* Offiical NBA Off-Season Thread: I'll give one of my damn kidney's for these Melo rumors to stop *

[blazers21ntnp]

Originally Posted by FullMetal

Just watched some highlights from tonight, and this new technical foul rule is out of hand.

Agreed. It's been pretty bad this entire pre-season, but I think tonight I saw 4 separate terrible ones in different games.

If they're calling the scrubs like this, I can't imagine what it's going to be like once the stars actually get on the court and are out there to prove something.

 

[ex carrabba fan]

During the actual season there's no way they'll call it that closely, but yeah it's almost to the point where I've gotten physically upset just by watching the highlights of these "technical fouls".

 

[henz0]

If Griffin is back to 100% theres gonna be a lot of posters this season :eel

.. League Pass Ftw

 

[airjordan jb23]

I just hope Griffin stays healthy, he has a lot of potential.

 

[h3at23]

[h1]Gilbert Arenas says he faked injury[/h1]

WASHINGTON -- Gilbert Arenas says the knee injury that kept him out of the Wizards' preseason home opener wasn't an injury at all, but a ruse designed to get a teammate more playing time.

Washington coach Flip Saunders said before Tuesday night's game against the Atlanta Hawks that Arenas' knee was bothering him. "His knee is acting up and is a little sore, and it looks like he's going to sit this one out," Saunders said.

But after the game, Arenas revealed his scheme to get Nick Young into the starting lineup.

"I told [Young] I'd sacrifice playing tonight so he can get some time in because I know he's kind of frustrated he's not getting a chance to crack the [small forward] position, especially since we're going three guards," said a smiling Arenas. "So I told him I'll go and fake an injury or say something's wrong with me so you can start."

The plan worked, for both Young and the Wizards. Young started, played 31 minutes and scored a team-high 24 points to lead the Wizards to a 107-92 win.

When asked how his knee is feeling, Arenas said "I'm fine," The Washington Post reported.

Arenas signalled he would play in the Wizards' game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, according to the report.

Tuesday's game, in addition to being rookie John Wall's preseason home debut, was to be Arenas' first appearance for Washington at the Verizon Center since his 50-game suspension last season for bringing guns into the locker room. Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft, scored 19 points and added seven assists.

Arenas has maintained a businesslike approach during the preseason, showing little of the charisma that helped make him a star before the scandal.


Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

[duba169]

so instead of getting better refs stern decides to protect them even more? i just don't understand why the NFL and NBA do everything they can to take emotion out of the game. what's so bad about throwing your arms in disgust and walking away? so glad i caught 90's basketball.

so under the new rules duncan and kobe would be some of the biggest targets. you really want me to believe refs will be throwing these guys out of games consistently?

it's so messed up that stern alienates the hardcore fan to cater to a bunch of housewives

 

[mronegative]

Originally Posted by h3at23

[h1]Gilbert Arenas says he faked injury[/h1]

WASHINGTON -- Gilbert Arenas says the knee injury that kept him out of the Wizards' preseason home opener wasn't an injury at all, but a ruse designed to get a teammate more playing time.

He's still playing games? Must be nice being untouchable for 4 years.

 

[do be doo]

mjshoefanatic wrote:

---

Blake Griffin

Dude needs to chill. Flying all over the place for a pre season game. Going to get hurt out there.

Manu drawing up the game winner. SPURS with the comeback win.

    

 

[duba169]

gilbert is on some next ++@@. weirdo

 

[hood17]

Anybody see this?


[h1][/h1]

[h1]Barcelona's Pete Mickeal Isn't Letting Exhibition Win Over Lakers Be Forgotten[/h1]The Lakers were one of the teams to pull international exhibition duty this season, and faced off against Euroleague champions Barcelona in a sort of homecoming for Pau Gasol on Thursday.

While both teams are just beginning to gear up for their respective regular seasons, the game clearly meant something, particularly for Barca. The Spanish squad, which features Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro and Fran Vasquez, came back in the fourth quarter to secure a 92-88 win.

The star for Barcelona wasn't any of the above-mentioned names, though. It was Pete Mickeal, a former Cincinnati Bearcat with zero NBA appearances. Mickeal had a game-high 26 points, a team-high 13 rebounds and a game-high 7 assists.

And he's not letting the Lakers forget about it.

