The Official NBA Thread- Business Casual Atire is Required

[Hewson]

if o'neal's injury lingers, peja's stop over in indiana will be a short one...

O'Neal has a groin tear, out minimum 8 weeks.
Which basically at this point means for the season.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

well there ya go

 

[Mrs. Vedder]

this is artest's last chance... if he goes crazy again, he's out of the league.

I agree. You would think that a 26 year old would be more “mature” but I guess not.

as for peja, he's a great shooter, but he's a bit soft. when they had pre-injury weber and vlade, two excellent passing bigs, peja was in his glory... the kings would dump the ball inside, forcing the defense to collapse, and then kick it out to peja, who'd either shoot, or take advantage of the recovering defense with a one dribble pull up. once vlade left and weber got hurt, the kings tried going outside-in, relying more on peja... but of course peja's a pansy-ass, and he can't carry a team on his own, so the kings have stunk for the past two years.

but if jermaine o'neal is healthy, peja could see a revitaization over in idiana.

I do wish the best for Peja, he is one of the best shooters but when he’s on a team where he is not the “Go-to-guy,” Peja is more of an accessory on a team. At least that is what he was when Webber and Vlade were at Sac.

Now, if Artest can grow up and realize he needs to get it together he can make a huge difference. I mean last season Kings were 26th in the league in points allowed, just absolutely horrible. This season so far I believe they are 23rd. Kings are in desperate needs of some defense. With Artest on board he can possibly change that but again it’s up to Artest. I guess we're going to have to sit back and watch what he will do.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

unfortunatly artest is already a grown man... perhaps he should be put on the zoloft like mike tyson.

The NBA likely will launch a probe into allegations that Knicks President Isiah Thomas conspired to get opposing players drunk the night before games, sources told the Daily News.
The allegations, contained in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Knicks Senior Vice President Anucha Browne Sanders, could be viewed as tampering - if Thomas had contact with opposing players.

Browne Sanders accused Thomas of working with concierges at hotels frequented by visiting teams to encourage opposing players to go to certain bars and strip clubs and get drunk the night before a day game.

An NBA spokesman said yesterday that the league is "monitoring the entire situation." But one league source said that while Thomas' alleged actions "seem highly unusual," they will probably be investigated. A Knicks spokesman said the team had no comment.

While the charges may seem insignificant, the NBA is very sensitive about the kinds of clubs its players frequent during their trips to New York and other major cities. Several years ago, the league endured a major scandal involving several prominent players, including the Knicks' Patrick Ewing, and strippers in the Gold Club in Atlanta.

Lonnie Hanover, a spokesman for Scores, wouldn't confirm if visiting players came to the East Side strip club mecca, saying only, "Athletes from every major sport love strip clubs, and you know where they go."

Teams found guilty of tampering are normally fined, with the amounts based on the severity of the infraction. In extreme cases of tampering, teams have even lost draft picks. "Who knows if there's anything really there," said one source.

Several general managers doubted Browne Sanders' accusations, because most players already know where to go for fun when they come to New York.

"I can't see Isiah being brazen enough to put his career in jeopardy," said an Eastern Conference executive. "We all know that there are serious consequences for tampering."

oh if this whole thing leads to isiah being fired...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

MINNEAPOLIS -- The struggling Minnesota Timberwolves shook up their roster Thursday night, sending swingman Wally Szczerbiak to the Boston Celtics for guard Ricky Davis in an exchange involving seven players and three draft picks.

Davis, center Mark Blount, point guard Marcus Banks, forward Justin Reed and two conditional second-round draft picks are going to Minnesota. Boston is getting Szczerbiak, centers Michael Olowokandi and Dwayne Jones and a future first-round draft pick.

 

[redsoxfan]

Guess the Wally-KG relationship became too tough to handle for Minnesota.

I hope Wally stays healthy.

 

[Hewson]

So if Knicks' opponents are drunk and still regularly throttling the Knickerbockers, whats gonna happen now that Isiah can't get them hammered?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

just get him fired.. that's all i ask. don't tease me like this

 

[LMP]

is it wrong that I'm trying to get my YMCA team to be named "The Mambas"?

 

[namkcuR]

My brother told me this when he was home for Christmas...I thought it was funny and meant to post it here but forgot...I'm posting it now.

A friend of my older brother's is sort of sportswriter...nobody famous, you wouldn't know him. Anyway, he interviewed Dennis Rodman a few months ago and, afterward, he said to my brother about the interview: "I've never felt so white in my life".

 

[stammer476]

Antonio Davis for Jalen Rose? Seriously?

