he clearly has the athletic ability to be an offensive and defensive force. let's see how he refines his game, works on his footwork, and gets rid of what seems to be a general apathy while he's out on the court.

 

kobe has no help, so as the lakers franchise player he needs to carry them. just like KG last couple years, minus their one good year.

and I am looking forward to another great pistions spurs final matchup. I'll be rooting for the pistons, even though ginobili is probably my favorite player in the league right now

 

kwame is my hero. He'll be on the all star ballot next year. Just you watch.

 

With that body and athletic ability, he should be averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 - 15 pts and 8 - 10 boards per game. His 5 year averages are 7.6 PPG and 5.5 boards per game. Discounting the fact that he came straight from high school, he should be coming into his own this season and seeing his stats improve considerably. For whaterver reason, he hasn't been able to make the leap and he'll soon be viewed as a journeyman player who was one of the worst #1 picks in NBA history.

 

He can either be Jermaine O'Neal or Taj McDavid.

 

Taj McDavid, wasn't he the cat who declared for the draft, even though he would have been better off as a junior college player? He really screwed the pooch with that move and lost all college basketball eligibility. I wonder what he's doing now?

 

From NBA Draft.net

6) Okay, how about Taj McDavid - how does he fit your theory?

Michael McCann: I know - we've all read the unfortunate story: Taj McDavid went undrafted in the 1996 NBA Draft, and returned home to Williamstown, South Carolina, where he lives with his parents in their mobile home, refuses to answer the phone, and can often be found playing pick up basketball.

However, construing McDavid's plight as some kind of warning to today's premier high school basketball players seems to ignore a very important fact: Unlike all of those players, Division I college basketball programs did not pursue McDavid. For one, he would have been academically ineligible to play his first season, though had he been recruited, a college could have simply red-shirted him for one season, thus allowing him time to overcome his academic failings. Yet, strikingly, not even one Division I college basketball program expressed interest in offering him an athletic scholarship. It should come as no surprise, then, that NBA teams, European teams, and minor league teams were not interested in him either. And, none of this is startling, since McDavid, who only played in South Carolina's third best high school basketball conference, excelled against inferior high school basketball players.

On a more basic level, then, if McDavid was not good enough to play Division I college basketball, then declaring for the NBA Draft came at no expense: He only lost the eligibility for something which he was already incapable of obtaining.

Let me put it this way: McDavid's declaring the NBA Draft had the same practical effect on his Division I basketball career that my declaring for the NBA Draft after high school would have had on my Division I basketball career. And I was a back-up point guard on a high school intramural team.

 

Knicks will never win or be decent with players like Curry or Frye. Both are decent, yes, but the Knicks need a dirty player.

Charles Smith, Harper, Oakley, and Mason kind of Dirty to get by.

 

thanks goose. you saved me from saying "Taj who?"

 

cavs just beat my bulls. interesting stat if you didn't watch the end of the game:

Lebron scored 37. Cavs scored 37 in the fourth quarter. Lebron only had 6 points in the 4th. At the end of the 3rd quarter Bulls were up 8, ended up losing by 8.

When lebron is being lebron, hogging the ball and shooting it every time he touches it, they lose. In the 4th this changed, and they won

 

Nice research!

 

Well no surprise that the Heat beat the Lakers, but how about the Pistons. They kicked the crap out of the Spurs.

 

Damn great game on tonight with the Pistons and Heat. Detroit won but we hung till the end. I know it's but that starting 5 is awesome. The key is that each of them are very multitalented. Rasheed's shooting, Prince's ball handling, even Wallace flings some very nice passes. Billups is making a case for best PG in the league and even MVP. He showed reasons for both toward the end when he just kept getting them the lead.

The good news for Miami is that Wade was Wade, Shaq was ok but were still in it, and other guys like J-Will and UD put up some key shots to keep us in it. If Walker gets his shot back then we'll be very dangerous. Payton and Zo already looking good. Wade put on a clinic today. He was driving in, hitting J's, off the glass, slick passing, he was utterly disgusting.

But Detroit is good at what they consistently do. Rip hitting those wide open J's off his excellent movement. Wallace was killing them with his shots forcing UD to play outside thus us losing an extra rebounder to box out Big Ben. No wonder Ben gets so many dang boards. Prince was cold most of the game but came alive at the end especially with that 20 footer with the shot clock going off. I can't be upset about this loss as I'm happy Miami was pretty darn close. A few more weeks of Riley ball and we'll be ready.

