New Album & The Beginning of Basketball Season
- Thread starter Ron Party
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Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
well Ron so far your prediction portends possibility re Heat v Spurs with the winner being whomever is healthier
Yet the Clipps are starting to peak and I love how Griffin has become a team leader. Last year Chris Paul wanted him gone
I love CP3, not just for his skill set, which is phenomenal, but for his determination. I posted a long time ago about Stern negating the trade which would have brought CP3 to the Lakers and what I believed would have happened if that trade went through. I thought then and still do that if that trade went through, the Lakers would have won another one or two championships. Reason: the only player in the league who is even more hell bent at winning at all costs is Kobe. They are 1 and 1a when it comes to absolute desire to win. Put the 2 of them together on the same team and... whoa!!! Next time CP3 gets into a tie-up jump ball situation, watch him closely, his eyes, his body language, and his ferocity at trying to rip that ball away from the other player.
Jackson fired.
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/10892128/mark-jackson-coach-golden-state-warriors
Dumb. And I was not a fan of his hiring but taking the Clips to 7 w/o your bigs was an accomplishment. No bigs = few crunch time rebounds and as we saw particularly in the final quarter of the final game, the Clips simply going over the top of the GS defense. David Lee was guarding DeAndre Jordan which is untenable.
Sounds like he really pissed off the owners.
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/10892128/mark-jackson-coach-golden-state-warriors
Dumb. And I was not a fan of his hiring but taking the Clips to 7 w/o your bigs was an accomplishment. No bigs = few crunch time rebounds and as we saw particularly in the final quarter of the final game, the Clips simply going over the top of the GS defense. David Lee was guarding DeAndre Jordan which is untenable.
Sounds like he really pissed off the owners.
The Dubs took the Clips to 7 games and to the very end of that 7th game. The Dubs did it without a center or power forward. Simply amazing. Give the Dubs a healthy Bogut and a healthy Festus Ezeli coming in off the bench and Jordan is significantly neutralized. The Dubs might even win the series (even with David Lee).
David Lee has to be traded. He is the softest (ahem) power forward in the game. The road to the western conference finals for the next several years will travel through Rip-City and the Clips. David Lee at power forward is not the answer.
Big, big kudos to Draymond Green. What a heart. I bet there is not a team in the league that wouldn't love to have Draymond.
I sure hope ownership has an ace up their sleeve with respect to Jackson's replacement.
David Lee has to be traded. He is the softest (ahem) power forward in the game. The road to the western conference finals for the next several years will travel through Rip-City and the Clips. David Lee at power forward is not the answer.
Big, big kudos to Draymond Green. What a heart. I bet there is not a team in the league that wouldn't love to have Draymond.
I sure hope ownership has an ace up their sleeve with respect to Jackson's replacement.
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
PACERS’ BYNUM ERA OVER, BUT ALLEGED IMPACT ON HIBBERT REMAINS
By Steve Aschburner
Is this malingerer ever going to retire or will he burp yet one more general manager for a paycheck and never play
INDIANAPOLIS – The latest Andrew Bynum experiment is over for the Indiana Pacers, its results meager, its costs still being calculated.
Bynum, the 7-foot, 285-pound center signed by the Pacers Feb. 1, officially was cut loose Wednesday morning. Hampered by chronic knee problems, the one-time (2012) L.A. Lakers All-Star, 26, played just twice for Indiana. He had an eight-point, 10-rebound game against Boston on March 11, then scored 15 points with nine rebounds four nights later against Detroit before heading back to the trainers room with soreness and fluid in his right knee.
“We want to thank Andrew and our medical staff for trying to get the issues with his knee resolved,” Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said in a statement. “We wish him the best in the future.”
Acquiring Bynum – at a reported $1 million guaranteed for the balance of 2013-14 – was a gamble by Bird that didn’t pay off. But it might have cost the Pacers more than money. Center Roy Hibbert‘s ongoing tailspin coincides with Bynum’s arrival, so much that some team insiders have wondered if the move rattled Hibbert’s confidence and trust.
Through Jan. 31, Hibbert was posting his customary numbers – 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks per game – for a team that was 35-10. After Bynum was signed, Hibbert averaged 9.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. He’s been worse in Indiana’s eight playoff games so far: 4.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks. And the Pacers have gone 25-20.
