Official NBA 2012-2013 Season Thread

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i kno yall seen my man jrue going in on the Magic lastnight. im glad alot of yall are sleeping on the sixers this year
 
RoOk said:
“I had a workout with the Lakers, beat all the guards out for the starting position, earned a spot on the team. Midway through the first season, I tried to at least have a conversation with Kobe Bryant — he is my teammate, he is a co-worker of mine, I see his face every day I go in to work — and I tried to talk with him about football. He tells me I can’t talk to him. He tells me I need more accolades under my belt before I come talk to him. He was dead serious.”

- Smush Parker
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Why didn't Smush tell him about the Smushcalade and bagging an NTers girl? :{
 
^ Jrue actually took a step backwards last year in his development and actually regressed on both ends of the floor. I hope that he can get it together, because in my mind, the Sixers have the potential to be the 2nd or 3rd best team in the East.
 
They tried Jason Thompson at SF four years ago and it didn't work, why would it work with Robinson? :{
 
Could the nets or pacers overthrow the Celtics for 2nd in the East Long Season injuries with the Celts......
 
RipC said:
Lou Williams is a career 11 ppg scorer. He is not going to fill Joe Johnson's shoes on offense. If anything that means Josh Smith and Horford get more touches, but Atlanta did not improve as a team over the offseason. In terms of cap space, yes, but as a squad no.
There will be less iso, and more outside shooting maybe, but they're not a 2 seed.
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Yeah, if you wanna include Lou's first two years where he sat on the bench behind Iverson and averaged 5-10 minutes a game. The guy was the 6th and sometimes 7th man for the Sixers behind Thad Young, Jrue, Iggy and Turner. And was still their best offensive player/scorer by a WIDE margin. He's not going to give them 25 a night like Joe Johnson, but he's going to give them a nice 16 a game and a handful of 20 and 30 point nights and some clutch shots.

Dammit. I just started to miss Lou a little. He would be great now that we wouldn't have to rely on only him to score to every night.
 
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Speaking of the Sixers, Hollinger ripped them for their off-season moves (besides the Bynum trade). :lol
 
How could anyone rip the Sixers for really any of their offseason moves this year? The only one I could really complain about a little was bringing back Hawes, but he's still a decent 7 footer that should play well with Bynum. They couldn't shoot the ball worth a damn the entire "Iggy Era" and this offseason they got J-Rich, Nick Young and Dorrell Wright. Their two draft picks (Moultrie and Wayns) have looked very nice and Wayns looks like a STEAL. They kept Lavoy Allen for a very reasonable contract and signed Kwame (one of the better post defenders in the league) to a cheap deal to be their 3rd center.

They didn't bring in Dwight, Deron, Steve Nash or anything but they still got a lot better and didn't break the bank in doing it.



Oh, and I have a gut feeling that the Pacers are going to fall way back this year. I like the Heat, Celtics, Sixers, Knicks, Nets, Hawks and when Rose comes back the Bulls more than I like the Pacers this year.
 
Buc Em said:
How could anyone rip the Sixers for really any of their offseason moves this year? The only one I could really complain about a little was bringing back Hawes, but he's still a decent 7 footer that should play well with Bynum. They couldn't shoot the ball worth a damn the entire "Iggy Era" and this offseason they got J-Rich, Nick Young and Dorrell Wright. Their two draft picks (Moultrie and Wayns) have looked very nice and Wayns looks like a STEAL. They kept Lavoy Allen for a very reasonable contract and signed Kwame (one of the better post defenders in the league) to a cheap deal to be their 3rd center.
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The trade for Bynum was a major coup, but the Sixers preceded that with a series of disastrous decisions that essentially undid all of the positives of the Bynum trade. They have an $80 million payroll, once you factor in the $16 million they're paying Elton Brand to play against them. Had there been an overarching plan rather than a series of one-off fire drills, they could have a better team, with a payroll between $60 million and $70 million.

