tOfficial 2015 NBA Draft/Free Agency Thread

[TurnUpTheHeat]

I could see them putting us in the evening slot against the Bulls but IMO the 2 major games (the games on ABC) will likely feature the Clippers and Cavs. I can't see them possibly putting the Lakers on Christmas day (in the major time slot) after their season last year. I will say probably Cavs/Thunder and Warriors/Clippers

I thought they always tried to match up the teams from previous Finals.
Last year it didn't matter cause James was gone.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

GERALD AND GORAN REUNITED AND POSSIBLY AMARE NOW TOO?!?

Miami may become my second favorite team in the league now.

 

[Bolts]

Not sure how much I trust "ESPN sources", but it's still worth posting.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Not sure how much I trust "ESPN sources", but it's still worth posting.

Deron Williams has a little left in the tank...id like that move a LOT for Dallas....maybe Williams will give u p some money and come to a buy out....

Deron Williams
Wesley Mathews
Chandler Parsons
Dirk

and possibly Kanter is actually not bad at all....


I really just cant wait for Cuban to blow up about this Jordan stuff.

Who would have thought that LeBron would have the quietest free agency out of just about anyone...

 

[gordontrue]

When has Lebron EVER exercised that option?

When was the last time you heard from LeBron James??? The answer is.... when he was contractually obligated to speak to the media.


LeBron actually stays very quiet when he can. The perception that he always has something to say... or that he is looking to be in the spotlight comes from the fact that ESPN loves to make 3 page articles out of every 3-word quote he gives and from the fact that ever media member at his practice/game/event will spend the majority of their time trying to talk to him.

 

[gordontrue]

Re: Miami Heat This Season...


Last year, I was very skeptical of the Heat's chances. I felt like people were underrating the effect LeBron had and I thought they'd be a bottom seed or miss the playoffs.

This year is quite different. With the additions of Dragic, Green & others... along with the emergence of Whiteside... this looks like the making of an Eastern Conference contender. Right now, I'd expect them to be a top 4 seed in the East.

 

[WiggyRuss]

From Grantland...great article. I particularly identified with the author on how a lot of people have become humorless and "stolid".

I totally agree with the author too- I think DeAndre acted a little shady- but the moratorium period is there so guys cant sign right away and can have time to think and see other teams and make a good decision they have taken time to reflect on.


Compare, now, “The Decision” to the role that James played in Wednesday night’s comedy. It began with a photo in which James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony were shown chilling with some fine vintage, and then in another photo showing about a billion dollars’ worth of basketball talent riding a damn banana boat around a harbor in the Bahamas. Believe it or not, that latter photo became positively iconic in the carnival that erupted around DeAndre Jordan.


When Jordan began to change his mind about going to Dallas, and the Clippers went to a general DEFCON 2, Paul cut his vacation short to come back and join the Los Angeles delegation at Jordan’s house, where the deprogramming was already under way. Following Chandler Parsons’s lead, Paul tweeted out two emoji — a banana and a boat. Twitter erupted with emoji and with pictures of various forms of conveyance, except for Kobe Bryant, who tweeted photos of championship trophies, because he is Kobe Bryant and graceless. The point is that the whole process had spiraled beyond the control of those corporate drones whose job in life is to drain all the unpredictable, renegade humanity out of sports.


Too many of us have allowed the delights of being a sports fan to petrify into something stolid and humorless. (I occasionally blame sports-talk radio for this. But then again, I blame sports-talk radio for bad weather, the croup, the failure of several Mars landers, and what’s happening to the polar ice caps, so maybe I’m not the best judge of things here.) We have tacitly approved of the commodification of the people who play the games. We believe in what they sell more than we believe in who they really are — which makes sense because an entire industry has been built up to keep us from seeing who they really are.


So let me just say thank you to everybody involved in the pursuit and gentle abduction of DeAndre Jordan, even Mark Cuban, who, when it all was finished, ended up empty-handed. For the better part of 48 hours, an actual human drama, shot through with pride and ambivalence, played itself out in real time and everything turned out (probably) the way it should have in the first place. That saved the whole thing from turning into one of those unwieldy moral hobbyhorses that have carried away our ability to laugh at what human beings do to themselves in extreme circumstances.


Come to think about it, maybe it’s a quiet indie little film instead.

 

[Shanemansj13]

It's not championship or bust for the Cavs though, right?

Of course it is, but Heat fans are acting like they arent going for a championship when that's exactly what they are doing.

 

[Shanemansj13]

GERALD AND GORAN REUNITED AND POSSIBLY AMARE NOW TOO?!?

Miami may become my second favorite team in the league now.

Good luck with that, you probably want to stay far away lol

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Heat fans are acting like they arent going for a championship when that's exactly what they are doing.

Of course they want to win, but if you look real closely....you can see a more long range plan as well.
The HEAT are building a solid squad that is just a "small forward" away from being a winner.

Luol Deng falls off the books and the HEAT would be a perfect fit for a talented small forward.

