NBA 2005 off-season (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

So, Larry Brown will get $12M per year to coach the ragtag collection of salary cap hell contracts that Isiah has assembled in New York. Thomas and Brown will be an interesting combination -- neither are known for telling the truth, and their ideas of point guard play do not exactly mesh. Add Isiah's reputation for backstabbing, and the Knicks will certainly be entertaining.

Meanwhile, the Pistons get a company man in Saunders who will not make waves, but certainly is not Brown's equal as a coach.

I do not think either side will be better off next season -- except financially.

 

[Joseph S]

Glad to see Flip get another chance. He did a great job running a camp on the Cape with McHale over 15 years ago. Super nice guy too.

 

[Seth Paxton]

He used to be. Up till the last year or so he was one of those big catches. It's only now that he is viewed not as an all-star but just as a good player.

I mean there are less AS than NBA teams, or equal (is it 14 per or 15 per team, I don't remember), so any AS has to be considered a guy carrying a team, or at least the main force on your team...unless you have 2 of them.

 

[Haggai]

Ah, gotcha, Seth. Your post about Sarunas was really saying "Since he is a star for Maccabi Tel Aviv his signing with the NBA would bring lots of attention [to him on his vacation] from reporters over there." Makes sense.

Regarding Shareef, should be interesting to see how he fits in with NJ. The one season I had basketball tickets in college, at Berkeley, was the one season he played there. I went to the games with another friend, and during the first 10 minutes of the first exhibition game, I turned to him and remarked about how Shareef was making moves and positioning himself in the post like someone with 10 more years of experience. Quite a stunning array of talent for a freshman. I also remember laughing out loud at the end of the season when I read a column by one of the school paper's sports writers, about how Shareef really needed more seasoning in college before he'd be ready for the NBA.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Eh, I think once he left the Grizzlies, people realized that he was a very good player but not a guy you should build around. He's Juwan Howard v.2.0. That's why the Rockets didn't seriously consider Rahim - he would basically just duplicate what they've already got in Juwan and they'd rather have a different style coming off the bench.

 

[Brandon_T]

I am pretty sure that Scott will remember as I do, player grumblings about Rick long before he was fired, primarily that he refused to let Wallace try and work on his offensive game amongst the big things. Believe me or not, call it spin control, whatever, the grumblings were there, and were reported in the local press BEFORE there was any inkling about the firing. Done talking about two year old BS that doesn't really matter.

As far as Brown goes, some of the things I will miss are his plays out of time outs, about the best there was at that and his x's and o's. What I won't miss is the constant drama that goes along with him. Flip isn't as good of a coach, but I think that with the group of guys here, and if they land Finley like or Rose like they are trying, and the addition of the draft pick Maxiell who did well in the summer league they will be fine.

This year I think the East is creeping more and more even overall with the west. It will be Detroit, Indy, Miami, and maybe Chicago and the Nets. I think Shaq is going to see that he can't play a full season and tough playoffs anymore. The human body isn't supposed to be that big with that much physical contact. If you ask me it comes down to Indy and Detroit again.

 

[Seth Paxton]

SarJas signs with Indy after all. All that other crap was net rumors and BS it turns out.

This is considered a huge signing around here, and it will certainly lead to more roster shifting by Indy (Anthony Johnson, Fred Jones perhaps being traded).

I don't think SarJas starts over Tinsely, but he gets 25+ MPG for sure.



Raheem should look better with Kidd. I had 2nd row for that last Pacers/NJ game and I have to say that Kidd didn't look nearly as old as you sometimes might think. On TV you can see the court better since you have the high angle, but down low some of his passes just blew me away.

Kidd's a guy that you know is great, but in person it really becomes much clearly just how great. NJ has been a "turnover into track meet" team and SAR certainly could handle that.



Brown - I just don't get him. I mean was he really secretly just working toward the NY job? Or did all of this just magically work out for him? If this really was a big plot then its hard to believe a guy could be such a nasty liar (The Pistons will be the last team I coach).


Kings - I can't decide what I think of losing Mobley, getting Bonzai. To me it seems like they are slipping into some player conflict issues, worse than when Webber was there instead of better.



East vs West - IMO, that talk should be over. Indy looks deeper than SA at this point, DET and MIA as 2nd and 3rd are also title contenders, CLE is climbing, CHI returns with lots of real talent. NJ may have retooled, at least enough to get back over .500. Boston could still compete. WSH might still be a +.500 team also.

