Listening to Amber Wilson this morning (she's also a divorce attorney), her remark was "good luck with that." Wade has full custody of the kids. And she's not entitled to any of his "new money" since she was out of the picture when he earned it. She got like $5 million in the original divorce and apparently that's that. Shiovaughn resides in Atlanta now apparently. That was news to me. - sent via Tapatalk -
When I watch Briante Webber in the Summer League it reminds me of how Pat Beverley looked in the Summer League when he was in Miami. Just an absolute bulldog defensively. Beverley developed enough of an offensive game to become a valuable role player in the NBA. If Webber can do the same, he might be able to as well.
I honestly think we'll be trading Dragic soon.... I posted this on another forum but I can see us trading Dragic for Jrue Holiday, protected first round pick, and some other contract New Orleans does not want. Jrue is a 12 million expiring, they can probably combine it with Pondexter or Cunningham, but I highly doubt we keep a 98 million roster that barely makes the playoffs... that's just lunacy..
I loved that team. I had really mixed emotions when they traded for Shaq. I understood how it gave them a better championship chance, but the 2003-2004 team was so much fun to watch.
We only have a $98 million dollar roster for the 16'-17' season. Jrue is gonna command a better contract than Dragic has now. That is NOT the trade you make with Dragic.
Do you think there is a Dragic trade to be made? Personally, I'd hold on to him because I think he'd thrive with this roster. If you are going all in for the rebuild, I guess you could look to add a 1st round draft pick (or two), and/or young upside players.
His contract is just too valuable to trade, imo. He's cheap for the caliber of play he gives you. It'd be a mistake to trade one of the better bargains in the League, and yes, I think it's likely his numbers/effectiveness improve with the roster tweaks (though the team as a whole likely won't be as good).
Even if it won't be as large as once predicted, everyone needs to remember there will be another cap jump next year. So even the awful contracts from this year won't look as bad. And these max deals signed under the old cap are going to look like steals.
I think there's a possibility the Heat are looking at Tyler Johnson and Goran Dragic as the long term solution at the position, with a decision between the two happening before Johnson is owed those balloon payments. If Johnson never pans out they'll keep Dragic and amnesty Johnson. If Johnson does pan out, Dragic should remain a highly attractive trade target. The Heat shouldn't look at trading Dragic unless they're getting something very positive in return. There is a reason the team fielded a lot of phone calls about Dragic this off season. He is an attractive asset at the contract level they have him.
Yeah you keep him on the roster if for no other reason than that he's your best option to bring out on the court when you have a super fast point guard killing you out there. His defensive abilities are pretty stellar. And he can run the offense, handle the ball. His passing is a little shaky at times, prone to turnovers. But he also has the ability to create a lot of assists. His shot is pretty bad. Just have to live with that I guess. But that's not unusual at the position. Rodney McGruder though...he's really been showing why he got that 3 year deal. That mother ****er is 17 of 31 (.548) on three pointers in Summer League. He has a 121.3 offensive rating and 95.5 defensive rating in the six Summer League games he's played. On a per 36 minute basis McGruder is averaging 6.6 of 13.0 (51%) for 18.5 points, including 3.9 of 7.1 from three point range (55%), 5.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals, with only 0.5 personal fouls and 1.8 turnovers. And the point average is depressed a little by the fact he's only 50% on his free throws during Summer League, which is unusual for him and not the sort of thing you expect to continue as he was a 76% free throw shooter in college and a 70% free throw shooter in D-League (74% in 2015-16). If he were shooting his normal free throw rate he'd be a 19.2 points per 36 minutes guy.
What about testing the waters with OKC for a Westbrook/Dragic trade? If you think about it, it might not he a bad deal for OKC considering cost of Dragic which gives them the ability to make other roster signings and gives us a superstar that I think would mesh well with our young nucleus of players... just food for thought. (I know it might be premature but from what I read, Russell and his agent have zero plans on renegotiating anytime soon)
I said this on twitter..will say it here. Wayne Ellington is on a 2 year $12mil contract. the second year is a TEAM OPTION..(this is key) Spo gets Ellington to average 14-15ppg on 38% 3pt. shooting (very doable with minutes), How ATTRACTIVE will that contract be? Answer: VERY.
This draft coming up as well, is 20 deep at least. You can get a REAL contributor up to pick 20 without a doubt. It's as good as the 2008 draft.
Yes. They own their pick without any restrictions. They actually aren't allowed to trade it by rule until after they make their pick. You cannot trade consecutive picks.
The other thing with Dragic is to keep in mind the big picture. This season is about the development of Whiteside, TJ, JRich, and Winslow, and seeing how/if this promising young core fits together. Removing a proven veteran (one of the few left) who is the only true PG on the roster probably isn't the best way to facilitate the growth of these young players.
