Nba 2011-2012

He's got a 3 ball, can pass too, his shooting can go off but he gets to the line. His numbers are:

15.9 PPG
7.2 APG
5.3 RPG
1.8 SPG
.418 FG %
.388 3-Point %

Been great for Houston this year.

Impressive numbers, hopefully if he joins he can offer an alternative perimeter threat.

Rubio out for the season with a torn ACL. Big loss, he was having a solid season.
 
Ricky Rubio doesn't look like a person with a beard, he looks like a muppet that's shaved around his eyes and nose.

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the mavs' let's throw this season away for cap space to sign howard and williams continues with some really ugly results of late.

They didn't throw this season away. It's your own fault to think they are in it this season.. You laughed at me when I said I would be surprised if they hit 45 wins this season, yet it looks like I was actually being very generous.
 
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade for the win!

By the way, how the hell was that not a foul on Wade (on the last shot)?!

One more thing.. LeClutch! :p
 
They didn't throw this season away. It's your own fault to think they are in it this season.. You laughed at me when I said I would be surprised if they hit 45 wins this season, yet it looks like I was actually being very generous.

cuban had one plan this season...to get in a position to dump salary. it's all about rebuilding next season. he had no intention of defending the championship.

i laughed at you for implying that the mavs backed into the championship last season.

45 wins will be tough for any team considering there are only 66 this season.
 
45 wins this season = 55-56 wins in a 82 season.. A title contender should be able to do it.. Many teams will do it this year..

Dallas weren't even the favorites last year. They overachieved last season IMO.
 
45 wins this season = 55-56 wins in a 82 season.. A title contender should be able to do it.. Many teams will do it this year..

Dallas weren't even the favorites last year. They overachieved last season IMO.


I doubt that even the players on the Mavs would argue with this.

But that being said, Dallas has been an elite team for a while, and Chandler made that a different team, which was hard to find out before they got to the playoffs.
 
45 wins this season = 55-56 wins in a 82 season.. A title contender should be able to do it.. Many teams will do it this year..

Dallas weren't even the favorites last year. They overachieved last season IMO.

i don't think "many" will get 45. this season is like no other. hell...the mavs just finished a 9 game in 12 days stretch with the last three in a row.

4th best record last season, have been the best road team the two seasons, went out on the road and proved it. no one gave them a thought because they'd never done anything before. it was a complete team effort. no one wilted when the pressure was turned up. can't be said for the others involved.

cuban has a plan and he's sticking to it. next year's mavs will be very different looking.
 
I read an article about the Magic and it made it seem like their GM is pretty clueless. It has to be hurting Howard to see Gortat develop into the player they hoped he'd be without another team when they could use him now so badly.

I'm one of those that think LeBron, Wade and Bosh definitely planned to get together several years before they did, back when no one could figure out why the Heat were so confident of getting Wade to resign when they had made no moves. Yet Bosh and James played it like they weren't sure, and lead their teams by the nose, so that their teams thought they had a chance of resigning them and thus didn't seek a trade.

The Cavs said they wouldn't made a trade for LeBron to the Heat to help the Heat pay him more, but in the end they did agree because they got some sort of financial leeway out of it. At this point there was no trade value to him, and any chance of getting something back like the Nuggets did with Melo were lost. But of course the Heat didn't want to have to give up any assets in a fair trade.

Part of me thinks Cuban thought why not me, and Dirk or whoever went and contacted Howard and Derron and they've basically already agreed, and they're leading on their current teams.
 
i don't think "many" will get 45. this season is like no other. hell...the mavs just finished a 9 game in 12 days stretch with the last three in a row.

4th best record last season, have been the best road team the two seasons, went out on the road and proved it. no one gave them a thought because they'd never done anything before. it was a complete team effort. no one wilted when the pressure was turned up. can't be said for the others involved.

cuban has a plan and he's sticking to it. next year's mavs will be very different looking.

I'm not taking anything away from them. They won it last year and they deserved it. Note that I also said the same thing about Miami in 2006. Miami overachieved that season, like Dallas did last season. Doesn't mean they didn't deserve it, just means they had to play close to 100% of their ability WHILE the opponents play like 80% or less for them to win it. That happened, and the they won. Credit to them for playing 100% when it mattered, HOWEVER, I do think they were lucky to win last year (as I explained), which is why I don't think they are even in it this year, especially after losing an important edge they had last year; the hunger for a championship that they accumulated for long long years.
 
