NBA Free Agents Bluffing That Their Moves Will Topple the Warriors/Cavs??

[Witch-King]

The NBA free agency has started and so far none of the signings and trades have resulted in teams looking like they could beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East or the Warriors out West, on paper. That alone is highly disappointing and hopefully it changes. Going into this offseason, if I was a high value free agent I would've first met with other star free agents like myself and tried to pick out a target team that the both of us could sign to. What has happened instead is that they are all ending up on teams that, while they still show promise, aren't clear cut juggernauts with enough clout to truly challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors, though with a few well timed trades that could all change. So far, teams like the Spurs and Celtics haven't yet been able to add new talent to their rosters, and if it's somehow true that free agents don't want to play for either team, then which team do they go to in order to join forces and make a championship run?? I know it's early, but so far I have not seen any leads on what teams have planned in order to beat Cleveland and Golden State. Your thoughts??

[GreenEnvy]

How many teams could clear enough cap space to sign two max guys? And even if they could, what two would they be and what team would they be joining?

There was no team that players could build themselves, a la Miami 2010.

As much as I dislike both teams, they built theirs pretty fairly. Cleveland lucked into what, like 3 top picks in 4 lotteries? Brought LeBron back home and traded two of their top picks for Love. And Golden State drafted their three stars and then surprisingly added KD.

[max215]

Acquiring two top-4 players and two other top-20 players is hard. If you were expecting a team to do that, then you were destined to be disappointed.

[Witch-King]

Acquiring two top-4 players and two other top-20 players is hard. If you were expecting a team to do that, then you were destined to be disappointed.

Even if that was the case (it very well might be), then what is the interest in watching the next NBA season from any point earlier than the Finals, which is becoming increasingly likely to be a contest between the same two teams for the 4th season in a row?? It's not impossible for a new team to emerge that could challenge Cleveland or Golden State; the Celtics only had Paul Pierce going into the fabled offseason when they acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, and none of those 3 players had ever won NBA MVP before, yet they were still enough to have the best record in the league and win banner 17 once they joined forces. You don't necessarily need the very best players in the league to become formidable, maybe just one transcendent talent plus one or two former or current All Stars and a quality supporting cast, just look at how the Celtics and Spurs fared last season for example. It may be difficult to create such a team, but it isn't impossible.

[Witch-King]

Interestingly enough, both the Celtics and Spurs' best player got injured in their Conference Finals against the two teams that were heavily favored to go back to the Finals yet again. I'm not crying conspiracy, here, but it was rather unfortunate for both sides. If both teams had their star players healthy, maybe we could've actually seen a competitive series against the "shoe-in teams" before the finals, or maybe not. You(and everyone else)'re right when you say that the Warriors are a rare team in terms of quality of talent, though Max215

[Witch-King]

How many teams could clear enough cap space to sign two max guys? And even if they could, what two would they be and what team would they be joining?

There was no team that players could build themselves, a la Miami 2010.

As much as I dislike both teams, they built theirs pretty fairly. Cleveland lucked into what, like 3 top picks in 4 lotteries? Brought LeBron back home and traded two of their top picks for Love. And Golden State drafted their three stars and then surprisingly added KD.

The Celtics were making a push to sign either Hayward and George, or Hayward and Griffin. I didn't even read about any other teams attempting to utilize multiple star free agents like we tried to.

[droopdog7]

Interestingly enough, both the Celtics and Spurs' best player got injured in their Conference Finals against the two teams that were heavily favored to go back to the Finals yet again. I'm not crying conspiracy, here, but it was rather unfortunate for both sides. If both teams had their star players healthy, maybe we could've actually seen a competitive series against the "shoe-in teams" before the finals, or maybe not. You(and everyone else)'re right when you say that the Warriors are a rare team in terms of quality of talent, though Max215

Maybe for the Spurs.  But we were getting blown out wit or without IT.

[Witch-King]

Interestingly enough, both the Celtics and Spurs' best player got injured in their Conference Finals against the two teams that were heavily favored to go back to the Finals yet again. I'm not crying conspiracy, here, but it was rather unfortunate for both sides. If both teams had their star players healthy, maybe we could've actually seen a competitive series against the "shoe-in teams" before the finals, or maybe not. You(and everyone else)'re right when you say that the Warriors are a rare team in terms of quality of talent, though Max215

Maybe for the Spurs.  But we were getting blown out wit or without IT.

IT was injured those 2 games, we played poorly, and the Cavaliers were hell bent on disgracing us in game 2. In game 3, we played really well and beat Cleveland on the road without IT. Maybe if Isaiah was still healthy we would've fared better in game 5, though it was clear that we were outmatched by the Cavs last season. If no team in the East improves then the same thing will be the case next season, and regardless of whether teams in the East try to blow it up or run it back, if they don't improve, then LeBron will keep going back to the Finals until he gets old.

