Official NBA 2012-2013 Season Thread

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Bledsoe is definitely a beastlier version of Bobby Jackson. He'll probably never be a starting point guard but he'll be an awesome 6th or 7th man his whole career.
that's what I said! He'll be a nice energy gunner off the bench with nutso athleticism.
 
Of course some team in need of PG help will pay him to play starter minutes and then his rep as a good player will be shot down for unfair reasons.
 
Thunder are beating the Mavs . OJ, I know JA and them love him now and are optimistic but I got money that by 27 games into the season you all won't anymore. He has made a few of them tonight (yet law of averages says it's a reason he's a sub 40% shooter for his career, and 37 on the preseason), but he takes terrible, contested, unnecessarily difficult shots. Brand isn't looking great though, he can't handle double teams nor even Serge's athleticism 1 on 1.
Just scored their first paint basket of the quarter with 1:18 remaining. Delonte is sucking too, needs to take his meds or something, keeps falling for no apparent reason.
James Harden still doesn't remember how to play basketball

Bold statement there that the Thunder are beating the Mavericks when Kaman, Dirk, nor Marion played. :lol

Look, I know things will look bleak for the first 2-3 months. Why? Because Dirk is hurt. I'm not saying that everything will be all peachy once he gets back, this team has a lot to prove.

But I expect a ton of backlash towards Dallas early on in this season. They will be without Dirk for probably 10-15 games. They will probably have a sub-.500 record. OJ Mayo will continue to struggle, but those are necessary steps that need to be taken if he wants to try to elevate his game. He will have to learn under Rick which shots to take, when to pass the ball under pressure, and when to attack the basket. Thankfully, he has a back-court partner that will undergo similar hardships.

This team will struggle as long as Dirk isn't healthy. That's fully expected. But with him on the floor, it adds a completely new dimension to the team, because it keeps opposing defenses honest. Without Dirk? Man it's going to be rough. I expect a huge improvement in OJ's game if he hasn't figured out something by the time Dirk comes back, just because he's such a big distraction out there.

OJ is a low-risk, high-reward option. I understand the criticism that he's receiving from Bhz, you, and everyone else. He hasn't lived up to what he was supposed to be. He has some talent, but it hasn't shown off during the regular season. That's fine. But with this team, there are no Zach Randolph's, Rudy Gay's, Mike Conley's, or Tony Allen's to clash with. This is technically his team until Dirk gets back. It's an opportunity. If it doesn't work out? He can walk next year. He isn't getting paid very much, and we can split ties with him after this season. The thing with OJ right now is that he's never had this freedom. Carlisle's letting him take an excessive amount of shots, and he just hasn't found the balance of a good shot, and a poor shot.

Brand actually has played relatively well throughout the pre-season with other bigs on the court with him. Him and Kaman work extremely well together offensively. Kaman isn't that good defensively, but I've been content with what I've seen from Brand defensively. People can boohoo all they want about how old he is, but last year he was extremely good for Philly. Again, another low-risk, high-reward guy.

Kaman is the best offensive Center Dallas has ever had. Ever. Like, history. We missed those paint points tonight, and when Dirk's healthy, it will really free up Kaman to go to work in the paint. The negative, is that he's pretty much a black hole once he gets it deep. Around the arc, at the top of the key, his hands and passing is good enough to be valuable, but deep in the paint, that shot is going up.

Delonte falls all the damn time. He's just a pet-project of Carlisle's. He's looking for another Jermaine O'Neal or Ron Artest he can find. :lol . I expect him to fall out of the guard rotation by years end, hopefully.

It all lies on Dirk returning though. I'm hopeful. I was listening to a basketball doctor the other day, and he said that Dirk's knee procedure is the least invasive kind of knee operation that one can have, and that after it, he should be better than he has been in recent history. Kobe went through the same knee procedure last off-season, and Kobe looked DAMN good at the beginning of last year.

