First things first I’d like to welcome everyone to our first edition of “Trash Talk”.
I’m thankful for the opportunity given by Mike to write some cool pieces and look forward to all you awesome hoop fans out there!!
NBA Free Agency started off with a bang with the most coveted Free Agent getting a call at 12.01am…a minute into free agency….and the Lakers had their man!
No it wasn’t Al Horford, or DeMar DeRozen they contacted, they went right after the big Russian Timofey Mozgov…………..really? He’s the guy you call at 12.01am???
Don’t get me wrong he’s a talented big who just clearly didn’t fit into the Cavs winning system this season, but this is a guy you probably could’ve gone after as a 2nd or 3rd resort going after a big name Free Agent! I hope I’m proven wrong but I do believe management needs to take a good hard look at themselves…
Plenty of teams were throwing cash around like it was nothing at guys probably not so much deserving of the contracts they got…but in this day and age when the cap continues to rise, we’ve seen more and more of these deals and one definitely comes to mind.
Mike Conley received the highest paid contract in NBA History, signing on for 153mill over 5 years.
Conley was brilliant at Ohio St and has been a serviceable NBA PG for Memphis….but he isn’t worth that coin…ever! He’s yet to make an All NBA Team, or even an All Star Game, and isn’t that what we measure big contracts on these days? Individual accolades plus where your team is heading?
Memphis has always been tough and maybe they felt they’d be losing their guy so they panicked, along with signing Parsons to a big deal. These small market teams I guess have to do whatever it takes to keep their guys but this just seems obscene to me. Are we saying Steph Curry next season (who’s currently making 12mill this season) ask for 40-50mill?!? Going off what he’s produced with back to back mvps and close to back to back titles that figure really isn’t farfetched if we are paying these other guys 30mill a season…
Which brings me to the biggest splash of free agency. Kevin Durant shocked the basketball world by deciding to jump ship and join forces with the Golden State Warriors, a team who defeated OKC 4-3 (after being down 3-1). To me, it’s ludicrous to think that 3 of the best shooters we have ever seen (especially in our generation) will be lining up on opening night together. Add to this lineup of the splash brothers and KD, a guy who was very close to winning finals MVP, Draymond Green, fits nicely alongside of them and oh yeah…they have that other guy who won Finals MVP a couple seasons ago Andre Iguodala.
Personally, I’m not happy with it. How on earth is this team going to be defeated. They have the ability to rest players (2 of the big 4 for example) and still be able to fairly comfortably win night in and night out. Then there is the other side of the argument. A lot of people love this. People see this as a chance for failure. When LeBron defected for the heat with his running buddies Wade and Bosh, they failed season 1…much to the joy of the NBA World.
If this Golden State team fails to win next season it’ll be calamity for that organisation. You don’t go out and get one of the top 3 players in the world, join him to a team that went 73-9 and went within a minute of winning the NBA title (blowing a 3-1 lead) and not take it out this season.
Every action movie has a villain. The Golden State Warriors are now the NBA Villains and amazingly, LeBron James has gone from one of the most tainted superstars of all time, to now potentially everyone wanting to see him beat this Warriors squad next season….fast forward to the NBA Finals please!!
Toronto are almost there, missing the signature of Pau Gasol is a huge blow for them as I believe he was the guy to get them over the hump v Cleveland, but they’re getting there with that amazing home crowd advantage so they may not be done with.
Indiana line up looks incredible with the addition of Al Jefferson and Jeff Teague, and to a lesser extend Thad Young. Paul George finally has his team he wants and they can definitely make some noise in the playoffs with the help of Monta Ellis who can have some big games.
New York going after D Rose and Noah gives them a huge boost next season. If both stay healthy they are a playoff team.
As you can see the East seems far more loaded than the West and these East Playoffs will actually be a lot of fun to watch, with Boston adding Al Horford and a great coach in Brad Stevens they aren’t going down without a fight and only on the way up with such a great young team.
Unfortunately the West looks like a foregone conclusion, with the Warriors strolling into the Finals, just as LeBron has done for years in a weak Eastern Conference. The tables have now turned.
San Antonio will have one final run at it with adding Pau Gasol but I think this Warriors unit is far too strong for everyone else, and unless Russ goes elsewhere to another contender, the Warriors have too much talent not to win the NBA Championship this season!
Stay tuned for more Trash Talk and look forward to everyone’s opinions throughout the off season leading into the NBA season.
Dave Bauk