that mediocre pile.

Further, pointing out the absolute absurdity of your post is hardly an example of catching feelings. You going so hard to shit on a solid player (i.e, not an all star caliber player) is the biggest example of catching feelings in this post.

O.J. is in the not good tier.

He's in the mediocre tier.

He is not in the bad tier.

Now that your feelings are all tangled up, you can stop throwing a huffy tantrum.

Come on man...3rd option? I got off that Mayo bandwagon a long time ago....But Mayo would fit in nicely as a 3rd option on a playoff team...On the Clippers? He would flourish....

He does more than Crawford (who is my dude), that's for sure....

Iggy just does everything and a S&T should be pursued to get him. That's a perfect fit for this mix on both ends of the floor. I'm stunned that he's not being courted by them.

>Iggy just does everything and a S&T should be pursued to get
>him. That's a perfect fit for this mix on both ends of the
>floor. I'm stunned that he's not being courted by them.


I like Iggy (very versatile player)...But doesn't that team need someone that can shoot at that 2 spot?

I think that's the issue....The talk of Tony Allen (another name being mentioned) seems to be their attempt to get some defense on the ball through free agency...But the Clips are trading Bledsoe.....So they are def. going for a 2 guard (that seemed to be Afflolo early on) that can actually get his own shot AND shoot the 3 or at the very least keep teams honest beyond 20 feet....

Tony definitely doesn't.

OJ does work from that standpoint though, so you've got a point there.

>Tony definitely doesn't.
>
>OJ does work from that standpoint though, so you've got a
>point there.


Afflolo can shoot...Mayo can shoot and handle the ball from time to time (works less better as a primary option...but as we all agree as a 3rd option he would get off...)

I just don't think Iggy makes much sense for the Clippers if they don't have shooters to keep teams honest...

>I just don't think Iggy makes much sense for the Clippers if
>they don't have shooters to keep teams honest...

Agreed, and I conceded that already :)

These fuckers ain't playin

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/22590383/report-free-agent-kyle-korver-is-in-the-bag-for-the-brooklyn-nets

EyeOnBasketballReport: Free agent Kyle Korver is 'in the bag' for the Brooklyn Nets
By Matt Moore | NBA writerJuly 1, 2013 1:33 am ET

Will Kyle Korver become a Net? (USATSI)

Hawks free agent guard Kyle Korver is expected to be among the most coveted this offseason as a veteran shooter in his prime. Korver could look for one last big payday and then start ring chasing after this one expires, but instead, a report indicates that the hunt for Korver may already be over.

ESPN reports that Korver is regarded by one league executive as "in the bag" for the Brooklyn Nets.

The Nets can only offer the mini-mid-level exception granted to teams which are billions and billions over the cap, but if Korver wants his best shot at a title, this may be the best option for him. Korver had talked about how much he wanted to stay with Atlanta. But Korver has a long-term relationship with Deron Williams going back to their time together in Utah.

So the Nets offer a player Korver trusts, veterans who want to win now, a stacked roster, a big market, and not great money but business opportunities in Brooklyn. Not a bad pitch. Enough to get him "in the bag?" That seems like a stretch. But it's definitely enough to warrant keeping an eye on in case the Nets land the best pure shooter of this free agency class.

True...they are not messing around if this happens....At this point, if Korver comes on board for that Russian fucker the only thing you would have to seriously worry within that 2 year span is whether Kidd is up to the challenge of coaching this team...

Title is seriously not out of reach. Miami going for 4 straight years is a tall order all by itself, and this is one team that could definitely challenge them.

Indy is really dependant on whether or not George makes that leap, whether or not Granger is his old self (or what they get in a trade for him) and Hibberts improvement.Personally, Indy should do a S&T for Iggy w/Granger, throw in Lance to try and nab Andre (Hello, Mark Jackson 2.0!) and call it a day.

Meh, NJ still some paper tigers.

Sheeeeeit

isn't formidable?

Better
Iso Joe
Lopez
Pierce
KG

Chalmers
Wade
Bosh
Bron
Udonis

kidd is going to have some growing pangs as a coach tho

this is it.

oh a couple of yells and screams.. Not sure that's gonna put them over the top.. Lolz.. That shit don't phase LeBreeezy nem...

he damn near averaged 15/8 and a block a game for the season. He's a 6'11" dude who can still run the floor and consistently splash the elbow J, causing your big dude to have to come out.

Leadership, Championship pedigree, shit like that.

Oh and Paul brings clutch shooting, tough defense, veteran leadership, championship pedigree.

Those two add a lot of toughness to that squad, like it or not. Even if all KG does is bark, it's more than they had last year by leaps and bounds.

They are not their former all-star selves. Kg probably puts up 13/7, Paul probably chips in 14-15 per.

Instead of being the main men on the team, they're cogs in the machine. They add balance to that squad. If they had different names with the numbers they add to this team, people would be going crazy over the move.

Yes, they're old.
Yes, they're not who they once were.

They are perhaps the best role players any team could have possibly landed this off season and it's going to make a big difference. It's short window, but a BIG one.

Cats are acting like they need KG & Pierce to carry the squad. All they need from them is 25-28 min per game of solid contribution, which they are more than capable of

dwill really isn't that good. he should have beasted on chicago and nate rob but didn't. JJ is a shell of his former self. KG and PP are very close to expired. I could see them trying hard but w/ a new system & coach I could see them becoming frustrated. Lopez is good. KK is one-dimensional and when he's not making 3's he tends to be the worst player on the court.

not saying NJ is some shit but they are definitely paper tigers. they not beating a healthy chi or indy, and certainly not fucking with miami. NY maybe.

time will tell.

>These fuckers ain't playin
>
>http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/22590383/report-free-agent-kyle-korver-is-in-the-bag-for-the-brooklyn-nets
>
>EyeOnBasketballReport: Free agent Kyle Korver is 'in the bag'
>for the Brooklyn Nets
>By Matt Moore | NBA writerJuly 1, 2013 1:33 am ET
>
>Will Kyle Korver become a Net? (USATSI)
>
>Hawks free agent guard Kyle Korver is expected to be among the
>most coveted this offseason as a veteran shooter in his prime.
>Korver could look for one last big payday and then start ring
>chasing after this one expires, but instead, a report
>indicates that the hunt for Korver may already be over.
>
>ESPN reports that Korver is regarded by one league executive
>as "in the bag" for the Brooklyn Nets.
>
>The Nets can only offer the mini-mid-level exception granted
>to teams which are billions and billions over the cap, but if
>Korver wants his best shot at a title, this may be the best
>option for him. Korver had talked about how much he wanted to
>stay with Atlanta. But Korver has a long-term relationship
>with Deron Williams going back to their time together in Utah.
>
>
>So the Nets offer a player Korver trusts, veterans who want to
>win now, a stacked roster, a big market, and not great money
>but business opportunities in Brooklyn. Not a bad pitch.
>Enough to get him "in the bag?" That seems like a stretch. But
>it's definitely enough to warrant keeping an eye on in case
>the Nets land the best pure shooter of this free agency
>class.
>

Maybe even Nate Robinson
Either way, decent pickup by the Pacers. However, George Hill really needs to take a big leap this year

I'd say they go with the guy who is an actual draw- in his own way- and can actually carry the team on his back at times. He's on that Tony Delk/Bobby Jackson shit. I wouldn't be shocked if he put up 50.

.

Damn

redick for bledsoe. other pieces to be added.

LA is going hard for a SG. e.bled is the best chip they got to get one.

and end shortly after.

you just drafted a beanpole euro and you're not going anywhere.

for one year at 8m?

why not?

Gotta spend it on somebody...expiring contracts would be great.

>redick for bledsoe. other pieces to be added.
>
>LA is going hard for a SG. e.bled is the best chip they got to
>get one.


There's got to better deal on the table for the Clips other than Reddick....

someone the bucks will probably let walk anyway?
dumb
only way it makes sense is if the sign and trade matches bledsoes rookie deal and they're just trying lock someone up cheap for the next 4 yr

David Aldridge @daldridgetnt 2 minutes ago
Have been told the Pelicans' sheet to Tyreke Evans is four years, $44 million



Fuuuuu...

So many feels.

cause reke ain't playing sf.

Possibly have something set up already. Most likely a giveaway to a team like the Bobcats.

Hearing 4/48 might be the deal now. Fuck.

And at there best Ewok is better. Just that Ewok is never healthy.

We should see though.

I like him too but that Holiday/Evans backcourt isn't going to work.

I called him signing for this exact amount and I actually think that among the marquee small forward-ish FAs (Smith, Iggy, Evans) he will wind up as the best value.

You look at those guys likely getting the max, shit, New Orleans is getting a steal here and a guy who has a strong chance to actually out-perform his career to date.

Going to the Pelicans would be perfect because Jrue's also overpaid by two million. Evans reminds me of Monta Ellis and OJ Mayo in that they are players that you kind of have to build around for them to be most successful but they aren't good enough to build around.

Holliday is definitely not overpaid, he's got one of the better contracts in the league. Evans may be slightly overpaid based on what he has done at $11M, I grant you that, but factoring in the total package (market competition, competitors in the market, potential, etc) he is about right.

There is not much market correction for the new CBA, just a handful of compromises (e.g. David West signing for three years).

when a 29 yr old SG/SF who has NO jumper, shot 57% from the FT line, and avg. 13 points last yr is about to get $16+ a yr
lmao
evans is only 23 and the pelicans basically are betting 40 mil that he just needs to get away from a shithole of a franchise and that a change of scenery will get him back to his rookie numbers

I think he's taking the years. I think he maxes at 13 per.
wait, it's July.
nevermind, someone will pay him 16.

Can't imagine he's high on Gordon. He's worth the gamble to a bad team though, which is why we might even keep him.


Eh, talent is talent and Reke has it in spades. The new reality of 4 year deals makes these things WAY more palatable than the 6 or 7 year killers of years past.

I mean I've known of reke since 9th grade, saw him play in hs, he's obviously a talent.

but the 44 mil risk is: is the lack of improvement sacramento and all that fuckery, or has he just plateaued?

they can't miss on this.

Reke seems to have actually regressed since he entered the league. That's even worse than plateauing.

he was a force of nature on offense and could get to the basket whenever he chose.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/evansty01.html

the big worry is that he hasn't played more than 61 games in a season--
excluding his rookie year where he played 72

but yeah. the more I think about it, Gordon has to go if they sign him

And Reke's been pretty vocal about not wanting to play the 3.

So... I mean... yeah. That's a cluster either way. Reke wants to run the point, so why the hell did they trade for Jru?

So I'm not sure what your speculation on his feelings about positions has to do with it. This isn't a trade. Its his call.

Dell Demps did not meet with Reke at 12:01 to bullshit him. They have a specific plan in place, and if he signs it means he is on board with that.


There has been rumblings that the plan is to have Reke as the 6th man, Manu type role. But who knows, the off season is young. Acquiring young talent is almost always a good thing in my book regardless.

no matter where he goes and how much they offer.

Since his disdain for the 3 and preference for the 1 has been echoed quite a bit, I'd say there's teeth to it.

It just makes no sense to get a guy like that when you just got Jru.

You can have too much young talent when some of that talent is fighting for minutes or do similar things.

I'm sure he's on board with the projected vision, whatever that was, but on the surface this seems like a poor fit all the way around. Not to mention Rivers and McLemore are already on the roster, but perhaps one of them is on the move as well. Perhaps this proposed "Manu" role is just what the doctor ordered. It could potentially give them a nightmare guard rotation for opposing teams. It still looks like a bad move on paper IMO.

that being said it's still too many fucking guards on the team
jrue, grevis, ewok, rivers, and maybe evans
they can probably package vasquez and gordon for something NICE though so......

any sort of high price.

His vision is to build a core of young talent and let them grow together ala the Spurs big 3.

He sees Brow as his Timmy.

He sees Jrue as his Tony.

Would make sense to see Reke as his Manu. Needs to improve his J, but he made strides last year (33% from 3). His talents are diverse, and he can come into a game and take over for stretches.


And then Gordon becomes trade bait, or we see how they fit. But that core is the key.

Pelicans have time to work this out is my stance. I'm not tripping on this signing one bit (if it even goes through).

you can run him off screens to give him catch-and-shoot opportunities

Reke's only offensive threat is attacking the basket. he can't really shoot.
he's like Rondo or Tony-Parker where you can just play off

if they get rid of Gordon for basketball reasons, then I think it'll be a mistake. if they get rid of him because he doesn't want
to be there or has some attitude issues, then it makes sense

but we don't need diaw

3 mill a year

he any good, because I have not watch the Bucks AT ALL...

He should do well enough for us as a 3pt specialist.

Him playing 75 games last yr was a good sign.

>3 mill a year
>
>he any good, because I have not watch the Bucks AT ALL...


Stats....


