Random NBA Questions/Thoughts

I love those re-cast draft scenarios. Bittersweet.

Think about Wade on the Pistons. I think Carmelo will get complacent and be moved in a couple of years.

 

1.) I think Livingston is gonna be one of the top 5 players in the NBA in a few years. Whether he's with the Clippers or not is another debate. Seriously though, he's big, he's a GREAT passer, team player, hard worker. Remember, he's not playing right now only because he's hurt. When he was healthy, he was their PG in crunch time.

3.) Melo. Everyone is riding Wade, and he's a stud, but Melo's been forced to be the man on his team. Wade hasn't. Add to the fact that Melo has hardly gotten any decent coaching, and I'm not ready to give up yet. I know lots of people have Melo hate, but I have faith.

 

Another RANDOM thought...

Do we know if this years playoffs will have a seven game set in the first round like last year??

I hope so, the more games the better..

 

It will be an interesting few weeks and I hope the Rox can 'steal' a good, younger player somehow someway through all the detritus.

 

1. To illustrate the folly of not taking the Best Available Player? (Just wait till the Rox take an SF or SG this draft). Don't know much about Livingston either, but they clearly were going for need since Jaric and whats his name are not starting NBA point guards, I don't think.

3. Wade, though he puts up shockingly similar numbers to Steve Francis, since he is not saddled with the PG label it's not as noticeable. Needs to turn it over less though, still. Anthony I have not been a fan of and has been riding the down-scalator since this summer.

4. No explanation other than that they are a joke of a joke. Fisher was a disaster, everybody knew that then.

5. The Hawks should just give it up and fold. I'm serious. They will never be good or have fans, just end it. The Hornets should do the same to even it out. ATL and NO aren't NBA towns.

7. The only one of these i want to claim "I told you so" status for is Boozer. I mean, here was a guy who played college ball for the premiere program, was excellent in college, had an NBA body - - he just got caught up in the "Great Foreign Player Bubble" of 2001-2002, where unproven forwards like Tshikitsvili, Nene, & Nachbar ended up as 1st rounders he was stuck back in round 2 with Dan Gadzuric. I was perplexed why he wasn't considered a hot name. Prince had the same problem, but it didn't hurt him as much obviously.

 

Well, let's keep in mind that it's the Clippers; a team that gets a lottery pick every single year and still can't make the playoffs. If you wanna talk about Rockets draft woes, take a look at the Clippers; seriously, if they had been willing to shell out the cash and had drafted a little bit differently, in theory they could have had this lineup:

PG - Bobby Jackson (97) [LACs drafted Mo Taylor]
SG - Kobe Bryant (96) [LACs drafted Lorenzen Wright, Kobe, Peja, Nash all available]
SF - Andrei Kirilenko (99) [LACs draft Odom]
PF - Kevin Garnett (95) [LACs drafted McDyess, traded him for Brent Barry and Rodney Rogers(!!)]
C - Dirk Nowitzki (98) [LACs drafted Kandi with Bibby, Carter, Jamison, Dirk, PPierce, Rashard all available]

Considering that most of those guys were all late-bloomers to a certain extent, it's conceivable (albeit extremely unlikely) that they would have still missed the playoffs and had lottery picks from 95-99. And this is the team that they could be fielding right now.

As for the original question about Livingston; well, the Clips have Brand and Wilcox, and I believe that at the time they probably figured that Orlando was going to draft Okafor with D.Howard left on the board at #2. They think that Livingston can be the next Magic... We'll see.

 

Hindsight is always 20-20. Look at all of the people who said that Donnie Darko would be a better play than 'Melo. Sad thing about it is that a guard named Dwayne Wade that was criticized as "undersized" is going to better than both.

 

Oh, I think if you're trading #2 for #4, then tehy didn't get enough. I'll agree there. Honestly, I only saw Livingston play one game in HS, but it was enough. He didn't get a LOT of PT before the injury, but it was increasing until the injury.

Remember though, I'm a die-hard fan of the pass first PG. Andre Miller, Jason Kidd, going back to Magic Johnson types. I hate the Stephon Marbury's and Steve Francis' of the NBA. Livingston has Magic Johnson type potential IMO.

Melo's having a ****ty year. No argument from me. THat said, I still think you're missing the two most important things.

* Teammates
* Coaching

Last year, Wade had Odom and (arguably) Eddie Jones to help take the heat off of him. This year, he has Shaq. Melo has been the #1 option both years without anyone even being a close #2.

As for coaching, Wade has had Pat Riley and Ron Jeremey as his coaches. Van Gundy isn't a great coach, but he's solid. But Riley has been there to lead the way. Bzdelik, as much gratitude as I owe him for giving us a playoff birth, was not a good coach for developing players. Cooper is proving why he was a WNBA coach so far. Melo needs someone to crack the whip. George Karl might eb that guy. It seems like his starts either love him (Gary Payton) or hate him (Ray Allen, Sam Cassell).

I know it's chic to hate Melo because of all the PR stuff, but I'm standing by him. I still have faith in him to turn it around.

 

What's he shown that you think he'll be better than Kobe, T-Mac, Wade, Amare, Yao, LeBron, KG, or Duncan?

