*NBA THREAD* Abe will be missed (4 Viewers)

[Todem]

For you guys who watched the Nets a lot, does Paul Pierce have anything left?

I'm not that unhappy that the Wiz didn't break the bank to resign Ariza if Pierce can still play and Otto Porter can develop. A rotation of Pierce, Porter and Webster (when he comes back from his surgery) at the SF wouldn't be bad with Wall, Beal, Nene and the Polish Machine.

Defensively nothing. He can score. He can hit big shots, nice veteran leader but he is a defensive liability IMO at his age against younger high end players that you will face in the playoffs.

Kinda sounds like where Dwayne Wade is heading. Old, breaking down.....oh god I am getting depressed. LOL.

 

[Short Corner]

And yeah - it was basically the same deal as what he did to Cleveland the first time in a lot of ways. You knew that he was leaving based on the way he acted on the court - it was plain as day. These moments, and he has quite a few of them now, are giant stains on his resume.

 

[thecatch]

For you guys who watched the Nets a lot, does Paul Pierce have anything left?

I'm not that unhappy that the Wiz didn't break the bank to resign Ariza if Pierce can still play and Otto Porter can develop. A rotation of Pierce, Porter and Webster (when he comes back from his surgery) at the SF wouldn't be bad with Wall, Beal, Nene and the Polish Machine.

Defense is going to be a major problem but if Porter shoots it like he has during summer league, I think the wiz will be able to get by on offense between Porter and the corpses of Pierce and Webster.

 

[Major]

I posted in here last week that Houston wasn't likely to match Parsons and some of you called me crazy. I think there must have been some sort of deal btw Morey and Howard/Parsons agent to let him go RFA. I also think Cuban was playing games with Morey with that $15mm/yr deal and assuming he'd match and get stuck with it. Who knows. Whatever the case, I'd love to see a behind the scenes documentary of the Rockets war room when all this was going down.

Going forward, Im a little worried about D12 losing his BFF and if hes going to be :( next season.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

For you guys who watched the Nets a lot, does Paul Pierce have anything left?

I'm not that unhappy that the Wiz didn't break the bank to resign Ariza if Pierce can still play and Otto Porter can develop. A rotation of Pierce, Porter and Webster (when he comes back from his surgery) at the SF wouldn't be bad with Wall, Beal, Nene and the Polish Machine.

He'll still be a useful role player. Quality 3 point shooter. Can still use his size to get in the lane for his post up jumper. Don't expect much more that 20~ minutes per game and about 10 points.

 

[Reegus]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

This guy's posts get worse and worse. Can he hit a new level of troll on his next?

 

[EYLive]

Lebron lacks some heart,

What does this mean? "Heart" is one of the most useless terms in sports.

 

[pollardsvision]

What exactly was the effect of this on how much they could offer Bosh?

I get that it's great to swing for the fences with Bosh and sometimes you miss, but was Parsons' $900K really standing in the way of offering Bosh a max? I mean, he had $3 mill worth of salary that he could've dumped in 2 seconds with Jones and Donuts to make a Big 5 happen.

I'm just a simpleton, so what was Morey seeing here that I can't?

If they sign Bosh, they can go over the cap to match the Parsons deal and have 2 (or 3) seasons of Harden, Howard, parsons, and Bosh. That's as good of a core as you will find in the NBA. The cap space for matching parsons was essentially "free."

Right, but it seems this swing for fences plan only makes any sense if you can't offer Bosh a max without declining Parsons' option, and you can if you do decline it.

On such a dirt cheap contract, it's just hard to imagine that's the case.

Hell, was the cap hold even cheaper than the contract itself?

I'm genuinely asking here, but I don't see what it was that made opting out of Parson's final year the key to offering Bosh a max (as much as I love making fun of Morey, I do understand that he's indeed a smarter GM than me).

His cap hold after they exercised their option was a couple hundred thousand dollars less than his salary would have been, I believe, but it is pretty negligible, and was certainly not the reason to make him a free agent.

The "Morey hates Parsons and wanted to snooker a rival into overpaying" theory is starting to sound like the only theory.

Still a massive stretch, but I can't wrap my mind around it any other way.

