Fan Up L.A.!!

[TurnUpTheHeat]

So this is what the Lakers need to do now to try to sell themselves?

 

[heatmyshorts]

I wonder if the Lakers is setting up "The Decision 2" For some reason it is mind games played in part by the Laker Organization. Dwight would be viewed as turning his back to the city. I would bwt that if Dwoght leaves he will be hated by LA.

It also seems that Kobe announces his intentions to coerce Dwight to join. Why keep making this public? Usually these things should be done behind closed doors.

 

[Heatles84]

This has the deja vu feeling of Cleveland.

 

[HammerDown]

Sources are saying Dwight has no interest in signing with the Lakers.

 

[lakersrule]

This has the deja vu feeling of Cleveland.

Except Dwight never promised LA anything

 

[lakersrule]

So this is what the Lakers need to do now to try to sell themselves?

Kind of sad that the Lakers are having to resort to basically begging D12 to stay. That money would have been better spent on PJ. D12 stays if PJ is in the mix.

 

[trojanfan12]

Ridiculous!! Take that crap down!!

 

[LogicMan]

Here is the good news. Perhaps the Lakers can do a sign and trade. They can start accumulating picks they dont have, and they can dave their money for Lebron.

I just dont think Lebron is staying in Miami. Its LA, New York, two cities where the fans will support him and where his endorsements will thrive. If he bring a Knicks or Lakers team back to fame, he will be legendary.

 

[trojanfan12]

Here is the good news. Perhaps the Lakers can do a sign and trade. They can start accumulating picks they dont have, and they can save their money for Lebron.

I just dont think Lebron is staying in Miami. Its LA, New York, two cities where the fans will support him and where his endorsements will thrive. If he bring a Knicks or Lakers team back to fame, he will be legendary.

Better hope CL67 doesn't see this!!

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Here is the good news. Perhaps the Lakers can do a sign and trade. They can start accumulating picks they dont have, and they can dave their money for Lebron.

I just dont think Lebron is staying in Miami. Its LA, New York, two cities where the fans will support him and where his endorsements will thrive. If he bring a Knicks or Lakers team back to fame, he will be legendary.

Miami fans don't support James? Only 400,000 showed up in the blazing heat to watch him drive by in a bus.

James could have went to Miami or L.A. when he left Cleveland. Why would you think his mindset is any different now then it was then?

He said he wanted to play for championships every year. So far, he has 46/48 possible playoff wins, and the Heat are favored again next season.

Riley knows how to build teams, convince players to play here at a discount, and has an easy time selling the city of Miami to potential FA's.

In other words, there really is no reason for him to leave.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Lebron has also shown zero loyalty.

If he can leave his hometown team, he can leave any team.

Don't kid yourselves Miami fans.

The HEAT are an Ancient team (oldest in the league).

Allen, Battier, Birdman, Haslem, Miller, and Wade are all on the other side of their primes....some several years past it.

They don't have any young assets or salary cap space for the forseeable future.

Lebron is not going to stick around past next season.

He has already left for a ring. He is not going to sit through a rebuild.

He will be there in 2013.

But, I would be stunned if he is in a HEAT uniform in 2014.

It would make no sense whatsoever for LBJ to be a HEAT player in 2014.....as it stands....

 

[lakersrule]

I don't think Lebron leaves if Miami keeps winning championships. Different story if Ray Allen doesn't knock down that three. I think there is very little chance Lebron is in a Lakers uniform for the 2014/2015 season.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Lebron has also shown zero loyalty.

If he can leave his hometown team, he can leave any team.

Don't kid yourselves Miami fans.

The HEAT are an Ancient team (oldest in the league).

Allen, Battier, Birdman, Haslem, Miller, and Wade are all on the other side of their primes....some several years past it.

They don't have any young assets or salary cap space for the forseeable future.

Lebron is not going to stick around past next season.

He has already left for a ring. He is not going to sit through a rebuild.

He will be there in 2013.

But, I would be stunned if he is in a HEAT uniform in 2014.

It would make no sense whatsoever for LBJ to be a HEAT player in 2014.....as it stands....

No loyalty? Better way to say it would be the Cavs showed no competence.
And James is from Akron, not Cleveland, and FYI, nobody really wants to live/play in Cleveland if they have other options.

As far as the other stuff, we trust Riley. He always seems to figure it out.
You guys are funny. James should leave the 'old' Heat in favor of playing with a 40 year old Kobe.

 

[trojanfan12]

Ultimately, Lebron will do exactly as he should do. He will look at his options and sign where he feels he has the best opportunity to win.

Heat fans trust Riley and they should, the Heat now have 3 championships with Riley at the helm. That shows that he has at least some idea what he is doing.

The only problem that the Heat MAY run into in my opinion is the new CBA seems geared to prevent the very thing that the Heat did to get the last 2 championships.....form a "superteam"!!

I think that any team that wants to win championships (at least for the remainder of the current CBA) will have to go over the cap in some capacity. So the question may ultimately become: Who is most willing to absorb a cap hit for a title and how big of hit will they be willing to take?

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Ultimately, Lebron will do exactly as he should do. He will look at his options and sign where he feels he has the best opportunity to win.

Heat fans trust Riley and they should, the Heat now have 3 championships with Riley at the helm. That shows that he has at least some idea what he is doing.

The only problem that the Heat MAY run into in my opinion is the new CBA seems geared to prevent the very thing that the Heat did to get the last 2 championships.....form a "superteam"!!

