Asik wants out. Morey's like "Nah."

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9456945/omer-asik-wants-trade-wake-dwight-howard-add-houston-rockets-say-no

loved gibson in college but never thought of him as a pro. asik deaded that possibility with his play last year though.

Solid move...

and surely adding him for 3/15mil and playing him as a backup PF would have worked. He can even play alongside LA. I don't get that. Especially since Robin Lopez often finds himself in foul trouble. The should have plenty of PT for him I would think.

he's a steal for a team with a good coach and expectations.

Why not Q Rich, D Miles, and Maggette too? lolololol

the roster but I don't think we'll "tank" as some people have suggested, there's probably nobody that we would draft next year that would have an immediate impact anyway.

The tanking is to get a player for the future.

which is why you have D'Antoni, why you sided with appeasing/paying Kobe 30 million coming off Achilles surgery over a 27-year-old center, and now why rather than blow this thing up you'll be trying your hardest to win 42 games next year with Old Kob & getting the band back together rather than blowing this shit up to build for the future.

I'd honestly rather be in the Sixers' shoes moving forward with four blue-chip prospects, nothing but cap space & 2-3 tradeable guys (Thad, Duck Sauce, Lavoy) within the next calendar year then what the Lakers are moving forward with right now.

>Why not Q Rich, D Miles, and Maggette too? lolololol




Lmao

.

and they are here copying off Mark Cuban's notes. And prolly will have their own FA strikeout to boot. But I do recall their last playoff meeting pretty vividly ...

Knew we weren't getting him but woulda liked him going to a contender

Carlos Delfino - G/F - Bucks
Carlos Delfino and the Bucks have agreed on a three-year contract worth as much as $10 million, with the third year a team option.
Last year, in his eighth NBA season, Delfino averaged a career-high 2.4 three-pointers in just 25 minutes per game. He will no longer have the benefit of Houston's up-tempo attack, but he's a leading candidate for the starting SF spot, competing with Luc Richard Mbah a Moute while rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo develops in a reserve role. Delfino is recovering from foot surgery but he's targeting a return during training camp.
Related: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Giannis Antetokounmpo
Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter Jul 7 - 8:42 PM

