For just about any other player I’d say “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” but with Kawhi I don’t buy it. This guy doesn’t leak stuff like this, he’s a clam. I believe it when he says he’ll give Toronto the anchor spot and they’ll have a real shot to convince him.
They really are something. If it weren’t for the constant hilarity that is the Knicks, the Wiz would be the laughing stocks. I hear they are really trying to blow it up by trading Beal for draft picks but I’m not sure there’s a team out there left with the cap+assets to make that work. Who knows.
Sources: Bulls get Satoransky, agree to new deal
They poached him from the tanking Wizards and he’s a great fit for the Bulls. Most pundits are lauding that deal. Rumors that the Bulls are looking for a taker for Kris Dunn to clear the way for Satoransky to start, but I’m not sure how valuable other teams think he is. He can play on the ball defense, might be an interesting 7th-8th man for a contender I suppose.
When combined with the Young signing and the rookies White and Gafford, the Bulls will probably not be a dumpster fire this year.
All I know is that the Knicks are shit.
YAAAAAAYYY!!!
They just picked up Isaiah Thomas. Season saved! 
There are also tweets that he’s rejected the Lakers entirely. Leonard is, according to nameless insiders, staying in Toronto, going to the Clippers, going to the Lakers, going to Charlotte, going to the Knicks, going to the Israeli Developmental League, retiring, and playing fullback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Literally no one knows but Kawhi.
I dunno if he’s had meetings or not, but those in the meetings might have some idea. Might. I’m trying to ignore it all because I’m a Spurs fan who works in Toronto and I don’t want him on the damn Lakers! Maybe I’ll put money on it, then it’ll never happen.
This whole Kawhi thing is like the Psychic industry. Throw enough shit at the wall and one prediction sticks. The one that guesses right looks like an Oracle.
I think they have enough talent for 25-30.
At this point don’t you think you may be able to get wall to the Knicks?
You never know what the Knicks will do in desperation, but that would have to be one hell of a sales pitch by the Wizards’ GM [missing]. He can’t play for at least another season and he’s got a $170 million contract extension that hasn’t even started yet. More likely they get the Knicks to sell them the farm for Beal, who can play (and can play) but I wouldn’t put money on that either.
Agreed. Still, these had the local group of NBA enthusiasts in a tizzy, and so I pass them on to you all. EDIT: Congratulations! to you on the Raptors winning it all. Didn’t see that coming. Amazing team effort from them.
I’m glad to see that, so far, they seem to have not been true. The NBA, contra Stern and Silver’s past comments, is better IMHO when the talent is spread out, rather than re-enacting the Showtime Lakers, Michael’s Bulls, or this last Warriors team.
(It’s also better with a shorter season, but I doubt that’ll happen. Though it’s been talked about again this offseason.)
Weird thing is, I don’t think a Leonard-James-Davis Lakers team is necessarily a world-beater in an increasingly guard-dominated NBA. Though Leonard is an amazing player.
What is Wall’s problem? I mean, before the Achilles injury. Was he fat, a head case, coke head, unable to get along with anyone? I had thought he was a talented point guard, albeit not the second coming of Magic or early Chris Paul?
Honestly I think it’s just ego. He aspires to be a player that he’s not. He could be a great pure point guard, he’s shown he can do it, but he wants to be a scorer like Paul and Westbrook too, and that’s just not his game. It never has been and at this point probably never will. When he uses his speed to go to the basket then kick out, he’s great, but he can’t help himself and tries to score on every other touch, when he should just be passing.
That’s too bad, albeit it shouldn’t make him as disliked as reading various rumors and commentary would have you think. I mean James Harden is a ball hog qua ball hog—not as bad as Westbrook, but he’s in the conversation—and Austin Rivers just took 2/3 less money to resign with Houston. Being a shoot first PG coming off an injury shouldn’t make him the worst contract in the NBA, but he is.
I just didn’t know if there was something else going on.
He’s going to Oracle Arena to join the Warriors for a cool $1 million( or whatever crumbs are left in the hard cap ):eek:? Awesome!
The Bulls were not anything close to those “super teams”…they just had Michael and Scottie. That was enough. Even Rodman was really just a role player who was overrated and made to look good cleaning up MJ and Scottie’s scraps.
He’s one of the highest paid players in the league, but is lazy, injured, doesn’t play defense, and doesn’t score half as well as those other ball hogs. Harden and Westbrook are great iso players. Wall isn’t. His distinguishing characteristic was speed, and then he got fat, lazy and hurt. Also, he’s on a terrible team with no leadership and no culture, pretty much the perfect recipe for the worst contract in the league.
Rodman’s one of the best rebounders and defenders of all time. Horace Grant was incredibly underrated as a force down low. Kerr was one of the best 3pt shooters at the time. And so on, and so on.
The Bulls definitely qualify as a Super Team, though winning a ring w/o Jordan would’ve helped.
They were a super team because the won more than anyone else. Not because they were able to add any elite superstar they wanted to an already stacked team. They never drew “ring chasers”.
And Rodman was one of the worst offensive players to ever lace them up. His rebounding was elite and his defense was above average, but the advanced stats are pretty decisive on this. Rodman was an average player taken as a whole, pretty much the definition of a role player whose persona elevated his stature.
I love Kerr, but no one would say he was anything but a 3 point specialist…not a “star” by any stretch. He was basically Craig Hodges 2.0 and had he not had that run on the Spurs and weren’t still in the news with the Warriors, he would have been almost totally forgotten.
Horace was probably the best complimentary player they had but he LEFT for more money. Pretty much the exact opposite of what happens with these super teams where guys are taking pay cuts to stick around. The Bulls were nothing at all like the Showtime Lakers, Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Heatles or Warriors.
Oh, with that definition of Super Team, I agree with you. The idea of Jordan-era star players joining forces with their competitors would have been anathema. Though there always were players on their last legs seeking to hire on with a good team, for not much money.
Agree with you on Grant. Slightly different era, but IMHO he really deserved some of the acclaim that players like Worthy were getting.
Rodman didn’t need offensive skills, as many SDs beyond the mean as he was as a rebounder. His DPBM and Drtg were also solidly near the top, only behind players like Mutombo, David Robinson, etc… It helps when Jordan, Pippen and others can do the scoring for you. Agree that Kerr wasn’t a star, but he was among the very best in the league at what he did.
But agreed: definitely not a case of, “Let’s all play together on the same team in a year or two.”
Forgot this part. I did go back and look and Rodman had a much worse WS/48 than I would have guessed, given his rebounding skill. I think its due to his FG percentage being down almost 10 points from his time with the Pistons. So you’ve convinced me about Rodman’s elite status as a player for his 3 years on the Bulls. Still an elite rebounder and good defender.
Portland is scrapping several players: Mo Harkless and Al Farouq Aminu will leave a big hole in the defense. Evan Turner and Meyers Leonard are gone, which is no big loss. And Enes Kanter is leaving, which surprises me. He basically helped save the Blazers’ season after The Injury.
He did exactly what the Bulls wanted him to do and was essential to those titles, no doubt. I just rejected the idea that him going to the Bulls was in any way comparable to Durant joining Curry and Klay in Oakland or LeBron, Wade and Bosh joining forces in Miami or the threat of LeBron, AD and Kawhi teaming up in LA. Heck, I don’t even think he was comparable to KG going to Boston to play with Pierce and Allen/Rondo (via trade, so a bit different that the current trend I suppose, but KG had a no-trade and was very involved in that deal).