Everything Derozan

[Snooch]

nice dish

the first pass was abysmal, the second one was one he should hae made.

So good on him for actually making it as opposed try to go up on Gortat.

[golden]

If Tristan Thompson is getting paid $16mm/year BEFORE the cap bonanza I think it's pretty crazy to think Batum is worth $10-12mm. Even without Rich Paul/LeBron helping, Thompson would've gotten $14mm+.

Batum'll get $16-18mm for a mediocre season and $20mm+ for a good one.

No way Tristan Thompson gets $14mm+ on the open market without Lebron/Paul twisting the Cavs arm. Absolutely no way. There was ZERO talk of any team even considering any offer at any price for TT. Not even a sniff, even from the Raps, who were supposedly interested. No meetings with other teams. Nothing.

In a free market, TT would get compared to Ed Davis who is getting $6.6mm per. IMO, TT's non-Lebron salary ceiling is more like $10mm per, and that's only considering the deep playoff run, which was entirely fueled by Lebron. Non-Cavs teams looking at TT would factor in that they don't actually have Lebron.

As a side note, does anybody else find this whole Lebron/Rich Paul agency thing a bit disturbing? You have the league's best player in his prime being able to dictate league-wide personnel moves, including trades and financial terms. It almost feels like the TT over-pay was a way to indirectly pay Lebron what he's worth and circumvent the salary cap, which punishes superstars at Lebron's level.

Bringing this back to DD, his comparable could be a lesser Kawhi Leonard who just signed for $18.5mm/yr averaged over 5 years. This would put DD at something like $15/yr average, which would be fair. Any GM who would allow himself to be talked into using TT's $16mm/yr as a comparable salary in negotiations is incompetent. TT is an obvious outlier, dictated by very unique circumstances.

[SkywalkerAC]

Stackhouse article but thought I'd put it here:

Stackhouse continued coaching his aau team even after his son switched to football. Five of his aau players went on to play ncaa division 1 basketball this season, while jaye is a football freshman at north carolina, his dad’s alma mater.

Stackhouse sees the same teaching opportunity with the toronto raptors, especially with young players such as delon wright and canadian cory joseph. In an aim to add a recent nba player to their staff, the raptors hired stackhouse as an assistant coach this past off-season.

The two-time all-star brings experience gained with eight different nba teams, a great relationship with head coach dwane casey, and combination of smarts and toughness. And still fit at 40, stackhouse can match the physicality of the players on the court.

"he’s lean and mean," joseph said. "he still gets out there, bangs with us, a physical guy."

"all these guys, their ears are open," stackhouse said. "they’re attentive to what i’m saying because they know i’ve been out there and i’ve done it. I’ve sat in all of those seats — from being a star player to having to adjust my role, becoming the sixth man to being a guy later on in my career that just filled roles. Those seats are on every team.

"so it’s being able to really relate to these guys and know what they’re going through, not getting the minutes that they want, not getting the minutes that sometimes they deserve, and having to manage that and still be a good teammate."

Those are just the intangibles. On the court, Stackhouse — who was part of the Detroit Pistons team that dispatched Toronto in five games in the 2002 playoffs — said nothing is lost on him.

"To be able to play at this level for almost 20 years, there’s nothing that I haven’t seen or dealt with from an X and Os standpoint," he said. "Now it’s just being able to find creative ways to get the message to the players."

The 24-year-old Joseph called Stackhouse "a mentor."

"He’s been helping me a lot in terms of staying confident, helping me learn the system. I know he just got here too but we’ve been learning together and he’s been helping me a lot with my shot, staying on me to get better," Joseph said.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...ve-to-raptors/

[Scraptor]

No way Tristan Thompson gets $14mm+ on the open market without Lebron/Paul twisting the Cavs arm. Absolutely no way. There was ZERO talk of any team even considering any offer at any price for TT. Not even a sniff, even from the Raps, who were supposedly interested. No meetings with other teams. Nothing.

In a free market, TT would get compared to Ed Davis who is getting $6.6mm per. IMO, TT's non-Lebron salary ceiling is more like $10mm per, and that's only considering the deep playoff run, which was entirely fueled by Lebron. Non-Cavs teams looking at TT would factor in that they don't actually have Lebron.

As a side note, does anybody else find this whole Lebron/Rich Paul agency thing a bit disturbing? You have the league's best player in his prime being able to dictate league-wide personnel moves, including trades and financial terms. It almost feels like the TT over-pay was a way to indirectly pay Lebron what he's worth and circumvent the salary cap, which punishes superstars at Lebron's level.

Bringing this back to DD, his comparable could be a lesser Kawhi Leonard who just signed for $18.5mm/yr averaged over 5 years. This would put DD at something like $15/yr average, which would be fair. Any GM who would allow himself to be talked into using TT's $16mm/yr as a comparable salary in negotiations is incompetent. TT is an obvious outlier, dictated by very unique circumstances.

1. There was no sniff this summer because only two teams could make an offer and since TT was an RFA there was no point in doing so, as the Cavs would match.
2. IMO if TT had taken the qualifying offer you would have seen him getting offered $14+mm next year for sure.
3. Rich Paul was probably bluffing but said there were 3 teams willing to offer TT the max.
4. Ed Davis is two years older and was signed by a much smarter front office than anyone willing to give TT $14mm+.

It may seem crazy now but by next summer it'll seem less outlandish. Reggie Jackson and Enes Kanter getting the deals they did is just a hint of what's to come.

