They can exceed the cap to retain their own free agents, so much if not all of Wade's and Haslem's salaries are are eligible to exceed the hard figure. The mid-level and bi-annual exceptions (I believe they used the former to sign Miller) are also not subject to the hard figure. Likewise, veteran minimum contracts (I believe Ziggy is playing for the min) are not subject to the cap figure. That said, there is also a second threshold above the cap figure for luxury tax and there are very few, if any, accounting rules to get around paying the dollar-for-dollar penalty for total salaries that exceed it. You'll see more wrangling and horse trading by GMs to avoid this number rather than the ostensible cap figure since it results in actual hard cash lost out of the owner's pocket. But that's just my layman's explanation. L.M. Coon is pretty much the authoritative source for salary cap questions. <a class="postlink" href="http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm</a>
I don't think they need a PG to do much more than shoot the ball. Wade and Lebron can both bring the ball up just fine, and both are good (hell, better than good, but not great) distributors. The most important thing they need is a PG who can go to the corners and jack up 3s. Eddie House would be perfect for them if they could get him. They are going to be a hell of a team, especially defensively. Lebron and Wade are basically the two best weak-side non-big shot blockers/help defenders around, Bosh is Bosh, Z is solid. Even giving them an average journeyman back up (like a Theo Ratliff kinda guy) for Z, and they are all set.
Spurs sign Tiago Splitter for 3 years $11 mill I've read a lot of reports saying he's the best big not in the NBA. I know I'm biased being a Spurs fan, but between him and James Anderson, I think the Spurs might again be a competing team. Thoughts? Anyone else seen Splitter play?
I've only seen the highlight reels, which make anyone look great. He may be the best big in Europe but the plain fact is he hasn't been playing against NBA level size and athleticism over there. The best part of this story is the dollar figure: Splitter was expected to command close to the full MLE and he signed for considerably less than that even after Minnesota raised the market with the Nikola Pekovic signing. Manu Ginobili - the best authority on the situation - has already laid out the two biggest challenges Splitter is going to have; adjusting to NBA defenses/rules and adjusting to Gregg Popovich's system. However, you can expect Splitter to get more quality PT over the course of the season than Blair or Hill did in their respective seasons if for no other reason than his skill set generally mirrors Tim Duncan: he may play just 10 minutes one night but play 40 the next according to TD's rest schedule. But with that said, Luis Scola was also a frontcourt-playing Spanish league MVP so the closest comparisons are going to be drawn right there. I'd be very surprised if he averages less than 10 pts and doesn't make All-Rookie. As for Anderson, the good news is no one is going to be counting on him to do much. Any production he can give is going to be pure gravy, and he might spend some good stretches of the season torching up the D-League. The Spurs already have Ginobili, Hill, and potentially a free-agent signee (using the money they didn't spend on Splitter) to play the bulk of off-guard minutes. Rumor is they're trying hard to get Tim Duncan's fellow Virgin Islander Raja Bell to come over and take Bruce Bowen's role as three-point sniper and ostensible Kobe Stopper. The Lakers also want him, though they have less cash to offer after signing Steve Blake to most of the MLE. However, what the Spurs can make up in take-home pay is offset by the opportunity to not have to guard Kobe Bryant at all with Los Angeles. Word is also coming down that Richard Jefferson is going to be signing for a cap-friendly figure by the end of the week. After paying an 8 million luxury tax bill this season, R.C. Buford has not only improved the Spurs' talent level he's doing it for less money than they paid a year ago. Anyone who thinks he's not the best General Manager in the league is going to be hard pressed to come up with a good explanation why not.
There's no way James Anderson is spending time in the D-League this year. Even with the guards already mentioned -- Bell is signing with Utah, by the way -- Anderson will be counted on to provide anywhere from 15-25 minutes a game for the Spurs. Yes that could fluctuate given players needs for rest, and/or his inability to pick up the Spurs' schemes as quick as Pop would like, but he won't be a D-League candidate.
