Around The League News And Rumors (Non-Hawks)

[DirtybirdGA]

With the Mia-Bos game, I wish the C's can end the streak, if they have a better shot to do so, but a Boston loss can keep them at bay in the standings. Oh well.

[dorkestra]

You guys must be so excited about the start the Nets have had. Imagine if you got a top three pick out of that!

[Jamaaliver]

You guys must be so excited about the start the Nets have had. Imagine if you got a top three pick out of that!

Yes. All 5 of us posters here on the Hawks board are very excited by the prospect, though we are admittedly skeptical that Brooklyn will be this bad all season long.

[ATL Boy]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... definitely

Glad we dodged that bullet.

[Jamaaliver]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/231257/Cavaliers-Suspend-Andrew-Bynum-Indefinitely

Glad we dodged that bullet.

Amen, brother. This is reminiscent of the Steve Smith trade we made back in '99. We traded our All-Star for Isiaha Rider despite his reputation as immature and unprofessional. After 3 months we simply kicked him off the team.

Two season later he was out of the NBA in his early thirties. Some guys just don't have the desire/discipline.

Rider, Bynum, Bonzi Wells, JR Smith are the type of players who will bring an entire locker room down if you let them.

[theFireBlanket]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/231257/Cavaliers-Suspend-Andrew-Bynum-Indefinitely

Glad we dodged that bullet.

Amen, brother. This is reminiscent of the Steve Smith trade we made back in '99. We traded our All-Star for Isiaha Rider despite his reputation as immature and unprofessional. After 3 months we simply kicked him off the team.

Two season later he was out of the NBA in his early thirties. Some guys just don't have the desire/discipline.

Rider, Bynum, Bonzi Wells, JR Smith are the type of players who will bring an entire locker room down if you let them.

Jamaaliver, have you been following Drew in Milwaukee this season?

You championed him coming into the season and I wonder what you'd make of the job he's done thus far. If you have been following that is.

I'm particularly wondering if you'd get the impression that he's in on a tank job for the #1 lotto spot. He's made some pretty curious rotational decisions for a coach who's supposedly trying to win games.

His level of seeming ineptitude has drawn the ire of many from our forum. I'm worried about how he'll handle Giannis and next year's lotto pick, along with the young core (Wolters, Henson, Sanders, Knight) moving forward if this season's been any indication of his true style.

eta: I should acknowledge that he's had to deal with a pretty terrible situation with stingy attitudes from veterans who want playing time but don't always show up to play: Caron, Neal & to a less obvious extent Ridnour have all pulled nasty pouting antics. O.J. Mayo always looks stoned, lethargic & has put on some serious weight - he's really not even getting playing time.

Nate Wolters has proven that he's the best prototypical PG on the team (Giannis is basically a PG in a much longer than standard frame) but has gone through large bouts of DNPs and low burn in favor of Ridnour or even Gary Neal. Drew always acknowledges that Nate makes his presence known when he's on the court and positively impacts the team. Yet until recently he wasn't even playing. This is one of the enigmas with LD for us Bucks fans. If he really wants to win, why hasn't he been going with Wolters over Ridnour, Neal or even Knight, all season? That's just one of a few questionable situations.

[Jamaaliver]

Jamaaliver, have you been following Drew in Milwaukee this season?

You championed him coming into the season and I wonder what you'd make of the job he's done thus far. If you have been following that is.

I'm particularly wondering if you'd get the impression that he's in on a tank job for the #1 lotto spot. He's made some pretty curious rotational decisions for a coach who's supposedly trying to win games.

I have been keeping an eye on L Drew, admittedly, from afar as I have seen a limited number of MIL games in their entirety. I know his team has dealt with a number of injuries early, and quite a few of the veterans signed have not panned out as hoped. Sanders, Neal and OJ have been train wrecks this year.

My suspicion is that as the season has played out and the team had fallen further and further into a hole, there likely was a mandate to focus on development over actual wins. The team has looked unmotivated, unfocused and, sad to say, poorly coached.

