09 offseason thread

let's move on!! (j/k-ing lakers dudes)

anyway i guess the big story all summer will be the real shaq

any big free agents this year? boozer right? who else?

turoglu, odom, ariza, boozer, gordon?

okur can opt out
marion
ron-ron
odom
turkoglu
b. gordon
millsap
ai
sheed
kidd
andre miller
varejao
bibby
ariza

oh here we go - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=freeagents-09-10

imo the cavs should try and trade for marion

if they have cap room they should try and sign turk - they'd def win the east next year

ariza's gonna getting arab money too

omg @ lebron and turgoglu on same team

turkoglu*

the cavs need to get someone young and strong up front given the likelihood that they'll meet up w/howard again in the future.

hawks need to:

-trade josh smith (douchebag, will never reach his superstar ceiling)
-possibly should trade joe johnson (who i LOVE, but he's in the last year of his contract so idk - he is only 28 though so maybe a 3 or 4 year deal? or maybe just something to think about at the deadline next year if the hawks happen to be out of it)
-re-sign bibby i guess
-sign rasheed wallace because he is a glorious scholar king

btw cad i've decided i completely agree w/u that howard will never develop a siqqq post game

btw basketball sux

sign mutombo too

Warriors need to find a way to get Rubio. He would be perfect for them.

Some speculation in Miami that Toronto will trade Bosh this season (rather than lose him in the 2010 offseason), and further speculation that he could be traded to Miami for Michael Beasley.

(I'll dig up the link shortly).

Links (all from Miami Herald): Heat Can Be The Real Deal Sooner Than Expected; Raptors' Chris Bosh Interested In Playing for Heat; and, to be fair, Sentiment Against Trading Beasley (for Bosh).

The lolclippers had a sad commercial on during the playoffs. WE DONT KNOW WHO THE #1 PICK WILL BE, BUT WE WILL KNOW WHAT TEAM HE PLAYS FOR. Yeah a shitty one nobody in this town cares about.

multi xxxxxp sheed was mailing it in so hard in detroit, i would be legitimately terrified if my team signed him. maybe he decided basketball sux too?

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love said on Twitter that Kevin McHale will not return as coach next season.

In an update posted early Wednesday, Love tweeted, "Today is a sad day ... Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach this season."

"P.S. I am not a breaking news guy..." Love tweeted. "I had no idea no one knew..I'll tell them I stayed at a holiday inn express (sic) last night. Always works...."

http://winkiesworld.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/tweety.jpg

now confirmed: mchale OUT

Rumor: Al Jefferson + #6 for Stoudamire?

O_O

the suns should do that in the a dick cheney heartbeat (he has a rapid pulse right?)

I think if they do it, they have to move Shaq too. Shaq + Al would not make sense.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/kobe_bryant_proves_he_can_win?utm_source=a-section

One NBA executive: "I'll just tell you this is the worst draft in decades. People are going to get excited about guys. But this is a terrible draft. Guys are going to screw up big time." He meant his peers. "A number of my colleagues are warming up to it," Mr. Sunshine continued. "I think they're making a big mistake."

The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to trade Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto, a Bucks source told ESPN.com's Chad Ford.

This makes the Spurs dangerous - if they can stay healthy. I'm a little suspect about trading away one of their few legit big men who could spell Timmeh - he was running on an empty tank and bum knees at the end of this past season.

But shit - if he can recuperate and maybe start getting some quality rehab, if he's got a healthy Parker, Ginobilli and Jefferson? Yikes.

With this past year's emergence of Houston and Denver as big-time competitors, and Portland waiting in the wings, the Western Conference playoffs should be scary as hell next year.

Any word on Yao's foot?

Spurs will still suck

the outcome for the spurs really depends on how they fill those 4/5 slots.

Trading for another old guy when you are already too old seems like a bad idea to me.

Sad that the most exciting offseason news thus far is Dirk's personal life.

jefferson's like 29 or 30, fits in well with the 2 year window the spurs probably have.

Word is that the Spurs are going to make a run at Gortat.

I don't buy it. I think they need to get younger and more athletic around the big three even short term (that's assuming that Ginobli is every healthy enough to be part of the big three.)

xp obv

I do not understand why Dumars wouldn't pull the trigger on Rondo/Allen for Hamilton/Prince/Stuckey.

I'd rather have Rondo than any of those dudes and dumping all those cap problems on the Celtics is yay yay.

Sad that the most exciting offseason news thus far is Dirk's personal life.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, June 23, 2009 2:01 PM

i see a reality tv dating show in his future

Hah I like Dirk so seriously I hope he doesn't do that or try to top this situation for sheer ridiculousness.

I do not understand why Dumars wouldn't pull the trigger on Rondo/Allen for Hamilton/Prince/Stuckey.

something fucked abt this rumor imo.

he just needs to go on a bender w/ nash (xp)

That I would totally watch. Nash on Letterman was great. He's a funny guy.

rumors about perkins trade too right?

In terms of particulars:

Allen: 1 yr, 18 mil
Rondo: 1 yr, 1.3

for

Prince: 2 yr, 9.5
Stuckey: 1 yr, 1.6
Hamilton: 4 yr, 10.8

So Detroit clears space for the much-ballyhoo'd 2010 offseason, trades a good young point guard for a better one, gets out from under 31-yo Hamilton's long-term deal.

BUT: Their roster is then Rondo, Allen/Afflalo, Maxiell/Amir Johnson, Kwame Brown, and their draft pick (SF Earl Clark? C Mullens? Hansborough?). That team is not going to win a lot of games this year, imo. Maybe they could add some short-term contracts?

They weren't going to win a lot of games anyway. What's the difference between 20 and 30 wins, really?

detroit's not gonna sign anyone who can bring them a championship in 2010.

Given how bad their attendance was last year, they might be worried about the health of the franchise in general, and prioritizing that over winning a championship in the near future.

http://i43.tinypic.com/30c1s40.jpg

Replacing Bowen and Thomas with Jefferson already makes them younger and more athletic. All they need to do is put Ginobili in touch with Grant Hill's bionic ankle repair services.

In other news, the Sixers have gone back to their old, unimpeachably classic logo. What a relief.

http://www.cn8insider.com/2008/winter/images/nj-pa-philly/old-sixers-logo-ball-cmyk.jpg

^^^ classic shit, they going back to old colors i take?

I do not understand why Dumars wouldn't pull the trigger on Rondo/Allen for Hamilton/Prince/Stuckey.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, June 23, 2009 1:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

the fuck? why would the celtics ever do this

this wizards trade is fucking retarded. i guess nobody wants the #5 in this draft but sheesh. randy foye and mike miller?? they gotta trade jamison cuz that's a lot of sgs and sfs

also the jefferson trade helps a shitload on the wing since parker was having to create 98% of their offense late in the year. and it would surprise me none to see bowen get waived and sign w/ the spurs for vet minimum, altho it's not looking to good right now. giving up oberto is addition by subtraction. thomas is good for 15 minutes, tho, and i think spurs will likely address their frontcourt depth problem by bringing in tiago splitter (wishful thinking) or trying to develop this french dude mahinmi who basically out all last season. or convincing someone to take matt bonner for someone worthwhile (isiah's not there to dump dead weight, tho :/)

i just that wizards deal, wtf

*saw

do they have anyone on that team over 6'9"?

i mean maybe theyll just say fuck it and suit up wes unseld at center

honestly, they must have something in the works to move butler or jamison for a big man

or else they should fire the whole front office

the deal makes no sense for wolves too. do they really need anymore young mediocre guards? who are they hoping to get at #5?

Nah I don't think the big man situation in Washington is that dire; they have two really good prospects, if not fully realized players, in Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee. McGee in particular, besides having a name which is really fun to type, could be a daily double-double if he gets the mins.

hope ainge likes mailbombs ;-)

ainge called in to weei this morning and kicked rondo in the balls. i have to conclude he wants to keep him in boston, make him work, keep his ego & salary demands in check, cuz it sure didn't sound like a sell job.

judge for yourselves: http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2009/06/ainge_critical.html

funny--i took the pessimistic read that ainge was handing the knife to the boston media for use when the trade happens. c's will be a lot less fun next year :(

This Simmons column on the Clippers is amazing.

June 1995: Picking second in the loaded '95 draft, the Clips draft Antonio McDyess ahead of Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace and (gulp) Kevin Garnett, then trade Dice's rights, Elmore Spencer and Woods to Denver for Rodney Rogers, Brian Williams and the No. 15 pick (Brent Barry) … or as I like to call it, "The Chef's Poop Salad." Nobody could turn a dollar into three quarters better than Elgin. Then again, had they rolled the dice with KG, he'd probably be missing appendages right now.

That is some amazing GMing right there.

i lost my shit @ summer 1992.

should we have a separate thread for the draft or just talk about it in here?

in here--it's not that good of a draft.

I'm turning it off after the Knicks draft, I think.

Jamal Crawford is apparently being traded to the Hawks for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton

Hawks watchers, what happened to Acie Law? Does he suck?

what good is that going to do the hawks

This trade is silly:

The Portland TrailBlazers agreed to trade the 24th, 56th and worst of their second round picks in 2010 to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday for the 22nd pick in Thursday's NBA draft, according to a league source.

god i'm a blazers fan and all but seriously there's 250 comments on the blazersedge.com thread outab this trade so far. that's beyond ridiculous.

Sounds like GS is hedging their bets with Monta

I kinda agree with Ainge's commments in a way - Rondo's decision making could have been better in the 4th quarter of this year's playoffs, and he's still raw in a lot of places. If Rondo develops a 15 foot set jumper like Tony Parker, he would be v. v. dangerous

Jamal Crawford is apparently being traded to the Hawks for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton

Hawks watchers, what happened to Acie Law? Does he suck?

