The official NBA thread

[bowdenta]

Nash

Amare

KG

let me check espn for that claim
that team is just unfair for the league

I would enjoy seeing a kobe/KG duo unless they're playing against my rockets

 

[L O V E L I F E]

If the Lakers do get KG... boy... my happiness at that point in time will be indescribable. Come on Mitch Kupchak, show the world you aren't a complete fucking moron.

As you know, I am NOT a Laker fan, but I am admittedly a Kobe-ball-licker, and I am intrigued by the mere possibility of Kobe getting to spend what's left of his prime (probably four to six years) with a bona fide superstar.

Because as history has told us, when the best player in the league (UNQUESTIONABLY Kobe, at this point in time) also has a bona-fide superstar playing second-fiddle (Magic/Kareem, Bird/McHale, Jordan/Pippen, Shaq/Kobe, Wade/Shaq) the overwheleming percentage of seasons throughout the past three decades, that team has won the title.

Well, these past three years have been the anomoly - the league's best player hasn't had sufficient help.

I've never been a huge Garnett fan (I would have prefered Kidd, but it is what it is), but if the Lakers somehow outbid the Suns, people are FINALLY going to recognize that if Kobe merely had a go-to guy who DEFERED TO HIM (KOBE), the man could average mid-30's points AND 7 or so assists a game and make the MJ worshippers "forget" that they proclaimed we'll never see another Jordan in our lifetime, and yet, lo and behold, we're seeing an almost-there better version of him in the league less than a decade afte number 23 "retired."

M. V. Mothafuckin' P.

 

[bowdenta]

if the Lakers somehow outbid the Suns, people are FINALLY going to recognize that if Kobe merely had a go-to guy who DEFERED TO HIM (KOBE), the man could average mid-30's points AND 7 or so assists a game and make the MJ worshippers "forget" that they proclaimed we'll never see another Jordan in our lifetime, and yet, lo and behold, we're seeing an almost-there better version of him in the league less than a decade afte number 23 "retired."

M. V. Mothafuckin' P.

ifs are funny like that

 

[deeCee]

I'd like to see AK47 and spare parts for KG

I know I'm going to be disappointed though

 

[deeCee]

KG trade, good or bad??..

The only thing Wolves get is Al Jeff and some money to play with next off season with some big names floating around..

Celtics now have 3 players, taking around 90% of the cap.. and no back up point gaurd.. Ranjo's got the load of it, I don't think he is ready.. Sure, they have 3 great players now, but someone has to get them the ball..

 

[L O V E L I F E]

The Celtics stole Garnett.

Fucking stole him.

I don't care how many potentially excellent down-the-road players and draft picks they exchanged - any time you get the opportunity to fuck the hottest girl in the club, you spend a couple bills on some drinks and some blow, you bring your A-game, you take her home, and you fuck her senseless.

Without Garnett, the chances of the Celtics winning the NBA Finals in the next three years were approximately zero.

Now, they've got a legitimate puncher's chance to contend for the title for three (or maybe even four) seasons.

Role players like Robert Horry are nice complementary players to have - but there are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of them.

While I'm not the biggest Garnett fan, he is, admittedly, one of the 10 best players in the league, and along with Pierce (Top 20) and Allen (also overrated, but still Top 30-ish), the Celtics could fill the rest of their roster with the worst nine players in the NBA and still have an infinitely better chance to win the title than before they made this trade.

It's not a perfect analogy, because Shaq was indeed The Great Aristotle, and Kobe was (and is) <censored for over-the-top-LL-Kobe-homoerotic-hyperbole>, but take a look at the rest of the Lakers' rosters from 2000, 2001, and 2002 - they THREEPEATED with two superduperstars and ten players who could barely start in the WNBA.

