NBA 2005-2006 Season Thread
 

Well the season began Tues. After 2 games I am impressed with the Bucks and Pistons alot. Kobe's game winning shot gave Lakers fans hope under the Zen Master again. This will be an interesting season

Indiana looks great right now through 3 quarters with the Heat. Artest is playing like he played at the start of last year. He might be MVP this year.

i'm gunna get Jermaine O'neals new shoes.:love:

Friends of mine from Indiana say its the year of the Colts, Pacers and the return of greatness from the IU b-ball team.

J Oneal is my favorite NBA player.:y:

They should pretty much move every big sporting event to Indiana pretty much.:kiss:

Artest wasn't too hot his first game though.

The Heat are overrated and will not make the NBA Finals. The Pacers are the best team in the league. The Spurs will falter.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

The Golden State Warriors will win the NFC West

dick

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Nervous Ferret again.

Spurs will own the Pacers.

It's going to be the Spurs against either the Pistons or Pacers in the finals this year. Either way, it'll be a great series. I'm leaning toward the Pistons, but I'm also well aware of my own local bias (and subsequent dislike of #s 1 and 15 on that other Central Division team. :D ).

IMO, the Heat actually made themselves worse this offseason by bringing in a bunch of big names who will only serve to keep the ball out of Shaq and D-Wade's hands (which were the times when they were most successful last season). This is a team that was a game (and an unfortunate injury) away from the Finals last year, and they neutered it.

I agree with Loopy's analysis of the Heat. Awful moves.

Utah Jazz 2-0! Let's just give them the championship and save everybodies time

The Celtics need to pull off something good this year.

Wolves

Bucks starting the year 3-0, good start, hope they can keep it up. That trade for Magloire is looking like a steal for the Bucks.
Redd is looking great this year as well, which is to be expected.
T.J. Ford hasn't really missed a beat, he is leading the offense really good.

KG

Smush Parker, Odom, and Kobe. Unstoppable.

The Lakers would have made the playoffs last year had Kobe been healthy

lol

Yeah they might have instead of Memphis.

They were like seventh in the west all the first half, and Kobe kept them close against the far superior Heat. They weren't that bad I don't think.

okur, kirlenko, ostertag. Un stoppable!

Chauncey, Tay, Rip, the W-- Do I even need to say it?

I said it last year, and I still say it.

Fire Dick Bavetta.

KG-Marco-Fraham-Eddie G

The Big 4

YEAH RAPTORS

Lol at some "source" thinking Kevin Garnett is going to be traded to New York. The potential trade is just awful, and there were so many things wrong with the article.

KG isn't going anywhere, and if he does it's not going to be any time soon.

Randy Moss? ;)

Interesting trade rumors from insider

"Don't be surprised if the Timberwolves talk trade with the Jazz, with Michael Olowokandi going to Utah for Carlos Boozer, and with either Troy Hudson or Marko Jaric of the Wolves as part of a deal," reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Nov 22 - The San Jose Mercury suggets, "Open your eyes, Warriors fans: The Unofficial Garnett Trade Market just revved to life this week, and (Chris ) Mullin could turn out to be a very intriguing and very motivated participant. So if you're Minnesota, do you want the New York Knicks' raggedy collection of expiring salaries or a potential Warriors package of Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu and a No. 1 pick?"

Another note they made about KG is that he won't publicly come out and ask for a trade to avoid the press backlash but if he ask the Wolves for a trade they would trade him

ESPN Insider is the most unreliable place to get rumors.

1. Charlie Walters of the Pioneer Press is well known for making up trade rumors based on absolutely nothing, and of course that first rumor was admitted as untrue in that paper the next day. The trade doesn't make any sense either, why trade Kandi when he is finally having an impact for an undersized-injury prone player with an attitude problem?

