The NBA thread

[TakingBackSunday]

Phoenix could end up with Lebron and Melo 

[benjipwns]

Jason Kidd traded to the Bucks for draft picks.

Is this real life? If the Spurs need to get younger, could they move Pop for a 1st rounder?

The Heat traded a first rounder and $1 million to the Knicks to get Pat Riley back in the day.

The Van Gundy brothers were also part of coach "trades" and the Bucks did this before to get Mike Dunleavy from the Lakers.

[benjipwns]

Adrian Wojnarowski: As part of Kidd deal, Brooklyn and Milwaukee will not be allowed to make a trade with each other during 2014-'15 season, source tells Yahoo.

[Phoenix Dark]

Did Jason Kidd win 9 wins as a coach while I was sleeping?

[benjipwns]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/grantland-exclusive-the-jason-kidd-mess-has-a-144-million-pricetag/

Also has some interesting information on teams profits and losses and revenue sharing payments via leaked memo. (Lakers gave $49 million to revenue sharing and still made $100 million!)

[Stoney Mason]

What a shitty way to treat Larry Drew.

[Beezy]

Us daily fantasy sports players won't miss Larry Drew at all. His substitutions hardly ever made sense.

[Stoney Mason]

lol. I hear ya but that's a pretty shabby way to treat anybody at any job.

I'm also not sure Jason Kidd yet is some amazing coach who is worth all this hassle. But time will tell.

[Stoney Mason]

Dogged by rumors that he has wanted out of Cleveland, franchise cornerstone Kyrie Irving and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert tweeted early Tuesday morning that they have agreed to terms on a new five-year maximum contract extension that will be worth approximately $90 million, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Irving had one year remaining on his contract. The deal, which will go into effect next season and will run through the 2019-20 season, was announced by team owner Dan Gilbert on his Twitter feed

[ToxicAdam]

An all-star athlete is staying in Cleveland?!


 This can only mean micro-fracture surgeries and achilles tendon tears are in his future!

[TakingBackSunday]

Irving looked pretty bad last season, though.  I think his All-Star game was the only highlight I can remember.

[ToxicAdam]

I'm willing to give everyone a mulligan over last year. Too many new players, clueless new (sort of) coach and actual expectations to perform.

[Your Stalker]

https://twitter.com/soshnick/status/484003967987638272

Scott Soshnick ‏@soshnick

BREAKING: @TheNBPA in letter advises free agents to take paychecks over 18 months as lockout protection after 16-17 season #sportsbiz #NBA

[Your Stalker]

https://twitter.com/wojyahoonba/status/484076537772122112

Adrian WojnarowskiVerified account ‏@WojYahooNBA

Jodie Meeks has agreed to a three-year, $19 million-plus contract with the Detroit Pistons, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

[Phoenix Dark]

Well Embiid is likely going to hone his game this season with one of the best to ever play it - Hakeem Olajuwon. Bleacher Report's Jason Kings reports Olajuwon reached out to Embiid and offered to train him once he is healthy. "I don’t even remember much of what he said,” Embiid told King. “I was just so excited to be talking to my idol that I couldn’t focus on anything else. I was just like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ It was a big deal to me.”

http://www.whizwitsports.com/the-scoop/hakeem-olajuwon-to-train-joel-embiid-when-embiid-is-healthy

Nice. Embiid already has some nice post moves. If he can get healthy and gain some weight he'll be a beast. I definitely think he'll be Hakeem's most dedicated student since Yao. You can tell Dwight doesn't apply much of anything to his game, it's 100% power based.

[Stoney Mason]

Marcin Gortat will re-sign with the Washington Wizards, ESPN.com's Marc Stein confirmed Tuesday night.

News of the deal was first tweeted by Wizards point guard John Wall.

Gortat agreed to a five-year deal worth a fully guaranteed $60 million, with neither a player nor a team option entering the final season.

