NBA Off Topic

[SidVish]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Dwyane Wade
I’m reading a lot of reports coming out about my comments re: the Olympics and compensation. And I want to clear this up personally...I responded 2 a specific question asked by a reporter on my thoughts of Olympians being paid. I never asked to be paid to PLAY. What I was referencing is there is a lot of Olympic business that happens that athletes are not a part of. It’s a complicated issue. BUT my love 4 the game & pride 4 USA motivates me more than any dollar amount. I repped my country in 2004 when we won the silver medal and stood proudly to receive our gold medal in 2008 in Beijing. It’s always been an honor for me to be a part of the USA Olympic family & I’m looking forward to doing it again in London this summer.

Color me a skeptic. I bet that he still feels that they should be paid but he has to backtrack in order to be PC in order to fan the flames. If that's what you feel then so be it and stick to your guns but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth.

He said

"It's a lot of things you do for the Olympics -- a lot of jerseys you sell," Wade said after the Heat's practice on Wednesday in advance of Thursday's game against Chicago. "We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it's not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it."

"WE play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated."

Not sure how you could interpret that any other way.

[23]

Re: NBA Off Topic

If the Olympics Committee is making money off of mechandising of the players then they think they should get a cut

I dont see anything wrong with that honestly

Nobody needs to get paid for a volunteer job...but if theyre making money off of your name thats a different story altogether

[The 24th Letter]

If a dude that gets injured every 10 plays decides he wants to make a deep Olympic run over the summer, following a most likely deep playoff run, I'll take his word that he wants to play despite being compensated....I think he just answered a hypothetical....

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Good article oon Gilbert Arenas and even talks about how the whole Gun Incident originally went down:

Arenas spent 30 days in a halfway house after being convicted on gun charges stemming from a locker-room confrontation Dec. 21, 2009, with then-Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton. Arenas also had to perform 400 hours of community service and pay a $5,000 fine. He was suspended for 50 games without pay for 2009-10 by NBA Commissioner David Stern.
What Arenas says are misconceptions of what happened in that locker room still bother him.
"No one actually saw a gun in my hand at all. … I was not pulling a gun on anyone. That's actual fact," he says.
Arenas, 30, had previously declined to go into great detail. This is what he says happened:
Then-Wizards center JaVale McGee had beaten Crittenton out of $1,100 in a card game. Wizards guard Earl Boykins loaned McGee $200. McGee didn't immediately pay back Boykins as he won the money and an argument blossomed. Arenas says he wasn't involved in the actual bet.
" 'Pay the man his (expletive) money. You've got all my money,' " Arenas says Crittenton shouted at McGee. "So I jumped in, 'Why you talking to your teammates like this? We family.'
"That's when (Crittenton) started coming at me, '(Expletive, racial slur), just because you got all money, this and this and this.' That's when we started going back and forth. I didn't owe him anything. It was over a $1,100 pot he just lost."
Arenas pauses and sighs when asked how the situation escalated to the point of guns.
"Someone said they were going to shoot me. So since I'm one of those guys who says, 'I want to see this happen. I want to see you actually shoot me,' that's where that came from," says Arenas, declining to mention that someone by name. "I brought the four guns in and said (in a note), 'Pick 1, so the day you want to shoot me let me know, I'll be ready to get shot.' That's how."
According to a D.C. Superior Court document from Jan. 15, 2010: Several witnesses agree that during an argument on a Dec. 20, 2009, flight from Phoenix to Washington, Arenas threatened to shoot Crittenton in the face and set his Escalade on fire and that Crittenton threatened to shoot Arenas in the knee.
The document further details that witnesses saw Arenas lay out his firearms in front of Crittenton's locker and that Crittenton brought out his own.

