Official 2014 NBA OffSeason

[blotsfan 2,112]

Rockets are probably the biggest offseason loser other than the Heat.

[BwareDWare94 723]

^No. They're the biggest. LeBron had freedom. Parsons could be matched, and Houston decided to go Ariza instead of keep one of the best young 3s in the league.

 

Fucking Daryl Morey.

[Cherry 1,302]

Fuck Houston Guess it'll be the Raptors I pray for this year. They have a shot at least.

[butta54 371]

lol what does "I want to win the right way" even mean? A ring is a fucking ring. It doesn't look different or carry a different meaning based on how the team was assembled. All that matter is that that was the best team in that particular year. Can we stop with this purist bullshit?

 

I don't care what your philosophy is that is yours. I personally don't feel the same way, I believe in building through the draft and developing talent not going out trying to put together "super teams" In my eyes a ring is not just a ring when you don't earn it through true competition it means less to me. You can have whatever standards you want in Philly, these are the standards a lot of us have in Chicago

[badgers 380]

 

I agree Pau is an upgrade over Boozer, but still that type of offensive philosophy didn't help us win. Pau has to be a scoring option off the bench. You can't justify starting him over Taj or Noah. So I'm fine with him coming off the bench and running pick and pop or feeding him in the post. We just better not spend alot of money.

 

I went to Illinois State and watched him in our conference for four years. He is a diva and most of his teammates didn't like him despite what people say. He is cocky and until this year he really didn't show much of an arsenal. I like his fit with us, but I don't like him.

 

Chicago isn't about trying to buy championships. At our heart our sports do it from the ground up. We don't beg and chase. We didn't need a super team or a superstar. We needed to keep the core together and put pieces around them as they grow. Pau is a piece and I can be at peace with that. Melo was a star and I would not have been ok with that even if he averaged 100 points a night. I want to win, but I want to win the right way.

 

I agree with you that that's kind of the fan philosophy these days but when is the last time a Chicago team has one a championship by doing it like that? I don't even remember lol. Even the 90s Bulls dipped into FA effectively, nabbing Rodman. The days of relying on your draft are gone. Take the Blackhawks for example. We've won 2 of the last 5 Stanley Cups. Why? Because we have the most talented roster in the NHL. We have our flaws, sure, but as far as pure talent goes, the Blackhawks are at, or at least very near, the top. Obviously Toews, Kane, Keith, etc. were built here, and they're the major faces of the franchise. But we've added on too there. Hossa, Sharp, Oduya being prime example.

 

The days of building championship teams from the ground up are basically gone. You've gotta dip your hand into FA to win. It doesn't have to be frequently, but it sure as hell as to be effectively. As for the Bulls, it hasn't been all that effective over the past few years and we're seeing where it gets us. Perennial playoff team, perennial early exiters. If DRose can stay healthy we'll see. I wanted Melo as (at the very least) an insurance plan for Rose, and if Rose did stay healthy, we'd have double trouble in Chicago.

 

Anyways, about Pau I agree. I don't want to see him starting. Pau should get big minutes off the bench, though.

[56AceInDaPlace 110]

As long as he isn't taking away too many shots from Wall & Beal...

Lol i think u missed the joke

[Guest Phailadelphia]

I really dig the fact that Houston allegedly had shots at Lebron, Bosh, or Melo but somehow ended up with Ariza and lost Parsons. They legitimately got worse. And I love it.

 

 

 

I don't care what your philosophy is that is yours. I personally don't feel the same way, I believe in building through the draft and developing talent not going out trying to put together "super teams" In my eyes a ring is not just a ring when you don't earn it through true competition it means less to me. You can have whatever standards you want in Philly, these are the standards a lot of us have in Chicago

 

When you say it's not earned through "true competition" you seem to be implying that free agency is not a legal means of assembling a team (PS: It is.). And if you're a GM and you turn down Bron & Bosh, the owner couldn't fire you quick enough.

 

Likewise, you're a fool if you think Chicagoans would agree with you as GM turning down Bron.

[JetsFan4Life 542]

An 82 game season followed by roughly two months of playoff basketball is not true competition? It's not like some teams are allowed to compete in free agency and others are not.

[Bay 2,003]

I'll put this in spoilers because it's NHL related for badgers:

 

 

I was looking at the Blackhawks drafts lately and it's amazing at who they drafted of late.

 

2002 :Duncan Keith round 2

2003: Brent Seabrook round 1, Corey Crawford round 2, Dustin Byfuglien ROUND 8

2004: Dave Bolland, Bryan Bickell round 2

2005: Niklas Hjalmarsson round 4

2006: Obviously Toews

2007: Obviously Kane

2008: Ben Smith round 6

2009: Marcus Kruger round 5

2011: Brandon Saad round 2, Andrew Shaw round 5

 

God damn they know how to draft and more importantly develop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[badgers 380]

I'll put this in spoilers because it's NHL related for badgers:

 

 

I was looking at the Blackhawks drafts lately and it's amazing at who they drafted of late.