If I had a dream, Isaiah would get fired and be picked up the by Kansas City Chiefs. If only . . .

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

but hey we get an extra 15 million on the cap next year now, and david lee will never play now... and we also get a first round pick! won't be a top 5 pick like the one we gave to chicago, but hey... it's a start!




the knicks are a disaster, and the clippers are 11 games over .500. just kill me now.

 

[impy13]

DIOP IT LIKE IT'S HOT

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

a positve post about desagna diop... haha... that makes me laugh.

almost like watching the knicks makes me laugh... or cry... or sometimes both.




bill "don't call me hewson" simmons sums it up nicely...

The Bobcats have 13 wins and the Knicks have 14 wins. According to hoopshype.com, Charlotte's 2005-06 payroll is $33.4 million, while New York's payroll is $125.9 million. Not including team options on younger players, Charlotte has $21.8 million in guaranteed salaries committed for 2007; $14.2 million committed in 2008; and $0.0 million in 2009. New York's guaranteed money looks like this: $110.3 million (2007); $49 million (2008); and $45 million (2009). Also, the Bobcats kept all their first-round picks through the decade, while New York gives Chicago its 2006 lottery pick and switches first-rounders with the Bulls in 2007 (with the Knicks getting the lower pick).

To recap: For that one extra win, the Knicks spent four times as much money, killed their cap flexibility through 2009 and gave away any chance of having a top-five pick in the next two years. On the bright side, Eddy Curry has gained enough weight this season that he might start wearing jackets to cover his rear end during games, kinda like how Oprah dresses when she's in the middle of one of her eating binges. So that will be fun.

(God bless the Isiah Era. We'll be talking about this for decades. I really believe that.)

 

[impy13]

a positve post about desagna diop... haha... that makes me laugh.

Beginning of the year it would make me laugh too, but the fact is since benching Damp and starting Diop, the Mavs are on the second best tear in team history.

Damp seems suited to come off the bench. He's not picking up two quick personals in the first few minutes and getting discouraged.

Say what you will about him, he's been a force on the offensive glass lately.

Headache, Mavs/Knicks round 2 next week.

 

[namkcuR]

This was at the beginning of that same Simmons article...I was thouroughly amused. I fully expected Isiah to take Kenyon too.

First, I have a scoop for you: A well-placed source tells me that Isiah Thomas is prepared to trade Channing Frye and Penny Hardaway to Denver for Kenyon Martin and Earl Watson, but only if Martin agrees to an MRI on his surgically repaired knee. If Martin's knee is in good shape, the Knicks are calling off the deal. If the knee is in rough shape, the deal is on. If the knee is in such terrible shape that the doctor says something like, "Wow, there's a good chance K-Mart might walk with a limp for the rest of his life," the Knicks will throw in an unconditional No. 1 in 2009 as well as Nate Robinson and $3 million dollars. So stay tuned.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[speedracer]

Dwyane Wade just scored 17 points in the 4th quarter, leading the Heat from 13 down to beat the Pistons. Unreal.

On the plus side, the 70-win talk should just about be finished. I think we've all learned from the last few months that hype like this doesn't turn out well (cf. USC, Indianapolis Colts).

 

[namkcuR]

Join me in laughing at the Pistons for taking Darko instead of Wade/Bosh/Carmelo.

Join me in being thankful that the Pistons took Darko instead of Wade/Bosh/Carmelo.

Wade is going to be an incredible player.

Wade already is an incredible player.

 

[Got Philk?]

Everyone talks about LeBron as the next Michael Jordan. Nobody will be the next Jordan. But if I picked one player who had some characteristics, it would most certainly be Wade, not James.

James has more stats like Magic Johnson.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

wade also has shaq

all be it an aging shaq who is not what he once was, but shaq none the less... the best player jordan had at this stage of his career was charles oakley... and his numbers still blow wade's out of the water.

i'm not taking anything away from dwayne wade... he's a great talent. but he's not in the same stratosphere as michael jordan.

i do agree that lebron's skills are more like magic's than michael's, though. hope he stays that way...


as for the pistons, it was inevitable that this downward spiral would begin. if you ever want to take a stab at what teams might make late runs (for betting purposes or otherwise) a good place to look is espn.com's NBA RPI standings... it'll show you a variety of rated stats, including strength of schdule... the pistons early schedule was one of the easiest in the entire NBA (the knicks was actually easier, which makes you really think about exactly how bad they suck)...

after that huge start detroit got off to, san antonio and dallas now sit just 2 and 2.5 games behind them, with the easier part of their schedules still to come. detroit has the harder part of it' schedule still awaiting them.

