That’s a fair point. But I think if you’re pointing out that Bosh had his worst season, it makes sense to note the reasons for that. He didn’t decline because of age. On a per-36-minutes basis his scoring has held steady throughout his time with the Heat, but he’s taking fewer shots and playing fewer minutes these days. They can increase his workload without putting him in danger or anything, I think. He’s 30 now. Five years from now it’ll be another story, but he’s not crumbling just yet. Other than that, yes- that’s why I reached for the Hawks comparison. Wade is a Hall of Famer but it’s hard to trust his health and LeBron isn’t there to lighten the load anymore. It’s not good if you’re asking a guy to do more when his health problems seem to be mounting. Even Deng has a lot of miles on him for his age because for years he was among the NBA leaders in minutes with the Bulls. McRoberts and Bosh might be an interesting combination - two big guys who shoot really well. I guess the other way you could look at “a lot of second bananas” is that they have some flexibility with their roster. But they won’t be as good as the real or projected Cavs or the Bulls. I still don’t know what’s going to happen with Indiana.
If they win big, look for the sequel, “Incompetence Triumphant.”
I’m not sure that’s what they need. And if I were trying to turn a young team into a winner I’d be hesitant to bring him on board. A veteran team like Dallas is another story.
His rebounding has declined, but that’s likely a function of playing further and further from the basket with Miami. He’s transformed into Dirk Lite, except Dallas has played traditional centers with Dirk to protect the rim and rebound, and Miami doesn’t have that guy. With LeBron’s all-world defense gone, and no true rim protectors, expect Miami’s defense to take a huge step back.
Not crumbling, no, but starting his decline, in contrast to the Cleveland guys. That was my point, to address why Cleveland would be better than Miami going forward.
McRoberts* excelled in a high post passer/dribble handoff screener roll in Charlotte, which fits Miami screen-and-cut heavy offense very well. Assuming they are going to run a similar offense post-LeBron, it’ll be Deng/McRoberts or Wade/McRoberts dribble handoffs, Deng/Bosh or Wade/Bosh pick-and-pops, maybe some high/low stuff with McRoberts and Bosh. That’s probably good for a four seed or so, if their defense doesn’t crater too badly. The Johnson/Horford/Smith Hawks are a fine comparison, I’d agree.
I have been unable to confirm whether McRoberts has actually signed his deal yet. He agreed to terms during the moratorium, so if he wanted to renege now that LeBron isn’t there, he could, but that’s a very rare thing for NBA players. They sure could use him in Cleveland.
I’m waiting with bated breath on the Pacers, they may end up forced to choose between trading Hibbert and losing Stephenson. That’s an awful choice, either one could easily come back to haunt you.
At the moment, their weakest position is power forward, followed by shooting guard. Love would obviously address their need at the four, but it remains unclear if and when Minny will trade him, and there will be plenty of competing offers, from Golden State and Boston at a minimum. After Love, the list of available fours is pretty thin; Andray Blatche is the best guy, followed by Kris Humphries. The two is a little deeper, there’s Stephenson, Evan Turner (a possible steal, he’s better than what he showed in Indy this year), Rodney Stuckey, and Jerryd Bayless can play the two. They need bodies, they have 10 guys under contract & cap space, and after LeBron, Irving, Waiters, and Varejao, it gets ugly fast, evne if Wiggins can contribute right away.
You know, the more I think about how Houston completely struck out this offseason, the more I wonder why they put so much focus on signing Bosh to a max deal. Did they ever consider signing Channing Frye? I think Daryl Morey must have felt that he needed to make some kind of splash to justify all the player movement and freeing up of cap space. Now they might have to sit on that cap space.
Their first target was Carmelo Anthony, then Bosh after it became obvious that wasn’t happening. If the view is that you might need three superstars to win - a la Miami or San Antonio or Oklahoma City or the Clippers - they were right to focus on those guys. Howard and Harden are great but not enough to get the job done on their own, not in that conference. A forward who can stretch the defense and score easily would have fit right in there and Anthony and Bosh are both All-Stars. This is definitely a big loss for them, as is their decision to let Parsons get to free agency.
