Around the league: June 2014

[Aztec Sunsfan]

So, the Bulls trading for Affalo, plus the Lakers sending the 7th to GS for a soon to be maxed out Thompson, would efectively take out three strong suitors in the race for Love?

Or could it be that Minnesota prefered the 7th over Klay and the Warriors are just acomodating a final request to pull the trigger?

How about involving New Orleans, and as soon as the offseason starts pull this one off, once cap space is available.

Phoenix gets: Love, Brewer
Phx sends: Morri, rookie at 14th, rookie at 18th, '15 Lakers pick, Minn draft pick.

New Orleans gets: Kevin Martin, rookie at 18th.
NOLA sends: Eric Gordon

Minnesota gets: Eric Gordon, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris, Rookie at 14th, '15 Lakers pick, his own pick back
Minn sends: Kevin Love, Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer.

We get in Love, and absorb his buddy Corey

NOLA gets Tyreke into the starting lineup without a scandal, gets a good 6th man on Martin and a do-over in cap space.

TWolves gets almost an entire new lineup, but still full of young and potential, get rid of dead weight in Brewer, regain flexibility to trade their pick and also cap relief.

If the Lakers can openly discuss and agree in advance to trade their seventh just after they select somebody, to circumvent the fact that they still owe us their '15 pick, we can as well pull this off and agree to select in behalf of NOLA and Minn, then on day one of free agency consumate the deal.

[SDC]

the suns have 6 first round picks in the next 2 years. what are you waiting for, mcdo? just do the love rental so it wont require his consent.

[Ring_Wanted]

If GSW and Chicago were out of the Love sweepstakes there is still Boston. It would be worth a call though. But I guess the Wolves would want something better than Gordon from a thrid team. Maybe Charlotte is in the mood to trade the #9 for instant help, and in theory the Kings have their #8 available if you are willing to take contracts back. The 76rs seem like they would sell their soul for a 1str.

By the way, I don't think they consider Brewer dead weight. He is their 3D guy and he has a nice connection with Love for those outles passes. JJ Barea and Budinger due to health are probably higher in their dump-o-meter.

[Ring_Wanted]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bas ... his-summer

Larry Sanders, 12-13 advanced defensive stats player of the year, enters rehab.

On other forums his game is held in very high regard. Personally I never loved him and thought he got very overrated pretty quickly, even before his 4/44 extension, which much to Milwaukee's disgrace, kicks in this summer. Anyway, here's to a quick recovery.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Brewer has been criticized for gambling too much on defense and be more willing to leak out than to chase defensive rebounds. With out KLove feeding those passes, I think he becomes dead weight for Minn, and a higher cost than Barea and Budinger.

[Ring_Wanted]

Brewer makes a little less than Budinger (same lenght) and after this season basically the same than Barea (although one more year), but in terms of production is not even close, even without Love. Budinger has been injuried too often and Barea has been a disaster, reaching Shannon Brown levels among their fans. If given the chance to move one of them I think those two go before Brewer.

[carey]

I appreciate the effort you put into that one Aztec.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I appreciate the effort you put into that one Aztec.

Thanks a lot!!!

I'm in the corner of those unwilling to sell the farm for Kevin Love, but we can offer cap relief to a third team in order to increase our offer. Draft picks? Well, if we are not going to bring 3 rookies, this is the best use we can make out of them, packaging for proven talent.

Who else besides Eric Gordon would be both available and atractive to the TWolves?

I'm also thinking about us going after Al Horford and Greg Monroe, if the price is right.

1st Love (the superior talent but the most expensive to get,maybe out of a reasonable range)
2nd Monroe (Still very raw, overpaying could be neccesary to get him, but with lots of untapped talent)
3rd Horford (Middle ground between those 2, the oldest of all 3, health concerns)

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Brewer makes a little less than Budinger (same lenght) and after this season basically the same than Barea (although one more year), but in terms of production is not even close, even without Love. Budinger has been injuried too often and Barea has been a disaster, reaching Shannon Brown levels among their fans. If given the chance to move one of them I think those two go before Brewer.

You are right.

Besides, I have noticed that absorbing Brewer or any of them, is not that much in terms of cap relief to Minnesota, so either we scratch it from the list of assets traded to them or increase the offer. What would you think of absorbing two out of Barea, Budinger, Brewer or Mbah a Moute if our training staff declares them viable?

This efectively kills our entire cap space, but we still could go over the cap to match any offer for Bledsoe. Tucker's new contract would be the key to stay under the tax. Supose we take Barea and Mbah a Moute

Guards: Bledsoe, Dragic, Goodwin, Barea
Wings: Tucker, Green
Frontcourt: Love, Plumlee, Frye, Len, Mbah a Moute

We kept the 27th pick out of my Love proposal (Did someone notice?), so we can draft the BPA and round up either the guards, wings or frontcourt rotation.
I like this roster, and could be a very deep one if we resucitate Budinger or Barea. Still would be a must to see Len and Goodwin taking a big leap to consider us contenders, but at current level this team no doubt is a playoff team with home court on the first round.

