Ah man, been busy busy busy. Working 80 hour workweeks, went 4 months without a day off, plus getting engaged also. I always come back eventually, especially during hoops season!
My bad, Lance Thomas. Dude sucks so much I can't even remember his name. What you guys think about Lebron sitting out the OKC game with a knee injury? Sounds bogus to me. How come we didn't hear anything about this before? It almost looks like James is ducking Durant and this just pisses me off. One of the biggest match ups of the season, everyone wants to see it and James sits it out. If his knee was that bad we should have heard something about it, otherwise this the kind of matchup where you would think he would play through a little discomfort. This matchup is only going to happen one other time this season.
He did "ok" last year with Houston. This year he's shit. Btw Massa, Yao > Amare all day every day. :crafty:
Houston announced they are trying to use their "TPE" for the Lin trade. Rocket's GM has been all over the place. Cory Brewer Enes Kantor Brandon Bass Wilson Chandler Amir Johnson Tayshaun Prince Jason Richardson The Cory Brewer trade is there if the Rockets want it from what I hear, but are still "shopping." Problem is, there is other teams calling about Chandler and Bass. OKC with Chandler, and multiple teams with Bass. OKC has been very busy working the phones.
Yeah there's no telling when Jones will be back, I like Bass best, to back up D-Mo who is playing tremendous ball right now. I wouldn't be mad if it was Johnson either. Rocket's GM wants to get a deal done before Dec 19th, so he can then flip any of these players before February's trade deadline combined with another player or players, he could then have the salaries to trade for a max contract if the opportunity presents itself.
Yeah, dude hardly ever even practices with the team and when he does, he talks all this shit. Lakers are in disarray, they have no idea what direction they want to go in, they are going to mess around and lose their lotto pick this year, it's top 5 protected. They would be picking 7 right now, or should I say the Suns would be. ::
OKC's Win/Loss Record, SANS Durant/Westbrook, is Why they Play the Way they Do...The SUCCESS OKC's Had in Scott Brooks' Tenure is WHY he Maintains a Job... In the last 3 Seasons, OKC's Been to the NBA Finals 1nce, Conference Finals Twice...An Injury to Westbrook, the Year After their NBA Finals Appearance, is ALL that Kept them from Advancing to the Conference Final Again (@ the Very Least)...Bottom Line is, IT WORKS, Dude!!!...OKC Is a PERENNIAL Championship Contender, Doing it THE WAY They're Doing it, w/the SAME Coach... OKC was WELL on its Way to Being a Lottery Team, in the Absence of Durant/Westbrook...But Now that they're Back, OKC's in the Midst of their BIGGEST Winning Streak of the Season AND they're a Mere 1.5 Games from the 8th Seed...OKC Still has Time to Get a Top 4 Playoff Seed, Health Permitting... REED Doesn't Get Why You're ALWAYS Complaining about Something that's Clearly WORKING for your Favorite Team... REED
I got no problem with what Kobe did. From reading the article it just sounds like he went in there trying to motivate and push his teammates and basically try to toughen them up. I read Jordan was actually the same way. He would push and challenge his teammates to find out which ones would push back. The ones that did he knew he could rely on, and the ones that didn't he tried to get rid of them. All the iso stuff OKC runs just isn't the best way to play basketball. If you've got 2 of the top 5 players in the league then yeah you should expect to be doing good. I could coach the Thunder the way Brooks does which is generally rolling the ball out to KD, Westbrook or Jackson and letting them run iso's. How about a pick and roll once and a while or some plays. Look at it like with the Warriors, they were good under Jackson but under Kerr they've been phenominal, small sample size or not. For instance we beat the Cavs without Bron, but in my opinion we should have blown them out the water and not blown a 14 point lead in the fourth quarter. We have so many weapons and we don't even utilize them efficiently. Like Perry Jones still hasn't played significant minutes and been getting DNP's up the wazoo even after leading the team to a win with a 30 point game. He's not going to develop sitting on the bench like that. Yeah, I'm happy my team is good, but the reason I complain is because they have the potential to be great, much much better than they presently are.
Problem #1 is he hasn't been practicing himself. If he really wants his team to get better, he'd show up to practice, lead by example, at the very least, be there and do some stretches or yoga shit. :limp: Problem #2 is he's not Jordan. Someone is going to go Chris Childs on his ass if he don't watch his mouth. Problem #3 is he's shooting 38%. If he's the leader of the team, maybe pass the ball more instead of chucking up 22-25 shots a game with a shit FG%. Problem #4 is they aren't gunning for a championship like Jordan was. His giant contract prohibits that team from being a contender. He knows it, the front office knows it as well. Kobe fucked his own team, no superstar wants to play with him, maybe Rondo's grumpy ass but that's about it. Meanwhile Duncan and Nowitzki take paycuts and have much, much better teams. That team has issues, the only way they will become relevant again is when Kobe is gone, and the team is sold to competent owners.