 

LeBron, KG or Duncan? Nothing. Those are the top 3. Everything else is up for grabs.

The others have holes or flaws where it's all debatable. I already said that I prefer the pass-first PG. Livingston has GREAT court vision (not LeBron's, but up there). Livingston's a solid defender. He does need to improve his shot, but that'll come with time. That's the same problem that LeBron had coming into the league and last I checked, that's coming along fine. Livingston is a LeBron type player who makes his teammates better. I may be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time, but I think Livingston is gonna be an elite player in the NBA.

 

1. being the clippers

2. i don't know how the wizards are so good. hughes has just exploded and that has helped and the warriors east are now tearing up the east. such a bad conference.

3. Wade. ridiculously fast and explosive. and somehow, he hits a lot of midrange jumpers, and not even easy jumpers, the kind where he drives, bumps a guy off, and still hits it. i don't see how he is going to hit these for the rest of his career (it just seems like a magical season for him now) but he keeps doing it. also, the number of and1's he's had with a large amount of contact is amazing. if you're that fast, that explosive, and can shoot, you can't be stopped. shaq obviously helps him, but the number of 9 assists games he's had is huge. plus he seems to be quite clutch. i was surprised to see his turnovers so high (i think 3.9 right now). but you can live with that.

4. NO ****ING IDEA! adonal foyle and derek fisher for a combined $80M. mullin should've been fired on the spot. not only did he not learn the no long contracts for role players lesson CD should have taught him thoroughly, but he makes them pretty big contracts. i mean, fisher is on the wrong side of 30 and i can't imagine a lot of people were bidding on him at that price. the only possible places he could approach being worth that are contenders who need an outside shooter who is clutch. the warriors need talent, not guys who hit 3's in the last minute to bring them within 15. adonaly foyle? what, a lot of people bidding on him, too? something tells me no. but hey, 5 yrs, 40M, why not. then he gives murphy $10M a year for 6 years (he may put up double doubles but he doesn't control a game like a $10M/yr guy). and then richardson for the max? maybe other teams give him a max contract (and he is good) but he's never been on anything resembling a winner and doesn't figure to turn the team around. he should've had murphy's contract and murphy should be closer to foyle's and foyle's should been closer to my contract (right around $0).

i assume davis' contract is expiring but maybe not. still, completely stupid moves when you're trying to rebuild. when you've got a core that isn't going to get it done (and foyle, fisher, richardson, murphy, dunleavy isn't going to get it done), you don't lock them up for 6 years each and basically completely fill up your cap in the process. mindboggling really. i guess the reason there wasn't more outcry is they're the warriors and this is expected.


5. while i don't know what portland will do, they have a crapload of expiring contracts. i think their 4 highest contracts all expire to the tune of about $54M. i think they're down in the 20 million range for contracts next year (they got van exel's huge expiring contract from the good ol' warriors).

6. and the nets aren't completely out of that race. they don't figure to get back in it w/o rj, but nonetheless they sucked horribly and still aren't that far out.

7. let us never speak of it again.

 

Don't forget that DUKE SYSTEM albatross hanging around his neck. I had touted him for our #15 pick but CD wouldn't take my phone calls.

 

TRADE RETROACTIVELY ACCEPTED

 

I don't know how you can downplay Melo's attitude: Yet alone Wades performance.

Melo has continuously made boneheaded cancerous decisions, even on the court. I'd take Wade over Melo anyday, you get a great playmaker without the prima donna BS pouting headaches. Personally I think Wade has a more all around impact on a game than Melo...other than score and pout what does Melo do? (Can you tell I like the guy? )

"Melo has been the #1 option both years without anyone even being a close #2." Do you think Melo would humbly accept a #2 role? Would he have accepted only 12 field goal attempts a game?

 

2.) It should be interesting seeing how the young/athletic PF derby ends up. You have Brown, Chandler, and Swift. I wonder how much the Bulls are willing to pay to keep Chandler. Curry looks like their priority, will Chandler take the backseat?

All these late-blooming high schoolers make the draft a "damned if you do/ damned if you don't" situation. Teams almost have to commit two multiyear contracts just to taste the goods. Then, it's an extremely bad mistake if they don't turn the corner.

 

I was big on Tayshaun Prince out of college (lefty, shooter, 7-foot wingspan that seems longer because it sure isn't in his "broad shoulders"), but not Boozer. At least I hit on one of them.

Boozer always had a great NBA body, but I think the reason most people didn't see much in him is he didn't seem to have much additional upside- he doesn't have a pteradactyl wingspan, and isn't particularly tall for a PF (6-9). He also only got around 6 rebounds a game in college- seemed Mo Taylor-esque, minus the face-up offensive ability and sweet 17 footer that Mo once had. He's a rock solid player now, though.

The Warriors...I feel badly for Swopa. Paying Derek Fisher that much to come off the bench? At least give it to a guy with upside, like Hedo. But Derek Fisher?!

The young PF market will be great this offseason for the Rockets. Brown, Chandler, Swift, Griffin, Dalembert. We'll see how it plays out.