I want Mikki Moore back on the Celtics, so he can play with his little sister, Marquis Daniels. Seriously, what's up with that fucking Predator hair?
Dude, My-Key is a five-tool player. 1. High socks 2. Long shorts 3. Ugly tats 4. Bad hair 5. Chest-thumping histrionics Now if he only had NBA talent, he'd be the complete package.
Anyone whose entire highlight reel is 12 foot jumpers should be shot. On a real NBA note, what do you all think of the off season moves? I'm a Celtics fan, and frankly, Cleveland and Orlando both worry me.
12-foot jumpers and blocking fouls, you mean. I think it's hard to tell anything during the NBA preseason. Every team has a slightly different philosophy when it comes to the eight exhibition games, some use them to practice new systems (for new coaches and/or personnel) and some use them to evaluate new talent. But, based on what I've seen so far the Spurs are going to be an even more of a threat than the talking heads are predicting and it comes down to something other than Richard Jefferson: frontcourt depth. Right now, the Spurs have five players that look to get quality minutes based on the matchups: Duncan, McDyess, Heavy D Blair, Bonner (when they want to stretch), and Ratliff (when they want to buckle down inside). Ian Mahinmi and Marcus Haislip are both talented players that will probably trade nights on the inactive list but provide the kind of practice and emergency depth Popovich likes. With that roster the Spurs are going to be able to both throw and adapt to different sets on any given night. Cleveland and Orlando both got better on paper but I don't know that either team got deeper. The Lakers are bringing back the same essential team (swapping Ron-Ron for Ariza), but Boston looks to have made the most significant-but-not-drastic move by getting 'Sheed. Nine more days. Nine more days.
I like Cleveland bringing in Shaq and giving up nothing, but more than that, I like them adding Jamario Moon and Leon Powe. I hope Powe gets his knee back and plays very, very well: He and Moon are both the kind of player stories you have to cheer for, and both of them bring a lot to the Cavs bench.
I'm a big Cleveland fan and I actually think Anthony Parker will be seen later in the season as the most important off season signing. In light of Delonte West's recent problems, it's looking like Parker is going to start and this pushes Delonte onto the second team, where I think he'll end up being very productive. Gibson West Moon Hickson Z That's not a bad second team. West and Z are definite starters on a lot of other teams. Losing Joe Smith, Wally, Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic and gaining Shaq, Moon, Parker and later in the season, Powe, has to be an upgrade in all regards. Joe Smith is the only one I'm sad about losing but if Powe can come back healthy, I think it'll be alright. The other three were practically worthless. PF is a wildcard this year. AV might not work with Lebron and Shaq, but I'm not sure if Hickson is ready either. I don't know if it really matters much with having Z and Shaq this year. They are definitely a big man injury away from a bad situation. I'm not worried as much this year about Orlando and it remains to be seen how they'll do without Turkoglu. I think he was a much more important part of their composition. But, they still will be tough. I just think my team matches better this year with them. Boston is either going to be scary scary strong if they are all healthy all year or they are going to have a difficult year. Is Garnett going to be healthy? It's an old team getting older.
As much as I'm not a fan of Sideshow Bob, I actually think he will really, really benefit from Shaq's presence. 37 or not, Shaq on the block needs a double team. He's a good enough passer to get AV some layups, and most teams are going to choose to leave him alone more than anyone else. He's going to be by himself where he can crash the offensive boards, and focus on his defense. He really has a pretty decent gig: He has no offensive responsibility whatsoever. KG thus far looks great in all the preseason games. I'm worried a bit about a lack of weight against Super Dwight and Shaq, but the team is good enough defensively that the playoffs are going to be awesome to watch.
And foul... I mean tool number six, the ability to foul out in under a quarter. But on the Cleveland/Shaq note, does anyone really see him staying healthy for a full season now that he doesn't have the benefit of the NBA's best training staff? Phoenix kept him and Steve Nash healthy enough to play 70+ games last season, compared to Shaq's last few years where he has played 63, 40, and 59 games. On the KG note, I 100% agree with the Bill Simmons idea that he will not be the same player. It really worries me that there was no clear cut play that lead to the injury, nor was there a really common injury (ACL, MCL, etc.,). I seriously hope he gets back, because the Celtics cannot compete for a championship without him. And did anyone else hear about Lebron's cancer scare last year? http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4576395 Scary to think that his career could have been cut short at such a young age.
Absolutely. He's dropped about 30 pounds, and with Z on the bench, he will be playing much more limited minutes. If he averages more than 28 mins per, I will be very, very surprised. He landed funny. I watched him land and knew he was fucked. I watched a 29 year old woman die of terminal colorectal cancer and leave three young (<7 years old) behind. That's scary.
Yes everyone knows he landed funny on the alley-oop. Then he came back and played four more games and had to shut it down for the season. So they fixed him enough to the point where he was able to return for four games, and then he fucks it up again. That is the part that is the part that worries me.
Yes everyone knows he landed funny on the alley-oop. Then he came back and played four more games and had to shut it down for the season. So they fixed him enough to the point where he was able to return for four games, and then he fucks it up again. That is the part that is the part that worries me.[/quote] I blew out my knee far worse than KG did. I tried to tough it out for 6 months before I finally just hung it up and had surgery. He didn't fuck it up again, he just knew it wasn't feeling better. In other news, SportsCenter just said there is a tentative labor agreement in place to have the regular refs back by Tuesday. Sweet!
This looks like the beginning of the end for KG. His body is just getting too old to keep up with the intensity he's used to playing at. He didn't blow out his knee, there weren't bone chips, or a break, or anything that has a consistent track record of being fixed. He was listed as out in the playoffs with a sprained knee... You think 25 year old Kevin Garnett is kept out of the playoffs with a sprained knee? Believe me, I hope I am as wrong as I can possibly be, but I think it's going to be a steep decline for Garnett. And I don't really see how blowing out your knee is relevant here. Were you still in the service at the time? If not I doubt it was going through the same stress of a 7 foot basketball player's knee.
According to the articles I've read, he had bone spurs removed, and knowing how the Boston sports teams like to keep injuries under wraps, "sprained knee" could mean anything. I guarantee you that if they made the Finals, he would have played, but other than that, they weren't going to risk their small window of this year and maybe next year. I blew it out when I got tripped on a fast break playing basketball while in the service. I bounced on it and severed my PCL, MCL, LCL and PLC. I was in an adult league at the time, played two games a week for three months after the injury. I am 36 now and play basketball regularly with no knee brace, despite the three surgeries I needed to correct it. I'm also training to be an ortho-surgical PA, so I definitely know knee injuries. Is he going to decline? Yes, but I think it's more age related than knee related. Hell, look at how fast Gary Payton declined with age, and he didn't suffer any injuries.
Who didn't see this coming? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/10/27/griffin.injured.ap/index.html