Discussing Other Teams' Moves Part 3

[LyricalRico]

Even this late in the game, players like Harris are being had for reasonable deals.

Don't forget, Harris originally agreed to a 3 year, $9M deal but the offer was pulled because he needs toe surgery. But if he was healthy, he'd be getting much more than the minimum and much more than Maynor.

Speaking generally about Dallas, I'm beginning to feel a bit better about what they did this summer. I still think the 4th guaranteed year for Calderon will be something they regret down the road (would have been better to have him and Monta come off the books at the same time IMO), but they should be competitive this year, and they have options going forward.

Dalembert/Wright
Nowitzki/Blair
Marion/Carter
Ellis/Ellington
Calderon/Harris

[closg00]

Note that Dallas chopped-down the offer to Harris considerably because of injury. The Wizards rushed to over-pay Maynor who is recovering from an injury.....early in FA.

[FAH1223]

Even this late in the game, players like Harris are being had for reasonable deals.

Don't forget, Harris originally agreed to a 3 year, $9M deal but the offer was pulled because he needs toe surgery. But if he was healthy, he'd be getting much more than the minimum and much more than Maynor.

Speaking generally about Dallas, I'm beginning to feel a bit better about what they did this summer. I still think the 4th guaranteed year for Calderon will be something they regret down the road (would have been better to have him and Monta come off the books at the same time IMO), but they should be competitive this year, and they have options going forward.

Dalembert/Wright
Nowitzki/Blair
Marion/Carter
Ellis/Ellington
Calderon/Harris

they need defenders in the back court... that team isn't going to guard anyone on the perimeter

[LyricalRico]

^ Oh I agree. They've actually got defensive issues across that lineup. Marion and Wright are the only defenders that are above average IMO. Maybe Harris, too, if all goes well with his toe surgery and he plays a limited 3rd guard role.

But they finished .500 last year, only 4 games out of the playoffs and they've gotten better. I mean, they finished last season with Mike James playing PG minutes for them, for goodness sake. I think they are the favorites to take the Lakers' spot at #8, with the Blazers being their primary competition.

[Dat2U]

Devin Harris to the Mavs for the vet's minimum.

And we have Eric Maynor.

So there's that.

There is no correlation between the two. Devin Harris isn't signing to a team with a bottom 10 record last season for the vet minimum.

But the question is would have he signed for the BAE?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I see Andrei Kirilenko has become acquainted with Flip Saunders.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... -Long-Time

Andrei Kirilenko wanted to sign a long-term contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he ended up signing a smaller deal with the Brooklyn Nets.

Kirilenko believes Flip Saunders had already decided not to re-sign him for most of the offseason.

"He decided not to sign me for a long time," Kirilenko said. "I can’t do anything about that.

"I opted out not because I wanted to sign with the Nets. At that time, I wanted to be in Minnesota for a long time. But there was a change in Minnesota."

Flip better win in Minnesota or Kevin Love is outta there.

[hands11]

Even this late in the game, players like Harris are being had for reasonable deals.

Don't forget, Harris originally agreed to a 3 year, $9M deal but the offer was pulled because he needs toe surgery. But if he was healthy, he'd be getting much more than the minimum and much more than Maynor.

Speaking generally about Dallas, I'm beginning to feel a bit better about what they did this summer. I still think the 4th guaranteed year for Calderon will be something they regret down the road (would have been better to have him and Monta come off the books at the same time IMO), but they should be competitive this year, and they have options going forward.

Dalembert/Wright
Nowitzki/Blair
Marion/Carter
Ellis/Ellington
Calderon/Harris

Ellis is the concern. He is not mentally grounded in reality.
They guy averages 17 to 20 shots a game over the last 6 years. No one on a Dallas team shoots that much except Dirk. Should be a nice interesting freak show to watch. Ellis so doesn't fit with the culture Dallas has built. Blair was a fool for going there. That team is pretty much done. Maybe a year away from being Boston.

Marion and Carter are 35 and 36
Dirk is now 35 as well.

That team is pretty old. Some teams are going to run them to death.

But they do have legit NBA players at least. They shouldn't totally suck. But Dirk only played 53 games last year. How much more does he have in his tank. A year older for him, Marion and Carter. They could hold to about .500, or it could start to fall apart with age and injuries.

