NBA Basketball 2007-08: The Thread

[LMP]

It must've been buried in the realism.

 

[speedracer]

LEBRON JAMES, WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE

[/Kevin Harlan]

Also, Anderson Varejao is a punk.

 

[namkcuR]

Nobody can win on the road this year.

Hornets dropped both in San Antonio.

LA dropped both in Utah.

Boston dropped three in Atlanta and now both in Cleveland.

San Antonio dropped both in New Orleans.

Utah dropped both in LA.

Cleveland dropped both in Boston.

 

[CTU2fan]

LEBRON JAMES, WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE

[/Kevin Harlan]

Also, Anderson Varejao is a punk.

Now that was cringe-worthy. And if Varejao is a punk what's Wally Szczszczrbk?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

That's pretty much been Standard Operating Procedure for the Spurs for years, right?

to be fair the only dirty player on the spurs is bowen. and he only started getting dirty as he got older and couldn't D up the way he used to, so he relies on some less than classy tactics.

horry of course made a dirty play last year... but he's always been a class act and that seemed to be more of a momentary thing.

balk ginobli isn't dirty... he just falls down if a stiff breeze passes by... but so does half the league at this point.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

and so it begins... reports already have d'antoni pushing walsh to go out and get barbosa and diaw, who apparently steve kerr also doesn't like. there are also reports that nash, who can opt out of his contract after this season (and oh by the way lives in SoHo in the off-season) plans to do just that and reunite with d'antoni next season.

i think he'd be a swell backup for derrick rose

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

new york fans are just asinine... seems more people are complaining about the hiring of d'antoni than like it, if you listen to the FAN. they all want mark jackson... who's never coached a single game in his life. ummm... what?

these are probably the same people who thought going into this year that isiah was doing a good job. it's unbelievable.

new york always gets a reputation for being a good sports town but the majority of the fans tend to be quite stupid.

 

[thetitans2k]

I'm so curious as to what actually happened between D'antoni and Kerr.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

that's easy... kerr came in with zero experience and tried to tell a coach who had won 58+ games 4 years in a row what to do. that would turn most people off.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

back to actuall on going basketball... don't you get the feeling that lebron's shooting has been so god awful that he's just due for a game, much like he had last year, where he just hits all sorts of ridiculous shots and goes for 40+?

and couldn't you see that happening in game 5 in boston, letting cleveland steal one on the road? and can't you hear the perverbial ass holes of every person east of I-91 clenching up as the celtics have to win in cleveland just to force a game 7?

i know i can.

 

[LMP]

The ESPN ticker just said D'Antoni's pushing to trade Marbury... now that's gotta be exciting for you.

The Celts need to get out and run in Game 5, actually get some easy shots off. Hard series to watch, but it's been interesting, that's for sure.

Doubt the Magic will steal a game in Detroit, hope they do though.

 

[impy13]

LEBRON JAMES, WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE

[/Kevin Harlan]

Thank God someone else noticed this. I don't think I've ever laughed as hard at any non-Gus-Johnson-related call.


Well, maybe a few of these: http://youtube.com/watch?v=IQMMxgcoq5c

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I don't think I've ever laughed as hard at any non-Gus-Johnson-related call.

pause.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The ESPN ticker just said D'Antoni's pushing to trade Marbury... now that's gotta be exciting for you.

depends on what they get back... if they trade him for medicore players with bad contracts, well then we're just right back to where we started, aren't we.

marbury's contract is up at the end of the year. if he can't be dealt for another expiring contract, or some sort of no brainer move like the one the celtics made for KG, then just buy him out and let him go somewhere else... especially if they can end up with either rose or bayless.

 

[LMP]

depends on what they get back... if they trade him for medicore players with bad contracts, well then we're just right back to where we started, aren't we.

marbury's contract is up at the end of the year. if he can't be dealt for another expiring contract, or some sort of no brainer move like the one the celtics made for KG, then just buy him out and let him go somewhere else... especially if they can end up with either rose or bayless.

Where's Glen Rice when you need him?

Trade Machine tries:
Suns: Diaw, Barbosa, Bell for Marbury - works
Clippers: Brand and Tim Thomas - Brand'll opt out anyway, but you'd have to take on Thomas' corpse (would be great to lure LeBron in '10, also)
Pacers: Jermaine O'Neal - probably makes the most sense, seeing that their contracts match up, both have overstayed their welcome, the Walsh/Pacer connection, and the need for rejuvenation under D'Antoni's system

Who's more likely to be moved? Randolph or Curry?

