NBA discussion thread

Originally posted by koolruningz
Mavs choked in every way possible, way too many long jumpers in the 2nd half.
Props to Wade though, he's about the only Heat player that deserves the ring. There's something about Fatoine Walker winning a championship that makes me sick to my stomach.

how can you not say Zo deserves a ring? After his career and he did great off the bench for them. I think he had about 8 points, 6 blocks, 6 boards in only like 15 minutes tonight. Hes still contributing and deserved a ring long ago. I also like seeing Gary Payton get a ring, although i wish hed of done it in seattle.

Great work by wade, too bad for the mavs.

Originally posted by forumcrew
how can you not say Zo deserves a ring? After his career and he did great off the bench for them. I think he had about 8 points, 6 blocks, 6 boards in only like 15 minutes tonight. Hes still contributing and deserved a ring long ago. I also like seeing Gary Payton get a ring, although i wish hed of done it in seattle.

I see a couple of reasons. He screwed the Nets. He really screwed the Raptors. And I think players of his caliber should be playing 35min+ to earn their rings. When they take a back seat to a better player just to get a near guaranteed ring, I find it cheap of them. Same goes for Payton but not as much. If it weren't for the pitty Zo gets for his kidneys, people would have started to see him as a douche the moment he opened his mouth in New Jersey. That is not to say I don't like Zo, I just thought he didn't deserve a championship THIS year.

My one complaint about this game: With 26 seconds left and the score close, Wade reached his arm out and pretty much hit Dirk in the stomach. The refs called a foul on Dirk.

With all that said, I'm still pleased with the overall outcome of this playoffs. Every round was entertaining. The teams I was hard core rooting against lost. Cavs got further than I expected. Wade got an MVP. Shaq dissed Kobe and the Lakers by bringing a championship to another team (btw, besides getting Shaq the player, the Heat got Shaq the recruiter). I was rooting for Dallas to win, but I said before the series that I'm pretty close between the two.

I think one of my biggest disappointments was Dirk. I really did not want the Mavs to win if it weren't for him leading the team. It was more that I was rooting for Dirk to carry a team over a much more stacked team in the Heat. With Dirk playing bad, I don't care too much about the other Dallas players. I just don't hate any of them.

Congrats Wade! Let the season long "Wade is better than Lebron because he won (with a much better team/coach)" debates begin!

Originally posted by forumcrew
how can you not say Zo deserves a ring? After his career and he did great off the bench for them. I think he had about 8 points, 6 blocks, 6 boards in only like 15 minutes tonight. Hes still contributing and deserved a ring long ago.

Woah there, slow down scooter. I have nothing against Zo but both he and Payton rode the Heats coat tails to get their ring. Plenty of players do that in the latter stages of their careers but it doesnt make them deserving of the ring for that year. Zo has had a great career and im glad he got it at the end but only Wade played well enough to truly deserve it imho. The Heat without Wade wouldnt have got past the Bulls, even with all the help he gets from the zebras dude has mad game.

Originally posted by Myth
Shaq dissed Kobe and the Lakers by bringing a championship to another team (btw, besides getting Shaq the player, the Heat got Shaq the recruiter).

Ok i'll bite. 😉

Lets be honest the Lakers were not gonna win another championship with Shaq and Kobe, 04 was a last ditch effort with 4 hall of famers and we got merked by the Pistons.
Kobe was up for a max contract and Shaq wanted close to 30mill a yr (even though he still had 2yrs left on his current contract when he demanded the extension). If both had been signed to max contracts that leaves us with no money to surround them with the talent needed to win it all. Cook, Walton, Slava, ? not championship material.
This is where Wades rookie contract comes into play, he is still incredibly cheap considering what he brings to the table. This enabled Riley to surround Shaq and Wade with enough quality (i use that term lightly when talking about Walker and Williams) vets to get the job done. No way can you build that team if Wade is on a max contract (which he will get when his time comes), that coupled with Shaqs sudden willingness to take a pay cut (something he wouldnt dream of for the Lakers) made it much easier for Riley to build that team.
Now Shaq has done what he set out to do the Heat will be introduced to "content Shaq", he will come into camp at 400lbs, probably have surgery on company time and refuse the rebound if he doesnt get the ball enough. I've been following the Lakers long enough to know this Shaq all to well.
Im optimistic that Kobe will get more chances to win a title without Shaq, its easy to look at this short term and think the Lakers were dumb for trading Shaq but to see the bigger picture you will have to revisit it in 3-5yrs when the Lakers are able to rebuild a decent team around Kobe.
See Myth i told you i'd bite, that may not even be what you meant by that comment but i needed to get that off my chest anyway.
😆

