Post by shorty on May 18, 2014 1:35:17 GMT
1. Have you ever seen a more improbable Finals winner than the 39 win, 7th seed Miami Heat last season?
Bucks: Can't say I have. As the 8th seed, I had a shot at knocking off MVP Caron Butler and the Wizards but could only go 6 close games. Obviously this was a very even year, but the every last series in the playoffs was intriguing.
Hawks: Not in seeding no, but I know that Heat team was talented and maybe played under expectations I typically believe that you are what your record says you are. But rules can be broken when a team wins a championship and that's what happened here. Now I can't say I wasn't surprised, I think everyone was surprised. Though I feel most were surprised because of their record, I was surprised because that Heat wasn't the best Heat team it has ever been. I think the best Heat team was the one where Rashard Lewis got injured during the ECF against Indiana. That team has declined a bit from that team, especially Lewis and Redd, so I didn't think the Heat had it in them to go that far
Bobcats: Well thus far in the history of the league I do not remember a story as improbable as this one a true cinderella story. A below .500 team taking it to every team in the Playoffs and taking down the T'wolves was an amazing feat. The team is talented and injuries may have made them have a bad record but the fact an aging team beat a star studied team like the T'wolves in 7 games was amazing and exciting. My team was a few games removed from making the playoffs. Now imagine the Bobcats getting as far as the Heat did this year simply unthinkable and for some improbable.
HEAT: Since I am the owner of the “improbable finals winner” team, I can say first hand that the Miami Heats record simply did not speak for how good the team actually is. Deron Williams, the staple of the franchise was out for over 60 games, while other key players in Michael Redd and Rashard Lewis missing significant time as well. Also, Deron Williams and Emeka Okafor missed significant time in the playoffs, which also hurt the team. In the playoffs, all series went 7 games, and there were some ugly losses, impressive wins and nail biters. Particularly in the Championships, the Miami Heat lost games on the Road by 20+ 3 times! However, they won all their home games and managed to win the last game on the road. So, yes, it may be an “improbable” road to victory, but when healthy, the Miami Heat ultimately showed that they can handle the business with any team in the league.
EDITOR's Note: Deron Williams did not miss "60 games." He missed 60 days or something around there as I recall. Still a lot, but let's be accurate.
Wolves: The Hoosiers? No I'm only kidding, I wouldn't call them improbable, this is a league with the worlds best players where on any given night any team can beat any team, its a matter of getting on a hot streak at the right time and that is precisely what they did. I commend them.
Lakers- As far as seeding yes, but the Heat team was talented and caught it's stride right at the perfect time. When a team has talent like that and gets hot it's tough to say them winning it all would be improbable.
2. Which team(s) surprised you the most last season? (For good or bad reasons)
Bucks: I'm going to go the easy route with Miami. They shouldn't really have won it all, but they also shouldn't really have won just 39 games. It was a very bizarre year in Milwaukee as well.
Hawks: I can't say, because I didn't have expectations for any team last season, I guess it was surprising seeing Indiana the way they were and dominating in every single defensive category yet not having the season to show for it. Now obviously they lacked fire power on that team, but it was still concerning to me.
It's hard to come up with something good, because again no expectations for anyone
Bobcats: Well the team with the Biggest surprise from last season was the Heat's run in the playoffs this season, just so awe inspiring and amazing. The bad luck surprise was the Magic who lost Shawn Marion to injury and still managed to pass to the second round but ultimately lost. Just really bad luck for a good title contending team.
HEAT: Well, honestly, my own team (The Miami Heat) surprised me. It was funny because I was studying for finals and was not going to even log on that night for the playoffs. However, I was told that my team was doing really well so I said screw it, I’ll take a break and manage the team. As for the regular season, the Heat did finish under .500 but it was close to being at .500 (39-43) without Superstar Deron Williams for almost half the season, among other key players. It is hard to say that “you are what your record says you are” simply because injuries and other variables can severely impact how your season goes.
Wolves: The Wizards, they showed that no matter what age, a player never goes away, Caron Butler emerged as a superstar this year.
