I noticed you're rooting for the Spurs, while its an obvious choice for you..



Good luck with that ;)

The Mighty Basketball Thread
 

So now it looks like I will have to give in and support the mercenary that just signed with my beloved Houston Rockets. The NBA will be more exciting this next season for Houston fans, that's for sure.

The only thing in all this that has me hopeful is that Dream has stated he will continue to work with Dwight Howard to improve his game. Hopefully he actually focuses and does so.

Can Dream teach Howard this move?

No. But Dwight doesn't need the Dream to help Houston. He just has to keep his head straight. Dwight got pissed at Kobe for taking all the shots, well newsflash, James Harden takes the third most shots per game in the league (right behind Carmelo Anthony and just ahead of Russell Westbrook, ok I'm exaggerating a bit but he did rank 10th). Further, Dwight was pissed at Lakers lack of defensive effort, well, Rockets had the 23rd ranked defense (essentially they sucked) which means Dwight has stepped backwards a bit. So y'all in Houston will have to wait and see. Either way he is sure to give you 17-18 ppg and 11-12 rebounds..

Going from Yao to now:

This time last season, Kevin Martin was the Rockets best player.

Towards the end of last Summer, Commissioner David Stern rejected a three team trade between the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Hornets and LA Lakers. The two key parts of the trade was Chris Paul going to the Lakers and Paul Gasol ending up with the Rockets.

The week before the start of the 2012/13 NBA Season, Rockets GM Daryl Morey basically trades Kevin Martin for James Hardin. On Wednesday, Dwight Howard will sign a contract with the Houston Rockets.

In under a years time, Daryl Morey was able to take a player (Kevin Martin) who isn't one of the top 20 in the NBA and somehow turned his trade into two NBA players who are easily two of the top 15 players in the league......and this was done so by NOT giving up any First Round Draft Picks!

Dwight Howard has averaged 18.3 pts and 12.9 rebounds in his carrier, only four players have EVER done so in a Rockets uniform.

I am down. I just want to see how it will all work out.

Harden is a heavy assist guy though, and a pick n roll man, which Dwight loves to do. The Rockets just need to get a true PF.

So was Lebron and Stephen Curry and yet BOTH those players were in the top five for shot-attempts-per-game ;)

No he doesn't. While Dwight was the third-most pick-and-roll big in the league last year, he did it absolutely reluctantly, begrudgingly even. Bizarrely, Dwight DOESN'T really use the pick and roll very well..

Early this morning while listening to CBS Sports Radio, I heard an interview of a reporter who covers the LA Lakers (can't remember the Reporters name).

Basically, he was saying how the people and fans in Los Angeles are sort of warped with their views of the Lakers. He pointed out the "sad reality" is Kobe Bryant has now run a second Big Time Center out of LA because the center was receiving too much attention.

The reporter asked the following question to the shows host: how many times has the LA Lakers w/ Kobe Bryant made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs without a Big Time Center - - - TWO.

Correction, Kobe chased away two-time Champion Andrew Bynum and realistically was a nixed trade away from chasing away two-time Champion Pau Gasol too ;)

But it is what it is, Dwight left for the very obvious reason that in LA he didn't like anybody, players, coach, or management to tell him what to do. The guy is a spoiled baby, which was what he was all his years in Orlando, and so he went to Rockets because he is now the oldest guy on their roster and for some reason believes he will be the natural leader of the team. He also believes he can boss around Rockets' management and staff. TWO-TO-ONE bet Dwight finds out he's wrong on both accounts ;)

Last year Dwight was recovering from surgery no?

Yes, but that wasn't the issue with pick and rolls. The reality is Dwight doesn't have enough footwork to pull them off consistently as his go-to play which is what most expect. Its not just dunks, the pick and roll requires some great in-the-post footwork and ball control, something Dwight has always been missing. Its why he never needed a great point-guard in Orlando, because he doesn't really pick and roll, its more of a catch and dunk. I am sure that Dwight will have a lot of pick and roll plays in Houston, to question is will he WANT do to that or ENJOY it because he left Lakers because he wasn't enjoying their style of play, which was actually very similar to this version of the Rockets. High paced offense, minimal effort on help defense, and pick and roll the hell out of teams. When the Lakers played their best games with Howard, it was with Howard and Pau Gasol doing what I call "double barrel pick and rolls" attacking from each side or even just barreling up the middle of the lane. THAT is exactly the kind of game that Howard DOESN'T want to play. In Orlanda what Dwight did was drives to the basket and either (a) put up a dunk because he has minimal post-up shooting similar or (b) kick it out to one of Orlando's FOUR three-point shooters. Its a strategy that Miami improvises when they surround Lebron with multiple shooters and call it "spreading the floor"

Dwight spreads the floor fantastically, but it by definition puts the ball in another players hands, something which increasingly Dwight as resented the past few years..

