2011/12 NBA Season ("the short season")

So here we are, a week before Christmas. Another duo, another trio, another trade, another contender, new champion and runner-up, huge salaries, and one David Stern. Game is on.

* What's cooking in Angels city? Chris Paul teams up with Blake Griffin. Watch out Lakers!!

* The German superstar is still hungry, but half his team are goners. Can the Mavs repeat? don't count on it just yet.

* HEAT will compete, but who gives a shit? the world and his mother. The fans and the haters. The press. The mess. Nothing less.

* How long will it take for the Knicks to gel and form some dynasty? will it ever happen?

* is it the year of the raging Bulls? the young Thunders or Grizzlies? the good ol Celtics? too many names and contenders...and yet we're all still waiting for Superman.

I don't like players like Howard in this game. If you're big and you're ALSO a great bball player, then all is well. But Howard is all body and zero talent. I fall asleep watching him play. If all players had a body like his, he wouldn't have made it past D-League.

I just find it ridiculous that he's considered as one of the best players in the game.

Wow, the Lakers-Clippers game sure got some ratings. I can't remember such excitment in a preseason game, well maybe last year's Miami debut, but looks like many fans were just waiting to see this new LA trio (Paul, Griffin and Billups), and they sure delivered. Kobe should be worried. And not just about them.

I'm pleased to see all those new contenders, if we may call them that. I still believe the Knicks will have a much better year. I don't believe I've ever had such a long list of possible champions, but come June, I wouldn't be surprised if any of the following will be champions:

Bulls
Knicks
Thunders
Lakers
Clippers
Celtics
Mavericks
Heat
Grizzlies

...looks like we're going for one hell of a season.

I'm REALLY pulling for the Knicks this year. It's been 11 years since they've won a playoff series. They have the best front court in the league. Let's just hope the backcourt can do it's job. As of this writing, I'd say they're the 2nd/3rd best team in the East (Miami being #1 and either tied or ahead of Chicago).

Chicago is ahead of Miami...and New York

Maybe New York, not Miami. No one's ahead of Miami

So far so good. The first few games say nothing much about the rest of the season. Boston is simply not the same team without their captain Paul Pierce.

The best game thus far was Bulls-Lakers. GREAT killer shot by Rose on money time. You just gotta love it. Kobe does this turnaround shot and you think that nails it. But Rose says "anything you can do I can do better". Give me some more of that stuff.

If someone could do an intervention with Joe Dumars that would be greatly appreciated. The excess sugar and carbs from all the donuts and gumbo he has evidently been eating has impacted his brain synapses. Why else would he re-sign Stuckey and Prince?

This season can't be over soon enough.

Is it the end of Boston as we know it? there's talk about a restart, younger players to come and replace the big 3. It's hard to believe Pierce will end his career in a different team. He is to Boston what Kobe is to Lakers.

Yes, Boston's done (at least for now). The team is too old and the short schedule is going to kill them much the same it may with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. I really think a season like this favors younger teams like Chicago, Oklahoma City or Miami.

But getting back to Boston, truth is, who's gonna want their aging stars? What's the market for a 35-year-old Kevin Garnett or 36-year-old Ray Allen? Probably not much.

somebody will pick up ray allen. i hope boston trades garnett to china.

True. I think Allen's trade value is higher than Garnett's now

Have to ask, not as up on the NBA as i am with other US sports, but why have the Celtics not realised their roster is aging and tried to do something about it over the last couple of years??

That would require finding a bigger idiot to trade with and at the time Joe Dumars didn't have anyone the Celtics wanted...

The Celtics won the title as recently as 2008. I don't remember if they were signed to extensions (I think Allen was). Boston was horrible for so long, they wanted to see how many cracks at the title they could with this current roster. Unfortunately for them, age has caught up to them quickly. Again, I think Allen is a tradeable piece, but that's about it because I don't see them parting with Paul Pierce.

Some days back, Floyd Mayweather claimed the buzz around Justin Lin was because of his race and not his play.

Almost reminds me of when Isiah Thomas told SI that if Larry Bird were black he'd be considered an average ballplayer. But at least Isiah played the same sport (and played it well). Mayweather should just stfu. But he won't.

That attack in retrospect is rich in facepalm-tastic irony, considering Larry Bird was actually a pretty good coach and later GM for the Pacers.

Anything Thomas has done off-court, he's always failed, and usually quite spectacularly.

Yes, no one could suck at the Knicks GM job as spectacularly as Isiah did .

Is China censoring Lin?

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/201...ter.php?ref=fpa

Spike Lee tweets back at Mayweather



Floyd, you got served.