The deal can't officially be signed until July 10 when the league moratorium is lifted.

[Stoney Mason]

To fill in their backup point guard void, the Golden State Warriors have reached an agreement with Brooklyn’s Shaun Livingston. Livingston’s deal will be for the full mid-level exception of three-years, $16 million. The final year of his contract is partially guaranteed according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

[Human Snorenado]

How are the Lakers looking next season, Glen Shinobi?

[TakingBackSunday]

Bosh is apparently asking for 5/90.  Dude deserves it, but if thats true, Heat ded

[Phoenix Dark]

Bosh is apparently asking for 5/90.  Dude deserves it, but if thats true, Heat ded

[TakingBackSunday]

Bosh is apparently asking for 5/90.  Dude deserves it, but if thats true, Heat ded

  Bosh after Lebron is the Heat's most important player.  Dude KILLED in that Pacers series a few seasons ago, and also had probably the biggest rebound in NBA history.  The guy also changed his entire style of play to best fit with Lebron and Wade, becoming a dangerous long range two-point shooter last season and a great asset beyond the arc this season.

He absolutely deserves 18 per.

[TakingBackSunday]

LeBron, Kyrie, and Wiggins would be a better Big 3 at this point, IMO.

Not really.  Kyrie has a shoot-first mentality which would not mesh with Lebron at all, and Andrew Wiggins hasn't done dick to prove to me that he's as good as his reputation.

No, a better big three would be Dragic Melo and Lebron 

[Stoney Mason]

Riley is a moron if he pays Bosh 90 million for 5 years. Now would be the perfect time to let him go.


It's time to blow up the big 3. Even if that contract is back loaded or incentive laden, its not much of a paycut at all. Paying big money to Bosh/Wade/And Lebron is dumb in this new era. It leaves no room to upgrade the rest of the cast.

If I was going to take a third superstar with no supporting cast, I'd prefer Carmelo.

In reality Miami should dump Wade and Bosh. Pick up Carmelo and Lebron. And build around those two. That's not going to happen because of Riley loyalty but that would be the actual best case scenario.

[benjipwns]

Bosh is apparently asking for 5/90.  Dude deserves it, but if thats true, Heat ded

  Bosh after Lebron is the Heat's most important player.  Dude KILLED in that Pacers series a few seasons ago, and also had probably the biggest rebound in NBA history.  The guy also changed his entire style of play to best fit with Lebron and Wade, becoming a dangerous long range two-point shooter last season and a great asset beyond the arc this season.

He absolutely deserves 18 per.

http://www.youdubber.com/index.php?video=5LV2suH6q5o&video_start=52&audio=nX1VeFBo9AQ&audio_start=0

[Mandark]

Bosh may have been worth $18 million/year to the Heat over the last four years, but over the next five?  That's a different story, and in the NBA you don't get a huge contract as a thank-you for past service.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Unless you're Kobe.

[close]

[Himu]

Jason Kidd still plays? I bought that dude's shoes in like 95.

[Mandark]

He's a coach now, ya dingus.

[Himu]

Oh. Shows how much I follow NBA these days.

[Stoney Mason]

Looks like Pacers will be losing Lance.

Despite the Indiana Pacers' heartfelt movie tribute and presentation to Lance Stephenson, the two sides are currently at an impasse over a new deal, according to sources close to the situation.

The Pacers offered a five-year, $44 million contract to Stephenson, but sources said the versatile shooting guard believes he's worth much more.

Stephenson averaged 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists last season -- all career highs for the four-year player.

"Lance and his representatives aren't sure they're going to be able to reach an agreement with the Pacers," a source said. "It's clear they want him back and he wanted to go back, but they may not be able to come to terms."

Several clubs have reached out to Stephenson's agent, Alberto Ebanks, to register their interest, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, according to sources.

Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Hornets also have interest in Stephenson.