I'm not saying he's going to get parked down there like Mahinmi did for two straight years (who was completely raw, by the way), but considering Malik Hairston is out of eligibility and guys like Garrett Temple* and Gee already have a little more seasoning to them I don't think it's out of the question that Pop would rather him get quality minutes in a Spurs-centric system than sit behind the bench in a suit for most of his rookie year. The Spurs' last two rookies - Hill and Blair - had up and down years themselves and that was when the Spurs were thin at those positions. The Spurs aren't going to be as pressed to send Anderson out there in this case. I'll admit it's probably going to come down to how he performs in training camp (missing summer league sucks for him) as to whether or not he suits up with the varsity, but remember also that the Spurs are probably the single best NBA franchise when it comes to utilizing their D-League team. Playing for the Toros isn't a punishment: 4 of the 15 Spurs that finished the season under contract with San Antonio had considerable Toros experience, and that's not even counting Marcus Williams who spent time in SA as well. *I'm reading that Pop just tagged Temple with the "my favorite player" tag that Hill has had for the past year or so.
This has to be one of the more hilarious things I've seen. It involves Chris Webber tooling on David Kahn, who failingly tried to back up his Darko signing. Look, I'm all for the abilities of special needs children -- I think we, as a society, honestly underestimate what they are capable of. But running an NBA franchise? I think the line basically has to be drawn at simply mainstreaming them.
How bout the timberwolves starting to completely rebuild with young players... They not going to be as talented as Oklahoma City but in a few years who knows, I think they may be a possible sleeper and sneak into the playoffs within 2 or 3 years. With Rubio soon? coming with flynn, beasley, ridnour, Wayne Ellington, Love and Wesley Johnson. Theres definitely some possible gems in there between Rubio (Who knows), Beasley(Not a huge fan but hes starting to develop), Wes Johnson and the rest of the guys. I give Kahn some credit besides the fact the he picked up Darko Milicic and the fact that he compared him to Vlade divac (Video in post above).. Talk about a dud.
Well, except this is the same GM who just foolishly traded his best player, Al Jefferson, for two future, highly protected first rounders. In addition to that, they also lost Ryan Gomes, one of their most consistent, best outside shooters and versatile starters. Wayne Ellington strikes me as a middling shooting guard talent that can do nothing except score...and he doesn't even do that particularly well. Ridnour is a decent back-up point guard and nothing more. Darko is a serviceable starting center at most. Corey Brewer and Kevin Love are very good players, but both are complementary, not major stars that can take over for portions of the game. Flynn is intriguing, but it's hard to tell after a point guard's rookie season. He could go the way of a Deron Williams or instead a Raymond Felton. As for Beasley, he actually regressed from his freshman to sophomore season, which is a dreadful sign. They certainly have talent (so does every team in the NBA), but their only shot to make the play-offs in the near future is if Flynn improves tremendously, and Beasley completely changes his personality and approach.
I definitely agree with the fact that their whole team is a huge gamble right now.. Basically their whole roster consists of players who haven't developed at all and that have big expectations and possibly not a great outcome as they are all somewhat new to the league. The question that arises is how are these budding talents Ellington, Beasley, Johnson, Love, Brewer, Flynn, and Rubio going to turn out. When you have a franchise like Minnesota where you only win 15 games in a season, one of the best things that they could've done is start to build ground up again which is why they traded Jefferson, even though he's definitely allstar material and it could end up being a terrible decision replacing him with Beasley of all people, although it can't get much worse than 15 wins unless your New Jersey. As of now their whole team is based on potential. Compared to last years team they have alot more pieces to work around. They now have 3 semi decent guards and 1 solid one. Ellington, Ridnour, Sessions, and then Flynn with the addition of Rubio whenever he comes. At forward they lost Jefferson and Gomes but gained Beasley, Johnson and Martell Webster. Again, all gambles especially Beasley if he still keeps the stick up his ass because he was the best in college and now only Sub-par in the NBA. Johnson, just like every other rookie again may not develop as is predicted or he may come out as a skinnier DeJuan Blair, I try not to doubt anyones skills. By no means is anyone going to match Jeffersons talent, but with a solid PF and C I think it could work If you compare last years roster to this one and base it what could happen through raw talent? (Which is stupid, since again this teams performance is going to be based on how they develop which could turn ugly) Then there is alot more high points for this years team than last and I think they should definitely double their total wins from last seasons. And im by no means a Timberwolves fan I just always enjoy a watching a young team develop.
