AROUND the NBA: Pat Bev Suspended 4 Games Next Season| PHX Fires Vogel

[Chicagojk]

OK, caught up more...

Good about Bruce Brown.  Fingers crossed.  If that happens, at least one of THJ/Reggie needs to be traded for something.

Oh Hell No to KAT.  I'd rather suffer through Holmes/Powell until Lively is ready.

Why in the world would any team sign up for the Harden Sh!t-Show.

I hope Nico has as many alternative plans as he did at the draft.  It feels like he's going to need them.

We need to game plan for something that lands us a PG (Fultz and Lowry come to mind or one of the extras they have in Washington).  Feels like we might need one.

I think I was right to not trust Kyrie.  This doesn't feel like cooperation in order to build the team around him.  It feels like full-on selfishness.  We don't know what Dallas is offering, so that might not be fair.  Recall he and Brooklyn were discussing a 2 year $86mm extension and he got mad because Brooklyn wanted to build in protective clauses.  A clean two year deal at this level from Dallas would have been improvement.  If we've learned anything from the last two weeks it is that even superstars who make too much are a negative asset.

Personally, I'm fine if he moves on.  Better than him staying and feeling disrespected (something we don't control and can happen without warning).  Philly seems the easiest thing.  Maybe it is a four-way with the Clippers and Phoenix and we end up with Ayton.  Or, maybe we add in Indy, they get Ayton and we get Turner/Hield.  Then THJ is part of the outgoing for Lowry or Fultz.  I could also see Philly getting the Clipper's crap for Harden and Dallas swapping out Tobias Harris for Kyrie.  

I don't think he bolts for nothing.  More likely he tries to engineer himself somewhere.  One fear I have is him dragging this out.  If Bruce Brown says yes quickly, it probably means we offered him a starting spot.  If we offered him a starting spot it may mean that spot belonged to Kyrie.  Brown and Green as perimeter defenders are also both good ball movers.  Maybe we move away from the concept of defensively-challenged guards next to Luka playing 'your-turn, my-turn'.

Kryie is a FA and he deserves to take time to make his decision, but I agree is is exhausting.  How he ended the season without making any sort of comment to the crazy Lebron rumors to now wanting to meet with PHX. ETC.   It just seems like someone completely out of touch.   

I feel much better about this team after the draft.  Sure the players they picked may never be good, but I like having young guys who should improve and be a real nice team in 2-3 years.  The question is how do we manage these next 2 years and be competitive while the youngsters grow?  Losing Kyrie will hurt and we will be the joke of most NBA fans.   I am fine though if this is a pure money play by Kyrie.   I enjoyed watching him on the court, but I want players all in trying to win a championship every day.   That hasn't been Kryie's primary focus for most of the last 6 years.    So lets see what happens today.