DBAHO

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 02:40 PM) Kings traded Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, first round pick in 2 years, 2 different other first round draft swap options all to the 76ers for...the rights to an overseas player. Okay. Draymond back to the Warriors after all at 5/85. Yep Sam Hinkie's done it again. I'd hope Orlando would have done a trade like that, just to build up some assets. Sauce Castillo could still end up being a decent player, probably a good thing he got out of Sacramento really. But my god the Kings are a mess of a franchise, they did that so they can overpay Wes Matthews and Rajon Rondo. Craziness. We offered Paul Millsap a 4/80 deal also, but he chose to return to Atlanta on that deal. I also wonder if the Lakers will offer Tobias Harris a max deal now, just so they end up with somebody. But a bit of a down day for the Magic really, I don't think anyone is going to join us in Free Agency until we make the playoffs, so we're just going to have to continue building through the draft for the time being. Also I was wrong on Butler, so the Bulls have done well to get him locked up on a 5 year deal.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 01:11 PM) Hmm. That makes me a bit less happy about the Asimov deal I'd say probably age had some factor here in terms of the contracts, Amisonov is what 5 years younger. And I do agree on bringing in extra Russians (that really doesn't sound right BTW.....), to get those guys fully comfortable as possible.

Aminu signs with Portland for 4/30. Really Portland have done well to get him, Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson for Batum. Cavs and Wizards both after Dunleavy, but Bulls are still the favs to re-sign him. Leonard re-signs with the Spurs for 5/90, not that there was any doubt on that one. Anthony Davis has also verbally agreed to a 5/145 deal according to Woj.

I think too much is being made of the Bickell and Sharp rumors at the draft and saying that Bowman screwed up. No-one knows if teams were actually that desperate to get those 2. If you bring back Saad at $6.5M, you probably end up with a situation where you might have to add a 1st round pick to get a team to take Bickell's contract, because other teams know you are backed up against a wall cap wise. That's not exactly good management there. Pittsburgh have missed out on Saad, so maybe they go after Sharp now, who knows, there's probably still a market for him, but at least Bowman has options now, if the package in return isn't good enough, you keep Sharp around. I think everyone needs to wait to see what Anisimov gets re-signed for, it should be a cap friendly enough deal, otherwise I don't think Bowman would have made the trade in the 1st place. Dano seems like a similar sort of prospect to what Saad was a few seasons ago, so it's good cap management you bring in someone at a much lower salary, and not really lose a whole lot in terms of production / potential.

People might think Butler would be crazy to take a 1 year Qualifying Offer, especially if he's going to miss out on $8M. However, I think he'll take that offer. Greg Monroe has been a good case example for everyone else to look at, he could have easily gotten 4/50 from Detroit last off-season, he takes the $3M/$4M instead, and is now probably getting at least $15M a season from the Knicks. And I think Butler bets on himself, because of the cap increase next off-season. He could make up that $8M and easily triple that on a 5 year max deal with the new cap rise. Now who knows if a team is going to pay that for him, but if the Lakers don't get an Aldridge or Kevin Love, they could still have $40M-$50M to spend on someone in the next off-season, especially with Kobe's $26M coming off the books. It's a risk no doubt, considering how much Butler played last off-season, and he could easily be a repeat of the Luol Deng situation all over again, but I reckon if he really wants to leave Chicago and bolt to Los Angeles, he'll bet on himself again.

So what are the Bulls going to do in Free Agency? Taj Gibson is probably the one most in play here, especially after the drafting of Portis. What would you be after in terms of a trade package, a future 1st rounder maybe? And if I'm going to pick 3 Free Agents most likely to switch teams, it'll be Aldridge, Monroe and Tobias Harris.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 26, 2015 -> 10:12 AM) Hezonja's tape is so good. Think he's going to be at worst 4th best player in the draft. Yeah we desperately needed a shooter who can play the 3, considering Payton and Oladipo are below average shooters at best. I think he'll end up being similar to Klay Thompson with a bit bigger size, I'd be pretty happy with that outcome. I actually thought the Zinger might fall to us, but that was probably going to be dependent on the Knicks trading down, which they didn't. I think it also means, if the Knicks or Lakers offer Harris the max, we might not be matching (when you consider we have Gordon, Fournier etc.).

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 04:20 PM) I would rather have Randle and Okafor then Cousins Depends on a team's mentality to win now or not I suppose. There'd also be potential spacing issues with that front court, unless you had say a Memphis style offense that focused on the low post. It also wouldn't be great defensively at least initially.

So looks like the Kings and Lakers are discussing a Cousins deal, or at least the framework for it according to Woj's last twitter update. Something like Clarkson, Randle and the #2 for Cousins. The Lakers don't want to give up Randle though, so a 3rd team might need to get involved here. Probably why Vucevic got mentioned the other day, so in theory the Magic would get Randle and the Kings Vucevic (since they want someone who can play and contribute well right away). Or Denver gets involved and ships Lawson / Faried potentially.

The Bulls would have to get in front of OKC at #14 and potentially Indiana at #11 if they want to get Payne. I wonder if they'd have any interest in Trey Burke from Utah potentially though.

Phil Jackson also said he was disappointed he didn't get any votes for GM of the year because Mitch Kupchak did (says it all really). I'm fascinated to see what they do tomorrow at the draft if Okafor and Russel are off the board. Porzingis is by far the best talent then left, but there's a huge question on whether he's ready to contribute right now or not. I think they trade down with say Detroit or someone else in that scenario and get Trey Lyles instead.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 08:36 AM) I imagine he was saying it makes the US look good because they beat Australia 3-1. A bit, but I didn't even know what the brackets were (shows how much attention I've been paying it really).

