tOfficial 2015 NBA Draft/Free Agency Thread

[gordontrue]

What?
Show me where you see ANY Heat fan EXPECTING Wade to be healthy all season.
We hope.

That should be Cavs fans mentality with Kyrie.
Age means nothing.

Wade is proof that missing games early in your career doesn't mean that's going to be the norm. His two years of playing 50 games are sandwiched by 5 full healthy seasons and 3 championships.

I just think the Cavs and Heat are in similar situations. Had very rough years with health... but have done a good job holding on to their players this off-season and have plenty of optimism going forward, pending health.

 

[gordontrue]

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Gerald Green signed with Miami. Thats a HUGE signing for Miami, IMO. He is an underrated player and will give them great depth.

Miami is really looking good. Like so many other teams, it will come down to health.

Agree, but on paper, Heat fans should have a fun time watching this team.

 

[trojanfan12]

ill bet you Kobe does not retire. He wants to go up the all time scoring list.

Kobe's legacy is set. He has 5 rings, he's the only player in league history to score over 30,000 points and have over 6,000 assists, etc., etc. The injuries over the past 3 years have ended any shot he has at catching Kareem as the all-time scoring leader and he's a top 10 player of all time (top 5 according to some). The only reason for him to come back would be if he thought he could get another ring with the Lakers.

The only way I see Kobe coming back is if the kids play really well, the Lakers somehow sneak into the playoffs and in the off-season they acquire a difference maker in FA. In that case, I could see him saying "this season was kind of fun, we have a shot at a title next season, I'll come back for 1 more year."

As of now, everything that both he and the Lakers are saying indicates that this will be his final season. Honestly, I think that if Kobe plays professional basketball again, it will be in Italy. He spent a good chunk of his childhood there, speaks fluent Italian and has said in the past that he'd like to play a couple of seasons over there after he retires from the NBA.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Wade is proof that missing games early in your career doesn't mean that's going to be the norm. His two years of playing 50 games are sandwiched by 5 full healthy seasons and 3 championships.

I just think the Cavs and Heat are in similar situations. Had very rough years with health... but have done a good job holding on to their players this off-season and have plenty of optimism going forward, pending health.

Nothing is proof until it actually happens.
Wade is Wade, it already happened so it can be talked about factually.

Maybe Kyrie stays healthy for the next 10 years?
Nobody is hoping he is injured.
We are just asking how one can assume he will stay healthy when he never has?
Pointing out that he played more games to me, proves nothing, in actuality,I think it works against his chances because you can never subtract the miles driven.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Why are you deflecting? No one is saying that Kyrie isn't a great player when he's healthy. No one is questioning his stats. Heck, I've said multiple times that I hope his injury troubles are behind him because the kid is fun to watch. Problem is, he hasn't played a full season since his junior year of high school. Unfortunately, that doesn't speak to a long, healthy NBA career.

It's not a criticism because it's not his fault. From everything I've read and heard, he does everything that he should as far as trying to stay healthy and stay in shape. Some guys just can't. Hopefully, that changes for him going forward, but early returns are not favorable.

What you have to realize is that those first few years there are a couple factors at work. 1. Kyrie was a 19 year old kid that came into the league and looked like a 19 year old kid- he was not Bron or RW- he looked more like Curry- and like Curry who had a lot of ankle problems early in his career- hopefully Kyrie can grow out of some of this 2. The Cavs held Kyrie out of a lot of those games when he had stuff where he would have played with if the games meant something towards getting to the playoffs- but the CAvs goal was to get high lotto picks to put around him. IF being overly catious with the face of the franchise meant sitting him more often and that resulted in more ping pong balls in the hopper the Cavs were glad to do it. At one point there was an exchange with reporters from KYrie:

Coach Byron Scott said he thought Irving was injured on the game’s final play and a team spokesman announced in the locker room just prior to Irving meeting with reporters that he had suffered a bruised right heel. Irving acted surprised upon hearing that.


“That’s what I have? Oh, when was someone going to tell me that?” Irving said. “I’m hurt again? Damn. How long am I going to be out, 4 to 6 weeks?”

Kyrie got frustrated at times being held out when he wanted to play- but in defense of the franchise- why put your franchise's future out there in a lost season- when the result is just going to get you a higher pick in the lotto.


