NBA Free Agency

[pfrduke]

The news of Kevin Love opting out seemed like a good excuse to start this thread. Post free agency and other off-season transaction discussions (that don't involve Duke guys or draftees) here.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13142511/kevin-love-opts-contract-cleveland-cavaliers-sources

[JasonEvans]

Funniest headline I saw about Love opting out was involving the Celtics recruiting him. I said, "Celtics to pitch Love on being part of a 'Big Three' involving Paul Pierce and Robin Lopez."

If 37 year old Paul Pierce and the lesser Lopez twin are part of your Big Three, I think you need to look at the definition of the word "big" to see if your plan fits. Bwahahahaha!

-Jason "that said, I won't be even mildly surprised if Love goes somewhere else where he can be the focal point of the offense... and lose 40+ games" Evans

P.S. - Question: Would losing Love give Cleveland even a little bit of cap room to go after another free agent? DWade playing for a discount?

[CDu]

Funniest headline I saw about Love opting out was involving the Celtics recruiting him. I said, "Celtics to pitch Love on being part of a 'Big Three' involving Paul Pierce and Robin Lopez."

If 37 year old Paul Pierce and the lesser Lopez twin are part of your Big Three, I think you need to look at the definition of the word "big" to see if your plan fits. Bwahahahaha!

-Jason "that said, I won't be even mildly surprised if Love goes somewhere else where he can be the focal point of the offense... and lose 40+ games" Evans

P.S. - Question: Would losing Love give Cleveland even a little bit of cap room to go after another free agent? DWade playing for a discount?

The Cavs are capped out with or without Love. They would only have a sign-and-trade option with Love or an outright trade to acquire a high-dollar player. Otherwise, retaining Love is their only realistic option.

[CDu]

The Cavs are capped out with or without Love. They would only have a sign-and-trade option with Love or an outright trade to acquire a high-dollar player. Otherwise, retaining Love is their only realistic option.

Actually, I misspoke a bit. The Cavs could technically get under the cap. But they'd have to renounce the rights to guys like Tristan Thompson and give up Brendan Haywood's unguaranteed contract (which is actually a very valuable trade chip, oddly enough) and hope that guys like JR Smith and Mike Miller don't opt into their deals. The first is not going to happen. The second might, but it wouldn't clear enough cap space to get anyone of value. So Haywood's contract is probably more valuable to them as a trade chip than to actually clear space on their cap. The contracts of Irving, Mozgov, and Varejao and the cap holds for Tristan Thompson and LeBron James and filling out the rest of the roster eat up the entire salary cap by themselves, let alone acquiring any of their in-house guys like JR Smith, and Shumpert.

Basically, the Cavs will be looking to either re-sign Love or orchestrate a sign-and-trade of Love to somewhere else in which they get back quality in return. If Love leaves on an outright signing elsewhere, the Cavs are kind of stuck without a replacement.

That said, I think the likelihood that Love leaves is small, and the likelihood that Love leaves without a sign and trade is a bit smaller.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Actually, I misspoke a bit. The Cavs could technically get under the cap. But they'd have to renounce the rights to guys like Tristan Thompson and give up Brendan Haywood's unguaranteed contract (which is actually a very valuable trade chip, oddly enough) and hope that guys like JR Smith and Mike Miller don't opt into their deals. The first is not going to happen. The second might, but it wouldn't clear enough cap space to get anyone of value. So Haywood's contract is probably more valuable to them as a trade chip than to actually clear space on their cap. The contracts of Irving, Mozgov, and Varejao and the cap holds for Tristan Thompson and LeBron James and filling out the rest of the roster eat up the entire salary cap by themselves, let alone acquiring any of their in-house guys like JR Smith, and Shumpert.

Basically, the Cavs will be looking to either re-sign Love or orchestrate a sign-and-trade of Love to somewhere else in which they get back quality in return. If Love leaves on an outright signing elsewhere, the Cavs are kind of stuck without a replacement.

That said, I think the likelihood that Love leaves is small, and the likelihood that Love leaves without a sign and trade is a bit smaller.

Great article on how the Cavs should proceed in the off-season by Zach Lowe: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nba-finalists-how-to-make-a-sequel/

If Cleveland wants to retain both Thompson and Love, it's gonna cost them $200 for salaries and luxury tax alone. It must be fun to be a billionaire.

[CDu]

Great article on how the Cavs should proceed in the off-season by Zach Lowe: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nba-finalists-how-to-make-a-sequel/

If Cleveland wants to retain both Thompson and Love, it's gonna cost them $200 for salaries and luxury tax alone. It must be fun to be a billionaire.

Yeah, Cleveland's roster is about to either get VERY expensive or lose a good deal of talent. They were already in the tax this year. They'll have to stay WELL into the tax to keep the roster together.

[toooskies]

Yeah, Cleveland's roster is about to either get VERY expensive or lose a good deal of talent. They were already in the tax this year. They'll have to stay WELL into the tax to keep the roster together.

Tristan Thompson is overrated by Lowe, and his agent. He's not a $15+ million dollar a year player; he was a part of what kept the Cavs in the series against Golden State, but he's going to be a difference-maker only a handful of games a year. He's much more Kenneth Faried than Draymond Green. He's no DPOY, and he's a league-average offensive player after taking into account his rebounding.

That said, the Cavs will offer him at least $12-13 million a year, and I don't think anyone is going to give a godfather offer for him. No one's looking at him and saying he's the answer to their problems. He might pull a Greg Monroe, come back one more year, and then bolt in 2016, thinking he can get more money when the cap goes up. But there's only one team in the league that can play iso-ball-and-rebound, and that's whichever team Lebron is on. For the Cavs, I'd rather see a S&T that nets them somebody decent than keep him, because you can get other guys cheaper that do what TT does well.

I think Love signs a Lebron contract with the Cavs (1+1 player option year) , opts out again, and either sign-and-trades away in 2016 or just leaves for a Texas team. He's said way too many times that he plans to stay in Cleveland, and Cleveland will offer him whatever contract he wants. It will kill his reputation. You can survive pouting out of one situation, but then leaving the next place as soon as you can? Not likely, even if it's trendy to dump on Cleveland.

[CDu]

Tristan Thompson is overrated by Lowe, and his agent. He's not a $15+ million dollar a year player; he was a part of what kept the Cavs in the series against Golden State, but he's going to be a difference-maker only a handful of games a year. He's much more Kenneth Faried than Draymond Green. He's no DPOY, and he's a league-average offensive player after taking into account his rebounding.

That said, the Cavs will offer him at least $12-13 million a year, and I don't think anyone is going to give a godfather offer for him. No one's looking at him and saying he's the answer to their problems. He might pull a Greg Monroe, come back one more year, and then bolt in 2016, thinking he can get more money when the cap goes up. But there's only one team in the league that can play iso-ball-and-rebound, and that's whichever team Lebron is on. For the Cavs, I'd rather see a S&T that nets them somebody decent than keep him, because you can get other guys cheaper that do what TT does well.

I think Love signs a Lebron contract with the Cavs (1+1 player option year) , opts out again, and either sign-and-trades away in 2016 or just leaves for a Texas team. He's said way too many times that he plans to stay in Cleveland, and Cleveland will offer him whatever contract he wants. It will kill his reputation. You can survive pouting out of one situation, but then leaving the next place as soon as you can? Not likely, even if it's trendy to dump on Cleveland.

I totally agree with this. I don't think Love leaves this year. He may leave next year (especially if they again don't win) to go to a West Coast contender. But I'd be surprised to see him go this year. The only place I could see him going would be to Portland (near where he grew up) or LA (near where he was born and his second home), with each of those two teams offering a chance to contend (with him). But I would say that is unlikely.

As for Thompson, because he's LeBron's little buddy and has the same agent, I see virtually no chance he signs elsewhere. And I also fully expect him to get overpaid to stay in Cleveland (because, as you said, he's more valuable in Cleveland than almost anywhere else).

[superdave]

Love needs to stay in Cleveland a year or two and prove he can be part of a winner, then go for the big free agency deal once the cap goes way up.

Look at this projection:

"Sources told ESPN.com that based on current projections, league officials expect the salary cap to increase from its current $63.1 million figure to $67.1 million next season, $89 million in 2016-17 and $108 million in 2017-18."
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12711616/teams-told-nba-salary-cap-hit-100m-2017-18-season

Super "Colour Me Love" Dave

[pfrduke]

Great piece by Zach Lowe on the dynamics of the impending cap escalation and this year's free agent signings:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-eight-biggest-nba-free-agency-questions/

[COYS]

Great piece by Zach Lowe on the dynamics of the impending cap escalation and this year's free agent signings:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-eight-biggest-nba-free-agency-questions/

This is a fascinating article. Though I knew the cap was going to increase, I had not considered all of the possibilities it presents. I think that we will see a few contenders who usually shy away from the luxury tax go ahead and spend, spend, spend this season. I can't wait to see which team comes up with the most clever exploitation of the ballooning cap. My money is on the Spurs . . . although I'm holding out a little bit of hope that the new Hawks front office can work some magic to keep the new look Hawks rolling.

[Olympic Fan]

The team I'm going to be watching in free agency will be the Lakers -- I think what happens on the market determines whether LA made the right move on draft night.

If the Lakers add a stud post player -- Aldridge being the best option (although everything I read suggests that San Antonio and Houston are the frontrunners) -- then the Lakers did the right thing passing on Jahlil and taking Russell. If they wipe out in the free agent market, then I believe they were the big draft loser ... of course, that stems from my belief the Russell, while a good prospect, is not an elite prospect. But even if he's just good, I'd rather have Russell and Aldridge/Love/maybe Jordan? than just Okafor. But head-to-head, I think Big O is a better NBA prospect ... especially better suited to team with Kobe in his final year or two.

It's become pretty obvious that the proposed trade for Cousins is not going to happen.

So it all comes down to the Lakers' ability to land a big-time fee agent post player.

[Edouble]

The team I'm going to be watching in free agency will be the Lakers -- I think what happens on the market determines whether LA made the right move on draft night.

If the Lakers add a stud post player -- Aldridge being the best option (although everything I read suggests that San Antonio and Houston are the frontrunners) -- then the Lakers did the right thing passing on Jahlil and taking Russell. If they wipe out in the free agent market, then I believe they were the big draft loser ... of course, that stems from my belief the Russell, while a good prospect, is not an elite prospect. But even if he's just good, I'd rather have Russell and Aldridge/Love/maybe Jordan? than just Okafor. But head-to-head, I think Big O is a better NBA prospect ... especially better suited to team with Kobe in his final year or two.

It's become pretty obvious that the proposed trade for Cousins is not going to happen.

So it all comes down to the Lakers' ability to land a big-time fee agent post player.

Hilariously appropriate misspelling/slip!

[Duvall]

Cavs/LeBron securing Love, per Kevin Love. (http://www.theplayerstribune.com/kevin-love-cavaliers-unfinished-business/)

[CDu]

Cavs/LeBron securing Love, per Kevin Love. (http://www.theplayerstribune.com/kevin-love-cavaliers-unfinished-business/)

Least surprising news of the offseason so far.

[CDu]

The Bulls had very little offseason flexibility as they are well over the cap already. But it appears that they've hit two of their three big goals already. They agreed to terms with Mike Dunleavy on a 3 year deal, and have agreed to terms with Jimmy Butler on a 5 year deal. The only major hole left to fill is the backup PG spot. They only have the taxpayer's mid-level exception (~$3.2 million) to offer, so it will probably be a while before that deal gets done as the musical chairs happens with the bigger names.

[Duvall]

Kevin Love will accept a five-year, $110 million contract extension with the Cavs according to sources. (https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/616313685351485440)

Huh.

[CDu]

Kevin Love will accept a five-year, $110 million contract extension with the Cavs according to sources. (https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/616313685351485440)

Huh.

Now, THAT is surprising. I was quite sure he was staying with Cleveland, but I was strongly suspecting he would take a short-term deal.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Now, THAT is surprising. I was quite sure he was staying with Cleveland, but I was strongly suspecting he would take a short-term deal.

Great trade trip in case he and Lebron can't find chemistry.

On to Tristan Thompson!

[CDu]

Great trade trip in case he and Lebron can't find chemistry.

On to Tristan Thompson!

Thompson has agreed to a 5 year, $80 million deal it appears.

[Duvall]

So once LaMarcus Aldridge signs with San Antonio, we can all look forward to eight exciting months of NBA basketball before we get LeBron vs. the Spurs. Again.

[JasonEvans]

Thompson has agreed to a 5 year, $80 million deal it appears.

Clearly, the Cavs are not even remotely worried about the luxury tax. They are going to have a massive payroll next season.

Lebron - TBA (likely $23 mil or so)
Love - $22.5 mil (approx)
Thompson - $16 mil (approx.)
Irving - $14.7 mil
Haywood - $10.5 mil
Varejao - $9.6 mil
Mozgov - $4.9 mil
Miller - $2.8 mil
Joe Harris - $845k

They will probably want to bring back Shumpert, JR, and Delavadova. James Jones too. I expect the Cavs to be north of $110 mil in salary next season. This past year, I believe the Nets were #1 with a team payroll of $91 million. Cleveland is going to top that by a cool $20 million. WOW!

-Jason "of course, in a couple years, that isn't even going to look like a big payroll - #CapExplosion" Evans

[Richard Berg]

Danny Green on leaving $10M+ on the table (relative to the deals being tossed at Thompson, Middleton, Carroll, etc):

Who would've thought this guy would ever make it? Not only do I get my old job back, but they gave me a raise! to play for/with the greatest teammates and coaches, you'll ever see around the game, in the greatest organization in the world! Thank you for this great opportunity and thanks to the fans for always supporting #Spurs

Or as one commenter on PTR put it:


Pop: I know Middleton just got 5 years/70 million and Matthews wants 15 a year. We’ll give you 11 a year, deal?
Green: If I agree will you stop using me as the whipping boy?
Pop: Nope
Green: Ok, where do I sign?

[CDu]

Crazy money getting tossed around this offseason.

[Duvall]

Clearly, the Cavs are not even remotely worried about the luxury tax. They are going to have a massive payroll next season.

Lebron - TBA (likely $23 mil or so)
Love - $22.5 mil (approx)
Thompson - $16 mil (approx.)
Irving - $14.7 mil
Haywood - $10.5 mil
Varejao - $9.6 mil
Mozgov - $4.9 mil
Miller - $2.8 mil
Joe Harris - $845k


Man, I do not understand capology.

[CDu]

Man, I do not understand capology.

Irving signed his deal at the wrong time. Revenues have shot upwards since then such that the cap has increase and (as such) the percentage a player can make has increased. Tough break for Irving being born one or two years too early to really break the bank (even more than he already has).

[Duvall]

Irving signed his deal at the wrong time. Revenues have shot upwards since then such that the cap has increase and (as such) the percentage a player can make has increased. Tough break for Irving being born one or two years too early to really break the bank (even more than he already has).

True, but the difference between $90 million max deals and $145 million max deals is...bracing.

[CDu]

True, but the difference between $90 million max deals and $145 million max deals is...bracing.

Oh, it's crazy all right. The cap is supposed to skyrocket next summer (it jumped a good bit this summer). So guys who sign extensions like Davis (who have been multiple-time All-Stars) can get crazy money.

[sagegrouse]

Irving signed his deal at the wrong time. Revenues have shot upwards since then such that the cap has increase and (as such) the percentage a player can make has increased. Tough break for Irving being born one or two years too early to really break the bank (even more than he already has).

I think Uncle Drew is doing just fine.

[CDu]

I think Uncle Drew is doing just fine.

Yeah, hard to feel too too bad for a guy making ~$15 million this year from the Cavs (not to mention endorsement deals). Just noting how crazy the money has gotten just a year or so after he signed his deal.

[CDu]

The Spurs have made some noise today. They have re-signed Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, and they traded Tiago Splitter. That second part is relevant in that it gives them a chance to sign LaMarcus Aldridge as a free agent. If that happens, the Spurs jump right back to/near the front of the line of title contenders.

