The NBA Lockout is over Thread. It's a celebration bitches!

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:02 pm

Just saw this in the pic thread pop. Incredible stuff.

Gregg Popabitch · Post by **Gregg Popabitch** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:06 pm

Positive A wrote:

Just saw this in the pic thread pop. Incredible stuff.

axel foley · Post by **axel foley** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:21 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:
Escobar305 wrote:
Trademark wrote:Shortened season helps my old C's if the Heat win we get to claim they still haven't won a real championship and it all starts on Christmas day! Thank you based Stern!
Cs are ova
Wade had to body slam Rondo and injure him in order for the Heat to win that series.

still upset that no one made a bigger deal out of this.

shit was dirty as hell.

regardless, i'd like to thank you all for getting me through this past month.

we back on.

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:12 pm

Gregg Popabitch · Post by **Gregg Popabitch** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:30 pm

axel foley wrote:
Gregg Popabitch wrote:
Escobar305 wrote:
Trademark wrote:Shortened season helps my old C's if the Heat win we get to claim they still haven't won a real championship and it all starts on Christmas day! Thank you based Stern!
Cs are ova
Wade had to body slam Rondo and injure him in order for the Heat to win that series.
still upset that no one made a bigger deal out of this.

shit was dirty as hell.

from what I remember, Sports Bar made a fuss about it.

Nothing escapes the Eye of the Sports Bar. Which kinda works like the Eye of Sauron.

Big Breeze · Post by **Big Breeze** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:46 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:I always thought the 82 game season was waaaay too long and unnecessary.

The season should legitimately be anywhere from 60 to 70 games.

I agree with this. Anybody who profits off the NBA would never agree to the change though.

Escobar305 · Post by **Escobar305** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:34 pm

Positive A wrote:
an-also wrote:
Barring a change in scheduling, the 2011-12 season will open with the Boston Celtics at New York Knicks, followed by Miami at Dallas in an NBA finals rematch before MVP Derrick Rose and Chicago visiting Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Best season opener of ALLTIME?

Escobar305 · Post by **Escobar305** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:35 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:
Escobar305 wrote:
Trademark wrote:Shortened season helps my old C's if the Heat win we get to claim they still haven't won a real championship and it all starts on Christmas day! Thank you based Stern!
Cs are ova
Wade had to body slam Rondo and injure him in order for the Heat to win that series.

No it's just called age

Reason · Post by **Reason** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:53 pm

i'm so happy the nba is back i'm even glad to see escobar posting here again

The Rapping Coffin · Post by **The Rapping Coffin** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:04 pm

Big Breeze wrote:
Gregg Popabitch wrote:I always thought the 82 game season was waaaay too long and unnecessary.

The season should legitimately be anywhere from 60 to 70 games.
I agree with this. Anybody who profits off the NBA would never agree to the change though.

I agree too BUT 66 games starting at Halloween is different than 66 games starting at Christmas. It's great for young teams like the Bulls and Thunder, but old teams like the Celtics are pretty fucked.

Looking forward to the FA frenzy that will take place, and seeing what % of the league is out of shape and fat (I guess at least 15%).

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:09 pm

Fa frenzy is going to awesome.

duhbreez · Post by **duhbreez** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:36 pm

I'm glad the NBA is back. But the new CBA sucks .

Req · Post by **Req** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:11 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:I always thought the 82 game season was waaaay too long and unnecessary.

The season should legitimately be anywhere from 60 to 70 games.

Agreed. 58 games = every team plays each other once on the road and once at home. Get rid of stupid back to backs. The coaches hate them, the players don't like them and I don't even think the fans care. Fuck do I wanna watch the Raptors 2 nights in a row for?

Less games = more games of actual consequence.

And spread them too. No more than 4 games going on on any given night.

alpha · Post by **alpha** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:16 pm

well, at least I get to see Monta flying around the hoop again.

