Dolfan in NYC Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 The Heat are apparently going all-in on KD in '16. Projecting the line up as Dragic, Wade, Bosh, Whiteside, and Durant. With the projected massive increase in the cap, it's supposed to work, but the lynch-pin is Wade "doing the right thing." I get him being pissy, but with the strike that's supposed to be coming in '17, this might be his last real shot at winning it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 The Heat are apparently going all-in on KD in '16. Projecting the line up as Dragic, Wade, Bosh, Whiteside, and Durant. With the projected massive increase in the cap, it's supposed to work, but the lynch-pin is Wade "doing the right thing." I get him being pissy, but with the strike that's supposed to be coming in '17, this might be his last real shot at winning it all. He already has three rings, why the hell should he "take one for the team"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Who will be 2016's Amare Stoudemire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 K Love, Dwight and Harden seems like a better fit than Love, Kyrie and Lebron to me. I would be really interested in watching Love and Dwight on the floor together. Dwight can cover for the other two on defense in a way that Lebron can't from the wing. You know what would have been really fun? Wiggins in Cleveland for this finals run. Cleveland would not have made the finals with Wiggins. They were never keeping him and getting Lebron, but even if they had, it means the trades for Shumpert and Smith don't happen, and the Cavs don't have the perimeter defense to compete this year. Or the spacing on offense. Wiggins will be a good player but he was not a good fit for this Cavs team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrag Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Ehh. You would still have to trade for a big man midseason and Dion Waiters is still cancer. As long as OKC and NY remain stupid, that trade could have happened. 4 talented players on the wing would have made for some interesting small ball lineups.The only challenge in the East is still Chicago and we couldnt beat you with Kyrie hobbled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrag Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Search James Harden on Twitter right now... All the laughs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Search James Harden on Twitter right now... All the laughs. Whatever he posted is gone, just usual plugs for shoes and such. What was it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrag Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Some Houston stripper posted a picture of him sleeping on IG this morning. Black twitter has not been kind. "James Harden is still hitting 3s even after his season is over." Edit: New favorite: "He got caught in an IG pic sleeping in bed with the Iggy who has cable instead of Direct TV." Double Edit: OK these are fucking great... "13 turnovers in game 5 but couldn't turnover when it mattered most" 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 All this is because Harden just said he'd never heard of Lil B. The curse lives forever. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I love that it was Kreayshawn, of all people, that proved that James Harden does in fact know who Lil B is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Technically this isn't an NBA topic but I know of no other place to put it: went to the Liberty home opener and place was pretty full with lower bowl being at 95% capacity and crowd north of 9,000. Fun game with Libs beating Atlanta, but that's where the fun ends. Apparently there was a group outside protesting Slimebag Thomas being brought in to run/part own the team. The Liberty Twitter account tweeted the Garden's official statement on the matter, and it was so sickening and untrue that I could feel slime oozing from my phone. But here's the thing: him becoming part of ownership has to be approved by the league. He is very likely to be denied. At that point it expected that petulant little child James Dolan will get rid of the Liberty by either selling them or shut them down. Not being under the Garden umbrella would be a crushing blow because any new owner would have to pay insane rent to stay. The math would almost certainly not add up. At that point Brooklyn would be the only realistic option, but every other non NBA/NHL team has failed outside of the Liberty at MSG and its a question if they would draw in Brooklyn. Bottom line is that Thomas fucked up the Knicks and now it looks like he is going to fuck the WNBA in New York and it makes me sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 The Libs could always go back to Jersey like when the Garden got renovated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 The Libs could always go back to Jersey like when the Garden got renovated. Attendance there was horrible, most nights there were under 3,000. People will not go to Prudential Center for whatever reason. Brooklyn would be the best option by far, and really the only viable one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 The Bucks nailed their new duds. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yeah, those are p nice honestly. I'm glad most teams went back to the "less is more" philosophy of uniform design. I never want to go back to the late 90's early 00's era of gawdy uniforms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Michael Malone is the new head coach in Denver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Woj mentioning Clips-Hornets talking trade. Lance Stephenson for Matt Barnes/Spencer Hawes. A "buyer's remorse" deal since both teams seemed to have given up on guys they signed last offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Clippers are so boned next year. They've got $59M tied up in 8 players and have to try and re-sign DeAndre and fill out their roster. Even if they decline the option on Crawford and Hudson that only saves them about $7M. And I'm not sure the ownership (or CP3) are going to go along with burning a year before the cap goes up and they can make some signings. I expect them to do something exceedingly foolish in the offseason. The Bucks sent Ilyasova to the Pistons for... it doesn't matter because they're getting waived. Now Milwaukee has the cap room to chase a FA center, and it pretty much closes the door on Monroe coming back to the Pistons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Monroe wasn't coming back anyway. Allegedly, he all but illegally agreed to a deal with the Knicks already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Mann Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Joel Embiid might miss the 2015-16 season after a setback with his foot. Tankapalooza has started already in Philly and it's not even the off-season yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Clippers are so boned next year. They've got $59M tied up in 8 players and have to try and re-sign DeAndre and fill out their roster. Even if they decline