ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 08:46 PM) someone needs to explain to me how that was not a technical for hanging on the rim...and please dont try to explain that he was avoiding rondo They pretty much never call that anyways, and it looked like his feet grazed Rondo on the way up and he was at least in the vacinity. It was a bit excessive, but it's not like there was no one in the zip code.

Miami with a ton of sloppy turnovers.

Holy crap, major swing there. Red card on the Polish keeper resulting in a penalty, than the backup saves it cold off the bench.

Biggest waste of article space I've ever seen: I'm sure the Nuggets are the only team that wants Lebron

Poland with some sloppy D to give up the equalizer.

Still need one more. Lebron can't be that good in game 7 (can he?) and Boston will probably hit a few more shots.

I don't think I've ever seen the refs call a jump ball because they couldn't figure out who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds.

Probably not a good sign for Miami that Lebron can't miss and they're still only up 10.

Unless you can somehow get Dwight Howard, there's no real point in breaking them up. You can't trade the best player in the league, it'd be REALLY hard to find a deal that makes you better by dealing Wade, and as much as people like to give him s***, there aren't that many bigs that are better than Bosh and even fewer that are available. The east is pretty much gift-wrapped for next year with Rose out, all they have to do is stay healthy and not choke.

Two straight games where Wade shoots a challenged 3 at the end. Dumb.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 10:15 AM) That shot by Harden was so irresponsible, at the bar it got a collective "WHAT ARE YOU DO... WOW!" It's going to be funny when some bottom feeder signs Harden to a ridiculous offer sheet to be their primary scorer and he turns into Ben Gordon. James Harden is a quality scorer in the NBA, but his newfound "celebrity", for lack of a better word with his increased role, 6th man award, and exposure, is clearly going to his head. He's taking far more bad shots, and I don't know why it's taking everyone so long to start thinking the guys a big piece of s***. I mean, if Dwyane Wade did half of what Harden does, with the stare downs, the stupid looks, the hand signals, he would be crucified on this board. Harden also isn't a 6'2" defensive liability and doesn't take nearly as many shots. Harden averaged just over 10 shots a game in the regular season and just over 11 in the playoffs and is still scoring in the high teens. When Ben Gordon takes 10 or 11 shots in a game, he scores about 13 like you see in Detroit right now.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 05:00 PM) The Pistons weren't the 2012 Spurs. And how many times has he disappeared in the 4th quarter of important games? Not just had a bad game, but disappeared, refused to shoot the ball, refused to take big shots? How many times does he rely on chucking up 20 foot fall away jump shots that he misses more often than he makes. I said he was the best all around player in the game. I'd just take Durant at this point. He's stronger mentally, isn't a self-centered ass, and he's younger. Oh, and he can play basketball pretty good too. You're right, that Pistons' team was way better defensively than the 2012 Spurs. This Spurs' team is good because of their offense, they're barely even top-10 in defensive efficiency. Everyone has their down times, except for MJ, but Lebron gets more s*** about his failures than everyone else combined. Lebron was solid against Boston and Chicago last year, not so much against Dallas. He was really good against Orlando a few years back but his team still lost. Kobe went 7-24 in game 7 of the finals and has consistently missed more shots late than anyone, but instead of getting s*** like Lebron he's Mr. Clutch because he rode Shaq to 3 rings and his teammates bailed him out that game. Durant takes just as many jumpers as Lebron, and he hasn't exactly saved his team from defeat so far in his career. He's hasn't even won as much as Lebron has so far, we might be saying the same things about him in 3 years. Look at Carmelo Anthony, he had basically the same start to his career and now people don't even think he's a real star player anymore.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 04:18 PM) Because Lebron doesn't have the mental make-up to take over games like Durant just did and it's being proven over and over again. Durant scored 18 pts in the fourth despite everything the Spurs did. Lebron would never do that. He'd choose to let someone else try and win the game. Would you rather have Lebron or Durant with the ball needing a bucket to win a game? I'm going with Durant. Yeah, it's not like he single-handedly beat the Pistons down 3-2 in the conference finals by scoring 29 of his team's last 30 points or anything. Oh wait...

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:32 PM) LOL at that call on LeBron. Horrid officiating in this game. I don't think any of Lebron's last 3 fouls were called correctly and Pierce's 6th was a joke. Plus that weird technical on Rondo for kicking Wade or something and the 3 where Allen was clearly out of bounds before kicking it out.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) I can't wait to hear the griping about that call on Garnett for the next few days... Maybe not, Lebron fouls out on a similar play.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:24 PM) Garnett was an idiot. Can't believe Lebron passes the final shot again tho. GZ. Meh, he was doubled and fading, it would have been a stupid shot if he'd taken it. Then again, Kobe takes a ton of those and everyone thinks he's super-clutch.

I can't wait to hear the griping about that call on Garnett for the next few days...

Wade has looked awful the last two games.

