Read the thread, numbnuts. I didn't bag on LeBron about anything in my post. Some dumbass was trying to compare the average worker with a player in a salary cap league, as far as taking less money. If LeBron wants to make Max money knowing that will limit his team's options as far as other players go, let him have at it. However, in a league where Duncan came back for about 1/2 his previous contract and that let the Spurs keep the team that won the NBA title, saying something as absolutely ****ing reeruned as

merits a scornful response.

Cleveland offered him more money than what he got in Miami. He left for Championships, not for money. He deserves more money than anyone. He's the best in the league and arguably one of the best ever. Maybe even best ever when it's all said and done, hard telling.

Until Wiggins takes over :)

Shaq made more than him in Cleveland as well.

Ah yes, the same Tim Duncan who took a max 7/122M deal in 2003 during his prime (which remains one of the richest contracts signed in NBA history). LMAO

What does that have to do with what I posted? This isn't rocket science here:

Poster talks about never taking pay cut positing the question

.


The CURRENT NBA CHAMPIONS are together largely because Duncan took a pay cut.

And it's important to recognize that he did so when he was nearly 40 years old, well past his prime, and had already gotten his massive contract earlier in his career. Shit, Duncan almost went to Orlando in 2000 exactly because they were offering more (which would certainly have vastly changed the NBA landscape over the next 15 years).

LeBron is worth every penny. He's the best in the league and should be paid as such. I just don't see how the Heat can win a title if the big 3 re sign at what is being reported. It will not allow them enough flexibility to add the pieces they will need to beat the superior teams out west.

I'm betting they'll be on the books for 3-4 more years at 13-15 million/yr. Not a great situation for LeBron. Essentially extending two declining players is going to hurt the Heat long-term. I would have preferred LeBron leave, but this is the next best thing. **** Wade. **** Miami.

When he did it is completely irrelevant, because I was addressing a specific comment from a specific person about NEVER doing it. To repeat his post, since you can't seem to be bothered to actually read:

Nothing there about any time or age limit.

He may yet leave. Wade and Bosh isn't enough to keep him there, Riley has to have something else up his sleeve.

Duncan and T-Mac could have made Shaq and Kobe their bitches.

Crazy that Kobe and McGrady were about the same level of a player at one point.

Rockets GM Morey apparently traveled to Philly to meet with Kyle Lowry tonight. Interesting. They traded him away at one point, and word on the street is that the Raptors are poised to give him somewhere in the $12M - $15M range offer to stay in Toronto.

I actually think bringing in Lowry and re-signing Chandler is probably a better play for the Rockets than going all out for Carmelo.

Taking less money is taking less money, whatever job you work. Apparently, players have to be "team players" and take less money to be viewed in one way or another, not by what they actually due performance wise.

Alex smith needs those players around him to be successful.

What the hell are you talking about?

I'm in. Anything to get Beverley off the court

We've been told by the biggest of the Lebron ball washers he needs elite level help as well.

If he wants to win a team championship, yes, he needs more than a bunch of shells and players in steep decline on the roster. The same goes for anybody including MJ.

Alex Smith needs a huge amount of help just to be an above average NFL QB.

He was above average last season with Charles and a collection of stiffs.

Guess it depends on your definition of above average. Smith was 20th in DYAR, 22nd in QBR, and 14th in passer rating in 2014. Calling him an average starting NFL QB would probably be being generous (but this isn't the place for rehashing that discussion once again).

Kyrie Irving got a five year extension in Cleveland.

The Heat two big targets in free agency seem to be Kyle Lowry or Luol Deng.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/m...,7990829.story

Not going to be able to afford Lowry, IMO. Deng is meh. If they can convince Wade or Bosh to go elsewhere, Lowry would be an upgrade.

I'll be blown away if a player like Deng, Hawes, Parsons or Lowry sign with the Heat. Some of these guys are chasing their 1st big contract or last contract. They haven't made a ton of money in endorsements like the big 3 and with so much more money out there, I don't see them signing in SB for several million more dollars less than what they could make elsewhere. I think Riley is going to need to fill out the roster with role/over the hill players.

