****The Official 2014-15 NBA Thread****

"Section126 wrote:

Will say this..Dan Gilbert DOES NOT get a pass from me and shouldn't from anybody else.

It was HE that threw a hissy fit and wrote a letter demanding that David Stern veto the Chris Paul Laker trade.

it was HE who held out for weeks and designed the CBA to try to break up "Superteams".

This is a good point. While I don't think Minny is getting raped like NO was, it isn't completely dis-similar.

"Stitches wrote:

This is a good point. While I don't think Minny is getting raped like NO was, it isn't completely dis-similar.

Eh - I think it is. Getting Wiggins is very different than Odom and Martin and whatever else they were gonna get. I think people are overlooking that this is a VERY good deal for Minnesota. Two top overall picks - including one from the most hyped class in years, plus a future first for one year of Love? Look at past deals for stars forcing their way out. Minnesota made out like bandits.

Also - Minny isn't league-owned right now. That was such a mess because New Orleans was owned by the league, so the other owners had more say in accepting an awful, lop-sided trade than in this situation.

It's not a bad haul for Minny, though they are gambling on potential. Probably the best they could do absent Thompson being included by GS.

Cavs will certainly be interesting and entertaining. they might be the highest scoring team in the league and also give up the most points. I would expect at least 30 games of uneven play. and I hope that we get endless stories about how it won't work, that Kyrie is a useless third wheel, and that Blatt should be fired. LeBron should shoulder bump him on a time out just for old time sakes.

Alright Cleveland BRING IT. Wade and Bosh...put your game faces on! **** just got real!

I'm looking forward to Bosh vs Love in the ECF.

"schmolioot wrote:

It's not a bad haul for Minny, though they are gambling on potential. Probably the best they could do absent Thompson being included by GS.

Cavs will certainly be interesting and entertaining. they might be the highest scoring team in the league and also give up the most points. I would expect at least 30 games of uneven play. and I hope that we get endless stories about how it won't work, that Kyrie is a useless third wheel, and that Blatt should be fired. LeBron should shoulder bump him on a time out just for old time sakes.

Yeah I think we're in for a rocky start. Especially with Blatt putting in a ball-movement based system. Lots of iso guys suddenly having to play off ball. Kyrie going from top dog to 3rd wheel. Dion...being Dion. I expect San Antonio to embarrass them opening night.

I really like the trade for Minny. Love plays no defense, never got them to the playoffs, and he was just gonna walk anyway. They got a future pick plus two #1 overall picks who are dirt cheap and only 19 and 21 years old. It's not like they have any shot in the loaded West in the near future anyways.

Really thought the Cavs were better off keeping Wiggins and Bennett. Cheaper, younger, better defensively, probably gonna be healthier than KLove who has a history of injury issues. And with LeBron the Cavs suddenly had the optimal setup for letting Wiggins develop his offense slowly. Maybe LeBron really is dead set on finishing as a perimeter SF and they didn't want to have both those guys?

I dunno. I liked the idea of having LeBron bring along a bunch of young talent (which is what I thought he wanted too). Thought that would've been a cool phase to his career. His story/mission about bringing Cleveland back isn't quite as nice anymore, honestly.

This should make for an interesting Eastern Conference playoffs, for sure.

I wasn't buying the Cavs as the #1 seed before but I'll buy that now.

"ckparrothead wrote:

This should make for an interesting Eastern Conference playoffs, for sure.

I wasn't buying the Cavs as the #1 seed before but I'll buy that now.

Still think Chicago gets the division and the #1 seed, as long as Rose is healthy. They've been together so long and Thibs pushes so hard in the regular season.

Even Heat was #2 seed the first year.

"schmolioot wrote:

Still think Chicago gets the division and the #1 seed, as long as Rose is healthy. They've been together so long and Thibs pushes so hard in the regular season.

Even Heat was #2 seed the first year.

Agreed. Though I don't think seeds matter much.

There's gonna be a learning curve between Love/Kyrie/LeBron...not to mention their lack of depth and new head coach. Chicago is gonna be damn good if Rose is healthy. Thibs finally has some pure scorers and creators (Rose, Pau, McDermott) to go along with the defensive studs (Butler, Noah, Gibson). Thibs will find the right mixes of those guys and they'll be really tough.

"Limbo wrote:

Agreed. Though I don't think seeds matter much.

There's gonna be a learning curve between Love/Kyrie/LeBron...not to mention their lack of depth and new head coach. Chicago is gonna be damn good if Rose is healthy. Thibs finally has some pure scorers and creators (Rose, Pau, McDermott) to go along with the defensive studs (Butler, Noah, Gibson). Thibs will find the right mixes of those guys and they'll be really tough.

