NBA Discussion Thread*

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 2, 2007, 2:45 am

*Go Suns!

Phoenix 106 Seattle 99

Undefeated!

The Suns were a little rusty but they have some depth this year, even though the two rookies didn't get into the game. Phoenix has a great chance to defend their NBA title from last year.

Keven Durant looks like the real deal. I would have taken him over Greg Oden.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » November 2, 2007, 2:53 am

The NBA needs another lockout, or atleast Phoenix!

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » November 2, 2007, 7:13 am

omfg shoot me in the fucking head. how bout them cardinals?

miir · Post by **miir** » November 2, 2007, 10:13 am

Durant had a monster game!

Tyek · Post by **Tyek** » November 2, 2007, 11:31 am

Lock this thread. Make him come up with 84 of these.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » November 2, 2007, 12:05 pm

Tyek wrote:Lock this thread. Make him come up with 84 of these.

STFU, do you really think he wouldn't?

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 2, 2007, 12:12 pm

Was a fun game to watch. For the first three quarters, it looked like the Sonics were playing the Suns game and doing better than them. Durant looked really good, but as the announcers/commentators said during/after the game, he needs to hit the weight room and bulk up, he lost any battle that required physicality. Green also looked good.

The Suns looked a bit rusty, especially Nash with his turn overs, and Amare with early foul trouble. However, they took over in the fourth quarter and finished the game, so they didn't look bad. I was hoping DJ Strawberry would get some minutes, so there would be a Maryland player on both sides, but with such a close game, it wasn't going to happen. Oh, the Suns need to practice 3 pointers, there were a large number of missed wide open 3's that might have cost them the game against a better team.

In conclusion: Sonics look like they will have a solid team for years to come, and might actually excite the town enough to do something to keep them there. The Suns are basically the same, and hopefully can beat the Spurs this year.

noel · Post by **noel** » November 2, 2007, 2:40 pm

So disappointed were Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics when the missed out on the #1 or #2 draft picks...

Yet... how lucky did they end up being by not even having a possibility of drafting Oden?

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » November 3, 2007, 12:08 am

Hopefully this thread will keep him out of where he shouldn't belong in the rest of the sports forum.

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 3, 2007, 1:38 am

Maybe someone else will actually talk about basketball =(

noel · Post by **noel** » November 3, 2007, 2:51 am

Sad that the Lakers gave the Suns they're first loss, and they're still going to suck all season. In the future I recommend losing to teams that are actually good.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 3, 2007, 3:22 am

Somebody set up us the bomb!

The Suns looked like crap. If we're going to suck this bad, we may as well trade half the team for Kobe (or Amare since he did zero tonight)

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 3, 2007, 8:08 am

Winnow wrote:Somebody set up us the bomb!

The Suns looked like crap. If we're going to suck this bad, we may as well trade half the team for Kobe (or Amare since he did zero tonight)

They went 1-5 at the start of last season. It is probably just rust again, hopefully they'll get it together soon though.

noel · Post by **noel** » November 3, 2007, 12:35 pm

Yeah I agree that it's just some rust, and actually it's an ideal wake-up call to have so early in the season.

That said, how much does the loss have to do with 'The Matrix's' (did he give himself that name?) whining?

noel · Post by **noel** » November 7, 2007, 1:25 am

I vote you change the title of this thread to 'NBA Thread'. Anyone who cares will know whether or not the Suns won, and what the score was...

On the subject of the NBA... Chad Forde of ESPN Insider put up the following article re: Kobe Bryant found here. I have to say, though I really like Kobe, but I totally agree with this article. I think he has a decent team around him, especially this year, and if they stay healthy and he focuses on making them better, instead of what team he's going to (haha no one wants you!) they have a good shot at the playoffs, and maybe making a little noise. I know he's as competitive as they come, but I wish he'd start thinking more about legacy and less about immediacy. He's so focused on winning another championship now, I think he doesn't see how much better he'll look from a historical perspective if he's able to help everyone else up a level and win. Of course, maybe he can't do that...

