Official NBA Free Agency

[JLEW1818]

okay, cool u think the NBA is gay? okay don't post here, go swim or ride a bike.


anyways so many rumors going on. Thursday is the day players and teams can actually negotiate and talk.


Let me be the first to say.. .and I'm sure many have said.

Lebron is not going to stay in Cleveland.... (even tho some of u dumbass people think they were going to win the title the last 2 seasons.... "derrrr just 1 more piece lebron needs.... oh ****??? he gots shaq????? ball game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cavs win !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"...... yah we saw how dumb many actually are.


anyway

Lebron and Bosh both leave their previous teams... do they come together? No.


Bosh goes to Miami.... oh and let me be the first to say that his guy is not a legit player. he will be a huge bust. He has Jermaine O'Neil written all over him.... save to the hard drive, and remember this.

Lebron is Lebron... deep down i still feel the NY Knicks... but Chicago is looking good.

The Knicks are the big losers here, if no Lebron... They end up overpaying for Joe Johnson, a guy who will never win a ring, as the best player on his team. And prlly a Carloz Boozer.

As for Amare.... the dude was suppose to be traded the last 3 years... if he stays in Arizona, I'm not surprised.


go suck on these stats and predictions for a while .

[Eielson]

I'd say Lebron staying in Cleveland is as likely as anything. He's much too selfish to ever go to a place where he would have to live in Jordan's shadow. He won't play alongside Wade, and so Miami is an unlikely destination. I'm not saying that Wade would stay in Miami, but if the situation were one where Wade wouldn't want to be there, why would Lebron? In the end, I think it's New York or Cleveland, and I'm leaning towards Cleveland.

I'll just throw out some more predictions just for fun, although it would only take one or two things to throw everything off. Wade stays in Miami, and is joined by Bosh. Stoudemire and Johnson rejoin D'Antoni and New York becomes one of the top teams in the East.

Go suck on that?

[ouleaf]

If the Knicks could somehow work out getting LeBron and Amare, then I really think you've got something there. I think Amare brings a lot more to the table than Bosh.

I don't really see him playing with Wade. I don't see him playing with Joe Johnson. I don't see him going to New Jersey. I unfortunately don't see him coming to Dallas

While I think Chicago would bring a lot to the table for James (cap room to sign another superstar, Derrick Rose already being there, big sports market) it all depends if he would want to be under the all encompassing Jordan shadow that is Chicago.

So I'd have to agree at this point it's either New York or Cleveland. I think Cleveland is on the inside track. They can offer him the most money. I think he likes playing where he grew up. While the team needs some restructuring, they still have some pieces in place that they can work with.

[Scott D]

Lebron to Houston and jlew talks about him like he's the GOAT.

[ouleaf]

Rumors circulating that the Mavs are in negotiations for a sign and trade for Joe Johnson. Not sure what the trade would entail....not sure that i really like it. Johnson is a good player, but i don't think it makes the Mavs instantly better than the Lakers. Almost seems better to stay relatively put and not go on a big spending spree. See what you can get with a player and Dampier's expiring contract.

If I'm Cuban my number one priority is getting Dirk squared away and then getting Heywood locked up....then work out any sign and trade scenarios.

[JLEW1818]

any new updates/rumors?

[Scott D]

Dirk and Lebron to Houston in a sign and trade for the whole Rockets roster

[JLEW1818]

Steven A. Smith claims that Bosh and James will head to Miami to join Wade....



i hate that guy. can't see that happening... he said he is confident in his "source"


ha

[the_ouskull]

The Knicks are considering Amare and Joe Johnson, which would also be a D'Antoni reunion for them, not to mention making it a lot easier to take on a mid-level exception contract for a point guard that can actually run the 7SOL offense.

LeBron will go wherever. I'm not even going to care unless I start hearing about Houston being a suitor, 'cause nobody else in the division is either. (Nice try Cuban... now go and over-pay Shaq just like everybody knows that you're going to do 'cause you're an idiot when it comes to signing big men.)

Wade's staying put unless he gets a Godfather offer from someplace where he can still live like he does in Miami.

Bosh is an All-Star, and will be in Toronto, or wherever he goes. I question his long-term committment if anything, but he's an All-Star talent now, and will remain one for the immediate future. The good news is, I don't have to back this up, 'cause jlew picked the opposite. Thanks, Corso!

My dream scenario...?

