The NBA Thread
yeh i know..from what i have heard the nfl lockout will be easier to solve than the nba one…and the nfl has been locked out for 100+ days.
whether this information is true or not im not sure. but i hope not.
NBA 2011-2012 Schedule has been released,
pending the lockout ending real soon i can either go see Boston VS NY in boston or NY or Boston VS Orlando in Orlando…
decisons decisions….
NBA season not looking good… 
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6832574/billy-hunter-expects-entire-nba-season-canceled
At least two weeks of the regular season have been cancelled. It’s not looking like they will reach an agreement any time soon either. 
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7085089/nba-labor-david-stern-cancels-first-two-weeks-nba-season
sorry i’m not with the programme on this…what is the lockout in aid of?
Player contracts. Owners want way more money than the last collective bargaining agreement. The players used to get 57% of all revenue. The owners only want to pay them 47% I think. Along those lines…
Also things like the owners want to be able to go over the salary cap by 4 times the amount they used to be able to to resign their stars for much more than they used to get. So a rookie gets a 1.5 million dollar over 3 years contract and a star gets a 15 million per year contract.
So someone like Derek Rose who is coming off his rookie contract costs the team way more and they don’t want to lose him.
i hope they sort their sh!t out really soon…i have booked flights to go see a game whilst im over there…
They had a 16 hour meeting a couple of days ago. It’s do or die time. They have another meeting tomorrow and I think we’ll find out more then. They aren’t saying too much at the moment. I’m really hoping this season can be salvaged.
Have you guys been following ESPN’s top 500 player list? They have ranked the top 500 players in the NBA and it’s slowly been working it’s way down to the best players. They finally announced the top 5 players yesterday. Here’s some of the list. What do you think?
16 to 20: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7094756/nba-player-rankings-16-20
11 to 15: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7100076/nba-player-rankings-11-15
10. Blake Griffin
9. Deron Williams
8. Derrick Rose
7. Kobe Bryant
6. Kevin Durant
5. Dirk Nowitzki
4. Chris Paul
3. Dwyane Wade
2. Dwight Howard
1. LeBron James
20. Zach Randolph - Carries his team, should be higher
19. Tim Duncan - Past his prime, still good but relies on Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to make the playoffs(PS where is Tony Parker)
18. Manu Ginobili - Past his prime, still good but relies on Tony Parker and Tim Duncan to make the playoffs (PS where is Tony Parker)
17. Rajon Rondo - Great up comer, but Paul Peirce and KG carry him at the moment
16. Kevin Love - Holds his team but they still came like dead last… not ranked 16.
15. Russell Westbrook - Kills it, team came 4th in the west with him always putting in a solid effort.
14. Steve Nash - Past his prime, Phoenix won’t make the playoffs and he should be much lower
13. Amare Stoudimire - Great offence but is a turnstile for defence for a centre. I’d put him a bit lower but still top 20
12. Carmello Anthony - Great offence but struggles on defence. I’d put him a bit lower but still top 20
11. Pau Gasol - Great Centre, carries a lot when Kobe struggles. 40% of the reason they got the 2 championships recently. Could possibly be top 10.
10. Blake Griffin - Great player but 10… I don’t think so. Everyone is just too keen on his dunks.
9. Deron Williams - Great player but probably can’t carry the Nets to the finals… Too high in his current location
8. Derrick Rose - MVP at 8th? Definitely higher, probably not first but top 3 or 4…
7. Kobe Bryant - 5 Rings and still the team leader, Definitely higher.
6. Kevin Durant - Great player with Westbrook they played great. I’d put both closer to 10 and 12.
5. Dirk Nowitzki - Won the championship, I’d say 5th is about right.
4. Chris Paul - Lower than Rose. Hornets haven’t given him anything and they were low playoffs.
3. Dwyane Wade - First championship with Shaq, now with Lebron and they still can’t win, I’d say 5-8th.
2. Dwight Howard - Best Centre in the league. Deserves top 3 status.
1. LeBron James - Currently the best player in the league, I’d put 1st. Only people to compete = Dwight / Kobe / D-Rose
Ok, so here is my top 20 right now!
1. Lebron James
2. Dwight Howard
3. Derrick Rose
4. Kobe Bryant
5. Dirk Nowitzki
6. Dwyane Wade
7. Chris Paul
8. Kevin Durant
9. Pau Gasol
10.Russell Westbrook
11. Deron Williams
12. Kevin Garnett
13. Joe Johnson
14. Paul Peirce
15. Carmello Anthony
16. Zach Randolph
17. Tim Duncan
18. Tony Parker
19. Rajon Rondo
20. Blake Griffin - Still gets in because he will probably be a beast this year
Dwyane Wade fifth to eighth? He should be top two for sure. He was unlucky not to get his second finals MVP trophy in 2011 (LeBron meltdown?). Shaq didn’t do anything in the 2006 finals against Dallas. Look at Dwyane’s stats in that series: 34.7 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 46.8% FG%, 33.8 PER
ESPN ranked Dwyane’s finals series against Dallas as the greatest finals performance of all time. Yep, better than Jordan.
This riff is screwing with the TV scheduling - not happy Jan!
As you can see from the above list, ESPN don’t know what they are talking about.
To rebuttle against Dwyane Wade, Check years 2007,2008,2009 and 2010 where he didn’t have a Lebron or Shaq.
2007 - Knocked out 1st round 4-0 vs Chicago (Miami 4th vs Chicago 5th)
2008 - Didn’t make finals
2009 - Knocked out 1st round 4-3 vs Atlanta (Atlanta 4th vs Miami 5th)
2010 - Knocked out 1st round 4-1 vs Boston (Boston 4th vs Miami 5th)
And I ended up putting him 6th overall in my list.
Personally, I don’t think anything will beat this greatest playoff moment of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdPQ3QxDZ1s&feature=related
rondo is king*... thats all im saying
*sporadically then he goes missing