sas45champs

First off, I'm late by a month, but I'd just like to say that we'll be back. The Spurs. Will. Be. Back. Sure, the postseason was probably the worst a Spurs fan could ever hope for. Not only did we lose in the first round, but Dallas also won a championship. I thought I'd live my whole life before I saw that. Seriously, I was looking forward to it. Eh, so Z-Bo shat on us that round. That doesn't mean the reign is over. Dallas themselves lost in '07, but they didn't quit. They made moves. Adjustments. And look where that got them. So Parker, I hope you're pulling some "expect the worst, then you'll be pleasantly surprised" trick when you say your own team is done. Man, I've just lost so much respect for him this season. I know what you're saying. The Spurs are an old team with old players and an old coach that plays an old game. But one move could change everything, because people forget(or, the dumb ones forget) what the front office is capable of. I'm not too sure about Cory Joseph, but I wasn't sure about Hill when they drafted him either. Leonard is a great add. The offseason is already starting off well, and hopefully the FO has put everything else in the past. It's interesting to see what else they're going to do. Parker has been in trade talks for a while. I don't know who they are targeting in terms of what type of point guard to replace him, but I'm sure they'll find someone decent. There's no one else like Parker in the league that's up for trade, that's for sure. Jefferson needs to leave. Even the Spurs are realizing that now. He can't hit the big shots when we need them; I've seen it over and over again this season. Open three, Jefferson miss. He seems to hit threes whenever the Spurs aren't on a run or getting run on. Those runs are the differences in games. Speaking of runs, Parker's the runner. There was plenty of good fast break action this year. Once again, how they will replace him, we will see, and it will be interesting. Oh yeah, back to the old team part. Duncan's past his prime, Manu's declining, blah blah blah. I've only been hearing that for the past 5 years. When are you people going to understand that age isn't what is really hurting the Spurs? You think that just because someone's minutes are being taken and their points are dropping that their quality as a player is dropping? The veteran teams in the league know they need to conserve their stars to win. Even Dirk and Kobe finally started losing some minutes. So while the Heat and teams alike try to put on a show during the regular season and win some fancy NBA first team awards and be in the spotlight, the smart teams will stay under the radar until the postseason(although the Spurs somehow had a top record). I mean, what you see in the stats depicts Duncan as losing not one step but 3 or 4. But in reality, he's hitting the same shots he's been hitting his whole career(albeit, less dunks than his early years) and the offense still runs through him. He's just taking less and less shots, but that's not a problem if someone else is hitting them. Duncan's points dropped (significantly) this year, and yet the Spurs were ranked 6th in points per game this year? There's got to be more value to him than just the points he scores, it's his versatility. As a passer, he can find the right players, whether they're wide open behind the arc or on the move to the basket, and then one thing will lead to another. Manu's the second key to the offense. He does it all on offense - shooting, driving, passing, moving w/o the ball - and does it very well. Unlike Duncan, he also has a big role in the fast break game. Manu (and Parker) keeps the defense on their heels. Honestly, there's so much behind the stats that make Duncan and Manu key to the offense that I doubt the Spurs would want to trade them anytime soon. No one wants a bunch of washed up old guys anyways right? Anyways, I'm done ranting for now. If you're wondering who the hell I am and why I wrote such a long post then, well I used to post around forums but go in and out. When I become interested in talking about basketball again, I come back. And I haven't felt more intrigued for months. I told you, it would be interesting, didn't I? Alright, I might disappear again soon. And Spurs, please don't make me regret posting this come next April.

Hill was never going to be the future. His versatility and role as a backup was perfect for the Spurs, and will be missed. But I never saw him becoming a star. As for Leonard, a young guy with some athletic talent on the boards and defensive end suits well for the Spurs. Can't shoot though. So much of the Spurs success(and other teams) comes from outside shooting.

Yeah, NFL 2K5 was the greatest football game ever, even better than today's [expletive]ty Madden. [expletive] Madden...did I say Madden? I meant monopoly-game-that-sucks-so-bad-that-it-has-to-buy-the-football-license-so-2k-can't-make-games. Well 2k doesn't just sit back when they don't have competition, at least I hope they won't.

Yeah I got that too...also there's this funny glitch that I encountered... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urHc9nIreWc I was actually laughing when this happened to me and my friend I was all like haha look it's the glitch! Cause plenty of glitches I've seen in the past few years of 2K(there is never a 2k game without a big glitch), but some of them I've never actually had, like the inbounding the ball problem in 2k9.