[hands11]

Note that Dallas chopped-down the offer to Harris considerably because of injury. The Wizards rushed to over-pay Maynor who is recovering from an injury.....early in FA.

Maynor is recovered from an injury. Not recovering. Its been a year. From March on he average 20 minutes a game. And now he has had another off season to train. He is 26 so he isn't old.

Hey, I'm not doing back flips over signing Maynor, but injury isn't a concern of mine.

[MrPerfect1]

Speaking generally about Dallas, I'm beginning to feel a bit better about what they did this summer. I still think the 4th guaranteed year for Calderon will be something they regret down the road (would have been better to have him and Monta come off the books at the same time IMO), but they should be competitive this year, and they have options going forward.

Dalembert/Wright
Nowitzki/Blair
Marion/Carter
Ellis/Ellington
Calderon/Harris

I think DAL is a 35 win lottery team:

-They are average or below average at 4/5 of their positions
-Their FA plan was to focus on ex Bucks lol
-Their backcourt could be terrible Defensively and they have nobody good to protect the rim
-They are relying om key contributions from very old players (including Dirk who has played fewer and fewer game each of the last 4 years)

[closg00]

Note that Dallas chopped-down the offer to Harris considerably because of injury. The Wizards rushed to over-pay Maynor who is recovering from an injury.....early in FA.

Maynor is recovered from an injury. Not recovering. Its been a year. From March on he average 20 minutes a game. And now he has had another off season to train. He is 26 so he isn't old.

Hey, I'm not doing back flips over signing Maynor, but injury isn't a concern of mine.

You're right, I thought the string of DNP's he had last season was due to injury, Reggie Jackson was getting his minutes.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Speaking generally about Dallas, I'm beginning to feel a bit better about what they did this summer. I still think the 4th guaranteed year for Calderon will be something they regret down the road (would have been better to have him and Monta come off the books at the same time IMO), but they should be competitive this year, and they have options going forward.

Dalembert/Wright
Nowitzki/Blair
Marion/Carter
Ellis/Ellington
Calderon/Harris

I think DAL is a 35 win lottery team:

-They are average or below average at 4/5 of their positions
-Their FA plan was to focus on ex Bucks lol
-Their backcourt could be terrible Defensively and they have nobody good to protect the rim
-They are relying om key contributions from very old players (including Dirk who has played fewer and fewer game each of the last 4 years)

Let me jinx the Mavs like I did the Bobcats last season. (My praising another team in preseason seems to be like the SI cover jinx, if last season was any indication).

I think the Mavericks will be pretty good. I was never a big OJ Mayo fan. He's gone this season. I am a Jose Cal_eron fan. He plays no d at all. OTOH he's a great distributor and a tremendous shooter. The Mavericks also lost some of their soft interior. Kaman and Brand seem to be over-the-hill. Blair is going to bang. Wright is underrated. I think their youthful activity will be a key. Dalembert is enigmatic, very up and down. Yet, the guy is a really good rebounder who can block shots. He and Blair will help them on the boards a lot more than what they got from Kaman and Brand. But none of that is why I think Dallas will be competitive.

Dirk was coming off surgery. I expect he won't average 17 ppg this season. His numbers have declined each of the past three or four years, but I don't think he's done. I believe he'll bounce back and average over 20 and be much better this season. He's sort of like Duncan. Athleticism isn't his strength. He's tall and highly skilled.

Monte Ellis will do some things worse than Mayo, but I believe he's got the same type vibe as Jason Terry. His game should work with Dirk.

I think Dallas is better than 35 wins, but yes, I could be wrong.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

A team that has really made some dubious moves is the Lakers.

--Howard out. Kaman in.
--Kobe might be back at the start from his Achilles injury, but will he be the same? I won't count him out but he's definitely down for now. Nick Young in as Kobe's replacement.
--Metta World Peace and Antawn Jamison out. Wesley Johnson in.

No draft picks.

Interesting. Are they tryin' to tank or what?

Jordan Farmar coming back also makes me wonder what will give at PG. Nash and Blake are still on the roster.

On one hand I can see where Farmar and Young might flourish in D'Antoni's system. Even Johnson is built for that type offense. On the other, I wonder who in the old guard will take a back seat?

What's going to happen with Pau?

