Re: the official Dwayne Wade >>> you thread

[The Franchise]

Watched enough basketball today, tried but could not concentrate on OKC-ORL.
'
Tons of sloppy and slow play, tons of rust, I expected as much. I wont take anything definitive out of todays games tbh, its pointless.

Haywood is noticably slower off his feet than Chandler, thats for sure. But its not all his fault, your not going to win games shooting 34% and turning it over 15 times to the Heat.

[dmize]

Watched enough basketball today, tried but could not concentrate on OKC-ORL.
'
Tons of sloppy and slow play, tons of rust, I expected as much. I wont take anything definitive out of todays games tbh, its pointless.

Haywood is noticably slower off his feet than Chandler, thats for sure. But its not all his fault, your not going to win games shooting 34% and turning it over 15 times to the Heat.

I'm convinced Cuban is playing for 12-13. That's not to say he's not trying to win this year, he set his team up pretty damn well while leaving plenty of cap room for 2012-13. He could have brought back Chandler/Barea, and made some other moves, but that would mess them up long term. But he sat still, landed a great expiring in Odom, and now he's banking on getting 1 of Deron/Dwight. Chess not checkers.

And SMH @ the phantom call on Melo w/ 15 seconds left, scust. How is Joey Crawford still a ref in this league. And KG goonin' it up once again. NBA is officially back.

[Le Samourai]

Gasol is such a noob............................

LA have 3 pt shooting

[dmize]

Gasol is such a noob............................

LA have 3 pt shooting

They shot 4/16

McBob missed 2 FT's as well

and Ebanks looks like he's gunna be a pretty good player afterall

[Le Samourai]

Goudelock has a sweet touch......watched some highlights.

Ebanks is loooooonnnng........he looks taller than Mcbob who's listed at 6 10.

In LA 4/16 is ver good compared to years gone by.

[dmize]

Yeah Ebanks should develop nicely this year. Thought he had a lotta potential when I watched him play at West Virginia. And he improved his jumper in the offseason you can tell.

I still can't believe the Lakers drafted Ater Majok, I know it was the 58th pick but I can't see him ever making the Lakers(or most NBA teams for that matter). Maybe I'm wrong though, he had a ton of hype coming to UConn, never lived up to it, then played in Europe/Australia for a season I believe so maybe he's improved his game.

[dmize]

at that over the backboard and-1 by Caron

[The Franchise]

Watched enough basketball today, tried but could not concentrate on OKC-ORL.
'
Tons of sloppy and slow play, tons of rust, I expected as much. I wont take anything definitive out of todays games tbh, its pointless.

Haywood is noticably slower off his feet than Chandler, thats for sure. But its not all his fault, your not going to win games shooting 34% and turning it over 15 times to the Heat.

I'm convinced Cuban is playing for 12-13. That's not to say he's not trying to win this year, he set his team up pretty damn well while leaving plenty of cap room for 2012-13. He could have brought back Chandler/Barea, and made some other moves, but that would mess them up long term. But he sat still, landed a great expiring in Odom, and now he's banking on getting 1 of Deron/Dwight. Chess not checkers.

And SMH @ the phantom call on Melo w/ 15 seconds left, scust. How is Joey Crawford still a ref in this league. And KG goonin' it up once again. NBA is officially back.

Yep and I think its very possible. I could see Williams there for sure. Dwight a little less so, but still a chance.

Keep a possible title winning team while leaving yourself in a good retooling position down the line.

And yeah Crawford is a shocking ref. Anyone who tosses Tim Duncan clearly is an idiot. I think actually NBA has the worst refs of all the sports I watch.

[Le Samourai]

Players should be able to review calls in the NBA, in the last minute.

Crawford you mad @Dmzie

That's Risqy IMO..............so many things could drop between now and then......the NETS are gonna try to do everything possible to keep Deron ie their activity for the season isn't over yet.Cap space will always give you some wiggle room tho

Howard too will not be exactly sure to see out the season Orlando or without signing an extension.We'll see how it plays out.............

Next Year is gonna be a scramble.......teams are gonna deal their players for draft picks and fight each other for good free agents.

[dmize]

Watched enough basketball today, tried but could not concentrate on OKC-ORL.
'
Tons of sloppy and slow play, tons of rust, I expected as much. I wont take anything definitive out of todays games tbh, its pointless.

Haywood is noticably slower off his feet than Chandler, thats for sure. But its not all his fault, your not going to win games shooting 34% and turning it over 15 times to the Heat.

I'm convinced Cuban is playing for 12-13. That's not to say he's not trying to win this year, he set his team up pretty damn well while leaving plenty of cap room for 2012-13. He could have brought back Chandler/Barea, and made some other moves, but that would mess them up long term. But he sat still, landed a great expiring in Odom, and now he's banking on getting 1 of Deron/Dwight. Chess not checkers.