The Rapping Coffin · Post by **The Rapping Coffin** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:48 pm

Adrian Wojnarowski

Amnesty clause is in deal, just matter of form it takes. Last proposal allowed teams to use it on a current contract at anytime during CBA.

Rashard Lewis or Baron Davis (if he's not considerably overweight) would be a nice bench addition for a title contender. No chance it happens, but The Bulls should drop Boozer.

capable_keL · Post by **capable_keL** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:17 pm

stupidregister · Post by **stupidregister** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:30 pm

The Rapping Coffin wrote:No chance it happens, but The Bulls should drop Boozer.

I've heard this as well, that they won't drop him, even though they absolutely should. Drop Boozer, Taj should be the starter and if Boozer wants to come back at a cut-rate, then great. If not, then he can go join Miami with the rest of the faggots.

Oh yeah...

We back.

Hayzoos · Post by **Hayzoos** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 11:47 pm

T Rav · Post by **T Rav** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:02 am

The Rapping Coffin wrote:Adrian Wojnarowski
Amnesty clause is in deal, just matter of form it takes. Last proposal allowed teams to use it on a current contract at anytime during CBA.
Rashard Lewis or Baron Davis (if he's not considerably over Modest Mouse)

"I am. They used to be awesome, but I'm diggin' dubstep these days."

peanut butter · Post by **peanut butter** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:08 am

At first I was all

Then I was like

Soon after, I became

For a while, I even felt all

Then when I heard the news earlier today, I felt whole again

And now, its right here

PEACE

Smithee · Post by **Smithee** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:21 am

Lmao

naturalborn103 · Post by **naturalborn103** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 3:30 am

I bet all people stern mad at going to pay in fouls and techs in the season.. Derek Fisher not going to get another flop called rest of his career.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 11:32 am

lol peanut butter.

HomeSkillet · Post by **HomeSkillet** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 12:06 pm

peanut

alpha · Post by **alpha** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 1:43 pm

HomeSkillet wrote: peanut

capable_keL · Post by **capable_keL** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:02 pm

HowardBeckNYT Howard Beck
NBA teams will indeed play two preseason games. Same opponent both games, one in each arena. Pairings TBD, but likely geography-based.

an-also · Post by **an-also** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:10 pm

Any word on what the cap is now?

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:14 pm

Peanut Butter with the POTW right there.

capable_keL · Post by **capable_keL** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:43 pm

Amnesty Waiver Process

Weגve all been obsessing for months over the new amnesty rule, which will allow each team to cut one player currently under contract and have that playerגs salary (which the team must still pay) vanish from their salary cap number. Teams will be able to use amnesty once over the course of the new collective bargaining agreement.

The rule comes loaded with moral issues: Why should teams who signed or acquired overpaid, non-productive players be rewarded with a get-out-of-jail free card, especially since the new, harsh luxury tax penalties wonגt come into effect until the 2013-14 season, giving teams two years to prepare? And wouldnגt the rule be unfair to teams that have kept their cap sheets clean for this crop of free agents? They might face more competition as rivals shed salary, and players who end up as amnesty cuts might view such teams as unappealing destinations, since such players could sign minimum-level deals with glamorous contenders.

The league has tried to fix that last issue by creating a waiver process for players cut via amnesty, according to the details of the leagueגs proposal. The net result is that teams under the cap will have the first shot at any amnesty victims, preventing those players from flocking to contenders over the cap (the Lakers, Mavericks, Celtics, Spurs, Magic, Bulls and even the Grizzlies). Hereגs a slightly simplified version of how it will work:

ג¢ Say the Trail Blazers use their amnesty provision on Brandon Roy, who is set to make about $15 million this season and about $69 million over the four years left on his contract. Doing so would not take the Blazers under the cap ג a reason they might wait ג but it would take them under the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax line.
ג¢ When we first contemplated amnesty, we thought Roy would then be a free agent, able to sign with any team. Fans of contending teams salivated over picking up quality veterans on minimum salaries ג cheap contracts theyגd be willing to take, since their old team would still be paying their full salary.

