Do you throw the javeline or the shot-put for the Special Olympics? (at the risk of being banned, I have to say it)
Did anybody listen to Mark and Rich this afternoon? I was listening on the way to work 230ish, and caught right in middle right when they were explainning that the Zen Master called DA over the weekend and spoke to him for TWO hours and STILL couldnt convice him to come to the Lakers. Rich was saying that we should be impressed that someone choose us over LA, with the hard push they were doing for DA. Anybody want to add what I missed?
Man you guys are brutal...thx for the post jgreen, but as you can see, this piece of news has been posted already. Try reading through some of the posts next time.
Is anyone worried about the chemistry of the team since we brought in 2 possible starters, possibly another one and may be departing two guys this week in a sign and trade to clear up some roster spots?
chemistry is great but if that last beat down dallas gave us teaches anything its that chemistry is made to seem too important by fans, players, and the media. it makes the experience more enjoyable because its nice to see guys who succeed care about eachother and get along and all that good stuff but it doesn't lessen the pain of that ass beatin' they got to finish off their season. and you're saying two guys this week may be departing in a sign and trade? where are you getting this information from?
Sura fainted again? Anyway, I'm sick of reading this crap about us being 2nd in the west for sure! That is not the goal. Note to TMac that he'll never read: You have the tools, you have the drive, you have the surrounding cast to be a champion. Now all that's left, do it..like Michael did. Make your support cast be who you want them to be. Think 73-9.
Not if those two guys are Moochie and Baker. I think DA can be a chemistry killer. I'd rather have had Spree. If DA has a big season, he'll opt out next summer and go for the $$$. Or, DA won't play well so JVG will give his minutes to others. Then he'll b****, again, about lack of PT. Stro? Everybody is assuming he'll start. I think if JHow is healthy, he starts in November. As we saw last season, JHow was terrible off the bench. He didn't start playing well until we benched MoT. So I don't think JHow will cause chemistry problems if not a starter...but if that happens, I hope Stro is blindingly good so as to leave no questions about benching JHow. Yes, I am a little worried about chemistry. But I've got faith in JVG!
it's amazing how quickly we added talent and how economically we've done it since the tmac trade. basically we used jim jackson and $5M in free agency money to add our starting pg (sura), backup pg (james), starting sg (wesley), backup sg (barry), backup sf (DA, though he can do more), starting pf (swift), and backup C (mutombo). i remember SamFisher making a post at the beginning of last year about how bleak our outlook was for a few years since we currently weren't that good (it was during our 6-11 start), we had no trading pieces, and we wouldn't have any cap room for a while. and most people agreed, not much help looked to be on the way. it was going to take time. first we signed sura for $3M. not a huge steal or anything but his 10/5/5 production is easily worth 3 million. deke for piat, wilks, and griffin. 3 guys who were never going to get off the bench for possibly the best backup C in the game. then we proceeded to pull off a series of trades and signings that would've probably been laughed off the board had they been suggested on here first. barry for tyronn lue? ok barry may be nothing great (at least that was the thinking at the time of the trade) but there's no way he can be worse than lue. he's turned out about 100x better than lue. wesley for jj and boki. this move was actually questioned and is really the only time we gave up talent for talent, but it was still a better fit. mike james for reece gaines and 2 2nd round picks? reece gaines had to be in the running for worst player in the nba at the time and 2nd round picks are worthless. we get a well above average backup pg out of it. swift for the mle? ok it had been suggested before and swift isn't tim duncan or anything, but young athletic big men always get paid. ALWAYS. and then something happened. the market got flooded with little guys and all the money went away and our biggest competitor, nj, focused on SAR. so swift just fell into our laps. DA for the LLE? first we had to get lucky that some strange provision was thrown into the new CBA just to make DA available. then DA had to pick us out of several teams, most offering more money. DA may not be great but he's worth more than the LLE. so like i said, we added 7 big time rotation pieces, all of whom are better than the people they replaced, and we basically did it with jj, $5M, and a bunch of scrubs. i mean we're as deep as some of the recent memphis teams but have the huge added bonus of actually having a franchise guy to turn to in tmac and then even have a second star in yao on top of it. you just usually don't find that kind of depth around big stars (unless teams purposely trade you 3 starters for eddie jones). and to do it all within one season and with so little is just ridiculous. i mean i don't know how it will all play out but on paper, we're looking at a very nice starting lineup and a very good bench. there really isn't one guy off the bench who is a weak link at this point, and they would probably all be considered above average backups with deke being an excellent backup. this team not only has an amazing amount of talent, but it all fits together so nicely. we added athleticism and talent but did little to hurt outside shooting or chemistry. SA is really the only team in the west that should definitely be placed ahead of us to start the year and only miami and possibly detroit from the east belong above us. i wouldn't pick us in a series against any of those 3 but i certainly wouldn't feel hopeless about our chances against any of them either. everyone else, assuming we are healthy, we should be 50/50 or better to beat.
So that means if Rox can't win 55+ games and go deep into the playoff (at least second round), then JVG should be fired, agreed?
probably not a good idea to fire a coach who just had his contract extended this summer and most importantly a coach whose best player constantly praises as the best coach he's ever played for and who he loves to death. less than 55 wins and a early exit in the playoffs, jvg will still be the coach for the houston rockets. he'll be here for awhile, get use to it sucka.
Well I was thinking of more like 65-17. And I'm being completely serious, although maybe you are too.
While still amazing, the correctest answer is: Jackson + Lue + Boki + Pike + Griffin + Wilks + Gaines + (2) 2nd round picks + $12M (5+5+2) = Sura + Ward + James + Zendon Hamilton (cut) + Wesley + Barry + Deke + DA + Swift
After all the improvements made in the make-up and attitude of this team, it's un-freakin'-believable that someone STILL wants to fire Van Gundy.
No, not agreed. Give it a freaking rest, the guy is a coach and is doing a d*mn good job I might add. So, no, he shouldn't be fired. Using your logic Phil Jackson should have been fired the first couple of times Detroit knocked the Bulls out of the playoffs.
Still not quite. Forget about Motay for Baker and Mooch, which is going to give us 9 mil cap room after this year if we dont trade them. Also Spoon is cut. All these allows us to be in the situation right now. We are a completely different team compare with 2 years ago. This is amazing.
I'd like to add another comment about the fantastic offseason. I didn't think it was possible to add talent so cheaply. I honestly thought it'd take a SnT of 8mil/year to get Swift here. Instead, we get him for the MLE. Here's what I honestly thought would happen: SnT for Swift: 8mil/yr Give Spreewell the MLE. All of it. Trade James and other expirings for Derek Fisher's huge contract. Lose Barry. I'd just like to say thank you to CD. Thank you for making this boring offseason so wonderful for me!
