Miami Heat?!

[Bch]

^^ thats why the lakers keep me in fear, paul gasol out of position going up for a re' is traumatizing. i think pau and joe crawford have a steamy side relationship goin on

[Sccit]

PG Derek Fisher...Steve Blake/Shannon Brown
SG Kobe Bryant...Matt Barnes/Sasha Vujacic
SF Ron Artest...Luke Walton/Devin Ebanks
PF Pau Gasol...Lamar Odom/Derrick Caracter
C Andrew Bynum...Theo Ratliff/DJ Mbenga


Insane rotation...our second unit alone could beat some other teams in the league

[Chamillitary Click]

PG Derek Fisher...Steve Blake/Shannon Brown
SG Kobe Bryant...Matt Barnes/Sasha Vujacic
SF Ron Artest...Luke Walton/Devin Ebanks
PF Pau Gasol...Lamar Odom/Derrick Caracter
C Andrew Bynum...Theo Ratliff/DJ Mbenga


Insane rotation...our second unit alone could beat some other teams in the league

LOL, EXACTLY & you drafted none of them! All just hired guns for Kobe. Yet nothing is taken from Kobe; hence you're opinion is irrelevant.

BTW, the Cavs are one of those teams.

[Sccit]

PG Derek Fisher...Steve Blake/Shannon Brown
SG Kobe Bryant...Matt Barnes/Sasha Vujacic
SF Ron Artest...Luke Walton/Devin Ebanks
PF Pau Gasol...Lamar Odom/Derrick Caracter
C Andrew Bynum...Theo Ratliff/DJ Mbenga


Insane rotation...our second unit alone could beat some other teams in the league

LOL, EXACTLY & you drafted none of them! All just hired guns for Kobe. Yet nothing is taken from Kobe; hence you're opinion is irrelevant.

BTW, the Cavs are one of those teams.

7 of those players are drafted by the Lakers...wtf are you talkin about, idiot?

[7even]

I think he talks about the 2nd unit. Only Luke was drafted by Lakers. Most niggas who were drafted are not even role players. Ebanks, Vujacic, Caracter, Luke.. not really anyone who is feared by opponents. Plus you didn't even really draft Kobe, you traded a far worse player for the draft rights.

[M Dogg™]

I think he talks about the 2nd unit. Only Luke was drafted by Lakers. Most niggas who were drafted are not even role players. Ebanks, Vujacic, Caracter, Luke.. not really anyone who is feared by opponents. Plus you didn't even really draft Kobe, you traded a far worse player for the draft rights.

We look at the Kobe/Vlade trade in retrospect, but in reality the Kobe/Vlade trade was a HUGE gamble. The Lakers agreed to the trade before they even knew it was Kobe. So all of this talk is straight retarted that Kobe/Vlade was a bad trade.

