2010/2011 NBA Thread

[Trey]

Of course their +/- is going to look better, they don't have the best defense in the league to keep teams from scoring while you're on the bench. The +/- stat I saw that I like is that the Bulls are +200 in the 4th quarter (which is when Rose takes over) while I don't think there was any other team even over 100. I saw it on the Bulls TrueHoop blog a couple weeks ago but I can't find any place that has the +/- for teams by quarter to check.

As for Robinson, if LeBron is 42 wins (assuming the Cavs win 19 games this year) I think it's possible that a team tailored to win around a player as talented and unique as Robinson could fall off 27 wins. Again, I wasn't there so you're probably right, I'm just speculating. And for KG the TWolves got one of a handful of guys in the league who commands a double in the post every time he gets the ball and the Sonics got a #5 pick for a jump shooter with ankles that looked like they were going to be shot in a year or two.

[gunnar hendershow]

Honestly if the Wolves didn't have a score of problems they could have gotten a lot more for KG, but he was going to have to leave and the Xeltics offered a decent enough trade for him. It's a shame that the Wolves gave up what they got for a bag of balls. And I remember a lot of "lol Celtics" when the Ray Allen trade was made. Boston gave up what looked like a very good draft pick at the time for a guy with very little left in the tank. At the time only Reggie Miller had playwd that style and had his knees hold up for more than 12 years. Now the rules had changed with Allen and his generation, but at the time nobody knew that was going to happen.

[Trey]

They got more then a bag of balls though, Jefferson is one of the 5 best low post scorers in the NBA and commands a double team. If you want an example of a bag of balls look at that trade for Gasol.

[gunnar hendershow]

They got a bag of balls for the Jefferson trade that sent him to Utah.

[Trey]

Oh, you're right, I read that wrong. They probably could've gotten more if Kahn hadn't tipped his hand when it got out they weren't going to play Love and Jefferson together.

[naiwf]

When I say a "bag of balls" I'm talking about what was given up in relation to what was received. Boston won a title, made it to another Finals and an Eastern Conference Semi with pieces received in a trade and they can still make a run this year. They won 66, 62, 50 and 55+ games since the trade after years with 24, 33, 45 and 36 wins. So that's a gain of about 95 games over 4 years plus at least one title. When you consider what they gave up, it was nothing.

The Lakers gave up even less and got more, but I'm not bitter about it or anything

[naiwf]

Rumor has it that every title contender sent Danny Ainge personalized thank you notes for ruining his team with a horrible trade. I'll never understand trading away Perkins who could have helped them win a title to get younger when Garnett, Allen and Pierce will be retiring in the next few years anyway. This was a win now team, now it's a team with the majority of its cap tied up in aging parts and Rondo. Jeff Green may be a nice piece, but they killed their season to get him and this team isn't going to be anywhere near a title contender when it's just him, Rondo and whatever is left over from the title run.

[ROZAY]

God do I love Melo. That boy is clutch I tell ya.

Bring on Boston.

[bill_da_bill]

Rumor has it that every title contender sent Danny Ainge personalized thank you notes for ruining his team with a horrible trade. I'll never understand trading away Perkins who could have helped them win a title to get younger when Garnett, Allen and Pierce will be retiring in the next few years anyway. This was a win now team, now it's a team with the majority of its cap tied up in aging parts and Rondo. Jeff Green may be a nice piece, but they killed their season to get him and this team isn't going to be anywhere near a title contender when it's just him, Rondo and whatever is left over from the title run.

I don't think they did it to get younger, I think they wanted some more flexibility on the bench and some more wing help to play with Miami and some of the smaller, faster teams out there.

But it was still a horrible mistake to make. They could have gotten Richard Hamilton, Corey Brewer or multiple other guys without giving up Perkins.

[naiwf]

I don't think they did it to get younger, I think they wanted some more flexibility on the bench and some more wing help to play with Miami and some of the smaller, faster teams out there.

But it was still a horrible mistake to make. They could have gotten Richard Hamilton, Corey Brewer or multiple other guys without giving up Perkins.