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 7, 2007, 1:56 am

noel wrote:I vote you change the title of this thread to 'NBA Thread'. Anyone who cares will know whether or not the Suns won, and what the score was...

Done.

Well, the Lakers certainly looked good vs the Suns on Friday. The Suns blew the doors off (+30 points) Charlotte tonight with the starters on the bench the fourth quarter and Amare didn't play at all, so the Suns are an OK team.

With a few more role players, the Lakers could play the spoiler in the playoffs but I don't think they'd make it to the finals.

noel · Post by **noel** » November 7, 2007, 2:12 am

Fixed my stupid URL.

Yeah I agree. There's no way they go to the Finals, but I do think they could be a team that no one wants to see in the playoffs.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » November 9, 2007, 2:42 pm

Orlando is the best team no one is talking much about.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » November 9, 2007, 3:31 pm

Orlando and Atlanta are making the Eastern Conference interesting again.

Rashard Lewis is playing well. He's going to have to consistently shoot a high percentage and score 20+ ppg to justify his contract, but if he can do that, Dwight Howard can continue to develop, and then can get quality play and consistent contributions from Nelson, Turkoglu, and so forth, they could be very good.

Atlanta has buttloads of potential. Josh Smith is really talented, and if he puts it all together, he's a potential legitimate franchise player. Marvin Williams has been consistently improving and might start to reach his potential soon. Joe Johnson is a quality veteran who can play at a borderline all-star level, and is useful regardless of how much he gets the ball in his hands. Horford and Law look good. Shelden Williams might develop (but maybe not). Josh Childress is a good NBA player. They could really grow into something scary.

Combine that with Boston looking great, LeBron leading Cleveland, Chicago likely to rebound and/or trade for Kobe, Detroit still chugging along, and the East looks better than it has recently. Still not great, but definitely more interesting.

And it's kind of amazing what's happened to the Lakers. Last year after a month or two of the season, they were the playoff sleeper that all the good teams dreaded facing. Now they're a mess.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » November 10, 2007, 12:32 am

Sueven wrote:Orlando and Atlanta are making the Eastern Conference interesting again.

Rashard Lewis is playing well. He's going to have to consistently shoot a high percentage and score 20+ ppg to justify his contract, but if he can do that, Dwight Howard can continue to develop, and then can get quality play and consistent contributions from Nelson, Turkoglu, and so forth, they could be very good.

Dwight Howards line from tonight, 22 and 20 with 3 blocks
Rashard Lewis 22 with 6 assists
Nelson 24 with 10 assists
Turkoglu tossed in 21 himself
4 Straight on the road

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 10, 2007, 1:03 am

Pherr the Dorf wrote:

Dwight Howards line from tonight, 22 and 20 with 3 blocks
Rashard Lewis 22 with 6 assists
Nelson 24 with 10 assists
Turkoglu tossed in 21 himself
4 Straight on the road[/quote]

Shawn Marion's line from tonight:

17 pts, 24 rbs, 5 steals (he's 6'7" and was playing against Shaq and Alonzo)

Suns beat the Heat but it's a shame to see Shaq resorting to dirty play. Amare got ejected from the game but it was clear that Shaq threw elbows twice in that game while Amare did nothing in return except get bloodied.

The refs still suck ass.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » November 10, 2007, 12:58 pm

Should be a fun game to watch tonight Winnow

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 10, 2007, 5:30 pm

Pherr the Dorf wrote:Should be a fun game to watch tonight Winnow

Well, Amare should be fresh having been booted last night although he could have a concussion from Shaq's dirty play, even if Marion is pooped after having to deal with the big men of Miami by himself.

Last meeting, Amare owned Howard but I don't think it will be as one sided this time.

ASU vs UCLA is on right now which leads right into the Suns @ Magic game. Nice!

