As Carmelo Anthony leans toward leaving New York, Chicago and Houston emerge as frontrunners

That's why Hollins would be a huge get for us. Respected coach, knows defense, etc.. It is perfect, really.

 

Seriously. Thibs has been discussed as a potential FIRED coach after the past two seasons because of his clashes with management.

Some of it is management being right though.

 

True, but he also had some really terrible rosters. It's not an accident that he won COY while in Orlando.

The first season he coached, he took a team that was widely believed to be the worst team in the NBA to a .500 record and just missed the play offs. His record in Orlando was close to .500 for his entire tenure.

He had 2 bad seasons in Boston while they were rebuilding.

Rivers has earned a lot of respect from players across the NBA. That always counts for something.

 

If Doc Rivers had been coaching in New Orleans, the Big 3 would not have been playing for him. He got lucky that he got hired as a caretaker in Boston of a rebuilding roster and was there when the big 3 fell into Boston's lap. Prior to that Big 3 coming together, Celtic fans were calling for Ainge and Rivers to go because both were incompetent.

Rivers ended up with the Celtics because Chris Paul wanted him (in large part because he was black) and because the Celtics were targeting him as part of a package that included Pierce and Garnett.

Rivers has been lucky in his last two gigs. He's also lucky that he doesn't have the quitter label after he quit on the Magic and he quit on the Celtics.

 

Not a bad point, but you're essentially asking someone to pay $15 mil for that 1st rounder.

 

$15 million for a 1st rounder and a few thousand Lin Only Fans.

It's a steal!

 

Plus a guard that can play either PG or SG and has decent averages. More than serviceable, has a rabid fan following and you will have bird rights to him.

 

Meh... this is really selective.

Rivers high mark for wins prior to Garnett/Allen/Pierce was 44 wins.

He also coached T-Mac and Grant Hill in Orlando and never got them anywhere.

Hell, he didn't get past the first round of the playoffs until his 9th season as a coach.

He was considered a poor tactician as a head coach and was considered a mediocre coach. Then the gets 3 Hall of Famers and goes from having never won a playoff series to win a Championship.

Players respect Rivers? Sure they do, now that he has won a title. Was he respected when he was fired by Orlando? Was he viewed as respected when he won 28 games for Boston?

The fact is, a lot of how a coach is viewed is circumstance. There are a few savants like Popovich or Carlisle (who needed a butt kicking to figure it out) but most coaches are just guys.

Rivers is better than he was 6-7 years ago and I like his leadership qualities. However, he didn't get the Clips any further than DelNegro did.

 

Thibs has a serious weakness for riding players so hard and for so many minutes that he literally drives them into the ground. Also, his coaching did not look all the great when the Wizards drove a freight train over them in the playoffs.

Hell of a coach, responsible for modern defensive schemes more than any active coach... showed innovation running offense from outside-in with Noah... but warts are there. He also was badly outcoached in the playoffs by Spolstra.

 

Actually, that's incorrect. The amount you're paying for the 1st rounder is the difference between how much you think Lin is worth as a market value player and the amount he's getting now.

So, if you think he's a $5M player, then it's $10M for the pick. If you think he's worth $8M, then it's $7M for the pick.

Remember, if you're trading Lin without demanding salary, then basically they're getting a rotation player without sending out assets. For a team with a position of need (IE, needs a PG or back up PG), the idea of getting picks and/or another young player (especially on rookie contract) holds value.

For example, TJones is on a $1.6M contract. In the open market, how much would he command? $4M? $5M? $7m?

Package Lin (-$8M let's say) with TJones (+$5M) and a pick and you're looking at only $3M for the first round pick.

Lin has value, it just doesn't happen to be $15M. And at the end of his contract, he'll retain a specific trade or roster value. So the team with Lin can either let him walk to clear cap space, Sign and Trade him for another player or pick at market value, or simply re-sign Lin if they feel that he fills a roster need.

It's amazing how ridiculously extreme some of the posters on this forum are. Some talk about Lin as if he has a development curve of a future all star, others talk about him as if he's a complete albatross of a contract.

Neither is correct at this point in time. And neither is really very reasonable.

Lin's contract is fully movable if you're getting a player like Melo or Lebron (which renders another player like TJones or Dmo as redundant). It's just a question of the partner and the package.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Boeheim also said that Melo must consider Rose's health moving forward. It's question that hovers over every Bulls' recruiting pitch.</p>&mdash; Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFriedell/statuses/481570451492442113">June 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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I'm not following, until Lin's current contract runs it's course, if a team that trades for Lin and a pick have to pay him $15 mil?

 

Not sure if posted yet from Henry Abbott & David Thorpe @ ESPN: Truehoop: Knicks better off without Melo?

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;The Bulls are focused firmly on Carmelo Anthony.&quot; -<a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA">@WojYahooNBA</a></p>&mdash; FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXSportsLive/statuses/481634661311852544">June 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
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If LeBron believes Melo will go to the Bulls, does the "East is weak" argument still hold?

Assuming LeBron stays in Miami. Suppose they get Lowry and fill the bench with mediocre ring chasing vets, that's what, 2nd or 3rd seed in the East? They'll play a scrub team in the first round, but then will face the Bulls and the Pacers in rounds 2 and 3. In the west on Houston, suppose we're the 2nd seed, you're looking at Memphis, Clippers, SA.

In totality it basically boils down to this.

SA in the finals vs. SA in the WCFs = wash
Indy/Bulls in the finals vs. Indy/Bulls in EC playoffs = wash
Scrub team 1st round is clearly preferable to Memphis
Indy/Bulls is slightly preferable to Clippers.

So basically it comes down to having a much easier 1st round and a slightly easier 2nd round. Is that really worth giving up going to a much more talented team. And I don't believe any objective person would think LeBron/Wade/Bosh/Lowry is anywhere close to the talent that Houston will have.

 

2 things are hurting Melo to Chicago right now:
1 - The owner does not want to amnesty Boozer
2 - Derrick "I don't recruit" Rose

 

Where will Carmelo Anthony play his first game of the 2014-2015 NBA Season?

Chicago Bulls 5/7
Houston Rockets 13/2
New York Knicks 5/2
Miami Heat 13/2
Los Angeles Lakers 15/2
Dallas Mavericks 20/1
Atlanta Hawks 25/1

 

Same odds as the Heat? Really? Even Riley thinks they don't have a shot at Melo.

 

Either it just changed or I'm trippin'.

Chicago Bulls 4/5
Houston Rockets 6/1
New York Knicks 5/2
Miami Heat 5/1
Los Angeles Lakers 17/2
Dallas Mavericks 20/1
Atlanta Hawks 25/1

 

Rose doesn't need to recruit since Melo seemingly wants to go there on his own.