NBA Screwed?: James Leaning Towards Heat

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Buster

(As a Bulls fan) I was hoping Wade would go to the Bulls...for a day or two, it seemed very likely.

The East seems as strong, or stronger than the West this upcoming year.


East contenders:
Heat
Bulls
Magic
Celtics
Atlanta
Charlotte - Don't laugh, they're getting good.

West contenders:
Nuggets
Lakers
Blazers
Spurs - getting very old though

downgraded:
Utah - lost Boozer
Phoenix - lost Amare

That is what sucks the West is already weak and now they lost two of their Stars, might as well ink the Lakers in for the finals.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by mredskins

[/B]That is what sucks the West is already weak and now they lost two of their Stars, might as well ink the Lakers in for the finals.

The West weak, really?

[Dirtbag59]

The part I didn't like about Dan Gilberts guarantee was the promise of winning a championship before Lebron. That actually makes it harder to go into rebuilding mode which would really help the Cavs. Play like shit for a few years and get some lottery picks and use that to build your team. As much as I love Antwan, theres no way that Cleveland will be able to put together a winning team with him as their best player.

To me Memphis has the most appealing team in the league. Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Mike Connelly, Marc Gasol, Vasquez, Darell Aurthur, and Hasheem Thabeet make up one off the best young cores in the league. If the Cavs had that team in the East they would be a serious threat.

Now is the time to rebuild. Unfortunately no free agent is going to want to come to Cleveland now. You need to find another young star. The Bulls model would work well for the Cavs. Of course with the NBA draft it's easier said then done.

[Monkeydad]

The West had a long run of being FAR superior than the East. Even when Detroit or Boston won...the West was still stronger top to bottom.

[hooskins]

Generally speaking the West is always a stronger conference. Look at records. Barring one team in the East, all playoff teams in the West have better records. Furthermore the cut line in terms of W-L is much lower in the East each year.

Better teams in the West.

[SmootSmack]

Gilbert lets out his frustration - ESPN

I get that he's frustrated, still think he could have handled it better

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Gilbert lets out his frustration - ESPN

I get that he's frustrated, still think he could have handled it better

Smoot what's the chance that NBA owners will implement a hard cap?

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

Smoot what's the chance that NBA owners will implement a hard cap?

Good question, don't know. I'll ask Cuban....seriously though, it's a major issue that may or may not lead to a lockout

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Good question, don't know. I'll ask Cuban....seriously though, it's a major issue that may or may not lead to a lockout

Right now I'm praying for one, though I must admit my intentions aren't exactly pure as a hard cap would seemingly go a long way towards limiting the Heat. Also it seems like it would be tough to implement. Right now the Lakers have a total payroll of $81 million. That's obviously well above the $58 million salary cap. As much as the NBA needs the Lakers right now the fact of that matter is that there's virtually no parity in the NBA and the fact that this Heat deal went through is clear proof that the system is broken. No team should be able to pull off what Miami did last night.

HoopsHype - NBA Salaries

WKYC.com | Cleveland, OH | Fight over giant LeBron billboard

Shouldn't be to hard now.

Originally Posted by Buster

I can't blame him for leaving Cleveland...they will never win there, with or without LeBron James.

I also can't criticize him for wanting to win, or taking less than Max Contract money to assemble a better team.

However, I don't think the Heat will win. They have 3 VERY expensive players, who will leave room for Mike Miller (barely) and 8 more minimum contract scrubs. The bench will have zero depth barring any surprise stepping up from minimum wage players.

I think he should have gone to the Bulls. Their overall roster is far superior than Miami's gutted team to afford 3 top free agents. They have Derrick Rose, who could end up being as good as Wade, Boozer (comparable to Bosh when healthy), Noah, Deng, Taj Gibson is a good young talent, even Brad Miller and Pargo are better-than-average players off the bench. I also have doubts about Wade and James co-existing. They will both have to cut back their stats and share the spotlight.

I think LeBron has the right intentions, to win, even if it requires taking less money and sharing the team...but I think he made the wrong choice.

I expect Pay Riley to step back onto the sidelines, firing another coach when it looks like he could come in and get credit for success. I used to respect him a lot as a coach, but it seems he is only willing to coach when it looks like things are going good. When the team struggles, he steps back into an office job and lets some other temporary coach deal with the team and get the blame.

Lebron didn't take less money. Sure he took a smaller contract, but his take home pay will be higher.