Michigan just went down to Wisconsin. Would have been nice to see them go in with a winning streak to the OhioSU game.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » November 10, 2007, 11:29 pm

Lewis was putrid, horrible second quarter by the Magic.

Howard however made a nice statement against one of the most athletic Centers in the league.

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » November 14, 2007, 10:10 am

Kevin Garnett's line for the year 21.8 PPG, 15 Rebounds/PG, 5.3 Assists/PG

With all of the defensive help they picked up this year, and the very good and deep bench, this team actually is capable of winning it all. Suck it Winnow.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 14, 2007, 12:41 pm

It's about time the East had at least one decent team to bring a glimmer of hope.

Suns own KG. I've got video clips of Amare blowing by him! He would have been great playing along side Amare though for his defense.

The topic on the radio shows today is how the Phoenix Suns fans are bored with the regular season and are looking for revenge. You can't really get revenge on cheating refs and a moronic commissioner for taking away a championship from the Suns but all the fans want now is San Antonio and the playoffs. That may not bode well for the regular season record but the Suns look fine, especially Barbosa who has superstar written all over him this year. Good thing with Raja Bell being out with knee problems.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » November 14, 2007, 2:58 pm

I'm not so thrilled with my Sixers at the moment.

Why is Andre Miller still there? Our team sucks and he's going to be old by the time we're ready to not suck. We should have traded him last year. Since we missed that opportunity, we should trade him now. There are teams out there which require point guards. Denver? Maybe Atlanta, if they find themselves in contention at midseason? Maybe Orlando, so he can take some pressure off Jameer Nelson and provide him a tutor?

We also traded for Reggie Evans. I like Reggie Evans because he puts up stat lines like he did yesterday-- 0 points and 12 rebounds. But how does this help us long-term? He's fairly old and signed to a shitty contract. Why did we take on a bad contract in order to win 33 games instead of 32?

And we're also starting Willie Green. He's not going to magically turn into an NBA-worthy starter.

On the plus side, Iggy is still developing and Jason Smith and Louis Williams look like they have potential. This team needs to add a lot of pieces to be a contender, though.

I'm pumped for Orlando this year. Dwight Howard looks like he's turning into a monster. Rashard Lewis has been playing well. I really like Jameer Nelson. I hope that they can take advantage of their hot start this time around.

I think that the Suns are worse this year than they have been for the past 3. I seem to think that every year, though, so who knows.

I just think that their roster is not as good as it has been recently. It's unfortunate, because I have a man-crush on Steve Nash, and I really like a number of Phoenix's other players (Amare and Marion were both players who I was a big fan of before they blew up, so I feel an attachment to them, and I like Raja Bell because of his contributions to the Sixers' finals run in '01... and while I'm here, I might as well point out that I praised the Steve Nash signing while Winnow was busy trashing it). Unfortunately, I think Suns ownership is ruining the team-- their hemorrhaging of draft picks and cost-saving moves are going to prevent the team from winning an NBA title. The Suns could easily have three additional high-quality NBA players right now, and you can't tell me that the Suns would be worse off with an extra high-quality post defender... the team has holes that they actively chose not to fill.

I'm not going to have faith in the Suns this year until they beat the Spurs in a playoff series. Last year, they had a legit post defender in Kurt Thomas, and they lost in a tight series. Without any post defenders whatsoever this year, how do they plan to improve on that outcome?

Also, why the FUCK are they playing Grant Hill for 35+ minutes a game?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 14, 2007, 4:37 pm

Sueven wrote: I'm not going to have faith in the Suns this year until they beat the Spurs in a playoff series. Last year, they had a legit post defender in Kurt Thomas, and they lost in a tight series. Without any post defenders whatsoever this year, how do they plan to improve on that outcome?

That's pretty much the general sentiment this year so whatever happens during the regular season isn't going to get much attention unless they drop out of the 1st or 2nd seed in the West.

Sueven wrote: Also, why the FUCK are they playing Grant Hill for 35+ minutes a game?

