I can see Duncan playing another season if they lose to the Heat, but if they win the Finals, I think he hangs them up. He and his kids have gone through a lot with the divorce last year. It was a fucked up situation if you don't know the details.
I know about, if I was him, im leaving on top. Same with Ginobli. But at the same time they would be walking away from a chance to repeat. But lets see what happens first, I love Duncan to death and his statements after last game gave me chills.
Something amazing to think, the Duncan/Pop era is one of the strangest runs in basketball I can think of. This is their first time going back to back finals. And while they have routinely dominated the WC, they just could never reach back to back let alone win back to back finals. Every dominant team I can think of in the NBA have been able to do that except the Spurs for whatever reason. There's really no explanation except the Lakers were really good since they took 7 trips to the finals.
Coach Nick does not believe the Thunder as currently constructed, will ever win the title. He basically said that their talent hides all the flaws in their game. He pretty much blames the coach but he also believes that it might be partially on the players because they dont listen. Now ive brought up the notion of trading Westbrook but after this playoff series I believe it would be a mistake to trade him WITHOUT trying another coach. If they tried another coach next year and it still doesnt work, then they could look into getting a top pick. This years draft is so top heavy though, if they could get the 2nd or 3rd pick for him, it would be very enticing. Westbrook is quite the talent though, but looking back it might have been better to hold onto Harden because Westbrooks play come off as selfish and dumb more often than not.
Yeah its even more nuts that its this late into these guys careers. I remember sitting there back in like 2010 just thinking that the finals days were long gone. Of course at the time, the Lakers were running the West and it looked like it was going to be impossible to get through them. This title would be huge though, because now we are going from an 8 year (99-07) run of dominance to 15 years (99-14).
Spurs joined the Heat last night as the only 2 teams in NBA history to beat a team that went 4-0 against em in the regular season.
I have no clue what he wants. If Pop can have him playing like 20 minutes a night AND compete for a championship, its pretty enticing. They gotta start transitioning this offense around Leonard though IMO, Parkers still the best player on the team but his injuries are piling up.
Have you watched Harden? At least Westbrook plays defense. The issue with OKC was that they didn't want to be strapped for cash or into the luxury so they chose Ibaka over Harden. Was it either or, no. But that's the path OKC chose and they made the right choice. As almost everyone says in here, Brooks needs to improve. You have to give him credit for developing 4 great players and consistently winning, but you also have to blame him for the team not reaching the heights it should. Saying that, you don't just fire him unless you line up someone you believe to be better. The grass is not always greener even if Brook isn't a great coach Westbrook is an insanely good player that has no offense that helps maximize his strengths. When the going gets tough, OKC falls back to KD trying to gain position by himself, not getting it or getting it late in the shot clock, or Westbrook trying to go 1 vs 1. That's on Brooks. If Spoelstra coached OKC or Pop for example, that offense would be ridiculous, as the defense. It is unfair to compare Brooks to probably 2 of the top 5 coaches in the league, but that's the steps forward he has to make.
It's already 15. Made 6 finals in 16 years. LA has 7, DAL 2, OKC 1 in that timespan. On top of that, 0 missed playoffs. That's a run of dominance. The only thing missing, like I mentioned, is the back to back or flurry of championships/appearances like Miami has now, LA had twice in the 2000s, MJ had, Bird had, Magic had, etc. Crazy to think about though, but if the only "slight" on the run of dominance is that you didn't win enough, that's dominance.
You dont need to remind me of the Harden situation, your talking to the only person in the world who said Harden was getting bounced LONG before anyone else was saying it.
“At the start of the season I said this was our last chance,” he said. “Tim (Duncan) and Gino (Manu Ginobili) are getting old. It’s going to be tough to regenerate ourselves. “We will always have a good team but we can no longer say that we’re playing for a championship.” -2011 Tony Parker
3 days of media gas bagging... Can't wait til Thursday... Was Parker's injury recurring throughout the season or was it just a one game thing?
He injured it in game 4, aggravated it in game 5, couldn't play on it the whole way through in game 6.
Thats cute but: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/2000208-sports-and-racing-nba/62813089 I am right. This was DURING the Thunder's final run, I got laughed at when I told my friends that Harden was getting bounced. So when Westbrook gets bounced to, DONT SAY I DIDNT SAY IT, CUZ I DID.
One game thing, I mean hes been beat up but I dont believe he missed any time all year. Truth be told, Popovich BENCHED him because he wasnt being productive, Popovich knew if he had ANY decent PG play that they would win the game. Joseph coming in that game was an improvement cuz Parker was just dribbling and doing nothing.
I hope the Spurs whoop that ass.. Tired of all these "Heat" fans down here... Only started being fans when LeBron got here.
Thank you for not taking that obnoxious name here. Heh that thread is perfect. You asked if Harden could be resigned. That's not predicting he was getting bounced. Then in the same thread, a couple posters nailed what happens. One says Harden will be trade so OKC can try to get pieces back and Harden gets paid. Then another said it was Harden or Ibaka and the reason for this was luxury tax. So that thread shows me what happens in this NBA thread usually. Oh and nobody laughed at you. I asked 5 years ago if Phil would consider the Knicks. That doesn't mean I called it way before anyone else that he was joining the Knicks. It means I read something and asked a question.
soxxx is like a psychic, check out his predictive abilities with cancer: http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/83/3/e1.135