Kyrie is now 23- has put on a lot of muscle and actually looks like an NBA player now instead of a 19 year old kid and I think we saw that last year when he played in 75 games and was top 3 in the league in minutes played per game. I would say that is pretty darn encouraging- but not surprising as when there was something to actually play for- they let him play through stuff that would have previously had the franchise sit him. HAving said that- now with Mo and probably Delly back- there is no reason Blatt needs to play the guy the 3rd most minutes in the entire league again.

Plus- I feel stupid even replying to some of this crap when the guy played the 3rd most minutes in the league on average last year.

 

[Shanemansj13]

What?
Show me where you see ANY Heat fan EXPECTING Wade to be healthy all season.
We hope.

That should be Cavs fans mentality with Kyrie.
Age means nothing.

No one is saying that he hasnt had injuries, but he has progressed over the last couple seasons. The playoffs is a different game though. Hopefully his minutes can be controlled.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

No one is saying that he hasnt had injuries, but he has progressed over the last couple seasons. The playoffs is a different game though. Hopefully his minutes can be controlled.

Progress to you means that its ok that he played more games before he was injured?

You guys are talking like he should play backup minutes.
Its not going to happen.
Once the game starts, players want to win and compete there hardest.
A coach is going to go with his best in almost any situation when the games on the line.
Best case scenario is blowouts, so they can all rest, but by just the nature of the games it doesn't happen as often as you would think.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Nothing is proof until it actually happens.
Wade is Wade, it already happened so it can be talked about factually.

Maybe Kyrie stays healthy for the next 10 years?
Nobody is hoping he is injured.
We are just asking how one can assume he will stay healthy when he never has?
Pointing out that he played more games to me, proves nothing, in actuality,I think it works against his chances because you can never subtract the miles driven.

it certainly helps that he has never had an injury that is chronic or debilitating like Dwade having the cartilage removed from his knee. There is no injury that Kyrie has ever suffered that would limit him going forward- in that way Id take him over a ton guys like Rubio who had major knee surgery, like Rose who had major knee surgery, Like RW that had major knee surgery, Like Rondo that had major knee surgery, like Wade who has had major knee surgery, Like Kobe who has had major knee surgery, like Jabarai Parker who has had major knee surgery, like Julius RAndle who missed a whole season with major foot surgery, like CP3 who has had major knee surgery, like Embiid who has had major knee surgery, like Nerleans Noel who has had major knee surgery, like Paul George who has had major knee surgery, like Stephon Curry who had major ankle surgery, like KEvin Durant who has had major foot surgery.

Unlike all those other guys- Kyrie has never had a major surgery that would potentially limit his ceiling going forward- and that is EXTREMELY important.

 

[gordontrue]

@TurnUpTheHeat , its just your eternal optimism for the Heat and your eternal pessimsim for the Cavs that gets a little irritating.

I mean, I get it, given where your allegiances lie... but the constant harping of "maybe LeBron will get injured", "maybe Kyrie will keep having injury trouble", "maybe all the Cavs will tear their ACLs"... is sort of over the top, IMO.

I'm done talking about the health of any player or any team until something actually happens. I expect the Cavs to have a nice healthy year.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Cuban is crafting his own "The Letter" right now I bet, LOL....just psoted something..

"There will be a time when I detail everything I know regarding the last 48 hours," Cuban wrote in a CyberDust message to fans that never mentioned Jordan by name. "I don't think the time is right to say anything beyond the facts that he never responded to me at all yesterday. Not once. To this minute I have not heard anything from him since Tuesday night.

"More importantly, I specifically told [Wesley Matthews] that I would not hold him to his commitment if he wanted to go elsewhere. I can't print his exact response, but suffice to say he is excited to play for our Mavs Wes Matthews is exactly the kind of player we want in a Mavs uniform and our fans will love him

"He will be in Dallas today so if you see him give him an MFFL welcome"

 

[trojanfan12]

What you have to realize is that those first few years there are a couple factors at work. 1. Kyrie was a 19 year old kid that came into the league and looked like a 19 year old kid- he was not Bron or RW- he looked more like Curry- and like Curry who had a lot of ankle problems early in his career- hopefully Kyrie can grow out of some of this 2. The Cavs held Kyrie out of a lot of those games when he had stuff where he would have played with if the games meant something towards getting to the playoffs- but the CAvs goal was to get high lotto picks to put around him. IF being overly catious with the face of the franchise meant sitting him more often and that resulted in more ping pong balls in the hopper the Cavs were glad to do it. At one point there was an exchange with reporters from KYrie:

Coach Byron Scott said he thought Irving was injured on the game’s final play and a team spokesman announced in the locker room just prior to Irving meeting with reporters that he had suffered a bruised right heel. Irving acted surprised upon hearing that.