― Your heartbeat soun like sasquatch feet (polyphonic), Wednesday, June 24, 2009 3:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what good is that going to do the hawks

― s1ocked up, they won't let me out (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, June 24, 2009 4:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

acie law is unspeakably awful, and speedy fucking claxton and his albatross contract has to be the most hated dude in the city since fucken... bill campbell or something. this is a net positive no matter what crawford actually does for the hawks imo

(╬ ಠ益ಠ)

@the_real_shaq U CLEVELAND BOUND...shaq found out he was traded thru twitter! lmao....hahahaaaaaa
40 minutes ago from mobile web

@DJJTR3Y I kno right
38 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

@jeff

shaq n lebron tho ......... holy shit

@m0n i kno right

i think vince mcmahon engineered this trade

this trade is horrible for both teams

steve kerr should be executed for what he did to the suns

shaq does not make the cavs better

what a disaster for the nba

truly

p.s. shaq >>>>>>>>>>>>> ilgauskas and u mad

yes he's an old fattey etc but still. dude had a gr8 year

nah i <3 shaq and lebron - it's not making them worse i guess, it's just unimaginative as fuck

lol did shaq delete those tweets?

they could've signed a defensive stopper as a big man and traded for a swingman

cavs were looking @tyson chandler too

from TwitterBerry

steve kerr should be executed for what he did to the suns

^ this.

I heard it was the owner.

he's like the matt millen of the nba except he had a championship caliber team to work with

Totally disagree.

Well the Suns can really run now, but they're pretty much on Sunset Boulevard at this point; Bron's gonna have to develop a better outside game over the offseason. Whatever happens, looks like it's gonna be BOS vs. CLE and LAL vs. SAS next year, barring injuries.

they could've signed a defensive stopper as a big man and traded for a swingman

― s1ocked up, they won't let me out (J0rdan S.), Thursday, June 25, 2009 1:45 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

otmfm, this doesn't make the cavs that much better and they're still slow, old, and undynamic.

i do want to believe that kerr has been hamstrung by his owner, but the yo-yo'ing of that team w/the d'antoni firing/porter hiring/porter firing is pretty inexcusable.

I dunno. Barring injury and with proper motivation, O'Neal can still play at a pretty high level (and he still commands a lot of attention, just because of his size).

And who do you think is going to provide the proper motivation?

I think this gets to the heart of why this is a bad deal for the Cavs:

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=271

Acquiring O’Neal distracts from Cleveland’s task of finding a solution to the problem that truly proved costly in the Eastern Conference Finals–a big three or undersized four who can play alongside James in a lineup capable of matching up with versatile power forwards like the Magic’s Rashard Lewis. The Cavaliers surely won this trade on talent, and it’s not even close. But succeeding in the NBA is more about fit than talent, and there O’Neal is not the answer.

YES

Kobe's got four! xxp

from can kobe do it w/out shaq to can shaq do it w/out kobe :(

nah Shaq already proved that with D-Wade

Cleveland could almost turn into the pseudo-Magic - Szczerbiak, Gibson, West, and Mo are all pretty good outside shooters

it's not just about "shooters" - ie redick is like the 8th best player on the magic - it's the fact that those guys can shoot, are tall and are athletic as hell - gibson can't play in a series vs the magic, wally certainly cant and west and mo could but they both had awful series this past year

i keep saying it but the cavs really need someone like john salmons or jason richardson - a guy who is like 6' 6'' and can score off the dribble and shoot reasonably well and could hopefully be whipped into shape enough that he would try on defense in an eastern conference final

and they would do better with a birdman or kenyon martin type player more than a shaq

And who do you think is going to provide the proper motivation?

lol. No idea. Hatred for Bryant fueled his run in Miami. Maybe seeing Kobe win the championship will rekindle his hatred.

Jordan's pretty much right except that if they can get someone even taller than 6'6 that might be better (like Sean Marion maybe.) And they don't want Kenyon Martin.

not kenyon martin specifically but someone in that mold of player - can block shots and rebound and can finish at the basket if he isn't shooting - basically varejao but not as cumbersome?

The New Jersey Nets are in serious talks with the Magic about a deal that will send Vince Carter to Orlando for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee, two league sources told ESPN.com.

reeeeeally?? alston is superfluous as hell but lee looks amazing. i guess vince is still great if he wants to be though

Vince + Hedo + Lewis + Nelson would score 120 points a game, maybe.

I would assume that if they are doing this that Hedo is not getting signed. Otherwise they are crazy over the cap, right?

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0625/nba_g_james_oneal_300.jpg

I would assume that if they are doing this that Hedo is not getting signed. Otherwise they are crazy over the cap, right?

Well, Battie + Alston + Lee = 12 million a year versus Vince's 14, so basically they only added 2 million + two minimum contracts (I assume). If they could sign Hedo before, I don't see why this would change anything. I can't see Hedo getting more than 10mil a year, and he makes 6mil as is.

The question for me is: do you really want three years of Vince at 14 per? I wouldn't.

Well the Magic are kind of fucked anyway cuz they are already overpaying for Lewis and they are likely to have to overpay for Hedo so a trifecta of overpayment is just icing on the cake.

As the New York Post had in a report today, the Suns are talking to Houston about a trade that would involve Tracy McGrady coming to the Suns for Amare Stoudemire. Other players would be involved. The Post story said Leandro Barbosa would go to Houston with the Suns getting Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks, a point guard they fancied in the 2007 draft but sold their pick instead of taking him. Those parts would appear to have Phoenix taking on an extra $4.3 million in salary, which seems doubtful with luxury tax considerations.

that would be a cool suns squad

from can kobe do it w/out shaq to can shaq do it w/out kobe :(

can lebron get a ring *with shaq obv... loyalties aside kobe had a point about that being kind of an idiotic talking point (no doubt he bought into it to varying degrees since oh 2001 but still) can player x do it without a good team? uh

impressive trade for the magic. i like lee a lot but he's replaceable, and a moderately interested vince might make them deadly.

rubio looks like a turtle

well the blazers essentially paid the kings to take sergio off our hands.

jesus h christ blake griffin is hideous, he looks like a bad guy from Dick Tracy

lol @ stern - i wonder if he feels more powerful now that he's outlasted mj

stern is amazing

what a disaster for blake griffin

seriously

Blake Griffin R.I.P.

Is it five minutes between every pick. Ugh.

Thabeet to Memphis

i like how zach randolph is now the third string pf for the clippers.

evans looked amazing in the tournament

i would lol so hard if rubio got stuck in minny

hahahaha

minnesota teen wolves

minny would be idiotic to take curry

one of these picks is for another team??????

mark jackson is such a fucking retard - this is insulting to me as an english speaking human being. rubio and flynn could NEVER play together. the SG would ravage them.

don't the twolves have like 40 pf's and sebastian telfair (and now rubio)? they need a ton of guards anyway.

Jordan - Well yeah, all these shooters, including those in the Magic, have been shown to be suspect at times in this year's playoffs. My point is that none of the Cavs shooters currently function well as second options - none of them, outside of Mo and maybe West, can create their own shots - but if they are suddenly the third and fourth options and are just being asked to step into rhythm J's and corner three's, I can see them doing much better w/ Shaq in the middle.

lol warriors

W's got Curry!

I think I read that he wouldn't work out for them?

:-(

Maybe it's part of a trade with the Knicks?

Or... http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2009/06/25/mt-2-stoudemire-and-warriors-in-contract-talks-trade-pending/

kings owned themselves so hard

Yeah it's gotta be some sort of trade - otherwise the Warriors have like 18 SGs right now

yeah i've also got Sources: Rubio traded to Knicks in some twitter feed goin' on here.

that seems dumb for sota unless they weren't going to be able to sign him

I don't know, it depends on who they get from the Knicks.

so many white motherfuckers on indiana

Hoosiers 2

good luck indiana

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

i think the wolves are gonna take rick astley with their next pick

hawwwwwwwwwwks

jeff teague huh

(who)

this draft is boring btw

he's can score like a motherfucker - great shooter - imo he's way better than jrue holiday

it's boring cuz it's on espn and not tnt

i think it's boring cuz my team doesn't blow anymore and because it's just a weakass draft and i don't know any of these dudes at this point.

Why do the TWolves keep taking point guards.

yeah this would own so hard on tnt

who is ure team clay

would've rather had maynor imho

blazers

imo he's way better than jrue holiday

:(

kevin_love what are we doing????????????????? omg we better trade....what are we doing??????? i dont even know
36 minutes ago from web

haha

lol!

who's gonna roll the dice on blair? acls are overrated

blair is a fucking tank

yeah, someone like cleveland has to take him if he falls that far

I have never wanted anything more than for the Timberwolves to take a PG here.

hahahahahaha the knicks + darko ^_______________________________________^

Wes (WA): Do you plan on Tweeting a lot while in the NBA?

Terrence Williams: Yes sir. I'm trying to be the next Shaq with Tweeting - @TheRealTWill

freedarko Darko Milicic is four days YOUNGER than Taj Gibson.
3 minutes ago from web

O_O

Maaan I do not think any amount of convincing from ESPN is going to make me feel right about the Shaqaliers.

what happened to pitt?

@hoopshype: From Rubio's father: "Right now, Ricky is likely staying in Europe one or two years."

whooops

I guess Ty Lawson is going to Denver.

Minny's moves make more sense in that they got Flynn for this year and maybe Rubio 1-2 years down the line, especially since this year's draft is such a crapshoot.

I'd rather have Curry + Flynn than wait around for Rubio, tho.

Dejuan Blair is freeeee falling.

Budinger too, jeez.

Can't believe Spurs get Blair. Ridiculous.

Seriously dude better be having both of his knees removed.

kind of an amazing pick by the cavs

The Spurs are going to be tough as hell next year.

<3<3<3 jack mclinton <3<3<3

ive never loved a single player so much

The Spurs are going to be tough as hell next year.

standard "if they stay healthy" caveat

So the T-Wolves apparently have drafted 5 point guards?!?!

eh. they traded lawson and calethes is too slow to play pg. more of a point forward.

lol @ hansbrough going @ 13

"In a pre-draft interview with the media in New York, Flynn said he was interviewed by every team he worked out for, and the first question in each interview was about the UConn game.

"I try to sit back sometimes and look, if I hadn't played UConn, or we would have lost that game, or it wouldn't have went six overtimes, then where would Jonny Flynn be right now?" Flynn said. "If I had to answer that, I'd probably still be at school."

How did Flynn get picked 12 spots ahead of other short PG Ty Lawson (who only led a team to a championship)? Would he have been a second rounder if someone had made a winning shot in the Connecticut game?