And there is no opt out. He is a Cavalier for the next 6 years (pending a trade or something else). :)

If Deng wants to go get paid and not be the Toni Kukoc type then whatever to him. Go ride LeBron's coattails and you will be a more famous player with championships to boot.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Free agent Pau Gasol had a phone conversation with Miami president Pat Riley today, league source tells Yahoo Sports.</p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/484135899123298304">July 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
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How the hell would pau and bosh co exist?

Riley's plan- Let's get older

Pau is better at center and can post up. Well, he used to be able too. lol

If he would check out healthy, Emeka Okafor would be the ideal center type for the Heat. Not a scorer, but would do a lot of the dirty work and is a decent defender.

He's a 7 footer than went 17 and 9 last year. That's a pretty nice piece to add. How much damn help do we think the guy needs if Pau is being mocked?

Yeah but having two guys who are notorious for being soft as your 4 and 5 isn't exactly going to make them able to compete with the Spurs.

Warriors signed Shaun Livingston. Great signing to backup Steph.

wow what a good get

even with Livingston having no knees he could start on half the leagues shitty teams. Hes a mismatch even if hes got an old man game

Avery Bradley gets 4 years and $32M from the Celtics? That's a bit rich for a guy with questionable shooting/playmaking and injury prone.

Lance turned down 5 yrs/$44M from the Pacers, so that's getting interesting.

LMAO you said Pau and post up in the same sentence. He was able to post up. Now he's like Bosh.

I feel like Larry Bird should just show Lance Stephenson a supercut of all the dumb shit he did on the court.

Then cross out $44 million and write 40..

I agree. The only way I want to see Chandler gone is if he's part of a trade for Kevin Love. Regardless, Id welcome Lowry back.

Good. I love Irving. I'm excited to see what Blatt and Lue do for him since they both specialize in guards.

in all honesty when he used to post up, he was probably the best big man i ever seen do it. dude had every single post up move there was and he was great at all of them. I dont know if he cant do it, or D'Antoni's system was taking him away from that or what.

Also, Pau to the Thunder is looking likely according to reporters.

the only team dumber than my Wizards giving Gortat 60 million will be Cleveland when they give Gordon Hayward a max offer sheet

Best post player you ever seen?

for a big man? probably. Well, ok 2nd. Hakeem the Dream is number 1. Still pretty ****ing good. HIs offense in his prime was 2nd to none basically. He just sucks on defense thats his only knock. There was nothing, i mean NOTHING Pau couldnt do on offense down low in the post, and he was good to great on EVERY SINGLE offensive thing in the post. Was nothing he couldnt do.

Gasol was really, really good for the Lakers in his first few years there, it's true. Huge part of those championships.

Wow, looks like the Cavs are considering max money for Gordon Hayward. Not a huge fan of that, but he'd be a really interesting fit in Blatt's offense and much better than that piece of shit offense they run in Utah. That would pretty much take them out of the Lebron game and it also makes the team have a lot of depth with a small lineup where they might need some bigs.

Zero doubt about that. He was a great post presence. It's sad because there aren't many left. Guys who can dominate down low can mean the difference between winning a title and not all the way through the history of the NBA. Tim Duncan obviously comes to mind. Dwight Howard should be... he's a force but could be even better. Especially since now he plays for McHale, who if nothing else was one of the best post players who's probably ever lived.

still an awful shooter no matter what offense he's in.

So OKC is trying to target Gasol and Mike Miller. But they said they wouldn't amnesty Kendrick Perkins. If the only thing that keeps them from getting Gasol is not amnestying Perkins, they don't deserve to win.

McHale is the best in my book. The Dream and Duncan aren't too bad either.

Why didn't LA ever trade Gasol?

So Patty Mills re signed with the Spurs!!

You do realize he has a bad shoulder.

Durant and Westbrook made the pitch. I'm guessing they know with the offers out there that no way they can afford Reggie next year. My guess is Perkins and Reggie are getting traded to clear room for Gasol. I'm good with rolling with Gasol and Miller for 2 years. Then you can reshuffle when Durant is up in 2 years. Just need to bring in another PG. Also they can still use the amnesty if they need to do so. It's a shame to lose Reggie but if Hayward is getting a max deal, hes at least getting 12. The thing is he wants to be a starting PG and that ain't happening in OKC.

they were also beasts on the defensive end. Pau was not. He was a 1 sided player. he got pushed around on the Defensive side more times then not. So they will always look at them 3 as better players and they were, but from a pure offensive down in the post play. Dude was as elite as they come. His elbow jumper is pretty good too.

