****The Official 2013-14 NBA Thread****

I disagree that they didn't like Allen. Even back when that rivalry was going strong, Allen was the guy you'd always see shaking hands with the Heat players regardless of the outcome. I recall commenting on that to my son, that Allen seemed like the one classy player on that Celtic's team.

 

...............not sure if serious

 

He meant Chalmers...

 

Moving James Harden isn't really on the table for the Houston Rockets when it comes to signing Carmelo Anthony. The strategy is to unload Jeremly Lin. From what I've seen, they can even re-sign Chandler Parsons in this scenario as they'll have Bird rights to him.

The Western conference is all about offense and that plays into Carmelo's game. I could see them making the pitch to Carmelo that with him, James Harden, Dwight Howard, Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverley, they'll be unstoppable.

Will he buy it? Who knows. But they're going to make the claim. They have a chance.

It'll come down to money versus championship contention. The Knicks can offer the money and a promise of maybe contending for championships down the road. The Rockets and Mavericks will offer the chance to compete now in a Western Conference that should be wide open as the Spurs get too old (Don't we say this every year? SMH). In the Eastern Conference they're always going to have to contend with the Big 3 in Miami and that's daunting. He and LeBron are friends. He probably knows or has an idea where LeBron's mindset is at in terms of staying with the Heat and keeping things together there.

Honest question. If the Rockets boast Dwight Howard, Chandler Parsons, Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and Patrick Beverley...would they become the favorites in the West? I think they would. That would be the pitch Houston makes.

I think the Knicks are the slight favorite because of Phil Jackson...but Houston's up there. Or they should be. And they're gearing for it. They want this.

 

I think it's because Bosh will make much less money from endorsements compared to Wade/LeBron so he should make more money as far as NBA salary goes. That's the logic behind it at least... AKA Bosh is making more of a sacrifice compared to the others if he's taking the proposed $15M/yr contract that some have suggested.

 

So Chris Broussard goes on The Herd today and says LeBron won't take a pay cut, which essentially nullifies the pay cuts Wade and Bosh would take. Then he says while the Heat are considered the favorites, they are far from a lock to keep LeBron.

I'm not sure how that makes any sense. First of all, why would Wade and Bosh opt out and speak to LeBron about taking less if it means zero cap savings? Also, if LeBron isn't going to take less money then why would he go to any of the speculated other teams when he would be able to make much more in Miami? If I'm not mistaken, he'd have to take significantly more of a discount to play anywhere else no?

 

Broussard is full of ****. As per usual.

 

Windhorst now joins the max deal fray:

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/mia.../lebron-james-miami-heat-wants-maximum-salary

I don't buy that Windohorst or Broussard know what they're talking about, but it's out there nonetheless.

 

Don't buy it still. Doesn't fit logically. Think this is classic throw **** against the wall "reporting"

 

I guess I'm just not a believer in Houston. When I watched them last year I never believed they were good of a team. They just didn't play as a team. They would go on runs where they would outscore people, but it was all individual play like Harden going off or Howard being unstoppable. It just never lasted. I don't know if that's coaching or chemistry, but my guess is that adding a guy like Melo wouldn't really improve that much. I'm not much of a bettor, but if I were that would be the type of team that I would bet against come playoff time. It's the type of team that gets hyped b/c of the names and the scoring, but fails at being a good team or a smart team when they faced a good team.

 

Mitch Kupchak was on The Dan Patrick Show today and basically said that The Lakers have upwards of $30 million in cap room to play with. He even mentioned being able to use the stretch provision (on Nash) to get to that $30 million. When asked who has a better chance of being a Laker next year, Pau or Nash, there was a loooong pause followed by a political answer where he said he thought both had a great chance.

In other words, they are both gone and his reiteration of their cap room is Mitch's way of saying they are trying for the big name free agents. I think their main target is Carmelo, with their pipe dream being LeBron, obviously.