[Richard Berg]

The Spurs have made some noise today. They have re-signed Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, and they traded Tiago Splitter. That second part is relevant in that it gives them a chance to sign LaMarcus Aldridge as a free agent. If that happens, the Spurs jump right back to/near the front of the line of title contenders.
Splitter trade looks good for both teams, assuming the Spurs can pull off the upgrade to LMA. Atlanta can finally move their stud (Horford) to his natural position, and doesn't have to worry as much about matching Millsap's crazy offer sheet. And of course Bud acquires a Pop player, a known entity within his system, barring further injury.

[Duvall]

The team I'm going to be watching in free agency will be the Lakers -- I think what happens on the market determines whether LA made the right move on draft night.

If the Lakers add a stud post player -- Aldridge being the best option (although everything I read suggests that San Antonio and Houston are the frontrunners) -- then the Lakers did the right thing passing on Jahlil and taking Russell. If they wipe out in the free agent market, then I believe they were the big draft loser ... of course, that stems from my belief the Russell, while a good prospect, is not an elite prospect. But even if he's just good, I'd rather have Russell and Aldridge/Love/maybe Jordan? than just Okafor. But head-to-head, I think Big O is a better NBA prospect ... especially better suited to team with Kobe in his final year or two.

It's become pretty obvious that the proposed trade for Cousins is not going to happen.

So it all comes down to the Lakers' ability to land a big-time fee agent post player.

Lakers out of the LaMarcus Aldridge sweepstakes. (http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/lakersnow/la-sp-ln-lakers-greg-monroe-lamarcus-aldridge-meeting-20150701-story.html)

[SoCalDukeFan]

Lakers out of the LaMarcus Aldridge sweepstakes. (http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/lakersnow/la-sp-ln-lakers-greg-monroe-lamarcus-aldridge-meeting-20150701-story.html)

No Kevin Love and no LeMarcus Aldridge. How good really is Greg Monroe? While I understood the Lakers thinking( and could not understand taking Stanley Johnson over Justice Winslow), it looks like this was a gamble that will not pay off, at least this year.

SoCal

[Kdogg]

Crazy money getting tossed around this offseason.

You mean this isn't rational.

Love to re-sign for $110 million
Report: Blazers, Lillard land 5-year, $120M deal
Bulls, Butler agree to five-year, $90 million deal
Heat's Dragic to get 5 years, $90M
Suns, Chandler agree to four-year, $52M deal
Raptors to give Carroll $60M
Davis agrees to $145M contract with Pelicans
Spurs to give Leonard $90M deal
Magic offer Millsap $80M
Indy offers Ellis $32M
Knight to score $70M from Suns

[Duvall]

You mean this isn't rational.

Love to re-sign for $110 million
Report: Blazers, Lillard land 5-year, $120M deal
Bulls, Butler agree to five-year, $90 million deal
Heat's Dragic to get 5 years, $90M
Suns, Chandler agree to four-year, $52M deal
Raptors to give Carroll $60M
Davis agrees to $145M contract with Pelicans
Spurs to give Leonard $90M deal
Magic offer Millsap $80M
Indy offers Ellis $32M
Knight to score $70M from Suns

There are 24 billion reasons why these contracts are entirely rational. (http://www.si.com/nba/2014/10/05/new-nba-tv-deal-worth-24-billion)

Well, except for Brandon Knight.

[flyingdutchdevil]

You mean this isn't rational.

Love to re-sign for $110 million
Report: Blazers, Lillard land 5-year, $120M deal
Bulls, Butler agree to five-year, $90 million deal
Heat's Dragic to get 5 years, $90M
Suns, Chandler agree to four-year, $52M deal
Raptors to give Carroll $60M
Davis agrees to $145M contract with Pelicans
Spurs to give Leonard $90M deal
Magic offer Millsap $80M
Indy offers Ellis $32M
Knight to score $70M from Suns

IMO, In today's landscape, the only crazy contracts from this list are Knight and Ellis. Sure, the numbers are crazy high across, but this is basketball, a team sport with tiny rosters and huge budgets.

[Duvall]

Clearly, the Cavs are not even remotely worried about the luxury tax. They are going to have a massive payroll next season.

Lebron - TBA (likely $23 mil or so)
Love - $22.5 mil (approx)
Thompson - $16 mil (approx.)
Irving - $14.7 mil
Haywood - $10.5 mil
Varejao - $9.6 mil
Mozgov - $4.9 mil
Miller - $2.8 mil
Joe Harris - $845k

They will probably want to bring back Shumpert, JR, and Delavadova. James Jones too. I expect the Cavs to be north of $110 mil in salary next season. This past year, I believe the Nets were #1 with a team payroll of $91 million. Cleveland is going to top that by a cool $20 million. WOW!

Cavs resign Shumpert for 4 years, $40 million. (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13184322/iman-shumpert-agrees-return-cleveland-cavaliers-4-year-40-million-deal)

[mr. synellinden]

Cavs resign Shumpert for 4 years, $40 million. (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13184322/iman-shumpert-agrees-return-cleveland-cavaliers-4-year-40-million-deal)

The Cavs are on a roll and placing a huge bet on a big 3 of Irving, Love and James, as I think they should. They are essentially going all in on the next 5 year period when James should remain near his peak performance and Love and Irving are at (Love, age 27) or about to be at (Irving, age 23) their prime years. With Thompson, Delly (if he signs), Shumpert, Mozgov and Varejao, they have strong complementary and bench pieces. I don't know if they'll resign J.R., and I think they'd be better off finding another (perhaps more mentally tough and stable) scorer/3 point shooter. If they stay healthy, a big IF, I don't see anyone in the east contending. Yes, they'll have a huge tax next year, but the following years the cap is going to rise dramatically and they'll be able to afford more pieces. We should probably get used to seeing the Cavs playing for the title. I really think the key piece for them is keeping Irving on the court. He's the dynamic scorer LeBron needs as his sidekick. I don't think Love can play that role. But he's probably the best third option in the league.

[JasonEvans]

Atlanta can finally move their stud (Horford) to his natural position, and doesn't have to worry as much about matching Millsap's crazy offer sheet.

Looks like the Hawks didn't think it was quite so crazy (http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/paul-millsap-agrees-to-deal-with-atlanta-hawks/nmqLR/).


The two-time All-Star power forward agreed to a three-year, $59 million contract as an unrestricted free agent to remain with the Hawks Wednesday, according to multiple sources. The third year is a player option for Millsap, meaning he could elect to become a free agent again in the summer of 2017.

Really interesting to see Milsap gambling on being able to cash in again in a couple years. Pretty smart deal, in my opinion. Sure, he could have gotten a fourth year if he really wanted it, but he would rather roll the dice on signing another deal in 2 seasons when the cap is stupid high and he is still at least somewhat in his prime. Smart, I think.

Hawks will still probably start Horford and Milsap together, but will be able to play Splitter 20-25 minutes a game to have a legit NBA center in the lineup. Now, the Hawks need to get someone else on the wing and they will be in good shape.

I also think that, even at close to $20 mil a year, Milsap is going to look like a bargain in a couple seasons with the coming cap escalation. As others have noted, just about every contract beign signed right now will look just fine in a couple years when teams are going to be handing out $25-$30 mil contracts to just about everyone.

-Jason "today has been a really great day for the Spurs and Cavs... and a terrible one for the Lakers" Evans

[g-money]

Tough break for Irving being born one or two years too early to really break the bank (even more than he already has).

Maybe he should have stayed in college a bit longer.

I can't believe I was the first to take the bait on CDu's post. Snap to it, people! :)

[NashvilleDevil]

Is anyone else enjoying the Lakers struggling to get a big to come? I have nothing against D'Angelo Russell but he was the only guy on a mediocre Ohio St team and he really struggled when he faced athletes (see Arizona game) and to take him over Okafor was a mistake.

[BD80]

Is anyone else enjoying the Lakers struggling to get a big to come? I have nothing against D'Angelo Russell but he was the only guy on a mediocre Ohio St team and he really struggled when he faced athletes (see Arizona game) and to take him over Okafor was a mistake.

It will be quite amusing if they are forced to give Greg (Moose) Monroe max money just to get a big. Solid post scorer, good rebounder, good passer, poor defender - particularly on the pick and roll.

Sound familiar?

Oh yeah, Moose has nowhere near the upside of Jahlil.

Kobe will explode if he has to put up with Monroe "settling" into his post moves with the ball. Not much offensive movement at that point

FWIW: Monroe should make out well, somebody will give him the max the way money is being spent. It may end up being the Knicks.

[SoCalDukeFan]

Is anyone else enjoying the Lakers struggling to get a big to come? I have nothing against D'Angelo Russell but he was the only guy on a mediocre Ohio St team and he really struggled when he faced athletes (see Arizona game) and to take him over Okafor was a mistake.

Not a big Lakers fan but some friends and family are, so I would like to see the Lakers do well for them. The Lakers have done some really dumb things, like the Steve Nash debacle which, in all fairness, was brought on when David Stern vetoed the Chris Paul deal. Kobe's contract is another.

The Lakers suffer from the delusion that players want to play for them. showtime, LA, Hollywood, etc. Maybe true when they were winning but not now. Players want to win. The NBA money is huge so why not play for a winner.

Their plan was to build on a core of Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and Aldridge and then add to it when Kobe's contract expires, the draft etc. Russell and Randle between them have one NBA game. Clarkson did have a good year. Aldridge was not on their roster. In my opinion it was way too optimistic. Would have made more sense to get a big with talent and upside like Jah.

[pfrduke]

It will be quite amusing if they are forced to give Greg (Moose) Monroe max money just to get a big. Solid post scorer, good rebounder, good passer, poor defender - particularly on the pick and roll.

Sound familiar?

Oh yeah, Moose has nowhere near the upside of Jahlil.

Kobe will explode if he has to put up with Monroe "settling" into his post moves with the ball. Not much offensive movement at that point

FWIW: Monroe should make out well, somebody will give him the max the way money is being spent. It may end up being the Knicks.

Can't even do that - Monroe to the Bucks!

[Troublemaker]

MCW-Middleton-Giannis-Jabari-Monroe starting lineup. All 25 years or younger.

Not too shabby.

Monroe choosing the Bucks over L.A.? It seems players just want to be on good teams.

The Lakers probably will be a free agent destination again soon, but a lot rides on Russell and Randle panning out.

[NashvilleDevil]

Can't even do that - Monroe to the Bucks!

Play with Jabari and Giannis, be coached by Jason Kidd, and compete in the East or play with Kobe and Russell, be coached by Byron Scott, and compete in the west? Pass me the kielbasa and some Old Mud.

[CDu]

Cleveland has gone all in this offseason. Can't see how they'll have cap space for the foreseeable future (especially if they try to retain Smith and Dellavedova long-term this summer and Mozgov next summer) even with the increasing cap threshold. But they'll be really really good with what they have, so maybe it doesn't matter (and they'll always get some veterans willing to sign for the minimum to chase a ring).

I like what Milwaukee is doing. They have added Monroe to a team that was not bad, and they'll get Jabari back from injury too. They're not good enough yet to really threaten, but they'll be pesky for sure.

Phoenix, meanwhile, is quietly putting together a squad out west too. I doubt they land LaMarcus Aldridge, but signing Chandler certainly gives them a shot at it.

[Turk]

Not a big Lakers fan but some friends and family are, so I would like to see the Lakers do well for them. The Lakers have done some really dumb things, like the Steve Nash debacle which, in all fairness, was brought on when David Stern vetoed the Chris Paul deal. Kobe's contract is another.

The Lakers suffer from the delusion that players want to play for them. showtime, LA, Hollywood, etc. Maybe true when they were winning but not now. Players want to win. The NBA money is huge so why not play for a winner.

Their plan was to build on a core of Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and Aldridge and then add to it when Kobe's contract expires, the draft etc. Russell and Randle between them have one NBA game. Clarkson did have a good year. Aldridge was not on their roster. In my opinion it was way too optimistic. Would have made more sense to get a big with talent and upside like Jah.

The Lakers also suffer from the delusion that they are the only team in town. (During the Sterling era, they were). Players interested in LA will talk to the Clips first.
Native son Paul Pierce returns home to play for Doc on a cheap veteran deal. (Maybe KG is next? Anyone still have Ray-Ray on speed dial?) #ThrowbackThursday

[Turk]

Play with Jabari and Giannis, be coached by Jason Kidd, and compete in the East or play with Kobe and Russell, be coached by Byron Scott, and compete in the west? Pass me the kielbasa and some Old Mud.

Bucks also resign Middleton; with a full year from Jabari and all the other youngsters getting better, I think they should be around 50 wins and solidly in the second tier behind Cavs and Hawks. I would like to see them add a veteran PG (paging Jameer Nelson!!) for whenever MCW goes down or when his bricking is too much to withstand.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Cleveland has gone all in this offseason. Can't see how they'll have cap space for the foreseeable future (especially if they try to retain Smith and Dellavedova long-term this summer and Mozgov next summer) even with the increasing cap threshold. But they'll be really really good with what they have, so maybe it doesn't matter (and they'll always get some veterans willing to sign for the minimum to chase a ring).

I like what Milwaukee is doing. They have added Monroe to a team that was not bad, and they'll get Jabari back from injury too. They're not good enough yet to really threaten, but they'll be pesky for sure.

Phoenix, meanwhile, is quietly putting together a squad out west too. I doubt they land LaMarcus Aldridge, but signing Chandler certainly gives them a shot at it.

They need Delly and another back-up PG, because you know what Kyrie needs to rest plenty pre-playoffs given his injury track record. Also, Love and Thompson makes sense together given the NBA's new love of small-ball. Thompson at the 5 and Love at the 4 could work, especially given Love's camping on the 3pt line.

I agree with Milwaukee. With a core of MCW, Middleton, The Greek Freak, Jabari, and Monroe, you have a really good offensive and defense balance to that squad. Certainly play-off bound in the weak East.

I disagree with you on Phoenix. I don't like what they are doing. Chandler is waaaay past his prime (and Alex Len is getting really good! Why take that chance to sign a second legitimate center?), and Knight / Bledsoe are basically the same player. I think Phoenix will, once again, miss the playoffs. If they get Aldridge, it's a game changer, but he's not going to Phoenix. He wants to win (which is why he snubbed the Lakers), and Phoenix isn't the answer.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Bucks also resign Middleton; with a full year from Jabari and all the other youngsters getting better, I think they should be around 50 wins and solidly in the second tier behind Cavs and Hawks. I would like to see them add a veteran PG (paging Jameer Nelson!!) for whenever MCW goes down or when his bricking is too much to withstand.

I think you meant to say, "I think they should be around 50 wins and solidly in the second tier behind the Cavs." The Cavs proved, despite no Love and a hobbled Irving, that they are easily the best in the East. There is no legitimate competition to the Cavs in the East, and the Hawks and Bulls are clearly tier 2 teams.

Hawks crushed it during the reg season, but that means little when you don't have another gear for the playoffs.

[Edouble]

I think you meant to say, "I think they should be around 50 wins and solidly in the second tier behind the Cavs." The Cavs proved, despite no Love and a hobbled Irving, that they are easily the best in the East. There is no legitimate competition to the Cavs in the East, and the Hawks and Bulls are clearly tier 2 teams.

Hawks crushed it during the reg season, but that means little when you don't have another gear for the playoffs.

Yep. Cavs vs. Bulls, practically speaking, was the Eastern Conference Finals.

After yesterday, Hawks are now either the same or slightly worse. We had a great record, but struggled with the Wizards and were completely outclassed by the Cavs. Hawks are a playoff team, not a contender.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Yep. Cavs vs. Bulls, practically speaking, was the Eastern Conference Finals.

After yesterday, Hawks are now either the same or slightly worse. We had a great record, but struggled with the Wizards and were completely outclassed by the Cavs. Hawks are a playoff team, not a contender.

Sadly, yes. That the Pistons achieved in 2004 (five really good players, no Superstar) may never be accomplished again. The Hawks have a collection of second-bananas and some of the best role players in the NBA, but they lack that top-15 player who can elevate the team. Horford is a really good player, but I don't think he can lead a team to a title.