 

[Gatorman]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

 

[SoCalBroncoFan]

The last couple of days have really broken well for the Warriors and their standings in the West.

Imagine.......

Bosh in HOU.

Pau in SA or OKC.

Pierce in LAC.

Lin to LAL.

The Western Conference could have been stacked, but it looks like many teams are staying put or have regressed a bit. The only western teams that improved themselves so far are the Pelicans and Mavericks. The last domino to fall will be Kevin Love, but at this point it looks like it's between CLE and GSW.

Next season should be awesome.

I think the Clippers have improved. Adding Spencer Hawes as their back-up big and Jordan Farmar to replace Collison are upgrades, in my opinion.

 

[Todem]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

All kinds of crap is starting to be "reported". I believe his wife and kids were the biggest factors in all this. It was truly a family decision and the timing was perfect. It was a perfect storm.

Heat get's blown out 4-1 and the three-peat is foiled. Cav's have cap space right now to bring him back, make this a "going home" decision and PR wise it is a coup.

The stars aligned for it.....much the same way they aligned for us when we were able to bring in Lebron and Bosh. It was an amazing ride and one as a Heat fan I will never forget. Hard to imagine this level of basketball ever again in my life time. It is a rare bird seeing what we were able to witness these past 4 years.

In the meantime Riley has really made his best effort to get a competitive team on the floor for next year. We will be in prime position come 2016 when the cap goes up big time and we have a ton of expiring contracts again.

Birdman has resigned. it' s official. 2 yrs 5MM per.

Strong indication (according to Ira WInderman) that Ray Allen is very interested in staying here in Miami for one more year as well as James Jones.

Where I went completely wrong in my utmost confidence about Lebron returning was my thinking he wants more titles right now. Because his best shot was coming back here and letting Riley re-tool. This is not about that anymore. It really was about going home. Because I know the popular opinion is now that the Cav's have this great shot to win it next year or over the next 2 years. I am not convinced on that at all. Too many questions except for one. Lebron is the only sure thing on that squad right now. They are not beating The Spurs, The Clippers, heck I don't think they can get out of the East next season as built. Time will tell.

And another great thing (hey have to look at positive spins when you lose the best player on the planet) is there are no expectations for The Heat next season. All they can do is pretty much exceed them. Barring any significant injuries they can put together a nice season of 45-50 wins and make a small run in the post season. If we knock out Cleveland.....that would make our year.

 

[Synthesizer]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

 

[pollardsvision]

Any idea who all out there is looking to dump some salary?

I'm starting to think that's what the Hornets are going to use this cap space for.

 

[Slapdash]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

Some people just look for whatever they can to tear down the great players.

 

[DrJ]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

Like I said, it wasn't nearly as bad as that Mavericks junk. Or some of his others. But he didn't have a good series as a whole. Whenever he decided to take over, he was on fire. Couldn't be stopped, best in the business, no doubt about it. And then he'd disappear and take no shots for like 2 quarters, the Heat get buried, and he picks up some garbage time points to close out the game with a respectable stat line. It really wasn't all that pretty considering the impact he should have had on the series. They probably still lose. But there's not much shame in having an all time great individual performance and losing. Disappearing for 2 quarters here, another half there, etc and losing is another story.

And the body language throughout. You knew he was done with this team when he sat out the final minutes in the deciding game. I don't care how low a percentage chance it was to win at that point, you don't tap out of a series deciding finals game.

 

[B-Deep]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

Where I went completely wrong in my utmost confidence about Lebron returning was my thinking he wants more titles right now. Because his best shot was coming back here and letting Riley re-tool. This is not about that anymore. It really was about going home. Because I know the popular opinion is now that the Cav's have this great shot to win it next year or over the next 2 years. I am not convinced on that at all. Too many questions except for one. Lebron is the only sure thing on that squad right now. They are not beating The Spurs, The Clippers, heck I don't think they can get out of the East next season as built. Time will tell.

If I may, I think this paragraph about where you went wrong is kind of wrong. Where you went wrong is that you believe his best chance to win titles now was Miami, so you consider that to be truth. The fact is Lebron may well think his best chance to win titles now is NOT the Heat. Many other people do not think his best chance was with the Heat. He and they may be wrong, you may be right. But remember, how you see things is not necessarily how Lebron sees things. He's not a Heat fan.