Celtics just executing way better this game.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 08:00 PM) Is Noah/Boozer that much better than a Pau/Gibson combo? I know they play different positions but IMO Gibson>Noah and Pau>Boozer. Noah is the only one of those 4 that should be guarding centers on a regular basis. Boozer is bad overall but they've hid him reasonably well thanks to their other bigs, Gibson is good against 4's but doesn't have center size, and Gasol is okay at the 4 because of his length and mobility but lacks strength down low. He's also at the point of his career where he's going to start to decline.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 06:57 PM) Im still talking about getting Pau in this situation... IMO Taj can make up for the energy lost in Jo and Pau will make up for the offense lost in Boozer. Makes since to me but its so out of right field that itll never happen. Noah is a major part of your defense, Pau isn't going to make up for that playing center.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 06:15 PM) What are the chances Portland would do the trade I mentioned? It'll help for the future and I like the SGs that'll be there around 11. Something tells me Thibs might like Docs kid. Noah is worth more than a late-lottery shooting guard and would be a lot harder to replace.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 04:57 PM) I think you gave away the game when you said "If they draft well". We're drafting 29th. The odds of nailing another Gibson are pretty darn low. And once the Bulls hit luxury tax territory, it's going to be incredibly difficult to hold on to even the guys the Bulls have. Remember...if the Bulls hit luxury tax territory, the MLE that could be used to sign other guys shrinks significantly. And really, yes, Amnestying Boozer helps with the Tax issue, but it doesn't make the Bulls a better team, it leaves them back to needing scoring from their frontcourt and having no reasonable way of adding that since they're stuck at MLE level. Meh, it can be done. The Spurs haven't been in the lottery since they drafted Tim Duncan, they seem to do alright. I'm not exactly talking about a Rajon Rondo or a Manu Ginobili either, more of a Wilson Chandler caliber player. Plus you've already got Mirotic's rights. I have no idea how good he really is, but he seems to be talented. Boozer didn't exactly light up the scoreboard this year. He only averaged 15 PPG this year and sucked in the playoffs. And he's likely to start getting worse. As I said, it's probably not going to be too long before playing Gibson is a better option, if it isn't already. Also, take a look at the teams succeeding in the playoffs right now. OKC doesn't have a scoring threat at either big spot, Miami is still winning without Bosh, and San Antonio and Boston both have one old guy that aren't exactly scoring 22 per game anymore. The important thing is they'd still have two productive bigs that can defend and finish inside when they do get their chances. As long as Rose is his old self, they keep most of the frontcourt that is crucial to their defense (ie Noah and Gibson) and have at least one threat on the wing, they can still be highly competitive. It's not like they've got Kobe at the 2-guard and Karl Malone at the 4 right now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 04:21 PM) What this exercise ought to show everyone is truly how f***ed the Bulls are. They needed to make their run this year and next year. Rose's extension ($19 million or so a year) kicks in next year. The Bench mob all hits FA after next year and the Bulls are in no position to keep them. Then they're left with an expensive shell of a roster with Deng, Noah, Rose, Boozer, and no ability to get far enough under the cap to sign a difference-maker even if they amnesty Boozer and let guys like Asik from the bench mob walk. They're then too good to wind up with a decent chance in the Lottery, but not nearly good enough to make a run at the top of the East. They need someone to help them out, Gasol to LA style, or to somehow get incredibly lucky if they wind up in the lottery next year, or to do a bad contract for bad contract swap and then hope the guy they get suddenly becomes revitalized playing alongside Rose and in Thibs's system (what Orlando keeps trying to do around Howard). That's a bit of a stretch. The only thing stopping them from keeping the current core together is how much luxury tax JR wants to swallow. Even then, you can let some parts go without totally killing the roster. The obvious thing is to amnesty Boozer. That's a lot of money you can get off the payroll. It'd hurt a bit, but some would argue Gibson deserves a bigger role anyways and he's going to get worse in the next few years. Rip, Korver, Brewer and Watson currently make over $18 million. That's a backup PG and three wing players. If you draft well, you can replace one or two of them and sign a cheap-ish replacement. Rose, Deng and Noah is about $46 mil, which is a bit less than the Knicks and Heat have tied into their guys. You've already got one highly useful guy you can keep around with his Bird Rights in Gibson and Asik isn't all bad as a third big man. That leaves them as basically having to find one serviceable guard and cheap backups. You really only NEED to be about 8 deep, especially in the playoffs. Now if they decide that they have to significantly change the roster, yeah, they're kinda screwed. Even then, they've got a chance in 2013/2014 depending on how things break. Deng's contract expires and Boozer can be amnesty'd. Most of the rest of the roster is on short term deals. They'd be left with Rose (19), Noah (12) and possibly Gibson and Asik. Let's say hypothetically they get those two bigs for $10. They've got their stud PG and a fairly solid frontcourt for $41 mil. Even if you factor in guys on rookie deals for another $5 or $6 mil, that leaves them room to add another decent player. Hit on one of those picks and you're not totally screwed. Obviously everything depends on Rose being elite though. If that's no longer true, nothing else matters.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 03:14 PM) Just read that Mirotic signed a contract extension and might not even come over till 2015....Does his contract start when he comes over or whats the deal there? They wont lose him if he stays over there too long right? The Golden State pick I was talking about is #30 or #35...Dont think CJ gets you the #7. The 11th pick is where I had them taking Jones, though of the 4 mocks I've looked at only have him at 11 in one of em...In which case a SG like Jeremy Lamb or Austin Rivers can be the pick and go PG/Big with 29 and 30/35, lets say Wroten and Festus Ezeli Then you can turn your attention towards a Josh Smith at SF. You'd still have basically the same problem: the Bulls would have closer to $5 million in space than $10 million, which won't get you a solidly above average starter like those guys. You'd have to commit as much/more money to that trio than the Miami Heat. They had to completely gut their roster just to make room for those guys and you've seen what kind of crap makes up the rest of that roster.