NBA Offseason and Free Agency Moves

The NBA might be making one of its biggest mistakes right now by allowing DeMarcus Cousins (probably the best center in the league) to join the Golden State Warriors for just 5 million. I like (or maybe I should say "liked") the NBA more than the NFL and other leagues, but I see why the NFL is so controlling. Players only care about themselves, which is fine, but the league needs to protect itself too. The previous commissioner stopped Chris Paul from going to the Lakers with Kobe, the current commissioner has now allowed GSW to get 5 allstars. I'm not sure if an entire starting lineup being allstars has happened before. It's just gross and hurts the league.

Boston is probably the only team that could give them a tough series at this point. Now the Lakers need Kawhi and a good big man like Anthony Davis and they still might not beat GSW. Allowing players to do so much has started to hurt the league. What if John Wall, Blake Griffin, or whoever else says they're tired of losing and jumps on the GSW bandwagon for a very cheap cost - there has to be a stopping point. I'll give Cousins a tiny bit of credit for wanting to win, while Paul George is cool going fishing and partying in Oklahoma with Westbrook.

Fuck the Warriors. That about sums up the off season

I find the NBA (and a lot of foreign sports) really interesting in the way they are run. In the Australian NRL (Rugby League, not Rugby, and not Australian Rules, but a different sport), which is the main sport that I follow, there is a strictly enforced salary cap system (some clubs have run into trouble from rorting the system). It limits how much clubs can spend on players. No luxury tax or anything like that, it's a hard cap. You could argue against it from a restriction of trade/earnings perspective (the money isn't really there compared to other sports anyway).

What I like about it though, is that the last back to back premiers in Rugby League was in 1992 and 1993. The system works really well and is generally competitive each year. There have been some teams feature in grand finals a few years in a row (Manly - my team, and Melbourne spring to mind), but the system generally ensure that the talent pool is relatively evenly spread. There are some really weak teams, generally due to their own mismanagement though.

Boogie going to GSW is crazy.

@andythemez: apparently the pelicans offered more than the Warriors.

@andythemez: Well, they destroyed the Cavs that year with Kyrie and Love injured. Obviously they aren't all going to score 40 a night, the point is that they're pretty much an Olympic team by themselves. Sports is about competition. If a team I liked got 5 starting allstars that would be too much IMO. That's like seeing Mike Tyson in his prime fight a high school kid - I don't see the fun in it and they've started a bad trend of guys in their prime taking pay cuts just to ring chase.

I have seen a TON of YouTube and Twitter accounts ask for a David Stern-style block of the Boogie signing. They are two completely different things. 1. The Chris Paul deal was a trade, not a free agency signing, and 2. Sterns should not have been in a place to make that call, and it's one of the biggest mistakes of his career.

@deathstriker: You can't compare the Chris Paul and Cousins situations. When David Stern vetoed the Chris Paul trade the NBA technically owned the Hornets/Pelicans. That veto wasn't so much competitive balance as it was ensuring that the team the NBA was trying to sell didn't give up it's best player before a buyer had lined up (thereby lowering it's value).

The Cousins (and Durant) situation is part of collectively bargained free agency. The league and players' union agreed to the salary cap structure that allowed the cap to spike and gave the Warriors money for Durant. Silver did present a "smoothing" proposal to the union that would have prevented the spike (and thus limited GS) but the union rejected it. Since it was part of the active CBA it was all he could do. Same thing this season, the Warriors get the same taxpayer mid-level that everyone else gets. All accounts were that Cousins had no other offers he liked (he was looking for a max or near max deal plus multiple guaranteed years). His injury has ended multiple careers, his locker room reputation on top of that made teams rightfully wary. If he only had short term deals why not bet on himself and enter free agency next year after proving he is still an All-Star? This way he gets to win big while also preparing to get paid next season.

In fact, getting paid next season also points out something you overlooked: the Warriors have basically no shot at keeping Cousins if he plays at a high level. Due to another quirk of the CBA called Bird rights, the Warriors cannot exceed the salary cap to sign Cousins to any deal larger than 120% of his current salary (so roughly $6.5m illion). So basically, if Cousins plays himself into a big contract the Warriors (who are already over the cap) would have to get under the cap and then create enough room to sign him, which means at least one (and possibly 2) of their All-Stars have to go.

TLDR: A team owner vetoing a trade isn't the same as a league commissioner interfering in collectively bargained free agency. And Cousins didn't take a pay cut to ring chase, there wasn't a robust market for him.