 

[Village Idiot]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

The ignore list is your friend.

 

[Juxtatarot]

And Melo cost me 100 bucks, congrats juxt!

Received, thanks! For everyone's notebooks, biggamer is no Dr. Gobbler.

 

[B-Deep]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

Like I said, it wasn't nearly as bad as that Mavericks junk. Or some of his others. But he didn't have a good series as a whole. Whenever he decided to take over, he was on fire. Couldn't be stopped, best in the business, no doubt about it. And then he'd disappear and take no shots for like 2 quarters, the Heat get buried, and he picks up some garbage time points to close out the game with a respectable stat line. It really wasn't all that pretty considering the impact he should have had on the series. They probably still lose. But there's not much shame in having an all time great individual performance and losing. Disappearing for 2 quarters here, another half there, etc and losing is another story.

And the body language throughout. You knew he was done with this team when he sat out the final minutes in the deciding game. I don't care how low a percentage chance it was to win at that point, you don't tap out of a series deciding finals game.

We must have watched different finals.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Any idea who all out there is looking to dump some salary?

I'm starting to think that's what the Hornets are going to use this cap space for.

Knicks. You can have shumpert if you take Amare Stoudamire too

 

[Todem]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

Where I went completely wrong in my utmost confidence about Lebron returning was my thinking he wants more titles right now. Because his best shot was coming back here and letting Riley re-tool. This is not about that anymore. It really was about going home. Because I know the popular opinion is now that the Cav's have this great shot to win it next year or over the next 2 years. I am not convinced on that at all. Too many questions except for one. Lebron is the only sure thing on that squad right now. They are not beating The Spurs, The Clippers, heck I don't think they can get out of the East next season as built. Time will tell.

If I may, I think this paragraph about where you went wrong is kind of wrong. Where you went wrong is that you believe his best chance to win titles now was Miami, so you consider that to be truth. The fact is Lebron may well think his best chance to win titles now is NOT the Heat. Many other people do not think his best chance was with the Heat. He and they may be wrong, you may be right. But remember, how you see things is not necessarily how Lebron sees things. He's not a Heat fan.

Absolutely Balls. It's all opinions and we all have them. I think Lebron admitted it as much though in his letter. He knows they are not ready right now. It will take time it will test my patience. This is right from the horses mouth in print. I think Lebron is probably the most intelligent basketball player (basketball IQ I am talking here) since Magic Johnson and he assessed it. He knows the next couple of years will be learning years for his young new running mates.

He best chance IMO was with the Heat (as it was proven year after year and we will never know about 2015 because he did not give it another chance after going to 4 straight Finals). He only had two real choices. Miami or Cleveland. He took his ball and went home. It was the only choice other than Miami I would have respected from team approach aspect. If he had went to NY or LA....my god the press would have feasted on him. Again a PR coup for Lebron and his image/brand and legacy.

 

[DrJ]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

Like I said, it wasn't nearly as bad as that Mavericks junk. Or some of his others. But he didn't have a good series as a whole. Whenever he decided to take over, he was on fire. Couldn't be stopped, best in the business, no doubt about it. And then he'd disappear and take no shots for like 2 quarters, the Heat get buried, and he picks up some garbage time points to close out the game with a respectable stat line. It really wasn't all that pretty considering the impact he should have had on the series. They probably still lose. But there's not much shame in having an all time great individual performance and losing. Disappearing for 2 quarters here, another half there, etc and losing is another story.

And the body language throughout. You knew he was done with this team when he sat out the final minutes in the deciding game. I don't care how low a percentage chance it was to win at that point, you don't tap out of a series deciding finals game.

We must have watched different finals.

I guess so. Here's game 3 for instance - http://www.nba.com/games/20140610/SASMIA/gameinfo.html

He was the only thing keeping them in the game in the 1st quarter. He takes 3 shots in the 2nd quarter, one being the final shot with 1.1 left and gets an entire 2 points. He goes to the line once and takes one more shot in the 3rd. Another whole 2 points. So he had 14 points at the end of the 1st, and 18 points at the end of the 3rd. Ends with 22... While turning it over 7 times. That's simply not good. Especially when he shot .643 in the game and there was no reason to believe he could be stopped if he kept attacking like he did in the 1st.

