NBA 2014 Playoffs and Offseason

[Deathstroke]

Just wanted to add my congratulations to the Spurs on winning the championship.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'll be interested to see what the ratings were like for the Finals. Even though Lebron and the Heat were the headliners which saved ABC suits from committing hari-kari, with four of the five games ending in lopsided routs by San Antonio, I would imagine the Neilsen numbers probably weren't all that appetizing.

[Manchuto]

Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs. They played well all season and continued to play well in the playoffs. Popovich's method of taking it easy on the "older players" during the long season paid off.

In regards to the Miami Heat, there is no shame losing to a very good team in the Spurs. Heck Miami had a great season as well. It's not easy to make it to the finals 3 years in a row. They just need to add another player or so. The thought process of many who say "blow up the team" is ridiculous. They made it to the finals and you just can't win all of them.

[BeastieRunner]

I love all the, "Not 1. Not 2. Not 3. Not 4. But 5," championships mocking from the Spurs.

[byc]

Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs. They played well all season and continued to play well in the playoffs. Popovich's method of taking it easy on the "older players" during the long season paid off.

In regards to the Miami Heat, there is no shame losing to a very good team in the Spurs. Heck Miami had a great season as well. It's not easy to make it to the finals 3 years in a row. They just need to add another player or so. The thought process of many who say "blow up the team" is ridiculous. They made it to the finals and you just can't win all of them.

It's actually 4 years in a row. The Heat lost to Mavericks in 2011.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs. They played well all season and continued to play well in the playoffs. Popovich's method of taking it easy on the "older players" during the long season paid off.

In regards to the Miami Heat, there is no shame losing to a very good team in the Spurs. Heck Miami had a great season as well. It's not easy to make it to the finals 3 years in a row. They just need to add another player or so. The thought process of many who say "blow up the team" is ridiculous. They made it to the finals and you just can't win all of them.

For sure the Heat needs a dedicated point guard, all the early chatter about Carmelo Anthony is foolish when Miami needs someone to be a true floor general and distribute the ball. Oh, yeah, more help for the bench wouldn't hurt either.

[Hiromi]

Lebron James automatically reduces the need for a pure point guard given that he performs the role better than the majority of the PGs in the NBA do and handles the ball and distribution a large portion of the time regardless, what they really NEED is replacements for their older players, Battier is retiring, he was the glue guy, they need someone who can play the stretch 4 position while providing solid defense, Haslem is on his last legs, that's another front court piece that needs replacing, Ray Allen is showing signs that he might retire, which means they desperately need a new back up 2 guard, Hell given the deterioration of Wade they may need a new starting SG and push Wade into taking a Ginobli style position, Chalmers regressed this year, he needs to be looked at, needless to say the Heat will need to be busy this offseason, and lest we forget they can't really afford to prioritize anything before they convince Lebron and Bosh to stay. And if that means getting Carmelo, then you frigging figure out a way to get Carmelo, maybe Kevin Love is the key to keeping them, there's options, if they lose the core, then they have no real choice but to blow the team up and start over. they MIGHT be able to better utilize Beasley and Oden after a full offseason of being able to better implement them into the system, but those are both projects.

[indigim25]

I agree that the Heat is 'collapsing' but I think it's more of the Spurs than the Heat. Compared to last year, Heat finished its Conference Finals and Semi-finals more quickly. So, it seemed that they are up to the challenge of beating Spurs. But Spurs, from the start, the Spurs had their eyes on the trophy. Pops wanted to be the top seed to make sure they have the Game 7 advantage. They really wanted their redemption and they did with a splash. They gave a totally dominating 4-1 series and they were 2-0 on the road. They really deserved that trophy.

Btw, kudos to Leonard! MVP Finals!

