THE "OFFICIAL" AROUND THE NBA 2012-13 THREAD...........

[HailBlazers]

A star is born, OJ Mayo.. just like his high school days. Who knows what I'm talking about?

 

[crowTrobot]

KD having the worst 40 point game of anyone this year

 

[HailBlazers]

OKC. Wearing throwback jerseys, from 2011.

 

[THE HCP]

Damn...... former Blazer Kevin Durant drops 52 tonight!

 

[THE HCP]

And I hate KG more and more by the minute! Just a fuckin' wanna' be thug on the court! Straight bitch!

 

[THE HCP]

There were some GREAT games tonight. LeaguePass paid for itself this evening!

 

[THE HCP]

espn

Wizards beat Denver, have won four out of five, including three with John Wall back. Wall-Bradley Beal is a nice backcourt.

 

[THE HCP]

espn

(ELIAS) Oddest stat of the night: The Bulls have won 14 straight Friday road games

 

[THE HCP]

espn

One more via ELIAS-- Spurs are 46-5 in games Tim Duncan plays vs Warriors (Best W-L by player vs team- Magic Johnson-- 50-4 vs Kings)

 

[THE HCP]

espn

Kevin Durant:NBA-best 5th game this season with 40+ points (one more than Kobe Bryant)

 

[THE HCP]

espn

Kevin Durant has a career-high 52 points tonight. Over the last five games, Durant is averaging 37.6 points.

 

[THE HCP]

espn

Only player to make more FT without a miss than Durant's 21 on Friday was Dominique Wilkins - 23-23 in a game in 1992

 

[NOVoodoo]

Carlos Boozer 19 points, 20 rebounds and 4 assists as Chicago beat Boston in OT. His last assist was for the game winner by Belinelli with 3 seconds left.

Carlos Boozer's play of late has been a revelation. He's playing like his Utah days. 23.4 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 2.7 apg in the new year (9 games).

Honestly, his play of late just raises questions for me. Why wasn't he performing this way earlier? Is it just a matter of inspiration? Why was he just a 14/9 player before the new year? Did Thibodeaux change his offense? etc.

A star is born, OJ Mayo.. just like his high school days. Who knows what I'm talking about?

Mayo hit the big shot, but he still played like a hack tonight. He's a high-volume scorer, but he's also a high-volume selfish chucker at the same time. You have to ask yourself if you're a team that's considering Mayo, "Is there no other player I'd rather have as my #1 option?" If the answer is "no," then go ahead and sign Mayo, but if not, you should know that Mayo can't play a complimentary role. He's not a great defender, not a great athlete, and he doesn't do well without the ball in his hands. He needs to be the #1 option.

 

[KingSpeed]

If Wall was healthy at the beginning of the season, Washington would be in the hunt for a top 4 seed. Wizards won last 6 games of last season but were then setback at the top of this season due to injuries.

 

[NOVoodoo]

If Wall was healthy at the beginning of the season, Washington would be in the hunt for a top 4 seed. Wizards won last 6 games of last season but were then setback at the top of this season due to injuries.

The results speak for themselves, but I'm not sold on John Wall as a player.

I think he would have been much better off going to a school that didn't encouraged his negative tendencies like Kentucky did, and I think it would have been good for him to get drafted by a team that didn't need to rely on him for 100% of their offense like Washington did.

He's got a lot of raw talent and abilities, but it just seems like he's been led in all of the wrong directions in terms of developing his talents. Right now, my image of John Wall is a guy who makes poor decisions, is loose with the ball, and jacks up a lot of ill-advised shots. That's really not far from the truth, and if he had gone to one of the good basketball school like Michigan State, Pittsburgh, or Gonzaga, that aren't just concerned with putting players in the pro's, then he probably would have been better off.

 

[BrianFromWA]

^Agree a lot with NOVoodoo here, but I find it a bit funny that Kansas, Duke, Georgetown or UNC weren't mentioned in "good basketball schools"

 

[VanillaGorilla]

^Agree a lot with NOVoodoo here, but I find it a bit funny that Kansas, Duke, Georgetown or UNC weren't mentioned in "good basketball schools"

Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Gonzaga are some random choices. Kentucky isn't a "good basketball school"?