And there were several instances of this sort of thing. He should have had way more impact on this series.

 

[B-Deep]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

Where I went completely wrong in my utmost confidence about Lebron returning was my thinking he wants more titles right now. Because his best shot was coming back here and letting Riley re-tool. This is not about that anymore. It really was about going home. Because I know the popular opinion is now that the Cav's have this great shot to win it next year or over the next 2 years. I am not convinced on that at all. Too many questions except for one. Lebron is the only sure thing on that squad right now. They are not beating The Spurs, The Clippers, heck I don't think they can get out of the East next season as built. Time will tell.

If I may, I think this paragraph about where you went wrong is kind of wrong. Where you went wrong is that you believe his best chance to win titles now was Miami, so you consider that to be truth. The fact is Lebron may well think his best chance to win titles now is NOT the Heat. Many other people do not think his best chance was with the Heat. He and they may be wrong, you may be right. But remember, how you see things is not necessarily how Lebron sees things. He's not a Heat fan.

Absolutely Balls. It's all opinions and we all have them. I think Lebron admitted it as much though in his letter. He knows they are not ready right now. It will take time it will test my patience. This is right from the horses mouth in print. I think Lebron is probably the most intelligent basketball player (basketball IQ I am talking here) since Magic Johnson and he assessed it. He knows the next couple of years will be learning years for his young new running mates.

He best chance IMO was with the Heat (as it was proven year after year and we will never know about 2015 because he did not give it another chance after going to 4 straight Finals). He only had two real choices. Miami or Cleveland. He took his ball and went home. It was the only choice other than Miami I would have respected from team approach aspect. If he had went to NY or LA....my god the press would have feasted on him. Again a PR coup for Lebron and his image/brand and legacy.

His lot of work comment was a pretty clear attempt to lower unreal expectations out of the gate. He has learned that winning titles ain't easy. That was Lebron or his peeps being very smart this time around. Whoever crafted that article (and maybe it was mostly him) did a superb job. It hit the points he wanted to hit sold his image the way he wanted it sold and hit all the right notes with a town like Cleveland. Brilliance. Non of that means he thought he'd have a better chance to win in Miami in 2015, for all we know he thought their window was closing. It is hard to say what was in his head.

 

[Todem]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

Where I went completely wrong in my utmost confidence about Lebron returning was my thinking he wants more titles right now. Because his best shot was coming back here and letting Riley re-tool. This is not about that anymore. It really was about going home. Because I know the popular opinion is now that the Cav's have this great shot to win it next year or over the next 2 years. I am not convinced on that at all. Too many questions except for one. Lebron is the only sure thing on that squad right now. They are not beating The Spurs, The Clippers, heck I don't think they can get out of the East next season as built. Time will tell.

If I may, I think this paragraph about where you went wrong is kind of wrong. Where you went wrong is that you believe his best chance to win titles now was Miami, so you consider that to be truth. The fact is Lebron may well think his best chance to win titles now is NOT the Heat. Many other people do not think his best chance was with the Heat. He and they may be wrong, you may be right. But remember, how you see things is not necessarily how Lebron sees things. He's not a Heat fan.

Absolutely Balls. It's all opinions and we all have them. I think Lebron admitted it as much though in his letter. He knows they are not ready right now. It will take time it will test my patience. This is right from the horses mouth in print. I think Lebron is probably the most intelligent basketball player (basketball IQ I am talking here) since Magic Johnson and he assessed it. He knows the next couple of years will be learning years for his young new running mates.

He best chance IMO was with the Heat (as it was proven year after year and we will never know about 2015 because he did not give it another chance after going to 4 straight Finals). He only had two real choices. Miami or Cleveland. He took his ball and went home. It was the only choice other than Miami I would have respected from team approach aspect. If he had went to NY or LA....my god the press would have feasted on him. Again a PR coup for Lebron and his image/brand and legacy.

