Official NBA Playoffs Discussion/Prediction Thread

[Nash]

shockavenue said:

LMAO @ the spurs being boring.

how can you be boring when you play as well as them?

there is nothing boring about great basketball. thanks.

My point exactly. Just because its not flashy and non stop dunks and everything else, it makes them boring, whcih is a completely moronic thought process.

[T R W]

NBA JAM lolz

[cuckfena123]

I live in San Antonio...It was loud when the Spurs won..So many horns honking..By The Way I Hate The Spurs They Can suck mine

[VK]

I hated both teams but at least the Cleveland fans make a little noise. I think the Spurs fans have a hard time staying awake through the games.

[cmm]

bigkev said:

shockavenue said:

LMAO @ the spurs being boring.

how can you be boring when you play as well as them?

there is nothing boring about great basketball. thanks.

My point exactly. Just because its not flashy and non stop dunks and everything else, it makes them boring, whcih is a completely moronic thought process.

or maybe the fact if kobe still had shaq on his team the Spurs would be a bunch of nobodies besides duncan


best thing that ever happened for duncan and the rest of the west

[T R W]

cmm said:

bigkev said:

My point exactly. Just because its not flashy and non stop dunks and everything else, it makes them boring, whcih is a completely moronic thought process.

or maybe the fact if kobe still had shaq on his team the Spurs would be a bunch of nobodies besides duncan


best thing that ever happened for duncan and the rest of the west

And IF Michael Jordan had been drafted by the Blazers, the Bulls would have been nobodies. IF Len Bias hadn't died, the Celtics would have been unstoppable. IF Utah hadn't traded Dominique Wilkins to Atlanta, they would have been unstoppable.

IF doesn't matter. What does matter, is what the Spurs have done.


Anyway, I hate Kobe Bryant. But if the universe were to end, and he came to Atlanta, I would be the biggest Kobe fan ever. Lots of young white girls here to rape.

[Jean-Ralphio]

Rumors have emerged in recent days that the Hawks might take China's Yi Jianlian as high as No. 3.

This makes me happy, I still love you T-Dub, I just dont want him on my team

[T R W]

some dude on espn says they appear to be really interested in holford now. Great...another forward....

[Jean-Ralphio]

I want Trade/Brewer/Horford the most

Horford is essentially Jefferson, but hes the most NBA-ready player and we have so many 2-guards we dont need Brewer, but if we HAD to pick, Id want one of those 2, Yi is a project and unless we deal Pierce we can not have a project, and we dont need Conley, unless we can get a package from the Blazers

[Nash]

Looks like Kobe wants to be traded again. If he were to be traded, the team most likely to get him would be the Bulls, and I would gladly say by-by to Gordon, Deng, and the draft pick to have Kobe in Chicago.

[T R W]

If we take Horford, we REALLY have to unload some of our forwards. Williams/Williams/Childress one of them needs to go.

[Chicago]

bigkev said:

Looks like Kobe wants to be traded again. If he were to be traded, the team most likely to get him would be the Bulls, and I would gladly say by-by to Gordon, Deng, and the draft pick to have Kobe in Chicago.

No way would that trade ever work out.

Adding the draft pick still puts Chicago about $9.5 million under meeting Kobe's salary. They would need to sign-and-trade P.J. Brown's contract at the same amount that it was last season (when they had the best chance of moving him) around 8-9 mil, and they might still have to throw in another player or two to satisfy Los Angeles.

However, if the Lakers became desperate at meeting Kobe's demands, they might settle for something of less quality, similar to the Shaq and Iverson trades. Although, if LA were able to land Jermaine O'Neal without having to give up both Bynum and Odom, I think Kobe would be pleased and settle for another year or two in LA.

[Jean-Ralphio]

But the Wolves might have missed their best chance to make a Chicago deal work. With P.J. Brown entering free agency, two things would have to happen for a KG-to-Chicago trade to be possible: (1) the Bulls would need Brown to agree to a sign-and-trade to make the numbers work, and (2) the Wolves would have to pay Brown upward of $10 million next season. If those two conditions are not met, it's very unlikely the Bulls and Wolves will be able to make a KG deal under the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.

If KG's not going to Chicago, where could he go? From what I'm hearing -- and at this point it's just a hot rumor -- the Wolves and Boston Celtics are talking about a Garnett deal.

In this scenario, Boston would send Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, and change to Minnesota along with the No. 5 pick in the upcoming draft. In exchange, the Celtics would get Garnett.


Scenario 1

Arenas isn't Kobe, in talent or stardom. But he is from Los Angeles, he's more than three years younger, he has great magnetism and, like Bryant, he can fill the seats.

With Arenas saying he'll opt out of his contract with Washington next summer, the Wizards might want to start looking at ways to move him now before running the risk of losing him for nothing.

Here's one potential trade, with Bryant headed to Chicago and Arenas to L.A.

The Bulls would send Gordon, Tyrus Thomas and P.J. Brown (sign-and-trade) to Washington, and the No. 9 pick to L.A.

The Lakers would send Bryant to Chicago.

The Wizards would send Arenas and Etan Thomas to L.A.

Under that scenario, which couldn't be completed until mid-July, the Lakers would get a star player (Arenas) and a high draft pick (No. 9) that, I'm told, they'd use to get Yi Jianlian if he's still on the board.

The Bulls would be paying a very high price for Kobe -- two high lottery picks and this year's No. 9. But Chicago would keep Deng, something it desperately wants to do. On the other hand, the Bulls still wouldn't have a low-post scorer.