[HUTHAIFA]

Lebron James automatically reduces the need for a pure point guard given that he performs the role better than the majority of the PGs in the NBA do and handles the ball and distribution a large portion of the time regardless, what they really NEED is replacements for their older players, Battier is retiring, he was the glue guy, they need someone who can play the stretch 4 position while providing solid defense, Haslem is on his last legs, that's another front court piece that needs replacing, Ray Allen is showing signs that he might retire, which means they desperately need a new back up 2 guard, Hell given the deterioration of Wade they may need a new starting SG and push Wade into taking a Ginobli style position, Chalmers regressed this year, he needs to be looked at, needless to say the Heat will need to be busy this offseason, and lest we forget they can't really afford to prioritize anything before they convince Lebron and Bosh to stay. And if that means getting Carmelo, then you frigging figure out a way to get Carmelo, maybe Kevin Love is the key to keeping them, there's options, if they lose the core, then they have no real choice but to blow the team up and start over. they MIGHT be able to better utilize Beasley and Oden after a full offseason of being able to better implement them into the system, but those are both projects.

That was the more eloquent way of saying this team needs to be blown. The HEAT as currently constructed will make it to the finals due to weakness of division. But now the blueprint is out there on how to beat them, the upper echelon western teams will be built to duplicate the Spurs.

[Hiromi]

I have no idea how you got that from what I wrote at all since I said nothing of the sort, blowing up the team means getting rid of the core big 3, I said they need to replace aging/retiring pieces, Unless the salary cap is just too much to handle for Arison you absolutely do not let Bosh and James go, Wade will likely stay regardless.

And if the Heat's "blueprint" is a team playing like the Spurs did in that series I think they're pretty well off.

[Arundel Armor Hunter]

The Heat might blow up because the egos involved.

[byc]

That was the more eloquent way of saying this team needs to be blown. The HEAT as currently constructed will make it to the finals due to weakness of division. But now the blueprint is out there on how to beat them, the upper echelon western teams will be built to duplicate the Spurs.

There are no teams that can duplicate the Spurs. No other teams are as good as scouting and development as the Spurs. No players except Miami has taken less money to build a more rounded team. There is not a better coach than Pop. He's out-D'Antoni D'Antoni, who needed Nash to get his system to work. Pop's system isn't the same as D'Antoni, but it's the similar in philosophy. Miami has a somewhat similar philosophy as well, but they use (or abuse in some cases, LeBron playing FAR too many minutes in the season) LeBron to create mismatches, but they move the ball extremely well.

Most NBA championship teams are defeated due to age and fatigue. Miami isn't any different. LeBron especially has played non-stop from 2011 to now. Most teams that defeat the champs are just as good or slightly worse, but the fatigue of defending the championship wins out. It happened to Magic, Bird, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan (they've never repeated before, not even close), Hakeem, Pierce/Garnett/Allen, and now LeBron (Dirk was forced to vacate when Cuban blew up the team). MJ is the only exception because of the 2 year break being in baseball. People forget the Bulls lost in 95 when MJ came back mid-season and they lose to the Magic with Shaq and Penny. MJ being MJ, that helped him refocus, and the front office gave them the parts to win.

It's a hard call to determine what will happen to SA. One year older, some players NEED to sign for more money. Like Patty Mills. He's a role-player. He can't afford to turn down a 3-year/12 million deal and re-sign with SA for 3-years/6 million. OKC is still there, and pushed them to the limit even without Ibaka for the first 2 games. SA didn't have a major injury this year and they got hot at the right time (SA wasn't shooting some crazy 50% from the field against Dallas, whom they were down 2-1!).

I think they'll do well next year, but OKC beats them. And then I get angry at how OKC doesn't have a good coach that can take them to the next level. Brooks is apparently great at motivation, but I can't help but wonder if another coach would push them over the top.

[byc]

The Heat might blow up because the egos involved.

It's still extremely unlikely. There's nobody that can replace any of the current Heat stars that would be better than what they already have. I think Kevin Love might be better than Bosh, but can Love really only deal with taking only 12 shots a game? Love's defense is also much worse. Melo would weaken the defense, and possibly weaken the offense as well.

