NBA 2010-2011 Thread

[Omnis]

What is wrong with Beasley? I've been hearing that he has mental issue, my boss said he sounded really messed up in one of this interviews?

Dude is dumb as hell.

 

[a6m5]

That dumb huh?

How much $$$ does Miami have left? And how many more roster spots to fill?

 

[Nicksfix]

Dude is dumb as hell.

Local news just showed people in Cleveland burning Lebrons jersey in the streets. The city of Cleveland could be in for a long night.

 

[Omnis]

Miami can trade Beasley and pay Wade, Bosh, and LeBron max contracts. The downside is that the remaining bench would have to be minimum salary. Bosh, Wade, and LeBron haven't indicated that they will be receiving maxed out salaries, however. So there will likely be some leeway for a decent bench in addition to the new rookies.

 

[a6m5]

Miami can trade Beasley and pay Wade, Bosh, and LeBron max contracts. The downside is that the remaining bench would have to be minimum salary. Bosh, Wade, and LeBron haven't indicated that they will be receiving maxed out salaries, however. So there will likely be some leeway for a decent bench in addition to the new rookies.

They already made ungodly amount of money. I bet that they'll take a pay cut to upgrade their backups. Still plenty of free agents left. If exceptions like mid level, bi-annual are still available, I expect you guys would be set.

Local news just showed people in Cleveland burning Lebrons jersey in the streets. The city of Cleveland could be in for a long night.

I don't blame them. Their "King" let them down in more ways the one. At least it's not the end of the world for them(Knicks!), and they still have cap room.

 

[Omnis]

Giancarlo posted this on facebook: "Miami Wade County..West Palm Bosh..LeBroward...Miami Thrice, game over NBA." Lol. 👍

Also, don't forget that a lot of old vets without rings will likely jump at the chance to ball with this group for a lesser salary. Any 2006 Gary Paytons out there?

 

[a6m5]

Giancarlo posted this on facebook: "Miami Wade County..West Palm Bosh..LeBroward...Miami Thrice, game over NBA." Lol. 👍

Also, don't forget that a lot of old vets without rings will likely jump at the chance to ball with this group for a lesser salary. Any 2006 Gary Paytons out there?

Sadly, you are right. Payton & Karl Malone will always be considered whores in my book. Mr. Sonic & Mr. Jazz. Couldn't beat the Lakers, so they joined 'em!

I think Miami has to succeed early, within first couple of seasons. All those egos, they'll be sacrificing a lot to play together(sharing of the ball). I don't know about "game over" in a ultimate sense, but every team who plays Miami would be the underdog for sure.

 

[Pupik]

So will the vaunted 72-10 record fall next year? That's just one of those records I expected to be around for a long time; I think they lost one playoff game.

Damn, I'm geeked...although (probably) no team from the South Florida market has had such pre-season expectations like this since the 1973-74 Miami Dolphins; even then, they had to follow up on a perfect season.

 

[Eric Demory]

Did Lebron originally live in Cleveland, or did Cleveland draft him into the team?

 

[Nicksfix]

So will the vaunted 72-10 record fall next year?

Damn, I'm geeked...although (probably) no team from the South Florida market has had such pre-season expectations like this since the 1973-74 Miami Dolphins; even then, they had to follow up on a perfect season.

Can't say for sure that the Bulls record will fall next year.But the possibility is still there.If not this year,maybe in a year or two.

This could very well be a dynasty in the making.

Croooooow - Lebron is from Akron,about a 1/2 hr. south of Cleveland.

 

[Northstar]

Did Lebron originally live in Cleveland, or did Cleveland draft him into the team?

He is from Akron, Ohio, which(according to Wikipedia) is 39 miles from Cleveland.

As for the move itself, I can see both sides. He is a hometown player and there is a feel good story that goes with it. On the other hand the Cavaliers just didn't seem to be very committed to getting him a good supporting cast(really, Shaq is the best you can do?), I think the firing of Mike Brown also played a role.

I can't wait for the first Boston Vs. Miami game, both have "the big 3".

 

[a6m5]

So will the vaunted 72-10 record fall next year? That's just one of those records I expected to be around for a long time; I think they lost one playoff game.

Damn, I'm geeked...although (probably) no team from the South Florida market has had such pre-season expectations like this since the 1973-74 Miami Dolphins; even then, they had to follow up on a perfect season.

