Movin' to the Sunshine: The 2015 NBA Offseason Thread

[dfwabel]

Jeannie needs to force her brother out and give full power to Mitch. Jim is the biggest problem.

Plus, if Kobe is retiring in a year or two why is he dictating the team's strategy? Any FA signing would have to deal with an annoying lame duck period before actually being able to do anything of substance on the court.

Even with Mitch there and Jim Buss out, we have seen that Mitch really cannot close the deal like Jerry West could in the past.

[Saint Zephyr III]

I just love the idea that the Lakers think it's okay to have Kobe in these pitch meetings. Other than the fact he's likely being as vague as possible about how much longer he's going to play, reports have given the indication that he's been pretty much telling anyone that he sees them as Gasol...in other words, his sidekick. Not to mention he's probably death-staring them half the time.

Also when you have a coach who genuinely thinks that three-pointers are a dumb idea and that analytics aren't worth tracking, that can't be helpful either.

Both the Lakers and the Knicks are working off the idea that 90s ball can work and they're kidding themselves if they think that the recent Finals is proof that it can work. The reason why it almost worked for Cleveland is because they have the best player on the planet .

[The_Admiral]

Also, it's worth noting that the Buss family doesn't have outside money. Their wealth is completely tied up in the Lakers. This is in stark contrast to the new wave of oligarch owners. You can laugh at the idea of the Lakers being underdogs, but in the new world economy, they kind of are. There's no Microsoft or Russian Oil or telecom money. It's just sales of Magic jerseys and TV distribution rights keeping the franchise afloat. Of course, they could likely sell for double what the Clips got, but then they wouldn't quite be the Lakers anymore.

AEG owns a big chunk of the Lakers. AEG isn't a mom-and-pop shop.

[dfwabel]

Also, it's worth noting that the Buss family doesn't have outside money. Their wealth is completely tied up in the Lakers. This is in stark contrast to the new wave of oligarch owners. You can laugh at the idea of the Lakers being underdogs, but in the new world economy, they kind of are. There's no Microsoft or Russian Oil or telecom money. It's just sales of Magic jerseys and TV distribution rights keeping the franchise afloat. Of course, they could likely sell for double what the Clips got, but then they wouldn't quite be the Lakers anymore.

AEG owns a big chunk of the Lakers. AEG isn't a mom-and-pop shop.

Exactly. Anshutz has had (at least) 27% of the team since 2001.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2001/04/23/daily42.html

[OnWis97]

Maybe people think that they would have a better chance of winning it all with a promising young core instead of an aging superstar?

I wonder if the Lakers and Knicks aren't really in play most of the time but the media just kinda likes to put them in there for clicks.

All else equal, I like the chances the Bucks have a good season next year more than the Knicks or Lakers.

OK, since getting Ewing, the Knicks have been relevant at time and even a contender a couple of times. But they are firmly in "Mess" mode right now.

Looking at Monroe, yeah, Of NY, LA, and Milwaukee, the Bucks give him the best chance to make the playoffs and maybe even win a series next year. But NBA title over the course of the contract. I'd stick with the franchise that has a quarter of 'em. I'd say the Lakers are more likely to win a title over the next five years than the Bucks. A team like the Bucks needs a perfect storm.

I'd like to be wrong. I'd like to think that weather, market size, and team history could diminish as key factors. Players wanna win, but these other factors have always gone into their decisions. I suspect we'll get back on track soon, particularly with the Lakers.

[Evil G]

Really? You think the Lakers will be better off in 5 years?

Compare this

PG- Michael Carter-Williams (as long as he gets back to what he looked like as a rookie)

SG- Khris Middleton

SF- Giannis Antetokounmoupo

PF- Jabari Parker

C- Greg Monroe

To this

PG- D'Angelo Russell

SG- Jordan Clarkson?

SF- Nick Young?

PF- Julius Randle

C- ???

I mean sure we don't know what the Lakers will really look like but the Bucks have an incredibly solid lineup locked down. It really depends on the Lakers draft picks panning out for them to be good in the future.

[CLEstones]

Good news on the Cavs front: After reports came out that the Cavs and Tristian Thompson have agreed to 5 years @ $80 million, Brian Windhorst of ESPN is reporting that the 2 groups are still a ways apart.

Interesting because Draymond Green's camp used Thompson's contract as the barometer for Green's extension.

[Evil G]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

[KDubK414]

Really? You think the Lakers will be better off in 5 years?