Dunleavy averaged 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 25.9 minutes last season. He shot 44.2 percent from the field and an impressive 42.8 percent from the 3-point line.

This^^^^is all about the 3.....

Can create his shot a bit more, and when he's hot it's a wrap
He's lit up the Knicks way too many times...it also helps that he's 6-9 6-10ish

Bad thing is that Thibs is gonna have to work a miracle on his d

But he's a shooter, a solid one

>Can create his shot a bit more, and when he's hot it's a
>wrap
>He's lit up the Knicks way too many times...it also helps that
>he's 6-9 6-10ish
>

it seems he'd play the knicks, crawl out the casket, drop 35, and then go back to being pedestrian.

over the last 5 years, I must have seen 10 obscure/on their last legs guys have NBA Jam nights against the Knicks.

I clearly remember mike james on toronto coming to the garden and killing steph. on some dyckman shit.

Ahhh....the agendas.....

what ive seen

can shoot it and is long and plays good enough d
good piece for the bench

10 ppg 7th man ill take it all day

Not a surprise....


---------


Howard Beck ‏@HowardBeckNYT

Blatche is returning on a one-year, $1.4 million deal.
Expand

Howard Beck Howard Beck ‏@HowardBeckNYT 14m

he's BK's most important piece to keeping KG upright. If KG could eke out a touch more professionalism out of him, 1.4 will be an outright steal.

On the one hand, I'd rather have Kevin Martin, but Noted White Win-Hater Kevin Love needs the vastly superior OJ Mayo to teach him How To Win.

http://fansided.com/2013/07/01/minnesota-timberwolves-discussing-sign-and-trade-for-o-j-mayo/

The Minnesota Timberwolves have made it known that they’re interested in brining in shooting guard help this offseason and the name at the top of their list O.J. Mayo. While May is drawing interest around the NBA, the Timberwolves are the latest team to be in talks with the Dallas Mavericks for a sign-and-trade deal that will land them the guard they covet.

According to ESPN1500 Wolves beat writer Darren Wolfson, the trade would send both Luke Ridnuor and J.J. Barea to Dallas in exchange for Mayo and his contract.

As Wolfson stated, the deal is not close to happening anytime soon but it is being discussed. However, before Wolves fans get too excited, the Mavericks remain in talks with the Los Angeles Clippers for a sign-and-trade deal that would send Mayo to the Clippers in exchange for Eric Bledsoe.

Of course, any deal the Mavericks get serious about hinges on the Dwight Howard contract talks as signing the big man is the first and foremost priority on the Mavericks to-do list this offseason. But Mark Cuban and company aren’t putting all their chips into the Dwight Howard pool as they have been setting up contingency plans all day long from these sign-and-trade rumors to meeting with players like Andre Iguodala and Kevin Martin.

lol

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

after nobody else wanna fk with him

start from the bottom



slim thug ‏@slimthugga 6h
And u can talk on the phone and text while u drive down here @DwightHoward
Expand Reply Retweet Favorite More

slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
And @DwightHoward we got the Texans so not too much pressure on winning a ring this year we got time to grow u kno LA gone hate tho
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
A @DwightHoward dat boy @JHarden13 out here living like a king
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
Yo @DwightHoward meet @IAmMaliahMichel @MercedesMorr @miraclewatts00 @Lira_Galore @IAmTresureP @MisMODELKIKI @victoriarrrose @MAC_BXTCH
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
The galleria mall is a fool kid every store in one spot stay crawling with Bad bitches @DwightHoward
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
A bottle of rosé in a Houston club is $250 max in LA $1000 befo taxes and gratuity @DwightHoward
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
We both got babymamas @DwightHoward do u know that they only get 20% in Houston it's wayyyy worst in LA
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
Have u ever been to @dreamshouston or V-Live @DwightHoward ??? LA ain't got strippers like we do
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
Gnrrr RT @TreyHob21: @slimthugga @DwightHoward dnt go to Houston Slim Thug spend more time in LA than he does in Houston lol
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
We real out here u can buy a big ass crib for cheap ill throw u a few assist on hoes make your next move your best move G @DwightHoward
Expand
slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
Yooo @DwightHoward what uppp gone come down to Houston G we got ya u already know Kobe gone act like a girl and blame u all season

a styrofoam cup of sizzurp.

LOL @ painting Houston as a lawless, baby-mama-knocking-up-and-ditching, driving-while-texting post-apocalyptic hellscape as a way to get Dwight Howard to sign (I 100% support seeing him sign with Houston for these reasons, btw.)

But really, Dwight Howard's Greatest Press Conferences, Screwed & Chopped, Vol. 1. Someone do it.

.

when I was in Houston hes on a radio campaign with Houston's mayor against texting while driving though.

Bun B ‏@BunBTrillOG 11h
It can wait Dwight. #NoTextingAndDriving RT @slimthugga: And u can talk on the phone and text while u drive down here @DwightHoward

>when I was in Houston hes on a radio campaign with Houston's
>mayor against texting while driving though.
>
>Bun B ‏@BunBTrillOG 11h
>It can wait Dwight. #NoTextingAndDriving RT @slimthugga: And u
>can talk on the phone and text while u drive down here
>@DwightHoward

>Bun B ‏@BunBTrillOG 11h
>It can wait Dwight. #NoTextingAndDriving RT @slimthugga: And u
>can talk on the phone and text while u drive down here
>@DwightHoward


slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
We both got babymamas @DwightHoward do u know that they only get 20% in Houston it's wayyyy worst in LA
Expand

slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
We both got babymamas @DwightHoward do u know that they only get 20% in Houston it's wayyyy worst in LA
Expand

> slim thug ‏@slimthugga 7h
>Yooo @DwightHoward what uppp gone come down to Houston G we
>got ya u already know Kobe gone act like a girl and blame u
>all season

for the pick and Darrell Arthur
happened days ago, but there it is

Denver got the raw end of that one

First part courtesy of Good Old JR!

-(How many more days in LA?) I'm here an undetermined amount of time. I'd say, people know our goals in free agency. We had a good meeting with Dwight. Turns out LA is the center hub of most of the free agents out there. A good spot to be during this intense time.

-(Manu Ginobili?) I'll avoid talking about who we are going after or not going after. Our focus is Dwight and full speed ahead. We'll see what happens. We're right in there with some other good teams and I like what we were able to put together and I hope he did.

-(Reason for why he wouldn't choose Houston?) No I don't. We're biased. We think it's his best shot. His questions were about winning and how he could be a championship contender with Harden. His line of questioning was good because it lined up with what we had to offer. He'd be a great addition.

-(Did he ask about specific players or getting other guys?) He didn't bring that up. He did bring up something I think is reasonable, which is to be involved. Know what our plans are, what we're thinking about doing so he can provide feedback. Like I told James, I'm a partner by nature. I like explaining, walking players through the plan and getting their feedback.

-(Take us around the table) Everyone participated. It was really impressive. James, Chandler both are great recruiters. We were happy they could join us. It was important for Dwight to see how committed his teammates would be. Mr. Alexander the key guy. Dwight knows that's who he is joining. Myself, Coach McHale, Tad are the key folks Mr. Alexander puts his trust in so he got to meet us as well. Obviously some dazzle with Dream and Clyde there. Even amazing for me to be with them and to have them describe what it is to win a championship. There will probably never be another Clyde and Dream but we're hoping Dwight and James, with a good supporting cast, can take down the Heat and give us a shot. My job won't be done if Dwight chooses us. We'll try and upgrade the team. The coolest moment is when Yao skyped in. Yao is amazing. He had a whole pitch ready, which none of us talked to him about. We thought he would make fun of Dwight. He had a whole pitch ready. It was really cool.

-(Mutombo do something as well?) His message to Dwight was most touching because how important community is to Dwight. Dikembe is one of the best players of all time in terms of impacting people outside the game. It affected me so I'm hoping it affected Dwight.

-(Mutombo going to bat for you guys) Shockingly I agree. It really is impressive. I have to credit CD and Mr. Alexander. The relationships built over time, luckily I caught the tail end of Dikembe's career and got to have a great relationship with him but from Elvin Hayes to Hakeem to Ralph to Dream to Yao to Dikembe, Clyde, these are guys who identify themselves with the Rockets but Dikembe and Clyde spent most of their careers away from Houston but Houston is the place they advocate for.

-(Comment on the strength coach? Was that getting someone who has a comfort level with Dwight?) That was totally unrelated. We were looking to upgrade that spot. As soon as the Magic let us talk to him, he's a guy that we had our eye on because we heard such good things about him. People will call bull**** or whatever but that was unrelated. We thought he was the best guy out there.

____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________
-Host asks where Jeremy Lin stands with Rox because he wasn't at meeting.

-Daryl: Dwight is excited to play with Omer and Jeremy. He's seen the rumors. Dwight likes that the ROX are team China and likes that Jeremy attacks as a guard. He likes Omer. Their names have been out there in rumors. Rumor that Omer would be available is not true. Originally they were trying to create room people called IN about Jeremy and Omer. Not looking to move either.

-Host: So if you could sign Dwight and keep the lineup in tact you'd want to do that? Keep Omer in starting lineup with Dwight?

-Daryl: No. They wouldn't play together, maybe sometimes in experiments. We feel with both playing (Omer as backup) they have top 10 defense on floor at all times.

-Host: Omer would be a HUGE luxury though?

-Daryl: Yeah, people say that but we don't look at it that way. What Omer would bring in his minutes is bigger than what another player would bring that we would trade him for. An upgrade at the 4 wouldn't bring as much to the team as Omer in 15-20 minutes.

-Host: You are just worried about the drop off in rebounding.

-Daryl: Dwight was #1 impact defender in league and Omer was top 5.

-Host: Dwight is plan A. If you don't get Dwight would you try to float the cap space? No long term deal? Or is good plan B out there?

-Daryl: Couple of things. If we don't get Dwight we will be HURT. We would NOT have done TROB deal. We've gambled on Dwight. We are waiting on him and missing other moves in free agency, but we are fully committed to bringing Dwight here.

-Host: Recap: Most important thing you said is that Jeremy Lin and Omer are not available. Only last resort if S&T to get dwight?

-Daryl: No sign and trade to get Dwight. Lakers are not interested in doing that. We have the room to sign him on the 10th and we hope he goes our direction.

let's not act like evan turner for jeremy lin is a big basketball step back.

I'm down for the trade.

I might be the only one besides guru, but fuck it.

be a better #2 overall pick than Hasheem Thabeet?

but his ceiling has been collapsing like a porno theater on market street.

http://www.postingandtoasting.com/2013/7/2/4486516/knicks-offer-elton-brand-nba-free-agency

And let's just add Monta to the list too. Let's never win anything, ever. Thank you Glen Grunwald, you've really turned this ship around.

That seems like a lot...especially given he just came off a 2/20. Granted, that was a bit of a discount, but he's 2 years older now. Super important to that team, but $12 mil/year seems steep when compared to Hibbert at $14m, and the fact that Paul George is going to get a big contract...

Current NBA economics have devalued expiring contracts for deals, but they're really only stuck with it for 2 years and it does become a solid trade chip at that point if his production takes a dive. I understand the raise and don't think it's necessarily unwise. He's been a rock of consistency his entire career, so why not?

Yeah, he's overpaid, but so are most NBA big men. I don't see anyone on the horizon that they could have replaced him with either.

And with Danny Granger's big-ass expiring deal this year, they have a bit of money they can throw in the immediate future (and they probably weren't gonna be able to keep Stephenson after this upcoming season anyway, with the George deal looming).

My biggest financial issue with them is that they have four more years of George Hill at $8 mil per. Sheesh.

Granger is getting shopped and likely won't return this year.

They'll be fine. As his production dips, Paul will be peeking. It's more money than I think they should have spent- at most, they should have kept him at 10 mil, but they're in a great position going forward. There was nobody else coming and Reggie Miller isn't walking through that door (c) Pitino.

maybe year 2 when he's 34, who knows
he's kind of a dinosaur as far as modern PFs go. at points in that heat series he looked like he was running in molasses
they didn't have the cap room to go after a upgrade so them overpaying west was kind of expected all along

than 2 more years of a healthy tyrus thomas

I think professionalism/conduct goes a long way in Indiana after the brawl.

I mean shit, they gave him a player option after year 2. that's a gift.

Word ist the Clips are trying to flip Caron and maybe Crawford, not Bled.

he just, works so well there.
plus there's any given night he might go nuclear.
caron's a good citizen and locker room guy on an expiring 8m contract at 33. he'd seem the guy that's easiest to move

I hope we can dump Caron for anything. Crawford helps relieve some of the scoring pressure from CP so losing him would definitely have its drawbacks.

GOOD!

Solid team player.

A dude who's been in the league eight seasons, had one halfway decent season in a contract year, and gets 5.5 per til age 30 as a result.

