NBA Chat With Joel Brigham 7/12/12

1. rob

   Just heard on radio station 610 in philly sixers are putting an over of thad, evan turner and there two first round picks this for D12.Line up iggs holiday and D12 looks good. Any news?

   • Joel Brigham

     Good afternoon, HOOPSWORLD Citizens, and welcome to another edition of my weekly chat! So far most of what we’ve seen the last two days has been expected, with only a couple of surprise trades coming through. In general, though, it’s been just a whirlwind of press releases and announced trades, and I think those that don’t look at NBA rosters until the new 2K comes out on XBox are going to be in for a lot of surprises. “Whoa, that guy’s on THAT team now?” Plenty of that.

     Anyway, I anticipate plenty of Dwight Howard questions, so we’ll get to those, but I’m obviously open to any and everything NBA today, so give me everything you’ve got. Okay. Let’s do the Dwight thing for starters…

     If I’m Orlando that isn’t an offer that comes anywhere close to blowing me away. Sure, it would help Philadelphia, but there’s a reason nobody’s talking about them as a front-runner. I still think Houston will end up having the most to throw the Magic’s way; I just have no idea how many of those assets they’re currently offering, and how interested Orlando is in taking them on.

2. Rudens

   I believe Bulls should trade for Howard even with not an assurance he is going to resign. No teams on his wish list will have the cap room to sign him. And can he really explain leaving a team with DRose on it, another superstar. he did say if God wanted it it would happen. I believe God is talking. Your thoughts?

   • Joel Brigham

     His wish list was Brooklyn. That was it, and now there’s zero chance of that happening until at least the trade deadline. I’m with you 100% on Chicago pursuing Howard, because the worst-case scenario is that they end up with cap space and flexibility a year from now, but this isn’t something Paxson and Forman are really exploring right now. Nobody’s going to sign him unless he finally buckles and says, “Okay, I could see myself there beyond just the year.” Chicago isn’t that place because he wants to be The Man, and nobody’s ever going to have an opportunity to do that in this city until Derrick Rose retires. Dream all you want, but it ain’t happening in the Chi.

3. David from Portland

   It seems like the Blazers are going to do a sign a trade with the Wolves. Would you do the rumored 2 first round picks and Korver or maybe Chase or Derrick Williams and maybe a first round pick?

   • Joel Brigham

     I’m telling you, $11.25 million a season for Batum is too much, and it would be silly for the Blazer to cal that. So yes, absolutely I’d take Derrick Williams, a first-round pick, and Kyle Korver for Batum. That’s way better value for that $11.25 million, as far as I’m concerned.

4. Deven

   In the end, what do you think Dwight Howard will decide and realize?

   • Joel Brigham

     I think the best situation for Howard, at least as far as I understand what it is he wants in a new team, would be the Atlanta Hawks. Not only is that his hometown, but Josh Smith is one of his best friends in the world, and he would absolutely be given the opportunity to be the lone superstar on that team. Heck, with Chipper Jones retiring, he could become the most beloved athlete in any sport in the entire city. I’m not sure how Georgians feel about Matt Ryan, but Dwight could have a huge effect on the Hawks. I kind of like a team built around Howard, Lou Williams, Josh Smith, and Devin Harris. Not a bad core there, right?

     He’d have bigger marketing opportunities with the Lakers, but with Kobe and Nash and Pau, he’d be a fourth option on offense most of the time, and Kobe saying, “You could be our Tyson Chandler” was like the #1 reason he didn’t want to go to L.A. in the first place. Houston adores him, but I just see Atlanta as a better fit. They already have more in place.

5. Chris

   Hi Joel. Are the Penn State tragedy & Dwight fiasco symptomatic of how advertising is ruining our society? Colleges are so desperate to make that licensing revenue (due to advertising) that they are willing to cover up child molestation. And, in the NBA licensing revenue is so huge that grown men with high school educations are paid exorbitant salaries and act like spoiled, entitled brats.

   • Joel Brigham

     I don’t think the two things (Penn State and Dwight Howard) are related at ALL. I just don’t see that connection. Howard’s selfishness has everything to do with his immaturity and very little to do with marketing and advertising. Penn State is a whole other thing that I’m not going to touch on, but I just am not able to make any connections there.

