Offical 2009-10 NBA Season Thread

[halfwaycrook]

Originally Posted by YoungTriz

Originally Posted by HalfwayCROOK

Originally Posted by YoungTriz

Originally Posted by HalfwayCROOK

Heats can't contend until they get someone else to go with Wade. O'Neal is just washed up, kind of sad to watch because he just has no explosiveness and just has to keep shooting jumpers.
Beasley needs more touches for sure, and I forgot how good of a rebounder he is.

JO is doing what he needs to do... he doesnt need to be a main scorer on a team anymore... all we need him to do is a be a 15/10 guy.. and thats what he has been bringing.... hell he just had a 13/16 last night... i do believe that we need AI to help the load of shooting while wade is on the bench... AI and bealsey can def put up points while on the floor together

Yea but JO isn't the second scoring threat you need. He used to be that, but until the heat find a guy like that. Same team as last year

beasley can be the 2nd scoring threat... its just that the coach wont let beasley off the leash yet.... on paper we are the same team.. but do you know how many players were on the team for the 1st time last year? this year is the same team but with more chemistry...

Maybe, but they still are 2nd tier to Cleveland, Boston, Orlando with this team.

And I see you on Beasley being on a leash. They need to loosen the reigns on him, he can be really good.

 

[i nasmatic i]

[h1]Hawks see opportunity to soar in East[/h1]
ATLANTA - The sullen eyes and blank stares still haunt Mike Woodson, forever suspended in a psyche scarred five seasons ago. In his mind, those Atlanta Hawks are forever hunched over stools in that losing locker room. Here was an old Indiana Hoosier with his season on the brink, his reference for a coaching start straight out of his worst basketball nightmare.

"I'll never forget those 13 wins," Woodson says now, "because I can still see the players and the looks on their faces when we would walk out to the floor and they just couldn't win games."
He laughed a hollow laugh, and said, "I was coming from Detroit, a championship, and I didn't come into that season wanting to win 13 games."
Looking back, there was just one keeper in 2004-05: Josh Smith(notes). Just a kid out of high school with big shoulders, spry legs and free of true thought on playing the pro game. Every season, there came a fresh face with Smith. Joe Johnson(notes). Marvin Williams(notes). Al Horford(notes). Mike Bibby(notes).

There was a core created, losing turned to winning, and suddenly there was something rare and true for an NBA franchise: all together, all for one. They reached the playoffs. They took the Boston Celtics to seven games. Last season, they beat the Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade(notes) to advance to the conference semifinals. All for one, all together, Woodson has watched these kids grow, watched a rare and true thing in the NBA: a terrific young core, all rising into their primes, all blossoming together.

With three starters 25 and younger, with Johnson a true star, the Hawks march into a Thanksgiving night meeting with the defending conference champion Orlando Magic with the best record in the East, 11-3, with a belief that perhaps the conference's big three powers are no longer impenetrable.

The Hawks have slowly, surely, been constructed into a conference contender. No bad contracts, no short-term fixes for a long-term vision. Yes, they could be a championship contender had deposed general manager Billy Knight drafted Chris Paul(notes) or Deron Williams(notes) over Marvin Williams, but so it goes.

"I've been around this thing a long time, and I've failed to ever see young teams win at a high level," Woodson said. "It doesn't happen. There were some growing pains. What's driven me is that I came up with the title runs with the Pistons and that's been my driving force. I wanted to take a team and build it."

To think there's a happily-ever-after for these Hawks is to be naive, for the franchise's biggest star, Johnson, appears destined to leave for free agency this summer. Sources close to him insist it's unlikely he'll stay with the Hawks, especially considering the possibility he could be the league's biggest star on the move. As long as Wade stays in Miami, Johnson could take a max contract to slide into the Bulls' backcourt with Derrick Rose(notes). What's more, sources say, the prospect of joining D-Wade has grown into a possibility. There's always New York, too.

"Hey," Woodson says with a laugh, "I'm on the last year of my contract, too. This could be my last year, too."

Which means just one thing: As much as there seems to be so much urgency with the time ticking way on the aging Celtics, the possibility of losing Johnson has forced Atlanta into a win-now mode. The Hawks' GM, Rick Sund, made a terrific trade for Jamal Crawford(notes) and prudent free-agent signings with Joe Smith(notes) and Maurice Evans(notes). "We definitely needed someone like Crawford," Sund said. "San Antonio has [Manu] Ginobili coming off the bench. Dallas has Jason Terry(notes). You need that guy."

This doesn't make the Hawks a favorite in the East, but their length and athleticism and explosiveness make them a nightmare for the establishment. The Celtics had been able to count upon Atlanta's inability to win on the road, all the way back to that seven-game series on Boston's way to the title two years ago. So, yes, Joe Smith, the 34-year-old locker-room sage, watched his teammates with a critical eye in the final moments of the Hawks' victory over the Celtics at the Garden this month. They had gone years without winning there, and this was a step for the franchise, an unmistakable message, and Smith found himself taking inventory on the reaction of his young teammates.

