Around the League: The Off-season

[Mori Chu]

Some interesting things I heard in Simmons podcast:

I'm not trying to criticize you for sharing what he said, and I ask this with all sincerity: is he relevant anymore?

I don't think Simmons is relevant in terms of breaking news or stories. He's just an opinion podcaster. He gives takes/opinions and folks can listen or not listen. I listen to his podcast and mostly find him entertaining. He's biased toward the Celtics, but he clearly loves the NBA and watches a lot of basketball. He knows some things. I don't always agree with him, and he isn't very interested in analytics or the deeper stats from the game, but I like listening to him and his guests talking about the league. And his podcast still gets a lot of listeners, so he is relevant in that sense.

[carey]

And his podcast still gets a lot of listeners, so he is relevant in that sense.

It’s consistently #1 in Sports and Entertainment along with Joe Rogan. I am more of a LeBatard guy though.

[Superbone]

I got turned off from Simmons when he became a talking head on ESPN. Bit of a primadonna.

[carey]

I got turned off from Simmons when he became a talking head on ESPN. Bit of a primadonna.

He’s been pretty open talking about his failures at ESPN and HBO. I don’t listen nearly as much as I used to.

[carey]

Tony Parker has retired.

[Superbone]

Tony Parker has retired.

He went out still looking pretty good.

[djy2j]

Wall is way way down my list, but what if the Suns fail to secure a good vet pg all off-season?

There are about a 1000 free agent point guards that would be an upgrade to what we rolled out this season. There is no way the Suns can't get one of them.

Darren Collison
Patrick Beverly
Cory Joseph
Isaiah Thomas
Ricky Rubio
Rajon Rondo
TJ McConnell
Tyus Jones
Delon Wright

I think we should go after McConnell and Beverly if we are serious about taking a big step forward. McConnell gives you your playmaking and shooting and Beverly gives you an elite defender. I think McConnell could be had for cheaper if he's going to a team that's going to promise him playing time. My guess is Beverly goes back to LA though.

[Hermen]

What is so good about McConnnell? As far as I can tell he can neither shoot nor defend.

[INFORMER]

He is smart, plays hard, pushes the ball and penetrates well. He took a step back statistically last year, and he is a reluctant shooter, but he has shown an ability to minimize turnovers and shoot a decent percentage.

[Superbone]

[Drewsprocket]

I get the Lebron love but Paul is bad for the league. GMs are right to avoid his tactics. His job is to appease his players and get them paid. But small market teams need leverage over their stars with cap space to bring in more talent.

[Split T]

I don’t know how I feel about teams needing more leverage. I think I lean more towards players having more control over their future. The small market teams just need to run their teams better. It scares me a bit because we’ve been so mismanaged, but if Sarver gets his act together, we can still be successful.

New Orleans had a lot of time to build a team around AD and didn’t put together a good one until he was about to leave. He gave them 7 years, that’s enough for me, he should be able to go play where he wants.

[Indy]

So he is good for the workers but bad for the bosses? And that makes him the bad guy?

[ShelC]

I think it's how he's doing it rather than why he's doing it. Leaking things to the media that makes a franchise (and the league) look bad isn't cool, going to Silver and telling him he wanted Walton out and Ty Lue in as coach is just disrespectful.

I'm interested to see how things fare when LeBron is out of the league. He's getting guys because of LeBron now, but if he's burning execs and loses some clout, the next generation of stars may avoid him. He's got LBJ, AD, Dray, John Wall, Simmons, Bledsoe as his top guys. In 5 years...?

[Split T]

I think it's how he's doing it rather than why he's doing it. Leaking things to the media that makes a franchise (and the league) look bad isn't cool, going to Silver and telling him he wanted Walton out and Ty Lue in as coach is just disrespectful.

I'm interested to see how things fare when LeBron is out of the league. He's getting guys because of LeBron now, but if he's burning execs and loses some clout, the next generation of stars may avoid him. He's got LBJ, AD, Dray, John Wall, Simmons, Bledsoe as his top guys. In 5 years...?

What did he leak that made a franchise look bad?

And I don’t understand the coach thing...what would silver do about that?

[Cap]

So he is good for the workers but bad for the bosses? And that makes him the bad guy?

I don’t care whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy. I just care whether dealing with him is good for the team. And it isn’t, so stay away from him.

[Indy]

So he is good for the workers but bad for the bosses? And that makes him the bad guy?

I don’t care whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy. I just care whether dealing with him is good for the team. And it isn’t, so stay away from him.

In typical labor disputes, do you support the workers or the owners? Just curious.

[Cap]

So he is good for the workers but bad for the bosses? And that makes him the bad guy?

I don’t care whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy. I just care whether dealing with him is good for the team. And it isn’t, so stay away from him.

In typical labor disputes, do you support the workers or the owners? Just curious.

In typical labor disputes, I don’t have enough information to determine who has the more meritorious position.

[O_Gardino]

The Rich Paul issue is not a labor dispute. It's a contract negotiation, and what people don't like about him is his manipulative negotiating tactics.

[ShelC]

He leaked the Pelicans/Lakers stuff to the media to force the Pels into the trade. It was a bad look all around, made AD look bad after the trade fell thru and he had to keep playing for them. It blew up in his face.

And there was nothing Silver would/could do about Walton but Paul probably thought he could push Silver to make a call to the Lakers about it to get his/LeBron's way.