Drafted Moe Harkless; traded the No. 45 pick and a future first to Miami for the No. 27 pick; draft Arnett Moultrie: I thought both of these picks were reaches, although Moultrie has enough size and athleticism that he could overcome his deficient ball skills and become a halfway decent big man, similar to what Lavoy Allen did last season.

But the Sixers traded a future first-round pick to Miami to move up 18 spots and grab Moultrie, and I'm still not sure why. It's a classic loan-shark trade, with an absolutely ginormous implied interest rate. The pick they obtained was No. 27 overall; the one they gave up is likely to be in the high teens a year later (it's top-14 protected each of the next three years), and in the meantime Miami still got to use Philly's second-rounder. Moultrie didn't solve any pressing roster need, either.

Re-signed Lavoy Allen for two years, $6 million: Here's the quiet, unrecognized, year-old stink bomb that was the catalyst for the disastrous moves below: Coming out of the lockout, Philly gave Allen, a second-round pick, a one-year deal with no team option for a second year. There was no reason to do this. No other second-round pick has a deal this player-friendly, and as the 50th overall pick, Allen had zero leverage.

So instead of having Allen at the second-year minimum for his sophomore season, he was a restricted free agent and the Sixers, being over the cap, had to dip into their midlevel exception to re-sign him. Like a butterfly flapping its wings to start a hurricane, Allen's deal led to the following ...

Amnestied Elton Brand, let Lou Williams go, signed Nick Young for one year, $5.6 million: This move was so bad on so many levels it's hard to know where to start. The Sixers got a sudden yen for Nick Young -- no, I don't know why either -- and decided they had to have him. But with half of their midlevel gone to Allen (see above), the only way to get Young was to create cap space.

And the only way to create cap space was to unload two of their most productive players from the previous season. Williams led the team in scoring and PER and is just 26, and ended up signing for reasonable money in Atlanta. Brand, though fading, was still quite useful, especially at the defensive end. Certainly, both players are better than Young by a substantial margin.

This actually cost the Sixers a bit of money rather than saving it, as they still owe Brand $16 million for this season after his amnesty auction only shaved $2.1 million of the price, and they still had to pay for a replacement. All so they could pay Young more money than Atlanta paid Williams.

Wait, it gets worse ...

Signed Kwame Brown for two years, $5.8 million: For reasons that aren't entirely clear, Philly has been obsessed with getting more size the past two years. The Sixers were the No. 3 defense and fifth in defensive rebound rate, but decided they needed to overpay for Kwame, a non-solution to a non-existent problem. He's not one of their 10 best players, but there's a worry he'll play anyway.

Let Jodie Meeks go, signed Royal Ivey for one year, minimum: Nobody has really commented on this, but the Sixers don't have a backup point guard this season and don't seem terribly troubled by the lack of one. The closest thing is Ivey, who is neither a backup nor a point guard; he is at best a fifth guard, and that's only on a really sunny day if the lighting is just right.

Traded nothing for Dorell Wright: Finally, some good news. Using their remaining cap space after the Brand amnesty, Philly took in Wright from Golden State. Hard to argue with the price, obviously. Technically it wasn't "nothing," as Philly gave up the rights to Edin Bavcic, a 2006 draftee who will never play in the league, but effectively Wright was free. He's a better player than people think, too. I'm not sure why he fell out of the Warriors' plans, but he can shoot 3s and is a decent defender.

Re-signed Spencer Hawes for two years, $13 million: This wasn't a bad price to pay for a starting center, especially because the Sixers didn't know at the time that they'd be getting Bynum. Although there's a fair amount of skepticism that Hawes can re-enact his outstanding play in the first month of last season, he's young enough to get better and he's a decent player even if you throw that month out.

Traded Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless and a future first-round pick for Jason Richardson and Andrew Bynum: This was the big move that should have put Philly in position to contend in the East, were it not for all of the other assorted silliness above. The Sixers parlayed a pretty good wing player into a dominant big man, and Richardson isn't dead weight, either.