By the way, I am not trying to be hater in the least. Dwight played a great season in LA, we loved to have had him, he bailed out our injury decimated year by helping carry us into the play-offs (keep in mind all the hate on Kobe/Lakers and they STILL haven't missed the play-offs since 2005 ;) ). Bytor was right, Kobe has never advanced without a solid big man on the roster, but why is that surprising? VERY few teams if ANY not named the Lebron James era Miami Heat have ever taken small ball to even the Conference Finals let alone the Championship. That is just basketball 101. Its how Rockets got back-to-back Championships in the 1990s, and it is what made the Heat's recent few years so remarkable and so upsetting to the NBA. The Heat have simply revolutionized basketball in a way that will never be the same. Teams will realize with the right combination of athleticism, shooting accuracy, and BALLS you can win not just one, but multiple championships thriving on "small-ball"

So was Jeremy Lin.

Lance Zierlein had former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy in the studio a few months back and JVG said he looked for Jeremy Lin to have a huge second year with the Rockets. JVG pointed out how Jeremy Lin didn't have any preseason time with the Rockets because he was still recovering from his surgery, add this to everything changing with the Rockets signing Jame Harden a few days before the season started......Jeremy Lin should feel / play more comfortably with a full preseason.

Bottom line, trades DON'T guarantee anything. However, they can make you a better team and improve your chances. There is no doubt the Rockets have done this......at least the boys in Vegas think so:

To Win The 2014 NBA Championship

Miami Heat +260

Oklahoma City Thunder +700

San Antonio Spurs +1000

Brooklyn Nets +1200

Houston Rockets +1200

LA Clippers +1300

LA Lakers +4000

Jeremy Lin is trade bait. Even if he has a break-out season (which I agree, he probably will, statistically last year put him in the top-15 point guards in the league, and that was playing admittedly shitty and recovering from surgery), it will only INCREASE is attraction as a trade piece. Houston has had an identity crisis the past few years, they wanted to become a team of superstars, and now they have three of the biggest names in the NBA over the past few years, and instead, they appear like a hodge-podge collection of stars, not a cohesive team with a solid identity. So I wouldn't be surprised to see some pieces get traded away, and Lin is prime-real estate for that. I honestly though it would be a sign-and-trade for Dwight with Lin-Asik to LA, which by the way is still a possibility in the long run, just obviously as a straight up trade, not a sign-and-trade deal.

Dwight should do well on the court in Houston, the question as always with him is will he do well in his own head?

H-town has so many nudie-bars, Dwight and Harden will hit them all up! The strippers are rejoicing....

So now Lakers signed Chris Kaman. Poor Pau Gasol. I ain't hating on Chris, indeed last year before the Birdman showed up I was saying Heat should have signed the dude, but on the real, Pau is LIGHTYEARS ahead of Chris Kaman, and Pau should be the starting center, and Jordan Hill should play back up, that is, unless somehow Hill is now our starting power forward since it looks like World Peace is getting amnestied. So Lakers have negative defense now? They are going to just shoot the ball for the other team too, save them the trouble?

So wait, who the fucked edited this thread so that it starts with posts I made a month ago? Am I tripping or didn't Rob just start this thread yesterday with his comments here?

I did just start this thread but like silk from a silkworm's asshole, it grows and grows and never slows

Heard some good Sports Radio discussion about how the powers at ESPN are upset at the reporters who make up the content found at ESPN LA for manufacturing false Dwight Howard reports on Friday evening.

If you want to read a load of crap, check out what Bill Plaschke had to say:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basket...3744757.column

As they should. ESPN is embarrassing. They just make shit up all the time, and run with it with no shame. I mean, it is sports, its not that serious, but then again an amateur ref just got beheaded at a friendly in Brazil so clearly there is always that potential, especially considering that LA is the ugliest place outside of Boston or Philadelphia for sports ;)

Bill was just speaking the truth. Howard was great, and played Howard basketball, but in truth, by mid-June we here in Los Angeles were well aware that he didn't fit out city, our franchise, or our fans. I wish we could say we wish him well in Houston, but LA fans are generally to shallow and mean-spirited to do such, so we just wish him good riddance! We didn't bend over backwards for him because he never reciprocated that for LA Lakers, essentially Howard was just Lamar Odom in Dallas, and in all actuality, Dallas was WAY uglier to Lamar than LA has ever been to Dwight. Dallas CRUCIFIED Lamar Odom, who was dealing with some very serious family problems at the time, and they gave him ZERO benefit of the doubt, ZERO love even though he played almost every game of that season with them, and ENTIRELY blamed him for no statistical reason for that team's utter slide into basketball shitdom. Fuck Dallas by the way, I love how players are fleeing that city quicker than Boston ;)

Love how fat fuck Shaq disses Howard for leaving LA and not staying with Kobe "rape rape" Bryant when he did the exact same thing! Shaq couldn't handle the black mamba!

Fuck Dallas and Fuck San Antone. It is H-Town's turn to rise.

No. Correction. Shaq won three back-to-back-to-back Championships, and only left AFTER losing his fifth appearance in the NBA Finals. In fact, I'd like to make a meme like the Jordan/Pippen laughing meme with Shaq and Andrew Bynum laughing together saying, "Dwight is a fool, you just don't leave the Lakers until AFTER winning multiple, back-to-back Championships!"