Lakers- starting with myself I thought I terribly disappointed last year. Couldn't get over the hump and break out all season, then went out and acquired dirk last second in hopes of a nice push only to have a terrible last some and cut out first round of the playoffs. The clippers surprised me as we'll, they started hot and didn't look back, harden will be a problem for years to come.
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(Wizards surprised at least one GM with their stellar play. MVP Caron Butler led the team last season to the best record in the league)
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(The Heat tho, are still clearly the biggest shock of last season)
3. What do you hope to accomplish next season?
Bucks: I think we have a fair shot at the title. I've been saying this for two seasons now, but THIS is our year.
Hawks: the first stage of the rebuild which is to find that superstar, it's absolutely vital that this team acquires a star that will lead this team for the next 5 or so years. So getting that player that will completely change the look of this team is my top priority. Everything else will fall into place I believe once that player is found. That may sound difficult, but I feel this coming year will be a year where we have alot of opportunities to get one either through draft/trade/FA.
That might not happen this season though, I guess this season up until the offseason will be devoted to boosting the value of our players.
Bobcats: The organization hope to give what every fan wants and that is a playoff birth. A team that made the Playoffs two seasons ago getting 40 wins both seasons and then exploding it again just last season that brought in Greg Monroe to the team and then to a 37 win season that showed a lot of promise and seemed primed to getting into the playoffs. With a solidified team that now has Richard Hamilton at the SG spot should help the team at the wings. Getting a long term PG in Isaiah Thomas to replace recently traded Darren Collison looks like big shoes to fill but we do feel confident he will succeed in the league. We also acquired a collection of players to add depth on the bench in this years draft selecting Chandler Parsons, Bismack Biyombo (traded to me), and Milan Macvan. Really the goal is the playoffs.
HEAT: For next season, I hope to accomplish a season where injuries are kept to a minimum, so we can gain chemistry and get on a role. With the preseason underway, Deron Williams is already out 7 games with a broken nose however! In addition, we need to keep up a high level of play every night and take no days off. It seems that our team may take games off (i.e. 20+ point losses). That simply is not acceptable and I hope to see our squad limit those types of games this season. Lastly, I hope to accomplish a repeat of the championship. For the most part, we were lucky enough to retain our squad, while getting other key players to help our depth (which seemed to be an issue when key starters were out with injuries). If we can accomplish these goals, I would not be surprised to see the Miami Heat in the playoffs making another “improbable” run.
Wolves: Every season its the same goal for us, championship or bust.
Lakers- hoping to start hot. That will really tell a lot about the direction I take the team. Have tons of money expiring and coming off a disappointing end to last season there will be lots of decisions I'll need to be making about the core of this team. I definitely think the talent is there to give it a good run, hopefully my Guys will realize they're in their contract years.
4. Which teams and players will you be on the lookup (EDIT: I meant "look out," not "lookup") the most?
Bucks: Not sure what "on the lookup" means but I'll be checking my boy Russell Westbrook's early games to see if he's made the leap to elite status.
Hawks: I will be on the "lookout" for future FA's along with those in the NCEA players that I think will be future Hawks. I of course will be paying attention to the Heat as a majority of the league will now, but I will be seeing if they can improve that bench with shooters and continue to support Williams and Okafor well as I think those two are the building blocks of that team
Bobcats: The main players I usually look at are rookies and this season I will be paying close attention to Kyrie Irving due to the fact that I will be constantly comparing him to Thomas's performance this season. I will also be looking at Center Nikola Mirotic who was selected with the #1 pick and evaluating if he really should have gone ahead of Irving. Lastly we will be paying attention to how well the Sonics can improve after only attaining the 8th seed this past season.
HEAT: The Miami Heat will be looking for young talent in the upcoming years. Our squad, especially Rashard Lewis and Michael Redd are getting older now at both 32 respectively. We have traded our #15 overall pick (odd for a championship team) to get a young defensive stud in Devin Ebanks, which we will groom to eventually take over as a starter, or groom and trade for value.
Wolves: Im curious as a GM to see Marc Gasol this season, he was adamant in demanding the max so lets see if he could back it up, I also want to see the emergence of derrick rose and michael beasley as stars in this league. Either way, the future is bright in Minnesota.
Lakers- very interested to follow on Irving as I had him on my NCEA team and he was a straight monster. Will be interesting to see the new look grizz lead by cp3 ..
