This week in the NBA

[Ripper 0]

Hamilton is once again a very good defender but he is one of those guys that people just choose to ignore it. Like whenever he plays against a team, the opposing two guard just HAPPENS to be "cold" and turn the ball over alot.

 

I never said he was as good defensively as Kobe, but he definately matches up better with Ray Allen than Kobe, who has enjoyed being Rays bitch for the last couple of years. Kobe is a good defender but he HATES running around screen after screen which is why Hamilton smoked him in that finals and why Allen always has good games against him.

 

The Pistons would have no one to even think about defending Paul Pierce if they were to trade Tayshawn. Hell, who even starts at the SF, let alone defends him.

 

This Piston team right now is the only team in the east to have a chance to beat the Celtics unless some meltdown comes around.

 

Rip on Ray, Tay on Pierce, and Wallace on Garnett. And no, i don't see them making the eastern conference finals. I actually think that the Bulls and Cavs could beat a Kobe included, Tayshawn-less Piston team pretty easily.

[Rendclaw 0]

That reported trade had been making the rounds here on Detroit sports talk radio, and Joe Dumars unequivocably stated that the deal rumors were false on every level. I believe that because Dumars would never even consider trading Rasheed, Rip or Tayshaun. I thought that he MIGHT pull the trigger on Rasheed in the offseason, but he did not and I am glad that he didn't, considering how he is playing now.

 

If Isaiah was running the Pistons, he would make that trade and make the Pistons the Lakers East. Dumas is smart enough to know that Kupchak and Buss want too much for Kobe. Is he worth it? I could almost say yes, but not quite. Kobe is a phenomenal player no doubt, but its not all about what he does on the court. Kobe is not about team, he is about himself and has been most of his career. Jordan (his idol and role model) realized that had to have good players around him and that he couldn't do it all by himself. Kobe was taught that lesson after Shaq was let go, but the lesson was not learned.

 

I am in complete agreement with Rip: to trade that many players for Kobe would all but destroy the Pistons' hopes for a championship. The Pistons are a great TEAM, and to make that kind of trade means that the organization wants star power, not championships.

[nogoodnick 0]

Who knows about his knee, but apparently Greg Oden has put on 30 lbs of muscle while maintaining his 7.8% body fat. He's weighing in at about 280 now according to Jason Quick, Blazers beat writer.

 

Edit: yeah I gotta look for some good news tonight.

[dh86 0]

That reported trade had been making the rounds here on Detroit sports talk radio, and Joe Dumars unequivocably stated that the deal rumors were false on every level. I believe that because Dumars would never even consider trading Rasheed, Rip or Tayshaun. I thought that he MIGHT pull the trigger on Rasheed in the offseason, but he did not and I am glad that he didn't, considering how he is playing now.

 

If Isaiah was running the Pistons, he would make that trade and make the Pistons the Lakers East. Dumas is smart enough to know that Kupchak and Buss want too much for Kobe. Is he worth it? I could almost say yes, but not quite. Kobe is a phenomenal player no doubt, but its not all about what he does on the court. Kobe is not about team, he is about himself and has been most of his career. Jordan (his idol and role model) realized that had to have good players around him and that he couldn't do it all by himself. Kobe was taught that lesson after Shaq was let go, but the lesson was not learned.

 

I am in complete agreement with Rip: to trade that many players for Kobe would all but destroy the Pistons' hopes for a championship. The Pistons are a great TEAM, and to make that kind of trade means that the organization wants star power, not championships.

 

The trade is obviously fake since Amir cant be traded for another month. But

 

Billups/Stuckey/Hunter

Bryant/Murray

Hayes/Afflalo/Dupree

McDyess/Maxiell

Wallace/Mohammed/Samb

 

is not a depleted roster

 

We would obviously have a defensive hole at SF, but every contender has a weakness somewhere. The NBA is all about matchups. Mavericks would have been the perfect team to face the Spurs, yet couldnt match up at all with Golden State. If the Kobe Bryant that wants to be a team player and is about winning came in with that roster, we absolutely would be closer to a championship.

[Rendclaw 0]

I doubt it. I just doubt Kobe's ability to actually tone down his game and fit into a team mold. He has been getting his way since high school, and I don't believe that he can actually be unselfish.

 

That hole at SF is downright glaring, not to mention going from Kobe to Flip Murray would be a HUGE downgrade, as much as I like Flip now that he is rounding back into the player I saw playing for Cleveland. Tayshaun is an untouchable, plain and simple. He is as much an integral part to the Pistons' success as any other player on the roster, if not more so.