As I posted earlier, I think it will depend on health, decent bench & chemistry. If they are achieved, I fully expect them to be right there with an excellent chance to break the record.

But Playoff's a completely different beast, at least before this creation in Miami. During the regular season, LeBron James can shoot his defender with an Uzi, and they'll call out of bounds. Playoffs become the wrestlemania, and I see superstar treatment sort of fade away.

He is from Akron, Ohio, which(according to Wikipedia) is 39 miles from Cleveland.

As for the move itself, I can see both sides. He is a hometown player and there is a feel good story that goes with it. On the other hand the Cavaliers just didn't seem to be very committed to getting him a good supporting cast(really, Shaq is the best you can do?), I think the firing of Mike Brown also played a role.

I can't wait for the first Boston Vs. Miami game, both have "the big 3".

Brown & James were rumored not to be on best of terms. It was sensationalized and evidenced by the media when Brown's coaching was criticized, and James did not defend it.

Cavalier were committed to LeBron & winning. They just had a horrible GM in Danny Ferry. He totally geared the team to become a regular season overachievers, and as soon as the pressure hit(Playoffs), collapse. He's one of the candidates to take the Blazers GM job. Blazers were dumb enough to fire their GM an hour before the draft, and just days before the biggest FA in the history of the NBA, naturally, they should stay consistent & hire the guy who ran LeBron out of Cleveland!

I'm disappointed LeBron ended up in Miami, but I do not blame him for leaving Cleveland. He re-signed once. He gave them a chance. Until the very end, they had the idiot GM running the show, and he ended up resigning. I don't know who's dumber. Ferry, or the team?


Edit:

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight;

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our "motivation" to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that's simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day....

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue....



Dan Gilbert
Majority Owner
Cleveland Cavaliers

So...... do you guys think he was mad? or.........

 

[Paulie]

Nah he looks pretty calm to me. This is amazing, sucky, but amazing. We've seen teams full of stars play poorly due to poor teamwork, but the Heat have everything going for them now, almost, the other supporting players (there are 5 players on court you know!) and bench have to be decent too. I personally hope Cleveland and Toronto pull out wins against Miami this season, but at least maybe the Celtics or Lakers won't win for a change!💡

 

[Omnis]

Dan Gilbert is an idiot. LeBron owes NOTHING to Cleveland. He gave them at least 5 years of prime performance and all Gilbert could do was build a team that came up routinely short. Where was this drive to build a team to bring home the hardware while LeBron was still a Cav? Wade is the only one to get his championship, so where did you think LeBron would go?

It's funny because they can hate LeBron all they want instead of hating on themselves like they deserve to. Before LeBron, the Cavs were straight up garbage. They were the laughing stock of NBA videogames everywhere. Wanted an easy win? You played Lakers v. Cavs.

Cleveland should have nothing but respect and praise for LeBron no matter where he goes because he saved their city from being just Cleveland.


Now I have my own dilemma. I hope that I can still get some tickets. I woke up at 6am and logged on to see what was available and they had already sold out of the first wave of seats. Now I have to wait for a sales rep to call.

 

[JohnBM01]

Okay. Let me be brief... what the bloody hell are Cleveland people doing? Burning a LeBron James jersey? And as far as Cleveland curses or whatever... how do you think I feel as a Houston sports fan?

Maybe the one thing I'd question is if LeBron should have made this TV appearance and announcing it like it's National Signing Day for college football. I cannot wait to see Heat at Cavaliers games and how they'll respond to LeBron James...

 

[Paulie]

Am I right in guessing over 50% of NBA teams have never won a championship?

 

[a6m5]

Am I right in guessing over 50% of NBA teams have never won a championship?

I don't know, to be honest. I'd have guessed around two-thirds of teams would have won the Championships, at least half.

 

[JohnBM01]

I added a blog entry discussing my thoughts on the whole LeBron James and "The Decision" (it's actually called "LeBron James and 'The Decision'") where I say that LeBron doesn't owe Cleveland anything. People just make it out that He couldn't get it done in Cleveland, so he moved on to a team that could fare better in helping LBJ win a championship. I just entirely disagree in all the talk in making LeBron James some kind of Antichrist just because he couldn't deliver a championship.

I read on Yahoo! Sports the open letter Dan Gilbert blasted LeBron. LeBron was basically a free agent before all of this. This was all just taken too far in my view.