@meteora3255: All of your points are great. We are also ignoring the fact David Stern flat-out shouldn't have blocked the Chris Paul trade in the first place. One of David Stern's gravest mistakes outside of the 2011 lockout and not being a great person, was blocking the Chris Paul trade. It set a horrible precedent and shouldn't be used against any future commissioner.

Dell Demps did exactly what was expected out of him. Make a smart deal for a superstar who wants out. It happens all the time. And for some reason the commissioner of the NBA kills it because some owners prefer this superstar elsewhere.

As a Warriors fan, I'm not sure I even want the guy. Cousins is a head case. Shoehorning him into a group that puts an emphasis on drama-free team unity is going to be... interesting. If he's not getting the playing time he thinks he deserves, I can see him pitching a fit.

I suppose the front office really had no choice but to say yes when an all star center drops in their lap for a bargain price and no long term commitment, but, man. Boogie Cousins. Do not like.

We'll see how much he can even do. A torn achilles is rough.

What NO would have gotten from the Lakers trade is probably worse than what they got from the Clippers. They essentially got EG and a top 10 draft pick instead of Dragic and a mid-round first. Also put CP3 in a better position to win. Pretty much everyone won except the Lakers and Rockets.

@frytup: In that regard I think the Warriors are fine. They are a championship level team without Cousins and it's not like he is the franchise cornerstone. There is basically no downside, worst case they trade/cut him/chain him to the bench and since it's a one year cheap deal they don't have to worry about long term problems.

As @thatpinguino can testify, I may well be the only hardcore Sacramento Kings fan on Giant Bomb. I can safelysay Boogie is the most skilled center in the NBA. Anthony Davis is probably a better overall center, but Boogie has everything else. Additionally, the center position has consistently been the one area of improvement for the Warriors. There is no way anyone can convince me Zaza or McGee are better than Cousins in the center position. Even if he's only playing at 70-80%, Cousins blows any of their dedicated centers out of the water.

Draymond and Durant can't keep playing the center position for more than forty minutes. They need someone in that position to protect the heavy guns until the blood-bath that will inevitably be the Western Conference post-season is upon us.

Oh, I don't doubt his skill. Assuming he can come back from the injury, he'll be a huge leap over McGee and/or Zaza and has the potential the to shore up the Warriors' only real weakness. At least for one season.

I just don't like what I've seen of his character, and I'm extremely precious about the team chemistry GS has built.

Cousins is no doubt very talented, and his passing and 3 point capability fit the Warrior's offense to a tee, but he is a very disruptive player in the locker room and on the floor. I live in the Sac area and have seen him play a lot. If he recovers fully from that Achilles injury and becomes useful physically, he'll have to tone down his selfish act to fit in and get minutes w/GS. Curry came out and vouched for him right away so we'll just have to see how much the peer pressure takes effect. It's not a lock that he'll help them significantly and he'll only play about half a season and move on it certainly appears unless he really settles and fits into a supporting type role he's never been expected to fill before. Maybe the Knicks '19 talk about Durant could change things some if it actually comes to fruition.

I find the whole Lebron move to LA much more interesting. Who will be his new teammates coming to LA as well besides Rondo? Will he be willing to mentor some of those young Lakers? Why didn't he go to Philly? Some answers/opinions are out there already, but that discussion itt would be fun.

The East is doomed for the foreseeable future. At least the Wizards are getting...Dwight Howard? Austin Rivers? That's cool I guess.

All the people expecting Cousins to bounce back from his Achilles injury and still play at an All-Star level honestly seem crazy to me. I don't think he'll be terrible but he almost certainly won't be the same player. I understand the Warriors fatigue but this trade hardly seems like the end of the world, especially since he's at the earliest going to be fit to play from what, late January? And even then who knows how well he'll fit into a team where he won't even be the 3rd choice for scoring.

@imhungry: I think you're downplaying things too. Yes, Boogie might not be the same player, but GSW is going from having an untalented goon/dirty player at center to the best center in the league. If this injury happened to someone who relied on speed and jumping like Westbrook I'd be more worried, Boogie is a skill's guy. Even if Boogie is 70% of what he used to be he'd still be a top 5 center. Him missing months of the season doesn't really matter since the regular season is irrelevant for GSW, Houston, and Boston.

Cousins is a big man coming off an Achilles injury. I’ve never seen a player return to 100% after that type of player and not sure what Cousins will be like when he does come back. I think people may be making too big of a deal on that deal. KD is the one that fucked everything up when he joined the 73 win team that beat him.

