NBA Free Agency Report: Anonymous Exec Thinks LeBron To Bulls A “Done Deal” (UPDATED)
June 27, 2010Indians 5, Reds 3: Choo, Santana, and The Fury – All We Got
June 28, 2010While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com
So, the Cavs just had the wrong Paxson? “Regardless of how the rest of this summer plays out, there’s no doubt that the Bulls have done absolutely everything right up to this point. Thanks to patience, a series of savvy moves and picks, and more than a little bit of luck, the Bulls are in position to add LeBron James and Chris Bosh to an already-solid young core. Instead of tanking for draft picks/cap space or mortgaging their future, Chicago consistently put a quality team on the floor while leaving room for the team to improve.
Every other franchise’s team-building strategy made the summer of 2010 into either the starting point or the day of judgement. Because Bulls GM John Paxson realized that the summer of 2010 can be the middle phase of an actual long-term strategy instead of an all-or-nothing roster apocalypse, he’s looking like the smartest guy in the room right now.” [Cavs the Blog]
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“Speaking of transition, a couple weeks back I told you the Indians will probably start working in Carlos Santana at first base at some point, just to have that position as an option to give him breaks from the wear and tear of catching. That’s not something they want to put on his plate this season, as he has enough to think about. But in Spring Training, he’ll probably begin taking groundballs at first. Keep in mind that Santana was originally a third baseman in the Dodgers’ system, so the acclimation at first shouldn’t be all that extreme.” [CastroTurf]
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An update on the late-round and undrafted rookies (subscription required): “Clifton Geathers could prove to be a wise sixth-round draft selection, or just another late round selection who winds up being simply not good enough to play at this level. Throughout the OTA sessions, Geathers continues to show that he will be a project due to his limited exposure and lack of experience. What Geathers does possess is great size (6’9″) along with an enormous wing-span. At times, Geathers has created pressure and havoc…. while at other times the rookie DE has been overwhelmed.” [Lane Adkins/The OBR]
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TOSU’s Terrelle Pryor comes in seventh on ESPN’s Big Ten player rankings [Adam Rittenberg]
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And finally, is Dallas a dark horse? “The Mavericks plan to market a strong roster — unlike the gutted ones on teams like the Knicks who slashed and burned to create cap space — led by a prominent sidekick in Nowitzki, and an owner in Mark Cuban, who’ll be prepared to spend money to keep the Mavs in contention. Jason Kidd will likely be a key recruiter. Kidd and James were teammates at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
According to Stein, Dallas will also try to use the possibility of playing some regular-season games at the new Cowboys Stadium to entice James, a Cowboys fan.” [The Baseline]
10 Comments
The Bulls have put out a mediocre team that has barely made the playoffs and hasn’t been anywhere close to a legitimate threat to win. It’s not fair that they could use all this time to prepare their roster while the Cavs desperately tried to win in the short-term to make LeBron happy. The article is right about having more than a little bit of luck- getting the #1 pick a few years ago with a 1.7% chance of winning it just doesn’t happen very often.
Well, why don’t we use I don’t know.. Andy Marte at first…
@1 – is that a flaw with the lottery system? I bounce back and forth on it
Ah, another “genius” GM. If Paxson’s so smart, why did he have to fire his coach?
@3– I feel the same way- you don’t want to have teams tanking to get the #1 pick, but I don’t think that a team that just missed the playoffs should end up with the #1 pick. The problem would be where to make the cut-off. Should the bottom 5 teams be in a lottery for the #1 pick? Bottom 8? 10? No matter what is done, someone would feel cheated, and I guess having a team like Chicago win it sparks more excitement and potentially allows for quick turnarounds, but if a team with around a .500 record get the first pick over a team that has been bad for years, it doesn’t seem fair.
There aren’t many things you can say the NHL gets “right-er” than the NBA, but the Draft Lottery is one of them, IMHO. Teams are weighted as they finished, just like in the NBA, but only the team that WINS the lottery gets to move up, and even so they can only move up four spaces. So, in other words, you HAVE to be in the bottom-5 of the league to have any chance of winning the #1 pick. And, if you don’t win the lottery–no matter where you finish in the drawing–the most you can move down from where you finished is one spot (if a team behind you wins the lottery and jumps up).
So, there’s never a situation in the NHL where a team who finished one or two spots out of the playoffs can walk away with the top pick, and the worst team can’t ever be picking lower than #2.
DP- I didn’t realize it was like that in hockey. That sounds like a really good system.
hasn’t LeBron made it clear enough that he is making this a basketball decision?
not sure how playing at the Cowboys stadium will have much effect on his move (especially since whoever he signs with will likely play their game vs. the Mavs in that stadium as he is the biggest draw and possibly a way for Cuban to steal a XMas day game or prime slot).
mgbode, they could pitch it to him as: “You’re playing Kobe four times a year, now, and two of those will be top-billing Prime Time games with 100,000 people in the stands.”
Not saying that would sway him, but it wouldn’t hurt.
or they could pitch it as the West will be easier to get out of because you just have the Lakers to worry about. that might be the better selling point (if things go down like they might, sure the West will still be deeper, but only have 1 or 2 teams up top. the East could have as many as 5)
I think that’s been a huge undersell on this FA process. The balance of power shift from West to East.
How many teams with big cap space are out West? 1 = Clippers.
How many East? 4 = Knicks, Bulls, Heat, Nets
How many big stars might go West to East? 3 = Amare, Boozer, Gay
How many East to West? Doubtful any as all are longshot chances. Mavs and Rockets trying to work sign-n-trade possibilities.