chw42

If all of this materializes, I guess I can go back to hating Cleveland. Also, this will obviously shake up free agency quite a bit. I wonder if LeBron teaming up with Love will make Melo choose the Bulls.

If Cleveland gets Love, it'll come with the price tag of Wiggins.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:33 AM) Espn Cleveland reporting Love to Cleveland is extremely close now. Oh god, it's happening isn't it? BTW...Sam Amico just tweeted this.

Now Stephen A says Melo's going to Cleveland with LeBron. Oh god, SAS, I hope you realize Melo and LeBron isn't happening, especially not in f***ing Cleveland.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:22 AM) A NY writer said all the James to Cleveland hype is being generated by the Cavs to save face for losing him in 2010. I don't really buy that, but if it is true and it basically shames LeBron to come back, it's a genius move. I wouldn't trust anyone at this point, especially not NY writers. And none of this can shame LeBron into coming back. LeBron hasn't said jack. The Cleveland media can't will the best player in the NBA back through rumors.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:15 AM) Saw there trying to get Allen now too Allen comes with LeBron, because Ray Allen just wants to win rings at this point.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 11:06 PM) Despite Davidson's struggles, Hahn sold high on Reed. Reed is horrible now. Fastball in the 90-92 mph range, and he's still hanging that slider an awful lot. Blew another save tonight, and he made an insane amount of bad pitches in the inning. His velocity dipped last year too. He came up throwing around 95 and was always around 92-93 last year. He's probably hurt or very close to getting hurt. His throwing motion isn't exactly good for his elbow.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:07 AM) To be fair, there are worse things in life than not having to pay Jarrett Jack $6million. Like paying Channing Frye $8 million?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) Cleveland just traded Jarrett Jack, Tyler Zeller and a Russian dude to dump cap space. s***'s getting real.

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 12:12 PM) Especially given the token Lester pick, that's just total BS Does everyone think Lester sucks or something? He clearly doesn't. If you want to complain, complain about Scott Kazmir.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 10:43 AM) Defensively Kyrie-Waiters-James-Love Verajao (but realistically their backup C due to injury) is possibly worse than rockets with only 1 plus defender (James) Kyrie-Wiggins/James-TT-Verajao(but really backup C) is still not great. That would all really depend on Wiggins development. Kyrie still has yet to be as great as people assume he is, to me he's nothing more than a streaky shooter and capable ball handler on a bad team that increases his usage rate. Kyrie's efficiency has gone down every year since he's been in the league. But I don't think you can question his ability to create his own shot and handle the ball. Even in a down season last year, he had a .533 TS%. With another threat like LeBron on the team, I wouldn't be surprised to see his stats absolutely skyrocket.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 10:38 AM) Honestly, I think Lebron, Varajao, Wiggins, and Irving is better than Lebron, Bosh, and Wade at this point. If Varejao can stay healthy, yeah. Plus, they got some other pieces on that roster that are way better than what Miami has to offer (Waiters, Thompson, Bennett).

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 10:34 AM) Then they turn around and trade Varajeo and Wiggins for Love God I hope not. LeBron going to Cleveland would even out the East a bit, but putting Love on the same team would make it completely lopsided again.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 10:33 AM) Can't wait for the inevitable "he has no supporting cast" argument. Kyrie's better than anything he ever had in Cleveland.

Can I just fast forward a week and not deal with all of this speculation? Ugh.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 12:50 AM) FWIW, if I want to spend $10 million on FA and it's down to Lance Stephenson and Chandler Parsons, I'm going Parsons every time That's assuming Parsons' going rate is $10 million. I think it's going to be higher. Stephenson's market value is about what he actually provides for you on the court right now. You're not really overpaying for him. Stephenson may be an idiot, but you can't overlook his efficiency numbers last year for an offensively challenged Indiana team. Not only did he shoot the ball fairly well (including the 3), he averaged almost 5 assists per game. He can be your second ball handler. He also plays defense, so there's that.

Joe Cowley mentioned that Stephenson is asking for $10 million a year. If we don't get Melo, I don't think signing him to an offer sheet is a bad idea. If Indy doesn't match, whatever, he's a nice player at a position we need to fill. He can be had for what is basically market value. $10 million a year to Stephenson isn't an overpay IMO, especially given his defensive, passing, and shooting abilities. The only issue is that Stephenson is weird as hell and basically helped Indiana blow up last year. The last thing this Bulls team needs is internal issues among players. I'm sure Stephenson will be liked if the Bulls win, but like with Indy last year, once the going gets tough, s*** might hit the fan. If Indy does match, whatever. You end up making them pay a bit more than what they offered (5 and $44 million) as well. Again, this is like plan D, but I feel like it's a plan D that can yield a high reward. It might also blow up in our face.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 12:15 AM) Da f***? This guy is stealing my ideas I'm sure everything he wrote about has been talked about by the posters in this thread and on most internet message boards.

Mike McGraw seems to think the lack of any word from Melo means a S&T is being worked on with the Bulls. http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2014070..._medium=twitter

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Jul 7, 2014 -> 11:31 PM) KC Johnson says without sign and trade Bulls can offer $73. I was expecting something around $16-17 million honestly. Getting near the $19 million figure means they're willing to dump a lot (maybe even Jimmy Butler).

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Jul 7, 2014 -> 10:57 PM) Not sure if it was reported by Cowley says: "That instant contender would cost him about $54 million because the Bulls have a four-year, $75 million offer on the table." Hey, that's better than what I thought they would have offered him.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 7, 2014 -> 09:19 PM) Link? I'm not going to bother to look for the posts since it's been 4 years, but I think it was pretty clear that you expected LeBron to be in Chicago. I think a lot of us did.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 7, 2014 -> 08:35 PM) To be fair, I never thought LeBron was definitely coming to Chicago. I was certain he'd never go to Dwyane Wade's team when he could go to Chicago or New York. Uh, yeah you did.

So here's an interesting theory. What if Melo is using the Lakers as leverage for the Knicks to S&T him to Chicago? If it was only Chicago or New York, the Knicks can have leverage with money. But with a second team in the contest that can also give him similar money, that leverage kind of goes away.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 7, 2014 -> 07:41 PM) No, I'm saying you exhaust options for Melo first, before moving on... signing Chandler Parsons to an offer sheet locks up 12 million of cap space for 3 days. Signing him to an offer sheet for 8 million does this, too (which is what I think he's worth), and I'd rather see what happens with Melo. I believe in Melo. I wasn't saying we should move on Parsons before Melo or anything. I don't think anyone is saying Parsons is a better option somehow. And Steve, to be fair, you believed in LeBron 4 years ago and look how that turned out. We need you to be pessimistic this time.