I dunno. If I was young, in tremendous shape, wealthy and semi-famous, I could think of a lot of pros to living in Miami and LA. You kind of notice it as soon as you land at LAX...
If I were an athlete I would definitely avoid California. Florida is much better, no state income tax and there are still beaches. Hurricanes suck though.
Bugs, alligators, heat, rain and humidity also suck. LA wins easily, even with the taxes. I don't mean LA, but SoCal. Having lived here for 17 years now, aside from the government and taxes, there isn't much to complain about.
It’s all expiring at least, no huge differences other than Thompson and Clarkson are actual rotational pieces (plus Hood should be our starting SF next season).
and there was absolutely no way, no way at all, that Paul George was going to stay in OKC...but he did. And there was no way that Kawhi would stay in Toronto, yet now, it's looking like Toronto is the favorite to keep him Dame's window is about the same window left for the Warriors. Portland will have to take a risk to try and put themselves on the same level. They at least need to actually try to add a player at or above Dame in terms of talent, and AD is the next one available.
Those points are true, of course. He wants to be in LA, so let him go there and never get a ring. What is an offer Oshley could make to Griffin that is too good to refuse? CJ+Nurk+first round pick for AD and a crappy contract?
Looking through some of the 2016 contracts that are nearing their end this summer, it is absolutely insane that Olshey didn't throw in a single option in any of these deals for Turner/Crabbe/Harkless/Leonard. How nice would it be to have the chance to let Turner walk by not picking up his option? Or hell even a player option where we could renegotiate a longer contract for a lower $ amount would have added to our flexibility. Just really poor foresight. Key options coming up: Horford -- player Whitesside -- player Millsap -- team Barnes -- player Bazemore -- player T. Johnson -- player Dragic -- player Valanciunas -- player M. Williams -- player D. Powell -- player
Most of your list doesn't matter because it would be dumb for just about any of those guys not to take their option (several of them have already).
Taking on Solomon Hill and saving them a ton of money is our best bet: CJ, Collins, Trent, Skal, 1st for Hill and AD
If I were Pels, and were convinced I couldn't trade Zion for an All-Star that could keep AD in town, then I would be looking for a bit now, but more for the future. Something like CJ, Collins, Simons, picks for AD. Gives them a good back court now and a good start on the Zion era.
Personally, I think the Pels would be stupid not to trade with the Knicks. You try and go get that #3 pick to pair Zion with Barrett so you start the new era in New Orleans. What better way to blow it up? Long term, I think they'd be WAY better off making that happen.
