The NBA left for the summer and so did I. But I'm back, and the NBA will return soon as well.
A lot has happened during the off-season. The biggest deal that went down is Lebron James returned to his home team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, as a free agent. It's crazy because the idea of this happening was slim to none going into last season. Lebron spent 4 years in Miami and made it to the Finals all 4 years, winning the championship twice. He and the rest of the Miami Heat had faced the San Antonio Spurs the last 2 years in the Finals, splitting the series at one apiece. Rubber match right?! Not so much. Instead of seeing if his Heat team could make it back to the Finals, along with the Spurs, for some redemption and one-upmanship that would of gave them 2 out of 3, Lebron threw the basketball world a curveball and now he's back to the team that drafted him.
Rumors surfaced that he gauged Kevin Love on how he felt about partnering up in Cleveland. You see Love is arguably the best power forward in the NBA; who was, at the time, trying to maneuver his way via trade from his team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. All of this was sketchy because Lebron wrote a Sports Illustrated piece about his decision to "take his talents" back to Cleveland, in which he spoke about members of the Cavalier's team that he was excited to be working with, The odd thing about it all was that the Cleveland Cavaliers had just picked #1 in the NBA draft and took who many feel will be a major star in this league, Andrew Wiggins, yet he didn't mention being excited to play with the youngster. He also didn't mention Anthony Bennett, who the Cavs took #1 in the 2013 draft. The fact he didn't mention these two and they're the ones who ended up being traded for Love is kinda suspect.
NBA players and their agents work the back channels hard when they wanna be traded. Funny how these things work. One thing I do absolutely love about the NBA is how quick a team can turn around. The Cavs went into the summer rebuilding. They signed the only all-star on their team to a contract extension then drafted a future franchise player. They went from a lottery team with the #1 pick in the draft to instant title contenders in a couple months.
It makes for a much more interesting league when the landscape can be completely altered by a trade and/or free agent signing. The Dallas Mavericks did both this summer. They traded for Tyson Chandler, who was a key part of their championship run in 2011. They also signed free agent forward Chandler Parsons (I just noticed after typing this, that they brought in 2 "Chandlers"...coincidence?). They made a few other minor signings that give them nice depth. Mark Cuban is my favorite owner in all sports. He REALLY cares about his team. He won't let his team just coast or go into a rebuilding stage. I thought he did great last summer signing Monte Ellis and now this summer bringing in both Chandlers. Take a bow, sir.
Another gentleman that needs to take a bow is John Paxson. Since he took over the Chicago Bulls front office, he has made many good moves. His main draft picks that made up the team's core got contracts extensions (Hinrich, Deng, Noah, Rose, Gibson and Jimmy Butler is up next). This is important because so many teams lose key players they drafted because of contract negotiations (see the Oklahoma Thunder and James Harden). Paxson went the San Antonio Spurs route and looked to add more depth to the team. The Bulls brought over their highly anticipated overseas prospect, Nikola Mirotic. They drafted the best shooter in this year's draft, Doug McDermott. And they signed a free agent who is older but one of the few skilled big men in the league, Pau Gasol. This is the best Bulls team I've seen since the Jordan & Pippen era. If health doesn't become an issue then I predict Bulls vs Cavs in the Eastern conference finals.
Well, like I said earlier the NBA is back and so am I! Man, I actually stayed on subject! I was sure that I would digress and talk about how the Wayne vs Drake concert was the best concert I ever attended, dethroning The Hard Knock Life Tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment