Basketball Thread

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

I don't know, the logistics are too difficult. XD

I nominate just a one year thing. The discussion about age and future utility will be a natural byproduct of the discussions anyways.

 

[theeboredone]

I'd prefer 3 years...seems very ideal, and it incorporates other factors such as growth and age more heavily.

Though I do see the validity for a one year deal, given we can take the players right now, because we know how good they are. But then that kind throws away growth out of the picture.

I'm still sticking with 3 years. I feel a bit ambitious. I'll let TGR, Glue, and anyone else that wants to contribute vote in also before we go any further down any discussion roads.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I say we do 3 years since growth and age are very important factors to consider when coming up with a salary.

In other news, it looks like the Heat have a really good chance of picking up Mike Bibby via buyout, and even have a shot at Troy Murphy! If Bibby goes to the Heat then sources say Arroyo will be dropped, and if Troy Murphy also comes then Jamal Magloire would also be gone. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6167769

PLEASE let this be true... especially Troy Murphy. Both would be great pickups for this team to improve their bench. It'll still suck, yeah, but it's definitely better than the current one. Both Murphy and Bibby could still have the potential to start at Center and Point Guard, respectively.

EDIT: Yup the Bibby rumor is true. You guys will wanna read this.

Spoiler

Sources: Mike Bibby plans to sign with Miami Heat

By Ira Winderman

South Florida Sun Sentinel

5:08 p.m. EST, February 28, 2011

MIAMI — A pair of independent sources have confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that veteran point guard Mike Bibby plans to sign with the Miami Heat in the wake of Monday's buyout from the Washington Wizards.

Bibby, acquired last week from the Atlanta Hawks at the NBA trading deadline, agreed, according to multiple reports, to bypass his $6.2 million 2011-12 salary from the Wizards in order to move to a contender.

Tuesday is the deadline for players to be waived in order to appear on another team's playoff roster.

Bibby, 32, with his playmaking and shooting, would provide the Heat with an instant upgrade over current starting point guard Mario Chalmers, although he would not address the Heat's lack of deference deterrence at the position.

Among the reasons Bibby was dealt from the Hawks was for the defensive upgrade provided by Kirk Hinrich, who was acquired in return for Bibby.

Bibby must clear the 48-hour NBA waiver cycle, which would leave him free to sign with the Heat by Wednesday night. The Heat next play Thursday night at home against the Orlando Magic.

Bibby is the brother-in-law of Heat guard Eddie House and also is close with Heat forward LeBron James, who spent time with Bibby following last Friday's Heat victory over the Wizards at AmericanAirlines Arena.

In fact, in the wake of Bibby being dealt at last Thursday's NBA trading deadline to the Wizards, Heat guard Dwyane Wade said the Hawks might come to regret the move.

"Mike Bibby was huge for them, was big," Wade said. "Not having Mike Bibby, I don't really know how their team will shake out."

The Heat also stand as frontrunners to acquire outside-shooting power forward Troy Murphy, who Monday received a buyout from the Golden State Warriors. Murphy, too, would become available to be signed on Wednesday. Murphy was acquired at last week's trading deadline from the New Jersey Nets.

To accommodate Bibby and Murphy, the Heat would have to waive two players. While veteran power forward Juwan Howard stood as a player likely to be released, he is represented by David Falk, who also represents Bibby, and an accommodation may have been negotiated to make sure he is safe on the roster.

 

[KrazyGlue]

Three years seems good, just so potential/growth/age factors in more.

 

[Jane]

the clippers celebrate black history month on the wrong month. rofl

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...rate-Black-History-Month-in-th?urn=nba-327470

 

[theeboredone]

How does that...even get through to the printing page without anyone noticing?

Anyways, seems like 3 years to be the major consensus. I should also note that when I listed those attributes (offense, defense, age, etc) those were only stuff that I personally would consider. It's not stuff that is set in stone. You can bring up your own points, and have your own rating system. In the end, after a good debate and consensus, we'll go ahead and rate each player properly.

As far as the Heat go. I think they should still start Chalmers with Bibby and Murphy coming off the bench. You're always gonna have one or two superstars in there...so a bench rotation can look like...

LBJ, Miller, Bosh, Murphy, Bibby.

Only downside I see to both is that they are outside players. Bibby is way past his prime, so defensively...he's gonna suck and offensively, he's gonna be a spot up 3 point shooter...which the Heat really don't need. Murphy is a big, but he plays outside...so if he's taking 3's or long range shots...rebounding is gonna suck.

Also, according to Rotoworld (best news for fantasy related stuff), Murphy is more interested in Boston.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Arroyo is officially gone.

Murphy status is still a toss up. Latest news is that he's still torn between the two. Boston's aging though, so hopefully he will realize that he can have a bigger impact on the Heat team than if he was on the Celtics.

