basketball 2 life

Lakers win physical game 2

2009-05-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

What can a player do when he gets elbowed in the face and gets called for a foul? Plead your case to the ref and go to bench i guess. But if you are Ron Artest you confront the player who elbowed you.
That's exactly happened last night during the Lakers Rockets western conference semi finals game 2. Kobe elbowed Artest while they both went for a rebound and Artest got called for the foul. Artest got into Kobe's face after talking to the refs and got ejected of the game.

What was Artest thinking when he confronting Kobe? It's a known fact that the refs are constantly watching Artest ever since the Auburn Hills incident when he was with the Pacers and he is always goign to get an unfair call when he does something wrong.

I don't think he has done anything severe in the last 2 years. Isn't it time the Refs stop seeing him as a Hothead?

Derek Fisher got ejected after a flagrant 2 on Luis Scola (maybe he shouldn't mess with anyone in a Lakers uniform) and Fisher has been suspended for Game 3.

Shaq 5th best scorer in history

2009-03-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

I had a post a bit less than 2 weeks back where he passed Elvin Hayes on scoring list, Sjaq is at it again this time he passed 1 of the best high school to pro player Moses Malone.

Shaq finished the night with 13 points and 10 rebounds in win Suns win against the Washington Wizards and has now totaled for 27,411 points. Shaq's next mission is to pass TNT analyst Charles Barkley in rebounding, behind him by 81 rebounds to get to 15th spot on all time rebounding leaders. Scoring wise he is behind Wilt Chamberlain by 4008 points for the 4th spot on the scoring list.

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Zydrunas Ilgauskas 4th Cavalier to get 10,000 points

2009-03-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Zydrunas Ilgauskas becomes the fourth to score player in Cavaliers history to 10,000 points. He took 11 seasons to get to this mark.
Ilgauskas missed 2 entire seasons in the 11 years he was in league due to injuries, so this accomplishment came 2 years late.
Ilgauskas has averaged 14.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for his career.
His contract ends the same year as LeBron James and gives 1 of the teams with the highest payroll some relief in this bad economy.

Pacers youth have to earn their minutes

2009-03-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Usually when a team doesn't have a chance of entering the playoffs, they kick off the youth movement to see what their youngsters are capable off and punishing the vets for not leading the team into the playoffs.

Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson has started it and have got impressive games from rookie Anthony Randolph who is considered as the next Lamar Odom, It doesn't sound as good as next Micahel Jordan but finding a big man who can handle the ball, play the post and take mid range jumpers are hard to come by.

Pacers are very unlikely going to be out of the playoffs for the third consecutive season but this hasn't made him start the youth movement. He is not going to hand out minutes to his youth but expects them to earn it by playing hard during practices and his ojb is to win games or he says.

Coaches get fired in the league very often and with 2 failed seasons under Jim O'Brien, will he see himself unemployed end of the season or is he trying to save himself by trying to win some games with his usual rotation.

Israeli club sign Ira Newble

2009-03-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ira Newble signed with Israeli club Bnei Hasharon.

Newble was released by the Sonics after he was traded by the Cavaliers last season and he was part of the Lakers team that played in the finals against the Celtics season.

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NBA Jesus to stay

2009-03-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

A lot of people believe that Adam Morrison is a bust and a proof of how bad a job Michael Jordan has done when it comes to drafting. Nobody knows if he had a part with drafting Kwame Brown but assuming he did, He has made 1 bad pick in Kwame Brown but did he make a mistake in drafting Adam Morrison and passing up on all star Brandon Roy and highflyer Rudy Gay.

Yes would be the answer to many out there but Adam Morrison himself wouldn't admit that fact.

For all those who think that he is a bust and his career is over, Adam wants you to check his rookie year stats and says that this is his second season in the league because he came off the ACL surgery last season.

"That's the one thing that does bother me," Morrison, who averaged 11.8 points in his rookie season, said. "It was like I didn't really do anything that year. Then now I come off the surgery and I don't really get the benefit of the doubt until I get healthy. But this is a business and this is the pros so I understand how some people are."

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4 point game

2009-03-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

Whom do you want in tour team if your team is down four and have just enough time to get 1 shot off?

Jamal Crawford

Why you ask? Well he made his 16th 4 point play of his career and the fifth with the Warriors during the first quarter in their loss to the Suns on Monday.

No other player has made more $ point plays than him in the last five years.

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Carter second all time scorer for the Nets

2009-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Vince Carter Scored 41 points in nets loss to the the Clippers last night and passed Richard Jefferson to second place on all time scoring leader of the for the Nets.

