ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2012 -> 02:47 PM) Forgot about stupid rules in my anger towards NJ It's Brooklyn. (No one look through my old posts, I must have done that at least once.)

Side-note: if I'm an Eastern Conference team with cap space, I'm making a qualifying offer on Lopez or Humphries to blow this s*** up. They can't be traded once that happens, meaning Brooklyn would have no hope of completing the deal. They'd deserve it too since they seem to be trying to give Orlando as little as possible. They gave away a lottery pick that would have been a nice piece for a pending free agent, and they used all of their contracts to acquire Joe Johnson.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 9, 2012 -> 01:56 PM) as annoying as howard has been(and it sucks he didnt want to come here), i still would rather have them, or anyone else, beat the heat. i hate lebron/wade and the heat more than any team I find this team far more annoying. Pat Riley legitimately convinced Lebron and Bosh to sign there as free agents. Dwight/Brooklyn is strong-arming Orlando into taking a horse-s*** deal for their superstar because he refuses to sign an extension anywhere else.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 9, 2012 -> 01:38 PM) I can't believe those salaries could work It works because of sign-and-trades of Lopez and Humphries. I'm sure those two will get signed-and-traded for whatever the lowest total is that makes the trade work for Brooklyn (something like a lol-worthy $22 mil) so they can take Dwight and Richardson. Orlando then dumps Humphries on Cleveland (who is under the cap so they can absorb salary) with Marshon Brooks being the sweetner for helping facilitate it, and Orlando gets back a $6 million expiring deal.

Alright, I've got to go on a Song of Ice and Fire rant. Just finished up the first 5. The first 3 were awesome, FFC and DoD pissed me off.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 06:28 PM) Best case scenario for the Bulls is to deal Asik before he actually signs the deal. Otherwise, if they ink him, they have to hold him for a year. The key is if they keep him, they'd have to move him prior to when Gibson becomes due (cause Gibson is far more valuable). Bulls screwed up. They should have moved Asik at the deadline, but no one could have known that Rose would end up going down (and a team expecting to win a title isn't going to trade a guy like Asik). What the Bulls need to do is start figuring out ways to get salary cap exceptions via trade (like the Lakers did when the dealt Odom). Those can come in extremely handy when you are over the cap (as long as you are willing to potentially be willing to pay some tax). I'm like 99% sure you can't trade a guy once he signs an offer sheet.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 03:10 PM) Hamilton isn't an expiring contract, didn't he sign with us for 3 years? Nick Young just signed a 1yr/6mil contract. I find it hard to believe the Bulls couldn't have made that work somehow. I'm not a huge fan of his but he's cheap and he can score. They would have to cut like $30 million from their payroll to be far enough under the cap to match that $6 million offer.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 03:06 PM) There've been rumors that they were pursuing Courtney Lee, obviously he's worth more than the minm MLE, so obviously they are working on pulling off some magic wizard trick. Maybe a S& T Not really. They're probably offering him their $3 mil exception and hoping it works.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 02:59 PM) Really? If we get rid of CJ, Brewer and Korver we have a good chunk of money to throw at someone who could be a starter for us That's not remotely correct. If they got rid of those guys, the Bulls might be able to get under the luxury tax line, which would save them quite a bit of money now and in the future. For them to have any more than the MLE (about $5 mil, probably not going to get far enough under to use it) or mini-MLE (about $3 mil), they'd have to get rid of basically every player not named Rose, Noah or possibly Deng depending on how much money you want.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 11:26 AM) OKC, no. They lost in 5 against the Heat just like we did and they play sucky defense Lakers, no. They have a ton of holes, and no bench. Heat, maybe. It's close. We can beat them. The Bulls aren't going to have much of a bench either considering Watson, Brewer, Korver and Asik are all likely to be gone. Taj is legit, but other than that they'll be counting on a rookie PG, Butler and a couple of vet minimum types. Oh, and we have no idea what their star player is going to look like for the near future when he gets back from injury. These other teams are getting better, the Bulls are losing pieces. The Heat aren't playing Mike Bibby's corpse for heavy minutes anymore and aren't leaning nearly as heavily on Joel Anthony. The Lakers just added one of the best offensive PG's in the game. The Thunder haven't added anything yet, but their 4 best players are under 24 and probably not at their peak yet.