2. There is a big difference between legit trade rumors and what we are looking at here. The Timberwolves are not shopping Kevin Garnett right now, so how could there be these potential trades? These are things that newspaper columnists come up with based on salary caps and what they consider to be fair. Do you honestly think that at this point in time, the Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors have had discussions about this trade? Do you think that somebody in the front office of the Warriors tipped this reporter off that they are planning on trading away four key players before KG is even on the market?

It is sensationalism, nothing more. I'm not saying that KG won't ever be traded, but if he does it won't be anytime soon, and I guarantee you that teams are jeopardizing their players trust by setting up these blockbusters.

But honestly, ESPN Insider is so bad for stuff like this. It summarizes a big article of speculation into "Knicks to retain KG for Antonio Daniels." The best site to look at, overall the best NBA website out there, is www.hoopshype.com They go to every newspaper or website with any sort of NBA news and compile them in an organized rumor mill. This way you can see the true context of the story and link to the full article as well. I highly recommend it.

LOL. At tonight's Pistons/Knicks game at the Palace, one of the fans was holding up a sign that read:

What can <font color=brown>Brown</font> do for you?
<h1>5-9</h1>

The jury is out after 14 games

good to see my jazz scoring at a hectic pace

Digging the avatar DGY

LOL again

Of all places, Artest wants to go to the Knicks? Anybody the Pacers would get for him would hurt their team it seems like, and I can't tell if Artest would be good on New York either.

Apparently Peja for Artest is being talked about.

I hope wherever they send Artest. They send Stephen Jackson with him because i'm sick of Stephen Jackson.

Artest is a fucking pussy ass bitch. After all the sticking up the organization has done for this guy. He goes and slaps us in the face like this. Unbelievable. I fought for this guy as a fan and now he says he wants out. What a prick. If Sacramento wants him , they can have him. Take Jackson too. We know where are bread is buttered and thats with J O'neil.

This fucktard will go down as the guy who put Reggie Miller in retirement without a ring in my book. We ( The whole city and organization ) stuck up for him and now we get shat on by this piece of shit cock.

To think we could have had Ray Allen for Artest last year. Guess that wont be happening. I

I dont want Marbury unless they send Jackson to New York and start Marbury at SG. We have a deep and talented PG position as it is.

Heat coach Stan Van Gundy resigned and team president Pat Riley, Miami's previous coach, takes over the 11-10 club. Van Gundy said he wasn't booted but needed family time. Story

Donnie Walsh basically said he's gunna trade Artest and it sounds like it will be within the next week or 2.

I guess the question becomes. Who and for what?

I've heard talks about getting Peja from Sacramento. Obviously Artest said he wants to go to New York. I dont see that happening at all. I've heard talks about Cleveland. I cant see the Pacers trading him into the same divison and even if they did, for who? Cleveland dont have much to offer. I dont know Seattle's situation, but i'm curious if they are still intrested in moving Ray Allen?

I wonder maybe if Orlando is intrested in moving Steve Francis? If so i hope we send Steph Jackson with Artest.

I cant see us getting any value for this guy. He's a top five player in the league, but no one will give us an equal player. This is gunna get real intresting.

Paul Pierce maybe?

I doubt he'll go anywhere in the East, honestly. I don't think Indy wants to play against him unless they reach the Finals.

I don't think they're all that concerned with getting a player of equal value for him. Naturally, they'd love a top-tier 3 for him, but I don't think anyone would be willing to part with one to bring in someone who many (including myself, not that that matters in this discussion) consider to be a locker room liability.

I saw a quote from Jermaine earlier today, not really bashing Artest, but basically saying that he shouldn't be there if he doesn't want to be there.

It's pretty rare for me to agree with RP on something, but this is definitely one we agree on. The Pacers organization stood by him during his legal issues (biting my tongue so hard as I type this), and he repays them by wanting a trade. Ridiculous.

He is right about one thing, though. The team will be better off without him.

Now people are saying something about Cleveland giving us some sort of combo of Marshall, Drew Gooden, or Damon Jones.

Wow. Thats pathetic. I think Gooden is decent , but the other 2 suck balls.

