The Lone Granger

Welcome to OTR! Great to have another active, quality NBA poster around the forums! See you on the boards!

Why not? He still has a lot of talent even though he hasn't been able to use it yet. If he picks up his confidence then he could become a very good knock-down shooter for us, and maybe we even look to deal him at the deadline if we aren't in competition at the moment? Just a thought. Overall it's a smart move for the franchise though.

I understand this, but at least give him some minutes towards the end of the Spurs game. They were taking a beating, so at least allow him out on the floor to get some time on the court in...I think that would've been the way to handle it. He looked pretty good when he played in the offense during the preseason, so I don't know why we wouldn't let him on the court now. Maybe that's just me though...

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure why the 76ers would do this. Unless the Bulls were giving up both Deng and Johnson, I don't see why they would give up the far better player in Iggy. Maybe that's just me, but in my opinion this move doesn't make sense for the 76ers. As for the Bulls, they should do this trade without any question. Iguodala would give Rose another high-flying running mate, and would give more leadership to the young Bulls squad as well.

Not what the Celtics need to have happening right now. They are poised for a great season, but they all need to be on the same page. Why does Delonte West always get into fights with his teammates? If it comes down to keeping one or the other, which one do you think they will want to keep?

Well, I'm off for the day. Got some good posting in, and recruited a new member as well. See you guys tomorrow! I would try to get on later tonight, but I have basketball practice, and first game Saturday so probably won't be getting on a ton this weekend. See you guys tomorrow as far as I know, and maybe some on Saturday night.

Reading ABL's post, he never said that Pau was better than Dirk...all he said was that Dirk wasn't better than Gasol. I don't think you can put words in his mouth there. Just thought I'd put that there. And as for Dirk, there is no way he's a superstar anymore. Maybe back a few years ago you could have made a stronger case, but not now.

Well, after an 8 point, 16 rebound game I'd say that his first game he definitely made an impact. Great performance from Shelden. I'm kind of interested to see what kind of season he can put together with Denver.

I know, but still, we should have put ourselves in position to win. Without those turnovers and missed free throws, I really believe we would have won this game. Granted, our team is still very young, and has a lot of talent, but it's disappointing to see a game that should be a W, go to the loss column. Know what I mean?

I'm really looking forward to this game. I'm actually half a Wizards fan now, and I'm excited to see how John Wall does tonight. He's the face of the franchise in his rookie season, and some are saying that's too much for him to handle, but I think he'll play an amazing debut game just like Blake Griffin did. I too, think that the Magic will win this game, but expect it to be a very close, tightly matched game. The Wizards won't have Arenas so that will be tough on them as well. Should be a fun game to watch though.

Well, after watching our first game of the season last year against the Spurs, I was both very encouraged, and also very upset with the way we played. I'll go through the pros and cons to this game, and I'll bring out our player of the game as well. Pros Paul George: While he didn't have a flashy all around game, he showed that he is going to come in and give us good minutes right away. He hustled, and played excellent defense picking up a few steals. The Pacers are expecting George to pick his offense up after a few games in the NBA, but this was definitely fun to watch him on the defensive side of the ball. Roy Hibbert: Hibbert showed what Pacers fans have been raving about all offseason. He's picked up a lot of quickness in the post, improved at the foul line, and also became a much better rebounder. 28 points and 9 rebounds are great numbers to start out the season for Roy. Looks like we may have found another big scorer to put next to Granger. Darren Collison: In his Pacers debut, Collison had a very solid outing. With 19 points and 7 assists, he had a great offensive performance, but what was great to see is his energy and pressure on defense. Sure, Parker lit us up, but most of those points were scored on T.J. Ford off the bench. Collison really showed that he has all the tools to become a great player for us, both now and in the future. Danny Granger: Granger picked up where he left off last season. Shooting the ball great all night, he had 26 points in the Pacers' loss. He looked very comfortable in the offense, and he didn't force things like he did last year. It looked like he has improved in his ball-handling and passing skills, as well as his patience in letting the point guard (Collison), run the show on offense. Cons Turnovers: I don't remember the exact number of TO's we had, but I believe it was somewhere around 23. That's just not acceptable if we want to win any games this year. The reason for these turnovers? Well, mostly it was just unforced things like bad passes, losing the ball off a foot or inability to grab the ball with both hands. The other thing I didn't like about these turnovers, would be that because we made a bad play on offense and gave the ball up, we wouldn't hustle back on defense, we'd hang our heads. All that adds up to the reason we lost by 13. Free Throw Troubles: We missed 9 free throws, and that's unacceptable as well. You put those points up on the board, and who knows what happens, maybe we win them game. It's really disappointing to see our guys miss free throw after free throw down the stretch. We can't afford to miss our free throws especially against a team like the Spurs. Overall that's what I got out of this game. We showed that we can play with anyone, but we also showed that we don't understand that an NBA game is 48 minutes. The Pacers need to come out much more focused on Friday against Charlotte, and show up to win the game. Player of the Game: Roy Hibbert

When I was watching ESPN last night, this question came up and it was an interesting thought. They were talking about how the Utah Jazz are usually awful on the road, but when they're at home they are one of the hardest teams to beat. At home, you have the crowd noise in your favor which can cause a spark, and also your used to practicing on the courts there so maybe you have the rims figured out? I'm not sure what everyone thinks the advantages are to playing at home. In my opinion, the main reason that homecourt is so important is that your in a friendly atmosphere with friendly fans cheering you on to win. Maybe that's just me, but I want to get your guys' opinions on this topic. Thoughts? I'll add my opinion after a few replies.

