The Thread of the 2009-2010 NBA Season

[DeToxRox]

Dola, if LBJ wants to stay in Cleveland, he'll sign a new deal by what, January 1st? I am not sure when next years cap is set but if he is going to stay in Cleveland I have no doubts he'd do it during the year. The longer that drags out, the less likely he is a Cav and the Cavs go back to irrelevance.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

It may not be all about money, but the fact remains that the Cavs can pay LeBron more than anyone else. If he does leave, I'd be surprised if it isn't a sign-and-trade. Having said that, I still don't think he leaves Cleveland.

I personally hope, outside of my pro-Cavs bias, that he doesn't because half the league (ok, slight exaggeration) shouldn't be rewarded for essentially tanking in the hope that they'll get LeBron/Bosh/whoever.

lol, why is Bosh put up there with LeBron?

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

lol, why is Bosh put up there with LeBron?

Glad you said it. No one believes me but I'd absolutely not want to throw a ton of money at Bosh. For a "superstar" his teams never do much. He's a great stat sheet filler but watching him play, I don't ever see anything from him that wows me. If he doesn't have the ball, there's no point in covering him because he doesn't do anything.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I hope LeBron leaves because the Cavs have utterly failed to surround him with talent. If they haven't gotten him help yet, why should he think they will over the life of his next contract?

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

His NBA salary has nothing to do with it. It's pennies compared to the endorsement dollars he'd get in NY over Cleveland. He wants to be the first billion dollar athlete in sports. Now tell me how he accomplishes that in Cleveland?

By winning six titles in Cleveland? I don't know. I don't know that he can get to that level, even if he wanted to. I don't think he'd get it by going to the Knicks or the Nets.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Glad you said it. No one believes me but I'd absolutely not want to throw a ton of money at Bosh. For a "superstar" his teams never do much. He's a great stat sheet filler but watching him play, I don't ever see anything from him that wows me. If he doesn't have the ball, there's no point in covering him because he doesn't do anything.

Heck, I'm not big on him either. Our nickname for Bosh is "Mr Vagina" because he plays like he's got one. Having said that, I'm sure he'll get a max contract and would be one of the guys that the Knicks or whoever would like to sign along with LeBron.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

By winning six titles in Cleveland? I don't know. I don't know that he can get to that level, even if he wanted to. I don't think he'd get it by going to the Knicks or the Nets.

Do you truthfully think he even could win 1 title in Cleveland with the awful talent they've assembled for him up until this point? The Knicks are building a team specifically for LBJ with a coach he loved playing under at the Olympics. He is going to go to a team with has some nice younger players, though by no means great, but also a team that will be able to afford another big time player to complement Bron. Meanwhile Cleveland has what exactly for him?

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Heck, I'm not big on him either. Our nickname for Bosh is "Mr Vagina" because he plays like he's got one. Having said that, I'm sure he'll get a max contract and would be one of the guys that the Knicks or whoever would like to sign along with LeBron.

I can understand that. Bosh will get big money but I personally think a guy like Al Jefferson blows him out of the water. Bosh though seems to be Bron's BFF so I could see a situation where Bosh takes less to play with him in a place like NY.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sparkle

I hope LeBron leaves because the Cavs have utterly failed to surround him with talent. If they haven't gotten him help yet, why should he think they will over the life of his next contract?

I disagree. They've surrounded him with some decent players. There isn't a Pippen (Larry Hughes didn't work out so well...) to his Jordan, but there's enough talent to win a lot of games. The problem with the Cavs is coaching IMO, far more than it is talent. They are so inept in a halfcourt offense 70% of the time that it's a wonder they win as much as they do (or did).

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Do you truthfully think he even could win 1 title in Cleveland with the awful talent they've assembled for him up until this point? The Knicks are building a team specifically for LBJ with a coach he loved playing under at the Olympics. He is going to go to a team with has some nice younger players, though by no means great, but also a team that will be able to afford another big time player to complement Bron. Meanwhile Cleveland has what exactly for him?