 

[theeboredone]

Damn, what's gonna happen to the official Carlos Arroyo thread? LOL.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

They'll move it. Heat lost 50% of their fan base. :\

 

[Jane]

well, this explains why blake griffin won the dunk contest despite others deserving it more.

http://benmaller.com/2011/02/blake-griffin-couldnt-lose-slam-dunk-contest/

 

[theeboredone]

I mean...it's been kinda obvious dating back to the last some dunk contests. Still don't understand how Nate beat Iguodala.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

lol, I'm not really a fan of fixing talk about the NBA. I think the players would know, it's kinda' ridiculous in concept.

That said, I do not believe the fan vote was fixed.


Now, I'm not an idiot, and that's a huge indication of foul play. XD
Still, I'm inclined to believe it was just a huge mistake. I had written Blake off as the winner long before the actual contest myself. lol

 

[The Real Gamer]

Damn, what's gonna happen to the official Carlos Arroyo thread? LOL.

They'll move it. Heat lost 50% of their fan base. :\

I just laughed pretty freaking hard. But yeah the Arroyo fans have been bitter since Chalmers started and House started draining his minutes in the rotation.

Seriously though good riddance to those Latino Arroyo homers. They were annoying as ****.

 

[theeboredone]

There have been a lot of shady moments in NBA history. Two that come to mind is the Game 6 Lakers vs Kings in 2002, where Lakers had 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone. Videos showed a lot of those fouls were very ticky tacky, where on the other end, the Kings were getting mauled.

Then there is the crap that happened in 2006 with Miami vs Dallas. I'm sure there are more events, but those two specifically come to mind.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

Oh, I have no doubt there's some influence by the officials on games, and I know all about the claims that refs are told by the league what "should" happen. I think I posted that rumor that the league won't let Mark Cuban win a title.

I'm just saying, ex-players almost never are harping about this stuff. I think that the people being directly affected would know best. :\

Of course there will be controversy. The NFL rule system is much better in that sense. The NBA and basketball in general is based on opinion when it comes to calling fouls and such. I played a pick-up game tonight that went on for 10 minutes after the game ended because some guy wanted a foul when he got his pocket picked to end the game. In the end, putting the ball in the basket and playing tough is how you win. Do it yourself, leave the refs out of it.

 

[theeboredone]

Wow, what a *****. Unless it was a blatant reach, who calls that these days? I'm not saying it should be like ball from Queensbridge, but damn...a reach?

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

lmao, I know. We were cracking up. It wasn't even dirty, he grabbed it as the guy drove by him. Finally, someone just said to shoot for it after his own team left the court, and he missed. XD

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, I rarely call fouls unless I'm smacked in the face or I get tripped on a drive. I don't think anyone calls an offensive foul when it comes to recreational play lol.

Edit: Anyways, I hope we can get the salary cap analysis going. People are free to make their posts. We've started with Dwight Howard, who I think is number one overall. Here's my original post somewhat modified.

First things first. The NBA salary cap is about 58 million. So from that, we're gonna go with not going over the cap.

Alright so how is this going to work...we can do it by team, position, or whatever comes off the top of our head. I would go with team...but let's get SOME of the "superstar" players out of the way first. So here's the first batch...

Kobe Bryant

LeBron James

Dwyane Wade

Dirk Nowitzki

Carmelo Anthony

Chris Paul

Deron Williams

Dwight Howard

I tried to get a player from each position. As you can see, there are more in some areas (PG and SF) then others.

In terms of order...I would put the following in terms of the following conditions in no order

1. Age
2. Growth
3. Offense
4. Defense
5. Intangibles

This is the stuff I'll be looking at mostly, but other ideas and thoughts are welcome.

1. Dwight Howard: 20 million

- It starts in the low post. The position where not only you're the closest to the basket, but you also draw other defenders in to get shooters open. Howard is slowly becoming an offensive beast, and we all know him for his defensive prowess. He's a 60% shooter, but you can credit that to a lot of alley oops and dunks. Take those out, and he's sitll a 50-55% shooter. Some new things he's shown is a 12 footer that banks off the glass. A running hook. Some better footwork. He still is a bit clunky, but has that power and athleticism nevertheless.

I'll edit this a bit later or someone else can post their opinions.

 

[Masmasher@]

personally ive always thought that reaching should be allowed as long as you attack the ball clean.
if the offenders slowing his setup/dribble for a drive and you have the accuracy to do it then there should be no problem if you clearly smack it out their hands.

thats mad soft to call out for pick pocketing though.

 

[KrazyGlue]

Troy Murphy chooses the Celtics over the Heat.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ApCq755fdv0kmG0Nc.tOayKWPKB4?slug=ap-celtics-murphy

We've started with Dwight Howard, who I think is number one overall. Here's my original post somewhat modified.

