This week in the NBA

[Krankor 0]

I heard about him wanting to raise the age limit on ESPN radio today. I'm all for it. It'll make college basketball more entertaining. NFL already has similar rules so I definitely don't see any problem with him raising the age limit.

[Damaramu 0]

Pretty decent game between the Suns and Celtics today.

As much as I like the Celtics, and as much as I'm glad they're finally good and I'm glad can finally watch them on TV again(being in the midwest I only got to see them once a year when they were shitty) but something keeps screaming Eastern Conference Finals upset to me.

 

So today I was getting ready to order a Paul Pierce jersey from NBA.com and then I saw a Rondo one and now I'm seriously considering getting that one. Problem is they have the Pierce one in the sweet black lettered alternate but the Rondo one isn't. Hmmm......

 

*PS* The jerseys are 44.99 at NBA.com. I went into Champs Sports the other day and saw a Kevin Garnett jersey. Exact same replica jersey as the one at NBA.com and it was 75 dollars! Screw that.

That's almost as bad as when I went to buy the black Brian Westbrook jersey at Foot Locker here in town and they'd jacked the price to 100 bucks. It was 75 a week ago...oh wait they're having a 30% off sale so they can't lose any revenue on that jersey I guess. That shit should be illegal.

[alfdogg 0]

hahaha, wtf Lakers.

[Guest]

Kobe got kicked out of the game for nothing. He gets one more T, he gets suspended for a game.

 

That sucks. As for how we lost, look no further at Luke Walton, who airballed an alley-oop. Then go from there. The Lakers deserved to lose though, they've come out to start multiple games in a row without focus, and now that they finally weren't able to get back into a game despite that, I think things should be fixed and the team will be ready to go on Friday.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Good win for the Raptors. I still think that, despite their struggles, the Raptors can very easily upset Orlando, can push Cleveland to the limit and can, atleast, give Boston or Detroit a hard time. If I were the 4 top East teams, I would not want to play Toronto.

[CanadianChris 0]

Finally putting TJ Ford back in the starting lineup was huge. I like Calderon a lot, but he's better suited to being a sixth man. And Calderon was the guy who went to the coach and said Ford should be starting!

[Steviekick 0]

Pretty decent game between the Suns and Celtics today.

As much as I like the Celtics, and as much as I'm glad they're finally good and I'm glad can finally watch them on TV again(being in the midwest I only got to see them once a year when they were shitty) but something keeps screaming Eastern Conference Finals upset to me.

 

So today I was getting ready to order a Paul Pierce jersey from NBA.com and then I saw a Rondo one and now I'm seriously considering getting that one. Problem is they have the Pierce one in the sweet black lettered alternate but the Rondo one isn't. Hmmm......

 

*PS* The jerseys are 44.99 at NBA.com. I went into Champs Sports the other day and saw a Kevin Garnett jersey. Exact same replica jersey as the one at NBA.com and it was 75 dollars! Screw that.

That's almost as bad as when I went to buy the black Brian Westbrook jersey at Foot Locker here in town and they'd jacked the price to 100 bucks. It was 75 a week ago...oh wait they're having a 30% off sale so they can't lose any revenue on that jersey I guess. That shit should be illegal.

 

At the Champs they never have the replica jerseys, just the swingman style. I'm not a fan of the relicas, as they tend to look cheesy.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Finally putting TJ Ford back in the starting lineup was huge. I like Calderon a lot, but he's better suited to being a sixth man. And Calderon was the guy who went to the coach and said Ford should be starting!

Taking Bargnani out of the starting line up was big too. Nesterovic has been very good and is more suited to be a starter than Bargnani who is way too inconsistent.

[Damaramu 0]

Pretty decent game between the Suns and Celtics today.

As much as I like the Celtics, and as much as I'm glad they're finally good and I'm glad can finally watch them on TV again(being in the midwest I only got to see them once a year when they were shitty) but something keeps screaming Eastern Conference Finals upset to me.

 

So today I was getting ready to order a Paul Pierce jersey from NBA.com and then I saw a Rondo one and now I'm seriously considering getting that one. Problem is they have the Pierce one in the sweet black lettered alternate but the Rondo one isn't. Hmmm......

 

*PS* The jerseys are 44.99 at NBA.com. I went into Champs Sports the other day and saw a Kevin Garnett jersey. Exact same replica jersey as the one at NBA.com and it was 75 dollars! Screw that.