Again, I don't think the talent in Cleveland is awful. They aren't the Lakers (or Celtics, or Magic), but they have a pretty solid group of roleplayers, lacking only a 2nd "big name" player. That's a pretty big piece, sure, but they've tried to bring in guys to help them, most haven't panned out.

There are lots of reasons for him to go to the Knicks, but I think it's far from a sure thing that they'd be able to field a team better than the Cavs are today. They've got some young guys, none of whom are certain to be a #2 guy on a great team, and they also don't have their lottery pick next season. What they do have is cap space, but that doesn't always work out for you either.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

I can understand that. Bosh will get big money but I personally think a guy like Al Jefferson blows him out of the water.

No argument there. If Al Jeff stays healthy, he's one of the best bigs in the league. Bosh reminds me of Amar'e Stoudamire in a few ways, but mostly in the way that I don't consider them to be the focal point on offense for a "winning" team. They both get their numbers, but I don't think either of them does enough outside of that to warrant their status.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

No argument there. If Al Jeff stays healthy, he's one of the best bigs in the league. Bosh reminds me of Amar'e Stoudamire in a few ways, but mostly in the way that I don't consider them to be the focal point on offense for a "winning" team. They both get their numbers, but I don't think either of them does enough outside of that to warrant their status.

100% agreement. Ask either of them to shoulder the load and it's going to be a disaster. That said, put one of them with a Bron, Wade or Kobe and you have a 70 win team.

[DaddyTorgo]

Celtics - 92
Sixers - 59

with like 6 minutes to go in the game

LOL

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

It may not be all about money, but the fact remains that the Cavs can pay LeBron more than anyone else. If he does leave, I'd be surprised if it isn't a sign-and-trade. Having said that, I still don't think he leaves Cleveland.

I personally hope, outside of my pro-Cavs bias, that he doesn't because half the league (ok, slight exaggeration) shouldn't be rewarded for essentially tanking in the hope that they'll get LeBron/Bosh/whoever.

NBA teams have always been rewarded for tanking it. How do you think the Nuggets and Cavs tied for the worst record the year of the Lebron draft? They tanked it, won as few of games as possible.

As for the sign and trade, who does that benefit? The Cavs. That's it. Lebron can get some more money in an S&T, but Lebron wouldn't agree to go to the Knicks and have them trade Gallarni or the Nets and have them trade Lopez. He'll want the most available talent around him as possible. If Lebron leaves Cleveland, the Cavs are left high and dry.

Celtics with another blowout. Nuggets with a blowout as well. (though they played pretty poorly)

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Celtics - 92
Sixers - 59

with like 6 minutes to go in the game

LOL

Two weird things from the 10 minutes I watched between hockey periods - the refs were having a weird Donaghy-like contest to call all fouls non-shooting, leading to a Sheed technical, and Rondo actively passing up uncontested layups out in front of everyone to pass back to Pierce between multiple defenders. Pierce still made the contested layup, but I'm not a fan of the decision.

[RainMaker]

Speaking of Lebron, Sam Smith had an interesting view on what could happen (on TV and an article he wrote). New York would almost be a step down surrounding cast wise. New Jersey has a lot of question marks with new ownership, stadiums, etc. So what about the Lakers? He said he's heard from some sources that the scenario has been battered around by people.

Essentially Lebron tells the Cavs he wants to play in LA and that's it. A sign and trade ensues. Lakers give up Bynum and a slew of other young guys and draft picks (and an expiring contract or two). It leaves the Cavs with a 23-year old Center to build around and some draft picks which is better than nothing. Kobe's getting up there in age so Lebron takes the reigns from him in a couple years after they win a couple championships.

I personally think he stays in Cleveland because there aren't really any good options out there. New York is a disaster and will waste his prime years for nothing. New Jersey is interesting but as I mentioned, lot of questions on the direction of that franchise. I don't see him going small market. The Lakers and/or Clipper make some sense.