 

[thetitans2k]

Wow. The magic just played awful in the fourth quarter. The pistons do look dominant though. They are playing really tough defense. With Chauncy back in the lineup I think they are better than the celts or the cavs.

 

[LMP]

They need another big body to put next to Dwight and to put Turkoglu at the 2-guard and Lewis back at the 3-spot.

It's been a terrific season otherwise and I hope they improve in the off-season.

 

[CTU2fan]

^ Agreed. Where are the Magic cap-wise? Because there whould be some bigs out there if they have the cap room.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Where's Glen Rice when you need him?

Trade Machine tries:
Suns: Diaw, Barbosa, Bell for Marbury - works
Clippers: Brand and Tim Thomas - Brand'll opt out anyway, but you'd have to take on Thomas' corpse (would be great to lure LeBron in '10, also)
Pacers: Jermaine O'Neal - probably makes the most sense, seeing that their contracts match up, both have overstayed their welcome, the Walsh/Pacer connection, and the need for rejuvenation under D'Antoni's system

Who's more likely to be moved? Randolph or Curry?

what does o'neal have left on his contract? unless it's 2 years or less, i want no part of him. he's not that good.

edit - i looked it up, marbury and o'neal have the same amount of money left and the same number of years. i still wouldn't do it 'cause if o'neal does well there would be pressure to resign him, which would again defeat the purpose... he's not a franchise player, he's a #2 guy. but.. alas... again it all depends on the draft. if they get rose or beasley, the process speeds up a bit. if htey don't get rose or beasley, they need to get bayless.

there still may be someone out there willing to take a chance on zach randolph. nobody's taking eddy curry.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

^ Agreed. Where are the Magic cap-wise? Because there whould be some bigs out there if they have the cap room.

they're not awful. they could bring in another big name free agent if htey wanted to, but that would involve not bringing back any of their free agents (arroyo, dooling, garrity) or signing one of their own free agents to the exemption.

they need to not fuck up this off-season... they gave rashard lewis a ton of dough, and they're eventually going to have to ante up for howard... so if they want to take that next step they need to be smart this off-season, otherwise they'll be stuck in NBA purgatory... 40-50 wins, no shot at a title (unless howard further develops... he was 20 and 14 this year... i'm not sure if he'll ever be a 25+ ppg scorer)

 

[CTU2fan]

It's a dangerous trap that NBA teams get caught in. They want to improve, there's not "great" player available so teams give max deals to "good" players and you end up with some good overpaid players and a mediocre team (like the Celts of the last 15 years).

I wonder how much of D'Antoni picking the Knicks over the Bulls is him choosing Donnie Walsh over Paxson?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i'm going to guess quite a bit. i don't wanna hear about the money issue... they gave him 6 per, not 10 per. chicago could certainly afford 6, and were prepared to make an offer to d'antoni, but he took thie knicks job before chicago ever even submitted an offer.

that said, d'antoni said publicly that he (and his wfie) would just prefered to live in new york over living in chicago, but you can read into the rest of what he says and see that walsh and the knicks being much more aggresive than chicago certainly played a role.

"I said, 'I think Chicago wants me, I know New York does, so where do we want to live?' We decided New York," D'Antoni said. "I did feel [Walsh] came to get me, and I liked that. When you're getting divorced by somebody, it feels good to be liked."

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

chris sheridan has a good article on the knicks... it's nice to, ya know, have a plan again.

NEW YORK -- It was Mike D'Antoni's day Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, but it's still all about Donnie Walsh and whether he can gut the New York Knicks by the time LeBron James becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Walsh and D'Antoni spent the bulk of their afternoon discussing the future, and you walked away from nearly two hours of conversation and observation of them with one overriding, singular thought:

The New York Knicks are all about the summer of 2010, when James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all can become unrestricted free agents. Anything good that happens between now and then is gravy. But priority No. 1 is getting into position to go after those players, and there's an extremely viable backup plan of going after James in 2011 if he plays out the final season of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"I feel New York should be in position every so often to go into the free-agent market," Walsh said. "We have to be an attractive franchise for those kinds of players."

