2010-2011 NBA Thread Episode III

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Amar'e and Tyson sounds like a steep price for Howard. Maybe I should preface this by saying that I have never been terribly high on Dwight. He is obviously a tremendous defender and rebounder, but he is also immature, underdeveloped offensively, and constantly in foul trouble. It also seems that he is developing a LeBron-esque god complex. For all of his physical gifts, he should be the league's MVP every year, but for whatever reason he is not capitalizing on his natural talents. When the game is on the line, I would much rather have the ball in Amar'e's hands than those of Dwight.

i don't necessarily disagree with you...

but i think dwight and melo would fit better together than amar'e and melo.

i think this roster can win. i also don't think it's a coincidence that this current roster seems built more with, oh i dunno, the triangle offense, than it does for d'antoni's 4 out, point guard driven system that requires you to check your ego at the door.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony sounds mighty scary.

 

[iron yuppie]

I don't really understand how one could be "not very high" on Dwight Howard, but that's just me. We'll have to disagree on that. Dude is a god damned monster. I see your explanations for not being high on him, but I don't buy it. Not capitalizing on his natural talents? He's averaging 20 pts and 16 boards a game and wins Defensive Player of the Year every year. What else do you want him to do? Solve the unemployment crisis? Erase our national debt?

My argument against that is to ask what he has done in high-pressure and playoff situations. In the 2007 run, it was Turkoglu who carried the team; the last few years Nelson has been the go-to man in the playoffs. Dwight is a liability down the stretch owing to his limited offensive range and atrocious free-throw shooting. He gets a lot of his points through cleaning up on rebounds and other high-percentage shots, but those opportunities tend to disappear in the playoffs. Amar'e, on the other hand, can make his own offensive at any point, and I don't think you are giving up too much with Tyson rather than Dwight on the defensive end. I personally don't care at all about the Knicks, but my perception is that they are being really aggressive in trying to throw together as many huge names as they can. As we have seen in Miami, that doesn't always work.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

My argument against that is to ask what he has done in high-pressure and playoff situations. In the 2007 run, it was Turkoglu who carried the team; the last few years Nelson has been the go-to man in the playoffs. Dwight is a liability down the stretch owing to his limited offensive range and atrocious free-throw shooting. He gets a lot of his points through cleaning up on rebounds and other high-percentage shots, but those opportunities tend to disappear in the playoffs.

well... first, the magic made the run to the finals in 2009, not 2007.

second... howard averaged 26 and 13 in the eastern conference finals against the cavs, including 40 and 14 in the clinching game 6.

so he was pretty not bad for that run.

 

[iron yuppie]

well... first, the magic made the run to the finals in 2009, not 2007.

second... howard averaged 26 and 13 in the eastern conference finals against the cavs, including 40 and 14 in the clinching game 6.

so he was pretty not bad for that run.

Right, but let's not forget that it was Zydrunas Ilgauskas that he was abusing in that series.

 

[DRay9911]

i haven't watched much this season, but i caught the end of today's bulls/heat.

is this whole 'home team wears the dark away jerseys' thing new?

i hated when the nhl started doing it a few years back.

 

[iron yuppie]

Damn, Kyrie Irving looks good. The kid is tough as nails. The shot to beat the Celtics tonight looked like it required a tremendous amount of athleticism.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i haven't watched much this season, but i caught the end of today's bulls/heat.

is this whole 'home team wears the dark away jerseys' thing new?

i hated when the nhl started doing it a few years back.

teams are only allowed to do it a couple of times a year with their "special" alternate jerseys.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

i haven't watched much this season, but i caught the end of today's bulls/heat.

is this whole 'home team wears the dark away jerseys' thing new?

i hated when the nhl started doing it a few years back.

That's been the way in the NHL for like... a decade. I think it's more appropriate, because I think your dark jerseys almost always look better (although that's not the case for the Miami Marlins).

 

[LMP]

Amar'e and Tyson sounds like a steep price for Howard. Maybe I should preface this by saying that I have never been terribly high on Dwight. He is obviously a tremendous defender and rebounder, but he is also immature, underdeveloped offensively, and constantly in foul trouble. It also seems that he is developing a LeBron-esque god complex. For all of his physical gifts, he should be the league's MVP every year, but for whatever reason he is not capitalizing on his natural talents. When the game is on the line, I would much rather have the ball in Amar'e's hands than those of Dwight.

Amar'e/Chandler's the best rumored deal out there for Dwight and I'd do it in a heartbeat, too. He gets most of his points, rebounds, etc... on pure athleticism and those abilities aren't matched by any big man in the league right now. I agree with you that they wouldn't have made that Finals run had Turkoglu not been the go-to guy in the 4th quarter alongside Rashard Lewis (funny how LeBron's shot from Game 2 gets replayed while Lewis' gamewinner from Game 1 never happened). That being said, there's absolutely no way the Magic are in any position to win without Dwight.