Rubio
Flynn
Love
Jefferson
Thomas

THAT IS NOT A STARTING FIVE

turkoglue opting OUT

whotf is lester hudson

http://celticshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/offseason3.png

Patty Mills will be the greatest 55th pick ever, no fronting.

"THAT IS NOT A STARTING FIVE"

Esp. since there is no way Rubio is playing the states for the T-Wolves.

well...another t-wolves draft....

man...it's a hard road.

can anyone at least try to make me feel better???

Rubio and Flynn are both probably going to be good players and one of them is going to be your point guard going forward.

That Bobcats pick they got from Denver might be worth more than Lawson.

thanks :)

they are just so weird.

like i dunno. i feel like if curry or blair end up being stars i'm gonna kill myself

Well if Blair ends up being a star about 26 other teams are going to kill themselves.

yeah it's just i have a lot of issues. being a timberwolves fan does things to you, so i can't really even judge things anymore.

Well okay to make you feel better from everything I've read no one actually thinks Blair ends up being the next round Charles Barkley (of course I don't imagine too many people predicted Charles was going to be Charles) just a very solid NBA piece. A potentially MUCH better rebounding Carl Landry, let's say. That's pretty valuable (esp. to a team that wants to win ya know championships and needs help getting things like rebounds) but to a team that needs stars I can see why you might go for someone with higher upside (and knees.)

the thing with rubio is that even if he played for the wolves you want him to be on a team that can run the floor, and you want him to have someone like tyson chandler who he can basically alley oop it too at any opportunity, and the kevin love nor al jefferson are that person. flynn makes more sense, especially if they can move rubio for picks. i think that if the wolves were to get out of this draft with flynn, calethes, ellington + future bobcats pick + more picks/players for rubio than i think they'd have done alright. it's possible that you could get two of those three guys could be solid nba contributors and by all accounts turning picks from this draft into picks in another draft is a good thing since this is supposedly the worst draft in 9 years

Rubio is an eye-slanting goon.

These rumors about the Warriors trading for Amare got me worried -- blowing up half the team + having to extend Amare would be 5+ years of disaster.

Leee the Warriors will never be good so it really doesn't matter what they do.

yeah i was gonna say

if you were gonna watch a 30 win team every year you could do way worse than stoudamire, randolph, curry, jackson, ellis etc

what a disaster for this guy

http://dave.matusiak.org/weblog/wp-content/imgs/paint_huffer.jpg

the wolves actually traded calethes for a pick which i think is a good move - i dont think that guy will really contribute in the league

loooooooooooooooooooool

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_12697087?source=rss

Only it won't David cuz Rubio is going to flip you the bird and play in Europe instead.

jesus h christ blake griffin is hideous, he looks like a bad guy from Dick Tracy

― (╬ ಠ益ಠ) (cankles), Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:33 PM

pretty sure he was in hellboy

Do the Warriors really think that Stoudamire + Ellis can be a winning team?

I am skeptical about that x infinity.

Apparently not cuz they nixed the trade.

Although what makes them think any combination they currently have can be a winning team?

They're not getting Stoudamire unless they give up Curry, but I like Morrow or Buke at SG anyway. Think either of them could outplay Curry this year.

Although what makes them think any combination they currently have can be a winning team?

OTM

Didn't hear that the trade was nixed.

Yeah I read it somewhere this afternoon.

Rockets offered Battier and Brooks for Rubio - that is O_O

Haha lets trade a point we don't need for another point guard we don't need. Poor Johnny Flynn.

I don't get that trade on the Rockets' side.

Kobe vs. the Mayor: You got observed. == From Kevin Roderick on LAObserved.com, discovering a column by Betty Pleasant of the Los Angeles Wave that had an explanation why the Lakers' June 17 victory parade was delayed about a half hour at the start: The cause of the hold-up was occurring adjacent to the locker room, where Kobe (Bryant) was refusing to ride on the City Council bus because the mayor (Antonio Villaraigosa) was to ride on it. At the same time, the mayor, the consummate spotlight thief, was refusing to get on the City Council bus unless he got on with Kobe. Kobe loudly denounced the mayor in phrases that started with "I don't like the - ." and ended with "I'm not going to let him pimp my popularity!"

I can't believe the Wolves TURNED DOWN the Battier/Brooks offer, but what do I know.

Haha that story makes me kind of respect Kobe.

Yao :(

Best-shooting giant of all time.

ATTN: CLEVELAND CAVS

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Bucks have made qualifying offers to restricted free agent guard Ramon Sessions and forward Ersan Ilyasova, but will not make an offer to forward Charlie Villanueva -- allowing one of their top scorers from last season to become an unrestricted free agent.

That's a harsh penalty for tweeting

lol

sheed to celtics rumors....noooooo

Just read about Yao. As a huge Yao fan (by default) I am very bummed. Morey's offer of Battier/Brooks for Rubio makes much more sense now, and strongly suggests that the Rockets may not be counting on ever having Yao returning. Hope their insurance is good.

Michael Curry fired:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4297296

eh

pistons should take coach Bradley from the usa soccer team

curry was a lousy coach imo.

Dumars is a lousy GM imo

hah fair enough.

Okay he isn't lousy, but it just seems like he's been treading water for the last four years or so.

well, he had an established/aging core that was one of the four best teams in the east for most of that time. v. tough to get to that point and give yourself room to maneuver. the billups dump of this year was basically necessary tho dumars has totally overrated stuckey to this point.

Still can't believe he didn't dump Prince/Hamilton on Celts when he had the chance.

the billups dump of this year was basically necessary tho dumars has totally overrated stuckey to this point.

See, I think you dump everyone else and keep Billups. Signing Hamilton long-term was insane.

yeah you are right about that.

they should make laimbeer their head coach! i mean, someone really should give that guy a shot, but nobody will because of his reputation and fear of fan backlash. but obv in detroit that's not an issue.

I think Avery Johnson should get the job for pure comedy potential.

rich bucher is on sportscenter saying that the pistons are gonna make offers to both ben gordon and charlie v

Kobe not opting out. Getting a 3 year extension.

blazers reportedly offer turkoglu 50 MILLION DOLLARS uh

that would make them much better in the short term, imagine roy getting more room to work. won't aldridge and oden be up soon though?

Roy and aldridge are going to get huge extensions this summer. Oden presumably next year unless he blows out both his knees walking his dog. I think hedo could be a great addition but would he be happy with less touches? Can the blazers deal with both their starting swingmen being defensive sieves? Should they be more focused on upgrading the point rather than the three where there's a lot of (flawed) talent already? Is 30 year old turkoglu worth 50 million over 4 years?

Well roy's not a sieve really and tukoglu could be worse man to msn but both are average defenders at best.

Look at me I'm arguing with myself on the Internet.

no he's not worth that i thought he was younger for some reason

blazers system doesn't really seem to suit turkoglu? unless someone can set me straight.

well it would require him to stop gunning so open question there but they prob see him in experienced playmaker mode/knowing where the ball needs to be on the floor + help alot with spacing, i could see it working.

I'm not so sure Oden gets a big extension, after what we've seen so far.

The Detroit Pistons made the biggest early splash in free agency on Wednesday, agreeing to terms with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.

Former Bulls guard Gordon will receive a five-year, $55 million deal, sources told ESPN.com's Chris Broussard. He rejected deals from Chicago in excess of $50 million each of the past two seasons.

It's awesome that Dumars found another SG to compete with Rip Hamilton, haha

BG IS SERIOUSLY GONE?!? Awesome.

C's fans, yer new man:

http://www.all-nba-all-basketball.com/images/ROBERT_SWIFT_UGLIEST_1.jpg

villanueva is sort of a hairless, decade younger version of 'sheed, so i guess he makes sense for the pistons

Why do people keep trading for Zach Randolph?

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/zach-randolph-happy-valentines-day-card.jpg

good luck, memphis

Dude is one of the few guys in the league who puts up 20 and 10. xp

but he's also a serious cancer to a team, hasn't ever really won anything, can't and won't play defense, and is basically horrible. he's been panic-moved by every team that's acquired him, for basically nothing, in a "god just get this guy off my team" fashion. trust me, i watched him for years.

Not saying that redeems him in any way though, obviously. But I've always wondered how he'd be on a good team. xp

Yeah, he does seem like team cancer.

Right; he was one of the leading figures of the Jail Blazers era wasn't he? haha

i don't want sheed on celtics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2fn01cngg

holy shit looooooooool

where's the killer crossovers thread when you need it

I don't want Hedo on Portland, I want NICHOLAS BATUM. Batum!

Ariza possibly on the way out.

trade ariza for artest

my INSIDE SOURCES in the blazers organization say that they signed hedo.

Gortat to Mavs is apparently a done deal.

here's your soap opera for 09-10: artest says he's signing with the lakers.

my ron-ron love is having a fierce fight with my lakers hate

Got to be the weirdest trade/non-trade ever. I don't get the add value to Houston at all and frankly Artest is just as likely to destroy the Lakers as he is to help them.

i kinda get it, ariza is young, on the up and up, and is much less of a medium/long term liability, plus when mcgrady is traded/left to rot, the 3 is covered

It's easier to sign Artest + Odom than Odom + Ariza because Ariza is going to cost a lot more, and Artest is a better on-ball defender / shooter than Ariza.

ariza had a good second half and playoffs but it's awfully easy being the fourth banana/glue guy to kobe, pau and odom - i think ariza would've made tons of sense for boston and certainly for the cavs, but with the rockets... who the hell is gonna score on that team? aaron brooks?

^ this. Scola can't be counted on for more than 14 a game tops. League will figure Brooks out before long. They're gonna start five guys who average under 15 a game.

nice display name btw

They'll be the Sixers of the west. xp

Is TMac out for the season, or will he be coming back?

marbury out! FUCK YEAH

plaschke's column on the ariza/artest dealings is GOLD

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke-lakers3-2009jul03,0,7616241,full.column

so is this point-by-point breakdown of the column

http://mvn.com/celtics17/2009/07/swing-and-a-miss-ariza-artest-according-to-plaschke.html

i just, can someone explain to me the orient of these one sentence a paragraph sports columns?

paging omar

i love to read them in the manner of caruso:

Less than three weeks after the parade, the NBA champion Lakers have already met the biggest threat to their throne.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/david-caruso-horatio-cain.jpg

Themselves.

