NBA 2009-2010

[jon abbey]

this really should be bo's thread to start, but maybe he's getting excited for the big Sabathia/Lee showdown tomorrow.

I broke down and got NBA League Pass yet again today. they have a very smart marketing move where it's $170 for the next week or so, then it goes up to $185 until January sometime. I figure it's under a dollar a day, and there are a bunch of potentially exciting West teams I won't get to see much otherwise.

[Enforcer]

Garnett, Rasheed and Pierce looks like it could be a fearsome defensive frontcourt. Watch out, Eastern Conference.

[Steve Reynolds]

Celtics problem will be age/injuries

They cannot afford to have any of the top 5 guys hurt going into the playoffs and 4 of them are at least a couple years over 30.

They still need 1 more YOUNG big body, maybe....

[mshiflet]

Last night was another reminder of why I hate the very idea of second unit. Brown needs to stop resting so many starters at once and rotate them out more effectively. You'd think after last year's playoffs, he would have realized what a horrible idea that is. And maybe it has to do with Delonte being out, but that's really not going to fly against the most competitive teams.

Neither team and none of the stars looked great to me last night, though House and Daniels continued to impress, Celtics just had the endurance to maintain their lead. Even though I've now watched the Cavs drop two in a row (in a week) to the Celts, I'm still excited for their next matchup in February, which will hopefully feature both Delonte West and Mr. Leon Powe in the lineup.



Edit: actually Rasheed looked pretty damn good now that I think about it.

[Noj]

The Lakers looked solid sans Pau Gasol, but the opponent was the Clippers without Blake Griffin so it was more like a preseason scrimmage than a game to gauge anything by. Bynum was fast and active, scoring 26 and grabbing 13 boards, but still can't elevate like he did before the knee injury. Artest missed some wide open looks but when he hit it looked all too easy.

I like Rasual Butler and Sebastian Telfair for the Clips, and this guy Craig Smith is a hard-nosed, hard-working player. Baron, Kaman, and Camby are healthy, so that's good. Hopefully the Clips can maintain a decent record before Griffin returns so they can make some noise at the end of the year, but I doubt they'll be able to.

[Enforcer]

The Pistons look great, albeit against the Grizzlies without Iverson. I'm just surprised how well they've seemingly gelled already. Winning a blowout road game on opening night with solid defense is an encouraging sign, Pistons diving for loose balls up 25 in the 4th quarter. The Pistons haven't played hard in a meaningless regular season game in 5 years, so maybe the sense of entitlement is finally gone.

[jon abbey]

Shaq was a -25 in 25 minutes in a 10 point loss tonight to Toronto.

[jon abbey]

The Pistons haven't played hard in a meaningless regular season game in 5 years, so maybe the sense of entitlement is finally gone.

so odd that this coincides with the departure of Sheed.

[jon abbey]

David Stern wins again, like always. he gets Tim Donaghy's tell-all book killed before publication. CapHate, please chime in on this.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4603209

[jon abbey]

oh man, here are some excerpts:

http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-fr ... e=true&s=x

[BoBetter]

wow, i thought the Cavs might look bad out the gate, but they look absolutely horrible. People are going to blame it on Shaq, but it's really more about not having a serviceable back-up point guard, and more importantly, Brown's horrid rotations. Shaq and Z were doomed to fail when they were played together. I seriously can't believe he even tried to play Shaq and Z at the same time once, let alone go back to it again the next night after it was totally ineffective. You just can't blame Shaq when he shot 58% from the field and had a double double in less than 30 minutes in both games. They shouldn't need anything more from him to win games. However, they do need a real coach.

Apparently, Ferry and the assistant GM had a closed door meeting with Brown right after the game tonight. After last year's playoffs, I'm already about to give up on Brown as a head coach. I like him as a morale guy and for his defensive coaching ability, but I'm seriously wondering if he has what it takes to navigate a championship run.

Went to the Clippers opener tonight. The Suns look pretty fun. They're back to their old ways, and Nash looks like an MVP again. They're still without Richardson too. The Clippers actually looked really good as well, but they couldn't get a stop when it counted. Dunleavey is another head coach that should probably be on a short leash this year.