- Bosh to L.A. for Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. This gets some of the Kardashian Klan out of the country, which is never a negative, even if it's Kim. (Sorry, Kim, but your hot is finally outweighed by the rest of your family's existance...)
- Wade to Houston. David Lee to Houston. 2011 to Houston.
- LeBron stays put. (Anybody can kiss your *ss, but when family and friends from "home" do it, it's even more flattering...)
- Dirk stays put.
- Johnson and Amare to NYK. They're good, not great, but they're going to get paid like they're great, and they'll jump at the first team to do it. If the Knicks somehow keep David Lee, they'll be a really good team, really quickly, but they're still a "lose-in-the-first-round" team.
- Ray Allen to OKC. KG to early retirement.
- I've been babbling for a while now. Stop reading.

the_ouskull

[the_ouskull]

Oh, and as far as other moves go, if you want to see the Thunder improve rapidly, quickly, sign Amir Johnson and either J.J. Redick or Mike Miller. Then we've got more assets freed up for an impact trade, too. Westbrook, Maynor, Cook, Harden, Sefolosha, Durant, Green, Collison, Ibaka, Krstic, Aldrich, and filler. Decent team. Playoff team. With Amir Johnson and Mike Miller, our only hole is height, 'cause even rebounding is covered. But, sadly, interior defense is a crappy weakness to have - especially in the West.

the_ouskull

[Eielson]

Who else thinks this free agency will turn out like CFB expansion this off-season; over-hyped and not nearly as eventful as the media has made it sound?

[badger]

I played around with that little ESPN lottery for who goes where.

Basically, half the time Lee from the Knicks ends up with the Thunder, every time Dirk ends up with the Mavs, but after trying several times, Bron never ends up on the same team. Bulls, Heat, Nets, Cavs...

[the_ouskull]

My thoughts on free agency as of today - Tuesday - as I'll be in a job interview on July 1st.

-----

The Cream...

- LeBron to the Clippers if he leaves Cleveland... or Miami, if Bosh goes and Wade resigns.

- Dirk. Re-signs.

- Bosh to Miami, if LeBron and Wade go. To Houston in a sign-and-trade otherwise. (Look for Houston to give up Ariza, along with Lowry and Scola in the dreaded double-sign-and-trade, and maybe even Budinger.)

- Wade stays in Miami. Chicago may make a big push for him if Miami doesn't make any significant moves, though. (My dream: Boozer for Michael Beasley. How great would that idiot be in Utah? That's v-Blog gold right there, folks...)

The not-as-good-as-the-cream-but-still-a-good-pick-up...

- Boozer. Miami as a consolation prize. NYK if he's bought and paid-for outright. Maybe even the Nets. (Seriously...)

- Joe Johnson. NYK, or Chicago. Atl may pretend to want to re-sign him, but he's not the winner they need there. Ideally, sign-and-trade for a point guard, and then move Bibby to a team that desperately needs a point guard.

- Amare. NYK or re-sign in Phoenix, which, to me, would show their continued committment to entertaining losing. As with Johnson, signing in NYC would re-unite him with Mike D, and the 7SOL offense that they are both built to play in thanks to their unwaving dedication to purely offensive basketball.

- David Lee. Houston, or, even though I haven't heard a lot of about (that's kinda Presti's style...) OKC. Houston would be love for me, but OKC would be great for Lee and OKC, and OKC can afford him in a way that Houston can't. Financially. (Jerks... thanks for years of nothing, T-Mac, how's the legs, Yao...?)

- Gay. Memphis has said that they'll match any offer.. but if they sign-and-trade him, I know that Minnesota wants him. Heck, a lot of teams WANT him, but Minnesota is stupid enough to actually over-pay, where as most teams would just short their offer up front. (Jefferson or Love...)

- Ray Allen. Whoever lands one of the stud free agents will try to sign Allen for the midlevel. If they offer more years (at the midlevel) than Boston does, he'll go. Otherwise, he's a Celtic 'til the end.. of his contract.

- Tyson Chandler. His dream situation would be Phoenix, and, if the lose Amare, getting the anti-Amare in return wouldn't hurt. Phoenix's trainers would be testing their limits, but they healed Grant Hill. I'm pretty sure the Last Scion (Zion?) works in their training room.

- Brendan Haywood: Re-signs. He's a Cuban big man now. He's on lock.

- John Salmons. For a team that's all sad in the pants after losing out on Joe Johnson, you can dry your idiot tears with this guy. He won't be a max guy, ever, but he'll max out his effort and put a heck of a baller/scorer on the court for you. If the Bucks don't re-sign him, it's 'cause he wouldn't re-sign, meaning he's looking for a more structured offense... (PHOENIX!)

