Harden signs new deal. 4 yr 118 million. Houston

Nets lost out on both poison pill contracts to Tyler Johnson (50 million) and Allen Crabbe (75 million), Heat and Portland both matched.

Poor Nets, now they have a ton of money to spend and nobody left to round out their roster, these were basically two starters for them. Time for the Plan Z Dion Waiters experiment.

I don't buy that for one second.

Sullinger and Dion, come on down.

Do the NBA owners print money or something? Some of these contracts have been ridiculous.

Why would Chicago do that? The draft picks are going to be incredibly late and Shumpert has three years left while Frye has two.

Very large TV contract just kicked in increasing revenues which drove a massive jump in the cap of around $24m.

Tim Duncan retired. I'm getting old :(

:doh!:Draymond Green... smh

Big names went to Miami because there was already big names there.

Just like the Lakers are finding out now, stars want to play with stars. Miami has zero stars. Riley preached a family environment that took care of their own for years. Didn't take care of Wade, can't really use that as a sales chip.

The mega-team era has arrived. Larry Bird shits on it and I tend to agree.

Garnett the only player left drafted before 98

In a world of Lebron James and Kevin Durants be a Tim Duncan.

Slapped a Michigan St. defensive back, lol.


What a dumb ****

Westbrook and Ibaka both missed double digit games that year as well. In fact, they started off like 2-13. The Thunder are probaly still at least a 5 seed in the West of Westbrook stays. The hope is he enjoys being the alpha dog (he really always has been) and stays. They have cap room to add another player if they can do so. If the Lakers weren't run by idiots then he might go there, but I'm not sure that happens unless their young players show a lot. Boston really seems like the destination.

I really never bought the Durant/Golden State rumors as it pretty much went against everything he has said the last 9 years. My only real problem is the reports of him hanging out with Draymond during the playoffs. Whatever, he made a decision and I can't say it's a bad one. I think he was influenced by other factors and people around him which is why he hasn't win a title to this point. As great as KD is he's not a leader. That tells me OKC was never winning a title with him and he indeed made the best choice. I'm not hating as I got out of OKC when I had an opportunity myself. KD is a good guy, did a lot for the City, and was always what you would want an athlete to be when I've been around him. I just hope he made this choice for himself, and not others because this decision seemed way out of character. It was a pleasure watching this team over the years and I'll hope they can salvage it in some way. They pretty much did all you can do but win it all and it was a blast to be at those games. I only wish the Chiefs could have a run like this in my lifetime :)

That being said....**** Golden.State in their millenial bitch asses.

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They don't have to look at the prices of products at the grocery store. That's for sure.

Been watching the summer league and while the Lakers are still going to suck, but they might actually be a fun team to watch develop for the first time in 4 years.

Russell's swagger is going to get him in a bit of trouble, but I suspect time will calm that down. It's easy for him when he's picking on summer leaguers but when he gets back to the real NBA, he's going to realize that he can't play Russell Westbrook's game; he just doesn't have the athleticism for that. I actually think Kyle Lowry may be someone he could/should model his game after.

Nance is fun as well. I mean, he's not good, but he's exciting. He's developing a bit more range and still has outstanding athleticism. While I hope it doesn't happen because Randle's upside is greater, I could see Nance really cutting into his minutes.

Ingram...man that dude is thin but you can see a lot of savvy there. He's not afraid to get into a guy's body, he's just too small to do much when he does. He does a nice job finding spots on the floor and getting his shot off, but so far it's a little off. I do see quite a bit of potential there, but it may take longer than I'd hoped to unlock it. He's not going to go all K-AT on the league this year by any stretch.

It's probably only a 30 win team with maybe a 25-35 win range. But it should be a hell of a lot more competitive and there should be real, sustainable growth here.

I just can't get over the fact he joined a team that just beat him and his supposed friends/teammates. You leave them and go to a team that won 73 games in order to win a championship is ridiculous. Where is his sense of competitiveness?