Just read an article on ESPN basically saying that Brooklyn is going to need a miracle to get Dwight. Apparently they gave some foreigner (Teletov?) the full MLE, so they can't have their team salary over the tax level. So even if Orlando will take their mediocre trade offer, they probably don't have the salary room unless some of the numbers are wrong.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 01:57 PM) I could be wrong, I just dont like the way the Knicks were built. And Shumpert's game is athleticism, which is why a major injury could significantly impact his ability to play the game. I said that the Knicks may not be better than the aging Celtics, which was to point out that there is a pretty big chasm between the Heat and everyone else. I pretty much said it's too early to rank teams. Orlando might tell Dwight to f*** himself and trade him to Houston, Hibbert could be a Blazer, Lin could be in Phoenix or something and Allen might be a Clipper.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 01:18 PM) There are reports Lin wont even be back with the Knicks. I also dont love Lin like others, if you watch the film he really struggles going to his off hand and basically needs every set run on the right side of the court. Shumpert is injured, who knows what will happen with him. Melo/Amare/Chandler are all depreciating assets and Id say its remote that all 3 play a full season. Im just really not a fan of that team. I said Lin might not be back. Obviously that's a factor. I actually just read that Fields is gone, which already changes what I posted. I don't think anyone thinks he's going to average what he did when he was red hot. Clearly he's not THAT good. Still, if he can average 13-7 or so, that'd be huge for the Knicks. That's not totally out of the realm of possibility, though he'd have to get used to being a past-first guard. Shumpert may miss some time, but the playoffs are when it matters. He's basically just an athletic role player, they don't need him to score 20 a night. Amare clearly has some lingering knee issues, which is a factor. Tyson has had issues in the past though he has been healthy the last two years. Melo isn't nearly as big an issue, he may miss 10 games here and there but hasn't had anything catastrophic happen. I wouldn't say they are "depreciating assets" significantly more than some of their rivals. You specifically brought up Boston, whose three future hall of famers have all looked pretty dinged up for long stretches and are shells of their former selves. Wade looked pretty off in the latter portions of the playoffs and could be headed downhill soon (though they're obviously still the favorites). The Bulls' best player just tore his ACL, Boozer is getting older and has had plenty of injury issues, and Deng/Noah seem prone to nagging issues. Those would be their 3 major threats outside of Brooklyn, and we have no idea what their roster even looks like. I did say I like the Knicks "in theory". Part of that assumes relatively good health. That also assumes that they play to their relative talent level when the games actually start.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 01:18 PM) Is there any obvious reason to think that Amare isn't starting down the path of increasing injuries and decreasing effectiveness? Obviously no, it's highly possible. Which is why I said "in theory".

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 12:06 PM) If the Nets get Howard, the Nets and Heat should be in a different category than the Knicks, who may not even be better than the aging Celtics. Hard to say because the Knicks were rarely all healthy and clicking at the same time last year. Linsanity happened mostly with Melo and/or Stoudemire out and once those two got back Lin had some issues. I like the Knicks in theory. Lin/Shumpert/Melo/Amare/Chandler is a very talented group. They'd also have some bench production with Fields (a fairly solid all-around player) and Novak (token white shooter). Whether they can all mesh is another story, 3 of those guys seem to play a lot better with the ball in their hands. Plus Chandler seems overdue for a major injury, which would obliterate any hopes of them having a defense. Everything is still extremely preliminary as well. Dwight to Brooklyn isn't official yet. Neither is Lin staying in New York. Roy Hibbert might be a Blazer and Ray Allen is still talking with the Heat and Clippers. All of those have a huge impact on how the East shakes out.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 10:29 AM) I think you lose stars for that on recruiting services. Funny you should say that, he actually did drop from a 4-star to a 3-star on rivals since last night. They claim that they did the re-evaluation and ranking change a while ago, but the timing is rather suspicious.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 3, 2012 -> 09:43 AM) At least the Nets would still get smoked by the Heat. LBJ > All They'd have Dwight Howard, the one guy in the league that can actually punish the Heat inside. Plus Gerald Wallace is the kind of athlete that can at least make Lebron work offensively. I'm not sure they'll have enough around those 4 guys to win it, but they'd be considerably more dangerous than anyone else in the east.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 2, 2012 -> 10:15 PM) Ric Bucher was just saying on ESPN that he thinks it'll be nearly impossible for the Nets to trade for HOward now. He still thinks at SOME POINT he'll end up there, but very unlikely this season. Brooklyn was always going to struggle to put together a competitive deal, after the Wallace trade. Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks, #6 and a future pick might have been passable. It doesn't look so great without the high lottery pick, and they moved pretty much all of their contracts for Johnson. The only way it is remotely doable is if Orlando can't get s*** for Dwight without an extension and has to take a bad deal.