[COYS]

I think you meant to say, "I think they should be around 50 wins and solidly in the second tier behind the Cavs." The Cavs proved, despite no Love and a hobbled Irving, that they are easily the best in the East. There is no legitimate competition to the Cavs in the East, and the Hawks and Bulls are clearly tier 2 teams.

Hawks crushed it during the reg season, but that means little when you don't have another gear for the playoffs.

In defense of the Hawks, remember where they were at the end of LAST season. We had gotten out from under a few bad contracts and finally had flexibility to improve the team. However, I don't think anyone thought the improvement would be as rapid as it was. Getting to where they did this season was exceeding expectations.

Obviously the Hawks ran out of healthy players and gas come playoff time. But that should dampen what they were able to accomplish. With the right additions and some more luck on the injury side of things, I'm hopeful they can pull a Spurs and make it to an elite level this year to challenge the Cavs without a big name star.

[BD80]

Can't even do that - Monroe to the Bucks!

So basically, the Bucks traded Ersan Ilyasova for Monroe.

Ilyasova has 2 years left on his contract at $7.9m and $8.4 mil.

Monroe got 3 years at $50m, but the 3rd year is player option.

Pistons win that deal


MCW-Middleton-Giannis-Jabari-Monroe starting lineup. All 25 years or younger.

Not too shabby.

...

The interior defense will get shredded.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

I feel like Kobe has become a major deterrent to players joining the Lakers. Why would anyone want to play with him? He seems like an awful person to be around and he's no longer a good enough basketball player that anyone would be willing to put up with him. Once Kobe is gone the Lakers will become a major free agent destination again. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers deal with Kobe next offseason.

If Wade resigns with the Heat--as most people expect--I think they would have a pretty good argument to be a Top 4 team in the East. The starting lineup would be solid throughout.

PG - Dragic. Probably a Top 10 PG. Was third team all-NBA just two seasons ago.
SG - Wade. Still plays at an All-Star level when healthy. He was third in the East in scoring last year, while shooting 47% (low for him, but still pretty good).
SF - Deng. Solid all-around. Probably still an above average starter.
PF - Bosh. All-Star. No reason to expect he won't bounce back.
C - Whiteside. Surely the biggest question mark on the team, but he's been saying and doing all the right things this offseason. He was 6th in the league in PER last year (an imperfect statistic, sure, but the other guys in the top 10 are all widely viewed as the best players in the league...it's not THAT imperfect). His rebounding rate was the best in the league, and he's a defensive presence. There's no reason the rebounding and defense should change. People want to discount Whiteside as a flash in the plan, but I think it's more likely that he's a top 5 center in the league next year than that he flames out.

They should have at least two great bench options in Winslow and McRoberts (supposedly the Heat have no intention of trading McRoberts), and then after that we'll see.

Chalmers and Birdman may be gone. They're supposedly on the verge of signing JJ Barea, I think just to annoy Lebron. And then they have some young unproven guys like Tyler Johnson and James Ennis. Ennis might fit in well if the Heat do indeed run more as they've been saying.

I'm a homer all the way, but I think this team, if healthy, if Wade comes back, has a lot of potential.

[JasonEvans]

Uh-oh, this could get problematic for the Heat. Dwade apparently wants a max deal (http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25230366/report-dwyane-wade-wants-a-max-contract-from-heat).


Wade, understandably, thinks he should be rewarded after sacrificing money several times in order to give the front office more financial flexibility.

-Jason "if Miami won't pony up, some other team probably will. DWade makes ANYONE better" Evans

[Edouble]

In defense of the Hawks, remember where they were at the end of LAST season. We had gotten out from under a few bad contracts and finally had flexibility to improve the team. However, I don't think anyone thought the improvement would be as rapid as it was. Getting to where they did this season was exceeding expectations.

Obviously the Hawks ran out of healthy players and gas come playoff time. But that should dampen what they were able to accomplish. With the right additions and some more luck on the injury side of things, I'm hopeful they can pull a Spurs and make it to an elite level this year to challenge the Cavs without a big name star.

I do not mean to disparage all that the Hawks accomplished this past year in the regular season. However, during the regular season, I heard a lot of talk of the Hawks coming out of the East, which I thought was pretty ridiculous. So much talk about what great things the Hawks were going to do in May and June.

It is ridiculously hard to get to the NBA Finals, much less win one, without a superstar. 2004 Pistons, as mentioned upthread, are the only team that I am aware of to have ever done it. I thought that some folks expectations and understanding of the team's potential were pretty warped. It was great that we were winning, but I thought that the team had a ceiling too low to compete for a championship. The Eastern Conference Finals were embarrassing.

In the present moment, away from the brilliant contract moves that were made over a year ago, I think that expectations for the Hawks should be tempered until we can lure a legit, stud superstar to the A. Not sure how the Hawks can pull a Spurs, as we are short one "greatest power forward of all time".

[Olympic Fan]

Not a big Lakers fan but some friends and family are, so I would like to see the Lakers do well for them. The Lakers have done some really dumb things, like the Steve Nash debacle which, in all fairness, was brought on when David Stern vetoed the Chris Paul deal. Kobe's contract is another.


Anybody notice the timeline for the Lakers' decline?

When Jerry West was the GM, the Lakers were perhaps the best-run franchise in the NBA. After he left, they had Phil running things (through Jeannie Buss) for a few years.

But the rise of Mitch Kupchak has marked the steady decline of the franchise. From the Nash deal to the Kobe contract top the 2015 draft fiasco, almost every call the ex-Tar Heel has made has been wrong.

I know the Russell instead of Okafor pick is not confirmed as a bad deal, but if they don't wind up with Aldridge, it's going to guarantee that the Lakers will be in next yea4r's lottery -- even with Kobe back near healthy.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Uh-oh, this could get problematic for the Heat. Dwade apparently wants a max deal (http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25230366/report-dwyane-wade-wants-a-max-contract-from-heat).


-Jason "if Miami won't pony up, some other team probably will. DWade makes ANYONE better" Evans

There were multiple reports yesterday, including from Woj, that came after this article was written, that reported the Heat and Wade were progressing on a deal (per Woj, a multi-year deal). I think this article is a little outdated. He may very well get max money this year, it's unclear exactly how they're going to put this together. But there frankly aren't many suitors left for Wade. I suppose the Lakers and Knicks if he wants to deal with that. Of course, nothing is done until it's done, but the general feeling from Miami beat writers (and Woj) is that whereas things looked pretty dicey a couple days ago, it now seems very likely that Wade will return. This isn't to suggest that none of this is problematic for the Heat. They will be subject to the repeater tax which places an exceptionally high tax burden for going over the cap 4 out of 5 years, meaning Arison will probably force them to move Birdman and/or Chalmers. It also jeopardizes their chances at luring a top free agent in 2016 should they decide to try to keep Whiteside. The Heat were trying to maintain a little more flexibility for 2016, but the Whiteside and Dragic moves kind of threw a wrench into everything, and now they have to satisfy Wade on top of that.

[Duvall]

So basically, the Bucks traded Ersan Ilyasova for Monroe.

Ilyasova has 2 years left on his contract at $7.9m and $8.4 mil.

Monroe got 3 years at $50m, but the 3rd year is player option.

Pistons win that deal



The interior defense will get shredded.

Who are the interior defenders if everyone is 6'9" or taller?

[COYS]

Not sure how the Hawks can pull a Spurs, as we are short one "greatest power forward of all time".

I should have been more precise. By "pull a Spurs" i mean "pull a 2014 Spurs." At that point, Duncan was still excellent, but not near his greatest power forward of all time level. Same is true for Ginobli and Parker. The Spurs won with truly excellent ball movement and the coming out party of Leonard. With quick guys like Teague and a hopefully improving Schroeder, Horford (who is probably comparable to the 2014 version of Duncan and would be a superstar without all the injuries), Millsap, and good three point shooters, the Hawks don't necessarily need an absolute top 5 NBA star to make it out of the east. We just need a good player who is the right fit, preferably at small forward. For example, I'd love to see what the Hawks could do by adding a guy like Gordon Hayward at small forward.

I definitely agree that it'd be easier to win a title with a full out top 5 NBA player. But the Hawks have so much depth that just simply managing to upgrade at small forward and then actually be healthy for the post season could be enough. Are they likely to beat Lebron, Kyrie, and Love? Probably not, but I do think the right upgrades give us a better chance than many predict.

Now, getting a guy like Hayward is almost certainly not going to happen. And, while I've liked the Hawk's offseason so far, I don't think we've managed to do enough to get over the hump. In fact, we might take a step back (the small forward situation is a little precarious). But I'm still holding out hope that our front office has a trick or two up their sleeve. They have definitely earned the benefit of the doubt after the past two years.

[SoCalDukeFan]

The Lakers also suffer from the delusion that they are the only team in town. (During the Sterling era, they were). Players interested in LA will talk to the Clips first.
Native son Paul Pierce returns home to play for Doc on a cheap veteran deal. (Maybe KG is next? Anyone still have Ray-Ray on speed dial?) #ThrowbackThursday

My guess is that Pierce to the Clips is more about Doc than anything else.

Lakers should be in a good position in the lottery in next year's draft and Kobe's contract is up. If they stink up Staples then maybe Jim Buss will leave. Ryan Kelly may get lots of PT.

I wonder if Kareem can still go up the floor.



SoCal

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Per Woj, the Heat are now trying to meet with LaMarcus Aldridge.

[Turk]

So basically, the Bucks traded Ersan Ilyasova for Monroe.

Ilyasova has 2 years left on his contract at $7.9m and $8.4 mil.
Monroe got 3 years at $50m, but the 3rd year is player option.
Pistons win that deal



I beg to differ. Ilyasova is a 4, Monroe is a 5. Jabari will eat into Ilyasova's minutes, so they traded Ilyasova at top of his value. Monroe is an upgrade over Pachulia and Henson at center. Even if Detroit wins on money, Bucks win on fit and talent.

And I humbly suggest the interior defense won't be so bad either. Bucks were a plus last season on defense, and with all those octopi on the perimeter, it's going to be tough to get the ball inside in the first place. I like everything Milwaukee has done so far. (Sixers, are you taking notes?)

[Mabdul Doobakus]

And according to David Aldridge, Riley and LaMarcus ARE meeting this afternoon in LA, after a second Lakers meeting. No idea what Riley is doing here, but per everyone on Twitter, some kind of sign-and-trade would be the only way to make this work. I've seen Deng, McRoberts, and Whiteside mentioned as possible trade bait. Don't know enough about LaMarcus to say how I feel about dealing Whiteside for him.

Anyway, all of this seems like a long shot.

[CDu]

And according to David Aldridge, Riley and LaMarcus ARE meeting this afternoon in LA, after a second Lakers meeting. No idea what Riley is doing here, but per everyone on Twitter, some kind of sign-and-trade would be the only way to make this work. I've seen Deng, McRoberts, and Whiteside mentioned as possible trade bait. Don't know enough about LaMarcus to say how I feel about dealing Whiteside for him.

Anyway, all of this seems like a long shot.

I can't see why Aldridge would prefer a sign and trade that strips down Miami's roster over going straight to a better team anyway (San Antonio) and also without needing the trade.

[Edouble]

I can't see why Aldridge would prefer a sign and trade that strips down Miami's roster over going straight to a better team anyway (San Antonio) and also without needing the trade.

Riley might sell Aldridge on a younger front court, possibly present him with a better five year plan than an aging Big 3 + Leonard.

I wonder if the Heat front office could possibly convince Wade to take less money again, if they get Aldridge.

[Turk]

[From NBA Draft thread - figured the offseason moves go better here...]


Great trade for the 76ers, if they actually want to get better. Landry and Thompson are both decent bench pieces who can contribute for 15-20 minutes a game. The problem is they are each going to get paid $13+mil over the next 2 years and the Kings want to use that money to bring in someone like Rondo or Wes Mathews. Stauskas didn't do much as a rookie, but is still young and promising. The 76ers also got the right to swap first rounders with the Kings for 2 season, so, if the 76ers suddenly get good or (more likely) if the Kings suddenly tumble far down in the West, the 76ers could get a better pick out of it. That's how the Hawks moved from 29th to 15th in the most recent draft, in a swap with the Nets.

-Jason "it is painful to watch, but from a strategic standpoint I think the 76ers have made some smart moves lately. When will they be ready to try to win though?" Evans

I love this move too. Sixers have been acquiring cap space for exactly these types of desperation moves by struggling mediocre teams trying to squeak into the playoffs or placate a grumpy all-star like Boogie. The Sixers gave up less than nothing for this move with the two Euro-stash guys. With the chance to swap first-round picks, all Sam Hinkie has to do to win this deal is make sure that the Sixers will be better than the Kings within two or three seasons. I'll take that bet against Sacramento any time. And for those Sixer fans who can't quite bring themselves to partake of whatever it is Magic Sam is smoking to believe in the current roster incarnation of his "vision", I believe most of them would rather take their chances with Hinkie for another season or two, and would not trade places with Sacramento under any circumstance.

As for the actual players, anything Landry or Thompson can provide will be a bonus. Thompson is a Camden kid, so he has that going for him, and he can be additional insurance in case Embiid winds up like Greg Oden. To me, the worst case is that some of the surplus PF's and centers get flipped for a few more second round scratch-off tickets in 2018-19 or 2019-20. Any asset is better than nothing, right?

So the biggest unknown is Stauskas. I must confess he had me hooked at "Sauce Castillo". Sauce steps into a big gaping hole in the Sixers lineup as a shooting guard, among such luminaries as Tony Wroten, Hollis Thompson, JaKarr Sampson, and the arthritic Jason Richardson. I like Sauce's chances here, especially when you consider he had three coaches in Sacramento last year, and he gets the chance for some consistency with Brett Brown.

There are only two ways the Sixers lose on this deal: one of the Euro-stash guys turns into a legitimate NBA starter (I say no), or if Sacramento can outmaneuver the Sixers so that they don't swap picks (and if Rondo or Wes Matthews are how they plan to achieve that, I say no to that too).

[Mabdul Doobakus]

I can't see why Aldridge would prefer a sign and trade that strips down Miami's roster over going straight to a better team anyway (San Antonio) and also without needing the trade.

Yeah, you may be right. But it's easier to ascend in the East than it is the West, as the 2014-15 Spurs can surely attest.

Aldridge would first need to decide that he wanted to join the Heat, and then the Heat would have to find something agreeable for the Trailblazers, but the Blazers wouldn't really be in position to make big demands. Either Aldridge signs as an FA somewhere and Portland gets nothing, or they figure out a sign and trade, and Portland at least gets something. If I'm Miami, and Portland insists on either Winslow or Whiteside, I say no.

Again I haven't seen much of Aldridge, but I get the feeling that he and Bosh have fairly similar skill sets, so I'm not sure how much he even makes sense for Miami, if it means Miami has to give up a lot. In fact, I'm not sure Deng and McRoberts aren't better compliments to the existing talent than Aldridge is.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Riley might sell Aldridge on a younger front court, possibly present him with a better five year plan than an aging Big 3 + Leonard.

I wonder if the Heat front office could possibly convince Wade to take less money again, if they get Aldridge.

I'm not sure how much any of this affects the Wade situation. The beat writers on Twitter suggest that the two have little to do with each other. Even if Wade leaves, it doesn't mean the Heat have more money to spend on Aldridge. I think they'd be over the cap or at least close to it anyway. It all has to do with Bird Rights and confusing salary cap rules.

[Kedsy]

Lakers should be in a good position in the lottery in next year's draft and Kobe's contract is up. If they stink up Staples then maybe Jim Buss will leave. Ryan Kelly may get lots of PT.

The Laker's pick in next year's draft belongs to the 76ers, unless it's top 3.

[Kedsy]

[From NBA Draft thread - figured the offseason moves go better here...]



