Official Basketball Thread

I think my Mavs had a decent offseason considering what we planned to do. Though we didn't get Williams and lost Kidd, I think we definitely got better by getting not only OJ Mayo, but also getting Darren Collison and Chris Kaman. I think Kaman will fit pretty well and it'll be interesting to see Collison and Beaubois compete for the starting point. I'm pretty sure we're still a playoff team; I'm not sure about Western Conference Finals yet though. I still have confidence in Dirk though; had a off season last yr but I'm sure he'll rebound. (No pun intended, though I hope he does that better too :laugh:)
 
PHILLY, THIS YEAR'S CHAMPS, LOLOLOLOLOLOL


No, wait, I am once again prepared to be humiliated.
 
Well, Philly got Bynum, so you're already a better team lol. Philly may not be winning any championships, but at least you guys are a playoff team now.That series against Boston last year was pretty good too. Though Iggy isn't there anymore maybe Turner will step up and take over the team; justify that no.2 pick.
 
In about 15 months, an era will come to an end. Effective on February 1, 2014, NBA Commissioner David Stern will retire. Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver has been named as Stern's successor.

Coincidentally, the date of his retirement will also be the 30th anniversary of him being named Commissioner. The only other Commissioners I'm aware of who have served anywhere close to that long were Pete Rozelle and Kenesaw Mountain Landis (the latter of whom died in office). I could be wrong, but this timetable might make Stern the longest tenured Commissioner in the history of the 4 major North American sports leagues, surpassing Rozelle. If you ask me, his legacy was a mixed one. While there is no dispute that the league rose to unprecedented popularity under Stern's watch (much like the NFL did under Rozelle), his tenure was not without controversy. Among the most infamous controversies were allegations of rigging the 1985 Draft Lottery, last year's veto of a trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers, and the fact that Stern presided over 4 lockouts (the last 2 of which truncated the season by at least 16 games per team).

EDIT: While watching ESPN earlier, one of the analysts brought up the fact that the NBA Finals were being shown late at night on tape delay before Stern took over. Perhaps Stern was a much better Commish than I ever gave him credit for...
 
Last edited:
Well, I take back whatever praise I gave to David Stern! I cannot WAIT until this douchebag is out of office in the middle of next season! The statement he put out on National Television prior to tonight's Spurs/Heat game was an absolute travesty! He is CLEARLY undermining the head coach's right to play, bench, and rest his players as he sees fit!

This argument of "it screws the fans" is clearly a fraud! For starters, fans (ESPECIALLY in Miami) generally buy tickets to see the home team, not some big name stars on the road team (that, and the fact that SEVERAL court cases have decided that the only thing ticket-buyers are entitled to is the privilege to put their butts in the stadium seats)! And second, read the ticket stub AND your TV listing closely! Where does it specifically say "Tim Duncan vs. LeBron James", "Dwyane Wade vs. Tony Parker", "Chris Bosh vs. Manu Ginobili", or "Mario Chalmers vs. Danny Green"? Last I checked, it said NONE of those; it clearly says San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat! Aren't athletes taught by their coaches that the name on the FRONT of the jersey is more important than the name on the BACK? Oh, and the game was decided by a whopping five points (that, and the fact that Miami...the defending World Champion Miami...needed a 12-2 run at the end of the game to beat the starless Spurs, which speaks volumes to Pop's system)! If this happened against the Warriors, Wizards, Kings, Raptors, or Hornets, nobody would've batted an eyelash, yet because it's against the Heat and because it's on National Television, it's suddenly subject to fines and suspensions? Maybe Stern should've thought about this before he made the schedule; Miami had not played since Sunday, while SA was on their 4th game in 5 nights! Any head coach in the latter situation would have done the same thing! Consider past action by the Commissioner's office when SA did this; even last year, future Commissioner Adam Silver clearly said that such decisions are up to the sole discretion of the individual teams! If David Stern does not backtrack on this, I hope Peter Holt sues his pants off in Federal Court!

And if Pop actually DID give a damn about TV ratings, then obviously the Spurs would have been throwing playoff games within the first 3 rounds of the playoffs, since their last 3 Finals appearances have all had bad TV ratings! I certainly don't give a shit about the TV ratings, so anyone offended by Pop's decision can kiss my ass!
 
Last edited:
$250K fine for playing strategy. I'm sorry that the fans didn't get to see Duncan and Ginobli play, but Pops is playing smart and rest his aged stars for later in the season. David Stern and his "basketball reasons" excuse is wearing thin on my patience. I can't wait til that rat bastard is gone.
 
