NBA announces that the Union has rejected any cap smoothing proposals for 2016 and no further discussions regarding that will take place. Means that the cap and salaries will explode in 2016. Cap will be $90 million conservatively.
oh this is beautiful! Carmelo & KD will happen if that's the case. No one is looser with the wallet then James Dolan who has spent almost double the amount in salaries of any other team since he took over the team from his dad
All the maxes and other limitations still apply. OKC will still be able to pay KD more. His max is just going to be bigger than it otherwise would've been. Leads to some interesting decisions this off season. Does Dragic re-sign with the Heat for the full 5 years or does he get another player option next year? Same thing with Love, etc.
Might be the Nets but we're definitely not that deep today with Whiteside out. lol I honestly expected a different result.
I find this super interesting for the Heat. On one hand they'll have way more money to lure guys. On the other, guys are more inclined to stay where they are, and the hometown teams will have more cash to add pieces to make that a better option. With the younger core of Dragic, Bosh, Whiteside - the Heat are probably looking to find a wing player, right? Suddenly guys like Conley or Dwight don't make sense. But if I'm not mistaken, the only big-time wing player that will be available is Durant. And the Heat will be competing with the Thunder and Wizards for him. Batum will be available, but have a lot of minutes on him. Just a weird place. Still wonder if Heat shouldn't just load up on depth this offseason since they have a great starting 5 and the cap exploding the following year will make all those '15 deals look like peanuts. I know most of you Heat fans disagree - but I wonder if it makes more sense to think small and build out a deep roster than chasing one or two big fish. Talent already there.
Assuming the Heat resigns Dragic, and I think they will, likely to a deal that includes an opt out next year so he can cash in 2016, I imagine they'd use their mid-level on a shooter. A Danny Green type (if not Green himself). Then we remain on the lookout for next year's Dragic. The disgruntled star who wants out but also wants to make sure his Bird Rights get transferred via trade. The Heat have around $40 million in expiring contracts for 2016. And if the fish is big enough (Durant) we theoretically have the ultimate carrot in Whiteside.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...s-ultimate-lifer-fights-on-in-post-lebron-era Great read from Skolnick with Pat Riley.
Awesome. he basically says...he will win one more title (That is not a threat..it's a promise) and will then hang it up. When that happens, I think that Alonzo Mourning will step in as the President and Andy Elisburg will get an increased role as a GM, with Spo having a larger say.
Sorry to obsess over this - but looking at 2015 free agents - Heat could grab a Demarre Carroll or Kris Middleton type on a super cheap deal (relative to 2016 cap) and add a lot of depth on the wing. Draymond Green might slip away from GS - gonna be pricey but Draymond / Bosh / Whiteside would be an insanely flexible group.
Ethan tweeted a lengthy explanation of his talk on succession and Riley never mentioned Zo. He said something along the lines of he's comfortable with Andy Elisburg stepping up as GM, and that Nick Arison can run the franchise in his sleep by now. Didn't know how it would all work out whether they'd replace him (put someone in his role) or do a shared thing. I just thought it interesting he never mentioned Zo.
Ethan was just on with Sedano and said that Riley really wants to leave the franchise in a place that's significant and that he'll be around until that happens whether it's 2 or 3 years from now. He also mentioned that Spoelstra will likely take on a much greater role in personnel after Riley leaves. One of the real interesting things in the piece and in Ethan's interview was that Riley just comes from a place where players wouldn't let other players on a "generational team" leave. To him, there is no way that Magic, Kareem or Worthy ever would have left because none of them would allow it to happen. It's different now. Wade admitted that he didn't try to convince LeBron to stay and that there friendship was around before basketball and will last long after. So, the friendship that got LeBron here in the first place also didn't allow Wade to do whatever he could do to get him to stay. Not suggesting one is right or wrong, but I do get how Riley could still be blindsided by LeBron even though typically not returning a call should be a good indication something is wrong. His worldview simply didn't allow him to be believe that LeBron would leave his teammates.
it is interesting. But I mention ZO, because he does sit next to the bench with his own stat monitor and does take all the scouting trips with Riley. Just seemed to me like he was being groomed, and of course, ZO is an impressive guy, HOFer that can attract free agents with his presentation.
I realize most people here are Heat fans and furthermore many dislike Lebron a lot now, but I hope many people are watching this Spurs v Cavs game. Just amazing. Spurs team ball is so good, and Kyrie is ridiculous.
One of the most fun games I've watched in a long time. I'm trying to not freak out about Blatt - but...the Cavs starting 5 has a 94.7 DefRtg and a 25.2 NetRtg. He's obsessed with reacting to the other team's personnel and switching on PnRs late and it's like "NO YOU HAVE ONE OF THE BEST 5 MAN LINEUPS IN THE NBA MAYBE LET THE OTHER TEAM REACT TO YOU." Cavs have see Valancuinas and Duncan murder them in 4th quarters because Blatt is obsessed with switching PnRs.
