Re: NBA Playoffs Discussion/Pick'em Thread

by BanksIsDaFuture Sat May 23, 2009 9:53 am

Yeah, that was a helluva shot by LeBron. But he is far from being Mr. Clutch, that was poor defense by Turkogul. I really thought the Magic were gonna head home up 2-0, that would've been crazy.

Expect that shot to be in all the new "Where Amazing Happens" commercials...

by transformers2 Sat May 23, 2009 5:19 pm

Lebron is jesus. Bottom line.

by W Sat May 23, 2009 9:43 pm

A little late and off topic, but I've had a shitstorm come down on me the past couple of weeks so I should get a pass...

Did anyone see who got the #1 pick in the draft (my favorite day of the sports calendar)? The LA Clippers. It's pretty much a lock that the Clippers are taking Blake Griffin #1. What do you forsee his future being in the NBA? I think the Clippers will have short-term success (they could miss the playoffs and call it success right now) with Camby/Kaman/Griffin/Randolph at the C/PF and Thornton/Gordon/Baron Davis combo with a couple of decent guards behind them. They will screw up, let everyone go, not develop Griffin as they should, and he'll be gone when his contract runs out. That's just the way that team is. If there was any chance of Blake Griffin being a guy that can be the best player on a championship team, it went out the door when that ping pong ball came up.

#2 pick goes to Memphis which is close to a lock in picking Hasheem Thabeet from UConn or Ricky Rubio from Europe. If they expect more than Dikembe Mutombo, then they are kidding themselves. This guy will do exactly what The Mountain did, which in this draft is great value for this pick. If they draft Rubio, who knows what'll happen. He's supposed to be the second coming of Pistol Pete from what I hear. Well, they said a combination of Clyde Frazier and Steve Nash which equal to Pistol Pete. The pick will either be great or awful as that's how things seem to work out with Europeans. The only players currently on their roster that matter much are OJ Mayo (stud), Rudy Gay (semi-stud), and Marc Gasol who will at the very least be a serviceable Center in the NBA for years and could be one of the best in the game if developed right. I wish Mike Conley would have a better career, but it's just not looking that way right now. It looks like 2/3 flops for Lawrence North High School in Indiana (the other two being Greg Oden and Eric Gordon).

Lastly, the Knicks look like they're going to take Stephen Curry and it doesn't look like (at this point) anyone before them would draft him. If they expect anything out of him other than being a pure shooter, they are mistaken. He'll make the occasional pass, but can't be relied on to be an NBA point guard. He can be an undersized shooting guard that comes off screen ala Reggie Miller. I think he CAN be a #1 player on a decent team, but there is no way he's #1 on a good team. Can't even be #2 on any team that Lebron isn't a part of.

Those are my thoughts on the subject... Who do you guys like?

by **Buscemi** Sun May 24, 2009 1:53 am

Blake Griffin will be an absolute bust. In college, he got favoritism because no one ever played defense against him and referees would never call fouls on him. When teams finally did play defense on him, they shut him down and his teams lost.

In the NBA, teams will play defense on him and he will not get the numbers he got in college. In short, another failed pick by the Clippers.

by **geezer9687** Sun May 24, 2009 2:06 am

Um, does anyone actually think he will put up the numbers he did in college against NBA teams? I think that would be a little ridiculous. Who would you take over him Buscemi? I'm not sold on him being a perennial all star, but he is the pick to make. However, just being on the Clippers will be enough to torpedo the kids career. Its a shame. What a shitty franchise.

Ricky Rubio will be the best player to come out of this draft. Whoever does take him will be getting a very good point guard. that said, it is a very weak year. Thabeet will never have anything that resembles a low post game, and all you can get are rebounds and blocks. That is not worth a top 2 pick. Who knows what will happen, but it is certainly a down year.

by **Buscemi** Sun May 24, 2009 2:18 am

Honestly Geez, I'd trade the pick for a couple of lower picks. I'd rather build on lesser-known players that can become team players rather than a big player that will end up being a waste of time and money.

You even read about the 1986 draft? That was probably the weakest first round draft ever. But it also had the best second draft ever. I mean, the Pistons got Dennis Rodman in that draft! Sure he's a joke now but back then, it was probably the biggest draft steal ever.

by thswrestler160 Sun May 24, 2009 2:30 am

hey just so you know W the only reason greg oden was on that lawrence north highschool team is because they PAID him a fairly good amount of money to move from my school up to LN plus if you've ever met the dude he's a total dick as well as the rest of his team mates. Oh and if they ever decide to give him a drug test gaarronntee you he fails. Any team would be wise to avoid him even if the dude is 7 foot. and i know i dont watch very much college ball so is that blake griffin dude really that good cuz the highlight stuff espn showed of him he just looked kind of average to me.

by **Buscemi** Sun May 24, 2009 2:40 am

I remember seeing the McDonalds All-American Slam Dunk Contest back in 2007. I believe he only won the contest because of his skin color. His dunks were boring and unoriginal. His opponent, an African-American, had better and more interesting dunks and deserved to win. But the all-white jury chose give the title to that honky Blake Griffin.

