?QuestionMark?

This lockout needs to end soon. Someone resorted to writing an article about Bobby freakin' Simmons! For historical accuracy, the Clippers traded that 2nd pick BEFORE the NBA draft and in return the Bobcats would trade the 4th pick and select Peja Drobniak in the expansion draft. The Clippers didn't give up Q-Rich for Kobe either. Kobe re-signed with the Lakers before Richardson signed with the Suns. The Clippers could have kept him. So either Sterling didn't want to pay him or Q just didn't want to be a Clipper. So to answer the question of how special that Clipper team could have been: not very special at all. Sterling wasn't going to spend money on role players. Lamar Odom left in 2003 after Sterling didn't match Miami's offer. That was the beginning of the end of that young nucleus. Sterling runs the Clippers are a business for profit. He wants to spend as little as possible to maximize profits. Great for his wallet, not so much for winning on the court. So if Clippers fans want to root for a winning team, hope Sterling eithers sells the team, dies, or start cheering for another team.

Should have fired Pringles and hired Rick Adelman. He's a guy that gets the most out of his players and is an underrated defensive coach. Woodson is a decent coach, but I'm not sure he's the guy for the Knicks.

I was talking to my friend about stupid and funny ways we've got hurt and thought it'd be fun for the forum to share their stories. One of them happened when I was 8 or 9. I was riding a bike to the store when it was dark out. I got on the sidewalk and decided to cut through a giant parking lot that during the day served as a flea market of sorts. Around the perimeter of this lot where these poles about 10 feet apart connected by a steel cable. That served as the fence so that cars couldn't in and out. But at night I couldn't see the cables, so I'm pedling as fast as I can and reach what I think is an opening to exit the lot and CRACK! I clothesline my self on the cable, fall flat on my back, my bike shoots out from underneath me and crashes into a parked car. I stayed on the ground for a while, my head is sore, the cable left a huge bruise across the side of my face, and my bike left a huge dent in the car. Plus there were some kids across the street that started laughing. So not only was it painful but embarassing. Funny now, not so much back when it happened. Another time when I was 7 we had just moved to a new house but the previous owners had left a mess, like bricks on the front porch. One day I was playing baseball with my friend in the front yard. I even had a helmet on for this pretend game. Anyways, I hit the ball and it hit one of the windows of the house. So my mom comes out of the house mad telling me to stop playing or go to the backyard. I say ok but tell my friend to throw me one more pitch. Meanwhile, my mom is bending down move some bricks on the porch that someone had thrown on one of her plants. So my friend pitches, I hit it, but accidently hit in the direction where my mom is at it just misses her and hits the metal door making a sound that probably pushed my mom over the edge. I know that I messed up so I'm running towards my mom apologizing. But my mom is so PISSED and she takes the brick that was in her hand and throws it and CRACK! Hits me in the head as I'm running towards her. I remember flailing my arms as I fell backwards and starting to cry. Then she's worried too because the brick cracked the helmet. Today, I'm pretty sure they call that child abuse. Anyways, I didn't even go to the hospital to check if I had a concussion, I was just bribed with Pizza Hut to stop crying.

I wanted to make a joke about how us in LA are looking at East Coasters the way the rest of the country looks at Southern California when we get a little rain. But really, if I was in a skyscraper and I felt an earthquake, I'd shit my pants. In California, buildings are made to withstand earthquake, not sure about the rest of the country where earthquakes are extremely rare. Here, I don't bother to get out of bed or out of my seat unless it's over a 6.0 earthquake. But if I'm on the 80th floor of a building and it started moving, I'd be sweating like Shawn Kemp at a paternity test. As a side note, the worst place I ever was during an earthquake is taking a deuce. Do you finish and wipe, or just run out the house leaving a trail? Tough decision.

That's where he belongs....ass glued to the bench. Hopefully Memphis does the Lakers a favor and keeps him even after the lockout is over.

That might be part of it but lets not pretend money isn't an issue for a lot of them. Just because there's a lockout doesn't mean these guys don't have bills to pay, especially those on smaller contracts. The life-span of a pro athlete is short, they have to make as much money as they can while they can.