If he shoots under 40% from 3 (like he's done most of his career), that's wasted money.

Although I guess if all they have on the books after 2014 is Wall's inevitable max deal, a couple of rookie contracts, and Nene's 13 mil per, it could be worse. As long as they're not shopping for a stud to play alongside Wall, I reckon it's fine.

Still, there are probably somewhat safer bets to sign four year deals with than Webster.

And he still might be pure shit.

But one thing I can't front on is how well he worked at being a solid vet on the Wiz. Now all that wouldn't have meant anything if he didn't hit his threes, but he did.

For some reason his presence with the exclusion of the knuckleheads made it work.

they have no back-up 2 (or 3 if ariza is moved), no one other than beal hits 3s and spreads the floor.

Unfortunately, they still need to overpay a little to attract/keep talent, but 5M is not bad for Webster's role on the team.

----------
"To face that guy twice a year is going to be a headache…He takes away from your enthusiasm for the game a little bit." Justin Tuck on RG3

which Grunfeld will overpay for after years of nonsense behind the scenes for the Wiz. It was an overpay but he should be a solid mentor for the Juniors, Otto and Glen.

next year. I like Martell but that contract is kinda...ummm...expensive. He's not much better than Deshawn Stevenson and Stevenson got less money. I'm glad the Wiz are keeping him but not at that price.

staying healthy is a big if with him.
but he has more potential at this stage of his career than stevenson, plays two positions and is a leader on the team.


----------
"To face that guy twice a year is going to be a headache…He takes away from your enthusiasm for the game a little bit." Justin Tuck on RG3

lol

https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/352139664339111936

Pacers have agreed to rescind Tyler Hansbrough's qualifying offer, I'm told, which immediately makes him unrestricted free agent

but he wants to start>? lol

Yeah, that's dumb.

I think the stat I saw was opponents only score on 32 percent of their attempts when he's guarding them? For a big man in today's NBA, that's pretty goddamn good.

He won't ever be a stud on offense, but they really just need him to grab boards, do putbacks, set picks, and play D. Unless the Spurs thought they could get a stud big man in free agency, I don't have a problem with them overpaying a defensive minded big man who works for their system.

Plus, even though he's old (28), he hasn't logged a lot of NBA miles, so I like his odds to stay effective for nearly all of that contract.

>Plus, even though he's old (28), he hasn't logged a lot of NBA
>miles, so I like his odds to stay effective for nearly all of
>that contract.

So HE is going to get 15% of the Spurs cap? I can't think that's an effective contract for more than 3 years, tops.

On one hand, the Spurs have no one in the pipeline to take his spot and on the other they can always move the deal.

They took this strategy with Richard Jefferson and were somehow able to move him. Splitter is a better player with more immediate utility. This was a no-brainer to re-sign the guy, even if he does not wind up playing out his deal in SA.

He is also a slightly underrated player, since there is nothing remotely sexy about his game.

good player, but nah.

Could mean absolutely nothing but

http://t.co/MdKaXNuOFJ

Released Tuesday by Relativity Sports, Howard and Washington Wizards guard John Wall sit down with Chinese basketball star Yi Jianlian (formerly with the Milwaukee Bucks, then-New Jersey Nets and Wizards) in a clip entitled, "NBA Superstars Speak Mandarin."

The trio sit and have a very elementary conversation, with subtitles helping the non-Mandarin-speaking viewer.

"We will see you in China," said Howard, referring to an October exhibition scheduled between the Lakers and Wizards.

If Howard, who is being courted as a free agent by the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors (among others), leaves the Lakers as a free agent -- he's not going to be battling Wall and the Wizards in China in October.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/taiwanese-animators-nma-depict-lakers-coaching-search-video-233108267--nba.html

after telling him he wouldnt just earlier this week. Lol what a mess.

is he gonna be in the meeting too? Would Mitch let Dwight fire MDA in the meeting as the bis surprise?


meanwhile clippers are trollin

https://twitter.com/SportsNation/status/352109435897929728/photo/1

>after telling him he wouldnt just earlier this week. Lol what
>a mess.
>
>is he gonna be in the meeting too? Would Mitch let Dwight fire
>MDA in the meeting as the bis surprise?
>
>
>meanwhile clippers are trollin
>
>https://twitter.com/SportsNation/status/352109435897929728/photo/1

that's one hell of a pitch

..i never give light to rumors, but this made me laugh


*skatin' the rings of saturn*

..and miles to go before i sleep...

http://24.media.tumblr.com/cf24e0422bbb29310215de6eeb029408/tumblr_moz74btCc21s2ndv1o1_500.jpg

AM 570 FOX Sports LA ✔ @AM570RADIO

Source: Lakers would be willing to fire D"Antoni to keep Howard http://dlvr.it/3br5RJ

I'd be mad that Shaw is already off the market, but then Ron Jeremy is still out there, as is Byron and... well... Phil.

Our only hope is for Dwight to say "Fire this motherfucker, Hire Phil/Stan/Whoeverthefuck, and I'll commit to this shit right now. Otherwise, have fun dealing with James, Josh and I in the playoffs for the next 4-6 years... if you can get there."

Then, in a perfect world, he'd snap his fingers and Mitch, Jim, Kobe, Nash, and Jeanie would pull out knives and stab Pringles to death so no franchise will ever suffer under his overrated ass reputation ever again.

Bonus: OE consinues to insist we all love Pringles.

D'Antoni like Ice-T got hunted in "Surviving the Game"

what if Mitch allowed himself to be fired too seppoku style for the betterment of the franchise.

thatd be epic

Kupchak (smirking): I'll get another one.

Jim: Guys like you are a dime bag a dozen, and we've got a billion dime bags.

Mitch: (whispers something inaudible in Jim's ear)

Jim: (looks down for a second, clears throat) Guys like you are a dime a dozen, and we've got a billion dimes.

>Jim: Guys like you are a dime bag a dozen, and we've got a
>billion dime bags.
>
>Mitch: (whispers something inaudible in Jim's ear)
>
>Jim: (looks down for a second, clears throat) Guys like you
>are a dime a dozen, and we've got a billion dimes.
>

>D'Antoni like Ice-T got hunted in "Surviving the Game"


Now this ^^^^ is some funny shit....

On some "The Incision 2013" shit.

Instead of the woods, it would take place in Los Angeles, in full view of the public.

Nobody in LA would hand over half a fuck to help him. Many would participate in the hunt. Time Warner and The Lakers would offer a joint reward to whoever scored the killing slash/stab/wound/cut.
It would be a ratings bonanza like few others in the sports world.

The Lakers, having literally killed to get back to the top, would win the next 5 titles on fear alone.

>D'Antoni like Ice-T got hunted in "Surviving the Game"

Jimmy boy gonna smack D'Antoni over the head w a microphone like Jimmy Hart and then Kobe with the ultimate betrayal, kicks him through the glass window.

Haha! Ridiculous. Even more ridiculous...this could totally happen (the firing and the actual total elimination).

Ramona Shelburne @ramonashelburne

Mike DAntoni and Steve Nash just arrived for Lakers meeting with Dwight. Earlybirds

Matt Jackson @MJ4Sports

No means no Kobe! RT @KADOMA: #Kobe reportedly will not leave the room until he has a commitment from @DwightHoward.

Like, I can see the whole thing going as smoothly as possible and Dwight being on his way out the door 100% certain he's going to re-sign, and Kobe saying some dumb shit about Dwight being his Tyson Chandler, or how he's still Batman for one more year BUT sees Dwight more as Nightwing, not Robin, like it's a compliment. I dunno. Part of me would rather Kobe stay out of this because he's moree to saying shit just to assert his dominance than he is to massage anyones ego, and he needs to learn to finesse this shit.

now everyone says Houston will get him and Ive gotten my hopes up. If it doesnt happen, Im gonna be pissed.

As far as I see it, if he's serious about WINNING...he'll go to Houston.

If he stays in LA....he was full of shit and just wanted to have his name in the news for a few weeks knowing good and well what he as going to do all along.

IF he comes to the H.....GREAT! It was meant to be!

If he doesn't go to the H, blessing in disguise, imo.....

I'm really hoping we retain him.

While I'm confident in our ability to lure top shelf free agents if he bounces, the guys available in 2014 aren't guys that can realistically bring us a title outside of Brawn, and there's no guarantee he comes.

Having Dwight with that cap space means we have an incredibly attractive proposition for Lebron, to create something truly special with Dwight. There's no combination of two players who could be more dominant right now. That's an incredible possibility. Even if, say, Melo comes our way. That's still extremely formidable and Melo with a guy like Dwight at his side could win a title. We're still in good shape if he leaves, but, you know.... bird in the hand, and all that.

There's a lot riding on this for everyone involved. It's definitely a game changer.

And Bucks get 2 2nd round picks for their troubles. WOW if this comes true.

https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/352183840132960260
Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler will go to the Suns, Jared Dudley and JJ Redick to the Clippers and 2 2nd-round picks to Bucks, sources tell Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A

what ar ethey doing with Dragic though?

What do the do with Kendall Marshall....lmao.

You can't win in the playoffs if you can't shoot. They just fix that problem in one move.

Afflalo is better than both Redick and Dudley but I feel better about having two shooters rather than one.

Posters in High Griffinition.

Don't think-FEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! © Bruce Lee

Giving up Caron Butler and Eric Bledsoe.

Suns get Bledsoe and Alex Len to kick off their rebuild.

Going from a contender to a rebuilding Suns squad... hopefully they buy him out or deal him to another good team cause he's still a useful player, just a bit overpaid.

And I don't know what the Bucks are doing, they're way below the salary floor and I don't know who'd want to come play there.

That dude has been nothing but the consumate professional and a great teammate. He deserves the chance to play for a contender.

>And I don't know what the Bucks are doing, they're way below
>the salary floor and I don't know who'd want to come play
>there.

for $25 mil JR is on the next thing smoking.

>Going from a contender to a rebuilding Suns squad...
>hopefully they buy him out or deal him to another good team
>cause he's still a useful player, just a bit overpaid.
>
>And I don't know what the Bucks are doing, they're way below
>the salary floor and I don't know who'd want to come play
>there.

contenders.

It's still pretty much the same squad, but with Doc.

dukies on all contenders. that's the goal. need to see if OKC holla at hendo. DAMN!!!

and CP3 & Blake are gonna look the other way when the blame comes around.

tied to them losing in the 2nd round.

You love Blake. So, I'm gonna ask you "Why?" next spring.

cp3 is a legit ass star and if you disagree, fine, you'd be the only guy in an nba front office to do so. blake was injured for most of the series last year.

these guys are not the problem.

they had no halfcourt offense and next to no shooting last year. between this deal, doc and some players maturing, they got a very good shot at improving.

this is not a team that's super far away. you're acting like they needed some huge shakeup or addition that wasn't going to come. i look at them ahead of teams like denver and memphis for sure and ready to maybe crack that top tier finally.

>cp3 is a legit ass star and if you disagree, fine, you'd be
>the only guy in an nba front office to do so.

Nah CP3 is good. Mega-superstar? I dunno. Superstar? ***shrugs***. I know last year in the playoffs he kicked a fair one with Mike Conley and was out the first round. That's what I know.


>>>blake was
>injured for most of the series last year.
>

Weird, Blake is always injured when they lose or something is wrong with him.

Pssst....he's not that good.


>these guys are not the problem.
>
>they had no halfcourt offense and next to no shooting last
>year. between this deal, doc and some players maturing, they
>got a very good shot at improving.


Why don't they have any halfcourt offense if they have 2 "stars"?

Players maturing? Most of those guys are already what they're gonna be, except Blake. Sure he can improve. You waiting for DeAndre to improve, good luck with that.


>this is not a team that's super far away. you're acting like
>they needed some huge shakeup or addition that wasn't going to
>come. i look at them ahead of teams like denver and memphis
>for sure and ready to maybe crack that top tier finally.

Denver? Who cares about Denver.

They're still not better than Memphis.

>>cp3 is a legit ass star and if you disagree, fine, you'd be
>>the only guy in an nba front office to do so.
>
>Nah CP3 is good. Mega-superstar? I dunno. Superstar?
>***shrugs***. I know last year in the playoffs he kicked a
>fair one with Mike Conley and was out the first round. That's
>what I know.

You're getting on this fickle ass CP3 hate train? OK, dude, noted.


>>>>blake was
>>injured for most of the series last year.
>>
>
>Weird, Blake is always injured when they lose or something is
>wrong with him.
>
>Pssst....he's not that good.


Uh, he got substantially better last season and if by "always" you mean one playoff series, then OK, we agree. He got injured right at the start of his career, OK, so what?


>>these guys are not the problem.
>>
>>they had no halfcourt offense and next to no shooting last
>>year. between this deal, doc and some players maturing, they
>>got a very good shot at improving.
>
>
>Why don't they have any halfcourt offense if they have 2
>"stars"?

