This week in the NBA

[naiwf 0]

By that logic Tracy McGrady is the MVP since Houston is actually something like 0-13 without him. I think every other team in the league could win ONE game out of 13 without their star, but not the Rockets. Is it time to call Yao a bit of a bust? He's no Darko or Olowokandi, but I don't think Houston was counting on a 7'5 role player.

[Ripper 0]

Yao isn't close to a bust.

 

And from the spurts I have seen out of Bynum and the fact that the Lakers aren't seriously contending for a title this year, I think Phil should get the kid as many minutes as possible so he can feel the highs and lows of the NBA. He looks damn good and looks like he has a very strong offensive game. Not sure about his defensive efforts, but hey...he is a rookie. I know Phil hates to play rookies, but its time he got over it.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Pistons need to lose anywhere from four to six more games, then I think they deserve the title. Can't have them win 73. No.

[Guest]

And from the spurts I have seen out of Bynum and the fact that the Lakers aren't seriously contending for a title this year, I think Phil should get the kid as many minutes as possible so he can feel the highs and lows of the NBA. He looks damn good and looks like he has a very strong offensive game. Not sure about his defensive efforts, but hey...he is a rookie. I know Phil hates to play rookies, but its time he got over it.

Bynum plays pretty well on defense, but he really likes to look for that huge block. He can do it, he's just tries to do it too often. Great rebounder too.

[Ripper 0]

Thats something alot of young players look for instead of the normal block. Amare still did it last year, but eventually he will be something. And yes, he is a damn fine rebounder.

[Brett Favre 0]

Kobe gets more foul calls than fucking Jordan. You take a look at him and the refs are blowing the whistle. The Knicks played pitfully yesterday, but one of the reasons Larry got thrown out was because Kobe shot like 56 FTs, and Mihm and Kwame were allowed to walk all around the court.

 

I like Andrew Bynum though, he's nice.

 

And fuck the fans at the Garden, chanting for Kobe. It's a shame that we have fans like that (if it wasn't Laker fans chanting).

[Guest]

No, Knick players were practically trying to goon people towards the end of the game. I don't know what's gotten into Antonio Davis lately, but he needs to chill out. Kobe does get a lot of foul calls, but he puts himself in position to get them. If you're gonna bite on that pump fake move he does twice a game, you deserve to get called for a foul.

[Brett Favre 0]

75% of the calls were bullshit. Especially the ones that they waited for him to miss the shot before they called anything. Davis gooned him at the end because he was getting like 20 calls, so he might as well get his moneys worth.

 

And what the fuck kind of call was that on Channing Frye fouling Mihm? Mihm was trying to get position and started grabbing Channing's ass, and Channing gets called for the foul. You should thank Steve Javie.

[Guest]

They were up by 18 at that point, it's not like New York was going to come back. Maybe if they actually had some talented players, they wouldn't be in that position. How any team could have such a high payroll with so little talent astounds me.

 

I'm talking about talent now, not the talent that they will have in the future when their players develop.

[Brett Favre 0]

Oh they have the talent. But when your coach yanks you as soon as you make a mistake, you have a different lineup for like 80% of the games in the season, and your coach hasn't settled on a rotation and we're in February, it's tough to win.

 

You guys were up by like 30 and you still had Kobe in the game, what kind of fucked up shit was that? And you're telling me the game was over?

[Guest]

Phil likes to give the fans a show. I know it's pretty fucked up, but I'd rather have him in trying to give the ball to Bynum than Devin Green or Von Wafer. I think Larry Brown was a terrible hire for the Knicks, he's too structured. That team should be gunning down the court.

[Rendclaw 0]

Ah yes, the beginning of the Kobe Rules era...

 

I knew sometime in the third quarter the Pistons were going to lose that game, and with the way they were jacking up threes, they certainly did not deserve to win it, even though they came close. That has been my one pet peeve with the Pistons; they can fall in love with the outside shot and they can get run out of the gym if it isnt falling. Cleveland destroyed them because of it, even though they could get any shot they wanted in the second half of that game by going inside-out rather than outside-in.