Carter has a total of 17,952 points for his career and a total of 8532 with the Nets.

Carter is behind Buck Williams by 1908 points to become the all time scoring leader for the Nets and with Carter's ppg this season 20.9, it would take Carter a bit more than 91 games to do it.

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Ray Allen blames George Karl for trading him to Seattle

2009-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics won his first NBA championship last season after a blockbuster trade from the Sonics. Allen was the 5th overall pick in 1996 draft by the T-Wolves and was traded on draft night to the Bucks for Stephon Marbury.

Allen played 7 seasons with the Bucks before being traded to the Sonics for Gary Payton but did Allen want to leave Bucks.

Answer is NO truth of the matter being is Allen wanted to with th Bucks his entire career and wanted to make a dynasty there. Though a championship ring should make any player happy and don't really care about everything that happened before, Allen is different as he is believed that h could have won a championship with the Bucks had he been in Bucks the entire time.

"That's what I planned on; that's what I had hoped," Allen said of staying in Milwaukee. "I was looking at building and trying to create something great. I always modeled my career after what Brett Favre did in Green Bay; they won a Super Bowl.

"I didn't feel I needed to be in a big market to achieve greatness or even to win a championship. It was all about trying to create a mentality of having a dynasty here. We started doing that. I think we were one or two players away from doing that."

Could Ray Allen have won a championship with the Bucks is a question will never be answered but I really think he wouldn't have won even if he had stayed with the Bucks.

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Wade leading Heat scorer

2009-03-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Wade scored 50 in triple overtime win against Utah Jazz and doing so passed Alonzo Mourning as the leading scorer for the 21 year old Heat Franchise.

Wade has a total of 9439 points.

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Shawn Marion hates Toronto

2009-03-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

After the Addition of Jermaine O'Neal didn't work out, he traded him and got Shawn Marion to make a difference. So far Marion has played 10 games with the Raptors and only won 2 games.

Marion hates losing and Toronto is losing, so how does Marion feel about Tornoto? He hates it and this what he had to say

"I’m pissed off."

"I am. I want to win."I don’t want to go out there and lose every night. I didn’t come here for this. I didn’t expect this.

"Right now, we’ve got no fire. We’ve got to find that fire. That’s what we need. We have a talented team, man. We have to pull together and help each other. We have to decide now if we’re going to fold it up or look in the mirror, make a stride, and get on with it.

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AI wants out of Detroit

2009-03-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Lou Williams of the sixers confirmed on WMMR's Preston & Steve morning show that Allen Iverson wants out of Detroit Pistons.

Iverson started the season with Nuggets and was traded for Chauncey Billups 3 games into the season.

Richard Hamilton has replaced him as the starting 2 guard and Iverson will come off the bench after he is back from his back problems.

For a player who has averaged 41.5 minutes for his career, Iverson played 8, 37 and 26 minutes in the last three games he played before the injury and that as a starter so how many minutes would he see when he comes off the bench.

Now the organization knowing that he doesn't wanna be there, Is he gonna be banished from Pistons locker room, not play him at all or play him and let him leave after his contracts gets over?

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Drew makes his Spurs debut

2009-03-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

Drew Gooden made his Spurs debut in 102-95 loss to the Lakers tonight. Gooden scored 2 points and grabbed 4 rebounds playing 4 minutes in the second. He signed with the Spurs last week after being bought out by the Kings and didn't play til today due to a groin injury. Gooden is on his 6th team after entering the league in 2002.

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New Pacers single season rebounding leader

2009-03-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Troy Murphy passed Jermaine O'Neal for most rebounds grabbed by a Pacer in a single season. He set this record against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.

He has a total of 605 Rebounds for the season. He is averaging 11.9 Rebounds per game this season and is third on Rebound leaders.

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Shaq 6th on all time scoring leaders

2009-03-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

Phoenix Suns 37 year old Centre Shaquille O'Neal scored 21 points last night against Dallas Mavericks and doing so made him pass Elvin Hayes to the 6th spot in all time scoring list. Next on the list is Moses Malone with a total of 27,409 and after last night O'Neal has 27,322.

I give him 4 games 5 games top to pas Moses Malone. He has been kinda selfish this year and with Amare out, there is nobody else to go to inside other than him.

Kaman return not good enough

2009-03-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

Chris Kaman made his return against the Cavaliers tonight after sitting out the last few months with a strained left arch but his return wasn't enough to lift the Clippers against King James' Cavaliers.
Kaman started at the 5 position and finished the night with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 turnovers playing right under 30 minutes. Marcus Camby came off the bench and scored 8 points and had 7 rebounds.
LeBron James played an all round and has a triple-double and finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists helping the Cavs outscore the Clippers 35-16 in the 4th quarter to get another win.

