The NBA Thread

[buffcoat]

I looked up Aubrey McClendon scumbag and got a lot of hits!

[Drew D]

An owner of an Oklahoma gas company named it "Chesapeake Energy". Hey dum-dum, that's on the east coast!  If this is part of some long term scheme to drill in my Bay, I'll rip that twerps head off!

[Pregnant Pause]

Is Moe Harkless any good.  Seems like the Sixers just added another SF athlete who can't shoot.

[Greggulator]

Is Moe Harkless any good.  Seems like the Sixers just added another SF athlete who can't shoot.

He's not bad but he seems like every other player they have on the roster. I also don't think it bodes well that he was the best player on a St. John's team that was an absolute fiasco last year. Althought, his interim coach is now leading the Bobcats so there's that.

BTW, if you like college basketball, get ready for Nurideen Lindsay at Rider. I've been a fan of this kid forever. He went to the same high school Wilt Chamberlain did in Philly and was set to break his scoring records (!). He verbally committed to my alma mater La Salle really early. Anyways, he ended up completely vanishing and no one had any idea where he went. It turns out that two of his brothers were killed and his best friend died of cancer. He went to one of the prep schools to get away from Philly but became really depressed (naturally) and gave up basketball. He eventually graduated high school and enrolled at a community college in Kansas where he averaged some crazy amount of PPG. He then went to St. John's last year and decided to transfer after nine games -- reasons aren't quite clear but it seems like it was a bad fit from the start. He was the best player on that team for the first few months, though.

The thing I like about this kid - word is that he's a legitimate genius. The La Salle coach absolutely loves him and said that, if he went to a high school most of us went to, he could be an Ivy League philosophy major. He ended up not going to La Salle because they already brought in another transfer and didn't want to screw up the chemistry. So he ended up at Rider where he'll probably lead the country in scoring next year. Rider also just sent Jason Thompson to the NBA so anything's possible.

[Drew D]

That's great, always like to see Rider relevant in basketball.  Too bad it didnt work out at LaSalle.

-Yea, Harkless is a big upside guy so who knows right now, youngest player in the draft I think.  I like Moultrie, was happy when they announced that trade.  I probably would've been happier taking Zeller or Nicholson over Harkless, but my assumption is they should let Hawes sign elsewhere.  I'd rather resign Lou and both Hawes and Lou will be asking for more $.  The bigger question marks are Iggy and Brand, time will tell on that front.  i just want to know what the direction is.

-Lots of guys moved up I was happy about, good to see John Jenkins go 23rd.

-Big laughs when Danny Ainge had back to back picks and drafted the two slowest big men in the entire draft (at least out of the pool of players who were projected).

[Gilly]

Boston should go back to irrelevance now that Ainge has to rely on draft picks again. Maybe, McHale can give him Howard in a couple years.

[Drew D]

Danny Calls Kevin:  "Oh hey Kevin, how are things? Good, good.  Say, you wouldn't happen to have any unhappy superstars you can trade me?  No?  Well, I'm checking with Seattle too.  What?!? They dont have a team anymore!?!?

[Gilly]

This is just too hard to ignore anymore. The Wolves have 9 white guys, tried to trade up into the first to take Plumlee and are trying their hardest to bring in Gasol. If a guy can play, who cares what race/color they are, but it's getting to be kind of strange, and it's hard not to believe that it's something Kahn is consciously doing for whatever reason that might be. It's kind of the elephant in the room in Minnesota, you don't see sports writers talking about it, but there's a lot of people bringing it up.

[Greggulator]

LeBron tweeted about seeing "ColdPlay" tonight. It's safe to say we can go back to hating him.

[Drew D]

-Ok, getting some answers on Sixers' direction: resign Hawes, amnesty/waive Brand, sign Nick Young
-remaining questions for now: Lou, Iggy

-Oh, and Nash, Kidd, NBA going nuts, etc, etc.

[gravy boat]

-Ok, getting some answers on Sixers' direction: resign Hawes, amnesty/waive Brand, sign Nick Young
-remaining questions for now: Lou, Iggy

-Oh, and Nash, Kidd, NBA going nuts, etc, etc.

WFMU area report--
The Knicks look like they will match Rockets for Lin. My heart likes that; my head says that is not very smart.  Also, hear that they will bring back JR Smith. I don't like that when Randy Foye is available at what must be close price. Foye is a better 3-point shooter and defender, and better character.

The Nets remind me of a Springsteen song--they just had to leave their crappy hometown behind to explode.

[Greggulator]

I can't believe a team didn't offer Lin a max deal, actually.

I'm not sure how endorsements work, but I'm pretty sure the Rockets benefitted from having Yao Ming and all that did for China. Even though Jeremy Lin is American, he was really popular in China, Taiwan and throughout Asia. Let alone Linsanity completely ate up New York and the rest of the country.

There's absolutely no way to predict the rest of his career. That's hard enough to do for guys who have a track record beyond one month of basketball. A big contract is a gigantic risk on someone like Lin since the rewards in terms of game play are completely unpredictable. But the other money earned can counteract any luxury tax penalties and probably outweigh them significantly. If a team made some crazy deal for the Knicks, I'd bet they'd match. MSG's a publicly traded corporation and Linsanity increased the company's valuation by a few hundred million dollars. It's also the Dolan-era Knicks who threw the dice at Eddy Curry and Steph Marbury. 

[Gilly]

I think Lin is going to be fine as long as he's not on a team that revolves around another player. He needs to get his 20-25 shots, and that's a risky move by any team, not only giving him the contract but also allowing a player with his experience to come in and take that many shots a game. He's not a good fit for the Knicks since they already have that roll filled, but he could have a nice career with Houston, if he really is an offensive star.

Loving what the Wolves are doing right now- I think Portland is bluffing a little bit with Batum. If they can't get Hibbert, I don't see them matching Batum's offer when he doesn't want to be there anyway. As for Brandon Roy, if they can even get 25 minutes, 15 points a game that's going to be a great fit. If Rubio is ready at the beginning of the season I think they have a solid chance to finish top 4 in the West.

[Mr. Spacely]

Just got back from five days of Steve Nash-is-a-Lakers partying.  Glad to see Dwight Howard is still holding the league hostage so he can achieve his childhood dream of playing for one of the lamest franchises in professional sports.

[Gilly]

Once Howard ends up a Net 9 out of 12 players on the Olympic team will play in NY, LA or Miami. I think all GMs of small market teams need to keep their players off that team because things change once you get the best players in the world together. The Olympic teams barely been formed and Kevin Love is already trying to work his way off the Wolves. What happened to the competitiveness sports used to have?