NBA 2015 Off-Season Thread

Raptors did some good under the radar work. Scola is a good grab, and Joseph could be a really solid player for a long time.

Its only summer league, but Stanley Johnson (DET) & Myles Turner (INDI) look like fantastic grabs.

At this point, I am legitimately fine with not having Deandre Jordan on the team. After that fiasco, I would not want him on the team even if he pulled another 180. We are talking about a 6'11" grown man who literally had to have all his fucking teammates fly out to his house in Houston and tell him that they love him. You have to be a legitimate bitch to essentially have Chris Paul come back to you and put on an ultra fake emotion fest for you to return to the team. Someone with a "mental fortitude" like that, clearly is something you don't want to build around, Dallas just had no idea how insecure he was until then.

I have absolutely zero issue with DJ returning to the Clippers, it's your best opportunity to compete on some level right now (although lets be real LAC doesn't compete with SAS, OKC, GS this year) & its your original team, but giving someone a commitment and then backing out without giving any type of a heads up is a complete bitch move. This dude is a man & he couldn't even get on a phone and tell Cuban "Cya". The dude can't even be around his agent for fucks sake, Clippers themselves were scared he would flip-flop again. If you think that behavior is acceptable, or if DJ isn't a 7ft woman, you need to check your life.

As a Mavs fan, the idea of tanking is super fucking exciting actually. Since breaking up the team in 2011 it's always been a likely-hood to field veteran jumpstart teams and still be better than the majority of the league, yet not enough for what really matters. Nothing is worse than mediocrity in the NBA, it is much better to be shitty and at least have the ability to acquire players who can't say "No" to your contracts. Houston/Memphis/LAC/Chicago will all find that out very soon. On the downside, seeing Dirk play in another uniform and, Rick Carlisle leaving will suck lol.

Houston/Memphis/LAC/Chicago isn't the level of mediocrity that sucks. What sucks is being the Hornet/Suns/Jazz/Nuggets where you are missing the playoffs, but ending up at the tail end of the lottery.

A lot of people in and around the NBA shout the "championship or bust" mantra but there really isn't a ton of truth to it. ShittyPG/Matthews/Parsons/Dirk/Deandre wasn't going to win Cuban a championship the next couple of years, but it was going to make them competitive enough to sell out their home games again and that's really what is important for a healthy NBA franchise.

The Suns had a two decade stretch in the 90s and 00s where they missed the playoffs 3 times but only made the finals once in a losing effort. Do you think Robert Sarver looks back on that time period as a failure?

However, there is precedent for deadline or offseason deals to put teams over the top. Gasol to LA, Sheed to Detroit, LeBron, etc. This can happen, but is more the exception to the rule. The way to win championships in the NBA is to draft yourself a top 5 player. The way to make money is to make the playoffs every year. I'm just not going to be convinced that any owners actually care more about the former.

This situations sucks for the Mavs because it would have given Dirk a real nice curtain call. Not a championship one, but still some successful seasons to close out his career. As a Timberwolves fan I'd take that in a heartbeat. Now Dallas is probably a borderline playoff/late lottery team as they have too much talent to tank fully.

As far as the personal opinions on Deandre go. Yeah, it was lame. But he's a 25 year old kid with apparently not much of a spine. I'd cut him some slack.

"Championship or bust" may be a little too strong, but there is just something very dissatisfying about being almost good enough if it goes on for too long. DJ to the Mavs would have just given the Mavs a chance at a Conley to round out a really solid starting five, and put itself in the KD sweepstakes on some level. The cop-out more or less just brings on the rebuilding reality sooner than later, sadly for Dirk.

Knowing Cuban we will probably field some odd Lawson, Matthews, Parsons, Dirk, and Sanders start up team again and win 50 games and lose in the first round. Hopefully he won't though.

Still, fuck Deandre. Grow a sack.

Ps. Jazz have a nice little core going, didn't realize how great they were defensively. Maybe Gobert turns into Mutombo.