Definately think he's underrated. Going into the draft I thought he had more upside than any point guard (besides Rubio and Jennings) and would probably be the best defensive PG of the draft. What hurt his stock was Howland had him playing SG and he just looked disinterested all year at UCLA. Physically he has all the tools to be a great two-way player. He's pretty solid in pretty much every aspect. Shooting was a big concern coming in but shooting is the easiest skill to learn and he is getting better. I would take him probably over half the starting PGs in the NBA.

He'd still fill the stat sheets and be a good fantasy player, but his floor impact would decrease significantly. He's basically Shawn Marion/Josh Smith but at the point guard position. They're really good, but basically glorified role players.

Good for him. I imagine Brazil is fun place to hang out at even without playing basketball.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AkpoB3Lw.NIFd21jKDe8c9u8vLYF?slug=ap-lawson-lithuania These are the guys that need to head to overseas. The NBA elites like Kobe, Wade, Paul, Howard, etc. can survive a lockout given their max salaries and endorsement deals. But the NBA middle class need to cash since they're more likely to fold once they start missing pay checks.

You can use this argument about practically everyone. "How will T-Mac play as a number 1 option outside Vince's shadow?" , "How will Amare do without Nash?". If you look at how Bynum scores, it'll translate anywhere. He's also only getting 11 shot attempts, and a lot of them are off offensive rebounds. To your point about how he'll do as a focal point, well if he is drawing double teams, how is that a bad thing? Teams don't usually double team bad/ineffective players (unless you're Lakers and have Derek Fisher who doubles anyone). Even if he averages 13 points but he's drawing enough attention that he gets open shots for everyone else, isn't that a good thing? Wouldn't his floor impact exceed his stats? Lets say he is a disappointment offensively, he's still would be effective defensively. Not as good as Howard, but he'd still be able to alter shots and clean up the glass. Yes that would be better. But give me a team willing to do it. It's easy to say what teams SHOULD do, it's another to look at what's really happening and what their real options are. Orlando has to either get much better really quick; risk losing Howard for nothing; or trade him. Orlando has no leverage so you can pretty much cross out any team giving up their star for him. No team will give up prospects or take Turk/Gilbert unless Howard signs an extention, so that limits things further. Howard will probably only sign if he goes to a contender, possibly in a big market so that shrinks Orlando's options even that much more. Yes, in theory a Bynum for Howard deal straight up is horrible based on talent. No one in their right minds would deal Howard for Bynum. But Orlando might not have much of a choice. The reality is that Orlando is stuck between a rock and a hard place and will risk losing him for nothing if they don't deal him because they waited a year too long to make a trade. So Orlando needs to make the best of a really bad situation, which at this point probably is Bynum.

Such as? Bynum has two years left, with a team option which makes him expiring. If he is healthy, and puts up 20/12/2, then they can pick up his option to keep him for another year. If he gets hurt or just not worth the money, then he's a 15 million expiring deal by simply not picking up his option. Or they can trade his expiring for something else. It's a risk, it's a gamble, but given the how few big men there are in the league that are as impactful at both ends, it is probably worth it given the circumstances. Either way, it'll be a rebuild for Orlando. This just gives them an option of having a two-way big man or not as they go forward.

It's not awful logic given the circumstances. In most cases, I agree with almost everything you said. But when you're in Orlando's position, where there's a HIGH probability of losing Howard for nothing, you take the best you can get. And Bynum is the best they're getting offered at the moment. If Portland is willing to deal Aldridge, then fine they should deal for him. But that's not on the table (possibly because Howard has a psuedo-no-trade clause with his player option), at least not right now. ideally you want to trade a star for a star but when Orlando holds no leverage, and other teams want to pair Howard with their own star player, there aren't many other options for the Magic. Orlando is going to need another star anyway next to Bynum anyway, which they'll only get via the draft. So if you assume Bynum is out for 30+ games, then it's probably a blessing in disguise if it means a shot at Perry Jones or Harrison Barnes. Or if they find another star in the draft that would essentially make Bynum a 2nd option.

