NBA Season 2015-16

[wco81]

Riley may be secretly okay with Wade leaving because they're going to have to play without him eventually.

Lot of cap space next year, especially if Bosh can't play.

Have some good young players but no star power. Fickle Miami fans may abandon the team unless Riley can sign some big stars next year.

As for Westbrook, he'll fill up the stat sheet and sell tickets but not sure he's the cornerstone. We'll see but OKC seems likely to be a 40-50 win team, more closer to 40 wins than 50 wins, end up 7th or 8th seed or out of the playoffs.

OKC needs him to sell tickets but if their upside is at the bottom of the playoffs, it might be better to trade him and go for a high lotto pick instead of being a treadmill team. Thunder rose to the heights because they had high lotto picks in Durant, Westbrook and Harden. They haven't had high picks in awhile now.

[Rodster]

Riley may be secretly okay with Wade leaving because they're going to have to play without him eventually.

Lot of cap space next year, especially if Bosh can't play.

Have some good young players but no star power. Fickle Miami fans may abandon the team unless Riley can sign some big stars next year.

As for Westbrook, he'll fill up the stat sheet and sell tickets but not sure he's the cornerstone. We'll see but OKC seems likely to be a 40-50 win team, more closer to 40 wins than 50 wins, end up 7th or 8th seed or out of the playoffs.

OKC needs him to sell tickets but if their upside is at the bottom of the playoffs, it might be better to trade him and go for a high lotto pick instead of being a treadmill team. Thunder rose to the heights because they had high lotto picks in Durant, Westbrook and Harden. They haven't had high picks in awhile now.

Agreed !

Although in today's instant gratification sports world, everyone is fickle. Which explains why NBA coaches last on average 3 years max. An interesting stat, Eric Spoelstra and Greg Popovich are the 2 longest tenured coaches currently in the NBA.

Riley chose Whiteside as the team's cornerstone over Wade and i'm fine with that. He was on the decline and even with him the team would have been lucky to get out of the 1st rd of the playoffs. I can see Miami now matching Brooklyn's offer on Tyler Johnson and if he develops into a solid combo guard and perhaps an all-star he'll be worth the $20 million in years 3 and 4. If not he could be used as trade bait. But yeah Miami has some really good young players and the are perhaps the only NBA team to really leverage their D-League team as a farm system. Briante Weber is another combo guard who Miami has high hopes for.

What Miami currently lacks are depth at the 3 and 4 spots. Josh McRoberts doesn't seem to blend well into the system but a lot of that could have been Wade hogging the ball and slowing down the offense. Now Dragic can play at full speed which is what he does best.

[Rodster]

Any opinions on the NBA's new Hack-O-Shaq rules for this year? I personally think they should have left it alone. It makes a player and should be on the player to learn how to make FT's. You didn't hear Hassan Whiteside complaining anymore after he learned how to make FT's.

So supposedly from what I read, it applies to the last 2 mins of each quarter and jumping on the back of a player with the ball will be treated as a flagrant foul and the team keeps possession after the FT.

[pk500]

The new rules are a necessary evil. Sure, guys should just learn to shoot free throws. But the Hack-a-Jordan and Hack-a-Drummond tactics, while effective, ruined the flow of games and diminished the TV product.

[Diablo25]

Dario Saric officially signing on Friday. Man, my Sixers are going to be a totally different squad this season.
New to the squad:
Simmons
Bayless
Rodriguez
Henderson
Embiid
Saric
Simmons
Luwawu-Cabarrot

[Rodster]

Any thoughts on the Heat signing Dion Waiters for the $2.9m exception? The #4 overall pick in 2012 and at 24 y/o is playing for his 3rd team.

[wco81]

He needs to turn his career around or he'll be labeled a bust, if he hasn't been already.

Does Riley want Bosh to come back or would he rather get the cap space back and make a run at big free agents after next season?

[Rodster]

Does Riley want Bosh to come back or would he rather get the cap space back and make a run at big free agents after next season?

The simple answer is yes if he can medically play without a recurrence of blood clot issues. He's a proven perennial all-star and those types of players sell other types of all-stars to join the team. It's why Riley paid him a max contract. It's how he lured Deng to join the Heat.

The question is can he play without having anymore clotting issues and there are already question marks because supposedly Bosh's doctors have suggested a new anti clotting drug that quickly leaves the system before game time. So that right there is a giant red flag.

And that's the key, if he steps on the court his salary cap numbers reset for another year. He's getting paid regardless and Riley needs to know 100% if his medical issues are over. No one knows for sure, not even his doctors.

[pk500]

He needs to turn his career around or he'll be labeled a bust, if he hasn't been already.

Does Riley want Bosh to come back or would he rather get the cap space back and make a run at big free agents after next season?

Riles wants Bosh back. Any GM would want Bosh back. He played VERY well last season before the blood clots recurred, and he's more important than ever to the Heat's present and future without Wade. He's also a quality dude in the locker room, a real leader.

