2015-16 NBA Eastern Conference OFFICIAL THREAD

[gordontrue]

It's Stephen A., so take it for what it's worth, but this seems to speak to some level of dysfuntion:

Stephen A. Smith: Kyrie Irving would ‘prefer to be somewhere other than Cleveland’

Yeah, and apparently Windhorst had similar comments. It does seem like there's some smoke there. I can't help but be skeptical about the timing of this. Stephen A has been "hearing this for months"... but chooses now to come out with the info? I won't dismiss it totally, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt for sure.

 

[trojanfan12]

Yeah, and apparently Windhorst had similar comments. It does seem like there's some smoke there. I can't help but be skeptical about the timing of this. Stephen A has been "hearing this for months"... but chooses now to come out with the info? I won't dismiss it totally, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt for sure.

Pretty much how I take anything and everything that Stephen A. says. Windhorst saying similar gives it a little more credibility (but not much), imo, since he's pretty much made a career out of being a "Lebron insider."

 

[LAD]

He proved himself not to be a good leader in 3 years with a bad roster?

Durant averaged like 21 wins a year his first few years in the league... and OKC was actually doing a good job drafting.

And it wasn't until recently that I thought KD has become a good leader. I don't think many have figured it out in their first or even second seasons. It's not really an easy thing to do when we consider how many variables can affect and changes things constantly. So it's not a knock on him or any other leader for that matter.

 

[LAD]

To be completely fair to Kyrie, he found himself in a similar situation to Blatt when Lebron decided to return to Cleveland. He had been in the league for 3 years on a team that was rebuilding and had improved each year. The idea was they had a very young team with a coach who was new to the league and the coach and players were all going to grow together with Kyrie as team leader.

While I do agree that Kyrie hasn't shown much during games when Lebron is out, we also don't really know how Kyrie would be as a leader because he hasn't really had a chance to be the undisputed leader.

Then Lebron decided to return to Cleveland and fucked everything up for everybody.

And damn you for making me stick up for the #1 person in Wiggy's spank bank.

Well really I was talking about his time with Cleveland prior to LBJ returning. But I guess when we consider he hasn't played a full season yet it probably would be hard to become a good leader.

 

[LAD]

I just don't see that at all. Might be due to my bias... but I've also seen more Cavs basketball this season than anyone else on this forum.... probably by a lot.

Over the last few weeks Love has fit in very well. Much better than last season and early this season. Irving had a rough start to the season coming back from injury... then finally seemed to hit his stride around the all-star break... and now has regressed the last couple weeks. I don't see players that don't fit together at all.

I just don't see how a bad showing against the Pistons + a close game on the road vs the Raptors where Lowry went nuts + a L with LeBron on the bench = how people are viewing the Cavs right now.

I think the problem is that LBJ covers up a lot of things with his ability to dominate. The true ability of the rest of this team, imo, came out when LBJ sat out yesterday. This was the opportunity for guys to shine in the moment- show the coaching staff what they got in terms of leading while LBJ is out- and nobody really did that.

 

[LAD]

Yeah, and apparently Windhorst had similar comments. It does seem like there's some smoke there. I can't help but be skeptical about the timing of this. Stephen A has been "hearing this for months"... but chooses now to come out with the info? I won't dismiss it totally, but I'm taking it with a grain of salt for sure.

Yea I have to agree. I don't get the sense that Kyrie wants out.

 

[gordontrue]

I think the problem is that LBJ covers up a lot of things with his ability to dominate. The true ability of the rest of this team, imo, came out when LBJ sat out yesterday. This was the opportunity for guys to shine in the moment- show the coaching staff what they got in terms of leading while LBJ is out- and nobody really did that.

I agree. And it is somewhat discouraging that they don't play well without him, but ultimately I really don't care. They don't need to play well without him. The Cavs aren't winning a title without him. All I care about as a LeBron fan and as a Cavs fan at this point is getting a title within the next 2-3 seasons. The only way that's happening is with LeBron leading the way on the court.

 

[LAD]

I agree. And it is somewhat discouraging that they don't play well without him, but ultimately I really don't care. They don't need to play well without him. The Cavs aren't winning a title without him. All I care about as a LeBron fan and as a Cavs fan at this point is getting a title within the next 2-3 seasons. The only way that's happening is with LeBron leading the way on the court.