Ugh autocorrect

this whole spencer hawes era. they've always seemed STACKED with great role players being asked to do too much at the four.





~~~~~~~~~
"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

fuck landry himself was one of those players. they were pleased to get him for martin and then moved him promptly for thornton, right?

i thought the clippers would have done well to sign landry, better than signing collison. that's fine, too, obviously some relationship with CP3 from NO.

so the Clips split it between Barnes and Collison instead.

I really do think he'll resemble his old self once he's back. By his old self, I mean headaches and all. He was always the ultimate headcase and had more than his share of bone headed moments to offset times where his play was downright breathtaking. I know LB hated him like few others, and he would miss like 2-3 clean layups a game, but I think he can be a solid contributor for one year.

Also.... I'm not real sold on an all out tank job. Call me old fashioned, but as a fan I don't feel like I can claim the prestige of the Lakers while being OK with openly tanking.

As a fan, I don't think I can talk about the standards we've set in terms of 'we play for June, not January' and accept losing on purpose just to get a lottery pick.

Either we've got a standard, either we stand by that prestige, or we don't. I can live with putting our best foot forward and giving our all and falling short, but certainly not a tank job. We've obviously got to keep our long term health in mind first and foremost, but I also think we need to put our best foot forward. If we can sign a few guys in hopes they can help us compete on some level this year, I say we do it. I just can't rock with saying fuck it and tanking. Otherwise, we should have amnestied Kobe and tried to find a taker for Pau's expiring deal and blown it all to hell and REALLY went into rebuilding. Since we didn't do that, fuck the bullshit. You don't tank while still footing a fat luxury tax bill.

To the fans who want to see us tank to try to get that Lottery pick: have a little pride, for crying out loud.

>Either we've got a standard, either we stand by that prestige,
>or we don't.

Thats what got them in this mess in the first place.

>Thats what got them in this mess in the first place.

Nah, the biggest blunder here was jumping the gun on the D'Antoni hire.

Then Nash got hurt. Then Pau got hurt. Then Jordan Hill was out for the season. And Dwight was playing hurt, and didn't really have any chemistry with Kobe or, according to some accounts, anyone else on the team. Everyone was old. There was a two year window with this group, after which we'd have a ton of cap room to rebuild pretty much right away. Given the circumstances we were in at the time, already aging with Andrew Bynum's knees being what they were, we definitely created a set of circumstances that had both the present AND the future in good positions.

Last season, everything that could have went wrong pretty much did, culminating in Dwight leaving. Still, it was a calculated risk. This wasn't the Knicks, who spent countless years gobbling up terrible contracts for the long haul. We created a situation that was such that, for better or worse, we'd be in prime position to rebuild after two seasons.

I can't see any reasonable argument that "standing by our prestige" caused this mess. We capitalized on some opportunities to sign quality veterans in Nash and Jamison along with Dwight, and were unable to capitalize on their presence or make these pieces fit well together for most of the year. And in the very end, after a pretty damn heroic effort to get us back into the playoffs, Kobe went down and deaded any shot we may have had.

No, freak accidents, personality clashes/chemistry issues, and rash decisions in coaching and management got us into this mess.

teague, jennings, pekovic, neal, bynum, monta, hendo, ak-47, kaman, mo williams

teague is fucked unless some other teams REALLY like him, and its a lot of point guards out there.

Charlotte seems hellbent to re-sign him unless someone makes him one hell of an offer.

Sigh. I want him on OKC so badly.

he has the breakout year as a RFA and the politics of the industry is gonna have him take whatever's offered.

plus they drafted a young point.

and they might sign monta

that's all around fucked up.

Lopez will still help though, so that's definitely an improvement. But Pekovic is a very solid center and may this manage to get better.

.....imagine his durability as he ages

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Im not posting in PTP

According to a Marc Stein tweet

1 year deal

http://youtu.be/ppnLm-8vmkk

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Im not posting in PTP

One year deal.

But I personally want Pau as the starting C. If they're tanking though, let's just run Kaman/(signed for the min) Odom/whoever/whoever/whoever.

Seems like we'll amnesty MWP, rest Kobe for however long, and have Pau start at the center, but who knows.

I don't think even Pringles is dumb enough to fuck that up

Though I just read the ESPN article which says that "Lakers sources" were pressing for Kaman to sign so that we'd have "a quality starting center"

Good God

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Im not posting in PTP

>I don't think even Pringles is dumb enough to fuck that up
Remember it took him ALL YEAR to figure out that D12 and Pau should be on the same court

Add to that he had Pau coming off the bench...lol

couldnt that other team in staples use him? wtf is mitch doing??? listen i dont know who this wiggins cat is yall waitin on.. but i aint heard about that nigga gettin no new Hummer yet so uhh... mitch need to be doing something with that PG position..

For a guy how hates them and just snagged our prime time center, you sure seem concered with our affairs.

i DO have to watch every game since i'm living in the city..as much as i would like to watch yall turn into the washington generals...i still have a small corner of love in my heart for the lakers..


>For a guy how hates them and just snagged our prime time
>center, you sure seem concered with our affairs.

I hope he ends up on a good team.

Anyone under the cap can make an offer and he goes to the highest bidder.

Watch Jordan offer him more than he made for the Lakers. WATCH.

Should be interesting.

And if nobody bids on him, they're still on the hook. Right?

but the Lakers pay the difference . If no one claims him, he becomes a free agent.

left under the cap.

him or teletovic... I think they let the Euro's play

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9461582/denver-nuggets-acquire-randy-foye-series-deals-involving-andre-iguodala-report-says

2yrs $3.5M

50/40/90 last year as MVP of Serie A

dude is 25 and captains Galinari, Bargnani, and Bellineli on the national team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBeAKDS8uwo

0:55 to 1:15 is kind of lovely

Pistons fans let me know.

He's seemed to go for raw talent first and foremost, and Monroe, Drummond, Knight, and (yes) Singler have shown they can hang. This year's picks with KCP and Tony Mitchell were both "best available raw talent" picks too, and I liked both.

he got a "bad drafter" tag after Rodney White and Darko

but since then:
Mitchell, Drummond, Knight, Singler, Monroe, Jerebko, Budinger, Afflalo, Maxiell, Delfino, Amir Johnson, Memo Okur

Austin Daye was a miss but there are a lot of rotation players or better in that group that he picked in the second round

and while Gordon and Villanueva was a huge fuckup...he cleaned it up and STILL has the amnesty.

he's straight.

You forgot his best draft pick ever so far.

role player but everything helps

>Asik wants out. Morey's like "Nah."
>
>http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9456945/omer-asik-wants-trade-wake-dwight-howard-add-houston-rockets-say-no

Woj reports the Steamer is heading to the Pelicans. He's a decent enough backup.

we've got our own high pick to pair with it that should be a Top 3.

LOL @ trading two lottery picks (including one thought to be the consensus #1 overall player & the other in one of the deeper drafts in the league) for Jrue Holiday, then signing Tyreke Evans for 44 million to be your sixth man or start when Gordon's hurt.

What a shitshow, all because Tom Benson's old & desperate to be a first-round-exit playoff team.

They are a 27-win team that is shuffling things around, but it's not as bad as it looks. They were slaughtered by injuries last year. They should surprise people this coming season. They are pretty balanced and now have some non-D league depth.

>we've got our own high pick to pair with it that should be a
>Top 3.
>
>LOL @ trading two lottery picks (including one thought to be
>the consensus #1 overall player & the other in one of the
>deeper drafts in the league) for Jrue Holiday, then signing
>Tyreke Evans for 44 million to be your sixth man or start when
>Gordon's hurt.
>
>What a shitshow, all because Tom Benson's old & desperate to
>be a first-round-exit playoff team.

They're not that far away.

they had a terrible offseason that will result in them being stuck in mediocrity for years to come.

The only teams that are probably expected to fall from the playoffs in the West from last year would probably be the Lakers.

The Blazers, Mavs or even Minnesota have a far better chance of replacing them then the Hornets do.

Because you are basically saying #11 is >>>>>> than #15.

We will be better than at least 10 teams next year, easily. Whether we actually make the playoffs is irrelevant to you, since the pick is top 5 protected.

I'm not sure you understand how this works. If we "win" the lotto, and get a top 3 pick we keep it. But since we will be at worst a bottom half lotto team, you will almost surely get a 10-15 pick.


So the real question is why are you so hyped for James McAdoo, bro?

one of which should next year be a Top 3 pick.

Then we just took two of yours (your sixth which ended up being the consensus #1 that we have the luxury of waiting for to fully heel while tanking) and a second of yours (somewhere in probably the 7 to 14 range) for Jrue Holiday.

LMAO.

If you want to add to my pleasure with those facts & wager on the Pelicans being a playoff team this year, I will gladly match any amount you want to put on it.

This was not a good offseason for y'all, you might not wanna accept that now but you will see that as Demps & Bens keep moving.

Thank you for Noel (who I would have traded Holiday for straight-up) & another lottery pick while we tank anyway though.

You can have 2 winners is a trade. This was a perfect example. Philly wants to suck for 5 years and they accomplished that. Enjoy.

Noel is years away from being a top 3 player on a high level team. Jrue is that today. His knee has major concerns. He's built like a female volleyball player. You can keep hyping his draft stock (lulz...STOCK, not NBA production), but what is his ceiling really? A smaller Dikembe? In 5 years? At BEST? Boo hoo on losing Larry Sanders 2.0.


So Noel's bum knee and 210 lbs + McAdoo (or whatever other mediocrity) for an improving 23 year old All Star on a good contract?


Lol, no complaints here bub.

>You can have 2 winners is a trade. This was a perfect
>example. Philly wants to suck for 5 years and they
>accomplished that. Enjoy.
>
Nah, we'll be back on track with four blue-chippers & nothing but cap room/trade-pieces by the next calendar year.

That's a huge come-up from a shitty middling team led by non-franchise guys like Iggy & Jrue that have had us in that mid-tier ensured-mediocrity of the post-Iverson-era.

>Noel is years away from being a top 3 player on a high level
>team. Jrue is that today.

not really, in fact I'm not sure he'll ever be that.

He's a borderline All-Star on a bad team.

His knee has major concerns. He's
>built like a female volleyball player. You can keep hyping his
>draft stock (lulz...STOCK, not NBA production), but what is
>his ceiling really? A smaller Dikembe? In 5 years? At BEST?
>Boo hoo on losing Larry Sanders 2.0.
>
uh-huh, keep selling yourself on that, he slipped because of the knee (which Dr James Andrews is already staking his professional rep on being way ahead of schedule) and because teams above us (Cleveland, Washington) actually need a guy that was ready to go for the beginning of the season since they're trying to make the playoffs or they're just horribly run teams like the Charlotte Bobcats.

>
>So Noel's bum knee and 210 lbs + McAdoo (or whatever other
>mediocrity) for an improving 23 year old All Star on a good
>contract?
>
>
>Lol, no complaints here bub.
>
Cool, good luck with that.

Holla if you wanna wager on making the playoffs.

It's a small feat I'd long since grown sick of, give me the chance to get bad to actually be good all day.

Noel-for-Jrue straight-up might have been a deal, as is we got an absolute steal for a guy who will always be around the 9th to 12th best PG in the league.

Basically traded Grevis, Noel, and the 2014 Big East DPOY (because that's who N.O. always drafts in the teens) for Jrue, Tyreke, and Withey. Jrue taking over for Grevis is an upgrade. Noel's ceiling is below Unibrow's. Tyreke will be the extra creation/scoring comlpement(be it starting or off the bench) that N.O. lacked in so many close losses last season. Withey and the 2014 B.E. DPOY is a wash. Sixers did great finding an exciting guy to build around in Noel. Both teams won.

BRO. For real?

Stop acting like all first round picks are gold. Its quite the opposite actually.

Our draft pick next year cannot be considered a "blue chipper." It will be a middling first rounder.

Is MCW a blue chipper? Well on that generous scale that makes Jrue a bonafide STAR.

I get it, you are clinging to POTENTIAL. Its all Philly has now. We traded potential for established production. We added an All Star point guard and a recent historic (20, 5 & 5) rookie of the year. And that's a shitty off season? Ok.


Honest question...what is your projection for Noel? What can he be? A smaller Tyson Chandler at best? Ok, fine. In what, 3-5 years? Great. Have fun with that. He's not some super prospect. He's an athletic, SKINNY AS FUCK shot blocker with a busted knee and no offense. He would've been the 10th pick last year. Drummond is a way better prospect and he went 9th. Harping on his pre-injury draft stock in the worst draft in a decade is just weird.

Jrue is an established All Star. He's 23. He's improving. No question marks. No "hope he develops." He's already what you hope Noel turns into. Clinging to potential will turn you quickly into Charlotte or Sacramento.

Lets say you luck out and get Wiggins next year. Super. You've got a core of Wiggins (hope), Noel (hope), MCW (a TON of hope), and the 15th pick (lulz). Fun, young team to root for that won't be any good for at least 3-5 years. That's not OKC bro, that's just another team hoping young guys blossom into stars.

Its not the worst place to be, but acting like we fucked up by getting ESTABLISHED TALENT is some bizarro shit.

>Honest question...what is your projection for Noel? What can
>he be? A smaller Tyson Chandler at best? Ok, fine. In what,
>3-5 years? Great. Have fun with that. He's not some super
>prospect. He's an athletic, SKINNY AS FUCK shot blocker with a
>busted knee and no offense. He would've been the 10th pick
>last year. Drummond is a way better prospect and he went 9th.
>Harping on his pre-injury draft stock in the worst draft in a
>decade is just weird.

A couple of things here:

