Nah, Shaq said he was going to win a title for "Nash and Amare" when he joined the Suns. It's his standard MO.

Isn't it reasonable to assume that Shaq, like many other players at this stage in their careers, is simply looking for an opportunity to win another championship for himself?

There's no fun discussing that though.

:D

In that case, my theory is that Shaq hates Cleveland, and hates Lebron. By going to Cleveland and winning a championship there, then retiring, their horrible coach and all their marginal bit parts get long contract extensions and the team never wins again after he leaves. The city, and the franchise wallow in mediocrity and disappointment for the next 10 years.

Its a pretty diabolical plan if you ask me.

Well, Kobe wasn't the one who was rhyming on the stage Shaq and how a certain part of his body tastes like.

Man, our offseason has started off interesting and it's just the start, to be sure.

SI

Bynum, Gasol, Artest, Bryant and Fisher/Farmar/S Brown with Odom, off the bench looks mighty good offensively and defensively. Artest is a better player than Ariza right now. Ariza was made to look better than he was because of Gasol and Bryant. Ariza will likely be overpaid, though he is a solid player that is very good as a 4th or 5th best player on a team. Plus he is still young and could get better.

Reports are saying Ariza and Artest pretty much worked out a trade for one another.

Yeah, Ariza went to Houston for 5/$33M and this upcoming year will use the MLE. As I said above, I think we're just getting started.

SI

I think it's a good move for both teams. Artest helps the Lakers win right now while Ariza is a nice long term piece for the Rockets. Although it is a lot of money for Ariza in my opinion. He's a nice player but I think was a little overated for making a few big plays in the playoffs.

Damn Lakers. I liked Artest. :(

Blazers appear to have a deal with Turkoglu, numbers vary from 50 to 58 mio over 5 years depending on who is talking.
Hmm, interesting. Normally a PG was the most talked-about area where to improve the team, but then again SF was a question mark as well and the only real upgrade over Blake (that was on the market) was Miller who isn´t that good a fit next to Roy as he can´t shoot the 3 at all. Also 4 years older than Turkoglu on a position more dependent on speed and quickness.

I think it´s a good move by the Blazers. They are obviously not as restricted by money issues as others, so that´s not a big issue, and definitely needed another guy who could make plays, especially late in games.

Maybe they still get a deal done involving Outlaw and maybe Webster, maybe Blake for a better PG.

Who are the fucking Raptors gonna get. Ariza to Houston probably, Hedo to Portland. Who's left other than overrated Marion?

Kleiza was supposed to be on their short list. Not that he´s a great improvement, just saying he was reported as a target ;)

The best left (Millsap, Lee, Odom isn´t signed either yet) are all PFs so not really obvious targets for the Raptors.

Maybe Marvin Williams ? Wonder what the Hawks would match ...

That´s about it for 2/3 players though, the rest worth MLE and maybe more are all PF/C or PG (Sessions, Robinson, MIller, Bibby)

There had been a lot of talk in Chicago that the Blazers were interested in Hinrich. I'm guessing this puts them out of the running for him.

Apparently Toronto will get Turkey-glue

Yep, looks like he said F U blazers, and is going to the raptors.

dola from an AP article


lol, she wears the pants, we get it.

The wife always wears the pants. See Pronger, Chris and Nylander, Mikael.

I didn't think of the wife, but I did think of the more Euro-style connection. Doesn't surprise me at all. Though admittedly, Portland is up there on the euro scale.

If true the Raptors, at this point look like this:

Calderon
Derozan (hopefully they can bring in Delfino or AP here)
Turkoglu
Bosh
Bargnagni

They certainly are not very deep though.

Still not a defensive team though, so I don't even know if this is a playoff team in the crappy East.

We'll see what else Colangelo can pull off. A sign and trade with Marion would be nice but i'm not betting on it. Evans will help on defense but yeah, they are still not a defensive juggernaut. They might contend for 7 or 8 in the East.

Are Raptors fans really expecting Colangelo to put together a defensive team? I would think that adequate defensive is all Colangelo is looking for.

