2010/2011 NBA Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

The Raptors have adquired Jerryd Bayless and Peja Stojakovic from the Hornets in exchange for Jarrett Jack, Marcus Banks and David Andersen.

There's a trade of no consequence. Hornets upgrade their backup PG a bit, but that's it.

[naiwf]

[ROZAY]

Gallinari got styled on! At least my boys got the win though. It sort of made up from all of the teasing (me being the only Knicks fan in the room) while watching the game with friends.

[Meacon Keaton]

Being a Knicks fan, I'm surprised you still even notice the teasing. I would think you'd be immune to it by now.

[DMN in the House]

I can empathize. That year where the Lakers didn't make the playoffs SUCKED.

[VerbalPuke]

Wow, Griffin is the man. Such a shame he missed last year, glad to see his doing well though.

And not much to report from the Pistons. We're shit and the roster is awful, there is really nobody on the team I'm even a fan of except for an aging Ben Wallace. The only guy I was a fan of is out for the year (Jonas Jerebko). I wish the sale of the team would go through already so that Joe could start making trades because it's heavily rumored he's basically handcuffed until the team is sold. Still, he has put together an absolutely dreadful roster.

[ROZAY]

Being born in Detroit, living in New York most of my life and now residing in Philadelphia, you'd think I'd be use to any type of teasing that may come my way.

Some things just cut deep though. Especially my beloved Knicks, because anything that anyone says about them I know deep down is true.

[naiwf]

LOL. Keep buying the hype, sahyder. You'll get yourself a job on ESPN with that shit.

If he cared about winning, he'd have gone to Chicago or the Clippers. MIAMI DOES NOT HAVE A ROSTER. They have FIVE players under contract, one of whom is unlikely to be there next year (Beasley). Miami CANNOT build a roster that will win a championship. Shaq's not coming, that bridge is burned. Chris Paul's not going there, they can't afford him. This team will have NO bench, NO inside presence, and will NOT get out of the East. A bunch of vet minimum dudes, two of the top five players in the league, and Chris Bosh.

Sound and fury meaning nothing. Excuse me if I'm not excited that Cleveland has been destroyed as a franchise and Toronto has been shut down again. The only team that came out of this that has truly done anything smart is New York, who improved, and didn't break their shit to do it. Chicago got better as well.

Miami MAY want to invest in at least one guy who can guard a legit center at some point. Wade, Bosh, James, Chalmers, Haslem and Mike Miller aren't stopping anyone over 240 pounds or 6'10 from scoring all day in the paint.

At least 2 people here aren't surprised that Miami is strugg-a-ling. It's funny listening to sports talk radio and the ESPN talking heads as they seem astounded that Miami isn't 13-1 at this point and blowing teams out like this is the original Dream Team. Who needs a point guard, a big man or a bench when you have "2 of the best 5 players on the planet"?

[gunnar hendershow]

I was one of the first people to shit on the Heat, in the day leading up to the Decision I said it wasn't going to make the Heat a championship team. But as the summer wore on I looked at all the other teams and figured they'd easily blow out 2/3 of their conference and cruise to an inflated regular season record before bowing out in the playoffs. Now they're somewhere in between my 2 expectations.

Oh and Clippers beat the Hornets.

[Meacon Keaton]

It's impossible to win in the NBA without a big man. Miami only screwed themselves, and I love it. James would have been better off in Cleveland.

[ROZAY]

It's impossible to win in the NBA without a big man. Miami only screwed themselves, and I love it. James would have been better off in Cleveland.

With the same squad that got exposed by Boston and Orlando during their last two trips to the playoffs? They had no room to make any improvements. I'm not saying that it was just the rest of that team that didn't get it done because that's bullshit, but I think Lebron's best shot at winning and still being "the guy" at the same time to me would have been going to Chicago.

That said, I still see the Heat being able to turn things around this season if they can get it together and get healthy by the time the playoff push begins. They ain't getting past a healthy Boston team, though.

[naiwf]

With the same squad that got exposed by Boston and Orlando during their last two trips to the playoffs? They had no room to make any improvements. I'm not saying that it was just the rest of that team that didn't get it done because that's bullshit, but I think Lebron's best shot at winning and still being "the guy" at the same time to me would have been going to Chicago.

That said, I still see the Heat being able to turn things around this season if they can get it together and get healthy by the time the playoff push begins. They ain't getting past a healthy Boston team, though.

If LeBron stays in Cleveland they could have continued to add pieces because they would have had cap flexibility. Even if there isn't a lockout next year, "The Not So Big 3" are going to eat up huge chunks of cap space for the next 6 years and guys like Miller and Haslem are on the books too. A guy who is willing and able to do the dirty work isn't going to go play for peanuts in Miami when he can still contend in a few other places and make more money.

