Nitro

Being from the NY area, it's really, really sad to see him go. He's been the soul of this Yankees team for decades, even if in the last few years he was more hands-off. Glad to see the new stadium was built and the Yankees won a championship the last year he was alive. R.I.P PS- I went to a Yankees-Mets game a few weeks ago at the Stadium, and in the concession stands they have Yankee shirts with the back reading, "Costanza"

Well the Jazz seem to be the front-runners for Jefferson, and the Jazz owner tweeted he just approve of a major roster move that he'll announce tomorrow. Of course that could be a different move, but the indication seems to be the deal is just about done.

Yeah...rape accusations, running a top 10 player all-time out of town, demanding a trade, trashing your 20 year-old Center on video...all easier to recover from because he wanted to show he can drop 30PPG on a roster with Odom, Smush Parker and Kwame Brown and LeBron wanted to win rings with Wade and Bosh. Right. Ok, nostradamus.

The bottom of the East is still very weak, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Nets squeek through. The Heat, Magic, Celtics, Hawks, Bulls, Bucks are all locks to make the playoffs. After that it gets very sketchy and makes the 7 and 8 seeds wide open. It gets so bad after the first 6 that any combination of remaining EC teams do have a shot.

Smart man.

Some dude on RealGM said it the best... For the Jazz, I like the move. They lost a lot this offseason, and even if Jefferson isn't the perfect fit, he will still help keep them competitive. I'm very excited to see Jefferson on a good team with a great PG, along with some national TV exposure...hope he does well.

Were you a fan of the NBA back in 2004? Did you read the magazines, discuss it online, etc...? If so, you'll remember how many people crushed Kobe for running out one of the greatest players of all-time. He was viewed as extremely selfish and immature. Put individual glory over team glory. Phil Jackson's book added fuel to that fire. The Heat winning 2 years later did much the same. If Pau Gasol didn't fall into the team's lap in one of the most lobsided trades in NBA history, Kobe likely never again wins a ring as a Laker. Hell, even Kobe knew that by demanding a trade just a few months prior. The people who destroyed Kobe back in 2004 are now doing the same to LeBron for the exact opposite reasons. It's hilarious to me. Yes, you did phrase it wrong then. Shaq went to another team to win a ring (multiple times). Moses went to another team to win a ring. Wilt went to another team to win a ring. If the Lakers had listened to Kobe, he would have as well. Who cares who's team it is metaphorically? 20 years from now people won't remember that, especially since LeBron will be the best player on the Heat, and Wade will be a few years removed from his prime 5-6 years from now. And what happens if Wade gets injured like he was in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 (where he had to shut himself down the last month or two of the season) and they still win a championship? Will it honestly matter if emotionally it is still Wade's team? No, not one bit. Just to people who refuse to objectively look at LeBron's career. In the end, LeBron will have multiple MVP's, countless individual accolades and likely multiple championships as being the best player on his team. He'll have a terrific legacy, even if it doesn't fulfill the MJ barometer of greatness.

LeBron will still be making an astonishing amount of money. And he may have hurt his brand in the short term...but in the long-term? Kobe got charged with rape, was percieved as running Shaq out of town for his own personal success, and completely lost many of his endorsements...few years later? Even before he started winning rings again, he was the most popular player in the league. If LeBron wins with Miami and continues his excellence on the court, his brand will do juuuuuusssssssst fine. Every year they don't win a championship, they are a failure. LeBron may or may not be "the front man", but you can bet your [expletive] if they fail he will get "front man" blame because of this whole free agency. Probably even moreso than in Cleveland, because now he DOES have help (hand-picked) and they STILL don't win? It'll be horrible. Give me a break. First of all if he stays in Miami for the entire 6 years he will be only 31, the same age as Kobe is right this second. Considering Wade's style of play and age (28), I doubt he will be an all-star 6 years from now, and in all likelihood he'll start to get hit hard with the injury-bug halfway through his contract. The first few seasons he may be playing with a top 3 player in Wade, but the latter half he won't be. It will be LeBron's team, unquestionably. And whether he leads the team in points or not he will still be the best player on a championship team, likely with a Finals MVP attatched to it. He has had one of the most accomplished first 7 years in NBA history from an individual standpoint. That won't change as he starts to hit his prime...except for championships.

Umm...what? $100M+ contract, continued Nike/other endorsements, a bigger market in Miami than Cleveland, and the chance to make his brand even bigger with a few championships = No money? No pressure? If he doesn't win multiple championships the next few seasons, the whole plan is going to be widely considered a failure. That's incredible pressure, and he'll get the blame far more than either Bosh or Wade. And no chance at a legacy? He already has back-to-back MVP's, a scoring title, 2 ASG MVP's, a few All-NBA 1st team selections, an All-NBA Defensive 1st team selection, has broken almost every "youngest to.." record, ROTY, brought one of the worst teams to the Finals in NBA history....and he's only 25. Add a few championships, even if considered "diminished", and a few Finals MVP's, along with sustained greatness and he'll easily be remembered among the greatest to ever play. Maybe not GOAT like so many felt he was destined to be, but one helluva career.