Emphasis.

Sports columns need it.

Why?

Points must be driven home.

Points that have a basis not in statistics, not in performance, not in reality.

No, I'm talking about points that have nothing to do with the game.

Points like Bill Plaschke's.

"Ariza has a ring, Artest does not, so the Lakers are giving up wins."

Robert Horry has seven championships. Michael Jordan has six. Adam Morrison has a ring. LeBron James has none. Horry > Jordan and Morrison > James.

lololo

plaschke as caruso otm

They just won a title that would not have been possible without the strong defense and stunning shooting of a 24-year-old kid with a limitless ceiling.

is this guy serious?

"Artest is a strong defender, but if the Lakers need someone to quietly hound a guy during a routine inbounds pass and be willing to make a small play to win a big game, that's Ariza."

Who's better at hounding a guy on an inbound pass than Artest?

"Artest is a good shooter, but if the Lakers need someone willing to stand in the shadows for three quarters and emerge to make a big three-pointer before disappearing again, that's Ariza."

I've never heard of "disappearing" as a good quality of a basketball player, but then again, that might be why I'm not paid to write.

Remember the last time the Lakers made a postseason acquisition of an aging star that appeared to give them an embarrassment of riches and render them unbeatable?

The year was 2004, and they signed two of them, Gary Payton and Karl Malone, and you know what happened next.

like... does this guy have editors? artest is 29, payton was 35 when he was with the lakers and malone was 40

and really, the lakers 3 main competitors imo - magic, cavs & celtics - are all going to be better this season so the lakers needed to do something and certainly this does it imo

that blogger is bugging at least as much as plaschke, artest is a chucker and bottom line ariza fits better; his defense will be appreciated but you don't just plug stats into this offense you got to coooordinate

The year was 2004, and they signed two of them, Gary Payton and Karl Malone, and you know what happened next.

I remember! They went to the NBA Finals, and then those guys retired.

http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2008-12/8053136-19091448.jpghttp://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2008-12/8053136-19091448.jpghttp://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2008-12/8053136-19091448.jpghttp://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2008-12/8053136-19091448.jpghttp://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2008-12/8053136-19091448.jpghttp://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2008-12/8053136-19091448.jpg

xxp and they were unbeatable until injuries popped up throughout the season! iirc at one point i think payton was the only one of the 'big 4' suiting up (and actually kind of had a mini-resurgence), and the irony kobe and shaq were equally unhelpful in the finals

rodman got plugged into that bulls team (and half of chicago was totally against it) and turned them into an unstoppable monster for 3 straight seasons.

ha! yeah and how much did rodman shoot

just saying in the 2nd round (when they had yao) i was glad ron ron was shooting, i'll give the benefit of the doubt he'll adjust...laker fans eventually cheered for greg foster so learning to love him is just about inevitable

artest was stretched too thin as the rockets primary or secondary scorer - i think he'll do just as well as ariza in the glue guy role for the lakers

According to Tim Kawakami, Chris Cohen has decided to sell the Warriors.

The Oregonian has learned that free agent forward Hedo Turkoglu has rejected an offer to sign with the Trail Blazers and has ended negotiations with the team.

He will leave town tomorrow morning.

lol way to get worked up about nothin', hometown.

this is good imo

sucks that the one time in two decades we end up with cap room we're gonna end up spending it on nothin, though.

your display name has never been more apt

lol

Turkoglu had agreed on a five-year, $50 million deal with the Blazers, but changed his mind and could be headed for a five-year, $56 million deal with the Raptors

all about the benjamins, turkey.

wow @ that if it's true

56,000,000.00 USD = 86,088,799.48 LIRA

artest is a chucker

yup

I feel bad for Leon Powe. C'mon dudes, you didn't make enough money off championship t-shirts and trucker hats to break this guy off after he tore his ACL for you?

I think they're going to wait until free agency is over and just give him some money to rehab.

yeah? they might want to tell him that or at least hint at it

Asked whether he got the sense the Celtics might be interested in re-signing him later this summer, Powe said, “I wasn’t feeling a vibe like that. I knew they wouldn’t (extend a qualifying offer), so I just have to move on.

Hmm, that's fucking cold.

well that's ainge anyway (the prick). doc wants him back

It would be very wise for the Warriors to sign him to a minimum contract, given that he's from here and it would be a great PR move.

I don't understand what the Raptors are doing at all.

honest q: is hedo that much better than shawn marion to warrant that kind of money?

pwnd

• Sightings: Toronto-bound NBA free agent Hedo Turkoglu complaining after he and his friends (deemed underdressed) were turned away from Club Louis on Miami Beach.

$56 mil = get some new threads for u and ur crew.

pls welcome rasheed wallace to celtics :/ :/ :/ :/

they're lookin @ grant hill too? more like boston dinosaurs?

they got a 2 yr window, then this team's gonna suck ass.

I don't know, the expiring contracts will probably be pretty useful.

are the celtics the oldest team ever? i mean they gotta be up there, especially if they get hill.

I dunno... Shaq + Mailman + Payton + Fish + Kobe was pretty eld.

are the celtics the oldest team ever? i mean they gotta be up there, especially if they get hill.

― Turkoglu & Love Affair (Clay), Monday, July 6, 2009 8:05 PM

sayin

http://www.uri.edu/publications/quadangles/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/raycarroll.jpg

get off the phone barkley im taking u to the hole

^ lol

Lots of people are upset about Ariza being gone. They looked at him as one of those glue guys that you can really cheer for.

But I predict that Artest makes a few big splashes about moving to LA or whatever you will, and then proceeds to get 15 - 10 - 3 a night, and any critics shut up.

What they need to do is sign Odom, which the Turkgolu deal just fucked up - he's getting $11m/year, and Lamar is going to come knocking for as much or more.

if they're upset at anybody it should be Ariza'a agent. that dude blow it.

It seems like people think AI might go to Memphis, perhaps, but isn't OJ Mayo the SG there? Neither of those dudes can play PG, I don't think.

Has anyone fallen as far as fast as AI?

Today I learned that the best moment of Magic Johnson's life was when he found out that Michael Jackson enjoyed KFC.

was thinking about AI the other day in a "whatever happened to..." sort of way. he just completely disappeared last year.

it kills me to see you guys talking about AI this way

all he had to do was come off the bench for a couple months and beat up on shitty second units but he was too proud. now he's begging the grizz for a contract.

ehh I'm sure the Pistons are much happier now with noted ball-distributor Ben Gordon. plus it looks like AI is getting interest from the Heat.

i'm not going to try to explain what the pistons are doing because i don't get it. ai on the heat is retarded tho.

so the nba cap went down $1 million, from 58.7 to 57.7 for next season. the league is also warning teams that it may fall again in an even bigger way for 2010-11, to something like 50.4 to 53.6:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312837

Artest on choosing jersey # 37:
" I was trying to figure out a number, I was talking to my wife and kids. I was on my twitter, MySpace, and Facebook and asking everybody to help me pick a number. On my MySpace, somebody named Trish T he Dish came up with the #37 and said that Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was 37 weeks at number one of all time. 23 I was going to choose, it was available, it’s a great number but, I thought (with) that 37 and “Thriller”, I can make that a new great number. I think more kids should start getting the #37 for a great human being, since Michael loved all people. I think I’m representing greatness in wearing #37. "

this guy is going to be great in LA

that is amazing

yes man

What a dick!

@Real_Ron_Artest: I see Bosh has a record deal. http://tinyurl.com/lsd3wx Can't wait for it to come out so everyone gets a chance to NOT buy it.

@Real_Ron_Artest: I think Lamar is going to sign. I already bought a candy machine and set it up by his locker.

You gonna buy it? XP

http://sportstsar.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/artesthair.jpg

I don't think that Twitter is actually Ron Artest, but whatever.

does that really say 'tru warior'

no it says 'tru warier' which is the name of his record label iirc

in other news, shaq is apparently calling himself "shaqalier"

also THE_REAL_SHAQ whys it called nickname whos nick? shud be shaqname

this is THE_REAL_ARTEST btw:

http://twitter.com/96TruwarierQB

so the mavs are trying to reunite the 2005 west all star team?

blazers reportedly about to offer 8 million a year over however many years to Millsap, who will play 20 minutes a night at backup pf.

Marion to the Mavericks is a done deal, sounds like.

Varejao re-signed for way too much money.

looool:

The word when I arrived at the LeBron James Skills Academy was that Monday’s best highlight came in a pick-up game featuring the college players and James himself. According to the collection of NBA scouts and other folks here, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford dunked on James pretty good. So I had to find out whether it was true.

“It happened, and it was bad,” said Michael Gilchrist, the top player in the Class of 2011. “That was something to see.”

...

“LeBron called Lynn over and told him something,” Miller said. “That’s how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, ‘Hey, Lynn. Come here.’”

Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.

“There’s nothing I can think of besides LeBron just not wanting it online,” Miller said. “It’s a good story to tell people, I guess. But then again, I’m kind of pissed. I lost my tape.”

espn reports it as nike confiscating the tapes. lol @ dunkontroversy

McDyess signing with the Spurs is a classic move by the Spurs front office - quiet but deadly

Almost everyone else is indicating that Nike only did at LeBron's behest.

xp ooh really good signing.

And yeah the Varejao for 50 over 6 is kinda mind boggling - Turkoglu gets 53 over 5, and that's already overpriced. Are you counting on Varejao to draw the crowds after LBJ leaves?

man this is the first year in a while i've paid attention and the nba salary structure is really, really fucked.

According to the newspaper, there is little to no support for signing Iverson in the organization. Heisley will make the final call and he is leaning toward the risk-reward given Iverson's marketing appeal.

Worst owner in basketball, imo.

Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, displaying considerable angsty hand-wringing this morning over the future of the Blazers: OH NOES! NO BLOCKBUSTER SUMMER ACQUISITIONS! (mega-frowny face)

Translation: No big headlines for us to use to sell papers. No endless gossipy articles about new "brandname" player coming to town, with pointed speculations about playing time distribution, chemistry disruption, inability to resign young star players now that Blazers lack cap space, etc.