I mentioned last year that Drew was solid at Xs and Os, but had trouble keeping his players motivated here in Atlanta. But the MIL offense is so much less organized and structured than in his last two seasons here. I do suspect he is in on the tank.

But the team is playing so poorly, it makes me think that he has potentially lost the locker room. I've heard some of the MIL fans lament hiring him and even wish they'd signed Sampson instead. My fear is that the front office, even if they have ordered him to lose, may let him go after a single season. Because the team looks just that bad.

Drew isn't the greatest coach by any means, but I can't fathom why his team looks so incredibly unprepared. And if you guys come out with a top 3 pick, I wouldn't blame management if they wanted to clean house and bring in a guy better suited to grooming young players. Never a Drew strong point.

I feel for you guys. We were in the exact same spot back in 2004, Josh Smith's rookie season under Mike Woodson. I'm sure you guys will take Embiid, Exum or Wiggins as a consolation prize.

[Jamaaliver]

There’s mutual interest between the Heat and Kyle Lowry, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, who spoke this morning in an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter (video link; scroll ahead to the 3:45 mark). Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote in late December that the Heat would “love a shot” at the Raptors point guard. Still, Lowry’s comments have indicated a preference to remain with the Raptors, though he hasn’t explicitly said so.

Things could intersting in South Beach as MIA reloads.

K Lowery plus the Big Three would be enough to get them through the East every year. No doubt.

But that team's biggest need is interior defense. A big Center to guard Hibbert, Duncan, Jefferson going forward. Someone to block shots and protect the rim.

Thoughts on who ele the Heat might target in FA if the big 3 opt out to create more cap room?

[Hawk Eye]

Wouldn't be suprised at all if the heat land Lowry. Same goes for Hawes.

[Jamaaliver]

For all those who claimed Josh Smith was untradeable during his best years in ATL:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/481517775156817920[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/481518115390361600[/tweet]



I've coveted Jason Thompson as a backup C for years. If Smoove can be moved after the worse year of his career on one of the worst contracts in the league...

<sigh>

Danny Ferry's an idiot.

[ATLHawksfan21]

Smith and Cousins will be fighting after two weeks. I would need to get league pass just so I could watch the implosion that takes place in Sacramento.

and just because Thompson is available in that trade now does not mean that he always was. The Kings have went through major changes in roster and ownership in the past two seasons and they have had more time to monitor his development to decide if he is worth holding on to.

[Jamaaliver]

I just don't believe that Josh was ever untradeable.

I believe D Ferry waited too late to get anything of value for him. 3 months before his Free Agency...

but yeah, Rondo, Smoove and Demarcus would be a catastrophe.

[azuresou1]

I'd rather have Millsap now than having been locked into the overpaid bench duo of Jason Thompson and Derrick Williams.

[Jamaaliver]

I'd rather have Millsap now than having been locked into the overpaid bench duo of Jason Thompson and Derrick Williams.

Fair point...

I'd have rather had Andre Drummond.

[Hawk Eye]

SMH...the offers for Milsap have been atrocious so far in my thread on the trades and transactions section

[ATLHawksfan21]

SMH...the offers for Milsap have been atrocious so far in my thread on the trades and transactions section

If offers for Milsap are atrocious, imagine what they would be for Josh Smith.

[Hawk Eye]

Probably something along the lines of a bench player from the teams D-League and they will even throw in the mascot for free.

[Hawk Eye]

#5 Re: Paul Milsap--What Would You Give?
less than a minute ago by Kazuya10
How old is he? If he is around 27

"Taj Gibson and the 19th pick plus the kings pick."

Well I have to say this offer has been better than the others...how would you guys feel about this?

[Jamaaliver]

^I suspect the biggest issue in trading for Millsap is that he can walk away for nothing in less than one year.

Why trade a valuable asset when he can just be pursued next year on the free agent market...

[MaceCase]

I don't see how Ferry is complicit for not deciding to swap bad deals.......this is after all what this Kings rumor is, swapping one crappy overpaid deal for multiple crappy overpaid deals instead. There is little to no value there to be getting up in arms about.