I love this move too. Sixers have been acquiring cap space for exactly these types of desperation moves by struggling mediocre teams trying to squeak into the playoffs or placate a grumpy all-star like Boogie. The Sixers gave up less than nothing for this move with the two Euro-stash guys. With the chance to swap first-round picks, all Sam Hinkie has to do to win this deal is make sure that the Sixers will be better than the Kings within two or three seasons. I'll take that bet against Sacramento any time. And for those Sixer fans who can't quite bring themselves to partake of whatever it is Magic Sam is smoking to believe in the current roster incarnation of his "vision", I believe most of them would rather take their chances with Hinkie for another season or two, and would not trade places with Sacramento under any circumstance.

As for the actual players, anything Landry or Thompson can provide will be a bonus. Thompson is a Camden kid, so he has that going for him, and he can be additional insurance in case Embiid winds up like Greg Oden. To me, the worst case is that some of the surplus PF's and centers get flipped for a few more second round scratch-off tickets in 2018-19 or 2019-20. Any asset is better than nothing, right?

So the biggest unknown is Stauskas. I must confess he had me hooked at "Sauce Castillo". Sauce steps into a big gaping hole in the Sixers lineup as a shooting guard, among such luminaries as Tony Wroten, Hollis Thompson, JaKarr Sampson, and the arthritic Jason Richardson. I like Sauce's chances here, especially when you consider he had three coaches in Sacramento last year, and he gets the chance for some consistency with Brett Brown.

There are only two ways the Sixers lose on this deal: one of the Euro-stash guys turns into a legitimate NBA starter (I say no), or if Sacramento can outmaneuver the Sixers so that they don't swap picks (and if Rondo or Wes Matthews are how they plan to achieve that, I say no to that too).

Pretty sure the Sixers got a top 10-protected first round pick in this deal, too. In 2018 or 2019. Makes the deal even better.

[Turk]

The Laker's pick in next year's draft belongs to the 76ers, unless it's top 3.

Beat me to it. So the Sixers are free to win as many games as they can this year and it won't hurt them; Lakers are bad but they won't be one of the three worst.

Magic Sam for the win!! Anybody else want some of this funny-tasting purple Kool-Aid?

[Kedsy]

So the Sixers are free to win as many games as they can this year and it won't hurt them

Well, the Sixers still have their own pick too, right? If they end up in the bottom three and the Lakers pick is, say, 5th, then that combined with Miami's (top 10-protected) and Oklahoma City's (top 15-protected) picks would give the Sixers a pretty decent haul in the 2016 Draft.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Wade deal is done. 1 year, 20 million. Seems like a good compromise for both parties. Heat maintain some flexibility in 2016 (which is good for Wade too, if he wants to win...Heat aren't going to completely screw him), Wade gets a little more money than he would've had he opted in.

Supposedly this deal had to happen BEFORE any kind of Aldridge sign-and-trade, which I'm sure is still a longshot.

[BD80]

... I know the Russell instead of Okafor pick is not confirmed as a bad deal, but if they don't wind up with Aldridge, it's going to guarantee that the Lakers will be in next yea4r's lottery -- even with Kobe back near healthy.

Can you imagine playing with Kobe on a team that wins less than one-third of its games? Ouch.


Who are the interior defenders if everyone is 6'9" or taller?


I beg to differ. Ilyasova is a 4, Monroe is a 5. Jabari will eat into Ilyasova's minutes, so they traded Ilyasova at top of his value. Monroe is an upgrade over Pachulia and Henson at center. Even if Detroit wins on money, Bucks win on fit and talent.

And I humbly suggest the interior defense won't be so bad either. Bucks were a plus last season on defense, and with all those octopi on the perimeter, it's going to be tough to get the ball inside in the first place. I like everything Milwaukee has done so far. (Sixers, are you taking notes?)

Hopefully, the "trade" is a win/win, as Monroe was not a fit with Andre Drummond. It is definitely a win for the Pistons.

Offensively, Monroe and Jabari will mesh beautifully, particularly with the perimeter players having the length to make direct entry passes. Monroe is really good at finding cutters with crisp passes for easy baskets.

Defensively, all the perimeter length in the world won't help bail Parker or Monroe out once they are out of position on the block. They will each pick up fouls at a brisk pace against teams with adept post scorers.


Well, the Sixers still have their own pick too, right? If they end up in the bottom three and the Lakers pick is, say, 5th, then that combined with Miami's (top 10-protected) and Oklahoma City's (top 15-protected) picks would give the Sixers a pretty decent haul in the 2016 Draft.

If only the 2016 draft had the talent the 2015 draft had. There is a reason teams were willing to trade 1st round picks in next year's draft.

[Turk]

Well, the Sixers still have their own pick too, right? If they end up in the bottom three and the Lakers pick is, say, 5th, then that combined with Miami's (top 10-protected) and Oklahoma City's (top 15-protected) picks would give the Sixers a pretty decent haul in the 2016 Draft.

Forgot about the OKC pick - too many to keep straight. Yes, the Sixers still have their own 1st rounder. I'm thinking the Lakers might wind up in the bottom 3 and keep the pick, though. Miami and OKC should be in the playoffs, so I'm guessing the Sixers will most likely have 3 first rounders next year: their own (top 10), and two in the 18-25 range.

I found the site below that summarizes the pick situation for all teams (needs to be updated for this week's deals). I giggled at the "credits" and "debits" column titles, but after a while, the pick conditions and trade histories were so complicated my head started hurting. With the exception of the 2016 protected picks that could slip to the next season, the Sixers have ZERO extra picks in 2017. How did Magic Sam let that happen?!? I presume he will be addressing that shortcoming in the next round of moves...

http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed

[Kedsy]

There is a reason teams were willing to trade 1st round picks in next year's draft.

Perhaps, but I don't think so. All three draft picks were originally 2015 picks, but the teams that traded them were protected (Lakers top 5; Heat top 10; Thunder top 18; and before the season all three of those teams seemed likely to finish better than the protection level). In other words all three picks almost went to the Sixers this season. So I don't think the teams trading the draft picks had the intent you attribute to them, though I suppose it's possible they all tanked a little toward the end of the season to avoid losing the picks.

[BD80]

The Pistons were the beneficiary of a salary dump by the Suns who are trying to clear cap space for Aldridge.

Pistons got Marcus (the lesser twin) Morris, Reggie Boolock, and Danny Granger. Morris is penciled in as starting SF. Bullock will fight for a roster spot. Granger is expected to be waived.

What happened to Danny Granger? I remember him as an All-Star and Team USA player. I knew he had injury issues and lost his spot on the Pacers to Paul George, but I didn't realize he had hit bottom - being waived by the Pistons?

His agent is apparently reporting that Danny is as healthy as he has been in years.

My first reaction was excitement at the prospect of Granger, but does he have anything left in the tank?

[CDu]

The Pistons were the beneficiary of a salary dump by the Suns who are trying to clear cap space for Aldridge.

Pistons got Marcus (the lesser twin) Morris, Reggie Boolock, and Danny Granger. Morris is penciled in as starting SF. Bullock will fight for a roster spot. Granger is expected to be waived.

What happened to Danny Granger? I remember him as an All-Star and Team USA player. I knew he had injury issues and lost his spot on the Pacers to Paul George, but I didn't realize he had hit bottom - being waived by the Pistons?

His agent is apparently reporting that Danny is as healthy as he has been in years.

My first reaction was excitement at the prospect of Granger, but does he have anything left in the tank?

He had/has a degenerative knee condition that has plagued him for a while now. Hard to see him returning to form. If he IS healthy (though I suspect that is lip service by the agent), he is steal for someone. But I think that's unlikely.

[Edouble]

Wesley Matthews and now DeAndre Jordan headed to Dallas.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/deandre-jordan-spurns-the-los-angeles-clippers-to-join-the-dallas-mavericks-204614460.html;_ylt=A0LEVyQAF5dV3TgAPShXNyoA;_ylu= X3oDMTEyYmZ1ZmJzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjAzOT ZfMQRzZWMDc2M-

Jordan to sign for 4 years for $80 million.

[BD80]

Wesley Matthews and now DeAndre Jordan headed to Dallas.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/deandre-jordan-spurns-the-los-angeles-clippers-to-join-the-dallas-mavericks-204614460.html;_ylt=A0LEVyQAF5dV3TgAPShXNyoA;_ylu= X3oDMTEyYmZ1ZmJzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjAzOT ZfMQRzZWMDc2M-

Jordan to sign for 4 years for $80 million.

This places the Clips ahead of the Lakers in losing free agency. Having used the mid level exemption to sign Paul Pierce, the Clips no longer have a starting center and only have the league minimum to get one. Word is Jordan did not get along with Chris Paul.

Bad summer for LA basketball.

Think Pierce is happy he picked the Clippers? Maybe he can play center.

[dukelifer]

This places the Clips ahead of the Lakers in losing free agency. Having used the mid level exemption to sign Paul Pierce, the Clips no longer have a starting center and only have the league minimum to get one. Word is Jordan did not get along with Chris Paul.

Bad summer for LA basketball.

Think Pierce is happy he picked the Clippers? Maybe he can play center.

Didn't Golden State show that you don't need a Center to win. Seriously, Jordan was a weapon and will limit what they can do. Not a lot of quality big men out there.

[JasonEvans]

Here's a fairly good SB Nation article titled: "The Clippers are Screwed." (http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/7/3/8890583/the-clippers-are-screwed) It looks at how this happened and the very few options the Clippers have to fix the situation.


The Clippers have nobody to blame but themselves for this predicament. Jordan is a good player that's worth his contract, but smart teams prepare themselves so the cupboard isn't this bare if he leaves. If Rivers and his predecessors managed the back end of the roster more effectively over the years, they would have been in a position to recover from Jordan's departure.

Instead, Jordan's off to Dallas and the Clippers are screwed.

I'm not sure I completely agree with the author. We have seen plenty of teams succeed by going small and the Clippers certainly have the personnel to play a mostly perimeter game. Heck, I think a lineup of Paul, Reddick/Crawford, Lance Stephenson, Pierce, and Griffin is pretty imposing. I'd hate to be an opposing big man chasing Pierce or Griffin around and we know Stephenson can play some fierce D when he feels like it. My bet is that the Clips get a decent big man to sign a one year deal for the NBA minimum with a wink-wink promise to reward him with a bigger contract when there is cap room next year.

Does everyone forget how woefully bad Jordan was at the FT line. Part of the strategy for beating the Clips was to make Jordan shoot FTs. He played 34 minutes per game last season. Were the Clippers some kind of terrible, utterly impotent team for the 14 minutes he was not on the floor? I don't remember it that way.

Look, I'm not saying this is addition by subtraction, but I also don't think the Clippers are suddenly going to stink.

-Jason "by the way, unless I missed a signing, Dallas may have the worst guards in the NBA next season... and I'm including the Knicks and 76ers in that comparison" Evans

[sagegrouse]

Here's a fairly good SB Nation article titled: "The Clippers are Screwed." (http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/7/3/8890583/the-clippers-are-screwed) It looks at how this happened and the very few options the Clippers have to fix the situation.



I'm not sure I completely agree with the author. We have seen plenty of teams succeed by going small and the Clippers certainly have the personnel to play a mostly perimeter game. Heck, I think a lineup of Paul, Reddick/Crawford, Lance Stephenson, Pierce, and Griffin is pretty imposing. I'd hate to be an opposing big man chasing Pierce or Griffin around and we know Stephenson can play some fierce D when he feels like it. My bet is that the Clips get a decent big man to sign a one year deal for the NBA minimum with a wink-wink promise to reward him with a bigger contract when there is cap room next year.

Does everyone forget how woefully bad Jordan was at the FT line. Part of the strategy for beating the Clips was to make Jordan shoot FTs. He played 34 minutes per game last season. Were the Clippers some kind of terrible, utterly impotent team for the 14 minutes he was not on the floor? I don't remember it that way.

Look, I'm not saying this is addition by subtraction, but I also don't think the Clippers are suddenly going to stink.

-Jason "by the way, unless I missed a signing, Dallas may have the worst guards in the NBA next season... and I'm including the Knicks and 76ers in that comparison" Evans

Looks like Donald Sterling, who blocked recruiting reserves who cost money, gets the last laugh.

[JasonEvans]

-Jason "by the way, unless I missed a signing, Dallas may have the worst guards in the NBA next season... and I'm including the Knicks and 76ers in that comparison" Evans

Forgot about the Wes Matthews signing. So, uhhh, nevermind. Will be interesting to see if Dallas can be one of the best teams in the NBA with probably the worst PGs in the league.

-Jason "Jordan is worth it for his D and rebounding, but he thinks Dallas is going to make him a featured player on offense... and that's kinda laughable" Evans

[BD80]

...

-Jason "Jordan is worth it for his D and rebounding, but he thinks Dallas is going to make him a featured player on offense... and that's kinda laughable" Evans

carolina tells recruits there will be no NCAA sanctions

calipari says it is not about him ...

[camion]

carolina tells recruits there will be no NCAA sanctions

calipari says it is not about him ...

I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles,
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.


Still true (not crazy) after all of these years. People do hear what they want to hear.

[Troublemaker]

Here's a fairly good SB Nation article titled: "The Clippers are Screwed." (http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/7/3/8890583/the-clippers-are-screwed) It looks at how this happened and the very few options the Clippers have to fix the situation.

I'm not sure I completely agree with the author. We have seen plenty of teams succeed by going small and the Clippers certainly have the personnel to play a mostly perimeter game. Heck, I think a lineup of Paul, Reddick/Crawford, Lance Stephenson, Pierce, and Griffin is pretty imposing. I'd hate to be an opposing big man chasing Pierce or Griffin around and we know Stephenson can play some fierce D when he feels like it. My bet is that the Clips get a decent big man to sign a one year deal for the NBA minimum with a wink-wink promise to reward him with a bigger contract when there is cap room next year.

I agree with you that they should still be a playoff team. I've also seen conflicting reports about whether it's possible for them to do a 3-way sign-and-trade with the Mavs and Pacers, which would consist of: DeAndre to Mavs, Monta Ellis to Pacers, and Roy Hibbert to Clippers.

If they can pull off Hibbert, and if Doc can coax better play out of Hibbert, who is only 28 years old, I think the Clips will only slide from being a top-5 team in the NBA to being around 7th-best. Without a decent replacement for Jordan, I think you have to knock them down a few more spots to like 10th, which would mean being a 6-to-8 seed in the loaded West. They need a decent center. I like your smallball idea but they need to limit that to about 15-20 minutes a game or Griffin will wear down playing too many minutes at center.

[CDu]

Aldridge returns home to Texas and signs with the Spurs. The balance of power in the West has shifted. With OKC presumably getting healthy again and the Spurs making a substantial upgrade inside alongside Duncan, it'll be an interesting battle at the top. Houston and the Clippers just took a big step backwards.

[NashvilleDevil]

Aldridge returns home to Texas and signs with the Spurs. The balance of power in the West has shifted. With OKC presumably getting healthy again and the Spurs making a substantial upgrade inside alongside Duncan, it'll be an interesting battle at the top. Houston and the Clippers just took a big step backwards.

Lakers sort of blew it this off season. Drafting Russell and then losing on every free agent that mattered. I think someone mentioned that they may trade Russell for Cousins. That would be high comedy.

[BD80]

Aldridge returns home to Texas and signs with the Spurs. The balance of power in the West has shifted. With OKC presumably getting healthy again and the Spurs making a substantial upgrade inside alongside Duncan, it'll be an interesting battle at the top. Houston and the Clippers just took a big step backwards.

The SW road trips for NBA teams are going to be brutal: Dallas, SA, OKC, Houston.

[Olympic Fan]

Lakers sort of blew it this off season. Drafting Russell and then losing on every free agent that mattered. I think someone mentioned that they may trade Russell for Cousins. That would be high comedy.

That was my point on draft night -- the Russell-over-Okafor pick only made sense if (1) the Lakers were going to sign a premier post player (Aldridge, Lose, Jordan ...) or (2) Russell turns out to be a superstar -- a much better player than Okafor.