His lot of work comment was a pretty clear attempt to lower unreal expectations out of the gate. He has learned that winning titles ain't easy. That was Lebron or his peeps being very smart this time around. Whoever crafted that article (and maybe it was mostly him) did a superb job. It hit the points he wanted to hit sold his image the way he wanted it sold and hit all the right notes with a town like Cleveland. Brilliance. Non of that means he thought he'd have a better chance to win in Miami in 2015, for all we know he thought their window was closing. It is hard to say what was in his head.

Agreed. He can't do any wrong anymore (unless he leaves again...hell you never know). It will be very interesting seeing how it all plays out in Cleveland going forward. How long will the good will last, how long before doubts creep in if they don't win a title in the next 2 years....all kinds of story lines can emerge.

Should be interesting.

 

[No. 16]

The last couple of days have really broken well for the Warriors and their standings in the West.

Imagine.......

Bosh in HOU.

Pau in SA or OKC.

Pierce in LAC.

Lin to LAL.

The Western Conference could have been stacked, but it looks like many teams are staying put or have regressed a bit. The only western teams that improved themselves so far are the Pelicans and Mavericks. The last domino to fall will be Kevin Love, but at this point it looks like it's between CLE and GSW.

Next season should be awesome.

I think the Clippers have improved. Adding Spencer Hawes as their back-up big and Jordan Farmar to replace Collison are upgrades, in my opinion.

Agreed, but a slight improvement. Nothing like the potential additions I mentioned or what Dallas and New Orleans have done to improve their starting line ups.

Hawes is solid but he's still a bench player. Similar to the Dubs adding Livingston. Solid moves that improve the team, but not a balance of power type swing.

 

[Short Corner]

And yes - he pretty much quit on his team in these finals. He couldn't wait to get out the door. It wasn't quite as bad as when he quit against the Mavericks, that had to be one of the worst finals performances ever for a guy that's a top 10 talent of all time. This year wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Lebron lacks some heart, which will keep him from ever being as good as Jordan. I said this during the playoffs and half of you guys threw tantrums. But hey, you guys had some fun.

In the finals he averaged 28 ppg and shot over 57%..... while all of his teammates sucked. I know we hold him to higher standard than every other basketball player on the planet, but come on.

Like I said, it wasn't nearly as bad as that Mavericks junk. Or some of his others. But he didn't have a good series as a whole. Whenever he decided to take over, he was on fire. Couldn't be stopped, best in the business, no doubt about it. And then he'd disappear and take no shots for like 2 quarters, the Heat get buried, and he picks up some garbage time points to close out the game with a respectable stat line. It really wasn't all that pretty considering the impact he should have had on the series. They probably still lose. But there's not much shame in having an all time great individual performance and losing. Disappearing for 2 quarters here, another half there, etc and losing is another story.

And the body language throughout. You knew he was done with this team when he sat out the final minutes in the deciding game. I don't care how low a percentage chance it was to win at that point, you don't tap out of a series deciding finals game.

 

[DrJ]

Game 4 - he takes 1 shot in the first 8 minutes of the game while his team is struggling to score. He ends up with 7 shots in the first half, 9 points after his 3 with 11.1 seconds left, while his team has 36 points. So they can't score, he's shooting like 60% on the series, and he basically refuses to take matters into his own hands? I don't get it. He goes nuts and scores 19 points in the 3rd quarter - he can't be stopped when he takes matters into his own hands. But by then the game is out of reach. He doesn't score (or shoot much) in the 4th and he ends with the 28.

28 points is nice and all for most players. Not so great when you look at it in the context of how they happened. He stood around and watched his team struggle offensively and took almost no shots, and they get buried. When it's entirely clear that he could just will the offense to a respectable point total almost by himself.

 

[Kev4029]

Can somebody tell me how to block people on this board?

 

[B-Deep]

if he scores those 19 points every quarter they win!!! clearly he gave up. If he can score 19 points in a quarter why not do it every quarter, slacker.

