Arena The NBA Thread

And if Philly somehow doesn't land the #1 overall pick, or somehow does better than expected this season, then what?

 

i just can't believe memphis drafted someone named joffrey. clearly no one in their front office watches game of thrones.

 

A shameful action indeed.

 

I will take the Bucks pick. I know noting about him, but hey IT'S ALL COOOOOLLLLL!

 

Classic drama... potentially; We'll see if this potential feud grows at all.

 

His retirement date is Feb. 1, so this was pretty much his last offical function, barring any players/Mark Cuban wanting Stern to fine them one more time before he goes.

 

hasn't he done that kind of thing before? i seem to remember a clip of him coming out for a draft and getting booed, and he just put his hand to his ear acting like he couldn't really hear them because they weren't being loud enough. which was one of the reasons simmons refers to him as the notorious david stern.

 

Yessssssss, we seriously have to do this!

 

He's retiring in the middle of a season? That seems strange. Oh well, I'm sure he's thought it through a lot more than I have....which is all of three seconds.

 

Ooooooooooooooooooh...

 

Well, the Houston Rockets have dumped Thomas Robinson, sending him to Portland for a pound of beef jerky, a weekend at a coastal rental home, and a gift card to the Olive Garden. Thus, Houston has enough cap space for a full max contract offer to Dwight Howard.

I really think Howard ends up in Houston. And that is then a hell of a team.


Also, the Knicks agreed to a trade today to pick up Andrea Bargnani. Seems to be good for both teams.

 

And the Clippers trade for Doc Rivers, even if it didn't yield them KG and Pierce, does allow them to keep Chris Paul if the ESPN reports are to be believed.

 

after the last two seasons, i'm not convinced that howard brings that much more to the table than asik. and those are two guys that would be really awkward to play at the same time. i know they're hellbent on getting him, but this seems like a weird fit for the rockets.

 

And the Lakers PR campaign about Howard continues...

 

yea, i'm with tom. i'd probably rather have asik at this point. unless there is indisputable evidence that his back is fixed, and he's going to be what he was before it started bugging him so much. which i have serious doubts will happen.

 

I might rather have Asik at his contract than Howard at the Max, but Dwight still put up pretty good stats.

Per 36:

Dwight: 17-12.5-1.4.-1.1-2.5 on 58% from the field
Asik: 12-14-1.1-.7-1.3 on 54%

Advanced stats like PER (19.4 v. 14.9) and WS/48 (.134 v. 1.08) back up that a diminished Howard is still the better player. I'm not Asik will get much better or Howard much worse, so I can see the logic behind Morey's gamble, even if I may not be willing to give Dwight a max right now.

 

A year older than Paul Pierce and a year younger than Garnett.

Like Kidd though, nice to see some young blood thrown into the coaching mix.

 

While I'm sad to see him leave the college game, I think he can do some good things in Boston.

 

lots of howard to the warriors talk. it would have to be a sign and trade though, and it sounds like the warriors would likely have to part with klay. really not sure how i feel about that.

 

wow, love the iggy move. and suddenly barnes and thompson look slightly more expendable if they do have a chance to land howard.

 

howard to rockets apparently. still not sure i like the fit.

 

This isn't Prenn the Laker fan talking, but Prenn the basketball fan. I think that Howard's best chances at winning multiple championships lies with the Lakers. In 2014 they are going to have tons of cap space to surround him with elite talent, and in addition to that no franchise has the cut-throat title pursuit legacy that the Lakers have. They have proven time and again that they will do whatever they need to do to get a championship, and if Howard chooses Huston over that, I think it cements my opinion of him being short-sighted. Or, at least, not valuing championships as much as other things.

That said, as a Laker fan, I would prefer a sign and trade with the Warriors, netting us Klay, Harrison, and Bogut, even to us re-signing Dwight.