Whiteside and Dragic have a budding friendship and it was starting to show results on the floor before the end. You want to keep those two together for at least one more year.
http://www.hothothoops.com/ Section mentioned the bombs will be dropping. Fun article. Edit: Click on "The Miami Heat nobody sees coming."
Howard Beck reporting Russ could be traded sooner rather than later and Boston is the favorite to land him. There's like a 90% chance Ainge is just trying to stir up the rumors to get some momentum on this, but still interesting. Russ and Stevens is an interesting mix in that Stevens would finally have an alpha type star that he'd have to build a system around.
I'll believe it when I see it. Ainge tried to trade his entire chest of goodies for Jimmy Butler and failed. But now he is gonna trade LESS and get Russ? oh.....kay....
You never know. The Thunder might be in all out rebuild mode after KD left. Whereas Chi signed Rondo and Wade and kept Butler, so no one really knows wtf the Bulls are doing as far as what direction they want the team to go in. I guess they have their reasons for keeping Butler. I've seen stranger things this offseason. Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
It still seems weird to me that a team's primary draw would be we have a really good young coach (Brad Stevens). It worked for Miami with Derrick Williams but that's Derrick Williams...not Russell Westbrook. I feel like Miami's been a bit more honest and effective saying yeah we have a great young coach but really we have no state taxes, cool beaches, hot women, Chris Bosh, (until this year) Dwyane Wade, and maybe a few financial perks the NBA office doesn't know or care about.
Interesting. Russ would have to want to go to Boston for all of this to happen, first of all. If he did, you would think it would have to start with Thomas and a bunch of picks. That's not a great haul, but in a good draft class like this one, maybe the Thunder are content with that. Trading for Westbrook is a tough spot to be in. First of all, he obviously has to want to go to your team. Secondly, you almost certainly will not be able to get any kind of solid commitment from him to sign because I believe the rules prevent him from doing so. Then, on top of that you have to give up a ton of assets, when you could potentially just get him or another of the stellar free agents next summer. For example, if you're the Heat, it would seem like a no-brainer to trade a package of Dragic and Winslow and/or Richardson, and/or Johnson. But would you rather have Westbrook with no real guarantee, or all of those young kids with a decent chance to land Greek Freak, Griffin, or Heyward?
The Cult of Brad Stevens is really weird. I had Twitter come AFTER me for suggesting he wasn't a top 3 coach. Like that's some sort of insult! Sec and I already went through this - but you just can't put Stevens above Pop and Carlisle. And I don't even really see the argument to put him ahead of Kerr, Bud, Clifford, Spo, Doc, SVG.
Well you guys are the ones telling me they'd take Dragic as a center piece in a deal for Westbrook, so yes I do think Boston has a good chance if that is the case.
Another Couper Moorehead special: http://www.nba.com/heat/newsrecap/summer-weber/ "The Summer of Weber"
Dragic is the only established starting player in a deal with those guys and with his contract he's the centerpiece. I still don't think OKC would do that deal.
The real prize, though, is the prospects in this deal or the one with Boston. At the end of the day, it has more to do with what Westbrook wants, but if you were hypothetically deciding between Boston and Miami it would come down to draft picks vs. somewhat proven young talent in Winslow, Richardson, and Johnson.
Maybe it's because I followed VCU and Weber throughout college but I'm just stoked we have him as a developmental player. This team has a knack for making players better shooters - if they do that with Briante it'll be another UDFA steal under Riley/Spo's belt.
File this under stranger than fiction: [video=twitter;753306830584025088]https://twitter.com/fuzznacht/status/753306830584025088[/video]
Heat pulled out a final minute victory over the Pelicans to advance in the Las Vegas tournament. They'll play the Phoenix Suns tomorrow. Briante Weber really had a good game evidently. He was 2 of 2 from behind the arc including hitting the game-tying 3 pointer with less than 2 minutes to play. Then when the Heat were up by 2 points with less than a minute to go, Briante stole the ball in the backcourt on long inbounds pass and got fouled, put both in to go ahead 4 points and put the game away. Heat signed Stefan Jankovic. I guess a 6'11" guy with his jump shot and pure offensive capabilities just couldn't be allowed to dangle around out there. Poor Victor Rudd. He'll catch on somewhere. Heat have probably pulled in their last summer league guy, between Briante Weber, Rodney McGruder and now Stefan Jankovic. I'd still love to see them make some promises toward Jarnell Stokes and pull him in. Don't let him be the next Willie Reed.
Really is amazing how Briante just continuously steals the ball game after game. He looks pretty damn good passing the ball too. Aggressive player. Hope he continues to play with that no fear attitude.
Part of it is these summer league scrubs. They're just not as good with the ball as real NBA players.
Forgot that the espys existed, i read on facebook that lebron and his bananaboat friends did some powerful message. Too bad that show is low rated, no one probably saw it.