 

[Peyton Marino]

Back to the heat (and Lebron):

I wonder how this whole thing happened, but it is always funny how stuff starts to leak after the fact: Bosh says he knew after the "salad summit" lebron was not staying. Reports here vary, but there is some noise that Lebron wanted Melo down here and wanted Bosh out. There are other reports that say Lebron was thinking about this since last year. Weird, and as usual all after the fact.

I still say that Lebron will be in Cleveland until the sterling case gets resolved. Once that is over, Lebron to the Clippers to play with CP is the likely scenario. He gave himself a 2 year window to win in Cleveland to get the haters off his back and to move on.

The heat have at least put a product together that can win games and compete, as well as keeping them under the Tax. That will shut up the fan base who was asked to pay for next year already. The ticket brokers are going to have a lot of fun this year.

The East will definitely be a lot more interesting.

Where I went completely wrong in my utmost confidence about Lebron returning was my thinking he wants more titles right now. Because his best shot was coming back here and letting Riley re-tool. This is not about that anymore. It really was about going home. Because I know the popular opinion is now that the Cav's have this great shot to win it next year or over the next 2 years. I am not convinced on that at all. Too many questions except for one. Lebron is the only sure thing on that squad right now. They are not beating The Spurs, The Clippers, heck I don't think they can get out of the East next season as built. Time will tell.

If I may, I think this paragraph about where you went wrong is kind of wrong. Where you went wrong is that you believe his best chance to win titles now was Miami, so you consider that to be truth. The fact is Lebron may well think his best chance to win titles now is NOT the Heat. Many other people do not think his best chance was with the Heat. He and they may be wrong, you may be right. But remember, how you see things is not necessarily how Lebron sees things. He's not a Heat fan.

Absolutely Balls.

 

[DrJ]

if he scores those 19 points every quarter they win!!! clearly he gave up. If he can score 19 points in a quarter why not do it every quarter, slacker.

If he attacks throughout he changes the complexion of the defense dramatically. Taking 2 shots in a quarter, when your teammates can't put the ball in the bucket, not so much. I can't believe the best player in the world is content to disappear for quarters at a time like that, but then I saw it happen.

 

[DrJ]

Can somebody tell me how to block people on this board?

Click your name at the top, select "Manage Ignore Prefs", voila. One less baby to whine about me.

 

[Short Corner]

if he scores those 19 points every quarter they win!!! clearly he gave up. If he can score 19 points in a quarter why not do it every quarter, slacker.

If he attacks throughout he changes the complexion of the defense dramatically. Taking 2 shots in a quarter, when your teammates can't put the ball in the bucket, not so much. I can't believe the best player in the world is content to disappear for quarters at a time like that, but then I saw it happen.

 

[DrJ]

if he scores those 19 points every quarter they win!!! clearly he gave up. If he can score 19 points in a quarter why not do it every quarter, slacker.

If he attacks throughout he changes the complexion of the defense dramatically. Taking 2 shots in a quarter, when your teammates can't put the ball in the bucket, not so much. I can't believe the best player in the world is content to disappear for quarters at a time like that, but then I saw it happen.

This great thing about this schtick is you're really driving guys like Gunz bonkers as you blast my stuff through the ignore filters.

 

[phrozen]

DrJ just gave up trying not to pretend he is fishing.

 

[Short Corner]

DrJ just gave up trying not to pretend he is fishing.

 

[Slapdash]

if he scores those 19 points every quarter they win!!! clearly he gave up. If he can score 19 points in a quarter why not do it every quarter, slacker.

If he attacks throughout he changes the complexion of the defense dramatically. Taking 2 shots in a quarter, when your teammates can't put the ball in the bucket, not so much. I can't believe the best player in the world is content to disappear for quarters at a time like that, but then I saw it happen.

This great thing about this schtick is you're really driving guys like Gunz bonkers as you blast my stuff through the ignore filters.

You people who post schtick all day just suck

 

[DrJ]

No, I just find it amusing how some of you dudes combine trolling and thin skin into one entirely hilarious package.

 

[Abraham]

I posted in here last week that Houston wasn't likely to match Parsons and some of you called me crazy. I think there must have been some sort of deal btw Morey and Howard/Parsons agent to let him go RFA. I also think Cuban was playing games with Morey with that $15mm/yr deal and assuming he'd match and get stuck with it. Who knows. Whatever the case, I'd love to see a behind the scenes documentary of the Rockets war room when all this was going down.

