NBA Rumors Chat With Steve Kyler 8/16/12

1. LA in LA

   Hey Steve, there is one question from the Dwightmare that I’m curios about:
   did Orlando actually want Bynum? About half of the media says they had no interst in Bynum for a variety of reasons while the other half says they were intersted in him but only reason they did not acquire him is because he refused to resign there.
   What do your sources tell you?

   • Steve Kyler

     Welcome in everyone… hope the off-season is treating you well. Lots to get to today so lets jump right in.

     Bynum was a never a player Orlando wanted, not under this management team. I think they debated the concept a lot. At the end of the day the uncertainty about his contract, his knees and the fact that he can be a difficult personality just made taking on Bynum too risky.

     I do think there were a lot of opinions on the subject simply because it would have kept the Magic in the hunt, but tearing it down and doing a total rebuild in the manner that Hennigan believes will yield a championship made more sense in the room.

2. LA in LA

   Also the worst part of the deal isn’t the lack of great picks (hard to get when trading with playoff teams) or cap space. It is that they might not be bad enough to get a top 5 pick with a starting 5 of Jameer-Afflalo-Turkoglu-Davis-whoever their center. Playing their rookies and Harkless alot would help.

   • Steve Kyler

     I think the starting five at the start of the season won’t be the starting five at the end of the season. This also isn’t a great year to land the top overall pick. The guy you get at 3 through 8 might be the same player.

     I think Shabazz Muhammad is likely the best of the bunch in 2013′s draft, although I think the appeal of Nerlens Noel is intriguing. He is far more raw than Dwight was coming out of high school, but if you look at this video of Nerlens:

     and then this one of Dwight Howard in High School:
     

     Hard to say they are not similar talents. Nerlens isn’t nearly as strong as Howard was, but he’ll have a year of quality coaching and development at Kentucky, so we’ll see.

     I also think for Orlando you try and compete with what you have… drive up the trade value of your pieces and see if you have something special with hard working guys that pay together – if you don’t, you dump at the deadline.

3. Keith

   Why wouldn’t the Magic have taken Pau Gasol in the trade? I understand them not wanting to add a contract of that size, but they could have done that trade, then flipped Gasol to the Rockets for several of their assets they were offering for Dwight. Would not have gotten the same haul as they would get on a Dwight offer, but still would have gotten some young assets, and off loaded another big contract with Gasol to Houston. Sounds like bad management for Orlando.

   • Steve Kyler

     Too old… too much money owed, would have anchored the franchise to a massive expensive player that would have won them way too many games.

     They need to go backwards to go forward in a way that lines up with the culture they are trying to build in Orlando. Pau in his prime would have been great, but he is a free agency killer contract.

     Houston never wanted Gasol alone. They wanted Gasol as part of a bigger plan that included Denver’s Nene last off season. Once Nene signed, Gasol was not a serious option and was not an option at all this summer.

4. Mutangclan

   Hey Steve man, for as long as I’ve been a Jazz fan (20-25yrs) they have consistently been underrated, and just as consistently proved people wrong…until the next pre-season rankings of course. But this year I’m more surprised than ever. Utah again shut people up last year when they picked them to be one of the worst teams, but instead they made the playoffs and until the last week of the season were fighting Dallas and Denver for 6th-7th seed. Now, once again this year everyone I read says that Utah will fight for a playoff seed but that Dallas is certainly in. How do you figure??! Utah improved at the point which is the biggest add, added the outside shooting of Mo/Marv/Foye which was their weakness, and the upgrade at SF with Marv vs CJ and Howard is huge. Not to mention their young bucks and their improvement from last year. Those upgrades absolutely make Utah better. Dallas however, lost their QB, lost their mojo Terry and his scoring, and replaced them with average and non-dishing Collison, and Mayo who has proven exactly nothing. How can Dallas be better and Utah worse??? Its 100% the other way around…..INSANITY!!

   • Steve Kyler

     Utah for the most part is under covered and really not talked about on the national scene, as a result they are under valued and appreciated. The Spurs are treated this way too.

     I agree that Utah should be pretty good this year… not sure they are title contenders, but they are decent enough to be a playoff team.

     Until teams play, I think its tough to say one team is better than the other… because you can’t prove it. Its just debate for debate sake.

5. Kevin Owens

   Tired of people/commentators not knowing the true height/weight of players. Everyday Durants gets taller
   and Lebron gains 50 pounds! Is everyone not officially weighed and height taken in the NBA? This is ridiculous!

   • Steve Kyler

     No… there is no annual weigh in. Teams do weigh their guys, but whats “reported” is rarely accurate.

     The only accurate released measure of a player happens at the Draft Combine… Draft Express keeps a great database of that stuff here:
     http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/

     Kevin Durant measured in at 6′ 10.25′ and 215 pounds at the Combine.
     LeBron James measured in at 6′ 8″ and 245 pounds.

     Plus or minus 10% on weight is likely right.