The Wizards would avoid having to break the bank for Arenas next summer, would bring in two very talented young players and would get some serious cap relief down the road.

Scenario 2

A similar trade could work if the Lakers were willing to substitute Boston and Pierce. While Pierce is almost 30 years old, I'm told the Lakers like him -- and he's from L.A., too.

The Bulls would send Gordon, Thomas and Brown (sign-and-trade) to Boston, and the No. 9 pick to L.A.

The Lakers would send Bryant to Chicago.

The Celtics would send Pierce to L.A.

That deal would make the Celtics even younger than they already are, but it would also give them plenty of assets to continue making deals.

[Chicago]

The major problem with most trade proposals involving superstars like Kobe, KG and even Paul Pierce, is that their contracts are so big that in order for trades to work, the other team has to give up several of their players (see any trade with Chicago), and in the end, they don't really gain a whole lot.

A team like Chicago needs a low-post scorer, but the rest of their team is set up for contention in the East for several years, so what do they do? In my opinion, the stupid move would be to break the group up and trade for someone like Kobe or KG, who are great players in their own right, but have yet to show any dominance in the playoffs by themselves. All a team like the Bulls need is to land a good draft pick this year with the #9 overall, and look around FA for a potential low-post scorer, and they'll be set.

I never understood people that want their team to trade for someone like Kobe or KG, who, by giving up several talented guys on the roster like Al Jefferson or Gerald Green in Boston, are basically setting themselves up for failure in the long term.

Take San Antonio for instance as a great example of not trading for big superstars but making smart draft choices, Parker and Ginobili, and profiting in the long run by adding small pieces here and there and building from within.

[Jean-Ralphio]

Yah the KG trade is sooooooooooo bad you give up your #2 best player, your 2 best chips (Ratliff and the pick) not to mention Gerald Green.

Theres no way I deal Jefferson for anyone not named Lebron/Wade/Melo.

I agree with you on the trades, I expect KG and Gasol to get moved, neither to the Celtics, even though we do need them

[Chicago]

I don't know about Gasol, he seems pretty content in Memphis now, even saying that he DIDN'T want to be traded.

As for KG, I really feel for the guy, because he's a class act and doesn't run his mouth on the organization that's paying him a huge salary like Kobe does. He really wants to win and having never tasted a championship before, let alone an NBA Finals appearance, he still remains determined to get there before he retires.

Kevin McHale is garbage running that organization, and KG will never win with the guys he has playing now beside him. I would love to see KG get traded to the East, where he could at the very least make the playoffs and have a renewed spirit to want to win.

[Chicago]

Rumors coming out of Cleveland:

The Cavs have salary-cap issues and might be unable to re-sign Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic, two of their top six players.

Don't be surprised to see them offering Drew Gooden, and he could end up with the Bulls, reuniting with college teammate Kirk Hinrich. Gooden, not Nick Collison, is the fellow former Kansas player more likely to join Hinrich.

[ET had AIDS]

bigkev said:

Looks like Kobe wants to be traded again. If he were to be traded, the team most likely to get him would be the Bulls, and I would gladly say by-by to Gordon, Deng, and the draft pick to have Kobe in Chicago.

instead of calling you an idiot, i'll simply ask... why.

[ET had AIDS]

rko23 said:

bigkev said:

Looks like Kobe wants to be traded again. If he were to be traded, the team most likely to get him would be the Bulls, and I would gladly say by-by to Gordon, Deng, and the draft pick to have Kobe in Chicago.

No way would that trade ever work out.

Adding the draft pick still puts Chicago about $9.5 million under meeting Kobe's salary. They would need to sign-and-trade P.J. Brown's contract at the same amount that it was last season (when they had the best chance of moving him) around 8-9 mil, and they might still have to throw in another player or two to satisfy Los Angeles.

Didn't even see that... wise man you are, and from Chicago to boot.

You're right though, even after matching up salaries, they'd still probably have to satisfy LA because the asking price is just absurd. But even before doing that, I don't think I'd trade two players who nearly play and do the same thing as Kobe, have better attitudes, are younger, etc., AND a high draft pick. dKobe Bryant is disgruntled and has shown he can't get his team higher than a 6th seed and out of the first round of the playoffs without an interior scoring pressance to get by.

The Bulls with Kobe Bryant will fill the seats, but they won't win with the way they are currently set up. We are an interior scorer away from having all of the right pieces, and if we break the team up for Kobe Bryant... I'm really going to be disappointed.

I'll be the first to admit I really hate Kobe Bryant too, but I'm firm on believing this won't be of any more help to our team.

[Chicago]

hush said:

rko23 said:

No way would that trade ever work out.

Adding the draft pick still puts Chicago about $9.5 million under meeting Kobe's salary. They would need to sign-and-trade P.J. Brown's contract at the same amount that it was last season (when they had the best chance of moving him) around 8-9 mil, and they might still have to throw in another player or two to satisfy Los Angeles.

Didn't even see that... wise man you are, and from Chicago to boot.

They'd probably have to satisfy LA, but even before doing that, I don't think I'd trade two players who nearly play the same thing as Kobe, have better attitudes, are younger, etc. and a high draft pick, for a disgruntled Kobe Bryant who has shown he can't get his team higher than a 6th seed and out of the first round of the playoffs without an interior scoring pressance to get by.

The Bulls with Kobe Bryant will fill the seats, but they won't win.

actually from baltimore lol, but a true chi fan at heart