 

Afflalo and Stuckey are unproven even though they have shown they can do some good things. Unless they are legit superstars, you cannot put THAT much pressure upon rookies, because they need to be allowed to screw up as most rookies do... Hell even Kobe was extremely hit or miss in his rookie year. I don't think that Maxiell would have developed as he has if they threw him in the fire immediately, and he still has a ways to go (midrange game needed here).

 

I buy into the team concept a lot, perhaps too much at times. The Lakers and Celtics of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s were great teams, and even though both had a lot of superstars on their teams, they had good to great players alongside those superstars that contributed to the team's success. I don't think that Kobe could ever fit into such a concept on a team such as the Pistons.

 

Playoffs? Absolutely. Conference finals? Sure. But no further than that which is kind of where the Pistons are now, without such a player as Kobe.

[Brett Favre 0]

[Boxer 0]

Even though Kobe would NEVER go to Sacramento, those guys there are good trade partners. They got Garcia, Bibby, Artest or Martin. Those are some decent assets. Maybe if the team moves to Las Vegas, Kobe signs up?

[naiwf 0]

Who knows about his knee, but apparently Greg Oden has put on 30 lbs of muscle while maintaining his 7.8% body fat. He's weighing in at about 280 now according to Jason Quick, Blazers beat writer.

 

Edit: yeah I gotta look for some good news tonight.

 

Doesn't that seem like an excessive amount of weight gain in a short period of time? I don't know if they should want Oden to be that big regardless of how toned he is.

[Ripper 0]

No, its never regardless of how tone he is. He put on 30lbs of muscle and maintained that body fat percentage? That can only be a good thing. Only thing you should worry about there is if all the extra muscle will effect his midrange game.

[dh86 0]

Gaining weight that quickly can wreak havoc on joints.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

No, its never regardless of how tone he is. He put on 30lbs of muscle and maintained that body fat percentage? That can only be a good thing. Only thing you should worry about there is if all the extra muscle will effect his midrange game.

 

 

That's a lot of weight to put on his frame in a short amount of time, and seeing that he just had knee surgery, it's probably mostly upper body weight. That could cause a lot of problems with his speed, mobility, explosiveness, etc. I'm not saying that it will, but it could. Adding muscle for a post player is usually always good, but I'd like to see how his body reacts first.

[Ripper 0]

He is rehabbing Microfracture surgery. he is doing ALOT of work with his legs. Its not all upper body.

 

And in rehabin that surgery you have to do alot of flexability work also.

 

The only problem he is going have is cardio, which he probably isn't getting that much of right now.

 

Plus, I am pretty sure they are saying he put on 30lbs of muscle since the draft camps which was probably the last time any measure of weight was really taken. I am quite sure he hasn't gained 30lbs of muscle in a month.

[Cartman 0]

I will never watch Frank TV but that clip was funny.

[Guest]

I've gotta ask, am I the only one who thought the Warriors would go back to being shitty this season?

 

Even though Kobe would NEVER go to Sacramento, those guys there are good trade partners. They got Garcia, Bibby, Artest or Martin. Those are some decent assets. Maybe if the team moves to Las Vegas, Kobe signs up?

A trade that was supposed to bring Bibby here last season was nixed by Maloof because they didn't want to trade with the Lakers, just because it was the Lakers. Fuck them and their shitty team.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Richard Hamilton is a VERY good defender. It gets lost in the fact that he is a offensive weapon. He has alot of energy and can stay in front of most guards. People forget his role in the Kobe shutdown in the NBA finals.

 

Prince is not a "good" defender. He is one of the leagues best defensive players. Kobe is a better defender than Hamilton, but he is not better than Prince in any stretch of the imagination. Prince can routinely guard positions 1-5 and do a decent to great job at all of them. Trading him leaves a gaping hole in the team that would weaken it alot.

 

The Rasheed/Kobe thing I mentioned is how will those two explosive personalities react? How will Rasheed react the first time Kobe barks at him for taking a three. He isn't going to bow his head and run up court like Smush Parker or Vlad or Luke Walton.

 

And the reason you can't change out sheed for Prince is that Sheed is also a monster defender at the rim which lets the Pistons get away with defending one on one and overplaying all over the court.

 

Billups, Mcdyess and Hamilton are the Pistons starters that are expendable and with them still being a good team. Mostly because Prince has been basically running the point alot this year, they still have Stuckey, and Maxiell to replace Mcdyess and Billups(while Stucky would be a step down, with Kobe on the team, all you would need is a guy that can defend and hit the open shot at the PG position).

