NBA 2008-09 Regular Season Discussion Thread - Page 13

Re: NBA 2008-09 Regular Season Discussion Thread

I liked that he said he'd smoke a cigar in Red's honor. But the "Boston Sucks" chant when Bill Russell presented the MVP trophy to Kobe? Oy vey!

Point to ponder: going into game 5, the Magic were TWO MISSED FREE THROWS away from being up 3-1 instead of down 3-1. Think any of the Magic players have that on their minds?

Reports are that Yao might be out all next season and that his career might even be in jeopardy. While I think there's just a bit of media hysteria driving the story it was clear after Yao went down in the playoffs the Rockets would need to make a center an offseason priority. Rumor is that they're going to be trying really hard to sign Gortat to plug in while they figure out what to do with Yao.

Could Yao be the next Bill Walton -- a talented big man whose career is cut short by foot injuries? I heard that this is at least his third foot injury in the past few seasons.

The coaching carousel in Detroit continues to turn. The Pistons fired head coach Michael Curry yesterday. I thought Curry was a strange hire last season. Anyway, this team is headed in the wrong direction right now, so I do not think a different coach is going to make much of a difference next season.

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I've been on the record many times hating on Artest's game the last few years.  He's been the definition of an offensive black hole, and his quickness on the defensive end hasn't been the same as his Indiana days.  So when I jumped back on the computer after watching Woody Allen's latest, I was shocked and somewhat dismayed to see the Lakers signing him.  But of course, now I'm talking myself into it. 

A big part of the initial reaction was the undeniable byproduct of the signing--Ariza is gone.  I think for every Laker fan, the 08-09 season was a day-by-day growing love fest for Ariza.  But to sign Artest to a short 3 year deal at the MLE, the same price as Ariza is reportedly getting from the Rockets?  I don't think I can fault the management here.  I believe Ariza's long range shooting has substantially improved, but his playoff performance from the 3 point line was unsustainable, and a regression to the mean is in order.  He's a good slasher, but he has no handles or mid-range game to speak of.  He is a low usage, complimentary role player.  I will miss him in a Laker uniform. 

Artest, even with his terrible, terrible possessions of dribbling the ball for 9 seconds and then shooting long jumpers, has had a better 3 point shooting percentage than Ariza.  His other offensive skills are vastly superior to Ariza.  It's almost as if the Lakers pose a complete opposite matchup problem that Orlando had in the past season.  The Magic had 3 point shooters everywhere except for one position; in 09-10, except for the PG position, the Lakers can post up any opposition with Kobe, Artest, Odom, Gasol, and Bynum.  Ariza is quicker and more nimble than Artest, and more likely to be useful against opposition guards when the defensive assignment switches; but Artest can probably give stronger D against traditional forwards, i.e., the main rivals of Spurs/Jefferson, Celts/Pierce, Nugs/Melo, Cavs/Lebron.

It could work out beautifully, but it's preconditioned on Artest recognizing himself as, at best, the third option on the team.  And that's a big worry, cause he's basically never been that player. 

EDIT:  I feel terrible for Yao.  The man is a hero. 


Edited by Kirk Tsai - 7/3/2009 at 09:13 am GMT

It's simple for me: if you can get the skills of Artest without "the crazy" of Artest, then it's all good. It remains to be seen if that's possible. With Phil at the helm, I have hopes. But for how much longer will Phil be there? Not sure Artest will subjugate his ego to anyone else's and we know Kobe doesn't do well with multiple alpha dogs in the house.

I do not think you can separate the bad Artest from the good Artest. The dude is a nut job, IMO.

As for Rasheed to the Celtics, he may be a good fit coming off the bench. He certainly wore out his welcome here in Detroit, though. His poor attitude and lack of effort on the court at times did not fit well on a team struggling to stay competitive. He will not be missed here.

I am not real thrilled with the Pistons two signings of Gordon and Villenueva. Adding Gordon gives Detroit three shooting guards and no point guard (Stuckey is a SG trying to play the point). This only makes sense if Dumars plans on moving Hamilton.

The team needs a PG and a low post presence. Villenueva seems a little small for the latter. I would love to see Dumars somehow pry Chris Paul away from cash-strapped New Orleans.

The Artest/Ariza "trade" is interesting. I guess the hope from the Lakers end is that Phil and Kobe will manage to repeat "Rodman to Chicago" by getting a whacko to calm down and play within the team's system. They might pull that off. I don't know about the posting up threat, though. They said the same thing when Artest joined the Rockets but I don't recall him EVER posting during the season. Part of it was Yao and Scola taking up space but most of it was just that Artest is enamored with the 3. He's a really good 3pt shooter when he plants his feet but for some reason he doesn't always do that, instead choosing to lean in one direction or another and launch off of one foot. Defensively he's much the same as on offense - lots of ability but rarely plays within the system. I assume this is why the Rockets let him walk as he was basically giving up to the other team more than what he brought most nights (I don't recall him having more than one or two good games in the playoffs). His inefficiency made him expendable.

I don't know what the thinking with the Rockets signing Ariza is because now they have a glut of wing players when they really, really need a center, or least someone that's actually 7 feet tall. The popular theory seems to be that they've got a trade in the works, possibly involving Battier, but who knows? At this point, though, I don't question Daryl Morey because he always seems to be thinking a few moves ahead and his player evaluation has been very good, although still inscrutable because of his rejection of box scores.

I'm sure they'd take Wallace if he was really cheap but I think they're setting their sights lower :) They tried for Gortat but lost on him because they didn't want to overpay, but someone in that range is presumably what they're looking for.

Rasheed's contract is expired -- he is a free agent. Therefore, the Pistons owe him nothing.