@jonrambo: Dominique Wilkins was fine after the same injury, it just depends on the person. This move is bad, but it's already a slippery slope after KD and could get worse. The NBA needs to be able to block things in order to protect the league. What if other allstars like Blake Griffin, Lillard, Kawhi, or whoever said they want a ring or success in the playoffs and will take 5 million a year. It can't just be up to the team and player.

Cousins is the best pure center in the league.

The only weakness in the Warriors lineup was at the the center position.

Even if Cousins comes back 70% of the player he was before the injury, that's a significant upgrade to the Zaza/Mcgee combo. This is a man who was putting up 25/12 before he went down.

5 all-star/all-nba players on court at the same time. The only teams that could compete against this Warriors team is the West/East all-stars.

The rest of the league is fucked. Fuck Boogie Cousins for this petty ass immature retribution(cuz he wasn't getting offers immediately). Fuck the NBA for not having rules in place to stop this from happening. I don't blame the Warriors for signing Cousins(cuz who in their right mind would refuse), but Fuck them anyways.

What's the point of even watching next season?

The NBA is boring because of all this. The NFL stays exciting because you can't just load up a team and win every single year. There is always different teams in the running to win the super bowl every season, especially in the NFC. And for as often as the Patriots win, every super bowl they have been in is exciting and competitive, there is always a team good enough to beat or challenge them.

This Warriors team is unstoppable. Lebron going to the Lakes completely removes him from title contention this coming season unless the Lakers somehow make some incredible trades for anthony davis and kawhi. Boston is the only team in the league at this point that could MAYBE take a game from the Warriors in the finals, and it's only because they have the deepest team in the league. It's just boring and makes the entire season pointless. Why play 82 games when everyone knows no matter what the Warriors are going to win the title.

@cjduke: NFL parity comes from the following factors: different teams suffer season ruining injuries every year (robbing random teams of talent constantly), players careers are only a few years at most (thereby preventing true dynasties in most cases), and the playoffs are single-elimination (which gives luck an outsized impact).

The NBA is a league of dynasties and it always has been. The Lakers and the Celtics traded off the 70s and 80s, the Bulls owned the 90s with the Rockets taking two championships while Jordan was gone, the 2000s were dominated by the Lakers, Celtics, and the Spurs, and the 2010s were owned by the Heat, Warriors, and the Cavs. This is always how the league has been and it will continue this way because basketball is a 5 on 5 game where every player plays both ends of the floor. The impact of one or two individually great players is so disproportionate in basketball that it overwhelms almost everything else. Given that individually amazing players can play at their peak for 5-10 years and still be valuable for 20, that extends the window for teams to dominate far beyond what most other leagues allow.

And also, the Warriors were 1 game away from elimination in the Western Conference Finals and if Chris Paul didn't get injured, they could have easily lost. That doesn't sound unbeatable to me. Just because the favorite won, it doesn't mean that the whole season is pointless. If you don't care about anything except who wins the title at the end, why even pay attention to the sport at all?

@thatpinguino: Season ending injuries happen in every sport, including basketball. The Celtics lost Kyrie and Hayward, the pelicans lost Cousins, the spurs went the whole season without Kawhi (although whats going on with him seems to be more than his injury). Injuries ruining teams chances is not exclusive to football. I'd actually say injuries are less of a factor in football because of exactly what you say, the impact of one or two players in basketball is very disproportionate, so what happens when your best player gets hurt in basketball? It impacts the team much more than in football. Look at your Chris Paul example. The only case in football for it mattering as much is if the QB gets hurt, and even then teams have succeeded with backups. The Eagles just won a super bowl with their backup QB. Teams make the playoffs with backups a lot. Also saying players careers are only a few years is kinda a stretch. Most players play for a decade. There is just more equal talent spread across the NFL. Even so maybe the NFL is a bad example. The NHL is way more competitive year by year than the NBA is too. So is the MLB after the 90s.

I understand the NBA has always been a league of dynasties and everything you say about that makes sense, but at least Jordan had solid competition to go against in all of his finals appearances. The Stockton and Malone lead Jazz were good enough to beat that Bulls team and they had a great series, Jordan just played like the greatest player of all time so the Bulls won. The Lebron James lead Heat team lost twice in the finals, including a huge upset to Dallas and their win against San Antonio was an amazing, competitive series. The finals this year, besides Game 1, were a joke. And yeah if Chris Paul didn't get hurt maybe the Rockets would have won, but he got hurt and they didn't win.

