Here's a fun question to be discussed about 2014. I'd love YOUR take

[bigfoot5415]

If we acquire Love, Thompson will be gone. Period.

If we acquire Cousins, he and TT will both be on their rookie contracts next season.


TT will get similar money to what Favors will get in FA, if not a little less. Favors role has always been limited, but turned out decent numbers. He averages 9 pts and 6 rebs in 20 mpg in his career, but has always had that percieved upsdie because of his size and skill. I expect him to get around $11 mil per year in his next deal. As for TT, he will put up better numbers, because of his increasing playing time, but still considered undersized. He will get $9 or $10 mil per year (if not a deal similiar to Varejao's current).

What worries me is Kyrie getting 30% of the cap because of the Derrick Rose Rule after his current deal is up. Assuming the cap is @ $60 mil that year, we will owe him $18 mil.

The rule allows a player finishing his rookie contract to make 30 percent of a team's salary cap -- up from 25 percent -- if he's twice been voted an All-Star starter, twice been voted All-NBA or won an MVP award

We may have $28 mil commited to him and TT in 2015. Add 5 for Dion, 2 for Tyler, and say 8 for atleast two draft picks from now til then. Thats $43 mil for that core. Its hard to make a move unless it will be before everyone rookie contracts expire.

 

[apolo29]

lol derrick favors. Listen, when TT averages 15 12 next season he'll command near max, kyrie will command max, dion when he becomes a beast will easily command more than 5.

We get to add a mid tier free agent and our rookie who costs us little. I'm not positive when rookie contracts expire, but the year right after kyrie's and tristan's expires is the year we'll have the most raw talent in terms of number of talented players on this team, because dion will still be under rookie contract and our 2013 will be under rookie contract so we can sign one more guy. After that year, it's let somebody go time. Hopefully by then Kyrie dion and tristan are so good that quality > quantity

 

[STAT]

westbrook is slowly being observed for the chucker that he is. if they kept Harden instead, maybe. Ibaka is awesome, but not top 10 awesome

Stop it. The Thunder are young and very, very good. And that chucker gives you 22.5-8.5-5.5 with the 13th best PER in the league (1 spot better than Harden) in a little over 36 minutes a game while running the best offense in the league. Also, let's not forget that he hasn't missed a single basketball game in his adult life.

 

[Homestar]

Fine, I will eat poop on comparing that team to Brooklyn.

The point is – everyone seems to forget that come playoff time, it's all about half-court offense. And even if LeBron and Kyrie are the two best players in the league, surrounding him with two offensively challenged bigs like Thompson and Noel, is absolutely crippling. One garbage man big is fine, but two is not something you can live with in today's NBA.

And Waiters, as optimistic as I am, is nothing but an epic chucker until proven otherwise. Will he ever be able to shoot 45/38, or will he remain comparable to the Crawford brothers. Sure, Jamal is having a decent year now, after being in the league since 2000... but you get the point.

So surrounding two top 5 players with a chucker and two garbage men... it shocks me that everyone sees that as a team that will walk into the NBA Finals.

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

Stop it. The Thunder are young and very, very good. And that chucker gives you 22.5-8.5-5.5 with the 13th best PER in the league (1 spot better than Harden) in a little over 36 minutes a game while running the best offense in the league. Also, let's not forget that he hasn't missed a single basketball game in his adult life.

Lets not forget the same westbrook in the finals who instead of passing to the 3 time scoring champ or even Harden, kept throwing up jumpers that routinely bricked and lost the finals for them.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Fine, I will eat poop on comparing that team to Brooklyn.

The point is – everyone seems to forget that come playoff time, it's all about half-court offense. And even if LeBron and Kyrie are the two best players in the league, surrounding him with two offensively challenged bigs like Thompson and Noel, is absolutely crippling. One garbage man big is fine, but two is not something you can live with in today's NBA.

And Waiters, as optimistic as I am, is nothing but an epic chucker until proven otherwise. Will he ever be able to shoot 45/38, or will he remain comparable to the Crawford brothers. Sure, Jamal is having a decent year now, after being in the league since 2000... but you get the point.

So surrounding two top 5 players with a chucker and two garbage men... it shocks me that everyone sees that as a team that will walk into the NBA Finals.

The argument about Thompson being offensively challenged is starting to hold a lot less water than it used to. The kid has gotten much, much better on that end of the floor to the point where he's no longer a liability and can consistently put up 12+ points a night. As he continues to refine his game and become more consistent, he'll only get better, and that's not even taking into account any upgrades he makes to his game.

 

[STAT]

Lets not forget the same westbrook in the finals who instead of passing to the 3 time scoring champ or even Harden, kept throwing up jumpers that routinely bricked and lost the finals for them.

Westbrook lost the Finals for them? He averaged 27-6.6-6.4 and played with a ton of effort. Could he have passed even more to Durant (who still gave them 30.6 PPG)? Sure, you can almost always pass it more to Durant. But how can you even think to bring up Harden who was absolutely miserable in the Finals? Harden averaged 12.4 PPG on an abysmal 37.5% from the field and 3.6 APG.