1. Noel isn't smaller than Chandler except in weight, and if you don't think he can put on 15 pounds of muscle to match Chandler's 220-225 weight range, I'd say you're wrong. He's thin, but he's not John Henson. He's still young and can hit the weights.

2. There's a reason Noel was STILL being considered for the #1 pick after injury-- it's because before injury, he was considered easily the best NBA prospect in terms of size, athleticism, work ethic, and potential. Tyson-in-3-to-5-years is, in my opinion, not a fair assessment of what Noel can do on the court.

3. Drummond wasn't a way better prospect pre-injury to Noel. Noel is taller, more athletic, and registered better stats in college to Drummond in every category-- and Noel didn't even get to benefit from finishing out the season, he was starting to really come alive in February, despite his shitshow guard play surrounding him. Drummond is wider, more muscular, bigger wingspan by an inch or two, but there's a reason why Drummond's immediate success last season was considered a surprise by many-- because he wasn't a can't-miss guy. Noel, pre-injury, was can't-miss, and the only question marks surrounding him are due to his knee. Very few big men drafted young don't need massive help on the offensive skill set, and even fewer can do what Noel does on defense.

I'm not gonna get into all that potential-vs.-proven narrative, because who the fuck knows with all the variables involved... but to act like Noel is some low-ceiling, half-a-decade project who has a limited chance at panning out and was only considered a high draft pick due to the weak draft is disingenuous IMO.

>BRO. For real?
>
>Stop acting like all first round picks are gold. Its quite the
>opposite actually.
>
>Our draft pick next year cannot be considered a "blue
>chipper." It will be a middling first rounder.
>
my dude, you ain't making the playoffs & next year is the most well-regarded first-round in five to ten years.

We will have a Top 3 & your pick, which will likely fall somewhere in the 7 to 13 range, then be plugging in a healthy Noel with that while seeing if a big-athletic-defender/pass-first-PG like MCW can shake where he went to school.

>Is MCW a blue chipper? Well on that generous scale that makes
>Jrue a bonafide STAR.
>
Actually MCW was a higher-regarded draft pick than Jrue was.

I don't like him all that much since he did go to Syracuse but his upside could be higher.

>I get it, you are clinging to POTENTIAL. Its all Philly has
>now. We traded potential for established production.

LOL, like Tyreke Evans.

Congrats.

We added
>an All Star point guard and a recent historic (20, 5 & 5)
>rookie of the year. And that's a shitty off season? Ok.
>
Yes, because the small chance it makes you a bit better coupled with the picks you gave away (and the fact that you're doing it partly because you whiffed on that Rivers pick) will only improve you by a small increment while that's not a nucleus for the future that will ever be capable of winning anything.
>
>Honest question...what is your projection for Noel? What can
>he be? A smaller Tyson Chandler at best?

Please. He'll be much better than Chandler & will develop quicker.

Ok, fine. In what,
>3-5 years? Great. Have fun with that. He's not some super
>prospect. He's an athletic, SKINNY AS FUCK shot blocker with a
>busted knee and no offense.

Chandler has no offense.

It's funny you knock Noel while pumping up Brow tho.

He would've been the 10th pick
>last year.
uh, no.

>Drummond is a way better prospect and he went 9th.

Nah.

>Harping on his pre-injury draft stock in the worst draft in a
>decade is just weird.
>
>Jrue is an established All Star.

LOL @ 'established All-Star'.

He crept into the game this season on the Eastern side by putting up 17/8 on a bad team & because Rondo was hurt while Deron was playing like shit.

He would have no shot of making it out West or with a healthy East.

Dude is what he is, a borderline-All-Star replacement reserve while putting up respectable numbers on a bad team & maybe a borderline Top 10 PG for a stretch of his career (with last year being the first).

Whoopty-damn-do(c)D.C.

He will never be truly elite & we're in a league where even having a great PG doesn't really lead to winning anything anyway.

I would have traded him for Noel straight-up let alone with another lotto pick thrown in & unlike you I've actually watched him play since he got in the league.......strike that, actually since UCLA really.

>He's 23. He's improving. No
>question marks. No "hope he develops." He's already what you
>hope Noel turns into.

No, he's not. What you hope Noel turns into is a big-man who can actually affect the games.

Clinging to potential will turn you
>quickly into Charlotte or Sacramento.
>
>Lets say you luck out and get Wiggins next year. Super. You've
>got a core of Wiggins (hope), Noel (hope), MCW (a TON of
>hope), and the 15th pick (lulz). Fun, young team to root for
>that won't be any good for at least 3-5 years. That's not OKC
>bro, that's just another team hoping young guys blossom into
>stars.
>
LOL, you keep quoting the 15th pick which would make you a playoff team & yet sidestepping any offer to bet on y'all actually making the playoffs.....which you won't.

We will have four cracks at grabbing hopefully two impact young players, all of our cap room & every contract that we will have in addition to that will be movable.

This is how you actually get better, not dick around & overpay for bullshit that keeps you mediocre like the Sixers did for a decade and y'all are doing right now.

>Its not the worst place to be, but acting like we fucked up by
>getting ESTABLISHED TALENT is some bizarro shit.
>
You gave two lottery picks for a barely top-half-of-the-league-starting-PG & paid Tyreke Evans 44 million dollars.

Bill Duke is talking to you.

>>Our draft pick next year cannot be considered a "blue
>>chipper." It will be a middling first rounder.
>>
>my dude, you ain't making the playoffs & next year is the most
>well-regarded first-round in five to ten years.
NO's got a DECENT shot at making the 8th seed. Out of the top 8 this year, Denver and LAL might fall out of there...NO's got as good a shot to make it as say Portland

>We will have a Top 3 & your pick, which will likely fall
>somewhere in the 7 to 13 range, then be plugging in a healthy
>Noel with that while seeing if a
>big-athletic-defender/pass-first-PG like MCW can shake where
>he went to school.
>
>>Is MCW a blue chipper? Well on that generous scale that
>makes
>>Jrue a bonafide STAR.
>>
>Actually MCW was a higher-regarded draft pick than Jrue was.
>
>I don't like him all that much since he did go to Syracuse but
>his upside could be higher.
MCW is a good player. Syracuse is my squad so I'm biased, but if he works on his jumper his ceiling could be a poor man's Penny Hardaway...he's that good

>>I get it, you are clinging to POTENTIAL. Its all Philly has
>>now. We traded potential for established production.
>
>LOL, like Tyreke Evans.
>
>Congrats.
Tyreke's better than everyone Philly has, and he's still only 23


> We added
>>an All Star point guard and a recent historic (20, 5 & 5)
>>rookie of the year. And that's a shitty off season? Ok.
>>
>Yes, because the small chance it makes you a bit better
>coupled with the picks you gave away (and the fact that you're
>doing it partly because you whiffed on that Rivers pick) will
>only improve you by a small increment while that's not a
>nucleus for the future that will ever be capable of winning
>anything.



>>Honest question...what is your projection for Noel? What can
>>he be? A smaller Tyson Chandler at best?
>
>Please. He'll be much better than Chandler & will develop
>quicker.
LOL...really? Have you seen him play? He's LUCKY if he turns into Tyson Chandler. NO's got the better version of Noel in Anthony Davis, who's leaps and bounds better, and will be

> Ok, fine. In what,
>>3-5 years? Great. Have fun with that. He's not some super
>>prospect. He's an athletic, SKINNY AS FUCK shot blocker with
>a
>>busted knee and no offense.
>
>Chandler has no offense.
>
>It's funny you knock Noel while pumping up Brow tho.
Chandler doesn't have offense...but it took him YEARS to be the player he is now...if you're willing to wait 8 years on Noel to be good, so be it.
And Brow>>>>Nerlens homey...it just is

> He would've been the 10th pick
>>last year.
>uh, no.
>
>>Drummond is a way better prospect and he went 9th.
>
>Nah.
LOL...he was the 6th pick THIS YEAR. Last year was a better draft and you honestly think he would've went HIGHER? Come on man

And yes, Drummond was a better prospect. Noel is more polished right today though. Drummond has more of an upside because he's stronger and just as athletic

>>Harping on his pre-injury draft stock in the worst draft in
>a
>>decade is just weird.
>>
>>Jrue is an established All Star.
>
>LOL @ 'established All-Star'.
>
>He crept into the game this season on the Eastern side by
>putting up 17/8 on a bad team & because Rondo was hurt while
>Deron was playing like shit.
>
>He would have no shot of making it out West or with a healthy
>East.
>
>Dude is what he is, a borderline-All-Star replacement reserve
>while putting up respectable numbers on a bad team & maybe a
>borderline Top 10 PG for a stretch of his career (with last
>year being the first).
It's hilarious how Philly fans can now shit on a player that balled for you guys. You can almost say the same thing about Kyrie Irving

>>Whoopty-damn-do(c)D.C.
>
>He will never be truly elite & we're in a league where even
>having a great PG doesn't really lead to winning anything
>anyway.
Maybe so...but it's a great place to start from

>I would have traded him for Noel straight-up let alone with
>another lotto pick thrown in & unlike you I've actually
>watched him play since he got in the league.......strike that,
>actually since UCLA really.
>
>>He's 23. He's improving. No
>>question marks. No "hope he develops." He's already what you
>>hope Noel turns into.
>
>No, he's not. What you hope Noel turns into is a big-man who
>can actually affect the games.
You can hope...people had that same hope about Darius Miles and Stromile Swift

>>Clinging to potential will turn you
>>quickly into Charlotte or Sacramento.
>>
>>Lets say you luck out and get Wiggins next year. Super.
>You've
>>got a core of Wiggins (hope), Noel (hope), MCW (a TON of
>>hope), and the 15th pick (lulz). Fun, young team to root for
>>that won't be any good for at least 3-5 years. That's not
>OKC
>>bro, that's just another team hoping young guys blossom into
>>stars.
>>
>LOL, you keep quoting the 15th pick which would make you a
>playoff team & yet sidestepping any offer to bet on y'all
>actually making the playoffs.....which you won't.
I can't disagree with you here...I do think NO has a decent shot at the 8th seed though

>We will have four cracks at grabbing hopefully two impact
>young players, all of our cap room & every contract that we
>will have in addition to that will be movable.
>
>This is how you actually get better, not dick around & overpay
>for bullshit that keeps you mediocre like the Sixers did for a
>decade and y'all are doing right now.
>
>>Its not the worst place to be, but acting like we fucked up
>by
>>getting ESTABLISHED TALENT is some bizarro shit.
>>
>You gave two lottery picks for a barely
>top-half-of-the-league-starting-PG & paid Tyreke Evans 44
>million dollars.
>
>Bill Duke is talking to you.
To say NO made TERRIBLE moves is kind of hating though
They made really good moves, improved their team, and have a young core that can only get better

They got a nice young squad in NO...I'm intrigued to see what Monty does...he's got some solid pieces to at least make a run at the playoffs

You'd have to give me 2:1 for playoffs. Nobody is calling playoffs. Just that they'll contend.

>You'd have to give me 2:1 for playoffs. Nobody is calling
>playoffs. Just that they'll contend.

NOT making the playoffs. What a risk taker you are!

Lol...cmon. Nobody gives a fuck about all that.

The point is that they will compete for a spot, no question. They will among the 5 or so teams fighting for those 2 West spots. Which means your pick will be after #10. Accept it, move on.


The more pressing issue is that you think Nerlens Noel looks like an NBA star.

Who does he remind you of? What All Star can he be? He's got 12, 9, 2 written all over his narrow ass frame. I cannot think of one legit NBA big with his body type that ever reached stardom. All the dudes he's compared to were bigger.

Tyson went #2 overall and was a better prospect than Noel. Some short ass memories around here. He has since backed it up with a stellar career. If Noel even SNIFFS him it will be a success.


Prospect talk is so fucking bizarre. You dudes put so much stock into hope and draft stock, when everything else points to some MASSIVE question marks. Meanwhile you shit on your 23 year old All Star point guard that has already MADE IT.

Philly fans, man.

Both teams accomplished their goals by making the trade. NO got better for now. Philly set themselves up for tanking.

The reason I'm saying the pick won't be that high is because I watched the Pelicans last year and they weren't that bad. And J'rue is that talented. If him and Tyreke reinvigorate Gordon that is lethal, and yes, Anthony Davis that good. That team with Ryan Anderson is substantially better than Portland, Minnesota, Dallas, Sacramento, Charlotte, Cleveland, Utah, Philly, Milwaukee, &Toronto. So they'll be in the hunt.

Now Philly has Noel who will be good really good eventually (better than Chandler. Better than Drummond and better defensively than Anthony Davis), I have zero doubt. MCW, I'm not a fan. E.T., I'm still a fan. And will have their own top 5 pick and a 10-15 pick which will be a solid player. So it's a wash.

But what about Noel will make him better than Tyson Chandler? This needs to be talked about.


He's shorter, and will at most be 10-20 lbs lighter. Tyson has a wide body. He's 240. Noel might max out at 225. I don't see how he rebounds over 10 a game with that frame in the NBA. This aint the weak ass SEC anymore. He's gonna get pushed around for at least 3 years.

Banking on him being better than an All Star/Olympian/World Champion, who btw went #2 and was considered a can't miss prospect in his own right? Nah, I'm good.

I agree he's better than AD as a shot blocker. So is Larry Sanders (who Noel really projects to be IMO). But post D is a lot more than that, and size matters. I see him a valuable role player, not a star or an All Star, UNLESS he develops a real offensive game.


I mean, is Larry Sanders better than Tyson too?

>But what about Noel will make him better than Tyson Chandler?
>This needs to be talked about.
>
>
>He's shorter, and will at most be 10-20 lbs lighter. Tyson has
>a wide body. He's 240. Noel might max out at 225. I don't see
>how he rebounds over 10 a game with that frame in the NBA.
>This aint the weak ass SEC anymore. He's gonna get pushed
>around for at least 3 years.

He is shorter. Noel is about or will be 220 when he plays his first game. Tyson's first few years were a struggle as well. Then he repackaged himself as a rebounder and defender while his body matured. Noel will get stronger as well.

He has quicker reflexes than Tyson, better at defending players off the dribble as well. He's also already a very good passer for a big man. These are all things Tyson doesn't do well now let alone when he was 19.

Tyson was a great offensive player in High School, but when he got to the NBA couldn't do the same things. So he decided to be a defender, Noel is a defender. Hangs his hat on being a defender. I see that more as a strength than a deficiency.


>Banking on him being better than an All Star/Olympian/World