Besides Iguodala, all they had to give up was Vucevic -- a quality backup center who had fallen out of the rotation by season's end -- and two late first-round draft picks (if you count Harkless as one of them). There's a risk here because Bynum is an unrestricted free agent after the season, but he's from the Philly area and has hinted that he'd like to stick around.
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“I had a workout with the Lakers, beat all the guards out for the starting position, earned a spot on the team. Midway through the first season, I tried to at least have a conversation with Kobe Bryant — he is my teammate, he is a co-worker of mine, I see his face every day I go in to work — and I tried to talk with him about football. He tells me I can’t talk to him. He tells me I need more accolades under my belt before I come talk to him. He was dead serious.”
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:rollin
 
I explained all of those moves in my post, none of those are as questionable as Hollinger made them sound. And you know why the Sixers didn't sign a backup point guard? Because Maalik Wayns is good, really good as a backup point guard....and they plan on playing Turner at point guard a lot.
 
Remember when Andris Biedrins was alive?


Warriors' Biedrins fights to get confidence, mental toughness back

If not for Jan. 31, it could have been worse.

That's when Golden State Warriors center Andris Biedrins caught a pass on the right block, turned and dropped in a baby hook against the Sacramento Kings, getting fouled in the process. Biedrins then stepped to the line, jerked the ball above his head as if it were a helium balloon escaping his grasp and, with an awkward push, sent it hurtling toward the basket. To the surprise of both Biedrins and the crowd at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., it went in.

Warriors play-by-play announcer Bob Fitzgerald reacted with a mixture of shock and elation, shouting, "AND HE MAKES THE FREE THROW!" Meanwhile, a raucous cheer arose from the stands, and understandably so. It was the first free throw Biedrins had made all season. It would also be the last.

Eight other times over the span of 47 games last winter and spring, Biedrins stepped to the line. Eight times he missed. These misses were an issue, of course, but it was the number of attempts that were more worrisome. For an athletic, 26-year-old center making $9 million a year to play 739 minutes and shoot only nine free throws can mean only one thing: Something is going on inside Beidrins' head.

There are few sins in pro sports worse than losing your confidence, but admitting that you have is one of them. Confidence is the armor athletes wear to protect them against the media, opponents and, at times, coaches. It's what allows them to go 0-for-5 one day and return the following expecting to go 5-for-5. Somewhere in the prime of his career, Andris Biedrins lost his. He's been searching for it ever since.

Just over a week ago, Biedrins lowered his 7-foot frame onto a folding chair at the Warriors' practice facility in Oakland, awaiting the inevitable. It was the team's media day, the first chance for reporters to talk to players, and one by one the beat writers arrived, solemnly placing their digital tape recorders on the white linen tablecloth in front of Biedrins. Most genuinely like him. He is humble, funny and endearing, a rarity in the world of pro athletes.

Still, the reporters had a job to do. Presently, the questions came.

"Is it possible to get back to where you were three years ago?"

"Have you worked with a mental coach?"

Baby-faced, with short blonde hair that he had carefully parted and gelled into place, Biedrins looked uncomfortable in the way that a middle school student might upon being put on the spot. He said he was committed to the team. He said he wanted to revive his career. At one point he paused for a moment, trying to explain what had happened. Then he said, "You kind of stop believing in yourself."

Not long ago, everyone believed in Biedrins. The son of a champion discus thrower in Latvia, Biedrins began playing basketball at 6 and signed his first pro contract when he was 16. When the Warriors drafted him with the 11th pick in 2004, he was the youngest player in the league, at 18 years old. Within two seasons, he'd shown glimpses of greatness. "He's going to be one of the top 10 centers in this league," point guard Baron Davis told reporters in the spring of 2005. "It's just a matter of time."