As a darkhorse, I'll throw out my Bulls. He'd step in with Derrick Rose entering his 3rd year and on the verge of becoming one of the elite point guards in the game. Luol Deng is a solid #3 option. Noah gives some good energy and can run the floor. They also have some decent young guys like Taj Gibson who look like they could be a starter. I'd have to say that it would make them the favorites.

[Chief Rum]

This ain't going to happen.

But...it has been tossed around that the Clippers--except for the fact that they are the Clippers--would be an excellent fit for LeBron. They have cap space and more coming off, and a lot of very good young talent. They should be able to pay LeBron a max contract. Plus, they're in LA, and LeBron can go head to head with Kobe.

Like I said, ain't gonna happen. Still, none of the above is not true.

[bhlloy]

Clips in a few years with Griffin, Gordon and Lebron... damn. Like you say absolutely 0 chance he goes to a franchise with the history of the Clippers but it's an intriguing thought. The Lebron vs Kobe story would be insane.

Don't see any way Kobe is happy sharing the limelight with Lebron unless he decides he can't win another one without him. Plus you just spent on Odom and Artest, where is the money coming from unless somebody takes them off your hands for expirings or picks.

I still think staying with the Cavs makes the most sense It will come down to the front office guaranteeing him a second star player and Mike Brown being fired and he will stay. The lure of NY is nice but he's smart and neither of those franchises are well run.

[DeToxRox]

If Detroit played Orlando 82 times, they'd be 82-0. Too bad they have to play other teams.

Orlando gave Detroit the win today though, attempting 35 three's and only hitting on 10. It was a record for 3's attempted in a game vs Detroit.

[Lathum]

fucking OT, I had the under in the Lakers game nailed

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

As a darkhorse, I'll throw out my Bulls. He'd step in with Derrick Rose entering his 3rd year and on the verge of becoming one of the elite point guards in the game. Luol Deng is a solid #3 option. Noah gives some good energy and can run the floor. They also have some decent young guys like Taj Gibson who look like they could be a starter. I'd have to say that it would make them the favorites.

As interesting as it would be, I'm in agreement with much of the media thinking Wade is most likely of the Big FA Crop to land in Chicago. Highly doubt they'll get a legitimate shot at any of the others.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

As interesting as it would be, I'm in agreement with much of the media thinking Wade is most likely of the Big FA Crop to land in Chicago. Highly doubt they'll get a legitimate shot at any of the others.

I think Bosh would be a major option too. Might even make more sense since Rose and him can pick and roll all day.

[JeeberD]

How about that Dirk Nowitzki. 29 points in the fourth quarter, killer...

[whomario]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

How about that Dirk Nowitzki. 29 points in the fourth quarter, killer...

he´s just awesome and despite being german i´m not even following him or the Mavs during the season, so it´s a nice mixture of not being a homer and still being amazed when he has a game like this

What is really impressive : He didn´t have a single Turnover. His career numbers are ridiculously low as well at 1.9 considering his play style and him being the focal point of the offense every game. I mean, he´s a 7 footer playing like a 3 a lot of the time, putting the ball on the floor and going for scoring opportunities all the time, often against smaller, quicker players that have the specific goal to harrass him and force him into turnovers.

Suns win in Miami, Nash with 30 points on 11-15 shooting Apparently busted out a zone defense in the 4th and won that quarter 29-15.

Nash´s TOs are very high through 4 games (4.5), but that´s allways the case early in the year for him, generally takes his running mates a few weeks to get used to his more adventourous passes again Other than that 21.5 ppg, 12.5 apg, 54/56/100 for shooting. Good start for the old man i declare.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by whomario

Suns win in Miami, Nash with 30 points on 11-15 shooting Apparently busted out a zone defense in the 4th and won that quarter 29-15.

