NBA Basketball 2007-08: The Thread

[CTU2fan]

I always feel like the whole "trade talks as distraction" line was a pretty poor excuse, but the Bulls sure look like the talks effected them. They're losing, and looking ugly doing it. I think they almost have to make the Kobe trade now, or just kill the talks and move on.

It's a tough spot. I remember the Knicks GM being asked if he was thinking of trading Ewing to the Clips, and his response was "if I trade Ewing for 5 Clippers, then we're the Clippers". So the Lakers have to get something legit, which I guess is Deng but that's debatable, but Kobe knows if Deng goes the other way then he's back on the Lakers but with different unis.

But it's hard to feel bad for LA when they traded Caron Butler for Kwame Brown.

 

[Hewson]

The Celtics are for real, guys.

The East is theirs to lose. Period. I can't wait to actually watch them play.

Unfortunately NBA titles aren't won in November, otherwise I think the Celts would be a shoo-in right now for at least the east and maybe the whole shebang.
They have gelled far quicker than anyone expected (the European trip supposedly had a lot to do with them bonding, and everyone is marvelling at the work ethic of garnett and Allen), and look great so far...but it is quite early.
But as a fan, it is a feeling I haven't had truly since the 80's. Even when the Walker/Pierce/Kenny Anderson/Rodney Rogers group reached the EC finals against the Nets, there was never the feeling the team was really championship caliber, or even close to it.

 

[phanan]

It's definitely too early, and obviously anything can happen over the course of an entire season, but if they can keep this up, they have a legitimate shot at going all the way to the finals.

 

[Got Philk?]

Don't the Bulls usually get off to a bad start and pick it up by mid-season?

I remember their 0-9 start that one year with essentially the same team, just little to no expectations.

yeah, they do. I am not worried about the team. They'll finish probably close to .500 and make the playoffs like usual. But, I don't think they can make it past the 2nd round with this team.

It is early. Nocioni could still take over games and win them.

 

[tpsreports2424]

It is early. Nocioni could still take over games and win them.

If that wasnt a joke, then this team is just goin down under

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

tough to win with no go to guy and zero offensive presence on the low post. when you miss pj brown, it's kinda sad.

zach randolph was available for cheap... bulls coulda had him. i guess isiah's a better GM than john paxson.






ok i couldn't say that with a straight face.


secondly, vince carter is a vagina.


third, the celtics are as good as they are healthy. if they stay healthy, they're the best team in the east. the only reason why i didn't pick them to go to the finals is 'cause i don't think they'll stay healthy. they have zero depth. but, alas, as we know, all it takes is one star to win in the east. the celtics have three.

but then again, it might not take just one star in the east, anymore. detroit's good, but they're always a good candidate to self implode. the nets are good as long as half man half vagina stays on the court. toronto and orlando are both much improved. and then there's everyone else.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

PHOENIX (AP) -- Stephon Marbury has left the New York Knicks and there is no word on when, or even if, he might rejoin the team.

 

[zonelistener]

Just back from win number 6!

 

[speedracer]

PHOENIX (AP) -- Stephon Marbury has left the New York Knicks and there is no word on when, or even if, he might rejoin the team.

Yeah, I read the story on ESPN and I was trying to figure out why this was such a crisis for the Knicks.

 

[Hewson]

PHOENIX (AP) -- Stephon Marbury has left the New York Knicks and there is no word on when, or even if, he might rejoin the team.

Now if you can just get Isiah to follow him.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

oh where do we begin

"Isiah has to start me," Marbury fumed, according to the source. "I've got so much on Isiah and he knows it. He thinks he can me. But I'll him first. You have no idea what I know."

However, one NBA player familiar with the situation said punches were thrown during Monday’s flight to Phoenix, and someone who was on the flight admitted awakening to a commotion as Thomas discussed his dissatisfaction with Marbury’s play and a possible demotion from the starting lineup.

“I have one thing to say, and that's I got permission to leave," Marbury claimed in the message. “I would never leave my team on my own. What I'm telling you is that I got permission to leave from Isiah. He said I could go home. God bless. Peace be with you."

The locker room was a scene of misery afterward, with Collins hobbling around, Balkman on crutches and veteran Malik Rose showing disgust with the Marbury saga.

"I don't know what's going on," Rose said. "I haven't walked in his shoes. I don't know what he's angry over. I'm not going to put much thought into it."

Asked if he would welcome Marbury if he returns, Rose said, "I don't know. I'll let you know what I do when I see him."

there are those who thought the knicks couldn't get any worse... i was not one of them. it's worse, and it's gonna get worse from here.

 

[thetitans2k]

I love blackmailing a coach for playing time. That's really funny.

 

[Got Philk?]

i want to know what this is!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

shit fuck fuck i believe

 

[Got Philk?]

no no no! I mean, what it represents. Like, what is the that Isaiah did...or what is the that Starbury knows that makes him have to start!

 

[Hewson]

Marbury has dirt on Isiah harassing a former employee, Anucha Browne Sanders, and he's prepared to go public with it if he needs to.

 

[CTU2fan]

^ Does he really? Shit, I missed that

Starbury is a clown.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

isiah was in the SUV with marbury, tag teaming the intern

apparently isiah polled the team on wether or not marbury should be allowed to come back and play. the team voted unanimously against him playing. isiah played him anyway... 35 minutes.

i hate life.

 

[Got Philk?]

The Bulls had a 19 point lead with 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.

Then, they didn't score for 3 minutes and let Tim Thomas look good, and now it's only 11 points.

 

[Got Philk?]

But then we won by 20

 

[CTU2fan]

isiah was in the SUV with marbury, tag teaming the intern

apparently isiah polled the team on wether or not marbury should be allowed to come back and play. the team voted unanimously against him playing. isiah played him anyway... 35 minutes.

i hate life.