Like I said, I see Cleveland struggling for at least 30 games. Just too much new, with too much inexperience at head coach.

Spo had already been to the playoffs twice when the Big 3 came together.

Only thing that might ease the transition (but make things harder in the long run), is that there is no question of who the leader of the team is, or who will have the ball in his hands at crunch time. It's LeBron. Here, he and wade struggled with that for most of the first year.

Now, the question is whether Kyrie and Love can handle that. Remember, these guys aren't coming into the Big 3 willingly necessarily.

Something to think about....

Cavs learning curve will be short IMO, because offense is not gonna be a problem and a great offense can win a lot of regular season games. So the #1 seed is a lock IMO.

Defense will come slow and you can see them lose to the better teams early on, but they will bury all the bad teams to a gaudy win record.

The Playoffs is where it will be interesting.

"Section126 wrote:

Something to think about....

Cavs learning curve will be short IMO, because offense is not gonna be a problem and a great offense can win a lot of regular season games. So the #1 seed is a lock IMO.

Defense will come slow and you can see them lose to the better teams early on, but they will bury all the bad teams to a gaudy win record.

The Playoffs is where it will be interesting.

True.

They will simply be able to outscore most teams. When things get more half court in the playoffs, and defense becomes far more important, they could have some trouble.

The thing that's interesting to me is that Blatt wants to run a motion/ball movement offense like the Spurs but the Cavs best bet is to simply do exactly what the Heat did the last 3 years. Invert the offense, move Love to the outside and let LeBron do the work orchestrating the offense.

In fact, they'd probably be better off starting Love at Center with Thompson and using Varaejo as a Birdman type off the bench.

They've simply recreated the Heat with younger pieces at least one of whom isn't as good as prime Wade.

"schmolioot wrote:

True.

They will simply be able to outscore most teams. When things get more half court in the playoffs, and defense becomes far more important, they could have some trouble.

The thing that's interesting to me is that Blatt wants to run a motion/ball movement offense like the Spurs but the Cavs best bet is to simply do exactly what the Heat did the last 3 years. Invert the offense, move Love to the outside and let LeBron do the work orchestrating the offense.

In fact, they'd probably be better off starting Love at Center with Thompson and using Varaejo as a Birdman type off the bench.

They've simply recreated the Heat with younger pieces at least one of whom isn't as good as prime Wade.

I hope Thompson still gets a lot of burn even with the addition of Love, he's my favorite player (but he plays Love's position, albeit not nearly as well).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGv1KusolyA

Just heard this...has some humor not much but entertaining nonetheless.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11320319/former-top-pick-greg-oden-arrested-misdemeanor-battery-charges

So much for the Greg Oden Experiment.

"Dolphin1184 wrote:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11320319/former-top-pick-greg-oden-arrested-misdemeanor-battery-charges

So much for the Greg Oden Experiment.

I have a bit more sympathy if his story is true, would ask him to take anger management courses and return. If he punched her though...not worth it.

"sports24/7 wrote:

How can you commit to signing a deal after opting out? I would guess that would have to be a verbal, non-binding agreement. Kind of like the one Boozer gave them a while back. I'm sure Love will probably re-sign, but if things somehow go sour this year it should shock no one if he opts out and doesn't re-sign.

Also, how does this add up cap-wise? Wiggins' and Bennett's deals make up a fraction of Love's.

It's certainly a good short-term move for the Cavs and could be a great long-term move as well. They have probably the most talented starting 5 in the East now, and maybe the NBA.

According to Windhorst, Love can't sign an extension until a year from now. He can say that he intends to at that time, but obviously that's nothing that's guaranteed. And remember Lebron is technically on a one year option as well.

As for the team, I'm not sure how much success they'll have. They should be able to score a ton. But history has shown that you basically need a top 10 D to contend for a championship. It seems to me that Cleveland has a lot of players who'll have to change their game for that to happen. Love and Irving are notoriously bad defenders. And Lebron himself played fairly pedestrian on D last season after a couple of very good defensive years. Marion should help as he's a decent perimeter defender though. I think they really have to hope that their rookie coach is the next Thibidoe (sp?). In a way this team reminds me a bit of the "superteam" that L.A. tried to make a few years back. On paper and before the season people had that L.A. team very highly ranked, but their perimeter D in particular was poor. That team then also faced injuries, but the reality is that even before the injuries they never came together. Healthy or not, that team was never going to be good. I think Cleveland has a better chance than that L.A. had, but I'm not sure that Cleveland is a well constructed team. I expect they'll win plenty in the regular season after a learning to play together period at least on offense, but I don't like their odds winning a championship or even the East as constructed. I kind of feel bad for Lebron although I will always root against Gilbert.