Also, they did not offer a qualifying contract to Kent Bazemore, but did for Ryan Kelly. I fully expected both to get the QO as Bazemore wouldn't bee that expensive and can fill a spot nicely on their bench.

Oh well.

 

I don't buy the LeBron full max stuff either.

I understand wanting to get paid, but by doing this he is screwing Bosh and Wade, and also limiting what we can do in FA to improve the team to his desires.

Even if Arison decided to go "full Prokhorov" there is still only so much that you can do.

But I'll say this, LBJ deserves the max, and if push comes to shove I'd give it to him but, then he has to commit. none of this opt out in 2 years bull crap. You want the max, you stick for 4 years. I'll give you an opt out of the last year of the deal. We commit to you, you commit to us. That's the way this works

 

So Woj, Broussard and Windy have all reported the max deal thing. And there's pretty much no way to make a max deal work in Miami and still field a competitive team. And I think we are all under the assumption that LeBron would prefer to stay in Miami.

So who is leaking this? Has to be LeBron's side, right? What is the motive? Just to make teams scramble and pull the football out from under them at the last minute?

 

LeBron making max money works here. We can pay it. The question is just then what kind of team we can field around him. If you assume LBJ at $22, Bosh at $16, Wade at $13, Cole at $1.5 (roughly) and Napier at $1 (roughly) that's $53 million, still $10 million under $63 million cap. Even if you bump up Wade and Bosh a bit, we'll still be an under the cap team.

We can then use Bird rights on "Bird"man, Ray Allen, Haslem, and then be an over the cap team with the use of the exceptions.

It's still workable. Just could be better if he would take a little less.

There's a timing factor too of how you go over the cap and when you can use the exceptions, which I'm not fully clear on.

Give him the max. That's not what concerns me. He's worth $40-50 million per year. Take the $130 million. But stick with us. Don't give me a bunch of opt out crap with a circus every year. Stick for another 4 years.

 

To be fair, that was what the Miami Heat were in 2010...and they went to the Finals that year.

 

FWIW, the Lakers are not even on Carmelo's list of visits. He's got visits lined up with the Bulls, Rockets and Mavericks, and it's understood that at some point Kobe will be calling him to make a pitch for the Lakers. But the whole thing sounds semi-serious as people around Melo seem to think it'll be one of the three visits or the Knicks.

 

The LeBron max contract thing makes perfect sense. His representatives are very, very likely telling other teams that if they want to even be considered semi-seriously for luring LeBron away from the Heat, it will have to be a maximum deal. If LeBron is going to leave the Heat, which is very unlikely, there will be no player in the NBA paid more than the best player in the world.

They're all his Plan B in case something extraordinarily weird and unforeseen happens in the negotiations with Riley, Bosh and Wade. And these are definitely mutual negotiations.

 

I agree with this. Three reporters plugged in to teams not named the Miami Heat are saying LeBron wants the max... because LeBron is telling those other teams he wants the max.

It's partially a way to get them to back off, and partially a Plan B.

 

He has a visit lined up with the Lakers on Thursday.

 

Whoops. Guess he added a fourth visit. Supposedly he's doing a Chicago visit basically at 12:01am, then he's doing Houston and Dallas visits on Wednesday, so I guess he's doing a Lakers visit on Thursday.

 

There may also be an element of getting these teams to tie up cap space thinking they have a chance. But truthfully I don't think even the "serious" teams are taking this idea very seriously. The Rockets for example appear to be serious as a heart attack about adding someone like LeBron or Carmelo, but their focus has lasered in on Carmelo for a reason.

 

This is my thought too. I'm guessing LeBron and Riley are playing a chess game with the rest of the NBA with hopes other teams may hold back a bit for a chance at LeBron while Riley can work his magic by adding another player or two within reason (ie, not Melo). I really don't expect LeBron to sign a new deal with Miami until next week. I could see Bosh, Wade, and Haslem signing new deals this week though.

 

Broussard is Broussarding.

and Windy gonna Windy.

