NBA 2013-2014 Season Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

I think you're crazy if you think Minny is more than happy to let Love walk. They've been trying to out-negotiate teams into spending too much on a guy who wants out but that never works out. Eventually you cave and get something in return, the longer you wait the more diminished the return though. If Love sends signals he will only resign or sign with Cleveland that gives Minnesota no leverage with any other teams. Cleveland is now in the comfortable position of searching for a 3rd team to help facilitate parts of it, as well as matching up salaries.

[Quom]

We won't have to. We'll be getting Wiggins for Love.

Cleveland either give us Wiggins or they will need to be content with a team that's LeBron, Kyrie, Love, Wiggins and one of Varejao, Bennett, Waiters or Thompson and then minimum contract and MLE guys since Love/Kyrie and Lebron will all be on max deals eating up 98% of their soft cap (since Love won't be a re-signing player with bird rights).

Or

We accept two or three mid 20's picks (which are useless when you are as good as drafting as us), a SG with an attitude problem that puts our current SG who we promised wouldn't come off the bench (when we mistakenly signed him) onto the bench and is close to unmovable unless attached to an asset like Love meaning we lose cap flexibility. We also gain the biggest number 1 bust of all time.

We lose nothing by not taking that trade now. It might be worth re-exploring mid year or at the end of the season if Bennett or Waiters have made noticeable improvements. But as it stands now, either way we're giving Love for nothing we want or need. It actually might make more sense to let him walk and have his contract off the books, it depends how you value late draft picks. I'd probably prefer 14 million to spend on someone than have 3 late first round picks.

Lets see if the Cavs roll the dice trying to get Love to take a pay cut and sign the max length they can offer him when it would make more sense to take a short deal until the TV deal gets done and can move to LA and replace Kobe as the face of the franchise if Cleveland is Miami 2.0.

[Mofoticon]

Love will be traded before training camp begins. There's no doubt about it really. The TWolves can say whatever they want but they aren't going into a season with a giant distraction on their team. They may still get Wiggins but either way there's a clock on this and the TWolves are running short on it. They are in a bad spot here.

[HC]

I love going on Reddit and reading how catty Wolves and Cavs fans are getting with each other, each group only believing whatever trade rumor benefits their team.

[Quom]

Meh, they have at least 30 days of nothingness until Wiggins can be traded. No point thinking about it until then.

[Benjamin]

I love going on Reddit and reading how catty Wolves and Cavs fans are getting with each other, each group only believing whatever trade rumor benefits their team.

The Wolves have fans?

[Quom]

They do until Rubio leaves

[gunnar hendershow]

And then they'll have GoGo (since they'll be in Seattle).

[HC]

I do miss the Sonics. They got fucked by a pretty massive double standard with the Kings deal. Had Stern been that committed to keeping teams in place before, they'd have never moved to OKC. Of course we'll find out just how good of a market OKC really is in a few years should Durant bolt.

[gunnar hendershow]

OKC will be a fine market because they're the only team in the city. Just about every city that is NBA-only does well even when the team is bad.

[HC]

OKC will be a fine market because they're the only team in the city. Just about every city that is NBA-only does well even when the team is bad.

They've never really been tested with a bad season, though. Of course they had the Hornets during Katrina and their first year as the Thunder was great, but other than that, they've been spoiled by winning season after winning season. It'll be interesting if the Thunder get really bad in a few years since the "newness" of pro basketball will have rubbed off the city.

And the Grizzlies are the only show in town here as well, doesn't mean attendance wasn't pretty meh during the mediocre years.

[Maxx]

It's their only team. They'll end up super protective of them like San Antonio is with the Spurs.

[gunnar hendershow]

It's their only team. They'll end up super protective of them like San Antonio is with the Spurs.

Even if ticket sales flounder this will happen. Any time the mention of them maybe relocating comes up they'll do whatever it takes to keep them in town.