Damon Jones does not suck sir. He's a good "roleplayer". Wish we still had him. :(

If that trade happens then Larry Hughes likely will get benched.

I was watching ESPN this evening, and they mentioned that Phil Jackson wouldn't be opposed to bringing Artest to Los Angeles. Apparently, the Lakers are willing to part with Kwame Brown to get him.

:lol: Artest thinks he's not getting his shots in Indy, imagine him and Kobe on the same team.

No. Artest had the funniest comment ever actually. He says " I dont feel like i'm getting enough shots. My ideal place to go would be New York. I wouldnt mind it if i went to Cleveland and came off the bench behind Lebron James " LOL

By funniest i mean most retarded. Artest is a bitch.

I'd take Kwame Brown. I guarantee you this organization would make that guy a star. They did it with Jermaine O'Neil

Its been rumored that Golden State has offered Dunleavy and Adonal Foyle for Artest. If accepted it's the biggest trade rape in NBA history

For who?

I think thats a decent offer depending on what else is on the table. Dunleavy is pretty good.

Have you ever watched Golden State play? Dunleavy is probably the main reason they don't have an equal record to the Spurs. In this trade, GSW would give up two useless guys with huge contracts for a guy who will rebound, play D, score, and hustle; 4 things Dunleavy and Foyle never have done in their lives

No i havent actually. They dont play there games til like midnight here.

Anyways at tonights Pacer game Artest and every close to him is saying he doesnt wanna go anywhere.

Artest is psycho. Seriously. He's got real mental problems.

If those guys have huge contracts then it's definetly just a rumor , because from what i've heard Indiana is dangerously close to the luxury tax after this year and they are very worried about that.

If theres a trade, It will be either for draft picks and a couple scrubs, or someone who is a free agent next year like Peja or Al Harrington.

Not exactly a rumor, it's been reported in a real news paper http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...s/13404119.htm

Davis, Richardson, Artest = :drool:

The guy will be traded, but predicting to who and for what is impossible. Donnie Walsh said he's already heard from 20 different teams about Artest. Thats not just window dressing either. Walsh is about as honest as it gets in the business and he's brilliant at evaluating talent and getting maximum value from a player. Hopefully that continues in thise situation.

I'm sure it was offered , but what i'm saying ( i dont know there contract situation ) is that if they have loaded contracts. I doubt it will happen.

Ok . I just read that. Its BS. Theres no way in hell that Walsh will trade Jeff Foster. So whatever that mystery source heard is wrong. Foster wont be going anywhere.

I don't know if there is any way this would happen, but the Miami Heat are the team that should go after him. Can you imagine how good they would be with a team of Williams-Wade-Artest-Haslem-Shaq.

Posey and Antoine Walker are both a waste of space and expendable for the Heat, and if they could make something work they would completely dominate.

Considering that 20 teams have contacted the Pacers about Artest there are like a gazilion rumors.

Mo Pete, Bonner and a 1st round pick for Artest is what the Raptors are throwing around. That one actually isn't bad for either side depending on how high the pick could be.

Yeah I've heard like 100 trade proposals in the last 48 hours. Someone suggested Artest to Detroit for Tayshaun Prince. :shifty:

The thing is that Artest has a pretty small contract for a top guy. If they want to get a top guy back then they need to include more salary. Thats why alot or reporters are saying that Croscher (sic) or Foster will have to be added

Yeah, but, again, how does Artest get his shots? He's, at best, the third biggest threat on Miami, and being third best on that team is like being seventh on any other. If you're not Shaq or DWade, you won't get your shots unless one or both is injured.

And, RP, now that you've acknowledged that Artest is mentally unbalanced, will you know acknowledge that the brawl in Detroit is not entirely the fault of a fan throwing a beer and that someone with all of their marbles would have let security do their job instead of going all GTA and giving the league a black eye?

