NBA Offseason thread 2013 edition

[Al Bundy]

Looks the Warriors are dumping Biedrins and Jefferson in a salary dump to Utah

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Bill Simmons, who is friends with Morey, spoke again and again of Morey acquiring assets throughout all of 2011 and 2012. This isn't revisionist history; this is somewhat formulating a plan and executing it.

And Houston gave up nothing for Harden. You don't avoid picking up All-Stars for Jeremy Lin. If Lin would have scored 35 PPG in the preseason Morey still would have traded for him...because...wait for it...he wants assets.

Not to mention Morey is a huge in analyticals. Zilla is just being a ****ing idiot which par the course.

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

SportsCenter ‏@SportsCenter 7m

DEVELOPING: Andrew Bynum's two-year-offer from the Cavs is worth $12 million annually, @ESPNSteinLine reports.

[RustShack]

Irving-Waiters-Clark-Bennett-Bynum
Jack-Karasev-Gee-Thompson-Varejao

Cavaliers are suddenly pretty damn stacked. Varejao is pretty good, then you add six first round picks the last three years(2#1's and 2#4 overalls) then sign Jack, Earl Clark, and Bynum... Pretty good on paper all the sudden. And real young.

[mcaj22]

yea if they're healthy. Their two bigs are coming off injury seasons and one guy didnt even play and who knows when hes going to.

[RealSNR]

I was pretty worried about losing Pek to a team like Dallas who would throw a ton of money that we didn't have at him. Now I'm kind of questioning this move by the Wolves if that contract offer is accurate. It's definitely a sign that the Wolves are desperate to keep Pek (which they should be) but they perhaps blew their load too soon.

Ah well. It's nothing too terrible or crippling, really.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...nikola-pekovic

Report: Timberwolves have made a formal offer to Nikola Pekovic
By Zach Harper | NBA writer

After a week of moves by the Minnesota Timberwolves in which they re-signed wing Chase Budinger and signed Kevin Martin, they apparently aren't into waiting on the market to be set for restricted free agent center Nikola Pekovic. According to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, the Wolves submitted a formal offer of at least four years and $48 million to Pekovic through his agent.

The Timberwolves have made a formal contract offer to restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic and waived two players in preparation for Wednesday's end to the NBA moratorium period.

According to league sources, the Wolves made an offer to Pekovic on Friday and expect to receive a response early this week.

On Sunday, they waived center Greg Stiemsma and swingman Mickael Gelabale in two salary-cap moves designed to clear space to allow them to sign free agents Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger as well as bring back Pekovic on a four-year deal that likely will be worth $12 million a year or more.

This is a risky negotiating tactic by the Wolves and one that could come back to bite them in the salary cap. Dwight Howard and Al Jefferson have verbally agreed to sign with their respective new teams, the Houston Rockets and Charlotte Bobcats. That leaves free agents Andrew Bynum and Pekovic as the top big men available on the market. Bynum is an unrestricted free agent, while Pekovic is restricted.

If the Wolves believe the offers for Pekovic will start flowing and get out of control as teams try to make sure they walk away from free agency with something, then it's smart to try to get this worked out right now. But if teams end up putting off offers to Pekovic because they believe the Wolves will just match it anyway (which they probably will) and the cap room dries up around the league, then the Wolves could have added to an asking price Pekovic wasn't going to get to.

It's a sign of respect from the Wolves to Pekovic by saying they aren't going to wait for the typical process of getting an offer sheet for the Wolves to review and match. However, we don't quite know if they've increased the price tag on their center and set a market floor that could have ended up being the market ceiling with a little more patience

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Not to mention Morey is a huge in analyticals. Zilla is just being a ****ing idiot which par the course.

I've grown to agree on the draft strategy. Poo poo on that, fine.

But people are treating him like some kind of a mastermind. As of right now, he has a coach who struggles to figure out how to use his talent. And he has two expensive acquisitions in Lin and Asik who were a terrible fit for the team and system. If he's heavy on analytics, then pre-Harden, why did he have such a mish-mosh of players and coaches who don't work together?

The Harden trade was brilliant. The Howard move worked because they threw a lot of money at them. With the superstars in place, we'll see if a good system follows. Until that system forms, it is purely a strategy of stacking with assets with no vision for how those assets work together.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by RustShack

Irving-Waiters-Clark-Bennett-Bynum
Jack-Karasev-Gee-Thompson-Varejao

Cavaliers are suddenly pretty damn stacked. Varejao is pretty good, then you add six first round picks the last three years(2#1's and 2#4 overalls) then sign Jack, Earl Clark, and Bynum... Pretty good on paper all the sudden. And real young.

Thats a pretty decent team. Should contend for the 6th or 7th seed in the East if they all stay relatively healthy.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by -King-

Thats a pretty decent team. Should contend for the 6th or 7th seed in the East if they all stay relatively healthy.

Chris Grant has built a solid foundation for a team. They're still a legit scoring threat away from being a true contender. And we still have to remind ourselves that they're going to be coached by Mike Brown. We can only hope that the new offensive assistant he hired will be allowed to call the offensive shots.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I've grown to agree on the draft strategy. Poo poo on that, fine.

