The Official NBA Thread- Business Casual Atire is Required

[Headache in a Suitcase]

That means no bling in my thread, Hewson

So the NBA season begins tonight... :soundofcrickets:

And I might be the only one that cares... but if I am, i'll certainly entertain myself in this thread.

Starting with prediction time...

East
1. Miami Heat- Southeast
2. Indiana Pacers- Central
3. New Jersey Nets- Atlantic
4. Cleveland Cavs
5. Detroit Pistons
6. New York Knicks
7. Milwaukee Bucks
8. Chicago Bulls

West
1. San Antonio Spurs- Southwest
2. Denver Nuggets- Northwest
3. Golden State Warriors- Pacific
4. Dallas Mavericks
5. Houston Rockets
6. Seattle Supersonics
7. Phoenix Suns
8. Los Angeles Lakers

MVP: Shaq-Fu
Rookie of the Year: Andrew Bogut- Milwaukee Bucks
6th Man: Michael Finley- San Antonio Spurs
Most Improved Player: Mike Sweetney- Chicago Bulls
Coach of the Year: Mike Montgomery- Golden State

Playoffs:
Eastern Conference
#1 Miami over #8 Chicago
#2 Indiana over #7 Milwaukee
#6 New York over #3 New Jersey
#4 Cleveland over #5 Detroit

#1 Miami over #4 Cleveland
#2 Indiana over #6 New York

#1 Miami over #2 Indiana

Western Conference
#1 San Antonio over #8 Los Angeles
#7 Phoenix over #2 Denver
#3 Golden State over #6 Seattle
#4 Dallas over #5 Houston

#1 San Antonio over #4 Dallas
#7 Phoenix over #3 Golden State

#1 San Antonio over #7 Phoenix

NBA Finals
#1 Miami over #1 San Antonio in 6 games
Finals MVP: Shaq-Fu


when ya make your predictions remember that the #1, 2 and 3 seeds are reserved for division winners.

 

[impy13]

We would make this thread at the exact same time...

 

[impy13]

The Little General says...

"Okay, go Mavericks!"

1310 The Ticket has this sound drop of Avery saying that and it's just about the greatest thing ever.

But seriously, go Mavs

 

[Hewson]

That means no bling in my thread, Hewson

Man, why you always puttin' people of my generation down?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

because i can

 

[Hewson]

Don't be hatin'

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i'll hate your face :shakesangryfist:

 

[namkcuR]

Who saw my bulls rally from a 25 point deficit to defeat the bobcats in overtime?! *is proud*

Granted, the Bulls shouldn't have to rally against the friggen' bobcats, but still.

Chris Duhon got game.

 

[Hewson]

New coach, same Knicks...Celts 114, Knicks 100

 

[randhail]

Ryan Gomes - 2 pts in his debut!!!

Yeah Providence!

 

[Numb1075]

Did I hear correctly that Bogut had 17 boards? Very impressive.

My yahoo fantasy league: i got Shaq and Jermaine Oneal, Vincanity and Lebron

I like my chances.

 

[stammer476]

This is officially the year of the Darko.

 

[speedracer]

Antoine Walker kills his team with ill-times 3-point misses and pointless dribble drives. Never would have guessed that...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

thoughts from the opening of the season...
--if artest can stay out of the looney bin, the pacers are going to be good
--pat riley will coach this season
--the 76ers are horrific... i give it till december before the iverson trade rumors start popping up... perhaps to the knicks for marbury?
--the knicks will have one of the 5 best recrods in the eastern conference after the all star break... unfortunatly they'll be struggling to get to .500 before it.
--eddy curry could be another shaq... then again, he could be another oliver miller.
--if t.j. ford can stay healthy the bucks are a lock for the playoffs
--i give the pistons two months before they implode... flip saunders controlling rasheed wallace? HAAAA... tell me another one.
--phoenix will hover around .500 until amare gets back...
--at some point over the course of the season kobe bryant will wear a full body stocking, including one over his head. he'll look like the gimp from pulp fiction.

 

[Hewson]

This is officially the year of the Darko.

I can always use a good laugh, thanks.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

darko did step foot on the court in the 2nd quarter in the pistons' first game... i'm guessing that joe dumars is forcing flip to play him a little, just to see what he can do... his numbers actually weren't that bad in the pre-season... he lead the league in blocked shots... and he is only 20 years old.


and i forgot to add one thing to my thoughts... if the celtics make the playoffs this year, it's not because of paul pierce... it's because of delonte west. ugly mofo can play.