[Captain Hate]

David Stern wins again, like always. he gets Tim Donaghy's tell-all book killed before publication. CapHate, please chime in on this.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4603209

This is complete ratshit and merits revving up the Stern Must Go website again. Random House is being a complete twat about this; obviously there was always the risk that Donaghy would be lying out of his ass in this. I mean the man isn't doing hard time because he's a stand up kind of guy. And this was always gonna be a "he said" type of book with minimum chance of being able to definitively prove any of it. Random House knew this when they accepted his manuscript originally and now they're pulling the plug on this despite my strong opinion that the sales of this sucker by itself would make it a very profitable undertaking. Cocksucker Stern must've really played hardball with them; maybe even threatening to pull the plug on the WNBA and allowing their tens of fans to devote themselves completely to the LPGA in order to pay ambulance chasers even more handsomely to badger Random House.

The fact of the matter is this is an extremely embarrassing situation to Stern and his house of cards because the Donaghy situation happened under his watch and he has done nothing of substance to address it. An "internal investigation" that concluded this was an isolated case and doesn't exist elsewhere? LOL @ anybody who believes that the same blind fuckfaces that were duped by Donaghy are in any way qualified to investigate their own cluelessness. If Stern was in any way confident in their investigation his attitude would be "Let Donaghy's book come out; we don't have anything to worry about." No this is the strongarm action of somebody who knows he fucked up and wants to keep it covered up as much as possible. I hope some publisher picks this up because whoever does it has just had the sales enhanced; surely there's some due diligence that can be done to protect their asses from slander and libel suits.

The trouble is, and this is what really bugs me, if Donaghy is correct in everything he says and the league is rife with fixes, I'm afraid there are enough fans that don't care about the integrity of the game to still make it a profitable enterprise. We are so far away from the times in which Rozelle made Namath divest his ownership in a club because gamblers hung out and Hornung and Karas were suspended for a year because of their gambling activities that it's like we're living in an alternate universe. I think it's impossible for anybody to hate Belichick more than I do but his practice of including Brady as "questionable" on the injury reports, a complete tool for Vegas, is a hilarious slap at where the NFL is most vulnerable.

I really wish that one of the owners would confront Stern on this and say "If you've done your job, Donaghy's book shouldn't be a problem" but the chances of that happening are nil. I used to like Cuban but I'm afraid he's as big an asshole as the rest of them and possibly worse. It's really a sad day when a sports commissioner has to lean on a purportedly free press and strongarm them into sitting on a manuscript that could be factually correct about a billion dollar enterprise.

[jon abbey]

You just can't blame Shaq when he shot 58% from the field and had a double double in less than 30 minutes in both games. They shouldn't need anything more from him to win games.

isn't the problem with him mostly on D? -25 in 25 minutes is pretty absurd in a 10 point game.

This is complete ratshit and merits revving up the Stern Must Go website again.

I thought the same thing actually, but I don't really have time to do it this week. you're welcome to, or I can take a crack at it soon. those excerpts are amazing, hopefulyl the NBA doesn't stifle it altogether.

[BoBetter]

Yeah, it's partly an issue of Shaq being slow on weak side help and guarding the pick and roll, but that shouldn't be that big of an issue, if the match-ups are favorable. Defense is a team effort with the Cavs, and much of the problem has been penetration. Shaq has been his same old self as far as I can tell, except when both he and Z havd been on the floor together. Which means that one of them is guarding a power forward? So stupid.

[mshiflet]

Seems Brown has been dreaming about another two center lineup since his Spurs days. Said on record he's committed to playing them together ~4-5 mins. each game. (Which might have been shot down by Danny Ferry by now.) The very obvious problem with that being here he's got two old Robinsons and no young Duncan.

[Enforcer]

so odd that this coincides with the departure of Sheed.

Yeah, but look at the Celtics!

[Enforcer]

I love the excerpts. Even if they're not all true, I love the fact that the NBA has to deal with them. Because some of them surely are true, so fuck 'em.

[jon abbey]

so odd that this coincides with the departure of Sheed.

Yeah, but look at the Celtics!

it takes a lot less effort to be the first big guy off the bench than it does the main one on the team, night in and night out, as you're well aware.

[Enforcer]

Sure. Plus, Rasheed was part of the team's character in Detroit by the time he left (bad); in Boston, he's fitting in with an already established team where he's not a leader (good). That worked well in Detroit for a while, too, when he first arrived. Really well, in fact.

[Noj]

http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-fr ... e=true&s=x

I just got done reading that, and wouldn't be surprised if every bit of it is accurate. No wonder Stern doesn't want this published. Even though Donaghy has an axe to grind, I think he's grinding it with legitimate, believable dirt.