Wade is the key. He just can't be making 41 million over the next 2 years unless he reverts back to 2010 Wade. Pat Riley knows Wade is making too much, but trying to convince Wade to take less might be impossible. If they all opt out and take less money, then Miami is in good shape to add parts. Losing Anderson is going to be a problem, but he can't afford to be taking only 1.2 million when other teams out there will pay at least 3-5 for him. Haslem will probably opt out and re-sign for a lower deal as well. He's a soldier and he takes orders, and Riley will reward that with front office positions after he's done playing (which is probably in the next 2 years). They'll look to re-sign a bunch of their players unless there's a clear upgrade. They'll need a good backup SG that can defend can hit the 3. I can't think of any on the market right now.

There ARE some interesting pieces out there, but not sure if the Heat can sign them. I'll list the more likely ones (like...not Dirk, not Pau, not Paul Pierce).

Kyle Lowry
Eric Gordon
Luol Deng
Lance Stephenson (I hope this happens!)
Trevor Ariza
Shawn Marion
Vince Carter
Shaun Livingston

[danmar85]

There are no teams that can duplicate the Spurs. No other teams are as good as scouting and development as the Spurs. No players except Miami has taken less money to build a more rounded team. There is not a better coach than Pop. He's out-D'Antoni D'Antoni, who needed Nash to get his system to work. Pop's system isn't the same as D'Antoni, but it's the similar in philosophy. Miami has a somewhat similar philosophy as well, but they use (or abuse in some cases, LeBron playing FAR too many minutes in the season) LeBron to create mismatches, but they move the ball extremely well.

Most NBA championship teams are defeated due to age and fatigue. Miami isn't any different. LeBron especially has played non-stop from 2011 to now. Most teams that defeat the champs are just as good or slightly worse, but the fatigue of defending the championship wins out. It happened to Magic, Bird, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan (they've never repeated before, not even close), Hakeem, Pierce/Garnett/Allen, and now LeBron (Dirk was forced to vacate when Cuban blew up the team). MJ is the only exception because of the 2 year break being in baseball. People forget the Bulls lost in 95 when MJ came back mid-season and they lose to the Magic with Shaq and Penny. MJ being MJ, that helped him refocus, and the front office gave them the parts to win.

It's a hard call to determine what will happen to SA. One year older, some players NEED to sign for more money. Like Patty Mills. He's a role-player. He can't afford to turn down a 3-year/12 million deal and re-sign with SA for 3-years/6 million. OKC is still there, and pushed them to the limit even without Ibaka for the first 2 games. SA didn't have a major injury this year and they got hot at the right time (SA wasn't shooting some crazy 50% from the field against Dallas, whom they were down 2-1!).

I think they'll do well next year, but OKC beats them. And then I get angry at how OKC doesn't have a good coach that can take them to the next level. Brooks is apparently great at motivation, but I can't help but wonder if another coach would push them over the top.

Are you saying none of those players you mentioned never repeated winning a championship back to back? Didn't Shaq and Kobe 3-peat? Lebron won 2 in a row. So did Hakeem. Not to mention MJ 3-peating twice. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your post?

Out of boredom I looked up Team PPG for the postseason. It turns out San Antonio was the only team to average over 100 a game and not have a player average 20PPG. That says alot about the type of team they built.

[byc]

Are you saying none of those players you mentioned never repeated winning a championship back to back? Didn't Shaq and Kobe 3-peat? Lebron won 2 in a row. So did Hakeem. Not to mention MJ 3-peating twice. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your post?

Out of boredom I looked up Team PPG for the postseason. It turns out San Antonio was the only team to average over 100 a game and not have a player average 20PPG. That says alot about the type of team they built.

You misunderstood me. Duncan hasn't come close to repeating. Bird has come close. Magic, Shaq, Kobe, and Hakeem obviously all have done it. That why that statement was behind Duncan, and not behind the entire list of players.