Metta World Peace: The NBA Offseason & Lockout Thread.

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

If Shane battier is really signing with Miami - that's really huge for them. Perfect complement to this team and as some of y'all know one of my favorite players. He really improves their chances.

os_mutante · Dec 8, 2011

dark knight said: ↑

If Shane battier is really signing with Miami - that's really huge for them. Perfect complement to this team and as some of y'all know one of my favorite players. He really improves their chances.
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Spo will put him on the other team's best player, allowing Wade and James to roam and go nuts on blocks. It's gonna be crazy.

OTOH, Duke players are cursed and never win NBA championships. So there's that.

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

Wow you're right - Danny Ferry broke the drought for Coach K, but that's it.

Playboy Red Devil · Dec 8, 2011

os_mutante said: ↑

Spo will put him on the other team's best player, allowing Wade and James to roam and go nuts on blocks. It's gonna be crazy.

OTOH, Duke players are cursed and never win NBA championships. So there's that.
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Sign him up, Spo.

thebigman · Dec 8, 2011

Lakers should go after Howard before Paul imo although a pg is needed. Bynum, he would be a boss if his knee wasn't so messed up

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

Playboy Red Devil said: ↑

Sign him up, Spo.
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Seriously - be careful what you wish for. Shane is just about as an ideal player for this team as I can think of -outside a solid big man.

GiuseppeSignori · Dec 8, 2011

dark knight said: ↑

Seriously - be careful what you wish for. Shane is just about as an ideal player for this team as I can think of -outside a solid big man.
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Still hoping that the Bulls can find that ideal player for their one obvious need -- an athletic defending two-guard who can hit the three from the corner. Some of the names being thrown around are Arron Afflalo, Jason Richardson, and Jamal Crawford. Caron Butler was also one of the players they were looking at, but it looks like he just signed with the Clippers.

os_mutante · Dec 8, 2011

Chris Paul to Lakers for Odom and Gasol (with Rockets then taking Gasol for Scola and others) all but done.

Damnit, I did *not* want to see the Lakers abandon the triangle and then pick up the best PG in the league. So much for floundering.

Playboy Red Devil · Dec 8, 2011

os_mutante said: ↑

Chris Paul to Lakers for Odom and Gasol (with Rockets then taking Gasol for Scola and others) all but done.

Damnit, I did *not* want to see the Lakers abandon the triangle and then pick up the best PG in the league. So much for floundering.
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***** yeah!!!

Wow what day - first Albert Puljos... and now CP3!

Edit - but a horrible yesterday... if you know me... you would know why. This certainly lifted my spirit.

O yeah.. OS_M I saw your comment in the Barca OTT. It was low, but I lol'd

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

os_mutante said: ↑

Chris Paul to Lakers for Odom and Gasol (with Rockets then taking Gasol for Scola and others) all but done.

Damnit, I did *not* want to see the Lakers abandon the triangle and then pick up the best PG in the league. So much for floundering.
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Seriously? They have that much faith in Bynum? Seems nuts to me - Gasol was their best player during the finals.

And what happened to Paul's knees being effed? I'm surprised teams aren't more worried about that. I'll be honest - I think this is not that smart a move. And it's going to be hard for me to hate Paul like I hate all Lakers.

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

GiuseppeSignori said: ↑

Still hoping that the Bulls can find that ideal player for their one obvious need -- an athletic defending two-guard who can hit the three from the corner. Some of the names being thrown around are Arron Afflalo, Jason Richardson, and Jamal Crawford. Caron Butler was also one of the players they were looking at, but it looks like he just signed with the Clippers.
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I think your biggest need is finding a taker for Boozers contract. What a disaster.

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

Wow - league killed the Paul deal.

dark knight · Dec 8, 2011

Odom, too, took to Twitter to share his feelings: "When a team trades u and it doesn't go down? Now what?"

HardHatMike · Dec 8, 2011

Just about time to get that 2011-12 thread going, eh? Maybe when free agency starts?

GiuseppeSignori · Dec 9, 2011

dark knight said: ↑

Wow - league killed the Paul deal.
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EricStangel Eric Stangel
BREAKING: David Stern has disallowed Jimmy Chitwood's last second basket. Hickory loses to South Bend...

os_mutante · Dec 9, 2011

Nobody hates the Lakers more than I but this seems truly unfair. Lakers were giving up plenty. I get that the league owns the Hornets but now the owners have a say in trades like this is fantasy basketball or something?

Shay Z · Dec 9, 2011

I am not that angry about Stern crushing the CP3 trade. Paul's a great player but his knee??? There will be other PGs around eventually. We get to keep Gasol and Odom (unless we package him in the Howard deal too).

We already have a player who's really good when healthy but not healthy often, we don't need another one.

Odom, too, took to Twitter to share his feelings: "When a team trades u and it doesn't go down? Now what?"
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Errr.. you show up to training camp and do your job for which you get paid millions?