Going forward, Im a little worried about D12 losing his BFF and if hes going to be :( next season.

My complete-guess hypothesis: I think they declined on Parsons because morey thought his market would be lower this year then next. I think that Morey figured 4/40-4/48 was in the range and that was justifiable for the 4th option. I think that 15 per caught the ROX by surprise. ANd if the signals from Bosh hadn't been so strong they would have been better prepared on some other options.

 

[biggamer3]

Dr j is trying really hard to say stupid stuff, give him props for creativity

 

[biggamer3]

I posted in here last week that Houston wasn't likely to match Parsons and some of you called me crazy. I think there must have been some sort of deal btw Morey and Howard/Parsons agent to let him go RFA. I also think Cuban was playing games with Morey with that $15mm/yr deal and assuming he'd match and get stuck with it. Who knows. Whatever the case, I'd love to see a behind the scenes documentary of the Rockets war room when all this was going down.

Going forward, Im a little worried about D12 losing his BFF and if hes going to be :( next season.

My complete-guess hypothesis: I think they declined on Parsons because morey thought his market would be lower this year then next. I think that Morey figured 4/40-4/48 was in the range and that was justifiable for the 4th option. I think that 15 per caught the ROX by surprise. ANd if the signals from Bosh hadn't been so strong they would have been better prepared on some other options.

how was this a surprise? I wasn't shocked in the least that heyword, parsons, bledsoe, Monroe would get near max offers. Only way to get an rfa is overpay, teams learned that with Batum and others in the past. What I don't get is how the rockets turned down the team option since they were scared of losing him next year when they weren't even willing to pay to keep him next year

 

[Bobcat10]

Now Todem sounds like a Cavaliers fan from 4 years ago.

No....we are not burning jerseys, crying and wailing like life is over. Please. We knew this day was going to come...just not after his first 4 years here. Especially after all the success we had.

And yeah he quit on the Cav's after 7 years of not getting it done. But he left a 4 time Finals team.

HUGE DIFFERENCE.

And how's that mural that took 2-3 years to finish looking today?

 

[Abraham]

I posted in here last week that Houston wasn't likely to match Parsons and some of you called me crazy. I think there must have been some sort of deal btw Morey and Howard/Parsons agent to let him go RFA. I also think Cuban was playing games with Morey with that $15mm/yr deal and assuming he'd match and get stuck with it. Who knows. Whatever the case, I'd love to see a behind the scenes documentary of the Rockets war room when all this was going down.

Going forward, Im a little worried about D12 losing his BFF and if hes going to be :( next season.

My complete-guess hypothesis: I think they declined on Parsons because morey thought his market would be lower this year then next. I think that Morey figured 4/40-4/48 was in the range and that was justifiable for the 4th option. I think that 15 per caught the ROX by surprise. ANd if the signals from Bosh hadn't been so strong they would have been better prepared on some other options.

how was this a surprise? I wasn't shocked in the least that heyword, parsons, bledsoe, Monroe would get near max offers. Only way to get an rfa is overpay, teams learned that with Batum and others in the past. What I don't get is how the rockets turned down the team option since they were scared of losing him next year when they weren't even willing to pay to keep him next year

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. It was obviously a gross miscalculation by Morey.

I don't know if I mentioned it here or on Clutch Fans, but in hindsight the logic didn't make sense from the word "go." The idea was that the Rockets would create a bunch of cap space, sign a desirable free agent, and then match on Parsons to go over the cap and BOOM they have their superteam. The problem is that Melo was the only "max" target out there and the Rockets' chances with him were tenuous at best. The Parsons decision was made before anyone dreamed of Lebron leaving the Heat and Bosh becoming available.

The Lin and Asik contracts were structured to provide space in the summer of 2015 when Aldridge, Love, and Rondo were up. The cap space was never intended to be used this season until the pipe dream of Melo came to be abuzz.

Anyway.... kind of a crummy weekend but I'm hopeful that something good still happens.

 

[pollardsvision]

And that clearing out a $900,000 contract on a really good player is a very unconventional way to clear cap space.