Meh.

Heard you guys were going to offer a monster deal to Paul Millsap - been thinking about if I like that deal or not. On one hand, I love Millsap - 20 and 10 player when he gets the time, hustles, great player, etc. On the other hand, he's pretty undersized, and when the time comes to bang with some of the bigger NBA frontcourts I dunno if he can do that. I guess he'd be good insurance for when Oden finally admits that his knees are in the process of fusing together like a melty Kit Kat bar.

decent move in a vacuum but he'd (theoretically) be a bench player--does nothing for portland's ceiling, whatever that may or may not be.

Oden needs badly to shed about 15 lbs of his muscle bulk and get quick again. His knees deserve it.

being "undersized" is one of the biggest fake deficiencies. if dude has talent, it's a total non-factor.

is it weird that i find it weird that famous athletes that awe me take these mysapce-style pictures? it kinda does cuz it's like what people did in high school but then again i'm actually older than kevin durant!!! (really weirding me out tbh) but like i feel like famous athletes should be "above" like just taking an intimate picture but it's still pretty dope like oh there is kevin durant just chilling on his couch \(o_O)/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/307227107/Photo_4.jpg
http://twitter.com/kevindurant35

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/16570314.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1247298396&Signature=RvhMre82CDZND393ek4h0gCwRDs%3D

Durant probably likes that pic because it doesn't remind him of what he sees in the mirror so much as how he likes to see himself - like most people do when choosing pics of themselves.

then again i'm actually older than kevin durant!!! (really weirding me out tbh)

ugh i feel u on this

i feel like famous athletes should be "above" like just taking an intimate picture

I see why people feel this way, but celebreties are not "above" anyone, at least not merely because of their celebrity.

i'm actually older than kevin durant!!! (really weirding me out tbh)

This I totally get. In fact, it bums me out that I am older than anyone in the NBA.

In fact, it bums me out that I am older than anyone in the NBA.

Just about anyone, yeah.

Hey! I always thought I was the oldest creep in this joint. Can we just dodder outside and settle this like geezers - by hitting each other with our canes until one of us collapses in exhaustion?

lol. Absolutely. You'll find me on my front porch, in a rocking chair, guzzling a bottle of Hennessy, complaining about the government.

_________________________________

(Actually, I'm not that old (41)).

if deke mutombo were still playing he'd have a good 4-10 years on you (origins unknown)

iverson to clips???

wow that would just be terrible for everyone involved (not least baron and griffin)

I think Griffin will be fine. I'd be more worried about Gordon.

damn i totally forgot baron was on clips :[

so does he

i think it's the right thing to do to provide a nice, stable environment for blake griffin, pair him up with not one but two shoot first past their prime quasi point guards who hate/will hate their coach, how is this not a recipe for success

(that said i secretly love ai and given that the clips are bound to be a 30 win team at best wouldn't mind watching him)

polyphonic otm re gordon, being a great developing jump shooter saddled with two ehhh jump shooting point guards instead of a real pg ala rose or nash or even just a by the numbers run the plays guy like jarret jack or duhon seems like a recipe for a lost season and sulking on the bench and suddenly youre lol adam morrison

otoh clips please do this so boston can swap some garbage for gordon before the deadline and set up ray allens heir

lol adam morrison led the lakers in scoring a few days ago.

Don't understand Orlando matching Gortat money. They barely use the guy!

didn't they sign brandon bass too? didn't the mavs sign gortat to an offer sheet? wouldn't you trade gortat straight up for bass? what if you got brandon bass and were also able to save 16 million dollars in the trade?

this makes 0% sense

got that disney money...yeah that shit makes not a lick of sense also because dude averages like 4 and 2, that's a lot of money to chase potential. also my feeling is gortat is latest in the line of overvalued big white guys who cash in and will proceed to become an albatross, but maybe they will go twin towers style with him and he'll be fine :/

lol playoff goggles basically

see also hedlol turkloglol

gortat's is probably in the category of contracts that will either be bargains or ok, then overpaid slightly, then a good trade chip anyway. hedo's, do we really see him that effective at the end as a 34 yr old swingman

i guess the only thing i can think of is that they had no viable dwight backup otherwise and panicked

dwight is like 12 years old they should just feed him twizzlers before games and play him 48 minutes

i wonder if when dwight howard falls down he cries for like 20 seconds then jumps back up and starts running around again.

anyway, if we're gonna compare who paid too much, at least with hedo you get shooting range and matchup problems for a few years while he's still healthy/effective. for a savings of ~$3 mil you get a guy who will come off the bench and play maybe 20 minutes a game? idk seems like magic was just penny wise and pound foolish

the overpaid GOAT of this offseason is still Varejao

the fact that there's pretty much no way to compensate a gortat or a varejao fairly based on their role is the biggest reason why the nba salary structure is fucked imo.

i just do not understand the premium on size at all yall, like wouldnt having dope undersized players benefit a team more than appropriately sized stonehands bullshit artists?

Maybe big men slot into a team better; look at GSW, WAS, NYK for examples of teams filled with dope undersized players. Not condoning either style but it does seem to me in general that the payoff for big men has the potential to be bigger over the long run; everybody wants to sign the next Jermaine O'Neal

i think you can build a dope, enjoyable, entertaining undersized team but it's no way to win a championship.

i dont mean so much building a team out of em, but i see what u mean there. but what i'm seeing is, if a team has x amount of money (let's say MLE to about 9 mil per annum, so like real talk dollars but not quite like borderline all-stars) to spend on free agents and they can either spend it on maybe a package of a bargain veteran + another piece or just throw a 5-year deal at a mostly unproven big, is the potential payoff worth the risk tying up that much funds? so like the amount of money spent on verajao or gortat (or like dampier or zach randolph in years past) couldn't be used to address other needs more effectively?

i dont think average-skilled bigs are the worst examples of too many dollars chasing too few goods, cf. not as bad as the black hole volume scorers who get max deals and are typically untradable assets

i guess the thing is that if you're cleveland or orlando and you have serious championship aspirations, not signing these guys immediately fucks up your 4/5 rotation, and there's no way you are going to come close to replacing them for cheaper in the short term. so even though when all is said and done they're limited players, the fact that they have 6'11 or 7 ft. size and have proven that they can play nba ball makes them real, real valuable. big guys are everywhere, big guys that can actually play are not and it can take years of development to determine who's who.

celtics fan experience--kendrick perkins was a soft, limited project for a couple years after he was drafted. now he's a fierce defensive center. what kind of price can you put on developing a guy like that? he is just not easy to replace.

yeah i was just gonna bring up perkins. big baby and powe are certainly more skilled players but perkins size + defense will always be more valuable i think

true, i guess my major beef is with the long-term aspect of a lot of it. just feel like you reserve that kind of commitment for folks you can pretty well rely on (anderson, while overpaid, probably not the best example because his results will be pretty predictable, but the gortat move is just not making sense esp since they just added bass)

altho maybe im speaking from a position of privilege as a spurs fan where our big guys strategy has been for the last 20 years "every so often be terrible, get the #1 pick, draft a hall of fame 7-footer, chill for about a decade". then again we have signed long-term deals for both rasho nesterovic and malik rose in recent years so who knows.

i think cad is right about the salary structure being fucked up - i just doubt that they couldn't find another decent tall dude for.. idk 20 million less than they gave gortat?

Gortat is actually pretty good and if he was making that money playing 30-35 minutes a game in Dallas and producing roughly like he did for Orlando on a per minute rate last year then that would be a good deal. It's not a good deal for Orlando though cuz they won't be playing him even close to that much unless they are playing him with Howard which reduces Gortat's utility for them by a huge degree.

Like I could Gortat being as good for Dallas as Okur was for Utah (not quite the same game, but similar type production). That's worth $6+M a year, I think.

I don't know wtf is up with odom. Lakers had by far the best offer out there for him. Have fun in Miami getting payed less money on a team the wade wants out of.

both sides playing a really stupid game of chicken imo.

Buss is a crazy ass old man and way to unpredictable to fuck wit.

i mean does any team/player combo need each other more? love ya lamar but you will be a guaranteed disappointment in another town.

loooool: Spurs forward dumps fiancee on eve of wedding

He never showed up at the hotel, but "all his boys were there," the friend said. "He gave his best friend the Black Amex (credit card) for the night."

Jefferson's guests made good use of the credit card to party on their pal's dime.

Nichols did check in to the hotel on what was to have been her wedding day, and was upgraded to a suite on the 45th floor with a king-sized bed and a Central Park view, according to a source at the Mandarin.

The would-be bride was stunned, but "not entirely caught off-guard," by Jefferson's unsportsmanlike conduct, according to a family friend.

"She just wants to keep this as quiet as possible and move on. She's doing just fine," a Nichols family insider said.

gotta get in on that free buffet, even if yer meal ticket skips

I ain't sayin she's a gold digger

lolspurs

First comment truth bomb: SabreLeaf 7/15/2009 11:15:30 AM

Good move. Best advice is when you have money marry someone with money.

lols cue the jefferson is gay rumors again

on a team the wade wants out of.

o_0 I hope this isn't true. I'm a little nervous about it, TBH.

Back in May, Richmond, a special assistant and then director of player personnel for all of Mullin’s five-year run as head of basketball ops, was justifiably uncertain about his front-office status once the Warriors announced that Mullin was gone and that Riley was taking over as GM.

At the same time, Riley apparently was trying to get a hold of Richmond. But Richmond is very, very difficult to get a hold of. Especially by phone. That’s not debatable.

It’s not clear whether Richmond ever tried to get a hold of Riley for direct word of his future or not, but it’s certain that they never hooked up via phone.

So, failing in other attempts, Riley text-messaged Richmond. I don’t have it word for word, but people who know the back-and-forth say it was something very much like: “I can tell you we will be retaining you for next season.”

What? Yep, Riley’s message said the Warriors would be retaining Richmond. Which surely couldn’t be correct.

Richmond, no dummy, was surprised by the contents of the text-message. He’s Mullin’s guy, his contract was up, he assumed he would be getting released, also.

Probably realizing there was more to the story, but wanting to see where this was headed, Richmond text-messaged back to Riley, something to the effect of: “OK, fax me my contract.”

