Postseason thoughts/ramblings

[Ballings7]

Avery did have his share of strange decisions, but I think it was more the players than the coach.

Kidd didn't quite fit Dallas, and made them easier to play against, less deep and versatile. Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop were key pieces to their success on both sides of the court, with Harris still young and getting better, and having a relationship with Avery along the way. Along with giving up those draft picks.

The real issue was and is moreso now, is they have to get another high-level offensive player next to Dirk to close the gap of the offensive drop off to the rest of their team. To draw defensive attention away from Dirk, and make things easier on him. As it's been shown many times over the last 5 years or so, the right kind of defense can contain him enough, and when Dirk's not scoring well, his impact on the game isn't enough. His lack of possessing a consistent low-post game, and ultimately not being able to have that ability.

Trade Howard and/or Terry (package) for somebody, or trade Dirk... they'll continue to have a relative ceiling with Dirk as the #1 guy, and with no other legit offensive side-kick.

I think getting a better team under Avery, and giving him time to learn as a young coach, would of been the best move.

[Bibbinator]

What the heck Bibby!?!
Oh well.... I still love him.

HAAAWWWWWKS! =)

[Ballings7]

Fantastic team win for the Hornets

Definitely surprised at how things went, moreso at the large loss, but Hornets just played better ultimately

Not nearly enough Duncan (part of it himself, and part of it the Hornets defnese), and just not enough overall from the Spurs

Hornets could prove to have the edge on SA in the end, but it's still quite early in the series, and can't see the Spurs playing like this much more. That'd be shocking, for sure.

[Ballings7]

Well so much for the Hawks playing their best road game of the series...

A blow-out was still pretty likely, though.

Big-time team game by Boston - I'm hyped for the Cleveland series

[KF10]

Im amazed that how badly they misused Bibby in the offense. Today's game he took only 3 shots. Heck he played the fewest minutes between the starters (Eh, Marvin played the fewest but it is due to that sprain knee).

The Hawks' offense as a whole is flawed. They are just NOT good of a team that relies on jumpshots... They dont utilize a simple PnR with Bibby (Which he excels on).

[Ballings7]

Actually the Hawks are much more of a slashing and easy basket team, they're not a solid jumpshooting team. Not consistent there.

Boston's defense forced them to be a jumpshooting team in their losses.

[KF10]

Actually the Hawks are more of a slashing and easy basket team, they're not a solid jumpshooting team. Not consistent there.

Boston's defense forced them to be a jumshooting team in their losses.

Oh, I assumed that they were actually a more jumpshooting team than a slashing/easy points team. But ok, thanks for telling me that. Boston did forced the Hawks to that. Very impressive. But either way, I still dont really like how they utilize Bibby in the playoffs... I have seen bad shot selection by the Hawks players and seen Bibby open in either corners it's not even funny...

But hey, as time progress, the Hawks will be a good team and will utilize their strengths in a consistent basis IMO.

[Ballings7]

I don't think the Spurs/Hornets series is over, but it probably will be if SA can't tie it up. I think that can legitimately be done, though.

Hornets took care of their business with another well-played team game

Duncan's getting limited by the double teams, and the capable shooters aren't hitting their shots much. Getting more solid looks than not, too. If the shooters begin knocking down the shots more, that'll open things up more for Duncan.

Be interesting to see how SA does in part two of the series...

I think Pop has to put Bowen more onto Peja... he should get bothered by him on the perimeter and more limited. Peja and West getting contained (from what they were doing previously) with Paul being basically unguardable is the most favorable scenario.

[deNIEd]

So, reading another thread on the trade boards, got me thinking.

If a deal were to come up of
B. Miller, R. Artest, B. Udrih for Miami's pick and contract fillers, would you do it?

If the pick was number 4? number 3? number 2?

For Miami's perspective, the trade would give them 3 starters who can step up and all play contender level basketball, giving Beno/Wade/Artest/Marion/Miller a team that is scary in all areas.

For the Kings, we give up 3 starters, but possibly get a franchise player. Say its the number 2 pick. We could draft Beasley and Westbrook, making our future seem great.

I dunno, tired, probably won't make sense in the morning, but the idea...what you guys think

[pillwenney]

So, reading another thread on the trade boards, got me thinking.

If a deal were to come up of
B. Miller, R. Artest, B. Udrih for Miami's pick and contract fillers, would you do it?

If the pick was number 4? number 3? number 2?

For Miami's perspective, the trade would give them 3 starters who can step up and all play contender level basketball, giving Beno/Wade/Artest/Marion/Miller a team that is scary in all areas.

For the Kings, we give up 3 starters, but possibly get a franchise player. Say its the number 2 pick. We could draft Beasley and Westbrook, making our future seem great.

I dunno, tired, probably won't make sense in the morning, but the idea...what you guys think

Miami wouldn't do it--especially with the possibility of Ron leaving. If he leaves, they just traded a nice young player (at worst, like, Mayo I guess, since they'd probably pick Lopez at 3), that could grow with Wade for an aging center a PG that they could sign anyway. Not at all realistic.

[BMiller52]

So, reading another thread on the trade boards, got me thinking.

If a deal were to come up of
B. Miller, R. Artest, B. Udrih for Miami's pick and contract fillers, would you do it?

If the pick was number 4? number 3? number 2?

For Miami's perspective, the trade would give them 3 starters who can step up and all play contender level basketball, giving Beno/Wade/Artest/Marion/Miller a team that is scary in all areas.

For the Kings, we give up 3 starters, but possibly get a franchise player. Say its the number 2 pick. We could draft Beasley and Westbrook, making our future seem great.

