SprotsTalk with your hosts, Kharv and Apert

[jsoh]

We need one of these, so here it is.

Starting off the thread: Blackhawks trade Saad to Columbus for handful of cat poop. Discuss!

[Kharvek]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.  I knew we were going to lose some people but I was REALLY hoping Saad was going to be a guy we could keep hold of.

...so how 'bout those Leafs?

[jsoh]

They haven't done anything hilarious like trading a 22yr cornerstone defenceman for magic beans yet, so thinks are peachy!

Curious to see how the NBA FA period shakes out. Raps had LaMarcus Aldrige in for a talk. Won't sign him, but.. We never get even a talk from the big FAs

[Kharvek]

Yeah.  All the rumors going in were Sharp was gone, likely Versteeg and someone else, but we were going to pay Saad.  Hope we weren't planing on resting Duncan Keith like, at all.  It makes me wonder who they do manage to keep hold of.

Yeah, I think the big ones are going to be Aldridge and Gasol.  I really, really hope Chicago can sign an extension on Butler, but with that giant TV contract looming I'm betting he waits a year when he can make more on the free agency. 

Chicago also needs to figure out what it's going to do with the aging bigs thing we've got going.  Gasol had a great season, but who knows how long he can keep that up, and Noah's feet are really starting to drag him down.  But who knows, maybe the coaching change will perk him up a bit?  I'm actually kind of shocked Thibs hasn't landed anywhere yet.

[jsoh]

Way things are going in Sacto, Thibs could wind up there any day now.

As for the Hawks, apparently Oduya is going to test FA, which makes the decision to dump Leddy last year for peanuts even more irritating.  3 cups in 6 years will buy a guy a lot of rope, but Bowmans made some really questionable decisions over the last couple of years.

[Kharvek]

That would be an interesting fit for him.  I can't tell if Demarcus Cousins would fucking love him or ignore his ass.

Kevin Love just resigned with the Cavs for 5 years.  I'm betting a lot of these opt-outs have the same thing happen.  I'm sure LeBron resigns pretty soon and I'm be sorta surprised if Wade leaves Miami, though things aren't as set in stone there since it sounds like some of the negotiations didn't go so hot.  Where do you see Aldridge and Gasol ending up?  Do you see San Antonio trying to make a play for any of them?

Ugh.  The Hawks off season just keeps looking more and more grim.  Also agreed about Stan.  He kinda kept the short term in mind but now here we are with another cap space crunch and not a lot of good moves to make to stay competitive.  Cross our fingers and hope we keep getting lucky with our random ass farm league?

[jsoh]

LeBron has more or less stated that he's taking a series of 1 year deals the next 2 years, and then will sign something longer when the cap balloons with the influx of new TV money; there was a fairly interesting piece at... Grantland I think it was about the phenomenon. Yeah: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-eight-biggest-nba-free-agency-questions/

I'm slightly surprised that Love agreed to 5 years, but I guess he's ok with having the certainty of a pay-day, what with that shoulder of his. Wade is an interesting case, since he's constantly deferred money over the years. Rumblings I've heard is that he wants to be rewarded now.

I'm thinking LMA winds up in SA or perhaps back in Portland. No clue about Gasol - tho I haven't checked anything while raiding, so both of those guys may have signed already. I did see that Amir Johnson went to the Celts for 12mm/year. Which is kinda madness. Sad about that tho. Amir is good peeps.

Pivoting back to the NHL for a sec... Kessel to the Pens for... not a lot. Plus Leafs retained salary on the deal which just blows my mind. I understand that you can only go with the deal in front of you, and apparently everyone else wanted the Leafs to eat a lot more than the 1.2mm/yr that they did, but still... Its criminal that they couldn't pry one of Maata/Pouliot out of PIT for Phil. I has a small sad about this. Rest of FA for us was great tho - value signings all over the place, and not doing anything idiotic like giving Mike Green 3x6mm with a full NTC.

[Kharvek]

Yeah.  That giant influx of TV cash is going to really throw cap space, max contracts and teams for a loop.  I'm pretty excited to see all the new shitty deals people sign after this. 

I think you're right about Love.  He hasn't been the most healthy of players recently and someone in that situation they want to get locked in to some good money now in case shit starts to break down.  Hopefully that doesn't happen since as much as I don't want the Cleveland LeBrons to win, I'd rather see guy's like Love stick around and play well.  (Sorry Pira)

LMA to San Antonio would be interesting.  San Antonio would have another good guy who isn't 200 years old and I think he'd fit into their style of play pretty well.  On top of that I'm never counting out a Gregg Poppovich coached team like, ever. 

It looks like Wade is doing just that and is going the LeBron route.  $20M for 1 year, back with the Heat.  Dude's earned it.  The Heat could be reasonably good if Bosh stays healthy and the Dragon starts fitting into their offense better, plus, y'know.  The East sucks.

Ugh.  Yeah I feel like you're right, they should have been able to get more.  Kessel has been great and Pittsburg definitely 'won' that trade.  Where do you think the Leafs will end up next season?  Shit I don't even want to think about the Hawks.  They still have some gutting to do to end up right with the cap, and there hasn't been anything we've put on to replace our expensive guys that makes me happy.

[jsoh]

Gut feel for the Leafs is that they miss the playoffs and its not even close; but given all thats happened with the team, I have no idea whether they're going to battle for 30th, or put up a nicely mediocre season that torpedoes any chance of a high draft pick. There's still talent on the team, and the upgrade from Carlyle/Horachek to Babcock is immense, so its hard to see them playing 82 games at the level that they played the last 3 months of the last season. I'm cautiously optimistic about their FA signings - all good value, low-cost pieces who've demonstrated an ability to drive possession in the past.

