NBA 2016-2017 Season

[Your Mom]

Wasn't he only on the Heat for like 2 years? I mean it sucks what happened to him healthwise but that seems a bit much

[livid]

6 (7 if you include last year even though he didn't play) and was a big part of 2 of their 3 championships. It helps a bit that the team isn't very old but those numbers check out as a guy who probably deserves some recognition for what he did. 

[Your Mom]

Just now, livid said:

6 (7 if you include last year even though he didn't play) and was a big part of 2 of their 3 championships. It helps a bit that the team isn't very old but those numbers check out as a guy who probably deserves some recognition for what he did. 

Oh wow. Time flies I guess  Makes more sense when you put it in perspective like that. Do the Heat have a lot of retired jerseys? 

[livid]

They're only 29 years old so no. Their first retired jersey was apparently Jordan as a nod from Riley and then they have Tim Hardaway, Shaq and Alonzo Mourning's jerseys retired. 

[Tyrone]

Hayward will sign with the Celtics (Players' Tribune)

[Pooker]

Meh. Good for Hayward. It's such a shame that we built this whole team around him, gave him the reigns to it finally, made some noise in the West, and he bolts. To play for college coach. He talks about wanting to finish what they started...win a championship...what about what we have going in Utah? Guess we don't matter at all. I'll still root for Hayward but I'll also be happy when they lose.

[Lowerdeck]

2 minutes ago, Pooker said:

Meh. Good for Hayward. It's such a shame that we built this whole team around him, gave him the reigns to it finally, made some noise in the West, and he bolts. To play for college coach. He talks about wanting to finish what they started...win a championship...what about what we have going in Utah? Guess we don't matter at all. I'll still root for Hayward but I'll also be happy when they lose.

At this point, it is a lot easier to get to the Finals from the East.  The Celtics are the only ones that can compete LeBron at this point, and are on the way up. 

[livid]

Pretty much. Any star that chooses a team in the west right now is a bit of an idiot. 

[En Dub]

There's gonna have to be an exodus to the east sooner than later, everything is too unbalanced after Butler and George went west this off season. Glad to have Hayward in green. We still need to address the rebounding issue but this deals with the problem of relying too much on Isiah for scoring. 

[Benjamin]

Wow, Utah fans being a little too butt hurt over Hayward leaving. Super petty doing ridiculous nonsense like burning his jerseys.

[Pooker]

It's no different then Durant leaving OKC or LeBron leaving Cleveland the first time. Hayward was our franchise player. As a life long Jazz fan and resident of Utah, having a franchise player leave in his prime and right as the rest of the team is coming into their own freaking stings like nothing ever has. 

So, burning his jersey is perfectly ok to me.

And I also hopes he becomes the next Larry Bird.

[Your Mom]

I wouldn't burn his jersey but I can understand being really pissed and don't think it's petty at all honestly

That being said I was still pretty young but if MJ had left I probably would have burnt the whole city down  

[Maxx]

13 hours ago, En Dub said:

There's gonna have to be an exodus to the east sooner than later, everything is too unbalanced after Butler and George went west this off season. Glad to have Hayward in green. We still need to address the rebounding issue but this deals with the problem of relying too much on Isiah for scoring. 

Ehhh, not really, this kind of thing was happening on a smaller scale prior to the 2003 draft.  You won't see people jumping over to the East, you'll just have most of the young talent getting drafted over there.  

[JasonM]

I'm gutted for the Jazz, I mean I can understand Hayward's motivations and desire to play for a coach he's big friends with, but I can honestly understand the frustration of the Utah fandom that see their team go back to struggling without a star player to put them over the hump that is the entire western conference.

They built a team from scratch, suffered through terrible years. Saw their star player force a move to the Nets years earlier, finally found a new team to build around, and then their #1 guy leaves to the Celtics. It's a new age of superteams and ring-chasing, but Jazz got handed a v. rough deal.

In other, even more gutting news. The Heat have released Chris Bosh, and are planning to retire #1 in his honour. Very shit to see Bosh go out like this, without a chance to really show himself in a post-Lebron Miami. But on the other hand i'm happy that he gets to retire in reasonable health and if he's been frugal nary a care for financial issues.

Also, Danilo Gallinari is Clippers bound as they try to build a team around two shaky injury-prone guys and a bloke that can't shoot free throws. Good on the Clips to make a deal happen, and hopefully Danilo can stay healthy now because when he is he's a top SF. But I can't see the Clips make anything happen without a guard that can get assists, and Austin Rivers isn't that guard.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Jasonmufc

[Pooker]

Seeing Danilo go to the Clippers is one of the things that makes me mad Hayward waited so long to say he's going to the Celtics. I think he already had his mind made up. And if he had said it earlier, I wonder if the Jazz could have gotten in and traded for Danilo.

[livid]

I don't really think that taking 4 days (3 of which were spent taking the meetings) to make a decision can be qualified as "waiting so long".

[Pooker]

From a team stand point and with how fast the NBA moves, waiting four days can be killer. From his stand point, I'm sure four days wasn't nearly long enough. But, if Hayward had made his mind up earlier, the Jazz could have made a move for Danilo or if he had said something at the end of the season, gone after Paul George.

So, yes, waiting four days is a long time in terms of what it can do for a franchise.

[livid]

No, it's up to the franchise that could lose him to do their due diligence and make sure they have a contingency in place in case he does leave. That's the Jazz's fault, not Hayward's. 

Or maybe they're just comfortable with their options of Rudy Gay and James Johnson at this point. 

Edited July 5, 2017 by livid

[Pooker]

What's the contingency plan when any good replacements are taken while you're waiting for your franchise player to tell you he's leaving? The Jazz front offices hands were tied. Couldn't make a move to replace Hayward without actually knowing he was gone.

[livid]

They can easily line things up. Teams do it all the time, especially since these contracts being announced aren't actually official until tomorrow. You act like their phones are unavailable while they wait for Hayward to make a decision. 

And if they really lack the ability to be proactive like this is implying it's no wonder the dude left. 

Edited July 5, 2017 by livid