[wco81]

If Bosh can regain his form, sure.

But if he is unable to play most of this season, he'll be 33 at the end of March so his time would be running out even if he didn't have this health issue.

For long-term planning, could they expect all-star level performance for more than 2 seasons?

[Rodster]

For long-term planning, could they expect all-star level performance for more than 2 seasons?

Why not?

At 34 y/o Wade played at AS levels last year garnering the name "Father Prime" in Miami. Not playing means no NBA mileage on the body.

[pk500]

If Bosh can regain his form, sure.

But if he is unable to play most of this season, he'll be 33 at the end of March so his time would be running out even if he didn't have this health issue.

For long-term planning, could they expect all-star level performance for more than 2 seasons?

I'm sure there's a clause where Bosh's contract cap space can be freed if he retires due to health reasons.

As for long-term planning, it depends on whether Miami wants to tank. I don't see that in Riley's makeup.

[Rodster]

I'm sure there's a clause where Bosh's contract cap space can be freed if he retires due to health reasons.

As for long-term planning, it depends on whether Miami wants to tank. I don't see that in Riley's makeup.

From what i've read it's an NBA rule that if a player retires or medically can't play his cap space comes off the books 1 year from when he last stepped on the court. So the Heat have to wait till next Feb 12 I believe before that cap space is freed up.

And it's not in Riley's DNA to tank. A bad season like 2 years ago when Lebron left, sure but to purposely tank to get a high lottery pick, hell no. I wish he did though as supposedly this is a quality draft next year and Riley needs to stop giving away 1st rd picks.

[pk500]

From what i've read it's an NBA rule that if a player retires or medically can't play his cap space comes off the books 1 year from when he last stepped on the court. So the Heat have to wait till next Feb 12 I believe before that cap space is freed up.

Perfect timing. Just before the trade deadline. But I hope Bosh can play. I REALLY like that dude. Such an interesting, smart, well-rounded guy off the court, with far more interests than just basketball.

[dbdynsty25]

The Heat cannot tank too bad, as they owe Phoenix a couple 1st rounders over the next few years. If they forgot about that, then go right ahead and suck!

[Rodster]

The Heat cannot tank too bad, as they owe Phoenix a couple 1st rounders over the next few years. If they forgot about that, then go right ahead and suck!

The Heat have next years pick as they're not allowed to give away two consecutive 1st rd picks. So tanking is OK by me.

[pk500]

I know it may rub Suns' fans (such as DB) the wrong way, but I was happy to see STAT retire as a Knick today. He embraced New York at a time no free agent would, and he led the Knicks to some solid, fun seasons under D'Antoni.

[dbdynsty25]

I know it may rub Suns' fans (such as DB) the wrong way, but I was happy to see STAT retire as a Knick today. He embraced New York at a time no free agent would, and he led the Knicks to some solid, fun seasons under D'Antoni.

Amazingly it doesn't. He was run out of town when the Suns couldn't get his knees insured so I don't really blame him for being sour w the Suns. Turns out the Suns made the right decision.

[pk500]

I know it may rub Suns' fans (such as DB) the wrong way, but I was happy to see STAT retire as a Knick today. He embraced New York at a time no free agent would, and he led the Knicks to some solid, fun seasons under D'Antoni.

Amazingly it doesn't. He was run out of town when the Suns couldn't get his knees insured so I don't really blame him for being sour w the Suns. Turns out the Suns made the right decision.

STAT had two damn good years with the Knicks. Then his knees crumbled, and Carmelo arrived to become the alpha dog.

[dbdynsty25]

I know it may rub Suns' fans (such as DB) the wrong way, but I was happy to see STAT retire as a Knick today. He embraced New York at a time no free agent would, and he led the Knicks to some solid, fun seasons under D'Antoni.

Amazingly it doesn't. He was run out of town when the Suns couldn't get his knees insured so I don't really blame him for being sour w the Suns. Turns out the Suns made the right decision.

STAT had two damn good years with the Knicks. Then his knees crumbled, and Carmelo arrived to become the alpha dog.

Yup, he did, but he also signed a 5 year deal which means he had 3 years of bad knees, which is what the Suns were afraid of. That was the reason I said it was a smart basketball move in Phoenix, and why he would retire as a Knick and not a Sun. Hell, he's one of my favorite players ever...and it was fantastic when my mom was working there because I went up and got Stat's autograph on my jersey when he was standing next to Shaq. LOL...kind of surprised the Diesel that I skipped over him. Still hanging in my office to this day.

[pk500]

Very cool.

[dbdynsty25]

Interesting development. Guess he is retiring a Knick as a fallback option. Lol.

http://www.thescore.com/nba/news/106673 ... t-want-him

Would have been cool to see him back in Phoenix like LB and Dudley but alas it was not to be.