 

2002 :Duncan Keith round 2

2003: Brent Seabrook round 1, Corey Crawford round 2, Dustin Byfuglien ROUND 8

2004: Dave Bolland, Bryan Bickell round 2

2005: Niklas Hjalmarsson round 4

2006: Obviously Toews

2007: Obviously Kane

2008: Ben Smith round 6

2009: Marcus Kruger round 5

2011: Brandon Saad round 2, Andrew Shaw round 5

 

God damn they know how to draft and more importantly develop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not implying that it's not important to develop who you draft. I'm trying to make a point that you can't rely on it entirely. Our ability to draft and develop as well as sign important core players in free agency is what puts the Blackhawks amongst the most talented teams in hockey. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

 

Edit- And just so people don't think this is off topic, I believe my point relates to all four major sports, not just my example sport of hockey.

Edited July 14, 2014 by badgers

[Bay 2,003]

I just wanted to share that I was looking at it the other day basically. That's it.

 

Just Marvel at the genius of the Blackhawks.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Bay

[Mathias 394]

When does Heat ownership seriously think about tossing Pat Riley to the fucking curb? His spending is getting out of hand.

[Bangy 19]

Fuck sake Loul why the hell did you go to the Heat, now I have to fucking hate you too......

 

Obviously a huge gap in level between James and Deng, however they got a scorer/support for Bosh. That tandem could work nice especially if Wade is resigned, they could still be a problem.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Arz

[Bucman 891]

Heat are vastly overpaying a lot the guys that are signing there. Bosh is gonna be making bank at 35

[Cherry 1,302]

This "build through the draft" is the most purist bullshit I've heard all year. I guess the Broncos should've held off on the Manning sweepstakes cause Brock Osweiler was the PURE thing to do.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Fuck

Daryl

Morey

[Guest Phailadelphia]

Decent piece on Morey.

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-best-way-to-understand-daryl-morey/

[Milla4Prez63 678]

No way the Heat kick out Riley. The only man in the NBA with more clout in their organization than him is Pop.

Daryl Morey got clowned this offseason and it's funny. I guess nobody wants to go play with that prima donna Dwight.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

^ And it's not just that. GMs straight up don't want to deal with Morey. I've seen lots of national writers talking about this on Twitter - other GMs are to the point that they don't even take his calls anymore.

[blotsfan 2,112]

Yeah he's ridiculous in trades. Apparently he once asked for a star player and all he offered in return was a one year rental, a mediocre prospect, and a mid-first ound pick.

 

Could you imagine?

[BwareDWare94 723]

I'm so fucking pissed about losing Chandler Parsons. He's right up there with Kahwi as far as best young 3s in the league are concerned.

 

LAS VEGAS -- Chandler Parsons will arrive in Dallas with a three-year, $46 million deal and plenty of motivation after being "offended" by the Houston Rockets during the restricted free-agency process.

Parsons told Yahoo! Sports that it bothered him that Houston, which declined its right to match the Dallas Mavericks' offer and allowed Parsons to go to the Rockets' Interstate 45 rivals, made it clear the franchise didn't consider Parsons good enough to be the third-best player on a championship contender.

"Honestly, I was offended by the whole process," Parsons told Yahoo! Sports on Monday. "They publicly said that they were going out looking for a third star when I thought they had one right in front of them. I guess that's just how they viewed me as a player. I don't think I've scratched the surface of where I can be as a player and I think I'm ready for that role.

"You can't knock them for always trying to get better. [Houston general manager] Daryl Morey is very aggressive, is a genius, a great GM and I have nothing but respect for those guys. And they are looking to make their team better. That's what they were doing. I just thought I could be that guy that could do that."

The Rockets would have matched the offer to Parsons if Houston had successfully recruited All-Star power forward Chris Bosh to join center Dwight Howard and shooting guard James Harden as the franchise's proven stars.

However, once Bosh opted to re-sign with the Miami Heat, Morey reconsidered his intention to keep Parsons, valuing future salary-cap flexibility over a 25-year-old small forward who averaged 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game last season.

The Mavs, meanwhile, made Parsons their top priority after long-shot attempts to woo superstars Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. Dallas got Parsons to agree to the offer sheet July 9, forcing the Rockets to make a difficult decision.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban met Parsons in the player's hometown of Orlando, Florida, just after midnight July 10 to make the offer sheet official as soon as possible.

"They really showed how much they cared for me," Parsons told Yahoo! Sports. "They didn't want me to wait for Bosh. They didn't want me to wait for Melo. They came forward first."

The Mavs had to hold their breath until Sunday afternoon for Houston to make its decision, even after the Rockets acquired a more affordable small forward, signing Trevor Ariza to a four-year, $32 million deal.