the option on Crawford and Hudson that only saves them about $7M. And I'm not sure the ownership (or CP3) are going to go along with burning a year before the cap goes up and they can make some signings. I expect them to do something exceedingly foolish in the offseason. The Bucks sent Ilyasova to the Pistons for... it doesn't matter because they're getting waived. Now Milwaukee has the cap room to chase a FA center, and it pretty much closes the door on Monroe coming back to the Pistons. If Deandre bounces they are right proper fucked cap-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimbra Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Monroe wasn't coming back anyway. Allegedly, he all but illegally agreed to a deal with the Knicks already. Can we talk about how bonkers that is for the Knicks? Starting PF is the one roster position that they really have covered, so of course they chase a PF in free agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Miner Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 Joel Embiid might miss the 2015-16 season after a setback with his foot. Tankapalooza has started already in Philly and it's not even the off-season yet. I have no expectations for what is happening just yet. Just because most of the quotes out there right now are from execs from another team. Ilgauskas had to miss 2 years because of this injury. For his long term health if it is necessary than so be it. Missing 2 seasons could/should decrease his upside though. Even after 2 years Ilgauskas didn't start playing regularly right away. Not sure what is going on just yet. A source close to Embiid said there wouldn't be another surgery. Hinkie said "he is healing slower than anticipated." I don't really want to put much stock into what Hinkie said. I expect him to take a lawyer type approach in wording a press release like that one. With the 3rd pick most Sixers fans already wanted Okafor 3rd if Russell went 2nd. Russell 3rd if Okafor goes 2nd. I wanted Porzingis over Okafor in that scenario. That was true even before his workout; I haven't watched it yet. I've watched most of his games on youtube think he has the highest ceiling in the draft not named Towns; I do think the bust potential is very real though since it is impossible to tell how his body will develop. His lateral quickness for his size is pretty amazing. He really could be the prototypical new era 4. People worry about a Bargnani comparison. Bargnani is legendary for his lack of work ethic and disinterest in playing basketball. Someone with his tools that actually wants to be there could be special. Problem is you can't figure out if a guy has that personality just watching them. Okafor is for sure a safer pick. I do see benefits to taking Okafor. He has an NBA body already. His offensive skills as a freshman are very rare. Probably have to go back to Shaq to find similar offensive skills at that age. His offensive skills are as close to a sure thing as you will find in a draft. Problem is his size and athleticism locks him into playing the 5 defensively. Not a good rim defender. That is an issue because Noel already had elite numbers at that position. I mean you can compare what the would have to do to accommodate Okafor to what Chicago did this season bringing in Gasol. There is a big skill gap between Gasol and Okafor though. What Gasol lost physically due to age he can make up for due to his superior basketball IQ and talent. He might not be able to physically maximize the those talents still but he was still overall effective. I just look at Orlando though and see the impact a center that scores and rebounds but doesn't defend has on his teams win/loss percentage. Especially noteworthy since Okafor's rebounding is questionable as well. He is compared to Al Jefferson a lot and you can say the same thing for Jefferson's impact. Great 2 way bigs are the biggest difference maker in the league on a teams win/loss record. Anthony Davis in New Orleans, Duncan all of these years in San Antonio. They can drag dead weight to the playoffs. When one element is missing you can't really build around them. The talk of Embiid missing more times certainly explains why the report of them trying to get Saric over already came out. Noel at center and Saric at power forward works. I had hoped Saric had shown growth that might allow him to play 3 in the NBA. Just not realistic. Not athletic enough to guard NBA 3s. His 3 point shooting has improved a good bit though the last couple months. He was already a very good rebounder and passer. Ideally he would come off the bench and run the offense similarly to Lamar Odom. His bball iq is in the savant range. Off the bench he would be able to exploit that even more; while having his lack of athleticism exploited less. I don't think this changes the long term outlook for this team all that much if he misses another year. I posted a video of Embiid working out this year and said when I posted it that it would be a shame if injuries derailed his career. I was more open to the possibility than many of the Sixers fans on realgm that talk about him like him being an elite star is a sure thing. That was never the case he just had the most upside in that draft. After that foot injury Parker and Wiggins were much safer picks. Even before the foot injury Parker was a safer for the same reason Okafor is a safe pick this year because of Embiid's back injury. Once we had the 3rd pick it was the right direction to go. Even now there aren't any players that you can say should have been taken in hindsight. We have the 3rd pick this year. 5 2nd round picks this year. We should have 4 first round picks next year unless something goes horribly wrong again in Miami and OKC. The 3rd of those picks the Lakers pick is still questionable. I don't have a hard time seeing them picking top 3 again unless they make some major changes. Plus we have our own pick. A pick we wouldn't have had if Hinkie didn't gamble and take Payton last year to blackmail Orlando to get our pick back from the Bynum trade. The teams outlook is still a big ???. The risk of taking this approach and ending up like Sacramento was always real. Frankly I'd way more frustrated if I was a Sacramento fan right now. They have the big that could turn their team into a 50 win team like Davis. The only thing holding him back is he's an immature idiot on the court. That has to be way more frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I still think the Lakers will go with either Towns or Okafor (more likely Okafor), but Russell and Porzingis are intriguing. Woj mentioned Porzingis worked out for LA on Monday. Maybe if he had a little more weight on him, I would be more into them taking Porzingis, but still I'm ok with any of the top 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 So is it just me, or is this draft like, sneaky deep? I've seen something of value from the top 20 picks. Last year was much more top heavy, but this year seems to have more depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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