As I was watching the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Clippers game last night, Blake Griffin stuck out to me. Obviously he stuck out to everyone since he's the 2009 NBA Draft #1 overall pick, but he impressed me with his play, and showed me a part of his game that I hadn't expected to see. Whenever a shot would go up, Griffin would be the first one taking off towards the rim for the offensive rebound. Not only was his rebounding impressive, but his ability to handle the ball in the open court as well. I remember one play in particular, he grabbed a rebound, and because there were no outlets to a guard available, he took off down the middle of the court. Eric Gordon took off down the right side of the court, and Griffin handled the ball to the three point line, and made a perfect bounce pass between two defenders for the easy dunk for Gordon. Other than that, I noticed a few things about Griffin. He's a very smart defensive player, and is great at help defense. Not only on the defensive side of the ball does he have a great basketball mind, but he also has a smart basketball IQ on offense as well. I noticed that he was never standing still. The one thing in basketball that you cannot do, is stand still in the offense. Whether he had the ball, was making a cut for the ball, or simply moving to set a screen and roll possibility, Griffin was always doing something trying to help the offense work. Those are just a few of the things that I noticed about Blake Griffin through his debut game. I'm really going to follow this guy after seeing the way he played tonight (and also because he's on my fantasy basketball team). Definitely a great first outing for him. The building was buzzing with fans, which was really good to see for the Clippers, and assuming they keep playing the way they were last night, they will continue to come out for the games. Did you guys see anything else about Griffin that you liked or disliked? I would love to hear what your guys' thoughts were on his first NBA game. Thoughts?

Big news for the Rockets. Last year, that Brooks-Lowry point guard duo was one of the best in the league in my opinion, definitely will be big for them to have him back.

Well, it's disappointing to see us come up short, but we played a great game. Hopefully we keep playing strong, and improve in our taking care of the ball and free throws. The defense wasn't that bad overall, but our transition defense off of TO's was obviously horrible. Great games from Collison, Granger, and Hibbert tonight though!

Actually, the bad thing is that Rolle didn't get much PT at all during the preseason. For whatever reason, O'Brien decided not to put him in the game at any time. I'm guessing you'll see something like a Solomon Jones and Dahntay Jones for second rounders type of deal and then they'd re-sign Magnum Rolle. That sounds about right. They were playing Solo (Solomon Jones) last night, so I'm guessing that's because they want to up his trade value.

I actually completely forgot about Brandon Roy on this list, but it's a very good debate. I have to agree with ABL on this one, I'll have to wait to see how he plays throughout this season to place him or not place him on my list. If he keeps playing the way he did last night, then he'll be on it. Definitely a star at least.

Derrick Rose and Durant were amazing, that's pretty much all I have to say about this game. The OKC fans were loud as ever, but D-Rose making some crazy up and under moves for the Bulls. Not too mention he's on my fantasy team so I was very happy with the way he performed. I really enjoyed seeing the youth of these two teams going against each other, and I'd watch out for this possibly being a Finals matchup at some point in the future. They both have great cores, and assuming they keep adding to them, they are both going to be great teams. Good game, and exciting to watch.

This is great stuff guys! Keep up the activity and quality discussion. That being said, let's also get some more members in here. Like I stated, I'm going to work really hard at getting more quality posters into the forums starting today. We can keep bolstering the site, and getting more NBA fans into OTR. Keep it up guys!

East: Raptors West: Suns I'm picking a surprising team out West. I don't see Phoenix being much with just Steve Nash and Jason Richardson running the show out there. It's an interesting pick (and definitely one that I made because I didn't want to copy everyone), but I think the T-Wolves showed that they are a decent team capable of winning some games yesterday. So I'm going to pick the Suns...there we go lol.

Good to see the Cavs win this game. I think Hickson showed up and played a great game, and Daniel Gibson! What a performance by him. When Mo Williams gets healthy, it will be very interesting to see what the Cavs do there. I personally think you could see Williams coming off the bench with Jamison, but maybe that's just me. Great win for the Cleveland Cavaliers to start the post-LeBron era.

It's definitely a good idea for Houston. Yao knows his body better than anyone else does...why not let him decide when he's in pain? Coming off a serious injury, he isn't going to hide it if he's starting to wear down, but judging from the way that Lakers-Rockets game was going, if Yao hadn't fouled out, they would have had to talk it over right there whether to pull him at 24 minutes or let him play some more. Definitely a good decision to discuss extending his minutes.

Personally what I've seen is that he's trying to make every play a big, highlite type of play. He just needs to slow down, and play basketball. Just because you have three great players on a team, doesn't mean that you have to make every play a big one. When he finally slows himself down, and gets back to playing ball, he'll be fine.

He'll be moved before the deadline in my opinion. It's sad to see that he wants to leave, but it's good to see that it's not because of anything personal with the team. He's tried to take them into the Playoffs before, but it just hasn't worked out for him. It seems every time he gets somewhere that he wants to be, his team falls short. And that's why he wants to go to a new team and see if change will help him achieve his goal of winning a Championship. Now that he puts it like this, it makes it so much easier to see where he's coming from. Probably helps Denver fans not hate him as much as well, even though they'll be very upset when he is traded.

I've been searching for a new forum to post at, and since the NBA is my favorite sport, I figured I'd go for an NBA only forum that still had some other sports mixed in. All that being said, I remembered that Real Deal had a site from back about two years ago, and I decided to search up OTR and see if it was still around, and of course I found the site very quickly, and I've liked everything about it so far. Can't wait to keep posting with everyone here!