Official 2012-2013 NBA Thread

[Al Bundy]

Looks like James Harden has been To the Rockets for Jeremey Lamb, Kevin Martin and future picks. Plus... this is a general NBA thread.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by KevB

Westbrook is a nut, but they have a great mix to deal with it. Everyone else is so even keeled, so it works for them. You need someone with a little fire to keep everyone on their toes.

I love Westbrook's fire. He just needs to learn to harness it better. At one time I thought this team might be a little to nice to win in the playoffs. Durant will never win a fight but he has developed a mean streak in a basketball sense himself.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

He missed the open man (at least once) and was then apparently upset that someone didn't bail him out. Hopefully, he watches the film and it humbles him a bit.

He could have been right too, but regardless he needs to calm down in situations like that.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by okcchief

He could have been right too, but regardless he needs to calm down in situations like that.

I'm not sure it matters. Martin was open in the lane; give him the ball (either there or out at the 3-point line) and you won't get a five second call.

[ImAWalkingCorpse]

Ohh and **** OJ Mayo.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by KevB

I think they can be mid tier....in the East. Ross and Jonas clearly have upside and are very young. Sure, there's some question on what they will become, but good young talent. Gay and DeRozan are overpaid and not particularly efficient, but they aren't terrible players if you take the money out of the equation. Now, Landry Fields? Ummmm. Lowry can ball, but he has warts. Amir has been pretty solid when he's able to stay on the floor (foul magnet). Bargs is gone by the trade deadline I'd think, so he's not (or, shouldn't be) part of the discussion.

To be mid-tier, you need to have better core players than that. Brooklyn has Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Joe Johnson, Indiana has Danny Granger, David West, and Paul George, and Atlanta has Al Horford and Josh Smith. The Raptors have....Kyle Lowry. What else is there? An inefficient shot jacker in Rudy Gay? A player who can't score efficiently, pass, or defend in DeRozan? A backup PF in Amir Johnson that can't stay on the floor?

For the Raptors to be any good at all, you're basically banking on two complete unknowns (Ross and Jonas) becoming good for this team to become any good. It's just not a good bet at all. The Raptors didn't have the current talent/asset base for such a trade to make any sense for them.

And BTW, I'll believe Colangelo trades Bargnani away when he actually does it. Who the hell would want him?

I agree about the vision of the GM though. He's put them in NBA hell. Not good enough to do anything note-worthy, but capped out with no flexibility for the next 2-4 years.

Scott ***** of the NBA (they both screwed their franchises up by their devotion to shitty players; Cassel and Bargnani), but given three years longer to play with his toy.

[mcaj22]

Atlanta will be a completely different team next year they are letting almost the entire team walk

[KevB]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

To be mid-tier, you need to have better core players than that. Brooklyn has Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Joe Johnson, Indiana has Danny Granger, David West, and Paul George, and Atlanta has Al Horford and Josh Smith. The Raptors have....Kyle Lowry. What else is there? An inefficient shot jacker in Rudy Gay? A player who can't score efficiently, pass, or defend in DeRozan? A backup PF in Amir Johnson that can't stay on the floor?

For the Raptors to be any good at all, you're basically banking on two complete unknowns (Ross and Jonas) becoming good for this team to become any good. It's just not a good bet at all. The Raptors didn't have the current talent/asset base for such a trade to make any sense for them.

And BTW, I'll believe Colangelo trades Bargnani away when he actually does it. Who the hell would want him?



Scott ***** of the NBA (they both screwed their franchises up by their devotion to shitty players; Cassel and Bargnani), but given three years longer to play with his toy.

To be fair, Hawks won't have Josh Smith most likely next season. So, East is Heat/Bulls/Pacers/Nets probably next season. Maybe the Knicks, and the Celts probably fall by the wayside. So yeah, Raptors probably mid tier in the East. Not mid-tier playoff team, but mid-tier in the entire conference. Believe me, I'm not defending Colangelo. He's royally screwed things up. But I do think Toronto fights for a playoff spot next season, with an swift first round exit and still not hope to move up in the pecking order.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by KevB

To be fair, Hawks won't have Josh Smith most likely next season. So, East is Heat/Bulls/Pacers/Nets probably next season. Maybe the Knicks, and the Celts probably fall by the wayside. So yeah, Raptors probably mid tier in the East. Not mid-tier playoff team, but mid-tier in the entire conference. Believe me, I'm not defending Colangelo. He's royally screwed things up. But I do think Toronto fights for a playoff spot next season, with an swift first round exit and still not hope to move up in the pecking order.

Sounds like a promising future. Maybe they'll do better than the last time he made a big splash for no reason and overpaid Hedo Turkoglu (when they came 9th with a far better core that included Chris Bosh).

[KC_Connection]

OJ Mayo is such a choker at the end of games. This Dallas team should let VC take the shots in those situations.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

I can always count on this when I watch the Thunder... I'm watching a Thunder game and KD is hot and Westbrook gets that look like, "waaahhhhh, I wanna shoot the ball big brother!!!" and makes a dumbass decision throwing up a stupid shot. I've seen that on more than one occasion and KD gives him a look back down the court like," WTF were you doing there? I'm on fire!" There was this one play last week where KD was wide open for three and Westbrook just drove it in the paint, threw up a crazy shot and the Lakers scored on the fast break. Dude needs to grow up.

[AdumbGuy]

Originally Posted by Chiefs Pantalones

I can always count on this when I watch the Thunder... I'm watching a Thunder game and KD is hot and Westbrook gets that look like, "waaahhhhh, I wanna shoot the ball big brother!!!" and makes a dumbass decision throwing up a stupid shot. I've seen that on more than one occasion and KD gives him a look back down the court like," WTF were you doing there? I'm on fire!" There was this one play last week where KD was wide open for three and Westbrook just drove it in the paint, threw up a crazy shot and the Lakers scored on the fast break. Dude needs to grow up.

I love westbrook for his holy shit athleticism, but much more so because he's the bad guy in a team full of extra public relations friendly goody two shoes. Not really their fault, they've just been built up by ESPN that way. Unless they stop being the 2nd team in the league all of a sudden (heat), I think Westbrook should keep playing with that crazy. Durant and the rest of the thunder wilted near the end of the finals, Westbrook was the one that said, nope, we're not losing, in game 4, I think. He made one really bad decision at the end of the game and everybody forgot how fantastic his game was up until that point.

[AdumbGuy]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Sounds like a promising future. Maybe they'll do better than the last time he made a big splash for no reason and overpaid Hedo Turkoglu (when they came 9th with a far better core that included Chris Bosh).

They really need to stop punishing teams for trying hard to win and not just tanking. I was glad charlotte didn't get the #1 overall, their FO was clearly in tank mode pretty much the entire season.

[RustShack]

In 2K13 I signed Howard in the offseason and drafted a SF #6, Cleveland made the Championship the following season.

I'll take that as, good things are coming.

[ImAWalkingCorpse]

Really good late game. I'm glad the Warriors are doing well, for the first time in forever.

[okcchief]

Kyrie Irving was ****ing unbelievable tonight. I have liked this team, and they are finally coming together. Speights was great as well. They balled their asses off in the 4th quarter and deserved the win. Very impressive performance.