The problem is, the Knicks will be over the cap in the summer of 2010 unless they can find takers and get back shorter contracts for two or three of their more marginal, overpaid players: Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries.

Walsh kept talking Tuesday about not taking on additional salaries, but he was understating what could be a far bigger problem. If James opts out in 2010, Walsh actually has to shed money to get in position to make James a max offer.

Stephon Marbury ($21.1 million) and Malik Rose ($7.6 million) come off the books a year from now, and Jerome James (who will earn $6.2 million and $6.6 million in each of the next two seasons) and Quentin Richardson ($8.1 million and $8.7 million) are off the cap after the 2009-10 season. But already on the books for 2010-11 are Randolph ($17.3 million), Curry ($11.3 million), Jamal Crawford ($10.1 million) and Jeffries ($6.9 million). That's $45.6 million right there just for that season. Then you have to add on the third-year salary for whomever the Knicks select in the lottery this June (whose salary will cost anywhere from $2.8 million to $5.2 million), plus the second-year salary of whomever they pick in the 2009 draft (another $2-5 million). And we haven't even started talking about whatever youngsters David Lee, Nate Robinson and/or Wilson Chandler and Renaldo Balkman will make in the 2010-11 season after their contract extensions and/or options have or will have been negotiated.

So if you estimate another $8 million will go toward the two draft picks, and $14 million to whichever two are the keepers from the Lee-Robinson-Balkman-Chandler foursome, we're already somewhere in the area of $67-68 million for the 2010-11 season. And if we guesstimate that the cap will be $61 million that summer, the Knicks will have to get their payroll down to somewhere in the area of $43 million to be able to make a max contract offer to James.

I spoke to Walsh after the news conference and asked if it was fair to assume that he has to cut the current committed payroll for 2010-11 in half.

"I don't know if I'd have to go that far, but we'll figure it out down to the penny," Walsh said.

D'Antoni wouldn't touch a question about how much James, Wade and the other 2010 free agents had come up in his discussions with Walsh -- "No, you're not going to get me to go there" -- and he discounted the notion that he had formed any sort of special bond with James during their extensive time together the past two summers with Team USA. (They'll be together again this summer in Beijing, when D'Antoni can whisper in James' ear that it might serve everyone best if he waits until 2011 to decide between the Cavs, Knicks and Jay Z's Brooklyn Nets, whose new arena probably won't be built until then anyway.)

"I learned that [James] wants to learn to speak Mandarin and conquer the world of Chinese business. Like with Kobe, I learned how focused he can get, and I learned that he wants to be the best player -- just like Kobe," D'Antoni said.

D'Antoni also said the overriding reason he chose New York over Chicago was that New York was where he and his wife would prefer to live. He also said he did not remember telling Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf "I don't want to coach the Knicks" as Reinsdorf alleges he did, although D'Antoni noted that they talked about a lot of things over the course of their three-hour meeting.

He said he spoke with his wife Friday night after the Knicks made their four-year, $24 million offer.

"I said, 'I think Chicago wants me, I know New York does, so where do we want to live?' We decided New York," D'Antoni said. "I did feel [Walsh] came to get me, and I liked that. When you're getting divorced by somebody, it feels good to be liked."

With the fan base so beaten down by losing that it's willing to sacrifice two seasons to gain cap flexibility, this is a good situation into which D'Antoni is walking. The success bar has been set so low by Walsh that D'Antoni gets to have two honeymoon years while Walsh tries to shed salary.

If Walsh can do it, then the real new beginning starts in 2010.

If not, Randolph, Curry, Jeffries and Crawford all come off the cap in the summer of 2011. That's when D'Antoni will be going into the fourth and final season of his contract, as will Walsh.

And James, if he decides not to opt out of the final season of his Cavs contract, will be only 26.

So take heart, Knicks fans. There is a plan, and the first pieces are in place.

If D'Antoni can keep things competitive and interesting between now and then, all the better.

But this decade already has been written off, and the hard part for Walsh is that other teams aren't enamored of the Isiah-tainted merchandise he's trying to get rid of. Randolph has a cap-killer contract and doesn't play defense; Curry is heavy, slow, and unmotivated and has a 15 percent trade kicker; and Jeffries -- aside from his long contract -- did nothing but regress in his two years playing under Thomas. (Let's also not forget that the Knicks' 2010 first-round pick is already the property of the Utah Jazz, courtesy of Thomas' trade four years ago for Marbury. The 2008 and 2009 second-round picks are gone, too.)