Lakers beat Boston! Good win, Bynum hit the shot which made it a 3pt game and guaranteed the win - apparently it was Kobe's idea for Bynum to take the shot instead of Bryant taking it himself.
 
I'm not taking anything away from them. They won it last year and they deserved it. Note that I also said the same thing about Miami in 2006. Miami overachieved that season, like Dallas did last season. Doesn't mean they didn't deserve it, just means they had to play close to 100% of their ability WHILE the opponents play like 80% or less for them to win it. That happened, and the they won. Credit to them for playing 100% when it mattered, HOWEVER, I do think they were lucky to win last year (as I explained), which is why I don't think they are even in it this year, especially after losing an important edge they had last year; the hunger for a championship that they accumulated for long long years.

Perhaps Dallas's defense deserves credit for the fact the Heat weren't at their best.
 
It's been a really tough run for the Knicks, playing Miami, Philly, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, you had to suspect anyone would struggle to win those games.

I feel a little bad for players today with the nature of the media around trade time. In the 90s, you never got all this info about what might or might not be happening behind the scenes, you'd never hear that Pippen or Stockton were on the block, everyday for 100 days, until they seem more like a free floating entity than a member of the team that was thinking of making all those trades.

Of course it's not a real burden compared to a real job, but it's got to make it harder to commit yourself day in and day out, wondering where you'll be sleeping tomorrow night.
 
Dwight Howard has announced he wants to stay with the Magic for the remainder of this season. Whilst, I would be delighted to have him in LA, his behaviour regarding the trade rumours has been cnutish - it's clear he wants to go and he should go now so the Magic don't lose him for nothing in the summer.

Given how Bynum has performed this season, I think the Lakers are more reluctant to trade him for Howard but because of Bynum's injury record I think we must make a move for Dwight.
 
Yeah, makes me wonder if that article I posted isn't 100% right. They could really use someone like Larry Brown or Rick Carlisle, someone to instill some discipline, I'd even take Avery Johnson.

I'm concerned about Amare, he takes so many bad jump shots, unless he's the first option he seems pretty easy to handle. Can't remember the last time I saw him banging down in the post. With his uninsured contract he's almost impossible to trade.

They may have never lured in Anthony without Amare, but now they're stuck with him for a long time unless they use their amnesty clause.
 
That would be, is he looking to get back into the game? He's the last manager to take the Knicks to the finals, and he certainly seemed to manage that team well.

Reminds me of a young Emperor Palpatine.

No idea. But people keep bringing up veteran coaches who have been out of the game for a while so JVG is always one that's thrown around.
 
The Paul Pierce Celtics are the last team to built around a small forward to win the NBA title, but can you name me the last before that?

The Larry Bird Celtics, in 1986, 26 years ago. And they had a Hall of Fame center and power forward. And it took a Hall of Fame shooting guard and power forward to get Pierce that title.

Besides Pierce's Celtics, since Bird the champs have been built around centers, shooting guards, power forwards and point guards. And while the Bulls had amazing success with Pippen as a 2nd option, no other teams in this time-frame had a small forward as their second option and won.

87-88, Magic's Lakers, with Worthy
89-90, Isiah's Pistons, with Dumars
91-93, MJs Bulls, with Pippen
94-95, Olajuwon's Rocket, with Kenny Smith
96-98, MJs Bulls, with Pippen
99, Robinson's Spurs, with Duncan
00-02, Shaq's Lakers, with Kobe
03, Duncan's Spurs, with Parker
04, Billups Pistons, with Hamilton
05, Duncan's Spurs with Parker
06, Shaq's Heat with Wade
07, Duncan's Spurs with Parker
08, Pierce's Celtics with Garnett
09-10, Kobe's Lakers with Pau
11, Dirk's Mavs with Jason Terry


But the Knicks aren't following the Celtics model, with amazing defense and Hall of Famers. James at least has a chance with his great defense.
 
The Paul Pierce Celtics are the last team to built around a small forward to win the NBA title, but can you name me the last before that?

The Larry Bird Celtics, in 1986, 26 years ago. And they had a Hall of Fame center and power forward. And it took a Hall of Fame shooting guard and power forward to get Pierce that title.

Besides Pierce's Celtics, since Bird the champs have been built around centers, shooting guards, power forwards and point guards. And while the Bulls had amazing success with Pippen as a 2nd option, no other teams in this time-frame had a small forward as their second option and won.

