Boogua

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:17 PM) As long as we have Gibson and Noah, you will have one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA. +1

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:11 PM) So you know how rebounding is one of the few advantages Bulls had over the Heat in the past? Well Varejao averaged 14 rebounds per 40 minutes last year, and Thompson was close to 12 per 40. Love is probably the best rebounder in the league. And now that we effectively replaced Deng with Dunleavy and Mirotic is not much of a rebounder at the 4, we will not even have that advantage against this version of the Cavs. While these pieces fit Lebron differently, I wouldn't say they are worse fit. I don't think rebounding is more important than position flexibility, defense, and floor spacing. Thompson and Varajeo are extremely limited range wise on offense and Thompson isn't a great defender. Varajeo is extremely injury prone and is also limited offensively (I can't imagine how bad the offense might look with him and Thompson on the court at the same time).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:19 AM) I think that's fair. But if(huge if obviously) Kyrie is healthy, this Cavs big 3 is better than the Heat big 3 imo. It depends on which version of the big 3. Last year's is the only one that I think this Cavs version can be better than. Last year's Heat team went through one of the weakest Eastern conferences ever though. If Rose gets hurt again they should be able to walk into the finals like the Heat did last year.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 10:59 AM) Varejao, Thompson and Waiters are better than any fourth wheel they had in Miami. Cavs are definitely the team to beat in the East, especially if Kyrie takes another step in his natural progression. I am just disappointed that even with the Bulls involved, the Cavs didn't have to give up anymore than the original rumored deal. Losing Thompson would really hurt their front court depth. Those guys definitely have more upside than what the Heat were trotting out there, but the Heat role players were more versatile and fit Lebron better than any of the guys you just named.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 08:35 AM) Looks official. https://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--cava...-054657392.html Wow, 5 years 120 million. Quite the commitment to stay in Cleveland. Windhorst was saying earlier this week that it would be silly for Love to commit longterm in the immediate future with the new TV deal right around the corner. That offense is going to be nasty.

Evans to visit the illini on September 5th. Hopefully the Illini will have either him or Brunson in the fold by the time that weekend is over.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 05:29 PM) Bears worked out Santonio Holmes. I feel like if he has anything left in the tank that the Browns would likely overpay for him. Their WR situation is pretty awful.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 09:52 PM) Brunson official Aug 29-31 I'm kind of surprised that MSU hasn't scheduled one of his officials yet. This whole thing makes me feel like the Illini are in a lot better shape with Brunson than I originally thought.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 08:24 AM) I honestly haven't read much on it, I took a quick glance when it first came out. In general, I take advanced basketball stats with a huge grain of salt. Iespeciallys difficult to separate individual value from the context of their team and role.I've noticed that role players on good teams fare well in most models, especially when compared to good but not great players on bad teams. Someone like Nick Collison usually rates very high, but you still have to project what he'd do in a bigger role on a different team. Yeah, I completely agree. There are so many variables to take into account. I only asked because realgm is doing a top 100 list and they ranked KG #11 all time (some even had him as high as #4) due to RAPM. It just seemed insane to me. I like getting other people's points of view.