If someone would have told me 2 weeks ago that a Chinese point guard from Harvard would get me re-interested in the Knicks, I would have LMAO.

Good for Spike!!!!

Just heard that the NBA is working out something to get Lin in at the all star festivities in some kind of capacity.

Taiwanese Paparazzi Won't Leave Jeremy Lin's Grandma Alone

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/...ma-alone/48766/

He's gonna get to feed the ball to Shumpert during the slam dunk contest.

Has Mayweather been checked for some sort of concussion syndrome? Wow, is he outta touch. Go punch a bag.

I loved BB, but when the owners, and the players forget about the fans !!!!! That buy tickets and all their shit , Jerseys, Jackets, etc.. Got 2 (Two Words) for you all and that is "Fuck You" ! You can take that to the Bank ! I will never along with alot of my Friends do the same !!!! You all are a bunch of pricks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So go home do your crack, one way or another and let America and all the Kids Down ya fucks !

Frosty but at least I have Balls !

He's also been added to the rookie/sophomore game.

Funny watching the Murray St. game yesterday, and a bumper for a ABC telecast of a Knicks game on sunday. That spurs Dick Vitale, off script I'm certain, to go off against the network for allowing that major PR snafu that ESPN printed on their website regarding Mr. Jeremy Lin.

Once rant done, the other broadcaster said nothing and went back to the game. Hilarious.

Don't hold back Frosty, how do you really feel?

I had it all written out so sweet ! LMAO !

They are all pricks ! Owner's , Players, and they don't respect fans ! Little Kids ! They are PRICK'S ! I will not watch them again ! Fuck Them ! Let them make there money , do there dope and rape who they want !

Frosty

Wow..

Durant had 51
Westbrook had 40 &
Ibaka had a triple double

I wonder if that's the first time one team had one guy go for 50, another go for 40, and another have a triple double.

Dwight Howard, make up your goddamn mind.

Wow, I'm kinda surprised Mike D'Antoni resigned. I knew he wouldn't be there past this season, but I'm more surprised he resigned and didn't get fired. Probably knew he was going to be and just beat them to the punch.

expect rumors of phil jackson coming in.

They're a joke. Management isn't happy unless the inmates are running the asylum, and I can't root for them as long as Richie Rich is running the show at the Garden. And trust me, I'm no casual fan. My brother and I used to go to 20 games a year back in the day. Greatest venue in the world and no one wants to play here. Can you really blame them?

Re Phil Jackson. I'm old enough to remember Jackson as a Knick, so I have a fondness for him, even if he pissed me off no end with his whole Zen thing. But he's not coming to a team that doesn't have TWO superstars already in place. And Anthony and Stoudemire are NOT the two.

The Knicks are screwed in general when their owner is more incompetent than Mr. Thomas. (How do you pull that off?)

My favorite Dolan horror story: He makes his employees attend his jazz band's weekly recitals. (Too good to be true?)

Hey, I'm ALL about it but from what I'm hearing, the current team may not be enough to get him back on the bench. That and his health. But I FIRMLY believe in Phil. He was able to win championships with Jordan/Pippen, Kobe/Shaq, Kobe/Gasol.

I agree, I hate Dolan. He is one of the worst owners in the league only don't ask him that. He'll tell you he's doing a good job. I'm still pissed they let Pat Riley lost. Since he left Pat's won a ring and basically already in the Finals for the next few years being able to sign LeBron and Bosh to go along with Wade. SMH

He's not coming back for the Knicks.

(He saw what happened to Larry Brown.)

I caught this great moment in a Rockets game the other night and wanted to share it:



Didn't beat the buzzer, unfortunately, but it was the highlight of my evening getting to witness that.

Very nice, gina. Thanks for the clip. I always liked Marcus Camby.

The Knicks beat the Heat

Good for them! Series now 3-1

Pacers stole one from the Heat!!

I'm hardly a Pacers fan, but as a Knicks fan I have to root against the Heat.

Best shot of the game last night was in the 4th quarter when the camera focused from court level on the Pacer bench during a tense moment in a one point game. Almost on cue from two rows behind Larry Birdleans over with his eyes on the court, expressionless and confident. He was just named NBA Executive of the Year. Having previously won Coach of the Year and 3 MVPs, he's now got the hat trick.

His old team, the Celtics, looked scary good tonight. This is the last hurrah for that group. I would like to see the Celtics and Spurs in the finals.

The Spurs just might win it all! They never get any accolades it seems, just quietly get the job done.

I take the NBA lottery conspiracy talk with a grain of salt, but do admit its fishy. Even more interesting IMHO is that the New Orleans coach is almost a dead ringer for ex-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin.