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:28 AM) Karl is a good coach so normally if I were a fan I'd get upset over a situation like that, but Karl is a proven winner and in George I'd trust (especially given the current state of the Kings). That said, Cousins is a heck of a talent. I think it's probably just system fit more than anything. Karl wants to play up-tempo and have an offensive system focused on outside shooting. I think you can still do that potentially with Cousins, but you'd have to surround him with shooters and with a quality stretch 4 who can play defense. They want to win now though, I can understand if they were rebuilding, because you could probably get the #2 and Randle from the Lakers at the very least. Not sure how they improve giving up Cousins and the #6 for veterans.

Woj is reporting that George Karl wants to get rid of Cousins. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--geor...-051748948.html Would think if a trade is done, he's either off to Denver for Lawson, Faried and #7 or in a 3 way with the Lakers and Magic where they end up with potentially the #2 and / or Nic Vucevic.

US Womens Team would be pretty happy about Australia knocking out Brazil today I'd imagine.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 21, 2015 -> 03:57 AM) FO:NV was better than FO3 Yeah I thought so as well. Finished The Witcher 3 last night, if you do all the side quests + monster hunts, there's probably at least 30 hours worth in there. I'd be keen to have different save files from Witcher 2 and import to see what the differences are, but I don't want to go through that much gaming again (that's where Youtube comes in handy I suppose).

Mexico out of the Copa America, they had a B Team playing though. Enner Valencia doing well for Ecuador, hoping he can replicate that sort of form for West Ham this season, because he has a lot of raw talent.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 08:00 AM) Well here's Mark Stein publicly ripping Lebron for how he treats Coach Blatt, this should be an interesting one to watch it filter thorugh the world. I read that Blatt wanted to implement a motion based offense when he arrived, and Lebron pretty much said no from the get go to that. I think he showed in the playoffs and the 2nd half of the season, he's a damn good defensive coach, and his guys (e.g. Mozgov etc.) play hard and well under him. I'd love to see him in another head coaching role in the NBA to see how he does, hell I would much rather him than Skiles if I had a choice. BTW, I saw we'd poached Adrian Griffin from the Bulls to be our new lead assistant coach. He'll be implementing things on the defensive side of the ball I'd presume (Skiles wants us to be top 5 there next season).

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 07:12 AM) They'd have got whipped. I don't think they were that great. Record was good but eye test was poor in the finals. I think Bulls / Shaq and Kobe Lakers route them.Heat is hard to say cause they shouldn't have won their one title. Manu choked the Spurs title away vs. Heat winning. I think if Klay Thompson was playing at his best, they'd probably compete pretty well against those teams. But he wasn't, and when Curry wasn't making his shots, that's how teams like Cleveland won a few games off them really.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:56 AM) I feel so sorry for pro-scouts that have to determine who the hell can translate to the pros and who can't. Kristaps Porzingis, from everything I've read seen, is the best player in this draft. But I know that probably won't be the case in three years. It's going to be pretty fascinating to see where he goes in the draft. I think Orlando jumps on him at #5 if he's still there, he fits what we're looking for with a stretch 4 playing next to Vucevic, and he's a Gym Rat which Hennigan loves, has always drafted those sorts of players. I don't think the Lakers can take the risk of taking him at #2 even though they like him. Where it gets interesting is if the Lakers draft Russel instead of Okafor at 2, do the 76ers take Porzingis over Okafor, even considering Embiid's health?

The Sheridan Hoops latest Mock Draft also has some interesting little blurbs; http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2015/06/17/mo...e-latest-intel/ The Cousins to Denver move would be quite the blockbuster, I'd imagine the Kings would want the #7, Lawson and Faried to get a deal done though. Doubt anything will happen however, the Kings have said Cousins is basically untouchable still (don't know if he fits under George Karl in the long-term though).

I'd very much doubt the Lakers will give up the #2 pick for Butler. They'll look a much better destination to play in next off-season when Kobe's contract comes off the books, Randle plays a full season, and it's looking like Okafor becomes the new face of the franchise to build around. I'd be signing nothing but short term deals if I was Kupchak this off-season. Unless you could get a Rondo type for under $10M that is. If I'm Butler also, I probably take the Qualifying Offer. Not saying that's fair to the Bulls, but look at Greg Monroe, do you think he's happy he didn't take a 4/50 offer from Detroit last off-season? He'll probably get something close to the max from the Knicks now.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 17, 2015 -> 03:36 PM) http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/lebron-jam...p;dlvrit=206567 The best team that I can think of for LeBron would have been the '10-'11 Bulls with him taking Rose's place. Noah and Boozer taking care of the boards, Deng handling tough defensive assignments and Brewer/Korver being out there for whatever is needed. Asik and Taj off the bench. Just forget Bogans. I'd go with the 09-10 Magic, the team that made the Finals that season. I'm subbing Lebron for either Turkloglu or Lewis here. But it had a dominant 2 way center in Howard (in what was his best season), and a 3PT trigger happy team. But it's a fun argument to have really.

So really in the end this was basically just a repeat of the Memphis series for Golden State. Making those key adjustments after game 3, not playing Bogut, starting Iggy. Really Cleveland did so well just to win 2 games really considering who they had. LeBron needs spacing in the worst possible way in order to be effective offensively, and when Delly stopped making shots and JR Smith wasn't picking up the slack, they were never going to be good enough offensively. It'll be a very interesting off-season for Cleveland. That Varejao contract extension looks like a horrrible decision, it might cost them Tristan Thompson if someone offered him close to a max deal. Probably depends on how much luxury tax Gilbert wants to end up paying really.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 17, 2015 -> 02:04 PM) So David Lee is an NBA champion. And he's done pretty well off the court also.