So, I respect zoom a ton. Zoom, what do you think of the advanced stat RAPM?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 01:41 PM) Reddit found it from RealGM and the guy's been right before - should we only post rumors when they say "Kevin Love to Chicago", sir? Let me know whatever you and scs want in your forum so I can oblige. I truly don't want to offend either of your Highnesses. Not at all, this rumor was just stupid and doesn't make sense for anyone other than the Cavs. I wasn't offended at all. It just doesn't make sense.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 11:34 AM) RUMOR Bulls receive: Kevin Martin, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters Cavs receive: Kevin Love, Mike Dunleavey Jr, Gorgui Dieng Timberwolves receive: Andrew Wiggins, John Lucas III, Erik Murphy, Taj Gibson, Tony Snell Gorgui Dieng averaged 12 and 12 in the 15 games he started last year. As a rookie. Did you get this from a Cavs board or something?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 10:01 AM) It's Thibs. Last two years our 4th big was getting 10 minutes a game. Even before that Asik was getting under 15. I expect that to go up but don't expect that to change much. Noah is going to play 35 mpg. Mirotic may be a great player but he's really just not that important to this team, under this coach. We really have no idea though. Sure, in Thibs' perfect situation you're probably right, but Gasol is prone to miss time. Noah, before last year had never even played more than 64 games in a season since his second year in the league (when he didn't start). With Gibson you have the luxury that he can also play center against most teams (today's centers suck) so Mirotic could be really important for this team based on the injury histories of the players ahead of him. I'd obviously trade him in a heartbeat for Love, though.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 09:43 AM) Im talking about on the Bulls roster.The Bulls do or they aren't giving Gasol big money. Yes, but Gasol can also play center. With the way the roster is currently constructed I wouldn't doubt Gasol sees a ton of time at center. You have 4 front court players for two positions, so we shouldn't make it seem like Mirotic is buried right now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 23, 2014 -> 10:36 AM) I'm not talking about the 80% of the game where Love will be sitting 15-20 feet on the outside, I'm talking about the 20% of the game, or 1 game in 5 where defense has clamped down on their perimeter and James has gone down low, collapsed the defense on him and opened up easier shots while banging down low. He doesn't do that all game, he's mostly driving on a weak matchup and finishing. That's not a post game, which is what I'm talking about. Love can play that role going down low, and distributing, because he's a really good passer, and is a good enough threat down low. He's at least much more of a sure bet to help with those duties than Andy and Tristan Thompson. No argument there. I still don't know why things would be so different with Love than Bosh when Bosh was very clearly a better post player than Love. Maybe it was bad coaching.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 23, 2014 -> 10:12 AM) I totally disagree. I think Lebron did it because he had to, but it (rightfully) wears him out. And the older he gets the harder it will be for him to take that role every night. Obviously, Rose (edit: Rose? I meant love) is a stretch 4, but he can absolutely go down low and distribute well, not Lebron well, but well. Lebron did it because he had to? Chris Bosh took 56% of his shots within 10 feet his last year with Toronto because that was much more of his game. Lebron needs floor spacers because he's much more effective around the rim than most everybody else. This is why Bosh became a stretch 4. I don't know why they would take Love, a guy who isn't nearly as effective around the rim as Bosh was in Toronto, let alone Lebron, and make him play in the post.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 23, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) You know what Lebron's not going to want to do as he gets older? Bang in the post. You know who can take over those duties for him? Love. Love can play the high low fun game for him. The dude is averaging 26-12-4.5 on 46% shooting and 38% shooting from three as the man on that team. Bosh shot 30% from 3. his volume of shots will go down, but likely his interior shooting will go up with teams prepping to collapse on Lebron help OR he provides incredible spacing for Lebron because unlike Bosh, teams legitimately need to defend his 3s. Wiggins may well be great but nobody is going to laugh that you traded for a guy with Charles Barkley numbers. Lebron is much more likely to be the post guy. If you look at trends, Lebron took 40% of his shots at the rim last year while Love took 25% of his shots there. Love took 35% of his shots from 3 point range while Lebron took 23% of his shots from there. Love is still a better fit for Lebron on offense than Bosh was, but Bosh was no slouch when it came to shooting. He shot nearly 49% from 16 feet to 3 point range and shot 34% from 3 last year. Bosh is also much, much better than Love is defensively.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 09:16 PM) Yeah, I disagree completely. LeBron's raw fg%, ts% and efg% were all career highs in 2014. His playoff numbers were even more ridiculous. LeBron is at the peak of how powers right now. LeBron has already proven he can adapt to another ball-dominant guy in wade. i see nothing to suggest he can't do the same once his athleticism does fall off. Wiggins could potentially take the scoring load and defensive load off LeBron in a few years. He's definitely more efficient, but that's not really how I qualify overall dominance. He takes a lot smarter shots. He took a higher % of shots at the rim more than ever which helped offset his decline in overall jump shooting. His team won its fewest games since 07-08 (excluding the lockout year, obviously). I understand wade was sat out games, but their team with Lebron and Bosh won 6 more games than the Bulls. The east was terrible. Also, wade adapted to Lebron, not the other way around. I do agree that wiggins could help take some of the load off in a few years, but if it costs you the possibility of winning rings in the mean time it's risky.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 08:36 PM) Cleveland can't get stupid just because LeBron is back. If LeBron is as sincere as he sounded in his letter, he'll be patient and not expect a grandslam right away. Wiggins could be what Len Bias (RIP) was supposed to be to Larry Bird for LeBron as he ages. Cleveland as is is a top 4 seed at worst in the east. Wait a half a season and see where you're at before making a splash. Sort of, but Bias was supposed to prolong the celtics dynasty by not only giving Bird some rest, but giving McHale some rest too. Also, bird had just won 3 straight MVPs and didn't appear to be on the downside of his career. Lebron, while still the best player on the planet, doesn't look nearly as dominant as he did a year or two ago. Especially on defense. The cavs should want to take advantage of the 2-3 more years that Lebron in his prime. If Lebron can change his game to play off the ball and can prolong his career as his athleticism continues to decline ala Kobe or Jordan then waiting might be the best call. It could be risky though.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 12:51 PM) Doesn't really help the Bulls though. Is Bennett really that much of a threat? Not really, but the more assets the Cavs have to part with the better.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 12:45 PM) http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11247946...love-trade-push I would guess the Bulls are just trying to make sure that Cleveland gets rid of both Wiggins and Bennett in a trade? I have no idea, but the Bulls clearly can't beat the cavs offer.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 09:57 AM) The really meaningful stats to me are isolating specific lineups a player is in and measuring their offensive and defensive efficiency (points per 100 possesions allowed/scored). Also Marion played in west vs better talent at wing than the east offers. So are you saying individual O-rating and d-rating? I mean, I think it's useful, but I still don't think it's great. To give an example though, Adrian Dantley led the league in PER, O-rating, and win shares (which takes o-rating and d-rating into account) and he didn't make all nba 1st team or finish top 5 in MVP voting. It reminds me of the Kevin Love argument that people were making to say he was a top 5 player in the league (I don't think he is, but he could prove me wrong).