 

the heat played a very good game. shaq dominated the beginning of the game and then wade took over at the end. they couldnt have done much more, detroit is really just too good for them, and everyone else.

and yeah, pistons killed the spurs on christmas but with no ginobili. would have been a little closer with him, but pistons are going all the way this year. payback for last year that they should have won

 

I thought the Spurs were the better team last year but the Pistons are so efficient this year they HAVE to win it. WTF is the difference? Is Flip that smart?

 

i dont think flip is that smart, i think he just lets the guys do what they want more than larry did. and they are pissed they lost last year im sure

 

Marcus Camby is hurt again. What a surprise. He was having a monster year too. I don't know how long he'll be out for but maybe now we can unload Doleac on them and get Voshon Lenard finally.

 

i still think that a healthy heat can take on pistons, and the spurs with their full starting lineup can take the pistons too. between heat and spurs im not so sure, but i would give the edge to spurs just slightly. pistons are damn good this year but IMO spurs and heat have more potential, its just that situations haven't allowed them to play at their best.

who knows, finals are still a ways off. maybe the knicks will make a comeback and own all

and i still think that the nets could be playing better, maybe a new coach would be the remedy? they sure as hell have a talented starting lineup, and their bench is not so bad.

suns are also missing their star player, they have the potential to make late season surge when he comes back, but i dont think they can beat mavs or spurs in the west



just wondering, does anyone have NBA league pass? if i buy now, will it be cheaper or still the same price?

 

Yeah the Heat finally got all the guys back and are working out the kinks with a new coach so they should get better later on assuming we stay healthy. The Spurs got Manu back and are going to try him off the bench and start Finley. I hope so as I have Fin on my Fantasy team.

The Nets are on a hot streak now and Vince Carter is on a nice tear. They might've worked out their issues. How's their bench doing? Maybe that's the problem.

The Suns will finish strong with Amare back. They're already playing good with their current squad and I keep forgeting about Amare. I think they can take out the Mavs but the Spurs should beat them again. I think they'll be the 2nd best team in the West again at the end of the year.

Here's info on the League Pass. Click the provider for details. I didn't see any reduced pricing yet.

http://www.nba.com/nba_tv/league_pass.html

 

Come playoff time though is when someone like Larry being hella strict comes into play.....usually Detroit peaks near the end of the season.....its a long season...

 

yeah we will see how detroit is at the end of the season.

and the heat played a hell of a game yesterday, not sure how much better they can get. we will see in a couple weeks after riley and shaq have been back for a while

 

I'm just happy the Warriors figured out how to play again.....

 

Not since Run TMC huh?

 

The new team is good....better than the Lakers....not saying much...but they just have lapses....we'll see how the season goes...at least they doing a lot of running and dunking....

 

Some Kobe news. He got suspended for that elbow on Mike Miller 2 games and there's a story by the NY Post that he tore into Lamar Odom after the Wizards game. Kobe denied it but Lamar's denial wasn't the most convincing.

 

lamar needs to step up on offense. kobe probably should have brought it up more lightly, but we will see what happens. and i didnt see the mike miller elbow. was it that bad? intentional?

 

It was that bad. 100% intentional.

He is a puss.

 

They just need to get rid sorry *ss Dunleavy and his inflated contract somehow.

 

Kobe threw a pretty good intentional elbow to Wade's jaw to clear himself the last heat game - what goes around come around.

 

At least they reeled off that 3 game until they imploded in Memphis....

 

Seattle fired Bob Weiss. Didn't he just take the same team to the playoffs last year. I hate the NBA's 2 year coaching plans.

 

It was actually Nate McMillan who coached them last year, did a damn good job with that team... I thought Bob Weiss was a horrible hire at the time but I didn't think they'd fire him 2 months into the season!

 

Seattle is in the dumps....they have to figure out what they wanna do.....rebuild or try to make a run....or save money....hell, Im a warriors fan.....we've been stuck on stupid for the past decade...until now!!!

 

they're still headed nowhere.

 

Even with that impressive stint with the Clippers on his resume?

 

Better than your Lakers....

 

for this year, possibly, but we'll see at season's end.

 

I knew they lost somebody but I kept thinking it was a player.

 

artest to the warriors?

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...s/13554715.htm

 

I'd be willing to unload Dunleavy.....