Draft starts tomorrow....




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http://www.nba.com/article/2018/06/20/re...oklyn-nets

And the Hornets deal Dwight to Brooklyn. Not sure how I feel about this as he really balled out for the Hornets last year but overall the team has stunk the last two years after making a playoff run 3 years ago.

http://www.nba.com/draft/2018/board#/

Trades and meh...

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/06/21/re...out-buyout

Then works on a buyout to go to Free Agency ...

http://www.nba.com/nba-free-agency-2018-...-1-roundup

Well, LeBron to the Lakers.

I'm done with LeBron.... he's basically gone from franchise savior (Cavs V1) to hired assasin to franchise savior ( Cavs V2) to hired assassin again...

Hell, he was responsible for for the sh* roster the Cavs had to begin with... and partially responsible for the bad contracts with them too.

I wonder how hard the NBA would look into tampering by the Lakers..... not saying there was some but I find it odd they have been pulling these sales pitches ever since Magic took over....

LeBron can do what he wants, and I would guess that he chose the Lakers largely because none of the possible landing spots looked like title winners.

Once he opted out and eliminated the sign and trade possibility, his only choices were staying with Cleveland, going to LA, or trying to squeeze into a Sixers situation that makes no sense for him, in addition to the possibility that the Sixers future might be not nearly as bright as it looked during last season's playoffs.

LeBron would have had to engineer some complicated sign and trade to force his way onto the Celtics or Rockets, and if he had done that, the blowback against him would have been twice as hard as that from his first "Decision" and KD's move to the Warriors combined.

Plus he already had a house there.

I have no idea what that solves for LeBron but congrats to Jeanie Buss.

(07-02-2018 12:51 AM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  I'm done with LeBron.... he's basically gone from franchise savior (Cavs V1) to hired assasin to franchise savior ( Cavs V2) to hired assassin again...

Hell, he was responsible for for the sh* roster the Cavs had to begin with... and partially responsible for the bad contracts with them too.

I understand that viewpoint...if you're NOT a Cavs fan. He did something that no one else has done in Cleveland since the 1964 Browns - bring a championship home to the City of Cleveland. The city has no regrets with LeBron (V2) and vice, versa. Even the owner gave him a public thanks and mentioned retiring #23 soon.

(07-02-2018 02:56 AM)Wedge Wrote:  LeBron can do what he wants...

Yes, yes and yes again. If you step back and look at it from the widest perspective, the NBA is happy that LeBron chose LA to bring that historic franchise back up the ranks. The interest level and TV ratings will skyrocket with the King playing for Magic Johnson.

Someone's a happy camper right now...

Lebron reportedly has some Hollywood connections that he's trying to develop for his post-playing career, the move makes sense from that POV. In LA he can nail down his business life, whereas with Philly he'd only go if he wanted a chance to win without massive blowback whereas Cleveland only made sense at this point for sentimental reasons.

OK, I know haters gonna hate, and yes this signing is totally excessive and unnecessary, but...

Hey Magic, you thought you were getting Boogie? LOL.

Wow. I’m on vacation with limited internet access, so this afternoon saw both the LeBron and Boogie news. Still not sure what to think about the Lakers. Happy to see it’s not a James/George/Leonard thing. That’s just no fun. It really looks like LeBron saw he had no chance to join a club that would be a championship contender this season so he took the deal that would put his home life in the best situation, trusting the Lakers can build something in the next two or three years when the Warriors start breaking up because of contracts and salary cap. But if this starts to look like a team being run by James (coaching and GM decisions all seeming to go through him), it’s going to be hard for me to root for them.

Re Boogie, yeah it seems excessive but I don’t know if it really is. He’s going to be out until first part of 2019, he’ll still be affected by the injury, he’ll be a short minute guy likely challenged by the offensive and defensive sets. And then there’s the locker room... The upside is potentially great but it seems there’s a decent amount of risk in this signing.

I have no idea if Boogie will be a great addition on the court. Probably he was getting low-balled by every team in negotiations because of his injury, and just decided, if no one is going to give me more than $5 million, might as well chase a ring.

The Warriors' luxury tax bill is astronomical, and it's a decent guess that after they get into the new arena and have sold as many seat licenses as they think they can, they'll reduce payroll to a point where the luxury tax bill is more in line with what other contenders pay. If that happens, Klay or Dray or both might end up signing elsewhere if the W's don't offer them a long-term max deal.

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/07/06/re...te-hornets
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24021...te-hornets

Tony Parker to the Hornets...

In that ESPN article, the vibe I get of this now is this whole Kawhi Leonard thing with the Spurs is breaking up the Spurs from the inside.


http://www.nba.com/article/2018/07/06/re...ays-summer

Mello out of OKC.... lol

(07-06-2018 08:45 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  http://www.nba.com/article/2018/07/06/re...te-hornets
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24021...te-hornets

Tony Parker to the Hornets...

In that ESPN article, the vibe I get of this now is this whole Kawhi Leonard thing with the Spurs is breaking up the Spurs from the inside.

Yes.

Quote:"I have no problem with Kawhi Leonard. We never had an argument," Parker told The Undefeated. "When the journalist asked me if my injury was worse than Kawhi's, I said yes because it was true. ... It's very sad that the media took one quote and made it sound like I didn't want to play with him. He was the face of the franchise."

Was, not is.

(07-06-2018 10:57 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(07-06-2018 08:45 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  http://www.nba.com/article/2018/07/06/re...te-hornets
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24021...te-hornets

Tony Parker to the Hornets...

In that ESPN article, the vibe I get of this now is this whole Kawhi Leonard thing with the Spurs is breaking up the Spurs from the inside.

Yes.

Quote:"I have no problem with Kawhi Leonard. We never had an argument," Parker told The Undefeated. "When the journalist asked me if my injury was worse than Kawhi's, I said yes because it was true. ... It's very sad that the media took one quote and made it sound like I didn't want to play with him. He was the face of the franchise."

Was, not is.

didn't kawhi say that was the tipping point or something? he might have a legitimate beef with the organization but it's very unspursy. i'm willing to give the spurs the benefit of the doubt and say adios. too bad we can't get anthony davis. but it's alright. we'll get few in a few years. he'll make bradley stevens look like a butler coach. and america's heartthrob gonzaga will go back to being a catholic school in spokane. nothing against spokane. i long to visit

kawhi to the raptors? what an odd trade. not sure why derozan wouldn't want to be in san anton. two first round picks next year seems pretty sweet. granted they probably won't be high enough to get any game changer.... unless they package it!

DeRozan may like Toronto. It's a nice city. Plus, he was there 9 seasons, and might feel that his contribution to the Raptors is being disrespected by trading him for a one-season rental of Kawhi. That would be understandable.

It is an odd trade from Toronto's perspective. Maybe they just see it as a way to move on and change the core of the team that didn't break through in the playoffs.

They should get a good year out of Kawhi because Kawhi can't afford to be seen as a malcontent in Toronto, given his possible free agency after the season.

yeah, it's crazy the raptors would do this. kawhi isn't going to win them a championship next year and forever how long the warriors stick around. was hoping the wolves would send kat our way. not too crazy about derozan

So, Melo gets traded to Atlanta only to get bought out of his contract and waived to become a free agent and then possibly sign with Houston. Crazy, but it works out for all three teams involved in the trade. Here's the details of the deal:

Mellow Yellow