Last thing, Jae Crowder is fun to watch man. He reminds me of Charles Barkley in that he plays much bigger than he actually is. Jae is like 6'4'' without shoes on, but he plays like a 6'10'' player in the paint. His body is comparable to any seasoned veteran. There aren't many guys bigger than him at his height. He's a hustle guy with skill. He's going to be a Shawn Marion intangible kind of guy. Some nights he'll get you 4 steals and 5 blocks. I hope the guy stays with the team for a long time. He's not a superstar, never will be, not even an All-Star, but the kind of role player you want on your team. Undersized or not, he's a ballplayer.
 
keep those loathsome thoughts in your prayers since we clearly worship two completely different point gods :hat
 
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I don't know where people are getting this whole Elton Brand was good for Philly last year. Every one of us Sixers fans thought if we just had a somewhat decent starting power forward instead of Brand that we would have been such a better team. I'll credit Brand for going out there and playing hard for us and busting his *** in his time for the Sixers, but the only reason he even continued to be a starter last year for us was because of his name and contract. And yeah, on SOME players he played good defense, but just about every power forward/center that he went against that was a few inches taller and more athletic than him would bust the guy's ***. I appreciate his work ethic in his time as a Sixer but he will not be missed out there on the court.
 
Anyone here believe the Clippers are a top five team in the league? Was listening to the pre-game for the Lakers-Clips and someone pegged them there.

Among the top teams, yeah. But I'd take the Heat, Thunder, Lakers, Celtics and Spurs before looking at the Clippers.
 
mini-lbj
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trrruuuuuuuuuu
 
With a healthy Chauncey and Caron Butler in their starting lineup and Bledsoe, Crawford, Grant Hill, Barnes, Odom and Turiaf off their bench they have a chance to be a really, really good team. Top 5 isn't out of the question but I'll have to see how Chauncey and those bench pieces are looking early in the season.
 
Nice fake by LeBron...

Eric Bledsoe racking up the steals last night :eek

I don't know if he can help lead a team consistently at a starting PG position, but him as a backup is a good look, especially for LA.
 
I love your optimism, but if he hasn't figured it out by now, he won't. He will continue to come down and shoot 3s from 27ft on 1 on 4 situations. He'll make just enough of them (40%) to convince himself it's a good shot and take it again. It's his fifth season JA, by that point you kind of are what you are.

It's preseason, but 5ppg in 26 minutes with 3tos and 22%fg for Jeremy Lin

Who wants an oft injured, now underweight Kendrick Perkins? As in, in a trade (therefore you have to pay him just over 25mil over the next 3 seasons), not off amnesty?
 
before the clipper fans try & call me a hater im honestly just asking a question

when did bledsoe become mini-lebron? i heard it for the 1st time the last time he had a decent pre-season game & now again 8o

srs responses only plz
 
He hasn't shown himself to be better than Howard, Bynum, Gasol, Duncan, Cousins, Jefferson, Gortat, Nene, Hibbert, Noah, Bogut, Horford and Monroe.
 
He hasn't shown himself to be better than Howard, Bynum, Gasol, Duncan, Cousins, Jefferson, Gortat, Nene, Hibbert, Noah, Bogut, Horford and Monroe.

i'd rather have him over Nene and Bogut off of durability alone. but probably not over anyone else you listed. it all depends on the minutes he plays this season.

if Deandre could ever play 33 mins a game, he'd average 13 ppg, 11 rbg, and 2.5 bpg. and that would be off of pure athleticism.
 
before the clipper fans try & call me a hater im honestly just asking a question
when did bledsoe become mini-lebron? i heard it for the 1st time the last time he had a decent pre-season game & now again 8o
srs responses only plz

That nickname/comparison has more to do with the way Bledsoe is built and his athleticism than anything else. Nobody't trying to say he's anywhere near as good as LeBron. He's just a shorter version of LeBron in terms of being an athletic freak who is built like a tank.

But when he's at his best, like last night, he can put up some pretty crazy numbers accross the board for a back-up. He get's a lot of steals and is a great rebounder for his size.
 
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