NBA Offseason 2015

[jon abbey]

we might need a separate Warriors thread.

[The G Man]

we might need a separate Warriors thread.

Steve is such an informative Warriors correspondent that he should take on some more teams. He can give us the Square Report.

[The G Man]

Torn ACL for Dante Exum a couple of days ago. That's a shame.

[jon abbey]

Tristan Thompson and the Cavs still haven't settled on a deal, it might be getting ugly:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13412 ... agent-says

[The G Man]

Tristan Thompson and the Cavs still haven't settled on a deal, it might be getting ugly:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13412 ... agent-says

I think Thompson/Paul are bluffing. If they don't take the long term deal already offered, Griffin should sign him to the one year qualifying offer, save a ton of cap tax money and then make it up to him with a new long term deal if he has a good season. Why would Thompson leave LeBron and the chance to contend for the championship every year? Why would Paul screw client LeBron by encouraging Thompson to go elsewhere?

Kevin Pelton had a good analysis of Thompson in ESPN Insider. Thompson didn't really improve last season; he got to play for a better team.

[Captain Hate]

It's hard not to like Thompson because he outworks just about everybody and succeeds through raw hustle against quality opponents. But the type of money his agent is demanding is more appropriate to a much more polished set of skills, particularly on offense.

[jon abbey]

except Thompson's set of skills are a perfect fit for these Cavs. if they had Love and no Thompson, or Thompson and no Love, which of those teams would do better next year? to me it's pretty clearly the one with Thompson.

[Captain Hate]

Oh I agree with how well he fits and was also thinking he could get grossly overpaid on a team where he's a real misfit and it's win/lose where his "win" is a short term one. I think him staying with the Cavs will keep his market price higher than it might be otherwise. Perhaps unrealistically, I'm counting on Love to have a much more consistently good season assuming his shoulder is completely recovered.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

NBA classics now showing 2001 game, Laker/ Clips, Shaq with 61 pts and 23 boards. Love that they show these old games!

Wouldn't want to warp this thread too much toward The World Champion Golden State Warriors (sweeeet!), The Team of Destiny of the New Millennium, but one reason the Ws were excited to pick up Jason Thompson was because of his positive defensive stats against both LeMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin.

[The G Man]

except Thompson's set of skills are a perfect fit for these Cavs. if they had Love and no Thompson, or Thompson and no Love, which of those teams would do better next year? to me it's pretty clearly the one with Thompson.

If Varejao comes back to play decently, the team with Love and no Thompson is the better one. I expect Love to either fit in much better than last season or to be traded before the February deadline in a deal that makes the Cavs better.

Thompson is more effective as a 4 than as a 5 and Love will play 35 minutes as the 4 so Thompson will probably play 17 as a 5 and 13 as a 4 unless Andy come back, in which case Thompson will be a highly paid backup to Love.

If Love had left, Cleveland couldn't replace him but since he signed, they can trade him for replacements.

[The G Man]

Current betting lines imply that the OSU Buckeyes football team is as likely to win it all as the Cavs. Both are favorites at 23% chance to win a championship in 2015-16.

[The G Man]

JR Smith got himself a decent deal with the Cavs, $5M/year for two years with a no-trade clause and one year player opt out. He can misbehave and still come back to Cleveland, although he'll have incentive to behave and then opt-out to a raise.

[The G Man]

Warriors 2015 first-rounder Kevon Looney underwent a successful right hip arthroscopy this morning to repair a torn labrum, the team announced in a press release. The forward is expected to miss a minimum of four to six months before returning to basketball activity, according to the team.

“Kevon has his entire NBA career ahead of him and we felt that, in consultation with our medical staff, Kevon and his representatives, it was best to address the issue now,” said Warriors GM Bob Myers. “He will have our complete support throughout the rehabilitation process and we are confident he will make a full recovery.”

The forward out of UCLA possesses lottery-level talent, but long-term concerns about his hip likely caused him to last until the No. 30 overall pick this year. Looney had believed that he could continue to play without surgery but subsequent medical evaluations deemed a procedure necessary. “I had suffered a hip injury when I first got to UCLA, and I played the whole season with it,” Looney had told Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group back in July. “I went through the [draft] workouts with it. I still can play now. I can play just fine. I can walk good. I’m not hurting right now. I’m looking to the doctors to tell me what they really want to do, but this is an injury that I had, and I can actually play with, and I can actually do well with it.“

Looney, 19, appeared in 36 contests for the Bruins last season, averaging 11.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.3 steals in 30.9 minutes per game. His slash line was .470/.415/.626.

[jon abbey]

good luck to Blatt keeping everyone happy with minutes if that team is all healthy, it seems from afar that they have about 20 guys who deserve minutes on the roster.

[The G Man]

good luck to Blatt keeping everyone happy with minutes if that team is all healthy, it seems from afar that they have about 20 guys who deserve minutes on the roster.

I'm not sure I'm calculating this correctly, but I see the Cavs paying $34.6M in luxury taxes if Thompson takes $6.8M qualifying offer but $68M in luxury taxes if Thompson gets $16M in year one of a five year deal.

I think Varejao gets traded before the deadline if he can get healthy and stay healthy. There's no room for Mozgov/Love/TT and Andy. LeBron isn't going to be able to play the 4 at all if everybody is healthy.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

Darryl Dawkins, Chocolate Thunder, dead at 58. R.I.P.

[Enforcer]

For Jon: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/nba-is- ... -divisions

[jon abbey]

ha, before clicking through, my immediate thought was what that guy writes in his first sentence: "This is a step in the right direction". the big problem here continues to be lopsided conferences, they need to let the top 16 teams make it, regardless of conference, and seed 1-16. it's absurd that CLE basically starts the season with a bye into the Finals, while pretty much every other team with a chance to win it all has to battle for seeding in the West.

[Captain Hate]

RIP Moses Malone, probably the most blue collar star I ever watched.

[walto]

Fo Fo Fo.

RIP