>Champion, who btw went #2 and was considered a can't miss
>prospect in his own right? Nah, I'm good.

Tyson wasn't a can't miss. He was a high pick, because everyone was drafting High School players (Curry and Kwame). He was a project.

>I agree he's better than AD as a shot blocker. So is Larry
>Sanders (who Noel really projects to be IMO). But post D is a
>lot more than that, and size matters. I see him a valuable
>role player, not a star or an All Star, UNLESS he develops a
>real offensive game.
>

He's not Larry Sanders either. That's a lazy comparison. I said he'll be better than AD defensively because he has quicker feet, quicker hands, and works harder on that end.


>I mean, is Larry Sanders better than Tyson too?
>
>

Wut.

How?

They are the same size (Sanders actually has him by 20 lbs, but lets assume Noel gets up to 230). They both have the same strengths, and offensive deficiencies.

In his 3rd year Larry went for 10, 10 and 3 in 27 minutes. Outstanding production.

How is Noel better than Larry? Honestly. You see how good Larry has become? Guess not.

Larry had 3 blocks a game last year, in 27 minutes (3.7/36)! Noel would be THRILLED to reach that by year 3. His metrics were outstanding this year as well. He's already a top 3 post defender. You think Noel joins him within 3 years? Maybe...but again Larry is already there!


What's actually lazy is parroting this Noel is a super duper #1 overall prospect meme (in a draft full of role players), despite nobody offering a legitimate projection of how he reaches this supposed stardom. You should be pumped about the Sanders projection, it would actually be a major success for Noel.

From all of the things I've previously said are the reasons why it's a lazy comparison. Lol.

They play nothing a like. You're whole argument could be: "They block shots."

Larry is also 5 years older. If you can't see how Noel won't get better than what Sanders is right now than I don't know what to tell you.

being Nerlens' projected landing spot.

Better than Larry.

Better than Tyson.

Better than Ibaka (I'm assuming you'd say)

So now he's better than an All Star and 2nd best player on an NBA champion, and better than a top 3 post defender and current blocks kings.

SO WHO IS HE?

Bill fucking Russell?


Name one guy, just one, that you see him as.

Or wait...he's the prototype! A new species! Can't compare to what you haven't seen!

FOH.


I can't wait for this dude to be putting up that golden 12, 8 and 2 in 5 years and Philly fans hyping his intangibles or some bullshit.

I said the trade was fair for both squads.

Nerlens is highly regarded for a reason.

and that's a first-round exit in their best year.

I've got faith in Brow, Eric, and Holiday. Tyreke is a wildcard.

When you are banking on Noel's knee and limited offense, MCW's 35% shooting and 2 completely UNKNOWN dudes that may not even be top picks.

Comedy.


The constant overlooking and underrating of Brow and his potential is becoming a storyline in itself too. Dude just put up a rookie year as good as Garnett's second, but dude's are lunching. Ok.

personally having grown up rooting for a franchise deep in tradition & getting school off a couple times to attend parades, then to feel it drop off until AI came around to take us back to a Final.....the past ten years of between 27 to 43 wins with 'pretty good' players like Iggy or Jrue & hoping to win a round doesn't mean much to me.

Enjoy, tho.

>I've got faith in Brow, Eric, and Holiday. Tyreke is a
>wildcard.

Nobody.

Larry Sanders won me a couple hundred bucks this past season.

Nerlens Noel was much better in college and is a much better prospect than Larry Sanders.

Help me out, because these other 2 refuse to.

Who does Nerlens project to be like in your mind?


Btw, Larry Sanders is an established player, not a prospect. It no longer matters what he was projected to do 4 years ago. Guys develop differently, so I don't care what Sanders at VCU projected to. He's made it and has proven to be far better than his draft grade.

Remember who went #6 in that same draft? A skinny, shot blocking athletic, defensive dynamo!

Ekpe Udoh.

Shit.

I believe, in terms of impact on the game, he can be a Marcus Camby, with more potential to impact the floor on offense than Camby ended up being able to do.

I think his skills on defense are among the best I've seen from a post player of his age in college, and while, yes, he could totally underachieve and not live up to said potential, I can only operate right now under where I'd project him to be if he does.

I think, if he does, he's a double-figure rebound guy, 1.5+ steal per game guy, a 2.5+ block per game guy, and in three or four years a All-Defense team guy. I think his ball handling and passing are strong for a big of his age, and while he needs to work on his touch, again, so does nearly every big his age. His "faults" (needs to gain muscle, needs to work on touch, needs to develop a wider variety of post moves) are the exact same problems that nearly every big has... but not every big has his vision, hand skills, and nose for the ball on defense that he has. In fact, few do.

His athleticism and motor give him a distinct advantage to guys like Chandler, who never really seemed interested on the offensive side in anything other than putbacks. Noel, like Davis, had the disadvantage of not being fed the ball a lot in college due to the team he was on, but, like Davis, he showed potential when he was. Not as much offensive potential as Davis, obviously, but enough to get to 14+ PPG on a yearly basis.

I expect, if healthy, Noel to be a 14/12/1.5/3 guy by year three, not to mention the impact he'll have on defense. I expect him to gain 15 pounds during this first year and to make his way into the 220s, where plenty of bigs his size have been just fine in the pros. He's no John Henson-- Noel may not have a Len or Drummond style frame, but he can push 230 in muscle mass, which is all he needs imo.

Obviously a million things could go wrong. He could stay hurt. He could suddenly have a drop in work ethic for some unknown reason. He could simply not pan out, as some guys do. But I watched Noel several times this season, and he never seemed to me like a guy who would bust. If your worst case scenario is Camby/Chandler in terms of offense, boards, and defensive impact, and your best case scenario is higher, that's why you're still a possible #1 pick guy while hurt.

I simply can't envision a world in which Noel, if given 27+ minutes per game, averages single digit rebounds. Dude is a hawk.

I hope that answers your question in regards to comparison and why I'm personally high on him, despite having zero invested reason to be.

and nowhere near as good as Nerlens. christ almighty.

noel is chandler - the experience + offensive potential as a plus passer from the post and some decent post moves (would have had better post moves if he had gone to georgetown. Nope! we teach better than UK. had to, RBO).

marcus camby is a decent comp, as Frank's been putting out. but i think he's got more potential to add offensively.

-----------
Y'all stupid...should've tanked for Lebron/Wiggins in 2014

It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.

protected changes it a lil bit
they basically traded jrue for noel and a fringe lotto guy
not really the same haul as noel + OMGZ A LOTTO PICK IN THE BEST DRAFT EVER
meh both teams got what they wanted imo
sixers get to tank and get a project with potential to be a defensive stopper and then another young late lotto guy next yr
pelicans get a 23 yr old who was top four in assists and can give u 18-25 on any given night and play lock down D

so we get their first rounder next year plus a guy this year regarded as having the highest upside in the draft who we can basically let sit all year like he was Andrew Bynum in order to heal properly, put on weight & get in NBA shape to then battle our own guys for Rookie Of The Year next season.

That's PLENTY for Jrue Holiday, I would have done it for Nerlens alone let alone that extra mid-to-late lotto.

I don't care what anyone wants to say about Holiday's stats on this slapdick Sixers team of last season where he was forced to be our #1 ballhandler & scorer.

He's never going to be more than an at-best back-end Top 10 PG in a league full of teams going nowhere with top-flight PGs.

That could EASILY turn into more value than the Jazz got for Deron (Favors, Kanter, Devin lol Harris & this year's 21st pick) or the Hornets got for CP3 (Eric Gordon's final year of his deal who they then had to re-up for a contract he didn't deserve while always being hurt, Chris Kaman, Al Fariq Aminu & the pick they blew on Austin Rivers).

Now, time will tell whether Noel turns out to be a beast or if the Pelicans end up *just* bad enough this year to get us a pick outside the Top 3 but still in the single digits.

But right now?

I would take *just the chance* on either and/or both of those things happening than getting those mediocre-ass hauls the Hornets & Jazz got for their franchise point guards

Two guys who were actually SUPERSTARS at the time of their trades unlike our guy with all due respect.

I'm also guessing I'd take what the Sixers got for Damaja on Draft Night over whatever is soon to be behind Door #2 when Ainge trades Rondo mid-to-late-season this year.

Not to mention Rondo, like CP3 or Deron, is a better & more accomplished player than Jrue Holiday.

I liked Jrue but people keep hyping a guy who heading into his fifth-season has ONE All-Star Game under his belt because Rondo & Rose were hurt while Deron was fat.

Devin Harris made one All-Star team.

Andre Miller had better numbers across the board his third year in the league while in Cleveland & he never made an All-Star team in his entire career.

Out West now, it's entirely conceivable Holiday never makes a second ASG as a member of the Pelicans while Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook & Steph Curry own those slots if healthy.

It's actually a pretty fair argument to say Mike Conley Jr. is currently better & by the time some of these dudes fall off other guys will come on.

Tom Benson is old, drunk & desperate down on the Bayou.

He's telling his basketball people to get his team back to borderline playoff status soon so maybe they can draw flies to that N.O. arena while he's still alive.

Hinkie Dinkie Dawg used his spreadsheet-sniff-tactics to smell Del Demps' dumbass coming & shit on his lawn accordingly.

all that Larry Sanders/Tyson Chandler bullshit is a waste of time, you're invested on believing it since after all you just traded two lotto picks for JruefreakingHoliday but it ain't worth the keystrokes.

1. "U mad"
2. "I aint reading all that." (but of course you did lol)

You and Billy in here covering all dem bases.


Larry Sanders 2.0

What a coup!

what *argument* should I be engaging in there?

I just offered you two to one odds on you making the playoffs this season.......*crickets*

I laid out exactly why this was a well-above-market-score by the Sixers for a player of Jrue Holiday's quality by comparing it to what the Jazz got for DWill, y'all got for CP3 & (wait to see) and the C's got for Rondo in post #223.

What else is there to talk about when you wanna pump your chest about landing a core that you can't even take two-to-one odds on winning the 45 games necessary to grab an eight-seed?

I guess we should've had more back & forth of you shouting "Larry Sanders" while throwing out heights & weights.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpbsjdrNcp1r0hq53o1_400.gif

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9465444/jordan-farmar-says-sign-los-angeles-lakers



Jordan Farmar agrees with Lakers


Updated: July 10, 2013, 3:20 AM ET
By Dave McMenamin | ESPNLosAngeles.com


Jordan Farmar has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, the veteran guard told ESPNLosAngeles.com Tuesday night.

The sides agreed to a one-year, veteran minimum deal worth approximately $1 million. L.A. must first negotiate a buyout with Farmar's club in Turkey, Anadolu Efes, which is believed to be in the $500,000 range. The buyout does not count against the salary cap, an important detail to the luxury tax-laden Lakers.

The deal required a significant financial sacrifice by Farmar to be completed. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard signed a three-year, $10.5 million deal last summer to play in the Turkish Basketball League.

"They knew about my deal overseas and really didn't push it earlier because they didn't think I'd be willing to give up that guaranteed money I had over there," Farmar said in a phone interview with ESPNLosAngeles.com. "I wanted to be back in the NBA, but more importantly, back with the Lakers. This is the only situation I would have taken a minimum deal with."


Farmar, 26, grew up in L.A. and played his first four professional seasons with the Lakers after being drafted in the first round out of UCLA in 2006. He was a key reserve on the Lakers' championship teams in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

"I've been a Laker since I was born," Farmar said. "I grew up a Laker fan, so regardless of where I am or who I'm playing for, or what I'm doing in life, I'm always going to stay connected to what's going on here ."

After leaving L.A. as a free agent in 2010, he spent parts of two seasons with the New Jersey Nets, scoring a career-high 10.4 points per game on a career-best 44 percent 3-point shooting in 2011-12.

Farmar was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the Joe Johnson deal after that season, but had his contract bought out and played last season with Anadolu Efes, averaging 13.8 points and 3.9 assists in 29 games played. Farmar also played seven games for Israel's Maccabi Electra of the EuroLeague during the NBA lockout in the summer of 2011.

"The plan for me was to get back to the NBA eventually regardless," Farmar said. "I really, really enjoyed my time in Israel. I thought it was a possibility that it would be exactly the same and I would hop on over there and never look back and I would make good money overseas, but just being over there and staying up until 2, 3, 4 in the morning and watching every NBA game, or watching the Lakers go through what they were going through was just tough.

"I missed my family, I missed being home and, ultimately, I missed being a Laker."

Farmar has played primarily at point guard throughout his NBA career, making him the third point guard on a Lakers team that already has Steve Nash and Steve Blake under contract. However, Farmar said he has spoken to coach Mike D'Antoni about playing some shooting guard as well, especially in the early going as Kobe Bryant recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

"We talked about it a lot," Farmar said. "Me being able to play both positions and Steve Blake being able to play both positions, if we wanted to go small to move Kobe down and Jodie Meeks down and stuff like that . … It was important. system is going to be to open it up and he wants to get a lot of guard play and decision-makers on the floor together at times."

Farmar gives L.A. nine players under contract for next season. Bryant, Nash, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, Blake, Jordan Hill, Jodie Meeks and Chris Kaman, whom L.A. agreed to ink to a deal when the league moratorium is lifted Wednesday, are the others.