On his HoopsHype.com blog, Mickeal lays out why -- contrary to what Lakers coach Phil Jackson thinks -- he believes Barcelona could compete with the NBA teams over an 82-game schedule.

Kobe, obviously, has respect for FC Barcelona because he competed against us for 25 minutes. He didn't played team basketball, or passing the ball, he was playing too much one-on-one. Here it's kind of a different game. The NBA is a great, great League. But here in Europe there is good basketball too.

We had a little conversation on the court that went like this ...

Kobe said to me "Hey, this game might get you in the NBA," trying to be a smartass. "If you think that, then put your money where your mouth is," I replied. "I put my $10 million against your $100 million."
Mickeal also had some business for Ron Artest, who reportedly said "Pete who?" when asked pre-game how he'd defend Mickeal. But that business was left on the court, where this happened just minutes into the game.
This may have been an exhibition for the Lakers, but Mickeal, at least, was gunned up for the game.

As to whether Barca could put away the Lakers when it matters: We may have an answer in a couple years. FIBA is trying to get Euroleague and the NBA to participate in its new World Club Championship, similar to soccer's FIFA Club World Cup, Champions League and roughly 700 other club tournaments

 

[ex carrabba fan]

I just came across this... I remember when I thinking 'Oh, Ty Lawson stands out quite a bit on the Nuggets, and he doesn't seem like the ink type'

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by HOOD17

Anybody see this?


[h1][/h1]

[h1]Barcelona's Pete Mickeal Isn't Letting Exhibition Win Over Lakers Be Forgotten[/h1]The Lakers were one of the teams to pull international exhibition duty this season, and faced off against Euroleague champions Barcelona in a sort of homecoming for Pau Gasol on Thursday.

While both teams are just beginning to gear up for their respective regular seasons, the game clearly meant something, particularly for Barca. The Spanish squad, which features Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro and Fran Vasquez, came back in the fourth quarter to secure a 92-88 win.

The star for Barcelona wasn't any of the above-mentioned names, though. It was Pete Mickeal, a former Cincinnati Bearcat with zero NBA appearances. Mickeal had a game-high 26 points, a team-high 13 rebounds and a game-high 7 assists.

And he's not letting the Lakers forget about it.

On his HoopsHype.com blog, Mickeal lays out why -- contrary to what Lakers coach Phil Jackson thinks -- he believes Barcelona could compete with the NBA teams over an 82-game schedule.

Kobe, obviously, has respect for FC Barcelona because he competed against us for 25 minutes. He didn't played team basketball, or passing the ball, he was playing too much one-on-one. Here it's kind of a different game. The NBA is a great, great League. But here in Europe there is good basketball too.

We had a little conversation on the court that went like this ...

Kobe said to me "Hey, this game might get you in the NBA," trying to be a smartass. "If you think that, then put your money where your mouth is," I replied. "I put my $10 million against your $100 million."

Mickeal also had some business for Ron Artest, who reportedly said "Pete who?" when asked pre-game how he'd defend Mickeal. But that business was left on the court, where this happened just minutes into the game.
This may have been an exhibition for the Lakers, but Mickeal, at least, was gunned up for the game.

As to whether Barca could put away the Lakers when it matters: We may have an answer in a couple years. FIBA is trying to get Euroleague and the NBA to participate in its new World Club Championship, similar to soccer's FIFA Club World Cup, Champions League and roughly 700 other club tournaments

 

People are absolutely delusional these days.  I'll never understand the way people think sometimes. 
  

 

[IATT]

Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

 

Come playoff time I don't expect Haren/Serge to make huge contributions. But yes I do realize they are young promising players

That's why I said in my previous post I have Portland/OKC as the biggest challenges to LA should they both stay healthy. We already know what Dallas/SA have, which in the end will be close but no cigar, at least IMO. Denver with Harrington is interesting, but at the same time those knuckle heads will implode when it counts.




why do you think that about harden and ibaka?

both played reasonably well against the lakers considering it was not only their first time in the postseason (same goes for westbrook, durant and green) but their first real seasons in the league

 

[duba169]

you don't think barcelona could compete with NBA teams over a season?

 

[CP1708]

DubA169 wrote:

---

you don't think barcelona could compete with NBA teams over a season?
Like the Minnesota Timberwolves compete?  Yeah, sure they could. 