6. allan in texas

   Who are the Hawks looking at to play SF and do they look at Haywood or Milicic to play Center once they are anmestied? Thanks.

   • Joel Brigham

     No news at small forward right now, but as the free agency dust settles a little they’ll make something work. As for center, those are both guys that make a lot of sense. I could see them talking with Nazr Mohammed or somebody like that for some depth, too. Obviously, Dwight wouldn’t be a bad fit at center, right?

7. L

   Why did the bulls rush to sign hinrich? Couldnt they have searched the market and went to him as a fall back and if u missed out oh well? Now u have guys like mayo sitting here without a deal and may have to take less money, on maybe a one year deal and re-test the market next year and we already blew our little money on hinrich! Also do we match asik?

   • Joel Brigham

     Nothing has been announced by the team on either Hinrich or Asik at this point. Actually, last I checked the Houston Rockets still hadn’t put an offer sheet in front of Asik yet. They swear it has nothing to do with their pursuit of Dwight, but I doubt that because if they land D12 there’s no reason to pay them both $14+ million a few seasons from now. They could easily back off of that because the agreement during the moratorium was only a verbal one. As for matching Asik, I’m hearing that’s the way the Bulls are leaning. Personally, I think that’s stupid. They can afford Asik or Taj Gibson, and Gibson is someone they’re going to need when they finally pull the trigger on amnestying Carlos Boozer. Asik is a one-dimensional back-up center. That, to me, is not worth $8 million. Much as I love O, I’m praying they don’t match that Houston offer sheet, when (if?) it ever comes.

     As for Hinrich, it appears to me as if that was one of their top targets all along. Look, they don’t have a lot of money to work with in the first place and they really wanted a combo guard who could step into the C.J. Watson role a little more effectively. That’s what they want out of Hinrich, and I don’t think the front office ever stopped loving him. They just wanted him, thought he’d be a good fit. We’ll see, but I’m with you in that it might have been better to wait a little and see what kind of talent may have fallen to them. Still, if Kirk was going to be their guy, I get them not wanting to lose out on him while they waited around. I’m fine with the move, honestly. They never were going to have the money to make a big splash.

8. Jason M.

   Who will have the better NBA career? Telovic or Montiejunas? And who currently in the league would you compare them to?

   • Joel Brigham

     I don’t follow Euro ball much, but Teletovic is stronger and probably a little more versatile. The Motiejunas pick never really impressed me, but I guess Teletovic is a pretty big star in the EuroLeague, so he’s got my attention. Like I said, this isn’t my strong suit, but my gut tells me Teletovic will at least be a solid NBA baller.

9. LA in LA

   Hey Joel, 2 questions:
   1)Are shooters like Willie Green, Jodie Meeks, or marco belinelli willing to take the mini-MLE or hopefully less to be on a contender in the Lakers? It would be more than all of them made last year except, Marco who made about 300k more?

   2) I hear Mitch is reluctant to use the mini-MLE. Why do you think that is?

   • Joel Brigham

     If Ray Allen can take $3 million a year, those guys sure as heck can, too.

10. pancit from manila

    So d12 staying till trade deadline 2013 is the big move of orl? Will u give your opinion who will be a better pro jV of tor or myers leonard of portland? Thanks

    • Joel Brigham

      I’ve been signing the praises of Jonas Valanciunas for the better part of the last year. We get a lot of Raptors questions, so I’ve been keeping up with him here and there throughout the year. He tends to dominate his competition, and his skill set at his height should translate well to the NBA game. I think he and Kyle Lowry save the Raptors, honestly. Really looking forward to seeing how much they improve next season.

      Nowhere near as sold on Meyers Leonard. He’s a big boy, and freakishly fast and athletic for a guy that size, but I’ve talked to scouts who said his attitude isn’t great and his teammates didn’t really like him at U of I. Players similar to Leonard have been painfully average at best in the past, so I’d rather put my money on Valanciunas. I think he’ll be the better pro by a mile.

11. Mashkareem

    I think Orlando is making a mistake trying to convince Howard to stay. He won’t and he’ll just waste another season for the Magic. They should work with Lakers and Houston to twick their offer a little and make a deal before both Houston and Lakers move on. Once Houston sign or trade for a big man, they will no longer be interested to help Orlando. So the longer the Magic wait, the less they get. Don’t you agree?