But people are treating him like some kind of a mastermind. As of right now, he has a coach who struggles to figure out how to use his talent. And he has two expensive acquisitions in Lin and Asik who were a terrible fit for the team and system. If he's heavy on analytics, then pre-Harden, why did he have such a mish-mosh of players and coaches who don't work together?

The Harden trade was brilliant. The Howard move worked because they threw a lot of money at them. With the superstars in place, we'll see if a good system follows. Until that system forms, it is purely a strategy of stacking with assets with no vision for how those assets work together.

His focus on analytics is why he identified many of the gems he did. But that doesn't mean that you can win with players that give you surplus value in the latter half of the first round.

Everyone knows how to win in the NBA and there are usually two ways to do it: sign elite players in free agency and draft generational talents. But to get the first you often need the second. And when you have the opportunity to draft the second you have to be lucky.

Morey was able to successfully build a real contender while never having a chance to draft a generational talent. That's pretty amazing.

He acquired a bunch of quarters for dime prices, then traded those quarters for a dollar. And in the NBA, a dollar bill is worth more than four quarters.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

His focus on analytics is why he identified many of the gems he did. But that doesn't mean that you can win with players that give you surplus value in the latter half of the first round.

Everyone knows how to win in the NBA and there are usually two ways to do it: sign elite players in free agency and draft generational talents. But to get the first you often need the second. And when you have the opportunity to draft the second you have to be lucky.

Morey was able to successfully build a real contender while never having a chance to draft a generational talent. That's pretty amazing.

He acquired a bunch of quarters for dime prices, then traded those quarters for a dollar. And in the NBA, a dollar bill is worth more than four quarters.

Yeah, I'm buying into what you're saying about what he's done with the dime priced talent.

But what about the $8M dollar players who played at dime levels? I'll agree with you on the draft, but Lin and Asik was a "shiny object" strategy. And maybe McHale is better than I give him credit for, but I don't think he's very good either.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Yeah, I'm buying into what you're saying about what he's done with the dime priced talent.

But what about the $8M dollar players who played at dime levels? I'll agree with you on the draft, but Lin and Asik was a "shiny object" strategy. And maybe McHale is better than I give him credit for, but I don't think he's very good either.

I'm not going to argue McHale is a great coach, but I was impressed how well he used the talent he had. He put the ball in Harden and Lin's hands and let them create in isolation. A lot of people on this board hated the offense, because against elite defense it was definitely stagnant. But he played to his team's strengths. They had no post scoring, but they had two guys who could break the D down off the dribble and several perimeter shooters. And Asik is an elite screen guy, which is an undersold talent on offense.

[RustShack]

Bennett should be a good scoring threat to go with Irving and Waiters. Karasev should be the best shooter on the team too.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by KevB

I'm not going to argue McHale is a great coach, but I was impressed how well he used the talent he had. He put the ball in Harden and Lin's hands and let them create in isolation. A lot of people on this board hated the offense, because against elite defense it was definitely stagnant. But he played to his team's strengths. They had no post scoring, but they had two guys who could break the D down off the dribble and several perimeter shooters. And Asik is an elite screen guy, which is an undersold talent on offense.

I didn't get the Asik signing. You pay $8M per year for a guy who is terrible in pick and roll, and you bring him in to complement Lin... who is a pick and roll guy who loves to dish to his Center. I still don't like the combo of Lin and Harden -- like Melo and Stoudemire, to get production out of one, you have to neuter the other because they take up the same space.

If the Rockets wipe their hands clean of Asik and Lin, maybe you've got something. Right now, in Lin and Asik, you're paying $16M for two guys who I still think were shiny objects vs. being part of some kind of a long-term strategy. McHale did make it work a little bit with Harden and Lin, but let's be real... they don't belong on the floor with each other, and Asik doesn't belong on the floor with those guys either.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by KevB

I'm not going to argue McHale is a great coach, but I was impressed how well he used the talent he had. He put the ball in Harden and Lin's hands and let them create in isolation. A lot of people on this board hated the offense, because against elite defense it was definitely stagnant. But he played to his team's strengths. They had no post scoring, but they had two guys who could break the D down off the dribble and several perimeter shooters. And Asik is an elite screen guy, which is an undersold talent on offense.

Asik wants no part of the Rockets. They have to trade him IMO.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I didn't get the Asik signing. You pay $8M per year for a guy who is terrible in pick and roll, and you bring him in to complement Lin... who is a pick and roll guy who loves to dish to his Center. I still don't like the combo of Lin and Harden -- like Melo and Stoudemire, to get production out of one, you have to neuter the other because they take up the same space.

If the Rockets wipe their hands clean of Asik and Lin, maybe you've got something. Right now, in Lin and Asik, you're paying $16M for two guys who I still think were shiny objects vs. being part of some kind of a long-term strategy. McHale did make it work a little bit with Harden and Lin, but let's be real... they don't belong on the floor with each other, and Asik doesn't belong on the floor with those guys either.

I think you're way off on Asik. He's not accomplished offensively, but he does everything else well. Great rebounder, very good defender, very good screener. He's not a great roll guy, but just allowing Harden and Lin to rub their guy and turn the corner into the lane was half the Rockets offense.

Lin and Harden aren't a great fit, but again, Morey didn't know he was getting Harden when he signed Lin.