Heat are defending champions(of a lockout season :up. Coming into this season, Them, Lakers, Thunder, Spurs have to be favorites to win. The NBA season opens up on Tuesday October 30th. 7:00 PM we get the game of the night in Washington at Cleveland. John Wall vs Kyrie Irving. I believe Irving is going to be a star for a long time in this league. 8:00 PM we get the Celtics at the Heat. Bitter foes and we get Ray Allen getting to play his old team. We get the new look Celtics who say they are going to play more small ball. 10:30 PM we get Dallas at LAL. Dwight Howard becomes a Laker, a shaky Dallas team looking to see how they compete. I expect the Lakers to start out slow. Lakers, specifically Kobe, has to learn he might be the 3rd or 4th best option on this team now. He can save his legs, still burn guys for a quarter and let Dwight/Pau do the dirty and hard work. I am excited for this season. The East is wide open 2-7. You figure the Heat are a top team, you then have the Rose-less Bulls for a couple months, the solid Pacers, the new look 76ers, the new look Nets, the different looking Celtics, the new look old age Knicks, the Hawks might still be there hanging around with the Bucks also. I believe that's the East. The West I see Thunder, Lakers, Spurs in the top 4. I think the Grizzlies get better and the Clippers get better. I hope the Nuggests do well as they are fun to watch. I don't know the West well enough, someone else jump in. If this is anything like the Knicks thread, I'll have two threads to talk to myself about basketball. :smile: Oh and this wouldn't be a NBA thread without soxxx saying the Spurs are going to win the whole thing and MURDR predicting the Celtics are going to win only to watch the Celtics blow ANOTHER 3-2 playoff lead. It's a little early, but I want something to talk about that's enjoyable.
You guys lose, rumors come out Lebron talking to Kobe and Dwight. You guys lose again Lebron doesn't decide to pick up option. He then takes his talents to Hollywood. Hollywood ending :smile:
Sounds like Harden was just traded to the Rockets. Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA The Rockets send Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and future draft considerations to the Thunder for Harden, sources tell Y! Sports. Retweeted 1566 times 1m Adrian Wojnarowski Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA Along with All-Star guard James Harden, the Thunder will send Cole Aldridge, Lazr Hayward and Daquan Cook to the Rockets, source tells Y! Sports
The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired guards Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks and a second round pick from the Houston Rockets in exchange for guard James Harden, center Cole Aldrich and forwards Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. "We wanted to sign James to an extension, but at the end of the day, these situations have to work for all those involved. Our ownership group again showed their commitment to the organization with several significant offers," Presti said. "We were unable to reach a mutual agreement, and therefore executed a trade that capitalized on the opportunity to bring in a player of Kevin's caliber, a young talent like Jeremy and draft picks, which will be important to our organizational goal of a sustainable team. We appreciate James, Cole, Daequan and Lazar’s contributions to the Thunder organization and this community and wish them the best in the future.” Read more: http://www.koco.com/thunder/James-H.../17162826/-/ggrxx5/-/index.html#ixzz2AYkI1oQp
I think the Thunder just got a steal for Harden. 2 first rounders, a 2nd rounder, Lamb AND K. Martin? What a deal.
it wasn't really that surprising to me. The Thunder were just continuing to try and get him to take less than the max. They knew if he wouldn't do it, they'd have to deal him, because they want to try to stay under the luxury tax (or not go too far over). The other option would be to deal him during the season, and obviously Presti felt they weren't going to do better than this. I said last season it was Harden or Ibaka. The Thunder chose Ibaka and Harden wants the max.
Call me crazy, but I love this deal for the Thunder. Kevin Martin is an excellent scorer off the bench, Lamb has tons of potential, and these 2 draft picks (Dallas & Toronto's) could allow the Thunder to get a top prospect. For Example: Lets say the Raptors get the 8th pick and Dallas gets the 21st pick (top 20 protected pick), the Thunder can then use their first to trade into the top 5 to acquire someone like Noel, Zeller (could go 1 or 2 though), or Archie Goodwin (a favorite of mine whos stock should rise soon).
I wrote in June that Harden was not going to be staying in OKC for long. They needed to move on from him and get a shooter in his stead. They got that with the trade for Martin. The team's chemistry will be messed up for a month or two, but in the long run this will be good.
Only thing I'd worry about now is replacing the perimeter defense they got from Harden. He was a hell of a defender and Martin/Lamb are far from decent defenders.
Yeah, that is true. Their defense is not as good now. I thought they had a ton of offensive problems in the playoffs, though. It really showed in the NBA Finals. Westbrook now has a catch-and-shoot guy to pass to and need not look to score as much as he did last season.
I think the Thunder did as well as they could've expected. They didn't have a lot of leverage with Harden unwilling to sign. Lamb and two #1s is pretty good (depending on where the draft picks fall, of course). I don't think Martin is too important. That backcourt of Lin and Harden should help Houston score and allow a ton of points this season.
I think you're underestimating the impact of Martin. He will be an excellent scorer off the bench and more importantly he's a solid trade piece (12 mil+ expiring).
I got my team drafted at midnight. 10-team league with default type settings it looks like. I didn't pay too much attention to that. Auto draft and I did not pre-rank. It is loaded with PFs and Cs. Westbrook, Collison, Rose at PG Others- Evans, Thornton, Millsap, Turkoglu, Anderson, Noah, Duncan, G. Davis, West, M. Gasol
Now this is definitely not true. http://forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=2512625&postcount=3455 http://forums.theganggreen.com/showthread.php?p=2504486#post2504486 http://forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=2512629&postcount=3457
