NBA Season 2011-2012

Whoa. MJ might have finally made his first great draft pick!

Yeah I love Robinson. Sacramento certainly could use an infusion of a quality person like that.

I don't think so. MKG didn't want to play in Charlotte, and I think losing as much as they're going to is going to further sour him on the team. They have lots of issues, and scoring is the biggest one. MKG doesn't help at all in that regard.

I can't believe Cleveland took Waiters that high. Dude didn't start in college. Between him and Thompson last year, I don't really know what their basketball people are thinking.

Love how David Stern grins when he gets booed.

Full disclosure: Thomas Robinson is my favorite player in this draft. I don't really like him going to Sacramento, but hopefully his maturity will help the situation there. He and Cousins are definitely an interesting frontcourt, though.

See that interview? God, he's gonna make those other teams regret passing on him. "I've got work to do, and I'm gonna do it."

Golden State probably stoked that Barnes has fallen to them. Assuming they take 'em, that is...

Long as this post is getting, I should just liveblog this or something

Raptors went to the Cavs school of reaching.

They need to make it so the audience and kids can't hear the commentators. "Not a bad pick!" says commentator. "OMFG TERRIBLE PICK" says the rest of the world.

Actually, if they can bring Steve Nash up there, maybe... big IF, though. Also dependent on Valenciunas coming and being good.

Interesting spot here for Detroit. I don't think Drummond is the best idea, but people tell me Monroe is more a 4 than a 5. I guess that'd be an okay fit, I suppose. Bust potential is so big, though. But at 9 that's probably not so big a loss.

Like the Drummond pick. When you're Detroit you have to go big or go home and take risks. It doesn't matter which plays 4 or 5, Monroe is there for offense, Drummond for defense.

carrotpanic wrote:

It doesn't matter which plays 4 or 5, Monroe is there for offense, Drummond for defense.

Yeah, fair enough.

He's big.

Like both of Portland's picks.

Feel like NO and Port. both did good with their two lottery picks each. Both got a guard and a big man, covering a lot of spots. Expect improvement for both teams next year.

Wondering what the poor Suns do now. They wanted Rivers or Lamb

Zeller, if I had to bet. Not confident in that, though.

Ah, Marshall. Good to have a backup plan should Nash leave.

Is the Portland we (Portland) picked that good?

Jeez, SEC madness to close out the 1st round. Miss St, UK, and 2 more Vandy players.

Interesting for the 4th or so best conference (BE, ACC, Big10) to have so many individual talents.

I realize there isn't much left at 58 but, come on, don't draft a walking injury. Especially when a shooting guard gets taken with the next pick.

The Wolves apparently have more important plates spinning at the moment. "Pulling out all the stops to trade for Pau Gasol."

Not sure how I feel about that. But you do figure it'd get them into the playoffs next year.

I can't muster feelings one way or the other about the 58th pick. I doubt anything they'd get there could be more promising than Malcolm Lee, which is to say not worth worrying about at all.

Blind_Evil wrote:

They have lots of issues, and scoring is the biggest one. MKG doesn't help at all in that regard.

This. The buzz from MKG's workout is that he flat out couldn't shoot. But, hey, he plays D. Which means the 'Cats have a shot at winning some games this season if they can keep the other team in the 60s.

As for MKG being a winner (see the Simmons quote above), I don't remember Kemba Walker losing a whole lot of games as a senior at UConn. And he couldn't even crack Charlotte's starting lineup this season.

Enix wrote:

As for MKG being a winner (see the Simmons quote above), I don't remember Kemba Walker losing a whole lot of games as a senior at UConn. And he couldn't even crack Charlotte's starting lineup this season.

Kemba is 6'1". MKG is 6'7". That's a big difference in today's NBA in impact.

And looking at the stats, Kemba started 25 games this year. He also had a triple-double against the Wizards in January. There were only 13 players in the league that had those this year, and Rondo is the only one with more than 1. That's pretty productive for a rookie.

I like Kemba, I think he's a solid building block. He's short, but there have been plenty of short, good point guards. As his shot and supporting cast improve, he should develop into a Jason Terry sort of player.

After sleeping on it, the Bobcats' pick is likely them doubling down on their current path. Thomas Robinson or Bradley Beal don't make them good next year, but they might push their pick closer to 7 than 2.

Blind_Evil wrote:

After sleeping on it, the Bobcats' pick is likely them doubling down on their current path.

Sadly, yes.