“That’s what I have? Oh, when was someone going to tell me that?” Irving said. “I’m hurt again? Damn. How long am I going to be out, 4 to 6 weeks?”

Kyrie got frustrated at times being held out when he wanted to play- but in defense of the franchise- why put your franchise's future out there in a lost season- when the result is just going to get you a higher pick in the lotto.


Kyrie is now 23- has put on a lot of muscle and actually looks like an NBA player now instead of a 19 year old kid and I think we saw that last year when he played in 75 games and was top 3 in the league in minutes played per game. I would say that is pretty darn encouraging- but not surprising as when there was something to actually play for- they let him play through stuff that would have previously had the franchise sit him. HAving said that- now with Mo and probably Delly back- there is no reason Blatt needs to play the guy the 3rd most minutes in the entire league again.

Plus- I feel stupid even replying to some of this crap when the guy played the 3rd most minutes in the league on average last year.

This wall of text says nothing about his ability to finish a season. I'm not sure what is so difficult for you Cavs fans to grasp. It doesn't matter how many minutes he played when he can't finish a season. Sure, he played 75 games last year. But where was he for the last 5 games of the finals?

I don't care if he played 82 games and every playoff game until he got hurt in game 1 of the finals. The fact that you keep trying to deflect from is that he has not finished a season since his junior year of high school.

Maybe he finally puts it all behind him and stays healthy for the rest of his career. No one is denying that possibility. However, so far, he has not shown the ability to do that. There is lots of evidence pointing to him struggling with injuries for the rest of his career and none pointing to him being healthy for the rest of his career.

I think Cavs fans would be better served saying that you hope he'll stay healthy rather than acting like it's somehow a sure thing despite all evidence to the contrary.

 

[WiggyRuss]

@TurnUpTheHeat , its just your eternal optimism for the Heat and your eternal pessimsim for the Cavs that gets a little irritating.

I mean, I get it, given where your allegiances lie... but the constant harping of "maybe LeBron will get injured", "maybe Kyrie will keep having injury trouble", "maybe all the Cavs will tear their ACLs"... is sort of over the top, IMO.

I'm done talking about the health of any player or any team until something actually happens. I expect the Cavs to have a nice healthy year.

its him just trying to find little things to knit pick- all though believe me- the irony of a heat fan lecturing about injuries is not lost on anyone here I hope, lol. The one that really cracked me up was how wade was "as healthy as ever" and he missed 20 games last year. When you get to the point where missing 25% of the season is good news- and you get on a guy that played 75 games and 3rd most minutes in the league- I think you lose a helluva lot of credibility, but , just my own thoughts, lol.

 

[Shanemansj13]

@TurnUpTheHeat , its just your eternal optimism for the Heat and your eternal pessimsim for the Cavs that gets a little irritating.

I mean, I get it, given where your allegiances lie... but the constant harping of "maybe LeBron will get injured", "maybe Kyrie will keep having injury trouble", "maybe all the Cavs will tear their ACLs"... is sort of over the top, IMO.

I'm done talking about the health of any player or any team until something actually happens. I expect the Cavs to have a nice healthy year.

Exactly, that shit gets old quick. I dont care about the Kyrie talk bc he has had issues but the Lebron shit is just getting annoying. "He is due for an injury" or "It will catch up to him"

 

[UK Cowboy]

Or LeBron

 

[WiggyRuss]

Love being back for the next 5 years is official!!!

Kevin Love: 'I want to be back here'
In a Players' Tribune video, Love said re-signing in Cleveland was the "biggest decision of my life." As for any LeBron James tension: They "talked everything out. A lot of stuff was very honest. We came to a really good place."


