2004-2005 NBA Season Topic

[D-Extreme]

Damn, how the hell did Orlando get beaten THAT badly? I got to hand it to Chicago for defeating a team that big, even without Curry.

Cavs lost, again, and I think New Jersey would be replacing them if they dont win their last games. So, if Miami faces NJ in the first round, you think NJ has a chance to have an upset? Or will their lack of a good center deny them even a game and make the heat sweep them off?

[Malenko]

Damn, how the hell did Orlando get beaten THAT badly? I got to hand it to Chicago for defeating a team that big, even without Curry.

Cavs lost, again, and I think New Jersey would be replacing them if they dont win their last games. So, if Miami faces NJ in the first round, you think NJ has a chance to have an upset? Or will their lack of a good center deny them even a game and make the heat sweep them off?

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[Blitz]

Here's my rookie rankings.

Dwyane Wade -- Carmelo Anthony -- LeBron James -- Kirk Hinrich -- Chris Bosh

And for this year...

Dwight Howard -- Ben Gordan -- Emeka Okafor -- Andre Igudala -- Devin Harris

[Karizma]

Wade and LeBron are easily ahead, but then it becomes blurry for the next three...Melo, Bosh and Hinrich seem interchangable to me.

This year it's

Okafor

Howard

Gordon

AI2

And a tie between Deng/Allen/Nelson

but if I had to chose one, it'd probably be Allen, purely because he broke into the Celtics lineup with Pierce and Davis ahead of him.

And who the hell saw Darius Miles scoring 47 on the Nuggets coming?!

[naiwf]

Vince Carter just pulled up lame 4 1/2 minutes into the game

It doesn't look like anything happened that would cause an injury, but I think the Nets season just went down the toilet, and LeBron will likely benefit from it. Shit.

[Green Demon]

Boston up by 11 at half Cleveland up by 15 at half and Lebron is a rebound away from a triple double. I just hope both teams can hold on.

[Karizma]

Boston's playing the whole rook lineup, without Pierce, Walker, Davis etc in the 4th quarter, which would leave them with a lineup of Perkins/Jefferson/Allen/West/Banks the Nets are gonna pass them, Doc Rivers said he's doing it yesturday the same way he did for the Cavs...

JKidd should be able to carry them...what the hell happened to Vince?!

[D-Extreme]

uhm...Vince..he scored 37 points so far in this game against boston. Thankgod it wasnt a bad limp...or oh brother.

2 mins to go and Nets lead it baby! And...Cavs lead it too

I think Rivers is just giving their young guys some playing thime...but WHY NOW? I mean, they could play spoilers to the Nets playoff hopes. I guess Lebron didnt pay off Payton or Doc that much so they declined.

[naiwf]

uhm...Vince..he scored 37 points so far in this game against boston. Thankgod it wasnt a bad limp...or oh brother.

2 mins to go and Nets lead it baby! And...Cavs lead it too

I think Rivers is just giving their young guys some playing thime...but WHY NOW? I mean, they could play spoilers to the Nets playoff hopes. I guess Lebron didnt pay off Payton or Doc that much so they declined.

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[Green Demon]

I cant believe that Boston only scored 8 in the 3rd and let 32 be scored. They had a 19 point lead at one time, I dont understand how losing going into the playoffs is going to help a team espsessialy since it looks like they are gonna play philly who could knock them out IMO.

[Karizma]

Rivers wanted to see how his young players cope with the pressure of a playoff situation, it was a smart coaching move, seeing how they'll go in the future, while also preserving their starters from getting injured.He did the same to the Cavs, you weren't complaining then.

Philly won't knock them out, either.But Indiana WILL.

And haha at the Bobcats beating the Pistons again...yeah yeah, they're probably resting players but that brung a smile..

[Guest Brady_3for3]

And haha at the Bobcats beating the Pistons again...yeah yeah, they're probably resting players but that brung a smile..

[Ron]

uhm...Vince..he scored 37 points so far in this game against boston. Thankgod it wasnt a bad limp...or oh brother.

2 mins to go and Nets lead it baby! And...Cavs lead it too

I think Rivers is just giving their young guys some playing thime...but WHY NOW? I mean, they could play spoilers to the Nets playoff hopes. I guess Lebron didnt pay off Payton or Doc that much so they declined.

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You do realize he pulled his starters in the 4th quarter last night when Boston was only down by 5 right? He was fair to both teams, and I for one am enthused that LeBron will have a nice looooooooooong summer vacation. Fuck the Cavs baby

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[D-Extreme]

Hmm...the nets get the eight spot. I'm happy. Poor Lebron, maybe next year.

Anyways it was ok to see Indiana win. But boy, I would like to see Pargo shooting like that in the playoffs. Sure, he was placed their to spread out the bulls minutes, but he's one hell of a scorer...like a older and less popular version of Ben Gordon.