Best case, MKG becomes the second coming of Gerald Wallace, who is far and away is my favorite Bobcats player. (Or was, until they traded him. Still a dark day in franchise history.)

Worst case? Seven wins in a full 82-game season and a 75 percent chance in the lottery *not* to get the first pick. Wooo!

Blind_Evil wrote:

The Wolves apparently have more important plates spinning at the moment. "Pulling out all the stops to trade for Pau Gasol."

Boooooo. I don't get this line of thinking: Williams is expendable because he's more effective as a power forward so trade him for a power forward. What? Sure, Gasol could play center but I'd prefer they get some help at 2 and 3 and go with Pekovic at center.

Yeah, help at 2 or 3 would be best, but I'm sure they've explored those avenues. Sometimes you just need the best guy you can get. Every good team needs a 3-big rotation, Love-Pau-Pek would be dandy.

We've got at least a couple other The Basketball Jones fans here, right? On the Overdose, whenever they play the Kenny Smith "Gimme some Raptor news!" clip, I choke half to death laughing.

I absolutely love TBJ.

I've heard this one bandied about enough, and it's actually pretty interesting.

Raptors break the bank to sign Steve Nash, as they can offer him the most money. Raptors trade Bargnani and a first rounder to the Lakers for Gasol (I'm of the mind that they might even take just Bargnani and a second rounder or mid tier prospect). Ends up with a starting five of

Steve Nash
Terrence Ross
Demar Derozan
Pau Gasol
Jonas Valenciunas

If Valenciunas is as good as everyone's saying, they would be the 4 or 5 seed in the east, easily.

Edit: Timberwolves notes, via Ray Richardson on Twitter - Michael Beasley and Anthony Randolph will not be getting qualifying offers, making them unrestricted free agents. I know management was shopping them hard during the season, but not getting any bites other than bad contracts tied to late second round picks.

Looks like Hibbert could go to Portland (assuming Indiana doesn't match). Curious why Indiana didn't just offer him the max. I love him in the middle there, and am excited about the team the Pacers has built. Losing him would seem to change things considerably for them.

I'd be surprised if the Pacers don't match, unless the new administration there just doesn't like him. Not shocking they didn't offer the max right away. No harm in letting him set his own market rather than assume you have to give him everything. Same thing is happening with the Hornets and Eric Gordon.

You know, this sh*t with Dwight Howard is way out of hand. I would respect the hell out of the Magic if they traded him to Houston for the farm simply to have his crazy, dumb ass out of town.

Not sure what's going on with my Pacers. Despite being a big fan, they don't let me in on management meetings.

Blind_Evil wrote:

You know, this sh*t with Dwight Howard is way out of hand. I would respect the hell out of the Magic if they traded him to Houston for the farm simply to have his crazy, dumb ass out of town.

Agreed. Hell with him at this point.

With the draft now done, I wish NBA journos would stop complaining about the Chris Paul trade situation back in December. I thought back then that the Hornets got the better deal and now feel even more strongly that way.

carrotpanic wrote:

I absolutely love TBJ.

I love the Tweet of the Weak and especially the shout outs. Reminds me of the humor that was mined by the Giant Bomb crew by reading the eShop releases.

Nets have been in the news, trading for Joe Johnson and retaining Gerald Wallace and Deron Williams. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how this core can't win 45+ games next year.

1. Deron Williams
2. Joe Johnson
3. Gerald Wallace
4. Reggie Evans or Kris Humphries
5. Brook Lopez

Wallace and whoever plays the 4 should be able to make up for the rebounding issues you get with Lopez.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Nets have been in the news, trading for Joe Johnson and retaining Gerald Wallace and Deron Williams. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how this core can't win 45+ games next year.

1. Deron Williams
2. Joe Johnson
3. Gerald Wallace
4. Reggie Evans or Kris Humphries
5. Brook Lopez

Wallace and whoever plays the 4 should be able to make up for the rebounding issues you get with Lopez.

And apparently they're still chasing Howard currently. Not sure how that works.

I don't see anything happening with them and Howard. Monetarily it doesn't work, Johnson+Wallace+Williams alone probably puts them around the soft cap. The Magic should not and probably don't care about Dwight being happy with where he goes at this point, so they're just going to take the best offer they can get, though I can't say who that'd be from. The pundits say the Lakers, but I don't agree with that. Bynum is an unrestricted free agent after next season, nothing to keep him from skipping town after that. Golden State is a possibility, Houston has a ton of young assets, but who knows.

I would mess around with the trade machine to figure it out, but it hasn't been updated since the Johnson trade.