They have also extended a qualifying offer to Robert Sacre, making him a restricted free agent, and drafted Ryan Kelly in the second round. If they both make the team, that puts the roster at 11. The roster could dip down back to 10 if L.A. decides to exercise its amnesty clause, with World Peace being the most likely candidate. It all adds up to the Lakers still looking to add three to four more players on veteran minimum deals before the season begins, while still maintaining their goal of having every player but Nash come off the books next summer in the hopes of making a major splash in free agency.

"I think it's a work in progress right now," Farmar said. "We're trying to put things together and still leave flexibility for the future."

Farmar said he is looking forward to slipping back into his No. 1 purple and gold uniform.

"I think it will be an amazing feeling, man," Farmar said. "At the end of the day, I'll always feel like I'm a Laker, regardless of I'm here or somewhere else. I'm happy just to be back and to be able to help this team go wherever we can this year and I would love to be here for the future, so we'll see how it works out."

Because that's all the Lakers are giving out at this point.

why don't they just go after AI .. I'm sure he'd take a one year deal and be waay better than Farmar

I see Orlando, Charlotte & Phoenix as the main threats to that.

without question

>http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9465444/jordan-farmar-says-sign-los-angeles-lakers
>
>
>
>Jordan Farmar agrees with Lakers
>
>
>Updated: July 10, 2013, 3:20 AM ET
>By Dave McMenamin | ESPNLosAngeles.com
>
>
>Jordan Farmar has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers,
>the veteran guard told ESPNLosAngeles.com Tuesday night.
>
>The sides agreed to a one-year, veteran minimum deal worth
>approximately $1 million. L.A. must first negotiate a buyout
>with Farmar's club in Turkey, Anadolu Efes, which is believed
>to be in the $500,000 range. The buyout does not count against
>the salary cap, an important detail to the luxury tax-laden
>Lakers.
>
>The deal required a significant financial sacrifice by Farmar
>to be completed. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard signed a
>three-year, $10.5 million deal last summer to play in the
>Turkish Basketball League.
>
>"They knew about my deal overseas and really didn't push it
>earlier because they didn't think I'd be willing to give up
>that guaranteed money I had over there," Farmar said in a
>phone interview with ESPNLosAngeles.com. "I wanted to be back
>in the NBA, but more importantly, back with the Lakers. This
>is the only situation I would have taken a minimum deal
>with."
>
>
>Farmar, 26, grew up in L.A. and played his first four
>professional seasons with the Lakers after being drafted in
>the first round out of UCLA in 2006. He was a key reserve on
>the Lakers' championship teams in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
>
>"I've been a Laker since I was born," Farmar said. "I grew up
>a Laker fan, so regardless of where I am or who I'm playing
>for, or what I'm doing in life, I'm always going to stay
>connected to what's going on here ."
>
>After leaving L.A. as a free agent in 2010, he spent parts of
>two seasons with the New Jersey Nets, scoring a career-high
>10.4 points per game on a career-best 44 percent 3-point
>shooting in 2011-12.
>
>Farmar was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the Joe Johnson deal
>after that season, but had his contract bought out and played
>last season with Anadolu Efes, averaging 13.8 points and 3.9
>assists in 29 games played. Farmar also played seven games for
>Israel's Maccabi Electra of the EuroLeague during the NBA
>lockout in the summer of 2011.
>
>"The plan for me was to get back to the NBA eventually
>regardless," Farmar said. "I really, really enjoyed my time in
>Israel. I thought it was a possibility that it would be
>exactly the same and I would hop on over there and
>never look back and I would make good money overseas, but just
>being over there and staying up until 2, 3, 4 in the morning
>and watching every NBA game, or watching the Lakers go through
>what they were going through was just tough.
>
>"I missed my family, I missed being home and, ultimately, I
>missed being a Laker."
>
>Farmar has played primarily at point guard throughout his NBA
>career, making him the third point guard on a Lakers team that
>already has Steve Nash and Steve Blake under contract.
>However, Farmar said he has spoken to coach Mike D'Antoni
>about playing some shooting guard as well, especially in the
>early going as Kobe Bryant recovers from a ruptured Achilles
>tendon.
>
>"We talked about it a lot," Farmar said. "Me being able to
>play both positions and Steve Blake being able to play both
>positions, if we wanted to go small to move Kobe down
> and Jodie Meeks down and stuff like that
>. … It was important. system is
>going to be to open it up and he wants to get a lot of guard
>play and decision-makers on the floor together at times."
>
>Farmar gives L.A. nine players under contract for next season.
>Bryant, Nash, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, Blake, Jordan
>Hill, Jodie Meeks and Chris Kaman, whom L.A. agreed to ink to
>a deal when the league moratorium is lifted Wednesday, are the
>others.
>
>They have also extended a qualifying offer to Robert Sacre,
>making him a restricted free agent, and drafted Ryan Kelly in
>the second round. If they both make the team, that puts the
>roster at 11. The roster could dip down back to 10 if L.A.
>decides to exercise its amnesty clause, with World Peace being
>the most likely candidate. It all adds up to the Lakers still
>looking to add three to four more players on veteran minimum
>deals before the season begins, while still maintaining their
>goal of having every player but Nash come off the books next
>summer in the hopes of making a major splash in free agency.
>
>"I think it's a work in progress right now," Farmar said.
>"We're trying to put things together and still leave
>flexibility for the future."
>
>Farmar said he is looking forward to slipping back into his
>No. 1 purple and gold uniform.
>
>"I think it will be an amazing feeling, man," Farmar said. "At
>the end of the day, I'll always feel like I'm a Laker,
>regardless of I'm here or somewhere else. I'm happy just to be
>back and to be able to help this team go wherever we can this
>year and I would love to be here for the future, so we'll see
>how it works out."
>

I like the moves. We obviously didn't have the money to sign Jack and Landry, so we sign lower budget versions of both (Godspeed to Jack and Landry; not mad at either of them for getting their money).

Got no problems with signing Jermaine O'Neal's re-animated corpse either. He was servicable last year, and should be fine as a back-up center until Ezeli recovers from knee surgery.

All in all, I'd say we're having a damn good off-season.

doesnt Speights offer more Defensive presence than Landry?

He's also about four years younger than Landry. And we got him relatively cheap for the next three years.

his thing is heat-up scoring off the bench, think about a B grade Corliss Williamson, but taller and can shoot it a little.

we've got a fine collection of brandies, scotches, and herbal teas in the back.

This Courvoisier looks quite pleasant.

"some model chick, fuck with maureese speights, one of his cum buckets ..."

http://cdn.sportsoverdose.com/thumbs/marreese-speights-16-nba.jpg

.

Making way for MILESSSSSSS

this leaned me, nice pun

dem nerds exposed him as a scrubby-ass gunner.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9466346/monta-ellis-parts-agent-jeff-fried

Monta Ellis, one of the premier players remaining on the free agent market, parted ways with his longtime agent, Jeff Fried, on Wednesday.

Star Not Shining
Free agent Monta Ellis has a career scoring average of 19.4 points, the highest ever by a player never selected to an All-Star team (minimum 300 games played). On the flip side, Ellis has the sixth-worst player efficiency rating in NBA history among players who average at least 19 points per game.

Ellis, who opted out of the final year of a six-year, $66 million deal, is frustrated that he has yet to receive a high-paying contract offer. Industry sources expect him to sign with agent Dan Fegan.

"I only wish Monta and his family the very best," Fried said. "He is a superstar on the court and a character individual with tremendous integrity off the court."

As of Tuesday, Ellis was hoping to have a deal in place within the next 36-48 hours. His split with Fried, however, may extend that timetable.

Ellis, who averaged 19.2 points and 6.0 assists for Milwaukee last season, has not been offered superstar money thus far. Having rejected a contract extension from the Milwaukee Bucks that would have enabled him to make $36 million over the next three years, he is hoping to make $40 million over four years.

But few teams have that much cap space left. Thus, Ellis is hoping for a sign-and-trade deal that may enable him to get close to his desired figure.

The Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats have shown the most interest in the 27-year-old Ellis. The Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers have interest but lack the cap room to pay Ellis anywhere near what he believes he is worth.

But I think a team like the Spurs or Bulls could get the most out of him.

>But I think a team like the Spurs or Bulls could get the most
>out of him.


I agree...He would be an interesting curve pitch on either of those teams....

Especially the Bulls....Unfortunately, we don't have any players to send in a trade for M.E.....Deng? Hell no...Jimmy Buckets? Nope...

And the only way we are trading Boozer is if we are getting a decent PF back (Besides, no one would trade for his contract...But I would be lying if I didn't admit that we should just trade him and take an L for this upcoming season...)

I don't think we could have done it anyway...That would take dumping Boozer via amnesty...And Ellis is not worth that move AND trading some of our vital players...

Things that make you go hmmmmm

On the plus side, it's getting harder for Charlotte to match offers for Hendo with deals like this happening.

Funny thing is he's a MUCH better fit for this current team than when he was drafted.

If the balk for the Bulls was over whether or not Taj would go in the deal, then that's some bullshit....As much as i like Taj (he was fighting injuries last year), we will be able to amnesty Boozer and will be adding one of the best European players in Mirotic to our team, after this season....I say the Bulls should try to make another play given that Monta has lost all his leverage....Make him our Jason Terry 2.0 Sixth Man.....

Don't matter...we got to save that Boozer amnesty anyway...And we have no one to trade that we would actually want to give up for Ellis except for Taj and some junk...Interesting story though...


----



NBA free agency: Bulls reportedly made a 'hard push' for Monta Ellis

By JayPatt

http://www.blogabull.com/2013/7/9/4508586/nba-free-agency-bulls-reportedly-made-a-hard-push-for-monta-ellis

So, uh, this was an interesting report.


It has been a relatively quiet day on the free agency front, with a minor trade between the Bucks and Kings involving Luc Richard Mbah a Moute really being the only highlight. And I guess the fact that Jermaine O'Neal is off the board is somewhat important as well, as he could have been a decent candidate for the Bulls' backup center job.

There are still some big names out there, and one of those is Monta Ellis. I highlighted how the Bulls were interested in Ellis a bit earlier in free agency, but I kind of scoffed at it because it just seemed ridiculous. However, according to Real GM's Shams Charania, that interest was very real:

Ellis set up meetings with teams over the weekend and into the week, and he privately believed in recent days that joining the Bulls in a sign-and-trade between Chicago and the Milwaukee Bucks had been a growing possibility. Despite a hard push out of the Bulls, they ultimately couldn't make the moves necessary to facilitate a potential sign and trade, a source said.

My first reaction to this was basically...WTF. We know as it stands that the Bulls can't really do sign-and-trades, because they are already several million bucks over the tax apron for next season. To pull something like this off, quite a bit of salary would have to go.

Theoretically, the Bulls could have amnestied Boozer and then tried to get Monta at a discount using the TPE. When that almost certainly would have failed, perhaps the Bulls could have offered Richard Hamilton and Kirk Hinrich and some draft picks as sweetener and then gotten Monta at something around $10 million a year (in conjunction with the Boozer amnesty). Or maybe Luol Deng could have been involved. But that would have really sucked, at least to me.

In any case, the idea of Monta Ellis is kind of cool, because he can score and create offense for himself and others on occasion. However, Ellis is an undersized, inefficient chucker, and paying him big money would have been pretty terrible. Who knows just how close this was to happening, but I'm glad it didn't.

UPDATE: TNT's David Aldridge confirmed that the Bulls had a lot of interest in Ellis, "but couldn't figure out a way to swing a deal without giving up one of their core pieces, including forward Taj Gibson." So there you have it.

Monta+Rose would be a nightmare to deal with.

>Monta+Rose would be a nightmare to deal with.

It's more than that...lol

It's Boozer's amnesty...The Bulls don't want to use that money we could save on Monta....

I thought this whole thing was done....But it looks like Portland, LA and his agent are knocking down the Bulls door to get him Chicago...I would love this to happen....But if they are still asking for Noah they can kick rocks....




----
LaMarcus Aldridge Trade Rumors: agents working to get Portland star to Chicago
BlogaBull


LaMarcus Aldridge rumors heated up around draft time, with the Portland TrailBlazers All-Star supposedly wanting to leave his younger team and head towards more of a big-market contender and the Bulls at the top of that list. After that notion went away for a bit, there have been a couple of interesting mentions of Aldridge that were somewhat buried in general Free Agency columns over the holiday weekend.

7/3 - KC Johnson:

sources said the Bulls continue to rebuff attempts by the shared agency of Rose and LaMarcus Aldridge to bring the Trail Blazers' All-Star forward to Chicago. Sources said the Bulls have been unwilling to discuss a deal of Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler for Aldridge.

7/5 - Aggrey Sam:

Though rumors about a proposed deal that would send to Portland in exchange for LaMarcus Aldridge — which was reportedly discussed and summarily turned down by the Bulls in February, according to a source, though recent reports indicate that the Trail Blazers would also want Butler in the package — won’t go away, the Bulls regard Noah as virtually untouchable.

7/7 - Aggrey Sam:

assuming the rumor about unlikely trade to Portland for All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge doesn't come to fruition, though one league source believes the Bulls are now at least pondering the move

I suppose it's a factor of how reliable these reporters think the sources are with this information, because to me it's kind of burying the lead: Derrick Rose's agents are trying to get LaMarcus Aldridge to Chicago? To me that's more substantive evidence of Aldridge's exit plan than the rumors that he was merely potentially unhappy there. While such agent (Arn Tellem, the one-time summer-sleepaway-camp-canoe-partner of Jerry Reinsdorf) shenanigans are commonplace in the big power brokering of the NBA, they seems to rarely involve the Bulls. Rose, or at least his people, getting involved in the Bulls acquiring another All-Star is encouraging...in some ways. But though it could be seen as meddlesome I'm a fan of some kind of urgency being displayed somewhere.