[montestewart]

^
I'm seeing similar w/ the Mavs CCJ. Calderon is a pretty good addition to help Nowitzki's comeback. The rebounding and interior defense will likely be much improved. Ellis is to me a wild card; if he accepts a role with fewer touches, he could make a difference, otherwise, I figure he'll be a drag. What they really need, as someone somewhere already pointed out, is some defense-minded players at the perimeter.

[hands11]

Speaking generally about Dallas, I'm beginning to feel a bit better about what they did this summer. I still think the 4th guaranteed year for Calderon will be something they regret down the road (would have been better to have him and Monta come off the books at the same time IMO), but they should be competitive this year, and they have options going forward.

Dalembert/Wright
Nowitzki/Blair
Marion/Carter
Ellis/Ellington
Calderon/Harris

I think DAL is a 35 win lottery team:

-They are average or below average at 4/5 of their positions
-Their FA plan was to focus on ex Bucks lol
-Their backcourt could be terrible Defensively and they have nobody good to protect the rim
-They are relying om key contributions from very old players (including Dirk who has played fewer and fewer game each of the last 4 years)

Let me jinx the Mavs like I did the Bobcats last season. (My praising another team in preseason seems to be like the SI cover jinx, if last season was any indication).

I think the Mavericks will be pretty good. I was never a big OJ Mayo fan. He's gone this season. I am a Jose Cal_eron fan. He plays no d at all. OTOH he's a great distributor and a tremendous shooter. The Mavericks also lost some of their soft interior. Kaman and Brand seem to be over-the-hill. Blair is going to bang. Wright is underrated. I think their youthful activity will be a key. Dalembert is enigmatic, very up and down. Yet, the guy is a really good rebounder who can block shots. He and Blair will help them on the boards a lot more than what they got from Kaman and Brand. But none of that is why I think Dallas will be competitive.

Dirk was coming off surgery. I expect he won't average 17 ppg this season. His numbers have declined each of the past three or four years, but I don't think he's done. I believe he'll bounce back and average over 20 and be much better this season. He's sort of like Duncan. Athleticism isn't his strength. He's tall and highly skilled.

Monte Ellis will do some things worse than Mayo, but I believe he's got the same type vibe as Jason Terry. His game should work with Dirk.

I think Dallas is better than 35 wins, but yes, I could be wrong.

How will they get Monte to not shoot 15 plus attempts a game when that is what he does and Dallas isn't resigned to have another player other then Dirk do that.... as per my last post.

ME is going to be the issue. He thinks very highly of himself.

[verbal8]

^
I'm seeing similar w/ the Mavs CCJ. Calderon is a pretty good addition to help Nowitzki's comeback. The rebounding and interior defense will likely be much improved. Ellis is to me a wild card; if he accepts a role with fewer touches, he could make a difference, otherwise, I figure he'll be a drag. What they really need, as someone somewhere already pointed out, is some defense-minded players at the perimeter.

Ellis' 3rd season he had a spike in efficiency. A significant part of it was he didn't shoot 3 pointers. Basically any one else on the Mavs roster should be shooting 3s rather than Ellis(a lot of years under 30%). He gets to the line a good amount and his 2 point % is generally respectable.

[FAH1223]

IF he's healthy... Miami is unbeatable.

But of course we know he will get injured in training camp. However, at worst Oden will take Juwan's place on the bench. Pat Riley got him for 2 years at the veteran's minimum. I think New Orleans was offering more dough.

[closg00]

Shocker, Oden is taking his talents to South Beach, no-one could have predicted this.

[Ruzious]

Shocker, Oden is taking his talents to South Beach, no-one could have predicted this.

He gets to be reunited with his son, Lebron.

[closg00]

Shocker, Oden is taking his talents to South Beach, no-one could have predicted this.

He gets to be reunited with his son, Lebron.

[Upper Decker]

I actually hope that Oden revives his career. I only recall NCAA hoops from about 1994 to present and Oden was perhaps the most dominate NCAA player I've ever seen. Obviously it wasn't consistent dominance, but in his flashes he was stunning.

His championship game performance against Florida was simply amazing. 25/12/4 blocks and he owned Noah/Richards/Horford. Of course the Buck-eyes lost, but had Oden stayed healthy during his career it wouldn't be hard to imagine PDX with multiple championships (even with Roy injuring his knee).