AtTheDriveIn

Nice article. There's a few awkward expressions and some sentence structuring you might need to work on, but the content of it was good. I'm just wondering, though, did you leave a few players out for a reason? I know Greg Oden was definitely there; and Blake Griffin should have been there, too. And I don't know if he attended, but Anthony Randolph was another name on the initial roster. If this is another four-year commitment thing, which would take them to the 2012 Olympics, I have to wonder whether or not these guys will get the final roster spots simply based on current talent, expectations etc. Nothing against Brook Lopez, but there is a chance that final C spot might go to Oden considering the enormous expactiations placed on Oden. Even if he isn't used for scoring, Oden, at 285lbs, is a bigger, stronger enforcer in the paint on the defensive end than Brook Lopez. It might be something that Team USA is looking for considering they only had Carlos Boozer and Dwight Howard last Olympics, one of which played very few minutes anyway. But then again, if they're not looking to take a chance, Brook Lopez is just as good as Oden offensively, and he'll certainly provide an intimidating big men in the paint. Same thing with Rudy Gay; if it's a four-year thing, Anthony Randolph looks more impressive in the long run than Gay. I believe the final roster will be cut down to 25 soon, and then subsequently cut to 18 before the season begins. Then they'll base their final 12 on how the season plays out.

Wow. A lot of runners here. I did a lot of running in High School. My best 100 was a 10.93, which was in Grade 10. Other than that, I've been in the low 11's my entire career. Our School record was set in the 1980's at 10.51 and nobodies really gone close. I did the 3000m as well, usually placed fairly well at the state level. I've also competed at the National level for Triple Jump. My friend, Nick, who also went to my school went 1/2 the whole way to to Nationals. He came 6th, and I was 9th with a best jump of 14.27 (not my best either). In Basketball, I've versed some of Australia's best, including Patrick Mills who played for Cairns High School in our State Championship in 2004 or 2005. I got to guard him; kept him to 18 or 19 points, which is an accomplishment, as he set the record for points scored the day before with 42 or 43. I've also played the Cedar brothers, who both played for Townsville High School (and now play in the NBL). I thought about playing University basketball here in Australia, but I think I want to concentrate on my studies before getting into it. Apparently, we have a pretty good team though. Would be great to try and get onto it.

Most of the time, I just know that whoever I'm replying to wont read any of it anyway, and will pick out things that suit his agenda or argument, so since like two years ago, I've just about stopped posting like in big paragraphs unless someone with intelligence will reply. You should consider it, saves you so much time.. haha.

^ yeah cool.

Orlando has a roster spot. Kthx.

What I thought too. He was non-existent last season with the Spurs and he's not looking to be on any 'middle of the pack' teams anyway.

I'd argue otherwise. I think if Toronto is looking to field a team who know their roles and will run the offense with efficiency at any tempo, then Wright is a perfect candidate. Though he has shortcomings on both ends, his basketball IQ is actually pretty good. With a lineup consisting off Bargnani, Bosh and Turkoglu as well as Calderon, sometimes you have to have a guy who is happy not taking shots and focusing his energies on being the guy who cuts in and out of the paint or the guy who looks to create mismatches for his teammates. Wright worked as a near full-time starter in Dallas; a winning team, who sort of have the same structure as Toronto (Star Forward, strong PG's, scorers) and he excelled in being the guy who wasn't usually noticed, but did the little things that went unnoticed most of the time. To me, both Bellinelli and DeRozen are project players. Bellinelli, I think will get playing time because of his offensive energy. With Kapono gone to Philadelphia, instantly, there is half a games worth of playing time which Toronto will be looking to fill with someone who creates energy. Bellinelli also isn't a bad defender. He's not a good one, but he holds his own. His overall development from last season to this season will also play a big role in how much playing time he gets. DeRozen on the other hand most likely wont get much playing time partly because most project players aren't usually thrust into any immediate playing situation, especially on teams who are looking to win games and make the playoffs.

Toronto is fielding a pretty strong team this season. Not to say he's a key factor, but Turkoglu is the difference between being a fringe top 8 team and being involved in a race for home court advantage. Turkoglu is also a reliable fourth quarter guy, in a league where it seems we've run out of a lot of them. Plus the addition of Jarret Jack as the back-up point guard means thats the Raptors will always have a good floor general on the floor. Then, the obvious; Chris Bosh plus Andrea Bargnani. I don't know, I think Toronto has cemented itself into being a team thats going to look to be contending for at the very least, the fourth home court advantage spot. They have the tools around them and they've got guys who play their style of game now.

