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It's on like a mofo: NBA edition...Lebron opts out of Miami


Buftex

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Bosh agrees to max deal with HEAT. See fellas, what I tell you. GreggyT I'm talking to you! Riley had something up his sleeve after all as a plan B! I'll certainly admit that I'm surprised it was Bosh though. Thought he was HOU bound for sure. I think people forget how good Bosh was in Toronto when he was the main man and not the 3rd fiddle.

 

How great would it be if they could add one or two more impact guys (assuming Wade returns as well) and they were able to battle the Cavs in the Conference finals this year? Especially if they got Stephenson with how he and LeBron battled this year. That would be a very interesting series indeed.

This is not a good plan B, not at all, at least from where I sit. 5 year, max deal on a guy who suddenly thinks he's a stretch four and plays softer and softer in the post. If anything, this was a desperate move by Riles. Wade might bolt for Chicago now, though I don't believe it, if he does that puts a ton on Cole's shoulders, and Napier's. That's a disaster of a squad.

Edited by GreggyT
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I think you are confusing how they wanted to Bosh to play with LeBron on the team and how he will be utilized without LeBron on the team. I see him going back to his playing style with the Raptors (his last season there he was 24 PPG, 10.8 Boards, and 2.4 Assists. That's pretty impressive), and if so, well worth max money in my opinion. With LeBron they wanted a spread out floor to set up his and Wade's penetration and kick outs. A great coach will coach to their teams strengths, and I believe we'll see a different philosophy next year. I wouldn't completely discredit Granger's skills as of yet either.

 

As I stated before I'll defer to Riley's knowledge and the fact that he's built winners over and over and over again. Let's wait to see how it pans out when all is said and done this off season before we proclaim it a failure. I doubt they are done. And remember, I only said playoff caliber this year and I think they are well on their way to getting there now.

Edited by Mark80
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I think you are confusing how they wanted to Bosh to play with LeBron on the team and how he will be utilized without LeBron on the team. I see him going back to his playing style with the Raptors, and if so, well worth max money in my opinion. With LeBron they wanted a spread out floor to set up his and Wade's penetration and kick outs. A great coach will coach to their teams strengths, and I believe we'll see a different philosophy next year.

 

As I stated before I'll defer to Riley's knowledge and the fact that he's built winners over and over and over again.

 

I'm not arguing against Riley, but even he'll tell you no one wins all the time. And in the NBA you have to bottom out before you can improve, second round purgatory is the worst place to be and that's what Miami is staring in the face for quite awhile. They're going to have to pay Wade, he left too much money on the table and is a Heat for life. If they give Wade a max deal they're stupid, and Riley isn't stupid, but they'll have to do something to appease Wade's ego. That doesn't leave enough money to make a run for Arizia and they don't have assets to get Monroe (and why would they want Monroe anyway). Riley is smart enough to see that the Free Agent class in two years which will include KD, Damion Lilard, Beal, and (maybe) Love is the earliest relief coming Miami's way, at least in terms of championship aspirations.

 

They have no wing player that scares anyone right now, and you can't win without at least one of those, and they lost whatever defense they had when James walked out the door. Bosch is a good, sometimes great, defender, but he's a mediocre offensive player -- and that's with James spacing the floor. As the roster stands now, considering Wade's knees, he's the only offensive threat which means he'll be double teamed all day long. His affection for the three point shot this season was not by design, even Spulstra would tell you that (as he did many times in the season) but it came because Bosch spent the summer working on it and wanted to make it a weapon.

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I'm not arguing against Riley, but even he'll tell you no one wins all the time. And in the NBA you have to bottom out before you can improve, second round purgatory is the worst place to be and that's what Miami is staring in the face for quite awhile. They're going to have to pay Wade, he left too much money on the table and is a Heat for life. If they give Wade a max deal they're stupid, and Riley isn't stupid, but they'll have to do something to appease Wade's ego. That doesn't leave enough money to make a run for Arizia and they don't have assets to get Monroe (and why would they want Monroe anyway). Riley is smart enough to see that the Free Agent class in two years which will include KD, Damion Lilard, Beal, and (maybe) Love is the earliest relief coming Miami's way, at least in terms of championship aspirations.