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(Eyes will be on the questionable Mirotic over Irving pick, and time will tell if it'll be worth it.)
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(Other young players will get the spotlight on them as well.)
5. Which team do you think will make the biggest changes for next season.
Bucks: I'm definitely looking at the Atlanta Hawks. SRG has a tendency to get buck in the club with shooters, so look for the inside, slow-paced squad to get almost entirely cleaned out.
Hawks: Well obviously my Hawks, the team is going through a large transition right now and no one in Atlanta is safe, even those that were recently acquired. If I can pick a different team, I will say the Cavs are very intriguing they are a young team that are very dependent moving forward on the development of both Kyrie and Klay but they also have players in Darko and Rudy that can help them compete as well as be good assets on the trade market. There's alot of different things that team can do this season
Bobcats: I think the team to make the biggest moves for the upcoming season would be the Hawks. A GM that loves to wheel and deal looks like he is ready to trade a big piece in Danny Granger already. If successful we may expect a really different team an potentially become one of the bigger trades of the season.
HEAT: I would assume it would be the Hawks. He was the former Miami Heat owner who essentially created this team, and seems like he is very active in rebuilding a mediocre squad. With the right owner, anything is possible. They could very well be on the come up in the following seasons.
Wolves: The spurs went from a mid round team to a contender overnight, so did the mavs, the west is getting stronger. I look forward to a competitive season in our conference.
Lakers- as I said before the lakers could really shake it up a lot depending on a judgement call by myself at some point whether I need to pull the plug on this core or whether I'm rolling with it for a run at a title. Lots of moves have been made of late, so at this point it appears a lot of teams could have different looks soon.
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(Hawks are expected to make big changes.. so far they've shown to be just that, a mover and shaker)
6. And of course, in the spirit of the upcoming CBA negotiations, if you could make one change to the CBA, what would it be?
Bucks: I'd like to see some changes to the salary cap, soft cap, and hard cap. Not a big jump, but moving it a bit would make for more competitive rosters around the league in my opinion. There's a lot of older, max contract guys with a year or two left right now, and the teams that have them are hurting financially. Just look at the potential free agent class next year and you'll realize a lot of these guys' teams are broke, or will be after re-signing their guys.
Hawks: the cap floor either needs to be raised enormously (I'm talking 20 million + jump) or abolished completely. It makes no sense to me to have a 20 million dollar cap floor. You could have an entire team filled with rookie 1st round deals on a team and it's still legal given the cap floor. Cap floors are suppose to encourage spending among teams that wouldn't otherwise spend because they're probably a team like mine just not really caring too much about the up coming season and would rather not pay a ton of salary because cap space is more valuable. Increasing it to 40 million while also allowing teams to only offer at the most 8 million on 1 year deals (I would say 6 million, but that maybe a little too strict, but that's the leagues call) would encourage more of these teams to spend and not relying so much on cap space to make moves, with a 40 million cap floor, a team still has 13 million in cap.
Bobcats: Well the one suggestion I would want to make in the upcoming CBA negotiations would be to increase the cap floor 7 to 9 million due to the fact that many teams can pass by with only having potentially players with small contract or rookie deals. Everything else is fairly solid and well run. Making it a little harder to intentionally tank for players since the cap floor would have to be met.
HEAT: Well, I only been in this league for one year, so I am not too familiar with the CBA in general, but if I could make a change, I would slightly raise the soft cap, so that we could get more players =). May not be realistic but doesn't hurt to try. Other than that, for my first season, I did not see any true issues with the current CBA.
Wolves: I can't comment on that or I will be fined, let's wait and see what happens when the CBA expires.
Lakers- To be honest I don't really have many complaints, I guess a sort of hot topic of late has been the idea of a trade committee, which I wouldn't totally be opposed to(with certain specifications of course) but for the most part believe there are enough good GMs in this league and bundy is a good enough commish to seek and call out any trade this is really lopsided enough to be questioned. Vetoing a trade is always a touchy kind of thing, but trades should certainly be veto able in some capacity if it is gonna effect the landscape of the league drastically.
