2013 NBA Season News and Discussion

[Jibjabb]

I dont know whyd you brag. Pretty much everyone and their mother was saying Houston was the most likely destination

[Blueobelisk]

Damnit Jib, don't discredit my mad NBA General Manager like skillz.

I saw some article on bleacherreport saying that if Houston now got Josh Smith they'd have a nice Big 3 and be a super team. Thoughts? I don't think they'd be on Miami level butttt. It's almost comparable. The thing is Lebron is best in the world, but Dwight is best Center, which means a lot in a league with few really good Centers.

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Well I think they'd have a nice starting 5 with Asik and Lin but...Big 3? Doubt it. Nice DUO between Harden and Dwight.

[Deleted]

Is there enough cap space left for J Smith after that max Dwigth Howard contract? I think they would have to somehow unload Lin and Asik for draft picks to make JSmoove happen.

[Stommped]

Already repping the Rockets jersey.

https://twitter.com/DwightHoward

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Is there enough cap space left for J Smith after that max Dwigth Howard contract? I think they would have to somehow unload Lin and Asik for draft picks to make JSmoove happen.

Their payroll was at 42M before the Howard deal, and the cap in the upcoming year will be 58.5 M so my guess would be no. My guess would be the first year of Howard's deal is 16M otherwise the deal wouldn't be allowed to go through because I can't think of any exception that Howard would qualify for that would allow them go over the cap.

Because Brooklyn acquired their players via trade, they are allowed to be massively over the cap and pay the luxury tax (their payroll right now for the upcoming season is 89M, 8M higher than Miami).

[Pendulous]

Warriors got Andre Iguodala. I'd say that's a great pickup for team that was pretty close already.

[conscript]

Is there enough cap space left for J Smith after that max Dwigth Howard contract? I think they would have to somehow unload Lin and Asik for draft picks to make JSmoove happen.

They'd need to do a sign and trade with Atlanta which would involve Asik, but I don't see Atlanta doing that with Horford and now Milsap down low. NOLA is reportedly talking about Anderson for Asik with the Rockets which would frankly be better.

Not happy with the Pistons losing Calderon leaving the team with 0 legit PGs. Hopefully they offer sheet Jennings or Teague or sign Jack before they are all gone. I will not be happy if they end up with Mo Williams or some shit.

[jreg]

I will not be happy if they end up with Mo Williams or some shit.

Yo, he was an all star!

[conscript]

The Pistons signed Josh Smith. Not happy. Oh did I mention it was 4 years $56 million? Oh also, did I mention the Pistons have a potentially great front court pair in Moose and Big Penguin that Smith in no way fits into? This is a dumb signing of a player with a name regardless of how they fit into the system. The plan is to play Smith at the 3 most of the time and at the 4 with Monroe on the bench. Let me just say this. FUCKING LOL. 1) Smith is too fat and slow to play a defensive three. 2) Smith doesn't have the range to play an offensive three. 3) Smith has no range, did I mention that 4) He is going to take 57 long 2s per game anyways.

Don't get me wrong, this makes the Pistons a "better" team than they were this morning. Even Josh Smith is a better 3 than any 3 that was on the team. Doesn't change the Pistons complete lack of a true PG. Jack just signed with the Cavs. Jennings is going to get any offer matched. There is a more than decent chance Billups is going to be the Pistons PG splitting time with Knight who can't play PG. You guys should go read a Pistons message board. The amount of people who think this means Dumars is going to move Monroe is insane. We all hate Dumars so fucking much we expect him to completely fuck this up and deal the Pistons best player who is BETTER than Josh Smith because no one believes Smith is going to make it as a 3. I hate the Pistons so much some times. The Pistons were pretty good with Monroe and Drummond playing together last year which happened far too rarely because Larry Frank is a shitty coach.

I look forward to hopefully being wrong about this and Smith turns into Sheed 2.0.

who is that kid lol

Aaron Gordon. He is a complete athletic monster from the scouting stuff I read on next year's draft.


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Clips add Darren Collison. There is zero excuse for them not to be at minimum in the Western Finals next year. They have a pretty phenomenal deep roster right now and they have a coach who actually has a functioning brain for coaching (even if he is a somewhat mediocre offensive coach).

[sheffield]

i mean.. you think the Pistons are going in one direction and then all of a sudden, they pull off something like this.. lets just hope they know what they're doing.. it could work

where does this leave Houston?

[conscript]

i mean.. you think the Pistons are going in one direction and then all of a sudden, they pull off something like this.. lets just hope they know what they're doing.. it could work

where does this leave Houston?

Dumars talks about wanting to get range threats on the wings and then does essentially the opposite. We`ll see.

[Blueobelisk]

Guys wake up. Can Knicks be a top 4 seed? I don't expect them to get 2nd again rofl. But...if I had to guess...