And SMH @ the phantom call on Melo w/ 15 seconds left, scust. How is Joey Crawford still a ref in this league. And KG goonin' it up once again. NBA is officially back.

Yep and I think its very possible. I could see Williams there for sure. Dwight a little less so, but still a chance.

Keep a possible title winning team while leaving yourself in a good retooling position down the line.

And yeah Crawford is a shocking ref. Anyone who tosses Tim Duncan clearly is an idiot. I think actually NBA has the worst refs of all the sports I watch.

Yep, I think Derons their best shot too. And I agree about NBA refs. NFL's are pretty great, MLB's are okay,but still better than NBA.

And it's not risky at all imo. What is is risky, is giving a multi-year deal to Chandler, giving a multi to Barea, etc. They'd have a great shot to repeat but no flexibility to do anything in the next couple of seasons. Flexibility & competitiveness together > . I heard JVG say last night Cuban offered Chandler 1yr/20, smart move imo if he would've taken it. But even if they miss out on Deron/Dwight this offseason, there's potentially Kevin Love/E.Gordon who are RFA's I believe.


And one more thought on NYK/Boston, I thought Brandon Bass was an animal. I hope to see that from him all year. It seemed like he was never used right in Orlando but I really like how Doc used him yesterday. Playing with Rondo is really gunna help him(Rondo was a beast too yesterday) Not to mention he's an expiring. Best trade Ainge has made since bringing PJ Brown in '08.

[dmize]

Btw guys, NBA League Pass is free for the next 2 weeks.

[Le Samourai]

When I said it was risky I simply meant that if they're gonna set their sights on either one being a free agent next year is quite risky.Eric Gordon would be a great pickup for them tho either way......so I guess their flexibility is worth more right now.

Offering a Multi to Chanler and/or Barea would've been a bad idea yes.......and I'm quite suprised Chandler turned down 20 million this year to go play with the knicks.

BTW STAT was guarding Brandon Bass yesterday.

I like him but he's really undersized....................

[The Franchise]

Yeah, heard about that. Need to check it out.

Yep, agree totally about the Mavs. The way its going, its only smart now to think about more seasons rather than season.

Also, I too like Bass. He is tough, rugged but has a nice jumper and doesnt really need the ball to be effective.

Some more thoughts. The Lakers in the second half especially defended really well considering they have no Bynum, soft Gasol getting clowned by Boozer and more importantly only just learning a new system. I Brown is right, they will always score with the players they have, if they can defend well then they will always be a threat. That being said, I still find they need a bit of a shake up. I like young Ebanks, but outside him they seriously lack athletic ability. How can Kobe 15 years in still be one of your best athletes lol

More thoughts, I liked Amare's defensive effort yesturday, thinking about it he did quite well and was active. Again, its about actually being consistent so lets wait and see. But if he is consistent and that 3 point stroke he showed is going to stick around..he is an even bigger problem than he was before.

[Le Samourai]

I am so disappointed in Gasol..........he gets shoved out of the post so easily man....it's embarassing.What's worse is , he overcame this.............and now all of a sudden he's soft again......it's amzing how psychologically malleable he is.Also...he isn't even catching well these days.....+ giving away cheap fouls....I don't know man....things not looking good.

Athleticism? We don't have it.Ebanks is long and what not....and the rookie Darius Morris is huge for a point guard and quite quick but outside of that Nada.Plan's A,B and to resolve that problem AKA JR Smith Wilson Chandler are currently playing in China with no release clause .We should've tried to get J Rich or J Crawford tho........dunno what Mitch is doing exactly.

[dmize]

Good points. True Bass was guarded by Amare all game but Amare wasn't too bad defensively like Dani said.

Ebanks is decently athletic but not overwhelming. That's why losing Shannon Brown hurts the Lakers a bit. He brought that energy/athleticism off the bench they need. I think McBob will be a solid bench player, obviously he's not going to be Lamar Odom though. I was surprised to see Troy Murphy have 7pts, 8 boards.

And yeah I thought the Lakers and Celtics both played well considering they were missing key players.

[dmize]

There's a few games on, none really great matchups. Flipping back and forth between Minny-OKC and Charlotte-Milwaukee. Kemba had an ill and-1 to give the Bobcats the lead for the 1st time, got MJ out of his seat.

Lakers/Kings later


Edit: @ Drew Gooden, dude just clotheslined Henderson midair for a flagrant 2, ejected.

[Le Samourai]

Dude Rubio <3

[Le Samourai]

I just checked out the rosters of Utah,Golden State Sacramento and Denver.....and I think Sota can compete with them...

Call me crazy but there's a small chance they can make the playoffs.....

If they do what do you think about the Paul trade?