If ever there had been a fix in the lottery, it would have been the year that the Knicks got Ewing...with the frozen envelope.

Poor Charlotte! One of the worst seasons in the history of basketball and they don't even end up with the 1st overall pick! The Raptors are stuck at 8! Maybe Colangelo will actually pick someone who'll be playing in North America in the near future!

I didn't mind at the time, but the thing with LeBron was definitely fixed too. They didn't even show the ping pong balls on television. Instead, the draft order was just announced.

Didn't the envelope have a big fold on it for Ewing? I seem to remember some kind of controversy about that.

There's a story (and apparently witnesses too) that the man who placed the envelopes into the tank pressed the fourth envelope against the side of the tank, thereby causing a crease that would be identifiable to Stern, who allegedly felt a few envelopes before picking the winner.

Before the draft there was a lot of talk that the Knicks had a real need for Ewing while the league had an interest in the star of the draft going to its largest market. So the conspiracy theories were stirring before the lottery. This could have been avoided by having team representatives select envelopes for the order of selection.

In reality I don't think Stern would fix it, but as this process for selection was in its infancy, not enough was done to remove the veil of impropriety. Certainly, Stern was jubilant that Ewing went to NY.

The Celtics, while not as talented as the Heat, have more heart, and this may get them to the Finals.

Rajon Rondo's short interview after the first half Sunday night was one of the best I heard when he attributed the Celtics' offensivesuccess to the fact that during transition the Heat were crying and complaining to the referees instead of getting back on defense.

I'm really pulling for the Celts to send LeBron packing.

The Finals should be entertaining. I'm picking the Heat although Game 1 should go to the Thunder. While OKC has more depth than Miami, I think the experience and talent of James and Wade (and even Bosh) give the edge to Miami.

Also, while I didn't follow the regular season closely, it just appeared to me that Miami played defense much better than OKC.

Anyone else reminded of Dr. J and Magic Johnson when they watch Durant play?

Yep. He certainly has Dr. J's explosiveness.

I've been saying this for years. Stern's been in that position since 1984. That's more than long enough. Future commissioners should have a 10-15 year term and that's it. No one man is bigger than the league.

Time for Stern to go

I wouldn't mind seeing Stern leave...but only if he takes Bud Selig and Roger Goodell with him.

Agree completely Lilo. While Rome's schtick is old, he was right to ask the question. Just the way he worded it and the way he said was wrong. But not only the lotto fixing, look at many games over the years. Even last night - the refs determine the games by giving the stars calls or non-calls. It's been going on for a long time. And I truly believe that Stern is behind the way games are officiated. Stern can't tell me LeBron didn't foul Durant on that last play.

And I also agree with Selig needing to go, Klydon. He is the worst commissioner in the past 50 years of any sport.

But Goodell has done a good, but not great, job. The process of appealing suspensions back to Goodell being the decider is lunacy. But Goodell has done a good job trying to remove the thugs from the game who have off the field issues. I don't like the rule changes giving so much protection to QBs, but that is not all Goodell's fault.

Championship Reactions: Dan Gilbert and others

Thank God that's over.

I guess he can indeed win the big one.

Mark Cuban gets into it with Skip Bayless and basically tells him he doesn't know anything.

LeBron may have finally won, but he did one thing that the true greats never did. Not Isiah, MJ, Kobe, Dr. J., Bird, & Magic never once came close to doing. He quit on his team and he will never be mentioned as one of the greats above. Not only did he quit, he didn't even have the decency to tell the Cavs he was leaving until announcing it on tv to the public. That showed me his true character - being raised to be a punk and without class.

It infuriates me that he won because of the message it sends to kids: look out for yourself and there will be no consequences.

I hear what you are saying. Lebron was wrong to leave like he did. That said though it is a business. He was a free agent. His obligation to Cleveland had expired.

Most of the greats had some not so nice sides to them on and off the basketball court.

I can't get mad at James for leaving, not when the Thunder owner moved the Supersonics to Oklahoma City, primarily because he couldn't get what amounted to welfare money for a new stadium. Business is business.

Agree Lilo. He had every right to leave. He just did in such a classless way. Shaq didn't host his own TV show when he left Orlando to announce his departure.

The other thing LeBron did that gets frequently overlooked: from 2008-2010, he would never give the front office any type of indication as to whether he was staying. That made it nearly impossible to sign quality free agents. Instead, the Cavs had to get middle-to-lower tier free agents.