What flexibility did they gain? Jeff Green can guard the 2 or the 3, but he can't score because he never has the ball, forgot how to shoot and doesn't rebound. Perkins could guard a 4 or 5 depending on who Garnett is guarding, can't score or shoot but was a great defender and did his thing rebounding. When you're a team that relies on size and intimidating defense, you don't trade that for a skinny wing. The only way this wouldn't have been the worst trade of the season would be if the Lakers had traded Bynum for Green because Green would have even less impact on the Lakers than he does on Boston.

[bill_da_bill]

I agree with you. That's just what I heard for a reasoning. They wanted to get smaller for who knows what reason. They overreacted to The Heat and it was a massive mistake.

[DMN in the House]

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

Oh, sorry, I almost fell into typical Laker fan paranoia.

[naiwf]

Bynum hurt his knee tonight. Now the NBA regular season can officially end

[gunnar hendershow]

I wasn't really thinking anything much about the Lakers' current performance. When the playoffs started not a lot of teams can match the size of Bynum and Gasol. Now if Bynum's out for the playoffs, the Lakers are going to have to fight a bit more to reach the Finals. Do I think they can still get there? Surely. But the road is gonna have more potholes and a lot of teams in the West have to be feeling a bit better about their chances. This injury and the Perkins trade have given us NBA fans intriguing playoffs starting in round 1.

[bill_da_bill]

The Thunder having Perkins could be big if Bynum is out.

And it also levels the playing field for San Antonio.

But I still wouldn't bet on a team other than LA in the West.

[Trey]

I'm with bill, but before the injury if you had offered me the Lakers or the field in the West to make the finals I would've still taken the Lakers, now I'd take the field.

[naiwf]

Playoff teams in alphabetical order

East - Atlanta, Boston (Atlantic winners), Charlotte , Chicago (Central winners), Miami (SE winners), Milwaukee, New York, Orlando

West - Dallas, Houston, LA Lakers (Pacific winners), New Orleans, Oklahoma City (NW winners), Portland, San Antonio (SW winners), Utah

Eastern Conference Finals: (head) Miami def. Boston in 7, (heart) Orlando def. Boston in 6

Western Conference Finals: (head) Lakers def. Utah in 6, (heart) Thundah~! def. Lakers in 7 on a last second three by the Durantula

NBA Finals: Lakers def. Miami in 6 because Miami has no size

MVP: Kevin Durant based on his 28-31 PPG, 8 RPG and Oklahoma City winning 55 games.

ROY: Blake Griffin nips John Wall

DPOY: Dwight Howard yet again

All NBA 1st Team: Bryant, Durant, Howard, James, Wade

All NBA 2nd Team: Anthony, Nowitzki, Paul, Stoudemire, Williams

Now that the season is over and all playoff teams/division champs have been decided I figured I'd revisit my preseason picks.

Eastern playoff teams - all 3 division winners, 6/8 of the teams. Philly & Indiana made it instead of Milwaukee and Charlotte.

Western playoff teams - all 3 division winners, 6/8 of the teams. Denver & Memphis made it instead of Houston and Utah.

MVP: I got the wrong winner, but Durant averaged 28 and 7 and OKC will have either 55 or 56 wins, so my Durant prediction skills were almost perfect

ROY: Right winner, wrong margin since Blake won this months ago.

DPOY: Right winner, but unless Howard got injured it was his to lose.

All NBA 1st team: 4/5, but Rose will either bump Bryant or Wade from the 1st team

All NBA 2nd team: I'm going to guess Dirk is right. The others are all hit or miss though Williams has no shot of making even the 3rd team and Carmelo and Amare will probably battle it out for a single spot on either the 2nd or 3rd team.

[naiwf]

GINOBILI!~ hurt his right elbow tonight. I have no idea why he was playing since the odds of Spurs/Bulls in the Finals was slim at best.

[Blaze09]

I'll say you got 3/5 for the first team All-NBA since the consensus seems to give the edge to Dirk over KD.

[naiwf]

The scoring champ should get it, but I could see Nowitzki getting the nod because Westbrook is better than anyone else Dirk's playing with these days and somehow that has "tainted" Durant with these media simpletons.