NBA 2008-09 Regular Season Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Andy Sheets]

I think something like 19 teams have cleared significant salary cap space for 2010. Despite that, I think there are going to be just a couple of really happy teams and the rest are going to be twiddling their thumbs

 

[Mark Leiter]

I have to agree. Everybody seems to think that LJ is in some sort of horrible situation and will jump ship the first chance he gets. Last I looked he was on one of the best teams in the East if not the league. Why leave a team that not only seems to have decent talent but also seems to have the chemistry to win a bunch of games?

The only reason I can imagine him leaving Clevland at this point would be if he was craving the media spot-light that a place like New York might bring. I havent really seen him hogging the cameras that would indicate that was the case. If it is though, he better be careful what he wishes for. He needs only to talk to A-Rod to find out what a double edge sword the media can be.

 

[Ockeghem]

Mark,

I really hope Lebron James remains in Cleveland. He has said that he loves the city, and as you say, the team he plays with is playing great ball right now. They may win it all this year. And if they don't, I'd think Lebron would be very hungry for a championship with this team. Besides, he has a 35,000 sq. ft. home that wouldn't be all that easy to unload on the market.

 

[Ockeghem]

Well, the Pacers went 1-3 through their 'hellish' schedule this past week or so. It's one thing not to know that the Cavs were going to be this good, but consecutive games scheduled against the Lakers and Celtics? I don't know who is responsible for giving them the past four games consecutively, but I think they ought to have their heads examined.

Have a peek:

Los Angeles Lakers @ Indiana Pacers (W)
Indiana Pacers @ Boston Celtics (L)
Indiana Pacers @ Cleveland Cavaliers (L)
Boston Celtics @ Indiana Pacers (L)

I was hoping they would go 2-2.

Mark Leiter,

Please inform the Magic that they need to defeat the Trail Blazers in Portland on Tuesday night. I have my reasons.

Seriously, the Magic have only five losses, and they aren't at full strength. How I'd love to see a Cavalier / Magic series come May or so. You know, before they might face Boston (as a tune-up).

 

[Walter C]

Timberwolves fire coach Randy Wittman

Kevin McHale is the interm replacement, and I doubt he will do any better.

 

[Ockeghem]

Walter,

I'm happy for McHale. I think he will do a good job there. I don't know all that much about Wittman, but hopefully the playoff and World Championship experience McHale has will pay big dividends for the Timberwolves. McHale is a very intelligent guy, which I hope will help. I don't see him as the type of guy who will yell at his players for the sake of yelling. Of course, he may be responsible for the team as it now stands, so I don't know what kinds of changes he would be willing to make. But there is that free-agency market in about two years.

This is interesting to me (from the link you posted):

"The job is not an interim one. McHale said he “plans on being here” for the long term and general manager Jim Stack and assistant GMs Fred Hoiberg and Rob Babcock will take over his executive duties for the remainder of the season."

Here is a video clip of the news story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3754151

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/...goryId=2459788

And here are some interesting thoughts (via an ESPN chat) on the McHale move to coach the Timberwolves:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=24036

 

[Walter C]

The article must have been updated, since I posted the link, which was minutes after the announcement.

Just have to wait and see. Great players usually turn out to be not-so-good coaches.

 

[Ockeghem]

Walter,

As far as you are aware, do the Timberwolves have anything still coming to them for the Garnett trade?

 

[Walter C]

Yes, they still have picks coming to them, in the 2009 draft, including getting one conditional pick back from the 2006 trade.

 

[Ockeghem]

Thanks. Maybe those picks will be used as leverage toward getting even better picks (e.g., toward one or two of those who will be free agents in 2009-2010). I'm not sure of how all of the wheeling-and-dealing occurs with the salary cap and such, but I'm sure management will be on top of it. As a McHale fan, I hope he sincerely does great things for the Wolves in his new role.

On a related note, I read recently how Garnett (last year) was treated to a heartfelt standing ovation when Boston visited Minnesota. Unfortunately, he could not play in that game as this was when he was injured for a spell.

 

[Walter C]

And they are even happy he won a championship, even if it's elsewhere.

On an unrelated note - I hope the Sonics/Thunder franchise end up with the worst record ever in history, and never make the playoffs while in OKC and have to relocate. It's a disgrace the way the rug was pulled right under the city of Seattle.

 

[Ockeghem]

Walter,

Hear hear! Agreed. Coincidentally, last week I was researching the Supersonics (and Seattle teams in general) for a trivia question I Emailed my friend! The question had to do with the number of teams hailing from Seattle that have won championships. I had never heard of the Metropolitans before.

I remember (very fondly) those Sonics teams of the 1970s and 1980s. Gus Williams and (a personal favorite of mine) Jack Sikma used to light up the hoops against Boston quite frequently. They always seemed to play the Celtics very tough.

 

[Ockeghem]

It was quite an interesting night in the NBA. The Spurs defeated the Mavericks 133-126 in 2OT(!); the Wizards defeated the Pistons; Cleveland won their ninth straight (and set two or three records in the process); and the Lakers lost to Sacramento. I figured the Cavs would win, and that the Lakers were due for a letdown (although I thought it would come against the Suns, rather than the Kings, this week).

I thought the Magic were going to hand Portland its first home loss of the season. I had no idea it would come with seconds left in the game, and on a three-point shot! And the Timberwolves made a good go of it, but fell (unfortunately) to the Jazz in a close one. One of these days, I'm going to spring for NBA TV....

 

[Steve_Tk]

Have they stopped talking about Lebron going to NY yet? When they do I'll watch some NBA again.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I just saw on ESPN highlights yesterday one of the anchors speaking on a Cavs game referred to Lebron as "Knicks forward Lebron James". I laughed so hard that my sides literally split and my guts spewed all over the walls. Such comedians they have at ESPN.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Then you may as well tune out for the next two seasons, because this story is not going away. ESPN will beat it to death.

 

[Ockeghem]

You won't be watching for a while, then.

 

[Ockeghem]

Andy,

Could you tell if it was a joke on their part, or was it just a slipup?

What I have seen Lebron James do the past two weeks is nothing short of phenomenal. First, there was the gravity-defying block of a shot the other night (one which had me wondering if he could outjump Michael Jordan, or at the very least, come close to his ability in that area); and then I saw a tomahawk-like dunk that actually was frightening to watch. And this is not really even counting the number of points he's been scoring lately.

It would have been fun watching this version of the Cavaliers play the Bulls teams of their championship years. Can you imagine a game with Lebron and Michael playing at their peaks? One thing I recall rather vividly about the Bulls with Jordan during the pre-championship years is how he, although great, could not win the biggest games until he had Pippen and other excellent surrounding/supporting players, such as Rodman. I don't know if James has this yet with Cleveland, but it sure is beginning to look like their confidence level is going to win them games that they could not win last year.

I'm hoping the Sixers cool the Cavs off a bit tonight.

 

[Walter C]

You and me both, Scott! And I think it will happen, since the Cavs are coming off a back-to-back.

 

[Ockeghem]

Walter,

Yeah, those back-to-backs are very, very telling. I've been watching them for several teams for many years. The killer is when you play one at home and then go on the road the next night. I don't have any quantifiable data to support this, but I would be willing to bet that splits are far more common than sweeps.

Do you remember a few years ago (it may be twenty now--LOL) when the Lakers played three games in three days, and won them all? Amazing.