2009-2010 NBA Season - Page 2

I'm hoping for Miami. Wade has the game to keep him in line. And the only way to bounce back with reputation intact is to contribute to a winner.

Exactly. Iverson would get to hog the ball to his heart's content in a major media market, and the Knicks would suck slightly less. Everyone's a winner.

Take away playing time from any young talent they have.

Hawks still flying high!

I just realized that the Suns are tied with the Hawks for the top spot in the League. I never, ever thought I'd see that this season.

I'm not sure how long this will last but it's nice to see them be competitive again.

With Jameer "Glass" Nelson hurt again, Magic fans seems split 50-50 on getting Iverson. Half think he'd never go for coming off the bench, even with a team that has legit championship aspirations, the other half think the Magic could use a little toughness. I doubt we go for him though.

The other shoe is dropping precipitously for the Heat.

Iverson retiring, according to reports. Sad for so many reasons if it's true.

Uh, I'll take it.

I can understand someone not caring for Iverson or his shoot first, shoot second game, and I'll admit to being disappointed that -until further notice- he's let his ego deprive him of at least a couple of good seasons. That said, you have to give him his props - for his heart, his fearlessness and for being the most culturally significant athlete of the last 15 years. I suspect Iverson will pull a Favre on us, but if he doesn't, then I've really enjoyed his helter-skelter career.

A shame he's going out like Pistol Pete.

Yeah, it's just so unsatisfying. Kinda reminds me, too, of when Barry Sanders called it quits. I took it for granted that, while I wouldn't be seeing him hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy, I'd at least be seeing highlights of him for another couple of seasons.

What? Please explain.

Remember when Iverson broke Jordan's ankles during his record-breaking rookie season? Remember how some loved his fearlessness and others hated his lack of deference to the game's greatest player? That crossover was the
start of a seismic shift in basketball and the wider sports culture.

For better or worse (or better and worse), Iverson made the presence of the post-hip-hop athlete -with its positive connotations of creativity and self-expression and its stigma of poor fundamentals, selfishness and 20-deep entourages- official and undeniable. Yes, Michigan's Fab Five had started the revolution in college, and the likes of Larry Johnson, Kenny Anderson, Shawn Kemp et al had already opened the league's door to a hip-hop aesthetic, but Iverson kicked the door off its hinges and put his untied Timberlands up on the coffee table.

Remember how scared the NBA was of AI with his cornrows and tats (the latter got airbrushed off the cover of Hoop magazine, for instance)? Now every other player is drenched in ink - it's almost the accepted norm. Heck, you could argue that the NBA dress code wouldn't even have been implemented without AI standing on the sidelines in throwback jerseys large enough to cover the court. The current crop of NBA rising stars idolised AI the way AI idolised Jordan and Isaiah. From Brandon Jenning's current rookie scoring rampage to the proliferation of shooting sleeves, AI's DNA runs through the game of basketball.

Yeah, that did look a little like offensive interference on the final bucket. Of course, if Williams makes even one of those free throws....

Nice to see the Magic put the beatdown on Atlanta tonight though.

Great post, Ricardo.

Career 42% shooter, and that's including his prime, it's downhill from here. A good team isn't better by signing Allen Iverson. A bad team may be better, but not a good team.

I always liked his approach to the game and fearlessness, his personal style and thug mentality always left a lot to be desired. Oh and his early-career crossover is a carry and while it looked great it was always against the rules of the game.

You could make the argument about the dress code being related to Iverson's influence, but it's much more closely related to the the NBA's PR problem in the early aughts... The brawl blew that wide open.

Neither the Hawks nor the Suns are making much noise come playoff time, so enjoy it while it lasts.

If the Hawks steal a big man before the trade deadline, instantly they're a legit contender. That's all they lack, that consistant inside threat. Because as of now, our guard rotation and perimeter game are as dangerous as any in the league.

They also lack experience and consistent defense, one big man ain't gonna change that.

But yes, when you don't demand a double team in the post you aren't going to the finals unless your defense is like the best in the league. When you're up against Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando... I don't see it happening in the playoffs. I don't know who's out there to get to jump that hurdle, that's a lot to bank on.

Anybody foresee the Nets bombing this badly? Wow. To reach expansion team level infamy is shameful.

The Suns are making a believer out of me, and their style now doesn't have the weaknesses of the D'Antoni run and gun Suns. They play quite a bit of half court instead of relaying on the break, and actually have some defensive players. Add in the fact that they actually utilize their bench and this team looks like it's made for both the regular season and the playoffs.

I don't think they can beat the Lakers, mind you, but I also don't doubt they could beat anybody else in the West come playoff time. Does Western Conference Finals and pushing the Lakers to 6 games count as making noise?

After the last couple of years, I'll take it.

Hollinger has the Suns at #1 with his power rankings. I was as shocked as you...

The thing that has me actually taking notice is that the Suns aren't playing down to bad opponents like they ALWAYS do. Besides that New Orleans loss where Chris Paul didn't play, they've beaten every team they were supposed to beat. Not only that, they've actually blown some teams out so bad that the starters have gotten significant rest in some games. This is so out of character from the D'Antoni Suns it's amazing.

I mean, I didn't think higher than a 6 seed was remotely possible when the season began. Now I'm thinking a 2 seed is easily within reach. More credit to them for proving me wrong, but I've been really impressed every time I've watched them this season.