Indiana > Miami > Chicago > Nets > Knicks

Rest don't matter. The reason I ask is because I got a call from knicks saying they'd put me on priority waitlist for season tickets or a partial plan...but if they're gonna be shitty who wants to go lol? But if you tell me "Blue stop being a pessimistic asshole, Melo is gonna be great, Tyson Chandler is gonna play like DPotY, Amare Stoudemire is gonna play like he doesn't need a wheelchair, J.R. is gonna be mature under his new contract, and that new mother fucker is gonna mesh well. Oh and our bench isn't gonna be old enough to be all our Dad's" then I'll be happy.

If they sold me like 4 games I'd be happy but minimum is 8-10. I'm not confident that the tickets will resell well. If I had some stats from ticketnow...

I better explain why I think the list before I get eaten.

1. Indiana is gonna play like champs all season and they're young.
2. Miami is gonna dick around and Wade is gonna be unhealthy and Bosh is gonna suck.
3. Bulls lost that guy but Rose is back and hopefully meshes well. Definitely a good regular season team. That doesn't mean I think they're contenders. (Don't murder me Jib.)
4. Nets aren't gonna play PP and KG too many minutes I hope so lower them, and hopefully they mesh. Kidd is new and apparently he got a technical foul in the first day of Summer League LOL.
5. Knicks mmm. Melo is gonna score but probably play greedy. Tyson Chandler can only get worse and injured. Amare will be unhealthy. I just don't see the Knicks being better than last season without a new piece or a new younger bench.

[conscript]

It is too early to predict anything, but if Bargnani can show up, the Knicks will be okay. I think they have too much talent not to be a playoff team in the shitty East, but I don't see them at all as a threat to knock off Miami, Indiana, Chicago, or Brooklyn.

If I had to make some predictions:
1) The Pistons will sign a passable PG that will allow them to take some pressure of Knight. They find a way to mix Drummond, Monroe, and Smoove around enough so they coexist . They manage to snag a 6th or 7th seed and fuck themselves in the best draft in a decade because that would be the most Pistons thing ever.
2) The Cavs sign Bynum and, if Kyrie stays healthy, push for the division and a decent seed in the playoffs. That Cavs team is quietly becoming very good despite misstep after misstep in every draft.
3) Chicago adds a piece during the season that gives them a slightly more dynamic offense, they knock off the Heat in 7, and lose in the Finals to someone.
or
4) Chicago adds no one, loses to Indiana or Miami in the playoffs.

[buck008]

I don't expect much from the Knicks. JR Smith is extremely inconsistent and took plays off before he got paid. Melo is Melo. Chandler still gives you nothing offensively. Amar'e might be a zombie at this point. Your second best player is JR Smith, how far do you think you're going?

Here's how I see the East:
Philly, Charlotte, Boston, and Toronto will be terrible. Boston and Philly are clearly tanking for 2014 and rebuilding.

Washington and Detroit should be just bad enough to miss the playoffs but just good enough to miss the lottery.

Cleveland, Orlando, Milwaukee, and Atlanta should battle it out for the lower playoff seeds. Probably Orlando in the 9 spot.

That leaves New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, Miami, and Indiana as contenders. Indy probably comes out with the one seed. The Knicks are too inconsistent, Miami mails in half the regular season, I have no idea what Chicago is getting out of D-Rose, and I have no idea if the Nets will function together as a good team nor if they will stay healthy. Even with all that, those five teams are better than anything else the East can field.

[Stommped]

There is a 0.0% chance that the Pacers finish higher than the Bulls (assuming something terrible doesn't happen again to Derrick). Miami and Chicago will be the top 2 seeds, not sure in which order. 3-8 is tough to predict, the East is soooo top heavey in my opinion. A bunch of bad teams at the bottom but 1 or 2 of them have to make the playoffs (see Milwaukee this year). I'll go:
3. Brooklyn
4. Indiana
5. New York
6. Cleveland (if they sign Bynum and he actually plays)
7. Atlanta?
8. Washington?

Seriously wtf with these bottom seeds? Atlanta still has a ton of a cap space, if they sign Monta Ellis I suppose that would be good enough to grab one of those spots. Milwaukee is going to be way worse this year so I think they're out. Which leaves Detroit, Washington, and Boston for that last spot. Rondo is still Rondo and he's the best player of those 3 teams, but I just have a feeling about Washington this year. People don't realize how good their record was last year after Wall came back, especially at home. I am a huge Dipo fan though being an IU alum, so it definitely wouldn't surprise me for Orlando to sneak in there either.

I think 1-5 are playoff locks. 6-8 could be ANYTHING really.