Riley either immediately realized after sending his text that he made an error or, once he saw Richmond’s reply, REALLY realized the error.

He had to send another message to Richmond. Something very close to: “Sorry, I missed a word. I meant to say that we will NOT be retaining you.”

And that is how Richmond was dismissed by the Warriors.

LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EmMjlpwOEI

watch the first highlight

best part is that one of the dudes he dunks it over is his own teammate, who's also trying to dunk it!

can someone send a memo to summer league (cc the d-league too) that basketball doesn't really work when everyone is in it for stats?

lol @ nik cainer-medley

so anyway blake griffin is the next dwight howard then? cool.

Yao's getting some Big Z type surgery, which involves a procedure that "will involve a bone graft to promote bone regeneration" and which "(hopes) to reduce the arch in the foot by realigning and restructuring the bones"

O_O don't wanna be Yao right now

Yao will be going through a lot of pain and a lot of hard work, but at least he will be well-compensated for it, which is something a lot of other people don't get. Say, soldiers back from Iraq with a Traumatic Brain Injury. Just saying.

thank you for that needed dose of perspective

lmao

The Clippers are having a great offseason, imo. Craig Smith is the best player in today's trade.

yeah that's not a bad trade at all! dunleavy might be a passable gm when he isn't coaching. so long as he doesnt sign iverson.

lols at richardson getting traded three times already this summer...didn't there used to be a waiting period to trade guys again, like a month?

smith is the steal in that trade, though, unless you count the comedy factor of madsen

Essentially they traded Zach Randolph for those dudes, which is a grrrreat trade.

Trading Zach Randolph for a mint condition Michael Jordan rookie card and a big white stiff to be named later would also be a pretty good trade, imo.

http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2009/07/understanding-the-significance-of-ur-semi-ironic-athletic-jersey.html

Maybe dude is just trying to tell people his noise band career was ended due to a bum ankle

How do you guys feel about Paul Shirley's indie rock columns on ESPN.com?

I don't really care what that guy thinks of Sunn O))).

i did not know until now that paul shirley writes about music on espn.com. in fact, i had never been to "the life" before. why does this exist, and how much do i want to avoid it (1-10)?

Matt Barnes to the Magic.

Love that dude.

Good move - as much as he killed my fantasy team last year he's got tons of potential, will go a long way towards plugging the Turkoghole.

Actually, he'll be an even better replacement for Courtney Lee.

Time... dragging... offseason... slowing... down.

Slamgate footage here: like most things in life, doesn't match the hype. Obviously if LBJ had played it cool and hadn't tried to cover it up, it would have already been forgotten by now, which is like PR 101.

http://ebaumnation.com/2009/07/22/jordan-crawford-dunks-on-lebron-james

Tags: sports pwned basketball dunk lebronjames jordancrawford

My dream scenario, tho admittedly, it's about the 10 offseason. Whatevs; a guy can dream.

blazers get andre miller, for better or worse. (i'm leaning towards this is going to work out pretty well fwiw)

andre miller will be ok for the blazers, but all their real improvement will come from the maturation of their younger guys. They could, conceivably win 60 this season, but if they do miller won't be the reason why.

Stephon Marbury Live 24/7
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/have-at-it
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1863233

emeka for chandler? idk shit but why would the bobkats do that

If they re-did the 2004 draft today, how many of these players would get drafted ahead of Okafor:

Ben Gordon, Devin Harris, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, Andres Biedrins, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, JR Smith, Jameer Nelson, Delonte West, Kevin Martin, Anderson Varejão, Trevor Ariza...

I mean, maybe he gets drafted ahead of West, Martin, or Varejao now, but I'm not sure about that. He's kind of had a Joe Smith career so far, which is funny because there was genuine hand-wringing over Howard v. Okafor on draft day.

doesn't dude have a pretty rich/long contract too?

yeah he's going to make $14.5 million guaranteed in 2014.

Admittedly I don't know too much about Okafor since he plays on the LOLcats, but I've seen him more as an Elton Brand/Shareef Abdur Rahim type dude: talented big man who has been stuck on a shitty team. A little undersized, sure. Good third or fourth forward to have on your fantasy team.

polyphonic - out of the big men on that list I'd probably only take Jefferson over Okafor at this point.

Anyway I think the Hornets would definitely get the better end of this deal, I mean has Chandler's big toe even healed yet?

chandler benefits greatly from being athletic enough to play alongside paul and his dynamic passing game. don't see paul throwin' mad lobs to okafor imo.

I dunno, I think CP3 makes everyone around him look great, like all great point guards do. I don't think Okafor is any less athletic than, say, David West. He averages 2-3 blocks a game! How unathletic can he be?

Also lol at the fact that the first two pages of Okafor videos on Youtube are him getting crammed on. Here's the only decent one I found. Dude looks alright to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHkq2EcbENA

Okafor seems likely to be a lot healthier going forward, but he's also the one with a longer contract so I guess it's probably a wash. Didn't realize he was really undersized? Does he have short arms or something? He's listed as 6'10 for whatever that's worth.

"I mean, maybe he gets drafted ahead of West, Martin, or Varejao now, but I'm not sure about that."

Wait you think that JR Smith gets drafted ahead of Okafor NOW?!?!? Wuh?

"Ben Gordon, Devin Harris, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, Andres Biedrins, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, JR Smith, Jameer Nelson, Delonte West, Kevin Martin, Anderson Varejão, Trevor Ariza..."

Other than Jefferson and maybe Iguadala, most of the players who you'd think should be "better" than Okafor (Deng, Harris) have shown a marked inability to stay healthy or they aren't actually better than him (Gordon, Ariza, basically everyone else.)

Actually I guess Martin probably belongs in the first category.

Didn't realize he was really undersized? Does he have short arms or something? He's listed as 6'10 for whatever that's worth.

I think most if not all NBA players are measured wearing platform shoes while standing on a couple stacks of quarters - that's how AI gets to be listed at 6 feet. The only accurate measurements IME come from the pre-draft combines. Okafor rang in at 6'8.75" while Dwight measured at 6'9", but I think he's grown a bit since entering! Chandler measures at 6'11.5".

Wait you think that JR Smith gets drafted ahead of Okafor NOW?!?!? Wuh?

I guess I just can't remember the last time I saw Okafor DO much of anything, but admittedly he plays on a team I never watch. Still, I've seen Ray Felton, Gerald Wallace, Jason Richardson, Boris Diaw, etc., etc. DO something on the Bobs. I think I've seen more Matt Carroll highlights and more Walter Herrmann highlights in the past two years than I've seen Okafor highlights, unless you're counting highlights of him sitting on the bench or getting dunked on.

Hollinger determines that the Hornets are the clear winners, and theorizes thusly:

That brings up two other plausible possibilities. The first is that this is a classic Larry Brown grass-is-greener trade. Okafor is a good player but doesn't exude passion for the game, and Brown grumbled about this past season. Chandler certainly is more passionate, and perhaps Brown -- infamous for wanting to trade everybody on the roster -- convinced management to make the swap. (And by "convinced," I mean "whined incessantly about it until management finally agreed to do it just so he'd shut up.")

The other possibility is that it was driven by owner Robert Johnson's need to sell the team. In that case, clearing the $40 million owed on the final three years of Okafor's contract removed a potential liability from his books, possibly making it easier for him to unload the team sooner. If that ends up happening, Bobcats fans might still feel like they won the trade.

lakers just signed lamar odom. three years with a team option for a fourth. kobe, gasol, ronron, and lamar--they should be really entertaining for some time. it's great day for basketball fans.

!!!! IT'S ON

rest of the league is shook

except that, as outlined by simmons, artest is kind of bad at basketball and is a straight lunatic. will be fun tho.

i wonder if LO re-signing with the lakers means that wade is leaving miami

xp Simmons is an idiot.

simmons would be creaming all over himself if artest was playing for the celtics or something. Artest will be fine

he had the lowest FG percentage in the nba amongst qualifiers on 2 pt shooting

he won’t be expected to care too much of an offensive load in LA. I mean he’s crazy but dude is still pretty good imo.

"he had the lowest FG percentage in the nba amongst qualifiers on 2 pt shooting"

That's nice. What it has to with the price of beans in Sweden is beyond me.

bigger issue is how well Artest and Kobe get along IMO

probably will be determined by whose album debut moves more units

LOL

http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/j/jay_nas/flip11.jpg

whoa that totally does not look like Nas...maybe if I superimpose it over a picture of Queensbridge it'll help

What is BAPE?

A Japanese clothing line, apparently.

A Bathing Ape, they got big off of making knockoff AF1's

he won’t be expected to care too much of an offensive load in LA.

lol, don't mean he won't jack up every single unconscionable 19 ft jumper available to him.

If Ariza can play like he did in the playoffs for a whole season, the Lakers will regret this swap. But the playoffs are different. Ariza is a nice complementary player, but Artest gives you so much more imo. And now that he's surrounded by guys who can score, I think he'll revert back to doing what he's great at instead of trying to fill in for McGrady on the stat sheet, or try to carry the Kings on his own.

And yeah, he'll probably do some crazy shit too, and his contract is too goddamn long. But if Randolph can get traded, anyone can.

They still need a point guard though. Fish had some nice Rob Horry moments in the playoffs, but the dude should be a backup on a bad team.

The Grizzlies got rid of all of their scouts:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/aug/02/grizzlies-cutbacks-revealing-priority/?partner=RSS

i think it's time for the grizz to come back to vancouver

grizz were already a save-cash hack job operation before the economy souffle'd, best they can hope for is a mark cuban-esque savior to buy them if/when things pick up in a couple of years.

Artest gives you so much more imo.

like what exactly? his defense has always been a little overrated; he's still good and a versatile defender but not #1 lockdown guy anymore. he's terrible at shooting the 3 and even the 2 now. he's going to have to run the triangle offense, because i don't think phil is going to let both kobe AND ron freelance offensively. i love artest and think this could work out fine, but ariza accepted a role, completely developed a 3 point shot out of nowhere for last year (look at his numbers!), amped his game up within the role in the playoffs, dover for loose balls in february...none of which i see artest doing. for more money.

also ariza still has a classic deer in headlights look, and his mug is on a huge "congratulations" billboard i see every day which was super lol a week later when he signed w/houston.

man this part of the offseason is boring, its down to arguing artest vs ariza on the internets. does espn classic show any good games during the summer?

agreed. offseason boredom gettin 2 b hellish

check out this guy tjhunt76 on youtube, all he does is post classic games

"he's terrible at shooting the 3"

Uh no he isn't.