 

[a6m5]

People just make it out that He couldn't get it done in Cleveland, so he moved on to a team that could fare better in helping LBJ win a championship.

I'd say that's pretty money, actually. People are overreacting, there is no doubt about that. But LeBron quitting on his team during a Playoff game(s), not being able to do it on his own, this stuff didn't just come out this off-season.

I mean, he will have to do what he needs to do. But as I posted previously, he really did prove himself as the inferior competitor to the likes of MJ & Kobe. You guys might be too young to remember Jordan, but you could say he was sort of a Princess James, once. He didn't go join the Lakers, Blazers, Spurs, he got tougher. Pistons was his nemesis, and they just kept giving the Bulls the physical beat down(again, "Playoffs"). People say MJ might be the greatest player, but nobody talks about how MJ/Pippen(my heroes), how they are also couple of the dirtiest players ever. Guess where they learned that game? The Pistons. Trust me, after his move to Miami, LeBron can never win in the "Greatest Basketball Player Ever" discussion. In anybody's eyes, he looked like he ran.

You can defend every single one of his actions. I even mentioned in the previous post about how he had every right to leave Cleveland, he did extend his rookie contract with them. He gave them a chance. One chance, because rookie campaign can't seriously considered an Championship run.

Props to Riley though. I'd suspect that Wade had a huge part in this, I do buy the conspiracy theory about how this was set up before the FA started. Still, without Riley, his execution, this would not have materialized. I don't blame Heat a bit for putting this together. If it was my team, I know I'd need diapers, I'd be so happy.

 

[Giancarlo]

Just to update y'all on Heat happenings:

Word is Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem will be finalizing contracts with the Heat by Tuesday. They're splitting the ~$9 million we have left when counting the Big 3, Chalmers, a nice $1 million qualifying offer to Joel Anthony, cap hold from James Jones buyout and additional cap holds on empty roster slots (CBA mumbo jumbo). Beasley was traded Thursday night for a second rounder from Minnesota and the right to swap first round picks in the future.

The Big 3 all left about $15 million on the table each in order to have this room (Wade will make $14 million next year, LeBron and Bosh $14.5 million). We performed sign & trades in order to get LeBron and Bosh, giving Toronto and Cleveland first and second round draft picks. All 3 signed 6-year contracts with ETOs on the 4th year and opt-outs on the 5th or 6th year. So we can do all this again in 2014.

In other news, the Knicks signed Raymond Felton.

Minimum options for us include Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Derek Fisher, Raja Bell (already shown interest), James Jones (the "wheels have been set in motion" for him to return at the minimum), Earl Watson, and others.

I don't know, to be honest. I'd have guessed around two-thirds of teams would have won the Championships, at least half.

I remember after the Heat won in 2006, there was a list that showed only the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, Rockets and Bulls were on a short list of teams that have won championships in the past 30 some-odd years.

 

[JohnBM01]

So... can we go to the point of saying that if the Heat doesn't win a title within the next five years, that it would be a bust having these three guys? I hope that doesn't happen because I want my Rockets to return to the NBA Finals (as long as we can beat the best in the West).

 

[a6m5]

Minimum options for us include Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Derek Fisher, Raja Bell (already shown interest), James Jones (the "wheels have been set in motion" for him to return at the minimum), Earl Watson, and others.

All quality names. Especially Fish, talk about a "glue". Even with the big 3, I'm a firm believer of guys like Fisher who ties the team together. Addition like him can be critical IMO. Stay with the damn Lakers, Fish!

I remember after the Heat won in 2006, there was a list that showed only the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, Rockets and Bulls were on a short list of teams that have won championships in the past 30 some-odd years.

According to Wiki:

BAA Champions: Warriors, Bullets, Lakers.

NBA Champions: Lakers, Warriors, Celtics, Hawks, 76ers, Knicks, Bucks, Blazers, Bullets, Sonics, Bulls, Pistons, Rockets, Spurs & Heat.

So, if I didn't duplicate the names, 15 teams(50%) have won the NBA Championships. I didn't list the city names, because some team have changed towns. Good question though. I thought there would be more teams crowned as Champs!

So... can we go to the point of saying that if the Heat doesn't win a title within the next five years, that it would be a bust having these three guys? I hope that doesn't happen because I want my Rockets to return to the NBA Finals (as long as we can beat the best in the West).

Is Scola still an FA? I have a lot of respect for him & Aaron Brooks.