The first gamble has now failed. As for the second, we'll see -- but I very much doubt that Russell is a better NBA player than Big O. If it turns out that they are comparable, the Lakers would have been much better off with Okafor ... and if Okafor is better -- then fire Mitch Kupchak.

As for a trade, it will be interesting to see ... everything I read suggests that the Cousins trade is dead, but who has an excess of big men and a willingness to accumulate future draft picks? How about some future picks to Philadelphia for Noel or that big guy the Lakers passed on draft night?

[Edouble]

Aldridge returns home to Texas and signs with the Spurs. The balance of power in the West has shifted. With OKC presumably getting healthy again and the Spurs making a substantial upgrade inside alongside Duncan, it'll be an interesting battle at the top. Houston and the Clippers just took a big step backwards.

Drumroll... despite the last few crazy days + the draft, this is pretty much the only news that matters. Unless there are injuries, it will be Cleveland and San Antonio playing for the championship in June.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Drumroll... despite the last few crazy days + the draft, this is pretty much the only news that matters. Unless there are injuries, it will be Cleveland and San Antonio playing for the championship in June.

I agree that as long as Lebron is healthy, Cleveland should be in the Finals. I'm not as sure about San Antonio. They may very well be the favorite, but we've been waiting for years for the "big three" of Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan to finally hit a wall, age wise. Parker is only 33, but he didn't look like himself during parts of last season, and his numbers have fallen a bit the last couple of years. Maybe that's all just a blip, maybe the falling numbers have nothing to do with his skills, but maybe they do. Ginobili will be 38 and Duncan 39. Maybe Duncan will never age, maybe this will finally be the year. Of course, a rising Kawhi Leonard and the addition of Aldridge should offset any decline from those other guys, but still, the West is the West, and given that they lost in the first round this year with a relatively healthy squad, I wouldn't necessarily punch their ticket to the Finals just yet. The Warriors should be just as good this year. If Durant comes back healthy, OKC will have the best two players on the floor in almost every game they play.

[NashvilleDevil]

It is being reported that the Lakers are close to signing Roy Hibbert. If Hibbert regains the form from a two-three years ago than this is not a terrible signing. But considering the players that some were talking about being in the mix for the Lakers this has to be a major let down.

[Neals384]

As for a trade, it will be interesting to see ... everything I read suggests that the Cousins trade is dead, but who has an excess of big men and a willingness to accumulate future draft picks? How about some future picks to Philadelphia for Noel or that big guy the Lakers passed on draft night?

Now that the Lakers have misfired on Aldridge, the 76ers are in a stronger position to bargain harder before giving the Lakers a big.

[Indoor66]

Now that the Lakers have misfired on Aldridge, the 76ers are in a stronger position to bargain harder before giving the Lakers a big.

Did the Embid value go up?

[theAlaskanBear]

I'm still pretty shocked DeAndre Jordan left the Clippers. They were a very good team last year and looked to be even better this year with Stephenson and Pierce. The Dallas team was full of disruption this past year (mostly due to rondo ok) but they lost their guard playmaker in Monta Ellis too. Wes Mathews is a nice pick up but he won't create for you. Are they really counting on Parsons are playing point forward? Carlisle is a great coach, but aging Dirk, parsons, Mathews, deandre Jordan....not sure the fit is there.

[Olympic Fan]

I'm still pretty shocked DeAndre Jordan left the Clippers. They were a very good team last year and looked to be even better this year with Stephenson and Pierce. The Dallas team was full of disruption this past year (mostly due to rondo ok) but they lost their guard playmaker in Monta Ellis too. Wes Mathews is a nice pick up but he won't create for you. Are they really counting on Parsons are playing point forward? Carlisle is a great coach, but aging Dirk, parsons, Mathews, deandre Jordan....not sure the fit is there.

A fair assessment for the two teams, especially the Mavs. Obviously, Jordan would have had a much better chance to win a title with the Clips than the Mavs as things currently stand.

But it points out that for a lot of players, winning isn't the first priority. It reminds me of Melo's decision to take the extra money from the Knicks rather than to go to a team that he might have made a champion (perhaps the Bulls). It also makes you appreciate those players who make contract decisions based on increasing their chance for winning -- Dwayne Wade comes to mind.

I don't know what Jordan's motivation was -- his dislike of Chris Paul, his desire to be a bigger part of the offense, more money? -- but winning was clearly not on his radar screen.

PS In response to Indoor66's query ... Embid's value doesn't change until he proves he can actually get on the court. He sat out last season with an injury and he's reportedly out next season with the same injury. I'd say that that right now, he has little or no trade value.

[Turk]

Did the Embid value go up?

No, it's still zero. Sixers will insist on shares of stock in the orthotics company used by the destination team, and will throw in all its unsold Andrew Bynum logowear and the name of its Lloyds of London insurance agent. That's about the best deal anyone can get until Embiid plays basketball against human beings.

[Neals384]

Did the Embid value go up?

No, but anything else the Lakers want from the 76ers, or any other team, will cost them more now that everyone knows they are desperate. Basic economics.

[JasonEvans]

The Lakers have also signed former Celtic big man Brandon Bass. That, along with the return of Randle from injury, probably severely limits opportunities for Ryan Kelly to get minutes.

Meanwhile, now that the Lakers have landed highly-regarded free agents Bass and Hibbert, they are surely playoff bound, right?

-Jason "bwahahahahaha!" Evans

[COYS]

Meanwhile, now that the Lakers have landed highly-regarded free agents Bass and Hibbert, they are surely playoff bound, right?

-Jason "bwahahahahaha!" Evans

Haha, so true. The biggest irony here is that if the Lakers cooled on Jahlil because of a fear of his lack of mobility defending pick and rolls, they ended up with two guys in Hibbert and Bass who move like they have concrete shoes on their feet.

Ryan might face some challenges to playing time, but you gotta think he's actually got a shot at winning minutes. Neither Hibbert nor Bass can stretch the floor. Hibbert is a terrible rebounder, and Bass is aging. Ryan hasn't exactly set the league on fire or anything, but he's younger (still only 24) and presumably still has a little developing to do.

[Skitzle]

Haha, so true. The biggest irony here is that if the Lakers cooled on Jahlil because of a fear of his lack of mobility defending pick and rolls, they ended up with two guys in Hibbert and Bass who move like they have concrete shoes on their feet.

Ryan might face some challenges to playing time, but you gotta think he's actually got a shot at winning minutes. Neither Hibbert nor Bass can stretch the floor. Hibbert is a terrible rebounder, and Bass is aging. Ryan hasn't exactly set the league on fire or anything, but he's younger (still only 24) and presumably still has a little developing to do.

Ryan might get traded to clear cap space. With the Jeremy Lin signing on the horizon. I'd love to see a Lin + Kelly Sign and trade so that Ryan had a chance to play Little Dirk on the Mavs.

Being on the right team matters A LOT. It's why Cousins's development is so much more impressive (he did it with no one around him).

For KAT, having Garnett Matters
For Russell, having Bryant Matters (if Bryant cares)
For Winslow, Deng and Wade Matter
JAH has no one.. this makes me sad
I was excited about Zinger till he went to the Knicks to die.

[CDu]

Ryan might get traded to clear cap space. With the Jeremy Lin signing on the horizon. I'd love to see a Lin + Kelly Sign and trade so that Ryan had a chance to play Little Dirk on the Mavs.

Being on the right team matters A LOT. It's why Cousins's development is so much more impressive (he did it with no one around him).

For KAT, having Garnett Matters
For Russell, having Bryant Matters (if Bryant cares)
For Winslow, Deng and Wade Matter
JAH has no one.. this makes me sad
I was excited about Zinger till he went to the Knicks to die.

Given that Kelly's contract is for just a little over the league minimum (meaning basically no savings in a trade), that LA has cap space, and that pretty much all of the big name guys are now off the market anyway, I can't imagine that Kelly would be traded for cap space.

[Skitzle]

Given that Kelly's contract is for just a little over the league minimum (meaning basically no savings in a trade), that LA has cap space, and that pretty much all of the big name guys are now off the market anyway, I can't imagine that Kelly would be traded for cap space.

I don't make the rumors just repeat them

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--lakers-to-sign-brandon-bass--could-trade-nick-young-003359688.html

[CDu]

I don't make the rumors just repeat them

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--lakers-to-sign-brandon-bass--could-trade-nick-young-003359688.html

Ah, I see. There appear to be two different things going on in that article:
- looking to trade Nick Young for cap space to sign Brandon Bass
- potentially moving Kelly and Sacre

Just for clarity though, Kelly ($1.7 million) makes less than a million more than the minimum and Sacre makes the veteran's minimum. As such, neither has hardly any (Kelly has barely any; Sacre has literally none) value in a "trade to clear cap space" sense, because they would have to be at least replaced by guys at the minimum anyway. So either that article is (a) poorly informed about the salary cap, (b) just saying that those guys are now expendable and thus LA wants to trade them, or (c) just wild speculation.

[sagegrouse]

I don't make the rumors just repeat them

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--lakers-to-sign-brandon-bass--could-trade-nick-young-003359688.html

Clearly, you are not performing to your full potential in the Age of the Internet!

[pfrduke]

Aldridge returns home to Texas and signs with the Spurs. The balance of power in the West has shifted. With OKC presumably getting healthy again and the Spurs making a substantial upgrade inside alongside Duncan, it'll be an interesting battle at the top. Houston and the Clippers just took a big step backwards.

And having now signed David West (for the $1.5m veterans minimum, otherwise known as about 12.5% of what the Pacers offered), the Spurs have spent the offseason replacing Tiago Splitter and Aron Baynes with LaMarcus Aldridge and David West. That's just a tiny bit of an upgrade.

[CDu]

And having now signed David West (for the $1.5m veterans minimum, otherwise known as about 12.5% of what the Pacers offered), the Spurs have spent the offseason replacing Tiago Splitter and Aron Baynes with LaMarcus Aldridge and David West. That's just a tiny bit of an upgrade.

A frontcourt rotation of Duncan, Aldridge, West, and Diaw. Wings Leonard, Green, Ginobili. PGs Parker and Mills. Decent squad.

[pfrduke]

A frontcourt rotation of Duncan, Aldridge, West, and Diaw. Wings Leonard, Green, Ginobili. PGs Parker and Mills. Decent squad.

This is potentially the weak link - they really need Ginobili insurance, or else either 1) Leonard and Green are going to have to play a TON, or 2) they're going to play a lot of small two-point lineups with some combination of Parker, Mills, and Cory Joseph. Losing Bellinelli to the Kings makes Kyle Anderson the only backup wing, and he can't even really play the 2. That's the least piece that the Spurs need to take care of in the offseason.

[Billy Dat]

This is potentially the weak link - they really need Ginobili insurance, or else either 1) Leonard and Green are going to have to play a TON, or 2) they're going to play a lot of small two-point lineups with some combination of Parker, Mills, and Cory Joseph. Losing Bellinelli to the Kings makes Kyle Anderson the only backup wing, and he can't even really play the 2. That's the least piece that the Spurs need to take care of in the offseason.

First off, it is really astounding how much $ West turned down to sign with the Spurs. Granted, he has made $88MM in his career, but I believe he opted out of what would have been his highest ever yearly salary. He wants to win.

Maybe Pop is ready to zig while the rest of the league zags with some kind of "big ball" style.

[CDu]

First off, it is really astounding how much $ West turned down to sign with the Spurs. Granted, he has made $88MM in his career, but I believe he opted out of what would have been his highest ever yearly salary. He wants to win.

Maybe Pop is ready to zig while the rest of the league zags with some kind of "big ball" style.

Yeah, that is an amazing get for the Spurs. It's crazy how San Antonio went from a place that could never get free agents to a place where one of the top free agents chooses to go, and where another decent free agent takes the minimum to go there. Amazing what winning will do for a franchise as a destination.


This is potentially the weak link - they really need Ginobili insurance, or else either 1) Leonard and Green are going to have to play a TON, or 2) they're going to play a lot of small two-point lineups with some combination of Parker, Mills, and Cory Joseph. Losing Bellinelli to the Kings makes Kyle Anderson the only backup wing, and he can't even really play the 2. That's the least piece that the Spurs need to take care of in the offseason.

Luckily for them, the wing is the easiest position to fill. I think they are also shaky at ballhandler. Parker is of course still very solid (but aging), and Mills is more of an undersized SG than a PG/playmaker. Ginobili is getting very long in the tooth as a playmaker from SG. The Spurs lost Belinelli, which hurts on the wing, but they also lost Cory Joseph to free agency (he is going to the Raptors), and while they weren't great players they did provide some solid depth.

Green and Leonard will start and will probably lead the team in minutes played. They will need to add another okay PG and SG to the roster to fill things out. And it will presumably have to come at the minimum. But they'll get somebody.

[pfrduke]

Yeah, that is an amazing get for the Spurs. It's crazy how San Antonio went from a place that could never get free agents to a place where one of the top free agents chooses to go, and where another decent free agent takes the minimum to go there. Amazing what winning will do for a franchise as a destination.



Luckily for them, the wing is the easiest position to fill. I think they are also shaky at ballhandler. Parker is of course still very solid (but aging), and Mills is more of an undersized SG than a PG/playmaker. Ginobili is getting very long in the tooth as a playmaker from SG. The Spurs lost Belinelli, which hurts on the wing, but they also lost Cory Joseph to free agency (he is going to the Raptors), and while they weren't great players they did provide some solid depth.

Green and Leonard will start and will probably lead the team in minutes played. They will need to add another okay PG and SG to the roster to fill things out. And it will presumably have to come at the minimum. But they'll get somebody.

Didn't realize that about Joseph.

Just looked over their summer league roster - two guys who may get an immediate chance to stick, if they show well, are Wayne Blackshear and Treveon Graham. They also have a few smaller guards in Will Cherry, Marcus Denmon, Shannon Scott, and Casper Ware.

[JasonEvans]

Didn't realize that about Joseph.

Just looked over their summer league roster - two guys who may get an immediate chance to stick, if they show well, are Wayne Blackshear and Treveon Graham. They also have a few smaller guards in Will Cherry, Marcus Denmon, Shannon Scott, and Casper Ware.

They will have no trouble at all getting a decent veteran wing for the minimum who wants to win a ring. Here are a few possibilities:


Jason Terry has a ring but maybe he wants one more. The money doesn't mean much to him as he has made over $100 mil in his career. Word is he wants to return to the Mavs, but if the Spurs come calling...
Willie Green hasn't made it out of the first round of the playoffs in his career. He's never made big money in the NBA, but signing for the vet minimum would be fine with him and playing for a winner would certainly seem to appear after years of being on mediocre-bad teams.
Gerald Green is probably hoping for a bigger payday after having a nice season with Phoenix, but he might want a playoff run and then hope to sign a bigger deal next year when everyone has more cap room.
Rasual Butler is another older vet who hasn't had much playoff success.
Caron Butler has $80+ mil of career earnings. He's getting long in the tooth, but can still play a bit.
JR Smith almost certainly wants someone to pay him big money, but he's such a basket case I doubt anyone will. I don't think the Cavs really want him back (and they have no bird rights on him so they would have to eat cap space to bring him back). He's certainly not the prototypical Spur kind of player, but the Spurs have a way of fixing even the craziest of players.


If I was a free agent wing, I'd look at the San Antonio situation and think that Parker and especially Ginobli aren't likely to play more than 65 games, which could leave some key minutes available for another wing. It would be a situation I would jump at.

-Jason "I could be wrong and some of these guys are signed, but I think they are all still available" Evans

[Richard Berg]

Spurs blogs seem to be floating a number of former Duke nemesis to fill out our depth. In the Baynes / bruiser slot: Emeka Okafor, Nazr Mohammed, and even Tyler Hansbrough (LOL). In the Bellinelli / wing slot: Ray Allen seems like an obvious target, more of a '13 Heat nemesis than a UConn nemesis at this point, but then some joker brought up Wayne Ellington. I hope they weren't serious -- nice guy, deserves some good luck after last year, but he never did jack in the big league.