    • Joel Brigham

      100%. I get them wanting to keep his talent and his marketability, but the guy has become a cancer and it’s time to move on. You can’t really start the season with him on the roster can you? The offers are only going to get worse the closer we get to the deadline because every organization in the league will know Orlando has to trade him or else risk losing him for nothing. So yeah, let’s get this done more sooner than later.

12. kody

    Why don’t the hornets do a sign and trade with Phoenix, Gordon for Kendall Marshall and then Austin can play the 2 instead of trying to play point?

    • Joel Brigham

      Because Gordon is a prolific talent and Kendall Marshall is a career back-up. The Hornets think they can get a sort of Steph Curry/Monta Ellis situation brewing with Rivers and Gordon, and while I don’t think that’ll work out quite the way they expect, I’m not letting talent like Eric Gordon just walk away from me like that. He’s one of the best scorers in the league and the centerpiece of the Chris Paul trade. You just really can’t afford to move him for someone as underwhelming as Kendall Marshall. New Orleans will find some point guard help (especially now that they’ve traded away Jarrett Jack), but they’ve put together some nice players for next season. They should be a fun team to watch.

13. william

    Really confused about the Pacers moves yesterday. 4 yrs for a journeyman center, who even the center starved mavs did not want? 3 yrs for Green, who had 2 great months – Really? Do you think the Augustin rumor has legs?

    • Joel Brigham

      I was kind of stunned, too. Part of it is, I think, the fact that you’re going to have to extend Collison at some point if you keep him, and the new front office doesn’t seem him as the point guard of the future the previous regime thought they were getting when they made the move for him. Collison had the best playoff PER on the team last season and is a kid I really like, so this one hurt me like a lot of the Pacers faithful, but I can only expect that Augustin is the target now. Love George Hill, but he’s not a real point guard. Augustin would bring that and could actually be a pretty solid fit with Indiana.

      Love the Green contract for Indy. It’s not like they invested huge money in him ($3.3 a season, I think, or thereabouts), but the returns could be huge from the kid. As for Ian Mahinmi, I could not be more underwhelmed.

14. tapsilog breakfast

    Kobe and cb34 has their ideas on the best team USA. Well i say 1996 usa is the best, hakeem and shaq!???? How can u stop those guys..

    • Joel Brigham

      With Ewing and Robinson. I’m sorry, but any team with Jordan and even a halfway reasonable supporting cast is going to get my vote. No answer for Jordan on that team, sorry.

15. Jason

    If the Bulls actually do complete the S&T with Atlanta of Korver for Hinrich and regain their MMLE, do you think Foye, Belinelli, Shannon Brown type guys will be their target?

    • Joel Brigham

      Blech, I hope not. Pray that O.J. Mayo hits the bargain bin and sees Chicago as a big opportunity (which it would be). I don’t know if he drops quite that far down, but that’s the best-case scenario if Chicago keeps their mini MLE.

16. avon barksdale

    Are these GM’s high? 9m for Jeff green, 6m for fields, 10 for Wallace, 11m for batum? Those are insane, not to mention these asik Lopez and hibbert deals, why even have a lockout if the Nba will still spend foolish

    • Joel Brigham

      Hibbert is defendable. The rest… are not. The problem with the lockout is it set this minimum money spent thing, so teams with cap space have to spend. There’s more cap space than ever this summer as a result, and teams are just doing whatever they can to use it. That’s the problem, too much money to spend right out the gates. It’ll balance back out. On the bright side, you’re not seeing hardly any five-year deals. Even when teams can offer that fifth year, they aren’t offering it more often than not. I think I’ve seen Deron Williams get it and a couple others, but for the most part everything is 3 or 4 years. That’s good at least… you’re not getting burned for ever. And there won’t be anywhere near as many teams with this much cap space next season, particularly as amnesty provisions dry up.

17. omar little

    What’s next for the mavs, I’d like to claim brand off waivers and get Francisco Garcia from sacto

    • Joel Brigham

      You know what, even though they’re old guys, Chris Kaman and Elton Brand, plus Darren Collison and Dahntay Jones isn’t a bad haul considering how poorly the Mavs struck out at the start of free agency. They seriously could’ve done much, much worse than that.

18. Emanuel

    Where do you see Kris Humphries landing?

