Everyone knows the Lakers have the best postseason roster but I expect their horrible bench to really hurt them in the regular season. Expect a lot of "why arent the lakers better?" type stories over the course of the year.

Huge loss for Minnesota with K-Love out for 6-8 weeks with a broken hand.

John Wall also out several weeks which hurts their playoff chances a good bit.

Dallas loses Dirk for a few weeks which doesn't affect them much since they can replace him with Brandon Wright and a still effective Elton Brand. They're not a contender anyway though, their roster is much weaker than when they won the title two years ago.

The NJN and NYK ascension will definitely be a huge story all year.

10/19/2012 5:16:40 PM

Quote :

"The NJN"

10/19/2012 5:20:55 PM

my NBA Finals prediction: Vancouver Grizzlies vs. Washington Bullets

10/19/2012 5:29:13 PM

The Clippers are going to win the West.

10/19/2012 8:01:30 PM

NJN is a common abbreviation for the Nets, not sure what you're going for.

It's unfortunate the Bulls ruined their team this offseason, I would really have liked to see them compete against Miami this year.

Out West I can't wait to watch Denver, they are actually title contenders since they got rid of their worst player Al Harrington and added one of the game's biggest stars Iggy.


^ Uh, no. There are four elite teams out West. SAS, OKC, Denver, LAL Those are the only four teams who can win.

[Edited on October 19, 2012 at 9:44 PM. Reason : a]

10/19/2012 9:43:11 PM

McRoberts started for the Magic tonight

10/19/2012 9:45:10 PM

The Magic are absolutely terrible, that Dwight Howard deal was one of the worst ever.

That being said McRoberts is coming into his own, he's a great sleeper in fantasy.

10/19/2012 9:47:28 PM

nah. he's still horrible. i looked at his stats

10/19/2012 9:49:37 PM

^^^^Damn, you're right. I'm not even sure why they're playing this year.

also, the Nets are in Brooklyn now.

[Edited on October 19, 2012 at 9:52 PM. Reason : ;lkgtfrd]

10/19/2012 9:51:33 PM

oh yeah good call i guess they need a new abbreviation haha.

The Clippers are just too flawed. They don't have an NBA level SG or SF, their coach always benches Jordan half the game, griffin regressed last year, and they lost reggie evans...

10/19/2012 10:09:52 PM

just bought a ticket for Heat/Bobcats on Tuesday for the .0000001% chance of seeing Lebron play

10/21/2012 9:26:36 PM

I'm about to buy 10 tickets in the rafters. we've got a crowd going.

10/21/2012 10:17:13 PM

Jesus Shuttlesworth and Shane Battier spotted downtown tonight

sadly, I was not there to witness it

10/23/2012 12:51:35 AM

Nba = yawns for days

10/23/2012 1:10:16 AM

Lol, there's more excitement in five minutes of an nba regular season game than in a four hour postseason baseball game.

10/23/2012 8:11:00 AM

Wrap it up, Lakers fans.

Also, the Hornets are rebranding sometime soon. This is great news.

10/23/2012 10:13:06 AM

I'm excited for it too, though the name "Pelicans" doesn't move my needle much.

The problem is that there are no good NBA team nicknames

10/24/2012 2:11:16 PM

My Heat in the East vs my Lakers in the West.

Perfect.

Won't bum me out to see OKC win it all though.

10/24/2012 2:32:30 PM

Quote :

"Lol, there's more excitement in five minutes of an nba regular season game than in a four hour postseason baseball game."

I am a baseball fan and I don't disagree with this statement in context. Excitement is a subjective thing though. There may not be a ton of super athletic, highlight type plays in a typical baseball game, but the tension of an MLB postseason game is what makes it worth watching. Comparing the two is like comparing skiing to hunting. Both have their merits.

10/24/2012 3:39:09 PM

god, big day for the nba. a harsh anti-flopping rule and david stern retiring in 2014.