The most intriguing option I heard was to lure back Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino for those respective roles during Ginobili's last ride. I doubt Scola is good for much more than hack-a-Jordan anymore, but Delfino could be a legit Marco replacement if his injuries healed as well as his agent claims. His last season (2013) was arguably his best, statistically.

Of course, now we need a new CoJo, too. Steady backup PGs are harder to scrounge in today's free agent market than the above positions. I hear Quinn needs a job...

[Richard Berg]

Of course, as soon as I notice the anti-Duke connections, someone else proposes Boozer. Sorry but nope: Spurs need hard-nosed defense to spell Timmy during the regular season. The league is going small overall, but our division happens to be stacked with true centers: Davis, Howard, Marc Gasol, and now Jordan. We don't need to outscore them at the 5, but we do need bodies to absorb their contact and battle for rebounds. Boozer is, like, the opposite of that.

Maybe Cady Lalanne will be ready -- he rejected Okafor at least 5 times in yesterday's summer league game. If not, I vote for Duncan to give David Robinson a transfusion of those precious bodily fluids.

[sagegrouse]

First off, it is really astounding how much $ West turned down to sign with the Spurs. Granted, he has made $88MM in his career, but I believe he opted out of what would have been his highest ever yearly salary. He wants to win.

Maybe Pop is ready to zig while the rest of the league zags with some kind of "big ball" style.

I suppose David West signed for a year at the minimum with the promise from the Spurs of getting big $$$ the following year or his own expectation that he would get better long-term money under a more generous salary cap.

[Billy Dat]

I suppose David West signed for a year at the minimum with the promise from the Spurs of getting big $$$ the following year or his own expectation that he would get better long-term money under a more generous salary cap.

I think his big contract days are behind him. He'll be 35 when the season starts and is headed into his 13th season. I think this is about trying for that chip!

[Edouble]

I suppose David West signed for a year at the minimum with the promise from the Spurs of getting big $$$ the following year or his own expectation that he would get better long-term money under a more generous salary cap.

I think they promised him a shot at a ring, and I would expect, not much more. If he wanted big money, he could have taken the Pacers deal or shopped himself around a little more. I doubt the Spurs would spend big money on a guy like David West. I think they see Kawaii and Aldridge, with possibly an elite point guard a few years down the road, as their future. I think these are the players that they are going to spend money on: stars in their prime. David West is a role player approaching the end of his career. He's not Draymond Green.

It seems like the Spurs are gonna do what they have the luxury to do as a top contender: sign ringless veterans for rock bottom prices.

[Billy Dat]

This DeAndre Jordan drama is fantastic. For those not following, he apparently is having second thoughts about Dallas and Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and JJ are all meeting in Houston to try and convince him to return. Mark Cuban is supposed to be rushing to Houston to seal the deal. Free agents can't officially sign until tomorrow.

There is a ton of great humor and mockery of this happening on twitter. Chris Paul was famously photographed, sometime in the last few days, on an inflatable being pulled behind a speed boat with DWade, his wife Gabrielle Union and Lebron. He is cutting short that trip to go to Houston and just tweeted out two emojis - a banana and a boat. That was followed by JJ tweeting an emoji of a car (he is driving from Austin to Houston). Classic stuff.

[superdave]

This DeAndre Jordan drama is fantastic. For those not following, he apparently is having second thoughts about Dallas and Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and JJ are all meeting in Houston to try and convince him to return. Mark Cuban is supposed to be rushing to Houston to seal the deal. Free agents can't officially sign until tomorrow.

There is a ton of great humor and mockery of this happening on twitter. Chris Paul was famously photographed, sometime in the last few days, on an inflatable being pulled behind a speed boat with DWade, his wife Gabrielle Union and Lebron. He is cutting short that trip to go to Houston and just tweeted out two emojis - a banana and a boat. That was followed by JJ tweeting an emoji of a car (he is driving from Austin to Houston). Classic stuff.

The Clippers can pay DJ more and add an extra year, right? Chris Paul is a jerk so it might take everything they have.

[flyingdutchdevil]

The Clippers can pay DJ more and add an extra year, right? Chris Paul is a jerk so it might take everything they have.

That's why they brough along Blake Griffin and Redick. Griffin is like Matt Barnes: teammates love him, everyone else in the NBA hates him. Redick is universally loved by teammates and is non-controversial in the NBA to demand any negative attention (this is shocking given his reputation in Duke)

[Duvall]

This DeAndre Jordan drama is fantastic. For those not following, he apparently is having second thoughts about Dallas and Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and JJ are all meeting in Houston to try and convince him to return. Mark Cuban is supposed to be rushing to Houston to seal the deal. Free agents can't officially sign until tomorrow.

There is a ton of great humor and mockery of this happening on twitter. Chris Paul was famously photographed, sometime in the last few days, on an inflatable being pulled behind a speed boat with DWade, his wife Gabrielle Union and Lebron. He is cutting short that trip to go to Houston and just tweeted out two emojis - a banana and a boat. That was followed by JJ tweeting an emoji of a car (he is driving from Austin to Houston). Classic stuff.

When the going gets weird, the weird sign contract extensions. (https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/618939738930724864)

[JasonEvans]

When the going gets weird, the weird sign contract extensions. (https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/618939738930724864)

So, perhaps the best part of all this is that just a couple days ago, Mark Cuban admitted that he was prepared to have Dallas tank (http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2015-07-05/mark-cuban-tanking-denadre-jordan-wesley-matthews-free-agency-dallas-mavericks) the season to get a good draft pick had they not gotten Wes Matthews and DeAndre Jordan in free agency. So, now that it appears they are not getting DeAndre, the Mavs are likely just good enough to sniff around the playoffs but not good enough to really challenge the upper tier of the Western Conference -- which means they can't win a title and they aren't bad enough to get a high draft pick. In other words, doomed to mediocrity... which is just what Cuban was crowing about being about to avoid. Ha!

Anyone want to bet on how many hard, hard fouls are called on the guy guarding DeAndre Jordan when the Mavs face the Clips next season? Whew, it could be a brutal hack-a-DeAndre-athon.

Apparently, the Clippers are currently at DeAndre's house and they literally have the doors barred and the phone off the hook to prevent Cuban from making a last second pitch before DeAndre signs at midnight. CRAZY!!

-Jason "Blake Griffin actually just tweeted a photo (https://twitter.com/blakegriffin32/status/618960135050825729/photo/1)of the door being blocked by a chair to keep anyone from coming inside DeAndre's house" Evans

[BD80]

... Apparently, the Clippers are currently at DeAndre's house and they literally have the doors barred and the phone off the hook to prevent Cuban from making a last second pitch before DeAndre signs at midnight. CRAZY!!

-Jason "Blake Griffin actually just tweeted a photo (https://twitter.com/blakegriffin32/status/618960135050825729/photo/1)of the door being blocked by a chair to keep anyone from coming inside DeAndre's house" Evans

Can't Cuban afford to have himself teleported into Jordan's house?

[JasonEvans]

It is not unprecedented for a free agent to verbally agree to join a team and then change his mind. Turkoglu did it and so did Boozer. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4305310)

-Jason "Boozer's story is a little different -- and he is always cast as a bad guy in it because he did sorta intentionally deceive Cleveland, though they were trying to force him into a deal at an absurd discount to his market value" Evans

[Troublemaker]

Happy for JJ and Doc and probably Austin, too, but he has to be re-signed first.

Clips should be right there with the Spurs, Warriors, and Thunder. Injury luck will play a huge role in sorting those teams out, imo.

[Ichabod Drain]

Happy for JJ and Doc and probably Austin, too, but he has to be re-signed first.

Clips should be right there with the Spurs, Warriors, and Thunder. Injury luck will play a huge role in sorting those teams out, imo.

I started looking into the Austin Rivers situation and found a good article on where he stands right now (http://www.clipsnation.com/2015/7/7/8905023/austin-rivers-doc-chris-paul-los-angeles-clippers-free-agency). Basically the Clippers can offer him 3.1 million for next year but people have said he's received a good amount of interest and could potentially get more money over more years from another team. He's in a pretty good situation in LA right now and may want to pass up a little extra money now to stay with the Clippers and possibly improve his earning potential even more.

[Skitzle]

I started looking into the Austin Rivers situation and found a good article on where he stands right now (http://www.clipsnation.com/2015/7/7/8905023/austin-rivers-doc-chris-paul-los-angeles-clippers-free-agency). Basically the Clippers can offer him 3.1 million for next year but people have said he's received a good amount of interest and could potentially get more money over more years from another team. He's in a pretty good situation in LA right now and may want to pass up a little extra money now to stay with the Clippers and possibly improve his earning potential even more.

This is a strange situation. GM Doc knows EXACTLY how much he has to spend to get his son on the team.

"Dad I got an offer from the ____ for 1.5 Million should I take it?"

[flyingdutchdevil]

It is not unprecedented for a free agent to verbally agree to join a team and then change his mind. Turkoglu did it and so did Boozer. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4305310)

-Jason "Boozer's story is a little different -- and he is always cast as a bad guy in it because he did sorta intentionally deceive Cleveland, though they were trying to force him into a deal at an absurd discount to his market value" Evans

In all fairness, Turkoglu, Boozer, Brand (didn't he do something similar with the Clips/76ers?), and Jordan deserve a significant amount of criticism from fans. A verbal agreement is as good as gold in the NBA, and reneging on it is a huuuuge faux pas. There is a reason that players have agents; agents are intended to be that intermediary between the player and the team.

I'm sure that Austin Rivers is hated by UF fans. When Swanigan goes to MSU, he's gonna get destroyed by the fans. Can you imagine if Okafor/Jones committed to Duke and then decided to go to UNC the day before they signed their LOI? DBR would explode. The Black Pigeon would be Mother Theresa on this board compared to them.

I actually don't mind Jordan's decision because I like the Clippers and I despite Cuban. But I do think that it's poor form to not honor your verbal contract.

[cato]

In all fairness, Turkoglu, Boozer, Brand (didn't he do something similar with the Clips/76ers?), and Jordan deserve a significant amount of criticism from fans. A verbal agreement is as good as gold in the NBA, and reneging on it is a huuuuge faux pas. There is a reason that players have agents; agents are intended to be that intermediary between the player and the team.

I'm sure that Austin Rivers is hated by UF fans. When Swanigan goes to MSU, he's gonna get destroyed by the fans. Can you imagine if Okafor/Jones committed to Duke and then decided to go to UNC the day before they signed their LOI? DBR would explode. The Black Pigeon would be Mother Theresa on this board compared to them.

I actually don't mind Jordan's decision because I like the Clippers and I despite Cuban. But I do think that it's poor form to not honor your verbal contract.

A "verbal" contract is a contract like any other, enforceable absent some overriding evidentiary rule that requires the party enforcing the contract to produce a writing.

Someone who says they will sign an agreement, before they are capable of entering into the agreement, is not entering into a verbal contract. They are "agreeing to agree," which is unenforceable absent special circumstances.

[flyingdutchdevil]

A "verbal" contract is a contract like any other, enforceable absent some overriding evidentiary rule that requires the party enforcing the contract to produce a writing.

Someone who says they will sign an agreement, before they are capable of entering into the agreement, is not entering into a verbal contract. They are "agreeing to agree," which is unenforceable absent special circumstances.

Okay. So I got my semantics wrong. Sorry.

Still doesn't change that what these players did rightfully pisses off fans.

[sagegrouse]

In all fairness, Turkoglu, Boozer, Brand (didn't he do something similar with the Clips/76ers?), and Jordan deserve a significant amount of criticism from fans. A verbal agreement is as good as gold in the NBA, and reneging on it is a huuuuge faux pas. There is a reason that players have agents; agents are intended to be that intermediary between the player and the team.

I'm sure that Austin Rivers is hated by UF fans. When Swanigan goes to MSU, he's gonna get destroyed by the fans. Can you imagine if Okafor/Jones committed to Duke and then decided to go to UNC the day before they signed their LOI? DBR would explode. The Black Pigeon would be Mother Theresa on this board compared to them.

I actually don't mind Jordan's decision because I like the Clippers and I despite Cuban. But I do think that it's poor form to not honor your verbal contract.

I don't have problem with either DeAndre's or Boozer's business decision, but they were very different, and Boozer's -- while totally in line with NBA rules -- was, uh, "highly irregular."

DeAndre just changed his mind and went back to his original team for basically the same money (it wasn't about money). It was an affair of the heart.

The deal for Carlos was a corrupt deal, as conceived, in that he and the Cavs would agree to a cancellation of his contract with the Cavs and then he would re-sign for much more money and a longer period with the Cavs. It was orchestrated between the Cavs and agent Arn Tellem and was totally against the NBA rules. In fact, all present said out loud, in essence, "There is no deal going forward." Only, there was -- except for Carlos. Carlos didn't sign with the Cavs and went to the Jazz for like $65 million versus $45 million. Tellem resigned as his agent because the illegal original agreement wasn't honored. Carlos, who was surely advised by his wife CeCe, a Fuqua MBA, said, "There was a $20 million difference -- that's too much too ignore."

I will let the ethicists among us untangle who, if anyone, was at fault in the Cavs-Boozer affair. Actually, IMHO (where the H is silent) they are all guilty.

Jordan's change of heart was a different matter altogether.

[Duvall]

In all fairness, Turkoglu, Boozer, Brand (didn't he do something similar with the Clips/76ers?), and Jordan deserve a significant amount of criticism from fans. A verbal agreement is as good as gold in the NBA, and reneging on it is a huuuuge faux pas. There is a reason that players have agents; agents are intended to be that intermediary between the player and the team.

I'm sure that Austin Rivers is hated by UF fans. When Swanigan goes to MSU, he's gonna get destroyed by the fans. Can you imagine if Okafor/Jones committed to Duke and then decided to go to UNC the day before they signed their LOI? DBR would explode. The Black Pigeon would be Mother Theresa on this board compared to them.

I mean...okay, but I've never gotten the sense that Duke fans have cared much at all about players like Kris Humphries and Tyler Adams, who actually *did* decommit from Duke.

[JasonEvans]

In all fairness, Turkoglu, Boozer, Brand (didn't he do something similar with the Clips/76ers?), and Jordan deserve a significant amount of criticism from fans. A verbal agreement is as good as gold in the NBA, and reneging on it is a huuuuge faux pas.

I don't think Brand is really the same at all. He had no verbal agreement with the Clippers. Back in 2008, he opted out of the final year of his deal with them and he said it was so the team would have more cap room to sign a free agent and they could then re-sign him (they had his Bird rights). The Clippers promptly signed free agent Baron Davis to a big contract but Brand was being wooed by the Sixers and was looking forward to playing in the weaker East. Brand never had an agreement with the Clips beyond the team being confident they could re-sign him once he opted out.

Turk (and Jordan) were different as they had verbal agreements that they thought twice about and changed their mind. Were it not for the NBA's moratorium on signing contracts, they each would have signed a contract and would not have had the option to go to a different team.

Boozer is a totally different story. Cleveland had him on a really cheap deal as a 2nd round draft pick. They could have paid him just $700k for the 03-04 season. He was a double-double machine, clearly one of the top PFs in the league, and Cleveland had him on a super-cheap team option. But, he was due to become a fully unrestricted free agent after 04-05. Cleveland told him they could opt out of his $700k deal and sign him to a long-term contract of $41 mil over 6 years. The deal was waay below what Boozer could get on the open market as a free agent. He was trading free agent riches in exchange for not having to play that one season at $700k. The Cleveland deal would have paid him about $6 mil for that first season. Boozer agreed to take the Cavs offer of more money now and a lot less money down the road and the Cavs opted out of the option year. Because of the NBA's moratorium, the Cavs and Boozer were not allowed to sign the 6 year extension quite yet.

