The NBA 2004-2005 Thread
 

Since its not even pre-season yet, let us talk about trade rumors. Latest word is Shaq might be heading to Golden State. Dallas shows interest, but the Lakers wanted Erick Dampier as part of the deal.

As for my team the Knicks, nothing in the rumorville.

Your boys may get Phil Jackson...I have a feeling Isiah would fire Lenny Wilkens in a second if Jackson was interested. It was the team where he won a NBA title as a player, and he has said he would love to coach the Knicks.

It will be an uninteresting summer for the Celtics...year two of the "Vision" as Danny Ainge calls it. The only vision I see is another lottery pick next year.

His "vision" certainly helped Detroit out this past year:D

I know...he did a hell of a job facilitating that trade.

I'll give him this - he's been honest and said that his "vision" will take some time. With the way the team drafted this year, it's going to be a LONG time. It may never happen if the team's comments following the draft were truthful (that they had West and the guy they drafted from OK State as two of the top five guards available).

Maybe Detroit will send him a ring.

I remember Bill Simmons from page2 on espn.com saying that Ainge should be sent a ring after the finals were over:D

To me, Boston took a step in the right direction when unloading Fatoine last season.

I'll admit it...I was against the Antoine trade, I think they may have been able to get more for him (or less bloated salary in return, see Raef Lafrentz).

But with the way he played for the second half of last season and in the playoffs, maybe they made the right choice.

Any new words about Phil being the new Knicks coach?

LMAO - I just read that Percy Miller, aka Master P is on the Nuggets summer league roster. He may or may not make it to the televised games so apparently he's good but he's not THAT good. Still kinda funny.

I'm not liking the Nuggets prospects to land a marquee free agent this year. Maybe next year. (Of course that's what we said last year.)

Carlos Boozer situation
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1836318

I was going to make a seperate thread for this, but didn't think it would get enough replies. What do you all think of the situation? Was he right to take Utah's money, or should he have signed the deal with Cleveland and trusted them? Did Paxson make a huge mistake on this one?

Re: Carlos Boozer situation
 

To me, It was a big mistake on Jim Paxson's part. He should have exercied Carlos Boozer's Contract ( which would pay him at $ 700,000) and work with his agent during the course of this upcoming season and trying to come to a agreement on a long-term contract. Utah had wanted Carlos for the longest time but couldn't get him in the draft. Unless there's a BIG miracle to match or exceed Utah's contract offer, Boozer's days as a Cavalier is over.

Look like Shaq might be going to Miami.

Lakers get:

Lamar Odom
Caron Butler
Brian Grant

Miamia:

Shaq

Brian Grant = yum!!

Shaq's deal to Miami is comming to a close, as close as Wednesday. It look like Miami will be given Odom, Grant, Butler and a number one pick.

This deal looks pretty bad in my book. Especially giving up a number one pick for a 32 years old with probably about 3 to 4 years left. What do you guys think?

ETA: The Knicks is close to signing Jamal Crawford.

I don't know whether the deal is good or bad - it's a first round pick in 2006 or after, and with Eddie Jones, Shaq and Dewayne Wade, I'm guessing it will be in the lower half of the first round, if not one of the last picks.

Shaq's the most dominant player in basketball...Miami gives up a couple of solid players, but I think the deal is a pretty good one for both sides.

Wow, just found out that Vlade Divac will be the person to replace Shaq at centre.

He's going back to LA? Hey, he was there before when they won a world title.

They're talking to him. Going to be interesting for LA in the summer.

BTW, what do you know about Jamal Crawford?

The Spurs sign Brent Barry.

While i would have preferred Kobe Bryant(pipe dream) i am definately happy with Barry.

The guy's a deadly 3-point shooter and is versatile enough to run back-up point, which is a definate weakness for our team.

Gawd, imagine how many open looks he's gonna have as teams double down on Duncan. The guy's also a slasher and creater, who can drive and dish pretty dang well for a white boy.

I like the signing and the re-signing of Manu. If they'd pick up a solid role-player type big i'd be very happy heading into next season.

Especially with shaq going to Miami.

Kitso
KS 361 more Spurs titles i'm hoping for

Guy can play a bit - has been around 17 points, 5 assists a game with Chicago. The question is, is he a point guard? Shooting guard? Can he play ANY defense?

He'll score in spurts and has some definite talent - the question is whether he can put it together consistently. If they can get him for a good price, he's a solid pickup. He's still really young too.

Kenyon Martin might be on his way to the Nuggets.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1838982

If they don't match. I've been following this whole thing really closely and I've got my fingers and toes crossed.

He got his wish.

Something about Shaq in the Eastern Conference makes me think he could put up HUGE numbers. The Shaq/Ben Wallace and Shaq/Jermaine O'Neal matchups could be fun to watch, but that's about it center-wise in the East.

Now that's it's been picked up by every major news outlet it must be pretty damn official.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...nets.trade.ap/

I am one happy little Nuggets fan right now.

Three first round picks though...that's really counting on the fact that Martin will push them over the top. If the draft isn't that deep the next three years, then it works out.

It's a good addition...but that's a bunch of picks to give up.

Magics - Lakers game is going to be a hoot.

True. They wanted Nene so at first it seemed like a great deal. The long term might not work out so well. Kiki Vandewhege said they were going to have to take some gambles to get to the next level. So... they gambled.

Anyone else just get physically ill when they watch a Jim Gray-Kobe Bryant interview. I hate the fact that he's trying to have the Howard Cosell-Ali relationship with him. He tosses up so many softballs to him it's ridiculous.

Ali he ain't. Bryant wish he could come close to what Ali represent for his sport.

It's actually the Jim Gray side of the relationship that bothers me more - but absolutely right, Kobe's no Ali.

Kobester=PUNK. Let's see how the Lakers will do now. I will still reluctantly pull for this team. But Kobe isn't Michael Jordan.

I also don't like Jim Gray interviewing Kobester. It reminds me of Ahmad Rashad and Jordan.

I forgot about Ahmad's hero worship interviews with Jordan. I haven't seen one of those in a while, but those annoyed the hell out of me too.

As Tony Kornheiser said on PTI, this may be the fastest a dynasty has ever been broken up. It's been about two weeks to undo everything (although it had been in the works for longer).

Arya, looks like you're right:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...arc&id=1842289

Looks as though Divac is going back to LA.

Thank you. I was thinking the same thing.

Ahamad's interviews with Jordan seems like the guy has a infatuation with Jordan. Jordan could have said that he was molesting little poodles and Ahmad would go, "Please tell us about how it felt?"

More news on that...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...c&sid=95747870

Absolutely - there's some hero-worship thing going on that is beyond unprofessional.

Anyone else heard of the latest trade rumor:

Rasheed to the lakers for Odom, Butler and a draft pick?


Heard that today on the local news and I'd like it as a pistons fan.

Does this mean Tayshaun isn't developing as fast as the Pistons would hope? If they got Odom and Butler, he'd be coming off the bench (with Rip Hamilton guaranteed a spot).

I don't know - if Butler regains his form and Odom keeps his head on straight, it's a solid deal, but Rasheed can be sick inside. With the loss of Okur, who would the Pistons match up with Ben Wallace inside if they lost Wallace?