I don't dislike Lebron (and would probably like Irving if he were anywhere else), but I do dislike Cleveland and wish that team/city disappointment (more disappointment). I just feel they were classless when Lebron left and when he returned. I admit I took a little extra pleasure at the Jordon Cameron signing b/c we took him from Cleveland.
A Cleveland-Indiana first round series is the first sign of the apocalypse. Any chance a sinkhole could simply consume Quicken Loans arena and dispatch both teams? But Cleveland is certainly proving to be a great regular season team if nothing else. They still have a long term Love problem I think. That trade looks completely silly at this point. They didn't need him and gave up a future superstar to get him, which they then had to course correct and get Shumpert, who Wiggins is already better than. All reasons you don't let LeBron GM your team. Speaking of LeBron, can we boo him on Monday night? Did we pay our proper respects the first game? Have we done enough? Can we now boo and hiss every time the SOB touches the ball or do we still have to bow down?
See I think Love SHOULD be really important. He stretches the floor to give space to LeBron and Kyrie and can go in the post when the game slows down which should be really helpful against guys like Milsap, etc. Like - a LeBron/Kyrie PnR with Love and the other guy cutting on the other side of the court should be unstoppable. Kevin Love was designed in a lab to be a PnR partner with those guys. But they just never use him. To me Wiggins would be redundant. Do the Cavs really need more wing scoring? Would he be getting much of a chance to do anything on this team?
That's not the issue. Blatt insists on playing your small ball lineups and most teams..especially San Antonio....play small ball MUCH better. Blatt basically threw that game, and Kawhi gave it back to him.
It's insane to me that Blatt constantly reacts to other teams - when you have 3 stars like this, you should force teams to react to you. As for Wiggins being a star - Kevin Love is also a star. Wiggins has a long way to go before he's as good as Kevin Love has been the last 5 years. It was a risk worth taking.
Here is an interesting conversation... Everybody knows LeBron plays hella minutes. I believe he passed Bird for career minutes played earlier this season already. Obviously, you want any chance at a title, so Cleveland wants to win NOW. However with the state of the East and West, you got to raise the question on whether or not it's worth for Cleveland go to the Finals? The obvious answer is yes, it is always yes because there are no way to justify tanking a potential Finals appearance, but that will be Bron's 5th straight Finals, that is ALOT of minutes. One of those things that is underplayed, IMO.
The future's not promised to you. You go for it whenever you can. I could see the resting LeBron down the stretch as they can't get the #1 seed and whether they are 2 or 3 really makes no difference.
This is also a reason the Love trade made sense. LeBron has 2-3 yrs of his prime left. Gotta try to win one now rather than wait for Wiggins to develop. And Kyrie is 22 and Love 26 so they still have a long window - but they optimized it to win now.
It won't be long until Kyrie is the best player on The Cavs, I'm trying to think of ANY EC player I would rather be on the Knicks than Irving....and I come up blank.
For all this nonsense about Kyrie Irving...you do realize that he is #22 in PER and Dwyane Wade is #16 and that Kyrie has 6 PG's ahead of him in efficiency, WS, and WP?
I'm not a numbers geek, never have been...but if you are telling me there are 6 PG's better than Kyrie IRVING in the east than I have no choice but to point and laugh. And Kyrie is 22 years old, Wade has about 2-3 more years and he will be on a permanent vacation. Easy choice.
6 PG's in the NBA. again....what does it say that Jesus H. Moses from the Cuyahoga is #22 in PER and...the wheel chair bound, crippled, and leprous Dwyane Wade is #16?
Kyrie is a good young player, but last night's game is going to serve for people to seriously overhype him. A lot of what he did last night was fluky as hell. Some crazy circus shots he was taking and were dropping. Skolnick tweeted that of the 20 shots he made 19 were contested or something like that. It was really fun to watch, but lets not go crazy.
Yeah I know he's a good and crafty finisher at the rim, but he was unconscious from 3. It got to a point where I knew if he took a 3 no matter how crazy it looked, it was going in.
Just looked at the list and I didn't see 6 PG's ahead of Kyrie, not that it would've mattered because if I consider that list the be all end all I'm calling Lebron James the 5th best player in basketball....and that's just false. And the difference in Wade and Kyries rating is a whopping 0.3 even if PER told the entire story.
He's a great young player, and I emphasize YOUNG because he is 22. Again, you let me pick an EC player to be a Knick?? I'm going Kyrie every single time.
Kyrie is 3rd in WS and 4th in WS/48 (among PGs) as far as I can tell, not sure where 6th comes from. Odd that you don't mention Wade's WS/48, where he isn't even in the top 20 of SGs or WS where he isn't even top 15 SGs, when trying to criticize. Note: I don't see WP or Efficiency on pro-basketball-reference or I'd have included those (not sure if they are flattering or not, I would guess efficiency certainly is) They're both really good players. Not sure why you have to knock one down just because one had a big game and is being talked about.