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 09:34 AM) Here's a good time to ask this....Anyone know how "real plus minus" is all calculated? On paper it would appear that Marion is a solid offensive player, yet RPM has him ranked as the 50th SF with a -1.72. Whereas Dunleavy is ranked 13th with a 1.18 And then also defensively Dunleavy ranks 9th while Marion ranks 21st. I would take most "advanced" statistics in basketball with a grain of salt. It's so much of a team sport that it's hard to measure in black and white individual statistics. Lots of people at realgm like advanced statistics (like RAPM), but it's led people to argue that Kevin Garnett is a top 5 basketball player ever.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 01:29 PM) Encouraging, but remember Evans and Thomas haven't even been on campus yet. Bragg may have been but I can't remember. I think we get Evans, Thomas seems to love the attention and it just so happens Illinois fans are giving it to him. Whether that means he comes to Illinois I have no idea, we have a good shot but I would not be surprised at all to see him go elsewhere (Rock/OSU stay away from him already). Bragg, while the staff has been doing a fantastic job recruiting him, I just don't see him turning down UK/KU at this point for Illinois. Bragg has definitely been on campus. He has mentioned that he had a fantastic visit and that it would be hard for other teams to top it. It happened last year I believe. I agree with everything you said though. I think the Illini get Evans, have an okay shot with Thomas, and I don't think Bragg comes (especially considering he's waiting until spring I think)

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) I didnt know Booby Gibson and Mo Williams were still in the league. I thought they faded out when Lebron left cleveland in 2010 Mo Williams is probably a lot better than you think. I'd love him as a backup guard. He's also a guy you can play off the ball with d rose on the ball because he's a pretty good 3 point shooter.