Got to keep Reggie (at least for next year); no need to make another Harden-level mistake. Booting Perkins should be a no-brainer.

@WojYahooNBA: Kyle Lowry has agreed to a 4 year, $48M contract to stay with Toronto, sources tell Yahoo.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sources: Kyle Lowry reaches agreement on a four-year, $48M deal with Toronto. <a href="http://t.co/oF4O0LJA6L">http://t.co/oF4O0LJA6L</a></p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/484532879188172800">July 3, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Hmm, I expected him to come in higher than that. I'm happy for Toronto. They're fans were great this year, they deserved this.

Looks like the Rockets will be out in the cold on the big free agents.

Melo is down to the Knicks and Bulls IMO (I think he stays in NY), Lowry stays in Toronto, the big 3 stay with the Heat IMO and I'm not sure the Rockets are hot after anyone else. They'll keep Parsons for sure now.

Report: The Chicago Bulls have informed Carlos Boozer that he will be amnestied, making him a free agent: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/20...-agency-diary/ …

The only reason Melo stays in NY is for the money because they're nowhere close to competing for a title. But the reports are that he intends to stay with NY.

Yay.... I'm hyped for the coming NBA season..

Figured Lowry would stay in Toronto. Guess it's time to start building with that group further instead of any more contemplation of rebuilding.

With him not going to Miami, I don't see much, if any way, that the Heat will get significantly better this offseason. It's probably in LeBron's best interest to ditch that team right now.

Me too.

Melo's wife and kids also love it in NYC. The family pull is stronger than fans think. Family + Money could certainly trump winning, especially with the Zen Master in his ear telling him about his grand plan to improve.

My understanding is if you use the amnesty they can still only offer a mid level. The only way around it is swinging a sign and trade. Perkins contract is expiring so it's possible someone will take it on, but it's going to take something extra. If they can get Gasol to take the mid level great. If they can dangle some other pieces and Perk great. It's encouraging to me that they are trying because they need to add a couple of pieces to finish it off. I believe this is Reggie ' s last year with the Thunder though. Teams are just too stupid with their money.

That scenario seems more likely now. Seems like he's trying to not make it work there. I still think Miami is the favorite, but it seems rather odd they haven't moved quickly to improve the team.

if jodie meeks can get 20 million reggie is going to get 35-40 easy

Not even close.

Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Olajuwon, and Shaq are all modern era players that were better post players than Pau. Pau slides even further if we start including players from before his time.

The fact that your first 2 on this list are Spurs players would be homerific bullshit...if they weren't that damn good.

I didn't list them in any specific order. I was just pointing out that King (who is a Laker's fan) was overrating Pau's play.

Then, as a Laker fan, he has no business talking about Pau Gasol when Shaq, Kareem, and Wilt were all Lakers and would ****ing destroy Gasol.

For sure. I had a delusion we might be able to sign him for 10 a year, but there's just no way. I have a feeling his stock is about to rise some more. Someone might be dumb enough to make him a max player. He's great going to the basket and his out side shot is getting better. However, hes still pretty bad defensively and doesn't look to pass the ball at all. People give Westbrook shit, but he's John Stockton next to Reggie.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>ESPN has learmed that Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks have agreed to terms on three-year deal</p>&mdash; Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/484796289323114496">July 3, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Dirk's deal is 3 years, 30 million.

Fake bullshit account.

@chicagobullsbot: New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony: Executive says he'll choose between the Knicks/Bulls/Rockets - (Source: Sam Amick) - http://t.co/5qa7LtBUuI

@WojYahooNBA: Unless Pat Riley lines up talent appealing to James within cap structure soon, one LBJ suitor says: "LeBron seems ready to explore market."

@chicagobullsbot: Miami Heat Lebron James there is clearly a breakdown in communication between him and Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh. (Source: Adrian Wojnarowski)