Warriors release Marcus Williams

2009-03-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

Golden State Warriors released rarely used PG Marcus Williams.

He averaged 1.3 points, 1.4 assists and 6 minutes appearing in 9 games. Golden State acquired him from the Nets to replace Baron Davis who signed with the Los Angeles Clippers during the summer.

Williams played 2 seasons with Nets, playing as the back up future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd.

Williams played his last game on Jan 25th.

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Does Home Court really matter?

2009-03-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article on "Blaze of Love" on how well the Blazers play against the Lakers at the Rose Garden and I was surprised to see that the Blazers have owned the Lakers over the last few years winning a total of six games.

From Blaze of Love

Game 1 - April 20, 2005 - Blazers 106-103 - Box Score.

No idea how the Blazers won this game. Kobe went off and the Blazers still had Ruben Patterson.
Maybe the fact that Pritchard was the interim head coach at the time and is quoted as calling Ha Seung-Jin a part of the Blazers' "future".
Oh yeah, Kobe was also without Phil and Shaq.

Game 2 - January 11, 2006 - Blazers 113-103 - Box Score.

Again, another head scratcher. Kobe goes off for 41 and the Blazers rely heavily on Juan Dixon and Ruben Patterson?
Always nice to end Kobe's streak of 45 point outbursts. (Not that anyone should be bragging about giving up 41.)
The Lakers will likely blame this one on Smush Parker, but we're going with the Von Wafer sighting off of L.A.'s bench.

Game 3 - March 1, 2006 - Blazers 99-93 - Box Score.

The common thread here seems to be Kobe going off for 30+ with the Blazers still winning despite having one of the worst lineups in NBA history.
I can't believe Krhyapa started so many games for Portland.
The Rose Garden crowd returns?

Game 4 - November 8, 2006 - Blazers 101-90 - Box Score.

Brandon's mysterious heel injury sidelines him...Blazers still win. Seriously, none of these make sense.
Zach has a big game and we see how awful Andrew Bynum is yet no one complains like they do with Oden.
The recap actually talked about Zach dropping pounds and becoming more dedicated. (hahahah.)

Game 5 -February 29, 2008 - Blazers 119-111 - Box Score.

The official beginning of the new Blazers. Roy and Aldridge pairing up for a big win.
This was the Lakers squad that was on its way to the NBA Finals.
Great time to end a Lakers' 10 game win streak.

Game 6 - April 8, 2008 - Blazers 112-103 - Box Score.

The future is now.
There was even a Channing sighting!

Well does Rose Garden make a difference for the Blazers against the Lakers. Yes it does and the Blazers proved that tonight with the win against Lakers.

Blazers 111-94- Boxscore.

Blazers rookie Rudy Fernandez was carted out after being fouled by Trevor Ariza in the third quarter

Handicapped Celtics to face the Heat on Wednesday

2009-03-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Boston Celtics will play without 5 of their players on wednesday against Miami Heat. The 5 in street clothes will be Kevin Garnett, Tony Allen, Brian Scalabrine, Rajan Rondo and Glen Davis.
Garnett is out with a sprained right knee
Allen has an injured left thumb
Scalabrine has post-concussion syndrome
Davis and Rondo with sprained right ankles

Davis and Rondo will miss 2 games before they make their return and KG will be out for 2 more weeks.
Stephon Marbury will make his first start as a Celtic on wednesday against the Heat and few of the bench players will have to step up and make a difference for Celtics to come out with a couple of wins.

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Wade and Williams named Players of the Week

2009-03-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat and Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz have been named for the week from March 2 through March 8. Heat went 2-2 for the week while Jazz went 3-0.
More..

Michael Redd out

2009-01-25T13:17:00.000-08:00

Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks is out for the rest of season with a torn ACL and MCL. He tore his ACL and MCL on saturday night when the Bucks hosted the Sacramento Kings. Redd left to the locker during the third quarter at the 4 minute mark. He scored 14 points.
Prior to this injury Redd missed 14 games due a sprained ankle.
Redd is averaging 21.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

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Mike Conley on the trading block

2009-01-25T01:13:00.000-08:00

Fourth overall pick form last years draft hasn't played as everyone expected him to and Kyle Lowry playing a bot better than him has made the Grizzlies put him on the trading block.
Grizzlies have been in active discussion with the Bucks that would send Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander to the Grizzlies for Mike Conley.
Bucks unwillingness to part with 8th pick Joe Alexander has put the trade to a hold.

