2005 NBA Play-off Predictions and discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
[quote name='Zenithian Legend']That's Sheed's own fault for not getting the ball. The moron takes threes all the time, despite the fact that he can score down in the paint at will. I guess he forgets that it's that easy for him to shoot over Duncan, probably short term memory loss from smoking too much weed.

The nine point lead is what's really killing me though.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed these finals cuz this is probably what we're gonna get for about 3 of the next 5 years or so.[/QUOTE]

A post player is at the mercy of the point guard. The only person who can get a post player the ball is the guard who is handling the ball. Power forwards don't get to bring the ball up the court much, you know? Since Chauncy is the point guard, it is his job to set people up and direct the plays. And Sheed wasn't playing out at the 3pt line all that much. Larry Brown should have made it mandatory for Chauncy to get Sheed the ball on the post at least 1 out of every 3 trips up court, no exceptions.
 
Man, I thought Pistons were gonna win with that 9point lead, then they let the Spurs come back. Duncan, Ginobili and Horry had an awesome game tonite, Parker sucked imo. I didn't see much of Hamilton and Billups tonite, probably why they lost.
 
[quote name='BigSpoonyBard']Check the bottom of Lake Eerie. And if he isn't there now, make sure sure he ends up there.[/QUOTE]

:lol:

I wish I had a local team to root for ... NHL would be nice as well.
 
In Mavericks' news, Shawn Bradley is retiring, and the Mavs may waive Michael Finley. Apparently under the new collective bargaining agreement, teams can waive a player if they're having to pay luxary tax for him, or something to that effect.

If the Mavs keep Finley and the rest of his three-year $51 million contract, it will cost Cuban about $102 million since the Mavs are over the cap. Finley's severe lack of good basketball this past season isn't worth a minimum contract.

I think they'll cut Finley soon. It will be sad to see him go, but he's now just a shadow of his former self.
 
[quote name='sblymnlcrymnl']:lol:

I wish I had a local team to root for ... NHL would be nice as well.[/QUOTE]
You guys had the Kansas City Kings and the Kansas City Scouts back in the day... Who became the Sacramento Kings and New Jersey Devils. Small markets in traditional hockey areas (Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hartford) have a shot at getting teams again from bigger non-hockey places (Carolina), but Kansas City is about as much of a hockey town as Mexico City.

You still have football and baseball, sorta. At least you can see the teams that are playing against the Chiefs and Royals.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']You guys had the Kansas City Kings and the Kansas City Scouts back in the day... Who became the Sacramento Kings and New Jersey Devils. Small markets in traditional hockey areas (Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hartford) have a shot at getting teams again from bigger non-hockey places (Carolina), but Kansas City is about as much of a hockey town as Mexico City.

You still have football and baseball, sorta. At least you can see the teams that are playing against the Chiefs and Royals.[/QUOTE]

always hating on Carolina:nottalking:

pick on atlanta, tampa, or nashville once and a while. raleigh is little new york so if hockey can't survive here, it can't survive anywhere in the south

and if nothing else, Carolina draws more poeple than Hartford ever did
 
Speaking of Shawn Bradley, did anybody seen that tribute video today they showed for him on espn? hahaha they played a couple of clips of him gettin dunked on by several players....especially that t-mac clip
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']always hating on Carolina:nottalking:

pick on atlanta, tampa, or nashville once and a while. raleigh is little new york so if hockey can't survive here, it can't survive anywhere in the south

and if nothing else, Carolina draws more poeple than Hartford ever did[/QUOTE]
3 teams have averaged less than 10,000 in a season since 1989, Carolina, Ottawa, and the Islanders. Only Carolina has done it twice in that span, and did it two years in a row, with the two lowest average attendances in that timespan. They had the 2nd lowest attendance in the league in 2004. The team's value is the lowest in the league, and their revenues were the 2nd lowest. I don't think they will recover very well from this lockout.

The Whalers at least had a loyal following. Nobody gives a damn about hockey in the south. Atlanta and Nashville clearly should not have NHL teams. I think Quebec City and Winnipeg would do great under the new CBA, they both always had great attendance.
 
