* Offiical NBA Off-Season Thread: I'll give one of my damn kidney's for these Melo rumors to stop *

[CP1708]

Heat, I don't want the spotlight at all.  I like it quiet, no drama, no talkin, no fussin, no nothin.  Quiet. 

But for someone else to run around wild talkin talkin talkin about it, and they haven't even done nothin yet?  

   Naw, I'm not down with that.

They win and wanna talk?  *shrugs*  what can I say?  Same thing I did in 08 when Boston did all their talkin.  Nothin.  Can't hate on it, or stop it, they earned it.  But they waited to talk until AFTER they had hardware.  Not in July, or August, or September as I suspect is going to happen with this new 3.

Does that make any sense?  Win and say what you like, but talkin nonstop about stuff that ain't even about ya'll's own team, but former teams?  Cuz you signed a contract and that's about it?  Come on. 

 

[h3at23]

like I said on twitter man, I'm not gonna discuss it here. Uneven grounds right now. You got my email

 

[dafeature]

Originally Posted by h3at23

Matt_Barnes22
  
Couple new teams just jumped n2 the game, so I'm sorry 2 say ima have 2 get back 2 you. Ill let yall know something with in the nxt few days



And there goes the Heat chances bcus someone will prob offer way more

PDcavsinsider #Cavs have been in contact with free agent forward Matt Barnes, sources say.Hopefully they dont overpay this guy. And good job for Mo sticking up for the squad.

 

[noblekane]

anybody else think wade got super cocky now? always thought he was quiet and humble...

 

[i nasmatic i]

Originally Posted by NobleKane

anybody else think wade got super cocky now? always thought he was quiet and humble...

I've noticed it the past 2-3 years...

 

[rko2004]

Originally Posted by NobleKane

anybody else think wade got super cocky now? always thought he was quiet and humble...

You didn't see this coming man? Wait until time passes, it'll get worse.

Doesn't Lebron look a little off from his Cleveland days?

"I don't see where you can get where he quit," Wade said. "He just had one bad game. It happens. Kobe had a bad game in the Finals. They won. It didn't matter. LeBron's teammates didn't help him out that game and it made the way he played even worse. But he's not a quitter. He didn't quit."
Shaq and Parker chipped in with a little bit of Mo and Twan. The rest He is right about. But come on, Bron 3-14 isn't a bad game, that's a TERRIBLE game where you need to get to the line more than 12 times.

Mot saying its all on him, but MJ didn't run away for help during his first 6 seasons. He waited and they BUILT from within. Look at that 91 Bulls team, BUILT FROM WITHIN!

Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen, drafted by the Bulls.

JJ is developing nicely along with a few others. Who knows how things would have turned out this year honestly.

The Chosen 2nd Option should have stuck it out.

 

[mytoasterspeak]

I'll tell part of the story and if ducktales or you just salty gets posted I'm done.

This guy I know is a barber who used to cut hair down at the Q. And if any of yall is familiar with the name Fred Nance, you would know he's one of the most powerful attorneys in the country and he's also LeBrons attorney and he's based in Cleveland. Was up for the NFL commissioner job at one point.

Well the barber I know cuts Fred Nance's driver hair and they've know each other a long time. If you know anything about a driver's relationship with whom he's driving, you would know that the driver is whom the passenger sometimes confides, remember taxicab confessions?

Well he was telling him that after game 3 in Boston, LeBron, Shaq, and Mo were getting ready to go to dinner and asked Delonte if he wanted to go but he was like I'll just order something at the hotel.

So

They finish eating and LeBron ordered some food for his mother. Go back to the hotel and Mo and Shaq went up with Bron to his mother's room so he could drop the food off. Bron knocked on the door, and Delonte answered it in a bath rob with no draws on.

I swear I couldn't make this up if I tried. Dude was telling me the story with a dead serious look on his face. Too funny, but I know yall think I'm capping.

 

[franchise3]

Brewer is a good pick up. Even better than Reddick, since Brewer isn't a liability on defense like how Reddick is.

 

[lamarownsem]

Hopefully Deng and Rose have worked on their outside shot because that Chicago starting lineup has ZERO shooting.

 

[bhzmafia14]

I expect teams to play ALOT of zone against Chicago.

Teams did it against us when they couldn't stop us inside and we actually had a few players in our lineup that could shoot somewhat. They must sign a backup PG that can shoot outside and another wing or PF that can do the same or its zone city.