It's a good first step, but there is an obvious partner in this transaction with little interest in helping the Bulls out, and that's the Blazers themselves. The rumored case for Aldridge wanting to leave is the competitiveness of Portland's roster in the Western Conference, and for their part, the Blazers have been active in the offseason adding depth around Aldridge and rookie of the year Damian Lillard.

While those moves won't have Portland project to challenge for the Western Conference title, they do have an emerging playoff-contending team. And thus would be reason for them to stick with their demands of at least Joakim Noah in any deal.

And to that notion from the Bulls perspective: No. And hopefully that 'one league source' Sam mentions above is incorrect when he says the Bulls are even pondering it. Even if it was a straight swap without the Bulls throwing in Butler or other assets: Noah is the same age, Aldridge makes more and is a FA a year sooner, and it's not even clear that Aldridge is actually better than Noah when factoring Joakim's importance to the Bulls defense. Furthermore, in terms of team construction it just doesn't make sense for a contending team to try for a slight talent-base improvement if it creates the need for immediate other moves. The idea should be to have those two bigs in tandem.



And maybe it could be that simple, and that's where the Bulls and Blazers ended talks. But what hopefully happens during the course of the season is the situation changing to where the Blazers will relent for a combination of assets and cap relief instead. BlazersEdge recently didn't seem like (from their fan perspective) that it was to that point yet, saying that nothing outside of Noah (or Rose) would even mildly interest their Blazers. But I'd think if Aldridge made it clear he had no interest in staying in Portland beyond the 2014-15 season the Bulls offering a combination of Butler, first-round picks (including one owed from Charlotte), the rights of Nikola Mirotic or other recent draftees would generate some interest. As BlazersEdge even said, that's the usual course for an All-Star trade.

Matching salaries for trade purposes may be trickier, which probably also hurt the Bulls chances of consumating a draft-night deal. Midseason may be tough as well. Luol Deng is the Bulls biggest expiring contract, but he's not only crucial to a championship run this year but of likely little use for the Blazers. Taj Gibson doesn't make quite enough, and could be seen as an onerous contract depending on how the first season of his contract extension goes. Boozer matches in terms of dollars, but has a huge number ($16.8m!) for the following season (which unlike the Bulls, the Blazers couldn't amnesty).

So it may not be until next offseason, when the situation could degrade further and Boozer may be more palatable as an expiring deal for Portland (or a 3rd team). And of course, the Bulls just use amnesty on him. If the Bulls go that last route (which I wouldn't be that certain of, given the dollar cost to ownership...though they've surprised us lately on that front!) and let Luol Deng walk as well, while the Bulls wouldn't have the cap space to acquire Aldridge outright they would likely have enough for a lopsided deal that wouldn't require Portland taking on a 'bad' Bulls contract. Hey, that sorta sounds like a 2014 plan!



There's a lot that can change between now and then, least of which is the Bulls going for The Finals this season. But getting another star (saying 'second star' seems silly if you feel like I do in that Noah is just as good) through a trade is more possible in 2014. I think it's pretty big news that while perhaps the Bulls haven't targeted Aldridge, he and his people have targeted Chicago.

Yes, I know, DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS and all that.

Another major offensive threat who can lessen the load on Rose is a net gain even with the loss of all the intangibles Noah brings to the table.

Noah's a unique player, especially in this era, but I really believe a player like LA would be a huge boon for them. Amnesty Booz and work that deal for Monta, and that's formidable even with the lack of D. I'd fear that team more than this one.

I realize everyone will shit on this post, by the way.

If we still had Asik, I would trade Noah...but as is, it's just the wrong deal....

If we could move say...Taj (so they had a pick and pop/defensive minded PF to slide next to Dwight) for Omer, I do it.

Even with the poison pill balloon at the end.

If we get Omer back, I'd move Noah for LA but that's IT. I'd try to get Meyers Leonard or Lopez for one of the draft picks too if possible (with Noah, they don't need both).

Then we'd just have to find a taker for Booz (Maybe the Kings for Jimmer, Salmons and P-Pat) as they are 16 mil under the cap and can take on the 3 mil hit.

Kings need scoring to replace the loss of Tyreke and Boozer's game fits nice next to Cuz. Salmons and Booz have the same number of yrs left on their deals and the Kings are trying to move Jimmer. P-Pat would be a salary throw in but still a good move for the Bulls as he could slide into backup PF.

We go into next yr with:
C Omer/Leonard or Lopez/Nazr
PF LA/P-Pat
SF Deng/Snell
SG Jimmy/Salmons/Jimmer
PG Rose/Kirk

Team would work. Especially given Thibs is the coach. We'd have enough of a balance on D and O and decent depth (if P-pat and Snell develop well enough).

The only other move I'd love to set this off is the market shits on Nate and he figures 'fuck it' and wants to return and the bulls give him a yr or 2.

Omer is so much better and has so much more potential.

Not saying it'd be a done deal but it's worth seeing what Hou wants for him.

He doesn't want to be a back up to Dwight and those two together will probably run into each other several times a game in the paint.

Taj is starter caliber PF (good for at least 11/8) and has a decent 15 footer and is also a very good low post defender.

And we could start Omer (who's already familiar with the players, system and coach.

Edit...after looking at their stats, I wouldn't even say Asik is THAT much better (taj kinda had a down year too) but still. Taj avg'd MORE blocks per game in damn near 10 less minutes. PER's are close.

Taj just turned 28, Omer just turned 27. Eh on that potential.

I know Taj blocks shots better. Like Houston is gonna need THAT.

It was Asik's first year playing more than 15 minutes per game. He dropped 12 boards a game (something Gibson could never do), shot 54% for the season (something Gibson could never do), and-- oh I forgot-- is SEVEN FEET AND TWO FIFTY POUNDS, lol.

You know how many dudes there are in the pros who could put up more than 12.8 PPG if given 36 minutes? I looked at least season's stats. THERE ARE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY OF THEM. For every pound Asik has in his body, there is a player that could score more than Gibson last season per 36.

You know how many dudes could get more boards than Asik in 36 minutes, based on last season's stats? SIX.

Asik is a big body who is mean on the glass and still has potential to improve due to limited playing time. Taj Gibson is at best a mediocre starter or a pretty good bench guy for 20 minutes per. There is no goddamn way MOREY of all motherfuckers agrees on a Taj-for-Asik deal, lmao.

Cmon. This is me you're talking to. Don't try to sell me on Taj being as valuable as or more valuable than what Asik brings to the table.

>I know Taj blocks shots better. Like Houston is gonna need
>THAT.

lol Dwight led the league in rebounding too. The Rox were 7th in the league in rebs last season. Moving a BETTER rebounder to C won't cause them to lose anything in that regard.

Taj on the other hand has a jump shot (and shot 48% from the field taking a decent amount of jumpers). Asik can't hit the side of a barn 7 feet from the rim. Yet Taj plays hard nose D and is still a decent rebounder. Asik on the other hand is useless on offense with Dwight on the floor with him. He'll just eat space and make it harder for Dwight to move around.

>It was Asik's first year playing more than 15 minutes per
>game. He dropped 12 boards a game (something Gibson could
>never do), shot 54% for the season (something Gibson could
>never do), and-- oh I forgot-- is SEVEN FEET AND TWO FIFTY
>POUNDS, lol.

And Taj hasn't played more than 22 mins a game since his rookie season (26 min a game 9ppg/7.5rbs on 49% shooting), shoots almost 70% from the line, while Asik shoots Ben Wallace-like and his 54% shooting was because MOST of points came off lobs and put backs. They don't NEED him for that role when they have the ultimate weapon for that coming in. Yes he's a big 7 footer but HE DOESN'T WANT TO COME OFF THE BENCH!!! The guy literally asked for a trade soon as the signing of Dwight was announced. Why not get a guy who fits better next to Dwight, gives you better floor spacing and loses you nothing on D?

>You know how many dudes there are in the pros who could put up
>more than 12.8 PPG if given 36 minutes? I looked at least
>season's stats. THERE ARE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY OF THEM. For
>every pound Asik has in his body, there is a player that could
>score more than Gibson last season per 36.

Awesome. Now, scale that stat down the to 6'9" post players averaging 1.5 blks a game or better.

>You know how many dudes could get more boards than Asik in 36
>minutes, based on last season's stats? SIX.

And all this means shit if he's rotting on the bench behind Dwight and pouting about NOT STARTING.

>Asik is a big body who is mean on the glass and still has
>potential to improve due to limited playing time. Taj Gibson
>is at best a mediocre starter or a pretty good bench guy for
>20 minutes per. There is no goddamn way MOREY of all
>motherfuckers agrees on a Taj-for-Asik deal, lmao.

Asik won't improve his offense nor shooting range in time for it to mean anything. He's like a white Tyson Chandler. Dude is ALREADY 27!!! His strengths are rebounding, good D and dunking. Stop trying to sell me on him becoming some low post demon. Morey might do it if a draft pick was included. I mean, there's something to having a disgruntled employee and better balanced team.

>Cmon. This is me you're talking to. Don't try to sell me on
>Taj being as valuable as or more valuable than what Asik
>brings to the table.

I never said that but it wouldn't be much of a drop off and secondly, Asik is unhappy and doesn't fit. They'd get more out of Taj starting next to Dwight for 30-35min a game than Asik backing him up for 20-25 IMO.

They're not keeping Asik, dude. But they ARE gonna make sure they get value for him. Taj is not value for him.

If they can't find someone better than Taj to start, they have big problems.

if they do trade Omer,,,it wont be for Taj Gibson...

yall niggas just dream up some wild shit and try to make that shit sound legit... i thought only laker fans did this shit

ain't stupid.

If Asik raises enough of a stink...they might move him. But you're right in that they might get a better offer than that.

Just saying the Bulls would be stupid not to at least ask.

LA is not a good defender.

The points gained by LA's offense will be lost when more points are given up on defense. And/or Thibs will have a heart attack yelling when Booz and him are on the floor together giving up wide open lanes to the rim.

Now if Omer was still here...

It's about taking a big piece of that scoring burden off of Rose and giving opposing defenses a second guy to genuinely worry about on that end.

Further, there's no way they make that deal without unloading Boozer somehow. Obviously they'd have to find a way to bring in a defensive minded center to fill that gap.

ideally they keep Noah and send Boozer but that's doubtful.

He's the MLB of that team. Noah changes how teams execute their offense just being there.

More than that, he's one of the fastest centers in the league.

He ain't even better the prime Boozer that signed w/ the Bulls considering his mediocre rebounding. Like I've always said, I'll take D-West for half the price over Softridge any day of the week.

>LA is not a good defender.

or did you miss the paper at the Sloan Conference which said he was the 5th best rim defender (based on opponent FG% on shots within 5ft of the rim) in the league?

http://blogs.trailblazers.com/Default.aspx?TabId=188&EntryID=4740&BroadcasterID=4

his most underrated asset is that he's really active with his hands -- he's one of the best in the league at swiping low which disrupts shots before they get up. he's frequently disrupting interior passes, too. no, he's not a defensive anchor a la Noah, but the idea that he's a turnstile is just plain false.

and if you wanna talk about why the Blazers interior D sucked so much last year, look no further than Dame Lillard and JJ Hickson. LA is fine in an organized team defense.

he's leaving next summer if they don't trade him, because he wants to win. Chicago makes sense because it would be a good place for him to be successful.

but the ONLY reason the Blazers are entertaining LA trade talks at this point is because they know the writing is on the wall that he'll leave as an unrestricted free agent if they don't trade him. so if they're going to do a deal, they want to make sure it nets them the best return possible. a bunch of late first round picks and over-priced role players don't cut it.

basically until the trade deadline I think Portland will pick up the phone when teams call them about LA, but they're not going to pull the trigger on a weak deal just to get something done. at least not yet.

and even that's just a slight upgrade.

http://tinyurl.com/omcfv53
http://tinyurl.com/pv5bcvt
http://tinyurl.com/qbdbn8k


noah tho?

http://tinyurl.com/neczmrs
http://tinyurl.com/of6njxp
http://tinyurl.com/ohg6lsw


cmon lmao. knock it off. jo's a different class of player than those two.

an all-league defensive center who excels at guarding the pick and roll (an increasingly rare commodity in a league where pretty much every team runs a P&R on almost every single possession) and who's shown that he can elevate his intensity and production in the postseason, something aldridge hasn't really done.

noah's also abt $3M cheaper per annum.

no gm in the league would trade noah for aldridge straight up, let alone throw in an already-excellent, still-improving role player who's locked up for 2 more yrs @ rookie scale in jimmy butler.

that's idiotic. the type of thing ppl on msgboards throw around but no actual league exec would even consider.

i don't think gar forman and john paxson are in the business of worsening their championship caliber team. aldridge is a good player. he'd look great in a bulls uniform... NEXT to noah. not in place of him.

>and even that's just a slight upgrade.
>
>http://tinyurl.com/omcfv53
>http://tinyurl.com/pv5bcvt
>http://tinyurl.com/qbdbn8k
>
>
>noah tho?
>
>http://tinyurl.com/neczmrs
>http://tinyurl.com/of6njxp
>http://tinyurl.com/ohg6lsw
>
>
>cmon lmao. knock it off. jo's a different class of player than
>those two.
>
>an all-league defensive center who excels at guarding the pick
>and roll (an increasingly rare commodity in a league where
>pretty much every team runs a P&R on almost every single
>possession) and who's shown that he can elevate his intensity
>and production in the postseason, something aldridge hasn't
>really done.
>
>noah's also abt $3M cheaper per annum.
