NBA 2013-2014

[MarkGrace]

Houston is a great fit for him. It will be interesting how Harden and him play with one another

They should be great together in theory. One of the best SnR guards with one of the best SnR bigs. Of course you could have said the same about Nash/Howard, but I think that went wrong for a lot of reasons.

[scottie]

Dwight Howard is the biggest douche in the NBA. Such a total ass.

?? Tweets from Wojnarowski tonight:

@WojYahooNBA: Dwight Howard took his meetings, left for two-plus days to think, made a decision, flew to LA, told Lakers face-to-face and called Houston.

@WojYahooNBA: Howard hasn't handled past 2 years well - extremely poorly, in many instances -- but he did handle the end of this free agency process fine.

@WojYahooNBA: Let me clarify there: Howard flew back to Los Angeles, but he simply informed the Lakers of his decision. There was no sit-down.

[smokymountainrain]

They should be great together in theory. One of the best SnR guards with one of the best SnR bigs. Of course you could have said the same about Nash/Howard, but I think that went wrong for a lot of reasons.

Yep. Apples to oranges. Nash is a geezer and they were both playing most of the season with one of the most selfish players in NBA history. That is never a good combo. Harden is a great player in his prime; a guy who likes to shoot, but can also facilitate. I can't imagine it not working.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Howard doesn't say anything nearly the entire day, and yet somehow he was going to GS, then Houston, then backed away from Houston because he didn't want to leave $30 M, was flying to LA to talk, then ditched LA and went back to Houston.

He told Dallas and GS privately that they were out of the running, then didn't say anything about going to Houston until he told LA in a face to face sit down, and then as soon as that was over he committed to Houston...and he's getting shredded because Chris Broussard said he didn't want to leave $30 M on the table. If Howard had teams that coddled him and manufactured the media story about him, most NBA fans would still love him.

[clackamascoug]

If the enemy of your enemy is your friend, then I have to applaud Howard on cutting Kobe's other achilles with a face to face deep, swift, slice.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Calderon and D. Harris headed to Dallas.

Is Brandon Jennings going to go from overpaid to underpaid and at the same time stay in Milwaukee?

[Jacob]

Howard doesn't say anything nearly the entire day, and yet somehow he was going to GS, then Houston, then backed away from Houston because he didn't want to leave $30 M, was flying to LA to talk, then ditched LA and went back to Houston.

He told Dallas and GS privately that they were out of the running, then didn't say anything about going to Houston until he told LA in a face to face sit down, and then as soon as that was over he committed to Houston...and he's getting shredded because Chris Broussard said he didn't want to leave $30 M on the table. If Howard had teams that coddled him and manufactured the media story about him, most NBA fans would still love him.

I agree, media gets in a frenzie cause they don't know what's going on. Then some of them report wrong, and its all Dwight's fault. As far as we know he didn't drag it out, he wasn't indecicive, he didn't make a big deal out of any of it, but this is the new "Decision."

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

The West is going to be beastly next year. Clippers just got Darren Collison to be Paul's back-up, and only had to pay part of the mid-level for 2 years to get him.

Edit: Reports out that it is only $1.9 M for next year. Collison has a player option after year 1, so he'll also be highly motivated to play well so he can opt out and get a longer, higher value deal.

[smokymountainrain]

I really like the Cavs getting Jarrett Jack. Similar to his role in GS, he'll play big minutes and have an important role as the third guard who can play both spots with Irving and Waiters.

[MarkGrace]

I really like the Cavs getting Jarrett Jack. Similar to his role in GS, he'll play big minutes and have an important role as the third guard who can play both spots with Irving and Waiters.

It will be interesting to see this team. In the Jazz thread I said they definitely got better, though not enough to move from second tier in the West to top tier. As this thing starts to round out, I'm wondering how much they've really improved. Landry and Jack gave them huge contributions in their rotation. Landry was good for 11 points, 6 rebs and a PER of 17.60 in 23 minutes. Jack gave them 30 mins a night and chipped in 13 points, 5.6 assists, a few rebounds and posted a PER of 15.93. Last year Iggy played 34 a night, averaged 13, 5.4, 5.3 and posted a PER of 15.27 (at the same age as Jack, btw). He's obviously a league above those guys as a defender.

One of Iggy/Klay/Barnes will head to the bench so that helps (can also expect Klay and Barnes to be a year better), but that bench looks awfully thin. Outside of whichever of those guys gets the 6th man role the bench currently consists of Festus Ezeli, Draymond Green, Kent Bazemore, Scott Machado, Kevin Murphy and Dwayne Jones. All of those guys had very unproductive seasons last year. They'll need to fill their bench with whatever cash they have left, but as of right now it seems like they've sent out as much (or more) as they've taken in. Iggy, Lee, Bogut and Steph all have pretty serious injury histories, and there's not much behind them unless they can land a few more key signings.

I'm particularly interested in seeing how the loss of Jack impacts them. He took a lot of pressure off Steph as a secondary handler, was able to check bigger points, and hit several big shots for them.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

MC-W getting plenty of opportunities in his 1st summer league game. Through 3 quarters he is already 5-14 from the field, 6-6 from the line, with 6 assists and 8 turnovers. Terrence Jones has definitely looked like the best player on the court, with 20 points on 7-11 shooting and 8 rebounds.

[cougjunkie]

Bill Simmons tweet: " like everyone else I am watching this tennis match while working with the trade machine on a way to get Jimmer Fredette to the Celtics"

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[cougjunkie]

Jazz vs Heat summer league about to start.



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[Non Sequitur]

I've got to admit, I love summer league. There is something about watching guys trying to make a team, playing in small gyms with no fanfare. There's something pure about that. It's also why I like minor league baseball.

[Flystripper]

They should be great together in theory. One of the best SnR guards with one of the best SnR bigs. Of course you could have said the same about Nash/Howard, but I think that went wrong for a lot of reasons.

Funny! Howard has been on record here in la saying that he does not like screen and roll basketball. That was probably just him pushing for Phil's triangle though.