10/25/2012 1:27:50 PM

yeah i came in my pants a few times when i read about it

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--sources--david-stern-stepping-down-feb--1--2014-25361209.html

10/25/2012 3:22:30 PM

^basketball reasons

10/25/2012 3:29:40 PM

Quote :

"I'm excited for it too, though the name "Pelicans" doesn't move my needle much. The problem is that there are no good NBA team nicknames"

I'm hopeful that the Hornets name will be freed.

10/25/2012 3:32:28 PM

New Orleans gives the Hornets name back to Charlotte, Utah gives the name Jazz back to New Orleans, and Utah adopts the name "Romneys" after he wins the election thus changing the NBA landscape for decades.

10/25/2012 3:42:03 PM

word is the leading candidates for New Orleans new nickname are the Spirit and the Angels

new owner Tom Benson is supposed to be a super Catholic so that's part of the reasoning behind the those shit suggestions

10/25/2012 3:51:34 PM

Retracting my previous statement about the clippers.

Totally forgot they picked up Matt Barnes. Bledsoe is lighting it up in the preseason, this team could be great with those two.

10/26/2012 9:34:13 AM

Adrian Wojnarowski ?@WojYahooNBA
Oklahoma City has traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets, league sources tell Y! Sports.

Adrian Wojnarowski ?@WojYahooNBA
The Rockets send Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and future draft considerations to the Thunder for Harden, sources tell Y! Sports.

Adrian Wojnarowski ?@WojYahooNBA
As part of deal, Thunder will receive "significant" future draft picks from Houston, source tells Y! Sports.



[Edited on October 27, 2012 at 10:49 PM. Reason : .]

10/27/2012 10:45:49 PM

clearly, OKC places a premium on acting decisively. can't get the contract worked out, he's gone!

i'm skeptical of the value of draft picks, but regardless, the Thunder are definitely hurt for the immediate future. Harden's greatest contribution to the team was his ability to create offense off the dribble. Martin and Lamb are two chuckers, neither handle the ball well nor play any defense. i think OKC should have pushed to get Terrance Jones. dude's legit.

seems like this deal might seal the West for the Lakers before the regular season even begins.

[Edited on October 27, 2012 at 11:22 PM. Reason : ...]

10/27/2012 11:21:49 PM

I agree.

10/27/2012 11:35:45 PM

damn thats odd

10/28/2012 6:24:18 PM

Very accurate screen test.

The thunder are no longer contenders they really Shit the bed on this one.

Harden is clearly an elite player and they lost aldrich which takes this from an awful trade to an unequivocal disaster.


The sad part is that they had options. They could have amnestied Perkins or traded westbrook to keep harden and their core guys intact.

They reportedly made $35 million in profit last year. Don't buy into the small market narrative. These guys are cheap and exercised awful judgment , period. Good luck explaining to your fans why you aren't a very good team anymore.

10/28/2012 7:29:44 PM

Martin is just as good an outside shooter as Harden, not as good at driving to the basket, but a better free throw shooter

neither of them can do shit but score, OKC was just racking up draft picks when Harden's value was at the highest it will ever be during his entire career

another crafty move by the Thunder

10/28/2012 7:32:01 PM

Lol are you ever right about anything nba related?

Kevin Martin is terrible , the thunder aren't a contender anymore, period.


This trade is really going to expose westbrook as the average pg he is

10/28/2012 7:41:43 PM

we'll agree to disagree, that is, if you can dislodge your butthole from Harden's dick

10/28/2012 7:54:11 PM

You take MJ off the bulls and they aren't winning titles, surely you agree with that...

10/28/2012 8:04:38 PM

Pippen may have led them to one, but not six

10/28/2012 8:06:33 PM

If you can admit that aldrich is a great center then ill let you pretend you know what you're talking about and your opinion is relevant. Otherwise troll on bro

10/28/2012 8:09:40 PM

he was a great college center

can you admit he hasn't played enough in the NBA to know how good he is as an NBA center? if not, troll on bro

you always like to evaluate guys who play 2 minutes a game as if some baseball callup hits a homer in his first MLB at bat and you project him to be a 162HR/season guy for 10 years

[Edited on October 28, 2012 at 8:13 PM. Reason : .]

