HUGE WRONG imo, you cant buy 2 titles, you just cant. Would Marc be better at this point? YES, but thats no lock they win a title. Pau worked out well, it lead to 2 championships. 2 rings is big for any trade....
Yeah you're probably right. I'm just thinking along the lines of nobody had any idea that Marc Gasol would develop into a potential all 1st team NBA player. When the Lakers traded him they were dumping Kwame Brown and people including myself assumed Jerry West just handed the Lakers those titles. Memphis isn't a championship caliber team but they're no longer a disgrace like the Bobcats/Raptors/Pelicans/Twolves
Shumpert is in China I'm pretty sure. He played the first summer league game and then sat. CJ Leslie from NC State is on the knicks summer league and plays Oh and JRs little brother Chris Smith is playing too
How was Summer League Barry? I hear the play can get really hectic at times. Also, interesting stats from BBall breakdown. BBALLBREAKDOWN @bballSource Carmelo's overallt defense ranked in the 69th %tile.He was excellent in defending the post up 92nd%tile. Vs Iso, only 31st %tile #DeepStats Found this tweet from a few weeks ago really interesting.
^ Yeah, I can't find out how they calculate defensive effectiveness, but if he's guarding 4s on most teams that's in the post. If he's guarding 3s it will end up more in ISO. You know where I'm going with this..:grin: More Melo at the 4! :metal: I really hope we lean towards that, then we can even roll out a Felton, Shump, MWP, Melo, Chandler lineup to close late or sub Smith in there or go two PG and slide Shump to the 3 with MWP off the bench.
The Schedule got released, I dont have time to check but I think I saw Heat @ Knicks the night before the Super Bowl which as we all know is in NJ. The Nets and Thunder will play the Friday before the Bowl to. That Heat-Knicks will be hard to get into, that building is going to be LOADED with celebrities and players. Thats going to be Nuts tbh.
This is absolutely off topic, but I ate dinner two tables from Robert Horry on Friday night. Apparently it was his favorite restaurant, and the guy was easily 1 sheet to the wind, but he was having a lot of fun with the in-house mariachi band and it was a good time. He got there like ten minutes after I ordered the burrito that was named after him. It was kind of weird eating that when he walked in. I almost sent it back for something else.
Ian Begley @IanBegley 36m Raymond Felton chuckled when asked about Paul Pierce saying BK will run city. "They'll never run the city, we have New York on our chests."
I believe we had a very strong offseason. Our front office did everything they needed to do outside of re-signing Chris Copeland. Which I believe the drafting of Tim Hardaway Jr. during the first round will offset Copeland's departure. Like Copeland, Hardaway Jr. will become a role player surrounded by lots of veterans and like Shumpert, at the age of only 21 Hardaway Jr. will become our second young player in which our coaching staff will need to develop while tapping into potential. Resigned the NBA's 6th Man of the Year in J.R Smith, re-signed a veteran from overseas in Pablo Prigioni who plays with a very high I.Q along with brining back Kenyon Martin for size, defense, depth and rebounding ability. That's a pretty solid trio of players to bring back especially when considering the fact that all could've gone elsewhere. We landed a defensive stopper with championship experience in Ron Artest. More importantly at the age of 33 he's going to bring us lots of New York toughness to the defensive side of the ball. Artest and Shumpert on the floor together will create problems for opposing wing players. We also traded for an offensive talent in which can not only help space the floor for Anthony and company but also provide us with another offensive scoring option in Andrea Bargnani. One thing about Bargnani, a former 1st overall draft pick at the age of only 27 is that, he's never been surrounded by this much talent. His game can really thrive with Felton at PG, J.R at 2G along with Anthony dominating the ball at SF. Last but not least we landed an under the radar type of role playing PG in Beno Udrih. Is Beno, Jason Kidd? No. But then again at the age of 40 Jason Kidd wasn't "Jason Kidd" as a Knick either. I like this kid as our 3rd string PG who'll split minutes behind Felton alongside Prigioni. Overall I really like our offseason thus far, because we're now heading into next season with a team that hasn't been this deep in quite some time. Two deep at just about every position. I don't know enough about Jeremy Tyler, C.J. Leslie or Hardaway Jr. to include them in our rotation but... C: Tyson Chandler. PF: Andrea Bargnani. SF: Carmelo Anthony. 2G: Iman Shumpert. PG: Raymond Felton. C: Kenyon Martin. PF: Amar'e Stoudemire. SF: Ron Artest. 2G: J.R Smith. PG: Pablo Prigioni / Beno Udrih. Now compare this unit to last years team (coming into the season) and it's night and day talent, potential and overall depth wise. Both Shumpert and Amar'e were injured heading into the season while Kenyon Martin wasn't on the team. Bargnani then replaces an aging Rasheed Wallace while Ron Artest replaces a one trick pony in Novak.