"A lot of young teams may have celebrated like they had won a championship, but we acted like it was something we were supposed to do," Smith said. "We were happy with the victory, and we understood it had been so long since we won up there. But it was subdued, like this was something we were supposed to do."

For these Hawks, it was one more step, one more threshold. They keep crossing them, keep coming. Six years later, Mike Woodson walks into the Hawks' locker room and everything has changed. He wishes they could be together for a long time, but Johnson can leave as a free agent and the coach is still waiting on a contract. They could have a remarkable tomorrow in Atlanta, but for now, there's just today, just perhaps a final season together where the Hawks hope they're faster and firmer than people would've ever imagined.

"You've got to deal with what's in front of you," Woodson said. "This is six years running for me, and I can't look at seven and eight. My job is right in front of me right now."

So is a different kind of season on the brink for an old Hoosier, so are the possibilities that the coach never would've imagined with 13 victories, with a run in Atlanta that started with a season out of his worst nightmare.

 

[bigmike23]

no thank you on Johnson dude is overrated

 

[cp3isdatruth]

i wouldnt mind JJ2 on the bulls..but lebron/wade/bosh/amare are first, IMO....

 

[executive76]

Joe would be a good look he wouldn't completely overshadow Rose like Wadewould

Bosh should be their first option though

 

[dlo13]

Joe Johnson is a decent option if you've got a big inside to pair him with. Joe next to LeBron, Wade, or Rose makes no sense. Dude has to be your #1 optionon the perimeter to remotely live up to the money that you're paying him...

 

[i nasmatic i]

I always thought the Cavs should have gone after Joe Johnson in 2005. More potential that Michael Redd, younger than Ray Allen and way better than LarryHughes.

 

[diesel j]

Originally Posted by Bigmike23

no thank you on Johnson dude is overrated

Exactly

 

[osh kosh bosh]

The most gutless team in the history of the raptors.

Goodbye Chris, you gave it your all too bad these !+%@# @#+ @#%%@ don't got your back.

 

[i nasmatic i]

Durant, Green, Westbrook and Harden tonight

.

Jennings back to earth for the third straight game. Bucks are starting to feel the effects of no Bogut and LRMM

.

The Iverson Theory proving itself once again

.

 

[executive76]

Melo for 50

 

[osh kosh bosh]

OKC are champinship contender if they sign Chris Bosh, they have the cap space right?

 

[bigmike23]

Melo with 50 tonight. CP got anything to say?


the cavs ant winning +*+% this year

Andre Iguodala is NOT a player your build around

OKB the thunder have 10 million in cap space next year

 

[sneakerfan93]

Wade needs to be more aggressive on the offense and defense. He got owned by Nick Young today

...But he looked really crappy and out of sync today

 

[bhzmafia14]

memphis now 5-2 after waiving iverson.

tinsley and thabeet looked tonight. randolph and gasol looked good like always. memphis really looked like a playoff team tonight against portland. 6-10 withthe clippers, jazz and twolves coming up.

if this team continues to play like this, they can definitely be at .500 very soon.

tinsley needs to be the starting PG.

If Memphis wins their 4 out of 6 games, they need to put them on national TV with the Thunder December 11th. That would be alot more entertaining than whatthey had on tonight.

 

[bigmike23]

 

[i nasmatic i]

Originally Posted by Osh Kosh Bosh

OKC are champinship contender if they sign Chris Bosh, they have the cap space right?

They have $9-10M free this summer.

 

[bigmike23]

LMAO!!! @ this choke job by memphis right now VS the clippers

 

[bhzmafia14]

The Clippers had 3 guys in the paint at ALL times and they were all overplaying the passes inside out in the 4th. They were reading every single of one Memphispasses down the stretch and that's how all the fast breaks started. That's why we should've worked the pick and roll with Gasol instead ofisolating down the stretch on the wings.

 

[blaxoid]

What an epic collaps by Memphis.. wow

Been a while since I saw something like that

 

[executive76]

Originally Posted by bhzmafia14

memphis now 5-2 after waiving iverson.

7 pts in the 4 qtr

 

[i nasmatic i]

The T'Pups finally won their second game of the season.

 

[chrisb9393]

at the Nets still not having a win this season.

 

[bhzmafia14]

Originally Posted by Executive76

Originally Posted by bhzmafia14

memphis now 5-2 after waiving iverson.

7 pts in the 4 qtr

Minnesota > Denver

 

[tsamshox]

Kings back to .500 8-8 and playing solid

Once 'Cisco and K-Mart comes back this team will be STACKED. Somebody(s) is gonna have to get left out of the rotation with the way Omri, Donte, Beno,Sergio, and Nocioni have been playing.