 

[Got Philk?]

Repeat, "Nobody will be the next Michael Jordan."

As for the Pistons. I think what we saw today was that the Pistons will stay the same, and perhaps Miami is starting to figure out a little chemistry. Miami will be the only team to give the Pistons a challenge, but Detroit will win the East.

 

[speedracer]

Repeat, "Nobody will be the next Michael Jordan."

Harold Miner.

 

[Got Philk?]

Harold Miner.

One of my favorite players on NBA live 1995.

"Baby Jordan"

 

[namkcuR]

Repeat, "Nobody will be the next Michael Jordan."

As for the Pistons. I think what we saw today was that the Pistons will stay the same, and perhaps Miami is starting to figure out a little chemistry. Miami will be the only team to give the Pistons a challenge, but Detroit will win the East.

Miami could beat Detroit in the playoffs.

 

[speedracer]

Miami could beat Detroit in the playoffs.

Hence Detroit's attempt to trade Darko and Carlos Arroyo to the Magic for center Kelvin Cato plus a draft pick. Detroit needs another big man to play against Shaq.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2331049

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

this is a great trade... for orlando.

it's not terrible for detroit... cato's contract is up at the end of the year... but they're going to use the 8 million in savings that they get from losing cato to give a 12 million dollar per year contract to a man who can't score, ben wallace... and to extend chauncey billups contract long term... so next year detroit will have 60-70 million dollars invested in their starting lineup alone, leaving them with an aging team, zero cap flexability and no first round draft pick. i do believe i saw this movie once before... around the late 90s... aging eastern conference powerhouse built on defense starts adding money to the cap while losing draft picks... hmmm... where did i see that before...

orlando, if this trade does indeed go through, now adds a 20 year old center... again, darko is only 20 years old... who's shown an ability to block shots, and actually has a decent shooting percentage when they let him play, and putting him next to a man-beast in dwight howard, who will get every rebound and handle the scoring load down low, allowing darko to run the pick and roll with jameer nelson... or if he does, in fact, suck, they just get rid of him after next season, at the same time that grant hill's 13.5 million... the summer of 2007, which just happens to be the same season that lebron james, dwayne wade, carmello anthony and chris bosh become free agents for the first time.

now if only they can get rid of stevie the franchise killer, to some desperate team who's always looking to take on bums with bad contracts... hmmm... a desperate team looking to take on bums with bad contracts... where have i seen one of them before...


the summer of 2007 is sizing up to be a bidding war, with chicago, orlando and charlotte the leaders in the clubhouse, cap flexability wise... here are some of the free agents in 2007, with their current stats and how old they'll be in the summer of '07

pg, kirk hinrich- 14.4ppg, 6.2apg - 26 years old
sf, andres nocioni- 11.8ppg, 5.1rpg - 28 years old
pf, michael sweetney- 9.3ppg, 5.9 rpg - 25 years old
sf, lebron james- 31ppg, 6.9rpg, 6.5apg - 22 years old
sf, josh howard - 15.9ppg, 6.7 rpg - 27 years old
sf, carmello anthony- 25.9ppg, 5.3rpg - 23 years old
sg, mickael pietrus - 11.3ppg - 24 years old
pg, t.j. ford - 12.4ppg, 6.5apg, 4.6 rpg - 24 years old
sg, dwayne wade - 27.0ppg, 5.8rpg, 6.1apg - 25 years old
pg, luke ridnour - 11.8ppg, 6.7apg - 26 years old
chris bosh - 22.4ppg, 9.2rpg - 23 years old

 

[speedracer]

The difference is that Detroit will be championship-caliber this year, next year, and maybe the year after that.

After that, Joe Dumars will unload the two Wallaces and Chauncey Billups on the Knicks and start rebuilding.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

detroit is championship caliber this year... maybe next year. but they are killing their bench and losing draft picks, with no cap room to add anyone.

when i say what they're doing is similar to the knicks, i'm not talking about today's knicks... i'm talking about the knicks of the mid to late 90s, who were still competing for a championship at the time, while at the same time setting themselves up for a decade in salary cap hell, which has only been made worse by scott layden and isiah thomas.

all i'm saying is that it's very dangerous to lock up so much money in just 5 players in today's NBA.

 

[speedracer]

Ben Wallace is the one I'm really worried about. Once his knees start to go, he'll be useless. Rasheed is getting old as well, but given his offensive skills, there'll be some team that will be willing to pick up his contract. Chauncey Billups is only 29 right now, so he's not as big a worry.