 

They have no wing player that scares anyone right now, and you can't win without at least one of those, and they lost whatever defense they had when James walked out the door. Bosch is a good, sometimes great, defender, but he's a mediocre offensive player -- and that's with James spacing the floor. As the roster stands now, considering Wade's knees, he's the only offensive threat which means he'll be double teamed all day long. His affection for the three point shot this season was not by design, even Spulstra would tell you that (as he did many times in the season) but it came because Bosch spent the summer working on it and wanted to make it a weapon.

 

Personally, this move screams desperation to keep ticket sales and fans. Bosh hasn't been worth that in 4 years, and I doubt he'll be better without Bron taking on doubles.

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Personally, this move screams desperation to keep ticket sales and fans. Bosh hasn't been worth that in 4 years, and I doubt he'll be better without Bron taking on doubles.

Completely agree. It's something to appease the fan base while they wait for a better FA class to rebuild, or at least a better trade market. Right now there's no one left available who would suddenly make Miami anything more than a middling seed in the Eastern Conference.

Edited by GreggyT
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Well, I'm just going to have to respectfully disagree here. I think Bosh will be back in old form and return to being an offensive force. Battle for a scoring title? No. But give them 22-25 PPG, yes. They didn't want him posting up the last few years and clogging up the middle, that is going to change. If it doesn't Spoelstra is an idiot. And I don't think Spoelstra is an idiot at all (in fact I think he's very underrated). There is no way Wade is signing for max money, somewhere around $10 is going to be the number, they will have money to add more pieces. Obviously though, I'm not convincing you and you're not convincing me though so I'm going to let it rest at that. We'll just see how it plays out! (Let's not forget that Rondo is most likely available right now and certainly over the course of the season).

 

I like Monroe though and think he could be a very effective big man in his next contract. He's just been hidden on a horrible team.

Edited by Mark80
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Well, I'm just going to have to respectfully disagree here. I think Bosh will be back in old form and return to being an offensive force. Battle for a scoring title? No. But give them 22-25 PPG, yes. They didn't want him posting up the last few years and clogging up the middle, that is going to change. If it doesn't Spoelstra is an idiot. And I don't think Spoelstra is an idiot at all (in fact I think he's very underrated). There is no way Wade is signing for max money, somewhere around $10 is going to be the number, they will have money to add more pieces. Obviously though, I'm not convincing you and you're not convincing me though so I'm going to let it rest at that. We'll just see how it plays out! (Let's not forget that Rondo is most likely available right now and certainly over the course of the season).

 

I like Monroe though and think he could be a very effective big man in his next contract. He's just been hidden on a horrible team.

In Bosch's best year in Toronto he was only putting up 24/10 -- prior to that his best year was 22/10. Only three times in his career has he finished a season averaging a double double -- all of those came when he was a Raptor. For a guy that big, that smooth offensively, an someone being paid a max deal for 5 years, he should be getting 12 rebounds a game and 2 blocks to go along with 25 points. Minimum.

 

He's never done any of those things before, to think he'll magically do it now that he's the focal point of a depleted team is probably why you're a Bills fan. You believe in the impossible. And I can't fault you for that. :beer:

Edited by GreggyT
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In Bosch's best year in Toronto he was only putting up 24/10 -- prior to that his best year was 22/10. Only three times in his career has he finished a season averaging a double double -- all of those came when he was a Raptor. For a guy that big, that smooth offensively, an someone being paid a max deal for 5 years, he should be getting 12 rebounds a game and 2 blocks to go along with 25 points. Minimum.

 

He's never done any of those things before, to think he'll magically do it now that he's the focal point of a depleted team is probably why you're a Bills fan. You believe in the impossible. And I can't fault you for that. :beer:

 

Can't argue with that!

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In Bosch's best year in Toronto he was only putting up 24/10 -- prior to that his best year was 22/10. Only three times in his career has he finished a season averaging a double double -- all of those came when he was a Raptor. For a guy that big, that smooth offensively, an someone being paid a max deal for 5 years, he should be getting 12 rebounds a game and 2 blocks to go along with 25 points. Minimum.

 

He's never done any of those things before, to think he'll magically do it now that he's the focal point of a depleted team is probably why you're a Bills fan. You believe in the impossible. And I can't fault you for that. :beer:

 

Not too mention if Riley lost 2 of the big 3 this offseason, Heat fans would go extinct.