Link? Source? I haven't heard any news of anyone having their position 'set in stone' aside from the obvious. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, they haven't ruled out starting Pietrus at Small Forward and keeping Rashard Lewis at the Power Forward. Nobody from the Magic organization has made it clear that Bass is starting 100%, without a doubt.

You know, in the beginning, I wasn't too high on Jennings for a number of different reasons, but even aside from the probable demand more money (because as if Milwaukee is just going to throw more money at him, they're strapped for cash), I'm starting to like what I'm seeing and hearing from him. First, is the summer league is any indication (and it's usually not), his distributing skills are better than previously reported anywhere on the net. There were comparisons of combo guards who shot first, but I didn't see much of that; rather, I saw a player trying hard to make his teammates look good. And the conversation in the news article right there, where Jennings said he's looking forward to working with Skiles in improving himself as a player; Skiles is tough on rookies; Jennings respects that and still wants to improve his game with him. It's a good sign. Just with that quote, he instantly became a rookie to watch for me.

Lol, selfish Magic. Why? Because we like winning? GTFO.

Very rough, very quick, but needed to be done and out of the way before this trade is actually rescinded as well.

Late Monday night, the New Orleans Hornets made a deal, vying to trade away starting center, Tyson Chandler, 26, to the Charlotte Bobcats for star big man, Emeka Okafor, 26, proving that they are still in the hunt to be considered an elite Western Conference team. Already, fans are gushing over the new addition; Okafor brings not only an elite post-defender to the Hornets, but also another very capable offensive player, having averaged 14 points per game over his 5 year career thus far. Most suspect financial trouble on the part of the Hornets as an instigator for this trade on their part. Firstly, Okafor’s contract, although longer in years left on his contract costs less than Chandler’s in this first season, saving the Hornets roughly $1 million next season. Also, many predict that with Okafor, New Orleans have a chance to attract more spectators to their games; the strong fan base meaning more revenue for the club which usually ranks among the bottom of the league in attendance at home games, having ranked 19th last season and 26th the season before, even though in those seasons, they have put in 49 and 56 win totals, respectively. Tyson Chandler has also been on the Hornets trading block for a long time, having nearly being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the trade deadline last season for Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith. However, Chandlers recurring foot concerns made the Thunder rescind the trade after Chandler failed a physical. With the Hornets actively seeking to trade Chandler away, it was only a matter of time before a move was made to ship him away. For the Charlotte Bobcats, this trade seems to be more gearing towards the coveted 2010 Free Agency pool rather than focusing on improving next season. Chandler’s $12.7 million contract expires next season, along with the $7 million dollar contracts of Vladimir Radmanovic (assuming he accepts his player option) and Nazr Mohammed, whom both expire next season, giving the Bobcats plenty of cap space to be able to be a major player in the sweepstakes, hoping to pair a star player with a strong core of Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw and D.J Augustin. However, many still question whether or not the front office’s attitude towards putting together a winning organization will play a role in actually being able to sign some of the more valuable free agents. Unless any complications arise with the trade process in which this trade crumbles, Gerald Wallace will be the only player left from the original 2004/2005 Charlotte Bobcats.

Well aren't you just the bee's knees?

Thanks for the comments so far. Appreciate anyone reading my articles, to be honest. Oh and Real Deal, I'll post this on ADN tomorrow sometimes. it's just 11.30pm here right now, and I have a lecture tomorrow morning at 8.30am and my uni is nearly an hour away, so need to get some sleep. But, I'll have a link for ADN for you guys to help us with views over there as well.

A few comments on the article. It's taken me a while to come out with it, but it was written about a week ago and was just updated recently with some new ideas/useful or interesting information. Secondly, yes, the picture was done in paint by me. Pro photoshop skillz, imo. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoy it. Any kind of criticism or thoughts would be great.

