NBA Off Season Thread

[Mainstreet]

Kevin Seraphin signs a 1 year, $2.8 million deal with the Knicks.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/238946/Kevin-Seraphin-Agrees-To-One-Year-$28M-Deal-With-Knicks

 

[Adrian]

Is J.R. Smith still unsigned?

 

[Errntknght]

Seraphin is gone but Earl Clark was just waived by the Nets - at his request. He actually played okay with the Lakers a couple of years ago when they were forced to put him on the floor.

 

[Phrazbit]

Where is that thread about whether NBA teams should be able to withhold their players from international play?

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/04/report-dante-exum-diagnosed-with-torn-acl/

Dante Exum, probably done for the year after playing in an exhibition. Nightmare of a rookie season followed by that. Yikes

 

[Mainstreet]

Seraphin is gone but Earl Clark was just waived by the Nets - at his request. He actually played okay with the Lakers a couple of years ago when they were forced to put him on the floor.

Maybe for the veteran minimum. I'm not sure he helps the Suns though unless the Suns do a trade.

 

[3rdside]

Where is that thread about whether NBA teams should be able to withhold their players from international play?

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/04/report-dante-exum-diagnosed-with-torn-acl/

Dante Exum, probably done for the year after playing in an exhibition. Nightmare of a rookie season followed by that. Yikes

It's a non-argument.

It's bad luck what happened but it could have easily happened in an nba game; from what I heard it was totally uncontested when he went down. Not that that even matters - simple analysis says that if you guys had your way then international sports just wouldn't exist, which is a totally ridiculous concept.

Sucks to be Exum and sucks to be the Jazz and if it happened to Len I'd be pissed, but would take it on the chin.

International sports matters.


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[Hoop Head]

It's a non-argument.

It's bad luck what happened but it could have easily happened in an nba game; from what I heard it was totally uncontested when he went down. Not that that even matters - simple analysis says that if you guys had your way then international sports just wouldn't exist, which is a totally ridiculous concept.

Sucks to be Exum and sucks to be the Jazz and if it happened to Len I'd be pissed, but would take it on the chin.

International sports matters.


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International sports matter to who though? I'm serious. American's don't care about it and if stuff like this causes the NBA to take a hit in quality then it is a concern that will be brought up. These players make the majority of their money from playing in the NBA and if injuries effect their ability to perform then the teams have a right to restrict playing internationally.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Wow this place is dead. No post for 17 hours. I suppose everyone is talking Cards right now.

 

[frankeegee1]

Well, Cards and Dbacks for me.

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[overseascardfan]

Wow this place is dead. No post for 17 hours. I suppose everyone is talking Cards right now.

Right about Cardinals being the focus now but there is nothing going in the NBA right now that's news worthy now that FA has died down an AL is over.

 

[Mainstreet]

NBA news is really slim pickings.

I'm still thinking the Suns will do something soon even if it is announcing a name or two for their training camp roster.

 

[3rdside]

International sports matter to who though? I'm serious. American's don't care about it and if stuff like this causes the NBA to take a hit in quality then it is a concern that will be brought up. These players make the majority of their money from playing in the NBA and if injuries effect their ability to perform then the teams have a right to restrict playing internationally.

You hit on the point - international sports doesn't mean much to Americans sadly, whereas it means an awful lot for most of the rest of the world. It doesn't help that the US is either the best at the sports it plays by a mile - basketball - or the rest of the world largely or totally don't play it - baseball and NFL - so it's obvious to see why you want restrictions.

But what sucks is why - maybe - you don't understand the international view, or if you do understand it, why you'd want to overrule it, especially as you're from such an outwardly patriotic nation like the United States; national pride is huge so international sports is therefore huge by default.

Thankfully the NBA - along with virtually every other major professional sports league in the world - gets this, as annoying and frustrating as it can be for owners, fans and players alike.

But if you're still hung up on economic ownership trumping patriotism (and all that this argument stands for in principle) then why not consider it this way:

If you're the owner of the Phoenix Suns and winning is your aim, you could always just not sign internationals and leave it to the other clubs to do that. Would you? And if not, why not?

Sounds like there's a concession to be made there somewhere.