Q-Rich is a great 3pt shooter and a surprisingly good defender. If I was in Orlando I would just hope he comes into the season in-shape, something he has struggled to do since his Phoenix days.

They desperately needed a 3pt shooter and Mike Miller is a perfect fit. He's also unselfish, tough and can rebound/defend pretty well. Definitely one of the best 2nd tier FA's that was out there.

Wow, talk about loyalty. He's going to be getting a lot less than he would be getting from the Mavs, and for a role player that's a big thing. Huge move for Miami, he's a hustle player that will give them great rebounding and defense. He'll also get a ton of open 12-15ft jumpers that he'll feast on.

I'm talking about you using the 2006 World Championships and 2008 Olympics as examples as to why the trio may fail. I brought up and quoted nothing else. Again, that was 4 years ago in a totally different league, totally different make-up of the team, totally different role players (from the 2008 Olympics AND next year's Heat roster), different coaching staff, different competition, etc... That team also had, what, 10-15 games to get everything together for the semi's? With that much talent? The biggest reason the 2008 Team USA worked was because they had the 2007 FIBA America's and a 2008 exhibition schedule to gain chemistry. This Heat team will have training camp, pre-season, an 82 game regular season and anywhere from 8-14 playoff games before they really get tested. And they will have a lot less talent/ego's to mesh than the USA teams did. What's my example? There is no example... the roster isn't nearly completed and we haven't seen these three players play together in an NBA venue. I can make educated guesses as to what they will accomplish, but there is no solid evidence to go off of. Trying to make something out of nothing by using the 2006 World's is just wrong. And IMO Wade being able to lead the Heat to a championship is a lot more proof that this team will work than the 2006 World's being proof that they won't work.

Bingo. Generally speaking, I feel it is better to play with instincts rather than think-out every single play. Your instincts are developed by practice and how your IQ can help shape those instincts. But in a game, I'd rather play free and trust my instincts rather than breaking down every single thing. You tend to play more free and your decisions come a lot quicker when you play with sound instincts.

Aside from who's already been mentioned, this is my list. Not necessarily guys that are unknown for their scoring, but don't get the credit they deserve ... -David Lee -Aaron Brooks -OJ Mayo -Brook Lopez -John Salmons -Danny Granger

Don't really get it from either side. All the moves the Suns have/are likely to make would keep the run-and-gun foundation going, which has been the only real successful style this team has played with the last decade. Jefferson is not Amare; he will not kill teams in the PnR as much and won't be beating other bigs down the floor every fastbreak. He needs legit post touches to be very effective, and by doing that you are hurting everyone's strengths on that roster. As for the Wolves...they can do better than JRich if they are going to give up Jefferson. At least get some young players, a TPE or draft picks back.

Well that just destroyed Miami's chances at him, unless Riley can pull another rabbit out of his [expletive]. Not sure if he deserves the full MLE, but he's a great role player who will definitely help the Mavs out. Don't know if he'll be forced to play a lot of Center, though, with Dirk taking up 35-40MPG at the 4.

No, there's no reason relevance to bringing up that Wade/Bron/Bosh only won a Bronze 'till Kobe came onto the team (and Kidd...and Williams...and Redd...and Boozer...and Prince...). But I'm sure you know how ridiculous some of the points you made regarding that were, so I'm not even going to bother debating it anymore.

It'd be a great signing. Maybe not exactly what they need from a Center, but that's kind of hard to find when you're only working with minimum contracts. What I like is that he's a big, long body who can rebound, so they won't be at as much of a disadvantage playing against the Lakers/Magic. He also will get a ton of open looks that he can hit on a consistent basis. Doesn't hurt that he has the chemistry with LeBron as well.