My problem is going into this season no one would ever pick any team to win the Finals other than the Warriors. There isn't one team at this point you can look at and say they have a chance. The East just lacks talent across the board and the West has their talent spread pretty evenly, except for the Warriors. I'd also be fine with it if this was the original Warriors team that won the title against a depleted Cavs team, but when you take a finals winner with 3 all stars and league mvp, and then add another league MVP and another all star center, what is the point? How is it exciting to have one team literally have a starting lineup that is good enough to win an all star game? It's just not interesting to me. I absolutely hope I'm wrong in everything I'm saying and someone like Boston can beat the Warriors, but it seems very unlikely we will get to see that happen.

@cjduke: Jordan never got pushed to a game 7 in the Finals. All 6 of those titles were not hotly contested battles against teams that we understand now as being equal competitors. Some of his titles were romps against over-matched competition, especially his first three-peat. We just look back on the Jazz and the other teams he stomped on with reverence now that the domination is over. If Jordan was doing what he did in the 90s with the current media atmosphere, we would hear the exact same fatigue complaints as we do about the Warriors now. We just happen to be in the middle of the Warriors dominance so we can't look back on it fondly yet. But the Cav teams they beat were largely really good teams with the exception of this year's iteration. The Rockets, Thunder, and Spurs have all given them runs at different points. Who knows what the Celtics can do this year if everyone is healthy and their young guys improve? I'm on the side of appreciating that we're getting to see one of the most dominant runs of basketball by one of the greatest teams ever assembled. They also just finished 4 straight Finals against one of, if not the, greatest player ever in his prime. And the actual basketball that they play is fast, fun, and free unlike the iso-heavy style of the 90s Bulls and the 2000s Lakers.

If the Cousins signing feels unfair, blame the 29 other teams who all either used up their cap space on other players or decided to low-ball Cousins due to health and personality concerns. He went to one of the two teams that were willing to offer him the mid-level (with the Celtics being the other team).

I'm not on the side of the commisioner's office saying who can go where. Stern was out of line when he did it for Chris Paul a few years ago. I think people are making too much of the Cousins deal. He is coming off MAJOR achilles surgery that can end a career if it doesn't heal perfectly. Yeah, Dominique came back fine. I'm gonna guess he's 75-80 lbs. lighter than Cousins. Ask Kobe how he recovered from it. It's not like Cousins had a bunch of better offers on the table and chose the lowball Warrior's offer to stack up that team and dominate. He'll be lucky to skip the regular season and play at 70% effectiveness in the playoffs. Probably get 5-8 shots a game and play about 20-25 minutes.

@thatpinguino: I don't think the signing of Cousins is unfair at all, I think it's more than fair for the reasons you said. Do I think it's good for competition though? No, I don't. The Warriors signing him probably won't even matter anyway, they would win without him. He probably won't be healthy enough to play his best for most if not all of the season. They are basically just making sure that if he is healthy, he just adds to their already dominate team.

I liked how good the Warriors were before the Durant signing. They drafted Curry, Thompson, and Green. They built a great team around them. It felt natural and fun that a franchise like the Warriors was great. I wish Durant had stayed with the Thunder or went to a team to try to beat that Warriors team. That's what I wanted to see. He almost beat them with OKC and then decided to join them instead.

The Mavericks winning in 2011 was amazing because no one expected them to win and they beat the team that everyone thought was going to win. I hope some team like that appears this year. I'm all for watching great teams be great, but I enjoy it much more when the unexpected happens.

Just wanted to get in here and give some thoughts on both parties in the Cousins-Warriors marriage because I keep seeing a lot of misconceptions.

On Cousin's I have seen a lot of resentment that he took the Warriors offer in the first place. There seems to be some notion that Cousins had multiple offers available to him with more money on the table. In his most recent podcast, Zach Lowe mentioned that he heard the Pelicans were willing to offer a 2 year deal (or 2 year with a third year player option) at between $15-17 million per year. Lowe also mentioned that if he heard about this then so did Cousins and his reps, which means they turned it down. For almost every other team in the league Cousins on a 1 year deal wouldn't be worth it. For starters, most teams can't afford letting their big free agent acquisition sit until December at the earliest. Assuming he was against long term deals at less than the max (which seems likely based on everything out there) the team that signed him wouldn't get his Bird rights (because he wasn't on the team long enough). Without Bird rights many wouldn't be able to re-sign him if he did end up earning a max contract next year, and those that could would be competing against several other teams that have max money next offseason.