Good writeup! I really want to go with the Pablo/Felton starting lineup, but doesn't look likely. I just don't know how Woodson is going to balance minutes, it better mean plenty of rest for Melo and Chandler. 240 free minutes. Melo takes 40, Felton and Chandler 30 leaves us at 140 minutes. Amare, Bargs, Kmart 15 (or Amare 20, KMART/Bargs 12) each gets us at 95. JR and Shump at 30 gives us 35. MWP/Beno take 15 each. Hardaway 5? I don't really know.
I don't exactly know all the x's and o's of the NBA, I am just a casual fan unlike in the NFL, so don't rip me a new one or anything, but I have a few thoughts/questions...are the Nets completely crazy? Why would you add a group of past their prime rivals? It just seems like too many evils, and not enough of a real chance of a championship. Also, isn't the whole point of being a fan of a team to have hope for the future? What have they done to prove to fans that they will be a contending team after this next year or two? Also, not shocked my home state team Bucks lost Jennings, and Ellis, actually glad Jennings is gone, but surprised at the amount of decent additions they made...granted they'll still be bad like they have been for decades. As for the team I actually like, I can't understand why OKC did next to nothing to get better. Losing KMart, and re-signing the grandpa that is Derek Fisher (although I like him) is not going to be enough to beat Miami. Hell they couldn't get it done even with Harden. I just don't get it.
The Nets actually helped their long term cap situation by getting rid of Wallace's contract. After Pierce and Garnett retire, the Nets will have cap room to reload while keeping Lopez and Williams to build around. Until then the Nets are in the Championship hunt.
The Nets are banking on a one maybe two year window right now. This makes the Jason Kidd hiring unusual as coach because he has no coaching experience. They have an interesting team, Deron has his hands full distributing the ball but still getting his own. KG's minutes need to be managed because he needs to be the anchor on the team. And the Nets immediate future is good, if they get a ring out of it, fans will say it is worth it. The worst place to be in basketball is mediocrity, so basically that fringe 8 seed team. You either want to be really bad or really good. In between means you have a low shot at winning the lottery, but not good enough to actually compete in the playoffs. I don't know too much about OKCs cap space and room, but I have to imagine it is not enough to go out and really spend. They are going to try and win off the backs of KD, Westbrook, and Ibaka.
Cap room but no draft picks. They're in a really weird spot if it doesn't work out. It has to be all free agents for the next 4-5 years.
I already had known most of that. I know about Kidd too. Jason Kidd was my favorite player as a kid actually. I loved watching the Nets because of him haha. Didn't stick though, as I never really cared for the NBA until 2 or 3 years ago I started really developing interest. I know The hiring is a risk, and unusual. I am interested to see how it pays for them though. Is the Nets getting the Boston guys similar to the Jets getting a group of long tenured Patriots? If so, then wouldn't winning the championship be a bit tarnished? Yeah the franchise would have done the ultimate deed, but it was largely due to your enemy joining your side to get it done...like if the Jets won a SB with Brady. I know that is the farthest thing from realistic, but it's a point of comparison still.
No because the Nets/Celtics while had a few scuffles wasn't a full blown rivalry. I don't watch the Nets often but I would say their biggest "rivalry" last year was the Knicks which was partly media forced. What you are describing I think is if Pierce and KG joined the Heat or Lakers or Knicks. (Ray Allen joined the Heat though and I don't think fans are upset). What Pierce/KG/Jet going to Brooklyn does is escalate the Brooklyn/New York rivalry very quickly. Last year I feel like the fans of the Nets and Knicks disliked the name on the front of the jerseys and not the actual players in them. A lot of Knicks fans now have players to hate in the Brooklyn jerseys. To expand, I think the last time the Nets and Celtics played each other in the playoffs was in 2002. Where as the Heat have the played the Celtics quite frequently and the Knicks the last few years.
That makes sense, just seems like the 2 areas on the map have conflicting teams in most of the sports world. The thing I don't get though, is how teams can have a rivalry when they don't even play in the same division. I get it that the playoff system isn't like the NFL, so it's not quite the same, but isn't division play the whole point of a rivalry? I know this can be conflicted with rivalries of old such as the Steelers vs. Raiders, or more recent Colts vs. Pats, but those aren't the same as Packers vs. Bears, or Ravens vs. Steelers. On a side note, even though I've always loved to hate the Celtics, I do admire them for publicly hating on Ray for bolting for Miami. I dig the loyalty, and hate on Miami haha.
With a billionaire owner, the Nets can get draft picks for cash. They also have a couple young players stashed in Europe.
Not sure what you are asking, but from my perspective, rivalries in the NBA really intensify come playoff time. So thats how Spurs/Suns and Lakers/Suns became a fun playoff rivalry. It's hard in the NBA to have a rivalry when one team is bad and the other is good because you really can't spoil a team's season with one game like the NFL. So, both teams have to be good and get in each other's way. That usually leads to off the court chatter and on the court skirmishes. Teams are valuing late draft picks more and more now, that's why it's a weird spot but necessarily bad or good. If the Nets are a successful playoff the next two years, even without a championship, they can draw the FA needed to keep churning out a good team. If they struggle due to injuries, retirement, poor play, they are in a worse spot.