Raja Bell has been hurt. Barbosa dropped 39 points his first game as a starter so it hasn't hurt the team much but Grant Hill has had to stay in the game longer instead of going with a three guard look along with Diaw and Amare in the front court while Marion rests.

Brian Skinner has been doing well off the bench to help out the big men which is a good sign. Strawberry and the other rookie haven't played at all for the most part. We need Bell to get healthy and then G.Hill can get more rest. Banks has played some but he sucks and D'Antoni would love to get rid of him.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » November 14, 2007, 5:37 pm

If the Suns injure Grant Hill because they traded away all the first round picks that could have landed them competent backup guards, Suns fans should revolt and get someone who's not a cocksucker to buy the team.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » November 15, 2007, 3:57 pm

Dwight Howard 35 and 16, 4 blocks and 13 for 16 from the line including 2 with 5 secs to go in OT that won the game.

Not that anyone this morning is talking about anything but Lebron's triple double.

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 15, 2007, 4:09 pm

Pherr the Dorf wrote:Dwight Howard 35 and 16, 4 blocks and 13 for 16 from the line including 2 with 5 secs to go in OT that won the game.

Not that anyone this morning is talking about anything but Lebron's triple double.

I wish that game would have been on TV, though the rockets lakers game was pretty fun to watch. The no look left handed block of YAO by Kobe was pretty awesome.

Gzette · Post by **Gzette** » November 16, 2007, 5:30 am

I'm talking about Mavs beating the Spurs. YES!

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 16, 2007, 12:01 pm

Gzette wrote:I'm talking about Mavs beating the Spurs. YES!

Spurs did not look great, but they almost came back a few times. Tony Parker was having a terrible night, his shots just would not fall, for whatever reason. Ginobli had a good game without OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of flopping, surprisingly. Dirk had a few moments where he just looked dominant than he has before, shooting over double teams and such. All and all, the Mavs played really well. I feel for Duncan, though...man got drilled in the nuts with someone else's foot in the 1st quarter.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 16, 2007, 1:17 pm

Everything looks about right in the West. Suns, Spurs and Mavs all have two losses. It will be those three teams and maybe Houston (although McGrady or Yao will probably get hurt at some point) fighting it out in the playoffs again.

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 16, 2007, 1:38 pm

Winnow wrote:Everything looks about right in the West. Suns, Spurs and Mavs all have two losses. It will be those three teams and maybe Houston (although McGrady or Yao will probably get hurt at some point) fighting it out in the playoffs again.

McGrady got hurt already (though it doesn't appear serious, hope that is true). You're also counting out the Nuggets, who have two players that are so far having better years than their average.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 20, 2007, 5:40 am

The rankings have pretty much corrected themselves except for Boston in the top spot. That will change.

You've got the Suns followed by the three Texas teams. Looks about right.

The east coasters can get their hopes up over Boston for a few months.

It's early, but this could be a good revenge year for Arizona. Boston beat the Suns in triple overtime to take a championship back in the day. It'd be nice to defend the Suns rightful championship vs Boston this year.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » November 27, 2007, 2:53 am

Suns score 37 in the 1st quarter!@@!!!!

and they gave up 45 and found themselves down by 8

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » November 27, 2007, 3:07 am

Winnow wrote:The rankings have pretty much corrected themselves except for Boston in the top spot. That will change.

You've got the Suns followed by the three Texas teams. Looks about right.

The east coasters can get their hopes up over Boston for a few months.

It's early, but this could be a good revenge year for Arizona. Boston beat the Suns in triple overtime to take a championship back in the day. It'd be nice to defend the Suns rightful championship vs Boston this year.

Have you watched any games involving Boston? Being in Hartford, CT for work allows me to watch almost all of the Boston games, and I definitely understand why you would rank them first.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 27, 2007, 3:22 am

Aardor wrote: Have you watched any games involving Boston? Being in Hartford, CT for work allows me to watch almost all of the Boston games, and I definitely understand why you would rank them first.