Doesn't it make your mic sound all weird? I thought my friend had got a new mic or something when he was talking to me, and he thought I got a new mic. A lot of other people I know have said stuff about the sound quality

http://www.blogcdn.com/nba.fanhouse.com/media/2010/03/bird-magic-0310-420.jpg Magic and Bird is by far the best rivalry. First they meet up with each other in the NCAA championship in '79. Then there goes years of Lakers-Celtics in the finals. There hasn't ever been anything like that where the same two teams are just making the finals every year. They didn't hate each other; they loved beating each other though. They were actually great friends, but there was that competitiveness, because those were the days that it was debated who was the better player, and both had that desire to show each other up. These guys even checked each others box scores and wanted to beat each other night in and night out. About the part about the better player(BTW some of these reasons are why I question why people are so quick to put Magic over Bird all the time), well we see that in today's NBA. But today's NBA, first off, it's hardly about playing basketball anymore. Everything that's important to players is 1. Media and 2. Money. It's not about playing basketball for the love of the game. That's why Kobe-LeBron rivalry isn't nearly as great even though Magic has interviewed Kobe-LeBron about their "rivalry." Let alone Wade-LeBron, what? I'd even put Kobe-Shaq before either of those. Wilt - Russell rivalry was a good rivalry because Russell was probably the only player in the league that could stop Wilt. But the NBA wasn't exactly as competitive then. Shaq-Duncan might have sparked a little with Shaq's recent comment that he doesn't really care how many rings Kobe has, he cares how many Duncan has. But it's still just Bird Magic no question.

Maybe I am, cause I'm not a Knicks fan. And I said that he was talented, I'm not denying how exciting he was to watch. But I personally was never a fan of his style of play. To me, he played like he was increasing his status for other teams to look for him. Actually, I liked how he played, but I didn't like how he played. Does that make sense? I mean he had a good style of play in terms of what he could do when he wanted to score, but he was either hot or cold all the time, and he never showed me he was a true #1 option. Crawford actually took smart shots when he was playing in Atlanta though. Humbling doesn't mean he took less shots, humbling means he didn't think of himself as a god even when he was on fire. Looks he would have taken in NY he passed up. And yes, he is a cancer on defense. The thing about Crawford as a defender...you can hardly call him a defender. The only thing you can call him is a ballhawk. Alright, I can see why Knicks fans would miss him. If he was in New York right now he'd be in a much better situation than years ago, because he would actually have some teammates. But based on his performance...well Jordan said his(Jordan) game was fire, not flash. Crawford had the fire, he had the flash, but when he had one, he didn't always have the other. And most of the time that was flash, not fire.

Yeah, all the Timberwolves pick are talented players, not productive ones. By productive, I don't mean the number of points and rebounds, otherwise Love would be very production. I mean the players that do the right things and lead the team for them to win. I think Wesley Johnson might be the first leader they've drafted in recent years that has played a game for them. Like I said in another topic, the Wolves just stock up draft picks every year. When they traded KG, it was a step in the right direction because they were getting quality in Al Jeff. But when they decided to trade Al Jeff again, I can't see why they would do that. And heck, for my money, even undrafted Anthony Tolliver is better than half those players above, including Beasley. I proclaim Beasley a bust. Well that might be an overstatement, but I definitely don't see him as the type of player you want to start to rebuild a franchise. Especially not when he makes comments like this and doesn't appear to give a [expletive].

Meh, I don't see why you guys miss him. Anyone can make an incredible highlight film and average some decent stats and still be a cancer to their team. I give him credit for being an explosive offensive player, but streaky and inefficient. Why would you want someone that can score 20 points in 20 shots when instead you can get quality shots from an entire team sharing the ball and getting 20 points in 10-15 shots? He's doing so well on the Hawks because he's coming off the bench and that humbles and motivates him to perform better than when New York looked to him as a #1 scorer. And he was a SG that tried to be a PG when he was playing in New York. Actually, he's not even a cancer on offense. Plenty of players in the league take their share of bad shots and make a few poor decisions. He's a cancer on defense. How can someone so athletic and so quick be only an average defender? He doesn't give his full effort on defense, which is half of the entire game. Crawford was the Larry Hughes of New York during his tenure there. Whenever Hughes wasn't looking to be a #1 guy, he was a solid next option to any real star, which the Knicks didn't have until now. They were both really streaky and both able to get the crowd excited, but in the end it didn't translate to wins. Both were mediocre on-ball defenders. I might even go as far to say that he resembled a poor man Allen Iverson, trying to do too much for a team he thought didn't have enough talent, when he was in New York. There are so many players in the league that have the talent but don't play hard enough or up to their best and smartest ability to push their teams to win.