1.) I agree with the team, he really shouldn't be practicing. He's old and it would just add more miles to the odometer. I do kind of agree with you that he could be there though and be working on his game or something, but on the other hand it's not like Kobe doesn't already do that. It's not like the guy has a rep for being lazy or not working on his game. If anything his rep is the polar opposite of that. 2.) He doesn't have to be MJ. He's an alltime great and the team leader and team captain of the Lakers. Being the leader of the team he's doing exactly what he should be in pushing his guys to get to the next level and if talking shit is going to really bother any of his teammates then they really are pussies. Talking shit happens on real playgrounds all the time. The article said Young talked shit back to Kobe and you can bet just like with Jordan that got Kobe's respect. Young actually had to tell your ex-boy Lin and Clarkson they needed to stand up to Kobe and anyone else that challenges them, and he's right. 3.) Can't argue with this. At the same time I haven't been watching their games so I really can't speak on it. 4.) It doesn't matter where the team is, if they're not going to try their best why practice at all? Some guys play quiet some guys talk trash. Kobe's an intense guy when he plays, and he does the same thing if he's at Lakers practice, Allstar Game practice, or USA basketball practice. That's just who he is, and if he's going to use that to push his guys I personally think it's a good thing; because if your star player yelling and talking shit to you at practice is going to throw you off your game, then what do you think is going to happen when somebody from the other team does it? Yeah, the team is fucked for the future but if Kobe just sat back and accepted that without fighting anyway, well hell, you'd be criticizing him for that instead.
Hornets ALREADY Looking to Unload Lance Stephenson... http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...ers-to-unload-lance-stephenson-235702170.html REED::
But he did sit back and accept that when he accepted that contract. He knows how the salary cap works, he just didn't care about handcuffing his team. If you really think he REALLY wants to win, he would've signed a Duncan like deal. I guarantee that would have made his team much better than him talking shit to scrubs who aren't going to be any better regardless.
Kobe's Recent Tirades Appear to Be NATHAN More than Orchestrated Shows of "Leadership", Serving NO Other Purpose than Feeding His Ego.... Sure, it's Somewhat IMPRESSIVE Kobe Can Be Amongst the League Leaders in Scoring, @ his Age, but his Squad WON'T Come Within Smelling Distance of the Playoffs AND he's Shooting a CAREER LOW FG %, in the Process... In MOST Circumstances, Averaging 25+ is GREAT...But NOT When you're Shooting LESS than 40%, 8 Games UNDER .500... REED:mj:
And the Hornets are fucked with this one. They are surprisingly above the salary cap, and of course the Pacer are too, meaning they can't just send a 1st round pick and Lance to the Pacers like the article states, they would have to take on roughly 9 million back from a trade also because the Pacers are above the cap, same as in the Brooklyn scenario, they couldn't just trade Lance for Brook Lopez, per CBA rules a team receiving a player that is above the salary cap via trade can only receive 110% more than the salary sent out. I'm a little rusty on the cap rules, but it's not nearly as simple as the article puts it. Looks like they would have to take on a shitty contract to unload him or cough up those draft picks or a little of both.
The "Best" Way to Play Basketball is CATERING your Philosophy & STYLE of Play Towards the STRENGTHS of your Best Players... Everybody's Enamored w/the Spurs Ball Movement & TEAM Oriented Approach, but that System Requires PLAY MAKERS in the Post like Duncan & Diaw, Not to Mention an Arsenal of Guys who Can Knock Down the Littany of Wide Open Jumpers they'll Be Privy To, on a Given Night, AND Depth... Other than the (Recent) Spurs, the Mavs are THE ONLY Squad to Win a Championship That Way, Recently...MORE Times than Not (Since the Shaq-Kobe Days, Really), it's a STEALTH 2 or 3-Headed Monster STEERING a Team to a Championship...The Way OKC is Built, in Other Words....& When they Advanced to the Finals, they were Very Much a 3-Headed Monster, w/Harden... It's NOT Like Guys AREN'T Getting Attempts...Durant/Westbrook Take the BULK of the Shots, Sure, but that's just HOW it Is on Most Elite Level NBA Squads...Someone Else Needs to SEIZE that Harden Role... Golden State has Considerably MORE to Prove...New Coach, that Replaced the Popular Mark Jackson, Who Revived Interest/Confidence in the Fanbase AND Players, In a Squad that HASN'T Done Shit Since the 70's...G-State's Off to a FANTASTIC Start, Undoubtedly, but if they were to Bump Heads w/a HEALTHY OKC, Anytime-Anywhere in a Playoff Series, Give REED OKC... Let's See Andrew Bogut Actually Stay HEALTHY for a Season & G-State Advance to the Conference or NBA Finals First, Before Putting them in Durant/Westbrook's Class.... REED:mj:
Jabari Parker is DONE for the Season.... http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...ars-acl--is-out-for-the-season-041032311.html REEDathetic:
Damnit, I feel bad for jabari but at least he's still young and an MCL tear is not the death sentence it used to be years ago. He could be back by this time next season.
Westbrook should be in the mix for MVP if he keeps playing like this. 26 ppg, 7 apg, 6 rpg and 2 spg in 29.4 mins.
Is it a MCL or ACL? He should be fine as long as he doesn't tear up the other knee, that happens quite frequently.
