This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
I read this sometime last week, its kinda sad for Roy. Roy was widely considered a top 10 player a year or two ago, but because of his knees I think his best days are probably behind him. I do believe Roy's knees were an issue when he was drafted, but it just doesn't seem that the Blazers can catch a break.
I heard the announcers talking about it the other day, and one (I forget who) said that he liked Howard and Gortat on the floor together. Thoughts?
Like I said before, the Magic should have gone after Gerald Wallace instead of Rashard Lewis during that off-season. People here ridiculed me for not "understanding" that Lewis was a floor spacing PF, but I understood that his offensive contributions would not out weigh his deficiencies on defense. Wallace can't space the floor, but he can create his own shot, rebound, and defend. A Howard/Wallace combo would have be a great foundation in building a championship caliber defensive oriented team.
Thanks for the link. Was looking for that site.
it doesn't work like that. teams don't always focus on the things you think are valuable or meaningful. they overpaid for lewis because he fit their scheme. they had Hedo at SF already and liked getting another perimeter shooter to open things up for howard. they haven't really been interested in being a truly defense oriented team despite having DPOY in howard ruling the paint. if they were they wouldn't have made the personnel choices, including coach, the FO have made.
No, you're just as wrong today as you were 3 years ago. Even moreso, as you've had 3 years to think about how wrong you are.The idea works for the Magic, but Lewis has gotten old. They went to a Finals and two ECFs in his 3 years there though. How exactly has it not worked out?
Man, Hollinger is right when he always complains about how people completely fail to understand how good the Magic are defensively. He credits it to them being a 3-point shooting team. Crazy.They are a fantastic defensive team.
Gortat is really not a good offensive player. I'd much prefer finding a way to get Bass as the primary 4. He can still space the floor.
The matchup problems Lewis used to create was a huge reason why they won the Eastern Conference a few years ago. Having to pay huge dollars to a player on the downswing of his career is something virtually any team who signs a major free agent has to deal with (not that Lewis wasn't ridiculously overpaid from the start, but again that's par for the course)
I understand he fit their "scheme" and because of that they overpaid for a tall SF to parade around as an PF. My whole contention is that I don't agree with overpaying for an offensive player because of "fit."
It did "work" for the 1st 3 years, but I would contend that Gerald Wallace would have just as productive and the Magic could have helped the Magic win as well. Wallace was coming off a season where he averaged 18 ppg on 56.8 TS%, 7 rebs, 2 stl, and 1 blk. Sure you lose some on the offensive end, but you gain so much more on the defensive end. Wallace was also 25 years old at the time of the deal so they would have had him signed for the prime of his career for < 10 million vs having Lewis for 3 years of his prime @ 17 million per season. Also, imagine what type of player they could add with the ~ 7 million dollar per year savings. The Magic are a very good defensive team because of how great Howard is, but imagine how much better they would be with a lock down defender like Wallace on the perimeter? Wallace is a better defender and all around player compared to Pietrus, Barnes, and Lee who they used in the past as defensive stoppers. They have been great on defense, but that doesn't mean they can stop improving themselves on that end.I've watched enough basketball, contrary to your belief, to know that overpaying an older one dimensional offensive player is a bad decision when you have a younger, cheaper player who plays both offense and defense.No, you're just as wrong today as you were 3 years ago. Even moreso, as you've had 3 years to think about how wrong you are.The idea works for the Magic, but Lewis has gotten old. They went to a Finals and two ECFs in his 3 years there though. How exactly has it not worked out?
ps, the Magic have been the best, or second-best defensive team in basketball the past 2.5 years. ESPN had something today about how they are on pace to shatter all defensive efficiency records this season too. Teams can't score on them. So, to quote you, they already are a "championship caliber defensive oriented team".Seriously dude, watch some damn basketball before you get all arrogant about a clearly incorrect argument you made 3 years ago. Jesus.
1. I disagree that it is optimal to have a set starting 5. 2. It's November in the NBA, this is the time to tinker with lineups and figure out which work the best vs different types of opponents.3. Does someone really need minutes to prep himself to throw an inbound pass?