 

[Mainstreet]

You hit on the point - international sports doesn't mean much to Americans sadly, whereas it means an awful lot for most of the rest of the world. It doesn't help that the US is either the best at the sports it plays by a mile - basketball - or the rest of the world largely or totally don't play it - baseball and NFL - so it's obvious to see why you want restrictions.

But what sucks is why - maybe - you don't understand the international view, or if you do understand it, why you'd want to overrule it, especially as you're from such an outwardly patriotic nation like the United States; national pride is huge so international sports is therefore huge by default.

Thankfully the NBA - along with virtually every other major professional sports league in the world - gets this, as annoying and frustrating as it can be for owners, fans and players alike.

But if you're still hung up on economic ownership trumping patriotism (and all that this argument stands for in principle) then why not consider it this way:

If you're the owner of the Phoenix Suns and winning is your aim, you could always just not sign internationals and leave it to the other clubs to do that. Would you? And if not, why not?

Sounds like there's a concession to be made there somewhere.

As I understand it, the NBA discussion involves some basic rules concerning FIBA participation and insurance coverage for the players. That sounds fair to me. NBA players play year round to some degree anyway. I do think NBA teams want the right to control injury risk for certain players who can't say no to their home country.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Celtics waive Zoran Dragic.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/238988/Zoran-Dragic-Waived-By-Celtics

 

[Phrazbit]

The Celtics waive Zoran Dragic.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/238988/Zoran-Dragic-Waived-By-Celtics

What a disaster signing him was. I honestly think that had a lot to do with Goran's unhappiness. That his worthless brother was not getting any PT, and reportedly was insulted that the Suns wanted him to go to the D-League. I'm sure they fed off each other with their negativity.

 

[Mainstreet]

What a disaster signing him was. I honestly think that had a lot to do with Goran's unhappiness. That his worthless brother was not getting any PT, and reportedly was insulted that the Suns wanted him to go to the D-League. I'm sure they fed off each other with their negativity.

I'm thinking the Suns should stay out of the brother business for awhile. No good deed goes unpunished. Wasn't Goran glad his brother would get a chance to play elsewhere?

 

[Adrian]

The Zoran Dragic signing made as much sense as the Knicks signing J.R. Smith's brother.:-/

 

[Errntknght]

Its the van Arsdale's fault... they started the parade of brothers.

Has any pair of brothers ever played for any NBA team other than the Suns? You'd think there must have been but I don't remember it happening.

 

[Phrazbit]

Its the van Arsdale's fault... they started the parade of brothers.

Has any pair of brothers ever played for any NBA team other than the Suns? You'd think there must have been but I don't remember it happening.

I just did some quick snooping around, assuming a couple of Rick Barry's kids must have teamed up somewhere; they didn't but there is apparently a 4th named "Scooter" Barry bouncing around basketball leagues... who knew?

Anyway, here is a long list of NBA siblings, sadly it does not detail if any were teammates but the list is filled with such blatantly inferior siblings that I gotta think we were not the first team to have pulled a Harpo Marx.

http://www.allaboutbasketball.us/nba/list-of-brothers-who-have-played-in-nba.html

EDIT: I just thought of one, JR Smith and... Whatever His Awful Brother's Name Was Smith. Which worked out about as well for the Knicks as our experiments in nepotism have.

 

[sunsfan88]

Its the van Arsdale's fault... they started the parade of brothers.

Has any pair of brothers ever played for any NBA team other than the Suns? You'd think there must have been but I don't remember it happening.

Even though Van Arsdale was before Sarver started ownership, the Suns have been a lot more obsessed with siblings since he took over.

I don't know if maybe hiring brothers who work in the same industry worked for him in his banking world but I hope he realizes by now that it does not work in the NBA.

 

[Chaplin]

What a disaster signing him was. I honestly think that had a lot to do with Goran's unhappiness. That his worthless brother was not getting any PT, and reportedly was insulted that the Suns wanted him to go to the D-League. I'm sure they fed off each other with their negativity.

A disaster? Really? Michael Beasley was a disaster. Josh Childress and Hedo Turkoglu were disasters. But Zoran Dragic? A waste of money, but pretty much a nothing in the scheme of things.