Paul closed a ton of games for them, he was the top closer in the league last year during the regular season, really. They didn't have a halfcourt offense because they had a shitty coach, very few shooters and a bunch of collapse in the lane with driving guards and power bigs.

Paul made it work for most of the year. Griffin is helping, he will go through an Amare-type diversification. Sleeping on him is a huge mistake.

>Players maturing? Most of those guys are already what they're
>gonna be, except Blake. Sure he can improve. You waiting for
>DeAndre to improve, good luck with that.

Jordan has improved a ton since he came into the league but yeah I feel like he may have hit a dead end or at least have fatal flaws. He seems to have a bit of Sam Dalembert in him.

Blake's ability to improve and the way their new guys can integrate into the team is big. They got two outside shooters and a big who can hit fouls (assuming they land Landry), those were two things they really needed. They weren't in a position to go get a big ass star, though they are obviously still shopping Jordan's contract around. They got more mature, they got more diverse, they stayed just as deep and they have Blake on the come-up. That's promising, especially with Memphis and Denver likely taking steps backward and the Spurs being old.

>>this is not a team that's super far away. you're acting like
>>they needed some huge shakeup or addition that wasn't going
>to
>>come. i look at them ahead of teams like denver and memphis
>>for sure and ready to maybe crack that top tier finally.
>
>Denver? Who cares about Denver.
>
>They're still not better than Memphis.

No? Friendly wager as to who ends up with the better record? Double or nothing on who gets deeper?

Jared does the same things as Caron in terms of stats, but he's younger and a better defender right now by a good margin.

Reddick is going to be lights out from three this year in that system. He's going to be Doc's Ray Allen, mark my words. He's going to benefit in big ways from Paul, and everyone will benefit from Doc on the defensive end.

Doc's teams defended, because they had defensively minded players.

And he's gonna be beautiful in that Doc system.

They filled the hole at SG but creating ones at SF and backup PG. (And they still need a backup C.)

Great move by Phoenix. Good move by Clippers. LOL at the Bucks getting two second rounders for Tobias Harris.

Don't know if this means they're also moving on from Barnes but they could use a more athletic guy to defend at wing also, even though Redick and Dudley are not bad defenders.

But yeah, he could play the 3. Dudley/Barnes/Bullock with Redick and Crawford at the 2.

I remember him being a 3 during the playoffs VS the Lakers and was surprised when I saw him at the 2. He's got the size and length to make it a non issue going back though.

They could get some nice value for him, I'd think.

Not sure Phoenix would even bother picking up his option for the third year. At best, he's a throw in in a Gortat deal.

>They could get some nice value for him, I'd think.

http://twitpic.com/d0hibo

Its gonna take some getting used to.

Oh, wait...

I like Bledsoe but he's become a bit overrated, I'm not convinced he's a top-half starting PG in the league & when you already have CP3 to get two shooters who can start for him is a good deal.

VERY good move by Clippers. their guard rotation is extremely deep now and JJ will space the floor beautifully.

>VERY good move by Clippers. their guard rotation is extremely
>deep now and JJ will space the floor beautifully.


If it was just JJ by himself I would throw a little shade on that deal (only because Bledsoe is the bigger talent)...But scoring Dudley AND JJ?

That's a pretty good deal...Can't front...

What good is being the bigger talent if you won't get the opportunities to contribute in a bigger capacity?

Reddick may be the lesser talent between the two, but he's by and large the greater asset due simply to playing a position that will net him significantly more playing time and filling a sorely needed niche.

It's an improvement either way for the Clippers.

>What good is being the bigger talent if you won't get the
>opportunities to contribute in a bigger capacity?
>
>Reddick may be the lesser talent between the two, but he's by
>and large the greater asset due simply to playing a position
>that will net him significantly more playing time and filling
>a sorely needed niche.

>It's an improvement either way for the Clippers.


I just think that JJ is a one dimensional player..Good shooter, but a bit limited...If it's Bledsoe for JJ, I would balk at that....But I like Dudley in that deal along with JJ...

JJ can just get his 3 point shooting on without worrying about having to fill that create-your-own shot role that Bledsoe had...Dudley will def. take some pressure off of this move...He can score some buckets and defend at that 3 spot...

Indy could utilize Pau as a backup for the 4/5 spots or get a third team involved, I don't care. It would be a great addition for them. He duplicates what West brings in a lot of ways, but he can also spell Hibbert and give them some scoring. A third team may be necessary to facilitate this though.

There's a chance that he never makes a full recovery and becomes a shell of his former self, but it's a worthwhile gamble for one year I think. He'd fit great in D'Antoni's system and provide a quality three point threat who can put the ball on the floor. We get a quality scorer while Kobe is recovering and gives Dwight room to work in the post.

If he's not quite the same guy but still effective, it potentially gives us the inside track on resigning him for cheap(er) if other situations don't pan out with our FA money (considering the best available options will be small forwards), allowing us to still build around that core.

IMO it would be a calculated risk that, at worst, doesn't change much for us and gives us greater potential for a more dynamic team next year, where we actually have as shot at contending.

@LakersNation

Easily the shortest meeting of all teams so far - Lakers & Dwight.

LOLOLZ

Steve Nash, D'Antoni head out, keep streak of 'went well' meetings with Dwight going.

-Fegan on Twitter

End of fucking pitch.

>End of fucking pitch.


Actually, it's not....State income tax and such....

lol....Ha...I got u.....

that?

lol at the awkward Lin, Harden. Parsons handshake mimicry here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JweSut18OeM

Man...JR Smith is about to become the living embodiment of "they should have never given you niggas money"

Steven Adams & Jeremy Lamb

They traded for futures and to not have to pay a huge ass salary once Ibaka's extension kicked in, which is now.

Surprised he got offered that much money from Minnie, but not overly surprised. Bad team, buying on the open market, that is good for 20% overpayment every time.

but he probably said that not expecting to get this type of offer as a 6th man
that being said the thunder dumped harden to save money so if it'll take money to keep martin then they'll let his ass walk too
making a binary argument is dumb being that it was all based on financials and them going forward as a 1 seed in the west with a core of durant/russ/ibeka

LOL @ not just amnestying Perkins & sucking up some luxury tax for a young Finals team core, LOL @ choosing IBAKA over JAMES HARDEN, lol @ James Harden now being a more desirable guy to play with then Kobe Bryant or any other two-guard in the league a season later, LOL @ getting a year of Kevin Martin, some Kiwi Future Bum from Pitt & Jeremy Lamb for a Top 5 Scorer.

This shit was a LOSS the day it was done, became an unquestionable CATASTROPHE within a year & a 'FUCK WHY DID WE DO THAT?!?' move to haunt this franchise potentially FOREVER.

It was DUMB and it FAILED......just ADMIT IT, It's OVER.

can, their owners pockets are that deep, they don't have as many revenue streams, and there aren't multiple celebrity and millionaire types in OKC that are going to routinely plunk down a few stacks for court side seats

he's worth half a billion dollars, he's not 'making money' off the team until he sells it anyway.

does he have the same revenue streams?

obviously not, that doesn't mean that he couldn't have took on that tax or even just kept Harden for the season on his then-bargain-bin contract while he figured out what to do.

The deal was ASININE.

There wasn't much way around that fact then but there's certainly no escape from it now.

>he's worth half a billion dollars, he's not 'making money'
>off the team until he sells it anyway.

I'm sure he didn't get his wealth by making bad business decisions.

>does he have the same revenue streams?
>
>obviously not,

And that's really basically all that needs to be said about the matter. The changes in the CBA still don't prevent the major advantages that the major market teams have.

>that doesn't mean that he couldn't have took on
>that tax or even just kept Harden for the season on his
>then-bargain-bin contract while he figured out what to do.

So keep a disgruntled guy around fog another season until you have LESS leverage?

>The deal was ASININE.
>
>There wasn't much way around that fact then but there's
>certainly no escape from it now.

Because you're looking at it from a fans' perspective and all those extra millions in luxury tax aren't coming out of your pocket

it's not necessarily a great 'investment' in this day & age compared to many of the other things you could do with 500 million dollars.

it's always going to be more about the cache it brings, the other doors it opens, the profile it raises for you as a borderline-billionaire who's also a member of an exclusive fraternity, etc.

Clay Bennett knows that as much as anyone, that's why he bought a franchise & brought it back to *his hometown* rather a bigger market.

>>he's worth half a billion dollars, he's not 'making money'
>>off the team until he sells it anyway.
>
>I'm sure he didn't get his wealth by making bad business
>decisions.
>
I'm sure Mikhai Prokhorov didn't become a billionaire by making 'bad business decisions' either, however understanding the first principle I laid out he spends more money than that franchise will ever be able to make because he knows he doesn't conduct that part of his portfolio the way he does his others.

Spend money to make money, take short-term losses to raise the overall profile, add to the value of that asset & then it will yield a long-term value intrinsically and/or financially.

>>does he have the same revenue streams?
>>
>>obviously not,
>
>And that's really basically all that needs to be said about
>the matter. The changes in the CBA still don't prevent the
>major advantages that the major market teams have.
>
but yet Dwight's about to leave L.A. & the Knicks ain't never gonna win shit.

>>that doesn't mean that he couldn't have took on
>>that tax or even just kept Harden for the season on his
>>then-bargain-bin contract while he figured out what to do.
>
>So keep a disgruntled guy around fog another season until you
>have LESS leverage?
>
Uh, keep a star you have under contract, tell him you're going to handle it, let him/Durant/Russ play & have a full season to come up with who you're jettisoning to make room for him (whether it's amnestying Perk.....a no-brainer, trading somebody else including Ibaka who is nowhere near the player Harden is and way more replaceable, or whatever else).

>>The deal was ASININE.
>>
>>There wasn't much way around that fact then but there's
>>certainly no escape from it now.
>
>Because you're looking at it from a fans' perspective and all
>those extra millions in luxury tax aren't coming out of your
>pocket

Nah, I'm looking at like anybody looking at this thru an objective lens looks at this deal now: as an abject disaster for that franchise.

Bottom line is they thought the could be be just as competitive without Harden with the continued development of KD and Russy combined with the additions they made and they were until Russy got hurt


>Uh, keep a star you have under contract, tell him you're going
>to handle it, let him/Durant/Russ play & have a full season to
>come up with who you're jettisoning to make room for him
>(whether it's amnestying Perk.....a no-brainer, trading
>somebody else including Ibaka who is nowhere near the player
>Harden is and way more replaceable, or whatever else).

In a conference where your primary competition featured Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol getting rid of your starting frontcourt didnt seem like the smart thing to do at the time

it just became so insanely deaded within one calendar year that it's ridiculous.

They traded James Harden, the #1 reason Dwight is looking at H-Town over Dallas & LA, and their end return was a flop in the playoffs without Westbrook (while KMart did nothing, Ibaka who they chose stupidly over him embarrassed himself) and now this year have nothing but Jeremy "D-Leaguer His Rookie Year" Lamb & some 7-point-a-game-Kiwi-from-Pitt to show for it.

That's TERRIBLE.

>Bottom line is they thought the could be be just as
>competitive without Harden with the continued development of
>KD and Russy combined with the additions they made and they
>were until Russy got hurt
>
they thought wrong, both in the present & long-term.
>
>>Uh, keep a star you have under contract, tell him you're
>going
>>to handle it, let him/Durant/Russ play & have a full season
>to
>>come up with who you're jettisoning to make room for him
>>(whether it's amnestying Perk.....a no-brainer, trading
>>somebody else including Ibaka who is nowhere near the player
>>Harden is and way more replaceable, or whatever else).
>
>In a conference where your primary competition featured
>Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol getting rid of your starting
>frontcourt didnt seem like the smart thing to do at the time

Andrew Bynum was out of the conference & Pau Gasol was getting old, Perkins was already looking Amnesty-lock before the season and if they had kept Harden who was under contract they could have seen him evolve into one of the worst starters in the entire league & known what to do.

And furthermore, Ibaka was never ever going to be worth more than Harden, dude is a Poor Man's Camby/New-School-Dalembert type. You can find those athletic jumping-jack-types. He's never going to be a consistent third-scorer on a title team or worth jettisoning one of the league's youngest & best shooting guards for.

holding down to middle? I doubt it.

The bottom line is Harden was never going to become the guy he is in Houston playing with KD and Westbrook, there just weren't enough balls to go around. The real choice wasn't between Harden and Ibaka, it was actually between Harden and Westbrook.

would have been a no-brainer & Harden has more value while making them more of a contender than a Harden-less team with Ibaka as their 2nd/3rd scorer.