[GreenEnvy]

How many teams could clear enough cap space to sign two max guys? And even if they could, what two would they be and what team would they be joining?

There was no team that players could build themselves, a la Miami 2010.

As much as I dislike both teams, they built theirs pretty fairly. Cleveland lucked into what, like 3 top picks in 4 lotteries? Brought LeBron back home and traded two of their top picks for Love. And Golden State drafted their three stars and then surprisingly added KD.

The Celtics were making a push to sign either Hayward and George, or Hayward and Griffin. I didn't even read about any other teams attempting to utilize multiple star free agents like we tried to.

Celtics will have to maneuver the roster to get one max free agent. The other would have to come via trade. And as we are learning, GM's do as they please in trading away their stars.

[obnoxiousmime]

I'm not really sure what you were expecting. Can you please bring up a realistic example of how some of these players could have maneuvered themselves onto a team that could challenge the Warriors? Realistic meaning within actual salary cap rules and players not taking massive discounts to fit into the salary cap.

[MaxAMillion]

Interestingly enough, both the Celtics and Spurs' best player got injured in their Conference Finals against the two teams that were heavily favored to go back to the Finals yet again. I'm not crying conspiracy, here, but it was rather unfortunate for both sides. If both teams had their star players healthy, maybe we could've actually seen a competitive series against the "shoe-in teams" before the finals, or maybe not. You(and everyone else)'re right when you say that the Warriors are a rare team in terms of quality of talent, though Max215

Maybe for the Spurs.  But we were getting blown out wit or without IT.

IT was injured those 2 games, we played poorly, and the Cavaliers were hell bent on disgracing us in game 2. In game 3, we played really well and beat Cleveland on the road without IT. Maybe if Isaiah was still healthy we would've fared better in game 5, though it was clear that we were outmatched by the Cavs last season. If no team in the East improves then the same thing will be the case next season, and regardless of whether teams in the East try to blow it up or run it back, if they don't improve, then LeBron will keep going back to the Finals until he gets old.

Maybe if Rondo doesn't get hurt, the C's don't get out of the first round.

[crimcartel]

Interestingly enough, both the Celtics and Spurs' best player got injured in their Conference Finals against the two teams that were heavily favored to go back to the Finals yet again. I'm not crying conspiracy, here, but it was rather unfortunate for both sides. If both teams had their star players healthy, maybe we could've actually seen a competitive series against the "shoe-in teams" before the finals, or maybe not. You(and everyone else)'re right when you say that the Warriors are a rare team in terms of quality of talent, though Max215

Maybe for the Spurs.  But we were getting blown out wit or without IT.

IT was injured those 2 games, we played poorly, and the Cavaliers were hell bent on disgracing us in game 2. In game 3, we played really well and beat Cleveland on the road without IT. Maybe if Isaiah was still healthy we would've fared better in game 5, though it was clear that we were outmatched by the Cavs last season. If no team in the East improves then the same thing will be the case next season, and regardless of whether teams in the East try to blow it up or run it back, if they don't improve, then LeBron will keep going back to the Finals until he gets old.

Maybe if Rondo doesn't get hurt, the C's don't get out of the first round.

maybe if IT and his family didn't lose a loved one, Himself and the team don't play low energy is games 1 and 2

[Moranis]

I'm not really sure what you were expecting. Can you please bring up a realistic example of how some of these players could have maneuvered themselves onto a team that could challenge the Warriors? Realistic meaning within actual salary cap rules and players not taking massive discounts to fit into the salary cap.

If the Spurs added Chris Paul I think they would have been a real threat to the Warriors

[hwangjini_1]

not exactly sure where to put this. mods, please move it you think of a better place.



Adrian Wojnarowski Retweeted Adrian Wojnarowski

Sources: Milwaukee's been trying to shed contracts to create space. Bucks need to make moves to get into position to sign significant FA's.

Adrian Wojnarowski‏ @wojespn 50m50 minutes ago
Free agent guard Derrick Rose is meeting with Milwaukee Bucks officials today, league sources tell ESPN.

any realistic players the celtics might be interested in here? and please, be mindful of the caveat "realistic." 

[Witch-King]

I'm not really sure what you were expecting. Can you please bring up a realistic example of how some of these players could have maneuvered themselves onto a team that could challenge the Warriors? Realistic meaning within actual salary cap rules and players not taking massive discounts to fit into the salary cap.

Teams go above the cap all the time, though, just look at the Cavs. The Cavs owner spent like a bazillion dollars on the luxury tax last season in hopes of defending their title. Most teams probably wouldn't bother going too far above the cap unless they thought there was real promis in doing so; remember the Brooklyn Nets also had an extremely expensive team a few seasons ago, so maybe with the right players a team might be willing to spend much extra.