NBA Basketball 2004-2005 thread (1 Viewer)

[Jan H]

It's possible. May could be Pervis Ellison (a great year on a great team), or he could be Dale Davis (a solid, dependable rebounder and defender year after year). Anyway, he doesn't have the massive caboose that Tractor carries around, so he's got that going for him.

BTW, the Celtics stole Gerald Green (the guy I was hoping the Lakers would pick) at 18.

 

[Shane Martin]

Yep the Celtics stole Gerald Green alright. They must have been jumping up and down in the warroom. Meanwhile the Lakers and GM Bryant did screw it up. Casey was DEAD ON there.

As far as Shawn May goes, he will be a good player but nothing overly special. I really think Joey Graham of OSU will be a star though that is if he can keep motivated. He got lazy sometimes.

 

[Haggai]

My nomination for biggest early-entry dumbass in this year's draft is Randolph Morris, from my own beloved Kentucky Wildcats. He's 6'10", 260+ lbs, and he had considered going straight to the draft from high school, along with his AAU teammates Dwight Howard and Josh Smith. His freshman year at Kentucky was kind of disappointing, with a few good games being pleasant breaks from a more routine underachieving, but it didn't look like he was a complete bust or anything. Obviously, with his size and (if you've seen him play) potential skill level, he would have been a no-brainer first round pick with some decent development in college. But now he'll have to make the league without even having been drafted, not even in the second round.

Pat Forde of ESPN deservedly throws Morris under the bus here.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I have no words on the Lakers first round pick from last night...apparently though he's had his drivers license for all of a month.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I was surprised that the Hawks managed to get a shooter in Stoudameier and a good swing man in Marvin Williams. Now they just need a big man, and some bench players to sniff 20-25 wins next season.

 

[Shane Martin]

Does it matter? All they need is a stiff to hand the ball off to Kobe who will shoot it anyway.

Shockingly it appears the Knicks got alot better thru the draft and getting rid of Kurt Thomas to the Suns.

And Boston looked good too. They're young but look out.

The offseason will be interesting.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Hopefully I don't need to express my feelings on Zeke. We woke from that nightmare when Carlisle fell back into our lap.



May - Tweener, I agree. He clearly used his size in the NCAA tourney and didn't show me a lot of true speed or finesse. However, he benefits from sitting along size Okafur and Brezec, so he can still play small.


Pacers pick has everyone in town buzzing. No way Danny Granger should have lasted till 17. That's the only reason Green or Garcia made it past Indy in the first place. Bird promises some more moves to come and Granger's multi-position ability helps that.

Still, its not clear that they would really want to move their starting 5, so "big moves" might be more along the lines of a 3 for 1 type of deal. At this point the Pacers depth is actually too much, barring another brawl it will be wasted.


Pacers will leave their 2nd round kid in Europe to play for a few more years. This draft at this point is considered a huge success for the Pacers and leaves them in very strong shape for years to come, even without any more trading.

If Bender is healthy then the Pacers have bench guys Fred and James Jones, Granger, and Bender all as guys that can play the 2-3 behind Jack and Ron. JJ shot so well from 3 and Fred was so versitile that both have great value to the team. Perhaps Fred goes so Granger can have his role. Hard to say.


Also it looks like the top 5 were all good picks that should have solid careers in the NBA. But I also think there are a lot of duds scattered in the first round. Lakers took a big risk. Maybe they should have let Phil have a say in the matter after all.

 

[Shane Martin]

Not sure what to do about an off season thread but Ray Allen starts off Free Agency by resigning with his own team(Seattle).

Michael Redd was also offered a max deal but I wonder if the guy is worth it.

 

[Robert_Z]

Does anyone know when the Spurs championship DVD will be released? (not the SI version)

The one from a couple of years ago featured the clinching 4th quarters from the final game of each series. This one I hope will also include as a bonus the 4th qtr/OT of game 5 of the Finals, which was simply the best high-stakes NBA game in over a decade.

 

[Shane Martin]

Looks like Robert Horry is resigning with the Spurs.

And a little surprising... Nate McMillan is now going to coach the Jailblazers err Trailblazers.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Why didn't Seattle extend McMillan's contract months ago instead of letting him affectively become a free agent coach? This seems like a pretty dumb decision on their part.

 

[Shane Martin]

Scott,
It may of been a case of too late to sign him. They made him a lame duck coach to start with and I'm sure he took offense to that. Then Portland came knocking.

More news:
Michael Redd signs a 6 yr 90 or so million dollar deal with the Bucks spurning Lebron's team. Seems a bit overpriced for that guy.

And Larry Brown still says he wants to coach the Pistons.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

...and not many people around here believe him.

Brown's agent for the past 30 years, Joe Glass, was on a local sports talk radio station yesterday. The interviewer made a comment regarding Brown's past history, and Glass had the balls to ask what he meant by that, and tried to argue that Brown wasn't really a vagabond coach who jumps from job to job. He lost all credibility right there.

 

[Shane Martin]

Well it appears Cleveland signed up a new coach Terry Stotts a former assistant at Golden State.

They also signed a free agent after being turned down by Ray Allen and Michael Redd. They signed Larry Hughes from the Wizards to a 5 yr 65-70 million. Seems steep for that guy.

 

[Shane Martin]

After seeing what Joe Johnson is going to get(max contract) and what this Simmons kid from the Clippers is getting, I have to wonder if it's the owners whom are are the drugs in the NBA. WOW talk about overpaying. These 2 kids are getting more money than Steve Nash did last year