I mean Miami pulled Birdman off a scrap heap & got vital contribution from him, if you have three legit stars you figure it out.

really that simple
continue being mad over all the hypothetical championships they're going miss out on though
at the end of the day they'll still favored to come out of the west for the foreseeable future
and they avoid the 4x multiplier luxury tax while doing so

I don't give a fuck if they EVER win, let Bron keep winning until the Sixers rise from the dead.

LOL, you trying to even imply I'm mad shows how sore you are that your bad point about that disastrous trade got so emphatically shit on in just one calendar year from now until we're all expired.

It was TERRIBLE, then, now & especially when they look back on it years from now.

Go take that hurt somewhere else, I'm laughing.

http://i.imgur.com/MBOBtil.gif

things we will never really know, namely why harden and/or OKC thought the $4.5M gap or whatever was such a big deal. if he was leaving anyway, OK, they did what they could. if he would have stayed under other circumstances, OK, this was fucked.

>things we will never really know, namely why harden and/or
>OKC thought the $4.5M gap or whatever was such a big deal. if
>he was leaving anyway, OK, they did what they could. if he
>would have stayed under other circumstances, OK, this was
>fucked.

They've solidified a roster stuck in Not Bad Enough for Top Pick/Not Good Enough for Playoffs purgatory. They needed a bigger move than Chase and KevMart. And now they pretty much HAVE to re-sign Pek for whatever he's getting offered elsewhere.

Teams talking themselves in big money for THESE cats. LOL

Shameful. What lockout?

I mean 5 years-- i guess thats to not fully max him out but 12 million a year over the next 5...

he Nuggets reportedly offered Andre Iguodala a five-year, $63 million deal when they met on Monday.
Iguodala has also been in talks with the Warriors, Kings and Pistons, and is expected to draw interest from the Pelicans, Hawks and Mavs. If Denver's offer is what Brandon Krisztal is reporting, it might be good enough to keep him in Denver.

The Kings are reportedly considering giving Andre Iguodala a max offer, which would also mean they likely wouldn't match the offer Tyreke Evans got from the Pelicans, according to ESPN's Raj Sharan.
It's starting to feel like Evans will play for the Pelicans this season, while the Kings might be in the lead to acquire Iguodala, who would fill a small forward spot that has long been a problem in Sacramento. Stay tuned.

and as long as dwight
wouldn't his max be in that $20 mil range?
if so that's fucking CRAZY
iggy on the kings for anything near 20 mil instantly becomes one of the worst contracts in the league
and in 2-3 yrs when his athleticism wanes probably makes the gerald wallace contract look like a fucking bargain

i wouldnt do it but with mullin around and new ownership this is a "culture changing" move.

w/e

I love Iggy but he's over valued as fuck right now. Yikes. I can see a big at his level getting these kinds of offers, but a 2/3 on the decline of his career? Yikes.

but real-life nba economics? dude, $8M is not enough for a firm starter, let alone a guy who's played in things like the olympics and the all star game.

does he always disappear in the summer?

he get a raise or some shit?

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/67355/holiday-hinkie-noel-and-the-night-that-changed-the-sixers

whichever one's willing to take 3 mil/year...which is probably none of em

If he and Martin can stay healthy, good. If not, Bazz is going to be starting.

Guards Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe should both be considered combo-guards and the expectation is that they'll play alongside each other often, and could comprise the starting backcourt for the Suns.
This would be ideal from a fantasy standpoint, as both players should be dynamic scorers and playmakers as long as the minutes are there. And given that either one can handle the rock or play off the ball should mean plenty of minutes and opportunities for both players next season.

but he's gonna continue to do numbers for shit teams unless pdx lucks into an amazing guard next year.

most ppl here don't like DHo and wouldn't want him as our franchise player
yet everybody is waiting with baited breath following every step this dude takes right now lol
outside of maybe that whole is brett farve retiring saga the other sports don't have this type of ancillary soap opera type drama built into their leagues
football is always going be king for a number of reasons, but as a fan i think i enjoy bball more because of all the debates and story lines involved

>as a fan i think i enjoy bball more because of all the debates
>and story lines involved

We need to stick to the plan. If they get Len then Hinkie must be bi-polar.

http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/CompanyLogos/exl-logo.gif

(c)Morris Day/Hinkie Dawg

budinger got 3/16
martin got 4/28
redick got 4/27

jr smith is a problem with $20 in his pocket.

shit shit shit.

from one of his friends: "J.R. would rather intern for the #Knicks than play in Milwaukee."

2.) even considering point 1.) Tony needs a better agent.

a lot of teams done fucked up.

windhorst says Joe D offered stuckey and charlie v expirings for rudy gay.

LOLOL....

don't let Earl Clark bounce to Cleveland...

Earl Clark showing what he can do was really the only positive of this past season.....

He should easily fit into our future plans whicher way we go... Don't overpay...but bring dude back...

he goes to the cavs though he would probaby ball out..

that dude is a nobody, decent hustle-player but never a guy who should be getting major minutes on a good team.

If you start actually paying him a real salary, his value decreases exponentially.

let y'all tell it..

every move we make means we done...

every move we don't make means we done...

yada yada....

yeah I get it...

Earl Clark showed he has huge upside last season when he got minutes....first time in his career.... He was inconsistent but who wouldn't be if you'd been riding the bench since you left college 4 years ago...

He's the kind of player you want moving forward because he's young and versatile...

but of course if the Lakers don't have 12 hall of famers on their roster then that means they done right?

lol..

this is a transitional point for the Lakers, wasting money on scrub role-players who shined a bit during a shitty season really doesn't help.

Paying him any real amount of money is just another Sasha, Luke, Jordan (Hill or Farmar), Vlad Rad or other bum they've had that never should have been given a deal for more than two years at 3 per.

to playing with some consistency.... He had multipe double double games...his some big shots for us...

at 6'10 and able to play the 4 or the 3...and defend well at both spots.... He has upside...

not many times do you have the 12th guy on your bench...who had never gotten any significant minutes in the league..you put him in and he plays well in numerous games...

none of the dudes you named impacted the Lakers more than Earl Clark did during that stretch last season.....

You don't overpay him...but right now you have 1 guy under contract after next season...... you need to build for the future with you players who are athletic and versatile...so you sign Earl Clark....it's a no brainer...

>to playing with some consistency.... He had multipe double
>double games...his some big shots for us...
>
He had some good games in January & the first part of February, the Lakers still weren't playing with any consistency during that time period.

They were losing every other game during that stretch.

And in March/April? Pssssh......that dude was ghost.

I don't even think Earl Clark had a collective 'double double' over the course of that entire Spurs series.

Basically once anyone started paying any mind, it was over.

>at 6'10 and able to play the 4 or the 3...and defend well at
>both spots.... He has upside...
>
eh, I've known about this dude since he was in high school, he's gonna be 26 on his fourth or fifth team and sorta is what he is.

He's not a starter or even a 6th/7th man on a good team.

And I have no idea what gives you the impression he's some lockdown defender of either forward spot, dude was out of position a lot from what I watched & it wasn't like he was some shot-blocking force to make up for that.

>not many times do you have the 12th guy on your bench...who
>had never gotten any significant minutes in the league..you
>put him in and he plays well in numerous games...
>
that's more a commentary on how sorry the Lakers were playing outside him & I guess Kobe during that stretch.

>none of the dudes you named impacted the Lakers more than Earl
>Clark did during that stretch last season.....
>
LOL, he had one good month or so of 10/8 getting starters minutes when nobody was sweating him & the Lakers were scuffling around as a sub-.500 team.

>You don't overpay him...but right now you have 1 guy under
>contract after next season...... you need to build for the
>future with you players who are athletic and versatile...so
>you sign Earl Clark....it's a no brainer...

You don't pay him any contract of any consequence.

You see if you can keep him for a song or you go find another Earl Clark.

He's a nobody.

a certain type of player....with the cap contraints...they are limited as to what type of players they can go after outside of a sign and trade...

Copeland fits the category as far as guys who aren't ours....and Clark fits the category as far as guys who played for us last season...

got to get more athletic and versatile...

let's not go too hard here. i really liked clark coming into the league, but a big part of that was his fit with phoenix's system at the time. i'm glad to see him doing well but not that geeked off his performance.

if they are in salary shedding mode (with or without d12) then they won't re-sign him, if they are desperate for talent and don't have cap room then they basically have to sign him (and likely overpay).

The Kings have pulled their offer for free agent Andre Iguodala & will no longer pursue him, I'm told. Story to come.

WOOOOOOOW(c)Flav

.

Andre Iguodala ‏@andre 6h
Really?? Ok... MOTIVATION!!!!!!

Andre Iguodala ‏@andre 6h
WOW!!!!

motivation for what nigga?
be motivated with less money , bwhahahahaha

at least that's how i interpreted it.

dude was probably working out a budget. With 2 more million per year. I can buy this and this and this. Then shit git oulled out from under him. Id be a lil pissed too

Dumbass.

Gave the Kings time to think about the mistake they were making.

>Dumbass.
>
>Gave the Kings time to think about the mistake they were
>making.

Man I can admit that this shit is somewhat hilarious (That Tweet...lol)

But y'all making way too much of this....Iggy never had any intentions on playing for Sac-Town....This dude ain't getting any younger...He was never trying to take that deal....He was simply using them to make other teams drive the contracts up...

You giving way too much credit to the Kings for coming to their senses...lol...They just simply realized that they were being used by Iggy...

Sometimes it's not all about the money...At this point in his career dude wants to be a part of a winning situation AND get paid...He just needs to understand that good teams are not going to over pay him....

I don't care about Iggy's motives or intentions. He could either fulfill his destiny of being the 4th or 5th best player on a good team or 2nd or 3rd best player on a mediocre team.

That's his call.

>I don't care about Iggy's motives or intentions. He could
>either fulfill his destiny of being the 4th or 5th best
>player on a good team or 2nd or 3rd best player on a mediocre
>team.
>
>That's his call.


It's always all or nothing with u...lol


And I get some of the Iggy ribbing on OKP...But I can comfortably say that dude was more better than the 4th or 5th best player on Denver....

That said, dude was NOT worth that Sac-Town contract....But that reality doesn't make him some scrub....

I can see teams rethinking their offers after this.

>I can see teams rethinking their offers after this.


I agree....

>And I get some of the Iggy ribbing on OKP...But I can
>comfortably say that dude was more better than the 4th or 5th
>best player on Denver....

And that was a mediocre team.

>
>>And I get some of the Iggy ribbing on OKP...But I can
>>comfortably say that dude was more better than the 4th or
>5th
>>best player on Denver....
>
>And that was a mediocre team.


Again...all or nothing with u...lol...

U get one of the best records in the league and u make the playoffs....U get beat by a team (Golden State) that even gave problems to San Antonio...Shit happens....

Iggy is not a franchise player....

But he's not the reason Denver flamed out....

Not saying he's the only reason, but if he's not playing out of his mind, than he's a reason.

Y'all dudes and your no fault flame outs. Smh.

Sure, the reason is Denver has no franchise player...They have a bunch of good players and Iggy just happens to be the best of that group...Unfortunately, history has shown that in the NBA teams rarely have playoff success without a superstar (or now even 2 or 3) to lead the way and make life easier for his teammates....Billup's Detroit Pistons only happened once...

So yeah...that's pretty much the reason....And again, I agree with pretty much everyone on one point: Iggy's not worth the money Sac-Town was springing out...But hey...He won't be the last "good" player to be offered an insane amount of money....Saying that he's not worth that money is no diss to Iggy...He's a damn good player....Just not a franchise dude...

U said Iggy is the 4th or 5th best player on Denver (i.e a "good" team)....

I'm saying that's clearly not the case......

Denver is not a good team.
Denver is a mediocre team.
If a team has Iggy as their 4th or 5th, then they're a good team.
If he's in their top 2, like Denver, they're mediocre.
Y'all cats don't be reading for shit huh?

>Denver is not a good team.
>Denver is a mediocre team.


I don't know homie...We got different definitions of what is a good and mediocre....

.

best fagency news for the knicks all offseason!!!

https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard/status/352402983595687936

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=426840

The Toronto Raptors have reportedly received an offer for one of their best players.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst is reporting the Detroit Pistons have offered the expiring contracts of guard Rodney Stuckey and forward Charlie Villanueva to the Raptors for forward Rudy Gay.

Gay has two years and $37 million left on his current contract and was acquired by the Raptors from the Memphis Grizzlies in January, as part of a three team deal, for forward Ed Davis, guard Jose Calderon and backup centre Hamed Haddadi.

The 26-year-old played in 33 games with the Raptors during the 2012-13 season and averaged 19.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists.

Prior to the trade, he also appeared in 42 games for the Grizzlies in 2012/13 and averaged 17.2 points.

The seven-year veteran made his debut during the 2006-07 season and spent his entire career in Memphis before being dealt to the Raptors.

.

No FA's are going there...expiring deals make no sense.