It's interesting you mentioned Corey Brewer, because you write posts like he shoots free throws. But I'm sure the Timberwolves will be a great young team when Ricky Rubio decides he wants to come over and compete for either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th string point guard position.
Its interesting that you mentioned Corey Brewer. Everyone already knows Brewers a talented athlete. He's talented but hes a better all around athlete than all around basketball player. For a 6'9 guard/forward he averages 13 points, 3 rebounds in 30 minutes of play on a crappy team, which are not bad but not amazing stats. He's quicker and can jump higher than most which leads to alot of steals and dunking but as you mentioned hes a terrible free throw shooter. His defense is not great and he's not great at handling the ball. Alot of good players that aren't all stars put up much better stats in the same amount of minutes for the same amount or less turnovers. He's basically a much more skilled Jamario Moon. The guy's talented without a doubt but he isn't a huge standout player besides having the excitement factor. Just like the rest of his team hes got alot of potential and alot of improvement to do. Many other teams are completely rebuilding just as the timberwolves..The heat, the knicks Im not sure why you seemed to take offense to my post or something, it's not like I said there going to the championship, but watch they'll at least double their wins just like I said, Which isn't a huge feat considering they only had 15 wins but's its an initial step.
The problem isn't trading Jefferson, but only getting two future mid to late first rounders and a trade exception for him. That's awful in exchange for a young, top 10 big man with a good contract. Kahn's incompetence truly knows no bounds.
Allow me to get a little Mike Fratello on you and telestrate why it's hard to follow your posts...apart from the childish English. (Hint: "a lot" is two words.) I bolded your complimentary comments and underlined the negative ones. A cursory glance indicates the bad may outweigh the good, unless you've heard some NBA general managers rave about how "We got the best stealer and dunker in the draft!". I'm confused. Are you saying that there are players out there who can contribute as much as Corey Brewer without turning the ball over only 2.0 times per game (which isn't even that bad, really)? If so, you're kind of making the case against Brewer before you try to make it for him by comparing him to Jamario Moon for some strange reason (who averages about half as many turnovers, relatively speaking). Again, if he's so talented why do you make such a compelling case about all his shortcomings? And what's so exciting about seeing a guy bring the funk on a nasty dunk in a 20-pt blowout loss to someone like Memphis or Milwaukee? "Excitement factor" seems like a pretty low priority resume bullet for most GMs...though we are talking about David Kahn here. Uhh, the Heat are not rebuilding: they're now a widely regarded favorite to win the 2011 NBA title. As for doubling their win total to 30 wins? I think that would be a fantastic (though pathetic) moral victory for Minnesota, but here's the thing: someone has to be the bitch in the Western Conference prison shower, and it's not like Sacramento, Golden State, or the Clippers traded away their All-Star caliber players. So...I'm just saying.... And I've already explained one reason I don't like reading your posts: they make my brain hurt. Bums panhandling on the street for pocket change can write missives on a piece of cardboard that read more easily than what you've done with a computer. Put a little effort into sounding like an thoughtful fan instead of an illegal immigrant; I guarantee we'll be more receptive. Additionally, as I've tried to point out briefly here a lot (not "alot") of your points and observations run contrary to something you've said or will say in the previous or following sentences. Your inner monlogue is spilling onto the page, and when that happens it's understandably only going to make perfect sense to you...not us.