Not sure yet if Howard is #1, but I'll post my ratings for each category with reasons.

Age: 10/10

Dwight Howard is 25 years old, meaning he is entering the prime of his career. No reason to complain about anything here, and it should be an obvious 10/10 for most people.


Growth: 8.3/10

Howard has shown considerable growth over the years, going from merely decent to a star center. He is averaging career highs by a lot in points (23.2) and steals (1.3). His free throw shooting hasn't improved and shows no signs of doing so, while his assists and blocks have experienced considerable drops this year. His turnovers are also at 3.36, his highest total since the 06-07 season. His rebounding hasn't gone up much for a while, but when you're averaging 12.8 rebounds for your career, it's hard to improve much over that. I don't see Howard improving over what he has done this year for the most part, except that he will become more mature and may commit less turnovers, and I also expect his blocking to return to form.


Offense: 9.2/10

He is averaging by far a career high in points (23.2) and is having his second best year in terms of offensive rebounds per game. Clearly, he has stepped up his offensive game. He still struggles from the free throw line, dropping off from his improved previous year, back to sub-.600. Howard also has turnover problems, committing 3.36 per game, the most for him since 06-07 and amounting to tenth in the league. This is also the highest turnovers per game for any center this year, unless you count Amare Stoudamire as a center. However, Howard is clearly having a career year in offense and has shown both nimbleness and power.


Defense: 9.8/10

Howard is an impeccable defender. He is averaging a career second-best 9.9 defensive rebounds per game and is by far beating his career high for steals, with 1.3 per game this year. He gets an impressive 2.2 blocks per game, though this is his lowest total since the 07-08 season, where he also averaged 2.2. He is strong and relatively quick, making him a tough defender for all kinds of centers. Other than his offensive turnovers putting the defense in a bad position sometimes and his lower blocking average this year, there's nothing to complain about with regards to Howard's defense.


Intangibles: 8/10

Howard is a good teammate and stays out of trouble off the court. Unfortunately, he seems less able to do so on the court, leading the league in technical fouls with 19. He can also play quite dirty sometimes. He is one of 71 NBA players with a flagrant foul. Howard is very rarely injured, having only missed 5 games (2 this year) in his 6.5 year career. Howard also is a positive influence on his team (to counteract the negativity of Stan Van Gundy) and seems to have leadership capabilities.


OVERALL: 45.3/50

------------

Let me know if you'd like to talk about any of my opinions/ratings.

 

[The Real Gamer]

THIS is why I'm glad Arroyo is gone... his fans are ridiculous!

"That sucks!! ***?!? How is Bibby gonna help?? The only thing that team needs is to start playin REAL Basketball.. They haven't played many games where u c "The Big 3" get **** striaght, ( I love this Team but come on... get serious )!!! Carlos was the only Hispanic in the team n he brought many Fans to the arena, cuz like it or not in Miami is all bout us Latinos! Stupid decision!! And for all of those HATERS that think that spanish ppl cant make it that far all I can say is DONT be so IGNORANT.. Arroyo u will be missed.. U need to come out with a new song PRONTO!!!!"

Anyways I'm pretty bummed Murphy went to the Celtics. Now rumors are starting about Eddie Curry possibly making a return to sign with the Heat. IDK how I feel about that.

 

[theeboredone]

I always thought Curry had potential. His career year 3 years back had him getting 17 ppg on 57% shooting. Then Dantonio showed up and he started to rot on the bench.

I think he's overweight though.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Weel considering Howard is dead weight on this team I see nothing wrong with giving him the boot, or maybe even Jamal Magloire for Curry.

What do the Heat have to lose?

Oh and apparently he's been getting into shape.

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, I do think Dantoni should have played him, but it's a shame they got into a argument of sorts. He's a talented center, and there are not many of those out there.

 

[t3h Icy]

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

Is the new Mario Sports Mix **** any good?

For once, I'm too tired to talk sports tonight. D:
I'll just let my opinion of Howard stand as it was. lol

 

[theeboredone]

I thought that pic was from Mario Party?

But it seems like 20 million seems like a general consensus for Dwight. We can always change it later based on what we say about others.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

I think it is, I was just curious. I like the Mario sports games in a weird way, so the thought of having them all as a combo was kinda' cool. lol

20 mil is good to me. However, a salary that massive is tough to build around. Championships might be hard to come by because he's so talented. Is that even possible? :O

 

[theeboredone]

Haha well think of the salary cap thing like a fantasy draft. The quality of players is gonna dip down slowly and steadily with the salary matching them appropriately. For all we know, Kevin Love might end up being 3 million LOL.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

Okay, so evaluate them based on how much we'd pay for them if we had our dream team? That's a damn good idea. And K Love is worth at least 12 million, but we'll cross that bridge later. lol


Question guys: How many of you have been in a basketball fight? XD
I ask because I almost got into my third ever today. I set hard picks, and sometimes they're a little too rough/dirty, I won't lie. So I leaned into this guy as I set it, and popped him good. He muttered under his breath "Can't be moving like that man."