The trade exception is created when you trade a player. They're just using it at the same time to bring in salary instead of saving it for a later transaction (which is the only time you ever hear about exceptions).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 2, 2012 -> 07:15 PM) It certainly does matter. If you're over the cap and make a trade which still leaves you over the cap, even if you are reducing salary, you need a trade exception. I believe the Nets used their's with the Johnson trade. They are over the cap. So I believe to get Howard they would have to get under the cap. Which would mean Williams would have to sign elsewhere for sure as one piece, and a lot more would have to happen. That's not true at all, otherwise teams over the cap would essentially never be able to make trades. It's right here in Larry Coon's salary cap FAQ: Yeah, they can take on salary in trades. That's doesn't mean it's likely in this case because Orlando would actually have to want these players, but it's theoretically possible.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 2, 2012 -> 06:45 PM) He can ignore the luxury tax all he wants, he can't ignore the cap when acquiring a player. The cap doesn't matter if you're making a trade. All you have to do is match salaries, or get close enough. While that would be tricky in this case since most of their salary filler would be going to Atlanta, they could still sign and trade Lopez and/or Humphries to get within range.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 2, 2012 -> 05:17 PM) Cap. I cant imagine Joe Johnson, Dwill, Dwight, plus Gerald Wallace's shiny new contract will be something any team can afford Meh. They're moving to New York and their owner is a multi-billionaire. If anyone is going to ignore the luxury tax, it's probably Prokhorov.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 1, 2012 -> 02:10 PM) And they just drafted a pure C in the lottery. WTF are they doing. Leonard is a backup for the near future, I can see why they wouldn't worry about that. They'd have a crazy-good frontcourt with Hibbert/Aldridge and Leonard developing on the bench. My only concern after that would be 1) paying Batum as well, 2) Figuring out where to find a guard or two.

The offer is 4-58, which comes out to $14.5 mil a year. That's basically the going rate for a remotely competent big man.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jul 1, 2012 -> 12:20 AM) How is it a flawed qualifier? The biggest complaints about Gordon are that he didn't play defense(which 82games.com can dispell) and that he was a ballhog who just jacked up shots. I'm sorry, but FGA as well as FGM along with eFG% and TS% all prove that Gordon wasn't ballhogging. He was taking shots he could make. And if the stat fits, then yes, he was more efficient at scoring. Not saying he's a better player, but Ben definitely was great at scoring. And I've never said points don't stop counting after 20. But he didn't take nearly enough shots to average 30. I'm arguing that he was damn good at scoring for the amount of shots he took, and all the attempts, despite popular opinion, that he was a chucker is just flat out wrong. If Ben Gordon was a chucker, well goddamn, maybe I'm understanding the sport wrong. It's flawed because all you did was compare the entire league to Gordon's level of production, not do anything useful like compare TS% to people with similar shooting rates. Or in other words... -Let me remove every player from consideration that didn't shoot enough to score 20 points per game without remotely considering their efficiency. Screw those guys, they don't have the balls to shoot as much as Ben Gordon. -Let me remove every player that took more shots than Ben Gordon, again, regardless of efficiency. Screw those guys, they're too good at scoring. Wow, Ben Gordon is left! All it really does is find the guys that have the most Ben Gordon-level of shot taking. 70 players had a TS% greater than or equal to his rate of 57.3 that year, many of which shot as much or more than he did. That was one of his two years that was well above his career norm as well.