One of the most pussy moves I've ever seen an NBA Superstar make. It'd almost be like Stockton or Malone or Gary Payton joining the Bulls. Just a bitch move to win a championship.

Im not even going to watch next season. Unless an injury happens we all know GS will win it all. Save me the Cavs can beat them crap. It's not happening. They took the Cavs to 7-games and just added a top 3 NBA Superstar. The Cavs will not be able to stop that offense consistently enough to beat them in a series, no one will.

You mean like Malone joining Payton on the Lakers?

I understand this point of view, but I also chuckle at the hypocrisy. And this isn't directed at you specifically as I certainly don't know all of your views on things, more just the overall response that is very much in this camp. We want our sports heroes to only care about winning, and not the money. But when they make decisions that are specifically to win, we still beat them up. I get that there's more to it than that (loyalty is also a key virtue we hope for with "our guys"), but still interesting.

Not really.

Malone and Payton were on the backside of their respective careers and knew they couldn't be the lead dog on a championship team anymore.

What's Durant's excuse?

It's pretty weak.

Win championships, but only a certain way will count.

I certainly understood the difference; he had specifically mentioned two players, though, that joined a "dream team" specifically to win a championship.

I think Durant's excuse is that OKC is a shithole and Cali is not.

i have no problem with the Warriors my problem is with the NBA as a whole. There is a complete lack of talent in the sport. I believe if one team can make a super team then more teams should be able to make super teams. The problem is there are way too many overpaid crappy players and there is not enough good players.

Malone was way past his prime as was Payton. And I'm not sure but I don't think either of them lost to the Lakers the previous year the way OKC lost to the Warriors. Totally different situation as a previous poster mentioned.

Good post.

My whole problem it is more so with the lack of competitiveness. Durant should be wanting to beat the Warriors especially after how the last series went. And a lot of his comments during that series were complete BS and all a show. It is a pretty selfish move and I think even Durant would agree with that.

It won't happen but if the Warriors lost in the finals I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped ship again to play with the team that beat him/Warriors if they had the cap space to sign him. That's the type of impression I got from this move. It's not good for the league or fans (and without NBA fans no millions of dollars for these guys) only for Durant/Warriors.

Even the NBA Commissioner said he doesn't think Durant to the Warriors is good for the NBA and that in the future the NBA will look to make changes because of this FA signing..

I love how the NBA isn't competitive yet everybody's jacking off the 80s and 90s when only 3 teams essentially won championships.

from 1980 to 1999 7 teams won championships

from 2000 to 2016 8 teams won championship

WOAH STOP THE PRESSES ONE MORE TEAM IN TODAY'S ERA WON A CHAMPIONSHIP THAN THE 80s/90s OMG NBA IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COMPETITIVE NOW

yo listen, the only thing that changed is that instead of all the top talent going to Chicago, Lakers, and Boston like the 80s/90s they are going to Golden State, and Cleveland. There are literally two teams that have all the talent and everyone else is just a spectator at this point next season.

Stop the presses, its like that all the time in the NBA. Nothing has changed.

Did the top talent go to Boston, LA, and Chicago or were they drafted and developed? Big difference. I think Parrish might have came in a trade but wasnt great at the time.

Edit NM. He was a 17 and 10 guy when that trade happened.
Magic
Worthy
Bird
McHale
Jordan
Pippen

Hell even the Spurs drafted Parker and Ginobbli late 1st and early 2nd.

okay then you are just proving my point more that Today's NBA is even worse because it's just a bunch of hired guns assembling to teams with the 1 of 3 superstar players drafted that are currently their prime. That's even WORSE.

Everyone just flock to Curry and Lebron. Rest of the markets are left picking the scraps of mediocre talent.

You think ChiefsCountry is going to criticize the model that got his team titles?

Fat chance.

And if you think the 80s/90s NBA wasn't 10x more competitive than this product, you clearly didn't watch it back then.