No idea. If the consensus is that Orlando overpaid him, I’m not sure Houston was going to go there. In the end they got Ariza, who is a bit younger and can shoot a little himself. It’s not like any GM in the world is going to say “I don’t need Carmelo or Bosh because I have Channing Frye.”
He’s always looking to make a splash because he figures that’s the best way to win. I find it hard to argue with that point, but that doesn’t guarantee things will work out. Houston did dump two players for almost nothing* and lost some picks, but sitting on some cap space for a while is not the worst thing in the world. It’s better than overpaying a player. In any case they can try to trade for guys during the season, too. Who knows who might become available for the right offer?
I wouldn’t worry too much about my weakest position if I were the Cavs. The thing about having LeBron is, everyone can play whatever position they want. Don’t put four centers on the court with him, basically, and any five man lineup makes sense. The Heat had a real problem at the 4, too. They fixed it by saying OK, LeBron, you’re a 4.
PS Evan Turner is in fact worse than what he showed as a Pacer.
As a resident of Lawrence, Kansas, I am of the opinion that DigitalC is right, and Jimmy Chitwood is wrong. Andrew Wiggins will disappoint a lot of folks during the first three years of his NBA career. After that, he could very well be the Tracy MacGrady of his era – great, even a franchise player for a few years here and there (but obviously never a “top 10 of all time” type of deal).
Good point. With all the focus on MJ, people forget that Scottie Pippen’s similar positional range gave Phil Jackson helpful flexibility with those 90s Bulls lineups, especially whenever most starters were resting on the bench.
Not really, Battier played the 4 during Miami’s peak years, and guarded the opposing 4. When he was no longer able to do that, the Heat had a serious problem. LeBron is capable of playing the 4, but it’s not ideal, he takes an even greater physical pounding that way, and guys like Aldridge, Griffin, and West are too strong for him. Getting a better power forward than Tristan Thompson is surely a priority for the Cavs, though outside Love there aren’t a lot of options.
He had career lows in points and rebounds (per 36 minutes) and field goal percentage for the Pacers. In his career to date, he’s played for a coach that ran an archaic offense built on long twos that catered to Turner’s worst instincts; on a deliberately-atrocious lottery team, and a Pacers team that already had a solid rotation, was inept offensively (a lot of which falls on Vogel), and went into a bizarre tailspin after the All-Star break. I’m not ready to write off Evan Turner just yet, look what a change in environment and a sophisticated coaching staff did for Monta Ellis this year.
Peak years? In 2013 they beat the Spurs starting a lineup of Chalmers/Wade/Allen/James/Bosh, and Battier played twelve minutes a game, because he was already not able to do that. He was a shooter but not a defender anymore. That’s the problem that I’m talking about that they fixed by putting LeBron at the 4.
But Battier being the nominal 4 on defense prior to that is another example of the same trick. Shane Battier isn’t an NBA power forward. There aren’t many teams out there who can survive with a guy like that (who does not rebound and has one offensive skill) starting for them.
Battier played 33 minutes per game in the 2012 playoffs, in which Miami went 16-7 and rolled over OKC in 5. He played 18 mpg in 2013, when Miami went 16-7 and squeaked out the tightest of wins over SA in 7. He played 12 mpg in 2014, when Miami went 13-7 and lost the Finals in 5. He wasn’t the sole factor or anything, but his decline contributed to the team’s.
So yes, LeBron is at his best when someone else plays the 4, with all physical demand that entails. If the Pacers haven’t made upgrading the 4 a priority, I’d be shocked. Depending on the matchup, you can get by with playing LeBron at the 4 in a series here or there, but not all season long.
And there’s probably a connection between his breakdown between '12 and '14, and playing out of position and taking a beating. LeBron’s got a ton of miles on him already, Cleveland should be looking to protect and extend his prime…which would be rather the opposite of Miami’s approach.