You don't (with the notable exceptions of the Pistons a couple years back) win championships with a collection of very good to excellent players - when play-off time comes along, teams like the 80's Lakers and Celtics, the 90's Bulls, and the Early '00's Lakers won the overwhelming majority of the NBA Finals because they had MULTIPLE SUPERSTARS - and because there are only five players per team on the court at any given time, it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to stop MULTIPLE superstars simultaneously.

As a Knick fan, I'm disappointed - the East *was* wide open for the taking, but now, in my opinion, the Celtics, Cavs, Nets and Pistons are the only Eastern Conference teams with a reasonable shot at making a serious run at the title - and to be honest, I'd install the Celtics as next year's Eastern Conference favorite over those other three very good, but not quite excellent teams.

Celtic fans should be lining up to deep throat Kevin McHale right this second.

 

[Benefit]

The Celtics stole Garnett.

I wouldn't go that far. What they did was eat up a huge amount of cap space and payroll on 3 players... 2 of whom are over 30. Maxing out your payroll like that is actually not a great idea because you have no flexibility. Just look at the Lakers. Kobe's gargantuan contract limits them in so many ways. It is one of the major drawbacks of maximum contracts. However, because they are in the East, this move makes Danny Ainge (one of the worst GMs ever) look like a genius.

While I'm not the biggest Garnett fan, he is, admittedly, one of the 10 best players in the league, and along with Pierce (Top 20) and Allen (also overrated, but still Top 30-ish), the Celtics could fill the rest of their roster with the worst nine players in the NBA and still have an infinitely better chance to win the title than before they made this trade.

Remember, Garnett didn't make it to the Finals when he had Sprewell and Sam Cassell on his team. Are Paul Pierce and Jesus Shuttlesworth that much better? But again, they are in the East. So I guess the answer is yes.

Role players like Robert Horry are nice complementary players to have - but there are literally dozens (if not hundreds) of them.

Sorry LL. Hundreds of good role players in the NBA? Absolutely untrue. And the NBA has rarely seen a role player of Robert Horry's calibre.

but take a look at the rest of the Lakers' rosters from 2000, 2001, and 2002 - they THREEPEATED with two superduperstars and ten players who could barely start in the WNBA.

Come on now. Glen Rice, Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw. You're not giving Jerry West much credit there. Shaq and Kobe were a once in a lifetime pairing but, as you clearly saw when The Logo departed, without the right supporting cast they won nothing.

If it was the Western Conference, pairing Garnett with Pierce and Allen wouldn't do more than give a team a slight advantage over the other front-runners. But since it's the East... the whole landscape is different.

I am supremely disappointed the Lakers lost out to Danny fucking Ainge. This shit sucks.

 

[Benefit]

Damn. Minnesota trade KG and the very next day a bridge falls down.

I don't believe in coincidences.

 

[L O V E L I F E]

Come on now. Glen Rice, Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw.

You're not giving Jerry West much credit there.

Glen Rice was a fat one-dimensional player who gets undeserved extra credit for his college career.

Robert Horry - I shall concede has been one of the better complementary players in the league this past decade.

Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Brian Shaw couldn't start for the '07 Knicks.

I'm not saying that having good complementary players is completely irrelevant . . .

. . . but for my money, I'd take as many superstars as possible (preferably as great as possible) with the balance of the roster filled with absolute scrubs FAR BEFORE having fewer (or inferior) superstars with an excellent supporting cast.

In THIRTY years, only the '04 Pistons won a title without a superstar.

While the '94 Rockets, '95 Rockets, several of Jordan's Bulls teams, and, in my opinion, the '00/'01/'02 Lakers ALL won titles with pedestrian complementary players sheerly based on the fact that Hakeem, Jordan/Pippen, and Shaq/Kobe are THAT fucking valuable.

Good debate, all.

 

[LapDawg]

Robert Horry - I shall concede has been one of the better complementary players in the league this past decade.

Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Brian Shaw couldn't start for the '07 Knicks.

Of this past decade? Dude has seven rings over two decades...I think that constitutes more than just the decade...

And I'm sorry, but Fisher DEFINITELY could start for the Knicks.