NBA Off-Season Thread

Wasn't Howard marketed as a wonderful young Christian man when he entered the draft? He's proven to be scum both on and off the court.

 

I highly doubt the Magic will be able to get anything resembling market value for him, especially with him only wanting to go to the Nets. If he's still under contract, isn't it against the rules for him to be yapping about wanting to be traded to a certain team? Isn't that a form of tampering?

 

Only if teams are yapping about him

 

Blazers offer a max deal to Roy Hibbert. Pacers have three-days to match - who will decide whether they match or not? Former Blazer GM Kevin Pritchard. So he has the chance to screw over a former employer or finally deliver a center to the Blazers.

 

Fixed.

 

Man, Pritchard's first real decision as new GM could hardly be a bigger one. As Dan noted, the thing's loaded with symbolic meaning, and it's a huge moment for both franchises--all this forward momentum in Indiana could instantly reverse if they lose their center. Refusing to resign Hibbert certainly won't win him any friends in Indiana, where ole Roy's damn popular right now.

That said, I'm not sure he should match--although base on little more than hunch: seeing how players built like Hibbert have fared in the past, I've got a sneaky suspicion he's been operating on borrowed time injury wise. If the Blazers have their future wrecked by yet another injury decimated center delivered via the guy they fired? Yeah, that'd be a pretty fun storyline there.

 

A max contract for Hibbert seems like a huge, huge mistake.

 

Lord, does Portland love centers or what?

 

I really wish the Blazers would bring in a new medical/training staff. I'm sure that the people they have are fine, but why not bring in a new team just to be sure and to make the team a little more attractive to free agents.

 

I really don't see how the Nets swing a trade (that would pass the NBA smell test) for Howard. Hell, 11 of their 18 roster spots are held by free agents and those who aren't don't make what Howard makes combined.

 

ESPN is reporting that the Nets have traded a bunch of flotsam and expiring contracts for Joe Johnson, who still has four years left on his max deal. Doing the trade means they can't sign Dwight Howard as a free agent, so unless the Magic wants Johnson and/or a re-signed Deron Williams, Dwight is shit out of luck.

The deal is absolutely insane from the Nets' perspective - I have no fucking clue why they did it, outside of the fact that Billy King is their GM and thus nothing is off the table. By the way, they also extended Gerald Wallace for four years and $40 million allegedly. Even if they get Williams back, how far does a core of Wallace, Williams, Johnson and maybe Lopez take them? They're the new Atlanta Hawks, at best.

Meanwhile, the Hawks essentially clear the decks with the trade, and probably move toward a rebuild. They are probably quite happy that someone agreed to take Johnson off their hands.

 

From ESPN: The deal as it stands, as reported Sunday night by ESPN.com, calls for the Nets to send the expiring contracts of Jordan Farmar, Johan Petro, Anthony Morrow and Jordan Williams along with DeShawn Stevenson (via sign-and-trade) and a future first-round pick (lottery-protected in 2013 via Houston) to Atlanta in exchange for Johnson. This trade construction allows the Nets to meet two of their key objectives, as they managed to keep promising guard MarShon Brooks out of the trade as well as retain their own first-round pick in 2013.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/8124182/brooklyn-nets-agree-trade-atlanta-hawks-joe-johnson-sources-say