Well yea I agree they're not winning without him, but at some point during the reg seasons they're going to have to be able to win without him from time to time. Also, not wishing bad on LBJ, but what if he got injured? If that happened during a pivotal time in reg season that could make a big difference in playoff seeding & so on. Those things I'm sure have to be concerning for the coaching staff.

 

[trojanfan12]

I agree. And it is somewhat discouraging that they don't play well without him, but ultimately I really don't care. They don't need to play well without him. The Cavs aren't winning a title without him. All I care about as a LeBron fan and as a Cavs fan at this point is getting a title within the next 2-3 seasons. The only way that's happening is with LeBron leading the way on the court.

Yeah, end of the day, how well they play without Lebron will only matter if they have to do so in the playoffs. But even that won't matter because, like you say, they're not winning the title without him anyway.

 

[gordontrue]

Word is people are upset about the Heat's buyout agreement with Udrih.

They agreed to an amount below his due salary... an amount just enough to get the Heat under the tax line. Saves the heat from the repeater tax.

So either the Heat have agreed to compensate him in some other way (such as a future contract) - which would be cap circumvention and mean steep penalties for Miami - or Beno just decided to give money away out of the goodness of his heart.

Pretty sure Riley is smart enough not to put anything in writing though, so... probably no way to prove it.

 

[ChrisGar15]

I just don't see that at all. Might be due to my bias... but I've also seen more Cavs basketball this season than anyone else on this forum.... probably by a lot.

Over the last few weeks Love has fit in very well. Much better than last season and early this season. Irving had a rough start to the season coming back from injury... then finally seemed to hit his stride around the all-star break... and now has regressed the last couple weeks. I don't see players that don't fit together at all.

I just don't see how a bad showing against the Pistons + a close game on the road vs the Raptors where Lowry went nuts + a L with LeBron on the bench = how people are viewing the Cavs right now.

People are really interested in commenting on the Cavs.

Lowry misses a game -- they look bad -- and there probably isn't 1 comment about it.

The Cavs/Raptor game was very good -- both teams were playing well.

 

[Heatles84]

It's Stephen A., so take it for what it's worth, but this seems to speak to some level of dysfuntion:

Stephen A. Smith: Kyrie Irving would ‘prefer to be somewhere other than Cleveland’

That's not really saying much. Everyone would prefer to be somewhere other than Cleveland. Except for Lebron.

 

[bksballer89]

Sources: Teams upset with Heat's Udrih buyout

 

[Heatles84]

Sources: Teams upset with Heat's Udrih buyout

Fuck em.

 

[gordontrue]

Won't be funny if they get caught circumventing the cap illegally. Though I doubt they'd be dumb enough to put any under-the-table deals in writing.

Won't matter if Udrih is claimed off the waiver wire.

 

[Heatles84]

Won't be funny if they get caught circumventing the cap illegally. Though I doubt they'd be dumb enough to put any under-the-table deals in writing.

Won't matter if Udrih is claimed off the waiver wire.

Who's to say they did? Either way, good luck proving it.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Word is people are upset about the Heat's buyout agreement with Udrih.

They agreed to an amount below his due salary... an amount just enough to get the Heat under the tax line. Saves the heat from the repeater tax.

So either the Heat have agreed to compensate him in some other way (such as a future contract) - which would be cap circumvention and mean steep penalties for Miami - or Beno just decided to give money away out of the goodness of his heart.

Pretty sure Riley is smart enough not to put anything in writing though, so... probably no way to prove it.

Not only do they get under , they also get a 2.7M payment that I guess is distributed to all teams under with cash from all teams over.

 

[bksballer89]

Who's to say they did? Either way, good luck proving it.

Exactly. In the Windhorst story it states this which proves its just teams being crybabies

While this situation is unusual, players leave money on the table regularly. Johnson himself took a hit of more than $2.5 million in leaving the Brooklyn Nets to sign with the Heat. All players' situations and motivations are different.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

@WiggyRuss
Tristan not starting?

 

[bksballer89]

@WiggyRuss
Tristan not starting?

My guess is due to the size of Indy's front court