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Phil Jackson going to coach west All- stars

2009-01-24T14:15:00.000-08:00

All strat game starters were announced on thursday and Dwight Howard got over 3 Millions votes and setteing a record for the most number of votes a player has got far in NBA history.
All star game reserves are going to be announced on January 29th on TNT.
Latest news about the All star weekend is Phil Jackson coach of Los Angeles Lakers will coach the west all stars, Phil Jackson has coached in the All star game twice before in 1992 and 1996.

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Marc Iavaroni FIRED

2009-01-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

Memphis Grizzlies fired coach Marc Iavaroni Thursday night. Grizzlies have lost 7 games straight and lost 15 of last 17 games and have a record 11-30. He led the team to a 22-60 finish last season.
Assistant Coach Johnny Davis takes over as Interim coach.

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Nets after Mike Miller

2009-01-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

New jersey Nets stand at 9th in playoff standings now and are in the market for a better small forward and hope the going to be new small forward helps the Nets back to winning games. Sharpshooter Mike Miller of the Minnesota T-wolves tops the Nets wish list. Mike Miller comes off the bench for the Wolves averaging 9.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 33% from 3 point range in just over 30 minutes. 9.1 points being a career low in scoring for him.
T- wolves doesn't seem to be very interested and will only make the deal happen if the Nets give a young player and draft pick in exchange.
Nets have also shown interest in Bulls guard Larry Hughes.

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Rip sixth man for the Pistons

2009-01-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

Michael Curry has finally made his decision, AI is going to start and Rip will come off the bench. 5 game losing streak has made the Coach realize that small ball is not going to work for the Pistons and helped him decide on who should start and who should come off the bench.
Both Richard Hamilton and Allen Iverson started for the Pistons at 2 and 3 respectively and gave them a chance to make a case for themselves as to who should be the starting 2 guard and Michael Curry has decided to start AI and Rip off the bench. Reports suggest that Richard Hamilton will get around 30 minutes of playing time off the bench and AI would log heavy minutes like he is used to.

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2200 3 pointers

2009-01-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics has been on fire helping the team to perform like the championship caliber team it is.
Boston Celtics breezed by the the Phoenix Suns in their meeting on January 19th and the starters got some well deserved rest in the process.
Ray Allen played 32 minutes scoring 20 points and crossed the 2200 mark for career 3 pointers made.
No one has made more 3 pointers than Ray Allen other than Reggie Miller. Reggie has made 2560 career 3 pointers and with each 3 pointer Ray Allen is threatening to beat Reggie Miller's record.

Marion for O'neal or Marion for Howard

2009-01-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

Expiring contract always increases players trade value not matter how good or bad the player is and this is very well one of the reason why there has been a lot of Shawn Marion trade rumors(expiring contract of course).

I mean Pat Riley is an excellent GM who has always constructed his teams around a Center (Kareem Abdul Jabbar in LA, Patrick Ewing in New york, Shaq in Miami). But trading Shawn Marion for an injury plagued Jermaine O'Neal is not wise at all. He knows that Miami needs some one to pound the ball in the paint but O'Neal spends more time on the sidelines than the court.

Another rumor is Josh Howard for Shawn Marion, Now if this trade falls thorough I think Dwayne Wade will be the happiest person alive. No longer will he have to create shots for himself or for anyone else. Josh Howard has better numbers than Shawn Marion this year, Howard can shoot better and he doesn't get paid as much as Marion.

If I was Pat Riley I would rather push for Marion-Howard trade than Marion-O'Neal trade.
But I am sure a lot of you out there have very different opinions from mine so all comments are welcome.

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2010 is long time away!!!

2009-01-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Every GM in the NBA have been busy making salary cap for the summer of 2010 to sign any of the talented players that will be available that summer such as Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire and many more but lets not forget that's almost one and a half years from now. 2010 Free Agents has gotten all the headlines that nobody has looked who all are up for grabs in the coming summer. So here is a list of the potential 2009 Free Agents.

Allen Iverson
Jason Kidd
Kobe Bryant- Early Termination Option
Shawn Marion
Ron Artest
Mike Bibby
Rasheed Wallace
Andre Miller
Lamar Odom
Carlos Boozer- Player Option
Mehmet Okur- ETO
Kyle Korver
Wally Szczerbiak
Drew Gooden
Anthony Parker
Chris Wilcox
Marvin Wilcox- Restricted

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Delonte West out for 6 weeks

2009-01-17T13:03:00.000-08:00

Delonte West of the Clevaland Cavaliers will miss upto 6 weeks after the nasty fall trying to block Derrick Rose's lay up on Thursday nights game against the Chicago Bulls.