Dude what's up man? The Spurs big three each played less than 30 minutes. Jefferson is showing us something this year. Gary Neal has been really good, whenever the Spurs sign/draft a player they always know they have something good. I can definitely live with games like this where our stars don't look like they played well on paper but they were productive in the time they were given to preserve their health, while our bench picked up the pace. And of course we get the win.

Wednesday, November 3rd Milwaukee @ Boston (ESPN) Winner: Boston Leading rebounder: Andrew Bogut LA Lakers @ Sacramento (ESPN) Winner: Lakers Player with most turnovers: Tyreke Evans Thursday, November 4th New York @ Chicago (TNT) Winner: Chicago Leading scorer: Amare Stoudemire Oklahoma City @ Portland (TNT) Winner: Portland Leading passer: Westbrook Friday, November 5th Chicago @ Boston (ESPN) Winner: Boston Leading rebounder: Noah LA Clippers @ Denver (ESPN) Winner: Clippers Player that makes the most threes: Gordon Saturday, November 6th New Jersey @ Miami Winner: Miami Player with the most turnovers: Harris

Kobe? Kobe has been injury free, and he's the best player in basketball. And what do you expect from Duncan? 25/15? 30/15? Duncan's not the only one who gets touches, you know. And no, he's not as dominant, but yes, he brings production every game, no matter what you don't see out of 19/9. Well I don't know why you would mention rebounds since that has nothing to do with how the man is guarding him. The thing about numbers: they're misleading. I'm sure you looked at everyone's splits stats. Notice how it says "vs. sas", not "vs. Tim Duncan?" Don't you think that suggests that those numbers are vs. the team as a whole? Maybe you should think about how the three players you mentioned are not one-on-one players. All three get points from put-backs, pick-and-roll/pop plays. Duncan is the best one-on-one post defender in the league. He can only do so much to contest someone's shot. And yes, those players are much more athletic than Duncan, but it's not like they're waltzing into the lane, barely jumping, and not even trying to make the shot. He makes them work. There's just too much talent in the league for a 34 year old man to force younger players to shoot 40% from the field without fouling them; all he can do is go up with both arms. All the players today can adjust their shot over or around the arms of a defender. Lol@Bosh/Amare carrying a team. Carrying them to what? Just because they have fresher legs doesn't make them better. I'd take 20/10 in 30 minutes over 20/10 in 35 minutes. Besides, I know you've said that Duncan is not as good a defender as was, and yeah I suppose that's true. But Amare and Bosh won't even be able to reach the level of defense that Duncan is in 5 years, or have the basketball IQ.

Alright, yeah this games done. Spurs 3rd quarters are really their biggest weakness. I don't know whether it is due to complacency or what. I don't get why they aren't coming out strong to start; people say they don't play well when they are tired, but that doesn't make sense if they are coming out of the locker room at the half. I saw a very good Richard Jefferson today, I think I will be a lot more pleased with him this season. Gary Neal hit some good threes. Manu was Manu. Hill played well. Everyone else seemed to struggle. And Pops kept Duncan out for a long time. I give the Spurs credit for almost coming back but they need to play consistent through the whole game.

Awful 3rd quarter, but we're coming back now in the fourth.

It's not the fact that his body can't handle more than 30 minutes, it's just that they don't want him to get injured. Each of the Spurs big 3 are taking cuts in minutes, but their bodies are actually in great shape. Same with carrying the load, it's not that he can't do it when he's called upon, but why not let everyone get their numbers? His defense is just as great as always. Making someone miss is the same as blocking their shot, but they don't have a stat for the number of times players make people miss. No offense, but the fact of taking Amare and Bosh over Duncan is an insult to his game. Maybe it's because Duncan doesn't appear to be explosive...but Duncan has never appeared to be explosive. He's played just about the exact same game his entire career. Amare and Bosh just aren't leaders. I don't see it from them. I can't see the Knicks slipping into the playoffs this year, and when Bosh was on the Raptors instead of dealing with a problem he just wanted out.

I remember both you guys. And Thanks

Yeah I think I remember you somewhere...idk it's been a while