When Don Nelson took over as Warriors coach the following season, he inserted Biedrins into the starting lineup and Biedrins responded by averaging a near double-double. A year later, at only 21, Biedrins led the league in field goal percentage while sinking 62 percent of his free throws. Nelson, caught up in the moment, mused that Biedrins might be "the best big man I've ever coached." After the season, the Warriors signed him to a six-year contract worth up to $63 million.

The following winter, despite the loss of Davis, who had fed Biedrins for so many slashing pick-and-roll baskets, the young, gangly center was a monster. He was longer than smaller opponents, quicker than larger ones and played with a joyous energy. By January 2009, Biedrins was averaging 14.2 points and 11.9 rebounds and had already racked up 20 double-doubles in the season's first 35 games -- the most of any Western Conference center at the time. There was talk of an All-Star selection and, had it not been for the Warriors' losing record under new coach Keith Smart, he might have earned it. "At some point he's going to be one of those top four centers in the NBA," Smart told the media.

It was a heady time for Biedrins. He was a cornerstone of a franchise and beloved by fans. Back in Latvia, he was a star -- reportedly the country's youngest millionaire. He drove a Porsche, went out to the coolest bars in the city. Life was good.

Usually there's a flashpoint. For Rick Ankiel it was one nightmareish inning in the 2000 NLDS during which he threw five wild pitches. Steve Sax one-hopped a routine relay throw against the Expos in 1983 and it haunted him for years. For Nick Anderson, the former Orlando Magic guard, it was four missed free throws in Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals that, as he once told me, became "like a song that got in my head, playing over and over and over."

For Biedrins, the decline, when it came, was precipitous. In 2009-10, he averaged 5.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in 33 games while shooting a ghastly 16 percent (4-for-25) from the line. A year later, it was 5.0 points and 7.2 rebounds and 32.3 percent on free throws. Then, last season, playing 15.7 minutes a game, Biedrins averaged less than a basket and made but the lone free throw -- a shot, it should be noted, that bounced off the front rim, back rim and front rim before going in.

Those who know Biedrins offer theories as to what happened. They talk of how he suffered a succession of injuries, including a groin issue that limited his mobility. They note that Biedrins was affected by the departures of Davis and Stephen Jackson, who were adept at finding him in the half-court offense. They talk of how Biedrins became tentative once he started missing free throws -- how you could see him shying away from the basket. And they'll tell you of the about-face of Nelson, who began to publicly question the desire of his center in 2008.

"He really revered Nellie," said Bill Duffy, Biedrins' agent since his first year in the league. "When he fell out of favor with Nellie, it was almost like falling out of favor with your father."

Biedrins professes to be at a loss. At this year's media day, after the beat writers cleared out, we talked a bit. There was no defensiveness or bravado. He spoke about how "my goal is to feel good about myself"; how he'd avoided reading any articles about himself for years but to no avail -- his friends see them and text or call. And he spoke of how "free throws are more emotional for me than anything else."

Plenty have tried to help. A few years ago, Nelson brought in Rick Barry to teach Biedrins to shoot underhanded from the line. Biedrins declined, miffed at the suggestion. Others mentioned the idea of shooting right-handed, for Biedrins has a soft release with his opposite hand. "I kind of tried for a week and it felt weird," he said. Every day, there is a new suggestion. "They think it's always something wrong technically, your release," he said. "I don't think so. I don't have the perfect shot but I can be in the gym shooting and do really well. " He paused. "It doesn't matter how you shoot. It's how you think on that line."

For Biedrins, the free throws have infected the rest of his game -- he avoids contact, plays tentatively -- even though this needn't be the case. Three of the most dominant big men of the last 40 years have been poor foul shooters -- Wilt Chamberlain (51.1 percent), Shaquille O'Neal (52.7) and Dwight Howard (58.8) -- but none ever stopped bulling to the basket. Over the years, the Warriors' staff has tried to address the issue. Smart went to Latvia for two weeks one summer to work with Biedrins, then returned for 10 days a year later. "We're still trying to make sure he doesn't get frustrated on the floor with the one thing he's doing wrong," Smart said at the time, "when he's doing 99 things well."