Hey, I don't watch the NBA but I was just wondering (after hearing on sports talk radio) what exactly the $250,000 fine was on Mark Cuban. They said some reporter quoted him as saying "your league is rigged" to Stern, but that was contradicted by both Cuban and Stern. So what happened, because Mike and Mike went on and on about it without saying the specifics! Thanks.

The League didn't say the reasons for the fine, nor are they gonna, unless Cuban comes out and says why he was fined,(which I doubt because A. He how probaly get fined again if he did and B.Whats done is done, really no point in doing so anymore) we are never gonna know.

Big Congrats to the Miami Heat for winning last night. They put up a great fight agaisn't the mavs. Congrats Champs!

Originally posted by koolruningz

See Myth i told you i'd bite, that may not even be what you meant by that comment but i needed to get that off my chest anyway.
😆

Not exactly what I meant 😆

I know it was wise of the Lakers for the long run. But especially towards Kobe, its kind of a feud and you know Shaq is loving the fact that he got the title back before Kobe and is showing that he can take the back seat and let somebody else take over.

As for what possibly would have happened if Shaq remained a Laker... it could have still worked in the short run. Shaq and Kobe would have got paid a lot leaving very little for other players. But had Shaq stayed, I believe Lakers would have held onto Malone, Payton and Fisher (giving another year to gel and Kobe to inch even closer to his prime assuming he didn't move all the way to Clipper land). Not to mention Shaq the recruiter pontentially could have drawn in more veterans for cheap. I don't think 2004 would have been their last chance, but you're right that it wouldn't have been for the long run. With that said, keep in mind thats not really what I was trying to say in the first place 😉

I know Myth, that kinda just fell out. 😆

come one, those damn reffs, at the very end wade was pulling on Terry's jersey, and wade tackled a guy at the beginning of the game, i have it DVR'd and i watched it over and over again, even the announcer says it should've been a flagrant foul... someone payed off those refs, only in the last game though, i guess the heat deserved three games, but there should've been a game seven..

Breaking News. Pat Riley has had a heart attack and died. New Head Coach and GM is Stu Pidass(see what I did there). In Stu's first move as GM, he has traded Dwyane Wade to the Sixers for Chris Webber, living up to his name, Stu Pidass.

The proof is in my sig. 😱 😄 😛

cool!

Originally posted by DanZeke25
Breaking News. Pat Riley has had a heart attack and died. New Head Coach and GM is Stu Pidass(see what I did there). In Stu's first move as GM, he has traded Dwyane Wade to the Sixers for Chris Webber, living up to his name, Stu Pidass.

The proof is in my sig. 😱 😄 😛

Who the f*ck is this Pidass? He is a f*cking moron! Wade just brought the Heat a championship and this ******* trades him? This makes no sense. He needs to be fired. I am honestly pissed off right now. 😠

He's joking.

No shit Sherlock. I figured that it was so obvious nobody would believe that situation that I didn't need to clarify that I was playing along with the joke.

Originally posted by Myth
No shit Sherlock.

detective

To all the Mav fans:

So how much money did u lose?

well miami deserved to win. zo's blocking was huge in that last game... and after the comeback he made after the kidney failure well done to him. shaqs got another ring, but it was'nt because of him. wade was phenomenal. first of many rings? who knows. they did well for getting to the finals, as did the mavs.

next season then? toronto pushing for the playoffs, cavs maybe getting further. whats everyone elses predictions so far? what about trade and signing predictions?

Originally posted by darth_royke
well miami deserved to win.

I think everyone except Texas fans saw them winning.

Kobe aint shit without Shaq.

real news:
Larry Brown fired, Isiah Thomas is new coach. I think this is appropriate because the mess that the Knicks is, is the product of Isiah.