Salary, hard cap, soft cap seems to be the main concerns. Well Good news, Day 1 of CBA negotiations is about that topic. So instead of wishing for something to happen, help make it happen
Bucks: Can't say I have. As the 8th seed, I had a shot at knocking off MVP Caron Butler and the Wizards but could only go 6 close games. Obviously this was a very even year, but the every last series in the playoffs was intriguing.
Hawks: Not in seeding no, but I know that Heat team was talented and maybe played under expectations I typically believe that you are what your record says you are. But rules can be broken when a team wins a championship and that's what happened here. Now I can't say I wasn't surprised, I think everyone was surprised. Though I feel most were surprised because of their record, I was surprised because that Heat wasn't the best Heat team it has ever been. I think the best Heat team was the one where Rashard Lewis got injured during the ECF against Indiana. That team has declined a bit from that team, especially Lewis and Redd, so I didn't think the Heat had it in them to go that far
Bobcats: Well thus far in the history of the league I do not remember a story as improbable as this one a true cinderella story. A below .500 team taking it to every team in the Playoffs and taking down the T'wolves was an amazing feat. The team is talented and injuries may have made them have a bad record but the fact an aging team beat a star studied team like the T'wolves in 7 games was amazing and exciting. My team was a few games removed from making the playoffs. Now imagine the Bobcats getting as far as the Heat did this year simply unthinkable and for some improbable.
HEAT: Since I am the owner of the “improbable finals winner” team, I can say first hand that the Miami Heats record simply did not speak for how good the team actually is. Deron Williams, the staple of the franchise was out for over 60 games, while other key players in Michael Redd and Rashard Lewis missing significant time as well. Also, Deron Williams and Emeka Okafor missed significant time in the playoffs, which also hurt the team. In the playoffs, all series went 7 games, and there were some ugly losses, impressive wins and nail biters. Particularly in the Championships, the Miami Heat lost games on the Road by 20+ 3 times! However, they won all their home games and managed to win the last game on the road. So, yes, it may be an “improbable” road to victory, but when healthy, the Miami Heat ultimately showed that they can handle the business with any team in the league.
EDITOR's Note: Deron Williams did not miss "60 games." He missed 60 days or something around there as I recall. Still a lot, but let's be accurate.
Wolves: The Hoosiers? No I'm only kidding, I wouldn't call them improbable, this is a league with the worlds best players where on any given night any team can beat any team, its a matter of getting on a hot streak at the right time and that is precisely what they did. I commend them.
Lakers- As far as seeding yes, but the Heat team was talented and caught it's stride right at the perfect time. When a team has talent like that and gets hot it's tough to say them winning it all would be improbable.
2. Which team(s) surprised you the most last season? (For good or bad reasons)
Bucks: I'm going to go the easy route with Miami. They shouldn't really have won it all, but they also shouldn't really have won just 39 games. It was a very bizarre year in Milwaukee as well.
Hawks: I can't say, because I didn't have expectations for any team last season, I guess it was surprising seeing Indiana the way they were and dominating in every single defensive category yet not having the season to show for it. Now obviously they lacked fire power on that team, but it was still concerning to me.
It's hard to come up with something good, because again no expectations for anyone
Bobcats: Well the team with the Biggest surprise from last season was the Heat's run in the playoffs this season, just so awe inspiring and amazing. The bad luck surprise was the Magic who lost Shawn Marion to injury and still managed to pass to the second round but ultimately lost. Just really bad luck for a good title contending team.
HEAT: Well, honestly, my own team (The Miami Heat) surprised me. It was funny because I was studying for finals and was not going to even log on that night for the playoffs. However, I was told that my team was doing really well so I said screw it, I’ll take a break and manage the team. As for the regular season, the Heat did finish under .500 but it was close to being at .500 (39-43) without Superstar Deron Williams for almost half the season, among other key players. It is hard to say that “you are what your record says you are” simply because injuries and other variables can severely impact how your season goes.
Wolves: The Wizards, they showed that no matter what age, a player never goes away, Caron Butler emerged as a superstar this year.
Lakers- starting with myself I thought I terribly disappointed last year. Couldn't get over the hump and break out all season, then went out and acquired dirk last second in hopes of a nice push only to have a terrible last some and cut out first round of the playoffs. The clippers surprised me as we'll, they started hot and didn't look back, harden will be a problem for years to come.