I really think you’re drawing a distinction that has very little to do with the point I was making. Shane Battier becoming a terrible player didn’t help the Heat.
As a totally separate matter, LeBron played the 4 for two entire seasons, and when you have LeBron his tremendous offensive versatility allows you not to freak out about having a cookie cutter 1, 2, 4 and 5.
Miami was in a lousy spot with Bosh. After losing Lebron, they probably would have been better off letting Bosh go. The guy wasn’t top 40 in scoring, rebounding, or three points made this year. His best statistical category was blocks where he was 31st. I’m sure he’ll have an uptick this year with Lebron gone, but I don’t see a max contract for a guy that isn’t top 20 in anything being a good spend. They could have let Wade go too and bottomed out, but they couldn’t because they owe Cleveland their draft pick next year. It’s top ten protected, but it’s tough to be that bad in the east.
I would argue that San Antonio had no superstars this year, but I also don’t think you can model yourself around what was maybe the most unusual championship team in NBA history.
Well, again, that’s because of his role on the team. They wanted him shooting jumpers from the elbow and from three, and he did that very well. He’ll get more touches and (I assume) play more in the post, so I’d expect his scoring and rebounding to go up a fair bit. There aren’t that many guys who do what he does as well as he does it.
Even though their minutes are down, Tim Duncan is still extremely good, Tony Parker is still exceptional, and Manu Ginobili is still a unique player (and what a bounce-back year he had). It’s an unusual configuration compared to the Heat or the Lakers with Kobe and Gasol or the '08 Celtics or the other teams I mentioned, but still, they have three Hall of Famers and an amazing supporting cast. Maybe the '04 Pistons were more unusual.
Speaking of people who burned their bridges in Cleveland… anyway right now the leading candidates are supposed to be Charlotte and Atlanta.
Just for trivia’s sake, there are still five teams that could use the amnesty provision before the deadline on Wednesday: Atlanta on Horford, Boston on Rondo, Memphis on Conley, San Antonio on Parker, and Oklahoma City on Collison, Durant, or Perkins. Some people have been screaming for Oklahoma City to waive Perkins for years, but they’re always refused and there’s no talk of it happening now. I don’t think it would get them under the cap anyway. The other teams that never used the amnesty provision are Detroit, New Orleans, Sacramento and Utah.
Golden State and Minnesota are still talking about a Kevin Love trade, but it’s still not going anywhere. I have trouble understanding this. Klay Thompson is really good, but he’s going to get a max contract after this season and I don’t think he helps them as much as Love does.
Those guys are three of my all time favorite players, but I wouldn’t consider any of them elite at this stage in their careers. Guys like Lowry, Dragic, Wall, and Conley had better individual seasons than Parker, let alone Curry and Paul. The Spurs closed out OKC without him, and to me that’s what’s amazing about this team. The system allows everyone to excel at what their good at. I think Popovich is probably the best coach there’s ever been. Even Jackson had the best player in the league for pretty much every one of his championships, and two of the best ten for all but the last few with Kobe. If I were picking a team from anyone in the league today, I wouldn’t take any Spur in the top twenty or even thirty. They’re so much more than the sum of their parts.
The Spurs do have great depth and a fantastic system, but I think you’re underrating the individual components. And I admit it’s a too soon to call Kawhi Leonard a superstar, but there’s that, too.
Lance Stephenson goes to the Hornets for $27 million/3 years. As befits an unusual person and an unusual free agency situation, Stephenson wanted fewer years from Indiana and they couldn’t come to an agreement. Dallas was going to offer him $20 million/2 years if things hadn’t worked out with Parsons, but Indy wouldn’t budge from $44 million/5 years. The per-year values for Charlotte and Indiana were about the same, but he’s betting he’ll be worth more than $17 million over those last two years. If he doesn’t flame out or do something really crazy that seems like a decent bet. He’ll be 24 in September, and it’s not common for a really good player that age to be become an unrestricted free agent (he was a second-round pick).
