****The Official 2016-2017 NBA Thread****

LeBron tweeted about this specifically thanking the Miami Pro Am for treating Bronny so well

Phase 8

 

Chris Sheridan says this will be LeBron's final season in Cleveland according to his sources. Relationship with the owner is beyond repair.

 

Was just about to post it.

 

I think we would be foolish to get our hopes up about a return to Miami though.

He may try and engineer something to the Lakers in order to get his Hollywood career jump started.

 

Lebron isn't coming back to Miami, that's a pipedream.


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I think he's going to the Lakers.

 

I wonder, if Dan Gilbert really feels Lebron is gone, would he be willing to trade him away if he felt Kyrie would stay knowing that Lebron wont be on the team anymore?

I don't know if Gilbert can remain the owner of the Cavaliers and lose out Lebron twice, and lose Kyrie Irving. The fans will burn the arena down...

 

Knicks told Cleveland they will not deal KP in a Kyrie deal. Thank goodness.

 

Dwyane Wade is expected to reach a buyout settlement with Chicago in the next few months.

I'd set odds on him joining LeBron in Cleveland, but Miami certainly has to be considered a possibility.

 

You internet geeks are some funny mofo's.

 

If that's true, I would try and trade him if I were Cleveland. Maximize your value and maybe then try and keep Kyrie.

 

Hassan Whiteside's response to hearing Wade's buyout is inevitable:

 

That is hilarious! Go Hassan!

 

LeBron has a no-trade clause in his contract, that makes things difficult for the Cavs.

 

Didn't we already know this? Not being a smartass. I thought this was common knowledge.

Wade should rejoin the Heat, just like how Jason Taylor returned to the Fins.

 

That's true. That being said, if they traded him it would be the best case scenario if he really does want to leave, because he can say it wasn't his decision to move on. Could you imagine if he were traded to a team like the Rockets for Harden. I know Rockets fans would probably be against it because Harden is one of the best players in basketball, and still young, but you could legitimately have the banana boat team there if they did that. And they'd all very likely re-sign there. This is very much not going to happen, just throwing that out there.

 

LeBron already said he is not waiving his no trade for anything. I actually believe him. He likes complete control and I'm sure he feels nothing wrong with crushing Gilbert on the way out.

As for Wade, I'd put better than even odds he returns here. I'm not sure he's interested in even spending a season in Cleveland.

 

Chris Sheridan is good at waiting for downtime in basketball news, and repeating old news to make it sound like a brand new breaking story for clicks/getting his name out there...

He is one sleezy and lazy reporter..

 

To be fair, no one has said it's a certainty, and Sheridan was the first reporter to say LeBron had decided to go back to Cleveland. He may have just been guessing, but he was way ahead of the SI article.

 

Ethan Skolnick was fired from 790 the ticket today.

 

Everyone saw lebron going back, the signals were evident. Chris made it sound like he got a source, and made himself sound so sure of himself even though everyone knew it. That was Chris way to try to land a job back on ESPN.

And it works, That Lebron Stalker windhorst got a job that way. Bucher as well. SAS was fired from ESPN but him saying hes got a source on lebron coming to Miami (even though lebron has said multiple times SAS is guessing, has no source) that got him a job back to espn.

These are lazy lottery playing reporters. Their ticket is having their guesses come right.

There is a very few handful that actually has a source. And that handful starts with Schefter and Woj.

 

HA!!

Go back and find that thread..

 

Sure link me, because i thought it was clear as day and even warned that we should pursue other free agents before we completely strike out.

 

Nah, very few people even here thought it was likely, including me. There were a few who were indifferent about whether he stayed or went because they felt like he won them a few rings. A few more were wanting more of "The Heatles". Looking back for Lebron it was the right move but very few thought he was actually gone.

 

Everyone saw it as likely, but Sheredon is reporting it as fact. Maybe he's making it up, but you can't say for sure he is. We all thought he was full of **** when he reported that LeBron was going back to Cleveland. We were worried, but most people did not think it was happening until right before it did. Again, maybe he made it up, but maybe he was right.

 

HEAT sign Jordan Mickey, 1.5M vet-minimum guaranteed for one year, team option for year 2.

23 year-old 6'8 PF. Good defender coming out of college, protects the rim surprisingly well for his size. Apparently he's gotten better as a shooter since then too. Shot mid-70s from the FT line in the DLeague. 40% on a tiny sample from 3. Watching some highlights, his handle is kinda slick at times too.

 

We have a better chance of getting Kyrie. Lebron isn't coming back to Miami.
On a side note, Bam has looked good so far. I hope his defense is good enough to be the starting PF.
Have a nice day.