I was addressing the fact that, although Brewer is talented he's not enough to change the fact that Minnesota blows, which it seems like you tried to point out by your post before. Like I said I try not to knock anyones game to much, I play basketball myself and am pretty damn good, but I'm sure that I couldn't even make my D3 schools team considering I'm short and skinny, which is why I brought both his negative and positive characteristics to the table. Most of the guys points come off of steals, fastbreaks and dunks which there is nothing wrong with I guess, you need an exciting player to help brings fans to the stands, but overall he's just not the greatest basketball player. Why do you think Nate Robinson was such a fan favorite? I personally did not like him because he came off as annoying , but people liked him because he was an exciting player and could throw it down and actually bring some energy to the floor. When it comes down to shitty teams that don't win games having a player like Brewer will put some fans in the crowd. Seeing a nasty dunk may not be your cup of tea, but some people like that stuff especially when your home team blows. I compared him to moon because in a sense they both have similar features. Both are freak of nature athletes that dont really do much in the long run. Brewer doubles moons figures in most categories but also plays about double the minutes. Brewer also played on a lot** shittier team which everyone knows is easier to put stats up. Sorry David Lee your the man, but if he was on a better team there would be no chance he would put up the same figures as he did on the knicks. The heat weren't rebuilding? Im pretty sure that halfway through the season they didn't plan on having LBJ,Bosh and wade. Some people even expected Wade to leave so they were ready to start rebuilding. The way it ended up they didn't really have to do much work, they are long past the rebuilding phase now since they landed three allstars. I realize that my posts probably suck grammer wise, but I dont really go over them. It hurts my eyes to focus on the moniter for too long so I really don't even bother with proofreading or seeing how words and paragraphs sound.
I forgot to mention that the reason I brought up that I play basketball is cause even though we like to shit on players all over the league everyone of them is still about 10 times better than us with the exception of probably mark madsen. Also forgot to mention that if Brewer improves his shooting game which he has been besides his free throw percentage of course, he could get much more deadly as a player.
Neither is any one guy on their team. So what was the point? Those two statements contradict one another, no? Getting back to coherent and relevant NBA matters, Focus- According to Bodog's lines, Miami is a 7 to 4 favorite (36.4%) to win the title, and Lakers are 11 to 4. Seems roughly accurate, although the Heat might be worth a small bet.
Here's a very good article on Yahoo! detailing a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff surrounding the Heat's FA signings. Some highlights: Interesting how Ferry was primarily responsible for Mike Brown staying, not Gilbert. That was my favorite line in the whole article. Finally, someone in the media is willing to acknowledge this. Fucking really? I highly doubt Michael Jordan ever had problems focusing in the film room.
Right, after work I realized that some parts of my post were absolutely retarded but I still don't understand why I'm getting knocked for saying that Minnosota is going to be slightly, yet still not much better and addressing the fact the Corey Brewer is not that great. Im just sayin this years Timberwolves roster has more overall talent than lasts so don't be surprised if they aren't at the shit end of the stick this year. Anyways I agree, back to actual NBA matters and a little less of Brewer, no point of keeping something stupid going. Found that part interesting.I didn't really see that coming from LeBron I mean, I know he's not the brightest pickle in the bunch, but that seems a bit weird. For being a head of a franchise you would expect almost getting approval from Rose out of the question. It was like lebron was the kid that was always invited on the court to play , but would shoot buy himself until someone actually asked him to play. Side note: John Walls performance was pretty impressive last night. Its only preseason but if thats any type of indicator it may be a really, really good sign for the wizards.
Surprising? You mean you're surprised that LeBron James, the guy who's had the collective mouths of the basketball world on his Lil' Bron since he was learning to keep acne at bay, was off-put because Chicago's best player didn't fall over himself to convince James that he should play there? He didn't want Rose's approval; he wanted the unconditional servitude that he's used to getting from everyone else.