I am one pissed-off Spurs fan! I can't believe Fuhrer Stern actually followed through with this despite backlash from the media, fans, and even within the league, but at the same time, I shouldn't be surprised. I can tell you this, though; the next time Stern sets foot in my hometown, he'd better have enough bodyguards with him! This is the same city that banned Ozzy effin' Osbourne for 10 years for urinating on the Alamo, and in my book, this bullshit $250k fine is no different than the aforementioned Ozzy incident!

Pop did the right thing! 4 games in 5 nights on the road in the Eastern Conference to cap off a 6-game, 11-day road trip (the team's longest outside of the annual Rodeo Road Trip in February, by the way), with a game against Memphis on Saturday. Sorry fans who "want to see the stars", but Spurs/Grizzlies is a MUCH more important game than Spurs/Heat due to direct playoff implications (ALL division games have playoff implications, especially when you factor in both the head-to-head and division record tiebreakers; non-conference games only impact the Finals as far as tiebreakers are concerned, and even then there's no guarantee of a Heat/Spurs Finals)!

And one more thing I want to add! If all you want to see is entertainment, go buy tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters or WWE instead of the NBA!

It's official...I wish nothing but DEATH upon ALL Miami Heat fans! I thought this whole "restgate" shit was over...apprarently NOT, as evidenced by the fact that one Heat fan has decided to file a FRIVILOUS lawsuit against the Spurs over resting Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, and Green!

Sorry to burst your bubble, Heat fans, but the ONLY thing you paid for was the PRIVILEGE to use the arena seats to watch the game instead of watching it at home; and this is consistent with court rulings stemming from lawsuits against the New York Yankees (over several of that team's players on the Mitchell Report) and the New England Patriots (over Spygate)!

To all you basketball fans who continue to rip the Spurs for being a "boring team"...for "ripping you off because the stars aren't playing"...for "being old"...for being "bad for TV ratings"...and for whatever nit-picky reason you choose to dismiss them, I've got a message for you.

Suck it! The Spurs are going to the Finals, where they have won the championship each time they got that far!

GO SPURS GO!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Don't necessarily think Spurs are a boring team but more of a practical team. Not as flashy as Miami but I feel all around have a better foundation.

Just something about Miami I can not stand, never really followed Pacers but they look great.
 
Tarkatan Trash said:
To all you basketball fans who continue to rip the Spurs for being a "boring team"...for "ripping you off because the stars aren't playing"...for "being old"...for being "bad for TV ratings"...and for whatever nit-picky reason you choose to dismiss them, I've got a message for you.

Suck it! The Spurs are going to the Finals, where they have won the championship each time they got that far!

GO SPURS GO!
Click to expand...


Having been a Heat fan since 1988, I'm just as sick and tired of people not giving the Heat credit where credit is due.
Everyone hates on The Heat for the Lebron deal.
Sure, he could have handled it WAY better, but everyone just needs to get the f*** over it already.
Nevermind that players including Bosh, Wade and Lebron took a BIG pay-cut to be on the same team.
The Heat are a great team, otherwise they would be where they're at in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Hell, I don't know of any other team that won 27 straight games this season.
People need to give credit where credit is due.

I hate the Jets, Patriots, Bills, Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls and Yankees, but you'll never see me not giving each one of those teams credit if / when they go into the play-offs.
I don't like those teams and I will never root for them, but if those teams make it to the playoffs, Finals, Super Bowl or World Series in that given year, I give them the respect that they deserve for being where they are at.
 
I find people who give credit where credit is due to be fans of both a team and the sport itself. The people who don't seem to be able to give credit are just fans of their team and like to put down other teams and their fans, no matter what.

Not saying anyone here is like that, I don't know, just saying, that is what usually seems to be the case.
 
Araknyd_Commander said:
Having been a Heat fan since 1988, I'm just as sick and tired of people not giving the Heat credit where credit is due.
Everyone hates on The Heat for the Lebron deal.
Sure, he could have handled it WAY better, but everyone just needs to get the f*** over it already.
Nevermind that players including Bosh, Wade and Lebron took a BIG pay-cut to be on the same team.
The Heat are a great team, otherwise they would be where they're at in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Hell, I don't know of any other team that won 27 straight games this season.
People need to give credit where credit is due.

