2012/2013 NBA thread: Chasing the Dream - Part 5

[Mr. Dent]

I don't think the Lakers are going to be as bad as some people think. If Gasol and Nash can somehow carry the team to at least be near .500 by the time Kobe comes back, then they'll make the playoffs. Gasol is still an 18/10 guy, D'Antoni just wasn't using him well. With Howard gone, Gasol can play his game now.

 

[Ghostvirus]

Heck with Kobe down, D12 out, & Nash running the offense. Maybe the will be better?

 

[runawayboulder]

Brooklyn has Pierce and Garnett, hardly say they are basically the Celtics now.

And the fact that the Knicks beat the Celtics -this- year means nothing. By that logic, the outcome of playoff series' would never change year to year. By that logic, the Celtics shouldn't have beat the Magic in the 2010 ECF.

I'm not making commentary on who's better between the Knicks or the Nets, I'm just saying the logic that the Knicks beat the Celtics last year = Knicks are better than the Nets this year because they have Pierce and Garnett makes no sense.

And Solar Tiger was saying that Brooklyn is better than the Knicks because they picked up the Celtics core and the Knicks got worse with Bargnani. He has yet to play a game for them so that assumption makes just as little sense.

I really don't like how some people are crowning Brooklyn better than most of the Eastern teams because of this trade. These things can come unglued in a hurry, look at the Lakers.

 

[Anubis]

That's what I'm sayin'.

It could either go really well or really badly, my moneys on badly.

 

[Mr. Dent]

They're going to be bad, make no mistake about it. They will just be masked by the Eastern Conference for most of the season. They will get exposed in the playoffs though, if not sooner. I'm telling you, they're making the exact same mistake the Lakers did except worse.

 

[TanneRain]

Hibbert only looked that good in the playoffs because neither New York or Miami had anyone who could guard him (Tyson Chandler was hurt). He's not the 20/10 guy he looked like. He's what we saw in the regular season: an awkwardly athletic, serviceable big man who can rebound decently, defend, and has a hard time scoring. Any 7-footer with athleticism would light up the Heat and virtually Chandler-less Knicks.

EDIT: Actually, just looked at his stats. He didn't even score well against the Knicks, he just rebounded the ball well. Only series where he looked like the second coming of Shaq was against us.

He had a really good end to his season in March/April as well, not outstanding, but leaps better than the beginning of the season. I never see him being a 20-10 a night guy, but he can and should be a 15-8 guy.

 

[TanneRain]

There is no future down the line. This is a win now team. It has been since they traded for Melo and was the reason they traded for Melo - to try and WIN NOW.

I have no idea why any of that is his fault. For being a franchise player that a team would be willing to trade players away for..?

Wasn't Melo going to be a F/A at the end of the season he was traded or able to opt out, he could have waited a couple months and then NY wouldn't have had to decimate their roster to trade for him. I could be way off, but I'm pretty sure that was the case.

 

[runawayboulder]

Wasn't Melo going to be a F/A at the end of the season he was traded or able to opt out, he could have waited a couple months and then NY wouldn't have had to decimate their roster to trade for him. I could be way off, but I'm pretty sure that was the case.

They didn't want to take that chance. If he went free agent, the Knicks would have been outbid by every team. Trading for him freed up enough cap space to get him to sign an extension.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Happy anniversary y'all!

 

[Immortalfire]

Can one of the mods change the season to 2013-2014 in thread title?

It would be more appropriate for someone to make an all new NBA thread.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Why?

 

[Immortalfire]

Because it's what we do here (see new threads for NFL, NHL, etc), and because I said so.