Dan Gilbert did everything to entice James to stay: built a new practice facility closer to Akron, fired the coaches James did not like, and catered to James' posse. That's why I will never forgive James for not being man-enough to tell Gilbert what he was intending to do. From the 2008 Olympics forward, James knew that he would not re-sign in Cleveland, for which he had every right not to. But he did it in the most classless way possible.

Gilbet's such an asshole I can't exactly feel bad for him. (The fans? I pity them.)

Anyway congrats to the Heat for winning the championship. They deserved it.

Actually, Gilbert is really not an a-hole. He had that one very bad moment after LeBron left. And he had every right to be pissed. The whole situation was handled badly, both by Gilbert and James.

Gilbert has done a lot for the city of Cleveland. He had our first Casino built which opened in May to high praise. Plus he has done a lot of behind the scenes things. I would love to see him be the owner of either the Browns or Indians with his deep pockets. He's an owner who gets it. He's not as brash as Mark Cuban, but Gilbert is very smart.

DANG IT what the heck is going on in the NBA?! Free agency just began and look at what's transpired thus far:

-Landry Fields is going to the Toronto Raptors
-Jason Terry is going to the Boston Celtics
-Deron Williams is staying in Brooklyn
-Michael Beasley is going to the Phoenix Suns
-Joe Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Nets
-Jameer Nelson is staying in Orlando
-Chauncey Billups is staying in Los Angeles (Clippers)
-Jamal Crawford is going to Los Angeles (Clippers)
-Steve Nash is going to Los Angeles (Lakers)
-Jason Kidd is going to New York

Very true Irish. I would also add obviously Ray Allen taking his talents to South Beach.



I actually supported him leaving Cleveland for Miami, I thought it was the sensible move if he really wanted a ring. Hell Kevin Garnett left Minnesota for Boston, as we remember.

King James (yes he finally truely earned that crown) just did the worst possible PR move on his way out that turned him from another Michael Jordan successor to the NBA's Ric Flair: The #1 heel.

But other than that, to belittle James (and the Heat) for winning their ring is just silly. They earned it, and they didn't, well the Thunder and Celtics and everybody else should've fucking played better. He's been needing a championship to make do with the hype and attention given him for all these years, and that title lifts a whole lot of weight off his back. It reminds me when Kobe Bryant finally won a championship without Shaq's help.

Really I couldn't care less if the player is a saint or a dick. It's been endlessly debated for over 20 years about Isiah Thomas being snubbed from the Dream Team. Should he've been on the team? Absolutely, he was one of the best, hard playing NBA stars of that era. He was absolutely the most ruthless, inconsiderate, dirty-playing son of a bitch star of his era too, but would anybody sympathize with my feeling that at least it was OK to be a douche when fighting for titles instead of most of these modern atheletes who seem rather indifferent?

I mean NBA TV recently did a terrific documentary on the 20th anniversary of the Dream Team. All those members danced around the Isiah Thomas controversy, with Michael Jordan outright lying that he had nothing to do with Thomas getting snubbed.

But fact was this: Most if not everybody on the Dream Team fucking HATED HATED HATED Isiah Thomas.

Jordan despised his guts, never forgiving Thomas for his team walking out of that playoff defeat without shaking the Bulls' hands. Jordan played with Pippen, who also hated Thomas and admitted in that doc he didn't want to play with him on the DT. Jordan was a close associate of both Charles Barkely (who agreed with Pippen) and the elder Magic Johnson (Jordan was one of the first players to learn about Johnson contracting AIDS), and of course Johnson was close to Larry Bird.

So all that starpower networking, it's not a surprise Thomas wasn't on the Dream Team. He's a douche, a bad (if well-earned) reputation that obscured that he was awesome.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog.
And Isiah had heart as big as anyone although he was usually the smallest guy on the floor. And Scottie Pippen should stay silent. My memories of him are of him having a migraine before game 7 with Detroit and later refusing to return to a game because he didn't get the final shot. And Malone? Big bully with no heart. Malone and Pippen on Dream Team? This is what I think about that!


Isiah Thomas was driving through New York City, enjoying the sights of his new home.
It was a peaceful moment, but he knows that's about to change. The phone calls will start soon. NBA TV is airing a documentary about the 1992 Dream Team at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and although Thomas was not on the team, he remains a central figure in the project. About 2½ minutes of the film are devoted to Thomas and why he was left off the team. Thomas declined to be interviewed for the project although producers reached out toward him.

The so-called "Dream Team" was comprised mostly of NBA players competing at the Olympics after years of allowing only amateur players.

But Thomas was snubbed. Thomas is not mentioned in the following quotes but you know who Malone and Pippen are talking about.