I see what you are saying, but I still don't think it would necessarily be a bad product here. IF the damn arena was not so shitty I think attendance would be much higher and probably one of the highest in the south considering that this is a southern town but only in name. Both my cousins are originally from NY and they love hockey. Hell my one cousin has a job at the arena so he can catch the games (it is a secondary job that he does just to earn some extra income as well as watch the games, he also cleans and installed pools for a lot of the players). I think that seeing this probably has shaped my opinion, but I know just from personal experience of living in town that there are a ton of people here from the north and most of them probably grew up with hockey.

Who wants to pay 55 bucks, not have a cupholder for your beer, and have to get up everytime someone wants to get up from their seat? It is amazing how shitty the thing is, and is one of the many reasons I can't wait to leave this place (so many high tech things are built here, yet it has to be the stupidest place on earth)

Renunion Arena in Dallas is 20 years older than the arena here and it outclasses it in every way. Thats how shitty it is
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']I see what you are saying, but I still don't think it would necessarily be a bad product here. IF the damn arena was not so shitty I think attendance would be much higher and probably one of the highest in the south considering that this is a southern town but only in name. Both my cousins are originally from NY and they love hockey. Hell my one cousin has a job at the arena so he can catch the games (it is a secondary job that he does just to earn some extra income as well as watch the games, he also cleans and installed pools for a lot of the players). I think that seeing this probably has shaped my opinion, but I know just from personal experience of living in town that there are a ton of people here from the north and most of them probably grew up with hockey.

Who wants to pay 55 bucks, not have a cupholder for your beer, and have to get up everytime someone wants to get up from their seat? It is amazing how shitty the thing is, and is one of the many reasons I can't wait to leave this place (so many high tech things are built here, yet it has to be the stupidest place on earth)

Renunion Arena in Dallas is 20 years older than the arena here and it outclasses it in every way. Thats how shitty it is[/QUOTE]
I think hockey could have done OK there, but it can't now. That arena is brand new, and its garbage... there won't be another. Baseball never recovered in Toronto after the strike, and baseball got huge there. Carolina had a couple of good years, but I don't think the fans are coming back. Not unless they got the #1 draft pick and took Sidney Crosby, and even then, I still think they'd move to Canada.

Hockey has not done well outside of their base. They were lucky to get the west coast on board when Gretzky was playing, but they won't get the south to like hockey. There will be NHL teams in Europe before there are successful teams in the south.
 
Looks like the Knicks are on the verge of making a very good trade:

http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/25527.htm

The Knicks and Suns agreed to their second trade in 17 months with Kurt Thomas being shipped to Phoenix for 6-6 swingman Quentin Richardson and a protected, future first-round pick.

The first-round pick can be used by the Knicks at the earliest in 2007 but is protected beyond the lottery. The delay in announcing the deal involved a minor insurance issue regarding a prior Richardson back injury that's not likely to kill the deal.

The trade of Thomas has further decimated the Knicks at center and is further proof they will take another Phoenix product — 6-11 Arizona center Channing Frye — with the eighth pick in Tuesday's draft if the Raptors don't snatch him at seven. Two league sources said the Knicks have given Frye a guarantee. Frye's handlers look to be guiding him to the Knicks, as they've refused workouts with some lottery teams, including Charlotte and Toronto.

If Frye is unavailable, the other big-man candidate would be Spanish 6-10 power forward Fran Vazquez, who flies in to New York for a workout before several NBA teams, including the Knicks, on Sunday.

I've already seen people in the media claiming that the Knicks lost their only 'defensive stopper', but let's get real. Anyone who has seen the guy play knows that he becomes less and less effective as your primary defensive weapon in the post because he CANNOT keep up with guys who are semi-athletic. It's why he consistently gets burned. Give Malik Rose some time and bring in a guy who can block a shot or two via the draft (Vasquez or Frye?) and *boom* it's "Kurt who?"

Quentin can come in and start at the 2 or the 3 and instantly be an improvement at either position. He's shown that he has more of a game than as the chucker he was in Phoenix. Sure, he's always been known as a gunner who shoots a low percentage, but he can do more than - say - Jamal Crawford can. He can post up, he's a better defender, he doesn't get pushed around, and he can score in the halfcourt and in the fast break.
 
That would be a huge steal for the Knicks. Well, Richardson didn't exactly light it up in the playoffs, and he's making a lot of money. But Thomas is definitely on the downside of his career.
 
bad bad trade for the knicks. They need cap room badly. They have no chance of getting better.

Let everyone's contracts expire and then rebuild.
 