On Heat's time frame, they'd pretty much have to win the first year. At least that's how it looks to me. Once the doubt sets in, you would not believe how selfish these NBA players are, especially the superstar caliber one's. Blame game is the most common cause for teams getting dismantled.

 

[Paulie]

According to Wiki:

BAA Champions: Warriors, Bullets, Lakers.

NBA Champions: Lakers, Warriors, Celtics, Hawks, 76ers, Knicks, Bucks, Blazers, Bullets, Sonics, Bulls, Pistons, Rockets, Spurs & Heat.

So, if I didn't duplicate the names, 15 teams(50%) have won the NBA Championships. I didn't list the city names, because some team have changed towns. Good question though. I thought there would be more teams crowned as Champs!

Only 50%, I was pretty close with my guess then. That's a lot of teams still left wanting.

 

[Nicksfix]

People are overreacting,

You can defend every single one of his actions. I even mentioned in the previous post about how he had every right to leave Cleveland, he did extend his rookie contract with them. He gave them a chance. One chance, because rookie campaign can't seriously considered an Championship run.

Spot on 👍 People need to grow up and realize that it is all part of being a professional sport.

Over reaction ------>

On Heat's time frame, they'd pretty much have to win the first year.

For some reason,I just don't see that happening.I could be wrong though.

From Dan Gilbert :

"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE"

You can take it to the bank.

Mr. Gilbert,go sit down in your office and re-think what you just said. Now that the dust has somewhat settled,I hope you realize that those words came out of a fit of rage.


LeBrons murial being brought down.

 

[Giancarlo]

I'm still in shock about the whole thing. I figured Bosh would come here, but LeBron was such a toss up. It didn't seem like he was coming here until reports started leaking that he was leaning towards joining Miami.

To me, it feels more like they announced the next all-star game will be in Miami more than the fact that these two guys will be joining Wade here for at least 4 years. It will take me a little while to get used to Bosh in a Heat jersey, and a really long while to get used to LeBron in one.

 

[a6m5]

Mr. Gilbert,go sit down in your office and re-think what you just said. Now that the dust has somewhat settled,I hope you realize that those words came out of a fit of rage.

No way, man. NBA is joke of a pro sport anyway. League has (not well)hidden agendas, outcomes are often predictable, officiating continuously changes.

Gilbert, along with the Cavs & the City of Cleveland lost unimaginable amount of money by losing LeBron to another city. No doubt that he didn't bother gathering himself before writing the letter, posting it on the official team website, but I feel that it's calculated as well. Cavs fans are devastated. They definitely needed some kind of hope, something they can hold on to. If anything, the letter fires up the Cavs fanbase. People overreacted, sure. But we can see why. It's LeBron James. It's the mid-market city, Cleveland. Cleveland gained lots of fans around the country when they lost James, and IMO, they gained even more support after the letter was posted. Winning Championship before Miami's ridiculous to say the least, but I think it accomplished something for Gilbert & the Cavs.

I'm still in shock about the whole thing. I figured Bosh would come here, but LeBron was such a toss up. It didn't seem like he was coming here until reports started leaking that he was leaning towards joining Miami.

To me, it feels more like they announced the next all-star game will be in Miami more than the fact that these two guys will be joining Wade here for at least 4 years. It will take me a little while to get used to Bosh in a Heat jersey, and a really long while to get used to LeBron in one.

As soon as it was reported Bosh & Wade were going to be Miami Heat, it was pretty much a lock for him to join the Heat.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Why am I getting the feeling that Kobe is still going to triumph over the trio in Miami?

In any case, I still love my Chicago Bulls.

 

[a6m5]

I think Lakers has the best chance to beat them right now, but maybe a long shot if they lose Derek Fisher. Lakers need all major components back. I love Famar, but he can be replaced. Fish, not quite so easy.

 

[Joel]

Great. Now the Raptors suck even more.

 

[Paulie]

It will take me a little while to get used to Bosh in a Heat jersey, and a really long while to get used to LeBron in one.

Nah, I tried it on my sony game and since the Raptors and Heat have practically the exact same colour scheme, there's no "getting used to" required with Bosh. James on the other hand looks bizarre.

Great. Now the Raptors suck even more.

Hey! They're not that bad. Their new rookie Ed Davis looks like he'll go a long way towards helping fill the hole left by Bosh defensively at least.