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MWP has been amnestied. I guess I can do a West prediction as well with Dwight in Houston now:
1. OKC
2. Houston
3. SAS
4. Golden State
5. LA Clippers
6. Denver
7. Memphis
8. Portland

Hard to count out Kobe though, Im just not sure who I drop off to get him in there. Minnesota could be good too if Love/Rubio can stay on the court.

[Blueobelisk]

Lol Stompped. 6-15 in East all suck. I can imagine a game between them.

"It's cool bro, you can have the W. We want a lotto pick."
"Naaa dude we want a lotto pick, the win is yours."
"This isn't a joke, we'll score zero on you. ZERO for the whole 48 minutes. You think I'm fucking around?"
"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? We'll foul out the whole team by the end of the 1rst quarter."
"Get fucked, our team will dick around in the locker room for the whole game and get disqualified."
"Our team won't even travel to your city."
"Our team won't go to your state."
"Our team will be on vacation in Mexico."
"Our team will join the Euro League."

Etc, etc.

[Stommped]

Seriously if I was a fan of one of those teams and we DIDN'T try to tank the season I would be so pissed. The lottery is still a lottery and anything can happen, but there's no excuse not to give your team the best possible chance at getting the #1 pick, which the team with the worst record will have. Now that I type this I realize it's probably likely that Danny Ainge will try to get Rondo to pull a Rose this season and just say he's not right mentally to come back because he seems like one of the front office guys smart enough to realize tanking > 8-9 seed. Though Rondo might not be cool with that so we'll see.

[conscript]

Seriously if I was a fan of one of those teams and we DIDN'T try to tank the season I would be so pissed. The lottery is still a lottery and anything can happen, but there's no excuse not to give your team the best possible chance at getting the #1 pick, which the team with the worst record will have. Now that I type this I realize it's probably likely that Danny Ainge will try to get Rondo to pull a Rose this season and just say he's not right mentally to come back because he seems like one of the front office guys smart enough to realize tanking > 8-9 seed. Though Rondo might not be cool with that so we'll see.

The Pistons absolutely should tank as much as possible this year. They have a metric fuckton of cap space next offseason once Villanueva is finally off the books. If they were to pull a good draft pick, pick up another solid free agent to go with Smoove, Monroe, and Drummond, they could be a great team. But this is what will happen:
1) Dumars is going to overpay a mediocre PG or trade too much to Boston for Rondo (my money is on him dealing Monroe and Pistons fans burning down the Palace)
2) Dumars will than make a trade that eats up all of our cap space next off season so the Pistons can't afford a max free agent
3) The Pistons either make the playoffs as a 8 seed and get swept or they stupidly trade their first round pick next year.
OH WAIT THEY DID THAT ALREADY
The Pistons probably won't have a draft pick in the upcoming draft because they owe a 1st round pick to the Bobcats that is only top 8 protected this draft. All because the Pistons wanted to save 1 fucking season of Ben Gordon's contract. They traded a 1st round pick in the best draft in a decade for Maggette's expiring, which they then didn't even try to use as a trade chip and just didn't play the guy ever, so the Pistons saved a bit of money this offseason which they aren't using on anyone besides Smoove, and they could have afforded him even with it on the books and could have just freaking amnestied Gordon or Charlie anyways, and cost themselves a quality young player next year. The Pistons better freaking tank next year. Even if they do they will just waste the pick again.

Moral of the story, I hate Joe Dumars.

[Stommped]

Yeah if they manage to do well enough to finish outside of the bottom 8, thereby losing their 1st round pick to Charlotte that would be a colossal waste of a season. Pistons have a chance to get out of basketball hell and they shouldn't waste it.

[Blueobelisk]

So. Apparently Lakers are gonna amnesty...............Ron Artest. Not Kobe. And apparently, Ron wants to come to New York or retire if this happens.

?! New York needs a new thug hero to take Rasheed's place. If MWP actually comes to NY I might have to buy that partial plan. But there are too many frontcourt as is...

[conscript]

Seems silly since it saves $14 million for no other reason than to save $14 million (look at me talking about that money like it is nothing lol). They already sold the farm on amnestying Kobe when they didn't step to the plate and discuss it earlier before Dwight left. Now the Lakers just have essentially max cap space next offseason when they can woo Melo. Oh ya btw, hear about how Melo is apparently pissed at Dolan and is going to opt out next season? He asked management repeatedly to add another scoring threat. They added Bargnani... The Knicks are in salary cap hell this season and next especially. Can't blame Melo for jumping ship. They have near $65 million committed to seven guys next offseason (Bargnani $12 million, Amare $23, Chandler $14.5, Felton $4.4, Novak $3.5, Camby $4.1, Shump $2.7). Notice a name missing from that list? Melo. The Knicks are going to be locked into the same roster for the next two seasons and next offseasons great free agent group. Can't blame Melo for wanting to hop ship.