Ujiri is taking over and probably wants to clear out all of Colangelo mistakes and tank for a good pick. He and the owner recently said that building a team for the sake of competing but not truly contending is not the goal.

Might as well dump 20 million off of next year's payroll and make a run at the loaded 2014 lottery than fight for the 8th seed and a first round sweep with Rudy. But, yeah, I think they'd want to get SOMETHING back, maybe just Jerebko or a future protected pick.

gay is the kind of player that begets buyer's remorse, is he not?

Houston and Dallas have a financial advantage in signing outright, but Dwight takes a significant monetary hit if he goes to GS without a sign and trade.

What I don't understand is if he's leaving anyways, why not get some real value in return?

If we can still maintain our cap space and have a player with an expiring deal who can score and defend at the center spot (Bogut on all counts), add a good young player at minimal expense with star potential (Klay, Barnes), I mean... why the fuck not?

Getting a guy like Klay (or Barnes to a lesser extent) for the future is absolutely worth staying in the luxury tax for one measly year, especially if we're not blowing it ALL up. Hell... it actually makes sense to snag a guy like that in either scenario because we STILL maintain that financial flexibility for 2014.

I assume this is all postering, and they'll cave if Dwight makes it clear that he's headed to GS. Dallas and Houston have nothing we'd realistically want that they would actually trade outside of Parsons.

GS is not really a player in this and neither is Dallas.

GS IS a player in this, according to recent reports.

it's the two Texas teams & the Lakers.

to a sign and trade, its not like Dwight is going to say "screw it" and sign for the vet minimum or anything. Even Dallas would had to sell him on taking less that the max to play with the old German.

Its Houston or the Lakers, period.

1. Dwight shouldn't go there
2. LA doesn't have the leverage to ask for that much.

That's like Cleveland demanding Mario Chalmers, Udonis Haslem and shit in turn for the decision.

take them little first rounds picks and get gone

off-season. They're a "non-mf factor"(c)E. Lozado

moot anyway as i dont think he winds up there.

he will walk from LA and they won't bother doing an S+T. in part for spite, in part for simplicity. i guess with GS that wouldn't be an option, but i still feel like the warriors would have all the leverage and just make them take whatever.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--o-j--mayo-nearing-deal-with-bucks-185938771.html

O.J. Mayo nearing deal with Bucks
Adrian Wojnarowski 2 hours ago

Free agent guard O.J. Mayo is closing in on a multiyear contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The deal could be completed as soon as today, league sources said.

Mayo, 25, would be a replacement for the loss of guard J.J. Redick and the expected departure of Monta Ellis.

Mayo averaged 15.3 points and 4.4 assists for the Dallas Mavericks last season.

no word on the $ yet

Free agent guard J.R. Smith is nearing an agreement to re-sign with the New York Knicks, league sources tell Y! Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 3, 2013



Knicks, Smith are still finalizing years and options in deal, league sources tells Y!

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 3, 20130

Commitment to mediocrity!

https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/352796824932855808

Ian Begley ‏@IanBegley

JR Smith's deal is done. He has agreed to a 4-year, 24.7 million contract, the maximum offer the #Knicks could make, his agent says.

How much money did JR leave on the table by not signing with the Bucks, Pistons, or the other teams that were interested in him? I'm not the hugest fan of this cat, but I think I'll have to buy his jersey because it isn't easy to walk away from money after winning the Sixth Man of The Year award. This was probably his best opportunity to get top dollar.

(Btw it's going to take a minute to get used to saying "Pelicans"

that happens a lot.

korver at 6 mil a yr? what lockout?

The he's a lock to BK story. LOL

Man...Doc and them are not fucking around...If they pull this off they will at least get out of the 1st round...After that, with the West wide open, anything can happen....

---

Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine

"Clippers & Carl Landry, I'm told, in serious contract talks. Hearing Clips optimistic, but question is: Will it cost 'em whole mid-level?"

https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/st...38412852576256


Quote: "Landry can maybe get more money elsewhere after opting out of next season's $4 million w/GSW. But lure strong to join what Clips building"

https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/st...41605682614275

>Man...Doc and them are not fucking around...If they pull this
>off they will at least get out of the 1st round...

>
>>Man...Doc and them are not fucking around...If they pull
>this
>>off they will at least get out of the 1st round...

Yeah...I realize how silly that sounds...lol

But in the West, that's all you really need to do considering there are more than a few teams that can actually make it to the Finals.....Shit is about to be crazy....

they are patching the little holes now.

celebrating things like the Nets not getting a bench player

Don't laugh....Detroit has expiring contracts to give....Perfect for a team that is all about rebuilding (Boston)....With their new college coach coming in, we all know Rondo ain't trying to be with that program....

------





Reports Alex Kennedy

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA 18m
The Detroit Pistons have explored the possibility of trading for both Rajon Rondo and Rudy Gay, according to league sources.

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA 18m
No word if the Boston Celtics are interested in the Detroit Pistons' offer for Rajon Rondo.

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA 17m
The Toronto Raptors reportedly turned down the Detroit Pistons' offer of Rodney Stuckey and Charlie Villanueva for Rudy Gay.


Would think this deal would be an easy one to make if it's Stuckey and Villanueva.

Charlie V and Stuckey are both FAs after next season

There's rumblings that draft picks would be involved as well....And Detroit may even be willing to take back another contract....

At this point teams in the league know that Rondo is the next to go....Add the fact that Rondo is coming off a serious injury and you have a completely weird situation....Boston is not going to get equal worth for Rondo....

Unless we're going to keep stacking chips in the 2016 and 2018 drafts, it'll be tough for them to make an offer that has picks as a strong asset.

Also, I'm fine with dumping Terry in the KG/Pierce deal but if one of the main pieces of a Rondo deal is dumping contracts, then I won't be too happy. We have to get a top prospect for Rondo. Dealing Rondo to make up for a stupid signing is grounds for firing IMO.

>Unless we're going to keep stacking chips in the 2016 and
>2018 drafts, it'll be tough for them to make an offer that has
>picks as a strong asset.
>
>Also, I'm fine with dumping Terry in the KG/Pierce deal but if
>one of the main pieces of a Rondo deal is dumping contracts,
>then I won't be too happy. We have to get a top prospect for
>Rondo. Dealing Rondo to make up for a stupid signing is
>grounds for firing IMO.

I don't think u will get a top prospect for Rondo....Besides the fact that stars in their prime rarely are traded for equal value, there is the real question of that injury....

I don't think it's much about making up for a signing...It's about sticking with the the C's game plan of a thorough rebuild (i.e. TANking)...

I'm pretty sure Rondo is not trying to listen to a college coach tell him where to go on the floor...He had a hard enough time listening to Doc...lol

You don't rebuild faster by dumping your best player for nothing and leaving Jeff Green as the best player on the team and pretty much zero players that you can really rely on being on the team in five years.

Ainge wants to tank and reload. He's not trying to start from scratch.

He doesn't have to.

11 mill this yr. All Star pg.

If he's not getting back something worthwhile why do it? Monroe or Drummond aren't worthwhile.

>He doesn't have to.
>
>11 mill this yr. All Star pg.
>
>If he's not getting back something worthwhile why do it?

Why do it? Because (according to reports) Rondo has been a pain in the ass and is viewed by some in the Celtics organization as a gifted player that has overstayed his welcome in Boston...

Because he may not see himself fitting in the C's rebuilding future given the signing of a 35 year old college coach...

I think those are two viable reasons....

Remember, it's a rarity to get equal value back for a star player in an NBA trade from Shaq's first trade to Howard moving to LA that first go around....I think the most I've seen in a trade is when Melo was sent off to NYC...

But the rub there is Denver wasn't trying to rebuild....Boston is...

According to what reports? Smh.

Rondo is a know it all and pain in the ass. And that's what makes him good.

Danny knows that.

Danny also knows he's the teams biggest asset.

Those other superstar trades you speak of resulted when a team had to trade a superstar. The Celtics don't have to take a subpar offer for Rondo. Especially now.

Of course teams are circling the wagons, because it looks like the C's are selling everything. But they might not.

Nobody knows if Rondo will get along with Stevens. He's only played for one coach.

You're basing all of this on assumptions.

>According to what reports? Smh.


The same reports that had him clashing with Doc and teammates and at times Ainge...I don't have to make these things up...lol...It's old news, but news nonetheless...


>Rondo is a know it all and pain in the ass. And that's what
>makes him good.

>Danny knows that.
>
>Danny also knows he's the teams biggest asset.
>
>Those other superstar trades you speak of resulted when a team
>had to trade a superstar. The Celtics don't have to take a
>subpar offer for Rondo. Especially now.


>Of course teams are circling the wagons, because it looks like
>the C's are selling everything. But they might not.
>
>Nobody knows if Rondo will get along with Stevens. He's only
>played for one coach.
>
>You're basing all of this on assumptions.


Yep...I'm using some past news stories and my assumptions...But my assumptions are being shaped by the history of the NBA....When a team makes the blatant move to strip down their team like the C's are doing, hire an unproven, young coach and has a talented player that has a reputation for being difficult and he also happens to be coming off a serious injury, then yeah...My assumption is that he will be moved and not for equal value...

Off course I could be dead wrong about this given that I'm not part of the C's brass...Hell, they may even keep Rondo...

Still I don't see that happening....

But as always...good debate, dog....

From history when was the last time a team tanked, traded their young star with a favorable contract coming off of an injury at his lowest value.

When has that happened?

>From history when was the last time a team tanked, traded
>their young star with a favorable contract coming off of an
>injury at his lowest value.
>
>When has that happened?


I've seen players get traded during the rebuilding of a team and a new coach coming in...

The injury part of the equation though is a new wrinkle...I mentioned that as a reason why I (just me) believe that it will be hard to get something of equal value for that player...

Maybe that may even be a reason to keep Rondo...I could also see Danny keeping him for one more season....

but that is not happening

i think ainge will ride out the situation. unless rondo is actually busted, then he will be ambitious early to create some buzz and settle for a mid-range offer to avoid the risk of getting nothing. the celtics and lakers always manage to pass their junk off on someone. if he gets traded now, i pity the team that gets him. more likely, he comes in, plays better over time and gets dealt next year if they are still looking to get younger.

I'd really hope Ainge doesn't go for Knight and eating Wallace's contract.

Iono man, I feel like Chicago didn't play their cards right. If you can get a player like Aldridge you get him, I don't care who we have to give up. Unfortunately, they're stuck now w/ Boozer @ PF and have no backup C. smh..

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-0704-kcj-on-bulls-chicago-20130704,0,748253.story

The Bulls are rebuffing attempts by LaMarcus Aldridge's agency to bring the Portland Trail Blazers' star in a trade to Chicago, according to sources.

Aldridge shares the same agency as Derrick Rose.

The Bulls are unwilling to discuss a trade centering on Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler for Aldridge.

Aldridge denied last week that he requested a trade from the Blazers.

>Iono man, I feel like Chicago didn't play their cards right.
>If you can get a player like Aldridge you get him, I don't
>care who we have to give up. Unfortunately, they're stuck now
>w/ Boozer @ PF and have no backup C. smh..
>
>http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-0704-kcj-on-bulls-chicago-20130704,0,748253.story
>
>The Bulls are rebuffing attempts by LaMarcus Aldridge's agency
>to bring the Portland Trail Blazers' star in a trade to
>Chicago, according to sources.
>
>Aldridge shares the same agency as Derrick Rose.
>
>The Bulls are unwilling to discuss a trade centering on Joakim
>Noah and Jimmy Butler for Aldridge.
>
>Aldridge denied last week that he requested a trade from the
>Blazers.

Bulls did the right thing here...

U don't give up a top 5 center for a top 10 PF....Noah is off the table for a good reason...His defense and passing r vital to this team's success...As for not having back-ups, on the real, we have back-up bigs...The issue is Thibs doesn't believe in playing them that much during the regular season....Management has to continue to get it in his head not to kill our players before the playoffs start....

And don't get it twisted...I would LOVE LA to put on a Bulls uniform...Unfortunately, Portland has no need for Deng and nobody wants any parts of Boozer's contract....

Posters in High Griffinition.

Don't think-FEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! © Bruce Lee

I like Aldridge more than some but he is sort of Al Jefferson-ish in his ability to not win despite producing. He's also a total 180 in personality and effect on team identity. Noah fits well with the Bulls and is a damn near singular player.

so I definitely wouldn't throw in Jimmy Butler too. That's crazy. The problem to me is, if you're the Bulls and trade Noah for Aldridge, you lose intensity, garbage play, rebounding and defense. What you get in return is another PF/ C who can score inside or out, but prefers to shoot jumpers. I think Chicago is a good situation for LA, but the Bulls can't let Noah go, imo.

makes sense for both teams

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the Kings will not match the Pelicans four-year, $44 million offer sheet that Tyreke Evans is expected to sign, but also that the two teams are close to pulling off a trade.
The Kings and Pelicans are in the process of working out a sign-and-trade deal that would send PG Greivis Vasquez and C Robin Lopez back to the Kings in exchange for Evans. If this deal goes through as expected, Evans would likely start at SF for the Pelicans, while Vasquez would likely bump Isaiah Thomas out of the starting job in Sacramento, although a time share would be in play. This would also free up Jrue Holiday to be the primary point guard for New Orleans. Lopez would simply provide some adequate backup center minutes behind DeMarcus Cousins. But whether the sign-and-trade happens or not, it appears that Evans has played his last game for the Kings.

