The Official NBA Off-Season thread 2014

Well, its time for the Official NBA Thread to close and as the Spurs have taken the crown of this years Finals. What is the future of Miami and the Spurs? Will Donald Sterling cause more drama for Lob City? Also, what is the Situation with Carmelo and Kevin Love?

It's sad ESPN and major media outlets will talk more about the Heat and Lebron than they will the Spurs. It should be about the Spurs, but instead it will all be about the Big 3 and their future.

All I'm saying is prepare yourselves for the summer of the Pelicans.

Thanks for keeping his throne warm, LeBron... but Anthony Davis will be taking it back now

@yokofox33: I highly doubt they'll mind, if anything that should be the dream for any championship team.

I agree, Spurs deserve every right for a chance at the spotlight. Who knows, Tim Duncan can announce his retirement anytime and it will be bigger news.

We like when we don't get attention. Its nice and quiet. The Spurs way.

@Silverbond: Saw I heard this last year....

About the last time we saw you too! What's up No Hablo?!

Cav's now have a new head coach and its

DANANANANNA

Blatt Man!

@Master_Live: Yeah, been a whole, hasn't it...

Favorite time of the year, NBA off season. Time to get my hopes up again- http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/06/20/report-rockets-planning-all-out-push-for-lebron-james/

Charlotte Hornets unveil new jerseys

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Really like those.

Raymond Felton is going to get probation and community service for his NYC gun possession charge. Either he has the best or Plaxico Burress has the worst attorney.

CARMELO TO THE PISTONS 2014

Aaannnndddd Miami Heat fanbase about to be reduced severely.

Yep. All those rich fucks who clogged up the front rows will be gone.

I don't really care that Lebron opted out. It was to be expected. Buttttt, now all of us have to deal with the bullshit crack pot theories about where he lands. I honestly think he's tired of Wade and signs elsewhere. Unless Riley and company surround him with talent, he gone. Wade is going to opt in for sure. He's not going to risk 20+ million, have Lebron leave, and then suddenly the Heat don't want to pay him 20+ million.

When Lebron doesn't come back, Wade is going to make 20m and have absolutely no pressure on him next season. Going to be nice for him.

If the Wolves trade Love to the Dubs for Klay Thompson and David Lee's contract, they deserve to move to Seattle.

Also, if any losing player ever deserved the Finals MVP it'd be Lebron, dude has so much more heart than people credit him for, but congrats to Kawhi because gotdamn he killed it.

I would laugh so hard IF Lebron joins the Raptors!

Felton just got traded, Knicks get two picks. Better days are ahead!

That is it, little by little, accumulating assets, clearing cap space. Doing it the right way.

Some thoughts:

• All this Embiid speculation is giving me a headache. Teams have doctors, evaluate the guy, determine if his injuries are chronic or isolated and then make a fucking decision. If he falls to #3 (and his bill of health checks out) I think the 76ers should take him and pair him up with Noel. 76ers are going nowhere next year so they can take the time to develop these kids.
• I think Randle has been somewhat overlook so far. The kid might not have the sky high ceiling of a Wiggins or Embiid but the he is ready to contribute right away. He is more of a conventional power forward like Malone or Webber and teams are leaning more toward F's that can play C too (like Duncan or Garnett) which can protect the rim.

Not sure how to feel about the Celtics pick. From a pure prospect standpoint I liked Parker more, and was hoping either Embiid or Gordon would fall to 6. On the other hand it frees us up to take be able to finally trade Rondo, which could end up netting us a solid haul.

I'm sure Lebron is begging Miami for less money now that Shabazz is in a Heat uni... Same for Wade and Bosh.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11145515/teams-most-salary-cap-space

So Bosh and Wade ended up opting out.

I'm surprised Wade did the right thing.

Color me shocked everyone opted out. I highly doubt they all take the Duncan-esque deals, but this should help. Ideally Lebron takes about the same (20 million), Bosh about 15, and Wade about 12. That gives you about 13-14 million in cap space to work with.

did the Lakers win yet?? O.O

Kyle Lowry back to the Raptors. Lebron is gone. He's basically waiting to see who signs the best players and then will latch on with them if they have the cap room. Miami has no flexibility even if Bosh/Wade take big paycuts.

Can't lie. I really expected the big 3 to stay together, but am happy Lebron appears to be leaning back towards returning to Cleveland,

Since the first day he left Cleveland I always thought that him going back to the Cavs and winning a title would be a perfect book ending for his career.