"schmolioot wrote:

True.

They will simply be able to outscore most teams. When things get more half court in the playoffs, and defense becomes far more important, they could have some trouble.

The thing that's interesting to me is that Blatt wants to run a motion/ball movement offense like the Spurs but the Cavs best bet is to simply do exactly what the Heat did the last 3 years. Invert the offense, move Love to the outside and let LeBron do the work orchestrating the offense.

In fact, they'd probably be better off starting Love at Center with Thompson and using Varaejo as a Birdman type off the bench.

They've simply recreated the Heat with younger pieces at least one of whom isn't as good as prime Wade.

I'm interested to see what happens. Kyrie, Love, LeBron, and Andy are all good passers. Dion isn't bad, either. So the ball-movement thing could work. Of course, Love, Kyrie, and Dion are all used to going ISO, so it could fail spectacularly.

They also have 3 elite rebounders in Love, Andy, and Tristan. I know teams like the Heat and Spurs have gotten away from rebounds recently - but with the Cavs' deficiencies on defense, I wonder if they'll put an emphasis on rebounds to limit the opponents' possessions.

ESPN suspended Le Batard for the billboards.

So if you thought Cleveland was taking the joke too seriously, ESPN went ahead and took it to an embarrassing level. Wonder if they're trying to buy favor with LeBron after he gave decision to Sports Illustrated.

(Also for the record - Cavs fans are all pretty pissed at ESPN for this)

"PhiNomina wrote:

ESPN suspended Le Batard for the billboards.

So if you thought Cleveland was taking the joke too seriously, ESPN went ahead and took it to an embarrassing level. Wonder if they're trying to buy favor with LeBron after he gave decision to Sports Illustrated.

(Also for the record - Cavs fans are all pretty pissed at ESPN for this)

Very harsh and uncalled for, Lebetard has always been a goof...but he has solid entertainment value.

Disagree with the suspension 110%

Section is exactly right in regards to the offense being good enough to coast through the Reg season. Defense IS what you need to fuel a run to the finals though....it will be a challenge but LeBron wont let this team atleast make the finals and very well could win it. It's the big 3 all over again....except this regime wins more than 2 titles imo.

That's pathetic that ESPN did that. They're just catering to LeBron here. There's nothing suspendable about that.

On a side note, my brother is visiting me here in LA from Miami and I took him to UCLA today, when we walked by a very tall man with a basketball in his hands. My first thought was, that guy must be on the basketball team. As he got closer I thought "man, that guy looks a lot like Chris Bosh... Holy **** that is Chris Bosh!" He was on his phone so I didn't ask for a photo with him (although I'm kicking myself about not following him and waiting for his call to end), but I did say "we love you Chris" which made him turn around and smile. Not sure why he was there, but it was awesome. Made my week.

"sports24/7 wrote:

That's pathetic that ESPN did that. They're just catering to LeBron here. There's nothing suspendable about that.

On a side note, my brother is visiting me here in LA from Miami and I took him to UCLA today, when we walked by a very tall man with a basketball in his hands. My first thought was, that guy must be on the basketball team. As he got closer I thought "man, that guy looks a lot like Chris Bosh... Holy **** that is Chris Bosh!" He was on his phone so I didn't ask for a photo with him (although I'm kicking myself about not following him and waiting for his call to end), but I did say "we love you Chris" which made him turn around and smile. Not sure why he was there, but it was awesome. Made my week.

Good chance he is sleeping with a member of the mens tennis team.:cool:

"PhiNomina wrote:

ESPN suspended Le Batard for the billboards.

So if you thought Cleveland was taking the joke too seriously, ESPN went ahead and took it to an embarrassing level.

Complete and utter horse bleep.

What on Earth did Lebby do that was so terrible?

He did nothing vulgar. Nothing that would risk an FCC fine. He did a radio bit.

ESPN is just yet another example of a big corporation that thinks they understand talent but really don't. You don't hire somebody outrageous and then get upset or shocked when they do outrageous things.

ESPN has a history of this. They hired Rush Limbaugh, who I am no fan of, because of the outrageous things he said and did. Then when he said something outrageous they fired him.

Dan doesn't do a normal sports talk show. He does stunts. He talks to a zookeeper during critical drive time. If you didn't like it, then you shouldn't have put him on the air.

And to suspend him over this nothing? Please.

For what? That LeBron might be pissed and do what? Not give a halftime interview to Chris Broussard? Bull crap ESPN.