Then, last year, the Warriors and Duffy's agency, BDA, put together a "reclamation regimen" that included a "mental training program," but nothing worked. By last March, Biedrins had lost his starting job to Jeremy Tyler, an unheralded rookie, and was being booed by fans during pregame introductions. It was mystifying: He was a healthy 7-footer in the prime of his career, a player who'd once averaged a double-double, and the Warriors were considering using the amnesty clause on his contract.

And now here he is, in the fall of 2012, entering Warriors camp as an afterthought, the team's second center, behind Andrew Bogut. It's possible Biedrins may even drop to third by the time camp is over, if rookie Festus Ezeli plays well. Already, coach Mark Jackson is upset because Biedrins chose not to join the rest of the team during the month of September in "voluntary" workouts -- the only one of the 15 regulars who didn't. That Biedrins arrived at camp with a dark tan, the result of spending the last month training instead in Santa Barbara, as he has for years, did not help the perception.

"That's on him," Jackson said when I asked how the coach could help Biedrins regain his confidence. "At the end of the day, you got to find a way to get it done."

This is a mantra of sports: Protect your ego at all costs. LeBron James once told me he felt "invincible." Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski claimed never to have felt fear on a football field. When I asked Jackson if he ever lost his confidence as a player, either during his years at St. John's or his 17 seasons in the NBA, he cut me off mid-question. "No. Never," he said loudly, chin raised and back straight, eyes fixed somewhere beyond me. "I'm from New York City. I understand it but at the end of the day, I'm a God-fearing man. As the Bible says, 'Cast not away your confidence.' "

To hear Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson tell it, Biedrins still has his. Last fall, during the NBA lockout, Jefferson and Biedrins worked out together in Santa Barbara, Calif., alongside other Jazz players. The two did it again last month, and Jefferson remains perplexed by the contrast. "The player I see in the workouts is not the player I see in games," Jefferson said by phone from Jazz training camp. "His footwork is great, he can finish with either hand around the basket." Jefferson goes on, talking about how Biedrins attacks the hoop, how he uses his spin moves and height and athleticism to get to the rim, how every action is explosive.

Jefferson advises Biedrins to pretend he's the one guarding him in games. Biedrins tries, but it's hard. "He always tells me to play in the game like I do in the practice," Biedrins said. "He says, 'C'mon, you can be so much better than that.' " Biedrins pauses. "And I kind of agree with him."

On Oct. 31, the Warriors will open the regular season against the Suns at US Airways Center in Phoenix. Chances are, at some point during the first half, Biedrins will enter the game and jog down on offense. And chances are, whether one minute or four minutes later, there will be a long rebound, or an open lane to the basket and Biedrins will receive the ball facing the rim. It is then that he'll have to make a decision. To go forward, or to fade away.
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Kevin Cleveland said:
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Who said that?
 
Damn. I'll be rooting for Biedrins to make a comeback. I think if you put him on a winning team like the Spurs he could get that confidence back. He's been stuck on a team with no direction that's had 3 different coaches in the past 4 years after that great "We Believe" run.
 
I think he could make a huge leap, if he was playing a forward position, but he isnt built to play SG (by no fault of his own). I think Granger should be traded for a scoring SG, and George moved to SF
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so playing SG is holding him back? ummmmmmmm NO george is nothing but a very good 3rd option on a team and thats it. he wont be a star at all

-what the hell is the point of teams drafting PF and trying to turn them into a SF? didnt dirk play SF early on but got moved because he could guard PF better? we seen it with ATL and josh smith and the epic fail with D.williams and the T'wolves. no wonder the kings suck they just dont get it with any of there draft moves.

-i agree with the philly thing, most overrated team because of offseason moves.
 
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