NBA 2013-2014

[cougjunkie]

I don't know that he's earned that right. He's always been too inefficient to do it. His stats in the Finals are abysmal. Making Kobe the Alpha Dog is a risky proposition, even when he's young and healthy. You might get a 6-24 performance out of him in a crucial Game 7.

I hate Kobe as much as the next guy. But you are letting your hatred cloud your judgement. First of all clearly you are not a Laker fan so applaud his decision to eat up $25 million on cap space. If he is too inefficient like you claim to carry a team to the finals well they no longer have the money to sign another piece.

On top of that you are wrong anyways as he is a career 45% shooter in the finals and averages 26 per game, considering the attention opposing defenses pay to him and the volume of shots he takes. That is pretty damn good. He is also a two time finals mvp (granted pau should have won one of those).

He is a 5 time champion and has been at worst the second best player on his team during all 5 title runs, and the best player during at least 1 of them. He deserves to take the money and get paid.

[Flystripper]

Herp a derp derp.

Kobe's made nearly 200 million in his career. He straps his team to sign a supporting cast for him if he takes 25 million per year. But, you know this.

You do realize that the only other player signed is Nash and Sacre right? With the likelihood of most of Nash's money coming off the books if he can't play/retires that leaves plenty of money to sign another big name, but not enough to sign two. I don't like this move for the Lakers at all, but Kobe's signing for two more years isn't going to kill them. Personally I think there is a good chance that if Kobe comes back as a shell of his former self he will retire. I don't think his ego could take playing at a diminished level.

[Jacob]

Rose got it because people were sick of giving it to Bron Bron, even though Bron was the easy call for the MVP.

Except they could have given it to Dwight that year.

[cougjunkie]

Kobe has five titles, two as the best player. He should take as much money as he can get at this stage of his career.

Ha! I said the same thing but I think Pau was better than him during the first run. He was great the second title as well but that first run he shot almost 60% from the floor during the playoffs. Averaged 18 and 11 and 2 on only 12 shots a game. He was unreal.

[smokymountainrain]

Ha! I said the same thing but I think Pau was better than him during the first run. He was great the second title as well but that first run he shot almost 60% from the floor during the playoffs. Averaged 18 and 11 and 2 on only 12 shots a game. He was unreal.

I tend to agree about Pau being better during that run, but it seems generally accepted that Kobe was the MVP of those teams, so for the purposes of this discussion, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

[SandYFan]

I hate Kobe as much as the next guy. But you are letting your hatred cloud your judgement. First of all clearly you are not a Laker fan so applaud his decision to eat up $25 million on cap space. If he is too inefficient like you claim to carry a team to the finals well they no longer have the money to sign another piece.

On top of that you are wrong anyways as he is a career 45% shooter in the finals and averages 26 per game, considering the attention opposing defenses pay to him and the volume of shots he takes. That is pretty damn good. He is also a two time finals mvp (granted pau should have won one of those).

He is a 5 time champion and has been at worst the second best player on his team during all 5 title runs, and the best player during at least 1 of them. He deserves to take the money and get paid.

I am hopelessly biased when it comes to Kobe, but it's hard to argue that any team with a 35-year-old Kobe as their number one option is not coming anywhere close to a championship anytime in the next two years. Especially if he's getting paid what he is.

[Jacob]

It's laughable that Hayward thinks he's worth a max deal. He's found out pretty quickly that being the focal point leads to some bad games for players of his caliber.

Do you really think Greg Monroe is getting a max deal for 15 and 9?

Neither Hayward nor any reporter I've heard has said Hayward is seeking a max deal. He won't get on and I doubt he or his agent believe he will. Greg Monroe, OTOH, will gt a large deal, but not a super-max, or whatever they call the biggest one now. Think Demarcus Cousins money. i.e 4 years $62m compared to Paul George's 5 years $80m-90m. Hayward will get less than both unless he's the only guy the Lakers can land.

$20-25MM per year for Kobe??? wtf?

Lakers will have about 2 players under contract for $34 million, and one of them is done (Nash). At least that's only 55% of the salary cap. It leaves them $28 million to spend on 10 other players. It really wouldn't be that bad if Nash weren't set to make $10m. They could sign Carmelo for $20m and still have 18m to go. That's the path that Miami took, except Kobe and Carmello are not nearly as good as Lebron/Wade. So it takes the lakers 2 years to assemble a team of veterans willing to take the minimum. So Kobe is 37 and he's ready to win his 6th title. Too bad he's 37 and his sidekick is Carmello.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Except they could have given it to Dwight that year.

Sure they could have given it to another player that didn't deserve it over Bron Bron. I'm not arguing that Rose deserved it, he didn't deserve it.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

This is crazy.

@TommyBeer

The Spurs (team w/ the NBA's best record) don’t have a player in the Top-25 in scoring, Top-35 in rebounding, or Top-30 on highest paid list

[smokymountainrain]

This is crazy.

[cougjunkie]

This is crazy.

They also have not had a single player score more than 24 points in a game this year.

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[clackamascoug]

And... their only loss was to the Portland Trail Blazers, who won handily.

[smokymountainrain]

They also have not had a single player score more than 24 points in a game this year.

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I guess Pop can coach a little bit.

[MarkGrace]

The east has 3 teams with winning records right now.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

The Cavs have kind of botched the whole "come back home, LeBron" setup they had going. It looked like they were going to be an extremely appealing option when last season ended. Irving was a budding superstar, it looked like Tristan Thompson would turn into a significant frontcourt piece, Zeller and Waiters were promising young players, and they were going to have the #1 and #19 picks in the draft. Those pieces with enough cap space to sign LeBron made them the clear choice if James decided not to stay in Miami.

But instead it seems Thompson, Zeller, and Waiters have all regressed instead of improved. Irving hasn't had the catapult forward many predicted for him this year. Anthony Bennett is looking like one of the all-time busts for a top picks. The team is reportedly shopping Waiters because his on-court play has been poor and he's a chemistry issue on the court and in the locker room. I wonder if we'll see them move Varejao and Waiters, get another lottery pick this year when they were supposed to push for the playoffs instead, and then hope they get lucky in the draft again and try to pitch home + Irving + Thompson + 2014 lottery pick to James.