The Official NBA thread

[Vale46Rossi]

I know bballguy posted this but... as a Celtics fan I really appreciate this.

[bballguy]

Originally Posted by Nlkko

Unless miracle happens, Bulls is a long shot from title this year. It's a pipe dreams to hope for Rose to fully recover from a torn ACL to be totally ready for next year playoffs. I'd say between Celtics, Nets, Pacers, Bulls and maybe Knicks, nobody has enough juice to fight Miami.

You're right; Rose will most likely be out until March, at which point he will have to be slowly worked back; If it were up to me, I'd probably just have him take the entire year off, as it simply isn't worth it.

[Alpine50]

If lakers make there Miami super team. Nash Kobe metta Gasol Howard have a very, very strong chance. Even if they loose Gasol and Bynum for Howard there still going to be a huge contender

[bballguy]

Originally Posted by Alpine50

If lakers make there Miami super team. Nash Kobe metta Gasol Howard have a very, very strong chance. Even if they loose Gasol and Bynum for Howard there still going to be a huge contender

They would never give up Bynum AND Gasol for Dwight, as that would only make them worse...The only major piece I can see them giving up for Dwight is Bynum. Gasol isn't going anywhere. Howard isn't THAT big of an upgrade from Bynum, as we'll get to find out this season. I say that because this year Bynum will actually get the ball, whether that be from Steve Nash or from being a go-to guy for a new team. So, that said, just the addition of Steve Nash makes this team 100x better and a huge contendor, simply because he'll make Pau's and Bynum's value to the team just went through the roof.

There's a reason I've always said that the Lakers have more than enough tools to be a legit contendor...they've only end up coming short for the past few years because Kobe is running out of gas but keeps trying to do everything; he doesn't know how to get his teammates, who are very capable (Pau and Bynum) involved. This year it was a combination of that and Mike Brown's HORRIBLE coaching.

[411ken]

I'm content with the teams starting 5. I'm more concerned of the bench for the 2nd unit.

[wasabisashimi]

Mike Brown needed LeBron to make him look like a good coach

[MR_BIGGS]

NBA Board of Governers voted in favour of advertisements on jerseys...

[wasabisashimi]

Originally Posted by MR_BIGGS

NBA Board of Governers voted in favour of advertisements on jerseys...

can they keep it clean? I dont want to see dunkin donuts on the front. Kinda hard to advertise on sleeveless jerseys.

[MR_BIGGS]

Originally Posted by wasabisashimi

can they keep it clean? I dont want to see dunkin donuts on the front. Kinda hard to advertise on sleeveless jerseys.

Not that hard...

[ATTACH]ad2.jpg[/ATTACH]

[bballguy]

lol throw a couple more ads on there...



Kirk Hinrich's contract with the Bulls is reportedly for two years and approximately $8 million.

Marco Belinelli will receive a two-year contract worth the biannual exception.
The second year on Belinelli's contract will be a team option. He was in Chicago for a physical on Monday, so it shouldn't be too much longer before his deal becomes official. The Bulls will now be hard capped at $74.3 million because the team used a portion of the $5 million midlevel exception on Kirk Hinrich and the biannual exception for Belinelli. It's not inconceivable that Belinelli could overtake Rip Hamilton for the starting gig at some point, but he should see solid time at shooting guard regardless of whether he starts or comes off the bench.

AK47 will reportedly return to the NBA next season.
CSKA president Andrey Vatutin told Russian paper Sport-Express that AK-47 will be heading back to the NBA. It's not clear where Kirilenko is planning to sign, but he is not interested in playing for the Nets for the veteran's minimum salary.

The Knicks have signed Ronnie Brewer to a one-year contract.
He'll be a solid fit on the wing, and there is a good chance he sees solid playing time while Iman Shumpert continues to recover.

The Bulls, as expected, have decided not to match the Rockets offer sheet for restricted FA Omer Asik.
"We have decided not to match Houston’s offer sheet for restricted free agent Omer Asik," Bulls general manager Gar Forman said. "It was a difficult decision because Omer did a nice job for us. Matching the offer for Omer could have put us in a difficult position going forward in trying to acquire high level talent."

You guys will love this last one:
The Magic have "focused on persuading Howard to remain in Orlando," sources tell Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld.
lol here we go again. When it finally looked like we may have some movement in the Dwightmare saga, ESPN reported that the Magic could be planning to hold onto Howard for the foreseeable future. Now, GM Rob Hennigan will travel to Los Angeles this week to "meet face-to-face with Howard and deliver a presentation designed to persuade Howard to return to the Magic." This could all simply be posturing by Orlando to get a better deal, but it now sounds like we're now back to exactly where we have been all along on the Dwight Howard trade front: stuck in neutral.

