NBA Free Agency 2014

[kAzE]

I will be sorely disappointed if LBJ doesn't appear in the next Uncle Drew episode. Oh, wait, he's a Sprite guy . . . . .

Also, you could lay on all the makeup you want, people are still gonna recognize LeBron James.

[CDu]

Yeah, I think that lineup replaces OKC as the best defensive unit in the West, even with Harden. Bosh and Howard is a terrifying front line to try to score against in the paint, and Beverley is like the NBA version of Tyler Thornton. I think Bosh also brings a level of professionalism and maturity that doesn't currently exist on that team. He's worth every penny of that 88 mil.

Not sure where you're getting the idea that Bosh is a good defender. He's pretty soft on that end of the court. Howard is certainly a menacing presence, but Bosh's value is and always has been on the other end of the court. And Parsons is nothing special on defense either.

Beverley is a pesky defender for sure.

I do agree that Bosh is worth it for Houston for the professionalism/personality and for his scoring versatility, though.

[kAzE]

Rumors also indicate Waiters, Bennett, 1st rd pick for Kevin Love! That would be crazy!!! Remove a cancer and a historic bust for one of the 10 best players in the NBA? That would also mean Bosh most likely goes to the Rockets and create a big 3 with Harden and Howard. Also heard Wade may go to the Bulls. I love free agency

This seems really unlikely. From what I've heard, Minnesota won't do the deal without Wiggins in it. But then again, they are going to need to get SOMETHING for Love, and he's willing to sign long term in Cleveland. If we somehow get Love for waiters and Bennett, I might have to learn how to do backflips, so I can do backflips.

[kAzE]

Not sure where you're getting the idea that Bosh is a good defender. He's pretty soft on that end of the court. Howard is certainly a menacing presence, but Bosh's value is and always has been on the other end of the court. And Parsons is nothing special on defense either.

Beverley is a pesky defender for sure.

I do agree that Bosh is worth it for Houston for the professionalism/personality and for his scoring versatility, though.

I gotta disagree, Bosh is an excellent defender. He doesn't block many shots, but contests a ton of them, and he's one of the best rim protectors in the league. In this year's playoffs, Bosh defended an average of 7.5 shots at the rim per game, allowing opponents to shoot just 42.4 percent of those shots. Of the players who defended at least 40 shots at the rim in the 2014 playoffs, only Tim Duncan, Roy Hibbert, and David West allowed a lower FG percentage. Sure, Bosh isn't a muscle bound banger, but he's smart, and knows how to defend. Coach K has always praised Bosh for his defense, he even started him at center over Dwight Howard in Beijing.

This article is a year old, but it's explains it better and in more detail:
http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward/...i-heat-defense

With Howard and Bosh, no team in the league is better equipped to defend pick and rolls.

[CDu]

Shockingly, per Adrian Wojnarowski (best in the business at reporting stuff), Bosh is working on a 5 year, $118 million deal to stay in Miami. Wow.

[BobbyFan]

Cleveland's owner and fans are very fortunate that LeBron is a bigger man than they, both literally and figuratively.

This may have been intended moreso as a shot to the former than a compliment to the latter, but the idea that this primarily an act of altruism by LeBron is a bit much. He's still joining Cleveland in spite of Gilbert. And he wouldn't be joining a Cleveland team that doesn't have Irving and Wiggins/potential for Love. The Cavs' roster may be slightly better than that of the Heat for this upcoming season and is clearly better down the road.

I'm sure going home with a chance for redemption and to right a perceived wrong factored into his decision, and perhaps tipped the scale for Cleveland over the Heat. And his crafted statement wisely built up that story. But I have trouble believing LeBron's primary factors were anything but: 1) quality of roster in the present and near future, and 2) money - and I don't fault him for that.

David Blatt may become the most successful rookie coach ever

It'll be intriguing to see how Blatt translates to the NBA. His offensive strategy has consistently received very high praise in the international ranks for several years, and it was only a matter of time before he was offered a position here. Seemingly one of his major burdens will be garnering the respect of NBA players, but if he and LeBron are on the same page, that shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know . . . that's a lot to give up for Love. This team's already lacking on the defensive end. Is it wise to give up Andrew Wiggins, a defensive stud, for Love, who is more or less indifferent on that end outside of hoarding rebounds? Love barely ever challenges shots because he's that concerned with chasing rebounds.

There is little question that at this point Love, at minimum a top 10 player who is four years younger than LeBron, is more valuable than Wiggins, who despite his talents still has the inherent question marks of not having played a single game in the NBA. If Wiggins was a prospect in the caliber of an Anthony Davis, I might have to think twice, but he's not.

That said, given the situation, Minnesota shouldn't be getting equal talent in a trade. So, depending on factors such as other teams' offers, Love's willingness to go to those teams, etc., Cleveland should be careful about if and when they offer Wiggins, whose inclusion should be a last resort.

I agree about Wiggins' defense, which is his most guaranteed quality. LeBron's defensive level of play dropped a bit this past season due to fatigue, and that may have been largely attributable to Battier and Wade's decline in quality and minutes on that end.

[kAzE]

Well, so much for Bosh and Dwight, Bosh just agreed to a 5 year max deal to stay in Miami . . . I'm not THAT surprised, but I thought the lure of a contender in Houston would be too much to turn down. Then again, Bosh loves living in Miami. Makes sense, and it's more money. Good for him.

MAN this stuff is moving fast now that LeBron made his decision.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Well...