Now this guy had already called like 3 fouls in a game to 15, so I was kinda' tired to begin with. Next time down the court, I found him and set a off-ball screen for no reason other than to hit him harder. Dude fell down and popped back up, and I expected him to come bump me or something, but he just said "Quit screening me."

I kinda' wish he'd dared me to do it again. XD


So how about you guys? Ever get into a dirty game? They're fun.

 

[theeboredone]

If it's a pick up game, I'm really chill, even if it does get competitive. It's one reason why I don't bother doing hard fouls or playing dirty, cause it's a pick up game. If it's tournament or league play, I have a history of getting T'ed or throwing a tantrum and yelling at my teammates. In fact, last Summer, in a tournament, our team was up 11 with 5 seconds left in the third. Jump ball on the opponent's side, and they got a cherry pick lay up to close the quarter. I was on the bench, and I just started yelling at them as if I caught some guy sleeping with my girlfriend or something. I'm sure I scared the **** out of them LOL.

The closest I'll get to playing dirty is throwing an elbow while boxing out. Though I have been practicing the Bruce Bowen style of going under a person's body. Not so where they land on my feet, but just making their shooting form awkward without fouling them.

One time, I was breaking up a fight, and some dude from the other team pushed me down. I just decided to sit on my butt and amuse myself at the shenanigans those guys were doing to one another, since I wasn't "helping".

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

Haha, elbows are dirty?
I guess I always assumed it was gentlemanly in the post. XD

Nah, I disagree on the pick-up thing though. I grew up being like, the only white guy on a black team for 7 years. Racism really doesn't exist in any form of basketball, but if there's any white guys who read this thread, you get tested a bit more sometimes. :D

Pick-up games are more physical because of the playground nature, dirty play is more of a physical message than a fighting thing. But then again I'm a KG fan. :D


I don't really yell at people ever, I just tell them to shut up and keep playing. lol

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, I'll naturally consider elbowing or being elbowed in the side, but if it hits me in the face, you're gonna get it from me or there better be a foul called in a league based game. Reminded me of one of the IM games we had...we had some newb refs, and this big tall guy in the post kept swinging his elbow and probably jawed three of us during the game. No foul called, which was utter BS cause we told the refs to look out for it. Dude even got away with a few travels. I really don't care much about the refs if a team wins by 10+, but if they are the ones who decided the game based on earlier calls or no calls...it just pisses me off.

Most pick up games here at UT aren't physical...I guess because they are at the gym and if anything were to go wrong, then they'd be booted out lol.

I hate playing with people who think they are the ****, ball hog, and after making a deep 3 after going 0/7 they are like "YEAH BOI! CANT STOP ME". -Smh.-

--------

Edit: Maaan, I was watching the SC highlights to the Spurs game last night. I don't know if Hill had the jitters or what as a starter, but he was playing really bad. I think at one point he had 6 points and 6 turnovers. I mean obviously you can't get worse, but I was one of the few people who thought he could one day improve to be an all-star caliber guard...

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

Yeah, Hill's performance was awful, but he's much better than he showed. It had to be jitters, or just the unfamiliarity of starting this season. He started some games last season and played fantastic.

Maybe he just got too comfortable with his second unit role? We won't be hurting like this for long though.

 

[KrazyGlue]

Don't think I've ever been in a basketball fight. One time some kid was just being a douche and wouldn't give us the ball after he scored so I shoved him on the ground, after which he got up and punched me lightly in the shoulder area but we got the ball finally so I just let it go. That's about it.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

I love the phrase, "punched me lightly". XD

 

[KrazyGlue]

Lol, well, I don't think he intended to do any major harm, let's put it that way. He just had to maintain his honor I guess.

if there's any white guys who read this thread, you get tested a bit more sometimes. :D

I'm white but I'm tested more for being an aspiring rapper than for playing basketball.

 

[Nike.]

The only fight I've ever had in my life was from a backetball game at skool. Got shoved into the floor during a rebound twice. After the second time got up and punched the guy. I then got ownd in a 3 on 1 brawl til the coaches seperated us.

 

[Maaaaaaaaaan]

Nike, it never fails to amaze me when I hear about you fighting people. XD

And Krazy's a rapper. Too legit.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Krazy raps?

That's Krazy

EDIT: Bibby is officially a Heat! http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/news/story?id=6171168

Hope he plays tomorrow against the Magic!

The Heat FINALLY have a decent PG... I'm wondering if Bibby's gonna make a huge difference in facilitating the offense of if he's going to degrade to the role of spot up shooter under coach Spo's super lame offensive system.