[SmootSmack]

Why not? We'd be singing to high heaven if the Wizards did what the Heat did last night. And I don't agree with this notion that there's no parity in the NBA, just because the Lakers have won back to back titles. What is parity anyway? Are we hoping that every team finishes 41-41?

On a related note, how crazy is it that Juwan Howard or even Kwame Brown may join the Heat. Howard's proven himself so if he got a ring at the end of his career with Miami much respect to him. But holy cow, how lucky would Kwame be?

[saden1]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Why not? We'd be singing to high heaven if the Wizards did what the Heat did last night. And I don't agree with this notion that there's no parity in the NBA, just because the Lakers have won back to back titles. What is parity anyway? Are we hoping that every team finishes 41-41?

On a related note, how crazy is it that Juwan Howard or even Kwame Brown may join the Heat. Howard's proven himself so if he got a ring at the end of his career with Miami much respect to him. But holy cow, how lucky would Kwame be?

I don't get all the Heat hateration for trying to get all these guys. Every team knew these guys were going to be available...they too could have cleared up cap space to get these guys. Suck it up and play to beat them. Oh and didn't every playoff team in the western conference have 50 wins last season?

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by saden1

I don't get all the Heat hateration for trying to get all these guys. Every team knew these guys were going to be available...they too could have cleared up cap space to get these guys. Suck it up and play to beat them. Oh and didn't every playoff team in the western conference have 50 wins last season?

Personally I don't hate the Heat for trying to sign all these guys. You know what good for them. One of my best friends is a Heat fan and I've got to be thinking that he has every right to feel good. Pat Riley deserves to be knighted for pulling this off. What I personally hate is everything that happened during this "process." In fact this has confirmed what I learned back in 2008 with the coaching search that when someone invokes the word process multiple times, chances are nothing good is going to come out of it.

The show, the excuses, the collusion, the flat out ass kissing. And all to join a team that's frankly shouldn't even be allowed to exist.

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Why not? We'd be singing to high heaven if the Wizards did what the Heat did last night. And I don't agree with this notion that there's no parity in the NBA, just because the Lakers have won back to back titles. What is parity anyway? Are we hoping that every team finishes 41-41?

On a related note, how crazy is it that Juwan Howard or even Kwame Brown may join the Heat. Howard's proven himself so if he got a ring at the end of his career with Miami much respect to him. But holy cow, how lucky would Kwame be?

Parity is when you're considered a legend for getting 3 or 4 rings, not 11. When I look at the NBA I see a very top heavy league. Just a personal preference, but it seems with the NBA once you're on the top it seems easy to stay there.

On a separate note though I don't think I qualify as a basketball fan anymore. I have ZERO recollection of Lebron making it to the NBA Finals against the Spurs. Looks like I took 2007 off when it came to the NBA. Still to have no memory of that is shocking to me. Baseball I can understand but basketball?

[saden1]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

Personally I don't hate the Heat for trying to sign all these guys. You know what good for them. One of my best friends is a Heat fan and I've got to be thinking that he has every right to feel good. Pat Riley deserves to be knighted for pulling this off. What I personally hate is everything that happened during this "process." In fact this has confirmed what I learned back in 2008 with the coaching search that when someone invokes the word process multiple times, chances are nothing good is going to come out of it.

The show, the excuses, the collusion, the flat out ass kissing. And all to join a team that's frankly shouldn't even be allowed to exist.

Everything that happened during the process was definitely odious and frankly James came out looking like a little bitch. No matter what he does he will never been in the same class as Kobe or MJ IMO. If he wins it will be a cheap championship and a cheap ring. The way I see it James is helping Wade win another championship.

Depending on what other players they sign this may not be a guarantee championship team. Neither Wade or James can hit the 3 on a consistent base...and if you ask me right now are they better than the Lakers I would have to say "maybe." The NBA is still a team sport and if the US Olympic team can lose so can a team with just 3 Olympians.

Perhaps the NBA needs the franchise tag? I would support that.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

On a separate note though I don't think I qualify as a basketball fan anymore. I have ZERO recollection of Lebron making it to the NBA Finals against the Spurs. Looks like I took 2007 off when it came to the NBA. Still to have no memory of that is shocking to me. Baseball I can understand but basketball?

well they didn't last very long haha

[Ruhskins]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

well they didn't last very long haha

That's what she said. Zing!