6. Sweet Dee

   Am I the only one who believes Philly got the short end of the Dwight Howard trade? They gave up Iguodala (defensive leader of team), Vucevic (young 7 foot center), Harkless (16th overall), and a future 1rst round pick for an oft injured center. People keep focusing on Bynum’s past year instead of his career as a whole which has been riddled with injuries (now news of another knee procedure). I think the Sixers will take a step back this year. Agree or Disagree and why?

   • Steve Kyler

     I think the long-term judges value.

     Harkless and Nik were not playing a lot this year and dumping Iggy’s deal and opening time for Evan Turner was inevitable.

     The Sixers now have the best center in the East – if he can stay healthy they move into the home court playoff discussion this year. I think new ownership made the dare to be great move, and we’ll see in April where they are.

     if they are in the top 4 in the east they won the trade, because you have to play this year… now if Bynum breaks down, they are not locked in beyond this year so the long-term risk is minor and they are out of Iggy’s contract.

7. Riccardo

   Hi Steve!
   I’am an Italian Suns’ fan.
   I loved and I love Steve Nash. I hope he could win the title because he’s the essence of basket.
   However I think that the Brown’s way and idea to play aren’t perfect for Nash’s style and attitude.
   Brown wants more and more defence, half-court attacks and less transition, while Nash loves seven seconds or less basketball.
   Nash is a very clever and smart player and person so he’ll manage to play in Brown’s system even if when Porter was the Suns’ coach the results weren’t good.
   Moreover Nash is the best player in the world in situations of pick and roll because he’s the master of passage but Howard and Gasol aren’t at the same livel like “rollers”.
   Howard is awful defender in particular in pick and roll’s situations.
   The other teams will attack LAL in pick and roll and, especially, in pick and pop situations used small quintets and PF behind 3 points line in that part of court where Gasol and Howard don’t want to defend.
   I think that LAL will struggle to find the good chemistry in attack and in defence but Lakers have a lot talent (Bryant, Nash, Gasol, Jamison).
   Brown’s challenge will be exciting.
   Thanks Steve for your time.

   • Steve Kyler

     I joked with Mike Brown about that very subject… Steve Nash will make things easier for everyone. Keep in mind the Lakers have brought in Eddie Jordan to help with the offense.

     What they ran last year is going to change dramatically. Nash is key to all of this working and Mike Brown is smart enough to know Steve can make it all happen. I do not think you’ll see Mike brown forcing Nash into anything, Nash will be a coach on the floor and Mike brown trusts him implicitly.

8. Jazzaholic

   Derrick Favors reminds me of a mix of Amar’e at the same age and has about the same stats in year 2. He also seems to have the same athleticism and could have the same build as Dwight. Because of Big Al and Millsap starting in front of him, he hasn’t had a lot of exposure, but have you got any opinion of his play and his future?

   • Steve Kyler

     I am a huge fan of Favs… that said, he’ll get his time. There are lots of minutes and eventually he’ll outplay the guys in front of him. I talked with Alec Burks about favs last week in LA and he said Derrick has been working hard. Those two are good friends and they both plan to have big years this year.

     Not sure I am ready to go Dwight or Amar’e yet on Favs, but when he was coming into the NBA everyone believed he had that kind of potential. Favs just turned 21 last month so he’s still a baby in NBA terms, but he should be extremely solid this year.

9. Shamwow

   Instead of amnestying Boozer and payinh him to play for someone else, would it make sense to trade him to Houston for KMartin? Houston doesnt get much considerstion by FA and this might be a chance to get a veteran big man that can learn from Hakeem. Plus Martin wants out of Houston and the Bulls need a SG that will llay well with Rose.

   • Steve Kyler

     As Daryl Morey points out… it takes two to tango. Houston doesn’t want Boozer or that contract.

     The Bulls have some time before they have to decide on Boozer and given how bad he was last year you’ll either see him show up and be a monster or fade into obscurity… regardless next year is when they’d look at Boozer and Martin will be a free agent.

     I wouldn’t rule out Houston trading Martin, but they’d do that to get a better talent not an average on in Boozer. Martin’s deal will be extremely attractive at the deadline.

10. Reggie

    What do you think about the possibility of the Hawks trading for someone like Tyreke Evans? I feel like that he needs to play somewhere else in order for him to reach his full potential. Thoughts?

    • Steve Kyler

      Not sure the league sees Tyreke as a valuable player. He’s become just a guy. Could the Hawks look at that? Maybe, but from what Sacramento is saying they want to see how things work with Aaron Brooks and Jimmer in camp.

      I don’t think the Kings will do an extension for Tyreke, so that means they likely test his value at the trade deadline. My guess is they’d try to use Reke to move off other contracts.

11. Peter

    Hey Steve! Thank God the Dwightmare is over We all know the Lakers are gonna be owning the West for a while and the Magic are gonna be in the basement for the foreseeable future. What about the Rockets? Missing out DH12 and Bynum their top targets this summer, are they going to try and get a superstar player this summer? As a rockets fan, I’m not very optimistic about this coming season

    • Steve Kyler

      I am not ready to anoint the Lakers just yet… they look great on paper… but they are old. They have questions on the coaching front, and who knows how worn Kobe and Pau are going to be from London. I think having a month off will help. But Dwight is a question mark too.