So, while waiting for the no-signing period to end, the Jazz came to Boozer and offered him $27 million MORE than what Cleveland was offering (6 years, $68 mil). Carlos took it and Cleveland was furious. There was so much fallout that Carlos' management company -- SFX Sports -- terminated their relationship with him and with Rob Pelinka, Carlos' agent. I am convinced that if Cleveland had come up with a deal that was closer to actual market value for Carlos -- maybe $55 or $60 mil over 6 years -- then Boozer would have remained with them. But, Cleveland was greedy and tried to get a real sweetheart deal. It blew up in their face.

How might the NBA be different today if Cleveland had come up with another $10 or $15 million? Carlos would go on to become a 20+ ppg and 10+ rpg stud PF for Utah. He was a 2-time All-Star in 2007 and 2008 (playing in the more competitive Western Conference) and was a 3rd team All-NBA player in 2007. If he had stayed with Cleveland, he would have been doing that for the Cavs. When Carlos left Cleveland, the team was beginning to build around a rookie named Lebron James. How much would Carlos have helped Cleveland in the mid-2000s when James was really their only star? Instead of one of the top PFs in the NBA, James was playing with Drew Gooden, who was ok, but hardly the player Carlos was (Gooden averaged about 10-12 PPG and 8-9 RPG). Do the Cavs make more of a playoff run with Boozer on board? Boozer was a stud in the playoffs for Utah, averaging 20+ PPG and 13+ RPG from 2006-2010.

--Jason "Interesting to think about..." Evans

[superdave]

I don't think Brand is really the same at all. He had no verbal agreement with the Clippers. Back in 2008, he opted out of the final year of his deal with them and he said it was so the team would have more cap room to sign a free agent and they could then re-sign him (they had his Bird rights). The Clippers promptly signed free agent Baron Davis to a big contract but Brand was being wooed by the Sixers and was looking forward to playing in the weaker East. Brand never had an agreement with the Clips beyond the team being confident they could re-sign him once he opted out.


My recollection on Brand was that Baron Davis came to the Clips specifically to play with Brand. The two may have done some film projects together, or at least had mutual interests in the industry.

The first article here is on the he said, she said exit from LA: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/10/sports/sp-clippers10

This article makes brief reference to their film interests: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/07/14/former-clipper-elton-brand-creating-movie-of-2pac/

You guys should get Elton on the podcast and clear this up......

[flyingdutchdevil]

I don't think Brand is really the same at all. He had no verbal agreement with the Clippers. Back in 2008, he opted out of the final year of his deal with them and he said it was so the team would have more cap room to sign a free agent and they could then re-sign him (they had his Bird rights). The Clippers promptly signed free agent Baron Davis to a big contract but Brand was being wooed by the Sixers and was looking forward to playing in the weaker East. Brand never had an agreement with the Clips beyond the team being confident they could re-sign him once he opted out.

Turk (and Jordan) were different as they had verbal agreements that they thought twice about and changed their mind. Were it not for the NBA's moratorium on signing contracts, they each would have signed a contract and would not have had the option to go to a different team.

Boozer is a totally different story. Cleveland had him on a really cheap deal as a 2nd round draft pick. They could have paid him just $700k for the 03-04 season. He was a double-double machine, clearly one of the top PFs in the league, and Cleveland had him on a super-cheap team option. But, he was due to become a fully unrestricted free agent after 04-05. Cleveland told him they could opt out of his $700k deal and sign him to a long-term contract of $41 mil over 6 years. The deal was waay below what Boozer could get on the open market as a free agent. He was trading free agent riches in exchange for not having to play that one season at $700k. The Cleveland deal would have paid him about $6 mil for that first season. Boozer agreed to take the Cavs offer of more money now and a lot less money down the road and the Cavs opted out of the option year. Because of the NBA's moratorium, the Cavs and Boozer were not allowed to sign the 6 year extension quite yet.

So, while waiting for the no-signing period to end, the Jazz came to Boozer and offered him $27 million MORE than what Cleveland was offering (6 years, $68 mil). Carlos took it and Cleveland was furious. There was so much fallout that Carlos' management company -- SFX Sports -- terminated their relationship with him and with Rob Pelinka, Carlos' agent. I am convinced that if Cleveland had come up with a deal that was closer to actual market value for Carlos -- maybe $55 or $60 mil over 6 years -- then Boozer would have remained with them. But, Cleveland was greedy and tried to get a real sweetheart deal. It blew up in their face.

How might the NBA be different today if Cleveland had come up with another $10 or $15 million? Carlos would go on to become a 20+ ppg and 10+ rpg stud PF for Utah. He was a 2-time All-Star in 2007 and 2008 (playing in the more competitive Western Conference) and was a 3rd team All-NBA player in 2007. If he had stayed with Cleveland, he would have been doing that for the Cavs. When Carlos left Cleveland, the team was beginning to build around a rookie named Lebron James. How much would Carlos have helped Cleveland in the mid-2000s when James was really their only star? Instead of one of the top PFs in the NBA, James was playing with Drew Gooden, who was ok, but hardly the player Carlos was (Gooden averaged about 10-12 PPG and 8-9 RPG). Do the Cavs make more of a playoff run with Boozer on board? Boozer was a stud in the playoffs for Utah, averaging 20+ PPG and 13+ RPG from 2006-2010.

--Jason "Interesting to think about..." Evans

Interesting. And I agree but there are a lot of guilty parties. But let's not discount the blame that is put on Boozer. It's not like he was forced to verbally commit to the Cavs with a gun to his head. He had 100% right to refuse the Cavs's deal. IMO, weren't the Cavs trying to get great value at a discounted price? Isn't that good business? Everyone congratulates the Spurs backoffice for getting players on the cheap. Why would we not do the same with the Cavs in this situation?

I think that Boozer's agent is the biggest bonehead in this story. Your goal as an agent is to do what is best for your client, whether that means the most money, the best chance of winning, or where you are happiest. And the agent clearly didn't do that with the Cavs.

[phaedrus]

A "verbal" contract is a contract like any other, enforceable absent some overriding evidentiary rule that requires the party enforcing the contract to produce a writing.



While the statute of frauds has its roots in the rules of evidence, it is really a substantive rule of contract formation. And a contract for services that cannot be performed in less than one year must generally be reduced to writing in order to be enforceable. This, of course, ignores the NBA's own rule that no contracts could be entered until today.

That said, NBA teams and fans can still be pissed off about backing out of a verbal "agreement."

[Duvall]

Cleveland Cavaliers bolster their frontcourt depth with free agent signing. (https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/619190540349927424)

[superdave]

Cleveland Cavaliers bolster their frontcourt depth with free agent signing. (https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/619190540349927424)

This has Lebron 3rd behind Kobe Bean Bryant and Joe Johnson. http://espn.go.com/nba/salaries

Did anyone else leap into that territory during free agency? Or is this list up to date?

[The Gordog]

A "verbal" contract is a contract like any other, enforceable absent some overriding evidentiary rule that requires the party enforcing the contract to produce a writing.

Someone who says they will sign an agreement, before they are capable of entering into the agreement, is not entering into a verbal contract. They are "agreeing to agree," which is unenforceable absent special circumstances.

It's not a contract at all without an exchange of value. Unless the Mavs gave him something in exchange for his agreement, and I have not heard one way or the other if they did, it's not a contract.

[JasonEvans]

This has Lebron 3rd behind Kobe Bean Bryant and Joe Johnson. http://espn.go.com/nba/salaries

Did anyone else leap into that territory during free agency? Or is this list up to date?

Anthony Davis' 5 year, $145 mil extension (the biggest contract in basketball history) does not kick in until 2016-17. That year he will make $25.1 mil. The contract escalates annually until it reaches $32.6 million in 2021. He will be a free agent at that time... and he will only be 27 years old. By the time Anthony Davis retires, it is entirely possible he will have made half a billion dollars from his NBA contracts (not counting endorsement dollars). The Pelicans would be wise to just give him a 25% ownership in the team and pay him the NBA minimum. It would be cheaper.

-Jason "I know, such a deal would probably be illegal under NBA rules, but still..." Evans

[Skitzle]

Anthony Davis' 5 year, $145 mil extension (the biggest contract in basketball history) does not kick in until 2016-17. That year he will make $25.1 mil. The contract escalates annually until it reaches $32.6 million in 2021. He will be a free agent at that time... and he will only be 27 years old. By the time Anthony Davis retires, it is entirely possible he will have made half a billion dollars from his NBA contracts (not counting endorsement dollars). The Pelicans would be wise to just give him a 25% ownership in the team and pay him the NBA minimum. It would be cheaper.

-Jason "I know, such a deal would probably be illegal under NBA rules, but still..." Evans

Until Lebron signs for a 5yr Max Deal with the Cavs next year.

[Duvall]

Tim Duncan agrees to play for the same amount of money that Kyle Singler will be making next year. (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--tim-duncan-signs-one-year---5-million-plus-deal-to-return-to-spurs-193457572.html)

Honestly, Michele Roberts needs to kick his butt for this.

[BD80]

I mean...okay, but I've never gotten the sense that Duke fans have cared much at all about players like Kris Humphries and Tyler Adams, who actually *did* decommit from Duke.

Karma krunched Kris Kardashian.

[BD80]

It's not a contract at all without an exchange of value. Unless the Mavs gave him something in exchange for his agreement, and I have not heard one way or the other if they did, it's not a contract.

Detrimental reliance?

[Bluedog]

Tim Duncan agrees to play for the same amount of money that Kyle Singler will be making next year. (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--tim-duncan-signs-one-year---5-million-plus-deal-to-return-to-spurs-193457572.html)

Honestly, Michele Roberts needs to kick his butt for this.

Wow, Nene Hilario is going to be paid 2.5 times as much as Duncan? Wacky. Seems like Duncan is the one of the very few not completely motivated by who can give him the most money (not that he needs it -- I realize Ray Allen did the same thing going to the Heat). I applaud him.

[Des Esseintes]

Anthony Davis' 5 year, $145 mil extension (the biggest contract in basketball history) does not kick in until 2016-17. That year he will make $25.1 mil. The contract escalates annually until it reaches $32.6 million in 2021. He will be a free agent at that time... and he will only be 27 years old. By the time Anthony Davis retires, it is entirely possible he will have made half a billion dollars from his NBA contracts (not counting endorsement dollars). The Pelicans would be wise to just give him a 25% ownership in the team and pay him the NBA minimum. It would be cheaper.

-Jason "I know, such a deal would probably be illegal under NBA rules, but still..." Evans

No. These contacts tell you just how well NBA ownership is doing. God only knows what 25% of the Pelicans will be worth in 18 years or so when David retires. But... it'll be a LOT.

[JasonEvans]

Tim Duncan agrees to play for the same amount of money that Kyle Singler will be making next year. (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--tim-duncan-signs-one-year---5-million-plus-deal-to-return-to-spurs-193457572.html)

Honestly, Michele Roberts needs to kick his butt for this.

Duncan has only made $234 million from his NBA career (plus at least a hundred more in endorsements, I am sure). He really needs that extra $5 mil.

-Jason "he should have just signed for the vet minimum... $5 mil vs $1 mil minimum is the same to him, I would think" Evans

[NSDukeFan]

Tim Duncan agrees to play for the same amount of money that Kyle Singler will be making next year. (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--tim-duncan-signs-one-year---5-million-plus-deal-to-return-to-spurs-193457572.html)

Honestly, Michele Roberts needs to kick his butt for this.
Kyle Singler is very good at basketball. (I'm assuming he does better than he did in his limited time in OKC so far.). Hopefully, he makes his deal look like a bargain as well.

Wow, Nene Hilario is going to be paid 2.5 times as much as Duncan? Wacky. Seems like Duncan is the one of the very few not completely motivated by who can give him the most money (not that he needs it -- I realize Ray Allen did the same thing going to the Heat). I applaud him.

I bet you $5 million and playing with Aldridge is much more valuable to him right now than $20 million without Aldridge.

[Duvall]

Kyle Singler is very good at basketball. (I'm assuming he does better than he did in his limited time in OKC so far.). Hopefully, he makes his deal look like a bargain as well.

Sure. But Tim Duncan is wrapping up maybe the greatest career for a power forward in league history!


I bet you $5 million and playing with Aldridge is much more valuable to him right now than $20 million without Aldridge.

Couldn't Duncan have let the Spurs sign Aldridge and then demanded that the Spurs go over the cap to sign him for more than $5 million? Instead he let the Spurs off the hook.

[Des Esseintes]

Sure. But Tim Duncan is wrapping up maybe the greatest career for a power forward in league history!



Couldn't Duncan have let the Spurs sign Aldridge and then demanded that the Spurs go over the cap to sign him for more than $5 million? Instead he let the Spurs off the hook.

This. For everyone who says Duncan didn't need another $5 million, please bear in mind that you know who needs that money, like, way less? One of the thirty dudes who owns an NBA franchise. Why should we be cheering when one such oligarch gets an all-time great athlete on a discount?

[toooskies]

This. For everyone who says Duncan didn't need another $5 million, please bear in mind that you know who needs that money, like, way less? One of the thirty dudes who owns an NBA franchise. Why should we be cheering when one such oligarch gets an all-time great athlete on a discount?

Duncan actually needed to sign before Aldridge. Duncan's $5 million contract is $10 million less than his cap hold. I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but Timmy was going to take a pay cut regardless.

[sagegrouse]

A "verbal" contract is a contract like any other, enforceable absent some overriding evidentiary rule that requires the party enforcing the contract to produce a writing.

Someone who says they will sign an agreement, before they are capable of entering into the agreement, is not entering into a verbal contract. They are "agreeing to agree," which is unenforceable absent special circumstances.

Lessee, you are arguing that a "verbal agreement" is enforceable by one of the parties, a player or a franchise, even when it occurs during a period in which the NBA does not allow a contract to be signed. I don't think so, since both players and teams have agreed to live by NBA rules.

[cato]

Okay. So I got my semantics wrong. Sorry.

Still doesn't change that what these players did rightfully pisses off fans.


It's the "rightful" part I disagree with. People are not committed until they are committed. Until then, everything is just pretty noise (or perhaps not even that, in the case of a silent verbal 😏).

Fans, of course, are free to get pissed off, but when there is no contract in place, that anger is misplaced.

[cato]

Lessee, you are arguing that a "verbal agreement" is enforceable by one of the parties, a player or a franchise, even when it occurs during a period in which the NBA does not allow a contract to be signed. I don't think so, since both players and teams have agreed to live by NBA rules.

No. That is the opposite of what I am saying. I am saying that there is only one sort of contract -- an enforceable one. Everything else is akin to a great plan for the next morning hatched after last call.

Anyone who unduly relies on an unenforceable (and, in the Cav's case with Boozer, unpermitted and shady) "agreement" reaps what they sow.

Assuming the worst about Boozer in his negotiations with the Cav's, I applaud him. A rich and entitled man tried to take advantage of him, and he flipped the tables. Don't mess with Los.

[sagegrouse]

No. That is the opposite of what I am saying. I am saying that there is only one sort of contract -- an enforceable one. Everything else is akin to a great plan for the next morning hatched after last call.

Anyone who unduly relies on an unenforceable (and, in the Cav's case with Boozer, unpermitted and shady) "agreement" reaps what they sow.

Assuming the worst about Boozer in his negotiations with the Cav's, I applaud him. A rich and entitled man tried to take advantage of him, and he flipped the tables. Don't mess with Los.

I believe, Mr. Cato, we are in violent agreement. Your points are indeed cogent.

[pfrduke]

JJ spoke with Zach Lowe about DeAndre:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-lowe-post-podcast-j-j-redick-on-the-deandre-jordan-saga-emoji-free-agency-and-more/

[flyingdutchdevil]

Emoji war!!!!!!!!

Paul Pierce is officially my favorite NBA player

[Reilly]

... Everything else is akin to a great plan for the next morning hatched after last call ...

Oh sheesh -- you mean I didn't have to actually follow though and do that?

[JasonEvans]

JJ spoke with Zach Lowe about DeAndre:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-lowe-post-podcast-j-j-redick-on-the-deandre-jordan-saga-emoji-free-agency-and-more/


So I’m like, “All right, I gotta get back to Austin.” [But] I was so amped that I’m following along with Blake [as I drove], I’m like, “Hey, Blake, what’s going on? What’s going on at the house? Blah blah blah.” I was talking to my agent, I called Chelsea, I’m driving, and I’m like, I gotta be getting close to Austin. Like, what the hell? I’ve been driving forever. And so I look down at my phone and I was in San Antonio. I had driven an hour and a half out of the way.