He is a helluva sub because of his size and versatility. I guess they don't want to add salary here because they are dumping two guys who would definitely be able to earn minutes for them, even with their new personnel.

kinda feel bad for both

when reke was a straight addition, i liked the way things fit into place for their team.

now they are moving two starting players (who would have been effective bench players) for him. meh, that makes me lukewarm. good, fuck em, i wish them ill this season since philly has their pick.

Vasquez and Lopez upped their games last season and showed positive signs.

To me, Sacramento wins, not only because they get two effective young starters, but they can also move Big Cuz to PF, which I feel he'd be better at. He'd absolutely punish the majority of PFs in the league.

We have a similar take on the development here, obviously, but the Hornets still have a shot to come out way ahead.

What they have done here is maintain their bottom line and freed up the money from Vasquez and Lopez to re-invest in other players.

We couldn't give him 4.5 mil?

coulda been a defacto 1 yr deal which we all know is what the Lakers prefer....smh

RT @daldridgetnt: Earl Clark deal with Cleveland has team option for second year, per source.

All this money getting thrown around and he signs a team friendly deal. Weird. They must have said he'd be starting at 3 or something.

Not sure why Cleveland did it either. Just odd for everyone involved.

he was a guy i cysed coming out of college but he is nothing spectacular.

lakers are looking ahead to next year, dwight or no dwight. they don't need any nut ass contracts, they want their books to be clear.

mybad

>Per Wojo: The Raptors have traded DeMar DeRozan and Steve
>Novak to Oklohoma City in exchange for Kendrick Perkins and
>picks, sources told Y!

Then after I posted in here, I was like, How does that come close to working at all?

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Posters in High Griffinition.

Don't think-FEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! © Bruce Lee

Essentially the best contract he could have gotten, but fuck did he have to go to the bush leagues to get it.

I just didn't know how folks would want to read it.

The option is for year 3, the last year of the contract. 2 years obligation.

it's ESPN I'm just at my phone so I didn't want to swipe. I have some perverse belief Al is gonna matter some day so I hopped on the post

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

In the east that's a border playoff team

right?

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

The San Antonio Spurs have reached agreement with free-agent guard Marco Belinelli on a two-year, $6 million contract, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Belinelli, 27, averaged 9.6 points in 73 games for the Chicago Bulls last season. He is a 38.7 percent 3-point shooter in six NBA seasons. The Spurs will be his fifth team.
The Spurs' agreement with Belinelli comes after they struck deals with two of their own free agents: guard Manu Ginobili (two years, $14 million) and center Tiago Splitter (four years, $36 million).


good for him. he played well on the Bulls and will be a good fit on the Spurs. best of luck.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

bulls already looking like they need a free agent sg,

nate would be the perfect back up for whoever they are gonna sign

No shot, right?

What's funny is if they don't get it, people will say they never had a shot, Dwight was heading to ________ all along and everything else was a smokescreen or being used as leverage or some shit.

Nah... they're players in this. They may not pull it off, but they're definitely in the mix.

Their only hope (since LA won't sign and trade) is that someone is willing to take Bogut and Jefferson and another team will eat David Lee (or Andris Biedrins) for draft picks.

Word is that they can't deal Barnes or Thompson since they sold Dwight on playing with those guys.

But watch them move all of those guys... and then Dwight has a change of heart and signs with Houston.

in the fight, at least on OKP. They definitely have some hurdles but I think they've got a real shot. Those hurdles aren't that big at all to be honest, if they and Dwight can accept giving up Klay or Barnes. Word is they're already engaging in efforts to move the guys you named though, and I doubt they do that entirely as a gamble if it's not a sign and trade with us. I think Dwight has shown serious interest and that's what's fueling this effort.

I do think if he goes to GS, it will wind up being a S&T situation and one of the three young players will definitely come to the Lakers. I realize that they tried to sell him on playing with all three, but I doubt West bends us over like that. I truly believe some compromise will be made, because even minus one of those young players, they won't need to get rid of David Lee (at least right away) to get Dwight, and Dwight/Curry/Lee and Barnes/Klay is still formidable as fuck. If anything, Lee gets flipped for a couple of role players.

There's also a little rumor floating about him wanting to playwith Calderon, so that provides an interesting layer to the mix.

The bottom line here is there are a ton of variables at play with GS that can work to facilitate a deal with LA that we can accept. Mitch has a proven ability to work some serious magic. Even in the Shaq deal, he managed to get two quality youngsters in return. If there's any GM that can work this to some benefit for us, it's Mitch. I do think West being in GS will work in our favor here.

Yep...Stein is reporting it...GS are real players...And further reports are saying that the Lakers are getting worried that Howard will walk, which is prompting Mitch and crew to re-think their whole "No S&T" mantra....

At the moment it's looking like...

Houston
GS
Lakers
Dallas


Anything can happen.....

Unless their plan is to tank, which I doubt.

But Bogut, Gasol, Barnes, Kobe, and Nash is still a good team. And if they can nab some top free agents, I'm sure they'll have no problem dumping Bogut's contract next year.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/golden_state.htm

GS makes the most sense if D12 wants to win, and if the Lakers want something in return. I'm guessing GS leans more towards giving up Barnes than Klay...Bogut as the expiring, maybe another player with that

>http://hoopshype.com/salaries/golden_state.htm
>
>GS makes the most sense if D12 wants to win, and if the Lakers
>want something in return. I'm guessing GS leans more towards
>giving up Barnes than Klay...Bogut as the expiring, maybe
>another player with that

I think it's GS and Houston neck and neck....Both places would give him a great chance to win....

The thing with GS though is they can offer the better package in a S&T...

But I like both teams in such a deal...

and they have actual value to trade back to LA
depends on of a shit to be agreed upon though
probably is easier and more straight forward to just sign with houston tho

the Lakers as part of a deal for Howard?

It means that either they flip Barnes and Bogut to the Lakers for Howard, are they just chill and field essentially the same tam as last year, except with Iggy. Either way, they're incredibly dangerous.

getting Iggy makes it look more likely.....

my first choice obviously would be David Lee, Harrison Barnes and a 1st for Dwight..

but I know that won't happen...

Bogut is an expiring contract....

Barnes, Bogut and a 1st is a nice deal...

I'd take it...

1 year to see how it works & then make moves from there..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<---- 5....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlgiritpmfo

=======================================
Occupy Big Government..

Fannie, Freddie dole out big bonuses
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67292.html

http://youtu.be/ehib674Fg4U

#FreeEnes is done.

And this is just after #FreeEBled

Next up #FreeTJones

they need to go ahead and send him to Portland.

Iggy is just what they need. He is overpaid though, but at least on the Warriors, he's only expected to do what he's good at. Defense, passing, ball-handling and leadership. He's not gonna need to be a shooter to be valuable on GS. Plus, there are other guys on that team that the opposition needs to zero in on because of their style of play. A much better situation for him than Denver was, at this point in his career. Curry is a legitimate star, and Iggy needs someone like that to take the heat off of him. Denver had a bunch of inconsistent role-players.

dude had more money on the table over more years from denver, plus a max deal from sac. they pulled it, likely because he wasn't interested and they wanted to move quickly on other deals. so he turned down more money to come to GS. by definition, that's not overpaid.

at any rate, yes, i like what they have cooking with steph-clay-iggy-lee-bogut next year. always a question mark with health when it comes to steph and bogut, otherwise they are super nice, they have depth, too.

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 23s

Houston has traded Royce White to Philadelphia, league sources tell Y! Sports.

This is gon b gud!

Aka we'll take the bamma off your hands for a 2022 2nd round pick. He and the other dude can ball out for the 87ers.
----------------------------
Same as it ever was!

Knicks and Lakers stay losin

https://twitter.com/FisolaNYDN/status/353309461848391684
LMAO OK

nm

Disappointed to see him go, and will not like seeing him in a Pacers jersey, but fuck it. Happy to see him get paid. Dude's got a good story and hopefully he earns some solid time coming off the bench in Indy.

>Knicks and Lakers stay losin

w/ an offer likely centered on Ryan Anderson, sources tell Y! — Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 6, 2013

can you say spread the floor?

I like Anderson and having Dwight and asik is overkill but asik is a commodity I'd hold tight unless I got the right offer

actually he's ideal in that system.

Dwight proved that if you surround him with shooters, he can get you to the Finals, add Harden in the mix and with a little luck it just might get you over the hump.

dumping asik in this smith deal.

if they were to forge another package there and then move asik for anderson separately, that would be money. stretch four with dwight? yes please.

I can't lie and say I wouldn't be disappointed if lin gets traded now- but at the end of the day I'm a lin fan whether he plays for the rockets or the Houston comets.

If they could just trade asik and pieces for josh I'd be thrilled. Atl doesn't need another pg since they have Teague but may have to take lin on just because. At least going to hawks games would be cheap.

remember spm and truth said morey couldd never trade lin contract. Let's hope they were right for a change.

between the rockets trying to dump him for nothing in return and dwight saying he wants jose calderon running the point (lol) the writing may be on the wall
bev at the point is probably an upgrade anyway


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1695059-jeremy-lin-rumors-rockets-pg-reportedly-may-be-traded-in-deal-for-josh-smith

Jeremy Lin's time with the Houston Rockets could be over after just one season.

The Rockets, as they've become deeply embroiled in the chase for coveted free agent Dwight Howard, have engaged the Atlanta Hawks in sign-and-trade talks for forward Josh Smith, per Zach Klein of WSB-TV in Atlanta:

ESPN's Chris Broussard came through on some tangible information on the possible swap, noting that Lin and Omer Asik would probably be the two principals in any deal:

The obvious motivation for Houston is appeasing Howard. He and Smith are friends from their AAU basketball days together, and teaming the two athletic bigs together could make the Rockets an instant championship contender.

And based on recent reports, the pitch of pairing this duo seems to be working on Howard. USA Today's Sam Amick reported that Howard has made his decision to sign with the Rockets, though there have been some conflicting reports.

Hi-res-7270870_crop_exact Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Houston general manager Daryl Morey informed his Twitter followers that the team had not yet been informed of Howard's decision. The possibility of a sign-and-trade deal for Smith being facilitated, though, might be the factor that pushes the chips in Houston's favor.

Hi-res-7309924_crop_exact Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Lin's role in this deal would be as facilitating cap fodder(DAMN). He and Asik have a combined cap figure of about $16.7 million for next season, which should be enough to match whatever Houston plans on paying Smith. Howard would then still be open to signing his maximum contract with the Rockets, maxing out at four years and $88 million.

Nevertheless, the writing has been on the wall for Lin even before the Smith rumors had a shred of tangibility. CBS Sports' Ken Berger reported early in free agency that the Rockets made Lin and Asik available in trades. But the popular point guard seemed to be the player Houston was really trying to push out of town—even if it only brought back cap space.(DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN)

Mark Deeks of ShamSports was the first to report the Rockets' motivation to move Lin, noting that they had moved on from asking for assets in return:

Lin is one of the most popular young players in the game, yet his level of play wasn't quite up to what Houston expected when it gave him a three-year deal last summer.(FOREAL?) The 24-year-old guard averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 assists per game on 44.1 percent shooting during his first season in Houston—not bad for someone playing his first full NBA season.

However, the Rockets' acquisition of James Harden prior to the 2012-13 season made Lin's skill set redundant. Both need the ball in their hands to play at their most effective level, but Houston was far better with Harden running the offense.(TRUE(c)2chainz)

The Rockets were over three points worse per 100 possessions when Lin was on the floor compared to when he was on the bench, an effect that became all the more obvious when Patrick Beverley emerged during the playoffs.(BWAHAHAHAHAHH)

Beverley, taking over for an injured Lin, averaged 11.8 points per game against the Oklahoma City Thunder while working more off the ball and providing strong defense. Lin played in just four games, shot 25 percent from the field and was brought off the bench for Houston's Game 6 loss.(-_-)

Hi-res-7310028_crop_exact Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

With Beverley returning to Houston next season, it's questionable which player would hold court in the starting five. Should the Rockets find a taker for Lin as part of a sign-and-trade deal for Smith, it would clear up the team's trouble in deciding between the two while pushing them into contention.