Well, that was a great end to what turned out to be a great series. I did find it interesting that the most vocal Piston about how tough they are and how they are best in clutch situations had such a shitty game (yes, you Chauncy). I can't get on Billups too much though cause he has been pretty damn clutch over the last couple years.

From a player for player perspective, I think the Richardson deal is good for the Knicks especially since they'd be getting a pick too. I think Casey is right though, it doesn't necessarily make them better. They need a post up threat badly. While Richardson can post up, with Marbury and Crawford out there handling the ball, Richardson will never see the ball down low. They need a player that DEMANDS the ball down low.
 
yea but the pick is going to be crappy because I cannot see the level of play of the Suns dropping all that much. It is going to be in the 20's somewhere, and not really benefit their team
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']yea but the pick is going to be crappy because I cannot see the level of play of the Suns dropping all that much. It is going to be in the 20's somewhere, and not really benefit their team[/QUOTE]

Just remember, Josh Howard was the oen of the last picks of the first round a few years ago, and he's the second best player the Mavs have now. So you can definitely find quality players late in the first round.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']You guys had the Kansas City Kings and the Kansas City Scouts back in the day... Who became the Sacramento Kings and New Jersey Devils. Small markets in traditional hockey areas (Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hartford) have a shot at getting teams again from bigger non-hockey places (Carolina), but Kansas City is about as much of a hockey town as Mexico City.

You still have football and baseball, sorta. At least you can see the teams that are playing against the Chiefs and Royals.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but that was well before my time. A while back I heard that KC may be getting an NBA team in a few years (most likely the Magic) but I don't know if anything is actually happening with that or not.

Hey, I like the Chiefs and Royals. Even when they suck. :lol:
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']bad bad trade for the knicks. They need cap room badly. They have no chance of getting better.

Let everyone's contracts expire and then rebuild.[/QUOTE]


http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/new_york.htm

Knicks got a 100,000,000 + payroll going and most of the contracts wont expire till 2006-2007.

Isiah handcuffed the knicks to pure crap and wastes of money.

Traded for
Crawford (crap)
Marbury (crap)
Maurice Taylor (crap)
Jerome Williams (crap)

The only good thing he did was trade for Malik Rose and drafted Ariza.

Why even go for Q. Rich? Dont they have enough crap guards?
Penny, Houston, Crawford, and Marbury is enough of a rotation. Unless Isiah is secretly going to murder some players I dont see why he would need Richardson.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']bad bad trade for the knicks. They need cap room badly. They have no chance of getting better.

Let everyone's contracts expire and then rebuild.[/QUOTE]

They are SO FAR GONE from that point right now, it's not even a feasible goal.

Right now, Isiah is actively pursuing talent that now appears to be fitting together...but he's got more work to do. He has a couple of expiring contracts to work with, he has the #8 and #30 picks to work with, and he has the MLE. It's simply not realistic to say, even when Isiah first joined the franchise, that they were going to just sit and wait 3-4 years until the opportunity came to get under the cap. Look at the overpaid guys they HAD...I don't think there were teams looking to take those contracts at the expense of shorter ones. So Isiah is trying to make due with what he had and I'm pleased with the progress, despite last season's record.

[quote name='bobo2k4']http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/new_york.htm

Knicks got a 100,000,000 + payroll going and most of the contracts wont expire till 2006-2007.

Isiah handcuffed the knicks to pure crap and wastes of money.

Traded for
Crawford (crap)
Marbury (crap)[/quote]

Oh get real. Stephon and Jamal are not 'crap'. Jamal shoots a low percentage and isn't a great defender but he brings more to the table than that. His intended role in New York is as the third guard off of the bench. Stephon is what he is...a really good player who has faults, but is good enough to be a significant part of the core of a team. He has matured as a player, he takes smarter shots, he's a better distributor when he has active options and he helps to make his options better. But it's tough to do much when your options pretty much stink offensively, with the exception of Jamal who does have some significant problems with his shots.

Maurice Taylor (crap)
Jerome Williams (crap)
Click to expand...

Role players whose contracts don't even extend past Allan Houston's contract...meaning that they don't MATTER in the long run, because there was NEVER any possibility of the Knicks getting under the cap before that season. Of course, now Isiah has made the decision to try to build a young core via trades and free agency and go from THAT, so now the 'projected under-the-cap' date is a later.

