2012 NBA

[HaemishM]

Mark Cuban tears Skip Bayless apart

Skip Bayless is a truly a complete cockgobbling twatwaddler. I'm surprised he can be understood with Tim Tebow's cock in his mouth.

[Paelos]

Bayless was an absolutely awesome sportswriter until he left Dallas. He went from actually investigating things and writing about actual sports to a generalizing talking-head idiot. After 1996 he just became a parody of himself. I remember because he was in Dallas when I was growing up there, and he was pretty well respected for his coverage on the Cowboys.

In essence, he got lazy. He discovered he could make just as much money by being a loud, uninformed shockjock than he could doing actual journalist work. Nobody actually takes him seriously. Nobody takes the dog's ass that is Stephen A Smith seriously either. The difference is that Skip USED to be respected for his work at some point. Smith was never respected for his work. In fact, he's one of the few people on ESPN to actually get demoted at their sports coverage job during their career. In fact, even when he got his own show, it was cancelled on ESPN within a year. He's an idiot.

I mean First Take is a show that's not even on the ESPN regular channel. It's on ESPN2 from 10 to noon. It's in a timeslot that only unemployed would ever watch, on a network that only gets noticed when it's college football season.

[HaemishM]

You forgot that ESPN2 carries Mike and Mike and soccer, so yes, it does get noticed. Not after 8 am mind you, not by most US sports fans.

[Paelos]

You forgot that ESPN2 carries Mike and Mike and soccer, so yes, it does get noticed. Not after 8 am mind you, not by most US sports fans.

Mike and Mike is simulcast on the radio though. I would imagine they get a much broader audience due to that. Also, like you said they take the morning slot. Unless you are on TV or radio in the morning or afternoon drive? You're a hack.

[Rasix]

Boring draft.  Don't see a whole lot to be excited about with this bunch.

[ghost]

Yeah, when Dion Waiters is #4 it's pretty weak.  New Orleans made out pretty well.  Even their second round pick is likely to stick for them.  Houston botched yet another draft by taking a bunch of forwards.  They should rename themselves the Houston Forwards.  I personally think the #2 pick, Kidd-Gilchrist, could end up being the best overall player from the draft.  He may not average 40 ppg, but he'l do all the things needed to put your team on the winning side.  Maybe like a non-roided up and less crazy Ron Artest.

[Ingmar]

I don't hate the Barnes pick for us, I'll say that.

[ghost]

Why not?  You already have Klay Thompson who plays the same position and is a better shooter.  Barnes isn't nearly athletic enough to get into the lane in the NBA and his handle sucks.  He certainly didn't fill a "need" position for the Warriors.  I would have preferred to see them take a swing on Drummond or Myers Leonard. 

[Ingmar]

He filled our only "need" position, which is a 3. Klay is a 2, Barnes has him by at least an inch and 20+ pounds. Ezeli will be a nice defensive backup for Bogut, that's really all we needed out of the center position in the draft.

[ghost]

Barnes is going to be a major bust.  Sorry to burst your hope bubble.  

I do like Ezeli though.  That guy is a badass. 

[Hoax]

The Warriors may end of getting value via trade for Barnes though, either during FA or after D/summer/whatever its called league. This draft seemed boring as fuck except the part where Cleveland managed to fuck up again apparently.

Also the #2 pick is going to be ass. Because you can't grow as a player on a team/org like the Bobcats. What a waste of talent for them to get him.

[Threash]

Breaking news: NBA owners are still fucking retarded.  25 million 3 years for Asik, max contract for Hibbert, 4/40 for Gerald Wallace, 3 years 36 mill for the corpse of Nash.  What a waste of a lockout.

[ghost]

It is a little out of control. 

Also, it appears as if Howard may have asked for a trade to the Nets.  That's probably not a bad destination for him. 

[Threash]

It's a great destination for him but the Nets have jack shit to offer.  He's probably going to be a Laker or a Rocket before the season starts.

[ghost]

I'm not sure what the rules are on these sorts of deals, but with a sign and trade the Magic could potentially get rid of some salary to get under the cap and sign a nice free agent.  Too bad there's no one available worth signing, really. 

[Threash]

Dwight is under contract for the upcoming season, no sign and trade is necessary.  And while he is being pretty loud about not wanting to sign for anyone but the Nets in order to scare off potential trade partners for the Magic the fact remains that he won't be able to sign there next year.

[ghost]

Sounds like it's LA or Houston or nothing then. 

[ghost]

Holy shit.  Steve Nash to the Lakers.  Didn't see that coming, but I like it. 

[trias_e]

Seeing Nash in the Lakers colors...ugh.

That said, as a Jazz fan from youth, I got kind of desensitized to it after seeing Malone in it.  

