2017 Offseason Thread

[wwharton]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

No why did Seattle trade the 5th pick of the draft for some guy?

Maybe Polynice had a lot of potential at the time but you'd also think any player good enough to be drafted #5 would be someone you'd want, not to trade away.

It's probably related to needs. Polynice did have potential... I'd have to go back and look at the make up of the team at the time, can't remember now. But that's why I gave the Divac/Kobe example. Teams taking chances on potential vs need. They could've (likely) felt Polynice could contribute sooner than Pippen.

Why was Jordan drafted 3rd?

Why was Darko drafted before Melo?

Hard to figure out the logic after the fact.

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Polynice was also a top 10 pick, he had potential as well. He just didn't pan out.

I'm not sure the Bulls ever wanted Polynice considering they had Oak and in that same draft later selected Grant as well. That's probably who Seattle wanted all along, the Bulls wanted to move up to get Pippen before the draft, so I'm sure they had some sort of agreement before hand.

[jfsolo]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Polynice was also a top 10 pick, he had potential as well. He just didn't pan out.

I'm not sure the Bulls ever wanted Polynice considering they had Oak and in that same draft later selected Grant as well. That's probably who Seattle wanted all along, the Bulls wanted to move up to get Pippen before the draft, so I'm sure they had some sort of agreement before hand.

I'm pretty sure it was this. They might not ever own up to it, but I bet Seattle thought that they were putting one over on the Bulls.

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

And to be fair Pippen was pretty raw. Being along side Jordan likely developed him better/faster than elsewhere may have. And no guarantee he would have even been a HOFer if he was stuck in a main guy role from day 1.

Being from Arkansas I know guys that played against him in college and even claim they got the better of him in his underclass years.

He was far from a sure thing at the time, didn't even attend a Division 1 school. Pretty sure Chicago was just trying to build a team that could run with MJ and lucked out landing two very good players in that draft.

[JODYE]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Here you go, King




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Blind leading the blind. I am so fed up with this organization.

They will say one thing, then do the exact opposite. Nothing will change because change costs money and Reinsdorf and his band of thieves are too cheap to actually care about putting a championship quality product on the floor.

Instead, let's bring back the head coach who has been coaching for 7 years but still doesn't know how to be a leader.

Hurry up and trade Butler so I can root for whatever competent organization he ends up with.

[wco81]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Do the Bulls sell out their games?

Bulls have a bit of cap space but they're not at the bottom of the league for payroll.

I guess there wasn't luxury tax in the '90s but I recall that the owner didn't want to pay whatever it took to keep the second threepeat team together.

[jvalverde88]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Porzingis tweeted this and then deleted it.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

https://twitter.com/kporzee/status/861281351563194368

I would never tweet something like that. I dont even use that emoji smiley face. Cmon B

This mother****er's never leaving NY!

[3304Life]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

He's using Movistar so he's not in NY [emoji57]


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[ProfessaPackMan]

2017 Offseason Thread

Someone better tell Lowry it ain't much easier out West:

TORONTO – These Toronto Raptors will think about the ankle of Kyle Lowry and wonder to themselves: Would it have made a difference? In all likelihood, it would’ve merely postponed the inevitable: For every move the franchise has made with the Cleveland Cavaliers as its solitary motivation – tens of millions of dollars in increased management, coaching and players salaries, trades and free agents and draft picks – it has done nothing to close the gap.

“They’ve got LeBron James,” Lowry told The Vertical late Friday night. “Nobody’s closing the gap on him. I mean, that’s it right there: They’ve got LeBron James and nobody’s closing the gap on him.”
James had 35 points on Friday night, the Cavaliers crushed the Raptors 115-94 in Game 3, and Cleveland moved to the cusp of consecutive Eastern Conference playoff series sweeps over Indiana and Toronto.
Indiana constructed rosters to beat James when he was with Miami and Cleveland, and lost prime years of Paul George, cycling through general managers and coaches on the way. Toronto is wondering, too: How do we keep everything together, and seriously believe we’re on the brink of overtaking James?