When we delve into conversation of the history of the NBA’s greatest pivot men, the same names are often brought up; Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor), Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal. These athletes were undoubtedly the best big man in their eras, however, with their greatness in mind, we tend to forget past players who were equally as important and vital to their team’s success, and perhaps even equally as skilled, but for one reason or another, did not leave the same lasting legacy as what we consider to be the greatest NBA centers ever. Today, we explore the careers of the underrated centers that also helped to revolutionize the game. http://i29.tinypic.com/2vmstue.jpg Neil Johnston The 6’9”, 225 bruiser was today’s equivalent to Al Jefferson; a big man playing out of position, but making it look easy and doing it at an effective rate. A little known fact about Johnston is that during the 1954-1955 season, one year before the Most Valuable Player came into existence, Johnston was voted the Most Valuable Player for that season playing for the Philadelphia Warriors and had the award been ‘official’, he would have gone down as the only undrafted player in history to win an MVP award. He was also the first Head Coach that a young Wilt Chamberlain encountered. Johnston was a dynamic scorer, winning the scoring title three times in his eight year career, but was also a force on the glass, winning the rebounding title once, with an average of 15.1 rebounds per game. Though his career numbers are boast-worthy in any era, sporting averages of 19.4 points per game, 11.3 rebounds per game and a strong for the time shooting percentage of .444 as well as a better than average free throw percentage of .768, his injury hampered career, which, not co-incidentally, forced him into retirement after only eight years in the NBA, as well as the rise of the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics during the late 1950’s were the factors that stood in the way of Johnston being universally recognized as the first truly dominant offensive center. Johnston was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990 as a player. Willis Reed Hoopedia describes Reed’s playing career with the words “endurance, pride, dignity, obligation, hard work and courage”. Certainly, they all seem to fit the persona of Willis Reed. No other memory stands out, which exemplifies all these qualities as well as Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, in which an injury hampered Reed, whom many thought was not going to participate in the, limped into center court, won the jump ball miraculously versus Wilt Chamberlain and proceeded to score the first four points of the game. Though his contribution was minimal, as he was substituted out immediately following this string of plays, the lift that Reed gave his teammates ultimately led the Knicks to the 1970 NBA Championship. This one moment described Reed’s passion and contribution to basketball. Reed began his career out of Grambling State University as a second round draft choice by the Knicks in 1964, primarily as a Power Forward. However, with the departure of Walt Bellamy, Reed was free to assume the Center position. With Bellamy gone, the Knicks emphasized defense and with Reed in the post and Frazier pressuring the ball, the Knicks stingy defense eventually led them to two NBA Championship’s, both of which Reed was the Finals Most Valuable Player. Though he was a unanimous choice for the Hall of Fame, being elected in 1982 - ten years after his retirement - the 1960 and 1970’s, unfortunately for Reed, were the years where Abdul-Jabbar amassed over 25,000 career points, where Wilt Chamberlain reigned as the supreme and ultimate center, and where the All-NBA Teams just didn’t make sense without mention of Bill Russell. Robert Parish Robert Parish’s NBA career lasted 21 seasons and 1611 games, which still stands as the most games played in NBA history, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trailing Parish by 61 games. Parish was nicknamed ‘The Chief’ by a former teammate because of his stoic nature; fellow Hall of Fame teammate Bill Walton called Parish, “the greatest shooting big man of all time”. You can see that Parish’s skills, and his persona was held in high regard by those around him. A spectacular defensive presence, Parish anchored the Boston Celtics defense to 3 NBA championships during the 1980’s and was also named to 2 All-NBA teams as well as numerous selections to the NBA All-Star game. He was known as the third player in Boston’s original ‘big three’ behind star forwards Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. However, in his own right, Parish was a very effective player; his season high in points and rebounds stand at 19.9 and 12.5, respectively. Though he had a spectacular career, Parish was always known as the third option behind his more skilled and famous teammates. However, that has not stopped NBA analysts from acknowledging how gifted and important to the Celtics the 7’1” center really was. He, along with Bird and McHale were named as part of the list of the 50 greatest players of all-time in 1996, his #00 jersey that he was so famously known for was retired by the Boston Celtics in 1998, in a half-time ceremony and he was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Mark Eaton Mark Eaton’s story takes a different way than the others mentioned here. Eaton, standing at 7’4” and 290lbs, was working as a mechanic and was then discovered by a scout from Cypress Junior College. He led CYC to a California title before transferring to UCLA for two seasons. Eaton applied for the Draft in 1979 and went in the fifth round (72nd Overall) and did not play a game until 1982. He began his NBA career at the age of 26 with the Utah Jazz. Though he wasn’t a dynamite scorer, and often looked clumsy on offense, many say that Eaton is and was one of the best defensive players to ever play the game. In his first season, Eaton averaged over 3 blocks per game in less than 18 minutes a game. He then led the NBA in blocks for the next two seasons, the latter season, by averaging a league record 5.56 blocks per game along with 11.3 rebounds per game and 9.7 points. He won the Defensive Player of the Year trophy twice, in the 1984-1985 and 1988-1989, was voted to the All-Defensive team four times and surprisingly played in an All-Star game. Eaton, along with John Stockton and Karl Malone helped to establish the Utah Jazz as one of the premier NBA teams of the late eighties and early nineties. Although his defensive skills were top notch, his offense left a lot to be desired and thus isn’t remembered as clearly as others of that era. However, Eaton is a fan-favourite of the Utah Jazz, having his number (#53) retired by Utah in 1996. Brad Daugherty With Daugherty, we step foot into a more modern era of basketball. Daugherty, coming out of college was highly touted and usually considered one of the greatest Tar Heels ever and was promptly inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Standing at 7 feet tall, and weighing 245lbs, Daugherty was a can’t-miss prospect who was going to change the direction of any NBA franchise he played for. After averaging 20 points per game in his senior year at North Carolina, Daugherty entered the 1986 NBA Draft and was unsurprisingly taken with the 1st overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Daugherty came out of the blocks strong and averaged a strong 16 points and 8 rebounds per game along with nearly 4 assists per game for his rookie season but was unfortunately edged out of the Rookie of the Year award by Chuck Person. Daugherty, unsettled by this, continued his development and by 1991, was a 21 point, 11 rebound per game center that championship teams built their teams around. Unfortunately for Daugherty, his NBA career only lasted eight seasons as he was forced to retire at in 1993-1994 at the age of 28 due to recurring back problems that forced him to miss a large chunk of his final season. It seemed Daugherty was headed for superstardom; constantly appearing in NBA All-Star games and even earning all-NBA team honours. As a tribute to Daugherty, his number (#43) was retired by the team he spent his entire career with, the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1997. However, it seems unlikely that Daugherty will grace the NBA Hall of Fame due to his career shortened injury and rise of many prominent centers at the same time. http://www.alldaynba.com/nbageneral/the-forgotten-nba-centers-their-stories