Things like that piss me off. That contest was pre-determined before the contest even started.

And two years later, it nearly happened again. Another white player does some boring and downright terrible dunks (even completely screwing up a few) and he ends up in the final two. At least this time, the better man won.

by **geezer9687** Sun May 24, 2009 3:18 am

I really hope no one actually takes you seriously.

by **Buscemi** Sun May 24, 2009 5:34 am

It's hard to accept but racism and sexism still survives. We really must try to ignore it and make things better but that's impossible when everyone else wants to keep things the way they are now.

Example: the Internet Movie Database. Outside of the Ku Klux Klan and Michael Bay's movies, the most racist thing out there.

by **geezer9687** Sun May 24, 2009 7:55 am

You mean outside of you, and your self hatred for being white?

by thswrestler160 Sun May 24, 2009 8:42 am

woo go lakers! have you guys ever seen kobe look so beat before?

by **geezer9687** Sun May 24, 2009 8:53 am

And he still gets the job done. Loving these conference finals. They should both go 7!

by W Sun May 24, 2009 9:13 am

thswrestler160 wrote:hey just so you know W the only reason greg oden was on that lawrence north highschool team is because they PAID him a fairly good amount of money to move from my school up to LN plus if you've ever met the dude he's a total dick as well as the rest of his team mates. Oh and if they ever decide to give him a drug test gaarronntee you he fails. Any team would be wise to avoid him even if the dude is 7 foot. and i know i dont watch very much college ball so is that blake griffin dude really that good cuz the highlight stuff espn showed of him he just looked kind of average to me.

I know. When I was in High School (at THNorth) South's Women's basketball team won the state title. Miss Indiana was on that team. The next year her mom got a job at Pfizer (or Eli Lilly) that paid fairly well. She played for Lawrence North and they won the title that year. Same thing with Greg Oden. I know what's up...

Also, I'll go out on a limb and name Rubio the best player to come out of the draft. Anyone that thinks Griffin will Kwame out is nuts too. He'll be a serviceable forward for his career, but not one of the great #1 picks. If you can get Dikembe Mutumbo with the third pick in the draft, I think that's good value--for this draft. Put him together with a few scorers/decent defenders and you have a pretty good team ala the Pistons (a few years ago).

by **Buscemi** Mon May 25, 2009 8:58 pm

Orlando now up 2-1. The Cleveland sports curse is looking like it may continue.

by JackO Mon May 25, 2009 10:49 pm

They should be up 3-0.

by BanksIsDaFuture Mon May 25, 2009 11:06 pm

Wow, I knew the Cavs faced bum teams the first two rounds, but they are getting exposed right now. Too bad for Cleveland, if they don't win a title, it's almost guaranteed LeBron is leaving.

And I couldn't believe how tired Kobe was at the end of the game, I thought he was gonna do the post interview laying down on the court.

by **geezer9687** Tue May 26, 2009 7:53 am

I don't really get why everyone is saying that Cleveland should be down 3-0. I mean, sure, hey very easily could be, but they didn't do anything illegal to get their win. Lebron came up huge in the biggest of spots and they won the game. They made it a lot closer than it should have been, but they still did everything they had to do to win it. Game 4 will be critical.

by transformers2 Wed May 27, 2009 1:27 am

Gonna be a good one tonight. Series momentum is on the line!

by BanksIsDaFuture Wed May 27, 2009 9:21 am

Orlando gets lucky this time as LeBron misses the 3. They were up by 6 with a minute left, how the hell did they let it come down to a crapshoot like that?

I don't think Orlando will win Game 5, but they'll probably win the series.

by **Buscemi** Fri May 29, 2009 1:23 am

I watched the Lakers/Nuggets game last night and Denver could have won the game had they not made so many bad plays and missed so many easy shots. I don't place the blame on the players but instead on George Karl. He didn't seem to motivate the players or even be interested in the game. If this same team appears for the rest of the series, not only will they lose the series but George Karl will most likely lose his job. The coach is a good regular season coach but for some reason, he doesn't have the ability to coach good playoff teams.

by **geezer9687** Fri May 29, 2009 2:34 am

There's no way in hell Karl loses his job. No one in that organization actually expected them to even get this far. No way he gets canned after actually having a successful team for the the first time in ages.

by BanksIsDaFuture Fri May 29, 2009 2:57 am

It's looking like a Lakers/Magic finals. NBA would be super pissed if that happened, all that wasted marketing....

And yeah, the Nuggets weren't supposed to get past Dallas or maybe even NO, I just think they're amazed at themselves for getting so far and they're content with that. They don't have the hunger to get into the Finals.

by W Fri May 29, 2009 7:37 pm

When the Nuggets got into the playoffs, everyone expected that the Nuggets would be in the WCF. Everyone... Sure, they were seen as ripe for upset, but everyone expected them to beat Dallas and NO. Both are weak this year.

by **geezer9687** Fri May 29, 2009 9:38 pm

When the Nuggets got into the playoffs, no one expected that the Nuggets would win the WCF. No one. Everyone expected that the Lakers would get to the NBA finals easily. No coach is going to get canned for merely living up to expectations rather than exceeding them

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