    • Joel Brigham

      That’s a great question, because once again last year he quietly proved how productive he can be. The guy’s a double-double machine and yet can’t get any love, presumably because of his negative image that all spawns from that damn Kim Kardashian, who Tina Fey once called an evil robot sent to destroy earth’s professional athletes. Humphries is better than he’s been treated in free agency the last couple of seasons. I hope gets more than a one-year deal this summer, but at this point I couldn’t tell you who he ends up with. The Nets seem increasingly unlikely with every signing, don’t they? That team’s going to be unrecognizable next season. It’s like with the new city and new uniforms they’ll be like an expansion team with almost entirely new players. Wild stuff. Also, does anyone know when the Brooklyn Uni set gets released? I’m ready to see the jerseys at this point.

19. ginobiliiiiiii

    I could careless what happens the rest of the season, Danny ferry is the executive of the year, dumping Johnson for exps is talent, I also love how he trolled Billy king by holding out to also include marswag brooks

    • Joel Brigham

      Unbelievable that Joe Johnson is going to play out that contract for anyone other than Atlanta. Un-freaking-believable. But Deron Williams said that trade was what swayed him towards staying with the Nets, and in that respect it was a good enough move, I suppose. I’d rather overpay D-Will and Joe-J than trot out MarShon Brooks and Brook Lopez in a new building next season. At least this way they’ll be in the playoffs, which is where they need to be. With that kind of money, they need to be a top three seed, but we’ll see about that. Remember how excited we got about the Knicks, and how that turned out. I’m going to temper my enthusiasm for now, but I’d be shocked if they weren’t a top-six seed next spring.

20. GS Fan

    Joel,
    With the moves and draft, the Warriors have been assembling pieces for what looks like a decent team that is young. What do you think? Am I just reading too much into all of this or is the year that we finally start to turn it around?

    • Joel Brigham

      Harrison Barnes falling to Golden State was sheer luck. I’m not sold on him as a pro, but there weren’t many better fits for him than the Warriors, so I’m happy with how things turned out for him. He’s a good kid and I hope he does better than I think he will.

      Beyond him, it’s kind of a hodgepodge of odd talent that I’ll need to see before I buy into it. David Lee, Andrew Bogut, Steph Curry, and Harrison Barnes is a great core, but so much depends on Steph’s ankle. If he’s healthy, yes Golden State could do some damage. If not, it’s probably back to the lottery for them.

21. Mashkareem

    What do you think about the $61M contract that Nets gave to Brook Lopez? Is he worth it? I think it was one of those desparate moves to keep their big man. The winner is Lopez for hitting the jackpot.

    • Joel Brigham

      It made me throw up in my mouth when I read it. The guy can’t rebound. I complained that Roy Hibbert was $2-3 million a year overpaid, but if we’re using Brook’s deal as a measuring stick, Hibbert’s not making enough. What an awful, horrible deal for Brooklyn, not that they care at this point. They want to trot out as good a team as possible for this first year in New York because a lot of money depends on them being successful, so spend they shall. Prokorov could care less about increasingly punitive luxury taxes. He’ll pay them as long as his guys are winning, and I based on the center crop left over, Lopez was the best available. They had to keep him, whatever it cost, and with rumors Charlotte and Portland were considering throwing max at him, they just went for the max offer themselves. Again, I get it, but the money is all wrong.

22. jack

    Are the Lakers gonna sign Grant Hill or Jamison?

    • Joel Brigham

      They’ve got interest in both, but Jamison could get more money elsewhere. It will be interesting to see if he signs for cheap to play for a winner like L.A., or if he takes more cash to play back home in North Carolina next season. He’s good enough to contribute to a championship-caliber team, but the money won’t be there if that’s what he wants.

      As for Hill, I’ve heard that if he’s going to play anymore, it’ll be with Steve Nash and the Lakers. If not he’ll retire. No word yet on which way he’s leaning on that decision.

      Alright gang, that’s my hour. Thanks for all the great questions, and I’ll see you in two weeks. Next Thursday, I’ll be on a plane to Vegas during chat time, with loads and loads of Summer League action to follow. Looking forward to catching up with the rookies and other notables in just a week’s time, but my colleagues will be on the first shift and get a good head start on coverage. In short, we’ll be all over it, so stick with us. In the meantime, have a great weekend, and enjoy free agency!