Delonte West has been the starting 2 guard for the Clevalend Cavaliers and has been averaging 12.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 33 minutes.
Sasha Pavlovic started in West's place against the New Orleans Hornets.

West is not the only injured player for the Cavaliers, Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been out since January 2nd with a broken ankle and he is averaging 13.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and shooting 52% from the field. Anderson Varejao has started as the center after the injury.

Diop a Bobcat

2009-01-16T16:22:00.000-08:00

Everyone expected the Bobcats to have some roster changes this season soon after Larry Brown was hired as the Head Coach.
DeSagana Diop becomes the newest player to join the the Charlotte Bobcats. Dallas Mavericks get sharp shooter Matt Carroll and Ryan Hollins.
This trade gives Bobcats a big man who can block and rebound and allowing Emeka Okafor to play power forward more. Mavericks get an 3 point specialist.

Earlier this season Bobcats traded Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley to the Phoenix Suns for Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary.

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All Star ballot ends monday

2009-01-15T21:25:00.000-08:00

All star game starters going to be announced next Thursday and last day to make your opinion make a difference on who starts on February 15th in Phoenix is Monday night at 12.

Here are the Players with most number of votes so far

EAST
Dwight Howard- 2,102,368 votes
LeBron James- 1,940,162 votes
Dwayne Wade- 1,818,717 votes
Kevin Garnett- 1,375,814 votes
Allen Iverson- 1,278,600 votes

West
Kobe Bryant- 1,903,798 votes
Yao Ming- 1,758,499 votes
Tim Duncan- 1,454,918 votes
Tracy McGrady- 1,216,224 votes
Carmelo Anthony- 905,121 votes

Source

Lebron 11,000 career points

2008-11-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

Cleveland Cavaliers young superstar The King LeBron James became the youngest player to score 11,000 career points.
Lebron (23 years, 323 days) achieved it on tuesday against the New Jersey Nets during the second quarter.
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers held the record earlier and he was 25 years, 99 days when he scored 11,000 career points.

Nuggets - Pistons swap star players

2008-11-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Future Hall of Famer Allen Iverson of the Denver Nuggets who needs no introduction has been dealt to Detroit Pistons for 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups,former Denver Nugget Antonio McDyess and center Cheikh Samb- 51st pick of 2006 Draft.

All the Detroit pistons team were warned that they may be traded after the summer since the team with no superstars couldn't win the whole thing more than once after making it to the Eastern Conference Finals six years in a row.

Was this a fair trade? I dont think so since Antonio McDyess doesn't want to be part of the Denver Nuggets for the third or any team other than the Detroit Pistons. Antonion McDyess has few options 1. He can play for the Denver Nuggets for the next two years and get his 12$ as per his contract. 2. He cold choose to retire and lose his guaranteed 12$ million. Thats just stupid because he is still a good player who can provide some offense from the bench. 3. He could negotiate a buyout with the nuggets at a cheaper price, and then wait a for 30 days and resign with the Pistons. 4. The Nuggets can trade him to some other team.
If Antonio McDyess doesn't stay with the Nuggets then the teams have have swapped AI for MR. Big Shot.

This trade has given the Nuggets a pass first proven Point Guard in Chauncey Billups who can play defense and ths trade makes room for explosive high flyer J.R Smith. I want to see how much he can score if he is given AI minutes. Look at his stats last season, He averaged 12.3 points in 19.2 minutes while shooting at over 40% from 3 point land.

How does this trade benefit the Pistons, They get 1 of the best shooting guards to ever play in Allen Iverson who has the third highest scoring in NBA history. Starting Point Guard honor will bne taken over by second year man Rodney Stuckey, Pistons management have high expectations from him and think he is the point guard of the future and Chauncey Billups was standing in his way.
Richard Hamilton Shooting Guard of the Pistons over the last 6 years signed a 3 year 34$ million contract extension. Richard Hamilton being the most consistent player on the Pistions team over the last few years should play the same amount of minutes right? so how does Allen Iverson get his 40 plus minutes every night? My guess he will play a lot of point guard and Rodney Stuckey will play in the second unit with limited minutes and takes over when Rip goes to the bench.

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Shaq says Kobe is the best

2008-11-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

What did Shaq do after the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals in 6 Games last season. He said that Kobe can't win without Shaq and later he goes all out on a in New york night club and disses Kobe Bryant.
Shaq has been ripping on Kobe after he left the Lakers but all the insults have come to an end. Shaq has finally accepted that KObe is the best player in the NBA right now and said he would tell his kids to watch Kobe's footwork to learn the game.