I wonder if there a player in the "summer of Durant" that exactly matches what Pat Riley is building.

Could be downright devious and scary their plan.

 

[Black Adam]

Of course they want to win, but if you look real closely....you can see a more long range plan as well.
The HEAT are building a solid squad that is just a "small forward" away from being a winner.

Luol Deng falls off the books and the HEAT would be a perfect fit for a talented small forward.

I wonder if there a player in the "summer of Durant" that exactly matches what Pat Riley is building.

Could be downright devious and scary their plan.

didn't think of that, but that plan is SOO Pat Riley...

DEFINITELY a possibility...

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

I saw it immediately.

Miami (FL) will be a player with OKC and Washington.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Of course they want to win, but if you look real closely....you can see a more long range plan as well.
The HEAT are building a solid squad that is just a "small forward" away from being a winner.

Luol Deng falls off the books and the HEAT would be a perfect fit for a talented small forward.

I wonder if there a player in the "summer of Durant" that exactly matches what Pat Riley is building.

Could be downright devious and scary their plan.

It for sure is "the plan".
Now whether the plan has a 1% or a high % chance is a total unknown.
Riley had the same type of plan before the 2009 season started.
That one ended as he hoped.
Could he strike gold twice?
Not at all saying he can, but if anyone can he's on the top off the list.

Also, Winslow is a SF who can alos play the 1&2 (they say).

 

[avalon2423]

I would love to see Miami as as a player in the Durant sweepstakes. He along with the team Riley has built is a championship team. But i just dont see it happening. Not because of money or anything like that, i just dont see Durant wanting to follow the same steps that Lebron took to get a championship. Since Durant came in the league, he was always second to Lebron. If he goes to Miami, not only will he be following Lebrons steps to win a championship, but for years and years to come, he will always be shown behind Lebron in the stat books as trying to chase him... Not sure he wants to do that.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

When was the last time you heard from LeBron James??? The answer is.... when he was contractually obligated to speak to the media.


LeBron actually stays very quiet when he can. The perception that he always has something to say... or that he is looking to be in the spotlight comes from the fact that ESPN loves to make 3 page articles out of every 3-word quote he gives and from the fact that ever media member at his practice/game/event will spend the majority of their time trying to talk to him.

When he has annual opt outs, and hadn't signed, then he knows he doesn't need to say a word to Gilbert.

Gilbert spent as he said he would, and James knows damn well how the Tristan thing will end up, so he signed.

I believe though that he did say he wouldn't be involved with Love making his decision, then he flew out to L.A. to convince him to stay.

I'm not at all saying that wasn't prudent of him, by my question would be why didn't they have that same conversation in Feb?

 

[Shanemansj13]

Of course they want to win, but if you look real closely....you can see a more long range plan as well.
The HEAT are building a solid squad that is just a "small forward" away from being a winner.

Luol Deng falls off the books and the HEAT would be a perfect fit for a talented small forward.

I wonder if there a player in the "summer of Durant" that exactly matches what Pat Riley is building.

Could be downright devious and scary their plan.

Yes, building for the future with some young guys. But in a couple years they will have to replace Wade and KD just doesnt seem like the player interested in Miami, you never know, but I still think he loves OKC or to Washington he goes.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

I would love to see Miami as as a player in the Durant sweepstakes. He along with the team Riley has built is a championship team. But i just dont see it happening. Not because of money or anything like that, i just dont see Durant wanting to follow the same steps that Lebron took to get a championship. Since Durant came in the league, he was always second to Lebron. If he goes to Miami, not only will he be following Lebrons steps to win a championship, but for years and years to come, he will always be shown behind Lebron in the stat books as trying to chase him... Not sure he wants to do that.

There's no way to even guess, but my counter will be that he will enter next summer with the same mindset that James did in 2010.

Where can I win now?
Where can I continue to compete for a championship most years?

The answer to question 1 should be an EC team.
From there, he can wait and see how this season plays out and then get a pretty decent idea of what the landscape will look like next summer as far as cap space and rosters.

IF that's his plan, I'd rank our chances right up there with anyone's.

 

[Shanemansj13]

The trio of KD, Beal, and Wall is dangerous to think about

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Yes, building for the future with some young guys. But in a couple years they will have to replace Wade and KD just doesnt seem like the player interested in Miami, you never know, but I still think he loves OKC or to Washington he goes.

KD is in Miami quite often I believe.

Obviously Washington pops into everyone's mind, but theres just something about that no taxes, weather, and South Beach that usually wins out as the tiebreaker.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

"If I go back to my childhood. I was raised like that," a smiling Dragic said as he sat with Riley to his right and coach Erik Spoelstra to his left. "My father and my mom, they raised me that money's not everything. I still got a good deal. I could get more. But it doesn't matter. The most important thing is that I'm happy, and I'm happy to be here.

"When you find the right place, I want to stay there as long as possible. And this is the right place."


Hey Wiggy, when's the last time anyone ever said that about Gilbert or the mistake by the Lake?