Quentin ("I thought zones were only for college teams") Richardson is a pussy, especially because a zone would seem to work perfectly to his advantage.

Celtics finally have a close game, but pull out the 2-point win @Minnesota. Oleksiy Pecherov? with 24 and 8 for the T'Wolves.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Celtics finally have a close game, but pull out the 2-point win @Minnesota. Oleksiy Pecherov? with 24 and 8 for the T'Wolves.

Sheed now has 40 attempts from 3 compared to 13 from inside the arc, so that seems to be a pretty clear-cut job description ... Right now he´s hitting at 43% though, so more power to him.

There´s quite a few Euros playing above expectations right now, although admittedly i don´t see Pecherov performing constantly good in the future. He has a very "shaky" game, jump shooter without a particularly efficient release, very errativ moving with and without the ball, bad rebounder ...

Nelly Lineup Watch : 3 in 3 games.

Ok, admittedly Turiaf was injured and they won

played Jackson/Magette at PF and played with Biedrins or Moore at center (Biedrins foul trouble).

Morrow is a sniper, 24 points on 10-12 shooting after Nelly said he needed to get more shots (hey, he does get some things right).

Rockets loose to the Lakers in OT . Crap game from Ariza in terms of shooting the ball.
Kobe took over late and had 41 points on 15-30. Bynum 17/17 but almost matched by Chuck Hayes who got 14/14 Scola 16/13, Landry 20/8. Again 7 guys with 8+ points.

The Lakers not getting much from the bench early in the year.

[DaddyTorgo]

nice to see the C's gut one out - they were definately looking tired (hence all the front-rimming on their jumpshots that they make any other night). Strong defense down the stretch and in the bits that I saw.

[TroyF]

Nuggets and Celtics only two unbeaten teams left.

Nuggets slaughtered an overmatched Nets team. Ty Lawson had a monster game. 9/10 from the floor, 23 points in 28 minutes. In 106 minutes played, he's shooting 59% (including 5/8 from the three point line) and has 5 turnovers. An assist to to ratio nearing 3 to 1.

The Nuggets have 2 games left without JR Smith. @Miami on Friday and then @Atlanta on Saturday. (4th game in 5 nights) JR comes back for yet another back to back set on the road against the Bulls and the Bucks. (the Nuggets will have played 4 back to back sets in out of their first 9 games after that one, thanks NBA schedulers)

I don't think the Nuggets get through the next two without a loss. Teams are doubling and tripling Melo and leaving Anthony Carter as the free man. that's not a good thing. The Nuggets are still scoring, but Miami is going to be a step up in talent from our last three games. I'd be more than happy with a split and not bothered a lot if they drop 2 here.

[DaddyTorgo]

i always knew lawson was going to be a steal...idk why so many people passed on him

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i always knew lawson was going to be a steal...idk why so many people passed on him

I don't know about elsewhere but in Detroit everyone was saying at the time he had a terrible workout which caused the Pistons to take a 6'10, 175 SF instead.

God Dumars sucks.

[bhlloy]

No discussion about the AI situation in Memphis? Grizzlies finally have something going for them, pretty good young team with two bonefide scorers, a could-be-decent PG and Gasol looks much better than everyone thought at center, when the owner decides he needs to sell some more tickets and signs AI, who proceeds to bitch and moan his first two games because he thinks he should be starting and he didn't get the last shot. Should be fun to watch AI and Randolph completely destroy this team over the next couple of months.

Really all the Grizzlies needed to do was a) resign Gay and b) continue Conley and Mayo's development and they really had a solid core for the future, possibly even a contender if you get another high draft pick this year (and maybe c) see if you can make Thabeet look anything like an NBA player). And they fucked it up - failed to sign Gay who they will now either have to give a monster contract to in the offseason or let a budding superstar walk, and signed a guy who will either hamper the development of one (or both) of those guys or destroy the team because he's not getting the minutes he feels he deserves. Great job by management, Hollins must be tearing his hair out.