 

He compares pretty favorably to UD, although I don't want UD to hear me say that because if he doesn't like the comparison I'm a dead man walking.

 

I wouldn't want Lebron back. It's not that he still isn't a great player or that I'm harboring any ill-will, it's that sometimes you need to leave things in the past. When he was here it was heady times. If he returned there would be all these expectations that would probably be unreasonable. I don't believe he's the player he was anymore. I think his defense has diminished considerably. He's still great offensively and smart on the court and he could be a huge part of a championship with the right mix around him, but I don't think that mix is likely here. I don't think the yearly contracts, entourage and control he wields would fit here. Now if Riley and Spo and Lebron wanted to make it work, I would trust their judgment but it wouldn't be my instinct as the best choice. I do think that when Lebron reaches the Wade stage of his career where he's clearly a support player rather than the center piece that he might be a decent fit, but he's obviously not there yet.

 

I disagree. He's still the best player in the league. Or at least he's in the argument. If you can add the best player in the league, you do so.

 

Sure, that's what would happen, but whether it's actually a smart decision always depends on the cost/benefit. My feeling is that our team as constructed is likely to finish top 4 in the East and likely to continue to improve for the next few years. In large part b/c of the Heat culture and also b/c of our young talent. I see that culture as very Patriot-like and one of the reasons that the Heat are among the best organizations in sports. I see that culture as a path to our long-term success. I think Lebron left in part b/c he wanted to continue his career in a way that was the anti-thesis of Heat culture. He kept making demands that Riley refused and he didn't want to live by those rules anymore. If the Heat were to cave on their principals and give up their culture then I'm not sure we'd be all that much better in the short-term and I firmly believe we'd be worse off longer-term. We'd probably some of our young talent in the short-term and we'd have to rebuild our culture in the long-term. Now I understand that generally the team adding the superstar wins the trade in a sport with smaller rosters, but I think that benefit is lessened with an older star relative to a younger star. IMO Lebron's defense was considerably worse last season. And he's played so many minutes that he's reaching the point where great players start to drop off quickly. I don't believe that he raises our odds of dethroning GSW the next couple of years as much as people think or even as much as he would have the last couple of years. And I think it hurts our odds of competing in the long-term.

Now I believe the Heat would pursue it b/c financially the team benefits, but I expect that Lebron's goals right now are more focused on his personal financial benefit. Obviously, all players are focused on maximizing their personal income to some extent. But teams like the Heat, the Spurs and GSW all became successful b/c they had players that gave up some of that income to build a better team. I don't believe you can win with just one superstar. I believe you need several and they have to be willing to sacrifice to come together. I don't believe Lebron is willing to make that sacrifice at this point in his career.

 

Reports are that Boston and the Cavs are nearing a deal that revolves around Kyrie to Boston for Isaiah Thomas, Crowder, and maybe picks. If true, I don't like this for the Cavs at all. If they get Brooklyn's pick next year that would make it better, but Thomas is a FA after this year, and that's a big downgrade anyway, and you are probably handing the Celtics the East if you do that. But it's the Cavs, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

EDIT:

 

Does Cleveland max Thomas if LBJ leaves?

 

So when can we steal Kyrie from Boston? 2 years?

That will be sweet

 

I will be the biggest Nets fan in the world this year for Schadenfreud purposes

Would be so great if they snuck into the 8th seed and screwed Cleveland

 

Deal is done:

Kyrie for Thomas, Crowder, 2018 Nets pick, Ante Zizic.

The best thing they got back here is that 2018 pick, but the Nets play in the awful East, so we'll see how they do. I really don't think this is a good deal for the Cavs especially when you consider who they're trading him to. If the Cavs lose both Thomas and LeBron next year, this looks awful.

 

I would've given that package for Butler.

No idea why they didn't do that.

Whatever. I hate both of these teams with a passion.

 

I don't know if Cle could've gotten much more...I think Crowder can be a sneaky good pickup.

 

I don't know that this makes any practical difference for either team this year.

Cavs still better. Thomas andLBJ could leave and Kyrie watch starts as soon as season ends.

Feels more like Boston just felt they finally needed to do something for somethings sake

 

I don't either (contrary to some that argued this point with me), but all things being equal, wouldn't you want to send him to another team? If it were just the package, I don't think I'd be down on it as much, but you probably just made Boston the best team in the east (I know they had the best record in the east last year, but I don't think anyone really thought they were the best team). This trade could essentially put you out of the finals indefinitely if you're Cleveland.