[Ring_Wanted]

Well thought but I think the Suns are not in the position to trade for Love unless he specifically demanded to be sent here. That was one of the main reason why I wanted to make the playoffs so bad. I am sure that if the Warriors would have been he #9 team they wouldn't be discussed right now, Klay or otherwise.

The thing is that if I am Minni and am trading Love, I don't want to waste bargaining strenght by dumping contracts. If after a move I am rebuilding, I'd rather cut Mbah a Moute, Barea or whoever else is expiring before getting one single less asset.

Boston, Chicago and GSW are all in a better position than the Suns wihtout needing extrea parties, even in win now terms for the Wolves, unless we agree to offer Goran. Bledsoe wouldn't be an option unless another team where he want to sign was involved.

If things drag deep into the summer maybe you can talk to the Lakers for the rights of their draftee, but other than those long shot scenarios I think the Suns fall short in the eyes of Minni.

[Ring_Wanted]

Al Horford would be a hell of an acquisition, but the Hawks will probably want a ton for him too. And that's if Ferry wants to pursue a proper rebuild, which is not clear at this point. If they want to compete he is basically untouchable. I think a more realistic target could be Millsap. As an expiring contrat he'd be cheaper and he has been there just one season. I'd dangle the Morrii, but you can't spend much more on an impending UFA.

As for Monroe, I think we should just stay away from him. He is a very good post player and passer for a big man, but he is a problem on defense and has no range. If he is used at C you absolutely lack rim protection. If at PF, there is no space. Besides, he'd be really expensive as a RFA.

[Captain Marv-el]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bas ... on-the-way

ESPN reports that after the Hornets unveiled their new uniforms Thursday, there's an element missing that's sure to cause some discussion. The logo of the NBA itself, featuring Jerry West, has been moved to the back. And while the league says it's a cosmetic adjustment, there's talk that it could be commercial in nature.

All NBA teams will be wearing the logo on the back for the 2014-15 season, the league confirmed to ESPN.com. A league official called it a "stylistic move" but declined to comment further.

Eighteen of the NBA's 30 teams have a team logo in the rear-neckline spot. The league official confirmed that those logos all will be replaced by the repositioned league logo.

The move is sure to fuel speculation that the NBA is preparing to move ahead with its long-planned program of jersey advertising. Removing the league logo from the front of the jersey will clear more space for an ad patch and remove what would otherwise be a competing visual icon.

via NBA to move league logo to back of jerseys - ESPN.

Back in March, Commissioner Adam Silver said that ads on jerseys were "inevitable." If this is indeed a move in that direction, it will be neither surprising nor widely supported. While players have been cautiously open to it (based on the potential for the revenue to be included in BRI, basketball-related income which they get a share of), media and fans have been pretty widely opposed to it.

Then again, the backboards were supposed to get ads two years ago, and that as yet to happen. The league's pretty careful with how they roll these things out. But it certainly seems like that's the direction.

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[Aztec Sunsfan]

Monroe is still young, and has been playing on that Detroit mess his entire career. To boot, last year they brought in Smith disrupting his development, already torned by Drummond justified preminence as their center of the future.

I think we can develop basic defensive production out of him, and use him as a 4/5 combo PF, providing us with low post scoring and rebounding with Plumlee (Rim protection) and Frye (spacing) doing their best to fill the gaps. The goal would be Monroe eventually starting alongside Len as soon as Alex is ready to provide both spacing (altough just at midrange) and rim protection.

[carey]

@WojYahooNBA: Source: Carmelo Anthony will deliver notice to Knicks on contract opt-out Monday, become unrestricted free agent. http://yhoo.it/1nuWyG4

[carey]

In the "duh" department...

@WojYahooNBA: Yahoo Sources: Sacramento's Rudy Gay will exercise $19.3M option, but has tabled extension talks until after July 1. http://yhoo.it/T1Blew

[Ring_Wanted]

@WojYahooNBA: Source: Carmelo Anthony will deliver notice to Knicks on contract opt-out Monday, become unrestricted free agent. http://yhoo.it/1nuWyG4

Chicago, here we come!

[Phoenix219]

So Amare opted in, and Melo left.... this experiment by NY was a complete failure. Gut the entire team for Melo, destroy a growing team, decimate Amare's career (worst then he was doing on his own ..)... then get stuck right where they started, only worse.... I hope Amare is ready to have a breakout year.... because its definitely his team again. Unless Phil guts it completely, or plays away from Amare's strengths all year... which is quite possible.

What a mess.

[carey]

Can Amare even still walk?

[Mori Chu]

Sure he can. But he looks like the dad from the Jeffersons when he does it.

[TOO]

Maybe Phil can teach him how to walk like he does.