Every mention of this on a sports show involves a phrase like "I'm not going to criticize Morey for swinging for the fences, you've got to land the big free-agents".

Yet, nobody seems ask how the hell clearing a $900K contract opened an opportunity to swing for the fences that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

 

[DrJ]

The Parsons piece wasn't about clearing space. It was more to limit the amount they'd go over the cap assuming they got him at a better price than next year. Big risk for a relatively small upside, and the whole thing blew up when they couldn't land a max guy.

 

[pollardsvision]

I posted in here last week that Houston wasn't likely to match Parsons and some of you called me crazy. I think there must have been some sort of deal btw Morey and Howard/Parsons agent to let him go RFA. I also think Cuban was playing games with Morey with that $15mm/yr deal and assuming he'd match and get stuck with it. Who knows. Whatever the case, I'd love to see a behind the scenes documentary of the Rockets war room when all this was going down.

Going forward, Im a little worried about D12 losing his BFF and if hes going to be :( next season.

My complete-guess hypothesis: I think they declined on Parsons because morey thought his market would be lower this year then next. I think that Morey figured 4/40-4/48 was in the range and that was justifiable for the 4th option. I think that 15 per caught the ROX by surprise. ANd if the signals from Bosh hadn't been so strong they would have been better prepared on some other options.

how was this a surprise? I wasn't shocked in the least that heyword, parsons, bledsoe, Monroe would get near max offers. Only way to get an rfa is overpay, teams learned that with Batum and others in the past. What I don't get is how the rockets turned down the team option since they were scared of losing him next year when they weren't even willing to pay to keep him next year

And if there's any slime ball in the league that should not be surprised that one team would try #### another by giving their RFA a silly contract, it's Morey.

Not buying the aw shucks routine. He was trying to get a rival to overpay.

(I'll ignore wondering why he didn't just trade Parsons away for a pick or 3).

 

[Britney Spears]

Lebron lacks some heart,

What does this mean? "Heart" is one of the most useless terms in sports.

His circulatory system is actually powered by magic, that's what makes him so good. Kind of like Secretariat.

 

[sporthenry]

I posted in here last week that Houston wasn't likely to match Parsons and some of you called me crazy. I think there must have been some sort of deal btw Morey and Howard/Parsons agent to let him go RFA. I also think Cuban was playing games with Morey with that $15mm/yr deal and assuming he'd match and get stuck with it. Who knows. Whatever the case, I'd love to see a behind the scenes documentary of the Rockets war room when all this was going down.

Going forward, Im a little worried about D12 losing his BFF and if hes going to be :( next season.

My complete-guess hypothesis: I think they declined on Parsons because morey thought his market would be lower this year then next. I think that Morey figured 4/40-4/48 was in the range and that was justifiable for the 4th option. I think that 15 per caught the ROX by surprise. ANd if the signals from Bosh hadn't been so strong they would have been better prepared on some other options.

how was this a surprise? I wasn't shocked in the least that heyword, parsons, bledsoe, Monroe would get near max offers. Only way to get an rfa is overpay, teams learned that with Batum and others in the past. What I don't get is how the rockets turned down the team option since they were scared of losing him next year when they weren't even willing to pay to keep him next year

And if there's any slime ball in the league that should not be surprised that one team would try #### another by giving their RFA a silly contract, it's Morey.

Not buying the aw shucks routine. He was trying to get a rival to overpay.

(I'll ignore wondering why he didn't just trade Parsons away for a pick or 3).

So Morey either outsmarted himself and came out with egg on his face. Or so smart he is playing on another level.

 

[rodg12]

The No. 1 guard in the class of 2014, Emmanuel Mudiay, is not going to SMU but playing overseas instead. Likely lottery pick in 2015. Some talk about an NCAA investigation into Larry Brown/SMU and Mudiay causing this.

Woj

 

[Abraham]

The No. 1 guard in the class of 2014, Emmanuel Mudiay, is not going to SMU but playing overseas instead. Likely lottery pick in 2015. Some talk about an NCAA investigation into Larry Brown/SMU and Mudiay causing this.

Woj

That is interesting.