[ghost]

It only made sense with Malone, what with the LA Gear shoes and all......   

[Paelos]

HAHAHAHAHAHA someone has agreed to take Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams from the Hawks. We've done the impossible!

[ghost]

HAHAHAHAHAHA someone has agreed to take Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams from the Hawks. We've done the impossible!

Danny Ferry is now your GM, and he's a good one.  Look for your team to start looking significantly better in the near future.

[Rasix]

Or look to land one star player and surround him with a bunch of third tier players and has-beens.

[Paelos]

Or look to land one star player and surround him with a bunch of third tier players and has-beens.

That's impossible. Atlanta hasn't had a star player since Nique.

[ghost]

They'll make a big move for Chris Paul, I think.  I'm not sure that's the best idea.  I don't particularly like Paul.  And I think they can afford another good "star" quality player. 

Doesn't matter.  The Lakers are the team to beat for at least a few years.

[Paelos]

Don't buy into the Laker hype. This is still very much the Miami and OKC show unless something weird happens. Oh and Chicago's pretty good. And the Spurs.

[ghost]

I think the Spurs are dead.  But I've thought that for four years, so they'll probably be decent.   

I'm going to pick the Lakers for the title next year.  I think that Nash will make them that good, because he's that good. 

[Threash]

HAHAHAHAHAHA someone has agreed to take Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams from the Hawks. We've done the impossible!

It was actually a good move for the Nets, it convinced Deron to stay.  Even if they don't land Dwight Deron, JJ, Wallace and Lopez is a pretty strong lineup that would give miami fits.

[Threash]

Don't buy into the Laker hype. This is still very much the Miami and OKC show unless something weird happens. Oh and Chicago's pretty good. And the Spurs.

If the Lakers end up getting Howard they will be a force.  For a year or two at least.

[Paelos]

Ray Allen to the Heat.

So yeah. The NBA won't be worth watching in the East next year.

[Threash]

I don't really think it makes much of a difference.  There already was no competition in the east and Jesus is just a spot up 3 pt shooter now, something Miami already has by the buckets.  Overall he is a much better player than say Mike Miller or Shane Battier, but both of those guys stepped up HUGE when it mattered.

[ghost]

Actually, Allen is probably a wash when comparing to Battier.  Allen is a defensive liability as an old man and Battier is quite good on D.  They will provide a nice tandem, however, and I think Miller is probably close to being done with all his health problems.

[Ghambit]

Allen is there to replace a banged up Miller and a possibly retiring Jones; nothing more.  Tbh, I'd take a healthy Miller (one of the best rebounding guards in the league) or Battier over an aged Allen any day.  Both of those guys (especially Miller, who can even handle the ball) are 20+ pt starters on most other teams.  To take it further, I'd rather cultivate a younger Jones as well (very underrated defender and the 3-pt champ in last yrs all star game).  Jones can also play fwd.

What the sign DOES do though is put the 3-pt game in Miami's offense.   Until the Finals the 3-pt game really wasnt even a notion on the chalkboard.  With Allen there now though they can run plays off of it w/o a 2nd thought, making the lane wide open for everyone else including Chalmers who got pushed to the 3-pt arc all year instead of driving.  Also, the 2nd-team will be more of a threat when the big-3 arent playing together.

It's looking like Miller really wants to stay though and isn't going to retire.  So I dunno...  the Heat will easily be the deepest team in the league.  And they can transform into a deadly jumpshooting team at will if need be.

It's also looking like the Heat will score either Camby or Lewis (yet another big shooter ala Bosh) now also for minimums.  /shrug   It's a smart move for these guys moving to Miami because the reality is they're the best organization in the league (and maybe in all of sports at this point) from the top-down, especially for older players.  Very family-oriented, fun-loving, the team is a real team on/off the field, they have the best medical staff, yr-round weather, etc. 

Their only weakness is inside against big men, but with Bosh playing big and the Heat's scoring depth and pace there's really no reason for the Heat to even worry about that.  Big men cant stay on the floor long enough to be a viable threat (ask garnett and howard about this).  You'd need two Howards/Shaq's to pull it off, which is why the Lakers really should go after Howard if they can and keep either Gasol or Bynum.

Then of course the Heat could just cultivate the big men they already have.  Curry can be a force now that he's lost weight (he will breakout next year I'm sure). Turiaf just needs more time since he signed late in the year.  Joel could be a top-10 big man if he worked on his layup and hook.

Front office and coaching is just as deep.

More of a juggernaut now than anything else. 

[Threash]

They are also talking to Rashard Lewis.

[Ghambit]

They are also talking to Rashard Lewis.

Signed him this morning.