Video, Source.

Bynum or Oden

2008-10-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Greg Oden or Andrew Bynum whom should i draft?? This has been the dilemma for all the fantasy owners everywhere.

1st overall pick in the draft last Greg Oden showed how he good of a big man passer he is during his freshman year at Ohio State but his skills couldn't be exhibited last season due to the knee injury. Now he is healthy this season and he is definitely will start off slow but how good is he gonna be at the end of the season is not clear yet. His playing time is gonna be limited to make sure he fully fit for full contact NBA banging in the block, but he is Blazers starting center for the decade.

I am a big Lakers fan and i am really happy that the management didn't trade him for Jason Kidd during the whole "Kobe Bryant wanting to leave the team" drama. Lakers were expecting him to develop into some great with time and he did do well last year till the season ending knee injury. He averaged 13.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks in 28.8 minutes while starting 25 of 35 games that he played last season.

So who should tou draft for your team, I really dont know what to expect from Greg Oden during this season and since both of them are coming out of knee injuries will lead to slow starts and reduced minutes by the coaches but i think Bynum has an edge because of his experience in the league so far (adjusting won't be an issue) but some experts pick Oden to win ROY so i guess adjusting is not gonna be an issue.
Since I am no expert check this out to help you if you have trouble choosing between Oden or Bynum

2008-08-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

Darius Miles worked out with the Dallas Mavericks on July 14th and there were a few other teams were interested in signing him to a NBA minimum. Miles hoping to get a minimum for a year with a team and prove the entire league that he can produce consistently while loading on some huge minutes. Miles worked out with the reigning camps Boston Celtics last week and he was finally signed by the Celtics today. Blazers released him 2 years ago after he underwent microfracture surgery on his right. Celtics signing Miles can cause the Blazers a few problems regarding its salary cap, if Darius Miles play more than 10 games next season his $9 million from his previous contract with the blazers would be added onto their salary cap which pushes them over the salary cap so the Blazers will have to pay the luxury tax.

Miles has averaged 10.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.1 blocks in 412 career games with 192 games as a starter. His best season was with the Blazers the year he underwent the microfracture surgery. Celtics hope to play Darius Miles during the regular season to give Paul Pierce and Ray Allen some rest. This would give the best chances of repeating and prove that the east can do better than the west.

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J.R. Smith going to wear the same jersey next season

2008-08-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Denver nuggets have finally signed their explosive restricted free agent J.R. Smith to a multiyear contract. Smith was 1 of the remaining high scoring guards left in the free agency besides Ben Gordon. Gordon is yet to sign with an team, He is a restricted free agent of the Chicago Bulls.

Smith played 74 games and averaged 12.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 46% from the field, 40% from 3 point land, all this in less 20 minutes per game.

Smith played for the Nuggets previous 2 seasons and has excelled and made significant plays when he was given some plating time. He averaged 18.3 points in 27 miutes during the last playoffs. Playing time has always been a concern for J.R smith because Coach George Karl and Smith has never got along till now and Allen Iverson taking all the minutes at the 2 spot. Smith gives nuggets spacing with his outside range. Smith can average around 20-23 points if given the playing time.

A lot teams were intersted in him at the beginning of the off season but his Bad boy image has stopped them from signing him.

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A Sixer again!!

2008-08-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia Sixers and NBA 13 year veteran Theo Ratliff have agreed to a 1 year veteran's minimum of $ 1.4 million. This is going to be ratliff's secong stint with the sixers. He played for the Sixers earlier from 1997 to 2001. He had his best all-around numbers of his career when he played for the sixers earlier. His numbers came during the 2000-2001. He averaged 12.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.7 blocks and 36 minutes. Its sure that we won't see that kind of numbers from him next season. Sixers were forced to pursue a big man after Back up Center Jason Smith came down with a leg injury that will sideline him the entire next season.