Compare this

PG- Michael Carter-Williams (as long as he gets back to what he looked like as a rookie)

SG- Khris Middleton

SF- Giannis Antetokounmoupo

PF- Jabari Parker

C- Greg Monroe

To this

PG- D'Angelo Russell

SG- Jordan Clarkson?

SF- Nick Young?

PF- Julius Randle

C- ???

I mean sure we don't know what the Lakers will really look like but the Bucks have an incredibly solid lineup locked down. It really depends on the Lakers draft picks panning out for them to be good in the future.

Plus the new TV contract kicks in next year, so there's no telling what teams like the Bucks will be able to do in the future. I am very happy about this signing. Never thought I'd see the day one of the top free agents would pick Milwaukee over the Lakers or Knicks.

[HedleyLamarr]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

If my understanding of the NBA's cap is somewhat decent (and if you're an expert, you're way too smart for the CCSLC), is that re-signing your own free agents doesn't go against the cap (or the cap hit isn't as big) because of those Larry Bird exceptions.

Some at the office were trying to explain how the Hawks should go after other free agents first, get them signed, then re-sign Carroll and Millsap because that's the only the way the NBA's math works.

They really need to clean up their financial language in the next CBA discussions and simplify them so the average fan understands what the hell's going on....

[CLEstones]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

[alxy8s]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

Is it that simple? The Heat won't have Bird Rights for Hassan Whiteside at the end of next year. No idea why not.

Anyway, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Chris Paul are apparently all on vacation together. Can't wait to find out what scheme comes out of that. Pretty sure the Cavs can just trade Love for Melo with only a little extra salary filler. WHO SAYS NO?

[TheRicSlick]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

Is it that simple? The Heat won't have Bird Rights for Hassan Whiteside at the end of next year. No idea why not.

Anyway, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Chris Paul are apparently all on vacation together. Can't wait to find out what scheme comes out of that. Pretty sure the Cavs can just trade Love for Melo with only a little extra salary filler. WHO SAYS NO?

Hassan hasn't played three seasons with the Heat, that is why. Yeah, it's stupid.

[CLEstones]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

Is it that simple? The Heat won't have Bird Rights for Hassan Whiteside at the end of next year. No idea why not.

Anyway, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Chris Paul are apparently all on vacation together. Can't wait to find out what scheme comes out of that. Pretty sure the Cavs can just trade Love for Melo with only a little extra salary filler. WHO SAYS NO?

Hassan hasn't played three seasons with the Heat, that is why. Yeah, it's stupid.

Neither has Kevin Love or Iman Shumpert. It may have to do with minimum service time as well.

As far as LeBron and them on Vacation... for the first time, I'm being optimistic as a Cleveland sports fan: There may be a shot Wade comes to Cleveland. I'm not sure how (I would assume Brendan Haywood's contract), but I could see something like LeBron expecting $22-25 million next year, but instead, him and Wade split, $14 & $11 and both come to the Cavs. Again, no idea how it would work with trading for D-Wade and what not... but I could see it happening in another city, so why not Cleveland?

[FiddySicks]

Lost in all the Knicks/Lakers/Cavs talk is that the Dubs reupped Draymond Green yesterday for 5 years at $85 million.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13185246/draymond-green-golden-state-warriors-agree-5-year-contract

I love Draymond Green. He's passionate, hard working, and willing do do what management asks of him. That being said, that's a LOT of money for him. It probably won't seem too high after the TV contract, but in the mean time the Warriors are going to have to get pretty creative if they wanna avoid the luxury tax.

[TalktoChuck]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

Is it that simple? The Heat won't have Bird Rights for Hassan Whiteside at the end of next year. No idea why not.

Anyway, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Chris Paul are apparently all on vacation together. Can't wait to find out what scheme comes out of that. Pretty sure the Cavs can just trade Love for Melo with only a little extra salary filler. WHO SAYS NO?

Hassan hasn't played three seasons with the Heat, that is why. Yeah, it's stupid.

Neither has Kevin Love or Iman Shumpert. It may have to do with minimum service time as well.

As far as LeBron and them on Vacation... for the first time, I'm being optimistic as a Cleveland sports fan: There may be a shot Wade comes to Cleveland. I'm not sure how (I would assume Brendan Haywood's contract), but I could see something like LeBron expecting $22-25 million next year, but instead, him and Wade split, $14 & $11 and both come to the Cavs. Again, no idea how it would work with trading for D-Wade and what not... but I could see it happening in another city, so why not Cleveland?