10/28/2012 8:12:16 PM

Quote :

"Martin is just as good an outside shooter as Harden, not as good at driving to the basket, but a better free throw shooter neither of them can do shit but score, OKC was just racking up draft picks when Harden's value was at the highest it will ever be during his entire career another crafty move by the Thunder"

Harden's value to the Thunder was his ability to get to the basket and create easy shots for teammates. Martin does neither of those things. now, OKC doesn't have anyone who scores in the paint other than Westbrook. if Durant has made a Nowitzki like improvement this offseason and he's better with his back to the basket and penetrating, then that will offset some of what they lose from Harden. but that's a big if.

the Thunder aren't totally submarined, but I don't think they're quite title contenders anymore (personally, i didn't think they had a chance against the Lakers before this trade, and I don't see how anyone could argue that it improved their odds).

Quote :

"This trade is really going to expose westbrook as the average pg he is"

until his athleticism begins to decline, Westbrook is one of the most valuable players in the league. it's easier to find someone who can make good decisions with the ball in their hands that it is to find someone who can drive into the paint at absolute will.

Quote :

"If you can admit that aldrich is a great center then ill let you pretend you know what you're talking about and your opinion is relevant."

TreeTwista's response was on the money. there's nothing to indicate he's great because he hasn't done anything yet. sure, he was a really good rebounder in college and that skill often translates. however, he'll never be an elite rim protector and no team will ever run their offense through him. maybe he'll be a solid guy off the bench for a decade. maybe he'll start and play 25 minutes/gm for a team that makes the conference finals someday. maybe, due to injury or a disproportionate conglomeration of talent to one conference, he'll squeak his way onto an all-star team, a la Brad Miller or Jamaal Magloire. these scenarios are way more likely ceilings for the guy. i don't consider any of that greatness. i hope you consider Kevin Willis, Antonio Davis, and Otis Thorpe great because it'd be a giraffe-like reach to say Aldrich is ever gonna be better than any of them.

[Edited on October 28, 2012 at 9:18 PM. Reason : ...]

10/28/2012 9:15:56 PM

Quote :

"They could have amnestied Perkins"

This was clearly the move that seemed to make the most sense to me

10/29/2012 3:46:27 AM

ok i was somewhat kidding about Aldrich being a "great" player.

He does look like he's going to be pretty good though. If Lin can re-kindle his magic the Rockets are actually a pretty good team now by picking up Harden, Lin, Asik, Delfino, Aldrich, Brockman, and Cook. If they get anything out of Royce White, Motiejunas, Jones, or Morris they could be a top 5-6 team in the West.

OKC does have some things that should help them this season.

#1 Westbrook should play a lot better than he did last year during the regular season when he still looked shell shocked from the dump he took in the 2011 playoffs.

#2 Thabo Sefolosha is a great SG, so if they allocate Harden's minutes to him they lose less than if they use Martin a lot.

#3 Ibaka is a superstar and he should get a lot more minutes with Mohammed and Aldrich gone.

#4 Maynor is back which means no more Fisher or Reggie Jackson who were disasters. Also, they don't need Harden's ball handling as desperately with Maynor there.


Even still, losing a guy like Harden is a disaster. He's just so good and so young that he could easily end up being the best player in the league one of these days. He'll certainly be amongst the leaders for a long time to come, though I'm not sure how he can be much better than he was last year during the regular season. I mean you can't make EVERY shot you take...

10/29/2012 6:19:30 PM

lets just hope he doesnt play next season like he did in the nba finals

if he shoots 37% when the defense is more concerned with 2 other guys more than him, i'd hate to see how poorly he'd shoot when the other team's best defender is on him for 40 minutes a game

10/29/2012 9:47:05 PM

^ see that's just a silly statement.

Lebron/Wade are two of the best defenders in the league.


Harden was OKC's best player during the regular season and he completely decimated the Spurs in the WCF. He had a bad Finals. It was his first appearance. Durant sucked a huge one his first appearance in the playoffs. It happens to a ton of guys early in their careers, especially when they face top defenders.