Besides, neither one of those guys is crap. Did you see them last season? They're not great players, but JYD came in and did his thing - provided some defense and some energy, and that's all anyone asks of him. And Mo Taylor came in with this rep of not going for rebounds and not playing defense, and the guy was pretty active on the boards and on defense when he was a Knick, and managed to do his thing well in the post...exactly what they need from him.

Penny, Houston, Crawford, and Marbury is enough of a rotation. Unless Isiah is secretly going to murder some players I dont see why he would need Richardson.
Click to expand...

Penny is DONE.

Houston is BEYOND DONE. He will be bought out this Summer, because the new CBA includes a one-time lift on luxury tax penalties for one player if you waive that player. This means that Jim Dolan / Cablevision will save $40 million by cutting ties with Allan. He's done anyway...and he'll still count against the cap, but his contract will be luxury-tax free.

So there ya go...it's JUST Jamal and Stephon. Not to mention that Quentin can play the 3 if need-be, but likely he'll play the 2 next to Stephon and Jamal will play his intended role as the 3rd guard. The Knicks desperately NEEDED another backcourt player, either through the draft or through a trade/free agency - and Isiah made it happen, at a cheap rate. Quentin has similar FG% problems to Jamal, except he's a more versatile scorer than Jamal - he posts up and does it effectively, he drives more, he's a better defender (but, granted, still not a very good one), and the guy is one of the best rebounding guards in the league.
 
Pistons in 2006!

Now that I've got that out of the way... I must agree with you oops, Crawford is actually a really good guard. You've got to remember he's pretty young still too. I remember watching him play at Michigan... the 10 or so games he could play before he was suspended for good...

I was at the game he got suspended again for too, that was such bullshit. He was out on the floor warming up with the team, when out of nowhere some jackoffs in suits walk up to him, talk to him, and then he sits down on the bench. I couldn't believe it, they really gave him a raw deal at U of M. Moving along though.

... Crawford will continue to get better. Houston really is the guy who killed the Knicks. He was supposed to be this sensational player, and he was lackluster at best, and constantly injured. The only good thing Allan Houston did is lead to the termination of Layden.

NOW (as the Coz would say) in order for the Knicks to get better, Thomas needs to unload some cap space (obviously) my first move would be to cut Houston. Then I'd look to move Marbury, he's a great player, but he's like Paul Pierce: he's not a winner. I have no idea where they can send Steph, or they can get for him, but I'd make moving him out a top priority. Then you slide Crawford over to the point, and point Q in the backcourt with him.

Next Isiah needs to build a time machine and get Nene and Camby back, since that trade worked out so well for him :roll: Seriously though, he needs to focus on getting a good big man. Once again not sure who, but New York is in desparate need of a REAL center. He really shouldn't have given up on Nazr so quickly, like Charles Barkley said, "Isiah Thomas is building a championship team... down in San Antonio." Whether or not the Spurs would've won the title without Muhammed is debateable, but I think it was a bad move by Isiah again, regardless of how good Malik Rose may be. Rose is undersized and the Knicks already had enough forwards.

Ideally Thomas finds a way to move out Marbury, send him, Houston, and Rose/Taylor to the Clippers for Elton Brand. The Clippers are notorious for making stupid trades.

If nothing else Isiah Thomas really needs to get rid of Tim Thomas. Tell him "This town is only big enough for one Thomas!" and trade him to Portland for Darius Miles.

Then use the free'd up cap space to go after are marquee name like Ray Allen.

There problem solved, next season they start:

PG - Crawford
SG/SF - Richardson
SG/SF - Allen
PF - Brand
C - Frye or something of that nature.

plus you've still got Mike Sweetney, Darius Miles, Trevor Ariza and JYD on your bench.

You just can't go wrong!
 
just thought of another reason this is a bad trade. How many times have the Knicks been fleeced by the Suns in the past couple of years? Penny, Stephon, etc.

Stephon is a good player, but he is like the plague when it comes to winning basketball games as others have stated, and Penny was damaged goods when they got him
 
I'm gonna do it, regardless :) This one's close enough to 500 that a page of posts would put it over. It's had its run, and now it is time to put it to pasture.
 
[quote name='Zenithian Legend']So the draft is tomorrow night... new topic, or finish this one out to 500 casey?[/QUOTE]

yea start a new one so that we can put all the bad memories out to pasture:D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
bread's done
Back
Top