[Gary Gorski]

I would rank the Thabeet pick right up there with the AI signing in terms of things the Grizzlies royally screwed up. You're telling me you couldn't have gotten #8 plus something out of the Knicks for #2?

You are right, its a shame what the Grizz did with a nice young franchise. Look at a team like Atlanta - they've sucked for years but piece by piece they have built a playoff quality team. Memphis could have been on the same path. I'm not even going to go nuts on the Randolph trade - they got him for nothing, he's a talented guy and only has this year and next on his contract. Plus they needed another low post player who could score and rebound. Yes its going to probably result in some kind of headache but maybe not as bad as the mess that's coming with AI added in and at least Randolph isn't taking time away from promising young players.

Too bad Iverson went the way he did - he had such an amazing career and he's going to Stephon Marbury himself right out of the league. Rather than embracing a sixth man role while he still has some game left and latching on with a team that could win a title he ends up with a crappy team who didn't even need him but just wanted a name to sell more jerseys and seats.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

I would rank the Thabeet pick right up there with the AI signing in terms of things the Grizzlies royally screwed up. You're telling me you couldn't have gotten #8 plus something out of the Knicks for #2?

You are right, its a shame what the Grizz did with a nice young franchise. Look at a team like Atlanta - they've sucked for years but piece by piece they have built a playoff quality team. Memphis could have been on the same path. I'm not even going to go nuts on the Randolph trade - they got him for nothing, he's a talented guy and only has this year and next on his contract. Plus they needed another low post player who could score and rebound. Yes its going to probably result in some kind of headache but maybe not as bad as the mess that's coming with AI added in and at least Randolph isn't taking time away from promising young players.

Too bad Iverson went the way he did - he had such an amazing career and he's going to Stephon Marbury himself right out of the league. Rather than embracing a sixth man role while he still has some game left and latching on with a team that could win a title he ends up with a crappy team who didn't even need him but just wanted a name to sell more jerseys and seats.

The Grizz traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers for virtually nothing, and are now spending the same money they did on Pau to pay Zach Randolph.

The NBA: It's Amazing.

[whomario]

Virtually nothing turns out to be a better than average 24 year old NBA Center who´s averaging 18/13 (and looking like it when seeing games) through 5 games (and should be a 15/10 guy for many years) while being improved on defense due to increasing his mobility again, just saying in the interest of full disclosure, not to defend the Grizzlies management
As for Thabeet, i´ll give him a pass for at least this and next season before labeling him as anything ...

[bhlloy]

Yeah I don't hate the Randolph trade either. He's insanely talented and on his own he's not going to blow up a franchise, plus he's still only 28. If he gets his head screwed on that's a great trade for the Grizzlies.

Thabeet, yeah it looks bad when you think what they could have got for moving down. I guess we'll never know whether the Knicks actually wanted to move up or whether they were happy to get Curry at #8 (LOL) but if they were it's pretty bad when you think you could have had Jordan Hill and either another good young player or a future first and you took one of the biggest projects the league has ever seen. But let's give him a couple of years, if he can put on 40 pounds of muscle he's going to be an insane defensive force even if he never develops an offensive game (and with Mayo, Gay and maybe Randolph there he's not going to need to score much)

I had blocked out the horror of the Gasol trade TBH, yeah Marc turned out pretty good but not really the point. For a player that good who is the final piece to a championship puzzle for somebody else, you better get an absolute haul of young guys and picks and they got 1.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by whomario

Virtually nothing turns out to be a better than average 24 year old NBA Center who´s averaging 18/13 (and looking like it when seeing games) through 5 games (and should be a 15/10 guy for many years) while being improved on defense due to increasing his mobility again, just saying in the interest of full disclosure, not to defend the Grizzlies management
As for Thabeet, i´ll give him a pass for at least this and next season before labeling him as anything ...

Aye. I overlooked Marc Gasol. He is a nice piece for the future.

