Dejounte Recruiting Zach LaVine

[tbdog]

David West said he was recruited by the Warriors the moment the Spurs were bounced from the playoffs. Does tampering count if both teams are out?

[ZeusWillJudge]

David West said he was recruited by the Warriors the moment the Spurs were bounced from the playoffs. Does tampering count if both teams are out?

Yes. Free agency has a specified start date.

You may know, but I'm sure a lot of people don't. Teams can't talk to their own free agents during what is called the "moratorium". The idea was to give all the teams an equal chance to pursue free agents. The moratorium was to be sure that teams can't arrange back-door deals with their own free agents before other teams get a shot at them.

Does that get broken? Sure, all this stuff gets broken regularly. I'm just saying that it's smart to try and avoid public comments like this one. Especially after the league put in those new rules, and we don't really know how they're going to enforce them.

Don't confuse that with me saying something bad about DJ's tweet. I don't care. I'm just telling you the rules.


BTW - I remember that part about David West. Lots of us question whether the league enforces its own rules equally. That was a perfect example. West could have made that up... but I don't think so.

[XDT76]

So many wanted career net negative Forbes and DDR out of the Spurs but now push to pay another career net negative a MAX contract?

[Floyd Pacquiao]

To be honest I don’t think Lavine is a net negative player in the right situation. I saw him in the Olympics and he was a willing defender and spot up 3 point shooter. He also told pop he’d do what ever he told him to do which is a good sign. He’s not Derozan for sure

[exstatic]

To be honest I don’t think Lavine is a net negative player in the right situation. I saw him in the Olympics and he was a willing defender and spot up 3 point shooter. He also told pop he’d do what ever he told him to do which is a good sign. He’s not Derozan for sure

He's not been a great defender for most of his career, and that makes me su ious that maybe this was a contract year thing. He's also getting his knee scoped.

Lavine never led any of his Chicago or Minnesota teams to the playoffs. He needed DeRozan to show up on his door step to make it this year.

[rankingtear]

Zach has never had a good defensive center in his career. He is fine , I mean max for John Collins was the thing last year, a career role player. Not even a good one.

[XDT76]

He has a negative +/- in every single season in the NBA. Also out of 8 seasons he has only complete 1 season, sure not some one you want to give a MAX contract to. Isn't the Nets, Lakers and Clippers enough of warning against MAX player who cannot be counted on to be fit?

[exstatic]

Zach has never had a good defensive center in his career. He is fine , I mean max for John Collins was the thing last year, a career role player. Not even a good one.

We don't have to make the same mistakes other teams do, and in fact rarely do.

[duncan2150]

And Banchero...

[BatManu20]

ST dream scenario: Spurs Land top-2 pick, draft Banchero, and sign LaVine. Contend for top-4 seed in the West.

Reality: Spurs draft another 6’5 Guard and sign Fat Head. Battle for the Play-in for 4th straight year

[GAustex]

And Banchero...

Please please please
Sweet Deity of Your choice
Please please

[KingKev]

He's not been a great defender for most of his career, and that makes me su ious that maybe this was a contract year thing. He's also getting his knee scoped.

Lavine never led any of his Chicago or Minnesota teams to the playoffs. He needed DeRozan to show up on his door step to make it this year.

He has been vocal he wants to play on both sides of the ball. Team USA Lavine into the first 6 weeks of this season before the knee flared up was actually a decent defender. He is a high character player who seems like he wants to prove the haters wrong. A healthy Lavine in the Spurs system would be a monster.

[R. DeMurre]

Tampering is like insider trading or free throw lane violations... technically illegal, happens every day, impossible to eliminate, only gets called out if done egregiously.

[KingKev]

Tampering is like insider trading or free throw lane violations... technically illegal, happens every day, impossible to eliminate, only gets called out if done egregiously.

The threshold for players is much higher than management from my POV. He deleted that tweet for a reason. Someone within PATFO or Klutch probably picked the phone up like dude chill but it’s not a big deal. Lavine could sign here in a few months and it still won’t garner further scrutiny.

[Chomag]

You can only tamper if you are the Lakers per NBA rules.

[Joseph Kony]

And Banchero...

that's surprising

Guys wanna play with DJ it looks like. they know he'll let them eat

[Ariel]

There's an argument for a healthy Lavine being worth the max. I don't think so, but I can see why some would, especially given San Antonio's meager history attracting high profile FA. But that's a HEALTHY Lavine, and there are SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT THAT. He's had an ACL surgery, followed by related problems, leading to an exploratory surgery he'll go through to determine the extent of it. And although he's a skilled player, his athleticism is an integral part of his game, offensively and defensively. You can't play all out 80+ games a year if you're a shooting guard with bad knees. So forgive me if I'm skeptical, but the statements concerning his situation are as worrisome a sign as you could expect to hear from a guy with a quarter of a billion dollars hanging in the balance because of that. So I can't say I'm looking forward to the Spurs betting their future on him.