If something like a Finley cut/sign with DET thing happens then its just more talent movement East.


Coaches in tough spots - think about this what if, what if Brown is in NY with that roster and Phil Jax is in LA with their roster. Should be interesting to see these 2 top coaches struggling with less talent than they have become used to.

 

[Shane Martin]

Well it's official. Brown is now the coach of the Knicks.

 

[Haggai]

Marc Stein is reporting that Phoenix might be doing a sign-and-trade with Joe Johnson going to Atlanta. Apparently he doesn't want to stay in Phoenix, which is kind of surprising to me.

Edit: My computer was screwing up a bit, here's the link to Stein's article.

Aside from contract issues, there's apparently something else at play behind Johnson wanting to leave Phoenix, according to Stein's article from the day before:



Doesn't sound like much of a team player to me. That's what surprises me, I thought he was considered to be a good teammate. But maybe he just wants to be The Man, championship opportunities be damned.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I think Brown wanted to get fired so he could take the NY job. He knew exactly what to say (and not say) in his discussions with Detroit management to make sure he would get released from his contract. He's an expert on getting out of contracts.

Meanwhile, I think the Pistons really didn't want him back anyway -- at least Davidson, the owner (and most important opinion) didn't want him back. He was angered by Brown's flirting with other jobs during this past season and pretty much told Dumars to get another coach.

So, both sides got what they wanted out of the deal. As I said before, though, I can't believe that Davidson or the rest of the Detroit management team could have been surprised by Brown's behavior. After all, of the 11 coaching jobs he's had, he was at five of them for two or less years. I may be wrong, but I do not remember him being fired from any of them, either.

Any predictions on how long Brown will coach the Knicks? I think there's a 50% chance he will not make it through this season due to his health situation. If he does, he'll only make it through one more season, since the New York media can be bruttal and Larry needs to have his ego constantly stroked to feel wanted.

 

[Shane Martin]

4 years. They might make the playoffs this year, next year when they get rid of a few contracts, they should be in good shape to be constantly in the playoffs. Isiah will make the moves Brown wants.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Since Isiah's been taking on more bad contracts since he took over the Knicks, what makes you think he's capable of making intelligent trades? His track record of managing the Raptors and Continental Basketball Association (drove it into bankruptcy), not to mention the coaching fiasco at Indiana, would indicate otherwise.

I loved Isiah as a player with the Pistons, but I'm very happy that he had a falling out with the owner and we ended up with Joe Dumars, instead of him, running the team.

 

[Shane Martin]

Brown's insight on who he wants. They'll be 15 million dollars richer towards some other talent when Penny Hardaway's contract goes away.

 

[Haggai]

Yeah, but the Knicks' contract situation is SO bad. Larry will almost certainly make them better immediately, but beyond that initial leap, I don't see them getting that much better in the next few seasons, i.e. being able to go beyond the first round in the playoffs.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Isiah's a very stubborn person with his own ideas (mostly bad, IMO) of what comprises a competitive team. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for these two strong-willed personalities to clash on the opinion of some trade or free agent signing.

Brown's coaching talent will make the Knicks a little better, but I have huge doubts about Isiah and Brown's ability to make the proper personnel moves.

 

[Shane Martin]

Looks like Shaq is signing a 5 yr 100 million dollar extention. They are apparantly also trading away Eddie Jones. Rumors are also around that Antoine Walker will be part of the Heat.

 

[Brandon_T]

Thats fine with me, he can eat all the cap, and they can trade for Walker, that pretty much wraps it up that they have no chance of winning a championship.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

According to this link on ESPN.com, Shaq's deal actually frees up some salary cap space for Miami. He was slated to make $30.6M this season -- he will now make $20M over each of the next 5 years.

I'm not intimately familiar with the workings of the NBA salary cap. Does anyone know how the remaining years of this contract would count on Miami's cap if Shaq hangs up his oversized sneakers sooner than five years?

 

[Robert_Z]

Spurs re-sign Horry and also sign Fabricio Oberto, starting center from the Argentine gold medal team. Regarded as one of the best 5 players in Europe. Not a bad day for the defending champs.

 

[Haggai]

See if you can keep all the names straight in the 5-team, 13-player deal that happened yesterday. Miami, Boston, Memphis, New Orleans, and Utah were all involved. Some draft picks/draft rights were also involved, but in terms of already active players, the Heat gave up Eddie Jones and Rasual Butler, and got back Antoine Walker, James Posey, and Jason Williams.