Now that the dust has settled, Cuban says he is pleased things turned out the way they did.

"It feels good," Cuban said. "We obviously value him very highly. We think he's going to contribute a lot."

Cuban said Parsons was their No. 1 target with a specific reason in mind.

"I looked at all the main guys that were young that we thought would be available, and we loved his game," Cuban said. "We liked him the best of all the free agents, and that was point one.

"When you looked at the numbers relative to Houston's cap position, he seemed the most obtainable."

While the Mavs had to wait out the restricted free-agency process for almost the full three days, there was a sense they ultimately would get their man.

"No, because we did the numbers," Cuban replied when asked whether he was surprised to get Parsons. "We knew what the numbers were. We knew, based off the numbers, they were going to have to make some tough choices."

Cuban added that had he been in the Rockets' shoes, he would have matched the Mavs' offer sheet.

In a possible attempt at damage control after the Rockets' decision, Morey said he didn't believe Parsons could be the third-best player for a title contender.

"I'm not going to go there," Cuban said. "Daryl is entitled to his opinion. That's the way it goes."

While Cuban and Morey might disagree on their Parsons projections, their two teams both are in the market for another forward.

Sources have told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the Mavs and Rockets have barged into the Mike Miller sweepstakes. The attempt is to acquire a perimeter-oriented small forward and keep James' sharpshooting teammate from Miami away from Cleveland.

Last season, the Rockets preferred to keep Parsons on the floor as much as possible, playing him 37.6 minutes per game. That ranked seventh-most in the league and was 1.1 minute per game shy of league leader Anthony.

Mavs guard Monta Ellis ranked eighth at 36.9 minutes per game.

"He's the old Nellie [Don Nelson] point-forward, personified," Cuban said regarding Parsons. "It gets us younger. The good news about all of the experience we had, it really allowed us to modify and give the Spurs a run for their money last year. The bad news is that we had to restrict minutes. Restricting minutes was the big challenge.

"He's a guy that we can keep out there a lot longer. With Vince [Carter], 'Trix [shawn Marion] and Dirk [Nowitzki], we really had to balance minutes."

"I don't care," Cuban said. "I just want to win. He's the same way. He wants to be an All-Star, Monta wants to be an All-Star, Dirk doesn't want to be an All-Star. We just want to win."

Parsons' versatility on offense has drawn widespread praise, but Cuban said he could be underrated on defense.

"He's a willing defender," Cuban said. "One of the reasons I went after him, one of the things I did, I went and talked to all of the scorers that I know and I asked who defended them the best and list the top three, and Chandler was on the list a few times. He's not a shutdown defender, but he's a work-hard defender. He's an irritant.

"I think Coach will do a lot better job with stances, Coach will get on him," Cuban said of Rick Carlisle. "We do a lot of drills for the little stuff like that."

Parsons is eager to play for a franchise that believes he can blossom into a star and envisions an expanded role for him.

"Dallas is the perfect match to where I am in my career," Parsons told Yahoo! Sports. "It's where I can take that next step. They have a great organization. Mark is the best owner in all of sports. I get a chance to play with Dirk for however much longer he has. It will be unbelievable to learn and grown from him and the guys they have.

"We got a chance to win. Coach Carlisle is the best coach in the NBA. It's the perfect situation for me. I'm ready for more leadership. I'm ready for a bigger role. They came at me with a high max offer and viewed me as a franchise player. That's what I wanted."

 

 

Houston did not need another star, to contend. They needed a couple of nice bench players--hopefully good wing defenders. Now they have a significantly worse starting lineup, and no bench, whatsoever.

Fuck you, Daryl Morey.

[seanbrock 1,684]

At this rate I'd be absolutely floored if Houston makes the playoffs. I have to say though, Dwight Howard deserves this. I hope Rockets suck and he plays out the rest of career as a relevant player on a dog shit team in a stacked West.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Let's also consider Morey's history of botching things.

I don't care anyone says, the Kevin Martin trade was never worth it. Maybe he'd have topped out as the bench player he is, now, but Carl Landry was considered a young rising star as Houston's 4 in his last year, here.

Let's also not forget about choosing Jeremy Lin over Goran Dragic or Kyle Lowry with a very reasonable contract.

Mostly bad draft picks--either because they don't develop or he jettisons them before they ever can.

Morey's genius is situational and sporadic--not constant.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

I really don't think Morey is that bad. Parsons aside, things were really out of his control, can't blame him for taking risks.

 

And even as far as Parsons is concerned, its pretty clear by how limited his role has been with the Rockets that they didn't have that much faith in him. No way they were going to pay him that money, and frankly, I don't blame them.

[Milla4Prez63 678]

The Parsons thing is a big screwup, IMO. I'd rather have just matched Parsons and kept their core together than sign Ariza and let Parsons walk.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Milla4Prez63