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All the pundits still think Bennett is the real deal.

 

Really? Who? I've only seen him called a bust or a question mark at best. Seriously, it's not that I don't believe you, I just haven't heard anyone say that as of yet.

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All the pundits still think Bennett is the real deal.

Really? Who? I've only seen him called a bust or a question mark at best. Seriously, it's not that I don't believe you, I just haven't heard anyone say that as of yet.

 

I tend to agree, all the buzz I've ever heard about him from nba talking heads on the west coast was how his offensive ability is suspect at best. The Lakers had him scouted as an undrafted FA that year (if the rumors can be believed) because of his lack of offensive talent.

 

That said, he's super young and physically gifted. He can learn to score, he just will never be a force. Lebron will make that moot though, Bennett won't need to score now, he can just focus on rebounding and cleaning up the trash.

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So, I just heard (sorry if I am late to the party on this) that LeBron signed a two year deal with the Cavs, with an option after the first year.... what do you think? Back to Miami in 2016? Or 2017?

Edited by Buftex
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absolutely not...he signed a 2 year deal to allow him to get a more max deal in 2 years...2 years ago the max was 18MM/year, 2 years later it is 20.7MM/year, 2 years from now it might be ~ 24MM/year...why should lebron sign a 5 year max deal and make 21MM while 2 years from now someone can sign for 24MM? simply a financial move for him, no reason he should not continue to be paid the highest the league allows

 

So, I just heard (sorry if I am late to the party on this) that LeBron signed a two year deal with the Cavs, with an option after the first year.... what do you think? Back to Miami in 2016? Or 2017?

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absolutely not...he signed a 2 year deal to allow him to get a more max deal in 2 years...2 years ago the max was 18MM/year, 2 years later it is 20.7MM/year, 2 years from now it might be ~ 24MM/year...why should lebron sign a 5 year max deal and make 21MM while 2 years from now someone can sign for 24MM? simply a financial move for him, no reason he should not continue to be paid the highest the league allows

 

Thanks...I will never understand the NBA salary cap stuff... but, "LeBron watch" is sort of becoming like the Olympics... what you say makes perfect sense, but I will say, as much as I love LeBron going back to the Cavs, it is one of the truly surprising moves I can remember in all of sports...when I started this thread a month or so ago, I was blasting him (sort of) for bailing on the Heat (though I loathe them), never imagining he would really ever return to Cleveland. I was assured by many, "no way" he leaves Miami...they said he, Bosh and Wade were all angling to make the Miami salary cap more beneficial to sign better free agents...it seemed logical...

 

Of course, I never thought LeBron would leave Cleveland four years ago...great basketball player that he is, he is pretty hard to read. So, while what you say makes sense, I guess I won't be shocked if there is another LeBron watch in 2016, or 2017. He has yet to do anything I expected him to do.

 

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but if you think about it, maybe LeBron had this planned all along...figured the Cavs weren't going to get past Boston in the East, swing over to Miami for a few years to play with Wade, hopefully win a championship or two, and give the Cavs time to get their salary cap back in shape, get some high draft picks, and then he can comeback when they are re-loaded... either way, I hope it works out in Cleveland. Provided they aren't playing Boston (my team, a long way from contending for anything I fear), I can always root for the Cavs. Pulled for them when LeBron was their the first time around...he is a better player now than he was then...this could be fun. The East being as weak as it is, the Cavs should be a serious threat to the finals in the next year or two...

Edited by Buftex
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Stephenson to Charlotte. As a Pacers fan I say good riddance. So sick of this dudes antics, his extremely sloppy and out of control play, and his inexplicable turnovers. The other players on the team clearly did not gel with this guy and I feel that this is truly an addition by subtraction sort of scenario for the Pacers. He definitely had his moments / games that were extraordinary though and production will need to be replaced.

 

Next man up!

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Really? Who? I've only seen him called a bust or a question mark at best. Seriously, it's not that I don't believe you, I just haven't heard anyone say that as of yet.

 

I read a few articles on Espn this offseason where a few guys basically said, "don't write Bennett off; he has a lot of talent." I was surprised because I think most people saw him as a reach and then a bust.

 

Apparently, some pundits like his chances at turning it around; given his summer league performance, they might be right.

 

I will try to dig up the articles I read.

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