Weird. David Stern is usually much more charismatic than that and funny too. He's certainly the most interesting of the sports commissioners.
Agree, it's a sad story. I really thought (probably like many) that the Blazers were the up and coming young team in the league. They could still be, but Roy/Oden (latter if ever healthy) are going to be playing complimentary roles instead of being franchise type players.
That's really not saying much at all.
i'm looking forward to seeing this game. SA has had a pretty soft schedule to date. playing the bulls will be a pretty good test of where both teams are at this stage. the parker-rose match up ought be be interesting too.
How about the guy who competed with him to be the #1 overall pick, Jay Williams? One disappointing rookie season, an off the field injury that was entirely the product of his own stupidity, and a comeback effort that ended with him being waived by an NBDL team. The guy's still only 29 years old, and hasn't even thought about stepping on a basketball court in years.
Kwame Brown? He's managed to suck hard without any real debilitating injuries of note.
This.I wonder if Yao is still placed on the All Star ballot for the next 20 years how long until he is not voted a starter.
He was always the weakest #1 pick of all time, though. I remember when the Wiz won the lottery that year- the fan mood wasn't happy. It was actually kind of resentful that we finally caught a lottery break and it was meaningless since there was no reason to think that the #1 pick that year would be any better than any other top 5 pick.Milicic is a good one- the hype he got was out of control, and the contrast with the other guys drafted around him is amazing.
19 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.9 bpg through seven years not including this year. If he didn't play another game the rest of his career the Rockets would be ecstatic with his career. If the Rockets could redo the 2002 NBA draft, I have no doubt that they would still select Yao over Amare or Boozer because of the combination of his on court success and overall marketing success.
The great thing about both the Milicic pick and the Brown pick are that the following couple big men selected in both cases (Bosh, Kaman and Chandler,Gasol) have turned to be very good players.
Not as much with Brown, though, because you've got Eddy Curry in the mix. My recollection of that disastrous draft was the Jordan was down to Brown, Curry or Chandler for the Wiz. Gasol was never in the mix for him or any expert types. So really, the Wiz would have had to beat the odds to avoid disaster, and even Chandler took forever to turn into a good player.
Not that I watched much of Chandler with the Bulls, but his statistics look pretty similar from year 1 to now, he's just played fewer minutes in Chicago.
Michael Olowokandi is also a pretty solid bust for a #1. If you want to extend the 20 years a bit, you could include Pervis Ellison.
They had better nicknames than Kwame.
Ellison averaged 20 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks in his 3rd season, before knee injuries destroyed his career. He wasn't a bust when healthy.
OOF
Article I read indicated a pre-nup. I assume this will be a pretty clean split.
Any word on which teammate's wife he was dunking on?
Seems that way. I like hearing the local broadcast teams calling the games.
Bulls are playing great defense... I was at the GS game a week ago and they were flat out great on the defensive end.Thibs is working his magic already.Huge stretch of TOUGH games against the West without Boozer, should be interesting to see where their record is when they come back home.
Agree on the defense, even Rose. My expectations of this team are rising but we will know a lot more by the time Boozer is healthy. Korver, Gibson, Noah, Deng from distance, and Asik are all better than expected. Brewer is starting to contribute and Watson looks like he belongs on the floor after a rough start. And Rose is playing like a true superstar now.
Some scoffed at the idea of Rose being in the top 3 PG discussion in this very thread, and while it is early, he is clearly showing that he belongs. The guy is turning into a superstar... What intrigues me at this point is how much better the 2nd unit gets when Taj gives way to Boozer. The 1st unit is playing great and while the 2nd unit has struggled a bit, they have made strides over the last few games.I'm with you though, my expectations were 47-50 wins... and while I still think they end up right around there, possibly in the low 50's, my interest has piqued after the stretch of recent games they have played.Should be fun to see what kind of impact Boozer makes.
Wow, Jesus
Wonder how Thibs and Boozer will work out? Obviously Boozer's offensive skills outweigh his defensive liabilities, but he'll stick out like a sore thumb if the first unit really has jelled as a unit the way you guys are describing. I haven't seen the for more than 10 minutes this year.
The Score rips on Bosh every chance they get.