[JPB]

GM about giving Lavine a max: "Yeah, yeah, he's been bad on defense for his first 8 years and 2 different teams but with my team, he'll try harder! He's willing! He will be anyway....Hopefully"

(Just don't ask yourself why he wasn't for the first 8 freaking years)

"Yeah, yeah he's a net negative but in the "right team" (i.e my team), he'll be fine! Why? Because that's my team!

"Yeah, yeah, his knee is supsicious but... with my team it'll be fine!

More seriously, we always tend to hope for the better but should be wary with the "change of scenario" argument to explain a player will radically change his game by changing team. Happens that a player blossoms with a new team but the fundamentals were there.. Couldn't count on one hand the number of guys who went from bad to good defender after 8 years in the league... And come on, forget the Olympics (no direspect to any country) to evaluate the guy's defense, not to mention rules are different...

For Lavine to fit with the spurs, you basically need 4 great defenders around him to cover his ass. Just another meh defender on the court and you get what happened to the bulls vs. the bucks, badly outscored.

You have 2 right now with Murray and Jak (forget about trading Jak if you sign Lavine). So you'd need more than capable 3s and 4s on defense. Also meaning, if you think you have a chance to sign him, that it might dictate your draft.

[Ariel]

Tampering is like insider trading or free throw lane violations... technically illegal, happens every day, impossible to eliminate, only gets called out if done egregiously.

You'd have to think that, if they were actually tampering, they'd find better ways than a photoshopped pic through the twitter account of a player. That'd be either ingenuity on part of DM, or way for his management (both DM & Lavine's) to convey a sense of urgency to the Bulls to resign him for the max "as is" with no more questions asked, in light of the recent (and not so recent) events concerning his health.

[KingKev]

Chicago IS and HAS been well aware of his knee. It required DAILY attention. He played through pain and is now getting it sorted. I would think Spurs fans could appreciate that old school mentality but most of you are the same clowns who counted Zollins out on day one and think Zion is the next Greg Oden.

[Ariel]

Chicago IS and HAS been well aware of his knee. It required DAILY attention. He played through pain and is now getting it sorted. I would think Spurs fans could appreciate that old school mentality but most of you are the same clowns who counted Zollins out on day one and think Zion is the next Greg Oden.

Obviously they're aware of the issue, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to play down the extend of an injury, to delay surgery, and so on.
Zollins' issues are acknowledged first and foremost by none other than himself and the FO, by the mere fact that he signed a contract lightly guaranteed... something in the ballpark of 10 million dollars (I think it's 7 per for 3 years total)... you're talking a quarter of a billion guaranteed over 5 years (for the Bulls). That's an entirely different story.

[SAGirl]

He's a younger version of DDR, plus 3 point shooting. He was in Chicago for a few years, and they never made the playoffs.

Neither did Dejounte by himself or with other assortments of veterans. Those Chicago teams he played in were bad. That said, I am not a Lavine fan. I’d prefer they stick to the draft until they find their franchise guy. The Spurs have refused to do that, and soon they will have to trade DJ under duress, meaning he wants out and then you dont have as many options. With the Spurs wanting to stay compe ive while they rebuild, having a Bryn Forbes, McD like offseason isnt going to cut it.

Lavine is one of the better guys that is a FA, but I hope they are looking at all angles, including some teams flaming out in the playoffs that may want to move players.

[KingKev]

Obviously they're aware of the issue, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to play down the extend of an injury, to delay surgery, and so on.
Zollins' issues are acknowledged first and foremost by none other than himself and the FO, by the mere fact that he signed a contract lightly guaranteed... something in the ballpark of 10 million dollars (I think it's 7 per for 3 years total)... you're talking a quarter of a billion guaranteed over 5 years (for the Bulls). That's an entirely different story.

It’s 200m over 5yrs, slightly more if he qualifies for the super max by making an all-nba team which is unlikely. Like it or not these risks are par for the course for top tier talent in the NBA.

5 yrs removed from his original ACL tear, a cleanup surgery known to everyone will not keep him from a max deal.

[ZeusWillJudge]

Chicago IS and HAS been well aware of his knee. It required DAILY attention. He played through pain and is now getting it sorted. I would think Spurs fans could appreciate that old school mentality but most of you are the same clowns who counted Zollins out on day one and think Zion is the next Greg Oden.

That's a fair point. Even if he did hide it. I'm pretty sure there were times that Tim and Manu tried to hide injuries to get back onto the floor. I don't know what's going on inside a guy's head. Well...unless I look really hard, but I try not to do that too often.

[SAGirl]

David West said he was recruited by the Warriors the moment the Spurs were bounced from the playoffs. Does tampering count if both teams are out?

David West left the court visibly upset after the Game 6 loss. He may have been the one to call the Warriors up for all we know, but that’s way in the past. … water under the bridge at this point.