While money is a factor, Stephenson will not simply go to the highest bidder, sources said. He wants to go to a team that is either a contender or a competitive up-and-coming club.

The Pacers pulled out all the stops Tuesday by hosting Stephenson and his family at a local theater and surprising him with a movie about his life.

With lucrative contracts already committed to Paul George ($15.8 million), Roy Hibbert ($14.9 million) and David West ($12 million), the Pacers feel they are offering Stephenson as much as they can while remaining financially prudent.

Also

Avery Bradley is staying in Boston.
The Boston Celtics have reached a new deal with the restricted free agent, according to The Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett. The Boston Globe’s Baxter Holmes is reporting the deal is worth $32 million over four years.

[Stoney Mason]

[ToxicAdam]

Lance seems destined for L.A. if I were a betting man.

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.nba.com/freeagents/2014/

List of free agents.

Looking at the heat, it seems like their only targets for upgrading the roster so far seem to be Gasol and Lowry.

Lowry seems like a long shot to me. I don't see how the Heat can afford him relative to other squads. Gasol might be reasonable if he is willing to take a huge paycut to go for a ring and I like Gasol.

[Brehvolution]

Carmelo has no position?

[Stoney Mason]

The Cleveland Cavaliers are hosting restricted free agent forward Gordon Hayward for a visit Wednesday and are preparing a huge offer sheet to try to pry him away from the Utah Jazz, sources told ESPN.com.

The Cavs, who have the ability to clear as much as $20 million in salary-cap space, are believed to be willing to start a deal at the maximum contract number of about $15 million per season.

The Cavs see Hayward as a complement to young franchise cornerstones Kyrie Irving and No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins.

Cleveland, which got a commitment from Irving to sign a five-year, $90 million extension earlier this week, sees Wiggins as a shooting guard. Hayward would become the small forward.

The Cavs had been hoping to secure a meeting with LeBron James but haven't been successful and moved on to make Hayward their top free-agent target.

[TakingBackSunday]

Y

[benjipwns]

Nets hire Lionel Hollins:

Hollins' deal could be worth as much as 4 years, $20 million if the team picks up his fourth-year option, a source told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne.

Pacers nab C.J. Miles:

Miles and the Pacers agreed to a four-year deal in the $18 million range, sources confirmed.

Magic getting Ben Gordon:

Free agent guard Ben Gordon has agreed to a two-year, $9 million deal with the Orlando Magic, league source tells Yahoo Sports.

[Stoney Mason]

RT @ramonashelburne: In a surprising twist, OKC has come on strong with Pau Gasol, and described as a "frontrunner" for the Spaniard.

Ya know things are looking kinda bad for the heat at the moment. There is nobody of consequence they seem to be in the running for outside of the big three.

[Stoney Mason]

The Toronto Raptors have agreed to terms with free agent point guard Kyle Lowry on a four-year, $48 million contract, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

Lowry chose the Raptors over offers from the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers.

What a joke that the heat ever expressed interest here. They had no chance in hell.

[Kara]

RT @ramonashelburne: In a surprising twist, OKC has come on strong with Pau Gasol, and described as a "frontrunner" for the Spaniard.

Ya know things are looking kinda bad for the heat at the moment. There is nobody of consequence they seem to be in the running for outside of the big three.

Why would you sign there with that much uncertainty? You could end up being on a lottery team if none of them re-signed, or they just re-signed the Ghost of Dwayne Wade Past.

[Mandark]

Yeah, but what are the odds that a major FA target of Miami won't be in touch with the Big 3?

[Stoney Mason]

Why would you sign there with that much uncertainty?

I don't disagree. But the real reality is they simply don't have the money to offer these guys good competitive contracts with what the rest of the league can offer. There is no more mystique here anymore. Nobody in the prime of their career or even close is going to take a ridiculous paycut for the simple privilege of playing with Lebron/Wade/Bosh anymore. Why would they?

