NBA Discussion

[Marco]

I feel a little uncomfortable starting another "General Sports" thread, being new to this board, but I can't find an NBA thread and training camp just started, so.... here's a few of my thoughts:

- Last season ended on a high note for me, since Wade is my favorite player in the league. I'd have to say that the Heat are the favorites to repeat, since they pretty much kept their core intact. Other favorites would probably be the Mavs, Suns (with a healthy Amare), Spurs, and maybe even the Cavs. Lebron seems to have no ceiling to his potential; he just gets better and better.

- The Rockets are my favorite team, so I was pretty excited about the signing of Bonzi Wells. T-Mac will miss at least 10-20 games, garans, so Wells should fill that scoring void nicely. I thought they gave up too much by trading Stromile Swift and Rudy Gay for Battier, but I guess the thinking is that they only have a 3-4 year window where Yao and T-Mac will be in their prime, so they had to go for it.

- The World Championships over the summer was a big disappointment to me, coming in third. I can think of a lot of excuses, but the bottom line is, we lost.

- Is there any interest here in joining a Fantasy Basketball league for this board? I think we would need a minimum of 8 players to get one going. If enough people show interest over the next week or two, I'll set up a Roto or H2H league in Yahoo.


Anyone feel like commenting about their favorite team, player or anything else NBA-related?

[timkona]

Re: NBA Discussion

A ball without points on each end or threads to grip it???? How weird is that?

[damontucker]

Re: NBA Discussion

It's about as weird as this sand volleyball game in this street.
http://www.lonepixel.com/tboes/archives/tstf-beach.jpg

[LocalMotion]

Re: NBA Discussion

great thread...

i just moved here from san antonio and been a spurs fan since i was 5 yrs old. had season tickets for 2 of the championships, so i'm a HUGE b-ball fan.

i would do the fantasy league.

i don't know what i'm going to do about watching the spurs this year. i haven't miss a game in over 4 yrs!! (maybe 1-2 here and there), but i'll have to find out if there's any type of league pass going on here and maybe have to record the games.

Spurs look good again this year. with Duncan and Manu healthy they should be fine. and since Robert Horry is on one year takes the next off, it's time again for him to have a big playoff series this year

since we get to grow on existing players, won't be too much chemistry work since no new major players were added

[tvguy]

Re: NBA Discussion

Yup, there's NBA League Pass offered here. I'd be in big trouble if I had it since I'd have it on everyday, and the kids did not enjoy the free preview weeks every season. One thing you do have to remember about living in Hawaii is the time difference from the mainland, with East Coast games starting as early as 1pm.

[Marco]

Re: NBA Discussion

i just moved here from san antonio and been a spurs fan since i was 5 yrs old. had season tickets for 2 of the championships, so i'm a HUGE b-ball fan.

That's pretty cool. Game 7 in the Finals a couple years ago must've been a blast, if you had tickets for it. It's prolly not even close to the same thing, but UH basketball games are good fun, if you get desperate to go to a game.

i would do the fantasy league.

Unfortunately, doesn't seem like there are enough NBA fans here to start one. I don't think a fantasty league with just you and me would be much fun . Too bad there's not enough interest. I do a few other leagues with my family and buddies, and they're a blast.

So, preseason games have started and two things seem to stand out to me:
1 How good Gerald Green looks. Granted, I only saw the highlights, but he had some sick dunks.
2 Amare's knee. It would really be a shame if he never fully recovers from it. He was such a beast before he got hurt. No one dunked it harder or with such ease as he did. I remember two years ago, playing the Spurs, how no one could stop him. Even Duncan, a perennial 1st-team All-NBA defender was kind of just getting out of Amare's way when he went up for a jam.

[B-Scott]

Re: NBA Discussion

What are your predictions for this up coming season?

[LocalMotion]

Re: NBA Discussion

That's pretty cool. Game 7 in the Finals a couple years ago must've been a blast, if you had tickets for it. It's prolly not even close to the same thing, but UH basketball games are good fun, if you get desperate to go to a game.

Yeah it was awesome i still remember Bowen's block on Chauncey Billups to seal the deal. that was huge!

But i really enjoyed game 6 of 2003 when the spurs came back from 18 down to take the Nets out. Stephen Jackson starting raining 3's like crazy. It was great cause it was Robinson's final year, he went out a true champion in every form of the word.

2 Amare's knee. It would really be a shame if he never fully recovers from it. He was such a beast before he got hurt. No one dunked it harder or with such ease as he did. I remember two years ago, playing the Spurs, how no one could stop him. Even Duncan, a perennial 1st-team All-NBA defender was kind of just getting out of Amare's way when he went up for a jam.

