There are going to be people picking the Wizards to win the Southeast.

Yeah, and you told us that Wiggins FOR SURE wasn't going to be traded. Ergo, Love isn't going to the Cavs.

Nah, I'm sure Tristan Thompson and a couple draft picks will get the deal done. That's the going rate for a top 10 player these days according to some delusional cavs fans.

You never know... there have been some real lopsided NBA trades.

My only point was LeBron wrote this long letter and mentioned all these players he's played with and wants to play with... and Wiggins wasn't on it. You're crazy if you think that was a coincidence. Everything LeBron does is meticulous. I'm sure he'd love to play with the guy but he knows it's at least possible he never does.

NBA and David Stern and Dan Gilbert can kiss my ass

It all depends. If Love is saying "Cleveland or bust" then Minnesota lost a ton of leverage. I think this compensation is way too low. But if Love limits his option to one team then Cleveland doesn't necessarily have to get top 10 value to pull off a trade.

get over it. No one wants to play for the Lakers when their front office dont knwo what the **** they are doing anymore and no one wants to play for them.

Im a Lakers fan til forever and i have been since a kid in the early 80's but right now they got one major problem, his name is Jim Buss.

Minnesota has no incentive to do that deal. It sets a bad precedent for the organization. They are better off just letting him walk than trading him for Tristan Thompson and a few late firsts.

Besides, Love can't go to Cleveland as a free agent next year. The Cavs would have to completely gut their roster sans LeBron and Irving to do so.

Love has some leverage, but he doesn't hold all the cards. Minnesota can and should extract some value.

Rustshack has made everyone hate the Cavaliers. That's awesome.

Why would he be saying that? Until Lebron signed with Cleveland, Love was limiting his "happy" teams to just 3 or 4 places, and Cleveland wasn't one of them. Only now that Lebron is in Cleveland is he mentioning that he's all of a sudden interested.

If Golden State was his ideal landing spot before the Lebron signing, why would it be out of the picture now?

ATTENTION: King

PLEASE READ!

Lebron wasn't in play before because if he went to Miami, no way they could add Love. So yes, fair to say that when Lebron went to a team that can actually pull off a Love trade and extend him, that could easily have changed everything.

I am sure Love is intrigued at being part of a Big 3. He claimed he wants to win. More importantly, his marketability goes through the roof. Plus he has worked in the past with both Kyrie and Lebron. I don't know if it's true, but Cleveland has emerged as the frontrunner and they're allegedly not even offering very much.

Cool story sis. I hate Jim Buss also. I have posts going back since he took over saying that.

Still doesn't change the fact that they don't win an average of 2.3 championships per decade. Jeanie can take the team over from Jim and change the GM and have the team competing again. Once again, they're the Lakers.
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The fact that they went with D'antoni and still don't have a ****ing head coach is an absolute joke tells you everything you need to know. It's not the team. It's not Kobe. It's extraordinary front office incompetence.I mean… were they even trying to find a coach? Didn't seem like it.

They da Lakas Holmes!!!!!

What has shown you he is going to give that power up??

Jeanie has rank over him.
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I agree. Jim Buss is terrible. Jerry should have left the team decisions to Jeanie. She would have in turn made Phil the head coach and the team would be much better off than they are now. Instead, we have to hope eventually Jeanie pulls rank on Jeanie and cleans house.
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Just a thought… is Kevin Love just a guy who puts up meaningless good stats on a team that hasn't won anything?

His production in close games under 5 minutes drops significantly (his FG % drops to under 40% and his FT % drops to near 60%).

Is he basically just another Shareef Abdur-Rahim?

Once again, Grantland has a terrific answer. Especially Zach Lowe. Dude knows hoops:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/th...of-kevin-love/

I think you'd say he's a risk too to some degree. You're giving a guy max contract with the hope that he grows out of his shoddy defense and inconsistent effort, and you hope his disappearing act and inability to win are due to situation and not him. Maybe that's mitigated with him playing support vs. being "the guy." Maybe better coaching gets him to put better effort. But no doubt that when it comes to scoring and especially shooting for a guy his size, he's elite. Which is why the question for me continues to be… no doubt that Love improves a team and makes them dangerous. But do the holes in his skill set make you nervous about giving a max contract, which means you have to rely a lot more on Love to be the guy (because he won't get much supporting cast)? You'd hope not.

He's not just a guy. He's got serious real talent. "Just a guy" type of players don't have his diverse scoring skill set.

