NBA Thread 2011-12

[naiwf]

Yeah, funny how the NBA handed that franchise over to Tom Benson in tip-top shape to be a legit contender in a couple of years.

You're not trying to imply that Herr Stern would do something underhanded in order to save a dying franchise are you? The NBA is a bastion of integrity.

[gunnar hendershow]

And Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, is the epitome of class, integrity, and respect.

I was foolish to imply anything other than this being a great meeting among gentlemen of the highest and most-esteemed moral fiber.

[naiwf]

KG re-signed for 3 yrs/$34 million.

It sounds like both Ray Allen and Steve Nash are looking to run to Miami so they can win a(nother) ring. This will be so much easier to achieve when Mike Miller retires and frees up cap space. Lame.

[Benjamin]

So Mo Williams is heading back to Utah while Odom is going to the Clippers. Interesting.

[naiwf]

You'll NEVER believe this, but Dwight Howard wants out of Orlando. Today he wants to be traded to the Nets. Keep in mind, that this prick could have just waited until an hour or so from now to sign with them if he hadn't chosen to opt in to an extension. I don't think there's a more clueless/delusional athlete in American sports right now.

[Quom]

Hasn't that been known for months?

[gunnar hendershow]

No but he changed his mind and pledged himself to the Magic.

It's like he wanted to go to Brooklyn to have his own super team, then Deron Williams told him to wait because he might want to go to Dallas, and now Deron just called him and said "Hey bro, I think we're actually gonna do this in Brooklyn after all." Who will be the third man? Harden? Josh Smith? Could they do a twin towers thing with Howard and Bynum? Or will they not find a third man and proceed to finish 4th or 5th in the East for a few years and then fade away for good?

[naiwf]

Hasn't that been known for months?

Yeah, but it takes a special kind of tone deafness to re-up with your team that you never wanted to stay with, and then ask to be traded to the team you could have signed with with no restrictions just a few months later. At least when Carmelo held the NBA hostage, he was doing it before a new CBA, and he was doing it for monetary reasons. Dwight Howard could be a Brooklyn Net in ~50 minutes if he hadn't tried to have his cake and eat it too. If he wanted to leave, he should have just left. The people who were going to hate him for leaving, don't really care if he was nice about it or if he held a prime time show just to give Orlando the middle finger. The only thing he's done is have people who didn't care about him quickly grow to despise him simply because he's such a puss.

I hope the Nets make that retarded trade for Joe Johnson instead, just to leave Dwight stuck in purgatory for another season. He's somehow making LeBron's handling of The Decision, look bush league in comparison to how masterfully he's destroying his carefully crafted image.

[Maxx]

Yeah, it's to the point where I want LeBron to ensure that Dwight never wins a title.

[Quom]

Just read a tweet that there is talk Dwight has a legal case against Orlando for coercion.

[DYSI]

Either come to Brooklyn or don't already! I hate Dwight's back and fourth. Everytime he speaks he says something different and it's been getting REALLY old.

With that being said, I would happily accept him as a member of the Nets.

Also...

The Trail Blazers used one of their two lottery picks to draft center Meyers Leonard, but they aren't done trying to improve their frontcourt.

According to Sam Amick of SI.com, Portland visited restricted free agent Roy Hibbert and offered the 25-year-old a max deal.

Amick writes that this could mean the end of his days in Indiana. "Indiana did not offer a max deal, and Hibbert is now leaning to Blazers unless Pacers match. One other unnamed team offered max."

Whether Hibbert is a player worthy of a max contract is a topic very much up for debate, and the Pacers will now have three days to match.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out, Portland would definitely improve here, eventhough they're overpaying IMO.

[gunnar hendershow]

A max deal for Roy Hibbert?

Glad that lockout solved the league's problems.

[Maxx]

The Pacers are trying to snag Eric Gordon. Could this be the year we actually see a restricted free agent change teams? If you're the Pacers and you can offer more than the Hornets are wiling to match, isn't that a no brainer? Who cares what the pick compensation will be, it's unlikely to turn into someone better than Gordon.

[SeanDMan]

Heard that Toronto has thirty six million bookmarked for Nash.

[naiwf]

Portland's obsession with landing a competent big man by any means necessary is one of the funniest recurring things in the league. The Hornets will match whatever someone offers for Gordon. That deal will end roughly around the time they'll have to decide how much to pay Davis and Rivers and there really shouldn't have to be much of a decision making process involved.

I don't really care if Dwight Howard dies in a fire, ends up in Dallas, alongside Kobe or playing for Brooklyn in front of their 17 fans, but if Nash and Ray Allen end up splitting the mid level in Miami, I'm done with this sport.

[gunnar hendershow]

Boston and Memphis have both offered Allen more than Miami. Toronto obviously has offered Nash a ton more than anyone else.

[thatshortguy]

Brooklyn may well be trying to procure Joe Johnson from Atlanta, but the Hawks have decided to ask for MarShon Brooks and half the state of New Jersey, it seems.

With Johnson gone, it bumps my hope of seeing Steve Nash in a Hawks uni from .001% to at least - at least - .01%.

[gunnar hendershow]

Hawks get a ton of expiring contracts in return for one of the worst contracts in NBA history?

Why wouldn't you take this deal? For the Nets it gives them a security blanket, kind of, if they only have to settle for Dwight and can't get Deron Williams.

[rocksta]

Reportedly Jrue Holiday wants a max contract. :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

And in other terrible big man contract news Omer Asik has been signed by the Rockets @ 3 years 25.1 million. Yup. I understand the scarcity at the 5 position but that is a blatant overpay.

[thatshortguy]

Hawks get a ton of expiring contracts in return for one of the worst contracts in NBA history?

Why wouldn't you take this deal? For the Nets it gives them a security blanket, kind of, if they only have to settle for Dwight and can't get Deron Williams.

For the Hawks, it's a no-brainer. Hell, I'd take Eddy Curry's Cleaned Plates in exchange for Joe Johnson if the finances could work out.