[Edited on October 29, 2012 at 11:44 PM. Reason : a]

10/29/2012 11:43:10 PM

Quote :

"Lebron/Wade are two of the best defenders in the league."

and they guarded Durant and Westbrook for most of the series, not Harden...still fail to see where he faced "top defenders" for any significant minutes

teams schemed their defense against OKC around trying to contain Durant, and trying to prevent Westbrook from blowing past defenders to the hoop...Harden benefited significantly from this, never in his career having to have a team's best (or 2nd best) defender guard him the entire game...that will become obvious when he is "the guy" in Houston and he can't hide behind Durantula and RoWoBro

Quote :

"he completely decimated the Spurs in the WCF. He had a bad Finals."

he also played absolutely terrible against the Lakers in the quarterfinals, but nobody remembers that because the Thunder dominated the Lakers

I used to put up 12 points a game in limited minutes at Bryan Adrian basketball camp in 1990 as the best player on the 2nd team, but I was playing against the other team's 2nd team

maybe Harden balls out, but its hard for me to call him the next Michael Jordan when he's been the beneficiary of always being the 3rd option for his entire professional career

10/30/2012 1:28:00 AM

Quote :

"teams schemed their defense against OKC around trying to contain Durant, and trying to prevent Westbrook from blowing past defenders to the hoop...Harden benefited significantly from this, never in his career having to have a team's best (or 2nd best) defender guard him"

This argument is just so terrible and been proven incorrect so many times that it's ridiculous that anyone still says it.

Harden may have an initial adjustment to Houston since this trade happened literally a few days before the season, but other than that his numbers won't be affected negatively. As proven by years of science and not just stupid opinions.

10/30/2012 1:45:40 AM

whens the last time a 3rd option got traded somewhere to be the superstar where that superstar succeeded? science must've proven it countless times, shouldnt be difficult for you to rattle off a handful of examples of similar scenarios

since 1982 it looks like the only 6th Men of the Year that went on to be anything other than role players were McHale and Ginobli...and neither of them were traded

10/30/2012 1:51:01 AM

Quote :

"since 1982 it looks like the only 6th Men of the Year that went on to be anything other than role players were McHale and Ginobli...and neither of them were traded"

do you think if either were traded, they would have ceased to have been stars? the mere fact that Harden was traded has no baring on assessing his basketball ability or his value on the court.

and by pinpointing his poor performance in the finals you're doing something similarly shortsighted as face's previous championing of Aldrich. you're using a very small sample size to make a blanket statement on Harden's total game.

there are legitimate reasons to doubt Harden's future, but there just as many solid one's to believe he'll continue to flourish. personally, i opt for once a guy's been really good, i continue to believe he is really good until i seem not being really good.

[Edited on October 30, 2012 at 5:03 AM. Reason : ...]

10/30/2012 5:03:35 AM

Quote :

"and they guarded Durant and Westbrook for most of the series, not Harden...still fail to see where he faced "top defenders" for any significant minutes"

SHANE MOTHER FUCKING BATTIER.

I actually have no idea who Battier guarded in the finals. But I'm sure Harden got matched up with Wade and Prune head quite a bit. I do know that Wade got abused by Westbrook early and often...and was usually switched off of him after that.

10/30/2012 7:11:37 AM

The knicks just got an early season boost with Amare being out for six weeks.

Should be able to rack up some wins without him so it becomes obvious they are better off without him when he returns

10/30/2012 9:37:06 AM

Wow just realized I have $50 on Houston over 30.5 from last week haha. What a super lock that is now.


Also have:

Mavs under 44.5

Nuggets over 49.5

Pistons under 32.5

Lakers under 59.5


Knicks over 45.5

Magic over 24.5

Wizards over 27.5

Suns under 33.5



Then I have a few hundred on LOS RAPTURES over 32.5

And $3,500 on twolves over 38.5 -40.5. (The line kept moving on me everytime I put another $1k on it)



$200 on lakers 8:1 to win title and 3.5:1 to win west that I took before the dwight trade like a genius.

And $200 on durant mvp at +385 and $175 on lebron at +175

[Edited on October 30, 2012 at 10:22 AM. Reason : a]

10/30/2012 10:18:24 AM