 

Damn. We really didn't go to 4 finals in a row and win 2 of them.

 

That's why I don't believe a word of that "max contract" bull****.

Wade, Bosh, Haslem and Bron—maybe even Chris Andersen and Ray Allen—know exactly what's up with each other, and they're doing this in concert. The ONLY thing up in the air is how much will be left after Riley adds one-two more major pieces and rounds out the minimums. How they all distribute that among themselves is likely already decided in terms of percentages.

This is some cold, calculated Michael Corleone **** here, not Sonny driving into an ambush on the causeway.

Believe it. Be prepared for the wailing from the media haters and the hand-wringing from the widows tomorrow as Riley pulls off at least two moves that would be inconceivable for any other team, then assembles "the family" in a room later in the week to kiss his ring(s), as Al Neary slowly, deliberately closes the door on the rest of us.

 

First of all..a few things.

NOBODY can sign till July 10th. Deals/Agreements can be announced though....

The Order in which they sign is important. The Big Three have to sign first, and they have to sign in order from smallest to largest salary for reporting purposes.

Lebron's MAX starting salary is 20.2 Million per year. The Increase and decrease for any one year cannot exceed 10% of the total per year payment. So it is very possible that Lebron will sign a heavily front loaded deal for three years with puny (around $17 million) 4th and 5th year options, that he will surely opt out of. This is Salary cap circumvention, but completely legal.

The Big Three have consulted with Riley and Andy as to what they "want" and inquired as to what is needed. They will come to an accommodation.

In 2010, the Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks lodged complaints to the NBA that Wade and Bosh intentionally led them on in order to get them to tie up cap space. It led Chicago to pull an offer from Wade. I have no doubt that the "word" got out there that Lebron wants a "Max". it is WHAT HE WANTS OUT THERE.

 

That was beautiful.

Sent from my LG-MS770 using Tapatalk

 

Now look....

this i not Info. This is just something that I think the Heat is pondering. They Think BIG.

Okay...

you go out and offer Carmelo Anthony the Max. He signs.

You sign Wade to a 54 for 4 year deal. (very doable) He signs

You Sign Bron and Bosh to 1 year deals right up to the cap, with opt outs.

You now have a Big 4.

The following year you sign Lebron to the Max, and Bosh to a longterm deal giving back what he gave away.

You can then add the MLE each year.

Now..Luxury Tax hell? Who cares. there is a MASSIVE TV deal coming for Miami in a year, and a OPT OUT of the CBA by the owners or Players in 2017. trust me..they are thinking about this.

 

Did you mean Bosh here?

 

No, Durant.. Wade retires. You said think big

 

Yes. typo.

 

Maybe I'm being presumptuous here, but wouldn't Melo be willing to take a cut, in order to win? If he absolutely needed the $$$, then he could just sign with any other team.

 

So hypothetically in this situation you have Melo, Wade, Lebron, Bosh, Norris Cole, Greg Oden, and Shabazz Napier signed? How much money do you have for anyone else? All min contracts for everyone else? Then the MLE each year?

 

Yes. Add Ray Allen, Udonis and Birdman on Bird rights.....

 

This is just me spitballing..and handing Melo the Max to play in Basketball paradise.

 

How does it work?

We sign the big 3 plus whoever to go over the cap and then use Bird rights on allen/Bird, etc.?

Do we still get the exemptions if we start out under the cap?

 

Would be worth it to watch Bill Simmons choke on gall on national television

 

Dead serious.

LeBron and Wade aren't making thur fortune from an NBA salary. Basketball is just an avenue for them to drive sneaker sales. Being part of a dynasty helps drive those sales. They make back whatever salary they give up.

Bosh is the one giving up the most for the team, and his return is the least.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

No. If you are under the cap..you don't get the MLE.

YOU MUST get under the cap this year with the "Big 4" in my hypothetical. You then fill in with Bird Rights guys and Min. contracts. The following year you re-do the two deals and then add to the team with the MLE.