Cousins wasn't being petty or immature, he was betting on himself. He didn't see offers he like and gambled that he can show he is a max guy. If he wins that gamble he could be looking at a 4 year $150 million deal next offseason. Even if he isn't the same player, if he shows he is still a starting caliber center there will likely be money for him next season, remember there won't be enough tier 1 free agents to go around to all the teams with cap space next summer. Guys get overpaid all the time, Timofey Mozgov and Bismack Biyombo both make over $15 million a year. That $15-17 million per year deal is very likely going to be there for him next summer so barring a complete disaster he likely loses very little with this gamble. This way he gets to play in the playoffs (which he has never done and reportedly was upset about missing his first time this year), take as much time as needed for his rehab and re-enter a more player friendly market next season.

On to the Warriors, there seems to be a lot of complaining about competitive balance around this coming season which seems a bit extreme. Beyond the fact that the Warriors were going to be the favorites regardless, there are some real concerns with integrating Cousins into their team and what they gave up to get him. The first is that Cousins is a ball dominant post-up player. Cousins likes to hold the ball, survey things and make a decision and he doesn't cut and move with much urgency without the ball. He also likes to post-up with the intent to score. The Warrior's offense at it's best is the exact opposite. The ball (and players) are constantly moving and making quick, split-second passes to keep defenses off balance. When the Warriors do post-up, it's almost always to facilitate offense somewhere else. Asking Cousins to take a back seat and change how he plays is a tough sell, especially when he also needs to showcase himself for free agency in a year. Just integrating Cousins will be tough since he likely can't even begin to play until December (and then likely on a minutes restriction). The Warriors, if lucky, will get half a season to figure out how to mix Cousins in before the playoffs.

The Warriors also sacrificed their ability to sign wing depth by spending the full mid-level on Cousins. After Iguodala, Golden State is looking at Shaun Livingston, who doesn't shoot 3's (only 6 attempted in 92 total games last year), Patrick McCaw coming off an injury and rookie Jacob Evans. With guys like Tyreke Evans, J.J. Redick, Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute available, the Warriors might have been able to sell one of them on a 1 year deal at the mid-level plus the chance to get a ring and re-enter free agency in a player friendly market next year. Now, the Warriors are really hoping that 34 year old Iguodala is healthy and won't see his play slip because they are perilously thin behind him. All the above ignores the elephant in the room: Cousins may no longer an impact player post-injury.

Bottom line: Cousins took a calculated risk and there wasn't much of a market for him anyway based on what he wanted and the Warriors-Cousins marriage isn't the guaranteed world beater people seem to think it is.

@meteora3255: None of that really changes that they're the first team in the modern NBA era to have 5 allstars in their starting lineup... all in their prime I'd like to add too. Yes, Cousins can be spun into a "maybe" or "will take some work" and that's true, but people said the same thing about KD joing GSW too and they'll have months in the regular season to figure it out. KD was right when he said it wasn't his job to worry about the league's level of competition, but that should be somebody's job. Leaving it up to just players and teams seems like a bad idea to me. Also, Boogie was definitely trying to spin the narrative by saying "I got no offers"... the best team in the league wasn't his only option. It seemed like he and his agent were bullshitting so he wouldn't get a lot of blowback like KD did. I don't dislike Boogie now, but don't try to spin a story either.

Devin Booker getting the max is more alarming to me. The part where someone would consider Devin Booker a max player.

@deathstriker: The Lakers once started Steve Nash, Kobe, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard so no, the Warriors are not the first team in the modern era to start 5 All-Stars, and before the season that team was considered a juggernaut. Also Cousins is an All-Star but also a huge question mark. Also, all things equal, the Warriors offer a lot more just from lifestyle and winning. It's pretty presumptious to tell someone that he shouldn't do what he thinks is best for him because you don't like it. Cousins didn't have a strong market, multiple NBA reporters have reported this. As I pointed out, this isn't just Cousins picking the warriors, it's him gambling that in a year he is worth more than $15 million per year.

Gasol and Ron Artest were not top players in the league, the latter was an allstar once around 10 years prior. Nash was past his prime by the time he was a Laker, so no, that doesn't fall into what I was talking about. GSW has the best point guard, one of the top two SGs, the second best SF, one of the best PFs, and now the best center in the league. The Lakers team you mentioned is nothing compared to them. Artest and Howard were only good at defense, Nash was old, and Gasol is soft.