Take heart, the Knicks right now...that was the Patriots during the Victor Kiam era. A joke on the field, and worse off it. The only way to go is up.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

meh... at least you had robert kraft waiting in the wings. the knicks have no hope, 'cause dolan will never sell the team. the knicks represent 1% of cablevision's assets. it's like his personal little toy.

we're going on 7 straight seasons under .500. but on the bright side, with records that bad we should have a bevy of young talent on the team!

oh wait...

it's been 8 straight seasons without a playoff win.

knick fans pine for the 90's... which in reality was a decade of failure. but i'd give anything to play second fiddle to jordan and olajuwon again. anything is better than this.

the knicks are on their 35th season without a championship. only three non expansion teams have gone longer without a title... the hawks (1958), kings (1951) and bucks (1971).

the suns, clippers, jazz, timberwolves, nuggets, mavericks, hornets, grizzlies, magic, bobcats, cavs and raptors all have zero championships, but all are expansion teams put into the league from 1965 on.

the pacers and nets both have zero NBA championships, but both won ABA championships since the last time the Knicks won.

it sucks to be a knick fan.

 

[namkcuR]

Your one hope is that Stern was serious when he told Dolan 'Either you take care of it or I will' concerning Isiah. Apparently Stern is tired of one of the biggest markets in the country having such a shitty team. He can't make Dolan sell the team, but he can certainly pressure Dolan to show Isiah the door. If that happens...Dolan will have another chance to name a new GM. Naming a GM is the only 'basketball' decision the Dolan ever has to make. If he could, for once, hire a GM who knows what he's doing, then he can just keep his hands off the team while that new GM runs things. But Isiah's gotta go. Hopefully Stern will make it happen.

 

[CTU2fan]

It really is an embarrassment. Stern could probably make Isiah go away. I wonder if he can put any pressure on Dolan to get his shit together...I'm guessing Dolan would have to be involved in something outright illegal, rather than simply incompetent, for Stern to do anything.

And with all the attention the Celts are getting, the Magic look like a pretty good squad. The C's couldn't do much with Howard last night except hack him and watch him miss free throws.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

stern forced the cavs to change their inept ways in the early 80s. he can't do it with the knicks... dolan is too powerful. cablevision brings in 5 billion dollars annualy. madison square garden is just a toy for him to play with. besides the knicks dolan owns the rangers, the liberty, the garden it's self, the hartford civic center, rentschler field, the hartford wolf pack, radio city music hall, god, jesus, budah and vishnu.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Scott Layden never knew what hit him four years ago when Madison Square Garden president Steve Mills, working behind the scenes for weeks to find Layden's successor, informed the Knicks president that he was being fired.

Isiah Thomas inherited Layden's job and would be wise to remember that he, too, could vanish at any moment. Thomas' future with the Knicks has been on shaky ground since the day he was found liable in the Anucha Browne Sanders sexual harassment case, and that shakiness has been accelerated in recent days by the Knicks' losing record - they lost their sixth straight game last night in Denver - and the Stephon Marbury fiasco.

Thomas could go at any moment. But the bigger questions are who replaces Thomas and who does the hiring? According to several league sources, the NBA is hoping to have some influence on Garden chairman James Dolan, and perhaps even Cablevision founder Charles Dolan, regarding such important matters.

If the league is involved, the NBA would push several big name candidates in James Dolan's direction. The most obvious are Jerry Colangelo and Jerry West. Also, Kiki Vandeweghe and Colangelo's son, Bryan, who is currently running the Toronto Raptors, shouldn't be ruled out.

ray:

 

[LMP]

And with all the attention the Celts are getting, the Magic look like a pretty good squad. The C's couldn't do much with Howard last night except hack him and watch him miss free throws.

He'd been doing better this season with free throw shooting, but the goon squad of Scot Pollard-Kedrick Perkins-Brian Scalabrine pounding him down low got him all fired up and unfocused. It was probably the first time I had seen Dwight get a technical.

This could be the first Magic team I've watched that isn't completely mediocre or terrible (too young for the Shaq-Penny days) and Stan Van Gundy is the first great coach they've had (the one year of Chuck Daly doesn't count).

 

[CTU2fan]

He'd been doing better this season with free throw shooting, but the goon squad of Scot Pollard-Kedrick Perkins-Brian Scalabrine pounding him down low got him all fired up and unfocused. It was probably the first time I had seen Dwight get a technical.

This could be the first Magic team I've watched that isn't completely mediocre or terrible (too young for the Shaq-Penny days) and Stan Van Gundy is the first great coach they've had (the one year of Chuck Daly doesn't count).

I really think they've got something good going down here. And yeah, the C's big guys were really pounding Howard; I'm sure the plan was just a variation on the old hack-a-Shaq, though as you say it's rare to see him lose focus like that.

 

[CTU2fan]

stern forced the cavs to change their inept ways in the early 80s. he can't do it with the knicks... dolan is too powerful. cablevision brings in 5 billion dollars annualy. madison square garden is just a toy for him to play with. besides the knicks dolan owns the rangers, the liberty, the garden it's self, the hartford civic center, rentschler field, the hartford wolf pack, radio city music hall, god, jesus, budah and vishnu.

Didn't know Dolan owned Rentschler...the other CT stuff I did know about. I think he was in the bidding for the Red Sox also, when John Henry et al bought the club...what a clusterfuck that would have been. Actually that might have been the other Dolan...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

he's the only dolan... chuck dolan is his dad, the CEO of cablevision. it's all related... and yes, they did try to buy the red sox. they've also tried to buy the yankees and mets at one point or another, among other teams, primarily to own the lucrative TV rights to those franchises.