Official 2012-2013 NBA Thread

[Al Bundy]

Looks like James Harden has been To the Rockets for Jeremey Lamb, Kevin Martin and future picks. Plus... this is a general NBA thread.

[RustShack]

Sweet two more games!

[dirk digler]

Durant is just killing them

Another 3.. 5/6 from 3

[okcchief]

KD found his stroke.

These teams are really close when the Clippers are full strength though. If they meet in May it will be a hell of a series.

[AdumbGuy]

Originally Posted by Peyton's Princess

exactly

notice how I didn't give you a scenario in which I think they'd be good with Kobe on the team?

I am a known Kobe hater. I think he's overrated and the most overrated considered closer to ever lace up tennis shoes.

However he's a damn good player and could be a damn good player on the right team with the right supporting cast. Trade him to Boston for Paul Pierce.

This team? As soon as they signed Steve Nash it made no sense. The only way Kobe would work is if he started shooting 40% from 3 and totally took a backseat and just became a spot up shooter. That's not his game.

It was a ****ing reeruned signing. They should have traded for Howard like they did...AND GOT PHIL JACKSON.

That was the only way this team was going to work. Phil could have reached Howard.

and Phil never would have been dumb enough to let them sign Steve Nash unless Steve Nash decided he wanted to be the new Steve Kerr and not be a PG anymore (which is plausible since Nash is every bit the shooter Kerr was)

Well put. The only benefit to Nash is that they now have a fantastic trade chip. Personally, I think Nash is also massively overrated, but I bet some GM will give up an all star caliber guy for him.

As a kobe hater as well, I'm loving the laker struggles, but very annoyed that nobody other than Robert Horry is willing to acknowledge that Kobe is playing some terrible, terrible defense, while also somehow jacking up 30 shots a game, despite having three all star caliber guys on the team.

[-King-]

Lakers 17-25 now.

[okcchief]

Another nice win for the Warriors. They executed in crunch time while OKC didn't.

[KC_Connection]

Somehow, the Los Angeles Lakers doubled down on the washed-up, banner-less legacy of the Phoenix Suns, and yet somehow they still wonder how everything could've unraveled this way. Mike D'Antoni was never the return of Showtime, but merely a mirage that came out of the desert and ultimately will blow out of Los Angeles like tumbleweed.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--fo...094336411.html

Such an awful hiring especially when you consider Phil Jackson was actually willing to come back. What a cluster**** the Lakers organization is right now.

[dirk digler]

We are not even to the All-Star break and the Lakers are imploding. Honestly I thought they would end up like the Heat and make this all work but it looks like that ain't going to happen.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...d-howard-clash
In an attempt to get out of their funk, which you may recognize better as "their entire season," the Lakers held a team meeting on Wednesday to try and "clear the air," ESPN reports. It didn't go well. In particular, there is a strong and significant conflict between Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.

I know. You're shocked. Me too. From ESPN:

Several players spoke up, including Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, the 17-year veterans who make up the Lakers' backcourt. Bryant asked Dwight Howard if he was bothered by playing alongside him, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the meeting.
"I hope it is (a positive thing)," D'Antoni told reporters before the game. "That's the purpose of just trying to move forward, and hopefully it is. We'll see. We're in a rut right now, so the time to stand up, draw a line in the sand would be now."
Bryant acknowledged he could be "hard to play with," according to the Times, and challenged Howard to speak up if he had a problem with it.
Howard was "despondent" and did not offer much of a reply to Bryant, according to a team source.

So a five-time NBA champion, former MVP and the second-greatest shooting guard and Laker of all time challenges you to stand up and voice your opinion... and you don't say much.

There's a growing sentiment in media circles and slowly leaking out the sides of the Lakers organization that the problem with chemistry, the problem with attitude, the problem with effort is Howard. For all of Pau Gasol's struggles, at least Gasol has been asked to repeatedly adjust to things that aren't what he asked for. Howard asked for this. He wanted out of Orlando, and wanted onto a superteam in a big market.

He got it. And all the responsibility that comes with it.

The report also states that recently Howard was complaining on the bench about his shots, a teammate brought Bryant over, and Howard wouldn't admit his complaints to Bryant.

Which does not paint Howard in a very good light.

The Lakers went on to get stomped by the Grizzlies Wednesday night, 106-93. They are eight games under .500.

And the water keeps rising.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

We are not even to the All-Star break and the Lakers are imploding. Honestly I thought they would end up like the Heat and make this all work but it looks like that ain't going to happen.

Aww. Poor Dwight Howard.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Aww. Poor Dwight Howard.

Howard is the new #1 villian in the NBA. I honestly dislike this guy.

[okcchief]

Dwight Howard over the last few years has proven to be a selfish bitch. The Lakers would have been better off keeping Bynum even though he hasn't played all year, and isn't a model team mate himself. I wouldn't touch Howard if I was a quality team right now.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by okcchief

Dwight Howard over the last few years has proven to be a selfish bitch. The Lakers would have been better off keeping Bynum even though he hasn't played all year, and isn't a model team mate himself. I wouldn't touch Howard if I was a quality team right now.

I agree. Though I will defend Howard a little bit when you only get 5 shots during a game that is a problem especially when Kobe is taking 22 and only making 7, and he was 0-6 from 3.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

I agree. Though I will defend Howard a little bit when you only get 5 shots during a game that is a problem especially when Kobe is taking 22 and only making 7, and he was 0-6 from 3.

If that is the case confront him directly. Don't tell other teammates and the media. Talk to Kobe. He's a little boy.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--fo...094336411.html

Such an awful hiring especially when you consider Phil Jackson was actually willing to come back. What a cluster**** the Lakers organization is right now.

I was against Howard a few days ago, but if he's saying I'll walk if MDA is here, you fire MDA and take the 25 mill hit with him and Brown.

For a franchise valued at 1 billion, spending that on coaches hurts, but it's not a death blow.

Keeping MDA around here is doing more harm. Harm that will take years to fix if Howard bolts and they get nothing.

[The Bad Guy]

How Jim Buss is still allowed to make any recommendations is beyond me.

That's 0-2 with 2 huge swings and a miss. Hitching the wagon to a 39 year old PG?

You can't make this stuff up.