And as to your last point, that any GM who allows himself to be talked into overpaying using an outlier salary is incompetent... They're not as incompetent as they are desperate. That is the nature of the screwed-up CBA. Because true max players don't get paid their real value due to the artificial max, secondary markets end up competing for overpriced assets (if they've decided to compete through free agency).

The reason Masai paid DeMarre Carroll what he did was to outbid Detroit. The same thing will happen all over the place next summer.

[golden]

1. There was no sniff this summer because only two teams could make an offer and since TT was an RFA there was no point in doing so, as the Cavs would match.
2. IMO if TT had taken the qualifying offer you would have seen him getting offered $14+mm next year for sure.
3. Rich Paul was probably bluffing but said there were 3 teams willing to offer TT the max.
4. Ed Davis is two years older and was signed by a much smarter front office than anyone willing to give TT $14mm+.

It may seem crazy now but by next summer it'll seem less outlandish. Reggie Jackson and Enes Kanter getting the deals they did is just a hint of what's to come.

And as to your last point, that any GM who allows himself to be talked into overpaying using an outlier salary is incompetent... They're not as incompetent as they are desperate. That is the nature of the screwed-up CBA. Because true max players don't get the max, secondary markets end up competing for overpriced assets (if they've decided to compete through free agency).

The reason Masai paid DeMarre Carroll what he did was to outbid Detroit. The same thing will happen all over the place next summer.

Lots of teams could have made an offer - at a fair market price. A team that wanted TT could even get Philly involved in a 3-way trade to absorb salary (with the Sixers getting picks or prospect), if a team really felt he was fairly priced. But that's exactly the point. Nobody could afford TT at his price, and no team wanted him at that price. In fact, no team made even a reasonable offer, publicly at least. Because there's no way Rich Paul would even want a rumour of another team making a fair market offer in the Ed Davis + range. IMO, the main negotiating tactic was basically a game of chicken with the Cavs, with the threat of pissing off Lebron as the sole bargaining chip, in addition to trying to win the media war and public opinion (which turned hard against Paul and TT).

I like TT, but if you think about it, he's a big man that doesn't protect the rim or stretch the floor - which is the opposite of how the league is going. He is, however, financially connected to Lebron.

[SkywalkerAC]

[DogeLover1234]

RE TT and the Cavs, they were also forced to pay him because they have so much money tied up elsewhere. If they wanted to make their team better, their options were TT or vet mins. TT and his agent knew this and drove up his price accordingly. For a team that has few picks and young guys, I think they had to keep any talent they could. This plus the Lebron pressure really drove up his price and thus, I don't think that any situation in the near future can be compared to TTs aside from Harrison Barnes next summer.

[S.R.]

nice dish

I HATE DeMar's first drive in that clip. Please do us all a favour and pause that video at the 2 second mark. DeMar has absolutely telegraphed his intention to attack the basket, literally all 5 Washington players are in position to step in front of him before he gets to the rim, and all 5 guys are covering or within 1 step of covering all his passing lanes. Also his defender is in great position squarely in front of him. What a HORRIBLE "I'm gonna drive now!" attempt. Then if that decision couldn't be any worse, he jumped in the air with the ball when he had no basketball play to make and barely got bailed out by shovelling an awkward pass to his closest teammate. DeMar's only thought in these moments, as far as I can tell, is "somebody will foul me." As soon as the defense is smart enough to not bite on the inevitable pump fakes, DeMar is hung out to dry.

The #1 play in this clip starts with ball movement and uses a decisive first step to attack a clear lane straight to the basket. Perfectly executed. By a rookie.

https://youtu.be/4pW_aHXCKwA?t=3m32s

[Chr1s1anL]

Only DD can receive hate on a highlight lol

[S.R.]

Only DD can receive hate on a highlight lol

Tell me how I'm wrong.

[Snooch]

I HATE DeMar's first drive in that clip. Please do us all a favour and pause that video at the 2 second mark. DeMar has absolutely telegraphed his intention to attack the basket, literally all 5 Washington players are in position to step in front of him before he gets to the rim, and all 5 guys are covering or within 1 step of covering all his passing lanes. Also his defender is in great position squarely in front of him. What a HORRIBLE "I'm gonna drive now!" attempt. Then if that decision couldn't be any worse, he jumped in the air with the ball when he had no basketball play to make and barely got bailed out by shovelling an awkward pass to his closest teammate. DeMar's only thought in these moments, as far as I can tell, is "somebody will foul me." As soon as the defense is smart enough to not bite on the inevitable pump fakes, DeMar is hung out to dry.

The #1 play in this clip starts with ball movement and uses a decisive first step to attack a clear lane straight to the basket. Perfectly executed. By a rookie.

https://youtu.be/4pW_aHXCKwA?t=3m32s

truth, but alot of people can see Jesus on a burn piece of toast.

[MixxAOR]

Beautiful dunk by Jonas though

[Axel]

Only DD can receive hate on a highlight lol

Isn't that the point of the DD issues, even when he produces he does so in a flawed manner.

[OldSkoolCool]

Isn't that the point of the DD issues, even when he produces he does so in a flawed manner.

I would like to reword

"DD produces decent individual stats, but does so in a way where he limits the opportunities if his teammates"

[The Great One]

Beautiful dunk by Jonas though

Ewing-esque!

So good! This guy is going to be something special!