(Wizards surprised at least one GM with their stellar play. MVP Caron Butler led the team last season to the best record in the league)
(The Heat tho, are still clearly the biggest shock of last season)
3. What do you hope to accomplish next season?
Bucks: I think we have a fair shot at the title. I've been saying this for two seasons now, but THIS is our year.
Hawks: the first stage of the rebuild which is to find that superstar, it's absolutely vital that this team acquires a star that will lead this team for the next 5 or so years. So getting that player that will completely change the look of this team is my top priority. Everything else will fall into place I believe once that player is found. That may sound difficult, but I feel this coming year will be a year where we have alot of opportunities to get one either through draft/trade/FA.
That might not happen this season though, I guess this season up until the offseason will be devoted to boosting the value of our players.
Bobcats: The organization hope to give what every fan wants and that is a playoff birth. A team that made the Playoffs two seasons ago getting 40 wins both seasons and then exploding it again just last season that brought in Greg Monroe to the team and then to a 37 win season that showed a lot of promise and seemed primed to getting into the playoffs. With a solidified team that now has Richard Hamilton at the SG spot should help the team at the wings. Getting a long term PG in Isaiah Thomas to replace recently traded Darren Collison looks like big shoes to fill but we do feel confident he will succeed in the league. We also acquired a collection of players to add depth on the bench in this years draft selecting Chandler Parsons, Bismack Biyombo (traded to me), and Milan Macvan. Really the goal is the playoffs.
HEAT: For next season, I hope to accomplish a season where injuries are kept to a minimum, so we can gain chemistry and get on a role. With the preseason underway, Deron Williams is already out 7 games with a broken nose however! In addition, we need to keep up a high level of play every night and take no days off. It seems that our team may take games off (i.e. 20+ point losses). That simply is not acceptable and I hope to see our squad limit those types of games this season. Lastly, I hope to accomplish a repeat of the championship. For the most part, we were lucky enough to retain our squad, while getting other key players to help our depth (which seemed to be an issue when key starters were out with injuries). If we can accomplish these goals, I would not be surprised to see the Miami Heat in the playoffs making another “improbable” run.
Wolves: Every season its the same goal for us, championship or bust.
Lakers- hoping to start hot. That will really tell a lot about the direction I take the team. Have tons of money expiring and coming off a disappointing end to last season there will be lots of decisions I'll need to be making about the core of this team. I definitely think the talent is there to give it a good run, hopefully my Guys will realize they're in their contract years.
4. Which teams and players will you be on the lookup (EDIT: I meant "look out," not "lookup") the most?
Bucks: Not sure what "on the lookup" means but I'll be checking my boy Russell Westbrook's early games to see if he's made the leap to elite status.
Hawks: I will be on the "lookout" for future FA's along with those in the NCEA players that I think will be future Hawks. I of course will be paying attention to the Heat as a majority of the league will now, but I will be seeing if they can improve that bench with shooters and continue to support Williams and Okafor well as I think those two are the building blocks of that team
Bobcats: The main players I usually look at are rookies and this season I will be paying close attention to Kyrie Irving due to the fact that I will be constantly comparing him to Thomas's performance this season. I will also be looking at Center Nikola Mirotic who was selected with the #1 pick and evaluating if he really should have gone ahead of Irving. Lastly we will be paying attention to how well the Sonics can improve after only attaining the 8th seed this past season.
HEAT: The Miami Heat will be looking for young talent in the upcoming years. Our squad, especially Rashard Lewis and Michael Redd are getting older now at both 32 respectively. We have traded our #15 overall pick (odd for a championship team) to get a young defensive stud in Devin Ebanks, which we will groom to eventually take over as a starter, or groom and trade for value.
Wolves: Im curious as a GM to see Marc Gasol this season, he was adamant in demanding the max so lets see if he could back it up, I also want to see the emergence of derrick rose and michael beasley as stars in this league. Either way, the future is bright in Minnesota.
Lakers- very interested to follow on Irving as I had him on my NCEA team and he was a straight monster. Will be interesting to see the new look grizz lead by cp3 ..