Boston will be exposed when Dallas, San Antonio or Phoenix plays them. They don't play any of the big three until Jan 31st. That's plenty of time to build up the Boston hype!

Jan 31 Dal 8:00 PM (Boston Loss)
Feb 10 SA 7:00 PM (Boston Loss)
Feb 22 @Pho 10:30 PM (Boston Loss)

Nice win by G.S. to end the Suns 8 game winning streak tonight. I think that was the Suns way of saying thank you for beating Dallas in the playoffs last year.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2007, 12:02 am

Johnson's lost his shooting touch

By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/06/07

If Joe Johnson knew why his shooting touch had disappeared for this long, he'd have done something about it.

Johnson has made just 57 of his past 150 shots, a woeful .380 shooting percentage in the Hawks' past nine games.

Those are scary numbers from a career .442 shooter, but even more frightening when you consider how much of what the Hawks do is predicated on Johnson's ability to score and create for others.

But with defenses designed to stop him, Johnson is in need of a boost.

"It's hard to get easy buckets right now to get yourself going," the Hawks captain said after practice Wednesday. "It's extra hard to get easy buckets when you're getting double-teamed a lot, and when your shot's not falling you don't want to force shots just for the sake of getting them up. It's just walking a fine line trying to break out of the funk.

"But you've just got to play through it. You can't worry about your last shot. ... You've just got to play through it."

Tonight's game against Minnesota at Philips Arena offers a chance to shake out of that slump for both Johnson and the Hawks, 7-10 after being worked over at home Tuesday by Detroit.

Johnson scored just five points on 2-for-10 shooting against the Pistons, his lowest scoring output since April 2, 2006, and only the seventh time in 156 games as a Hawk that he was held in single digits.

Yes!!!

Keep sucking for one more year Hawks! Phoenix wants a lotto pick next draft!

Suns won again tonight. Nash had 18 assists. He had 17 assists last night I believe.

Nash for MVP!

Trivia: Nash opened the '07 season making 54 straight free throws, 70+ dating back to last year.

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » December 6, 2007, 1:02 am

Have the Suns ever won a championship?

Secondary question: Has any Arizona team ever won a championship, aside from '01 D-Backs?

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » December 6, 2007, 1:52 am

Yeah they have a handful of girl collegiate sport titles and maybe a University of Arizona basketball title or two. I guess if you're a girl, you have a lot to be proud of in Arizona.

Oh and I think they just won the WNBA title too.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2007, 3:12 am

Sueven wrote:Have the Suns ever won a championship?

Secondary question: Has any Arizona team ever won a championship, aside from '01 D-Backs?

Phoenix Mercury '08 champs
Arizona Rattlers, multiple championships!
University of Arizona NCAA Mens Basketball National Champions

Can check the college records for other NCAA stats with Arizona and Arizona State belonging to the Pac-10 conference which dominates every other conference in NCAA titles (individual and team) and absolutely crushes all other conferences in women's titles (because they're balanced and do it all) Making fun of the Pac-10 for leading all conferences is NCAA titles cracks me up because at the same time the Pac-10 shits all over the Big-10 in the Rose Bowl...not even close...both vs USC and vs non USC teams, the Big Ten comes up short. Too funny. It's like watching a retarded kid laughing along with the kids that are laughing at him for pissing his pants.

As for the Suns,unless you're a fan of the cheating Spurs, you really have nothing much to argue over the past few years about the performance of the Suns vs your team. Dallas is the only other team anywhere close. With the refs cheating, just take the total wins over the last three or four years for each team. I suppose you can count a championship for the Suns last year as well if you take away the fixed game and Stern's inability to have a clue on how to hand out judgments. Not much you can do when the mob has an NBA ref in its back pocket.

