Jenksismyhero

Interesting:

Woj cites the NY Daily News report, but doesn't give his 2 cents.

f***ING GAR/PAX, OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! whelp, back to work I guess.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketba...ticle-1.1860680

His reasoning is that from what he "hears," there's no talk about the Bulls.

Stein on ESPN 1000 basically saying that the Bulls have never been in it and they know it.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) He'd be 32 years old as well. It's only one season. A season that would be "lost," but potentially worth about 7 million.

I think Lebron stays in Miami on a 2 year deal with a one year opt out, Melo stays in New York, and Lebron joins him in 2015-2016. I mean come on people, we're Chicago fans. None of this crap ever works out the way we want it to.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 01:14 PM) I think Lebron to Cleveland, Melo to Chicago, Bosh to Houston, Wade...who knows. As someone pointed out earlier, how can you opt out of 42 million guaranteed if you're not 100% confident that you're contending the next few years with Lebron?

If the status quo remains this will be very disappointing.

My finger is starting to hurt from hitting refresh every 20 seconds.

Lebron meeting at 3pm Vegas time.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:49 AM) Except the Twolves stated they aren't looking to rebuild. I'm guessing Ainge is working to use 1st round picks to bring in other teams. That idea (a 3 team trade) is so far outside the realm of what GarPax are capable of it is hilarious. Lol, then what the hell are they doing? They aren't even a playoff team.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:42 AM) Draft picks are draft picks. Unless they are top picks, they are pretty much garbage. A year ago people were touting the Lakers for having so many picks. What did they do with those picks, not a darn thing worthwhile, because unless you have lotto picks, it doesn't mean much, not for bad teams trying to get better. Sure, but if you're trading your franchise guy you either want an established talent back that you can market (Klay Thompson, Rondo) or picks to rebuild. Again, the point being Boston has better assets than the Bulls at this point, and Ainge isn't bringing in Love either.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:40 AM) I think the Bulls have never been serious for Love, not yet. They know he's not going anywhere yet and are more focused on Melo, who quite frankly is a superior fit. If I could chose one or the other, I'm chosing Melo. However, the Cleveland stuff may blow up our chances at Love. I don't quite think things are as close to done as indicated and I still don't know whether Love would resign to stay in Cleveland (even with LBJ there). I think a lot of stuff happens after Lebron's meeting with Riley and company. Given Kyrie's new deal, could Love get a max or near max contract if Lebron also gets a max?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:39 AM) Yes, Rondo is a very valuable asset to the timberwolves. Over a PG that can't shoot? Yes. Plus Rondo is a tradeable asset they could send off to a contender for someone else. But the picks for a rebuilding franchise are MUCH more valuable than a 6th man and two late 1st round picks.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:36 AM) I laughed at how quick bulls fans are to include Noah. Ultimately I don't think we'd need to include him. I would also have liked to have traded for Aflallo as an asset for love. Instead we have Doug McDermott, whom I really like. But we did not view the draft assets as something to use in a trade for love. Let me put it this way, Danny Ainge, with the bulls assets, would have Kevin Love right now. LOL. Ainge has BETTER assets than the Bulls (Rondo + picks galore) and HE can't get Love.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:25 AM) We offered Taj and Snell for love. I'll leave that to you to decide if that is a good offer. I don't think anything was ever officially offered since Melo has been their primary target. But regardless, gutting the team for Love makes no sense. They're potentially on the verge of getting Melo without doing anything but getting rid of excess weight on the roster AND keeping young guys for the future. How is that not the better front office move?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) It may not be their fault they didn't get Melo, but it will be their fault that they decided that Melo, a FA, was their only option, and then plan b is a 34 year old Pao Gasol, and then, I guess Vince Carter or something. Who else is available? I'm pretty sure they went for Love (or would still go for Love) but probably don't have the assets for him. Everyone else is a tier below, so of course it'll be disappointing. It's really not their fault they managed the franchise around a broken star player.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:18 AM) We might also have to deal with the possibility that the city of Chicago isn't appealing to these guys. It may or may not be the case, but you sure never hear about people being interested in the Bulls just because of the city like you hear with NY/LA/MIA It's Rose. It's his city. He's star No. 1. Players understand that.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:14 AM) You have no idea what the bulls did, but we know that right now the bulls have zero cap space, so could not send Melo away with an offer. We know they can amnesty boozer for 10 mill of cap space, and trade MDJ rather easily, and try to find suitors for ronnie brewer/etc contracts to get up to 15. We also know the Bulls could have instead amnestied boozer outright and traded Gibson for assets, and had Melo walk way, facilitate with a 20 mill offer, and if he said no, we could have went after a different PF. But instead the bulls are relying on Melo to trust the bulls, want to be there so much and have Phil Jackson bail them out. Meanwhile, Danny Ainge is acquiring picks, looking to swing Rondo for assets and building up an offer for Kevin Love, a trade, where he doesn't have to hope the player trusts and loves them enough to bail them out. Oh Jesus, not this blame the front office crap again. If the Bulls don't get Melo there is nothing the Bulls could have done about it. Nothing. It is not their fault.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) Cleveland just traded Jarrett Jack, Tyler Zeller and a Russian dude to dump cap space. Boston got ANOTHER pick out of it. I think that's 10 picks in the next 4 drafts.

BTW, did anyone listen to the Simmons/Lowe podcast from yesterday? Simmons made the argument that in his opinion all of the Lakers stuff with Melo is just negotiating ploy so that New York would do a sign and trade with the Bulls. Without the Lakers the Knicks could pretty easily call Melo's bluff that he wants to leave since he'd be leaving a ton of money (what, like 30 million or so?) on the table. But the difference with the sign and trade with the Lakers isn't nearly as much and is much more "acceptable." Thus, the Knicks really could lose Melo for nothing, so they may be enticed by what the Bulls can offer them: Boozer + 2 first round picks. They had some examples of what 1st round picks were going for in terms of taking on contracts and Boozer's 16-17 million was really pretty reasonable. For a team with no picks in the coming seasons.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 09:29 AM) The best part of the FA frenzy is the hilarious contract given to McBob and the collective BJ he's getting as a supposedly good player. Let's all remember that last year was his best year ever and he scored 8.5 points, 4.8 boards, and 4.3 assists (woo!) on 43% shooting (36% 3PT). Only in the NBA does a guy who has peaked with those numbers, has unexceptional size and athleticism, and has already played for 5 teams get a 4yr/$23M contract 36% from 3 for a big dude is pretty good. I think his role is going to be Bosh-lite - hang out on the perimeter, stretch the D to give Lebron a lane and hit open 3's. He can also pass the ball really well. 4.3 assists on a crap team is impressive. It's also entirely possible that was all a fluke and he's a bust for them. I'm cool with that.

If you're the Knicks, why would you make it known that you're willing to do a sign and trade? You're going to deny that up until the point where you have no other choice but to get something or let Melo walk for nothing.