 

[3RA1N1AC]

he should have went to webber state, clearly

 

[THE HCP]

espn

Jrue Holiday 33 points, 14 assists last night; 1st 76ers player with 30+ points and 14+ assists since Allen Iverson in 2005-06

 

[THE HCP]

elias

(ELIAS) Bulls have won each of the last 39 games in which they've scored 100+ points (2nd-best streak ever: best- 2003-05 Spurs, 41)

 

[THE HCP]

espn

Kobe has won 2 scoring titles. The only 2 times Lakers eliminated in 1st RD in his career.

 

[Run BJM]

Totally agree with you NOVoodoo. Sort of hard to imagine how Derrick Rose went down such a different path, but I think it helped that he got dropped into a much more professional and winning oriented culture in the NBA.

Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Gonzaga are some random choices. Kentucky isn't a "good basketball school"?

They have a successful basketball program, but Calipari isn't exactly known for developing and teaching like other top coaches. Hes great at getting elite talent, and I'm damn impressed that he actually won a championship on a team lead by freshman, but those freshmen (MKG and A. Davis) were also freakishly mature and winning oriented compared to most of the top recruits Calipari lands.

I was actually just watching an extensive interview with James Worthy and he had an interesting answer where he pointed out that, obviously, the Lakers in his day had elite talent, but a big part of the reason they were so dominant is that most/all of those great players had backgrounds with great college programs that really taught them to win and play as a team. Worthy and McAdoo at UNC, Magic at MSU, Kareem and Jamaal Wilkes at UCLA were the ones he mentioned specifically.

Kind of puts into perspective the Lakers current struggles. Kobe and Dwight did not go to college. Dwight has only ever had teams built around him, and Kobe hasn't been second fiddle in a decade and is too egotistical to defer. Pau looks lost playing with these two, yet he still looks like hes in his prime when playing with the Spaniards in the offseason. Since Nash's return they've been up and down (mostly down lately). The team just seems disjointed and Kobe and Dwight won't cooperate to better the team. You really need a guy like Phil Jackson to reign them in.

As an aside, the Warriors draft class has paid dividends immediately when called upon because they're all well coached players. Barnes with two years at UNC, Festus with four years at Vandy, and Draymond with four years at MSU. They've all got flaws, but they've helped their pedigree is a big reason why they can step in and contribute on a winning team.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

I think Calipari does more developing and teaching in one year that any other coach in the country could.

 

[Rhal]

I think Calipari does more developing and teaching in one year that any other coach in the country could.

I agree, its just not about basketball. Its just about how to hide all the money they are getting paid to play for Kentucky.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

So you guys think the only thing Calipari is good at is paying kids to play for him? Kinda funny how they won a championship and compete for it every single year.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

So you guys think the only thing Calipari is good at is paying kids to play for him? Kinda funny how they won a championship and compete for it every single year.

when the regularly get 3 out of the top 5 recruits in the country, its a little easier i would say

 

[VanillaGorilla]

when the regularly get 3 out of the top 5 recruits in the country, its a little easier i would say

You don't think it requires coaching to get those players to play well together? If they're 3 of the top 5 recruits in the country they've got to be selfish players who only care about their NBA success right? They get good players, their good players play good, and their team does good.

Yeah, Kentucky is a bad basketball school and Calipari can't coach.

 

[MickZagger]

So you guys think the only thing Calipari is good at is paying kids to play for him? Kinda funny how they won a championship and compete for it every single year.

You should be in the title chase every year when you have 8 of the top 20 recruits in the nation on your team every year. The fact it took him as long as it did to win a Championship shows a lot. They look like shit this year and they have a ton of talent on that team. The only upperclassman that guy has had go onto the pro's in a long time was Patrick Patterson and he was a Tubby Smith guy.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Darius Miller (senior) got drafted last year.

 

[MickZagger]

Darius Miller (senior) got drafted last year.

Well technically...