NBA Chatter Thread

[Smitty]

Remember when the Bulls made a draft day trade and traded LMA to Portland for Tyrus Thomas and some foreign guy. Wow. That was a bad deal.

Bad evaluation on the players for sure. But if the Bulls had Aldridge, they probably make the playoffs in 2007, and therefore do not draft Derrick Rose in 2008.

 

[Smitty]

By the way, watch out Rose haters. He just lit up Portland for 31 points like it was nothing. He's heating up.

 

[1bigfan13]

By the way, watch out Rose haters. He just lit up Portland for 31 points like it was nothing. He's heating up.

He also gave up 35 to Lillard. Looks like he's a slacker on the defensive end.

 

[Tony D]

Bad evaluation on the players for sure. But if the Bulls had Aldridge, they probably make the playoffs in 2007, and therefore do not draft Derrick Rose in 2008.

I'd rather have LMA.

 

[1bigfan13]

OKC has won 5 straight and 7 of 8 since the return of the dynamic duo.

They're only 1 1/2 games out of the 8th playoff spot with 59 games to play. With a H2H game against the 8th seeded Suns on Sunday night. Barring another barrage of catastrophic injuries, making the playoffs should be a breeze. I actually think they climb as high as the 6th seed. One or two of the top 7 teams in the west will level off, IMO. I think it'll be Portland, because of the shallow depth, and Dallas, due to their inconsistent defense.

I found all the hand-wringing articles about the Thunder's playoff chances comical. OKC was sitting at about 5 games out of the 8th spot when KD & Russ returned and there were people actually writing articles questioning if the Thunder could make up 5 games over a 67 game stretch.

Again, barring injury, it was never a matter of IF but a matter of what seed that get.

 

[1bigfan13]

I'd rather have LMA.

Most definitely.

 

[Cotton]

GS and Dallas at 1. Should be a good game. Here's to hoping the Mavs break that 14 game winning streak.

 

[Cotton]

Maybe it's not going to be that great of a game.

 

[Texas Ace]

Maybe it's not going to be that great of a game.

We're playing pretty well, but we're 0-7 against the top 6 teams in the West.

That is not a good stat, obviously.

 

[1bigfan13]

The Kings fired their head coach, Mike Malone, last night.

Kind of surprising seeing as the team is only a couple of games under .500 plus Cousins has been out for a couple of weeks due to illness.

 

[Smitty]

I'd rather have LMA.

Now that Rose has been injured, maybe. Not when he was winning MVP.

 

[Tony D]

Now that Rose has been injured, maybe. Not when he was winning MVP.

Well...I'm talking about right now.

And the days of Rose winning an MVP are long gone.

 

[Carp]

Sixers bring in Furkan Aldimir...rebound beast from Turkey. Little pieces like this are going to be what fills out the roster around Embiid, Saric, KJ, and MCW.

 

[Tony D]

Sixers bring in Furkan Aldimir...rebound beast from Turkey. Little pieces like this are going to be what fills out the roster around Embiid, Saric, KJ, and MCW.

So not a believer in Noel, huh? Is your thought process they'll trade him? Can't play with Embiid?

 

[Smitty]

Well...I'm talking about right now.

And the days of Rose winning an MVP are long gone.

Well lots of great players don't win more than 1 MVP so that's fine.

Just saying the Bulls were more than happy to have gotten Rose from not having LMA. But yes taking Tyrua Thomas over him was dumb. They have managed to turn Thomas into nice assets though, including McDermott and I think Mirotic.

 

[Carp]

So not a believer in Noel, huh? Is your thought process they'll trade him? Can't play with Embiid?

Noel is not doing much for me. I see him as an energy defender who is just not going to develop offensively. I still like the trade because it freed us from Holiday money, but he is not a key piece to me. I'd take Okafor #1 right now and make him a PF next to Embiid.

 

[Tony D]

Well lots of great players don't win more than 1 MVP so that's fine.

Just saying the Bulls were more than happy to have gotten Rose from not having LMA. But yes taking Tyrua Thomas over him was dumb. They have managed to turn Thomas into nice assets though, including McDermott and I think Mirotic.

Ok.

 

[Texas Ace]

Two interesting NBA notes for today:

First, Charlotte is said to be looking to trade Lance Stephenson after only 23 games.

Also, George Karl is said to be on the Kings' radar. I think that would be a great hire and I can't understand why such a good coach would be out of a job this long.

 

[Carp]

I never understood signing Stephenson by the Hornets anyways. They lack shooting and so they add a limited shooter to Kidd-Gilchrist and Walker. They should have taken McDermott in the draft and place more of an emphasis on shooters.

 

[Tony D]

Noel is not doing much for me. I see him as an energy defender who is just not going to develop offensively. I still like the trade because it freed us from Holiday money, but he is not a key piece to me. I'd take Okafor #1 right now and make him a PF next to Embiid.

Hmmm. Not sure what you expected from him his first year. He hasn't played many games the last 3 years and is very raw. He's a guy who will take a few years to develop into what he will eventually be as an NBA player.

He's never going to be a 1st, 2nd or even 3rd option on offense. That's not his game. You know that. I think he'll eventually be a double-double guy with 2-3 blocks a game. He also will get his share of steals and assists especially for a big man. He's going to play good defense and does need to obviously bulk up a bit. He can guard quicker guys on the perimeter if needed. The other night in that debacle against Memphis he was matched up with Conley, who torched us, on a switch and picked his pocket. Quick hands

He's not a key piece if you don't think Ben Wallace wasn't a key piece for the Pistons or don't think Noah is a key piece for the Bulls. As raw as Noel is on offense right now he's averaging more this year than Wallace did in his career.

Tonight was probably his best game.
19pts 9-12 FG
8 reb
2 blk
4 asst
3 stl

He leads all rookies in rebounds and steals. He's 2nd in blocks (to KJ McDaniels), 3rd in FG%, 6th in scoring 8th in assists. He has a long way to go, but he has some unique skills that guys his size don't normally have

That being said the Sixers still have to take BPA with where they are as an organization. If Okafor is there when they pick he'll be a 76er. They can divide the 96 minutes at the 4 and 5 spot between Embiid, Noel and Okafor or Hinkie can make a deal.