That's almost as bad as when I went to buy the black Brian Westbrook jersey at Foot Locker here in town and they'd jacked the price to 100 bucks. It was 75 a week ago...oh wait they're having a 30% off sale so they can't lose any revenue on that jersey I guess. That shit should be illegal.

 

At the Champs they never have the replica jerseys, just the swingman style. I'm not a fan of the relicas, as they tend to look cheesy.

 

 

What's the big difference? The replicas aren't as high quality are they?

[Steviekick 0]

Pretty much. That and there's more stitching on the swingman style.

[Damaramu 0]

I'm poor, I have to buy the replica kind. Damn.

 

And for some reason they don't have the swingman style at NBA.com. They have the replica and authentic and the authentic is like 170 bucks.

[Guest Bullshiterica]

I heard about him wanting to raise the age limit on ESPN radio today. I'm all for it. It'll make college basketball more entertaining. NFL already has similar rules so I definitely don't see any problem with him raising the age limit.

I'm not for it. If they're 18 years old and good enough to play, then let them pursue a career. If they turn out not to be ready, option them out to your D-League team till they are ready. I'd like the see the D-League grow and be used more for player development than using college sports as your ersatz farm system. If these guys would rather make a living right out of the gate than be exploited by the NCAA, even with the prospect of making much less money as a, well, prospect, they should have that option. I don't think it'd make college basketball that much better, because actually, college basketball isn't very good. I mean, did you watch that Illinois-Wisconsin game? WHAT was THAT.

 

Also, why are you listening to 1000? That station sucks.

 

 

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

My feelings on the age limit are mixed. On one hand, the NBA gets better players who have been seasoned by at least two years of college ball. On the other, you are denying an opportunity for a young person to pursue a career and having them risk an injury in the two years of college ball that you are mandating. Furthermore, when these young guys go to college they aren't going to stay for the long hall making their class scheduling an absolute joke and who's to say they are even going to go to class down the stretch?

 

It's for the academic reason that I've always been interested in Dick Vitale's proposal for how the NBA/NCAA should manage in age limit in that if a guy wants to go out of high school to the pros then he can but if he chooses to go play college ball he has to stay in the system for three years.

 

Also, isn't the players union in the NBA against the elevation of the D-League to a higher stature?

[Krankor 0]

Sometimes I flip my radio over to AM to catch a specific sports game when I'm driving. Problem is my tuner for some reason likes to get stuck and not switch back to FM. It just so happens its stuck on AM right now.

 

The NBA has been a lot better since they implemented the age restriction. Raising it one more year will only make it better. Most of the guys coming straight out of high school have absolutely no idea how to play a team game or be a member of a team. They learn that in college. They also get to compete against and develop their skills against guys that are closer to their own playing ability.

 

Any high school kid would gladly take an enormous contract to just go sit on the bench and not have to do anything for 3 years over going to college. All it’s doing is wasting a roster space and wasting cap room on guys that are in no way ready to play in the NBA. I’ve heard GM’s say that you couldn’t really tell for certain if some of the high school kids that are drafted would be a failure until at least their fifth year in the league.

 

The D-League is a great idea but all it seems to be used for is a storage area for guys that aren't and won't be good enough to be useful in the NBA. Morris Almond has been putting up great numbers all season and Utah hasn’t bothered to find a place for him or trade him to a team that could use him. Mateen Cleaves is also putting up massive numbers down there and we’ve all seen how well he worked out in the NBA.

 

Another year of seasoning for guys like Kevin Durant would help make college basketball better at the top. It's not going to make the terrible teams like Illinois and Northwestern any more watchable.

[Ripper 0]

I alway have and always will think the age restriction thing is a huge crock of crap.

 

I have to disagree that the NBA is way better since the age rule, seeing as this is year two. the only difference in the league is that Greg Oden would have had a year under his belt before injuring his knee and Kevin Love and OJ Mayo would be in the league right now. Thats about all the changes that have occured.

 

If a guy wants to play professional basketball for a living and has the talent to do so and his skills are in demand, the why in the hell should he have to play for free for 1+ years and risk his total career. I think either they pay the kids to stay in college or they should be able to leave if they want. This wouldn't be okay in any other job and besides football where there is a legit argument in the physical maturation of players from highschool to college to the NFL, it doesn't occur in ANY other sport. So why does basketball need to have this rule? Its dumb.

 

The same way GM's can draft a foreign player and leave him to make him better, the NBA GM's have a choice of getting a highschool kid, starting him right out if he has the talent, or building him up.

 

I don't understand this odd belief that if a guy stays in college for some years, they come in ready to start despite the proof ALL over the league saying that isn't so. Even with college experience most of them take a year or so to learn the game. Only difference is, this guy learning the game could be 18 or 22.