Maybe I'm rascist like Lebron says, but I'm sorry, give NBA teams time to watch you over and over for 6 months, guess what, they'll expose you.  They can play all the Europe ball they want, and they are certainly good, but play in the NBA, no, no chance.  For those getting ready to go ballistic, slow your roll, I don't think many NBA teams could go to Europe and play ball there with great success either.  Styles and all that are different, rules, refs, courts, crowds, etc etc etc.  So it isn't me bashing Barcelona or anything of that nature, it's the change in where/how you play over a full season. 

But I am laughin at dude bein gassed up over an exhibition win like it was the finals or somethin.  That's funny. 

 

[ex carrabba fan]

Originally Posted by itsaboutthattime

Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

 

Come playoff time I don't expect Haren/Serge to make huge contributions. But yes I do realize they are young promising players

That's why I said in my previous post I have Portland/OKC as the biggest challenges to LA should they both stay healthy. We already know what Dallas/SA have, which in the end will be close but no cigar, at least IMO. Denver with Harrington is interesting, but at the same time those knuckle heads will implode when it counts.

why do you think that about harden and ibaka?

both played reasonably well against the lakers considering it was not only their first time in the postseason (same goes for westbrook, durant and green) but their first real seasons in the league
They're second year players who were bench guys last year. I like both guys to be sure, and Serge will probably give LA bigs a fit on the boards.

I'm just saying I don't expect them to be carrying the load like Westbrook/KD would when you're facing the two-time defending champs whom actually upgraded their roster over the Summer and could finally sport a healthy Andrew Bynum for the playoffs. That's all, I'm not saying OKC couldn't beat LA in a series.. but if they do it's going to be because KD and Westbrook went bananas and would be doing most of the heavy lifting.

 

[JD617]

When asked if FC Barcelona could be a competitive team over the course of an 82-game NBA season, Jackson replied flatly: "No."

It wasn't the small sample size of games his Lakers have played against them that shaped Jackson's opinion. It was the small size of the players on FCB's roster.

"They played really well [Thursday], but they're not up to the competition that we face night in and night out," Jackson said. "But that's not taking anything away from them. The physicality of our game, the size of our players, those are things that night in and night out are very difficult to contest."

When informed of Jackson's comments, Barcelona coach Xavier Pascual pointed out his team beat the Lakers and came close to doing it in the previous matchup while playing with NBA rules instead of FIBA rules.

"If we played [in the NBA] and we changed our way of doing things, I think we would be able to compete differently," Pasqual said.

Pau Gasol certainly seemed to think his former team could enjoy a similar experience to the success he's had if it joined the NBA as a new team.

"FCB has a great team," Gasol said. "They showed it out there on the court today. I'm sure they are still going to be able to win lots of titles this year in all the competitions that they're in. I'm sure they'll have a shot at winning them."

Kobe Bryant let out an exasperated sigh when told about his coach's opinion ("I don't know why he says these things some time," Bryant said) and then disagreed with Jackson.

"I think they execute extremely well, they know each other extremely well, they move the ball extremely well and that's what you're looking for," Bryant said. "In the NBA, teams that do that are few and far in between, teams that play together as a unit. You see a lot of isolation game; you see a lot of guys going one-on-one. They do a great job moving the ball, they do a great job helping each other defensively, so I disagree, but, what do I know?"

 

[im not you]

Javale McGee is some sort of science experiment.

Dude is 7'2 (possibly still growing they say). He plucked a guard near mid court...went around his back...evaded another guard and finished on the fast break with a dunk.

Who does that?

 

[duba169]

sorry phil but you can't convince me that the NBA is more physical than Europe

i'm not saying they could be the lakers or even be a lock for the playoffs, but they could certainly be a competitive team.

 

[JD617]

Coach Ginobili

 

[IATT]

Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

Originally Posted by itsaboutthattime

Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

 

Come playoff time I don't expect Haren/Serge to make huge contributions. But yes I do realize they are young promising players

That's why I said in my previous post I have Portland/OKC as the biggest challenges to LA should they both stay healthy. We already know what Dallas/SA have, which in the end will be close but no cigar, at least IMO. Denver with Harrington is interesting, but at the same time those knuckle heads will implode when it counts.

why do you think that about harden and ibaka?

both played reasonably well against the lakers considering it was not only their first time in the postseason (same goes for westbrook, durant and green) but their first real seasons in the league

They're second year players who were bench guys last year. I like both guys to be sure, and Serge will probably give LA bigs a fit on the boards.