[HC]

I hope the Grizzlies never leave. This city has nothing else outside of AAA baseball. I kind of worry now that Heisley isn't the owner, but at the least the FedEx Forum lease guarantees another 10 years I think. And we do have a small percentage local ownership group of Peyton Manning's wife, Autozone, and Justin Timberlake so I guess that helps.

[The Buscher]

I'm reading more and more reports suggesting that Doc Rivers is going to quit if Donald Sterling is not formally removed as Clippers owner soon, and many of the players (headed by Chris Paul) could boycott as well.

I would have been totally on board with that it if the NBA took it easy on Sterling when the news first broke, but that isn't the case. The NBA came out strong, banned Sterling from being involved in anything involving the team, and are now trying to force the sale. There was always the risk that Sterling would file a lawsuit, and that's exactly what happened. Now it's in the hands of the legal system and the legal system moves at its own pace.

I guess they're hoping a boycott would cause the case to move through the courts quicker, but I doubt that will work. It was always going to take a very long time once Sterling decided to sue. If LeBron and other prominent players decide to join Rivers and Co. in boycotting, there will likely be no NBA season until the courts sort this out.

[livid]

They're just trying to create a worst possible scenario for the judge to take into account when ruling on it. It's pretty dumb logic, though.

[HC]

Judge has just ruled the sale can go through

[Quom]

I'm reading more and more reports suggesting that Doc Rivers is going to quit if Donald Sterling is not formally removed as Clippers owner soon, and many of the players (headed by Chris Paul) could boycott as well.

I would have been totally on board with that it if the NBA took it easy on Sterling when the news first broke, but that isn't the case. The NBA came out strong, banned Sterling from being involved in anything involving the team, and are now trying to force the sale. There was always the risk that Sterling would file a lawsuit, and that's exactly what happened. Now it's in the hands of the legal system and the legal system moves at its own pace.

I guess they're hoping a boycott would cause the case to move through the courts quicker, but I doubt that will work. It was always going to take a very long time once Sterling decided to sue. If LeBron and other prominent players decide to join Rivers and Co. in boycotting, there will likely be no NBA season until the courts sort this out.

The shit Sterling said isn't anything new. He has been a racist slumlord prick for years (with Shelly) and racist within the league. Suddenly it has media exposure and Rivers suddenly gives a damn. Rivers has been in the league for more than 20 years, like fuck he didn't know all about Sterling before going to the Clippers. People trying to spin positive PR by making a stand from this situation is a little bit cheesy.

[The Buscher]

Heh, that ruling went through way quicker than I thought it would. Good. Fuck Sterling.

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm reading more and more reports suggesting that Doc Rivers is going to quit if Donald Sterling is not formally removed as Clippers owner soon, and many of the players (headed by Chris Paul) could boycott as well.

I would have been totally on board with that it if the NBA took it easy on Sterling when the news first broke, but that isn't the case. The NBA came out strong, banned Sterling from being involved in anything involving the team, and are now trying to force the sale. There was always the risk that Sterling would file a lawsuit, and that's exactly what happened. Now it's in the hands of the legal system and the legal system moves at its own pace.

I guess they're hoping a boycott would cause the case to move through the courts quicker, but I doubt that will work. It was always going to take a very long time once Sterling decided to sue. If LeBron and other prominent players decide to join Rivers and Co. in boycotting, there will likely be no NBA season until the courts sort this out.

The shit Sterling said isn't anything new. He has been a racist slumlord prick for years (with Shelly) and racist within the league. Suddenly it has media exposure and Rivers suddenly gives a damn. Rivers has been in the league for more than 20 years, like fuck he didn't know all about Sterling before going to the Clippers. People trying to spin positive PR by making a stand from this situation is a little bit cheesy.

Yeah he's been in trouble for it before but Rivers could have easily been assured Sterling had improved as a person since then. Plenty of people who used to have be silent or negative about race have turned the corner over time, who's to say Rivers didn't feel the same was the case for Sterling?