Conley became a more confident player with Hollins as coach instead of Iavaroni and Davis before him (although Davis is still an assistant in Memphis as far as I know). Hollins' style is a little more controlled, and a little more reliant on the point guard, which was the opposite of Iavaroni where everything was run off the wings (Mayo + Gay) which left little for Conley and Lowry to do. And then when Lowry was traded away to Houston, that left just Conley to run the show. I think he'll continue to develop into a solid point guard over time. He's not great at anything, but he's above average in most things; there's always room for those players in the league somewhere. I hope Darko has a breakout yet in New York to be honest. He was my favourite player when he was on the Magic.

Sucks for us, but it was kind of coming when we signed Barnes. We don't have any many to spend other than the minimum or thereabouts ($745,000, I think) and Watson probably and rightly so thinks he's worth more than a minimum contract and a deep bench roster spot. He's got talent. If I were him, I'd go somewhere where an opportunity to play actually presents it self more realistically than in Orlando.

Right. Remind me to never take you seriously. After 13 or 14 seasons, I forget which one, of wonderful point guard play, the Mavericks decided just to switch his position just like that and play him on the wing as a shooter/scorer.. oh wait, no they didn't. Antoine Wright (6'7) started 53 games last season out of 65 games and George started the rest (17). They must have both started them at point guard, right? From a statistical point of view (and please, don't think this is my main argument), the Mavericks excelled when either Wright or Terry were at the shooting guard position. In fact, there is only four rotation lineups which didn't have Kidd playing point guard. You can check all the information here: Source It's undeniable common sense that you start your best point guard at point guard and play him there as much as you can, which as you can see is ALL THE TIME.

Whoa.. hang on a second. Who are you assuming played PG? Jason Terry?

You're here too? I'm guessing you spoke with BFT, huh? Nevertheless, glad to see you on here.

Jameer + Carter > any back court, ever.

Yes it does. I'm using it right now and it lets me.

China isn't in Europe.