By John Delong | Journal Reporter
Published: June 18, 2008

CHARLOTTE - Revisionist history is always fascinating.
It's not always accurate, but it's fascinating.
The Charlotte Hornets drafted Kobe Bryant with the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft and promptly traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac.
Over the years, that story has been told, retold and embellished so much that the reality of that trade and the current perception are farther apart than, oh, Charlotte and Los Angeles. It's a timely topic because throughout this year's NBA Finals between the Lakers and Boston Celtics, we've heard all the revisionist history again. We've heard how Kobe and his agent shunned the Hornets, threatened that Kobe wouldn't play for the Hornets, and therefore orchestrated the trade to the Lakers. There has been more talk in Charlotte about Kobe and the Hornets the past two weeks than there has been about anything concerning the Bobcats.
A look back into the archives shows that the notion that Kobe orchestrated the trade is bogus. Kobe, in an interview during the 2000 Finals when the Lakers beat Indiana for the NBA title, said emphatically that he would have gladly played in Charlotte. Sure, he wanted to play for the Lakers, but who wouldn't? He also said that had he gone to college, he would have signed with Duke, so he liked the area.
And those who were involved in the wheeling and dealing at the time of the trade shoot down all the legends that have developed over the years.
"The deal was actually done a day ahead of time, and it was Vlade for a player to be named," said Bill Branch, the Hornets' head scout at the time who still operates out of Charlotte as a scout for the Seattle-now-Oklahoma City Sonics. "If I remember right, they didn't even tell us who they wanted us to pick until about five minutes before the pick was made. So it was never a matter of us actually drafting Kobe."
The trade was more about the Lakers' pursuit of Shaquille O'Neal in free agency and the Hornets' need to acquire a center than it was about Bryant.
In order to get far enough under the salary cap to make a valid pitch to O'Neal, the Lakers needed to unload Divac's contract, preferably to a team under the salary cap and preferably for a draft pick. The Hornets had traded Alonzo Mourning the previous year, were without a bona fide center, and were well under the cap after renouncing the rights to free agent Kenny Anderson. They would trade Larry Johnson to New York for Anthony Mason later that summer.
The Hornets reasoned that they could come out of the draft with no better than Vitaly Potapenko or Todd Fuller if they drafted a center, and jumped at the chance to trade the 13th pick for Divac.
"When you look back at it, when we made that trade, here was a 17-year-old kid who had played in high school," said Bob Bass, the Hornets' executive vice president of basketball operations at the time. "Twelve other teams passed on him. We made a decision to win now and not later. We had Dave Cowens as our first-year coach, and I wanted to give him a chance to win. I knew if we got Divac in here, we'd win. I didn't feel the same about Bryant. Without Divac, I thought we might have won 25 games."
The Hornets won 54 games, then a franchise record, the next season with Divac.
The Lakers might have been high on Bryant, but this was more about clearing up the cap room to make a run at O'Neal, whose contract was up in Orlando. Marc Fleisher, Divac's agent, remembers that the Lakers had a trade worked out to send Divac to Atlanta for the 25th pick if anything fell through with the Hornets. Had that scenario played out, there's little or no way that Bryant would have fallen all the way to the 25th pick, so Bryant and the Lakers couldn't have orchestrated anything.
"There were three teams involved at first -- Charlotte, Atlanta and Sacramento," Fleisher said. "Sacramento didn't work out for whatever reason, and then it was basically Charlotte or Atlanta. They asked us where Vlade would rather go, and he said Charlotte."
Divac later threatened to retire shortly after the deal was announced, and that would have nixed the trade. But Cowens talked him out of that threat, and the trade became official. After a few more minor deals and cap moves, the Lakers had enough cap room to sign O'Neal -- with Bryant, 17, as icing on the summer-acquisition cake.
Branch scouted Bryant twice for the Hornets while Bryant was at Lower Merion H.S., but he said that the Hornets "never even considered him" as a player they would draft and keep. Bass was an old-school GM who liked to deal but didn't usually gamble on young players.
Branch recalls how difficult it was to gauge Bryant's talents against inferior high-school competition. This was an era before it became fashionable to draft high-school players, before Kwame Brown, Dwight Howard and LeBron James were No. 1 picks straight out of high school.
Branch believes that the Lakers' Jerry West was probably gambling on Bryant to a degree, because that was West's style. And if Bryant didn't pan out, the Lakers would still get O'Neal in the process.
"Jerry West might be the only person who can really answer that, but I just think it (Bryant's stardom) would be very hard to predict, because you've got stories of guys who turned out good and stories of guys who turned out bad," Branch said. "The year before, L.A. wasn't even in the draft and they made a move to get into the second round at the last second, and they picked Frankie King out of Western Carolina. They specifically made a move to get one kid. So when you see moves like that and then they go for Kobe, you've got to think they're taking stabs.
"And I don't mean that negatively. I just mean for someone to say now that they knew Michael Jordan was going to be what he was, they're kidding themselves. We all thought Kobe was going to be good. But how do you really know?"
You don't. And that's why the Hornets were never anything but facilitators for the Lakers.
Twelve years later, obviously, it has worked out well for the Lakers. But the Hornets didn't get coerced into anything.






http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008 ... construed/

[Chamillitary Click]

I think he talks about the 2nd unit. Only Luke was drafted by Lakers. Most niggas who were drafted are not even role players. Ebanks, Vujacic, Caracter, Luke.. not really anyone who is feared by opponents. Plus you didn't even really draft Kobe, you traded a far worse player for the draft rights.