 

Rasheed can score on pretty much anyone if he at the very least took a balance of shots, rather than doing a pick and pop with Chauncey most of the time. He was going pretty much shot for shot with Tim Duncan in the last meeting between the two teams.

 

Its games like that last night that get me aggravated. If the shots are falling they can't be beat, but if they aren't, pretty much anyone can beat them.

[Brett Favre 0]

During the 6 game win streak, when they beat Phoenix and Dallas, they were scoring a shitload of points. I don't know what happened.

[Guest]

Well, they didn't play David Lee very much last night. I think they could start there. They've gotta trade Stephon and/or Jamal Crawford, those guys are draining cap space. There's just been a plethora of things that New York has done that will keep them from being title contenders for a long time, and there's not much that can be done about it.

 

Ah yes, the beginning of the Kobe Rules era...

Yep, it's finally arrived. I can't believe that I've been watching this guy since I was 8, and he's only 27. Unreal. That also tells you what era I grew up in. The year of the lockout and the 3 peat era, but I've been watching the Lakers since I was a little kid. Ah, the days of Randy Pfund.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

So do the accusations against Isiah protect him for the rest of the year, or make it easier to can him? The Knicks are a bad, bad team right now and it can all be traced to Isiah's moves.

[Brett Favre 0]

The Knicks aren't too far off from cutting down money, as long as they let the contracts expire, in 3 years, they'd be under the cap. Then again, no team is really under the cap, so that shouldn't be the goal. Not saying you don't let some of the contracts expire, but as long as we draft well, and make better trades, we'd be fine.

 

David Lee not playing is one of my gripes, as he really hasn't played horribly, and recently we could use his rebounding.

[Guest]

I'm not too sure of what accusations you're talking about, but I don't really think he's at fault for all of this. Blame ownership for giving him so much money to spend. The only really stupid thing he did was giving Jerome James that big contract, everything else can be traced further back.

[Brett Favre 0]

The team is talented. In all the trades, he's gotten the better player (most of the time more money too, but the better play). I guess the players just don't fit as well as he originally thought they would. His worst move by far was Jerome James, but other than that, the other trades have their pros.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm not too sure of what accusations you're talking about, but I don't really think he's at fault for all of this. Blame ownership for giving him so much money to spend. The only really stupid thing he did was giving Jerome James that big contract, everything else can be traced further back.

 

Isiah Thomas has been accused of sexual harrassment by a former team executive, who claims she was later fired for tyring to go through the proper channels reporting the said incident.

 

Does this protect Thomas, or hurt him? With Rob Babcock gone, it's clear that Thomas is the worst GM in basketball. He's been there two years and they are probably the worst team in the league right now and nothing to really look forward to on the horizon.

[Brett Favre 0]

It protects him. The organization would look bad in firing him, especially if he didn't do anything. Dolan is behind him.

[Guest]

Yeah, that's basically what I was going to say. See, the bad thing about the trades that he made, is that he went out and hired Larry Brown. With the players they have, they can't possibly hope to play the style of defense that he wants, they have to be able to run the court. With LB, that's just not going to happen. Phil Jackson probably wouldn't have been a good hire for them either, their players just aren't structured types.

 

They can be a good team, but not with Larry Brown at the helm.

[Ripper 0]

Besides the Jerome James incident, I don't think you can rag on Isaiah for anything. Oh, and trading Kieth Van Horn. I mean seriously, He got rid of McDyss, Lampe and some other throw in to get Marbury and Penny. That is definately a plus for the Knicks. Frye, Robinson, Lee and MAYBE Butler all will be very good players the experience. He has built a team with a future and over the cap from a team with no future AND being over the cap. Thats a good job anyway you cut it.

[Guest]

So nobody thinks that Larry Brown was a bad hire?

[Brett Favre 0]

He's basically building without the cap, which is what the Pacers, Pistons (with the exception of Billups, although they didn't really rebuild, since they never really started over), Kings, Spurs, and Mavs did. If you look at the ways they built their teams, they drafted and traded for all their important players.