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

Westbrook lost the Finals for them? He averaged 27-6.6-6.4 and played with a ton of effort. Could he have passed even more to Durant (who still gave them 30.6 PPG)? Sure, you can almost always pass it more to Durant. But how can you even think to bring up Harden who was absolutely miserable in the Finals? Harden averaged 12.4 PPG on an abysmal 37.5% from the field and 3.6 APG.

in game 4 shot attempts:
Westy:32
Durant:19
Harden:10
(they lost that one)
here is his dumb foul at the end of the game where he shot 14 more times than durant and 3 times as many as harden:
[video=youtube_share;120hy5EvIKA]http://youtu.be/120hy5EvIKA[/video]

maybe hardens low shot percentage came from westbrook trying to lebron-himself into victory?
Its also hard to assist when your PG is being a ballhog and chucking shots like CJ Miles

He is a great player but he is not top 10 in the league, MAYBE right now because rondo and d-rose are hurt, but if you include them then no way in hell

 

[Homestar]

The argument about Thompson being offensively challenged is starting to hold a lot less water than it used to. The kid has gotten much, much better on that end of the floor to the point where he's no longer a liability and can consistently put up 12+ points a night. As he continues to refine his game and become more consistent, he'll only get better, and that's not even taking into account any upgrades he makes to his game.

I agree... but how many of those points are coming on 15 foot jumpers, and by creating his own offense? If he's getting much better are cleaning up down low, that's phenomenal. But are we convinced that he is going to be a reliable jump shooter at any point? I don't think so, and that's why I wouldn't want to go anywhere near Nerlens in this draft.

@Auxillary –*Yes, that foul was stupid, but if you remember - Westbrook was absolutely insane in that game leading up to that. His effort was LeQuit vs Pistons Game 5-esque, up until that foul. They would have had no shot in that game if it wasn't for his epic performance.

@Moo - Sorry to assist in the hi-jacking of your thread.

Mo Williams vs. Irving = Obvious

Delonte vs. Waiters = Waiters is currently a bigger chucker than Jamison, but time will tell. As of now, Delonte was much better than Waiters at this time.

Old Varejao vs. Thompson = Pretty even here. Same type of player for the most part.

Z vs. New Varejao = Z was more of a traditional center, but Varejao's jumper has made them more similar. Hard to compare these two, but I can't say we would have beaten the Magic, as even the new and improved AV wouldn't have been able to cover Howard to save his life.

The primary difference here is that our current team has a superstar, and that one did not.

I don't bother comparing the benches because we are in the midst of a 4-year tank, which involves going out of the way not to build much of a bench.

 

[Jack Brickman]

http://vorped.com/bball/index.php/player/shotchart/1325-Tristan-Thompson?metric=zone_fg

There's his shot chart from the past 30 days.

 

[davedugan43]

I agree... but how many of those points are coming on 15 foot jumpers, and by creating his own offense? If he's getting much better are cleaning up down low, that's phenomenal. But are we convinced that he is going to be a reliable jump shooter at any point? I don't think so, and that's why I wouldn't want to go anywhere near Nerlens in this draft.

@Auxillary –*Yes, that foul was stupid, but if you remember - Westbrook was absolutely insane in that game leading up to that. His effort was LeQuit vs Pistons Game 5-esque, up until that foul. They would have had no shot in that game if it wasn't for his epic performance.

@Moo - Sorry to assist in the hi-jacking of your thread.

Mo Williams vs. Irving = Obvious

Delonte vs. Waiters = Waiters is currently a bigger chucker than Jamison, but time will tell. As of now, Delonte was much better than Waiters at this time.

Old Varejao vs. Thompson = Pretty even here. Same type of player for the most part.

Z vs. New Varejao = Z was more of a traditional center, but Varejao's jumper has made them more similar. Hard to compare these two, but I can't say we would have beaten the Magic, as even the new and improved AV wouldn't have been able to cover Howard to save his life.

The primary difference here is that our current team has a superstar, and that one did not.

I don't bother comparing the benches because we are in the midst of a 4-year tank, which involves going out of the way not to build much of a bench.

We made the Finals with Drew fucking Gooden. If we have two of the most defensively attention-drawing players in LeBron and Irving, Thompson will have PLENTY of chances to score. And you're also assuming the Nerlens would be a offensive liability. The current ballclub has offensive playmakers, and, while not many of them, this is a team that can put up 85-100 points a game with an average amount of turnovers. The problem with this Cavs team, as it has been all season, is the defense. I was bad with Varejao, and it is bad now. Noel helps us TREMENDOUSLY, and there is no arguing that if we were to get him. We missed out on Drummond, which I don't regret because I have really grown to like Dion's game. We need either a starting C, a starting SF (although, he could be designated to the bench in '14), or a backup PG/SG. I admire your skepticism, but Grant and coach Scott have my trust with this all-important draft, because I believe they hit on three of their four picks (not sold on Zeller, yet).

 

[Hydroponic3385]

I agree... but how many of those points are coming on 15 foot jumpers, and by creating his own offense? If he's getting much better are cleaning up down low, that's phenomenal. But are we convinced that he is going to be a reliable jump shooter at any point? I don't think so, and that's why I wouldn't want to go anywhere near Nerlens in this draft.

Very much to my surprise, Tristan has in fact improved a ton in regards to creating his own offense. The past 6 weeks or so he's demonstrated his ability to drive from the top of the key, and to create his own offense with his impressive hook shot from a number of spots on the floor. He's also much improved at getting his teammates involved with a nice pass. To say he's only getting better at "cleaning up down low" (i.e., garbage points from put-backs, getting fed right by the hoop) is significantly inaccurate and underrating his progress.

 

[Toph]

Delonte vs. Waiters = Waiters is currently a bigger chucker than Jamison, but time will tell. As of now, Delonte was much better than Waiters at this time.

Is this a joke? Waiters can be a chucker, but he's nowhere near Jamison in my opinion.

 

[MDLT]

For the love of God, stop doing this to yourselves.

 

[Huber.]

Kyrie/Vet
Shabazz/Dion
Vet/Gee
Lebron/Vet
TT/Zeller

After 2014 we let TT or Dion go.

It would be nice if Shabazz could play the 3 in the future if we got him but currently he can't at full time.