I'd compare him directly to Dirk Nowitzki, who had the exact same problems and questions thrown at him for most of his career. It took a brilliant coach in Carlisle to know how to use him properly on a team.

The problem with Dirk and Love types is they are such talented shooters and can actually do quite a bit with the ball for the big men that they are. They really should be played like oversized 3s, but given their size, they aren't always agile enough to be running and guarding perimeter stuff like most 3s should do. So they put them at PF, where the position expects you to guard the rim and do stuff befitting of most PFs in the game who are 6'9 and taller. But then that takes away from what they're able to do offensively, because the way great PFs like Garnett and Duncan get their points isn't the preferred way that Love and Dirk get their points.

It takes a coach who knows what he's doing to use these types of players properly, otherwise you wind up with the inflated stats with a lot of losing.

If Love goes to the Cavs, expect his rebounding numbers to go way down, but don't expect too much of a drop in his scoring. That's what we saw with Dirk when Carlisle signed on as head coach, and it's so far worked pretty well for the Mavs when they've got a decent surrounding team in place.

I would think if that three team trade happens Waiters would also be involved and going to GS. Waiters and Curry would be deadly together and that could really maximize his potential. GS has tried trading for Waiters before already too.

I am not surprised Melo chose the Knicks, as Hamas said he is a paycheck player. The Knicks even with Phil Jackson aren't going to win anything while he is there.

Nice pickup for the Bulls though to get Gasol and looking at the East it is going to pretty competitive this year. Would have loved to see him play for the Spurs though and OKC keeps being cheap when they should have amentised Perkins and paid Gasol.

I like the Wizards I think they are probably the 3rd best team in the East now behind the Bulls and Cavs.

She has business side rank. She doesn't have personnel rank, and that's where the problem lies.

Yep. Melo is all about the $$$. He's a "Me first" type. That's why he's never won anything as a pro. Wouldnt want him on my team.

I'd have liked to have seen Gasol on the Spurs as well...And OKC? Penny wise and dollar foolish - forever the bridesmaid mentality...

Here’s What The NBA Would Look Like If Every Star Went Home Like LeBron James (Photos)

http://elitedaily.com/sports/this-wh...photos/663531/

Heat sign Deng. 2 years $20mil.

Kevin Love, who was originally supposed to take part in today's Legend & Celebrity Softball Game, no longer listed on program. #TWolves

Really excited that the Lakers signed Jordan Hill, 2 years 18 mill.

Good job, Good effort!

Bulls and hornets would be awesome

Don't know why Deng would go to the heat
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Can't blame him for going there. He's got the chance to rebuild his value in a big way there.

Heat are likely a 6 seed right now.

Jab Kobe all you want about how it's perceived that no one wants to play with him, but that's a bunch of bullshit.

It's organizational structure as to why no one wants to play for the Lakers. No coach, owner who makes mistake after mistake, and absolutely no players to play with outside of Kobe. Kobe's uncertain health is likely a factor as well. Personality wise? That's such overblown garbage.

All Mitch Kupchak can keep pushing is "financial flexibility".

Ownership gave Kobe that deal. The Lakers simply didn't prepare for the future and banked on a blank slate and a bullshit mystique that died when Jerry Buss did.

It was his only choice outside of Atlanta who wasn't going to pay him that much. He is declining player who has played a shit ton of minutes.

I see the Heat might bring back Chalmers so basically alot of the same guys are returning outside of Lebron. If the East wasn't so bad they wouldn't make the playoffs but they might slip in at the 7-8 spot

Hilarious that the Thunder are going to continue to piss away titles because they are too goddamned cheap. That franchise has great fans and an absolutely vile ownership group. I hope Durant and Westbrook GTFO as soon as their contracts expire.

Question:

Who are the shooters on the Cavs right now? I know they can all shoot, but who are the guys who sink high percentage jumpers with ease and can be generally counted on to sink two or more 3-pointers per game?

Lebron... sorta, though that's not even close to his greatest asset to the team. And he's not a 3-point sniper, though he's certainly got that shot in his arsenal.

Irving?

Waiters is unproven. Bennett sure as **** is unproven.

That's not to say that they couldn't try to lure a Ray Allen to join them, but even then you're expecting a lot out of a dude that old.

Just saying... Wiggins doesn't give you that. At least not yet. That's a pretty massive hangup I see with this Cavs team as it exists right now, and I'm not sure it will necessarily improve as Wiggins, Waiters, and Bennett improve. They're going to have to find somebody else.