Exactly, basically the 3rd unit is the draft picks.

& he would get off the topic of how the team is clearly stacked as fuck, yet somehow it's still Kobe, grinding by his lonesome.

[7even]

I think he talks about the 2nd unit. Only Luke was drafted by Lakers. Most niggas who were drafted are not even role players. Ebanks, Vujacic, Caracter, Luke.. not really anyone who is feared by opponents. Plus you didn't even really draft Kobe, you traded a far worse player for the draft rights.

We look at the Kobe/Vlade trade in retrospect, but in reality the Kobe/Vlade trade was a HUGE gamble. The Lakers agreed to the trade before they even knew it was Kobe. So all of this talk is straight retarted that Kobe/Vlade was a bad trade.

Well nigga, I admit I wasn't media savvy in 1996 cause I didn't have internet and I'm from Europe, but still, I'm sure scouts knew that Kobe was tremendously talented. He was an All-Star in his 2nd season, even though he came straight from High School!!

Back in the day, niggas hated High School players. That's the only reason why this trade might have been a gamble.

As far as I know Kobe also said in public that the only team he is willing to play for are the Lakers.

[.:DaYg0sTyLz:.]

If the Heat beat the Lakers in the Finals I'd be happy as fuck.

If the Heat beat the Mavs in the Finals (highly unlikely, cause the Mavs are a long shot to make the Finals), I'd hate life.

If the Heat beat some random ass team in the Finals (Spurs, Suns, Jazz, Nuggets, etc) I'm fine, just for the fuck of it cause I'd know the haters gon be pissed ...

Knowing that my team won't make the Conference Finals let alone the NBA Finals, I'd be fine with the Heat winning.

Like I said previously, I'm not a fan of Team USA at all, matter of fact I prefered Spain to beat them in the Olympics, but hey, they are a borderline showtime team and the Heat will also be at least just that. So I'm cool with watching them dominating niggas.

I wouldnt sell the Mavs short. They are a good team. Unfortunately, they are that kind of team where everyone says "they wont win the whole thing no matter what". But Conference is very possible...and the finals is even possible. Theres no telling what these Heat team will become. But we havent had a TRULY dominant team for years in the NBA. And I mean, truly dominant as in...theres no way this team will lose (ala, Bulls in the 90's). So every year, any one of the top 6 to 7 teams can reach the finals.

Well, this year they got bounced in the first round by losing to an aged and injury-plagued team that got swept in the 2nd round. In the off-season, all they really did was trading Dampier's attractive contract (13 mil that can be bought out with 2 mil) for Chandler's expiring contract. They also overpaid Haywood for 6 fucking years, which makes him absolutely untradeable, just like Marion. I wouldn't say they improved during this off-season. They might even be worse, cause all good players are between 31 and 37 years old and Chandler just sucks.
The only thing that keeps my hopes alive is that they have 27 mil of expiring contracts and some decent rookie-contract players. So they might be able to get 1-2 nice players who wanna leave their teams. I'm looking at you, Chris Paul. Chandler+Butler+Stevenson+Barea for Chris Paul+Okafor would do it. Anything less than that equals another disappointing playoff performance after 55 regular season wins.

True. You guys are done...lol

Ive always thought it was funny tho how people always call the Spurs old. Its gotten to where I think its just the thing to say, no matter how old they are. Theyre average age at the beginning of the season last year was 27yrs. Not that old.

[7even]

If the Heat beat the Lakers in the Finals I'd be happy as fuck.

If the Heat beat the Mavs in the Finals (highly unlikely, cause the Mavs are a long shot to make the Finals), I'd hate life.