Lakers bought a dynasty by signing Shaq. Whoever has the top player is going to win in the NBA. It's the most star driven sport in the world. One or two teams are always going to be the favorites most years and it has always been that way, especially when the top player is in his prime.

I didn't know that was your.point but if so I agree. Todays NBA is worse entertainment wise and with parity.

yea but the late 80s and early 90s might have had the same 3 teams winning all the time but the league was filled with future hall of famers.

Every player on the 1992 Dream Team is a hall of famer but one (Laettner) and they were distributed out to 9 NBA teams.

and that's not even begining to talk about the Hall of Famers that were snubbed from that team (Isiah, Shaq, Rodman, etc)

How many guys on the current USA Olympic team do you think will be hall of famers? Harrison Barnes LOL? DeRozan LOL? Deandre Jordan? LOL (obviously the counter here is that the 6-7 NBA players worth a crap all withdrew, even then you still wouldn't get a full team of hall of famers unless you added the Wades/Dirks at the end of their careers, which I guess would count since that's how Bird got on the 1992 team)


If you have a team that has Jordan/Pippen like the Warriors have with Curry/Durant (and friends), there isn't a team in the league with a Stockton/Malone or a Isiah/Rodman or a Hakeem/Clyde (and friends), or a Shaq/Penny

it's just Lebron and his boys, that's literally it. There is no other market that has a tandem that can even stack up and make it to the finals.

We are in a bubble right now in the sport where the legends are too old (Dirk, Duncan, Kobe, Wade, Garnett etc) and are starting to call it a career

and the young future stars are too young (KAT, Wiggins, Prozingas, Simmons, Ingram, Davis, etc)

and the current prime of their careers talent is too thin (Curry, Thompson, Lebron, Durant, Westbrook, Leonard, CP3)

so you have a vacuum of such a small number of eligible win now types until the young talent becomes the future prime talent and shifts the market values.

I think Kyrie Lebron is very much on that level of Curry Durant.


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Cavs is more built than the Warriors. That's weird to think about.

Yea I agree

then what's after that

Curry/Durant
Kyrie/Lebron

HUGE GAP



CP3/Blake?

What's after that....

an even bigger gap


Conley/Gasol?
Lowry/Derozan?
Kawhi/Aldridge?
Paul George/Teague?
Lillard/CJ?
Westbrook/Adams?
James Harden/Ryan Anderson (LOL)

whatever's after that would be a laughable joke or is just too young. (Wiggins/Kat, Prozingas/Old Players, Simmons/250 Centers, Russel/Ingram)

Olympic team is barely taking 1 or 2 of the top 10 NBA players.

Leaving the Spurs out is a mistake. Leonard and Aldridge with Gasol is a major threat. Indiana has quietly built a nice squad. Clippers are a talented headcase. LeBron is just so dominant and the next two are on the same squad with two more top 15.

The Warriors have one superstar type of guy that they didn't draft and develop.....

Aldridge has played with other stars before and was too soft to win anything, whats going to change.

If you really find Leornard/Aldridge with a roster of 35 year old NBA players as a threat to the Warriors then youre crazy

Yup.

The NBA now is every bit as good as it ever was. Basketball from 1994 through the lockout was goddamned awful to watch because Pat Riley basically ruined the ****ing NBA by having a team full of hatchet men get away with murder while the refs pegged their assholes with their whistles.

List the top 20 players in 1993 or 1998 and compare them to the top 20 players today and show me the big difference, because I don't see one.

Exactly... basketball from 1993 or so until the lockout was awful. People couldn't shoot and so they just tried to win a game 75-68.

This exactly. Allen Iverson drug a team of nobodies to the NBA freaking finals one year. That Knicks team had Oakley, Smith, Ewing, and Mason up front.

Alonzo Mourning was (seemingly) going to the line 75 times per game to get a win. Juwan Howard was a max-deal player. It was horrible.

The judge that will hear about the Draymond Green incident is named Richard Ball. You cant make this shit up.