“I don’t know when his prime is going to stop,” Lowry told The Vertical. “I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon. I think he’ll be able to continue what he’s doing for a long time. But that’s basketball. You’ve got to find a way to beat the best.”
In the Eastern Conference, Boston has pursued a sound plan of restraint, refusing to cash its windfall Brooklyn Nets 2017 and 2018 draft picks for stars just good enough for LeBron James to give a “Nice try” hug at the end of a Game 6 or 7 in the conference finals.
James has won six straight Eastern Conference championships, and he’s closing hard on a seventh. He’s 32 years old and he has separated himself in history as one of the great destroyers of dreams and plans, players and franchises.
“Michael Jordan, the same way,” Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue told The Vertical on Friday night. “There’s a reason why guys like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Reggie Miller don’t have championships, because of Michael Jordan. And now, in this era, because of LeBron James.”

With Lowry and Serge Ibaka awaiting free agency in July, with a payroll that could be strapped with 30-somethings on massive long-term contracts, Toronto president Masai Ujiri has to decide his franchise’s next steps. In the Western Conference, the Clippers are living with comparable choices. Together, they all wonder: Maybe this isn’t working, but what’s the alternative? If you’re going to keep DeMar DeRozan and Chris Paul, you aren’t rebuilding. Halfway in might be the only thing worse than all-in.
For most of the NBA, competing in the now has become a futile enterprise: Everyone is waiting out Golden State in the West, and Cleveland in the East. As general managers themselves wonder: What will the league’s roster composition look like when everyone is trying to hedge on two teams, wait them out, and only five or six franchises are truly trying to compete in the short term?
Lowry awoke on Friday morning determined to play Game 3 on a sprained ankle, tried three different times on the court to find a way to make the movements an All-Star guard needs to make and left the court despondent. “I thought my adrenalin would take me, but it just didn’t work out,” Lowry told The Vertical.
Lowry wants to find a way to play on Sunday in Game 4, do what he can to spare the Raptors the indignity of a Cleveland sweep on Canadian soil. The Raptors pushed the Cavaliers to six games in the conference finals a year ago, loaded up the roster, and suddenly, it’s conceivable they’ll get blown out four straight times a year later.

“LeBron ain’t breaking spirits here, but he’s just that good,” Lowry told The Vertical. “He’s a dominant player, one of the top five most dominant players in basketball history.”
And soon, the Raptors will be one more franchise left in James’ wake, one more foiled Eastern Conference championship bid. Toronto has brutal decisions to make, with only complex and risky alternative directions to move.
When Lowry was asked his thoughts on Toronto’s next course of action, he simply shook his head and shrugged. “Those aren’t decisions for me to make here,” he said, and it was easy to understand why he wanted no part of that burden: LeBron James is still standing in the way, and yes, trying to close the gap on him has become the fool’s errand of the East.

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/kyle-lowry-theyve-got-lebron-james-nobodys-closing-gap-164733328.html

And this:

Marc Stein of ESPN:

Late-season rumbles that Kyle Lowry will give legit thought to a free-agent switch to the West are sure to rise in volume after this series

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 7, 2017

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[areobee401]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Add another person to the LeBron James Witness Relocation Program.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

I hope Lowry goes to the Spurs.

That way they'll still need a PG in the playoffs.

[areobee401]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Rudy Gay will opt out of the final year of his Kings contract.

[wco81]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Coming off an Achilles isn't he?

Rehab must be going well.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: 2017 Offseason Thread

Do the Bulls sell out their games?

Bulls have a bit of cap space but they're not at the bottom of the league for payroll.

I guess there wasn't luxury tax in the '90s but I recall that the owner didn't want to pay whatever it took to keep the second threepeat team together.

The Bulls have been very fortunate with their fan loyalty. They had a sellout streak that last from around 1987 until 2000. They then had another one that started with the Baby Bulls and lasted until just before Derrick Rose got here. Pretty sure attendance dropped this year, but as of July of 2015, the Bulls were leading the NBA in attendance for the sixth straight year. Reinsdorf has long held the stance that he will pay the luxury tax only if he thinks the team is capable of winning a championship.

The second three peat team wasn't disbanded over money it was disbanded because of Jerry Krause's ego. For all the good that Jerry did scouting talent and building those two championship teams around Michael, he was still a villain in this city and in that locker room because he truly believed his statement that "players and coaches don't win championships, organizations win championships."

He and Phil hated each other and he was getting rid of Phil regardless. Michael warned them if Phil was gone he was retiring. He'd been trying to get rid of Scottie Pippen since '94 when the Sonics backed out of a Kemp for Pippen deal. He tried again in '97 when he was trying to get Tracy McGrady. That team could have won at least two more championships, but Krause was eager to tear that team down to rebuild it and prove his mantra.