 

[i nasmatic i]

Because you can never have enough LeBron.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler [+]

Spoiler

Inside look at LeBron’s free-agent coup

At the Beijing Olympics, surrounded with such talent and possibility, the Cleveland Cavaliers began to lose LeBron James to free agency. The beginning of his departure came in small moments on the daily bus rides through the city’s choking smog and bigger ones on the basketball court. Together, Dwyane Wade,  Chris Bosh and James kept talking about the summer of 2010, about the chance of a lifetime to chase championships and roll like a touring rock band.

And yet before Pat Riley’s free-agency vision for the Miami Heat could ever be validated, James had to first become a member of that 2008 Olympic team. The public never knew what those on the inside of American basketball’s elite power structure did: In the years and months before Beijing, that was very much in doubt for James.

Back when the Heat’s three new superstars had signed short contract extensions and started to explore the idea of free agency thrusting them together, a different discussion had played out within the NBA and USA Basketball: What should we do with LeBron?

From Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to managing director Jerry Colangelo to NBA elders, the issue of James’ immaturity and downright disrespectfulness had become a consuming topic on the march to the Olympics. The course of history could’ve changed dramatically, because there was a real risk that James wouldn’t be brought to Beijing based on fears his monumental talents weren’t worth the daily grind of dealing with him.

When the mandate had been to gather these immense egos and get the NBA’s greatest players to fit into a program, no one had a more difficult time meshing into the framework than James. Other players made it a point to learn the names of staffers and modestly go about their business without barking orders and brash demands.

No one could stand James as a 19-year-old in the 2004 Athens Olympics, nor the 2006 World Championships. Officials feared James could become the instigator of everything they wanted to rid themselves for the ’08 Olympics. For as gifted as James was, Krzyzewski and Colangelo subscribed to a belief that with Kobe Bryant joining the national team in 2007, they could win a gold medal in ’08 with or without LeBron James. Behind the scenes, officials had taken to calling James’ inner circle, “The Enablers.

 

[goukiteg]

Originally Posted by mYToAsterspeak

I'll tell part of the story and if ducktales or you just salty gets posted I'm done.

This guy I know is a barber who used to cut hair down at the Q. And if any of yall is familiar with the name Fred Nance, you would know he's one of the most powerful attorneys in the country and he's also LeBrons attorney and he's based in Cleveland. Was up for the NFL commissioner job at one point.

Well the barber I know cuts Fred Nance's driver hair and they've know each other a long time. If you know anything about a driver's relationship with whom he's driving, you would know that the driver is whom the passenger sometimes confides, remember taxicab confessions?

Well he was telling him that after game 3 in Boston, LeBron, Shaq, and Mo were getting ready to go to dinner and asked Delonte if he wanted to go but he was like I'll just order something at the hotel.

So

They finish eating and LeBron ordered some food for his mother. Go back to the hotel and Mo and Shaq went up with Bron to his mother's room so he could drop the food off. Bron knocked on the door, and Delonte answered it in a bath rob with no draws on.

I swear I couldn't make this up if I tried. Dude was telling me the story with a dead serious look on his face. Too funny, but I know yall think I'm capping.

This story was told in the Delonte West thread awhile back too.

 

[rko2004]

Gotta go to work but from what I read so far, if true, Cleveland is lucky He's gone. Thanks for posting man.

 

[CP1708]

I wish that Bron article came out before the decision so it didn't just look bitter. 

That was a great read. 

 

[japanair21]

Originally Posted by Chester the Cheetah

I'm loving the Bulls moves this offseason.

You mean becoming the Utah Jazz?

Boozer, Korver, and now Brewer.

They were smart to swipe up Brewer, that's who they should have had their eye on in the first place.

I think Chicago will succeed much more than the Jazz though. But, it all depends on how well Noah and Booz work together.


Franchise, Redick is NOT a liability on defense. When he entered the League? ABSOLUTELY. But to talk about him now is discrediting him as being a LIABILITY? No. He's not. He worked hard on his defense one summer, and he's now much improved. Will you be seeing his name on any all defensive teams? No, but he's a good defender.

 

[goldmember]

Originally Posted by goukiteg

Originally Posted by mYToAsterspeak

I'll tell part of the story and if ducktales or you just salty gets posted I'm done.

This guy I know is a barber who used to cut hair down at the Q. And if any of yall is familiar with the name Fred Nance, you would know he's one of the most powerful attorneys in the country and he's also LeBrons attorney and he's based in Cleveland. Was up for the NFL commissioner job at one point.

Well the barber I know cuts Fred Nance's driver hair and they've know each other a long time. If you know anything about a driver's relationship with whom he's driving, you would know that the driver is whom the passenger sometimes confides, remember taxicab confessions?

Well he was telling him that after game 3 in Boston, LeBron, Shaq, and Mo were getting ready to go to dinner and asked Delonte if he wanted to go but he was like I'll just order something at the hotel.