Bringing Bynum aboard rankled Hibbert, a source told NBA.com, when coach Frank Vogel ran plays to get Bynum involved offensively that he rarely calls for Hibbert.
After a disastrous season in Philadelphia in 2012-13, a disappointing stay in Cleveland earlier this season and a one-night stint with Chicago to fulfill trade obligations in January, his two-appearance stop in Indiana leaves Bynum’s basketball future in doubt. Brief as it was, it might have played a role in doing the same for Hibbert and the Pacers.
By Steve Aschburner
Is this malingerer ever going to retire or will he burp yet one more general manager for a paycheck and never play
INDIANAPOLIS – The latest Andrew Bynum experiment is over for the Indiana Pacers, its results meager, its costs still being calculated.
Bynum, the 7-foot, 285-pound center signed by the Pacers Feb. 1, officially was cut loose Wednesday morning. Hampered by chronic knee problems, the one-time (2012) L.A. Lakers All-Star, 26, played just twice for Indiana. He had an eight-point, 10-rebound game against Boston on March 11, then scored 15 points with nine rebounds four nights later against Detroit before heading back to the trainers room with soreness and fluid in his right knee.
“We want to thank Andrew and our medical staff for trying to get the issues with his knee resolved,” Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird said in a statement. “We wish him the best in the future.”
Acquiring Bynum – at a reported $1 million guaranteed for the balance of 2013-14 – was a gamble by Bird that didn’t pay off. But it might have cost the Pacers more than money. Center Roy Hibbert‘s ongoing tailspin coincides with Bynum’s arrival, so much that some team insiders have wondered if the move rattled Hibbert’s confidence and trust.
Through Jan. 31, Hibbert was posting his customary numbers – 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks per game – for a team that was 35-10. After Bynum was signed, Hibbert averaged 9.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. He’s been worse in Indiana’s eight playoff games so far: 4.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks. And the Pacers have gone 25-20.
Bringing Bynum aboard rankled Hibbert, a source told NBA.com, when coach Frank Vogel ran plays to get Bynum involved offensively that he rarely calls for Hibbert.
After a disastrous season in Philadelphia in 2012-13, a disappointing stay in Cleveland earlier this season and a one-night stint with Chicago to fulfill trade obligations in January, his two-appearance stop in Indiana leaves Bynum’s basketball future in doubt. Brief as it was, it might have played a role in doing the same for Hibbert and the Pacers.
Deron shut down. Miami cleans Brooklyn's clock.
Blazers putting up more of a fight but still looking overmatched vs the United Nations of San Antonio.
Blazers putting up more of a fight but still looking overmatched vs the United Nations of San Antonio.
Why not? Dwight did?
Kobe Bryant on D'Antoni: I didn't care
Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com | May 9, 2014
Kobe Bryant, speaking publicly for the first time since Mike D'Antoni resigned from the Los Angeles Lakers, expressed apathy about the turn of events but also said he'd like to have an active role in choosing a new coach.
"Honestly, I didn't care," Bryant said Thursday during a guest appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," when asked whether he was happy D'Antoni accepted a buyout of close to $2 million instead of coming back to coach the team next season.
"Mike was dealt a really bad hand in dealing with all the injuries that he had here," Bryant said. "This is a tough place, man. If you're not winning, you're not going to survive, man."
Bryant added that Magic Johnson's controversial tweet in which he celebrated D'Antoni's departure reminded him of a scene out of "The Wizard of Oz."
"The first thing I thought of was seeing the munchkins on the Yellow Brick Road dancing and singing, 'The Wicked Witch is dead,'" Bryant said. "When he tweeted that, that song just came to mind."
Bryant hopes the Lakers will sing a different tune than they have in the past when it comes to consulting him about hiring a coach.
"On the last two they didn't," Bryant said, referring to Mike Brown and D'Antoni, who both failed to endure the length of the initial contracts they signed with the Lakers before parting ways. "On the third one, I'm hoping they do."