Ratliff has seen his share of the country by playing for 6 different teams over his career. He played for Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Porland, Boston and Minnesota. He joins Elton Brand, Samuel Dalembert, Reggie Evans and Thaddeus Young in the frontcourt (OK there are a few more but i honestly havent seen them play)

Josh Smith still with the Hawks

2008-08-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Finally Josh Smith saga is over and he is gonna be seen in his same old jersey. The 6 foot 9 forward right out of high school is athletic and does a bit of everything on the basketball court. Handle the ball, Block the ball, Steal and Shoot, Thats about everything right. He helped Atlanta Hawks make the playoffs in I don't know how many years, that's how long back it was. Not only that he helped in making the Hawks-Celtics series interesting by covering KG and extending to a 7 game series. I sure as thought that Celtics would sweep Hawks and win with a 10 point margon at the least but that didn't happen which makes Smith invaluable to the Hawks.
But if he is invaluable to the Hawks, Why didn't they sign him right away. My only guess is they wanted to see who would be on free agency. They would have tried to sign if there was somebody better than Josh Smith on the market. Now you ask why didn't they sign Elton Brand? Well how many big men does the Hawks have? They have drafted big men in the last 3 years and they even started trading a few of those guys. That isn't the only reason why the Hawks didn't sign him right away. Since he was a restricted free agent hawks had a week to match anybody's offer. Atlanta didnt want to spend a lot of money but they wanted keep Smith so they allowed him to try the market for himself and if he was offered something that was out of the Hawks range, they would have let him go. Here is what happened Grizzlies signed him to an offer sheet and within minutes Hawks matched so i think Josh smith signed to an amount less than what Hawks would have given at the most. SO Josh Smith is finally out of the market and i think the Hawks paid less than what they intended

European clubs got them.

2008-08-04T18:40:00.001-07:00

Carlos Arroyo is the latest NBA player moving away to pursue his career. How many players have the European clubs got from the NBA so far? 8 to be exact. Most of the players moved so far have made their career outside in European clubs before moving to the NBA. Players leaving are Childress to Greece, Krstic to Russia, Nachbar to Europe, Delfino to Russia, Brezec to Italy, Navarro rejoins Barcelona to retain his name "La Bomba", Garbojosa to Russia and finally Arroyo to Israel. Arroyo is gonna make around $5 million after taxes, and in case of some players expenses paid. Arroyo would make a maximum of $2.5 million if he were to stay back in Orlando but his position as back-up was threathened when Magic signed Anthony Johnson. Arroyo is best known for spearheading the Puerto Rican team against USA in 2004 Greece Olympics. Josh Childress slasher off the bench for the Atlanta Hawks last few seasons. 20 million after all expenses is a lot more than what the Hawks would have offered for someone off the bench. European Leagues do not have any salary cap restrictions which encourages the owners to throw lots of money at players which would be consider middle class players. European leagues have become more competitive over the years or how else could have the US team only get a Bronze in 2004 but with these addition how much better are these countries gonna get? 2012 and later is not gonna be a cakewalk for the US team. yes i said i think the US basketball team is gonna win this year. Future free agents make consider making a move to these clubs for the money and publicity. Hell why wouldn't anyone take $50 million bucks after taxes and expenses paid. you have to be crazy not to take that deal.

Rockets land Artest

2008-07-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Mcgrady may see himself going past the first round of playoffs next season. How you ask? Rockets and the Kings have agreed on trading Artest for Bobby Jackson, 1st round draft pick of 2009 and another player who is not identified yet but rumored as Donte Greene. Ron Artest makes Rockets a difficult team to beat with 3 scorers in Yao, Mcgrady and Artest. Artest gives perimeter shooting and a solid perimeter defender. Rockets main weakness last season was scoring and 3 point shooting. Rockets have had a couple of bad scoring games in the last 2 seasons atleast thast what i can remember over my head right now. Game 3 loss to Utah Jazz in 2006-2007 playoffs wher only four players scored, that was 2 years ago but how much has the rocket team changed after that not much except the slow half court game of Jeff Van Gundy to fast paced Rick Adelman. Did that solve the problem completely? No, Rockets did have a game where only 5 players scored for them during last game (Don't remember exactly). Artest will be rejoining his old coach Adelman. Can this run be better than the last one?Definitely. Can Utah Jazz walk over the rockets if they meet in the playoffs next season like they did the last 2 playoffs? Don't count on it. Artest himself made this deal possible by driving his value down the ground. Kings get Bobby Jackson (short combo guard), Donte Greene syracuse 6' 11" proven scorer and 1st round pick of next draft of rockets. Who got the better end of the deal? Duh Rockets.

Kings are rebuilding and Bobby Jackson like last season would end up finishing the season with some other team.

Suns land Barnes

2008-07-22T21:08:00.001-07:00

Phoenix Suns have signed ex Warrior Matt Barnes for a year. This is barnes sixth team he is playin for after joining the league. He was second round pick of Memphis Grizzlies in 2003. Matt Barnes has the potential to play Shawn Marion's role this year but at a much cheaper price and not so great number as Marion's but with a better shooting action. A nice pick up for the suns who needs more perimeter shooters. Barnes didn't get a lot of playing time during last season but was an important factor during 2006-2007 playoffs where 8th seeded Warriors beat the 1st seed Mavericks. that being his best season ever and improved his stock to a certain extent.

