The 2008/2009 NBA season thread

[Eazy E]

SHAQ TO THE CAVS.

WOW.

[D]

Cleveland have a great chance. they gave up nothing for Shaq.


PG Delonte
SG Mo williams
SF Lebron
PF Anderson Varejao *if he resigns
C Shaq

Z off the bench

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Weren't the Suns supposed to win the championship with Shaq?

[Ignatius]

He had a few good matches in Phoenix but he missed more than half of the games cause he was injured. I don't see how in Cleveland is going to be any different.

He's 37 years old.- He ain't no longer what he used to be. I don't think he will mean THAT much for Cleveland. If anything, he will probably motivate Lebron and his teammates, but I don't think his contribuition on the court will be significant.

[gilee7]

He had a few good matches in Phoenix but he missed more than half of the games cause he was injured. I don't see how in Cleveland is going to be any different.

He's 37 years old.- He ain't no longer what he used to be. I don't think he will mean THAT much for Cleveland. If anything, he will probably motivate Lebron and his teammates, but I don't think his contribuition on the court will be significant.

Actually I don't think Shaq missed hardly any games at all last season. And of course Shaq isn't what he used to be, but he can still be a dominant force at times. He definitely gives the Cavs something they didn't have. However, I still don't think it'll be enough for the Cavs to win a championship.

Shaq was never a good fit for the Suns.

[crow316]

Actually I don't think Shaq missed hardly any games at all last season.

Except on back-to-back nights when he needed time to recoup....

[D]

Shaq played in over 70 games.

[LunsJail]

With Lebron's free agency next year the Cavs have set themselves up for an all or nothing season. If they can't get it done with Shaq, then I don't see Lebron having any incentive to sign another long term deal there. And any long term injury for Shaq and this thing looks kind of stupid. Quite a gamble if you ask me but at least they'll be interesting to watch.

[D]

I dont think its a gamble really. They gave up nothing for Shaq and Shaq has 21 million coming off the books.

Thing is, it sort of taints a Lebron title cause he will have had to have Shaq to win it.

See how much pressure Kobe just lifted winning one without Shaq. So even if Lebron does win, he will still have to win another without Shaq to get due credit.

[faldor]

I don't think the Shaq deal makes the Cavs much better if at all.  True they didn't give up much to get him but Shaq isn't nearly the player he once was.  He didn't fit in in Phoenix, who's to say he'll fit in in Cleveland.  He'll be able to match up with Dwight Howard, yes.  But he'll clog the middle on offense making drives to the hoop by Lebron a little less likely and/or effective.  I don't think anyone will be saying Lebron won only because he had a Shaquille O'neal on the decline at his side.  Not nearly the same as Kobe playing with him in his prime.

[D]

Cause Faldor

Phoenix played a run and gun style

Cle play a half court game and Lebron will easily be able to get him the ball.


shaq actually had a damn good season last year and u factor in they were a title contending team without him and now u are giving up nothing to add him.

so are they a lock? of course not but they are definitely better.

Problem is, they remind me of the Dallas Mavericks.


Dallas built their roster and team exclusively to beat San Antonio.

What happened? they got Golden State.


Cleveland are building a team to beat Orlando but I still think a healthy Boston team is better than Cleveland as long as Ainge doesn't remember he is Danny Ainge and resort back to ignorance.

[Eazy E]

Cleveland didn't lose anything that made them the best team in the regular season this year...  A lot of people are criticizing the Shaq trade, but if you think about it, would you rather have an aging Shaq (who was an All-Star last season) or an aging Ben Wallace (who is most likely retiring)?  You could bench Shaq and essentially have the same team that finished first in the East.

On the subject of trades though, how about this for a starting lineup....

Jameer Nelson
Hedo Turkoglu
Vince Carter
Rashard Lewis
Dwight Howard

[faldor]

Cleveland didn't lose anything that made them the best team in the regular season this year...  A lot of people are criticizing the Shaq trade, but if you think about it, would you rather have an aging Shaq (who was an All-Star last season) or an aging Ben Wallace (who is most likely retiring)?  You could bench Shaq and essentially have the same team that finished first in the East.

On the subject of trades though, how about this for a starting lineup....

Jameer Nelson
Hedo Turkoglu
Vince Carter
Rashard Lewis
Dwight Howard

I agree they didn't really give anything up in the Shaq trade, I just don't think it makes them THAT much better.

During the draft Mark Jackson mentioned that the Magic got Carter to replace Turkoglu.  Is he a free agent?  Expected to leave?

From rotoworld - Looks like they do plan on keeping Hedo, maybe Mark was just speculating that Vince COULD replace Hedo if he walked.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=NBA&id=693

Marcin Gortat expressed his desire to stay with Orlando next season but may be a casualty of the luxury tax.

