I want our team built from the ground up and win a title like the Warriors did. That makes our return to dominance even more special if we can spawn off titles with a youthful bunch. I don't want us to be a Warriors type team though, I want us to be versatile.
I'm against having LeBron come here for the sole reason that I'm convinced he's on PEDs (or was, at some point) and I don't want to end up with a tarnished banner once Deadspin/TMZ/SI breaks the story.
True and true. No matter what athlete we sign this summer I'm willing to be money they've used something. I do agree though that this story that's been fairly obvious but swept under the rug would probably not be swept under the rug as a Laker. ESPN would be very upset with Bronnie for coming here.
By the way Pincus says: Basically unless LeBron signs a deal with the Cavs for 2 or more years, he actually gets more per year if he LEAVES Cleveland. If he wants to sign a long-term deal this summer then his best bet is Cleveland. If he wants to sign a long-term deal NEXT summer then he stands to gain more by signing a 1+1 which would be more valuable somewhere else than Cleveland because Cleveland is over the cap. Interesting wrinkle in the CBA. He can sign a max deal starting at 31 million this summer or he can wait a year and get one for about 36 million or so. The difference long-term would be about 30-35 million dollars.
Setting some of the all-time records he will be going after would be interesting in a Laker jersey, but I'm not excited about that. We do have a pretty interesting young crew to put around a couple of savvy vets though.
I'm an SI guy so I don't spend much time on ESPN at least on the internet. I don't even watch them on the tube. Can't get on their current anchors. The ones I like are gone [Stuart Scott]...Olbermann and Patrick. So ya...I won't be suffering with the James lovefest.
Interesting. I don't know how they make that work easily. The Lakers can make that work easily, why wouldn't they come here? We could get those three and some more in an easy fashion. Literally sign Durant/LeBron and trade Lou/Russell/Randle/maybe Nance for Paul. Easy. Plus we'd still have one or two of our young guys. Oh well though. If they can make that work, good luck to them. I'm content with our rebuild without those big names.
I'm pretty sure the Clippers don't have the cap space to pull this off. They have 3 guys making nearly $20M a piece. The only way is sign and trade....I can see Biff having a homecoming in OKC for Durant but there's no way the Cavs take DeAndre for LeBron. They could get a much better offer from other teams. I guess if the option is lose LeBron, or lose LeBron and get DeAndre, the Cavs would take it.
Sign and trade is the only way, but I'm not sure what the rules are on making that happen with the new CBA. I'm not certain they can do that.
ship griffin and jordan to teams with space for draft picks and/or cheaper players (an example could be griffin for randle, actually--though, icky...), voila! may even be able to keep redick, as he only makes 7 per. if lebron or kd took any less (makes sense for lebron given career earnings and nike deal), they may even be able to keep jordan. season over. and yes, the cp trade veto keeps comin'!
LeBron on the Clippers? My hate would reach new levels. 2 of the biggest flopping whiners on one roster (assuming Blake wasn't traded, then 3 of the biggest), terrible. I don't like the idea of us trading Russ, Randle, Nance, etc to make LeBron/Durant/Paul here either. Paul is aging and injured, LeBron is aging, Durant has the foot issue that could resurface, we'd be betting it all on a title this season and maybe the next and then have to start all over again rebuilding. Not that I think Russ and Randle are ever gonna be LeBron and Durant, I just like the idea of building this franchise from scratch again rather than piling up aging stars to try and win now and then suffer immediately after. Not like we are guaranteed to get the #7 pick and then the #2 pick twice in a row ever again.