Official NBA Discussion Thread

[CQI13]

Wade and Bosh to Miami. -- Reported by ESPN

 

My guess is LeBron to Miami or staying in Cleveland.

[GatorBait19]

LOL I was just putting it CQ. It would be hard (to me) for Lebron to stay with the Cavs. Miami just turned it up a notch. Now the Magic really have to do something to stay in contention

[GatorBait19]

In other news Durant signs a new deal

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5360721

 

 

Also I officially believe the Nets are the best place for Lebron now. With Flavors, Lopez, Harris, and Williams they have a solid team and would still have money and trade pieces to get better. To bad they traded Jordan Crawford (he's the one who dunked on Lebron last year)

[CQI13]

I still say Miami or Cleveland. I'd say Cleveland, only because it'd be a huge slap to the face since the decision will be made on national TV.

[GatorBait19]

I still say Miami or Cleveland. I'd say Cleveland, only because it'd be a huge slap to the face since the decision will be made on national TV.

 

It would be smart if the Cavs could do it as a sign and trade and take Beasley and Chalmers so Heat could go and get more pieces

 

Biggest issues with Cavs is he's been there before and nothing has come of it. They aren't getting better either with Mike Miller getting offered their MLE. Shaq is gone Jamison is a year older.

 

With the Heat if they say James then they have no more money and have to fill out the roster with vet mim. sure their starting 5 will be nice, but with out a bench it could suck.

 

Nets offer him a nice bench that can be added onto because they'll have like 10 more million and an ownership group looking to spend money for a championship.

 

I do agree though that Cavs are front runners.

 

Also I would count Chicago out. They offer him a lot of pieces their as well and the ability to still spend money after he signs for names like Boozer or Lee

[CQI13]

I'll say Miami, Cleveland second, NY third (with Amare), New Jersey fourth and Chicago fifth.

 

The whole point of Chicago was to get Bosh there too.

 

I'd rather see Miami get a Boozer/Heywood combo up front with Bosh. I've also read of them getting Reddick from Orlando, but didn't hear how.

[GatorBait19]

I'll say Miami, Cleveland second, NY third (with Amare), New Jersey fourth and Chicago fifth.

 

The whole point of Chicago was to get Bosh there too.

 

I'd rather see Miami get a Boozer/Heywood combo up front with Bosh. I've also read of them getting Reddick from Orlando, but didn't hear how.

 

The Redick deal will be almost impossible for the Heat for a couple of reasons. First Orlando wont trade within the division it's not their style. Second Redick wants to start and he knows the best places to do that are Orlando (with Vince getting older), Boston, and Utah.

 

They have the MLE that they could give to JJ, but Orlando already offered him a 4.5 million dollar qualifying offer. Means they have the right to match anyones deal and Otis already told people that if someone were to offer JJ their MLE he'd accept the offer and bring him back to Orlando.

[GatorBait19]

Boozer to the Bulls for 5 years

[Tha Black Phenom]

Interesting. Could be that small bit of incentive for LeBron to assess his options for Chicago as well, even if it could probably be 'too late'.

 

Also, looks like Ray Allen stays on the Celtics for two more years.

[PeterHilton]

Boozer to the Bulls for 5 years

 

That signing has me thinking Lebron goes there.

 

It gives Chicago a crazy good roster. The dollar amount leaves enough for Lebron to sign for the max (esp with the announcement that the cap is like $2 million more than expected). And everyone is young enough that Lebron could conceivably make several runs at a title with this core group.

[Johnny Fenoli]

That signing has me thinking Lebron goes there.

 

It gives Chicago a crazy good roster. The dollar amount leaves enough for Lebron to sign for the max (esp with the announcement that the cap is like $2 million more than expected). And everyone is young enough that Lebron could conceivably make several runs at a title with this core group.

 

Anyone heard the story of when LeBron went to Chicago a year ago or so?

 

He found out where Jordan ate at locally, he asked for Jordan's "personal" waiter, he ate at the same table. He told Jordan's waiter save his table for him, he'll be back...

[SHaynes23]

That signing has me thinking Lebron goes there.