Regarding Jameer Nelson, he was hurt throughout the Finals run and Van Gundy's awful move of putting him in the line-up vs. the Lakers was one of the biggest factors towards the Magic losing the series. In 2010, he hit a lot of shots when they were blowing out the Bobcats and Hawks, not so much when they got creamed by the Celtics in the Conference Finals... and I don't wanna talk about the no-show against the Hawks last year. He's one of the worst starting point guards in the league, but would make a terrific 6th man on a contender.

Lest we forget that Jason Richardson and Big Baby guaranteed $50 million for the next 4 years, so say goodbye to Ryan Anderson. I hope that the Otis Smith makes the right move (he won't) and packages him along with Daniel Orton or someone else for a quality rotation guy. Pipe dreams, I guess.

 

[PhilsFan]

I'm still stunned by Elton Brand outplaying Dwight Howard. Is he really that unhappy?

 

[LMP]

Two awful losses to the Celtics (one after having a 27-point lead at home), one to New Orleans on the road, and one to Indy at home will do that to you, I guess.

Granted, we don't have a point guard who can bring the ball up the court, so there's that.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Meh.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Jim Dolan really did a bang up job in turning the Denver Nuggets into a contender.

No wonder Donnie quit.

 

[gump]

To be fair, though, the only relevant pieces Denver still has from that trade are Gallinari and Mozgov. They probably wouldn't have been able to retain Felton and get Chandler this season. The Knicks still gave up more than they should have, but you've got to give something to get something, right?

With Fields back to playing reasonably well again, I'm happy they decided to keep him in the trade. I wish they would have sent Toney Douglas rather than one of the other pieces, though.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i know... and i still agree with the trade, really.

but the knicks gave up all their depth in that trade, and they are in desperate need of a point guard.

 

[gump]

I take it you are not a believer in Jeremy Lin, then?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Greg Oden is having knee surgery today... again...

 

[mikal]

for the record...i'm actually a tiny bit excited about the Bucks this year.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Jeremy Lin.

 

[gump]

He abused D-Will last night. Incredible performance.

That said, playing the Pearl Jam song as a tribute is odd.

 

[namkcuR]

So, there's a report stating that Baron has suffered a setback and is now out indefinitely.

Headache, I know you're a Dantoni supporter, but I think he's perhaps the biggest problem the Knicks have right now. I just think he's doing a pretty bad job. This 77OL offense is killing the Knicks - it worked well when an elite PG like Steve Nash was running it, but with this personnel it doesn't work at all. It's one of the most reckless, disorganized, haphazard offenses I've seen in a long time. It's like they're playing street ball. They just can't shoot it fast enough and without an all-time level offense-running talent like Nash running it, the need to shoot the ball so fast leads to a lot of bad shots. Furthermore, I don't see an elite PG coming through the Knicks' doors any time soon(Paul was the hope and that ship has sailed). Add to this Dantoni's total disregard for defense, and he's just not giving them much right now. I am unconvinced that the Amare/Melo chemistry problems aren't ones that could be fixed with a better coach implementing a more effective system.

What coach is this? Well, good point. I don't know. There aren't many good FA coaches right now.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

you apparently missed my ode to phil jackson a few weeks ago.

look... d'antnoi hasn't done the job. he's had a bad stretch of luck. his first few years he had a bad team. then he built a good team around amar'e last year, had them playing very well, and then had the roster gutted and stripped of all it's depth just in time for the stretch run. and then he had his point guard taken away from him, and a big with limited offensive abilities added, all without a preseason to figure out how to make it work.

frankly i think he didn't stand a chance, and ultimately it will cost him his job.

all that said... he is, in no way, running anything even remotely close to the offense he ran in phoenix. this is not the 7 seconds or less offense. not at all.

that offense was built around ball movement. this offense is a bunch of guys standing around jacking up iso jumpers, namely carmelo anthony.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

The Nets are such a bad team right now. I might have to turn this game off.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

It's Linsanity.

 

[speedracer]

Just switched on the game (NBATV), first thing I see is JLin burying a three as the buzzer goes off.

 

[gump]

I guess this is what D'Antoni's offense with a true PG should look like.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

If we're gonna bash d'antoni for the Knicks struggles, and rightfully so, then we have to give him his due for trusting a D leaguer to run the point with his job on the line.

 

[Hewson]

Knicks could go 66-0 if they unloaded Stoudemire and Anthony, last night proves it.