Bird Rights have to do with the contract, not the team. While those two changed teams, the contracts stayed the same. Love and Shumpert's last contracts were 3 years or longer and qualified for Bird Rights, therefore they are able to be re-signed with minimal impact on the cap.

The NBA really needs to make some wholesale changes to the way their salary cap system works, because it is unnecessarily complicated.

[sportzfan]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

Is it that simple? The Heat won't have Bird Rights for Hassan Whiteside at the end of next year. No idea why not.

Anyway, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Chris Paul are apparently all on vacation together. Can't wait to find out what scheme comes out of that. Pretty sure the Cavs can just trade Love for Melo with only a little extra salary filler. WHO SAYS NO?

Hassan hasn't played three seasons with the Heat, that is why. Yeah, it's stupid.

Neither has Kevin Love or Iman Shumpert. It may have to do with minimum service time as well.

As far as LeBron and them on Vacation... for the first time, I'm being optimistic as a Cleveland sports fan: There may be a shot Wade comes to Cleveland. I'm not sure how (I would assume Brendan Haywood's contract), but I could see something like LeBron expecting $22-25 million next year, but instead, him and Wade split, $14 & $11 and both come to the Cavs. Again, no idea how it would work with trading for D-Wade and what not... but I could see it happening in another city, so why not Cleveland?

Bird Rights have to do with the contract, not the team. While those two changed teams, the contracts stayed the same. Love and Shumpert's last contracts were 3 years or longer and qualified for Bird Rights, therefore they are able to be re-signed with minimal impact on the cap.

The NBA really needs to make some wholesale changes to the way their salary cap system works, because it is unnecessarily complicated.

The whole thing that makes it complicated is that it's a soft cap rather than a hard cap like nfl and nhl, and no cap like the mlb

[CLEstones]

Do the Cavs still have room for LeBron? I'm assuming they do but can anyone confirm?

Bird Rights. Anyone who was on the team to end the season, they can resign, even if they are over the salary cap to begin with.

Is it that simple? The Heat won't have Bird Rights for Hassan Whiteside at the end of next year. No idea why not.

Anyway, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Chris Paul are apparently all on vacation together. Can't wait to find out what scheme comes out of that. Pretty sure the Cavs can just trade Love for Melo with only a little extra salary filler. WHO SAYS NO?

Hassan hasn't played three seasons with the Heat, that is why. Yeah, it's stupid.

Neither has Kevin Love or Iman Shumpert. It may have to do with minimum service time as well.

As far as LeBron and them on Vacation... for the first time, I'm being optimistic as a Cleveland sports fan: There may be a shot Wade comes to Cleveland. I'm not sure how (I would assume Brendan Haywood's contract), but I could see something like LeBron expecting $22-25 million next year, but instead, him and Wade split, $14 & $11 and both come to the Cavs. Again, no idea how it would work with trading for D-Wade and what not... but I could see it happening in another city, so why not Cleveland?

Bird Rights have to do with the contract, not the team. While those two changed teams, the contracts stayed the same. Love and Shumpert's last contracts were 3 years or longer and qualified for Bird Rights, therefore they are able to be re-signed with minimal impact on the cap.

The NBA really needs to make some wholesale changes to the way their salary cap system works, because it is unnecessarily complicated.

I'm not sure why they don't just make it a hard cap. All this Salary Cap, Salary Apron, Luxury Tax... Just set the cap and the only way you are allowed to go over is by signing draft picks, trading for people, or resigning your own draft picks, i.e. Kyrie played out his 5 years in his rookie contract, and then even if they are over the cap, they can resign him since he was originally drafted by the Cavs.

[alxy8s]

Dwyane Wade signs with the MIAMI HEAT! 1yr/$20M. The one year thing could prove to be huge. I might go sing to the heavens real quick. In Riley we trust!

[Saint Zephyr III]

Dwyane Wade signs with the MIAMI HEAT! 1yr/$20M. The one year thing could prove to be huge. I might go sing to the heavens real quick. In Riley we trust!

I've been so perplexed by Wade's motivation other than "getting what is his". The Heat's future is better than most, especially in the East: Dragic, Whiteside, Winslow, Deng, a recovered Bosh...that's a good team! I'd even put them at the same level as Chicago. The one year deal is really telling though: basically Riley telling Wade that he has to prove his worth.