I hate the Jets, Patriots, Bills, Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, Bulls and Yankees, but you'll never see me not giving each one of those teams credit if / when they go into the play-offs.
I don't like those teams and I will never root for them, but if those teams make it to the playoffs, Finals, Super Bowl or World Series in that given year, I give them the respect that they deserve for being where they are at.
Click to expand...

Most of the reason why they hate Lebron (and the Heat as well) probably is (imo) more because of the whole decision thing, plus the whole big event they had afterwards, as well as LBJ and the whole "Not one, two, three" etc ring speech. The fact that someone who was seen as this humble guy just out of nowhere confidently (arguably arrogantly) says that they'll win all these championships threw a lot of people the wrong way. You also gotta blame Gilbert back in Cleveland, because he definitely didn't do LBJ any favors either. Personally, I don't mind because it's not like that's the first big trio that's been formed in the NBA, or in sports; heck, you can argue saying bought instead of formed, but then the other teams you mentioned should be held to the same standard, and probably aside from the Lakers, Knicks, Bulls, and Celtics (from your list) those teams are for the most part hated.

You're right though; you have to give them credit, aside from the Big three, they formed a decent amount of players to support the team. Pat Riley is a hell of a GM (not sure if he's actually the GM, but I know he's a big part of getting players there) and he's done a great job. Why they don't have a serviceable center is the only thing that still baffles me with that team.

Also let's be honest, Bosh and Wade took a pay cut, but they're still getting paid big bucks lol.
 
mkray41 said:
Most of the reason why they hate Lebron (and the Heat as well) probably is (imo) more because of the whole decision thing, plus the whole big event they had afterwards, as well as LBJ and the whole "Not one, two, three" etc ring speech..
Click to expand...

I, for one, will continue to use the "not one, not two," etc. shit against LeBron James until he finally does follow through with it. You hear about stars who "did everything they could but still couldn't win a championship" crap and when they finally do, "the monkey is finally off his back, and you can never again say he couldn't do it because he did"...well, LeBron has his ring, but because he ran his big fat mouth during that signing celebration, one ring is NOT enough to get the monkey off his back. By the way, LeBron went all the way to "not seven" with that shit...if he doesn't win eight rings, his career is a failure as far as I'm concerned, because he guaranteed that himself.
 
Yeah, those words are gonna haunt him for possibly the rest of his career; if he plans on staying in Miami for the rest of his career, its hard to see that happen. Wade can only play for so long, especially with all those injuries, and Bosh can only do so much as is. Pat Riley is gonna have to do some major recruiting to do lol. Not to mention the fact that teams are finding out how to beat the Heat now; theres no more fear or doubt when teams face Miami now, especially if you have good bigs.

If Lebron does end up going back to Cleveland though after next year, I think he'll definitely will be joining a better team. Cleveland has great young talent over there; it just needs time to mesh.
 
I do hear the speculation on LeBron going back to Cleveland. The real question is, will Cavs owner Dan Gilbert take him back. Remember, when LeBron left for Miami, it was Gilbert who vilified him through a press release, and even went as far as dropping the price of LeBron's Fathead merchandise to match the birth year of the infamous Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold.
 
When you have a player as great as Lebron and a team that's as bad (record-wise at least) as Cleveland, I think Gilbert can (or at least should) swallow his pride. I mean, how often does a player like that become a free agent? Closest person situation-wise I can think of is Peyton Manning, and even then, LBJ would be a better pick up just because he's younger. Anyways, if anything, be professional; LBJ and Gilbert don't have to like each other like they once did, but just be able to co-exist.

It's a tricky slope though; there are already fans in Cleveland who hate him, and it'd be interesting to see how they'd react to him being back on the team. Not to mention the fact that it probably wouldn't be Kyrie Irving's team anymore; it'd also be interesting to see how he reacts. I remember some of them burning his jersey the day he chose Miami, and at one point one of the radio shows even hired a witch doctor to curse him during one of his playoff games last year lol.
 
I don't respect Lebron because of the shit he's turning the sport into. It's like Heat fans are BLIND to the shit he does. He WAS a decent player but I seriously HATE the comparisons to Jordan. He will never, ever, be anywhere near as good as Jordan. Not only that, the league is CLEARLY glorifying Lebron. He does as much as lift his legs and he gets a foul called. And don't get me started on the flops. Jesus Christ... It's like I'm watching professional soccer. If you honestly think his reactions are legitimate, in all honesty, you're a dumbass.

Just look at this, it's disgusting and an insult to such a great sport.


