2014 off-season Compendium

[Primer]

he balled this year but next season he will be 38 so the end is coming very soon
nash's skills dropped off a cliff and nash was a much better player than carter

this has been discussed before and I guess I wouldn't be against it ... but I wouldn't be expecting much
and Cuban is going to throw money at him if we get in a bidding war for carter

Nash is quite possibly the worst comparison possible. He's a PG whose game was predicated on speed, and his career was derailed by injuries (not age, at least not directly). Nash played a young mans style of basketball. Vince has completely morphed into old man game. As he loses some speed his game won't all of a sudden turn to crap.

[thead]

why would they lose Ariza and Gortat...just pay them.

[planetmars]

i like noah and the bulls with rose coming back ... but rose is 2 years out without any development or refinement of his game

and the game he had was based on going all out and being the fastest player in the league so I don't know if rose could be the same player he was which makes me really sad

It's not really Rose that will make that team dangerous. If they amnesty Boozer's contract they basically have enough money to lure Carmelo Anthony or if not him some good pieces. Chicago always fights .. they never tank. So that team will always be in the thick of things. If Rose comes back healthy he will affect their chemistry but they'll have a lot of games to figure it out.. and if Rose/Noah/Carmelo are on that team, that's a top 2/3 team in the conference.

[2KJ]

Landry couldn't be used because he has zero offensive ability. In the regular season you can probably get away with it but if you're on the offensive end in the playoffs and only 4 of 5 players is capable of putting the basket into the net, you're going to be in big trouble. Elbow issue or not he's going to have to spend the offseason re-learning how to shoot.

It's like Jaime Lannister trying to learn how to fight with a sword after his right hand got cut off. Landry is just gonna have to figure it out if he wants to see floor time.

Same thing with Tyler Hansbrough. Love his energy but he's a liability on offense. At least Chuck Hayes sets good screens.

[planetmars]

why would they lose Ariza and Gortat...just pay them.

Ariza might want to go out West again.. Gortat will have a lot of suitors. Not up to Washington.. more up to the players as they're UFA's.

[Raptorsnz]

All of these sound good in theory, but every year there are teams doing worse than expected due to bad signings (Detroit), injuries (Bucks, Hawks) or just bad chemistry (Cavaliers). I think the level of competition in the East will only be slightly better next year, but as people have said this is so premature. Any one of those teams listed could blow it up and tank.

[Niagara Raptor]

It's not really Rose that will make that team dangerous. If they amnesty Boozer's contract they basically have enough money to lure Carmelo Anthony or if not him some good pieces. Chicago always fights .. they never tank. So that team will always be in the thick of things. If Rose comes back healthy he will affect their chemistry but they'll have a lot of games to figure it out.. and if Rose/Noah/Carmelo are on that team, that's a top 2/3 team in the conference.

ya that sounds dangerous but lets wait until it actually happens before we get worried about it
knicks may suck but Carmelo went all in to join his hometown team ... so I don't see him leaving so easily or else his New York privileges will be revoked

[Niagara Raptor]

it was more based on age than playing style

every player no matter how they play cannot go on forever

[meductic]

Ross pretends to be injured then demands mid-season trade!

This. Vince Carter does not equate with leadership.

[stooley]

This. Vince Carter does not equate with leadership.

Apparently it's a different story now.

[Nilanka]

This. Vince Carter does not equate with leadership.

We're not talking about the 2004 Vince. We're talking about the 2014 Vince.

Fast forward to now, and Carter has earned himself a plethora of new fans in Dallas with his energetic play, work ethic and leadership. One of those fans is Mark Cuban, who had some very strongly-worded compliments to say about Carter before the overtime win against the Nuggets a week ago.

"Let me just say that right now, Vince is a warrior. All these things I heard about him being soft, not playing hard, fuck that. That dude comes out to deliver every fucking night. Even when a game got out of hand, he was busting people for not doing what they were suppose to do, he was cheerleading on the bench."

http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2013/4/...s-another-shot

[Nilanka]

It's like Jaime Lannister trying to learn how to fight with a sword after his right hand got cut off.

Dude, at least provide a spoiler alert so people can stop reading

[thead]

Fields could be stretched

paid roughly 2.7m for the next three years. It averages out the cap hit for waving him. Or he could be trade ballast for a team looking to unload. Of magic could heal his arm and solve our SF issues

[Fully]

You glossed over a few things. Mainly that Fields has been playing with one good arm for the past two seasons, he had 300 regular season minutes this year, and that even though he was cleared to play in game seven he was undoubtedly less than 100% physically. He hasn't been the rookie season in NY version of himself since... well... that rookie season in New York. The Raptors problem wasn't that they didn't play Fields in round one... it's that they didn't have a dependable bench wing to go to.

[black angus]

If Fields can't get healthy and contribute consistently on the offensive end of the court, the Raptors first priority this off-season has to be getting a big wing who can guard the likes of - Lebron, Melo, George, Joe Johnson - and any other bigger wings in the Eastern Conference.