uPtoWnNY said:

He's one of those "bubble dudes". He doesn't have the stats per se, but he has the hardware.

wunderlandmine said:

As soon as I find out who Colby is I'll respond more in depth .

And uh, Shaq HAS a title sans "Colby" bruh. "Research" - it's a good thang when it's done.

MuthaFunka said:

You're better with stats than I am - compare DJ's numbers with Payton's.

uPtoWnNY said:

Cool...brb...

MuthaFunka said:

DJ - 14pts/5asst/4reb/1stl/1blk/45%FG/80%FT/17%3ptFG/5-All Star/6-All Defensive 1st teams/3-All D 2nd team/1-All NBA 1st Team/1-All NBA 2nd Team/NBA Finals MVP

GP - 16pts/7asst/4reb/2stl/0blk/47%FG/73%FT/32%3ptFG/9-All Star/1-DPOY/1-NCAA All American 1st Team/2nd Team All Rookie/9-All D 1st Team/2-All NBA 1st Team/5-All NBA 2nd Team/2-All D 3rd Team

Very similiar, except GP excels in All NBA selections and that DPOY stands out. GP will get the HOF nod because he was the main cog on his teams for a long time, plus his D was stellar to go along with his nice-ass O = he could take over the game on D and on O and ONLY guys like Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, MJ, D-Rob, Pippen, and Kobe could do that.

Moonbeam said:

Van Gundy called that lob play and it was brilliant


Courtney Lee = Bill Buckner

I don't know....DJ played in SIX NBA Finals, winning three, and made big plays at money time.

uPtoWnNY said:

But that's just it...the knock on him is that he didn't put up major numbers and he played with 3 other HOFers. His one NBA title gets lost in all that.

MuthaFunka said:

Sort of like the Cubs.....lol

Graycap23 said:

Is Kapono any good?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers have traded forward Reggie Evans to the Toronto Raptors for shooter Jason Kapono.
Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski says the trade addresses Philadelphia's goal of getting better from the perimeter. Kapono's .454 shooting percentage on three-pointers is tied with Steve Kerr for the best in NBA history.

Kapono averaged 7.2 points and 2 rebounds per game last season with the Raptors.

The Raptors get rebounding help in Evans, who averaged 3.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game last season.

Both players must pass physicals to complete the trade.

Graycap23 said:

Think Kerr/Paxson as a SF though. Very little athleticism.

MuthaFunka said:

Yep, hopefully he'll get some open looks cause that's what he needs to knock down those three's.

Graycap23 said:

Philly has good shooters but they aren't consistent.
Willie Green, Lou Williams hot n cold.
Philly drafted John Salmons who averaged 7 points a game
in college and was really drafted for his defense and athleticism
was an average player in Philly now he's a monster in chicago.

Well, well, well. It seems like the Magic finally showed up...93-88 (Magic up). I am aint worried. We figured that they would win one game.

JellyBean said:

Too much time left!

Good game by the Magic, at least they made it interesting. I am still taking my Lakers in 5 games. Besides. Getting a sweep in the NBA Finals is boring anyway. We will let the Magic get one and then we win on Thursday and Sunday.


Lakers!!!

uPtoWnNY said:

The greatest argument — well, my greatest argument — on Jackson's behalf is that it's much tougher to coach today than it was during Auerbach's glory days in the 1950s and 1960s.

•Free agency: Auerbach never had to worry about losing his best players every couple of years. Granted, Jackson enjoyed the continued service of his superstars, but Jackson's supporting casts changed constantly and created challenges Auerbach rarely had to address.

•The salary cap: Same thing. Jackson's teams kept their best players, but players three through 12 were markedly different from one year or the next. Auerbach's teams had virtually the same players — and the same roles, the same team chemistry — throughout the Boston run from 1956-57 to 1965-66.

•Talent: One of the arguments used against Jackson is that he twice walked into situations in which he had two of the league's best players on his teams, the Chicago Bulls (Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen) and the Lakers (Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant). But those teams didn't win championships before Jackson's arrival or after he left.

The truth is, Auerbach had more raw talent, including five all-time Top 50 players through most of his run (Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, Bill Sharman, John Havlicek). Auerbach also had several players who ended up in the Hall of Fame — Russell, Cousy, Sam Jones, Sharman, Havlicek, Frank Ramsey, K.C. Jones and Tommy Heinsohn, among others.

By the way, one year after Auerbach gave up his coaching duties to player/coach Bill Russell, the Celtics won two consecutive titles.

•Money: Cash changes everything. During Auerbach's day, players were not mega-millionaires with shoe deals, huge entourages and egos to match. Can you imagine Russell with a posse? Can you imagine Auerbach trashing Jones in a book, then coming back a few years later to coach him?

The NBA had only eight teams in Auerbach's first four championship seasons and nine in his final five title years as a coach. When Jackson won his first championship in 1990-91, there were 27 teams; now, there are 30.

But the pool of accomplished players is several times greater now than it once was. Back in Auerbach's day, the domestic game was still growing, and it wasn't until the 1950-51 season that an African-American played in the NBA. The international game was utterly nonexistent.

Back in the 1950s and '60s, accomplished young athletes boxed or played baseball, among other things. Today, a large majority plays basketball and aspires to do it at the highest level. The pool of players is far deeper.

If we're comparing the two men on the totality of their basketball accomplishments, Auerbach is the clear winner. He didn't just coach teams. He built teams. He developed teams. And he proved himself a man before his time, playing teams dominated by black players, hiring Russell as the first black coach in the NBA.

Jackson has been the fortunate recipient of some sage personnel moves by Jerry Krause in Chicago and Jerry West in Los Angeles. And Jackson has been smart about stepping into situations where the tables were set for success.

Still, if there's a No. 10 on the horizon for Jackson, he will stand as the greatest coach in NBA history. Might we suggest he celebrate with a victory cigar?

Knowing how Phil Jackson is such a student of the game, I am sure he will fire up an old cigar in honor of Red.


Let's go, Lakers!!!

Go Magic!!!

In other news, the Kings hired ex-Suns great Paul Westfall as head coach.

And my Knicks are thinking about drafting Ty Lawson.

uPtoWnNY said:

Rambis turned down the Kings job.

uPtoWnNY said:

Good hire by the Kings. Paul Westphal is one heck of a coach and I just wish that the freaking Timberwolves (my home team) would hire a good coach...oh sometime this decade.

And if the Knicks pick up Ty Lawson and give him a year are two to adjust to the NBA game, the Knicks are going to be nice in a few years.

What's with Shaq dissing Dwight Howard? He's coming off as a whiny bitch.

uPtoWnNY said:

Shaq has the 2nd biggest ego ever in sports and he's the most sensitive, and that combo is always gonna mean whiner whenever someone gets more shine than him.

uPtoWnNY said:

That's always been his MO since he's come in the league but at his
age and height these days it makes him look bad. I mean how more
childish can you be to say everything he's done i've done and
every club he's been in orlando i've been. Wow! And every team
he leaves he dumps on the coach and sometimes former teammate.
I find it interesting that even Kareem Abdul Jabbar says that
he questions Shaq maturity level.

JellyBean said:

I like Stephen Curry too, but I don't see him dropping to the 8th spot.

uPtoWnNY said:

Some draft boards have Curry going to the Knicks at the 8 spot.

JellyBean said:

Really? The article I read had him going to Sac-town. He'd be perfect for D'Antoni's system, but he'd have to switch to the point.

LA!!!!!

DEREK!!!!!

THREEEEE...gets you OT!


xx
[Edited 6/11/09 20:57pm]