There were other incidents with Arenas, too. According to him, Blatche once threw his clothes in a Jacuzzi, accusing Arenas of cutting up his suit. Arenas denied the suit-cutting because he wasn't in the building and insists it was another Wizards teammate. But Arenas was OK with playing that game. He got payback with Blatche's shoes.
"It was just dog doo-doo in it. It was really dog doo-doo. … I took his sole out, threw it under there, put the sole back on and threw the baby powder on there so he couldn't smell it," Arenas said.
But today, "We're all friends," Arenas said of his former teammates today. "We're still cool. We still talk to each other. Everyone is happy they're in better places.
"What's funny is when JaVale and Nick (Young, another former teammate) got traded this year, they called me and said, 'We out on good behavior. Dray went up for his parole hearing and got denied,'" Arenas' way of saying Blatche still remains with the Wizards. "We make a joke about it."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/story/2012-04-11/Arenas-happy-with-Memphis-blues-over-Agent-Zero/54188368/1

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Transcript of interview Barkley did in Chicago yesterday:

Spoiler

How impressed were you with the big kid from Kentucky, Anthony Davis the freshman?
"You know what, I like that kid. He seems like a very nice kid. It's unfortunate he's going to come out. I'm not big on these one-and-done guys. I wish we can keep them in college for two years. You know, he's got to gain some weight. He's probably got to gain 30-40 pounds if he's going to play in the NBA."
People are really comparing him to some of the greats. Some comparisons to Tim Duncan and some guys compared him to Bill Russell. Steve Kerr told us that he thinks in five years, he's going to be an MVP in the NBA.
"First of all, Steve Kerr is wrong. I like Steve Kerr. I like Steve Kerr a lot, but he's not going to be an MVP in five years. I don't even know what position he's going to play. He's only about 6'10, so if he plays power forward, he's not going to be just killing people at the power forward position. He's a center in college, but there's not many 6'10 centers in the NBA but I don't like when they compare guys because we don't know how these guys are going to turn out."
I know. Greg Oden was being compared to Wilt Chamberlain a few years back.
"I know. How did that work out? And I pulled for that kid, because he's a very nice young man, but you know what, we don't know injuries. We don't know what team he's going to go to. Think about it, if he goes to one of these bad teams, he's going to be fighting uphill. Some of these teams in the NBA are terrible. If he goes to a bad situation, he's going to go out there and get his brains beat in and we don't know how he's going to handle that mentally."
You told us the story about Michael Jordan and Adam Morrison, the last time he had a really high pick. The Bobcats should, unless the lottery ball bounces the other way, get the number one pick. He's not going to screw this up. He would take Anthony Davis, would he not?
"I've got to tell you something, I'm really concerned about the number one pick in the draft this year. Well, number one, I think Michael would take Anthony Davis or I'd kill him (laughs). I can't say this, but I'm going to be watching the draft lottery very closely because I don't want no shenanigans."
What are you alluding to? What do you think could happen?
"I'm going to be very leery if Anthony Davis ends up in Brooklyn. You know, I'm going to be very leery because I know the NBA has a lot riding on that new arena, especially if Deron Williams leaves New Jersey. They didn't get Dwight Howard. I'm going to be very leery if New Jersey gets that number one pick."
Are you a conspiracy theorist Chuck?
"I am. I am. (laughs) I am."
You think somebody got freezer burned from dry ice in the old ping pong ball days when they put their hand in that?
"You know, I go back to Patrick Ewing, so I believe in the conspiracy theories."
Chuck, you like the way the Bulls have played and you think they're coming out of the East?
"I do think they're coming out of the East. I thought the game last night with Rip Hamilton playing well was a great time. I really think they're the best team in the East. When they play Miami, it's going to be a knockdown, drag-out. I can't wait for that series. I wish we had the East this year. I could have some fun between Miami and Chicago, because you know Chicago's my favorite summer city in the world. I could have a little fun going between those two places. We could have some fun. The thing that's interesting is I have no idea where I'm going in the West. I have zero idea where I'm going in the West. Those matchups are going to go down to the last day of the regular season. I have no idea what two cities we are going to be going to for the Western Conference Finals."
Before we get to the East, is there a sleeper in the West you think can bounce up and represent the West in the Finals?
"The Memphis Grizzlies. They're finally getting healthy. They went into Oklahoma City and beat them. They went into LA and beat them. We've got to wait until they get everybody healthy, but Zach Randolph is rounding into form. I'm not a big Oklahoma City fan because I think they don't get easy baskets. I don't think they can score enough down low. I think you can beat them up down low and score on them. I just don't like jump shooting teams that are not great defensively."
What is it about the Miami Heat that kind of leads you to believe they are not going to represent the East this year?
"I think that LeBron James has to play at a Michael Jordan type level every single night because that team has so many holes on it, between their bench and lack of scoring inside. I said this early in the year, they are only going to go as far as LeBron James takes them. I like Dwyane (Wade). Dwyane's a terrific player. He got a lot of credit for winning the championship, but if you go back and look at that series, and he got the one game where he got 100 free throws, but Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning were the difference in that series. So people assume he's the closer to be honest with you, but LeBron James is the best player in the NBA. If he doesn't play at a crazy level and make those guys better, (Mario) Chalmers, Joel Anthony, (Udonis) Haslem, if he doesn't get all those guys off, they can't win, and I don't think he gets enough credit for that."
I have heard many times about star players in the NBA getting their coaches fired. I have never seen it play out in front of the cameras. What did youthink about what happened with Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy last week?
"That was one of the most uncomfortable things I've even seen in my life. I thought Stan Van Gundy was wrong for saying it at that particular moment. I'm not big on guys getting their coaches fired, I'm not big on guys getting their coaches fired. Whatever happened with Dwight, I'm not sure, but I've got to tell you something, whoever in upper management told Stan Van Gundy that, they should get fired immediately. To me, that's a scumbag move to have a private conversation with a higher official, and they go back and tell the coach? That to me was one of the most scumbag moves I've ever heard of in the NBA. I use the analogy if the boss came to me and said, tell me my opinion of the show, and if I said Ernie (Johnson) or Kenny (Smith) should be fired, and he went behind my back and told those guys, our relationship could never be the same again. Yeah we might smile on TV and act like everything's cool, but those guys should never trust me again. That's the only way you can equate it. I love Dwight Howard, and I wanted him on the Bulls at the trade deadline. I've lost a lot of respect for him because I feel like he's played like a dog the last several weeks."
What he thinks about Howard denying that he wanted Van Gundy fired:
"I wish he would own that to be honest with you. If he said that, just own it. Just come out and say ‘hey you know what, I did say that. Me and coach are not getting along. I want a new coach.' You can't walk up and put your arm around me. I think Dwight has done a lot of stuff wrong in this whole free agent thing, no question but think about this, he should come out and say ‘you know what, I did say that' because he acted like he didn't say it. That's what disturbs me the most. Even though someone leaked that information, just own it. Just say ‘you know what, I did say that, and I stick by it."