Yeah knee injuries like that are really hard to come back 100% of the way he played. hopefully he'll be ok. He was too quick for Duncan or any spur to stay in front of.

I take it Oceanic is the one offering NBA League pass? i'm moving into a high-rise that provides basic cable, so need to see if i can upgrade it, pay the difference, and get digital and League Pass. anyone know if you can do this?

[LocalMotion]

Re: NBA Discussion

What are your predictions for this up coming season?

too early to tell, but i think i see

Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland in the east

Spurs, Suns, Mavs, in the West

my sleeper team is New Orleans Hornets, they have a opp to move to the top 5 in the west

[B-Scott]

Re: NBA Discussion

Here's my prediction

West

1. Dallas
2 Spurs
3 Suns
4 Lakers
5 Rockets
6 Kings
7 Clippers
8 Hornets

East

1 Pistons
2 Heat
3 Nets
4 Cavaliers
5 Pacers
6 Bulls
7 Orlando
8. Wizards

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: NBA Predictions

My playoff teams:

East
1. Miami
2. NJ
3. Cleveland
4. Chicago
5. Detroit
6. Indiana
7. Toronto
8. Milwaukee

West
1. San Antonio
2. Phoenix
3. Dallas
4. Denver
5. LAL
6. LAC
7. Utah
8. Houston

Rookie of the Year: Adam Morrison narrowly beating Rudy Gay
MVP: LeBron
Most Improved: Tyson Chandler
Comeback POTY (if it was still an award): Amare Stoudemire
Scorer: LeBron
Coach of the Year: Sam Mitchell
Finals: PHO over MIA, 4-3
Finals MVP: Steve Nash
First big-name player to be traded: either Lamar Odom or Chris Webber
First Coach to be fired: Jeff Van Gundy. Larry Brown needs a job somewhere.
Story to be run into the ground by ESPN: Knicks losses under Isiah, Where is Iverson going? and Kobe's changing jersey #s affecting his play
Best laughs for NBA games on TV: any game covered by Bill Walton

[Marco]

Re: NBA Predictions

My playoff teams:
Rookie of the Year: Adam Morrison narrowly beating Rudy Gay
MVP: LeBron
Most Improved: Tyson Chandler
Comeback POTY (if it was still an award): Amare Stoudemire
Scorer: LeBron
Coach of the Year: Sam Mitchell
Finals: PHO over MIA, 4-3
Finals MVP: Steve Nash
First big-name player to be traded: either Lamar Odom or Chris Webber
First Coach to be fired: Jeff Van Gundy. Larry Brown needs a job somewhere.
Story to be run into the ground by ESPN: Knicks losses under Isiah, Where is Iverson going? and Kobe's changing jersey #s affecting his play
Best laughs for NBA games on TV: any game covered by Bill Walton

Pretty fun predictions. Here are mine:
Rookie of the Year: Rajon Rondo
MVP: D Wade
Most Improved: Eddy Curry
Comeback POTY (if it was still an award): T Mac
Scorer: LeBron
Coach of the Year: Jeff Van Gundy
Finals: Houston over Miam 4-2
Finals MVP: T Mac
First big-name player to be traded: Garnett
First Coach to be fired: Musselman
Story to be run into the ground by ESPN: Knicks. Anything about the Knicks. Under Isaiah, they're always entertaining, even when they're terrible.
Best laughs for NBA games on TV: any halftime show with Charles and Kenny. Those two are hilarious. Ernie's a great mediator between those two, also.

**************************

If anyone cares, I had one of my NBA drafts last week. Here's my team:
Chris Paul PG
D Wade SG
Jason Kidd G
Ron Artest SF
Channing Frye PF
Yao Ming C
Darko C
Danny Granger Util
Marvin Williams Util

Shawn Livingston Bench
Danny Granger Bench
Eddy Curry Bench
Stephon Marbury Bench
David Lee Bench

I'm pretty happy with it. I should be competitive. I really wanted to get T-Mac, cuz I think he's gonna rebound big time, but he got snagged two picks ahead of me. Bummer

[damontucker]

Re: NBA Discussion

What is the story behind Kobe and the new number.... I thought he was #8 but he's wearing #24 tonight against the Sonics?

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: NBA Discussion

What is the story behind Kobe and the new number.... I thought he was #8 but he's wearing #24 tonight against the Sonics?

He decided to change it at the end of last season...just wanted to start a new chapter in his career, and he thought a new number should come along with it.