If the Heat beat some random ass team in the Finals (Spurs, Suns, Jazz, Nuggets, etc) I'm fine, just for the fuck of it cause I'd know the haters gon be pissed ...

Knowing that my team won't make the Conference Finals let alone the NBA Finals, I'd be fine with the Heat winning.

Like I said previously, I'm not a fan of Team USA at all, matter of fact I prefered Spain to beat them in the Olympics, but hey, they are a borderline showtime team and the Heat will also be at least just that. So I'm cool with watching them dominating niggas.

I wouldnt sell the Mavs short. They are a good team. Unfortunately, they are that kind of team where everyone says "they wont win the whole thing no matter what". But Conference is very possible...and the finals is even possible. Theres no telling what these Heat team will become. But we havent had a TRULY dominant team for years in the NBA. And I mean, truly dominant as in...theres no way this team will lose (ala, Bulls in the 90's). So every year, any one of the top 6 to 7 teams can reach the finals.

Well, this year they got bounced in the first round by losing to an aged and injury-plagued team that got swept in the 2nd round. In the off-season, all they really did was trading Dampier's attractive contract (13 mil that can be bought out with 2 mil) for Chandler's expiring contract. They also overpaid Haywood for 6 fucking years, which makes him absolutely untradeable, just like Marion. I wouldn't say they improved during this off-season. They might even be worse, cause all good players are between 31 and 37 years old and Chandler just sucks.
The only thing that keeps my hopes alive is that they have 27 mil of expiring contracts and some decent rookie-contract players. So they might be able to get 1-2 nice players who wanna leave their teams. I'm looking at you, Chris Paul. Chandler+Butler+Stevenson+Barea for Chris Paul+Okafor would do it. Anything less than that equals another disappointing playoff performance after 55 regular season wins.

True. You guys are done...lol

Ive always thought it was funny tho how people always call the Spurs old. Its gotten to where I think its just the thing to say, no matter how old they are. Theyre average age at the beginning of the season last year was 27yrs. Not that old.

Well, I don't believe in average age, cause it's all about the best players in basketball.

Duncan - turns 35 before next playoffs. Straight up old.

Ginobili - turns 34 soon after next playoffs. Considering how injury-prone dude is, I'd say he's pretty old. Got a ridiculous extension that also fucked up any FA ambitions for the Spurs.

Parker - not old. But not really young either.

Jefferson - already 30. Also got a long term extension and will definitely use his player option. Virtually untradeable. Didn't fit in well last season. Given the fact that he heavily relies on athelicism, I wouldn't have given him a long term extension. He's going to be a horrible player in 3-4 years.

Mc Dyess - turns 36 before next season. Straight up old.

Bonner - already 30.


Then there are some promising young niggas in Hill and Splitter, but those guys are clearly still bench players.

[.:DaYg0sTyLz:.]

If the Heat beat the Lakers in the Finals I'd be happy as fuck.

If the Heat beat the Mavs in the Finals (highly unlikely, cause the Mavs are a long shot to make the Finals), I'd hate life.

If the Heat beat some random ass team in the Finals (Spurs, Suns, Jazz, Nuggets, etc) I'm fine, just for the fuck of it cause I'd know the haters gon be pissed ...

Knowing that my team won't make the Conference Finals let alone the NBA Finals, I'd be fine with the Heat winning.

Like I said previously, I'm not a fan of Team USA at all, matter of fact I prefered Spain to beat them in the Olympics, but hey, they are a borderline showtime team and the Heat will also be at least just that. So I'm cool with watching them dominating niggas.

I wouldnt sell the Mavs short. They are a good team. Unfortunately, they are that kind of team where everyone says "they wont win the whole thing no matter what". But Conference is very possible...and the finals is even possible. Theres no telling what these Heat team will become. But we havent had a TRULY dominant team for years in the NBA. And I mean, truly dominant as in...theres no way this team will lose (ala, Bulls in the 90's). So every year, any one of the top 6 to 7 teams can reach the finals.

