Yeah, people around here are much more concerned with the APPEARANCE of putting forth effort, rather than actual results. That's why people love Aminu who gives the appearance of working twice as hard to achieve less than Nic.
At least Aminu gives a shit and will probably improve while Batum will have a decent contract year and then fade away into half-assed frenchdom.
Anyone have any interest in Chandler Parsons assuming he gets back to what he was before he was hurt?
Nico will probably make the allstar team for the first time in the east...I think he likes it there...quick flight to Paris from the east coast as well. I supported Nico for 7 years and he was a favorite of mine as a Blazer but he milked his last paycheck here and I'm over him.
Jesus, he's only averaging 8 points?!? I knew he was down, but not that much. Derozen it is, what a putrid free agency class assuming Lebron and Durant are off limits and you aren't a contending team looking for vets in their 30s like Howard.
Dwight Howard is a free agent, it would be hilarious if they offered him a deal. The crazy thing is, if they somehow lucked into getting Ben Simmons and signing a Derozen level free agent, he might not be the worst signing to make it to the playoffs assuming Lillard could keep him in line.
Apparently Miami do not have Hassan Whiteside's bird rights. INTEResting. Of course, signing him to a huge contract would be a huge risk, given his previous space-cadet-ness.
Whiteside was an absolute monster last night. He's better than Deandre. Always felt his impact was overstated earlier, but finally getting to watch him up close yesterday made his game very clear. Dude affects the defense so much. Having him get Dame and CJ's back would be amazing. Hope Neil throws a full max + any other incentives in his deal to steal him away this summer.
At the expense of sounding like a broken record; Yes, MIA doesn't have Whiteside's Bird Rights. However, they (for the first time in forever) have cap space this summer. They can give him MAX if they so chose to. I (if I was POR) would certainly still throw him MAX as well and pray he wants to come here instead but I think that only happens if MIA tries to get him to take a discount.
The problem for them is if they throw the max at him and a max at Wade, they'd be paying massive taxes (repeat offenders).
I think it is pretty obvious that if they didn't want to pay that tax that they they would just pick Whiteside in that scenario personally. Wade (while still good) isn't a MAX player anymore.
due to Whiteside's prior NBA experience and his current short-term contract, the Heat don't have the ability to offer Whiteside an extension and they don't have his Bird Rights (the ability of a team to exceed the salary cap while re-signing one of their own players. Supposedly they will go after Durant and have Wade to sign and have over 50 mil already committed next yr, they have some tough choices to make, Durant's max is 25 mil per