So

They finish eating and LeBron ordered some food for his mother. Go back to the hotel and Mo and Shaq went up with Bron to his mother's room so he could drop the food off. Bron knocked on the door, and Delonte answered it in a bath rob with no draws on.

I swear I couldn't make this up if I tried. Dude was telling me the story with a dead serious look on his face. Too funny, but I know yall think I'm capping.

This story was told in the Delonte West thread awhile back too.

wow..

 

[scuse7]

Originally Posted by CP1708

I wish that Bron article came out before the decision so it didn't just look bitter. 

This.

But I'm having a hard time believing a lot of that stuff...I never heard of this type stuff with Bron before.

It seems farfetched.

 

[CP1708]

Wade says this article is full of crap. 

 

[airjordan jb23]

at the Delonte West story.

 

[al3xis]

Makes him out to be an immature child with a Short attention span yet the team he signs with gives the longest presentation? this Wojo guys writes what he sees fit.

And I guess he's going to write an anti-LeBron themed article once a week.

The high light is this schmuck pretending to have access to Jay Z and LeBron's private conversations.


It's a good read and a lot of his stuff is, but he's been trying to grind the axe a little bit too much.

 

[i nasmatic i]

Originally Posted by SCuse7

Originally Posted by CP1708

I wish that Bron article came out before the decision so it didn't just look bitter. 

This.

But I'm having a hard time believing a lot of that stuff...I never heard of this type stuff with Bron before.

It seems farfetched.

The Team USA issues were the most surprising to me but apparently this was a known thing.

Here's a surprising piece of news: LeBron James may have been sweating just a little. He evidently brought some unwelcome attitude to the first few days of USA Basketball training camp in Las Vegas last summer. Sources with first-hand knowledge say that it was bad enough that when the team's managing director, Jerry Colangelo, asked the coaching staff to choose the player they'd like to cut first, three coaches are said to have offered King James' name.

Leave home one of the best players in the world? Why would any coach do that? Here's my guess: those coaches had a short training camp to build a close-knit team from scratch, and the whole thing American teams have been lacking is cohesive teamwork. Big attitudes are the antithesis of what those coaches were hired to do.

As it turnd out, they didn't get their way. Sources says the coaches were rebuffed by Colangelo. Adam Morrison, Luke Ridnour, and an injured Shawn Marion ended up being the first cuts (followed by Gilbert Arenas, Bruce Bowen, and gimpy Amare Stoudemire). And something happened to snap LeBron James into gear: he was named a team captain.
Source

It is often pointed out that James has played for D'Antoni before, on Team USA. But those aren't necessarily the best memories. When D'Antoni packs for Cleveland, in addition to a nice suit, he's packing some history.

Way back in 2006, Mike Krzyzewski's coaching staff -- D'Antoni, Nate McMillan and Jim Boeheim -- were asked to vote on which players to cut first to get down to the 15-player traveling roster. They ended up cutting Shawn Marion, Adam Morrison and Luke Ridnour. But, as I reported in 2006, three out of four members of that staff voted to make James the first player cut. It has never been made public which coach voted which way, and Mike D'Antoni would not comment on the topic now.
SourceSource

 

[the wizard]

Wade is out here being Bron's PR rep a lil too hard

 

[CP1708]

Agreed Allen on Wojo goin at Bron a lil too much, but we all knew there was stuff goin on out there, OC just blocked all the negative stuff from hittin NT's airwaves. 

Like I said, I wish this would have come out before the announcement so it would look just a little less bitter. 

Nonetheless, interesting read and if anyone could ever confirm some of the stuff, that would help validate this one. 

 

[p mac one]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but Fred Nance is the one who issued the statement saying it wasn't true.

 

[CP1708]

This is the stuff from Simmons that just makes me want to punch puppies. 

I spent my formative years studying the game of basketball with Professor Bird and relishing every subtle nuance that went with it. There was something contagious about watching someone constantly look for the extra pass; by osmosis, his teammates became just as unselfish, even potential black holes like McHale and Parish. It was like watching a group of relatively humorless guys spend time with an inordinately funny guy; invariably the inordinately funny guy raises everyone else’s comedy IQ.
20 When you watched Bird long enough, you started to see the angles he was seeing; instead of reacting to what had just happened, you reacted to the play as it was happening. [font=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][font=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]There’s McHale cutting to the basket, I see him, get him the ball, there it is … Layup! [/font][/font]

Bird gave us a collective sixth sense, a more sophisticated way of appreciating the sport. It was a gift. That’s what it was.
Dude just said Bird made the damn fans better.  God damn. 

And I'm only on page 13 and already getting annoyed.