2006-07 NBA season (1 Viewer)

[Andy Sheets]

I think Shaq is done. Sports writers and announcers keep acting like he'll just be fine if he gets healthy but he's never going to be completely healthy or in shape for the rest of his career, and he wasn't even that great in the playoffs last year.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Yeah, a lot of people still say the kind of stuff such as, "oh Shaq doesn't care about the regular season, and even if he can't dominate, in a short series he can still do it."

It's wishful thinking. His playoff stats have NOT been better than his regular season stats the last couple of years. In the Finals last year, he never scored 20 points in a game. That's not saying he's a non-factor, but it is very different from his glory days of 30 and 15 in the playoffs with the Lakers.

Remember when people were saying the Eastern Conference caught up? It's early, but they only have 4 teams over .500 right now. The Pacific and Southwest divisions look brutal. Only Memphis looks to be for sure lottery bound. The only other sub 500 team? The Phoenix Suns.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Anyone hear what Shaq had to say about the synthetic-"leather" basketballs the NBA is now using? Hilarious stuff.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

I didn't hear about this Pat, got a link? I know a whole bunch of other players have come out against it too.

There was that one game where Vince Carter admitted his game-tying three would not have gone down if it were the older ball. The bounce was abnormally friendly.

 

[Brian Perry]

Despite the apparent mirage of opening night, the Bulls are a train wreck this season. And Ben Wallace needs to get his head out of his you-know-what. We sign the guy to a 4-yr. deal for $50+ million (even though he's 32) and he is absolutely horrendous. In tonight's loss, he had NO points and NO rebounds! An NBA veteran making that kind of money should be fined for that type of performance.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Considering the contract that Wallace signed, Detriot made the absolute right move, and Chicago the wrong one. Wallace is an offensive liability; Detriot had four other reliable scorers who played terrifically with each other, so they were one of the teams that could let big Ben run out there 35 minutes a game and still have a strong offense. The Bulls have a lot of good peremiter players, and no inside scoring at all. PJ Brown, the other off season signing Chicago did, also doesn't have much scoring ability either. I think Chicago should have just stuck with Tyson Chandler, or saved the money for more cap room. On the good side, with their current group of young players, Chicago will always be in the trade rumors for the big stars such as KG, Iverson or Paul Pierce.

The Jazz completely dominated the boards last night against the Lakers, and hence won another close game. They are now 12-1.

Check this out: you can watch games from the previous night on NBA.com for free. Just register and you can watch the streaming video.
http://www.nba.com/broadband/league_pass.jsp

 

[Brian Perry]

After only 13 games, Wallace and coach Skiles are at odds. In tonight's game, Wallace blatantly violated Skiles' team rule about not wearing a headband, and was removed from the game. He ultimately took it off (after three assistant coaches implored him to) and was re-inserted. He then put it back on and was immediately removed.

What a waste of $60 million. The guy got his money and is now going to be a pain in the ass. At least it will be interesting to see how this battle with Skiles (and by entension, GM John Paxson) progresses throughout the year.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

The consensus top two teams--Jazz and Spurs--both lost tonight. Andris Biendrins is fastly becoming a monster.

Iverson goes for 45 points but loses the game. Dwayne Wade is the first player since 1989 to have three consecutive games of 30 points and 12 assists. His three dominant games look like this: 33/7/13, 35/6/12, and 33/5/15 with over .500 on field goal attempts.

 

[Chu Gai]

Do you think Wade has overly bulked up possibly making him more injury prone as the season progresses?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I was out of town last weekend, so just saw mention of this in yesterday's Detroit News. Ben did not get along with Rick Carlisle or Flip Saunders in Detroit -- he only seemed happy under Larry Brown. Therefore, it's not surprising he's butting heads with Skiles. I do have to ask, though... what's the big deal about wearing sweatbands?

Anyway, while I hated to see Ben leave, Detroit made the right call in not overpaying to keep him. Wallace is an offensive liability, and he showed signs of slowing down on defense last season. Chicago had the cap room to sign him, but I'm not sure he's a very good fit on that team. I'd rather see the Bulls than the Pistons burdened with that bloated contract.