But this is not what will happen. Instead, Roy would be placed into a hybrid waiver market open only to teams under the salary cap. Those teams would then submit bids detailing how much of Royגs $15 million salary theyגd like to pay. The highest bidder gets him; Roy has no choice in the matter. The winning team will pay only the money they offered in their bid, with Portland paying the rest. So, if the Hornets, desperate for a two-guard and able to get under the cap if they lose David West, bid $4 million for Roy and win, the Blazers would be on the hook for the remaining $11 million or so.

As you can see, the system prevents players from joining contenders on the cheap and from earning two salaries at once ג at least, if someone under the cap claims them.

The list of teams under the cap includes a bunch of bad teams with little use for tainted veteran talent (the Raptors, Wizards, Kings and Bobcats), one team with massive cap room and an interesting young nucleus (the Pacers), one crazy revenue-generator with an even better young nucleus (the Clippers), one club angling for bigger things (the Nets) and a few interesting wild cards that could go in a variety of directions (the Rockets, Pistons, Warriors and Nuggets). Would those teams want one of the possible amnesty candidates ג Travis Outlaw, Roy, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, Brendan Haywood, DeSagana Diop, Marvin Williams and others?

Your first instinct is to say no ג that a rebuilding team or an up-and-coming bunch does not need to spend money on guys like these. But some of these guys are good players, which is easy to forget. Take Lewis, a guy the Wizards may not actually cut via amnesty, given that they have to stay above the new, higher minimum-salary floor: Lewisג contract has become a punch line, but he is a useful player who improved defensively playing under Stan Van Gundy. Lewis is גstretchג power forward with legit three-point range and an efficient post game he can use against smaller defenders. Or what about Davis ג a possible backup point guard for the Warriors and Clippers as they try to push for a bottom-tier Western Conference playoff spot? Or even Outlaw, a younger stretch four who can swing to small forward and has to play better than he did last season.

Depending on future plans, you could see a team under the cap grabbing one of these guys on the cheap to help now and serve as a trade chip later.

But here are two major questions the league, per several sources, hasnגt answered yet:

1. Would the team acquiring such a player have to sign him to a contract that runs for the same length as his old one? In other words: Could you acquire Roy via waiver for one season, or would you have to sign him to a four-year deal that parallels his Portland contract? Lewis has two years (including this one) left on his deal. Arenas has three. This is an important question.

2. Would these contracts count as גnewג for the purposes of the גstretchג exception, which will allow teams to waive players they sign once the league resumes business and גstretchג the cap hit out into the future? The idea behind the גstretchג rule is to make it easier for teams to part with non-performing players, so that a team could waive a guy with two years left on his deal and stretch the cap hit over five seasons, softening the immediate blow.

But are these waiver/amnesty contracts גnewג? If a team is גforcedג to sign Roy for four years, can the team waive him after the first one (if he performs poorly) and stretch the payments out over seven seasons? Or do these deals count as גold,ג since they are linked to pre-existing contracts?

It will be hard to make predictions about amnesty until we know all of this stuff, but the general manager quoted in this New York Times story is probably right: Iגd be surprised if we saw more than a half-dozen guys change teams this season via amnesty, and the number could be much lower. Teams might choose to wait on amnesty if using the clause wonגt provide immediate cap room (as is the case in Portland with Roy and Dallas with Haywood), and especially since the new luxury tax doesnגt kick in for two seasons. Itגs easy to say Dallas should just slice away Haywoodגs bloated deal, but why not keep him for now as Tyson Chandlerגs backup and potential injury insurance? And as Iגve noted before, some teams just donגt have a quality amnesty candidate, and others (such as the Hawks) may not be in a place financially to pay someone tens of millions for nothing.

Thereגs a good chance amnesty wonגt provide the immediate excitement fans have been anticipating, but it will still be fascinating to watch this process play out.

an-also · Post by **an-also** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:43 pm

I'm trying to remember but was is Esco who was saying Chris Bosh was better than Charles Barkley???