No one is forcing them to make anyone rich. They can go the cheap route like Donald Sterling did and turn profits. You won't win, but you can make a profit. I find the owners to be hypocrites. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that most of them are fiscal conservatives who believein the free market with limited restrictions. Why not let the union decertify then? Let it be a truely free market. A free market means LeBron could get 50+ million a year from a team like New York and he'd never consider playing for a team like Cleveland or Memphis. A free market means no draft so Jared Sullinger or Harrison Barnes get to chose where to play. And no scaled contract so they can in theory get a 10+ million deal right off the bat. A free market means no age limit. So say farewell to the one-and-done rule. A free market means no roster limits. You could theoretically have a 20 man roster. A team, if they're willing to spend, can sign 20 quality players just for depth. But that's not what the owners want. They want to protect themselves from their own stupidity. Is it the players' fault that the Bobcats at one point had three head coaches salaries on the payroll? Is it the player's fault that owners are paying far beyond the market value of a franchise. The players clearly need to concede a few things because the current CBA is flawed, especially for small market teams. But some owners don't want to bargain in good faith. Some of what the owners are proposing is just flat out insane, that they're purposely willing to lose a season.

C'mon son, you mean to tell me that, using your logic, you would have given up on Wade when he played only 51 games in back to back years? My point is with Bynum you can get him healthy for the playoffs, even if he misses 30 regular season games, it's worth the risk. He's a difference maker at both ends. Outside of Howard, no other center impacts the game as much as Bynum does at both ends.

Anyone having problem buffering videos? My internet speed is the same as always but for the past week no matter what video I try to watch (youtube, hulu, dailymotion, etc.), it takes forever for it to load. I took me 40 minutes to watch a 17 minute video and I have DSL speed. No malware, no virus, I haven't downloaded or added anything in probably a month. Anyone know how to fix it? It's getting pretty annoying.

He is. He's probably the biggest expiring contract in the league. He's a 24 year old, back-to-the-basket, two-way, center that can anchor. The only question is his health. But if you can get him ready for the playoffs, then he's probably the 2nd best center in the league.

Will fans get free pizza when the Hawks hold their opponents under 100? I wonder how this affects the CBA negotiations. I may be wrong, but I think it was the Hawks management that were part of the owners that were strongly pushing for the lockout and a complete revamp of the CBA.

Depends on how much they elevate their play. If it's a guy coming off a rookie contract who has progressively improved throughout his career, then it's pretty much a no-brainer even if every once in a while you'll get a situation like Andrei Kirilenko. But if it's someone who just sort of exploded out of nowhere and has had one good season after a pretty forgetable career, then yeah I would hesitate to shell out big bucks or a long-term deal. Then you get guys like Sasha Vujacic or Jerome James or Bobby Simmons or Brian Cardinal.

Stupider than Damon Stoudamire trying to sneak weed wrapped in aluminum foil through a metal detector at the airport.

Just a PR ploy by the owners. Wouldn't be surprised if this lawsuit gets thrown out. They have no standing until the players actually decertify. It's a stupid tactic by the league. if you claim right now the players (who are the product) are greedy bastards, why would I, as a fan, then want to go spend money to see the product, which then ultimately hurts the owners as well? Seems assbackwards to me. Especially when the NBA isn't on the same level as football as far as popularity.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/30/report-nicolas-batum-signs-in-france/ Not as significant as Deron Williams, but more interesting than Hilton Armstrong.

The NBA is much further apart than the NFL was. What the NFL owners were just tweaks, what the NBA owners want is an overhaul of the current CBA.

I go with Duncan. Malone may be a slightly better offensive player, IMO, but Duncan was the more complete player, better defender, and a legit anchor.

I understand your point that by most analyst account a veteran is a 10+ year player. I don't necessarily agree with that because IMO, a player like Wade who was battle tested by his 3rd year is much more of a veteran than a guy like Randy Livingston whose been in and out of the league for 10+ season but hasn't played any real meaningful role. My point was that the CBA has never defined a vet as 10+ years. Neither in 1999 nor when they agreed once again in 2004. That's why Coon has Veteran labeled for anyone not a rookie. He's following the CBA's definition. I think the 10+ years as a qualifier is something analysts have arbitrarily picked to define for themselves what a veteran is. I personally think a Curry/Ellis backcourt should have been included, but here the writer clearly has a set definition for what a young player is using experience as a guage. Ultimately what is considered a "young" player and what a "veteran" is just semantics.