I really hope the Spurs sweep the Heat. Spurs are a MUCH better team. Leagues better. There's no argument there. The only chance the Heat have, is the refs throwing the game like they have been doing all season.
 
Heck, he's even on record saying that flopping is a good strategy lol. That does irritate me though; a guy that big (6'8, 250 or whatever) and talented has no business falling, especially like that.

I think people compare him to Jordan because they want to see another player dominate like Jordan; I've always thought the closest player to Jordan was Kobe, but at the same time I think it's a disservice to both players to try and compare them to each other; same for LBJ and Jordan. He's not the first player they've compared to Jordan and he probably won't be the last lol.

As for the fouls, I remember there being a point in the regular season when he had a streak of at the very least 5 games without having a foul called on him, which is ridiculous. I know superstars in the league usually have an advantage (unfair or not) when it comes to foul calls but no way you go that long w/o a foul called on you.

Saying all of that though, I still think that Lebron is a great player, and a freak of nature physically.
 
mkray41 said:
I think people compare him to Jordan because they want to see another player dominate like Jordan;
Click to expand...

This is the biggest problem with the NBA. They're trying soooo hard to make Lebron seem like the next Jordan. They practically hand him games and in extension, championships. Problem is, no matter how hard anyone tries, they will never be as good as Jordan. Jordan was a freak of nature. And extremely devoted to his craft. He didn't need to flop like Lebron. Believe it or not, those flops add up. The game of basketball is won by possessions. If he's getting the ball rewarded to him every other play, of course the Heat are going to win games. People who don't understand that, are the casual basketball fans who accept what is told to them by the announcers, commentators, and ESPN. I've played basketball my whole life, I know the intricacies of the game. What Lebron is doing is pathetic. But what's more pathetic is the way the league outs him on a pedestal.

Kobe is good, but even he isn't up to par with Jordan. But at least Kobe plays hard and doesn't flop.
 
One thing you have to keep in mind is that at the end of the day, the NBA is still a business. For a while, people weren't watching NBA games nearly as much as they are now. They gotta market their best (which was few then), and when a player like Lebron comes in w/ all that hype, you know they had to be excited. He skips college and goes straight to the league, which brings in another amount of intrigue. Not to mention the fact that, if I remember correctly, he signed a shoe deal w/ Jordan, which only adds to the Jordan talk. Then on top of all of that he's slated to go to Cleveland, his hometown, and you got something that's too good to pass up. The NBA would be insane not to capitalize on all attention. Heck, you've still got rumors that the NBA fixed things so that Cleveland could get the first pick, though I wouldn't put too much stock in that lol.

Oh, make no mistake, I agree, no one is close to Jordan; I'm just saying that if you were to compare anybody currently in the league to him, that's the closest player I can think that mimics his game.

The only thing I'd say is that he isn't the only player that gets calls; there are a handful of superstars that get that same treatment too, just not to the same extent. They also don't flop, or at least not nearly as much lol.

I can understand your gripe with him though.
 
mkray41 said:
Oh, make no mistake, I agree, no one is close to Jordan; I'm just saying that if you were to compare anybody currently in the league to him, that's the closest player I can think that mimics his game.

The only thing I'd say is that he isn't the only player that gets calls; there are a handful of superstars that get that same treatment too, just not to the same extent. They also don't flop, or at least not nearly as much lol.
Click to expand...


Yay.
Finally someone who sees things objectively.

I don't mind the haters, because the haters will come with all good teams, but to say that the whole season was given to the Heat is MAJOR bullshit, and borderline conspiracy shit.
Like them or hate them, no other team has had 27 wins in a row this season, and that's due to the Heat playing some good games and getting those wins.
As far as the most recent series goes, there were tons of calls during the Pacers and Heat series where George, Hibbert and West blatantly hit Heat players and the refs didn't even call that shit.
Hell, I'm convinced that Joe Crawford was wearing a yellow jersey in game 4.
Too many crap calls, such as the Lebron foul-out.
He didn't even touch him.
The bullshit was on BOTH sides of the ball.


I agree that Lebron is no Jordan but he does give his best when he plays.
Sure, his words will haunt him if he doesn't get those 7 or 8 wins that he spoke of, but it doesn't make him any worse of a player.
Even if Lebron gets 5 or 6 rings (which may or may not be possible), he'd be right up there with Kobe, and that's good enough for me.
I don't need him to be Jordan, because he's not, and never will be.
I just need Lebron to be Lebron, and be a team player on The Heat that contributes to the team as a whole, and he's done that.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top