 

[Brian Perry]

Skiles and Paxson have implemented and enforced this rule because former players like Eddie Robinson and Eddy Curry made a mockery of wearing them around their necks, or crooked.

If Wallace had gone to Bulls' management privately to say that he really needed to wear one, I think they may have accomodated him -- especially if the Bulls were winning or if Wallace was earning even one tenth of his salary. But by defying Skiles so blatantly, he's forcing them to hold firm to the rule.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

I haven't watched enough Heat games to notice this. However, the two previous times that I recall where a star shaped themselves to be noticeably more muscular resulted in two fantastic seasons. I'm thinking of last season with Elton Brand, who went from a very good player to a top player, and when Kobe suddenly looked a lot more cut and strong in the 02-03 season, where he had arguably his best year.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It sounds like Wallace and Skiles are having a communication problem.

 

[Mark Leiter]

Of course on the flip side of that is when Carmelo bulked up last year and it did nothing but slowed him down and was a main reason why he miss games because of injury. He slimed down this year and has now turn into the best offensive player so far this year.


I watched the Magic/Jazz game last night. The more i see of him the more Dwight Howard most reminds me of a young Shaq than any other player. With a bigger up-side if that is at all possible. Granted he is still dosen't have the offensive skill-set yet but he is already a better rebounder, blocks shots better and defends better than Shaq did at this stage. And this is the kicker, he is going to be A LOT better free throw shooter than Shaq could ever be. the percentages aren't there yet but you can see it in the way he shoots the ball. When Shaq throws a free throw it always looked like a line drive shot-put. Whenever it went in I was always amazed that it did. Howard on the other hand has a beautiful arcing free-throw with lots of rotation. It looks automatic every time it leaves his hand. If he gets his percentages into the mid to high 70s he will be basicly un-stoppble.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Same with McGrady: He worked so hard bulking up in the summer before last season and instead of making him more resistant to injuries, it exacerbated his back problems and pretty much ruined his season. He's slimmer this season and playing much better now that he's rounding into shape.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I've been kind of busy lately so have been paying a bit less attention to the NBA. I looked on the standings on ESPN.com today and see that in the Atlantic division the best record is 5-8?

This has to be a mistake right? No 1 division in any sport could possibly be this bad in real life right? Sure its a close race 5-8, 5-8, 5-9, 4-10 for the top for records if these are to actually be believed but come on it has to be a mistake right? One of these teams is going to the playoffs?

 

[Brian Perry]

There seems to be a disconnect between the operational and marketing arms on the Bulls. Apparently the media guide and even tickets to tonight's game show Wallace with the headband. Yet the no-headband rule has been in effect for several years.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Wallace has said he was not sorry to wear the headband. He didn't wear one tonight, played a lot of minutes, and put up some good ol' big Ben numbers against the Knicks.


The East is sooo bad, that one part of me thinks that the NBA should just ditch the entire Wester-Eastern conference division. A day ago the conference record was 50-17, advantage West. The East only has three winning teams. That's flat out embarrassing. I dunno, do people have a conference allegiance like many do in baseball for their league?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

This is a good question, for me the answer is no. I am a National League guy in baseball but the difference is that in baseball 1 league plays drastically different than the other because of the DH. The strategy is different and that makes each league have an identity. The game in both conferences of the NBA is the same, just at different points in time not played as well in 1 conference as in another. I'm only speaking for myself though so if there is someone here that has an allegiance to 1 conference over the other please speak up. I suspect that if any do the tie is directly to the fact that their favorite team plays in said conference which is also a factor in the AL/NL debate but the DH does make a difference to some.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

While I have no allegiance, I do not like the idea of one big conference where every team plays evey other the same number of times. The NHL tried this for awhile, and it really hurt the rivalries in that sport. The regular season seemed even more bland than usual. I like the idea of playing certain division rivals more than other teams. Rivalries spice up what would otherwise be a long, boring regular season.

Of course, Red Wings fans will probably argue that the current NHL setup of 8 games versus division rivals sucks, since Detroit is stuck in a lousy division without any of their old traditional rivals. However, fans in places like Toronto, Montreal, Boston and New York probably love the current setup.