What's unclear is whether Atlanta has any interest in Lin, or if he would have to be shipped off to a third party. There is no question that Lin can be effective with the ball in his hands, but Atlanta already has an incumbent point guard in Jeff Teague, who is a restricted free agent.

Either way, Lin's status with the Rockets looks tenuous at best.

morey is an idiot
dwight's not coming
and the harden trade was worth it

and your silver lining is Lin being moved?

alrighty then.

no trading him to free up money for jsmoove is somehow an L?

lol dudes are struuuuuugling.

i never said two shits about morey before that
and i will PRAISE him for dumping Lin wack ass
bwhahahahaha can't wait till he lands with a lotto team and fucking sucks

that no one would take his contract?

???
??
?

bwhahahahaha
and this is more of a dump than a trade
like the article said no one really wants him by himself, he'll have to be packaged with actual value...asik
yall whole argument was that teams would be knocking down the door for his expiring deal
morey is trying to dump him a year early because dwight wants nothing to do with him as a PG

smh

she just got an email from broussard.

dwight told the lakers he's 50-50.

i shit you not.

>she just got an email from broussard.
>
>dwight told the lakers he's 50-50.
>
>i shit you not.



lol.....

is it not abundantly clear his weakness is between his ears?

and those types of people are problematic to give large sums of money and heap expectations on?

>is it not abundantly clear his weakness is between his ears?
>
>and those types of people are problematic to give large sums
>of money and heap expectations on?


Nah...this shit is hilarious...But it's obvious that $30 mil is making it hard for Howard to walk away...It's sure as hell not playing beside Kobe that's making him re-think shit...

But I expect dude to be in a Rockets uniform by tomorrow....

BTW...I've always admitted to dude's goofiness....My defense of Howard has been purely his impact on the court...Let that Bamma be a Bamma...

>BTW...I've always admitted to dude's goofiness....My defense
>of Howard has been purely his impact on the court...Let that
>Bamma be a Bamma...

goofiness is weird ties and funny voices and releasing a polka cd.

when people's employment is on the line? when team business is impacted? it's not goofy. it's narcissistic at its worst and immature at best.

how many franchises has he held up over the last 2 years? team execs who lost their jobs? players who didn't know where they were headed behind his indecision?

when we label it "goofy" it seems harmless and fun.

it's not.

Actually we all have egg on our face...The reports now are saying that Dwight's people never called the Rockets or LA....His agent even put it out there while people were saying he was headed to the Rockets that the news was not official...The LA beat writer is saying that Howard's people has only notified Atlanta, GS, and the Dallas....

This seems to be the media jumping the gun with their "sources"...

>
>Actually we all have egg on our face...The reports now are
>saying that Dwight's people never called the Rockets or
>LA....His agent even put it out there while people were saying
>he was headed to the Rockets that the news was not
>official...The LA beat writer is saying that Howard's people
>has only notified Atlanta, GS, and the Dallas....
>
>This seems to be the media jumping the gun with their
>"sources"...
>
>
>

https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA

Dwight said he wanted to play with Calderon, was hoping Houston could land him. Cuban nixes it.

And kudos for Calderon for continuing his run as the most underrated yet overpaid PG in the league.

Houston is about to be the 2nd most sought out destination for NBA vets after MIA:

- no state tax;
- guaranteed playoff money;
- great nightlife.

someone locked my post dwight player movement post.

Didn't realize that. In that sense Lin to Atl with asik makes sense.

Weird cause if they want asik thought they woulda had him play 5 and finally slide horrors to 4. Unless they wanna try mil sap at 3

>Didn't realize that. In that sense Lin to Atl with asik makes
>sense.

The only way Josh Smith to Houston works is with both Asik and Lin's contracts but the hold up, or last I heard, was that Atlanta doesn't want Lin, so they'd have to find a third team.

Teague is a restricted FA. I'd be surprised if they let him walk. I'm just not sure what the hell Danny Ferry is doing this offseason and I'm not sure he does either.


>Weird cause if they want asik thought they woulda had him play
>5 and finally slide horrors to 4. Unless they wanna try mil
>sap at 3

The Millsap signing is bizarre on all fronts. Horford wants to play the 4. You'd think Millsap would want a long term deal and to start yet he chooses a two year, very reasonable contract to backup the better Big Al.

Yeah...I had an idea that Lin would be the hold-up...In fact, he may hinder Houston's plan in getting J. Smith...

The kid is a decent player and doesn't deserve all the hate he gets...But that poison pill contract is pretty much impossible to move...Houston just has to hope that Atlanta gets desperate....With the news that Detroit is about to make a huge offer to Smith, that H-Town move is looking less and less likely...

and i don't think it's a poison pill to anyone besides the knicks
it should be 16 mil over these last two seasons
that still may be too much for lin to some teams tho, smh @ atlanta not even wanting yo ass

@KBergCBS: Though they won't rule out post-Howard trades, the Rockets are now open to keeping Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, league source says.

@KBergCBS: As of now, Rockets have no deals in place and no plans for deals, source says

if atlanta doesn't want lin (or asik) ain't any deal
honestly unless they were in love with asik was really no need for them to do the S+T just to make josh smith happy essentially
dwight seemed to really want j.smith and to get another PG so should be interesting

>if atlanta doesn't want lin (or asik) ain't any deal
>honestly unless they were in love with asik was really no need
>for them to do the S+T just to make josh smith happy
>essentially
>dwight seemed to really want j.smith and to get another PG so
>should be interesting

I think Houston is just being patient...There are deals on the table for Asik, but they would rather get J. Smith....Ryan Anderson seems to be one such deal....But it seems like Lin's contract will def. be a hurdle in getting a better player or players than the Anderson's of the world...

We will see...someone will blink....Asik is a real commodity....Teams r def. interested....

You're not going to say, "Jesus Christ, we gotta get rid of Lin PRONTO!" when you're trying to move him.

They should be able to find someone to take Lin. For some reason, Sacramento seems committed to not having Lil' Zeake be their PG so maybe they'd go for it.

The Anderson deal would continue a bizarre offseason for the Pelicans. He'd be dangerous on the Rockets.

I'd be surprised if Josh Smith doesn't end up on the Rockets. Asik to Atlanta makes too much sense and Lin's not THAT bad that nobody will take him.

>You're not going to say, "Jesus Christ, we gotta get rid of
>Lin PRONTO!" when you're trying to move him.
>
>They should be able to find someone to take Lin. For some
>reason, Sacramento seems committed to not having Lil' Zeake be
>their PG so maybe they'd go for it.
>
>The Anderson deal would continue a bizarre offseason for the
>Pelicans. He'd be dangerous on the Rockets.
>
>I'd be surprised if Josh Smith doesn't end up on the Rockets.
>Asik to Atlanta makes too much sense and Lin's not THAT bad
>that nobody will take him.

That Houston-Atlanta deal def works well on paper...But, at least in ATL, they do not want Lin...They don't seem to want any parts of his contract....If the deal happens it will be a coup for Houston...

And as much as I like Ryan's shooting he would be a defensive liability...With Parsons, Harden and Lin next to Ryan, that team's defense would be HORRIBLE even with Howard at center...

But on the real, I like that Lil Zeke idea.....

salaries match
milwaukee seems to be ripe for the poaching
true stretch 4 who's capable of rebounding.

>salaries match
>milwaukee seems to be ripe for the poaching
>true stretch 4 who's capable of rebounding.


I like dude's game....but can he play some D?

>I like dude's game....but can he play some D?

he does rebound.
and he played great down the stretch for a playoff team
and he's 26 and makes just as much as asik.

if dwight's going to want to operate from the low post, he's going to need space.

its the rare stretch 4 that's defensively inclined. that COULD have been josh smith but a) he can't shoot b) he's a dumbass and c) a piston.

They already have Sanders and Henson. Last thing they need is another all-D big man in Asik. They need Ilyasova as much as Rockets do.

they gave oj 8 mil a year , drafted a euro not ready to play, and let jj redick go for 2 2nd round picks.


they don't seem to know what the hell they're doing. it's a perfect time to kick the tires

So many missed assist opps to asik. With just Dwight hell avg 8-9 assists a game.

His game is gonna open up a lot more

>and i don't think it's a poison pill to anyone besides the
>knicks
>it should be 16 mil over these last two seasons

I'm pretty sure you're right about this but that's kind of bullshit that a team can offer a contract that only exists if a team matches the contract. If they offer a poison pill to keep the Knicks from signing, they should be stuck with that deal.

As it is now, it's basically, "We're going to pay him 15 million in year three, oh you're not going to match, PSYCHE! it's 8 million throughout; no lump payment."

it just counts again houstons cap as 8 per year because they had the cap room to offer the deal. for the knicks it would have counted as its paid, meaning their luxury tax impact in year 3 would have been something nasty

>it just counts again houstons cap as 8 per year because they
>had the cap room to offer the deal. for the knicks it would
>have counted as its paid, meaning their luxury tax impact in
>year 3 would have been something nasty

If it counts 5/5/15 for the Knicks, it should count 5/5/15 for the Rockets. It's bullshit that the team offering the deal to a restricted free agent gets the better end of the deal than the team that holds the player's rights.

If they want to concoct a deal that hurt the Knicks, they should have to deal with the repercussions if the Knicks don't match.

dwight effect got dudes taking deep discounts. great shooter/pro to bring off the bench.

he was lights out from 3 as soon as he signed.he'll be houston's battier.

Man....ya'll be killing me with the obscure nicknames....lol

Government name?

Damn...I was hoping the Bulls could have signed him......

.

Overpaid like a motherfucker too. How the hell are they gonna space the floor. lmao. I hope this doesn't mean Monroe is on the way out. They still need a point guard too.

While Smith shoots the 3 too much, he at least has shown the ability to play from the outside as off and on as he can be...Spacing won't be an issue...Smith is more of a slasher/mid range shooter when it comes to his offense...

But it's way too soon to start putting together their lineup...I don't think Detroit is done dealing...

But what do you do with this? You gotta flip Stuckey and Charlie V. for a PG and hope for the best. The Pistons have been putting square pegs into round holes for too long.

The lack of shooting is a problem but I'm still a fan of that frontcourt with Smith, Drummond, and Monroe. And they still have enough money to add another max deal so they could still add talent.

not that that means much being a 7 or 8 in the east.

So...no sign and trade with Houston?

Yeah...That Lin contract was too sketchy to take on....Josh couldn't say no to that deal....No one else would have given it to him straight up...

Now things get really interesting....Asik will def. be moved...But J. Smith was the best defensive/offensive option to pair with Howard...

Dude thinks he's a #1 option. No way he settled for the third wheel option with the Rockets. I would've loved to see it for the comedy though.

>Dude thinks he's a #1 option. No way he settled for the third
>wheel option with the Rockets.


Man...that has nothing to do with it...lol

He wanted to go to Houston...but he couldn't sign out-right with them without a sign and trade...Lin's contract was the hurdle...

Josh Smith saw the money that the Pistons were flashing and saw that he could not get a better deal...

That's all she wrote...

If the Pistons miss the playoffs again he should be gone.

had a spark when he started(c)

let's see if a change in scenery helps. one thing i've noticed about houston last 4-5 yrs. Hardly anyone goes there and gets worse.

The one thing I've learned is when a decent shooter has subpar years on a bad team with little post game (Cleveland) then usually a change is in order...

Casspi will be a cool little pick-up for Houston...He probably hasn't seen a big man get double teamed in a couple of years now.....I have a feeling that dude's 3 point percentage will be back to his Sacramento days...

nah...8 is expensive.

So they deal Landry in a sign and trade so they can overpay Marcus Thornton, and then they overpay to bring Landry back.

More millions spent on players who won't make a difference in wins and losses.

Didn't care what team, just wanted to see that guy get some long term security. Seems every year he's a free agent. He gets a shitty deal. Clearly outplays it ad then is on another shitty 1 or 2 year deal. So happy, 4 years, 6.5 per more that I could have asked for.

One year at the vet minimum (Portland), but still. Hell of a long & underrated career after coming out of the 2nd round.

a quick guy that can get into the paint and dish the ball.

Pretty much gives you what Bled gives you but with better shooting and not being as terrifying on D, but he's a great fit for the price and backup minutes (plus starting the 10 or so games CP3 seems to miss every year). If only they can pull a competent backup big out of their hat now.

>Pretty much gives you what Bled gives you but with better
>shooting and not being as terrifying on D, but he's a great
>fit for the price and backup minutes (plus starting the 10 or
>so games CP3 seems to miss every year). If only they can pull
>a competent backup big out of their hat now.

Yeah...I feel the same way for my Bulls...A back-up center is an important commodity....I want Samuel Dalembert....But I know that's not going to happen...Wouldn't be shocked if he ends up on the Clippers though...

People thought CP3 was expendable.

Great pick up.

Signing my favorite Bruin. Muhfuggers