>
>no gm in the league would trade noah for aldridge straight up,
>let alone throw in an already-excellent, still-improving role
>player who's locked up for 2 more yrs @ rookie scale in jimmy
>butler.
>
>that's idiotic. the type of thing ppl on msgboards throw
>around but no actual league exec would even consider.
>
>i don't think gar forman and john paxson are in the business
>of worsening their championship caliber team. aldridge is a
>good player. he'd look great in a bulls uniform... NEXT to
>noah. not in place of him.


Well.....I'm good.....

http://i.minus.com/iQl6uJBIqcE6A.gif

I mean, probably not, but if he's healthy? Shit.

Essentially it's 2 years/$24.5 million. However, only $6 million of the first season is guaranteed. The rest is incentive based with a team option for the second year. If Bynum pulls a Bynum then he only gets $6 million. It's far better than the debacle that happened in Philly last year, word to Doug Collins.

or whose interested? damn is everyone waiting for the dust to settle before they reach out to nate.

>or whose interested? damn is everyone waiting for the dust to
>settle before they reach out to nate.

They want him for cheap....Teams still feel like he's too much of a headache....But I wouldn't be mad if he re-signed with us on the cheap...that dude got heart....

even if it was insulting. was the talk of the first 2 rounds and now nothing.
i know he was a stopgap but damn, no one.
what would be a good fit. if knicks didnt resign jr, i think ny woulda actually been decent.
lakers should sign him

They don't want to pay.
Which is unfortunate.
I really thought a team was going to pick him up this off season.

i guess the jennings s&t is on w/ atlanta.

Bobcats ain't trying to pay G. Henderson...So sign and trade talks are on and poppin'...And Charlotte seems to be the only team willing to pay Monta more than what he's worth....Still would be intriguing on the Bulls...He may end up a Bobcat by default...

---

Bobcats consider sign-and-trade offers for Gerald Henderson after contract negotiations stall

Adrian Wojnarowski


After reaching an impasse in negotiations with restricted free-agent guard Gerald Henderson, the Charlotte Bobcats are discussing sign-and-trade possibilities with multiple teams, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Gerald Henderson, right, averaged 15.5 points for the Bobcats last season. (USA Today Sports)The Bobcats and Henderson have remained far apart in extension talks and discussions moved away from a contract and toward a sign-and-trade scenario on Wednesday, league sources said.

Henderson, 25, is one of the NBA's emerging young shooting guards, but Charlotte has been reluctant to offer him a market value that could push into the $7.5 million to $8.5 million range, front-office sources said.

Charlotte started pursuing free agent Monta Ellis earlier in the week, fearing it would struggle to come to terms with Henderson, sources said. Bobcats president Rod Higgins drafted Ellis with the Golden State Warriors and has remained fond of him.

Henderson averaged 15.5 points on nearly 45 percent shooting a season ago. He was the Bobcats' first-round pick – 12th overall – in the 2009 NBA draft.

I actually like Henderson's game....I want to see him on a good team....

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/nodding.gif

and I am SO glad Ellis aint coming here. There is not one team in the NBA trying to pay Hendo 7-8 mil per. The Cats want him back and he wants to stay here, my guess is that Hendo (or his agent) gets tired of waiting, and he signs a 1-2 year deal for around 5 or 6.

.....

1-6 should be the same as last year, shuffling with 1-5 but I can see Atlanta sticking at 6 since they stood pat and replaced Smoove with Milsap... since they proved it last year I'll give them benefit of doubt that they can win 44 again, unless they lose teague and don't get jennings

but 7 & 8?

can Rondo lead Boston to the playoffs throwing alley oops to Kris Humphries?

Will Kyrie make his first playoff appearance now that he actually has someone to pass the ball to late in Jack and actually has a big man down low who can score?

Can the Wiz build off the end of last season?

Will Chauncey's vet leadership help the young frontcourt of Detroit get there?

Can the Bucks get another 8 seed after all they lost?

Toronto played around .500 after the Rudy Gay deal

If Charlotte gets Monte, him and Big Al

consolation for any of these teams will be first round exit but most of them have sucked (other then Boston) for a while, all have to be aiming for dem 'offs this year. no excuses

I like those three's odds the best.

said and done.

I say Washington for sure. and would add cleveland but i forsee bynum playing limited minutes in limited games.

im starting to get excited about watching teams try to score on us

I don't know why people sleep on Philly or even Orlando's improvements...


I can see Detroit and Washington...but Cleveland is not a lock. Even at FULL STRENGTH they only had 5 wins...they added another rookie, a center with no knee and Earl Clark now they are a 5 seed?

Boston still has Rondo and youth

Orlando has Dipo...

Philly got that young talent...



this should be interesting to see who will be in the lottery..

Philly won't have Noel til February at soonest. They'll need at least one more year, maybe two. They've made the right moves for the future, but no chance they make the 8 seed this year.

through December...


I think Philly can pull off a decent run


Cleveland will have injury issues...

Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner are their best players??? They look like a 20-62 team.

>Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner are their best players???
>They look like a 20-62 team.

_________________________________________________________________________________________
Im not posting in PTP

http://tinyurl.com/pzyytqc


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



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




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

(C)Keith Murray, "

LMAO!

thought we had no chance at him, didn't think he'd sign for the vet min

http://image.blingee.com/images19/content/output/000/000/000/7d7/815211722_1814276.gif

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1692287/nicknoooo.gif

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/6783797/helloandrew.0_standard_352.0.gif

If anyone can scare the dumb out of Young its Kobe.

but 8/32 for Teague doesnt ring even 1 alarm?

And please dont say it was just about the poison pill. Ill take that as an answer for why the Knicks couldnt close the deal but a whole shitload of you were and still trash the contract even without the poison pill term.

The truth which you guys dont want to admit is 8 million a year is the going rate for a solid NBA pg. In fact the 1st two years of his contract are unerpaid. He did fine as a first year starter and he's gonna prove more than worth that deal over the next 2 years - whether he stays with the Rockets or not/

(You should edit. :) )

That's my point its a fine deal just like the Lin deal is/was.

As "bad" as Lin was he pretty much put up close to Teague numbers last year. Teague got 3 years as a starter to work up to that.

You describe Lin as 3/25 and Teague as 8/32. What does the number on the left side of the slash mean?

Teague is better than average.....That contract isn't bad....No one is saying that dude should be a back-up....

As for Lin...folks need to give him another year to cook before dismissing him to second string status...

you guys are going a little overboard w/ this "jeff teague is pretty good / better than average" stuff.

there are at least 13 or 14 guys i'd definitely take ahead of him, and maybe more. in a 30 team league that makes him "average" by definition.

http://tinyurl.com/kj5r5lf

He opted out of a $10M contract with the Wolves and now will make $3.1M with the Nets.

.

That dude will be coming off the bench???....That's a HUGE signing....

Heat better make some moves,

http://goldengatesports.com/2013/07/11/golden-state-warriors-were-never-a-real-contender-for-dwight-howard/?utm_source=FanSided&utm_medium=Network&utm_campaign=Hot%2BTopics

SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE, LAKERS

i think at least. i called that pretty early on in the process. no real benefit for lakers in S+T

had him going to houston all along, go look it up since you're digging through shit trying to make me look a fool. dicks. choke on many. peace.

Yes, I'm being petty.

Good thing Pringles doesn't care about defense, because they're going to get lit up nightly as it stands right now. Clark, Howard, and Artest gone.....they're going to be running Nash, Meeks, and Young at the same time and getting abused.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9474115/metta-world-peace-says-nba-not-option-next-season


World Peace eyes China, football
Updated: July 12, 2013, 8:18 PM ET
By Dave McMenamin | ESPNLosAngeles.com

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- One day after being waived by the Los Angeles Lakers via the amnesty provision, Metta World Peace said he doesn't want any NBA team to make a bid to pick him up off waivers. Not his hometown New York Knicks or the Brooklyn Nets. And not the Lakers' Staples Center cohabitants, the Los Angeles Clippers.

"I don't really want to play for anybody," World Peace said Friday at the Lakers' practice facility. "I don't want to go anywhere. I want to go to China, or coach or play arena football."

World Peace said he has spoken to Yao Ming about joining his former Houston Rockets teammate's Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks. He said he's had conversations with representatives from "a couple other teams" in China, as well.

World Peace recently completed a trip to Beijing and Qingdao, which further fueled his idea of playing in China should he be waived. A league source told ESPNLosAngeles.com that World Peace has explored the option of playing in China through conversations with former NBA players who have made the leap, figuring out if the path blazed by the likes of Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Gilbert Arenas would be right for him.

"You don't live twice," World Peace said. "You're not 33 twice. You won't be able to play in China at a good level again. I wouldn't be able to play in China again averaging, maybe, 40 or more points. That would be fun."

It could all just be an entertaining bluff from World Peace, of course. The Lakers still have to pay him his $7.7 million salary for next season, but he is now on the market and teams with cap room can claim him off waivers via a bidding process.

If a team puts a bid on him and World Peace chooses to retire rather than report to it, he would put his entire salary at risk, including money owed to him by the Lakers. It would be an unprecedented scenario; no player released via amnesty that has been picked up off waivers has gone that route since the current collective bargaining agreement went into place in December 2011.

Should World Peace clear the 48-hour waiver-style bidding process without any team making a bid, he would become an unrestricted free agent and would be free to sign with the team of his choice . An amnestied player may not be re-signed by the team that released him, however, until the contract that was waived expired .

Jose Morales, a longtime friend and confidant of World Peace, told ESPNNewYork.com earlier this week that the veteran small forward would consider retirement if a team claimed him from a city for which he did not want to play.

"If one of these small-market teams picks him up, he won't be happy with that," Morales said. "He doesn't want to play there."

Morales said World Peace would be open to playing for the Clippers, but if he can't stay in Los Angeles, he would want to play only in New York.

World Peace, however, said the ship has sailed on playing in his hometown.

"I had a chance to play in New York ," World Peace said. "I wanted to play in New York when I was in my prime and I was young, fierce, lock-down . Madison Square Garden, that would have been sick. But right now, China is way more adventurous for me."

World Peace also said that his surgically repaired left knee -- he had a torn meniscus repaired in March, then had approximately 20 CCs of liquid drained from a popliteal cyst in it -- is still not healthy.

"My knee is sore," said World Peace, who missed the Lakers' final playoff game due to the knee. "I'm definitely not going to be pounding my knee now that I'm amnestied. I'm not even thinking about pounding my knee right now. I'm good with just where I'm at right now."

He did not think his knee would prevent him from playing in China, however, for the next 1-2 years.

"It's a short season," World Peace said. "Thirty-something games. I could show up when I want to show up."

World Peace entered the Lakers' training facility on Friday shortly after the team introduced Nick Young as their newest signee. Young is expected to start at small forward next season, taking World Peace's place.

Despite coming off a resurgent season in which he averaged 12.4 points and 5.0 rebounds and improved his shooting percentages from the floor, the 3-point line and the foul line, the 14-year veteran said he wants to "just explore something else."

World Peace met with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak on Friday and said there were no hard feelings.

"It was an extra $24 million that was going to have to come from a family-owned business," World Peace said, referring to the approximate total of what it would cost the Lakers to pay his salary, plus luxury taxes in 2013-14, if they did not waive him.

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"I'm really close with the family, so I would not want the family-owned business to have to come out of pocket like that. So, I definitely supported the decision."

World Peace said when he heard rumors earlier in the week that he would be waived, he reached out to Kupchak immediately with an alternative plan to keep him in L.A.

"I said, 'Mitch, I want to come back and coach this year,' " World Peace said. "That was the first thing I texted Mitch. I said, 'Don't worry about it.' I said, 'I understand what you have to do and I would love to help the young guys. I want to coach. I want to help y'all win a championship.' "

And if China or coaching doesn't work out, there's always arena football on which to fall back.

"I enjoy myself," World Peace said. "I definitely enjoy myself. I don't do something unless it's going to be fun. I'm telling you, if I have a chance to play arena football, I'm going to do it. You guys will see me there, and you're going to be writing about it."

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9477347/source-metta-world-peace-hoping-join-new-york-knicks

how many guards does this team have now? And no frontcourt to speak of. What is Cuban doing?

Bad advice

b)he opted out of $11m
turned down an additional 2 yrs $25m
for a total of 3 yrs $36m thru 2016
to sign for $8m per.

c) so i expected him to realize his shortcomings and understand that 12 is better than 8.

his last 4 teams were charlotte, sacramento, atlanta, and dallas
so basketball reasons couldn't have been why.
and I doubt there's a quality of life upgrade in any of those cities worth $11m.

He played himself. he thought he was flyer than he was and the market told him he wasn't.

i think certain players opted out this year in order to avoid having to compete with the FA pool next yr