[ScoobySnax]

Re: NBA Off Topic

LMAO @ Nick Young's analogy! Couldn't be any more true!

[The 24th Letter]

Watching some commentary on the legendary Raps/Sixers series ...

I see SAS when he worked in Philly was a lot quieter back then.....his whole persona is completely different. Dude has made a career out of being loud LOL

[NINJAK2]

Re: NBA Off Topic

I'm sitting here thinking about how different the Mavs' roster will look next season. Players that will potentially be gone are:

Jet - for sure a goner
Kidd - gone unless brought back for veterans min or something very close
Yi - Unrestricted FA
Ian - Unrestricted FA
The Custodian - most likely will retire (or see Kidd)

If I'm the Mavs, two of my lower tier moves would be:

Extending Brandan Wright (for the right price of course)
Sign Deshawn Stevenson back (should have never let him go)


I still can't believe we'll have to pay Brendan Haywood $40MM over the next four years. Hopefully, he can be amnestied somehow.

They should do everything they can to hold on to Terry that is within reason. Maybe bring back Ian too if he doesn't want too much.

[cubsball899]

Re: NBA Off Topic

i thought Mahinmi was makin progress earlier this season? what happened with that? i haven't seen much of Dallas this year

[ScoobySnax]

Re: NBA Off Topic

i thought Mahinmi was makin progress earlier this season? what happened with that? i haven't seen much of Dallas this year

He's been pretty good, but he'll be able to get more from a team willing to pay more than Dallas.

[TracerBullet]

Re: NBA Off Topic

[TMagic]

Dudes "liking"are that picture is kinda suspect.

#justsayin'

[Boltman]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Dudes "liking"are that picture is kinda suspect.

#justsayin'

Well I'm sure they are "liking" it because they find it funny and not what your sick mind is thinking.

Who's suspect now?

[King_B_Mack]

Re: NBA Off Topic

So on the Stephon Marbury topic, dude couldn't win MVP over in the CBA because they only give they're Regular Season and Finals MVP award to Chinese born players? How ****ed up a rule is that? Could you imagine the NBA not allowing people like Dirk or Nash to be MVPs because they weren't born in America? That's ridiculous.

[BlueNGold]

Re: NBA Off Topic