Someone please tell JJ about Waze (https://www.waze.com/).

[sagegrouse]

Someone please tell JJ about Waze (https://www.waze.com/).

Worth a read -- I saw it and was thinking of a J.J. update thread. But, Austin, J.J, why are you living in Austin, Texas?

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Meanwhile, the Heat have signed Gerald Green and Amare Stoudemire to minimum 1 year deals. My guess is Birdman and Chalmers are as good as gone. We'll see what they do with McRoberts, but I still think they'll try to hold on to him. So now your first four off the bench could potentially be Winslow, Green, McRoberts, and Stoudemire, as long as the starting 5 is healthy. That's a much deeper team than the Heat have had in recent years.

[brevity]

J.J, why are you living in Austin, Texas?

JJ Redick believes that the University of Texas needed a reminder (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=253440251).


http://youtu.be/LHOI_tKzR7I

[JasonEvans]

Meanwhile, the Heat have signed Gerald Green and Amare Stoudemire to minimum 1 year deals. My guess is Birdman and Chalmers are as good as gone. We'll see what they do with McRoberts, but I still think they'll try to hold on to him. So now your first four off the bench could potentially be Winslow, Green, McRoberts, and Stoudemire, as long as the starting 5 is healthy. That's a much deeper team than the Heat have had in recent years.

Whoa... how did the Heat get both of these guys for the minimum? They are each very high quality bench players who averaged better than 10 ppg last season. Stoudamire is getting old and has a ton of miles on his tires, I could see him not caring about the money as he has made a mint in his career ($166 million), but Gerald Green is only 29 and is coming off the two best seasons of his career in Phoenix. I would have pegged him for a multi-year deal at $4 or $5 mil a season, at least. I mean, he has to be considered a better player than Kyle Singler right now and Singler just signed a 5-year, $25 mil deal. I would love, love, love for the Hawks to have signed Green for much more than the vet minimum. That Pat Riley sure has a silver tongue!

-Jason "Green could really cut into Winslow's time on the wing -- or Winslow will make Green regret this decision" Evans

[sagegrouse]

Worth a read -- I saw it and was thinking of a J.J. update thread. But, Austin, J.J, why are you living in Austin, Texas?

JJ -- "So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly -- Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movie stars!" You're playing for the Clippers, and Beverly Hills is only 11 miles and 24 minutes away (at least on Saturday AM at 8:42).

[-jk]

Worth a read -- I saw it and was thinking of a J.J. update thread. But, Austin, J.J, why are you living in Austin, Texas?

No state income tax? A lot of 'em live in Fla, too.

-jk

[Mabdul Doobakus]

Whoa... how did the Heat get both of these guys for the minimum? They are each very high quality bench players who averaged better than 10 ppg last season. Stoudamire is getting old and has a ton of miles on his tires, I could see him not caring about the money as he has made a mint in his career ($166 million), but Gerald Green is only 29 and is coming off the two best seasons of his career in Phoenix. I would have pegged him for a multi-year deal at $4 or $5 mil a season, at least. I mean, he has to be considered a better player than Kyle Singler right now and Singler just signed a 5-year, $25 mil deal. I would love, love, love for the Hawks to have signed Green for much more than the vet minimum. That Pat Riley sure has a silver tongue!

-Jason "Green could really cut into Winslow's time on the wing -- or Winslow will make Green regret this decision" Evans

I'm not really sure what other offers these guys had out there. There's always bargains to be had at the end of free agency because no one has any money left, or, generally speaking, that teams that DO have money left are kind of terrible.

Stoudemire has a house in Miami and has always wanted to play there. I think it's like you said...what's another couple million dollars when you've made as much as he has. He's still pretty effective offensively when he plays, so hopefully he can give them a good 20 minutes a game.

Green is the shooter they needed. His skill set is a bit different from Winslow's, so I don't think either will eat into each other's playing time too much. And you know Wade is going to miss some games here and there, so I would guess Green would step into that starting spot. I don't know if he had better offers out there or not, but he is a bargain at that price. I'm willing to bet Dragic had something to do with it since Green had his best season two years ago, playing with Dragic.

[Neals384]

Medford Mail Tribune article offering perspectives on Kyle's resigning and his hopes for the coming year at OKC.

“I’m very happy,” Singler said Monday via telephone. “Once I heard that Oklahoma City was going to offer me, I felt really good about it. I knew that we have a really good team, a very competitive team and a team that we can develop and continue to get better with.”

http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150713/SPORTS/150719843/101041/SPORTS

[Dev11]

JJ spoke with Zach Lowe about DeAndre:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-lowe-post-podcast-j-j-redick-on-the-deandre-jordan-saga-emoji-free-agency-and-more/

Bumped, this interview was a lot of fun. Lowe and JJ have really good rapport. The whole story is ridiculous.

[dukejim1]

Whoa... how did the Heat get both of these guys for the minimum? They are each very high quality bench players who averaged better than 10 ppg last season. Stoudamire is getting old and has a ton of miles on his tires, I could see him not caring about the money as he has made a mint in his career ($166 million), but Gerald Green is only 29 and is coming off the two best seasons of his career in Phoenix. I would have pegged him for a multi-year deal at $4 or $5 mil a season, at least. I mean, he has to be considered a better player than Kyle Singler right now and Singler just signed a 5-year, $25 mil deal. I would love, love, love for the Hawks to have signed Green for much more than the vet minimum. That Pat Riley sure has a silver tongue!

-Jason "Green could really cut into Winslow's time on the wing -- or Winslow will make Green regret this decision" Evans

So have there ever been any allegations that players have been paid "under the table." Greens situation is interesting that at the age of 29 with "only" $17M in career earnings he would accept the minimum.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

So have there ever been any allegations that players have been paid "under the table." Greens situation is interesting that at the age of 29 with "only" $17M in career earnings he would accept the minimum.

Allegations? Probably by the occasional person on Twitter, but I haven't heard anything from anyone reputable. Gerald Green is a decent player but I don't think the Heat would risk some kind of scandal for him. The Timberwolves once lost FIVE first round draft picks and $3.5 million for an underhand agreement with Joe Smith. No thanks.

[CDu]

The Raptors just solved their lack of depth inside by signing... Bismack Biyombo.

[BD80]

The Raptors just solved their lack of depth inside by signing... Bismack Biyombo.

Didn't he get sent down a really long time ago?

I think I was in my 3rd or 4th year of 5th grade.

If I recall, was powerfully built, could launch from long distance (although connected on a low percentage of shots), a force to be reckoned with. Had a large sister.

[Olympic Fan]

Didn't he get sent down a really long time ago?

I think I was in my 3rd or 4th year of 5th grade.

If I recall, was powerfully built, could launch from long distance (although connected on a low percentage of shots), a force to be reckoned with. Had a large sister.

Right description of the guy's game, but wrong perception of the guy.

Bismack turns 23 years old late next month. He just completed his fourth season the NBA, averaging 4.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg in 64 games for the Hornets last season.

[devildeac]

Didn't he get sent down a really long time ago?

I think I was in my 3rd or 4th year of 5th grade.

If I recall, was powerfully built, could launch from long distance (although connected on a low percentage of shots), a force to be reckoned with. Had a large sister.


Right description of the guy's game, but wrong perception of the guy.

Bismack turns 23 years old late next month. He just completed his fourth season the NBA, averaging 4.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg in 64 games for the Hornets last season.

I'm not a mind reader but I think BD80 might have been referring to this in his post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck

Of course, I could be way off Axis here;).

[Merlindevildog91]

I'm not a mind reader but I think BD80 might have been referring to this in his post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck

Of course, I could be way off Axis here;).

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

[jimsumner]

I'm not a mind reader but I think BD80 might have been referring to this in his post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck

Of course, I could be way off Axis here;).

Or we could start riffing on North Dakota. When his shooting is off, he's really cold.

[superdave]

The Cavs still have some work to do, especially signing Tristan Thompson. Here's a good look at where they are: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/73418/four-major-offseason-decisions-left-for-cavs

Thompson averaged about 8 and 8 in the regular season in 25 minutes per. His numbers were down a little with the arrival of Love. A frontcourt rotation of Thompson, Mozgov and Love is pretty formidable. Love stretches the defense and rebounds well. Thompson and Mozgov play downhill on the offensive boards and protect the rim.

The Cavs will likely waive Brendan Haywood to reduce their luxury tax bill. With a healthy lineup, I like their odds of getting back to the Finals.

[jimsumner]

The Cavs will likely waive Brendan Haywood to reduce their luxury tax bill. With a healthy lineup, I like their odds of getting back to the Finals.

Well, that's 119 minutes they'll be hard-pressed to replace.

[toooskies]

The Cavs still have some work to do, especially signing Tristan Thompson. Here's a good look at where they are: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/73418/four-major-offseason-decisions-left-for-cavs

Thompson averaged about 8 and 8 in the regular season in 25 minutes per. His numbers were down a little with the arrival of Love. A frontcourt rotation of Thompson, Mozgov and Love is pretty formidable. Love stretches the defense and rebounds well. Thompson and Mozgov play downhill on the offensive boards and protect the rim.

The Cavs will likely waive Brendan Haywood to reduce their luxury tax bill. With a healthy lineup, I like their odds of getting back to the Finals.

I don't see signing Thompson as a sure thing, or even something the Cavs are working towards. With where they are in the luxury tax, giving TT a raise to the $15 million range (what he'd want) would cost Gilbert $40 million or more with the luxury tax.

Haywood will be traded to someone so that the Cavs have a trade exception to use mid-season, if they don't get a player back.

[duke blue brewcrew]

I've been baffled as to how Seth hasn't made it in the league before now. I'm very excited to see that his NBA Summer League dominance is paying off.

"This Seth Curry is a really good player," Erman said. "This Seth Curry will be in the NBA. He's not going to be a 10-day contract guy anymore."

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25244348/summer-league-2015-seth-curry-takes-center-stage-with-pelicans

[Duvall]

Woj: Seth Curry to sign a two-year deal with the Sacramento Kings. (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--seth-curry-003345228.html) Two *guaranteed* years.


Free-agent guard Seth Curry has agreed to a two-year, $2 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The deal includes two fully guaranteed seasons, sources said.

[moonpie23]

Hanstravel to charlotte.. (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13298542)

[BD80]

Hanstravel to charlotte.. (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13298542)

Like I needed more reason to hate either ...

Absolutely brilliant move by Charlotte's GM. Absolutely consistent with past moves. I hear he is having Dean Smith look-alikes audition for the head coaching job.

[Duvall]

Toronto seems to have gotten the better end of the Biyombo for Hansbrough swap by a pretty fair margin.

[jv001]

Hanstravel to charlotte.. (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13298542)

MJ at it again. He trades Gerald and signs Hanstravel. I will dislike the Hornets even more than in the past. GoDuke!

[Richard Berg]

Toronto seems to have gotten the better end of the Biyombo for Hansbrough swap by a pretty fair margin.
Sure looks that way. Can't wait to reap the schadenfreude next year.

[superdave]

Looks like the Cavs will throw a pretty good sized deal - $13-$15M a year - at Tristan Thompson, then try to work things out with JR Smith and Dellavadova.

http://cavsnation.com/return-of-j-r-smith-hinges-on-tristan-thompson-contract/

[FerryFor50]

Like I needed more reason to hate either ...

Absolutely brilliant move by Charlotte's GM. Absolutely consistent with past moves. I hear he is having Dean Smith look-alikes audition for the head coaching job.

Jordan manages the Hornets' roster like he's playing franchise mode in NBA2K

[theAlaskanBear]

With the Dante Exum injury, looks like Utah has a spot for another guard for the 2015-16 season. Is Quinn Cook still unsigned? Bryce Cotton, trey Burke and Quinn cook....the little engines that could!

[CDu]

Toronto seems to have gotten the better end of the Biyombo for Hansbrough swap by a pretty fair margin.

I mean, I guess "bad with potential" is better than "bad without potential". But we're still talking about two pretty bad (below replacement level) players. Biyombo played on a team desperate for interior defense, yet couldn't crack 20 mpg the past two years. Hansbrough is bad, too, but Biyombo has been arguably worse. Hansbrough has a career win shares per 48 minutes of .134; Biyombo is at .074.

Sure, if Biyombo ever figures out how to play basketball, he'll be substantially better than Hansbrough. But he's four years into his NBA career and hasn't come close to figuring it out yet. So I do wonder if the light is ever going to come on for him.

I view the Raptors addition as "meh", but in the sense of "we'll roll the dice that he figures it out." I view the the Hansbrough deal as likely to be "meh" (depending on the actual contract), but in the sense of "he's just their #4 big man behind Jefferson, Hawes, and Kaminsky."

[theAlaskanBear]

I mean, I guess "bad with potential" is better than "bad without potential". But we're still talking about two pretty bad (below replacement level) players. Biyombo played on a team desperate for interior defense, yet couldn't crack 20 mpg the past two years. Hansbrough is bad, too, but Biyombo has been arguably worse. Hansbrough has a career win shares per 48 minutes of .134; Biyombo is at .074.

Sure, if Biyombo ever figures out how to play basketball, he'll be substantially better than Hansbrough. But he's four years into his NBA career and hasn't come close to figuring it out yet. So I do wonder if the light is ever going to come on for him.

I view the Raptors addition as "meh", but in the sense of "we'll roll the dice that he figures it out." I view the the Hansbrough deal as likely to be "meh" (depending on the actual contract), but in the sense of "he's just their #4 big man behind Jefferson, Hawes, and Kaminsky."

Whither Zeller?

[Duvall]

I mean, I guess "bad with potential" is better than "bad without potential". But we're still talking about two pretty bad (below replacement level) players. Biyombo played on a team desperate for interior defense, yet couldn't crack 20 mpg the past two years. Hansbrough is bad, too, but Biyombo has been arguably worse. Hansbrough has a career win shares per 48 minutes of .134; Biyombo is at .074.


Perhaps, but age is a factor here. Biyombo spent his age 19 year in the NBA Eastern Conference, as opposed to Hansbrough, who spent his age 19 year at Poplar Bluff High School. After a dreadful first two years in the NBA, Biyombo's win shares/48 minutes rose to .144 and .156 - not great, but as good as anything Hansbrough posted at the peak of his career, and Biyombo is still just the age of a typical college senior.

[JasonEvans]

Perhaps, but age is a factor here. Biyombo spent his age 19 year in the NBA Eastern Conference, as opposed to Hansbrough, who spent his age 19 year at Poplar Bluff High School.

Yup, people forget that Hasbro was a 27 year old man by the time he graduated* from Carolina.

--Jason " * - no comment on the courses he took to achieve graduation... that's too easy a potshot ;) " Evans

[BD80]

Yup, people forget that Hasbro was a 27 year old man by the time he graduated* from Carolina.

--Jason " * - no comment on the courses he took to achieve graduation... that's too easy a potshot ;) " Evans

And yet he can barely say "hello" in Swahili.

[luburch]

Whither Zeller?

Give me Zeller before Kaminsky. I have a feeling Kaminsky is going to struggle mightly and never become anything more than a player on the end of the bench.

[CDu]

Perhaps, but age is a factor here. Biyombo spent his age 19 year in the NBA Eastern Conference, as opposed to Hansbrough, who spent his age 19 year at Poplar Bluff High School. After a dreadful first two years in the NBA, Biyombo's win shares/48 minutes rose to .144 and .156 - not great, but as good as anything Hansbrough posted at the peak of his career, and Biyombo is still just the age of a typical college senior.

Oh sure. That is why I said bad with potential (Biyombo) is better than bad without potential (Hansbrough). I just am far from sold that Biyombo will develop into anything above bad. He is young, so there is always a chance. But he has a ways to go to be anything more than replacement level.