iggy did the same thing. opted out , got less money on the per annum tip but locked in the guaranteed money at 2-3 mil less per yr
it's a new CBA now, unless you're a legimate superstar teams are letting cats walk now (josh smith, milsap, jefferson)
all these dudes care about is stability. if ellis gets injured next yr then has to compete with that '14 FA field it's a L. take what you can get and run if you're not a superstar

if it was about money, he would have taken sacramento's

on ellis, really i think you are both right. he opted out this summer seeing a pretty paper thin guard market, but he also did so figuring that instead of something like 3/33M, he could get 5/55M or whatever. now he loses significant money over what he turned down. so, you had his reasoning right, but dude appropriately called it an L also.

>his last 4 teams were charlotte, sacramento, atlanta, and
>dallas
>so basketball reasons couldn't have been why.
>and I doubt there's a quality of life upgrade in any of those
>cities worth $11m.
>
>He played himself. he thought he was flyer than he was and the
>market told him he wasn't.
>

I didn't say it was "quality of life", it could have been the organization, could have been something else. But the quality of life in Charlotte, Atlanta and Dallas IS better than Milwaukee IMO.

Who knows, maybe Cuban sold him a dream.

I always enjoyed watching Monta with the Warriors but he developed some terrible habits wallowing through the last shitty years of the Cohan era. For all the talent he has he pretty much negates all his positives with his style of play.

If Carlisle can get him back to moving his feet on D and keeping guys in front of him instead of recklessly gambling for steals he could be acceptable on defense. He'll always be undersized but he's scrappy and getting bullied by bigger guards has never been his biggest problem on defense.

Hopefully playing with a legit star like Nowitzki gets him to reduce his role and return to being a complementary piece like he was with the "We Believe" Warriors. At one time he was a pretty efficient scorer when playing off the ball, maybe he can get back to that.

Of course maybe it's too late for him. If he wants to be a star and a number one option he'll always be on losing teams.

not a player that i am a fan of, but this is a decent signing

so Jennings ends back in Mil unless he takes a huge cut

one yr 4 million

Horford, Milsap, Brand, and Nogueira is pretty interesting, especially in the Eastern Conference. If they can get any wing play they might keep their spot in the second tier in the East.

Good spot for him to come off the bench and give la offense if they need it.

well at least his ghost. If he clears waivers on Sunday.

That could clear the room for an actual Asik trade. i still would prefer to keep Asik - especially considering Camby's health - but gives some flexibility during the season.

Brooks also gives more flexibility to move Lin.

Wonder if a Lamarcus package is brewing

might need to be a three or four team deal though

pretty much the perfect pieces to shore up shortcomings. brute force and smooth finesse in the same frontcourt.

but i abstained since pau was mostly hurt. i actually think a 100% pau and a 100% D12 would be real nasty.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=lx7j24r

Portland gets a center and 2 young Pfs with good potential to replace aldridge. Some excess at C now but oh well. Asik is better than Leonard or Lopez

Lillard/ Mccollum
Matthews/ Mccollum/ D. Wright
Batum/ D. Wright
Tjones/ Motiejunas/ T rob
Asik/Leonard/ Lopez


You can also do Lin/Asik and Jones or Dmo
but Lin doesnt make as much sense for portland since they have Lillard and now Mccollum. He'd make a nice 6th man for them I guess- but they still have matthews and Dwright.


Houston gets the "3rd Star" but lose depth. lamarcus poor rebounding and defense will be protected by Dwight

Lin/Bev/ Brooks
harden/ Canaan/Casspi
Parsons/Casspi/Reggie Williams
Aldridge/ Greg Smith
Dwight/ Camby (if we get him)


Itd be great if they did this and could keep DMo or Tjones and send Greg Smith instead.

I mean in this scenario The starting 5 looks phenomenal but your bench is Beverly, Casspi, Canaan, Greg Smith, and Camby

i think they would likely need another asset from a third team

But I honestly think theyd be getting a great deal. Asik is a hell of a player. If he gets traded this year - in a few years the deal will be seen in a Mark Gasol -ish light. He's good. Thats why I really don't mind keeping him.

Tjones and Dmo have a ton of potential. Im not ready to say their also mark gasol-ish value wise - but i wouldnt be surprised if either or both pan out.


I see Tjones a little more limited - but more of a sure thing. he can be a key Brian Grant, Antonio Davis type big. Not stylistically - but in terms of an important starter for a good team.


DMO - is kind of feast or famine. It might take him getting on a really bad team and being handed the keys- but dude can score in a lot of different ways at 7 feet tall. On the flip side he could end up like Shitisvilli.

I still like him over his fellow Lithuanian Jonas. He's more skilled but less physical.\

I would throw in a pick to make it happen


But at the same time - if it were up to me Id be patient with this group and keep them for at least 1 year to see what the ceiling is.

I like the depth of having these guys instead of bring LMA and having no depth.

they have withey and (lol) meyers leonard one of whom they have to hope is on asik trajectory.

if i were them i'd want a wing player in the deal and if i were houston i'd prob try to steal withey back.

well then yeah, ignore everything i said

and as far as I can tell, Paul Allen still expects the team to be in the playoffs every year (and the fans do, too). the only reason LA is on the market is because they know he's leaving next summer.

I think they're fine holding LA until the trade deadline if they think that's what it will take to get the best deal for him, and probably want a chance to see some lottery pick players in action to get back in a deal for him.

personally, if they trade LA away WITHOUT getting a player that has a legitimate chance to be an offensive focal point (because seriously, the Blazers are almost unwatchable on offense when LA misses time) I will consider the trade a failure.

sure, Asik would be an upgrade over Lopez, but not enough of an upgrade that you'd submarine your entire offense for it.

>and as far as I can tell, Paul Allen still expects the team
>to be in the playoffs every year (and the fans do, too). the
>only reason LA is on the market is because they know he's
>leaving next summer.
>
>I think they're fine holding LA until the trade deadline if
>they think that's what it will take to get the best deal for
>him, and probably want a chance to see some lottery pick
>players in action to get back in a deal for him.
>
>personally, if they trade LA away WITHOUT getting a player
>that has a legitimate chance to be an offensive focal point
>(because seriously, the Blazers are almost unwatchable on
>offense when LA misses time) I will consider the trade a
>failure.
>
>sure, Asik would be an upgrade over Lopez, but not enough of
>an upgrade that you'd submarine your entire offense for it.


Asik would be an upgrade

Terrence Jones and Dmo would be 2 other young prospects that are better than a 1st rd pick from houston cause thatll probably be late 1st - and you know these guys have soem upside.

I may be higher on the two for most. Like I said, Im not forcing the trade at all. i just want people to know that Asik, Tjones, and Dmo are not junk by any stretch.

>Asik would be an upgrade
>
>Terrence Jones and Dmo would be 2 other young prospects that
>are better than a 1st rd pick from houston cause thatll
>probably be late 1st - and you know these guys have soem
>upside.
>
>I may be higher on the two for most. Like I said, Im not
>forcing the trade at all. i just want people to know that
>Asik, Tjones, and Dmo are not junk by any stretch.

I think those guys probably are good prospects -- Terrence Jones is one of the few college players I've ever taken a moment to watch because I heard about him when he was still a high schooler here in Portland -- but I think Portland is hoping they will get someone with at least the potential to be a suitable replacement for LA, even if it's just potential at this point.

Portland isn't interested in rotation + bench pieces. they have those or can acquire those. what they're in short supply of is stars. asking for Noah from Chicago makes perfect sense -- they know Noah would be a difference maker they could build around a la LA (also makes sense why Chicago would balk at parting with Noah, try to unload Boozer instead).

I think the real problem Portland is going to run into is that LA wants to be on a winner, wants to be playing in the later rounds of the playoffs, so it limits the teams they can potentially deal with. and any team that isn't in that situation won't trade for LA because they know he'll leave them in the summer, too. so like I said, let the season play out, wait till some "on the cusp" teams get hungrier, then hope you can get something better. if you can't? the one-sided deals teams are trying to offer Portland right now will still be available.

cause his talent to contract ratio is better. Hes almost untradable like Parsons in that you wont get much value back in return cause their contracts are so low. But yea as a part of a big package - maybe.

that'd be a nice landing spot.

let's see where they end up, get @ me during training camp.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9499934/nate-robinson-agrees-2-year-deal-denver-nuggets-sources-say

Nate Robinson and the Denver Nuggets have agreed to a two-year contract worth just more than $4 million, league sources confirmed to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst.

The deal is for the Nuggets' bi-annual salary-cap exception, which is worth $4.1 million, a source confirmed to Windhorst.

really THAT much better... they both have the role of coming in and scoring in bunches


<< Started From The Bottom

Nate is a sg in an undersized pg's body. He can't guard 2's so you are limited in how you can really use him.

he's clearly better because he's taller but is he THAT much better


<< Started From The Bottom

don't have to be gimicky with jr on the floor.

With nate, you have to take into consideration who is in the backcourt with him and its very unlikely that you'll be able to get 30+ minutes with him on the floor without going long stretches where you have a mismatch on defense.

You can actually throw JR on the other teams best perimeter player and expect him to d them up better than the average nba wing.

There's a market for guys like JR in the NBA, there isn't one for 5'9 shooting guards.

Both contracts are fair.

Jr's total deal isn't worth 24 mil btw...but its besides the point.

muhfucker is like the traveling salesmen of the league lol

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/7/23/4550036/gary-neal-nba-free-agency-spurs

OKC should holla'......he's the type of spot up shooter that they don't have.....K-Mart wasn't it, Fish is 40.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9513763/gary-neal-verge-signing-milwaukee-bucks-sources

.

Gerald Henderson is finalizing a three-year, $18 million deal with the Bobcats.
Considering Timofey Mozgov got a three-year, $14 million deal earlier today, this looks like a winner for Charlotte. Of course, that Mozgov deal might be the worst contract of the offseason. Henderson had himself a strong second half, averaging 18.9 points, 4.0 boards and 1.0 steals on 46.3 percent shooting in 35.9 minutes. He should have a similar role as far as minutes go, but Al Jefferson should command the ball, which suggests Hendo's 12.6

this new cba has dudes catching Ls left and right
half the bobcats sseason was the equivalent of garbage time essentially but you think 15pts per would have got him some looks

but of course they get Rose back...

nice pick up for Indy with Scola after losing Hansbrough. Scola can def be an effective 4 off the bench... Knicks kept Kmart, Nets add Alan Anderson to now have a full 3rd string unit that would compete for the 8th seed in the east

The East is gonna be damn near as fun as the West.

they basically traded a bad signing + a 2nd rounder for David Wests backup. net gain

anyone who thinks the Heat are going to breeze through are insane.

You've just improved enough that you've earned official back-up-to-David-West status on a terrific team... only to have your bosses see Scola on the table and deal you to a dumping ground in the desert.

At least he'll be healthy when his free agency eventually comes around. Sigh.

wtf?

Can't say I'm excited. Does this meant bye Asik? IMO we shouldn't trade asik just cause we got cAmby. We all saw how much he played/didn't play last year.


The Rockets will sign FA Marcus Camby on Sunday to a one-year contract worth the veteran's minimum.
Camby met with Rockets' team doctors and passed a physical for them this week, and he'll have a level of familiarity with Houston after playing there during the 2011-12 season. The presence of both Dwight Howard and Omer Asik means that Camby won't get many minutes, but he grew up in Texas and wanted to play for a contender. And it's always possible that Asik, an elite defender on a reasonable contract, will be traded mid-season.
Related: Omer Asik, Dwight Howard
Source: Mark Berman on Twitter Jul 28 - 1:00 PM

in the original camby deal...

The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to terms on a new contract with restricted free agent center Nikola Pekovic.

Wolves president Flip Saunders announced the deal via Twitter, which sources told ESPN.com is a five-year pact worth $60 million and potentially up to an additional $8 million in incentive-related bonuses.

"Retaining Pek was our No. 1 priority this offseason, and we're very excited that he's chosen to continue his career in Minnesota," Saunders said. "Thanks to a lot of hard work and determination, Pek has developed into one of the NBA's premier centers and is entering the prime of his career. We envision Pek and Kevin Love being the 'Bruise Brothers' and forming one of the best frontcourts in the NBA for a long time to come."

Rival teams scarcely tried to lure Pekovic away from Minnesota this offseason, so sure that the Wolves would match any offer sheet to the bruising big man.

Saunders nonetheless established re-signing Pekovic this summer as one of his foremost priorities since succeeding David Kahn in charge of the Wolves' front office in May. Pekovic was set to reach the open market next summer as an unrestricted free agent.

Pekovic posted career highs last season by averaging 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in 62 games in his third NBA season.

The deal was clinched, sources say, when Minnesota offered a fifth year. Initial indications are that neither side possesses an option in the new contract, making it a straight-up deal for the next five seasons for the 27-year-old.

In addition to his low-post moves and underrated agility, Pekovic is valued by the Wolves for his work in pick-and-roll coverages defensively against the offensive sets that are so prevalent all over the league.

Pekovic has spent the summer at home in Montenegro and recently withdrew from his country's national team ahead of next month's Eurobasket tournament in Slovenia because he hadn't yet finalized his Wolves contract.

The signing continues a busy summer for the Wolves since Saunders took over, following last month's acquisitions of shooting guard Kevin Martin and swingman Corey Brewer.