 

College basketball does not come close to pro basketball. It is a shorter season, it is crappier competition, horrible spacing, and you athletisim will separate you from everyone else. I will maintain that you will gain more in a season of practice with a pro team and spot minutes than you would 2 years of college ball starting.

 

 

 

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

If he is going to injure himself in college, at least he'd have an education to fall back on as opposed as NOTHING if he comes out of high school.

[Guest]

Exhibit A: Gerald Green

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

If he is going to injure himself in college, at least he'd have an education to fall back on as opposed as NOTHING if he comes out of high school.

 

One year of ballroom dancing and Western Civ is hardly anything to fall back on. Several million dollars in the bank is.

 

If you are good enough to play in the NBA, you should be in the NBA, age be damned. Players have a much better chance to mature and develop their game with NBA coaches, constant practice and an 82 game schedule. Practing 30 hours a week against 6'2" white guys who are going to be YMCA regulars in a year is not the way to develop and mature as a player.

[Ripper 0]

If he is going to injure himself in college, at least he'd have an education to fall back on as opposed as NOTHING if he comes out of high school.

 

 

Um, if they were going to be a lottery pick anyway, that is 3 years guarenteed money of over a 2 million per year.

 

There is no age limit on college. You want to go to college, go to college. I can go right now and I am damn near 30.

 

That excuse just doesn't hold water to me.

 

 

Exhibit A: Gerald Green

 

Gerald Green's family and he have money now, Gerald WILL be on a NBA team come next year, probably the Rockets again. If Yao hadn't been hurt, he would be on the Rockets right now, they just needed some more size.

 

AND on top of that, if Gerald green had gone to college, seeing as his jumper from the college three is a layup, they can hide the fact you can't play defense, his size and jumping ability, he woudl have averaged roughly 30 points a game, been a lottery pick and still wouldn't have been able to defend anything.

 

And for every gerald green case where it looks like kid could be a bust, there are 10 cases where the kid was a good player.

 

Then, lets look at the guys that lost careers, and money by staying in the college game. On a slight note, Jo. Noah went from a top 3 pick to edge of the lottery. Or a guy like Chris Porter than went from lottery pick to Second rounder mostly because he went back to college and took money to give his mom so she wouldn't lose her home.

 

From the point of the player, I don't see how you can say it would be a good thing(as in, getting money to learn over risking it all to learn).

 

If from a basketball standpoint you are saying it makes the game better, look at it like this: Are you honestly saying that a guy that doesn't "get it" 3 years into a NBA career with top class training facilities, a coach for every aspect of the game, a hired chef making sure their nutrition is right, 24 hour, 365 access to a gym and coaches, and playing the best players in the world...if a guy doesn't get it after 3 years of that, you are saying that 3 years of COLLEGE ball would have done it for him?

 

I have said it before and I will say it again, college basketball sucks because a vast majority of its players suck. If you think sending Darius Miles to college where he would have absolutley destroyed all those 6'9" centers (because Miles would have been a Center BTW) and averaged 35 points and 20 rebounds a game would have made him a better player, I don't know what to tell you. The great college players all just happen to be bigger or more athletic than everyone else in college so they put up these great numbers, get in the NBA where they aren't bigger or more athletic than anyone and proceed to suck. Then there are guys that are really that good and they get better.

 

The NCAA basketball should be nothing more than promotion for guys that don't get that buzz coming out of Highschool. Yes, Brandon Roy and Chris Paul were that good coming out of highschool. But nobody knew who the hell Chris Paul and Brandon Roy was. They were able to make a name for themselves in college and get to the pros as a lottery pick. that is necessary for some.

 

I think it is laughably ridiculous that OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley just had to waste their time playing in college basketball this year. You know they all probably went to 3 classes between the 3 of them, so it wasn't for education. It was just a way for college hoops to make more money off of kids for free. Screw them and their whining.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Gerald Green is what we like to call basketball retarded. He doesn't know where to stand on the floor, he can't play consistent D, he stares out the video board when he should be going for the ball. Going to college wouldn't help that one bit. Maybe some college coach would have been able to reach him, but 5 assitants working double time in Boston couldn't.