[ROZAY]

With the same squad that got exposed by Boston and Orlando during their last two trips to the playoffs? They had no room to make any improvements. I'm not saying that it was just the rest of that team that didn't get it done because that's bullshit, but I think Lebron's best shot at winning and still being "the guy" at the same time to me would have been going to Chicago.

That said, I still see the Heat being able to turn things around this season if they can get it together and get healthy by the time the playoff push begins. They ain't getting past a healthy Boston team, though.

If LeBron stays in Cleveland they could have continued to add pieces because they would have had cap flexibility. Even if there isn't a lockout next year, "The Not So Big 3" are going to eat up huge chunks of cap space for the next 6 years and guys like Miller and Haslem are on the books too. A guy who is willing and able to do the dirty work isn't going to go play for peanuts in Miami when he can still contend in a few other places and make more money.

Did anyone that would have made a significant difference even want to come to Cleveland to play with him, though? I didn't really follow a lot of the hoopla during the free agency period besides "The Decision", but it seems that the problem wasn't so much that he wanted to leave, but that there wasn't really anyone on the market that wanted to come to the Cavaliers that could have pushed them over the hump. Not so sure if that was the case, but if it was, then I still stand by Chicago being the better fit if he was going to leave.

I definitely agree with you about Miami fucking up with spending all their money on those three guys and two other pieces. That's beyond stupid, no matter who they are. They could have just resigned Wade and got Lebron and built a much better team around them then overpaying Chris Bosh. I guess Bosh was part of the package that delivered him to Miami though, so I suppose I can see why they did it.

[naiwf]

No one ever WANTS to play in Cleveland However, every year the Cavs were able to add pieces to their team and they were winning 60+ for the last few years because they had defined roles and could make moves. Miami is basically banking on aging veterans willing to take the minimum to supplement James/Wade/Bosh/Miller/Haslem. That's the same strategy that didn't work for the Lakers when they added Malone and Payton and got worked by the Pistons in the Finals. If there's a lockout, Miami is SCREWED even worse than they are now. If they implement a hard cap, they'll have to grandfather a clause in to keep all three guys or they'll be forced to cut or trade Bosh. Even without a hard cap, you can guarantee that the salary cap will stay the same or go down and every one of those 5 deals has escalating salaries. In short, it will be almost impossible to keep the three together for the entire deal and moving Bosh for muscle could be the thing that ultimately wins Queen James his 1st title.

[nufan]

Holy Shit, I am only a casual fan of the NBA mainly due to the fact you can't really watch it in Australia without cable, but i digress.. The Pacers are on a role... they are a very hard working team without any one superstar... Granger is probably the closest but still hasn't broken through the glass ceiling. Anyone see their form continuing or is this just a purple patch (wins over Miami and Cleveland)

[bill_da_bill]

Holy Shit, I am only a casual fan of the NBA mainly due to the fact you can't really watch it in Australia without cable, but i digress.. The Pacers are on a role... they are a very hard working team without any one superstar... Granger is probably the closest but still hasn't broken through the glass ceiling. Anyone see their form continuing or is this just a purple patch (wins over Miami and Cleveland)

I think the Pacers are a genuinely good team. I don't think they'll compete with teams like Orlando, Boston and Miami once playoff time rolls around, but I think there in that next tier and should keep getting better. Granger is one of the league's best pure scorers. Darren Collison has a ton of upside and is starting to play better. And Roy Hibbert is a top 5 Center in the making. Add to it some nice role players like Brandon Rush and such and this team is one to watch in the next couple years.

Stoked for Jazz vs. Hornets tonight. I'm big on the Jazz this year and think they're the second best team in the West. But the Hornets have been awesome. Plus it's all about Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul. Awesome.

[Colossus]

As a Bulls fan, I have to think what if LeBron joined this team...

We could have flipped Deng for a shooter (Rip, which we could still do) and be unstopable. Serves you well LeDouche

[DMN in the House]

As a Lakers' fan, I have to think that if LeBron had done anything...

We'd still have made the team tougher, and would be the favorites. Thank fuck for Jerry Buss, otherwise all my favorite sports teams would be in shambles.

[Colossus]

Yeah, but a Rose-Rip-LeBron-Booz-Noah team would be pretty great facing the Lakers.

[gunnar hendershow]

They'd also have some size and strength coming off the bench. Chicago didn't really "lose out" on LeBron. With the franchise being able to build around Rose and Noah there's plenty of movable parts and replaceable parts elsewhere that can be used to win a championship. And I do think as long as those two stick it out in Chicago and, of course, stay healthy they'll be able to bring a title there. Rose is in a better situation than all the other stud PGs because of the presence of Noah.