Not a team known for defense, but at least enough defense to combine with the offense to look like a serious threat. The offense isn't near what the Suns were, so I'm expecting at least an attempt for defense to compensate for that.

Nobody said we were expecting a defensive team. But something better than swiss cheese would be nice.

Looks like Sheed is signing with the Celtics...

Reports: Wallace agrees to deal with Celtics - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

I don't think what Colangelo is doing is wrong up there. Toronto is not a great destination for the typical U.S. born superstar. But if you can make it a nice destination for Europeans, you can start to compete in a way with the major markets. Your team is also building a system that is unconventional and provides tough matchups (sort of like this year's Magic).

I think the Hedo signing was a mistake as he's 30 years old with close to 800 NBA games under his belt. That's probably past his prime and I'm going to guess maybe 2 years of him being a good player. That leaves 3 final years of him making almost $12 million a season. For a team on the verge of a title that needs one more piece, I can justify it. But it makes no sense for the Raptors. They maybe turn themselves into a 4 or 5 seed in the East at best which isn't anything special. I think the team should have unloaded Bosh this summer and stocked up on young talent and draft picks.

From Bill Simmons Twitter:

Statement from Pistons to fans: "Look, any time you can tank a season for the chance to spend $95 mill on 2 non-AllStars, you gotta do it."

Derozan is not ready to contribute on the NBA level. He was barely able to contribute consistently by the end of his season at USC. He has the tools, provided he works hard, but he should absolutely not be starting for a team that has any hopes of contending.

Would any of you guys be interested in this? Its a mock GM game or there is the option to be an agent in which you can have up to 30 clients as well. Here is a league that is starting up soon. Looks very interesting!

Mock GM Offseason & Real-Time Fantasy Basketball - PASPN.net

League Name: GDS Mock GM
password: ryland

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/...p/?partner=RSS

Former Vol Marcus Haislip, 28, is expected to sign with the San Antonio Spurs, according to a release on the Spurs’ Web site Monday.

The league has a moratorium on offseason roster moves that will be lifted Wednesday.

Haislip, at 6-foot-10, has agreed in principle on a deal with the Spurs.

Originally drafted in the first round by Milwaukee in 2002, Haislip has been playing the past two seasons with Spanish powerhouse Unicaja Malaga, where he averaged 16.7 points per game.

The Spurs had been courting Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace, who has committed to sign with Boston.

The terms of the Spurs’ offer to Haislip were not immediately available, though it could start at the veteran’s minimum.

Haislip will join Golden State's C.J. Watson as the only former Vols in the NBA.

good for him. Did good here in Europe.
Can score and has a good jump shot out to the Euro 3-Line (save for this seasons Euroleague where he just didn´t find a shooting touch most nights for whatever reason), can defend the Pick & Roll as well as run it (rolling as well as, well, poping) and is athletic. Lacks timing for his shot blocking and is a so-so rebounder.

Immediately increases the Spurs athletic ability in the Front Court by a million percent :p Kurt Thomas and Oberto both did not have a single dunk last season btw. Not one. Their 2 Centers. In 2100 minutes.

Actually a funny side note : The Spurs were dead last in Dunks 4 seasons running, last year they had 73 Dunks as a team which is propably the lowest ever, the 2nd last team (Pacers) had 167 and 32 individual players had more than 73 by themselves.
Fun little overview on Dunks last year : 2008-09 NBA Slam Dunk Stats - Roto Evil = Fantasy Hoops & More

Now they only have to get a hold on Splitter somehow and the have themselves a very deep team all of a sudden.

Source: LeBron James tells recruit he'll stay with Cleveland Cavaliers - ESPN

Intersting development there. Lebron could be full of shit, but it would be a low class move to recruit someone by lying about your intended future. Also, the fact Lebron won't commit long term yet to the team probably hurts their chances in luring some free agents in. If Lebron truly has his heart in Cleveland and wants to stay, he should have made it clear by now.

If Bron wanted to stay in Cleveland he'd already be signed to an extension. If this gets to the season and he isn't signed long term then there is no way he is coming back.