[TroyF]

I used to be a big AI fan. Then he came to Denver. I was sick of him within the first year. I will never, ever forget Denver's first playoff series with AI. You think Carmelo and Nene had their playoff breakouts last year? No, actually it happened in 2006/07 against the Spurs.

Melo owned Bruce Bowen in that series. He averaged 27 points, 8 boards and shot an adjusted 52% for the series. Nene averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds and played great defense on Duncan.

So what happened for Denver in the series? AI average 22.8 points and 22.8 shot attempts per game. Melo and Nene combined for 30 shots a game, AI took 23 himself and shot an adjusted 38%. That series kills me to this day.

As for the rest of the Grizzlies, they are a mess. I like Gasol. Hate Thabeet. They play zero defense. (giving up a stunning 56% adjusted FG% for the year) They are a -5.8 in turnover differential.

And now they are giving Allen Iverson 28+ minutes a game and teaching the young guys how cool it is to yell at management from the media.

Pathetic.

[Chief Rum]

Last year, the Clips got Randolph for practically nothing (poor Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas), and I said at the time, good trade, look at the numbers he has put up. Others as the time disagreed, pointed how he got his points, but his teams never win and he makes boneheaded plays way too often.

I thought they were mistaken after the first few games, where he looked very good.

They were not mistaken. Glad he's not on the team anymore, and sorry the Grizz have him, although that trade was great for the Clips. Not only did they lose Randolph and his cap clogging contract, but they turned the return (Quentin Richardson) into Sebas Telfair and Craig Smith, who are now valuable role players with upside.

[Blade6119]

Suns take down the celtics tonight, very impressive win for a team that is really exceeding my modest hopes for this season!

[Big Fo]

JJ Redick and Ryan Anderson are taking advantage of the increased playing time they're seeing from the absent Vince Carter (injury) and Rashard Lewis (illegal substance suspension). Keep slangin' them threes boys.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

Suns take down the celtics tonight, very impressive win for a team that is really exceeding my modest hopes for this season!

i didn't watch the whole game but apparently the reffing was extra-shitty tonight, and Sheed was hucking up ill-advised 3's late in the game. ah well...they weren't going to go undefeated and they've had a busy start to the season

[Chief Rum]

The Warriors were missing Biedrins and Turiaf, sure, but, boy, the Clips really put a hurtin' on them tonight, and in Oakland, to boot.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i didn't watch the whole game but apparently the reffing was extra-shitty tonight, and Sheed was hucking up ill-advised 3's late in the game. ah well...they weren't going to go undefeated and they've had a busy start to the season

Well, you couldn´t expect otherwise seeing how his style of play developed over the years

As long as he´s hitting them you watch and are like "great, he stretches the floor, surprises the defense and gives us another dimension" but watch out for the games where his long ball isn´t falling ...

Pretty good night for me personally, a lot of teams and players doing good that i like.

- Bobcats beat the Hawks handily, Bell in his first game back from injury with 24 points on 9-12 shooting. Wallace with another huge rebounding night to counter his ongoing shooting woes. Now averages 14,8 rebounds through 5 games (12,15,9,20,18 the single game numbers) but is shooting 31% for his 14.8 PPG (no typo) . And he has 2 assists against 17 TOs . Has got to be a frustrating fantasy player right now

- Magic beat the Pistons. Howard again with a good game from the FT line (8-9, was 7-8 the game before and 14-16 3 games back), now at 69% for the year . Redick was impressive the 2 games i saw the Magic, not just his shooting but he also has improved his ballhandling/penetration by leaps and bounds really.

-Phonix beats the Celtics

-Toronto beats the Hornets who imo will miss the Playoffs. Everybody but Paul, West and Okafor is well below average on their position/role ...

- Gallinari with a good game against the Cavs

- Lakers win handily, Bryant with 41 points on 19-30 shooting without a TO (well, only 1 assists as well, seems like he just got where he wanted with little help defense) . Mbenga 13 boards and 4 blocks !