It turns out Chris Sheridan was right, and I actually believe he did have a legit source and not just that he turned out to be right. Lebron seems to have known what he was going to do for at least a day or two, given his decision came in the form of a Sports Illustrated article. I don't know if it was before or after he met with Riley on Wednesday, but he must have had a pretty good idea what he was going to do by that point.

Good for Lebron, who I think made the decision that was right for him, and good for Cleveland. I agree with Adande's column the other day that by returning to Gilbert it sort of undercuts a lot of the strength behind Lebron's comments on Donald Sterling. But...whatever. That can't have been Lebron's only consideration. This is good for the NBA, too. The Miami experiment had grown a little bit stale, and this was one of the most boring regular seasons in memory. Now there will be plenty more juice injected into the whole season. I don't know if Lebron's chances at a ring improve this year, but they likely do 2-3 years down the line. Lebron's going to turn 30 this year. There's no question he has at least 2-3 more prime years left in him. What happens after that is anybody's guess.

This was a bit of a gut punch for the city of Miami, but we still have the beach. Around work and then driving home and listening to sports radio, I didn't hear any vitriol directed Lebron's way. People are sad, but I honestly didn't hear one word to remind me of some of the crap that came out of Cleveland when he left. Not saying there's none of that out there, but I haven't heard it, and I bet it's pretty limited.

I'm sure there were a lot of bandwagon fans that came with Lebron, and a lot of those will depart with him, but people seem to be unaware that the Heat have always had a pretty decent following, well before Lebron came, and I suspect that will continue.

Not much of a surprise to me that Bosh resigned once the Heat gave him the max deal. He's always loved Miami more than Miami has really loved him. I hope that changes now, and people embrace him for sticking with us. To be honest, I kind of wish he had moved on, but we'll see what kind of team Riley puts together. In a perfect world (well, besides the one where Lebron stays...), I would've given UD and Wade max contracts for two years, and then hit the free agent market hard in 2016. The Bosh move seems a little bit like a panic move. I think 4 straight Finals and just a LOT of basketball games have made the Heat fans more patient than the front office gave us respect for. I think people would've tolerated two terrible years to get back to the top. Now I'm worried we're going to be a 6 seed in the East for the next 5 years.

[UrinalCake]

Lin to LA, setting up Bosh to Houston

Also sets up Kendall Marshall to the local Food Lion, where he'll soon be employed bagging groceries

[Kedsy]

This seems really unlikely. From what I've heard, Minnesota won't do the deal without Wiggins in it. But then again, they are going to need to get SOMETHING for Love, and he's willing to sign long term in Cleveland. If we somehow get Love for waiters and Bennett, I might have to learn how to do backflips, so I can do backflips.

According to Chris Broussard, the Cavs have assured Wiggins he won't be in the deal for Love. On the other hand, Adam Levitan says that's only Cleveland's opening offer and we should still expect Wiggins to change jerseys.

It seems odd to me that they're still in the initial posturing stage. The signs seemed to point to a deal being all but done. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it shakes out.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Sounds like the Heat are targeting Deng now.

EDIT: James P. Anonymoussource suggesting the interest is mutual. I think that deal most likely gets done.

[Tripping William]

Also, you could lay on all the makeup you want, people are still gonna recognize LeBron James.

That's "LeBron Effing James" to you & me ... ;-)

[El_Diablo]

According to Chris Broussard . . . .

Broussard has no credibility at this point, so feel free to disregard anything he says.

[weezie]

I wonder which of them has had more actual hands on game coaching from Coach K?
lbj or ki?
I'm thinking lbj....

[g-money]

I will be sorely disappointed if LBJ doesn't appear in the next Uncle Drew episode. Oh, wait, he's a Sprite guy . . . . .

Yeah, if the Cavs do get Love, this is an absolutely awesome marketing opportunity.

[BD80]

Word is that LBJ did NOT make his decision until Thursday.

Lebron's pow-pow with the best coach in the universe was Thursday.

Wonder if Coach K helped Lebron "lead with the heart"

Maybe Lebron was seeking an opinion he respected on whether it was worth gambling the rest of his NBA career on Kyrie

[SoCalDukeFan]

Word is that LBJ did NOT make his decision until Thursday.

Lebron's pow-pow with the best coach in the universe was Thursday.

Wonder if Coach K helped Lebron "lead with the heart"

Maybe Lebron was seeking an opinion he respected on whether it was worth gambling the rest of his NBA career on Kyrie

Missed that.

SoCal

[SoCalDukeFan]

Lin to LA, setting up Bosh to Houston

Evidently Houston wanted to dump his contract so much that they added a draft pick.
And they did not get Bosh anyway.

Lakers gave up some cash (does money matter in the NBA) and the rights to some Euro.

Lakers are still trying to recover from the Steve Nash horrible trade.
Next year looks bleak for them, even if Kobe comes back pretty healthy.

SoCal

[Duvall]

I wonder which of them has had more actual hands on game coaching from Coach K?
lbj or ki?
I'm thinking lbj....

Not counting exhibition games, James has played in 35 games with Krzyzewski on the sideline, Irving has played in 11.

[-jk]

Word is that LBJ did NOT make his decision until Thursday.

Lebron's pow-pow with the best coach in the universe was Thursday.

Wonder if Coach K helped Lebron "lead with the heart"

Maybe Lebron was seeking an opinion he respected on whether it was worth gambling the rest of his NBA career on Kyrie

Maybe K's working on his Olympic team in a roundabout way...

-jk