I did as well. Eventhough I've moved the DC area, the Nets still call asking if I want to come up for a game sometime (it all started when Will Call screwed up some tickets for my wife and I a few years ago. Basically the CFO ended up getting involved and from that point forward, we've gone to see 8 games for free- 4 games in the suites and 4 about 10 rows up).

They are desperate to put asses in seats, but no one wants to mentally invest in a team that could move to Brooklyn in a matter of a season (on top of the fact the Meadowlands is an even shittier place to watch games with all the construction going on).

Frank is a great guy and a good coach, but that team is going 12-70.

It's early is all I'm saying, indeed the Suns are beating who them need to, but they lost against the two best teams they've played and they are giving up a lot of points. But my instinct is to go negative on teams that aren't mine, I'd be lying if I said their start hasn't surprised me.

That said as a Laker fan I wouldn't mind seeing the Suns in the playoffs, not one bit, and that's not true of some other teams in the west.

As for D'Antoni's Suns... how much can you play down to your opponent when you're averaging 57 wins a year?

Hey, you're right, it's totally early. And the road to the Finals still goes through Los Angeles. As much as I hate Kobe and Phil Jackson, respect must be paid.

Edited to add: I think fans like A-Pathetic and myself are very happy to see this team do so well since it's completely unexpected. By anyone. No one had the Suns doing anything at all this year, and this start goes a long way to soothe the agony that me and Mr. A-Pathetic were going through this summer.

Are the Spurs done?

The thing is, and you'd have to have watched a lot of Suns games to really see it, the D'Antoni Suns could be counted on to play the best teams in the league close and pull a win out in the last minute in the shootout.

They could also be counted on to play the worst teams in the league close and pull a win out in the last minute in the shootout.

Nash got NO rest under D'Antoni. They'd play an awful team and you'd watch him log 40 minutes. At most he'd play 8 guys, and that's being generous and counting somebody who got 2 minutes of game time. Their style wasn't made for the playoffs, but he also completely gassed his team which wasn't fair to them. They never entered into the playoffs with enough left in the tank to play their style to the fullest. I won't get into the laundry list of excuses (some valid, some not) that Suns fans make for all those playoff runs.

You're probably right.

If I were a Suns fan I'd be surprised and loving every second of this nice season opening. And anything is possible -- really smart scoring point, shooters and slashers on the outside, bit of depth, post threat... who knows.

Spurs are an interesting case, I thought getting Jefferson would be enough to put them in the west's elite but without having seen them play this season I don't know what to expect of them as a team. 1 injury and they are a different team, and that injury can happen on multiple fronts and be hugely crippling... I suppose you could say that about everyone, but the difference is that you could consider them injury prone to an extent. Duncan may be the best pf in league history but he ain't getting any younger... lots of miles on a big man is never a good thing.

Kiki get a win tonight?

I mentioned Dallas earlier, that this is the most dangerous they've seemed in years. Kidd is back from the dead, and Dirk playing with intensity and all around game of a champion. Thoughts?

Love him or loathe him, AI gives one hell of a press conference.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4711022

Shot through the heart, and Kobe's to blame.

The Nets win! Don't call it a comeback!

(Poor Larry Brown)

The Knicks had a good week. Beat the Suns and the Hawks.

Early favorites for MVP? I agree with Kenny Smith-Carmelo Anthony.

Oh, about the Artest drinking story: what do you guys think? Smells like BS. Boy does this guy study the Rodman playbook or what!

Yeah, at this stage I'd say Carmelo, too.

As for Artest, I wouldn't be surprised if he once took a swig or two of Henny at halftime, but I highly doubt he made a habit of it. Folowing his near-naked appearance on Jimmy Kimmell, I'd say this is just the latest example of Ronald soaking up the LA spotlight.

Yea, when I saw the score with 4.3 seconds left, I KNEW the Lakers would pull it out. I didn't realize it would take such an incredibly lucky shot to do it, but I'm not surprised in the least. Plus when I found out that Fish hit a 3 right before Kobe, well, again, I wasn't surprised.

Miami missed a free throw to ice it, though, so boo on them. Nothing's worse than missed FT's in the NBA. Nothing.

I'm anti-Laker, by the way. It's just so common place for Kobe and Fish to win games like that it seems.

Yeah, my buddy and I turned to each other after and pretty much agreed we expected what had just happened. Plus, Wade's hit enough buzzer beaters to fill an entire career, and how can you really complain when Kobe's the one hitting the shot. If it was Luke Walton I would have jumped out a window.

I've never really cared much for Joakim Noah, but I'll give him props for daring to talk shit to The King.

http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports...oating/1685434

LeBron does look like a clown when he does that.

Dude can't keep his composure shooting fts in a blow-out with a little trash-talk. No wonder he doesn't have a ring.

Let's not go overboard. Neither did Oscar Robertson, Dr. J, or Jordan at the same point.

None of them were being shoved down our throats as the greatest thing since sliced bread either.

LeBron backlash... feel it!

Jordan never danced a jig on the sidelines because he is a total prick. And Joakim Noah... gimme a break. This ain't college, if you're bothered by someone dancing on the sidelines when you're getting spanked by 20 maybe you need to re-evaluate your priorities and concerns as an NBA player.

Ohhhh, you!

I'd be more worried if they showed no emotion while an opposing player was doing a jig while they were getting blown out. It seems obvious to me, Noah don't like losing that badly.