 

[Hewson]

Ricky Davis and Al Jefferson will be vital cogs for the Celts as well. Danny might be best off trying to move Pierce in the long run...maybe Philly'd be more interested in pierce than Marbury for AI.

 

[impy13]

The point is Houston sucks

 

[Hewson]

Well the Celtics have certainly not lacked for excitement thru 4 games...2 went to OT and the other 2 ended on buzzer beaters.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

well the knicks have certainly... uh... ah fuck it. never mind.

 

[Hewson]

I did get a chuckle (and $50) out of the fact that somehow the Knicks were a road favorite in Portland.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

they're terrible

and i really do still think they're record after the all star break will be over .500

marbury needs to be dealt... now

 

[stammer476]

As much as I'd like Larry to blow it, I do remember that Detroit's championship season started out VERY slow when everyone was learning his scheme. There's still hope for NY.

 

[Hewson]

I look at the Knicks' lineup and wonder what besides the almighty dollar could have led Brown to think coaching in NY was a better situation than he had in Motown. Its not a very good starting 5, and its a nothing bench (the 3 rookies should get better in time, but this year they're gonna struggle bigtime.)

And if anything (God forbid) happens to Eddy Curry, they are really screwed.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

well... he left detroit because that's what he does.

why he came to the knicks? that's easy... when you grow up on long island and someone offers you 10 million dollars per year to coach the knicks, it's pretty tough to turn down... no matter how much they suck.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

bill walton just blew my mind... "a game that more and more is dominated by the winners of the genetic lottery"


thank you bill... i think i love you

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

a year ago this week the ugliest incident i've ever seen in all my years of watching sports occured... and to this day, i'm still sickened by it.

watching the video of ron artest and stephen jackson rampaging through the stands at the palce of auburn hills like a bunch of rabid animals, attacking the WRONG person... some poor college kid running for his life while the actuall person who threw the cup stood behind artest attemtping to pull him off the kid... it still shakes me to this day.

i remember watching the game live... listening to greg anthony and tim legler defend the players afterwords and feeling sick to my stomach listening to it... argh.

fans are fans... fans are stupid, fans are drunk, fans think they're part of the game. anyone who plays a sport at a high compeititve level, be it competitive high school varsity through college all the way to the pro's...knows and has dealt with this to some degree. and every player is taught to ignore the fans... let them be the idiots that they are, just concentrate on the game... and by no means ever... EVER go into the crowd. ever. no matter what happens.

i remember in the week leading up to the brawl having a conversation with a friend of mine about ron artest and how he's completely lost his mind... if you remember, this brawl occured shortly after he was suspended by his own team for missing practices and wanting to take a month off to promote his rap record. one of my mentor's as a basketball coach... a guy i've worked with every summer for about 9 years now, know his family, etc. etc. has worked with arest as a personal trainer, dealing specificly with his shooting. from all the conversations i've had with him he says that artest was always pollite and respectful towards him. and when you see artest in interviews, he is respectful towards the interviewer... it's not like he's some barry bonds like figure who is standoffish and never wants to talk to the press. which scares me even more about artest's future in the league... i honestly believe that the man is insane. he has some serious dr. phil emotional issues that could boil over again at any moment. i'm scared about what will happen this season... as he gets booed and heckled in every single arena he steps into. and what happenes when he goes back to detroit?

i fear that the ron artest story... already an ugly one... will end even worse than it's begun.

 

[namkcuR]

My Bulls won last night against the Jazz

I'm really excited about three guys in particular: Hinrich, Gordon, and Deng. I really believe that all three are future Top 25 players. I want all three here for the long haul.

Tyson Chandler on the other hand....well, let's just say that going after Ben Wallace next summer is pointless because we pretty much already have him...rebounding and D and NO FREAKING OFFENSE WHATSOEVER. I think Chandler looks about as clumsy and uncoordinated on offense as any player I've ever seen in the NBA. $65 Million may be overpaying.

I'm excited about our future though...Chandler, Sweetney, Nocioni, Harrington, Duhon, and of course Hinrich, Gordon, and Duhon, as well as $20 Million in capspace to use either in a trade or in FA.

 

[Hewson]

bill walton just blew my mind... "a game that more and more is dominated by the winners of the genetic lottery"


thank you bill... i think i love you

Close your eyes and listen to Gary Hogeboom talk this Thursday on Survivor...its Bill Walton.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Close your eyes and listen to Gary Hogeboom talk this Thursday on Survivor...its Bill Walton.

now you just blew my mind