- Mike Miller. He's not JUST a goofy-looking white motherf*cker on par with Woody from WMCJ. He can also shoot lights-out, and rebound well for his position. He's not a great individual defender, but OKC plays a lot of team defense, and he is exactly what we need from his position in every other way - plus Durant and he can switch defensively with Durant guarding 2's and Miller guarding 3's. Plus, he's not so cocky that he wouldn't try to sign for much more than the midlevel, especially with a contender in the vein of OKC.

Scraps...

- Shaq to the Mavs in a move that Cuban's going to use to try to sell Dirk on staying. Dirk will stay 'cause he's a Mav, not 'cause of the move, and Cuban will go on thinking he's a genius for the way he signs big men, while Erick Dampier collects 12 million this season for backing-up a guy in Shaq that should already be a backup's-backup. You follow all that?

- Farmar to the Pacers, who desperately need a point guard who's not scared to get Roy Hibbert the ball.

- Redick. OKC would be great for him. Most likely, he'll re-sign, unless a team like Utah (heh) overpays him, or a team that signs a major free agent says, "So, our Franchise needs a spot-up shooter and he asked for you."

- Ben Wallace. Unless Cuban can sign him to a max deal, he's a Piston.

- Miami's crop o' agents not named D-Wade: If Wade stays, they'll try to re-sign a lot of them to smaller deals. Haslem will stay regardless. (Unless a team vastly over-pays him.. No Cuban, he's a 4, not a 5.) O=Neal and Richardson, especially, won't be making nearly the same salary... unless they are making it in another city.

- Michael Redd. He'll either be another "we missed out on Johnson" consolation prize, or he'll get pushed hard by whoever signs one of the available studs as a corner killer. I think his best years are past him. He was never really athletic, and, after an injury, at his age, what you did have goes quickly. The Bucks ought to re-sign him, but they probably won't. Youth movement and all.

- T-Mac: "I still got it, guys. Come to NYK and find out. Hey, NYK, I still got it. Sign me to the midlevel and I'll prove it." If he plays more than 20 games before his leg falls off, maybe he'll get a chance to prove it.

- Channing Frye. Phoenix will re-sign him because Phoenix is dumb.

- Kyle Korver. If he signs with one of the big-name free agents, or with a team like OKC looking for solid outside shooting, and not a lot else (sad...) then the ladies of Utah are going to be crushed.

- Amir Johnson. I hope nobody else notices this guy and Houston gets him on the cheap. Otherwise, he'd be killer in OKC.

- Josh Howard. "I was gonna get fat paid, but then I got high..."

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the_ouskull

[badger]

So...um... any chance Shaq can keep making $1.8 million per month to fund his lifestyle?

After Shaq and his wife filed for divorce, he was forced to cough up a list of his monthly expenses to the court. Although the NBA star reportedly earns a ridiculous $1.8 million a month, he spends half that amount on expenses. Monthly vacations $110,505, gifts $60,417, clothes/laundry $23,950, child care $46,500, gas $24,300, food $12,775 and mortgage on three houses $468,245. According to that rundown we conclude his children must be taken care of by royalty, he regularly fuels up a jet and he eats about twelve gourmet meals a day.

I know the big guy does a lot of charity work, but something tells me he's going to be one of those notorious cases of pro athletes who are broke after retirement... or if he has to take a pay cut this season, before retirement.

[the_ouskull]

I think that, with all of his other endeavors, he's fairly well taken care of. If he's smart, he'll cut off all of the b.s. now, or he's already invested his career earnings, and he's living off of interest and checking.

the_ouskull

[Scott D]

papers out here (on vacation in NJ now) think that the Nets are likely to make the strongest pushes for David Lee and Rudy Gay.

[the_ouskull]

Dirk is going to opt out. I still think he'll sign in Dallas, though.

the_ouskull

[badger]

Dirk is going to opt out. I still think he'll sign in Dallas, though.

the_ouskull

Dirk: Geld... oder mehr Geld? MEHR GELD! MEHR GELD!

For the frauleins out there who don't know a word of Gerrrrrmahhhn, here's a translation: Dirk either makes about $21 mil on what's left on his contract, or opts out for a deal close to $96 mil over four years.

So... geld, or mehr geld? He chooses mehr (more) geld (money), of course

[the_ouskull]

The really crazy thing, is I could see Dallas pulling off quite the doozy to get/keep Dirk happy.

- Erick Dampier's expiring contract and DeShaun Stevenson FOR
- Al Jefferson

This gives Minnesota a low-post rebounder and rim protector (that sucks) and another wing player. It also frees up space for Kevin Love to work offensively down low - a much better passer than Jefferson. It also gives them a $13 million expiring contract to work with.

Dallas gets a guaranteed 20/10 guy, if he stays healthy.

the_ouskull

[JLEW1818]

i think lebrick will make his decision Sunday afternoon.