 

Had he gone to college, his athleticism and pure talent would have separated him and made him look more attractive to NBA scouts. It would not have solved his apathy or basketball IQ. I read an article somewhere that stated that one scout remarked that he wouldn't have taken Green in the first or second round after his pre-draft workouts. That says something about his mental make-up.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Rip, it's because the good colleges that recruits a player to play for their team is so easy to get into, without that scholarship, right? Take advantage of your skills to get a free education, and if you're good enough, your skills will still be there in a year(+) when you go to the NBA and you get the added bonus of learning how to play in a higher pressure environment. Come on, guys. Are you seriously advocating NOT going to college?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Welcome to America, Porter.

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

My opinion on the age-limit always goes back and forth. It's one of those things, I think some of the guys would develop better, but at the same time, I don't blame them for going for the money. To that list of guys that were hurt by staying in college, I always think of Miles Simon from U of A teams with Bibby and Dickerson. I seem to remember them talking about him being a lottery pick after his junior year, he stayed in school, ended up a second round pick and got to play in 5 NBA games total for a total of 15 minutes. I mean, that's pretty drastic. Lottery pick, or a 19 minute career. Look at Robert Swift of the Sonics. He got that huge money and has barely played, if he went to college and stayed healthy he probably could've been a first round pick. While as fans, it seems wrong for that, but I can't fault him for doing what is best for him.

[naiwf 0]

Rip, it's because the good colleges that recruits a player to play for their team is so easy to get into, without that scholarship, right? Take advantage of your skills to get a free education, and if you're good enough, your skills will still be there in a year(+) when you go to the NBA and you get the added bonus of learning how to play in a higher pressure environment. Come on, guys. Are you seriously advocating NOT going to college?

 

Are you seriously of the belief that these kids actually "go to college" the way that anyone who isn't on an athletic scholarship does? The one and done rule all but guarantees that those guys graduate with ZERO actual credits. Changing it to two years will only make sure they take remedial classes the first year and BS courses the second so they can remain academically eligible without actually working towards a degree.

[Ripper 0]

Rip, it's because the good colleges that recruits a player to play for their team is so easy to get into, without that scholarship, right? Take advantage of your skills to get a free education, and if you're good enough, your skills will still be there in a year(+) when you go to the NBA and you get the added bonus of learning how to play in a higher pressure environment. Come on, guys. Are you seriously advocating NOT going to college?

 

I am seriously advocating not going to colllege.

 

The point of college is to get the skills and degree that will allow you to get the job and career that you want when done. Why in the hell are they going if they want to be a pro basketball player and have the opportunity to do so? Its like if you wanted to be an animator for Disney, they saw what you could do and said "Hey, we are hiring you". You are saying that you should say "No...you guys are my dream job, but I think I am going to wait a year and keep sending in work so you can nitpick over it and might not even want to hire me anymore instead of taking the job now."

 

College is not a necessity in life. If I want to be a blacksmith and that is what is going to make me happy, I don't need to take 2 years of Special Education to do so.

 

There are legitimate risk to going to play for free. And with the proper donation, I am sure the millionare ex NBA player with the bum knee could still get into Duke if he really wanted to. Robert Swift and Shawn Livingston, if they had their injuries in college, would have gone from lottery picks to Euro league all stars. There is no legit reason to FORCE these kids to risk their professional lives for free.

 

Now if the NCAA instituted some pay scale for these kids or at least programs where their struggling families can get some help while they are forcing their kids to wait 1 or the proposed 3 years to become millionares and get their family out of poverty, I might sway back to the other side. But as of right now, the NCAA is only offering these kids a mean to get known, which some of them don't even need, and thats it. And its not fair.

 

Hell, OJ Mayo just went from a maybe top 3 pick to a top 6-7 maybe...that is a change in payscale there.

 

[Brett Favre 0]

I'm pretty sure that people like Kwame Brown and Robert Swift would still suck whether they went to college or not. As far as getting a degree and whatnot, they can still do that if they want to. Nothing is stopping them.

[Guest]

Derek Fisher has a partially torn tendon in his foot, but he's going to keep playing. When it rains in LA, it fuckin' pours.

 

We've got Fisher, Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Ariza all nursing injuries, or out of competition. This sucks.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Man... Caron Butler just shitted all over Kevin Martin.

 

If you're out of area, don't worry; there's no way that doesn't make Sportscenter.

[naiwf 0]

So the Spurs have 50 wins with 9 to play and only 19 days left in the regular season and STILL no one in the West has even secured a playoff spot. That just seems wrong on so many levels given the horrible bottom half of the Eastern Conference's "playoff teams".

[Maztinho 0]

Utah murdered the Clips tonight and their prospective Playoff match up went from SA to Houston. Also Deron Williams postered Chris Kaman on a loose ball scramble into a dunk.