 

[JCSunsfan]

A disaster? Really? Michael Beasley was a disaster. Josh Childress and Hedo Turkoglu were disasters. But Zoran Dragic? A waste of money, but pretty much a nothing in the scheme of things.

If he contributed to Goran's sense of unrest and dissatisfaction with the team, well, then, it was a disaster.

BTW. This quote shows the silliness of the Tristan Thompson situation. If I am the Cleveland Cavs, I cut my offer every day. They don't lose much if they lose TT. They lose alot more by giving in.

But in addition to all of the other reasons not to believe that Thompson would actually accept the qualifying offer, the damage of losing Thompson is mitigated by how much money it saves the team, as the Cavaliers are going to be in luxury tax hell next year. Per salary cap guru Bobby Marks, if Thompson takes the qualifying offer the Cavaliers will pay $94.8 million in salary and $16.5 million in luxury tax next year, whereas if they they sign him to a max contract they’ll pay $104.5 million in salary and $44.2 million in luxury tax. Thompson taking the qualifying offer saves the Cavaliers $37.4 million, quite the consolation prize for losing him (assuming Paul’s threat is legitimate) after next season.

The luxury tax also potentially explains why the Cavaliers are digging their heels in so hard against offering Thompson the max. The difference between giving Thompson a $94 million as opposed to $80 million contract isn’t just the roughly $3 million extra the Cavaliers would spend this year, but also the roughly $10 million extra they’d pay in luxury tax penalties. Put the monetary savings together with the evidence that Thompson is a good-but-not-great player—he’s only the third best power forward on his own team, he can’t shoot outside of the restricted area, he’s only an okay (with the potential to be good) defender—and you can see why the Cavaliers don’t think they need to offer Thompson the max.

http://deadspin.com/is-tristan-thompsons-threat-to-take-the-qualifying-offe-1723270379

This guy averaged 9 points and 8 rebounds last year.

 

[Chaplin]

If he contributed to Goran's sense of unrest and dissatisfaction with the team, well, then, it was a disaster.

Really, are you still upset about Goran leaving? Considering there have been little to no players, even Dragic, that fans could relate to, I find it funny that people are still upset about that trade. I simply don't care. We weren't going anywhere with him, so getting rid of him, especially if he was causing problems in the locker room, was for the best. If Goran was dumb enough to think his brother could contribute on a bad team, even if everything was there to the contrary, that's his own fault.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Really, are you still upset about Goran leaving? Considering there have been little to no players, even Dragic, that fans could relate to, I find it funny that people are still upset about that trade. I simply don't care. We weren't going anywhere with him, so getting rid of him, especially if he was causing problems in the locker room, was for the best. If Goran was dumb enough to think his brother could contribute on a bad team, even if everything was there to the contrary, that's his own fault.

Goran was the best player at the time. McD recovered well getting those picks back from Miami, but it might have been better to keep Goran. I am not going to fret about it.

I don't think Goran was as upset about Zoran's playing time. Usually its having someone on your team (like your brother) who will flatter you, and remind you about how misused and mistreated you are. I have a hunch that Zoran whispered stuff like that in Goran's ear.

It also seems that Goran did not get along with the Morrii or IT. That locker room must have been something else.

Anyway. Moving on.

 

[Phrazbit]

A disaster? Really? Michael Beasley was a disaster. Josh Childress and Hedo Turkoglu were disasters. But Zoran Dragic? A waste of money, but pretty much a nothing in the scheme of things.

JC pretty much covered my thoughts.

No, I'm not wringing my hands about losing Dragic, especially considering what Miami had to pay to keep him. But the Suns had a really good thing going with Goran and Bledsoe, and it stayed pretty good (despite severe deficiencies elsewhere on the roster) for the first 2 months of last year. I think Goran and his brother being in eachother's ears contributed immensely to his attitude. Rather than his teammates, the kind of guys who probably would go for the "we're all in this together" mantra, being confidants should he felt slighted, instead he had his brother... who undoubtedly sided with him in every situation and vice versa.

Zoran and his paltry contract meant virtually nothing in a vacuum, but they signed him purely to appease Goran and it ended up having the opposite effect. In that sense I'd call it a disaster.

But in the end the earlier may have sparred the Suns from losing him for nothing as a free-agent.