"What did you guys tell me? It's been 10 years since the Knicks had cap room to spend on free agents?" Walsh asked the Knicks' beat writers.

Actually, it's been 12.

And Walsh didn't know it, but as he was asking that question Tuesday, he was standing in the exact same room where 12 years earlier the Knicks had held another news conference, that one announcing how they had decided to spend their cap room (much to the chagrin of Reggie Miller) on Allan Houston and Chris Childs.

Well, if all goes according to plan, it'll be the same room where LeBron James is standing two or three years from now being introduced as the newest New York Knick.

All D'Antoni has to do between now and then is keep things entertaining, and he's a perfect fit for that job.

But the real question is whether he'll be a perfect fit for LeBron. If he ultimately is, this will go down as a genius hiring.

"I think it'll work," Walsh said. "If it can't, I guess I'll be down in Indiana hanging out with the cows."

 

[thetitans2k]

I don't think the knicks will be in the playoffs next year. The teams at the bottom of the playoff picture in the east will all be improving. Also chicago and Miami should both be in the playoffs next year.

 

[Hewson]

Also chicago and Miami should both be in the playoffs next year.

I wouldn't stake my reputation on that statement.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I don't think the knicks will be in the playoffs next year. The teams at the bottom of the playoff picture in the east will all be improving. Also chicago and Miami should both be in the playoffs next year.

while i hope the knicks are absolutely terrible again next year to get another top 5 draft pick, i wouldn't be stunned if they managed to squeak into the playoffs... i mean come on, atlanta and philadelphia blow.

but that aside, i'm wondering which one of their 15 wins was it that convinced you that the heat SHOULD be a playoff team?

 

[U2@NYC]

Another horrific third quarter by the Spurs last night. You would have guessed that after what happened in Games 1 and 2, they would have realized that they needed to contain the Hornets in the third quarter... but, no, same mistake over and over. I am surprised given that they have been in this situation many times.

I am hopeful about Game 6, but not too sure if they can make it on Game 7, given how dismal their performance has been playing in New Orleans.

Now the playoffs have gotten weird. For the first time, I am thinking that an East-based team may have a shot at the title, given how well the Pistons are playing.

Yesterday, the Argentine press asked Nocioni if he would be interested in playing for the Spurs. Now that would be , particularly given that many of their players are getting too old and they need renovation.

 

[thetitans2k]

while i hope the knicks are absolutely terrible again next year to get another top 5 draft pick, i wouldn't be stunned if they managed to squeak into the playoffs... i mean come on, atlanta and philadelphia blow.

but that aside, i'm wondering which one of their 15 wins was it that convinced you that the heat SHOULD be a playoff team?

I'm thinking Dwayne Wade plus Marion and a high lottery pick=playoff team.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

difference of opinion then... 'cause i think shawn marion blows, and diane wade can't carry a team.

but you might be right if beasley turns out to to be a beast. i'd stay away from rose if i were miami though... i don't like wade playing off the ball. you usually want someone who can shoot playing there.

if wade can put his ego aside he should be a combo/point guard in the style of tony parker (wade would obviously be better than parker)... not the shoot first, under-sized 2 with no jumper in the style of allen iverson.

there are too many guards out there who have the isiah body but play like they think they're jordan.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Another horrific third quarter by the Spurs last night. You would have guessed that after what happened in Games 1 and 2, they would have realized that they needed to contain the Hornets in the third quarter... but, no, same mistake over and over. I am surprised given that they have been in this situation many times.

I am hopeful about Game 6, but not too sure if they can make it on Game 7, given how dismal their performance has been playing in New Orleans.

Now the playoffs have gotten weird. For the first time, I am thinking that an East-based team may have a shot at the title, given how well the Pistons are playing.

Yesterday, the Argentine press asked Nocioni if he would be interested in playing for the Spurs. Now that would be , particularly given that many of their players are getting too old and they need renovation.

i think the spurs win by 15 in game 6, then duncan goes off for 40+ in game 7 and san antonio goes on to win the championship.

but i've been wrong before, and will be again.