That said, they still don't have any real top-pairing D on the roster (Dion sure as shit aint it, and while Gardiner/Reilly are fun to watch they aint there yet), and quality at centre is so, so, so bad that I'm likely in the mix for 4C. Some of the kids they have in the minors are pretty special (Nylander/Marner and I suppose Kapanen now), but they're all really, really young and Shanahan has bluntly stated that they're not rushing anyone these days so I expect them to spent the whole season in AHL.

Cap issues aside, I think the Hawks are going to be fine up-front. Teravainen gets a full year to grow, and they got two highly regarded guys coming over from the KHL (Panarin/Tikhonov). I have no fucking clue what their plan on D is, other than "hope to shit that TvR is good/not-injured and that Keith can play 40 minutes a game". They are majorly fucked cap-wise tho, to the point where its not inconceivable that they lose useful pieces as sweetener to unload salary. Its not so much the Sharp deal, its the Crawford and Bickle ones that are killing them. Bickell has a NTC! Bryan Bickell! And 4mm AAV!

All due respect to Pira, but the Cleveland LeBrons can go die in a fire. As I saw someone say on Twitter: LeBron is simultaneously the best player in the league, and the worst coach/GM.

Raps big signing is DeMarre Carroll for like. 60 million. I know virtually nothing about him - which isn't surprising, since he played in Atlanta. I hear he's like.. actually competent on D, which seems to be a theme of the offseason so far. Its almost like Masai knows what the problem with the damn team was.

[Kharvek]

A bunch of big news on the NBA free agency to dig into.

I'm pretty happy Chicago was able to lock down Butler for awhile.  This is the kind of thing I feel like we tend to screw up.  I'm not sure there's all that many moves we can make though at this point.  Our biggest need is going to be a reliable backup point guard to Rose.  Aaron Brooks played pretty well last season but in the inevitable event Rose gets hurt, we probably want someone else not named Kirk Hinrich.

The big news that hit obviously was LMA landing in San Antonio.  I kind of thought that might happen.  They have a great pitch to make to him that he can come in under Tim Duncan and take over whenever Tim retires.  That team is going to be flat out scary next year.  They played very well this previous year an they haven't lost much and got a huge upgrade in LMA.  His playstyle is going to be scary on that team.  Stretch big who can shoot, play in the post and moves the ball well?  That's the kinda shit Pops loves.

I'm pretty happy seeing LA strike out on everything.  There were all these rumors of trying to get LMA and Butler to LA and snag Thibs or someone as a coach, but they're coming up emtpy.

DeAndre to Dallas is an interesting one.  I guess that's an upgrade over Chandler?  But I don't think it's going to really push Dallas up into the West's contenders.  Also I really wonder how DeAndre will look without CP3 tossing him lobs.  Who's playing PG in Dallas these days anyway?  I saw Rondo is heading over to the absolutely shitshow the Kings are becoming.

I think that the Buck's could become under the radar sort of good in the East.  I think the Greg Monroe pickup was a good one,  but they're definitely overpaying him.  He's good, but I'm not sure I'd put him at max contract.  Detroit also doesn't really need him when they've got Drummond, who just keeps getting a little better every year.

Teravainen I'm hopeful on.  That's the part the Hawks have done well is digging up talent like that....but yeah.  It's the D that's going to kill us.  Also shit, I had no idea that Bickel had a NTC.  I think the short term we're pretty hardcore boned.  Hopefully Stan has some kind of plan here otherwise I think we're going to be one of those middle of the pack teams for awhile.

DeMarre Carroll played really well for Atlanta.  He's a decent post player but he was one of the best interior defenders in the game on Atlanta.  I'm not sure how much of that was him as a player versus whatever scheme Atlanta was running.  ...my only other memory of him was when I was playing NBA 2K10 and the player I was playing was picked up by the Grizzlies which is where he played originally.  The dude could not make a shot inside no matter how many great passes I fed him.  ....so yeah, basically?  I don't know a whole hell of a lot about him. 

Also I'll be really curious to see how Atlanta does next year.  They looked fucking awesome mid-season, but before the playoffs and during the playoffs they did not look all that great at all.  Their greatest achievement was getting Korver voted to an all-star game.  WTF

[jsoh]

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2015/07/08/wsj-reporter-explains-deandre-jordan-emoji-story-to-his-mom/

I love everything about this. You must listen to the conversation linked there.

[jsoh]

Oduya to the Stars. 2x3.75

Better get your skates sharpened Kharv, cause you're about to get a call to try out for the Hawks' blueline.

[Kharvek]

We are so fucked.  Also I'd get demolished in a second if I were to play a minute of actual hockey.  I think I *MIGHT* be able to remember how to skate backwards.  Maybe. 

Okay maybe not completely fucked, but I think we've slipped from Cup contender to generic playoff team.

In other random news, the NBA summer league is going on where we see a bunch of players play really well who will completely lay an egg in a real basketball game.  I'm looking at you Dougie McBuckets.  However there is some dude from the U of I on the Bulls summer league team, which caught me by surprise.  Rayvonte Rice played pretty well for Illinois in college.  Pretty sure he's not NBA material, but nice to see him get a swing.

[jsoh]

David Price and Troy Tulowitzki.

It'll end badly, because it always does for Toronto sports, but in the meantime...

[Kharvek]

Hahahah.  How are the Jays doing anyway?  I keep like barely at all with baseball.  Chicago baseball has been pretty much completely depressing for as long as I've been alive, aside from that weird Sox world series anomaly.

People say there's reasons to be up on the Cubs, but really...one can only hear that so many times.