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » December 6, 2007, 12:37 pm

hey look everybody, he has to hop on the pac ten bandwagon to make his state look relevant again.

and yet, you pussies over there STILL post up a losing record to the big ten.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2007, 12:49 pm

Wouldn't it be more interesting if the OhioSU players mixed it up a bit with the stickers instead of the same old boring ones?

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » December 6, 2007, 12:58 pm

Do you have any that say, "Boy! We sure are glad we don't suck enough to be in the Holiday Bowl!"? I would think about a campaign to put those stickers on the helmets.

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » December 6, 2007, 1:07 pm

When I clicked on this thread, I was pretty sure it was going to be about the NBA. Boy was I wrong!

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » December 6, 2007, 1:07 pm

I really didn't mean to derail this into another Phoenix/Arizona/Pac Ten/Big Ten shitfest. In the interests of halting the derail, I'll talk about the NBA.

I've been to 4 NBA games so far this year, and have been impressed by the following players:

Caron Butler-- the dude has stepped his game up to another level. He's not a team-leading superstar, but he's one of the best secondary players in the NBA. He's big, athletic and strong-- he can rip the ball away from people on defense, and use his speed and strength to get by them on offense.

Louis Williams-- holy crap this dude is fast. He's the most dangerous scoring threat on the 76ers, and he'll be a good NBA player. Great move by the Sixers to grab him at #45 in the draft two years ago, he'll probably end up being one of the top ten players from that draft class.

Marquis Daniels-- this is probably a mirage, because he's shown flashes before and is typically inconsistent, but he looked like the best player on the floor when I saw him.

Drew Gooden-- what the hell is this guys deal? He has all the skills-- he can rebound, handle the ball, create baskets, pass... but he seems like one of the least intuitive basketball players I've seen. He operates in spurts where he scores baskets on three consecutive possessions and then doesn't score again for 20 minutes. He's an awful finisher for his size and athleticism and has to have more of his shots blocked than almost anybody in the league. It just seems like he's overthinking the game all the time, which is too bad, because he could be an above-average player and borderline all-star if he was able to make the game more intuitive for him.

Allen Iverson-- duh. He's scaled back his shooting and really runs the offense well. He's doing a great job setting up his teammates. It's amazing how much people trash him considering he's done what was necessary at every stage of his career, and now he's transitioning to a lower-scoring role in which he assumes greater responsibility for the flow of the offense. I was disappointed last night, after Iverson scored 49 in the first three quarters and only 2 in the 4th, to hear announcers trashing him and saying he'd been "shut down" and so forth. Were we watching the same game? Iverson's only basket was on a drive where he blew by Kobe, hit the basket, and drew a foul. He only took 3 shots in the 4th quarter, and one of his two misses was a three-pointer where he was clearly fouled and the ref blew the call. On top of that, he had 5 assists in the 4th-- the Lakers switched Kobe to Iverson defense, and so Iverson drove by him and dished the ball to open teammates for the entire quarter. He played just as well in the 4th as he did in the first 3, but media folks bash him for not scoring more-- and, under normal circumstances, they bash him for scoring too much and not passing enough. Ridiculous. He can't win.

Brendan Haywood-- the dude isn't an ideal player, but he's a surprisingly effective one-on-one scorer. When he gets a one-on-one matchup in the post, he has the strength and explosiveness to get by nearly anybody. He's another Drew Gooden type-- if he could just develop a better feel for the game, he could be a top-level player.

I'll be going to see the Suns tomorrow, so I'll post a report on their performance later.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 6, 2007, 1:09 pm

Aardor wrote:When I clicked on this thread, I was pretty sure it was going to be about the NBA. Boy was I wrong!

Sueven and Zamtuk hijacked it! I was on topic.

Sueven wrote: I'll be going to see the Suns tomorrow, so I'll post a report on their performance later.

Nice! I hope it's a good game. Everyone's healthy I think so you'll get the full show.

Thess · Post by **Thess** » December 7, 2007, 2:04 am

Who cares if the Suns have ever won a championship, atleast they consistently have a good solid team with a lot of promise and are fun to watch.