Which in the end is irrelevant because the Miami Heat aren't going to be playing in a Euro-league next season. If Wade has proven he can lead a team to an NBA championship with one of the worst supporting casts in Finals history, then anything you bring up about Wade/Bosh/LeBron needing Kobe to win Gold in the Olympics means nothing. At all. Why do you keep bringing up Jordan and the Bulls? Jordan wasn't getting outscored by Pippen and shooting 21% worse from the field and 15% worse from the 3pt line. Jordan's effect on the Bulls is really non-comparable to Kobe's on Team USA. Two completely different roles, completely different productivity, different levels of supporting talent, and different leagues. It's not that Wade/Bron didn't need Kobe, but he needed them as just as much, especially Wade. Kobe's role on the team was much more from an emotional leadership standpoint than his actual play. Same thing with Kidd to a lesser degree. Of course Kobe came up big in the clutch in the Gold Medal game, but ignoring Wade's 20 1st half points is ridiculous. He kept the team in the game. It's like how you bash Fisher for coming up clutch but playing poorly the first 43min. It's not a perfect analogy, but for the game Wade had as much to do with the win as Kobe. As I said before, if I was just aimlessly sticking up for the trio and ignoring Miami's potential problems, I would have dissected your entire post. But the whole Team USA comment is what was wrong and misleading, and a really bad way to discredit how good this trio could/will be. I'll wait until Miami actually fills out their roster before saying they can beat LA in a 7-game series. But, to get back onto the topic of the Heat, it won't take a ton to find a big body to grab some boards and alter some shots. I'm also waiting to see if Riley really wants to pursue using LeBron at PG, because that will have a Magic Johnson effect for the team in rebounding (Magic is the reason those Lakers teams killed teams on the boards, even after Kareem was over-the-hill and grabbing 5 boards a game). No one will have a decent indication of how good this team will be until the playoffs, and their 2nd full year of being together.

Love the trade for both parties. Hedo will fit in nicely with the Suns and keep them competitive, and the Toronto can start to erase the memory of Hedo in a Raptor jersey.

Wade didn't step up with his 20 1st half points when the rest of the team was non-existent? And Kobe gave the team an identity with his defense, but you have to give credit for the rest of the team raising their level of defensive play. Kobe deserves major respect for it, but ultimately the team made their biggest defensive impact by full-court pressing teams and creating constant fast-break oppertunities (and Wade did the best job at that without a doubt). Give me a break. Kobe shot 32% from 3 in the Olympics. LeBron shot 46% and Wade shot 47% from 3, respectively (both higher than Kobe's overall FG % in the Olympics). Wade shot better from the FT line than Kobe, and shot 29 more FT's in those 8 games than Kobe did. And basketball is about shooting percentages when you're both playing the wing positions and one player is scoring more on over 20% better from the field. It's not like Kobe was drawing triple teams and players were playing off him. He scored in iso situations, and that's it offensively. Wade was destroying teams by playing the passing lanes, getting to the rim constantly, giving them a huge boost in energy and being ultra-consistent. First off, yes, Wade was the leader of the NBA Champion Heat...which makes whatever points you make about the team needing Kobe to win Gold irrelevant as Wade has already proven on the NBA stage he can lead a team to the promise land. And four years makes a big difference. LeBron is a much better shooter and defensive player than in 2006. Bosh is a better, more experience player since that time. Wade got marginally better as well. Players with 3 years experience and 7 years experience is a big difference, even if talent/skill wise the difference is minimal.

I understand the bitterness, although I do think him having so much say in the moves should be a knock against the Cavalier franchise for allowing that. I do think that as much as it sucks to see him go, you guys had a tremendous 4-5 year stretch. Getting to watch your team have great success and have a back-to-back MVP is something many franchises have never seen. He didn't win a title there, but 5 franchises have taken 29 of the last 31 championships. I know there was such hype and expectation, but in reality the years he was with the Cavs were extremely successful. Hopefully with time the dissapointment will subside a bit and appreciation for what he did the Cavs will surface.

Kobe led the team from an emotional standpoint, but he was NOT the best player of that Olympics. He and Kidd had a huge impact on the team's attitude/confidence, and their defensive intensity stuck with the other players. I am not denying he was "the leader", but he was not the best player of that Olympics. He was inconsistent offensively, and didn't give the team the energy or actual productivity that Wade did. Wade was without a doubt the best player of those games, and you cannot deny how important LeBron's versatility was as well. And no...not anything for me to do to credit the trio. If I wanted to do that I could have dissected your entire post and gone about it that way. All I wanted to do was disprove this, because it was horribly misleading (especially the Melo part...at least mention Kidd, as Melo was also on that bronze team).

That's not fair and very misleading. Wade was the best player of the 2008 Olympics, leading the team in scoring and shot 67% for the entire Olympics (including leading Team USA in scoring against Spain). LeBron also shot 60% and was played all 5 positions for the team. Kobe managed to shoot his NBA % of 46% and only 59% from the FT line. Melo was money in the 2006 and 2007 FIBA games, but didn't play that great in the Olympics. The team that won bronze together was 4 years ago and included many other current stars. If you put that bronze medal stigma on James/Wade/Bosh and say they'd need Kobe or Melo to win, then you have to do the same to Deron/Paul/Howard/etc.. And I know those guys aren't on a "super-team", but in the next few years they are going to have to form similar duo's/trio's to have a shot at winning championships.