Guess this is why the Lakers were paying to plaster downtown buildings and billboards with Dwight's image asking him to stay.

That was called marketing. It is what you do with any of your multi-million dollar paid entertainers, you promote and market. If Dwight is leaving, might as well make a few bucks on his way out. In all honesty I though Dwight was going to stay in LA, but it didn't necessarily make his staying a great decision. In the short term, Dwight staying or leaving was going to be trouble. We in LA were only thinking about Dwight for the future, for the long-term, something which Dwight himself should have been looking for. In all honesty, he is just another flavor of the month in Houston like so many other Rocket flavors before him, but the way Rockets have been rotating guys and flirting with stars, Dwight could get traded or himself get fickle and ask to leave sooner than he realizes. In other words, Rob is right, and y'all Tejanos should be reluctantly if not begrudgingly accepting Dwight on his own terms. We last year thought Dwight was going to really lift Lakers back to the top 3 teams, and most analysts, talking heads, and even commenthaters were thinking the same. That didn't work out because of injuries, but Dwight totally losing heart so soon is why we are just as fine with him leaving as he is.

As if Ice Cube couldn't be any Whiter (is he really doing a Dockers commercial?), Cube comes across like a women scorned when dissing D12:

http://youtu.be/B6leufELg1s

Cube is a soft bitch, just like Dre

^^^Ouch

The offical cover for the 2013-14 LA Lakers Media Guide:

Y'all be hating, Lakers will laugh their way at least into the play-offs. Fronting like Pau Gasol isn't one of the best centers in the game. Guy was ridiculously injured last season, and fatigued from carrying the Spanish national team during the Olympics in London.

Pau's 14 ppg and 9rpg with a block would put him comfortably int he top-10 centers in the NBA (and he was a back up!) had he played more than 50 games

14 ppg and 9 rpg is ok in a big-man depleted league. It is hard to score points when Kobe "raperape" Bryant is on your team.

Nate Thurmond (1966 and 1967 seasons )
21.3 ppg, 22.0 rpg

Willis Reed (career avgs)
18.7 ppg, 12.9 rpg

Patrick Ewing (career)
21 ppg, 9.8 rpg


David Robinson (career)
21.1 ppg 10.6 rpg

George Mikan (career)
23.1 ppg 13.4 rpg

Moses Malone (career)
20.3 ppg 12.3 rpg

DREAM (career)
21.8 ppg 11.1 rpg

Wilt Chamberlain (career)
30.1 ppg (!) 22.1 rpg(!) (INSANE!)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (career)
24.6ppg 11.2 rpg

First, are you forgetting that Pau played as a back up to Dwight??? Those are PHENOMENAL NUMBERS FOR A BACK UP CENTER ;)

Dude, you're comparing ALL-TIME greats to current greats. That isn't fair. Its like comparing Chris Paul to Magic Johnson, or Brook Lopez to Kareem. BUT, in a fair analysis, I.E. one based on current realities and statistics, Pau Gasol is one of the better centers in the NBA, period. You can drool about the past, or about the greatest ever, but there are thousands of other NBA players out there, and over 400 a year, and out of that list, Pau is high on it. Also, Kobe had a career high in assists, averaging over 6 dimes per game, which put him actually above 2/3 of the POINT GUARDS in the NBA, so in reality, the whole kobe shoots too much is becoming a bit out-dated, they guy really did change his game last year and became a facilitator when D'Antoni got in his ear and reminded him that, "You have a reputation as a shooter, this means you will naturally open up other shooters as defenders focus on you, so you should use this as a strategy, and PASS THE BALL under pressure because your reputation as a ball hog is giving other players wide-open looks."

that and even Bill Simmons concedes to reality:

Pau Gasol is a glorified Power Forward playing Center. I would love to have had him as a Rocket.

Fuck the Lakers. Their time is OVER

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/3...-as-wrestling/

I was actually comparing him favorably to the greats suchf. Gasol's avg is around 19.4 ppg and 10.9 rpg for career. That is excellent but he should be doing more in a league with fewer quality center defenders.

He is 7'1" and 250lbs, and he has some of the best in-the-post footwork since The Dream. Tim Duncan is a forward masquerading as a center, but Pau Gasol is very much the real deal. And like Bosh, he is quicker than most bigs, so he stretches defenses like no other.

Haha. You're cute Rob, but the ENTIRE NBA realizes, albeit begrudgingly, that the LA Lakers are NOT going to disappear into obscurity, and with a loaded draft in 2014, Lakers playing for the lottery would be even WORSE for the rest of the league ;)

The Yankees r never going away either. :(

Sighs. Its true.

Shaq puts his diesel in reverse: http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterocket...on/?cmpid=hpbn

I was wondering what Shaq was saying. Mo-fo has lived in Houston for years now. so many NBA and ex NBA stars live in Houston, because the media leaves you alone, the fans are respectful and keep their distance, and the huge houses and large living is more affordable.