I'm just saying I don't expect them to be carrying the load like Westbrook/KD would when you're facing the two-time defending champs whom actually upgraded their roster over the Summer and could finally sport a healthy Andrew Bynum for the playoffs. That's all, I'm not saying OKC couldn't beat LA in a series.. but if they do it's going to be because KD and Westbrook went bananas and would be doing most of the heavy lifting.





obviously KD and westie would have to play great to upset the defending champs.. but i wouldn't say they would have to go bananas considering the potential leap those two guys could make in their 2nd years in the league.. considering they played them extremely close and durant didn't have monster games

and both players averaged around 20 mins a game in the regular season last year (harden 23 and ibaka 1.. and you have to factor in that those averages may be skewed, since they probably received more playing time in the later stages of the season than earlier on.. and in the playoffs harden only averaged 1 min less than the starter thabo, while ibaka had 4 more mins than kristic.. so calling them "bench players" is a little disingenuous

and assuming bynum can/will stay healthy is a BIG (almost as big as assuming that oden will stay healthy.. i'm being a little facetious, but still).. what MAJOR additions have the champs made?

are you a portland fan?

 

[ex carrabba fan]

LA didn't lose anyone except Jordan Farmar and added Matt Barnes and Steve Blake. I'd call that improving/upgrade their roster.

Hell no I'm not a Portland fan. I definitely see them matching up well against LA if they can stay healthy though.

As far as OKC vs. LA in a series, yes KD and Westbrook would both have to go bananas if they want to win 4 games. How is that even a discussion?

 

[CP1708]

Where on Earth do people get this "Portland could play with LA" thought process from? 

Why, because they have a bunch of lottery picks?  That's it?  You all think Oden can do something?  LaMarcus is going to play well vs Gasol and Odom in the postseason?  Shooting 15 footers the whole series?  Who can score for them when we basically just triple team and trap Roy the whole series?  Couple spot up 3's from Batum and Rudy will be enough?  Andre Miller jumpers?  Nate vs Phil?  Do you guys even know that's a matchup?  Do you people even watch them play basketball in the playoffs?  I know there isn't a lot of video evidence of them playing in the postseason given they've had like 9 games in the past 5 years or whatever, but come on.  

What sucks is you guys don't listen to me because it's "CP hating Portland" again, but yet you can't answer a single one of those questions I just asked.  If you try to come in here and tell me LaMarcus will "turn it on" in the playoffs, or Greg Oden will dominate in the middle for the Blazers, or that we wouldn't continually send Ron, Barnes, and Kobe at Roy every single solitary possession and that the Blazers don't have any one else on the roster who can create their own shot except maybe Bayless (which means either Roy or Miller is on the bench)  I mean, I just don't get it.  Regular season wins at the Rose Garden mean that much to people, really?  This isn't reading names off a roster guys, this is playoff basketball, something that the Blazers do not exactly specialize in.  But whatever, keep calling them the "match up well" team.  Guess it can't be worse then them expecting 8-9 championships from drafting Oden and plotting new parade routes thru downtown. 

JA/Dirk/JPZ/H3at/DoubleJ's/Pro/Mike/Chester and Osh, need a time for the draft.  I thought about starting a new thread, but not sure if it would get locked or not.  Gotta come up with something. 

 

[proshares]

Sunday at 8 ET or anytime after is fine for me since JA doesn't have internet during the week

 

[IATT]

Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

LA didn't lose anyone except Jordan Farmar and added Matt Barnes and Steve Blake. I'd call that improving/upgrade their roster.

Hell no I'm not a Portland fan. I definitely see them matching up well against LA if they can stay healthy though.

As far as OKC vs. LA in a series, yes KD and Westbrook would both have to go bananas if they want to win 4 games. How is that even a discussion?

for durant's standards he didn't play well in that series and they won 2 games with another 2 games being decided on last second tip ins..

and for your reference here are durant's regular season numbers compared to his numbers for that series (regular season first):
pts.       30.1     vs 25
FG%    47.6 % vs 35 %
3P%     36.5 % vs 28.6%


so i assume with everyone on a very young team being a year older and improving/maturing a little more.. i think it is at least up for discussion

(also westbrook didn't go bananas that series either.. he played well, but so does every point guard who has derek fisher guarding them.. westbrook only had 4 more pts per game, but did have 2 less assists)