Hell, I'd go back to Cleveland. They actually have a friggin' roster.

Miami will suck for the next decade.

Is there any news of lebron back to Cleveland? The only thing I saw was a rumor from a cupcake shop lol. It would be awesome. I am not a big nba fan but when he was here I watched, everyone watched.

Granger just agreed to terms for the Heat damn. Pat Riley is a wizard. I understand free agency hasn't started yet, but the fact that a former player from their nemesis, the Pacers, is willing to join the Heat? That and Granger said he wanted to return to the Clips this offseason. I wonder what happened. Have to look into that.

Also Josh McRoberts agreed to a contract proposal, and he's another outside shooter and also a good playmaker. Good moves for the Heat, the wing is looking pretty solid for them right now if they can sign them.

I like McRoberts. He's basically a younger version of Chris Andersen, just a better shooter and passer. Granger is whatever. He probably replaces Rashard Lewis or Michael Beasley. If he's even half of what he used to be as a Pacer, he might be useful.

The addition of Granger is pretty useless and he is equivalent to players they already currently have or had last year. As said above he would replace a Beasley/Lewis combo and play equally as bad defense. The Clippers hardly used him in their playoff run this year. Averaged about 13 minutes off the bench. McRoberts is a solid rotational pickup, but I can't see how him, Napier and Granger would improve the roster enough to account for their downfalls. LeBron is the only one whose game is not depleteing on the Heat's roster.

Cavs offer the most future-proof roster that will allow for flexibility in the near future with cap-space, if they choose. They hold future 1st-round picks to continue to add to the roster if needed. On top of that, if LeBron signs with the current roster, they would still have a significant amount of pieces to trade for damn near anyone they want.

It is all about if LeBron envisions Cleveland as the place to satisfy him. He will win there. Wade's career is in significant question and Bosh is receiving max offers from teams when his statistics have declined on a yearly basis and has gotten comfortable with his 3rd-man roll shooting three out of corners with no responsibility to guard to the paint or even go after a damn rebound. Is Coach Spo even a great coach? I would argue they have the coaching advantage of David Blatt, but Coach Spo got his position with minimal experience, had 3 superstars and got his ass beat down by one of the best to ever coach the game this year.

James is in his prime now, why would he waste it on rookies/kids in Cleveland?

My man, longtime no see.

Some reports indicate that they might look to create a package, including Wiggins, to bring Kevin Love aboard.

That is something worth considering. A majority of the Cavs roster next year will be players with 3 years or less experience in the NBA, all but three players if they maintained the current roster and added LeBron James. That is great for the future, with all the youth and great promise the roster has shown, but none of the roster have proven if they are playoff good. I'm willing to bet they are with the addition of LeBron, but still a factor in a decision.

LeBron's first year in Miami also could be comparable to the Cavs current roster, except in place of young players you just had bums with minimal playoff experience(Joel Anthony, Mario Chalmers, Bibby was ancient). Chris Bosh entering his first season with the Heat could be comparable to where Kyrie Irving is, a player with great numbers but no(Kyrie)/poor(Bosh) playoff experience. Kyrie is also younger than Bosh was at this comparison and I'm willing to bet will be at least equal in terms of usefulness. The advantage is that D Wade was already an established veteran with a ring, that's something the Cavs don't offer. D Wade is not that player anymore and has played in 49, 69 and 54 games in each of the past three respective regular seasons. Dion Waiters has proven ability with great upside and Andrew Wiggins just arrived. Anthony Bennett could be something and the last year that LeBron and Varejao were on the same team, they both were top 5 in the league in +/-. Varejao played great off LeBron. The Cavs have potentially multiple first round picks next year and one the following year. The Cavs are also talent-loaded right now, thanks to the way the balls fall, and could explore a variety of trade options. No poor contracts are setup for the team right now, unless Kyrie busts out and is not worth his 5 yr/90 mil.

It has been awhile. Good to see you here man.

Come to Dallas Lebron & we'll get you another ring next season.

I wish that my Pelicans would sign some quality free agents, I would love to see us in the playoffs soon.

2010: The Decision

2014: The Indecision

Happy for Lebron and Cavs fans and glad it was announced it a decidedly more classy way, but more happy that this is finally fucking over.

This is history guys, history.

@LTomlinson21: Well shit. You appear to have been extremely correct.

I can't wait to watch the Heat win 20 games next year.

I think James think Wade is finished.