- Blazers shake things up starting Blake and Miller with Roy moving to the 3. It is a freaking joke how Oden is refereed ... Seriously, if that´s the direction the NBA continues to go in regards of defensive minded big men than i´m not happy ... I mean, the guy is silently having a monster year outside of scoring with 9.5 boards and 2.5 blocks in 22 minutes a game. Przybilla has 8 boards in 17 minutes btw.

- Ginobili looks like shit out there right now Parker goes down with a sprained ankle and Spurs get beat by the Blazers.

- as far as the Clippers : Kaman is owning, 23/10 after 6 games

- Last but not least : Rockets beat the Thunder with yet another balanced scoring game. Ariza has 21/5/6 , Scola has 19/10, Landry 21/9, Budinger scores 16 and Brooks has 11.
Their offense is so nice to watch

[Lathum]

CDR has swine flu...

[whomario]

Suns beat the Wizards and are now 6-1 to start the year Nash is just awesome. Definitely the best passer in the league. Others may come close in terms of Assists numbers and of course you can point to the Suns pace and so forth, but in terms of seeing angles and being able to execute the sheer amount of different types of passes from every spot using either hand with equal accuracy is just incredible with him. If you´d cut a tape of just him passing, dribling and doing layups you couldn´t tell wether he´s right or left handed.

And another late-call here : Just finished watching the Rockets-Lakers from a few nigth ago and found again that the Kobe/Battier matchup is propably the highest quality offensive/defensive matchup in the league.
That game Bryant hit so many amazing shots and displayed such great footwork for so many great moves while Battier was on him like glue every single time getting as close as you possibly can get without fouling and he hardly ever gets caught out of position.
Really, really fun to watch those 2 go at it.

Bryan´t seems to go into the post alot more this year, doesn´t he ? Just read about him taking a lesson with Olajuwon (although what you learn in 2 hours is kinda limited really) over the summer and working on that facet a lot and the 2 games i´ve seen back that up as well as the numbers (only 13 threes in 6 games but a ton of FTs).

[Neon_Chaos]

The Lakers looked solid tonight. Mbenga and Brown stepped up big time.

Kobe is a beast. He almost always asked for the ball in the post, and it didn't matter who was guarding him. He would do all his work on positioning himself without the ball, and once the ball got to his hands he would unleash the killer turnaround with precision.

[Groundhog]

Big Aussie Nathan Jawai had a good game against the Bucks yesterday. T'Wolves got blown out, but Jawai finished with career highs in points (16) and rebounds (6). Hopefully he's in shape, because the guy the Jawai that I saw playing for Toronto and Dallas was not the Shaq-esque Jawai I saw down here in Australia. When he was forced to miss all that time with the heart-scare he really got out of shape.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

The Warriors were missing Biedrins and Turiaf, sure, but, boy, the Clips really put a hurtin' on them tonight, and in Oakland, to boot.

The entire team has already quit on the season. They can't stand Nelson/ownership. We already know Jackson wants out. Ellis does, too, but he won't go on record as saying so. Nelson has relegated Anthony Randolph to 3rd string center, playing Mikki Moore over him. Any significant minutes he's gotten have come via garbage time. There is no semblance of a consistent rotation. It's a complete and utter train wreck, even more so than I think just about anyone had anticipated. Nelson won't be fired, so nothing will change. The personnel might change, but nothing noticeable will happen until Nelson is gone in two years. It's sickening.

[Groundhog]

It's one thing to play small-ball, but you still need to play D. Warriors are built to just run and run, but if you're not getting stops, how can you run?

You can't reasonably expect them to play half-court offense though, can you? I mean seriously, who sets the screens? You've got two pint-sized guards and a swingman playing the 4 spot. Just an absolute trainwreck.

[Lathum]

I love watching Golden State play. Up by 25 and they are still jacking up threes with 21 seconds left on the shot clock.