[G-spec]

I'm HYPED for the gold medal preview game tonight between Spain and USA, who watchin?

oh I just picked up some team USA gear yesterday in the states at house of hoops foot locker, they only had Kobe, LeBron and Jordan jerseys, 'twas a tough choice, riiiiiiight... fckin MJ all teh way

[caronimo]

Coach-K-Meme.jpg

chris paul and blake griffin are legit stars...but still a funny observation regarding the clippers

[G-spec]

^ nice one

also props on stickin with the JailBlazers era Z-Bo profile pic too, lol


who watchin the game right now, TUNE IN on ESPN2 !!

Spain is beating the USA up on the inside as expected, we'll see how this turns out.... end of first quarter right now Spain up by a few points.

Spain finally wised up and are playing Ibaka, and he's puttin in work I remember in Turkey at the Worlds, Ibaka got almost no playing time on the Spanish team whatsoever, it was fcked up

[wuuhoo]

ibaka is part spanish?

huh never knew

[bballguy]

Originally Posted by wuuhoo

ibaka is part spanish?

huh never knew

He's not actually Spanish, as in he doesn't have any Spain in his blood (at least that we know of)...he moved to Spain when he was a teenager, played pro their for a few years, and was granted Spanish citizenship last year. He's originally born in Congo.

[dat_steve]

yeah with a name like ibaka you expect the guy to walk onto the court in a grass skirt and spear lol
/notracist

[caronimo]

too bad ricky rubio is injured otherwise he'll be starting for the spaniards.

[wuuhoo]

Originally Posted by bballguy

He's not actually Spanish, as in he doesn't have any Spain in his blood (at least that we know of)...he moved to Spain when he was a teenager, played pro their for a few years, and was granted Spanish citizenship last year. He's originally born in Congo.

makes a lot more sense. I was like wtf when saw him guarding Chandler

[Porschedog]

Lakers looks strong this year. They also have Jamison and that guy can probability still put up 10-20 pts per game.

[bballguy]

Wolves are pushing hard for AK47; they are reportedly working on a 3-team deal that would send Wes Johnson to the Suns, and ultimately allowing them to offer Kirilenko $18 million over 2 years.

[Obsideon]

Originally Posted by bballguy

While I do agree that it was stupid of the Knicks organization, as a business, to not match the offer, I can totally understand why the players on the team would not want Lin getting such a deal...The same way, if I was a player, I wouldn't want the overpaid Joe Johnson on my team, I wouldn't want Lin on my team either, because the fact of the matter is that paying him that much money is more of a business move than a move to make the team better.

Felton is looking trim in these days, and will do just fine, if not better than Lin would, but at a much cheaper price. That said, he won't bring in nearly as much money for the Knicks organization as Lin would.

It wouldn't have made sense on a personal level because the ego's of Melo (and possibly Amare) would completely screw up the chemistry that Lin had with the team last year, and with Lin making that much money (still less than the 2 mentioned) they would still resent him and the team would flop.

Originally Posted by Porschedog

Lakers looks strong this year. They also have Jamison and that guy can probability still put up 10-20 pts per game.

Lakers are looking like they are making a strong push knowing that Kobe is on his last legs so their window is closing (but it's the Lakers, does their window ever, REALLY close?)

Originally Posted by bballguy

Wolves are pushing hard for AK47; they are reportedly working on a 3-team deal that would send Wes Johnson to the Suns, and ultimately allowing them to offer Kirilenko $18 million over 2 years.

AK47 isn't worth $9m per ... well looks like the Wolves are looking to squeak back into contention. I'm really rooting for Brandon Roy to regain some of his pre-injury form!

[G-spec]

^ if AK47 can consistently slow down opposing team's star players on the same level he's been known to do in the past, then that 9 mill per year looks all right. I know most people when they look at how much this guy or that guy is getting paid and their first thought is "how many points does he score"

You slow down the other team's star player, you give your team a much better chance at winning it's that simple. There isn't many guys that can do this consistently in the league, that's why the price tag for such players is pretty high

I personally think guys like AK47, Iguodala, Ilyasova, Deng, Sefolosha, etc... guys like this should be getting paid a bit more money than they already are

[Obsideon]

True, AK47 was the "do-it-all" back in the day ... but that's my point, he WAS ... the versatile forward that can block shots, defend on the perimeter and hit the occassional shot ... but that remains to be seen after playing overseas for a couple of seasons ...

[bballguy]

It's tough to say how much gas he's got left in the tank. I remember AK47 used to be such a joy to own in fantasy back in like 2007-2008 season. I remember he had this one line in one game, it was just absolutely ridiculous - I'm going to see if I can find it...


Okay, I think I found it:
Friday, November 30th, 2007 vs LAL - W 120-96
20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals, 4 blocks, 0 turnovers.

Yup he was definitely a stat stuffer back in the day; him and Mike Miller too, back when he played for Memphis.

[Obsideon]

Don't forget Shawn Marion lol he was quite the stat buffer back in the heydays with Nash and Amare, ah the miracles of playing with D'antoni and Steve lol ...