Dola, of course telling Ariza he's staying is a ploy to get him in to town, that's all. Why would a guy sign in Cleveland if they think Bron is leaving? That team is gonna be the worst in the NBA in 2011 without him.

Things can always change, but I agree with this. I always go back to this quote by Lebron:

“If you guys want to go to sleep right now and not wake up until July 1, 2010, then go ahead because it’s going to be a big day,”

He's talking after a Cavs win over the Knicks. People can argue the point, but I think the guy was talking to Knicks fans, not his hometown Cleveland fans. (who he could have simply told that he would stay a long time ago)

There is no reason for James to hold off. He has an owner willing to go deep into the luxury tax. He has a city who loves him. If he wants to stay there, he could sign his extension. He's not going to do it because I think he isn't going to be a Cav after next year.

I also find it very hard to believe he told Ariza his plans. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Yeah I know, telling Ariza? "Who is this?" to quote Pedro Martinez. ;)

Playing devil's advocate: LeBron could be holding off on a decision because he knows that the suspense will keep people talking about him and because when he does decide to stay with Cleveland, he could put it in the best possible light.

Personally, I think that he is leaving for the reasons given by others in this thread. But I can see a world where he knows he is staying and would still not sign the extension.

Here's a question. Let's say that you are Cleveland, and LeBron says to you that he's going to [names three teams], but that he will let you do a sign-and-trade. Do you do it? On the one hand, better to get something instead of nothing. On the other hand, I don't think that I could be the GM who traded LeBron away, no matter the reason.

(Now, I don't think that this would happen b/c LeBron would not want to deplete his new team before he got there, but it is a mildly interesting thought experiment).

Isn't is possible that he intends to stay but is not signing the extension in hopes that the cap will rise by 2010 and he'll be able to get a more lucrative contract?

He could come out and say he intends to stay in Cleveland and put the onus on them to give him the money.

You would rather be known as the GM that botched building a team around one of the greatest players in history when you had seven years to do it and then watched him walk away for nothing?

If he comes to me and says he's not signing and either I trade him to one of three teams I do it - with a preference to trading him outside of the conference - as long as I'm getting enough picks and young players to quickly begin building a team again and the team must have adequate salary room so I don't have to take back junk contracts or must have expiring contracts on any players I take but don't want. Then I immediately go to the media and tell them Lebron orchastrated the entire deal and that I am devastated he decided to walk away from a city and organization that has embraced him like we have but that we have some pieces to build around and we'll build it back up.

Then I would expect to be fired after the team goes 10-72 the following season.

Sure, it's possible. But why make the quote I put above? I just don't see him staying there.

If he says he'll sign an extension the Cavs will have paperwork in front of him within 30 seconds and a Brinks truck waiting for him outside the door.

Agreed on every point outside of the 10-72. Cleveland may suck, but if you got a decent package of picks and a young player or two for him, Cleveland wouldn't be 10-72 bad.

Maybe change it to "I'd expect to be fired after we went 30-52.

If he tells you he isn't staying, you make the trade.

Here is the thing though. . . Bron isn't going to tell Cleveland that. He's going to want to go to a team with cap space and some talent. He'll be unrestricted. He isn't going to want his new team to give up assets that could make them better to get him.

I hope I'm proven wrong. I'd love Bron to stay in Cleveland and give those fans a championship they've been dreaming about. If it doesn't happen this year, I don't think it's going to happen with Bron though.

Yeah, isn't that why Kobe didn't go to the Bulls a couple years ago? He didn't like that they were giving up so much to get him, making the team a lot worse.

I still wouldn't make the trade if he said he was leaving. You still have a great shot at a title next year. I'd rather win one title and go 10-72 for the next 5 years then trade Lebron and rebuild into a mediocre playoff team for 10 years.

yeah. that's the way

No reason not to wait until the deadline, to maximize ticket sales.

To get LeBron, most teams would even take Shaq's 20 million contract. And gee, look, New York has a ton of contracts expiring in July 2010.

The though of trading LeBron is insane. You make trades to get in the position the Cavs are in now.