87-88, Magic's Lakers, with Worthy
89-90, Isiah's Pistons, with Dumars
91-93, MJs Bulls, with Pippen
94-95, Olajuwon's Rocket, with Kenny Smith
96-98, MJs Bulls, with Pippen
99, Robinson's Spurs, with Duncan
00-02, Shaq's Lakers, with Kobe
03, Duncan's Spurs, with Parker
04, Billups Pistons, with Hamilton
05, Duncan's Spurs with Parker
06, Shaq's Heat with Wade
07, Duncan's Spurs with Parker
08, Pierce's Celtics with Garnett
09-10, Kobe's Lakers with Pau
11, Dirk's Mavs with Jason Terry


But the Knicks aren't following the Celtics model, with amazing defense and Hall of Famers. James at least has a chance with his great defense.

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I think he was explaining why the Knicks' model is unlikely to work, being built around a star SF in Carmelo, who pretty much f***ed the Knicks since his return, as they tried everything possible to make him fit in a winning team, with nothing but failure so far.. So may be it isn't solely D'Antoni's fault after all..

I think that's the point gooDevil was trying to make..
 
Yeah, I got that, but his argument is not that the problem has been D'Antoni being a shitty coach or Carmelo being an overrated player or the whole team concept being inherently (and massively) flawed, it's that Anthony is a Small Forward, and teams "have been built around centers, shooting guards, power forwards and point guards." That's ridiculous.
 
Yes, Kenny Smith was the number 2 option on those Rockets teams. :lol: The 94 Rockets was Hakeem putting the team on his shoulders and winning it on his own. That being said, Mad Max and Otis Thorpe who were considered second/third options. 95 we had this player called Clyde Drexler who was quite good recreating PhiSlammaJamma with the Dream.
 
Yeah, I got that, but his argument is not that the problem has been D'Antoni being a shitty coach or Carmelo being an overrated player or the whole team concept being inherently (and massively) flawed, it's that Anthony is a Small Forward, and teams "have been built around centers, shooting guards, power forwards and point guards." That's ridiculous.

Well, small forwards can contribute, but in one way or another, they do seem less likely to be able to dominate games and win championships with teams built around them.. At the moment we have the Knicks and OKC. James is hardly an SF as he's playing almost all positions really.. OKC have a better chance than the Knicks, so let's see how far they will go this year..

I actually have another (sound!) evidence that small forwards are not as influential as the other positions in the NBA. In NBA 2K, SF is the cheapest and least valuable position among all positions, as you can get an SF with a rating of 70 for example for a PG with a rating of 65, or a center with a rating of 60! Which obviously means SFs are the least valuable in the NBA! [/debate].
 
Look at that list, though. James Worthy was a SF. The two Bulls 3-peats had Pippen. Of the 25 teams since Bird's Celtics, (an arbitrary cut-off,) 9 of them had an SF as one of the top two scorers.

There's even fewer PFs on that list than SFs!
 
I was trying to think of a team that won it all with a player like Melo as the first option, and I realized there hasn't been one as far back as I can remember.

It also seemed remarkable that Pippen is the only SF since I can remember to even be the 2nd option on a winning team. But I should have left that off to avoid confusion. Of course Melo won't accept being a 2nd option, but it seems interesting to me nonetheless.

I recall that James Worthy was a power forward but it seems he played both. In 1985 he was taller and heavier than Kurt Rambis so I'd say he was playing PF from a starting 5 of Magic, Scott, Rambis, Worthy and Jabbar. Though Worthy may actually be Melo's best bet to emulate, but even then he had to defer to Magic, and had a Hall of Fame center with him.
 
Yes, Kenny Smith was the number 2 option on those Rockets teams. :lol: The 94 Rockets was Hakeem putting the team on his shoulders and winning it on his own. That being said, Mad Max and Otis Thorpe who were considered second/third options. 95 we had this player called Clyde Drexler who was quite good recreating PhiSlammaJamma with the Dream.

I totally forgot about Drexler, Melo can dream about being that good. But there's another SF to ruin the point I was trying to make. Anyway, my main point was about SFs not leading teams to championships, I just added the 'supporting player' because there seemed few SFs among them as well.

Looking at the stats Maxwell did have better numbers than Smith, but Smith ran the offense and the point, imo he was more instrumental. But I was a huge Mad Max fan, so I certainly agree he was crucial. That was a very well rounded team, the 93-94 version. Thorpe was a double double guy, but it was all rebounds and put backs, but he's certainly underrated. Horry was also great in the playoffs, I became a fan watching him fly around, and was great when he was young and fast enough to play SF at his height.