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The Official 2013-2014 NBA Thread

arydolphin said:
Free agency for the new season starts today, so let's get this new thread start. Chris Paul just tweeted that he's returning to the Clippers, which shouldn't be a shock to anyone. The biggest domino to fall in free agency will be Dwight Howard. I wonder if jank1434 already has a Rockets jersey with Howard on it already made up. ;-)
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The jersey is on back order. Waiting on number confirmation. Rockets are retiring Kevin Martins number 12, so that's out the window (just kidding)

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It wouldn't be a NBA offseason without the Dwight Howard dramatics. Its as if because he was not wooed by colleges, he wants to be wooed now.
 
JB said:
It wouldn't be a NBA offseason without the Dwight Howard dramatics. Its as if because he was not wooed by colleges, he wants to be wooed now.
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I hope he goes to Atlanta....never to be heard from again
 
Reading just now a list of expiring contracts and when just sets up for Lebron James in LA after next year. Now I am not saying it will happen, but look at when his contract is up, look at the Lakers roster and see how many expiring contracts they have at that time.

Finishes off The Bad guy (allegedly) with another title and brings in a new era.
 
JB said:
Reading just now a list of expiring contracts and when just sets up for Lebron James in LA after next year. Now I am not saying it will happen, but look at when his contract is up, look at the Lakers roster and see how many expiring contracts they have at that time.

Finishes off The Bad guy (allegedly) with another title and brings in a new era.
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Now this would somehow be blocked by Stern. Oh wait, isn't he retiring soon? Kobe retiring and LeBron coming in, that would sell tickets.
 
I still think it will be rough for the Lakers to pull the Lebron swing though. They will keep Kobe (let's assume at 12-15 mil) and then have Nash at 10 mil. They are going to have a lot of free agent room next year to sign some players, but teams have the least amount of flexibility in signing free agents outright (rather than trading). They will actually probably be better off getting some cheap, longer contracts as Nash is the only player against the cap in 2014-15. Having 45+ mil committed to Lebron/Kobe/Nash and having to sign everyone else will handcuff them significantly. I think there could be many better fits basketball-wise than LA. Of course there is still a year before anything will happen.
 
jank1434 said:
I still think it will be rough for the Lakers to pull the Lebron swing though. They will keep Kobe (let's assume at 12-15 mil) and the have Nash at 10 mil. They are going to have a lot of free agent room next year to sign some players, but teams have the least amount of flexibility in signing free agents outright (rather than trading). They will actually probably be better off getting some cheap, longer contracts as Nash is the only player against the cap in 2014-15. Having 45+ mil committed to Lebron/Kobe/Nash and having to sign everyone else will handcuff them significantly. I think there could be many better fits basketball-wise than LA. Of course there is still a year before anything will happen.
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I think Kobe ends up signing a Duncan like deal at around 10 mill.
I think based on recent past history it is clearly shown that a team can handcuff a team around 3 players salaries just fine.
Will it happen? Who knows, but with the large expiring contracts coming their way, it is absolutely doable.
 
JB said:
I think Kobe ends up signing a Duncan like deal at around 10 mill.
I think based on recent past history it is clearly shown that a team can handcuff a team around 3 players salaries just fine.
Will it happen? Who knows, but with the large expiring contracts coming their way, it is absolutely doable.
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I agree that it is doable, but it will not be doable with only 1 or 2 players under contract. They will need bigger contracts in order to make the trades to get a big name player.

Bosh and Lebron were both traded which gave Miami more cap flexibility.
 
jank1434 said:
I agree that it is doable, but it will not be doable with only 1 or 2 players under contract. They will need bigger contracts in order to make the trades to get a big name player.

Bosh and Lebron were both traded which gave Miami more cap flexibility.
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Check out what the cap is at right now.
Then check out what the Lakers are spending right now.
It would be very easy to pick up exception players with expiring contracts and trade for anything they wanted in theory.
The NBA is almost as big a joke as the MLB not having a cap.
 
I love the NBA cap. I agree that it is screwy, but it requires a great art of manipulation. It is just about too late to turn back though and institute a hard cap only, but I really enjoy NBA capology.

They won't have the ability to use too many exceptions as Bird rules will be non-existent for them, but they would have access to the MLE and LLE. They would have more flexibility signing Kobe after attaining all of their new theoretical FAs, but this would still provide them with a great "big 2 1/2" and then a bunch of specialist role players. They would be very "Heat-ish" but I think that this Heat team would mesh (as much as I hate this word) better than a Lebron/Kobe centered Laker squad. Of course, I don't see any reason Lebron would leave the Heat unless some drastic changes happen. The Heat could still be quite flexible, but this would force them to get rid of Wade and Bosh in order to bring in more talent. Also, there is no way they would come too close to a dollar for dollar talent match in a trade (unless they sucker the Knicks into some more terrible trades) as Wade and Bosh appear to be on the downswing in their careers, but them as a big 3 is still formidable for at least another 2 seasons. But, this is all way too early and theoretical to guess too much on, but it is still fun to speculate
 
It does not really require any manipulation because you can go over the cap as much as you want to as a team as long as you pay a penalty. For the most part, there is no cap if you have deep pockets.
 