 

It gives Chicago a crazy good roster. The dollar amount leaves enough for Lebron to sign for the max (esp with the announcement that the cap is like $2 million more than expected). And everyone is young enough that Lebron could conceivably make several runs at a title with this core group.

 

I'm hoping that's where he goes. LeBron being there and taking all the pressure off of Rose for running the offense could really help him develop without having to be the only go-to-guy on the team. In his rookie year he had to do virtually everything just to get them to an eight seed and push the Celtics in their great series. Boozer will really help out Noah too. He can focus on just hitting the boards and playing great defense now that he won't be the primary front court scorer.

 

When you look at a possible lineup of Rose, Deng, James, Boozer and Noah that's a team that if those three that have been with Chicago step up and develop into above average players that could contend for a long, long time. They'd still need somebody to be a potent outside shooter, but they could easily scoop up somebody like Mike Miller for the mid level exception to fill that role.

[PeterHilton]

I'm hoping that's where he goes. LeBron being there and taking all the pressure off of Rose for running the offense could really help him develop without having to be the only go-to-guy on the team. In his rookie year he had to do virtually everything just to get them to an eight seed and push the Celtics in their great series. Boozer will really help out Noah too. He can focus on just hitting the boards and playing great defense now that he won't be the primary front court scorer.

 

When you look at a possible lineup of Rose, Deng, James, Boozer and Noah that's a team that if those three that have been with Chicago step up and develop into above average players that could contend for a long, long time. They'd still need somebody to be a potent outside shooter, but they could easily scoop up somebody like Mike Miller for the mid level exception to fill that role.

 

Yeah...thinking exactly the same thing (even about adding Mike Miller)

 

Im a huge Lakers fan, but even I can see how good that line-up would be. Boozer and Noah are perfect compliments to each other,, and Lebron would be that much harder to deal with when Rose i on the floor because both men are good distributors.

 

What's interesting to me is that Deng and Taj Gibson give the Bulls a lot of line-upflexibility because you can play big with Lebron at the 2 and Gibson up front with Noah and Boozer, or go small and flip flop Deng and Lebron at the swing positions to take advantage of match-ups.

 

And Miller would be a no-brainer. A career 40% 3-pt shooter who would take the midlevel and slide in as your primary scorer off the bench instantly? that's perfect.

[GatorBait19]

Yeah...thinking exactly the same thing (even about adding Mike Miller)

 

Im a huge Lakers fan, but even I can see how good that line-up would be. Boozer and Noah are perfect compliments to each other,, and Lebron would be that much harder to deal with when Rose i on the floor because both men are good distributors.

 

What's interesting to me is that Deng and Taj Gibson give the Bulls a lot of line-upflexibility because you can play big with Lebron at the 2 and Gibson up front with Noah and Boozer, or go small and flip flop Deng and Lebron at the swing positions to take advantage of match-ups.

 

And Miller would be a no-brainer. A career 40% 3-pt shooter who would take the midlevel and slide in as your primary scorer off the bench instantly? that's perfect.

 

It would give them an odd line-up as well. Deng and Lebron play the same position so one would move and for the Bulls sake it would be Lebron who would go to the 2 and cover other 2's (Wade, Kobe) then when they play other line-ups with better 3's he'd cover the 3's.

 

I think it would be great for Lebron to go to the Bulls for one reason. He's never been pushed, think about it. With the Cavs he is a god and probably rarely gets critizm from the Cleveland Media. In Chicago he will have something to live up to, he will be poked and probed by the Chicago Media. Plus it's a pretty nice sized Media market and you would have a better roster there than you would have in Cleveland and the Heat overall.

 

Could you imagne Rose and Lebron together .............

 

 

Also SHaynes and Peter I offer a guy who would be more valuable than Miller, Randy Foye. Here is my reasoning, he can play the 1 and 2 and is a much better defender than Miller, plus he is younger. If Foye is willing to take the MLE they could still offer Miller the Bi-ann. for 2 years at 2.5 million. Miller has said his biggest goal this year is to win a championship. He could take the 2 year deal with the second year being the players option and give the Bulls to go and get someone with the MLE like Randy.

