NBA Thread

Not really - Gretzky was pretty much forced into the trade by the Oilers owner whose other businesses were hitting hard times.

Haven't seen the ESPN doco, but if it's suggesting Gretzky moved for the money, it's full of sh*t.

Geez Cavaliers,bitter much?

I suppose it is more comparative in the hype, elation and despair of the sport's biggest player switching sports. But yeah, the more I think about it the less similar the two cases are!

Reading online i think they have every reason to feel bitter.

Why did he drag his home town team through the mud and embarrass them on national tv like he did? He basically shat all over them without ever considering how it would make them look.

Oh well, looks like he's virtually hated outside Miami now, good job, even as a Basketball outsider the whole charade looked like a f**king joke. An hour long show dedicated to someone deciding where they will play next season, what a disgrace.

What a D!CK that Cleveland owner is!

who go's out and takes his anger out in a public letter FFS. Of course, you gotta feel sorry for the Cleveland fans but c'mon give the guy a break. He wants to actually compete for a championship than compete to get in the playoffs. I agree with you Buffy with why the hell does he need 1 hour show dedicated to his decision.

yeah he obviously has an ego. that whole charade was embarassing

Erm, he did compete for the Championships in Cleveland - just didn't win them. Cavs, Celtics and Magic have been the top 3 in the East for a few years now, hasn't been a problem for any of the teams to get to the play-offs as one of the top 3 seeds.

Shaq joins Celtics, wonder if we will get a stare down between him and KG.

KG the intense, high work ethic single minded one
Shaq the jester, joker type. Does reality TV, WWE and loves media attention.

I reckon Perkins is much better, but Shaq can fill space.

With Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal arriving there's plenty more depth coming off that bench. Two very quality signings, had this happened three or four years a go it would have been massive.

Is anyone watching the FIBA championships? Stuck in the same group as the defending champs.

I'll be staying up late tomorrow to catch Canada's upcoming win over the Tall Blacks

ffs i keep forgetting its on.  Will get up to watch NZ game  tomorrow.

In other news - Melo to Rockets plz.

He'll probably turn to sh*t when he arrives.  Most players we sign do.

You can see the Tall Blacks defensive strategy of the human turnstiles. And they're pretty good at it too
linds2010-08-31 20:05:52

Good to see a small portion of kiwi's following the white noise, in tops off!!

Nah, Canada's goneski (as far as progressing to the last 16 is concerned).

Yeah I realised that an hour or so after posting. I got the scoring system wrong. LAME!

sigh just cbf getting up to watch nz games.  pressure is off a bit vs france seeing we've def qualified so i think we should have a good game tonight.

Thomas Abercrombie = awesome to watch, so athletic.  Old PC still lumping his weight around on the low post is good to see also.

Tall Blacks against Ruskies in the last 16.

Croatia up against Serbia. There will be blood.

WTF we beat France. This is quite a huge achievement, Nenad was going on about how good it was beating Lebanon and Canada but this is by far the best of this tourney. Beating a team with players like Diaw (although he is overweight atm), Batum, Gelabale.

Watched 2nd half of that game.  TBH we didnt seem to and couldnt really contain their athleticism and speed but we worked hard and hit some clutch shots.

France threatened to cut down of what was a nice lead between 8-12 points for varied periods of last 2 qtrs.  But in the end we wanted it more and France looked pretty dejected when they left the court.

In contrast, due to the tie break laws (NZ 3-2 record along with Spain and France), we had to beat France by a margin of 12 to get ahead in the points diff tie-break.  It was kinda funny because we were the ones calling all the time outs and committing fouls to try stretch a 5pt lead at one stage with about 1 - 1.30mins.  Nenad called 2x plays for Thomas Abercrombie one alleyoop and one give and go layup.  That dude can sure jump.  I dont think they resulted in baskets by him but drew fouls/were cleaned up by us.

Then finally he hit a 3pt from the corner/baseline which was epic as - it took us to that 12pt margin we needed.  France got down the other end and missed their 3pt shot. 

The importance is we play Russia instead of the host team Turkey - of which there would have been crazy mad fans and even tougher for us.

Good signs, momentum - come on you Tall Blacks!

It's mind boggling Pero Cameron is at this tournament. He was old when we made our run in 02!

For people that know more about Basketball than I, how good is this Abercrombie kid? Could be as good as Penny? Better?

"Tom Abercrombie, who had a mixed night offensively, hit a corner three with 6.9 seconds remaining, then France's Nicolas Batum rimmed out a three at the buzzer to preserve the 12-point margin at Halkapinar Arena."

Sounds like he didn't have the best of games but from what I've heard he's outstanding [I know f all about basketball too!] and he made the big 3 under pressure at the end.

I reckon making the last 8 would be a good effort.

It would be more than most expected that's for sure.

He's just really athletic ay.  I looks like he's more aggressive on offence now than when I first saw him play for the Breakers a couple of seasons ago.  That comes with experience and knowing that you are truely capable of.  But guys like Mika Vukona are also very athletic, but arent as gifted offensively and is seen as more of a defensive stopper/rebounder/shot blocker.

Did you see Tall Blacks vs Lebanon?  Go on the Fiba website, watch the highlights.  There's 1 Abercrombie dunk where he towers like MEGA high.  Impressive, but still needs more exp/refine his skills.  Can see him playing in Europe, probably too late for NBA now - then again not many make it to the NBA.

Should be pretty huge for the Breakers this year if he doesn't pick up a contract overseas.

So I'm assuming we have no Bradshaw, plus we have no Dickel and no Marks.

Bradshaw is there and was playing.  Yeah insane that PC is still there and still effective - just tanking anyone in his path then either kicking it out with a killer pass or that crazy awesome sky hook he pulled this morning (what do you mean it was travelling ;)?).

is it just USA that send a b team? was nash there for canada?

 
so big players from lots of nations are not playing? pity

Nope just the usa and nash from canada, european teams had their full squads.

Bogut.

We have Russia in the round of 16, we can win that.

I think Abercrombie is NBA material. I also think think with improvement Bradshaw could make that level.

Jamaal Magloire chose not to play for Canada either. Both he and Nash are pretty much retired from international duty these days.