[dmize]

-OKC
-Dallas
-LA Lakers
-Portland
-San Antonio
-LA Clippers
-Memphis
-Denver(brought back Nene, brought in Rudy Fernandez)

I just don't see them finishing ahead of any of those teams

[Le Samourai]

I dunno......they lost K Mart, Wilson Chandler and JR Smith dude....

[dmize]

And they just beasted the Mavs..

I'd rather have Afflalo than Smith, Ty Lawson has really improved over the summer(and it showed tonight), and IMO Galo is actually due to have a really solid year. Birdman, Harrington, Fernandez, Miller, Faried(has the potential to be a K-mart like player) is going to be a good bench too. The no-defense T-Wolves aren't better.

[Le Samourai]

Hey i missed it.....Ty Lawson's stats were impressive tho......I watched him a bit last year and I like him alot........I'm not quite sold on his playmaking in the half-cort abilites but as a scorer and on the fast break he's excellent.Just realised they have Andre Miller too and he's a great compliment.

Danillo.......I like his offense and detest his defense....maybe he has a good year....but I expect splashes of excellent and splashes of dry.I tend to overestimate the impact of teams losing any sot of leader so yeah....I probably underrate them quite a bit.

That being said....JR Smith is miles better than Rudy and Chandler would've given them a great 4 man rotation with basically everyone capable of being a swingman.

Nene is a good center but all those other guys are either wasteful like Harrington or Limited like Faried and Birdman.Who knows this may be apretty pessimistic view of this team but I tend to do that at times

But when I look at Sota I can only be optimistic........they have 3 decent centers(I'm being generous),A legit 5 man rotation for both Forwad spots which looks quite impressive, Love,Williams,Beasley,Tolliver and Randolph.

2 point guards who are decent in Ridnour and that little bastard Barea and One who i love Rubio<3.....you didn't by chance catch some of him today......court vision and passing exhibition dude.

They are a legit 2 deep at every position and 3 deep at PF PG and SG.Rick Adleman will make them tough to guard.

Defence? No comment- trying not to think about it lol.....Rubio's on the team who cares about defence.

[dmize]

Rubio was pretty bad defending tonight though. Westbrook owned him at times. Maybe he's better overall I never really watched him in Spain, but some of his passes were ridiculous, no doubt about that. Beasley; I don't expect much from him defensively. Adelman was definitely a solid hire I thought.

[Guest]

J.R. Smith is the equivalent of a footballer who has talent but no I.Q.

I'm getting sick of these big guys that can't play defense, Bill Russell is off shaking his head somewhere.

I'm going to try and watch some more games this year, it's hard when your team isn't going anywhere. Even when Phoenix had a squad it still felt like we couldn't win it all. Defense wins championships.

[Le Samourai]

J R isn't the smartest dude......but he brings alot to the floor....he's a weapon.

Ricky will have a bit of trouble against guys Like Westbrook who wanna fastbreak and drive the lane every single time........he'll do better against more conventional PG's

Beasley? Same situation with Melo really.....has the ability to be a lockdown defender but dosen't wanna expend the energy.

O and Tetra.....I feel for the Suns man......I really do.....in 07 they got looted....if those guys handed suspended STAT etc you guys would've gotten past the Spurs, torched Utah and walked over Cavailers.

[The Franchise]

Lakers lost to Sactown...Thornton lighting people up.

Sorry to say it, its not easy to say, but I dont think the Lakers have any chance of winning a title with Kobe being by far its best player. He can be 1a to say Dwights 1b or something like that, but he cant be 81 point Kobe. Guys just crowd him so much now and force fadeaways knowing he doesnt quite have the quickness to get around them anymore.
He is still very smart and hugely skilled, his footwork alone will get him past people. But he cant consistently do it, cant explode at the rim without clear seperation. So, the defence of get someone his size with good athletic ability, force him to crowd him and he wont have it all his own way like he used to. Its tough to say bcause he has been the best player in the league for years and I think people were far too quick to try and take the crown for him but simply put I am convinced he needs more help than he is going to get from the group. They will still compete, but win, I dont see.

The Mavs have great depth, Roddy B, Carter, Odom and Terry all coming off the bench. West brings the defence they lost from Stevenson and I would give West that exact role minutes wise. But yeah, its early and dont want to go OTT but maybe a little less depth and more rim protection was smarter. I understand, we already spoke about setting up for next year but still. Odom cant be traded again this season? If they can, shipping him out for a center who can block some shots would be ideal.

I love Odom, but he is a emotional guy. He found his place in LA and now he has been cast off it has hurt his feeling and its effecting his play. He doesnt know his role anymore and you could see from when he entered the game vs Miami he was far too anxious to makes plays and rushed his shots. Tonight he didnt do any better.


Intrested in seeing Rubio, boy can he pass. He is quite tall with so so quickness, I am not surprised to see Westbrook going by him. His strength defensively I think will be in the passing lanes and getting steals will pressuring slow points gaurds with his length.

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