 

I say again, only the Suns and the Bulls can put together a decent package for Bryant and still be competetive enough to win a championship.

 

I agree with this post. Also, not to forget, Billups also has a bit of an alpha personality and has a big ego (not really complaining about it but its a fact). I can tell he relishes the idea of being the 'leader' so to speak. I mean i dont expect him to start a lot of trouble or anything, but he's also just not going to quietly defer if Kobe starts barking at him for taking a 'bad 3' (a Billups speciality). this is one of thsoe trades where my intial reaction as a pistons fan was excitement until I actually thought about it.

 

And the other suggestion of putting Sheed in the trade is a horrible idea. As much as i like guys like Maxiell and Amir johnson... No Sheed = Getting anally raped by KG over and over again in the playoffs. To say nothing of Tim Duncan if they miraciously made the Finals.

 

[Rendclaw 0]

Agreed.

 

I was listening to the beat writer for the Pistons and he said that Joe Dumars called the Lakers back in June when Kobe said what he said, and Kupchak said that Kobe will not waive his no-trade clause because he does not want to go to Detroit.

 

That's enough for me, even if Ric Bucher is still spewing his pro-Kobe bullshit during the Laker-Piston game.

[Ripper 0]

Fucking Kevin Durant. I was at the game tonight and it was a hell of a show.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Fucking Durant? Johnson goes for 39, Damien F. Wilkins goes for 41, and all you can talk about is Durant?

[Brett Favre 0]

Referees are fucking douchebags.

[Ripper 0]

That shot Durant hit ended the game. ANd he was completely covered and had shot like shit all game. So yeah. Fuck him.

 

A special fuck you goes to Mike Woodson too, who did everything in his power to fuck up here (although PJ's decision making was insane too).

 

Wilkins was great, as was Joe Johnson, but half of both of their points came off HORRIBLE shots. Just jacking it up with someone in your face early in the shot clock. But still. Hell of a performance.

 

 

ALl I can say is great game, but the Hawks just ran out of guys(Childress and Marvin Williams both fouled out in the 2nd overtime) . I think if Josh Smith or Acie Law had played, this would have been a walk for the Hawks.

 

[nogoodnick 0]

The Blazers were up 25 in the second quarter and held the Sixers completely scoreless for 9:09. So I went to sleep on the couch for a bit. I woke up to find them up only 3. And they fucking lost. Godamnit.

[Brett Favre 0]

That's what happens when you sleep on Philly.

[nogoodnick 0]

I even almost came on here and posted about how awful Philly looked.

[Guest]

I know the Lakers are literally handling him with kid gloves, but at some point, Bynum has to get more than 23 minutes a night. The guy is a walking double-double, but isn't getting enough PT, IMO.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

I know the Lakers are literally handling him with kid gloves, but at some point, Bynum has to get more than 23 minutes a night. The guy is a walking double-double, but isn't getting enough PT, IMO.

 

Seriously. Its frustrating to watch. This is season three, right? He isn't 18 anymore.

[CanadianChris 0]

I know the Lakers are literally handling him with kid gloves, but at some point, Bynum has to get more than 23 minutes a night. The guy is a walking double-double, but isn't getting enough PT, IMO.

 

Seriously. Its frustrating to watch. This is season three, right? He isn't 18 anymore.

Yeah, if they're going to be turning down deals for Jason Kidd and such because they won't trade Bynum, they really should start playing him at some point.

 

Christ, the Lakers front office is driving me nuts. Worse, they're driving me to watch the Celtics.

[Guest Vitamin X]

He is rehabbing Microfracture surgery. he is doing ALOT of work with his legs. Its not all upper body.

 

And in rehabin that surgery you have to do alot of flexability work also.

 

The only problem he is going have is cardio, which he probably isn't getting that much of right now.

 

Plus, I am pretty sure they are saying he put on 30lbs of muscle since the draft camps which was probably the last time any measure of weight was really taken. I am quite sure he hasn't gained 30lbs of muscle in a month.

The AP Recap of last night's game put this in the notes:

Portland rookie Greg Oden has gained nearly 30 pounds of muscle -- all in the upper body -- since he was drafted. He is up to 280 pounds.

I hope that's a good thing, really. If Oden does develop into a great center, I think I see him being more Shaq than Russell. He needs to get that extra weight and play aggressively. The only thing that worries me about him being more physical? If this summer's league play was any indication, Oden definitely has some problems with fouling. Luckily, if he can be the Blazers' bruiser, there's always Aldridge and Webster at the forward spots to for their finesse games.