      The Thunder are excellent and deeper. The Spurs are solid. Denver is good. The Warriors could be good. Utah. Minnesota. The West is going to be tough.

      As for the Rockets, they haven’t given you anything to be excited about yet. They have a ton of good young guys, but coaching is a problem. They have little star power. They;d need a lot of things to come together for them to be the eight seed and its hard to root for the team whose ceiling in the 8th seed.

12. Deven

    What does Tim Duncan plan to do after his NBA career is done?

    • Steve Kyler

      Not sure he’s every talked about that. He’s not a personality so TV is out of the question. Not sure he wants to coach. He’s earned more than $204 million in his career, so I doubt he has to do much of anything.

13. Deven

    How long do those Orthokine/Regenokine procedures take to heal, since Bynum is going to have one?

    • Steve Kyler

      It’s injections, so not long… they say there is no recuperation period required and it is an out-patient treatment.

      The draw your own blood and synthesize out the proteins they want and then inject it back into the problem areas. Its more of a long lasting anti-inflammatory procedure.

14. willie

    glen c nicholson pf harkless sf arron sg nelson pg is this orlandos starting 5 opening night

    • Steve Kyler

      Maybe.

      I think its:
      PG- Nelson
      SG- Afflao or Redick
      SF- Is Turkoglu
      PF- Davis
      C- Vucevic or Nicholson

15. Erik

    If your the spurs do you roll the dice on blatche and trade d Blair for a pick? Could he be that young talented 4 man that spurs have needed to pair with timmy? What would you do

    • Steve Kyler

      Maybe. Andray is not a hard worker and he is very toxic as a personality. I think DeJuan will be traded, but not sure either situation is related. The Spurs have had good luck with problem players, so if they can get Dray to be about something other than Dray, I think it could work… one of the few situations where it might.

16. Alex

    Do you think the magic could get an unprotected 1st round pick for harrungton and maybe a throw in like eyenga? If not what is a realistic asking price

    • Steve Kyler

      Not today.

      Al will need to play and I think he brings a lot of leadership and professionalism to the locker room. Not sure he is on the team at the deadline.

17. Mondo

    Golden State Warriors looks tough to me, Do you think people are sleeping on them too much? I know injuries are almost always an issue with them, but injuries aside, this team on paper looks deep and solid. Your thoughts on how you perceive their season going? and how about Klay Thompson for most improved player this year? We got a small sampling after the Ellis trade last year, he looks to be legit.

    • Steve Kyler

      I agree. I think the Warriors could be very good. They have to get and stay healthy.

      Bogut is an issue… Landry missed a ton last year… Steph Curry… they have to be healthy, if they are they could be formidable

18. Alan Siegel

    hi steve…what can you tell us about the two additional players that came to los angeles in the howard trade. not much known out here and even by googling for that matter. meeks has more visibility but is there unlocked potential? a hidden gem (like jordan hill) in the duhon and ward pick ups?

    • Steve Kyler

      Jodie Meek hung 54 in a college game… he is a prolific scorer if you let him shoot. He is money from deep and a great backup for Kobe.

      Duhon was terrible last year in almost every way. The thing I can say is he knew how bad he was and he spent most of the off-season in the gym in Santa Barbara working on his body and his game.

      I still think Steve Blake is the better backup point guard, but CDu can run a team.

19. Jason M.

    How much impact do you expect Ayon to have in Orlando? In New Orleans, I saw a very polished player who I think could make a much bigger(certainly not star level of course) impact in Orlando than many think. He might be one of the surprise pick-ups of the off-season if he gets his shot. Agree?

    • Steve Kyler

      He is pretty good. I cover the NBA from Orlando, however when they go on extended road trips I am generally in New Orleans, so I saw a ton of him last year.

      He is pretty good, we’ll see what kind of role he gets in Orlando.

20. Jp co

    hi Steve, is Earl Clark a combo forward? Can he be some what a palyer like an Ariza type or just pure traditional 4.thanks

    • Steve Kyler

      No… Trevor was a three-four… Earl is a four-five.

      Earl loves to shoot bad jumpers — he’s my guy – but his strength is his post game and bounce near the rim. he can help, but the last thing you want is earl shooting long range jumpers. He can make some, but he’ll miss a ton too.

21. Jake

    Assuming Hawks go for CP3, DH12 or Bynum next summer, how do you see next summer’s free agency playing out for ATL?

    • Steve Kyler

      Not sure they will get a stab at either… CP3 is staying with the Clips… Howard is staying in LA and Bynum made it clear yesterday he;s staying in Philly.

      Now things could go toxically bad in either spot, but assuming things go as they look neither guy hits the market.

      Guys… I am out of time. Thanks for all the questions. Make sure you are following me on Twitter (@stevekylerNBA). See you all next week.