I'd be surprised if Artest gets to double-digits on shots in too many games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuo7mFxeROo

butthurt rambis pulled the plug on this too soon

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2009/08/requiem-for-a-volume-shooter/

^good read

national tv schedule

Tuesday, Oct. 27—Boston at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m. (TNT); L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
Wednesday, Oct. 28—New Orleans at San Antonio, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Utah at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Oct. 29—San Antonio at Chicago, 8 p.m. (TNT); Denver at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Oct. 30—Chicago at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Dallas at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Nov. 1—New Orleans at Boston, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Nov. 2—Houston at Utah, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Nov. 4—Miami at Washington, 7 p.m. (ESPN); Dallas at New Orleans, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Nov. 5—Chicago at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (TNT); San Antonio at Utah, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Nov. 6—Cleveland at New York, 8 p.m. (ESPN); San Antonio at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Nov. 7—Denver at Atlanta, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Nov. 8—Golden State at Sacramento, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Nov. 9—Phoenix at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Nov. 11—Cleveland at Orlando, 8 p.m. (ESPN); New Orleans at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Nov. 12—Cleveland at Miami, 8 p.m. (TNT); Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Nov. 13—Atlanta at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN); L.A. Lakers at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Nov. 14—Portland at Charlotte, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Nov. 15—L.A. -Clippers at Oklahoma City, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Nov. 16—Dallas at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Nov. 18—Cleveland at Washington, 7 p.m. (ESPN); San Antonio at Dallas, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Nov. 19—Phoenix at New Orleans, 8 p.m. (TNT); Chicago at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Nov. 20—Orlando at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Denver at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Nov. 21—Washington at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Nov. 22—Detroit at Phoenix, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Nov. 23—Chicago at Portland, 10 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Nov. 25—Miami at Orlando, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Nov. 26—Orlando at Atlanta, 8 p.m. (TNT); Chicago at Utah, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Nov. 27—Washington at Miami, 7 p.m. (ESPN); Phoenix at Minnesota, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Nov. 28—Charlotte at Washington, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Nov. 29—Boston at Miami, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Nov. 30—Indiana at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Dec. 2—Philadelphia at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m. (NBATV); Houston at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, Dec. 3—Boston at San Antonio, 8 p.m. (TNT); Miami at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Dec. 4—Chicago at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Miami at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Dec. 5—Denver at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Dec. 6—Washington at Detroit, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Dec. 7—San Antonio at Utah, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Dec. 9—Detroit at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Dec. 10—Boston at Washington, 8 p.m. (TNT); Orlando at Utah, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Dec. 11—Portland at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Orlando at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Dec. 12—Boston at Chicago, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Dec. 13—San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 9:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Dec. 14—New Orleans at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Dec. 16—Dallas at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m. (ESPN); San Antonio at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Dec. 17—Orlando at Miami, 8 p.m. (TNT); Phoenix at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Dec. 18—L.A. Clippers at New York, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Washington at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Dec. 19—Portland at Orlando, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Dec. 20—Cleveland at Dallas, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Dec. 21—Cleveland at Phoenix, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Dec. 23—Houston at Orlando, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Friday, Dec. 25—Miami at New York, Noon (ESPN); Boston at Orlando, 2:30 p.m. (ABC); Cleveland at L.A. Lakers, 5 p.m. (ABC); L.A. Clippers at Phoenix, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Denver at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Dec. 26—Washington at Minnesota, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Dec. 27—San Antonio at New York, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Dec. 28—Washington at Memphis, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Dec. 30—Boston at Phoenix, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, Dec. 31—Miami at San Antonio, 7 p.m. (TNT); Philadelphia at L.A. Clippers, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Jan. 1—New York at Atlanta, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Saturday, Jan. 2—Denver at Utah, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Jan. 3—San Antonio at Toronto, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Jan. 4—Atlanta at Miami, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Jan. 6—L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Jan. 7—Charlotte at New York, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Friday, Jan. 8—Boston at Atlanta, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Cleveland at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Jan. 10—Cleveland at Portland, 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Jan. 11—Atlanta at Boston, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Jan. 13—Orlando at Denver, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, Jan. 14—Chicago at Boston, 8 p.m. (TNT); Cleveland at Utah, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Jan. 15—Toronto at New York, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Orlando at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Jan. 16—Phoenix at Charlotte, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Jan. 17—Utah at Denver, 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Jan. 18—Portland at Washington, 1 p.m. (NBATV); Phoenix at Memphis, 5:30 p.m. (TNT); Dallas at Boston, 8 p.m. (TNT); Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Wednesday, Jan. 20—Utah at San Antonio, 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Jan. 21—L.A. Lakers at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (TNT); L.A. Clippers at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Jan. 22—L.A. Lakers at New York, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Chicago at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Jan. 23—Chicago at Houston, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Jan. 25—Cleveland at Miami, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Jan. 27—Utah at Portland, 10 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, Jan. 28—Boston at Orlando, 8 p.m. (TNT); Dallas at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Jan. 29—Miami at Detroit, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Saturday, Jan. 30—Atlanta at Orlando, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Jan. 31—Denver at San Antonio, 1 p.m. (ABC); L.A. Lakers at Boston, 3:30 p.m. (ABC); Philadelphia at New Jersey, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, Feb. 1—Phoenix at New Orleans, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Feb. 3—Miami at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Portland at Utah, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Feb. 4—Miami at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (TNT); San Antonio at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Feb. 5—Chicago at Atlanta, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Denver at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Feb. 6—Miami at Chicago, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Feb. 7—Orlando at Boston, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)

Monday, Feb. 8—New Orleans at Orlando, 8 p.m. (TNT); San Antonio at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Wednesday, Feb. 10—Boston at New Orleans, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, Feb. 11—Orlando at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (TNT); San Antonio at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Wednesday, Feb. 17—Phoenix at Dallas, 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Feb. 18—Denver at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (TNT); Boston at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Feb. 19—Dallas at Orlando, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Boston at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Feb. 20—Miami at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Feb. 21—Cleveland at Orlando, 1 p.m. (ABC); Boston at Denver, 3:30 p.m. (ABC); Atlanta at Golden State, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Utah at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Feb. 22—Chicago at Washington, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, Feb. 24—L.A. Lakers at Dallas, 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Feb. 25—Cleveland at Boston, 8 p.m. (TNT); Denver at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, Feb. 26—Dallas at Atlanta, 8 p.m. (ESPN); L.A. Clippers at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, Feb. 27—Houston at Utah, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, Feb. 28—Phoenix at San Antonio, 1 p.m. (ABC); Denver at L.A. Lakers, 3:30 p.m. (ABC); Miami at Orlando, 7 p.m. (ESPN); New Orleans at Dallas, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, March 1—Orlando at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, March 3—Golden State at Orlando, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, March 4—L.A. Lakers at Miami, 8 p.m. (TNT); Utah at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, March 5—Detroit at Cleveland, 7 p.m. (ESPN); New Orleans at San Antonio, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, March 6—New Jersey at New York, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, March 7—L.A. Lakers at Orlando, 2:30 p.m. (ABC); Washington at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Portland at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, March 8—San Antonio at Cleveland, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, March 10—Utah at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Thursday, March 11—Chicago at Orlando, 8 p.m. (TNT); Portland at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, March 12—Denver at New Orleans, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Saturday, March 13—Orlando at Washington, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, March 14—Boston at Cleveland, 3:30 p.m. (ABC); Philadelphia at Miami, 6 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, March 15—Detroit at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN); L.A. Lakers at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Wednesday, March 17—San Antonio at Orlando, 8 p.m. (ESPN); New Orleans at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, March 18—Orlando at Miami, 7 p.m. (TNT); New Orleans at Denver, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, March 19—Boston at Houston, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Saturday, March 20—New Orleans at Utah, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, March 21—Detroit at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Portland at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, March 22—Orlando at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, March 24—Denver at Boston, 7 p.m. (ESPN); L.A. Lakers at San Antonio, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, March 25—Miami at Chicago, 8 p.m. (TNT); Dallas at Portland, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, March 26—Utah at Indiana, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Saturday, March 27—Portland at New Orleans, 8 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, March 28—San Antonio at Boston, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, March 29—Denver at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, March 31—Golden State at Utah, 10 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, April 1—Orlando at Dallas, 8 p.m. (TNT); Portland at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, April 2—Atlanta at Cleveland, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Utah at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Saturday, April 3—Detroit at Atlanta, 7 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, April 4—Cleveland at Boston, 1 p.m. (ABC); San Antonio at L.A. Lakers, 3:30 p.m. (ABC); New York at L.A. Clippers, 9:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Wednesday, April 7—Washington at Orlando, 8 p.m. (ESPN); San Antonio at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, April 8—Cleveland at Chicago, 8 p.m. (TNT); L.A. Lakers at Denver, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Friday, April 9—Dallas at Portland, 10 p.m. (NBATV)

Saturday, April 10—San Antonio at Denver, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Sunday, April 11—Orlando at Cleveland, 1 p.m. (ABC); Portland at L.A. Lakers, 3:30 p.m. (ABC); Houston at Phoenix, 9 p.m. (NBATV)

Monday, April 12—Miami at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. (NBATV); Dallas at L.A. Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (NBATV)

Tuesday, April 13—Boston at Chicago, 8 p.m. (TNT); Denver at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

Wednesday, April 14—Indiana at Washington, 8 p.m. (ESPN); Phoenix at Utah, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

(NBATV)

>__<

I didn’t even realize I had it until midway through last season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVA00Fngvmg&feature=player_embedded

<3 deltone west.

i would hazard a guess that these two individuals have recently smoked marijuana, btw.