Loopy . The thing that i argued is this. There was so much emotion going on in that 5 minute period where it all went down. We knew there was a chance Artest didnt have all his marbles before that incident. He physically and mentally restrained himself from engaging Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace continued to push the issue even though people where trying to break the two up and Artest was a non issue. Once that beer got thrown, it was like a balloon of emothing got popped and he went nuts. No doubt.

I really wish you would acknowledge the fact that Wallace should have been suspended for instagating the whole issue. There can also be a " Monkey see Monkey do " case made when Wallace threw that towel. The fan thought it was ok for him to throw the beer. But i doubt you will acknowlege any of that. Wallace should have gotten 15-20 games. He fueled that whole thing and then Artest snapped.

That said. Yes someone who does have it all together in the head would have let security do there job. Ofcourse, you would have to look long and hard to find a security guard that night. Never the less. Ron Artest is very strange in the head and i'm to the point where i'll be glad when he's not our problem.

Artest for Prince... Detroit would be nuts to do that. Prince is an amazing player and he's not the problem that Artest is. Plus theres no way Artest goes to play for Detroit, but it would be hilarious.

OMG I love that Warriors trade if it happens.

Au contraire, my friend. Wallace should definitely have been suspended for his actions. He did overreact to the foul and, as you said, it was hard not to get caught up in the emotion of the moment, but again that's no excuse. Obviously, I think that his suspension should have been considerably less than what Artest and Jackson got, as he limited his aggression to a fellow player, but he should have missed a few games for sure. The truth is, though, that what Wallace did was the kind of thing that typically happens during on-court confrontations that lead to fisticuffs. The only reason that this one gets so much more attention is what Artest did afterwards. Not that I'm condoning Wallace's actions, because I'm not, but in any other fight, that would have been a 5-10 game suspension at worst, with a hefty fine.

You're absolutely right that Wallace feuled the situation, but I still contend that there's no excuse whatsoever for Artest to behave in the manner in which he behaved. Players in every other sport get pelted with beverages and insults (and worse, I'd imagine), but you don't hear about what happened in Detroit last November happening at Giants Stadium or Wrigley Field.

The reason for that is that those players have the common human sense to ignore it and just play the game. Artest is missing that part of his brain between thought and action, that span that says "Hey, maybe that's not such a hot idea. Let's think about this before doing something rash."

Yes if Big Ben had not shown his fustrations on the pistons sloppy performance that night (they were struggling early on) Then the brawl would not have happened as their was little time left on the clock.

Or if Artest wouldn't have fouled Big Ben very violently across the head with 3 minutes to go and up by 20+.

Yeah, but even then, Ben overreacted quite a bit. And this is coming from a huge Ben fan. He should have expected that kind of cheap play from Artest and kept his head.

But I look at the two as separate incidents. The Ben thing happened on the court between players. Yeah, it riled up Artest, but nothing excuses what he did. Absolutely nothing.

It is a pretty stupid circumstance when an average joe can attack a millionaire athlete and expect to get away with it with a slap on the wrist.

Artest obviously went crazy, but the fan deserved it.

That's absolute bullshit, BCWWF. He deserved to be ejected from the building and have his season ticket revoked, he deserved to face criminal charges, but he did not deserve to have the guy in the seat next to him assaulted by a 6'7", 201-pound psychopath.

What does it matter if the guy's a multimillionaire or not? He ASSAULTED the guy!

The guy assaulted him first. I'm not defending Artest, I'm just not defending the fan. Under no circumstance should you expect to attack an athlete and not be attacked back. Yes, the athlete isn't supposed to attack back and should get in trouble for it, but the guy who instigated it should get in equal trouble.

Did you miss the part where I said he should face criminal charges? I agree with you. I just think it's bullshit that people defend Artest by saying "Well, the other guy did it first!" That's no excuse in the real world, and it shouldn't be an excuse in sports. You throw a punch, you face the consequences, whether it happens in a bar or at The Palace.

I don't mean to sound contradictory to you, I'm just talking. I apologize for the miscommunication.

