NBA Season 2011-2012

It's not just Johnson, according to my source. JaJuan Johnson, E'twaun Moore, Sean Williams, and a second rounder.

Still a good deal for the Celts, IMO. Pisses me off though, wanted him on the 'Wolves.

Trophy Husband wrote:

They've very quietly had a strong offseason. Not doing anything spectacular, but adding important pieces that make them much better.

Completely agree. I thought the Knicks might have a shot at the Atlantic this coming season, but not after the offseason the Celtics had. Re-signing Garnett was key, but picking up Terry and Lee were both very savvy moves. And Sullinger looks like he's got a chip on his shoulder from dropping in the draft.

Plus, it'll be interesting to see the relationship between Rondo and Jason Terry develop. Could be entertaining.

Blind_Evil wrote:

It's not just Johnson, according to my source. JaJuan Johnson, E'twaun Moore, Sean Williams, and a second rounder.

Still a good deal for the Celts, IMO. Pisses me off though, wanted him on the 'Wolves.

Rockets will immediately waive Moore.
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/19...
Which is too bad, but I guess they have a surplus of young guards. I think he will land with a team that will give him meaningful bench minutes within the next two years. He's showed promise. I don't think Sean Williams will ever step foot on the court as an NBA player.
Looks like the other two players were solely to make the salaries work.

edit - Looks like the Celtics will be sending the second round draft pick they got from OKC also. Still very happy.

Either everyone here died, the NBA is now boring, you all moved to a new thread, or the Knicks killed basketball.

Please advise.

StaggerLee wrote:

Either everyone here died, the NBA is now boring, you all moved to a new thread, or the Knicks killed basketball.

Please advise.

The Knicks almost killed basketball and then Dwight Howard delivered the killing blow.

Yah, please do not end up on the Lakers, pretty please.

You know the free agency excitement is dying down when the big stories are the Hornets trading for Robin Lopez and the Wolves signing Andrei Kirilenko.

Kirilenko's actually a pretty exciting grab, IMO <,<

Great defender, passer, can score without the ball, has stupid tattoos, has a smoking hot wife. People were quick to pick on the big yearly salary but there's not really such a thing as a terrible 2 year contract. If he doesn't work out they can trade him for a first round pick next offseason, for sure.

David Khan has forced me to seek out every game Russia plays in the Olympics by signing both Kirilenko and Shved.

Sure, it was a little much to sign Kirilenko but, as Blind_Evil pointed out, it's only two years. I'm willing to take a small risk on him. He was the Euroleague MVP and defensive POY last year so it's not like he's washed up.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Great defender, passer, can score without the ball, has stupid tattoos, has a smoking hot wife.

Don't forget the Bieber hair!

StaggerLee wrote:

Either everyone here died, the NBA is now boring, you all moved to a new thread, or the Knicks killed basketball.

Please advise.

Probably can stay in this thread until the pre-season games actually start in Oct... then it'll be new thread time.

IMAGE(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z144/Blind_Evil/97tq.png)

!

Orlando Magic hire Jacque Vaughn as their new head coach

This is pretty exciting for me. There is a good chance that if my daughter were a boy, he would have been named Jacque Vaughn Young. We actually tried to find a way to incorporate it his name into our daughter's name, but just didn't find a good way to do it.

This just made NBA 2K13 a day one purchase for me. On top of getting excited to root on Jaque, the Magic were one of my favorite teams to use when playing NBA Jam and NBA Live against my Knicks loving roommate back in the 90's.

Hopefully he does well.

That post makes little sense without context, what is your connection to the guy?

IMAGE(http://www.vintagesportsmags.com/product_images/q/713/012-9__24647_zoom.jpg)

Loving what I've seen from Kirilenko and Shved in this game vs. Britain. Going to have to pencil in Russia as must-see games, for the future T-wolves and good overall play. With all the slick backdoor cuts and alley-oop finishes from AK47, I bet Rubio's chomping at the bit. Glad to have them aboard next year!

Lebron's Inbox
Found this on Blazers Edge this morning. Good for a chuckle.

IMAGE(http://totalfratmove.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/9f96cdc8a6d833fce8bbacaf32d6fe28617664074.jpeg)

Damn, that's funny.

And the sponsored ad at the top, learn how to stop choking.

Stele wrote:

And the sponsored ad at the top, learn how to stop choking. :D

My favorites.

1 - Dwayne Wade (misspelled in the email) being angry about LeBron possibly giving Spoelstra his email address.

2 - Pau's comment about Kobe.

3 - Dwight Howard having a 74 email exchange about where he should play next year.

As an aside, say what you will about the ill-advised "The Decision", but LeBron made a decision and lined everything up. I still believe LeBron quit on the Cavs, but what Howard's doing right now is worse, IMO.

DSGamer wrote:

As an aside, say what you will about the ill-advised "The Decision", but LeBron made a decision and lined everything up. I still believe LeBron quit on the Cavs, but what Howard's doing right now is worse, IMO.

Agreed. At least LeBron was decisive. He may have executed poorly, but he knew what he wanted. Dwight Howard is just embarrassing himself at this point.

One big difference, though: Cleveland has a history when it comes to sports teams and stars letting them down. And LeBron was considered a native son. While I think there was a lot of affection for Dwight in Orlando, I don't think it's the same.

And I just noticed that David Stern's email address in that image is [email protected].

I like the chat blip from Lin. brb taking a Dolan.

fangblackbone wrote:

I like the chat blip from Lin. brb taking a Dolan.

Oh I didn't even see those on the left. Kobe's status is "Bynum for sale"

There is too much funny in there. Someone spent an awesome amount of time making that thing. I love that person.

Crossposting from the Olympic thread for winces and wishing the Trailblazers well:

Jeez, Nic Batum!

IMAGE(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z144/Blind_Evil/633216458.gif)

@WojYahooNBA: I asked Batum why he hit Navarro in the groin. "I wanted to give him a good reason to flop," Batum said.

Jeez, Nic Batum's wife!

Nic Batum's wife chimes in. RT @missbatum: Lost game on purpose (pussies) acting most of the false and they wanna fight nico? Pussies!

Glad the T-wolves didn't end up with him O.o

A four-team trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers is complete, multiple sources told ESPN on Thursday night.

Story.

Short version:

Dwight Howard to LA Lakers
Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson to Philadelphia 76ers
Andre Iguodala to Denver Nuggets
Arron Afflalo, Nikola Vucevic, Al Harrington, Maurice Harkless, and a first round pick from the 3 other teams to Orlando Magic

Whoa.

They kept Gasol and got Howard?

EDIT: Just read the article. What a fascinating trade. Everyone assumed Bynum and Howard were a direct swap. Instead the 76ers get a huge upgrade and the Magic are apparently stockpiling draftpicks and re-entering the lottery. That's the kind of thing a GM that comes from the San Antonio family tree would do.

That's becoming like the Bill Walsh of the NBA. All these GMs that learned how to scramble for picks, dump cap space and begin building through the draft.

If this is accurate, then the Lakers are trading Andrew Bynum and a first-round pick for Dwight Howard. That's unbelievable.

Actually, given the Lakers' trade history, perhaps I should say, that's predictable.

DSGamer wrote:

That's the kind of thing a GM that comes from the San Antonio family tree would do. :)

He's from the OKC organization, but your point still stands.

Cupboard's gonna be bare as hell on Orlando. My initial reaction is that they didn't get enough, but they have lost so much leverage. Dwight is now known to be effing nuts, has a bum back, and the other teams know they need to deal him. Big shame all around for that organization. They'll likely bounce back, but it could be an ugly half decade.