Not necessarily. A team over the soft cap cannot sign any free agent they want. The point of the soft cap is to provide teams the ability to keep their own players, not sign new players.

Sure, the exceptions help if a team is eligible for them, but there are many exceptions preventing teams from going out and signing whoever they want, like Bird rules. The lower a team is under the soft cap and under the tax apron, the more value in exceptions they can use. That's why the Heat can't just go out and sign Chris Paul or Andre Iguodala because they are not able to because of cap reasons (not the inability or lack of want to pay tax penalties).

There is definitely a lot of manipulation involved in order to take full advantage of the salary cap rules.
 
Well of course not to a technicality, but truthfully when has any team in the NBA ever not got the player they wanted because of cap space. It is always easy to find a 3rd team to bring into a trade, find a player through an exception etc.

Its the reason teams can be so far over the cap.
 
JB said:
Well of course not to a technicality, but truthfully when has any team in the NBA ever not got the player they wanted because of cap space. It is always easy to find a 3rd team to bring into a trade, find a player through an exception etc.

Its the reason teams can be so far over the cap.
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so that begs the question: Why is there even a salary cap when teams can surpass it? All there is, is a luxury tax (why Memphis traded gay away to avoid it). Big market teams, even with revenue sharing, will still take on that luxury tax for a championship. The purpose of a cap should be to level out the playing field. However, the NBA is more lopsided on the top as ever given the past 10 years.
 
tpluff said:
so that begs the question: Why is there even a salary cap when teams can surpass it? All there is, is a luxury tax (why Memphis traded gay away to avoid it). Big market teams, even with revenue sharing, will still take on that luxury tax for a championship. The purpose of a cap should be to level out the playing field. However, the NBA is more lopsided on the top as ever given the past 10 years.
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I think soft caps are a joke personally. It had good intentions, but hard caps just work better in creating a level playing field.
 
JB said:
I think soft caps are a joke personally. It had good intentions, but hard caps just work better in creating a level playing field.
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JB I couldn't agree more. Hate to call in Canadan, but the NHL is very competitive compared to pre-cap days. As long as the NBA doesn't have the Boston's and Lakers of the league tanking year after year, nothing will change. As long as money is being made, why fix it if it isn't losing money.
 
tpluff said:
JB I couldn't agree more. Hate to call in Canadan, but the NHL is very competitive compared to pre-cap days. As long as the NBA doesn't have the Boston's and Lakers of the league tanking year after year, nothing will change. As long as money is being made, why fix it if it isn't losing money.
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I dont think its as severe as other sports, because a single player can make a huge impact. But I just cannot understand any reason in todays day and age not to have a level playing field for all teams. The NFL has proven that it works.
 
I can't wait for Dwight Howard to select his suitor, and then in 24 months complain or ask for a change. Talk about a guy that has yet to show that he can be neither a piece to a puzzle or the deciding factor yet having athleticism few have. The guy was a good guy a few years back, but has received so much bad advice and far too many accolades that it appears its all messed up upstairs now.

I hope the ship gets righted, but I fear 24 months from now, we are talking about Howard and changes of scenery again.
 
JB said:
I can't wait for Dwight Howard to select his suitor, and then in 24 months complain or ask for a change. Talk about a guy that has yet to show that he can be neither a piece to a puzzle or the deciding factor yet having athleticism few have. The guy was a good guy a few years back, but has received so much bad advice and far too many accolades that it appears its all messed up upstairs now.

I hope the ship gets righted, but I fear 24 months from now, we are talking about Howard and changes of scenery again.
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I definately believe we will be replaying more Howard drama in a couple years.

If he chooses Houston I think he and Harden have too many flaws to be legit contenders. Fun team to watch but not really built for the playoffs.

If he chooses Dallas not sure how he coexists with Carlisle and Dirk's star is fading. Only chance I see Dallas working is if they find a way to make a deal for Rondo. Even then it will really be Rondo's team (especially at playoff time) and that won't set well with Howard's ego.
 
JB said:
I can't wait for Dwight Howard to select his suitor, and then in 24 months complain or ask for a change. Talk about a guy that has yet to show that he can be neither a piece to a puzzle or the deciding factor yet having athleticism few have. The guy was a good guy a few years back, but has received so much bad advice and far too many accolades that it appears its all messed up upstairs now.

I hope the ship gets righted, but I fear 24 months from now, we are talking about Howard and changes of scenery again.
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I hope he finds a good place and settles in. Back when he took Orlando to the finals, he was one of the most dominant players in the game. I'd like to see him return to that form.
 
JB said:
I can't wait for Dwight Howard to select his suitor, and then in 24 months complain or ask for a change. Talk about a guy that has yet to show that he can be neither a piece to a puzzle or the deciding factor yet having athleticism few have. The guy was a good guy a few years back, but has received so much bad advice and far too many accolades that it appears its all messed up upstairs now.

I hope the ship gets righted, but I fear 24 months from now, we are talking about Howard and changes of scenery again.
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I think your fears will come true, he just seems like someone that won't ever be happy.
 
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