Every other sports league has some control or say so in player movement, so I don't think it's being presumptuous. The NBA is their employer, you as an employee can't transfer yourself from the New Orleans office to the San Francisco office just because you want to and with no one's permission. You'd have to check with your manager, your manager would have to check his/her manager and with someone in the SF office, etc. Everything should have checks and balances. Even if this was happening with a team I loved I'd say the same thing, since firstly that's what is logical, and secondly, I actually like competition in sports. At the moment, only Boston has a shot at winning 2 or 3 games in a series with them. Houston got worse since CP3 is older now and they lost Ariza.

i mean, hes 21 shooting 38% from three and putting up 25ppg and hes younger than both Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell, the two favorites for rookie of the year last year. He has the potential to be one of the best scorers in the league so it makes sense he'd get the max

The NBA doesn't want the responsibility of deciding which players sign where and for how much. And rightfully so. It would open them up to (even more) accusations of conspriracy, and would get them into a huge clusterfuck with the Player's Union. That's one aspect you're forgetting. The commissioner's office moving players around like chess pieces to create "competitive balance" would be disastrous for the league. The system as it is, for the most part, works. Players don't sign way under market value to good teams to stack rings. The money is too good to pass up. If Boogie had a bunch of good offers on the table he wouldn't have taken the mid level exemption with GSW.

@meteora3255: The warriors are the first team in history who are starting 5 current all-nba players. A lot of former all-stars have gone ring chasing when their careers were in decline. Not acknowledging that for your Lakers example is disingenuous of you. You seem to hedging your bets on Boogie not being a 100% after his injury or him not fitting in well with the Warriors pace and space play style. I, on the other hand, can't envision a world where he's not an upgrade over the likes of Javale Mcgee and Zaza Pachulia, even if he doesn't mesh perfectly. The near unbeatable, parity-ruining Warriors of the last two seasons just got better and that's not a question imo. The only question is how much better?

Also, the reason no one was giving Boogie any offers is because they were holding on to their money until Lebron was off the table(something I've heard a few analysts speculate about). The fact that an injured center was prioritized behind the possible GOAT is understandable. In a league where someone paid crusty-ass Carmelo Anthony $30 million a year, I'm sure that there's some team out there that would have given him his money. Instead of waiting and letting the off-season play out a little, he got angry that his talents weren't being appreciated(immediately) and went to the Warriors. That's a smart move for all the reasons you listed but there was definitely an element of saying fuck you to the league involved. That's petty.

The NBA shouldn't fully decide where they go, but they should be able to accept or deny the trade or move. What if Lebron was lame as hell and had went to GSW this summer for very little money? Would that be good for the league? Would those 82 games and the playoffs next season be fun to watch? That sounds awful to me, but the only thing stopping that from happening was one guy, Lebron himself, since surely GSW would say yes if they wouldn't have to gut their roster. That's not the case in the NFL and in other leagues. However it would be setup, whether its just the commissioner, some council, or whatever, if I was running the league or a big stock holder, I'd definitely want more rules and stipulations setup. Boogie and/or his agent was pretty much lying about GSW being his one and only offer - I'm basing that off a couple analysts on TV calling him out for saying that.

Yeah, teams have to spend a certain amount of money and Booker seems good and obviously they want to keep him. Melo, Harrison Barnes, Chandler Parsons, and others are way more overpaid.

Taller, fatter Iverson has a track record of teams not missing him at all after he's gone. He'll come back and play after the all-star break, immediately start complaining about not getting enough shots, start exchanging passive aggressive twitter insults with Draymond Green and get released before the playoffs start. Boogie Cousins is going to do Boogie Cousins.

For most of your post I thought you were talking about Melo for some reason lol. Cousins didn't cause problems on team USA or Pelicans, I think he just didn't like be on the Kings, losing so much, and had more of temper back then.

At first I thought the Raptors were crazy for the Kawhi trade, but now it's looking like smart move. They get to keep him for a year, see if he's still great, and try to get him to stay. If he leaves then they got DeRozan's very high contract off their books and they can start to rebuild. The only way it's bad for them is if DeRozan would've done great in the playoffs with no Lebron there, but you can't pay a guy 30 million a year or whatever and bench him in the playoffs. The Spurs did very well too. DeRozan isn't in Kawhi's league, but at least they got something and Pop will make him play defense and grow.

Losing the meaning of watching the finals because of the Warriors.

@seaocean: Everyone in the East is fighting for a lottery pick or the right to get slaughtered by the Dubs. Maybe the Lakers or Rockets will make things interesting, but probably not!

I made some print-friendly NBA schedules for everyone's perusal. I do this every year and hope it's of use to at least one of you. If you want one, pick your (continental U.S.) time zone here. And, uh, go Pistons I guess.