I think that any team that wants to win championships (at least for the remainder of the current CBA) will have to go over the cap in some capacity.

So the question may ultimately become: Who is most willing to absorb a cap hit for a title and how big of hit will they be willing to take?[/QUOTE]

And that's why I have said and continue to say that eventually the Nets will have long term success.
The players get the benefits of NY as well as the deep pockets of an owner who simply doesn't give a shit about $$$ and that beautiful new arena doesn't hurt.

 

[trojanfan12]

And that's why I have said and continue to say that eventually the Nets will have long term success.
The players get the benefits of NY as well as the deep pockets of an owner who simply doesn't give a shit about $$$ and that beautiful new arena doesn't hurt.

You may be right. However, it's not simply about spending money and being willing to absorb cap hits. You have to spend the money on the right parts. The Knicks had some of the highest payrolls in the NBA for years and couldn't even make the playoffs.

Cuban has also been an owner who was willing to spend alot and absorb cap hits and the Mavs have one championship to show for it (and if they had gotten the Heat in the finals in year 2 of the big 3 instead of year 1, they likely wouldn't even have that one)!!

 

[Heatles84]

Here is the good news. Perhaps the Lakers can do a sign and trade. They can start accumulating picks they dont have, and they can dave their money for Lebron.

I just dont think Lebron is staying in Miami. Its LA, New York, two cities where the fans will support him and where his endorsements will thrive. If he bring a Knicks or Lakers team back to fame, he will be legendary.

Lebron makes far more money off the court then on the court. The latter statement is ridiculous. Also the Knicks have a horrible roster situation and won't be able to even come close to being able to sign Lebron given their cap situation in 2014. If you wanted to factor in the Nets then it's the same thing there when you factor in the contracts of Williams, Johnson, Lopez, etc.

The Lakers will have enough cap space for 2014 with Kobe's contract off the books as well as Gasol and Nash. But what will he be coming to? Is he really going to play for D'Antoni with his zero defense system? I find that doubtful given the past two titles he won thrived off having one of the best team defenses in the league.

No one knows what Lebron is going to do next offseason. It's almost automatic that he'll opt out, but you don't know what he'll want to do. Lebron is already set on the global market if you haven't already noticed so him making more money in endorsements because it's LA and NY is ridiculous. Bringing the Lakers back to fame?!?!?!?! They won a title just 3 years ago! How's that bringing them back to fame? You act like they've been in purgatory as long as the Knicks; whom can't seem to put a competent roster together. Ever.

You say bringing either of those franchises back will make him legendary - bull shit. He's already been put into that discussion. If anything, creating a dynasty in Miami who only had one title prior to him coming here would make him legendary - happened to Jordan with Chicago, Tim Duncan with San Antonio, etc.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

You may be right. However, it's not simply about spending money and being willing to absorb cap hits. You have to spend the money on the right parts. The Knicks had some of the highest payrolls in the NBA for years and couldn't even make the playoffs.

Cuban has also been an owner who was willing to spend alot and absorb cap hits and the Mavs have one championship to show for it (and if they had gotten the Heat in the finals in year 2 of the big 3 instead of year 1, they likely wouldn't even have that one)!!

I was talking cap hits. Sorry if it wasn't clear.
Forget about the past as far as Cuban, etc..
The rules are totally different now.
The penalties are way more severe.
It won't take long so see which owners are willing to sacrifice profits in an effort to seek hopeful championship(s).

 

[Heatles84]

You may be right. However, it's not simply about spending money and being willing to absorb cap hits. You have to spend the money on the right parts. The Knicks had some of the highest payrolls in the NBA for years and couldn't even make the playoffs.

Cuban has also been an owner who was willing to spend alot and absorb cap hits and the Mavs have one championship to show for it (and if they had gotten the Heat in the finals in year 2 of the big 3 instead of year 1, they likely wouldn't even have that one)!!

The Nets don't strike me of having that championship culture with the current roster they have. They still got beat by the Bulls second string squad in the playoffs.

I trust Pat Riley, he'll know what to do to retool this team. Lebron not having loyalty isn't the question. Hell, Cleveland should've put a competent team and coach around him. Lebron will want a good situation as he won't want to waste his prime on a rebuild which is understandable as it's now ring time. In the 2014-2015, the Heat could look like a far different team with some of the contracts coming off the books as it's possible all 3 of the big 3 could opt out for lesser deals. Alot of speculation and guessing considering we just got done wrapping up the 2013 season a week ago.

If the Heat win another title, I can almost guarantee Lebron doesn't leave for other teams.

 

[trojanfan12]

I was talking cap hits. Sorry if it wasn't clear.
Forget about the past as far as Cuban, etc..
The rules are totally different now.
The penalties are way more severe.
It won't take long so see which owners are willing to sacrifice profits in an effort to seek hopeful championship(s).

Ok, cap hits!! Yeah, ultimately it will come down to who can/will absorb the most in cap hits and those owners will show themselves quickly. Probably the 2 deepest pockets in the league are the Nets and Lakers. So that puts the Nets in the mix for sure.

In the end though, it's still going to come down to taking those cap hits on the right players. For example, if you have to take a cap hit (and can afford it under the new rules) to land Lebron and build your team around him, you do it. But you don't take the cap hit to sign Melo or even Dwight because neither of them have shown themselves to be worthy of that.