(Eyes will be on the questionable Mirotic over Irving pick, and time will tell if it'll be worth it.)
(Other young players will get the spotlight on them as well.)
5. Which team do you think will make the biggest changes for next season.
Bucks: I'm definitely looking at the Atlanta Hawks. SRG has a tendency to get buck in the club with shooters, so look for the inside, slow-paced squad to get almost entirely cleaned out.
Hawks: Well obviously my Hawks, the team is going through a large transition right now and no one in Atlanta is safe, even those that were recently acquired. If I can pick a different team, I will say the Cavs are very intriguing they are a young team that are very dependent moving forward on the development of both Kyrie and Klay but they also have players in Darko and Rudy that can help them compete as well as be good assets on the trade market. There's alot of different things that team can do this season
Bobcats: I think the team to make the biggest moves for the upcoming season would be the Hawks. A GM that loves to wheel and deal looks like he is ready to trade a big piece in Danny Granger already. If successful we may expect a really different team an potentially become one of the bigger trades of the season.
HEAT: I would assume it would be the Hawks. He was the former Miami Heat owner who essentially created this team, and seems like he is very active in rebuilding a mediocre squad. With the right owner, anything is possible. They could very well be on the come up in the following seasons.
Wolves: The spurs went from a mid round team to a contender overnight, so did the mavs, the west is getting stronger. I look forward to a competitive season in our conference.
Lakers- as I said before the lakers could really shake it up a lot depending on a judgement call by myself at some point whether I need to pull the plug on this core or whether I'm rolling with it for a run at a title. Lots of moves have been made of late, so at this point it appears a lot of teams could have different looks soon.
(Hawks are expected to make big changes.. so far they've shown to be just that, a mover and shaker)
6. And of course, in the spirit of the upcoming CBA negotiations, if you could make one change to the CBA, what would it be?
Bucks: I'd like to see some changes to the salary cap, soft cap, and hard cap. Not a big jump, but moving it a bit would make for more competitive rosters around the league in my opinion. There's a lot of older, max contract guys with a year or two left right now, and the teams that have them are hurting financially. Just look at the potential free agent class next year and you'll realize a lot of these guys' teams are broke, or will be after re-signing their guys.
Hawks: the cap floor either needs to be raised enormously (I'm talking 20 million + jump) or abolished completely. It makes no sense to me to have a 20 million dollar cap floor. You could have an entire team filled with rookie 1st round deals on a team and it's still legal given the cap floor. Cap floors are suppose to encourage spending among teams that wouldn't otherwise spend because they're probably a team like mine just not really caring too much about the up coming season and would rather not pay a ton of salary because cap space is more valuable. Increasing it to 40 million while also allowing teams to only offer at the most 8 million on 1 year deals (I would say 6 million, but that maybe a little too strict, but that's the leagues call) would encourage more of these teams to spend and not relying so much on cap space to make moves, with a 40 million cap floor, a team still has 13 million in cap.
Bobcats: Well the one suggestion I would want to make in the upcoming CBA negotiations would be to increase the cap floor 7 to 9 million due to the fact that many teams can pass by with only having potentially players with small contract or rookie deals. Everything else is fairly solid and well run. Making it a little harder to intentionally tank for players since the cap floor would have to be met.
HEAT: Well, I only been in this league for one year, so I am not too familiar with the CBA in general, but if I could make a change, I would slightly raise the soft cap, so that we could get more players =). May not be realistic but doesn't hurt to try. Other than that, for my first season, I did not see any true issues with the current CBA.
Wolves: I can't comment on that or I will be fined, let's wait and see what happens when the CBA expires.
Lakers- To be honest I don't really have many complaints, I guess a sort of hot topic of late has been the idea of a trade committee, which I wouldn't totally be opposed to(with certain specifications of course) but for the most part believe there are enough good GMs in this league and bundy is a good enough commish to seek and call out any trade this is really lopsided enough to be questioned. Vetoing a trade is always a touchy kind of thing, but trades should certainly be veto able in some capacity if it is gonna effect the landscape of the league drastically.
Salary, hard cap, soft cap seems to be the main concerns. Well Good news, Day 1 of CBA negotiations is about that topic. So instead of wishing for something to happen, help make it happen
