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Habsfan84

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The way he's going, it's probably 4 years at upwards of $9 or $10 mil if he keeps this up.

That's the upper end of what he could command.

Evidently we were a bit off on guessing his value as Lowry came in at $12 million per for 4 years. Still, compared to some of the other deals out there, that's not half bad.

There's a new team to beat in the East now as LeBron James is heading back to Cleveland. Don't be surprised to see Kevin Love joining him before long with one of the Canadian 1st overall picks likely going to Minnesota. Love, James, and Kyrie Irving will comprise the new 'big 3.' Poor Miami - not only do they lose James, they don't even have their 1st rounder in next year's draft...Cleveland does as part of the original S&T from 4 years ago. Ouch.

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  • 5 months later...

How much has Rajon Rondo's value dropped? After being a highly sought after guard, he has been dealt to Dallas for a late first round pick and some depth pieces to make the salaries match (Jameer Nelson and Brandon Wright being the highlights). The quality of the 'Titanic Division' drops even further now... On the other hand, the Western Conference is scary, there are lots of legitimate contenders there.

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  • 6 months later...

And you think NHL free agency is busy on July 1st. NBA teams have agreed to contracts in principle (they can't be made official until the 9th) to the tune of $1.2 billion so far today. The really crazy part? That number is going to be even higher next year once the new TV deal kicks in.

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A crazy story is developing tonight:

Early in free agency, DeAndre Jordan agreed in principle (deals can't be made official until tomorrow) to leave the Clippers and join Dallas. A couple of days ago, it was reported he might be having second thoughts about leaving LA. So today, the Clippers' owner, coach, and several players, all flew into Jordan's home (in Houston) to convince him to change his mind. They believe they've changed his mind but don't want to allow a chance for anyone to change his mind. The LA contingent is now stationed at all the doors around his house to stop anyone from the Mavericks or Jordan's agent from getting in in case they can talk him into changing his mind again. Of course, Jordan is likely permitting this which makes it even more funny; they're barricading to.protect him from himself. Then, at 12:01 AM EST, they'll get him to sign the contract and leave.

I wonder if that's going to change the rules for the signing moratorium for next season as this is ridiculous. You have to feel bad for Dallas too who pulled out of the pursuit for some other free agents when Jordan committed to signing with them. There isn't much left on the market, certainly not anything close to his value.

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  • 6 months later...

Sometimes, players can have a little too much power. Today, the Cleveland Cavaliers (who lead the Eastern Conference with a 30-11 record) fired their coach David Blatt. It's well known that LeBron James was not a big fan of this coach and instead, the team promoted one of his buddies to the job. The PR spin has already began saying that he had no say in the decision but I doubt many really believe that.

Blatt leaves the team with an 83-40 career record, good for a .675 winning percentage, tops in franchise history. Good luck spinning that as firing him since he didn't win enough...

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They did get smoked by Golden state and San Antonio in recent weeks. The Cavs are clearly the best team in the East, but being the best in the east is not good enough for that team. They have to win it all.

I don't think of Lue as any sort of upgrade on Blatt though. Heck, Blatt has a lot more experience (when you factor in his international play). They're going from one relatively new NBA coach to a brand new NBA coach that's buddies with the star player. I can't see that as a good thing.

So they got blitzed in a pair of midseason games, big whoop. They're still in 1st, they're still going to finish 1st (as much as the Raptors aren't that far back, they're not catching them). Do they think that losses in January will have a huge impact on a playoff series that will be played in June? Sure, they want to win it all - these losses don't stop them from doing so.

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Well its 3 losses to the big 2 in the west in less than a month, and none of those games they've been particularly competitive in.

I don't think Lue is really an upgrade either, but I can see the argument that you have to prove to be able to beat those teams cause 1 of the 2 will likely be representing the West in the NBA final.

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One of their losses to Golden State was pretty close, only a six point game and Irving was on a minutes restriction. Admittedly I'm going off the box score here but I'd have to think they were competitive in that one. Their recent loss to the Spurs was only by four (and on the road) so again, I'd say they were probably pretty competitive there too. Of the three losses to the big two, only one was a big loss, the other two were close.

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I wonder how much Blatt being unable to properly use Kevin Love for two years plays into this.

I know Love hasn't lived up to expectations but part of his struggles I think stem from James/Irving both being volume shooters. There's only so much ball to go around; his usage rate is around 21-23% with Cleveland but was closer to 29% with Minnesota. It's like Bosh when he went to Miami - his numbers went down simply because he wasn't getting as many shots as he once was. That doesn't take Blatt completely off the hook, don't get me wrong, but Love is clearly the third fiddle on that team and third fiddles aren't going to be as dominant as they were when they were the go-to guy.

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Blatt deserves credit for the Cavs defense last year in the finals. They had no business taking a couple of games from the Warriors, and could have stolen game 1 as well. This isn't a positive move - Lue will be out of his depth against top coaches in the playoffs. Of course, there's no one in the East who will be able to beat them. Too bad the Thunder aren't in the East.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Gordon and Lavine are two of the all-time greats. Can't say either deserved to lose, but Gordon should have won it for his two mascot dunks, especially the second one where he's seated at the rim.

All in all the best skills night ever, each event was exciting.

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Kinda disappointing to see the Raptors stand pat at the trade deadline, because this squad doesn't really seem to be built for the playoffs and could really use some help in the frontcourt. They could still be vulnerable to the wrong first-round matchup.

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Kinda disappointing to see the Raptors stand pat at the trade deadline, because this squad doesn't really seem to be built for the playoffs and could really use some help in the frontcourt. They could still be vulnerable to the wrong first-round matchup.

I'd have liked to have seen a move but from the sounds of it, there weren't too many real fits available. As a result of having such a cheap bench, they'd have had a hard time matching salaries to bring that extra piece in. We'll see if anyone off the waiver wire is interesting enough to them that they cut ties with Bennett.

As for wrong first round matchups, they need to stay away from Chicago at all costs.

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  • 3 months later...

Home court in basketball is a weird thing. Games 1 and 2 of the ECF, the Raptors were awful. Games 3 and 4, they were much better and tied the series up. Now in Game 5, back on the road again, they're putting up what has to be one of the worst first halfs (in terms of deficits) ever. It's not quite so lopsided in the West but there's still a pronounced difference. I know home court is a bigger deal in the NBA compared to the NHL but this seems excessive.

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Maybe it's because the NBA's officials are so notoriously corrupt?

Officials can influence a game, no doubt, but to an extent where most games this round have been blowouts for the home team? I don't know if I'd go that far.

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It would have been nice to see the Raptors look a little more competitive in the final two games but all in all, that was a good run for them. It'll be interesting to see what they can do while squeezing in a likely-max deal for DeRozan as that will eat up most of the money they have left to spend this offseason (even if they make their other small moves first and use their Bird Rights to re-sign him).

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  • 2 weeks later...

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