NBA 2005 off-season (1 Viewer)

[Andy Sheets]

I think Finley's the more important signing for the Spurs. Van Exel can contribute in some ways but I'm skeptical he has much left at this point.

The Rockets wrapped up Yao's extension yesterday, to pretty much no one's surprise except maybe the Lakers, who are now supposedly pinning their hopes on Lebron

 

[Shane Martin]

Well well well some moves are made.

Amari Staudimire(sp?) signed a max contract with the Suns. Who didn't see that coming?

And Eddie Curry heads to the Knicks along with Antonio Davis for Tim Thomas and a few other guys. Eddie wouldn't do a DNA test for his heart so they traded him. This is actually a brave and good move IMHO by the Knicks. I'm sure Larry Brown is happy.

 

[BrettGallman]

Absoultely bad news for Bulls fans like me who thought the team was finally moving in a positive direction. This is just a huge step backwards after last season.

I think I'm more upset over the fact that he didn't get the testing done for his own good, and the Bulls are being portrayed as having some sort of ulterior motive to the whole thing. I mean, I'm sure they wanted to protect their own interests, but it's not like they were just going to cut the guy and not pay him anything. But whatever, I guess the only thing I can do now is hope Curry's condition isn't serious at all.

 

[Shane Martin]

Brett,
They shouldn't be portrayed that way. They are protecting their financial interests.

 

[Jan H]

Isaiah is either a genius or a moron (I'm strongly inclined toward the latter view). The Bulls got a Knick 1st round pick, though, so they may have gotten the better of this deal in the long run, anyway.

The Spurs once again look like the team to beat.

I'm glad Phil's back on board with the Lakers. He should be good for, say, 3 more wins than last season, at most.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Looks like Amare Stoudemire's going to miss a few months to recover from microfracture surgery in his knee. This is going to be critical for the Suns not just because of the missed time this season but because very few basketball players fully recover from this kind of surgery, and Amare's game is based so much around his speed, agility, and jumping ability.

 

[Hunter P]

Stodemire signs a max deal then days later he finds out he has to have the same procedure that made Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Chris Webber, and others a shadow of their former selves. I dunno if Amare was hiding the severity of his injury until the deal was signed or the Suns were too anxious to sign him so they didn't do their homework. Either way the Suns got majorly screwed.

I was looking forward to see if Amare could continue to dominate this year. The dude seemed to dunk the ball any time he was within 10 feet of the basket.


In other NBA news, Marcus Camby says that the NBA should pay players a stipend if they want them to conform to the dress code. Apparently, players like Camby and Sprewell cannot afford to feed their family AND dress in suits on the paltry salaries they currently make.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2188557

 

[Hunter P]

I went to last night's Dallas/Kings game and here's my prediction for the Kings: Win the Pacific Division by default and lose in the second round. Basically the same result we have seen since the turn of the century.

They improved in some areas but I see too many things that are going to hold them back. For one, they are too short. Tall and quick jumping teams are going to crush them on the offensive glass yet again this year. They did not improve in that area, not that there were a lot of big men available in the off season.

Secondly, there's going to be too much individual play. Sharif and Bonzi are used to systems where offense was basically isolation-type plays. Clear out and either take your man off the dribble or post up. It's in their blood too much for them to adapt to the Kings system. Maybe if they had 2-3 years but that doesn't help this season. Cuttino Mobley couldn't adapt in one year with the Kings so I doubt these two can.

Third, Brad Miller is still committed to go through his life without ever touching a barbell. His vertical is about as high as him standing on his tippy toes. Expect a lot of guys out leaping him from behind for the offensive rebound then dunking the ball because Miller was too busy giving the "How come you aren't bailing me out?" look to the official.

Fourth, Peja. Man, I just wish the Kings would finally give up on this guy. He's a free agent after this year and I really, really hope they try to trade him. I will admit his individual defense is improved. He is really good at making the shooter miss...HOWEVER...he doesn't box out and get the rebound. What good is making the guy miss if you're just going to let him fly by and follow up his own shot? He also doesn't rotate on defense.

Plus another thing about Peja and his new teammates. I see him deferring a lot of shots to Sharif and Bonzi this year. That means a lot of forced shots in traffic between 2-3 defenders. All because Peja didn't want to shoot some wide open jumper. In his mind he's trying to be a team player. But besides Bibby, who do you want taking a shot when the shot clock is winding down? He needs to become more selfish if he wants to become great.

It's been like 8 years now and he still doesn't have fire in his belly. I don't see how it's going to magically happen this year also.

As for Dallas, they look good. I think they have a better team this year than they had in the old Nash days. Of course they don't have a great floor general anymore and they need to gel more. The raw pieces are there though. Good size, good athleticism, good shooting, good on-the-ball defenders, good hustle guys. I like them to make some noise. Maybe a lot of noise.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Yeah, Dallas is being underrated by a lot of people, presumably because they didn't have a good offseason in terms of players added. But they still have a very good lineup and Avery will probably have them playing more defense this season.

I'm really glad the Rockets traded Mike James away. He had some good moments for them last season but seemed to place himself above the team too much.

 

[Haggai]

I wouldn't say that. D'Antoni's deadpan statement on that was "I'm pretty sure we were going to sign him anyway." What were they going to do, let him leave? Try to sign him for less? Somebody else would have offered him more in a heartbeat.

 

[Hunter P]

Sounds like a good start to me. Better than starting off a max deal with a career debilitating injury. He's young and very well could be the exception to the rule but there are way too many proofs to the rule to have much hope.

Pheonix basically handicapped themselves for several years.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Darko's had a big week here. He had a decent showing in Detroit's first preseason game against the Bulls and their non-existent front line. Then he was arrested last night for driving with a suspended license.

 

[Shane Martin]

Maybe he should have not spent the $70 grand on his Hummer being pimped out. A show (unique whips on Speed) showed what they did to that Hummer.

Dude has not reason to complain.

 

[Haggai]

Yeah, but if he can't really recover, they're screwed from contention no matter what they do. Their only hope is that he recovers successfully. If they had offered him less and someone else had signed him by offering more--not an unlikely scenario, I think--then they're definitely not contending for championships anytime soon, even with all the cap space they'd have saved. It's sink or swim with Amare for them.