Just for me, I don't see why the athlete should be held at a higher standard. Anywhere else in the world if you throw a full cup of beer on a guy and he kicks your ass, the guy who throws the beer is the one who gets in more trouble.

Really? I would think the guy throwing punches would be in more trouble than someone throwing beer. But, then again, I don't have much experience with either, so I can't really speak well on the subject. Just seemed like common sense to me.

And I don't think that Artest should be held to a higher standard. I'm a pacifist. I don't believe that violence is the answer to anything, whether it's international diplomacy or having beer thrown on you. Granted, not everyone is a "turn the other cheek" kind of person, but that's just who I am. And I just don't understand the rationale behind people who aren't.

But, back on the subject, how bout those Pistons, eh? 18-3. Not too shabby. If Billups and Hamilton both get All-Star snubs again this year, I'll be seriously disappointed.

I'm pretty sure whoever hits first is usually the one who gets in the most trouble, but don't quote me on that.

I'm pretty sure it's worse to punch a man in the mouth than it is get him a little wet, but don't quote me on that.

I'm pretty sure I don't care anymore

Artest didnt punch anyone in the mouth until he the fan came on to the floor and lunged like he was gunna attack. For that. Artest was well within his right to protect himself..

Look who cares. There was alot of people at fault that night and yes Artest went nuts, but not until a couple of other people lost there minds, namely the beer thrower and Ben Wallace. If Wallace cant take a hard foul and walk away then he falls under your violence theory.

Anways. Artest says he made a big mistake and wants to play for us again. Which means this will get uglier because O'Neal dont want him on the team.

I'm about to punch all of you in the mouth.

I'm really interested to see who Indy values more. I know who I'd keep, but I guess I've probably made that pretty clear so far, so I'll spare you. It'd be an interesting time to be a Hoosier. Honestly, I'd rather listen to an O'Neal-or-Artest debate round the clock on local sportscast than the Fire Millen stuff we get here.

Danny Granger is gunna be the man.

People wanted Wolves to get Granger but I am content with our pick of McCants. He will be good someday.

HOLY SHIT Kobe. 62 points in 3 quarters

Kobe Bryant is pretty good. When he left the game the score was Kobe 62 Dallas 61. Now considering Dallas is one of the best offensive teams in the league. Thats pretty good i'd say.

Can someone explain to me why he wasnt left in the game. He might have threatend the century mark the way he was playing. I dont care what the score is. I would have left him in there.

Probably because it was a blowout. But 62 pts in 3 fucking quarters is sick! He coulda gotten like 70-75 pts..maybe more!

Maybe.

Darrell Armstrong is my new favorite NBA player now.

That was pretty funny. JamesSteele could learn some things from Armstrong about how to draw ***ULTIMATE HEEL HEAT***

Kobe was ridiculous last night. I'm not a fan of the guy by any means, but 62 points is pretty damned impressive.

Armstrong is brilliant. Nothing like grabbing a mic and jabbing your own teams fans in the face with a smile.

In my fantasy league my opp had both kobe and randolph ln, and they combined for 99 pts.

:lol: Ouch.

Oh, say, who's in first place in the TPWW league? Oh, that's right. ME!

:D

Your team will falter late in the season. Im gonna win.

Danny Granger :love:

Cannot wait for tomorrow.

Pistons/Spurs is going to be a fantastic game and, more than likely, a preview of the NBA Finals. Nothing quite like watching the two best teams in the game going at it.

The whole Kobe "heel" turn is kind of over now, but at least the Lakers may actually have a chance this year. Last year it was just picking on Kobe because there was no way he won with that team.

...Or this team. Although they have been playing a lot better, but I'm still not sold on the TEAM. Kobe can score all the points he wants. Although, the 62 points performance was pritty hot.

I've heard this one before too. "If all Kobe does is shoot, the Lakers won't beat the Heat."

But isn't that theory already displaced by the fact that when he scored 62 the Lakers blew out the Mavericks, who based on play this season are probably better than the Heat?