NBA Discussion Thread

The Heat won't win this year, but they'll win 3 of the next 5 is my guess.

You can't just take LeBron, Bosh and Wade's numbers from their old teams where they were the primary offensive weapons and add them together. They're going to have to share the ball and share the minutes, not to mention play through the adversity of now becoming the most hated team in the league (outside of Miami, anyway). They're all phenomenal players (well LeBron and DWade are, at the very least, I'm still not convinced about Bosh) so they'll eventually work it out, but make no mistake that they still have their work cut out for them.

Lakers have had a very quiet off-season thus far, but they've made some ripples recently by signing Matt Barnes. Barnes, for those of you who don't remember, is a defensive minded player formerly in the Magic who gave Kobe a lot of problems when the Magic and Lakers took on each other last season. He's definitely going to bolster their D off the bench. In fact, the Lakers D looks very good now with Artest in the starting line-up and Barnes coming off the bench. Steve Blake is a decent addition who played a lot of minutes for the Blazers when they went through that period of ridiculous injuries. I wouldn't call him an upgrade over Jordan Farmar, though.

I'm personally excited about the Rockets this season, especially if we manage to keep it healthy. Our starting line-up is looking pretty solid:

PG: Aaron Brooks - MIP last year and leader in 3-pointers made last regular season
SG: Kevin Martin - Dynamite scorer from the Kings
C: Yao Ming - I don't think anything more needs to be said
PF: Luis Scola - Argentinian who puts a ton of effort in and almost averaged 16/9 last year with a couple of games where he went 30/20!
SF: Trevor Ariza - Our one weak link, probably, but hopefully he has learned the offense after a year in it and the offseason

Our bench has Kyle Lowry, who could have been starting at another club this season but was retained by Daryl Morey. We've also got the defensive specialist in Battier and our newest addition--Brad Miller--who brings a real back-up center to Yao's fragile body. Chase Budinger showed flashes of brilliance last season and during the summer league and Jordan Hill's athleticism makes him one of the up and coming young PFs in the league. We've also got Chuck Hayes, David Andersen and Jermaine Taylor, the rookie Patrick Patterson and a couple other guys on one of the deeper benches in the Western Conference. Let's just hope we can stay healthy and play some ball! Can't wait for the season to get underway...
 
How is Yao Ming recovering from that injury that he had?

Its seems like ages since I last heard anything about him
 
Yeah he sat out all of last season after he got injured in the playoff series against the Lakers in 2009 (which the Lakers won 4-3 and ended up winning the championship). Things could have been different had he been healthy.

This is the last year of his contract so if he gets injured again he'll probably retire.
 
His last year in Houston?

He should have won a championship but there is no 1 around him.

He would only be 30 when he retires? Such a Shame
 
:laugh Yao can never win anyone a championship by himself. He is not that game changing of a player, the greatest thing he ever did for the Rockets was sell merchandise.
 
:laugh Yao can never win anyone a championship by himself. He is not that game changing of a player, the greatest thing he ever did for the Rockets was sell merchandise.
This.

One of the most overrated players in the game..

Now I've said this, watch him win next seasons MVP award. :p
 
Must say the Lakers have pulled in some good depth signings. the likes of bell and barnes have been brought through to have more good options to throw at your lebron's, d wades etc. with artest, odom and of course kobe leading in from the front. watchout for the defending champs next season.

and sohum i reckon you're spot on about the heat, they won't be a completely flawless side. the lakers, celtics and magic will still be able to keep in the same class as them. whether they're an ageing side or not the celtics still have an amazing bunch of players and bosh is simply no answer for dwight howard.
 
How many players can single-handedly win a championship? Look at the last 5 championships:

Lakers - Kobe/Gasol/Bynum/Artest
Lakers - Kobe/Gasol
Celtics - Allen/Pierce/Garnett
Heat - Wade/Shaq
Spurs - Duncan/Parker/Ginobili

DWade and the Heat and Kobe and the Lakers are really the only occasions where you can claim that one guy led the team to the championship. Just look at LeBron--despite being a phenomenal player, the rest of the Cavs were average and he couldn't even make it to an NBA Finals series.

When Yao went down against the Lakers in 2009 he was averaging 20 points and 11.3 boards a game. Without him, we still managed to take it to 7. With him the story could have been a lot different.

Yao is no Dwight Howard or Hakeem Olajuwan, but he's pretty good at what he does (namely rebounding and post-play and of course free throw shooting). He get so many cheap fouls called against him just because he's big and the guy gets abused in the paint day in and day out with the refs turning a blind eye.

sohum added 1 Minutes and 6 Seconds later...

His last year in Houston?

He should have won a championship but there is no 1 around him.

He would only be 30 when he retires? Such a Shame
This is the best year for him, since we don't need him as much offensively so we can give him long breaks during the regular season. With AB, Kevin Martin and Luis Scola we have more than enough offense.
 
How many players can single-handedly win a championship? Look at the last 5 championships:

Lakers - Kobe/Gasol/Bynum/Artest
Lakers - Kobe/Gasol
Celtics - Allen/Pierce/Garnett
Heat - Wade/Shaq
Spurs - Duncan/Parker/Ginobili

DWade and the Heat and Kobe and the Lakers are really the only occasions where you can claim that one guy led the team to the championship. Just look at LeBron--despite being a phenomenal player, the rest of the Cavs were average and he couldn't even make it to an NBA Finals series.

Uhh, Lebron did make it to a Finals series.. They got swept by the Spurs, was in like 2005 I think. But yeah his team was never a major threat were they, you need at least 2 stars to win a Championship... Preferrably one big man star then one guard star. i.e Lakers - Kobe, Gasol, Celtics - KG, Pierce, Pistons - Wallace, Billups, Spurs - Duncan, Parker. Its almost a pre-requisite to win a championship. The only exception I can think of is the Bulls of the 90's but thats only because Michael Jordan was an absolute legend and the best the game ever saw... Oh and he had Scottie Pippen as well.

When Yao went down against the Lakers in 2009 he was averaging 20 points and 11.3 boards a game. Without him, we still managed to take it to 7. With him the story could have been a lot different.

Keep dreaming. :p

No chance...


But yeah I predict the Rockets to give the Lakers the most trouble in the West if Yao is healthy... The Suns are dead now, Spurs are aging and the Nuggets don't have the nuts downstairs. But my 2nd team, the Thunder should do better then the 1st round next season if they don't draw the Lakers again.
 
Thunder have great things coming for them as long as they don't lose a major player to injury. KD is a classy player that has changed the franchise. Russ Westbrook is an awesome young point guard--so much energy and athleticism.

They've got a solid core of very young players. Just need to make sure the franchise doesn't implode and try to trade them away to land a big name free agent.
 

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