So cool. It would have been devastating to see a player of his talent walk after 1 year. I still have to pinch myself that the Cavs have LeBRon/Kyrie/Love combination after some really really dark days. Its just too freaking cool to have a team so poised to win well into the future. I really hope these guys grow together like Duncan/Parker/Ginobili in San Antonio. Lets hope they deliver what is NOW expected of them. This season TRULY is championship or bust after that initial year. Bring on the best of the best. We have the roster to compete with anyone and everyone. Seriously- preseason games are only the rest of July, August, and then they startin September right? lol.....too freaking cool.

Gordon and Shane- are you as pumped as I am?

 

[trojanfan12]

Cuban is crafting his own "The Letter" right now I bet, LOL....just psoted something..

"There will be a time when I detail everything I know regarding the last 48 hours," Cuban wrote in a CyberDust message to fans that never mentioned Jordan by name. "I don't think the time is right to say anything beyond the facts that he never responded to me at all yesterday. Not once. To this minute I have not heard anything from him since Tuesday night.

"More importantly, I specifically told [Wesley Matthews] that I would not hold him to his commitment if he wanted to go elsewhere. I can't print his exact response, but suffice to say he is excited to play for our Mavs Wes Matthews is exactly the kind of player we want in a Mavs uniform and our fans will love him

"He will be in Dallas today so if you see him give him an MFFL welcome"

Going to be interesting to see what Cuban has to say about what happened. I can't decide which is the bigger bitch move. DJ changing his mind like that or the Clippers babysitting him to keep Cuban away from his house. Either way, both DJ and the Clippers have pretty well destroyed any credibility they had.

Can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm actually on Cuban's side on this and I hate that guy.

And props to Wes Matthews for honoring his commitment even though Cuban said he wouldn't hold him to it.

 

[WiggyRuss]

I'm sick of waiting for a trade to happen. It could be awhile before we see one though, they have till August 1st

I listened to the radio and realized a deal was never going to happen before the moratorium ended. Trades really RARELY RARELY happen because everything is so potentially fluid

and think about it- guys agree to free agent deals with teams that might not even have the room yet- or JUST enough room to sign them- and then they go and seek guys like Haywood to make the signing happen or give the team flexibility. REally today is the first day that a Haywood deal would realistically happen- something i really did not realize until recently.

Lets see. Heck- if they just resign Smith they might be done without Haywood- but I guess we shall see...I mean shit- we are already freaking loaded and bringing back a team that dominated the league once it was put together.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

@TurnUpTheHeat , its just your eternal optimism for the Heat and your eternal pessimsim for the Cavs that gets a little irritating.

I mean, I get it, given where your allegiances lie... but the constant harping of "maybe LeBron will get injured", "maybe Kyrie will keep having injury trouble", "maybe all the Cavs will tear their ACLs"... is sort of over the top, IMO.

I'm done talking about the health of any player or any team until something actually happens. I expect the Cavs to have a nice healthy year.

When did I EVER say the Heat would stay healthy all year?
Of course they won't.
You EXPECT the Cavs to? Good luck with that.

I said I like our roster ON PAPER, and so should Cavs fans.

My issue in the conversation was Cavs fans saying they expect Kyrie to stay healthy as you just did. LOL.
When he never has.

I expect to hit the lottery..except for that I never play it.

 

[trojanfan12]

I listened to the radio and realized a deal was never going to happen before the moratorium ended. Trades really RARELY RARELY happen because everything is so potentially fluid

and think about it- guys agree to free agent deals with teams that might not even have the room yet- or JUST enough room to sign them- and then they go and seek guys like Haywood to make the signing happen or give the team flexibility. REally today is the first day that a Haywood deal would realistically happen- something i really did not realize until recently.

Lets see. Heck- if they just resign Smith they might be done without Haywood- but I guess we shall see...I mean shit- we are already freaking loaded and bringing back a team that dominated the league once it was put together.

Yeah, if Haywood is going to be traded it will be some time between tomorrow and the start of the season. Might even stretch out to the trade deadline when his expiring deal may be even more valuable.

This year, we also need to see what the fallout from the DeAndre Drama is as some trades were made/agreed to prior to that happening. There is some talk that the Mavs may try to work a trade for Hibbert even though the Lakers and Pacers are said to be finalizing the details on a Hibbert trade.