Taking over for a legend like Phil Jackson is never easy, of course. Bryant said he still speaks to Jackson often and expects the 11-time champion coach to transfer those results to his front-office role with the New York Knicks.
"I think he'll do fantastic," Bryant said. "Especially the more people say that he won't be successful."
Bryant had similar faith in the Lakers' brass, endorsing the efforts by Jackson's fiancée and Lakers president Jeanie Buss, as well as her brother and Lakers executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss, in steering the franchise in the right direction.
"Jimmy and Jeanie both, they're just really determined and excited about the possibilities of next season and rebuilding this and building on their father's legacy and everything that he's accomplished," Bryant said. "And they're taking the challenge extremely, extremely seriously. They're both on the same page and they want nothing but excellence here, so I have no doubt that we'll make it happen."
Bryant did not identify any specific candidates he would like the Lakers to hire but said there is an "open-door policy" in place between him and Lakers management as the process plays out.
"We talk back and forth," Bryant said. "We'll text or I'll sit down with [them]."
But Bryant, who will turn 36 in August before embarking on his 19th NBA season in the fall, said he doesn't want the team to play favorites when it comes to picking its coach.
"Honestly, it's not really about whether the players like the coach or not," Bryant said. "It's really about getting results. Liking somebody and those results don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
"Sometimes when a coach is driving you, you don't necessarily like it, but it's a part of the process, and then once you win, everybody is buddy-buddy after that."
Drive has rarely if ever been an issue for Bryant, who started a six-month intensive training program to ready himself for 2014-15 shortly after the Lakers' disastrous season ended in April, and he already is bullish on his well-being.
"From a health standpoint, 100 percent," Bryant said of where he stands after missing 76 games this season because of a fractured knee and torn Achilles in his left leg. "I started doing a lot of on-court training and so I'm back into my routine. Then I'll start lifting and start doing the running, which I hate. By the time the season comes around, I'll be ready to go."
He said he believes the Lakers will be ready along with him.
"I do," Bryant said when asked if he thought the Lakers could win next season. "We'll make changes, for sure. There's certain characteristics that you have to build your team around in speed and length and rebounding and defense. We'll make those adjustments."
Bryant was also asked about the league's hot-button issue of the moment: Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
He flirted with joining the Clippers as a free agent in 2004, even meeting personally with Sterling, long before the owner was banned from the league for life for racist comments he made that surfaced during the first round of the playoffs.
Bryant took Sterling to task for the comments, tweeting, "I couldn't play for him" and "No. He should not continue owning the clippers. #nochance #noway #nohow," but said that he was more focused on winning than digging into Sterling's race relations.
"At the time the biggest concern was, 'Was he willing to spend to have a successful team?' " Bryant said. "He said during the meeting that he was willing to make the commitment in bringing another championship team to Los Angeles. And he has done that. He has spent the money to go out and keep Blake [Griffin] and DeAndre [Jordan] and CP [Chris Paul] and those guys."
Bryant, who caught some flak both for rarely sitting with his teammates on the bench and later for jetting to Europe for a family vacation before the Lakers' season was officially over, reflected on how difficult it was to watch the team suffer without him.
"I'd rather stay at home and eat paint chips," Bryant said. "It was tough, man. It was really, really tough. But you know, when you go through seasons like that, it just adds fuel to the fire to come back even stronger."
Meanwhile, Bryant said he couldn't care less how the Clippers' season ends.
"Doesn't really matter to me, because I'm not winning, so what the hell do I care who wins?" Bryant said, before adding that he did reach out and offer support to Paul during the Sterling "fiasco."
He is hopeful the Lakers will play the Clippers in the postseason down the line. The Clippers are one of just three Western Conference teams -- along with Memphis and Golden State -- that Bryant has never faced in the playoffs.
"I would love for nothing more than the Lakers to get back to that championship level and meet the Clippers in the playoffs," Bryant said. "I think that would be fantastic."
Similar to the Clippers' ascension and how it dovetailed with the Lakers' descent into a historically bad 27-55 season, Bryant's prime came after his idol growing up, Michael Jordan, had put his best days behind him and retired.