 

I've been supporting Brown, but he still hasn't settled on a rotation, and he keeps blaming the players. I don't know about him anymore.

[Guest]

My other reason for not liking it that I didn't mention before is that he's not going to be around when these players are fully developed. I think they should have made a hire that would have also helped them further down the line. In the same way, I kinda had a problem with the Phil Jackson hiring, but he's a winner and it's good to have him teach a young team.

[naiwf 0]

So nobody thinks that Larry Brown was a bad hire?

 

I'd say 50% of the Knicks fanbase realize Larry was a fraud. He's supposedly a "teacher" yet he pulls the young guys after big games and lets stiffs like Malik Rose get playing time. A lot of people are expecting him to quit sometime between now and the end of the season.

 

I know you're not SUPPOSED to do this, but I was hoping one of the Knicks would have clipped Kobe at the knees last night since there was no reason for him to be in the game in the 4th quarter except to pad his stats. I would have loved to see Phil Jackson try to explain why his franchise player suffered a season ending injury when the Lakers were up 30 in a meaningless game, but they got away with it.

[Guest]

I think that's going to happen to Kobe at least one time before the end of his career. I don't know why Phil does the things he does, but it's part of his lore. He likes leaving starters in when they get blown the hell out too.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm really surprised by the Isiah support on this board. I'm not a Knicks hater... in fact I think its good for the league when the Knicks have a good team. I'm just not optimistics at all for this team.

 

Lee, Frye, Ariza, Robinson - they are nice players with good upside, but I don't think there is a franchise level player there. It's not really a strong core group that can be built around for years to come.

 

As far as the cap goes, they will never even sniff it, but most teams won't anyways. The problem is they have long-term money tied up in Marbury, Crawford, James, Curry, Richardson, all of whom have completely unmovable contracts.

 

Throw in the fact that they are giving up their next two lottery picks to the Bulls and it seems like a recipe for disaster. Where is the upside long-term? They can't sign free-agents, they don't have any desirable contracts, they don't have draft picks and they have average quality young guys that they aren't willing to part with.

 

I see that as failure, but maybe I just have a different outlook on the team than most.

[naiwf 0]

I'm really surprised by the Isiah support on this board. I'm not a Knicks hater... in fact I think its good for the league when the Knicks have a good team. I'm just not optimistics at all for this team.

 

Lee, Frye, Ariza, Robinson - they are nice players with good upside, but I don't think there is a franchise level player there. It's not really a strong core group that can be built around for years to come.

 

As far as the cap goes, they will never even sniff it, but most teams won't anyways. The problem is they have long-term money tied up in Marbury, Crawford, James, Curry, Richardson, all of whom have completely unmovable contracts.

 

Throw in the fact that they are giving up their next two lottery picks to the Bulls and it seems like a recipe for disaster. Where is the upside long-term? They can't sign free-agents, they don't have any desirable contracts, they don't have draft picks and they have average quality young guys that they aren't willing to part with.

 

I see that as failure, but maybe I just have a different outlook on the team than most.

 

No, you've pretty much described the intelligent Knicks fan who realizes that there's nothing to look forward to until about 2010 or 2011 at the earliest.

[Brett Favre 0]

I rather have Curry over Morrison, Gay or Aldridge if that's what you're referring too. It's why Isiah made the trade.

 

Next year sucks a bit though, because if we end up worse than the Bulls, we switch picks with them, although the Bulls shouldn't end up being too good.

 

Tell me what young core group is full of franchise players? Frye and Robinson have the ability to be all-star players (ability, not saying they will, but have the ability). Lee and Ariza have the ability to become very good roleplayers.

 

Crawford and Richardson are movable, and I wouldn't be surprised if both were moved by the deadline. Marbury is going to stay, and I don't have a problem with that since he really isn't the problem. You're right on James. And why the hell would we want to move Curry? 23 year old low post center who is just scratching the surface? He's staying.

 

The Knicks, if they let their contracts expire in the next year will shed off Taylor, Houston, Penny, and Davis, shedding off like 50 million. So they aren't as deep in cap hell as you would think, and that would put them in the middle of the NBA in terms of salary.