Well, this year they got bounced in the first round by losing to an aged and injury-plagued team that got swept in the 2nd round. In the off-season, all they really did was trading Dampier's attractive contract (13 mil that can be bought out with 2 mil) for Chandler's expiring contract. They also overpaid Haywood for 6 fucking years, which makes him absolutely untradeable, just like Marion. I wouldn't say they improved during this off-season. They might even be worse, cause all good players are between 31 and 37 years old and Chandler just sucks.
The only thing that keeps my hopes alive is that they have 27 mil of expiring contracts and some decent rookie-contract players. So they might be able to get 1-2 nice players who wanna leave their teams. I'm looking at you, Chris Paul. Chandler+Butler+Stevenson+Barea for Chris Paul+Okafor would do it. Anything less than that equals another disappointing playoff performance after 55 regular season wins.

True. You guys are done...lol

Ive always thought it was funny tho how people always call the Spurs old. Its gotten to where I think its just the thing to say, no matter how old they are. Theyre average age at the beginning of the season last year was 27yrs. Not that old.

Well, I don't believe in average age, cause it's all about the best players in basketball.

Duncan - turns 35 before next playoffs. Straight up old.

Ginobili - turns 34 soon after next playoffs. Considering how injury-prone dude is, I'd say he's pretty old. Got a ridiculous extension that also fucked up any FA ambitions for the Spurs.

Parker - not old. But not really young either.

Jefferson - already 30. Also got a long term extension and will definitely use his player option. Virtually untradeable. Didn't fit in well last season. Given the fact that he heavily relies on athelicism, I wouldn't have given him a long term extension. He's going to be a horrible player in 3-4 years.

Mc Dyess - turns 36 before next season. Straight up old.

Bonner - already 30.


Then there are some promising young niggas in Hill and Splitter, but those guys are clearly still bench players.

True. But theyre younger players play a lot of minutes. Hill could be a starter on the team if they just chose to go that route. Thats why all the Parker trade rumors were circulating. If you remember when Parker came back last year after the injury, he had a difficult time getting his starting spot back from Hill. Blair will be a starter at some point. If he didnt play the same position as Tim, he probably would be. I actually like Jeffersons contract. It free'd up some room for us to spend. He should do a better job fitting in this year. Players tend to struggle the first year in the Spurs system. He just needs to start knockin down those jumpers. But his expiring contract in a few years could be attractive to somebody.

This means that even with their core being older, they can counteract it by playing them less minutes. Timmy's minutes dropped down a lot last year so that they could save him for the playoffs. Pop was even able to give him some games off just to rest. With Splitter showing up Im sure he will do that even more.

But theyve set themselves up nicely for this transition as Duncan and Manu wind down their careers. They wont have to go through a major rebuilding since theyre younger players will be hitting their prime right as Duncan and Manu are on the way out. And Splitter will benifit a ton by playing these next couple years with Timmy.

Hill
Blair
Splitter
Anderson
Neal
Temple

Id be willing to bet at least 3 of these guys end up being all-stars at some point.

[OG Hack Wilson]

i want to see them lose in game 7 of the ECF to boston and then boston will beat Lal in the finals for revenge

[Bch]

Miami just inked a deal with proven playoff shooter Eddie House!!!  Welcome back to the team eddie!!

PG Eddie House

SG D Wade

SF Mike Miller

PF Lebron James

C Chris Bosh 

that line up is gonna murder 95% of the league. With Lebron and D wade sharing PG duties damn

[Chamillitary Click]

If I don't know what I'd do.

No point of having a PG on the floor considering Wade & LeBron would bring it up every single possesion anyway; maybe bring one in eventually, but off the start, I don't know.

Going to be an interesting year.

[M Dogg™]

Miami just inked a deal with proven playoff shooter Eddie House!!!  Welcome back to the team eddie!!

PG Eddie House

SG D Wade

SF Mike Miller

PF Lebron James

C Chris Bosh 

that line up is gonna murder 95% of the league. With Lebron and D wade sharing PG duties damn

LeBron at PF??