But as Bryant told it, that didn't stop Jordan from challenging Bryant after he scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
"After I scored 81, he was barking on how I could never do it against him," Bryant said, before breaking into a Jordan impression. "'There's no way you're going to score 80 on me! I would have fouled out!' We just went back and forth with it. I normally try to stay pretty cool when it comes to MJ because I look up to him so much, but on that particular occasion I had to remind him that I did have 42 in one half against him."
Kobe Bryant on D'Antoni: I didn't care
Dave McMenamin
ESPNLosAngeles.com | May 9, 2014
Kobe Bryant, speaking publicly for the first time since Mike D'Antoni resigned from the Los Angeles Lakers, expressed apathy about the turn of events but also said he'd like to have an active role in choosing a new coach.
"Honestly, I didn't care," Bryant said Thursday during a guest appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," when asked whether he was happy D'Antoni accepted a buyout of close to $2 million instead of coming back to coach the team next season.
"Mike was dealt a really bad hand in dealing with all the injuries that he had here," Bryant said. "This is a tough place, man. If you're not winning, you're not going to survive, man."
Bryant added that Magic Johnson's controversial tweet in which he celebrated D'Antoni's departure reminded him of a scene out of "The Wizard of Oz."
"The first thing I thought of was seeing the munchkins on the Yellow Brick Road dancing and singing, 'The Wicked Witch is dead,'" Bryant said. "When he tweeted that, that song just came to mind."
Bryant hopes the Lakers will sing a different tune than they have in the past when it comes to consulting him about hiring a coach.
"On the last two they didn't," Bryant said, referring to Mike Brown and D'Antoni, who both failed to endure the length of the initial contracts they signed with the Lakers before parting ways. "On the third one, I'm hoping they do."
Taking over for a legend like Phil Jackson is never easy, of course. Bryant said he still speaks to Jackson often and expects the 11-time champion coach to transfer those results to his front-office role with the New York Knicks.
"I think he'll do fantastic," Bryant said. "Especially the more people say that he won't be successful."
Bryant had similar faith in the Lakers' brass, endorsing the efforts by Jackson's fiancée and Lakers president Jeanie Buss, as well as her brother and Lakers executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss, in steering the franchise in the right direction.
"Jimmy and Jeanie both, they're just really determined and excited about the possibilities of next season and rebuilding this and building on their father's legacy and everything that he's accomplished," Bryant said. "And they're taking the challenge extremely, extremely seriously. They're both on the same page and they want nothing but excellence here, so I have no doubt that we'll make it happen."
Bryant did not identify any specific candidates he would like the Lakers to hire but said there is an "open-door policy" in place between him and Lakers management as the process plays out.
"We talk back and forth," Bryant said. "We'll text or I'll sit down with [them]."
But Bryant, who will turn 36 in August before embarking on his 19th NBA season in the fall, said he doesn't want the team to play favorites when it comes to picking its coach.
"Honestly, it's not really about whether the players like the coach or not," Bryant said. "It's really about getting results. Liking somebody and those results don't necessarily go hand-in-hand.
"Sometimes when a coach is driving you, you don't necessarily like it, but it's a part of the process, and then once you win, everybody is buddy-buddy after that."
Drive has rarely if ever been an issue for Bryant, who started a six-month intensive training program to ready himself for 2014-15 shortly after the Lakers' disastrous season ended in April, and he already is bullish on his well-being.
"From a health standpoint, 100 percent," Bryant said of where he stands after missing 76 games this season because of a fractured knee and torn Achilles in his left leg. "I started doing a lot of on-court training and so I'm back into my routine. Then I'll start lifting and start doing the running, which I hate. By the time the season comes around, I'll be ready to go."
He said he believes the Lakers will be ready along with him.
"I do," Bryant said when asked if he thought the Lakers could win next season. "We'll make changes, for sure. There's certain characteristics that you have to build your team around in speed and length and rebounding and defense. We'll make those adjustments."
Bryant was also asked about the league's hot-button issue of the moment: Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
He flirted with joining the Clippers as a free agent in 2004, even meeting personally with Sterling, long before the owner was banned from the league for life for racist comments he made that surfaced during the first round of the playoffs.
Bryant took Sterling to task for the comments, tweeting, "I couldn't play for him" and "No. He should not continue owning the clippers. #nochance #noway #nohow," but said that he was more focused on winning than digging into Sterling's race relations.