"I don't think we (Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen) wanted to be on the team if he was on the team. We're enemies," Pippen said.

"I didn't select anybody. OK? If you weren't chosen then shut the (heck) up," Karl Malone said.

Still, Thomas won't get caught up in the controversy. He's not about to relive that part of his life.
"I think I will bypass that today as I have before," he said. "I will have no comment on that."

Beating the old guard
Thomas was the leader of the "Bad Boys," a team that not only beat you, but beat you up. They were rough, physical and stood up to the establishment of the Lakers, Celtics and Bulls.

And along the way, resentment grew.
The Lakers and Celtics ruled the NBA in the 1980s. Then along came the Pistons, who first toppled the Celtics in the 1988 Eastern Conference finals and then the Lakers in the 1989 NBA Finals. The battles were long and angry.

The Pistons never were supposed to be among the elite.
And it caused problems.
"When you go outside the structure, there is a price to pay for that," Thomas said. "Who is this team that had the audacity to beat the Lakers and the Celtics, and to beat the Bulls? How dare you challenge this?"

And then there were the Bulls, who controlled the 1990s. They had to go through the Pistons, and part of that infamous history that dogged the Pistons for years was their walking off the court — before the game ended — as the Bulls were in the process of sweeping them out of the 1991 Eastern Conference finals.

And Malone …
His elbow to the face of Thomas during a game in Utah in 1991 was uncalled for. It was vicious and a cheap shot. It was premeditated, and it was Malone's payback for Thomas dropping 40 points on Jazz guard John Stockton during a game at The Palace.

Thomas needed 40 external stitches — and about 50 internal ones — to close the wound. The greatest team…minus one

Still, the Dream Team was the greatest team in history.
Larry Bird. Jordan. Magic Johnson. The elite of the elite. They won 14 NBA titles between them.
Thomas, however, belonged with the group.
He wasn't. He was replaced by Stockton, a great player with great numbers — and no titles to show for it.

Thomas? He won two.
The documentary will be done and well received, and it will give fans a peek into the greatest team in the history of basketball.
But that team was not complete without Thomas.
"I will just let it go," Thomas said.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120608/OPINION03/206080408

Thomas' absence from the team was conspicuous. I knew that some players disliked him, but Magic and he were very close.

I agree with you on Pippen and Malone - especially Malone. He always seemed to lack the rabid desire or heart to win. When Bird, Magic or Michael were on the floor, you could sense that they were out to win as if their lives depended on it. Their passion and focus elevated their teams. I never saw this quality in Karl Malone.

Fun Fact: the last player picked for the Dream Team was planned to be a college player. Obviously the golden boy at the time, Laettner in star power was a no brainer. But he wasn't the only one considered. That other college player?

Shaq.

BTW, the Knicks trashing Jeremy Lin on the way out is quite silly. Yes he didn't play in the playoffs, neither in the last few playoff games did that one Knicks player who broke his hand punching a fire extinguisher. Where's his punishment for being fucking stupid?

I especially loved Carmelo Anthony's "ridiculous" comment, one coming from a ridiculously overpaid, overrated player that Knicks gave up way too much to get.

(Not a member of Linsanity, but Knicks were perhaps fiscally smart to not match that Rockets contract. But their PR handling? Bunch of clowns.)

Evidently it was personal with Dolan.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-d...20611--nba.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--d...-for-heat-.html

"People can use all the Rondo stuff – and it was there, no doubt about that – but it was me more than Rondo," said Rivers, who is working as an NBC analyst during the Olympics. "I'm the guy who gave Rondo the ball. I'm the guy who decided that Rondo needed to be more of the leader of the team. That doesn't mean guys liked that – and Ray did not love that – because Rondo now had the ball all the time.

"Think about everything [Allen] said when he left, 'I want to be more of a part of the offense.' Everything was back at Rondo. And I look at that, and say, 'That's not Rondo's fault.' That's what I wanted Rondo to do, and that's what Rondo should've done. Because that's Rondo's ability. He's the best passer in the league. He has the best feel in the league. He's not a great shooter, so he needs the ball in his hands to be effective. And that bothered Ray.

"And not starting [games] bothered Ray. I did examine it, and the conclusion I came back to was this: By doing the right things, we may have lost Ray. If I hadn't done that, I would've been a hypocrite. In the opening speech I make every year, I tell the team: 'Every decision I make is going to be what's good for the team, and it may not be what's good for the individual.'"

Rivers said he had mediated issues between Allen and Rondo for most of the five years that they played together, but that it became a dramatically worse issue in the 2010-11 season...

Fascinating.

So does Ray Allen really think he'll get the ball more in Miami?