[naiwf]

ESPN's Bottom Line just mentioned that the Cavs fired that useless GM of theirs. That team is headed on a nice downward spiral, and I'm loving it.

[Green Demon]

I am glad that they fired Paxson. The only thing that he has done was take Lebron which was a given and taking Boozer in the secound round. Other then those two pick he has either sucked or had mediocre picks such as Diop,Wagner(injured to much), and other picks that arent with the team, I guess that is why he wanted to trade away the picks. I am wondering who is taking over the GM spot or if the coach will get double duty, there has been lots of talk of Greg Anthony leaving ESPN to take a job with the Cavs. It will be an intresting off season for the Cavs to see what moves they make such as, resigning Z??, getting an outside shooter such as Allen, Redd, or Joe Johnson.

[Guest Brady_3for3]

Bill Simmons had a great quote about Jim Paxson:

"He shouldn't be running a video store much less than a NBA team."

He's a moron, and when you're the less talented Paxson brother, that is a bad thing. Look for him to end up in Chicago with his brother.

[Karizma]

Cav's aren't getting Redd, Ray Allen or Joe Johnson.

Redd's not going there because he doesn't want to be second option again, I'm guessing same applies for Allen....And Joe Johnson wants to go to the Bobcats, for whatever reason...

[D-Extreme]

bah, knew that was gonna happen since there is a new owner. New owner means new GM, new coach and maybe a new staff. But then again I might be wrong though since Cuban didnt fire Nelly.

Cavs gonna shop a new GM this off-season eh? How about a new coach too?

[Blitz]

NEW YORK -- Labor talks between the NBA and the players' union broke off Wednesday, increasing the chance of a lockout starting in the offseason.

In a statement, the NBA accused the union of backtracking on several items that the sides had agreed upon. The collective bargaining agreement expires June 30.

"Since we are at a loss as to how we can possibly reach a new deal that is in any way consistent with the principal terms that we have been discussing for many months, there are no further meetings scheduled at this time," deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.

The union did not immediately respond.

If no new agreement is reached, a lockout could begin as early as July 1 -- three days after the draft.

The sides had been publicly optimistic over the prospects for reaching a new deal until last Friday, when commissioner David Stern downgraded his outlook to "hopeful." That came just hours after two union attorneys gave a verbal outline of the union's new offer and, according to the league, changed its position on several key issues.

"They've taken major steps backward on all the key elements," Granik said in a telephone interview. "We still have more than six weeks until July 1, so I don't want to predict what will or won't happen, but based on way things have gone here it's hard to see where an agreement will be reached any time soon."

A lockout beginning July 1 would force the cancelation of summer leagues and offseason conditioning programs at team facilities. Training camps are scheduled to open in early October.

The league and union went through an acrimonious seven-month lockout in 1998 and 1999 before agreeing to the current seven-year agreement.

With very few exceptions, the same attorneys that negotiated the old agreement are working on the new one.

In its statement, the league indicated a belief that player agents had pressured union director Billy Hunter to back off some of the concessions he had agreed to in previous negotiating sessions since mid-February.

"At the conclusion of a bargaining session on Sunday, April 17, we thought we were very close to a deal, with only a few items remaining to be compromised," Granik said. "On April 19, a day after the players association met with a group of player agents, we were informed that the players association could no longer agree to a previously committed five-year rule on length of contracts.

"Then, last week, after promising a written proposal to form the basis of a new agreement, the union instead advised us orally that it needed to backtrack on several other essential terms that had already been resolved."

The league claims the union changed its position on the length of long-term contracts (current rules allow a maximum length of seven years), the size of annual raises in long-term contracts (current rules limit those increases to 12.5 percent annually for players who re-sign with their teams; 10 percent for players changing teams as free agents), and changes to the escrow and luxury tax systems designed to limit salary growth and penalize the highest-spending teams.

Granik also told the AP that the union had changed its stance on a proposed change to the age limit. He did not give specifics.

Stern is seeking to have the minimum age for playing in the NBA raised to 20 (current rules mandate a U.S. player's high school class must have graduated before he can become draft eligible, while foreign-born players must turn 18 before the draft). Hunter has said he is philosophically opposed to raising the minimum age, though he said he'd agree to a change if the league offered something substantial in return.

The league said it had offered to increase each team's salary cap by raising the percentage upon which that calculation is based. Currently, the cap is computed by taking 48 percent of leaguewide revenues and dividing that figure by the number of teams, 30.

Granik said the league had offered to raise that percentage to 51.

Hunter, in Washington to testify before a congressional committee investigating steroid use in professional sports, could not immediately be reached.

The first sign that talks might be breaking down came when the league canceled plans for a bargaining session between a large group of owners and players that was to have taken place Tuesday. Granik said Thursday's statement was issued to help explain the cancelation of that session.

"We felt we had to tell people what was really happening. It's not like it serves a beneficial purpose," Granik said. "I would prefer we not have to air this, but people were asking reasonable questions and we owed them a responsible answer."