"At the time the biggest concern was, 'Was he willing to spend to have a successful team?' " Bryant said. "He said during the meeting that he was willing to make the commitment in bringing another championship team to Los Angeles. And he has done that. He has spent the money to go out and keep Blake [Griffin] and DeAndre [Jordan] and CP [Chris Paul] and those guys."
Bryant, who caught some flak both for rarely sitting with his teammates on the bench and later for jetting to Europe for a family vacation before the Lakers' season was officially over, reflected on how difficult it was to watch the team suffer without him.
"I'd rather stay at home and eat paint chips," Bryant said. "It was tough, man. It was really, really tough. But you know, when you go through seasons like that, it just adds fuel to the fire to come back even stronger."
Meanwhile, Bryant said he couldn't care less how the Clippers' season ends.
"Doesn't really matter to me, because I'm not winning, so what the hell do I care who wins?" Bryant said, before adding that he did reach out and offer support to Paul during the Sterling "fiasco."
He is hopeful the Lakers will play the Clippers in the postseason down the line. The Clippers are one of just three Western Conference teams -- along with Memphis and Golden State -- that Bryant has never faced in the playoffs.
"I would love for nothing more than the Lakers to get back to that championship level and meet the Clippers in the playoffs," Bryant said. "I think that would be fantastic."
Similar to the Clippers' ascension and how it dovetailed with the Lakers' descent into a historically bad 27-55 season, Bryant's prime came after his idol growing up, Michael Jordan, had put his best days behind him and retired.
But as Bryant told it, that didn't stop Jordan from challenging Bryant after he scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
"After I scored 81, he was barking on how I could never do it against him," Bryant said, before breaking into a Jordan impression. "'There's no way you're going to score 80 on me! I would have fouled out!' We just went back and forth with it. I normally try to stay pretty cool when it comes to MJ because I look up to him so much, but on that particular occasion I had to remind him that I did have 42 in one half against him."
Deron with zero points last night. He's plain inconsistent. On some games he can go 25 or 30 even, but zero in a playoff game? It seems they would need Rondo too, but they have practically no more 1st round picks to give.
As I read in a headline, the Spurs have taken it to another level after the 2 victories over the Blazers. Though just like the Heat, all they did was to hold home court. Let's see if the Nets and Blazers make it a series in their next 2 games. The Nets are playing indeed like a poorly constructed team of new additions. Poorly executed plays and lots of turnovers. More practice is needed, though age is not on their side. The Spurs are the reverse. I want to see them in the Finals.
Deron with zero points last night. He's plain inconsistent. On some games he can go 25 or 30 even, but zero in a playoff game? It seems they would need Rondo too, but they have practically no more 1st round picks to give.
Uh huh. IMHO the most overrated point guard in the league.
Much as I hate the Heat. You gotta give it to them. They threw everything including the kitchen sink at DW and it worked.
I now have two favorites this playoff. Bradley Beal and Kawhi Leonard. Coooooooool under pressure!
I now have two favorites this playoff. Bradley Beal and Kawhi Leonard. Coooooooool under pressure!
Those long stretching layups by Westbrook are amazing. Normally I see others miss those kinds hard driving layups but his hands are in control of the ball. This is going to be a grind out series.
OKC came out blazing on both ends. Their defense was pretty strong, I felt. And the series is getting very physical with lots of double Ts. The thing about KD is when he shoots the ball, you almost know it's going to get in the hoop, a scoring machine. Clips need their version of Tony Allen.
OKC came out blazing on both ends. Their defense was pretty strong, I felt. And the series is getting very physical with lots of double Ts. The thing about KD is when he shoots the ball, you almost know it's going to get in the hoop, a scoring machine. Clips need their version of Tony Allen.
You are correct, Phil. The Clippers don't have a lock down defender to slow down Durant. Barnes, Dudley, Redick all have tried to no avail.
Last two games Westbrook has been hot, too. Even former Clipper Caron Butler hit three three-pointers last night. Love Caron but not right now.
Serge Ibaka hit 9 of 10 shots last night for the Thunder, too.
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