I dunno, tired, probably won't make sense in the morning, but the idea...what you guys think

We can't trade Beno. He's a FA and we don't have his rights. We'd also need equal salary coming back unless they're under the cap.

I wish people knew the CBA better

[ICMTM]

Miami wouldn't do it--especially with the possibility of Ron leaving. If he leaves, they just traded a nice young player (at worst, like, Mayo I guess, since they'd probably pick Lopez at 3), that could grow with Wade for an aging center a PG that they could sign anyway. Not at all realistic.

Not only that, but you have to look at the fact DWade isn't that old. If the Heat win the lottery they can get a potential perennial all-star. The kicker is when the 2009 season rolls around the Heat can offer some player a max deal. The Heat are actually in a good situation.

OR

They could even trade DWade and go younger. Taking on contracts for the Heat just doesn't make sense to me as the trade that was proposed (even though some kind of S&T with Beno would have to be worked out) on paper isn't a team I feel will win a title, or even an Eastern Conference title. With that being said I think the Heat definitely pass.

[Ballings7]

Celtics/Cavs G1...

Good game, fun game to watch if you enjoy defense

A number of big shots in there, too

Very good win by Boston, they played well enough on both sides of the court, especially defensively.

Celtics shut LBJ down - didn't let LeBron get into a rhythm and made him take tough shots

It was more of the Celtics defensive energy and focus on LeBron tonight, than it was LeBron himself.

Going to be tough for Cleveland to score consistently, because they're such a limited, ordinary offensive team. Along with Boston's defense on top of that. But Cleveland will stay in the games because of their defense. LeBron's going to have play terrific for Cleveland to win this series (like against Detroit last year).

[Ballings7]

SI.com -
SI.com reports that Mike D'Antoni has accepted the New York Knicks ' rich offer to become their new head coach. The agreement ends the competition with the Chicago Bulls , who also wanted D'Antoni to fill their coaching vacancy.

The deal is worth approximately $24 million over four years.

Dissatisfied with his situation in Phoenix, D'Antoni was still under contract with the Suns but had been given permission by the team to seek other employment.

It was believed by some that D'Antoni preferred the Bulls' talent but Sports Illustrated reports that D'Antoni had quietly let it be known that New York was just as attractive an option.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... nicks_job/

Going to be interesting to see how Pringles does with the Knicks

Getting MSG, as usual, I'll be checking them out with some regularity

If anything, I think he's a short-term guy, and eventually they'll get an expanded-style coach when it's necessary. I can't see him sticking it out there long-term, just because of his lessened priority on defense and half-court offense.

Money, money, money, mon-nay - money

CASH

[chriswebb86]

SI.com -
SI.com reports that Mike D'Antoni has accepted the New York Knicks ' rich offer to become their new head coach. The agreement ends the competition with the Chicago Bulls , who also wanted D'Antoni to fill their coaching vacancy.

The deal is worth approximately $24 million over four years.

Dissatisfied with his situation in Phoenix, D'Antoni was still under contract with the Suns but had been given permission by the team to seek other employment.

It was believed by some that D'Antoni preferred the Bulls' talent but Sports Illustrated reports that D'Antoni had quietly let it be known that New York was just as attractive an option.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... nicks_job/

Going to be interesting to see how Pringles does with the Knicks

Getting MSG, as usual, I'll be checking them out with some regularity

If anything, I think he's a short-term guy, and eventually they'll get an expanded-style coach when it's necessary. I can't see him sticking it out there long-term, just because of his lessened priority on defense and half-court offense.

Money, money, money, mon-nay - money

CASH

I think when mangement starts to understand they cant move their young players for guys who have large contracts they may start to compete.

[Ballings7]

That's a great, great win by Detroit just now, at Orlando with no Billups

Showed me wrong for sure

High-level game, too - easily one of the best of the playoffs so far

Hamilton, Prince, Rasheed, McDyess all were big-time in their ways

Hedo as king-sized as he was in that 4th qtr, went like 3 seconds too late on that last drive... still got a decent enough shot off, though.

[Cruel_Ruin]

Prince's last shot was awesome. Right in Hedo's grill

[Ballings7]

Terrific win from SA (again)

Similar to against the Suns with Amare in 05, 07, and to a lesser degree this year - with Paul being unguardable, SA are now basically letting him go, and focusing on defending everyone else. Thus making CP3 more of a scorer.

Bruce Bowen has really taken Peja off his game (as expected)

I expect the Spurs focus to be relatively solid in Game 5 - it's a new series now, not only it being 2-2, but because of the adjustments made. The Hornets probably will be more competitive over the course of the game.

I don't know how much Scott can do against the Spurs now - it'll be definitely interesting to see.

[Ballings7]

Have to give props to Ronnie Price

This guy has earned the back-up PG spot with Utah, since the 2nd half of the season, and from what I've gathered has done a decent job. Especially has done pretty well in these playoffs, being a factor multiple times in both series so far. He's making a niche for himself in this league, and will only get better overall as a player.

Glad for him

[pillwenney]

Yeah, about the Spurs-Hornets, the Spurs clearly had the game plan going in of letting Paul get his and stopping everyone else. I mean they said that going into the series, but just didn't execute it at all at first (really strange for them). In the past 2 games they actually have executed that defensive strategy and it has paid huge dividends for them.

I agree that I don't really know what NO can do differently offensively, assuming that the Spurs stay committed to this strategy. But I am interested to see if they change their strategy defensively of crashing on Duncan. That has been their strategy so far, and a lack of intensity and Chandler's foul trouble kept them from being able to execute it at all so far. I could see it working better when they get back to NO, but I wonder if they'll ever get to a point where they decide to try to go with a Spurs-esque strategy, and let Duncan get his, while trying to stop everyone else.