Kevin Love can be that guy. He's damned good at it, in fact.

Pfft...

We/the Jazz just gave Gordon Hayward $15,000,000.00 per year.

That's how you win championships.

Wiggins and Bennett are looking great this summer so far, both shooting the three very well. We also drafted a three point specialist, but he will probably need more time to develope so yeah I'll count him out. Unless something happens we should be adding Ray Allen and Mike Miller who both can shoot very well. Irving and LBJ can also do it.. Irving can fill it up in practice and I'm assuming actually having a presence on the team better than him will help open things up a lot more.. Not to mention competent coaching schemes and guys who are known for getting more out of less. Lue has coached up some great guards.

A couple of things:

1) Summer league games mean almost nothing. If you think you can reasonably predict someone's success in the NBA based upon summer league games, you've probably never watched them before

2) Wiggins and Bennett have played a total of two(?) games in the summer league. In the first, Wiggins went 1-7 from three. So how exactly do you know that he's shooting it well?

LMAO
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Rockets 2nd round draft pick Nick Johnson had a triple-double. Their PG troubles are over! Summer league!

Summer leagues mean a little bit of something, other wise they wouldn't waste their time doing them. And Bennett didn't look good last year, he showed up in bad shape. They are saying he's in the best shape of his life this year, so yeah there's reason to be encouraged.

SOB the Heat brought Chalmers back.

I just checked. Wiggins and Bennett are a combined 4/19 from 3. This is why people despise you, RustShack.

And this is Wiggins looking great:
34% shooting, 6 rebounds, and 0 assists in 60 minutes played

Nutsack shut the **** up

There's more to basketball than just stats, but I wouldn't expect everyone to know how to use their eyes.

Rockets didn't match Parsons deal with Dallas.

STFU.

If it's anything like the D-league, every shot is uncontested.

This is true. Their shots probably went from way off the mark to just a little off the mark LMAO

Explain it to us then. How are they shooting the three very well if they're not making it?
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Would have been horribly priced, but the Rockets really ****ed up this offseason.

Houston completely bungled their offseason.

You obviously didn't see pregame warmups.

Still the best PG on that roster until Napier proves otherwise (and he may not). Which, yes, doesn't say much for their PG depth.

You are stupid.

They got older and they got worse.

Brilliant!

There's more to the summer league than just games, but yes in the games Bennett looks better than Wiggins.

I'm not sure if Rust is trolling everyone or seriously mentally reeruned.

It's so amazing how butt hurt you guys when I'm right. Maybe it's because my "homerism" has been right a lot more than it's been wrong? I could see why you'd be upset when you all say I'm stupid and I'm a homer constantly and then when it's all said and done I was right.

Flip Saunders said that Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad, Zach LeVine, and Glenn Robinson III all looked great in their summer league game last night.

WOLVEZ R GUD

Steeeeeellllllleeeeeee Jance

Not much of your homerism had really been "right"
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Definitely contenders. If they draft an tISU alum next year you're probably talking dynasty.

Probably both.

Oh damn one thing. And he still was a great prospect just with a poor OC. But three years in a row I caught hell for saying our basketball team was better than the previous one. All three years I was right. Hell we are one of only nine teams to win a tournament game three years in a row. Caught a lot of flack and remarks for saying LBJ would opt out and return home. And what do you know. Right again. But yeah go ahead and pretend you've never been wrong LMAO

But I do apologize for having a different opinion.

I hope someone leaks tapes of Dan Gilbert being a racist and gives Lebron a justifiable reason to leave in 2 years now.
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No problem man. We've got room for another Knowmo

Just need to piss E, Turtle and Johnny off and Lebron will be gone again.

Man, you have an excuse for everything. Didn't you claim something similar about Bennett's fat ass?

Bennett will be good. I hope we can hold onto him. I'd love to keep Waiters too but with Wiggins he's more expendable, and probably won't stay here as a 6th man when his contract is up because he could start somewhere else.

The Cavs just need to keep Wiggins because he's probably going to be one of our best defenders already. His offense needs a little work but the talent is for sure there, and who better to mentor him than LeBron?

If you want him to stay in Cleveland probably anyone but LeChoke.

There's just too much stupid in one thread. Someone make a Cavs-only one.

How about a RustShacks homer thread? All things Cavs and ISU can be discussed there? This seemed to work ok before.

An experimental physicist named Luis Alvarez was once asked about SDI. He said its advocates were a bunch of really smart guys with no common sense.

That's how I feel about Daryl Morey.