Clippers after Iguodala????

2008-07-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Clippers are after Andre Iguodala? Why didn't Clippers and Sixers traded Brand for Igoudala, that's not to say that Iguodala will be in Clippers uniform next year but I wonder why would Igoudala consider this offer seriously when he has an opportunity to make it deep into the playoffs while Clippers are in the west with 10 other teams in the race. I mean Sixers performance last season was very surprising and hard earned but with the addition of Brand, Iguodala won't be under any pressure to score or drive to the basket on each possession and this gives a chance to make it out of the first round in the east. I guess Clipppers would move him to a 2 if they wanna make him play but is that his real position? I don't know. Playing out of position could result in a drop of performance. Like how Dunleavy Jr played Pf most of time in Golden state and that didn't do him any good but in Indiana its a different story. Iguodala could see the same situation if he signs with Clippers. He will even see less playing time since Cuttino Mobley and Eric Gordon being in the mix.

Ronny

2008-07-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

Warriors signed Lakers restricted free agent Ronny Turiaf to an offer sheet last weeks which gave Lakers seven days to match their offer. Warriors have acquired a very good hustle player in Ronny and Lakers are in abundance of Big man so i think it was not a problem for them to lose him. The deal is for 4 years for around 17$ million which the Lakers wouldn't have gone that high. Can Ronny be a starting PF for the warriors, thats not out of the realm of possibility under Don Nelson's system. Al Harrington was the best player at the Power Forward last season but he didn't start every game so Ronny may have a chance of starting a few games if does well in the run and gun game. Well does this improve his fantasy game value. No not significantly, there is no set minutes he is gonna play every game. He is going to see more or less the same minutes that he had in Lakers. Warriors drafted Brandon Wright(PF) last year and Anthony Randolph(PF) this year, Both of them are gona get some playing time next seson and Coach Nelson made it clear that he is willing to play the youngsters at the cost of a few victories. So let's wait and watch

Artest going Nowhere

2008-07-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

Sacramento Kings have been in trade talks to move Ron Artest ever since he revealed that he made a mistake by not opting out of his contract. Two years ago he was traded from Pacers to Kings which kinda made him the face of the Franchise or atleast for a while that looked like the owner's intentions then but now Ron is 28 and at his prime. His last season averages were way better than his career averages especially scoring but then why did the Mavs reject Artest-Josh Howard swap? Here are few reasons

Artest created the huge fight in the Palace of Auburn hills when he was in Pacers(Pacers got rid of him because of that)

Rick Carlisle was Pacer's coach when the incident happened which kinda led to the miserable season and costed him his job. He doesn't want to take the same risk.

He tends to get carried away with his shots and tend to become a ball hog like that.

But then why isn't Mavs getting rid of Howard though he confessed during last playoffs that he did marijuana during the off season. Not to say the bad locker influence after that drama.He plays exceptionally well during the regular season (Artest does that too plus Defense) but Howard fades away when the season is on the line(hasn't performed well during the playoffs). He doesn't play defense usually but what does the mavericks see in Howard that isn't in Artest?I don't know but Artest can play defense which is something the mavericks are desperate for

Darius Miles

2008-07-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Portland Trail Blazers may lose around $9 million if any team signs him. yes you heard me right Darius Miles worked out for the Dallas mavericks in Las Vegas on monday. Blazers released Darius over two years ago after after he went through what was called a "career ending" injury. He underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee. No player has returned after leaving the NBA with such a serious injury. Darius Miles 26 is pretty young just like how everyone in the Blazer team is but seeing him in a Blazer is not likely. He has worked out with Suns, Celtics, Nets and Mavericks.

Clippers doing something!!!

2008-07-17T19:26:00.001-07:00

Elton Brand gave up $17.8 million to give clippers some financial flexiblity and Clippers did a good job by getting Barin Davis to run the show but Elton brand signed with Sixers and warriors got Corey Maggette. Can the off season be any worse for the Clippers? After losing their 2 best players. Clippers are trying really hard to improve that team by acquiring Marcus Camby for an optional second round pick in 2010. Signed Baron Davis and finally they sign an offer sheet to Kelena Azubuike. His career numbers won't say much but remember how well he performed when Stephen Jackson missed the first 7 games of last season. But the puzzling question is how are they going to play Kaman and Camby? Is Kaman gonna move to a Power forward? can he take on the other PFs in the league? KG, Tim Duncan and Elton Brand his ex teammate himself?