If I was Birdman why would I play at his current ridiculous salary when he could make real money somewhere else. Same goes with Ray Allen. It's a ponzi scheme that everybody has figured out. After Luol Deng who has already said he isn't taking a discount salary the free agency market declines rapidly to people like Kris Humphries, steve blake, etc. This is who the heat will have to fill their roster with on the current path. Ben Gordon is getting 2 years/9 million as a free agent. BEN GORDON. That is the market reality.

I don't think Lebron is staying for that. Wade will. And Bosh might. But I don't think Lebron is tied to Miami in that way or the way those other two are. Only the nets or the lakers seem capable of paying the type of salaries it would take to support the type of roster Miami wants. I think Lebron is gone if he's paying real attention to what is going on here. I think its Bosh and Wade and then whatever they put together there minus Lebron's salary.

http://msn.foxsports.com/ohio/story/source-lebron-starts-process-of-evaluating-suitors-070214

[TakingBackSunday]

The Heat are losing steam very quickly.  When their next best option at this point is Trevor Ariza, I think it's time to realize that Lebron might be long gone.

[Phoenix Dark]

sounds like Stony is taking his talents elsewhere.

[Stoney Mason]

The Heat are losing steam very quickly.  When their next best option at this point is Trevor Ariza, I think it's time to realize that Lebron might be long gone.

Yeah there seems to be a large focus on Ariza and Ariza is a fine average nba player but he's Trevor Ariza. Last season was his best season in the nba and seems like a bit of an aberration.

Yes he is a large upgrade from Shane Battier but they also have other big holes, the spurs exposed.

And once again other teams can offer him more money.

[Kara]

Yeah, but what are the odds that a major FA target of Miami won't be in touch with the Big 3?

I'm not that convinced they're acting in concert anymore. 

[Stoney Mason]

What's the chance that LeBron doesn't stay with the Heat?

From what I've seen, y'all are thinking he's sticking around but just waiting for the Heat to pick up more players.

No one knows. Conventional wisdom is that he would stay with the heat because they can pay him more because of his bird rights. But the large salaries of the big three are hampering them from being able to pick up more players currently.

[TakingBackSunday]

I'm of the opinion at this point that he is gone.  There's apparently rumbles right now that Kobe contacted both Melo and Lebron to form a Lakers Big 3, but I doubt that'll happen.  I could see Lebron going to Phoenix.

[ToxicAdam]

Lebron and Carmelo to the Atlanta Hawks

#thesouthwillriseagain #dannyferryredemption

[Your Stalker]

that team would still somehow lose in the first round

[benjipwns]

The Sacramento Kings and guard Darren Collison have agreed to a three-year deal worth $16 million, sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Thursday.

The deal is fully guaranteed and is for the Kings' full midlevel exception, sources said. Teams can't officially sign free agents until the NBA's moratorium on deals is lifted July 10.

[Mandark]

Looks like they're planning to let Thomas go after all.  Unless they want to tie up two roster spots and a lot of money in two very small guards, but even the Kings aren't that crazy.

Right?

[TakingBackSunday]

Thabo Sefolosha to the Hawks for 3/12.  Meh

[ToxicAdam]

I was thinking, couldn't the Heat just sign Wade to one of those long-ass 10+ year contracts? He still gets paid, but just not upfront.

I highly doubt any Heat fan will get upset if they are still paying Wade 3-5 million dollars in 2024. Especially with those new television deals coming up and a likely bump in revenue sharing.

[Mandark]

Nope.  Five years is the maximum contract length in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

[benjipwns]

Yeah, those are no more, even the seven year deal is gone.

My two favorites are Glenn Robinson only signed one contract in his career, his rookie deal, before he signed with the Spurs for the minimum.

And the classic, Magic signed a $25 million over 25 years contract. 

[Phoenix Dark]

I wonder if the NBA will ever move to the NFL's contract structure and get away from ridiculous guaranteed contracts. Because, you know..


