Are Crawford, d.jodan, reddick, harder to trade than asik & Lin on ballon contracts ? And possibly they could be open to trading a star GRIFFEN, are rockets open to trading one of their stars harden or Dwight ?
Doesn't matter because unless the Clippers trade EVERYONE except CP3/Griffin, they're not coming close to LeBron's max. The Rockets can keep Parsons/Jones/Beverley because Harden makes a lot less than BG. Why would LeBron go to the Clippers if they don't have Griffin?
Again...Simmons is completely off with his numbers or legitimate hopes for shipping off Jordan, Barnes, and Crawford. "Expiring deals!!!" Bill that only matters if the team trading for them is dumping a contract. Otherwise, for a team with cap space, that is probably not an attractive option at all.
Why do people like Bill Simmons so much? The only reason for his popularity I can see is that he's an Average Joe. I don't value his basketball opinions.
I liked him way more before he got big. Seemed like back in the day he had the time to actually know about most if not all the teams in the NBA, nowadays not so much. Still like his columns and listen to all his sports related podcasts, just find myself thinking he doesn't know nearly as much as he used to.
This seems to be the best underlying reason...His Celtic homerism means he despises the Lakers and the paper Clips are a pretty good proxy right now. Best way I can explain it is that he writes articles with an entertaining story. Sometimes they're sprinkled with ADD riddled segues like Seth MacFarlane and Family Guy, but it also shows he cares deeply about what he watches. It helps relate him to the reader even if the reader thinks Simmons is full of it. He's the millennial response against douchey beat writers who don't give a **** what happens to the league and are jockeying up to report the NFL or some national media spotlight. But yeah, his analysis isn't that great. It's more about his story telling, smart ass delivery, and the authenticity of a fan, albeit a ****ty pampered Bostonite fan.
My guess is that he thinks that going to Houston, a "mid market" team with a good team, is more of a sell out than going to a big market team. Lebron and fans could argue that he wasn't looking for more rings, just looking for the best business deal out there...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Clippers and Rockets are now being mentioned as serious suitors for LeBron James, writes <a href="https://twitter.com/YannisNBA">@YannisNBA</a>. Details: <a href="http://t.co/KNxGjYmR5W">http://t.co/KNxGjYmR5W</a></p>— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/statuses/479747910377033728">June 19, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I like Bill, but have to call a spade a spade. How is going to Houston a sell out move but going to any other team isn't? It doesn't matter where he goes, if he does leave to any team other than Cleavland he goes down in history as a ring chaser.
So basically, people just don't want to see him win rings so unless he's on a team that messes up his chances of winning, they'll trash him and call him a front-runner.... I think LeBron has accepted this, and this is exactly why I don't think he'll hesitate too much to come here. LeBron can never win with his public perception.
