LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

Does Simmons want to jinx the Lakers or does he really believe Lebron is coming to LA ?

He's always tweeting it like it's a sure thing lol

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22284640/these-three-ways-warriors-land-lebron-james-nba

^^basically what i already said

don't have to move them, just convince cleveland to take them in trade. i'm sure cleveland would prefer thompson, but i'm just not sure GS actually pulls the trigger on this.

and i was half joking when i suggested above that lebron would.

although i think this kind of talk should really help people understand how out of this race we are.

 

Yeah that would suck. But aren't you being petty now in calling them FAT?

 

both? it's like me with the houston thing. i hate the idea, and i think it has real legs.

 

found some old tweets lol

 

In any sign and trade scenario, y'all are forgetting the Dan Gilbert factor. Dude is the de facto GM of the Cavs now. He ain't moving that BK pick unless he gets a star back. He's scouting the college circuit to use that pick this summer and his cheap a** ain't facilitating a trade that will have the Cavs possibly eating taxes (ie GHill deal on the "1 yard line" getting nixed).

This is what Gilbert got the first time LaBron left in a sign and trade in 2010...notice anything?

No guaranteed incoming salary other than FUTURE team friendly 1st round rookie salaries (which would start in 2013) and 2nd rounder rookie salaries (starting in 2012).

Also CP3 forcing his way to the Rockets had everything to do with Houston having nearly 17M in cap space. CP3 could walk onto that Houston team (granted he would have had to take roughly 7M less) without a S&T to facilitate the move. LaBron is at Gilbert's mercy to pull off a S&T if he wants to go to Houston or GS.

LaBron and Gilbert ain't close at all and I doubt he does LaBron a solid by absorbing salary to send LaBron to a super team where he can get more rings. Gilbert is petty as f*** or did y'all already forget his clown act?

 

He's not going to no damn gsw obviously.. They wouldn't literally want him anyways IMO.

If he goes to Houston they'd have a big 3 with no defense...

I think the Spurs or us has got to be the choice.

 

Maybe the CA team everyone is missing out talking about is actually Sacramento.

 

Yep. Finally could live up to the nickname. Queen James.

Can you diiiiiiig it?!

 

Totally had to steal that bro

 

Ugh. If he goes to GS, I'd probably just stop watching the NBA and I'd lose all respect for both KD and LeBron. Just stupid if that happened. I don't even care that KD went to GS because I believe they actually needed him to beat LeBron (they never beat a healthy Cavs squad).

But KD and LeBron on the same team? The 2 best players in the world on the same team? That's stupid.

And yes we had Kobe and Shaq as the 2 best players in the world on the same team but Kobe didn't start out as the best player in the league when he started out with Shaq so it's a different scenario. KD and LeBron are both arguably the best 2 players in the league and the fact that this would even be on the table is ludicrous.

I also agree that Dan Gilbert isn't going to do LeBron any favors. LeBron ain't coming to GS. He'll go to Houston or Philly or come here before that ever happens.

 

gs can/will probably offer the most in trade, as klay would probably have to go. so it's a legit threat.

we need to hope that gilbert simply refuses to help lebron leave, because that gives us the best odds (still lower than SA, though). but he didn't do that last time--he could have told miami go to go hell with their sign and trade and didn't. i suspect it will be the same again.

 

if i had to put money on where he goes i'd go with houston

very much like his situation in miami. he'd team up with two other superstars

 

one of whom is his best bud, they haven't won a title yet so he won't be crucified in the press, their other buddy tried to force his way there last summer, and the one that did get there provided the clear blueprint for the move.

so yeah, my money would be there, too. ironically, a houston title could screw that up.

 

I still don't see how you guys see Houston as viable.

Cap is projected to be set at 101M, tax apron 123M and the hard cap at 129M.

Bron opting out of his player option of 35.6M and agreeing to a S&T means Houston will be hard capped for the remainder of next season. They can't exceed 129M at any time next year.

Houston is projected to have 80.4M in salary this summer, so technically they'll have 21M in cap to spend. And if Bron agrees to that number (when he could be getting roughly 15M more) and Gilbert agrees to S&T him into that space, then Houston is hard capped. Problem is, that does not account for capholds of 39M for CP3, 12.8M for Ariza and 5.8M for Capela. If they want to retain those players rights (traded for CP3 for that reason and Capela is a RFA), then you can't simply renounce those rights to make room for a Bron S&T, since those guys will all be free agents and now Houston has no cap remaining to resign them. So in this regard, a S&T is out of the picture. There's no way Houston uses this route, since they would have to renounce the rights to their own free agents, can only give 21M to Lebron in a S&T and in doing so will be hard capped for the rest of the season.

So the only viable option is if Lebron opts into his 35.6M player option and gets traded (ie CP3 to Houston). But that means the Houston team that he intends to join, will be no more, since they would have to gut the roster to absorb that type of money coming in. Not to mention, Gilbert ain't going to willingly absorb Anderson and Gordon just cause Lebron said so...which means now a 3rd team gets involved to absorb at least one of those contracts. So now who incentivizes this 3rd team? You think Gilbert will surrender some of his assets just to accommodate Bron to Houston? Of course not, it will be Houston that has to incentivize this 3rd team and make it worth their while. But if Houston does that, then they further deplete their roster and team assets. And lets say Morey finds a way, then what exactly do they have to incentivize a 3rd team...Capela? They have no notable youth on that Houston roster to trade with. So once again, Lebron is going to a team that really isn't the one we're seeing this season, since they would have to gut it so that he can come on board with CP3 and Harden all while getting paid.

And I'm not even factoring in Ariza probably wanting a last pay day as well as Capela's RFA status and teams potentially throwing crazy money at him just to deter Houston's chase for Lebron.

Still, lets assume all those guys are willing to sacrifice some (actually alot) of their bag to play with each other...Harden, CP3, Lebron all at about 30M per (which means CP3 and Lebron sacrificed their true max), along with Capela accepting a qualifying offer of 3.3M (he definitely could get more on the open market), while Ariza takes the vet min (again way below market value for him), then that starting 5 will be responsible for taking up 95% of total team cap, which means they're going to have to round out that roster with roughly 30M, if they want to remain as non-tax payers....which is highly unlikely.

So being a tax payer, they'll have a smaller MLE of 5.2M, they won't have the bi-annual exception since they used it this season on Tarik Black. They don't have a 1st rounder (it goes to ATL). So its the 5.2M MLE, a 2nd round pick, a bunch of vet mins and a possible trade exception (via the LeBron trade) that will be used to round out this roster.

And did I even get to how MDA runs their players into the ground (ie Kobe), which is the ideal fit for Lebron wanting to prolong his career in his 30s and CP3, who seems to be a no-show during the playoffs...isn't it?

And most of you guys assume LaBron to LA fitting into cap space is still far enough of a stretch....

 

cap never seems to matter when it comes to these star players building superteams

 

All Unicorn and no CP3, makes Melo a sad boy.



FYI, Houston was hard-capped this year.

 

I imagine Dan Gilbert will want assets and many draft picks to consider helping LLLLL, so it may require a 3+ player team in any scenario. He could use Klay, but does he want Iggy?

 

thanks for the breakdown, vash, but it doesn't sway me. you make assumptions throughout (e.g., they won't move capela in a s&t with anderson or let capela walk, they won't simply let ariza walk, paul won't sacrifice cash for a long term deal with title shots, they can't time moves to get around some cap issues...).

so much can happen. but the simplest is that they can involve three or four teams. one team simply eats gordon. he's averaging 20ppg and getting paid 12 per. the other takes anderson for two 1sts. you can then still match offers for capela or s&t provided you're under the hard cap (i think). even if you can't, who cares, you got lebron.

in any case, lebron isn't about to join a 30-win team to finish his career fighting for the 3rd seed.

now, if the lakers are willing to gut everything, they have a shot. but that means all your beloveds are gone, replaced by lebron and a couple players of his choosing.

my money would still be on houston. if houston or gs can't make the trade happen, my money would be on san antonio.