Harden goes to the line 4329280 times a game, and some of really shitty players just got near max contracts week ago or basically 100x the money a Juwan Howard did, and at least Juwan Howard could play basketball. There are some guys that just got 10-15 million a year and are not good. (cough Mozgov cough)

Hope Draymond doesn't start flailing his arms and legs in the courtroom.

http://i.imgur.com/Y29tqc1.gif

The only difference is players get paid more, and the bottom tier players are more talented than they used to be. There's still just a few elite teams every year like there always has been and always will be.

We haven't really seen a dominant franchise since the 00-03 Lakers. If Durant stays, they could surpass them and any other team in NBA history.

They're not going to win 11 titles in 13 seasons

There's a ton of differences... The game has changed in so many ways since the 90s to make that statement is laughable...

First of all the game is basically a 3-pt contest now, it's less physical, not as many good big-man but a lot more great guards and more players change teams because of FA... Those are the biggest differences I see.

Now I am not going to sit here and say this era is better than that era.. That's subjective.. But it's definitely different and personally I enjoyed 90s bball a lot more.

Last year you called Anthony Davis a role player

Durant says he wants to help the Warriors get over the hump lmao. They would have won 2 in a row if your boy Draymond wasn't a dumb ass. Of course if you would have been.able to hit a shot game 5 or 6 you would have been the hump. The dude has a right to do what he wants, but his spin is laughable. You joined a great team to get rings now ****ing own it.

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I never said this.

I think I argued his crowning of superstar status while not being able to win. I am critical most of him and Cousins. Two big men that can't win because of bad rosters and their inability to carry games. Really it's the stat compiler argument, nothing more than what gasbags like Bill Simmons or Rusillo argue.

I am of the stance that the current crop of big men in the NBA is terrible as none of them are getting to the playoffs and winning anything.

But I'm starting to think it's not so much they are terrible but it's more like an obsolete position to have in the NBA. Building around an elite big man apparently isn't getting you very far. But I am excited for that next generation of big men coming up (KAT, Prozingas, Simmons, etc) These guys are big and they have that versatility in their game to really carry a franchise. I would like to see the game change from a bunch of dudes shooting 3 pointers and playing small, I want to see a 7 footer just dominate his way to the finals.

I never called him a role player though.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheVertical">@TheVertical</a>: Russell Westbrook, Thunder reach agreement on three-year, $85M-plus contract renegotiation. <a href="https://t.co/cScRJ9ItDX">https://t.co/cScRJ9ItDX</a></p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/761068044307136513">August 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Russ continues to show no one has a clue as to what he's about. It's the best situation for him financially and basketball wise at this moment. It also gives him flexibility if there is one a few years down the road. Hopefully the Thunder can repay his loyalty by rebuilding around him. If not it's cool that he took on the challenge.

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It's going to be tough with that salary.

Westbrook gave up 12 million over 4 years on his previous deal to make room for Ibaka and Harden. This is never brought up. Ibaka took less than he probably could have got as well. Russ deserves his money. You still have contracts you can move for another star and Adams and VO have star potential. It's still a good roster and there are opportunities that could present themselves. Barring zika, arrests or injuries one team is going to be hard to beat so it is what it is.

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I don't begrudge him getting paid whatsoever. He's the type of guy you absolutely pay. However, it's going to be hard to resign guys like Adams and Oladipo the year after next. That, of course, is still a ways in the future though.

Canter getting $18 million a year certainly doesn't help.

They can match any offer on Adams and VO and will. They were well over the cap last year and are willing to do so again. The plan IMO will be to move Kanter and other contracts to aquire a more well rounded star. That's more likely to happen next year We shall see. Either way 2 more years of Russ is a win. Not even I thought he would stay if Durant bolted.

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Russ will be able to reup with the Thunder for over 200 million after this extension

Hes probably going to be there for awhile,

The preseason is off to a good start.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Warriors 89, Clippers 36 was a real score.</p>&mdash; Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/783522813995024384">October 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
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