I probably should have included a trigger warning for Mandark before posting that

[Stoney Mason]

The system in place works fine. You can't do the insane shit you use to do anymore with contracts so the Gilbert Arenas example doesn't work anymore.

The closest you have is insanely rich owners overpaying for players that aren't worth the money. So far with teams like the nets and knicks that strategy has been a failure. And it creates a real cost to running your franchise poorly. I like the current system. It's more fair arguably on both sides.

[benjipwns]

Quick story: On one trip to Milwaukee this past season, when I was checking into my hotel, the young lady at the front desk asked why I was in town. I answered that I was going to the Bucks game, and she looked at me as if I had sprouted a second head.

"You don't like basketball? I asked.

"I love basketball," she said, and left it at that.

:deadpos

[etiolate]

Looks like they're planning to let Thomas go after all.  Unless they want to tie up two roster spots and a lot of money in two very small guards, but even the Kings aren't that crazy.

Right?

Apparently they want to use the stretch provsion on Jason Terry to free up cap to perhaps keep Thomas as well.

They'd actually have three PGs if you include MacCallum who played pretty well at the end of the season. Actually, of the three, MacCallum might be the future PG.

[Stoney Mason]

After conducting meetings with three NBA teams interested in pursuing free-agent star LeBron James, his agent suggested to owners and executives present that a failure of Miami president Pat Riley to rapidly recruit a strong supporting cast could bring finalists back to meet with James himself next week, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Rich Paul, the agent for James, invited three teams – Cleveland, Dallas and Phoenix – to the offices of his Klutch Sports headquarters to listen to pitches.

The meetings took place on Wednesday and Thursday, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Phoenix met on Wednesday and Cavaliers officials met on Thursday with Paul. Houston Rockets officials spoke with Paul by phone, but were not granted a meeting and have moved on with their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Some executives believe there's an opportunity because of a disconnect between James and his teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Another executive attending the meeting flatly said, "I think it's a smokescreen."

Across the country in Los Angeles on Thursday, Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra came to meet with free agents about joining the Heat, sources told Yahoo Sports. They met with Los Angeles Lakers free-agent forward Pau Gasol on Thursday, sources said. Miami is still unsure how much it has to offer free agents because Bosh and Wade have yet to fully agree to lowered salaries upon opting out of their contracts.
James has maintained a desire to take a full max contract with a starting salary of $20.7 million, sources said. Wade and Bosh are still reluctant to take severe cuts in their contracts, sources told Yahoo Sports, creating a financial disconnect among the three.

"There's clearly a breakdown in communication between LeBron and [Wade and Bosh]," one executive who participated in the meetings over the past two days told Yahoo Sports. "[James is] giving Riley time to go get players for them but if that doesn't happen in the next few days … LeBron seems ready to explore the market."

For James, the hard part remains: Where would he go? That still makes teams dubious of this exercise as anything but a leverage power play out of James and a marketing exercise out of Paul's fledgling agency. The Suns are offering a chance to sign James and his friend Anthony together, but James would have to move rapidly to recruit the New York Knicks' star. Paul represents the Suns' talented point guard Eric Bledsoe, a restricted free agent. All of it remains, for now, a long shot.

Anthony is spending the weekend choosing between the Chicago Bulls, Rockets and a five-year, $129 million maximum extension with the New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers sold Paul in the meeting on a core of Kyrie Irving, Andrew Wiggins, Paul's client, Tristan Thompson, three first-round picks in 2015 and significant salary-cap space. For James, Cleveland would be a homecoming, the reversal of his infamous decision four years ago.

For now, James remains overseas on vacation with his family and Riley and Spoelstra remains in hot pursuit of a supporting cast through free agency and trades. As much as ever, the clock is ticking for the Miami Heat.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lebron-james--agent-tells-teams-james-might-meet-with-them-if-heat-don-t-improve-roster-soon-030029268.html