The Magic have also stated that they will sign Turkoglu even if it breaks the salary cap making Gortat's signing all the more unlikely. For Gortat owners this may mean an increase in minutes and stats once he's out from under Dwight Howard's shadow.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Related: Hedo Turkoglu

[D]

Vince Carter sucks though

he scores 23 a night but the man he guards scores 20 a night and Carter is a ball stopper and fucking cancer.

I think Orlando took a step back.

some players are just losers and VC is one of those guys.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

It's starting to sink in a little bit.  A few shots from last week.  God, I wish I could find my Finals memory card.

Crowd started to get rowdy, they forced the gates to open a half hour early.



Mad rush.







Greatest NBA coach ever being driven to the court.



Your 2009 NBA Champions coming down the steps to the court.  Yes, that's the Staples Center court they brought down the street.



Not so empty anymore.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

The Olympic Cauldron comes to life!





Ignatius' new wallpaper. 





The players leaving.



I always see this fucker at Kings games, Laker games and Dodger games.  I hate him with a passion.



There would be no fucking around today.



Nothing to see here, move along.

[AxlsMainMan]

Looks like I might finally get to see Iverson when I'm out your way this fall, Garry

If the Warriors can add AI for $3-5 million that would be quite the steal. Last year was a frustrating and injury-riddled one for the Answer, but before that he was actually putting up some of the best numbers of his career. He's one season removed from putting up 26.4 ppg (45.8% FG- 2nd highest of his 13 year career, 34.6% 3pt- career high, 80.9% FT), 7.2 apg : 3.0 to, and 2.0 thefts. in another high octane offense over in Enver. For comparison's sake Monta Ellis' career high ppg is 20.2 and last season he distributed 3.7 apg with 2.7 turnovers (unacceptable distribution totals for a starting point guard in the NBA) and 1.6 steals. A healthy Iverson is a better player than a healthy Ellis in 2009-2010. The big question of course is- will either of these 2 guards be healthy?

Also don't believe the hype that swapping AI with Chauncey Billups miraculously improved the Denver Nuggets and vaulted them to the Western Conference Finals. Billups is wildy overrated and Nuggets just got very lucky in the 1st two rounds of the playoffs. If they faced the Lake-show in the 1st round of this past year's spring dance it'd be the same broken record- bounced in the 1st round faster than you can say "Muppet". Flip back to Polling GSoM: Based on their stats Guard A or Guard B? and if you think I'm a lunatic for holding these stances, I'm sure there's plenty of smart folks over at Pickaxe and Roll who will agree with you.

I might be the biggest AI fan in the Bay Area and I'm all for bringing Iverson here. Will he guarantee that the Warriors crack the Elite 8 and our playing well beyond the first week of April? Of course not. But who cares? If this team is going to continue to suck (missing the playoffs in 14 of the past 15 seasons) then let's at least have a wildly entertaining team. There's very few players in this league who can entertain more than AI. Plus, who can resist this smallball lineup?

PG: Stephen Curry

SG: Allen Iverson

SF: Monta Ellis

PF: Stephen Jackson

C: Anthony Randolph

Bench: Andris Biedrins, Kelenna Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf

Hey if you're going to suck, then at least do an entertaining job at it.

Also it's probably worth noting that the more star power the Warriors add (e.g. Jason Kidd or Allen Iverson) the easier it might be to convince Amare Stoudemire that playing for the Warriors isn't the worst thing in the world- I mean there's always the Clippers!

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2009/7/1/933363/nba-free-agency-2009-warriors

[D]

Dont really see how Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva fit with Detroit

They are gonna still have to bring Gordon or Rip off the bench, so they are in the same situation as with Iverson

Villanueva can't play center so what is it gonna be?

Stuckey
Rip
Prince
Villanueva
? at center

Gordon off the bench?

Dumars is turning into a pretty shitty GM if u ask me

[faldor]

Dont really see how Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva fit with Detroit

They are gonna still have to bring Gordon or Rip off the bench, so they are in the same situation as with Iverson

Villanueva can't play center so what is it gonna be?

Stuckey
Rip
Prince
Villanueva
? at center

Gordon off the bench?

Dumars is turning into a pretty shitty GM if u ask me

Gordon came off the bench for the Bulls for the most part, so he'll continue his role as a super 6th man I would assume.  Of course it's who finishes the games that matters most.  They could easily play Stuckey and Gordon at guard down the stretch and have Rip play the 3, with Prince and whoever play center.  Shouldn't be much of a problem.

Looks like Detroit is my 2nd favorite team now (not really) with 3 former UConn Huskies on the roster.  As a Celtics fan it's hard to root for the Detroit of all teams, so I'll try to narrow it down to just Rip, Ben, and Charlie.

[D]

Lakers just got Ron Artest

Cancel the finals for the next 3 years

LA are locks