2013 Official NBA Off-season Movement & Rumors (Merged threads)

I think that these other "un-named" GM's who are protesting the Kirilenko signing, don't have a leg to stand on.....

I didn't see\hear any other big offers for Kirilenko out there, did anyone else?

and unless there is some sort of hard proof that Prokharov is paying Kirilenko under the table or further compensating him in some other manner (which could be the case)....there is nothing for the NBA to do here.....

Sounds like a lot of sour grapes to me...GM's\teams that are jealous that Prokharov has totally ignored the salary cap.....Like Allen did, not so long ago....

 

The Cavs offered double that, supposedly.

 

According to Eurohoops sources, the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that drafted an other Greek, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the New Orleans Pelicans are negotiating Kostas Papanikolaou and Houston in order to sign him. Rockets currently own the NBA rights of the player, who was drafted last summer by the Knicks and then was traded to Portland. Bucks and Pelicans are more than interested on him, they are trying to get his rights and they are also aware of the fact that they have until Monday to pay Olympiacos in order to buy out Pap’s contract. The buy out of his contract is 1 million USD. EuroHoops.net

 

It's not about money with Kirilenko. He is married to a Russian Popstar and has plenty already. When in the Euro League last he donated all his salary to charity:

http://www.cskabasket.com/news/?a=news&id=10436&lang=en

 

What's funny is that the last 10 years of his career, Sheed would be standing at the 3-point line waving both hands in the air.

 

That Kirilenko quote makes me think his foundation will be receiving an anonymous $7 million donation shortly...

 

Good call.

 

Wesley Johnson signs for the vet minimum with the Lakers. Nice pickup for the price. Played ok for the final two months, but still not up to the hype of a former #4 overall.

 

Worse than a Lillard/McCollum backcourt? I'm not so sure.

 

I think the fact lillard/McCollum will actually try on D makes them automatically better defensively.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

WTF is Dallas doing???? They let O.J. Mayo walk so they could sign Monta Ellis to a 3 year/$30 million contract. And then Mayo signs with Milwaukee for 3 years/$24 million.

Mayo is a younger, bigger, more athletic, better shooting, more durable and, it turns out, cheaper version of Monta Ellis. The Bucks definitely got the better of that swap.

Man, ever since they won the title, the Dallas front office has been a train wreck. They let the key to their title, Tyson Chandler, walk for nothing to begin clearing imaginary cap space to pursue Deron Williams and Dwight Howard. And we all know how that worked out. Note to Mark Cuban: when you win a title, you don't blow up your team without even giving them a chance to defend that title. Chandler was the perfect fit next to Dirk - a rebounding, rim protector who scored efficiently without demanding touches, but they let him walk for NOTHING and he leads the league in FG% and wins Defensive Player of the Year. Dallas had Chandler for ONE season and won a title.

Now their roster is a mess. It's full of guys who are old, injury prone, grossly overpaid, don't fit well together, don't play defense (other than Marion, and he's not the lock down defender he once was) and frankly aren't that good.

But hey, the more teams that get worse, the better our chances are of making the playoffs.

BNM

 

I agree with your entire post, except for the part about replacing Mayo with Ellis.

Now, Ellis is a player that needs the ball in his hands too much to mesh with Calderon, but Mayo's just empty space.

Even though I'm not a fan of Ellis as a substitution for Mayo, Orange Juice Mayonnaise really is still addition by subtraction with the way he'll disrupt a team's offensive flow. Also, one of the biggest misconceptions about the guy is that he's a good athlete... I don't get why everyone thinks that... maybe it's just the "brand" he's been building up since he was 15, but during his tenure in Memphis, he was consistently one of the least athletic players we had.

Again, Ellis makes no sense for the Mavericks, but I just wouldn't contrast his arrival with Mayo's departure, because that's really a wash if you ask me... probably even an improvement.

 

Even if you ignore Mayo's other obvious advantages (younger, cheaper and more durable) and Just look at their shooting percentages, Mayo is clearly the better player at this point.

O.J. Mayo:
FG% = .449
3FG% = .407

Monta Ellis:
FG% = .416
3FG% = .287

BNM

 

BTW, I agree that on a team with other offensive options, Mayo can be a poor fit, but Milwaukee desperately needs scoring. So, Mayo will be a starter and have the green light to do what he does best. With so many other options, he was a poor fit in Memphis, and even in Dallas, his production fell off dramatically after Dirk returned.

BNM

 

That's what I'd be worried about if I were a Bucks' fan, because Mayo doesn't play within the team concept.

You say that the Grizzlies had other options, but they never really did on the perimeter. They had two bad decision makers, Gay and Mayo, that were competing for bad possessions, and both proved to be dead weight. Even when we moved Mayo to the bench, in an attempt to let him "do what he does best" with our second unit, he'd disrupt the flow of our offense, force shots, and just make one bad decision after the next while gambling too much on the defensive end of the floor.

Essentially, Mayo's got talent as a scorer, but I think his ego has been inflated to the point where he'll never be an effective scoring punch on any team without also disrupting their offense. The worst is when his first shot or two fall. He hits one good shot and maybe hits another, and then next thing yano he needs to try to go for 30, taking shots five seconds into the shot-clock or ignoring a posted-up Gasol to take a contested three instead. That was the story every night with that guy.

There are more and more of those types coming along now that the general public treats 16-year old prospects like the "next ___." Remember when Mayo was the next Kobe/LeBron at that age? That had to have gone to his head, because he's too assertive, but he doesn't have near the tools that a player like Kobe has.

 

I think I am one of the few people who LOVE Monta! Love his scorers mentality. Horrible %s, but love how he attacks!

 

I agree with what you say, but hopefully after not getting the huge contract he wanted two years in a row, Mayo's ego will deflate a little.

I guess the biggest difference I see between Mayo and Ellis (who also has an inflated opinion of himself) is Mayo improved his shooting, especially from distance, while Ellis has peaked and continues to decline. Mayo posted career highs in 3FG%, TS% and eFG%. And, at only 25, he has a decent chance for further improvement.

Personally, I don't want either on my team, but if I had to choose, I'd take Mayonat 3 years/$24 million over Ellis at 3 years/$30 million.

BNM

 

Apparently Greg Oden is meeting with three teams in Las Vegas. Can you guess what they are? One of them's the Mavs, so guess (no cheating) the other two.

 

Miami/Cleveland?

 

I know one is the Hornicans

No idea who the other is