XD

DOIN IT BIG AT THE KFC

what the lol http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/08/mark-madsen-clipper-laker-and-domain-name-speculator-2.html

menstrualperiods.ca

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/08/03/mark-madsen-quite-a-web-mogul/#cont

He owned a Zach Randolph special, CaliforniaDUILawyers.com, at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVmSm3FVaFQ

that is an unappetizing sub

stay for the party

ladies lets have a party

rashard lewis suspended 10 games for a having a high level of testosterone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6ttjjB9CI

what's poppin'

yesss

kurt rambis to coach twolves...
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/32345348/ns/sports-nba/

big baby staying in boston on a two year deal, c's with some nice frontline depth now assuming kg is at least mostly healthy, and still a decent perk-sheed-baby rotation if he ends up missing a chunk of time

this is great news.

love the baby

"he's terrible at shooting the 3"
Uh no he isn't.
― Alex in SF, Monday, August 3, 2009 4:41 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

holy cow- you're right. he was a 40% shooter on nearly 400 (!) attempts, by far the most in his career. but then he dropped to below 28% in the playoffs. i think my perception was colored by this sample- end of quarter shots jacked up on nat'l tv games (which tend to be the higher levels of competition) plus playoffs. 82games has his "clutch time" three percentage at 18% (per 48 min of "crunch time") whereas melo is over 50%.

which i think gets taken care of on the lakers- ron might get the end of first quarter hero shot, but after that it's all kobles.

http://www.allword-news.co.uk/images/Big%20Baby%20Davis%20Buzzer%20Beater%20Lifts%20Celtics%2095-94.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9rUn2YchOY

guys.

i just wanted to pop in and note that erick dampier has TWO years left on his contract. at 12 and 13 million, respectively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qTVbrGZXVY

oh come on, the league makes way way WAY more money than that by putting his face on posters xp

powe to cavs :-------------(

Cavs are going all out to keep LBJ happy.

Boom Dizzle's laptop stolen: this might be another Edison Chen type reveal!

tbh I'll be happy if all we get are just outtakes from this

^^ of the two links above, the second one is required viewing

in baron's defense, i would probably do whatever emmanuelle chiriqui told me to too

According to RealGM.com, Orlando general manager Otis Smith didn't feel Hedo Turkoglu was worth the five-year, $50M contract Portland was ready to spend on the free agent and he told Kevin Pritchard that the Blazers "caught a break" with Turkoglu signing with Toronto and made it clear they "weren't missing out on anything."

Kinda rude, bro.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn told the media Tuesday that there was a chance Quentin Richardson could be moved before the end of the week.

Richardson has already been traded from New York to Memphis, Memphis to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Clippers to Minnesota this summer.

Haha, jeez.

Memphis to the Los Angeles Clippers

for zack randololph

Has anyone ever been traded four times in one offseason before?

"Kinda rude, bro."

Kinda true too.

Well of course.

But kinda mean considering he just helped get your team to the finals.

Well it's not like he put it in press release or on t-shirt. Someone with an ax to grind has a big mouth.

Man now when Toronto plays Orlando this year turkoglu's gonna be motivated to light The Magic up for 20+ points.

Quentin Richardson has now been traded four times this summer --- From New York to Memphis, Memphis to L.A. Clips, LAC to Minnesota, and now Miami.

lolololol

a bit of an upgrade tho!

omg and he got traded for mark blount

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNhVgjD34Uw

probably one of the sickest dunk highlight reels I've seen in recent memory

09 offseason thread featuring where u go now ai

If you think that I am just going away-Think again! I am getting ready for the NBA season. Waiting for the call. Charlotte, Miami, NY.
5:04 AM Aug 18th from web

http://www.slamonline.com/online/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/michael_beasley_weed_close.jpg

Super Cool Beas

Apparently he's threatening to kill himself or whatever now. Not that Derrick "No one else took the SAT for me, really!" Rose is looking too great at this point either.

beasley's in rehab now

God that tattoo. Looks like a bunch of ANSI fonts I used to make back in 1996.

totally lol'ing at everyone i know who wanted bulls to draft supercool beasley over rose

a pair of grandma glasses hanging from the S

good thing Wade kept his options open

did the season fucking start yet

TAMPA, Fla. -- Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy has been removed from a halfway house and returned to jail.

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2007/0815/nba_ap_donaghy_65.jpg

"What is wrong with that kid Mike Beasley? His not to smart is he. Need to get his head right"
-- Jermichael Finley (Green Bay Packers)

"Micheal Beasly is trip'n. Life def isn't ez,that's 1 of the challenges of living"
-- Keith Bulluck (Tennessee Titans)

good points all around.

def ez trip'n

http://twitter.com/96TruwarierQB/statuses/3481874346

Houston did me dirty. I can't wait til next year when we go to Houston. I'm not shooting. All defense. Somebody getting locked da fuck up
5:09 PM Aug 22nd from TwitterFon

96TruwarierQB
Ron Artest

not sure how Houston did him dirty, but i like the idea of all defense ronron and am looking forward to the laker season like never before.

yeah boi fuck it ariza u crossed the family

and this dude doing this to people...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7z67RNMkKo
man...

ryler619 (1 day ago) Show Hide
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kobe turned off the jazz, blew up the rockets, ate some nuggets, and made some magic dissapear!!!

these are the comments people are making

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every time I see Bron on sportscenter(7000 times a night) I walk straight into my computer room and watch this vid again just so I can remember who the best in the league truly is. Kids these days just watch highlights, and have no idea how the game is played. If they did they'd sniff Brons inability to hit a free-throw much less take over a game when it matters. They'd also recognize the greatness that Kobe drops out of the sky on the biggest stage time and time again. Second only to MJ
8MunchenBayern8 (4 months ago) Show Hide
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Kobe isthe best

mc50cents (3 months ago) Show Hide
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well said !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_Daniels#Tattoos

Kurt Rambis's assistants: Reggie Theus and Bill Laimbeer! What a fun coaching staff.

just coming here to post about bill lmaobeer

looks like david kahn has failed to get rubio to come to mn and is now saying rubio backed out. is rubio farve'in it up or does kahn just suck? pls david stern send bill clinton over to negotiate the release of this hostage, we need him in the league thanks

I don't believe for a second that the Euro team agreed to the buyout. Serious ass-covering going on now.

"I also agreed with Ricky's position that two more years of competition in Spain and the Euroleague will only aid his development and that he will be much more ready for the NBA when he joins us," Kahn said.

ya rite

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9WUh6hJr2qQ/SoRg3rrQ0wI/AAAAAAAAAC8/f8D4d73hwII/s400/Crossovers.jpg

I will really be surprised if Rubio turns out to be better than, say, Jose Calderon when he finally makes it to the league

That chart makes no sense to me at all.

what are "for space" and "to drive"?

Whether their game is driving to the hoop or not, I guess. Don't get the other axis at all.

oh that makes sense but yeah doesn't really clue you in on the y

y seems to be whether or not the player needs to use the crossover to create space or to drive. x is what they tend to use the crossover for. i.e., roy tends to crossover to get an opponent to bite on a drive then steps back on a jumper. rondo uses his crossover to get his defender off-balance so he can cut to the hoop, etc.

at least, that's my best guess.

oh, I kinda get it now. but seriously, Wade has the most well-rounded crossover? AI borders on unnecessary? Timmay crosses for space? who is this Evans dude?

i think A.I.'s graphic shifting up means it's becoming more and more necessary as he gets older to use a crossover to get to the lane. in his younger days he was more like a halfback, just diving in and taking whatever hits came his way.

and z-bo's placement is presumably referencing this gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4xH85iDDIs

never forget.

i mainly posted it for the z-bo in the corner but also the 2 t-macs

who is this Evans dude?

― tony dayo (dyao), Tuesday, September 1, 2009 9:56 PM

tyreke evans maybe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGbz8iIkRhA

haha, i kept thinking, "maurice evans...?"

reggie evans...?

dudes got a deadly drive by shot

it's a ;_; day when AI doesn't dominate a crossover chart - he was solely responsible for getting the NBA to stop calling palming violations lol

tbh if the dude would just switch Rondo and AI's spaces on the chart I would be happy

this guy lives to drive

damn i forgot about the crossovers thread: totally krossed up

lol reggie evans grabbing dude's junk o_O

not too surprising, but dirk's crazy pregnant ex-girlfriend not actually pregnant

bruce bowen retires! our long national nightmare is over

let's go to his retirement party and sweep a leg under the cake and throw an elbow at his face on the way out

haha

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0624/nba_shaqtrade_576.jpg

shaq looks worried

"For Once Dirk Nowitzki is glad he didn’t go strong to the hole."

is that barkley

bowen retires
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4442293

"Google suggests that many, many fans will remember Bowen as a cheap shot artist. When you type 'Bruce Bowen' into the Google search bar, here are the options Google supplies for you: Bruce Bowen groin; Bruce Bowen All-Star; Bruce Bowen stats; Bruce Bowen dirty player; Bruce Bowen kick; Bruce Bowen dirty; Bruce Bowen wiki; Bruce Bowen kick Wally; Bruce Bowen defense; Bruce Bowen spa. That's right-'Bruce Bowen groin' is apparently the most popular string of words typed into Google about Bruce Bowen. Sadly, 'Bruce Bowen defense' ranks a distant ninth. Is this fair? Is this an appropriate way to remember Bowen?"

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_nba_experts__32/ept_sports_nba_experts-627549252-1252076518.jpg?ymn_r1BDeT_3kfm7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8_OjY4SKXE

yes i read ball don't lie too

AI signs with Memphis; eagerly awaiting future photos on TMZ w/ Z-bo

looool @ future ref lockout

Sources say that the referees have argued against the sort of budget cuts widely imposed on team and league office staff members by insisting the late hours they work and difficult travel conditions they endure in addition to the injury risks they're subjected to make them unlike any other group of NBA employees.

r u fuckin kidding me

fire all these fukks

^^

NBA refs roughly earn between $100,000 and $300,000 a year.

O_o

in addition to the injury risks they're subjected to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQy9VXSUHRw

lol what do you think that guy's salary was?

haha probably $300 a free tickets to family night at the gym

*and

The 13-year veteran (Iverson) was welcomed with a standing ovation in an atmosphere that felt like a pep rally, with fans in the lobby of the FedExForum.

This amuses me greatly. Also, Memphis is going to be really fun to watch this year.