[GatorBait19]

Take it for what it's worth, but reports are that Lebron is in Miami tonight. He flew down some time around 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

[Johnny Fenoli]

Take it for what it's worth, but reports are that Lebron is in Miami tonight. He flew down some time around 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

 

 

Go find him.... Check Pat Riley's house... come back with pics. You're our man on the scene!

[GatorBait19]

Go find him.... Check Pat Riley's house... come back with pics. You're our man on the scene!

 

Lol nope, It was posted on Ric Bucher twitter like an hour ago, then all of a sudden it was taken off. Bucher works for ESPN and ESPN is holding a huge thing tomorrow for Lebron

 

this is another place I read it.

 

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/67957/20100708/report_lebron_to_pick_miami_heat/#ixzz0t3yeMItA

 

hears the thing though, unless they use the MLE and the Bi-ann correctly, they are still looking at scabs for back-ups. Can they win a championship with scabs as back ups? Also now they are in a pickle because Bosh will have to play Center, unless the resign O'Neal and make Beasley their 6th. Bosh biggest issue was he doesn't want to gaurd Centers and I doubt he's gonna like covering Centers like Howard, Chandler, and Horford 4 games a piece.

 

I would figure though that Lebron and D-Wade will avg about 28 points a game and Bosh dumping in 22 to 24 that's about 80 points a game depending on the avg. If the other players could get 20 to 30 points combined a night, the'd be close to set.

[jbergey_2005]

Thats interesting. Im not sure that Wade and Lebron will play well together. They both need the ball a lot to create shots. Its not like either is a great pure shooter.

[GatorBait19]

Thats interesting. Im not sure that Wade and Lebron will play well together. They both need the ball a lot to create shots. Its not like either is a great pure shooter.

 

Lebron is a pretty good pure shooter, he'll hit only about 33% of his 3's, but from inside he is pretty much money. I would guess Riley would retake over the coach position after the current coach decides he'd rather spend time with his family. Then Pat will try to go after Phil's record of titles

[PeterHilton]

hears the thing though, unless they use the MLE and the Bi-ann correctly, they are still looking at scabs for back-ups. Can they win a championship with scabs as back ups? Also now they are in a pickle because Bosh will have to play Center, unless the resign O'Neal and make Beasley their 6th. Bosh biggest issue was he doesn't want to gaurd Centers and I doubt he's gonna like covering Centers like Howard, Chandler, and Horford 4 games a piece.

 

I honestly don't think so. I think they'd need a decent C and back up PF and an above average PG.

 

Unless you find 3 or 4 vets willing to take waaay less than their market value to chase a ring, I think they win a ton of regular season games and then bog down in the conference finals.

[GatorBait19]

I honestly don't think so. I think they'd need a decent C and back up PF and an above average PG.

 

Unless you find 3 or 4 vets willing to take waaay less than their market value to chase a ring, I think they win a ton of regular season games and then bog down in the conference finals.

 

Tracey McGrady and Mike Miller both want a title and McGrady has said recently he'd take a vet min to Lakers for the title. Instead he could play behind the Big three and Miller could as well. They have the bird rights to O'Neal and Halsum so they could look their for backups and that Center. I know O'Neal looked horrible last year, but he is only 30 or 31 and he'd at least be a better option then like Tony Battie or someone. I think if they keep O'Neal you could see Beasley come off the bench.

 

I also think unless they sign a pass first pg Chamlers could develop nicely around those three. He hasn't shown much yet, but the offense would probably be ran through Lebron and Wade. If he added 5 to 6 assist and 9 points I think it'd be a win for the Heat.

[SHaynes23]

I don't think they could win with nobodies as backups. That means that they'd have to ride the big three pretty hard, and if any of them had a bad night that likely would mean a loss because they would need those nobodies to step up and pick up that scoring. Plus, if one of them gets hurt they are done for.

[MGreene78]

IF IF IF everything feel right they could. For instance they need a Center, Gator like you said if they resign O'Neal he could help in the blk category. Source however point out that he might get a two year deal worth 5.8 from Boston.

 

A name I like would be Shaq O'Neal. He has played with two of the three players and next to Bosh in the All-Star games. He is pretty much a mercenary right now as he just wants a ring. Shaq would like to finish his career with more rings than Kobe and by signing him he'd start at Center and would deal with Howard. He won't stop Howard, but chances are he could at least slow him up a little. Shaq is in talks with Spurs and Hawks, but again he knows the Heat, he knows the players, and might take a vet minimum to bi annual for the chance at one to two more rings.