Rakim_22 · Dec 9, 2011

David stern stats for the night:

1 block
29 assists

Playboy Red Devil · Dec 9, 2011

os_mutante said: ↑

Nobody hates the Lakers more than I but this seems truly unfair. Lakers were giving up plenty. I get that the league owns the Hornets but now the owners have a say in trades like this is fantasy basketball or something?
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Aside from your Lakers hate, I agree with everything you said. This was a great deal for Hornets, the Lakers, and Houston. As one Man United poster said, this sets a bad precedent. I am appalled at the whole notion that other team owners can interfere on other team trades, especially when all parties and happy with it. We gave crap that Lebron Wade and Bosh coluded together, when the owners did the same here. Ok so after this season CP is gonna walk away, and the org will get nothing out of this.

Aghh totally killed my boner and I am now limp.

Ravi- David Stern is nothing but a toothless piece of trash.

dark knight · Dec 9, 2011

Playboy Red Devil said: ↑

Ravi- David Stern is nothing but a toothless piece of trash.
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Um - yeah, no. Venting is one thing but let's not get carried away.

Walter3000 · Dec 9, 2011

Playboy Red Devil said: ↑

Aside from your Lakers hate, I agree with everything you said. This was a great deal for Hornets, the Lakers, and Houston. As one Man United poster said, this sets a bad precedent. I am appalled at the whole notion that other team owners can interfere on other team trades, especially when all parties and happy with it. We gave crap that Lebron Wade and Bosh coluded together, when the owners did the same here. Ok so after this season CP is gonna walk away, and the org will get nothing out of this.

Aghh totally killed my boner and I am now limp.

Ravi- David Stern is nothing but a toothless piece of trash.
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The 29 owners are supposed to have control of the league no? And since the League is running the Hornets and one of the big points about the lockout was to stop big market teams from taking their impending star free agents, it seems right on.

Still was shocked

HardHatMike · Dec 9, 2011

Shane Battier to sign with Miami.

SI.com

Shane Battier will be with the Miami Heat this season. Mario Chalmers is deciding if he'll be there with him.

Saying he only wants "a winning role" at this point in his career, Battier announced Thursday morning that he would sign with the Eastern Conference champion Heat. Miami let him know as soon as the free-agency shopping window formally opened this week that he was the Heat's top signing priority - even though the team has some question marks at the point guard and center spots.

"Over the last week, I've played out every scenario in my head over and over," Battier wrote on Twitter. "It always came back to one thing for me: a winning role."
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The part that I bolded seems like a slap in the face of Memphis and what that franchise accomplished last year. He had the opportunity to be one of the key cogs in one of the League's up-and-coming teams and play in a city that loves him and he decides to play 5th or 6th fiddle in Miami. Bitterly disappointed this morning.

thebigman · Dec 9, 2011

The nba is a joke, this trade takes away lakes best post player and a brilliant 6th man so how is it unfair? Stern is a shady bell end, everyone knows the league is somewhat fixed, I guess he wants lbj to get that ring?

os_mutante · Dec 9, 2011

This morning has been crazy! With this ongoing saga and with free agency in baseball, we may have finally reached the point in American sports where the offseason moves are as interesting if not more so than the actual sport.

Alex_1 · Dec 9, 2011

Walter3000 said: ↑

The 29 owners are supposed to have control of the league no? And since the League is running the Hornets and one of the big points about the lockout was to stop big market teams from taking their impending star free agents, it seems right on.

Still was shocked
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There are some big, big problems though with the league's actions. Because it is a very clear conflict of interest and it stinks more than before of Stern being at the helm for way too long. The owners all paid for the team, and the league runs it. There was always a problem there - and the league had the Hornets GM act as 'business as usual'. But the moment an influential player is on the block and a move is made, some of the other owners, led by Gilbert, band together to nix it, and Stern vetoes it.

So basically, Stern castrated his own GM and succombed to pressure from some of the other owners. Parity is one thing, but this also sets a horrific precedent for the league and questions whether or not the Hornets should even be allowed to operate. This doesn't look good for the NBA, nevermind that the pieces of the trade seemed to be on the level. Vetoing the trade though certainly isn't. The owners will act in the best interest of their teams, not the Hornets. That's the NBA's job... and there-in lies a good part of the conflict and the foul odor that has so many people up in arms about the integrity of the sport now (or more than usual). The other thing that absolutely wreaks is that (this) went public.

Either way, I agree that the offseason is actually now more interesting than the regular season. I think at the end of the day though, the real loser in this is going to be Dan Gilbert as long as he wants to own the Cavaliers. Because if I was blessed enough to have the talent to be an influential player, there's no way I'd want to play on that guy's team. I might if I was a scrub without a choice, but otherwise... that guy whines and whines and his attitude towards the players is something else, to say the least. To me, it seems he really does view them as nothing more than property.