 

I like the Mike Miller example because he can play SF and SG.

 

 

Now if they do this correctly you could sit one or two of the big three at one time. They would still have one on the floor as all three have proven they can carry the offensive weight. Also if only one is on the floor and they have the likes of Shaq or Miller they could do this

 

 

PG: Chalmers

SG: Wade

SF: Miller

PF: Beasley

C: Shaq

 

then you could do

 

PG: vet mim.

SG: Miller

SF: James

PF: Beasley

C: Bosh

 

or

 

PG: Chalmers

SG: Miller

SF: Beasley

PF: Bosh

C: Shaq

 

 

there are a lot of ways around having a sub par bench and in the playoffs Lebron, Wade, and Bosh usually play 40 plus anyways.

 

So in the playoffs if each were to play 40 a piece then you would only have 120 minutes left to give to everyone else. Chalmers, Beasley, Miller, and Shaq could pretty much take thoses minutes.

 

Once again this is a perfect scenario and would be really hard to pull off.

[Beeker]

I know O'Neal looked horrible last year, but he is only 30 or 31 and he'd at least be a better option then like Tony Battie or someone.

 

Except O'Neal is 38.

 

And it's next to impossible to win with scrubs in the NBA in the playoffs?

 

Don't believe me? Michael Jordan won rings only AFTER he learned to be a team player and the team went from Jordan and the Jordanaires to the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan.

 

As long as Vince Carter never sniffs a title I'll be happy.

 

I think this is much ado about nothing, mostly. In the end the most likely 'big name' moves are Amare to the Knicks - which... bwahahahaha. I like Amare but the Knicks are a shambles of an organization. Credit Isiah Thomas for that. And Bosh to the Heat. And again the Raptors get hurt.

[MGreene78]

Except O'Neal is 38.

 

And it's next to impossible to win with scrubs in the NBA in the playoffs?

 

Don't believe me? Michael Jordan won rings only AFTER he learned to be a team player and the team went from Jordan and the Jordanaires to the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan.

 

As long as Vince Carter never sniffs a title I'll be happy.

 

I think this is much ado about nothing, mostly. In the end the most likely 'big name' moves are Amare to the Knicks - which... bwahahahaha. I like Amare but the Knicks are a shambles of an organization. Credit Isiah Thomas for that. And Bosh to the Heat. And again the Raptors get hurt.

 

Except Jermaine O'Neal is only 31.

 

Also Jordan's assist numbers were better before they won all those championships.

 

Before first championship: 6.0 assist a game

After first title: 4.8 assist a game

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.html

 

The Bulls won Championships because they put people around Jordan so Jordan wasn't doing everything by himself. Names like Pippen, Rodman, Kerr, and Horace Grant. The reason the Bulls didn't win before these guys is because it was Jordan and then the Bulls like you said.

 

That is also much different then what the Heat would have. They would have three All-Stars in their primes with Beasley and Chalmers still developing. Beasley has been the second man in the Heat's offense for two years now, if Beasley stays then he would essentially become the fourth or fifth option which isn't a bad thing considering he is a 46% shooter.

 

You made good points about Jordan and I agree the Jordan didn't win with out people behind him. This though, is much different then that though. 3 Superstars on one team with no backup to 1 Superstar on a team with no backup. Horace Grant and Pippen where still young and Phil was a new coach. Riley is a very seasoned coach and all three players are in their prime who have all carried there teams beyond expectations at one point in time. Now you put thoses three on one team and they help each other out in the proccess. Wade has carried the Heat for years with out much help and they still make the playoffs. Lebron is well Lebron and has never had a talent like Wade or Bosh. Bosh has helped push the Raptors into the playoffs without talent like Wade or James. Them plus one or two players who share the MLE with the Bi Annual being used on another player and then vet mim for the rest. I could see them winning a title if everything fell right.

 

Sorry if this seems like I am being mean it's just I don't understand how the two situations are the same.

 

 

I'm guessing you are a Raptors fan?