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[Loki]

'Right behind Shaq'
The Mavericks don't just have a center. Erick Dampier is, according to Erick Dampier, the best center in the Western Conference.

Some — including 1.3 billion experts in China — might argue.

Regardless, Dampier said he is the second-best center in the NBA, allowing Shaquille O'Neal an edge.

"I consider myself right behind Shaq," Dampier said. "Some people are going to say top three, but personally, I consider myself the second best."

You know there's a dearth of good big men out there when averaging 15 and 11 for a single season makes you the "second best center in the league".

And yet McDyess still beat him with nine blocks

Nine? Wow, hopefully he's getting his game back; if it weren't for his injuries, he would've been a top 3 or 4 PF in the league right now.

 

[Cloudy]

Wow, the Heat play 3 shitty teams to start the season and that means Shaq's made them a title contender (even when it's Wade that's been going off?) :lol

Going shot for shot with the Wizards in the final minutes? Yeah, the NBA is soooooooooo scared

 

[DarienA]

Wow, the Heat play 3 shitty teams to start the season and that means Shaq's made them a title contender (even when it's Wade that's been going off?) :lol

Going shot for shot with the Wizards in the final minutes? Yeah, the NBA is soooooooooo scared

Isn't it kinda early in the season for this Konex?

 

[Cloudy]

Doesn't seem too early to be overrating the Miami Heat on BSPN

 

[Miguel]

:lol

Konex is hopeless.

 

[Zep]

Wow, the Heat play 3 shitty teams to start the season and that means Shaq's made them a title contender (even when it's Wade that's been going off?) :lol

Going shot for shot with the Wizards in the final minutes? Yeah, the NBA is soooooooooo scared

you unhappy scrappy?

 

[Incognito]

Cute avatar, Shinobi.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Fifty]

Am I missing something? It just looks like a picture of a quarter to me.

 

[Matlock]

It's the Mountie Memorial quarter, I think. Also, I think that LS is busting him because it has a flower in it.

 

[Incognito]

Bingo, Matlock. In fact, that's all I see -- a big flowery flower in Shinobi's avatar. Never knew him to be so "artsy".

 

[Fifty]

Raptors off to another great start. 51 points at the half....with 30 bench points. With Bonner in the mix, we now have two big men who can shoot the 3, which is a great bonus. This team is no longer one-dimensional. Milt, who I trashed before the season, is proving me wrong. Still needs to work on the turnovers, but his style of play works well in this offense.

 

[pestul]

Hmm, just watching a webcast.. seems like it's slipping away now (Raps & Blazers).

 

[pestul]

90-89.. Portland.. come on Carter, finish strong!

 

[Ramirez]

Sixers got slapped down again last night,things are lookin real good!

The only good thing is that we are in quite possibly the worst divison in the history of sports

 

[Fifty]

Whew! Raptors win Raptors win!

I managed to sneak into this thread even though the forum is going insanely slow.

Vince Carter with a CLUTCH 3 to secure the win...followed by a 10 minute long series of fouls and free throws that would get anyone excited Vince has been amazing in the fourth qtr...maybe not in 4th qtr stats (only 9 in tonight's 4th) but he has locked in two wins for us with his clutch shooting.

Zach Randolph owned us inside, we really had nothing to counter with....but our bench scored 40 points, and once again the 16 games under .500 Raptors score 100+ for the win!

 

[Fifty]

Fuck....Crazy forums and a double post. Uh.... GO RAPS!

Here we go with the notes from today's game, as always with the Blazers, they're interesting.

A Raptors' PR official sang the national anthems after the scheduled singer didn't show on time. ... The Blazers' plane left Portland at 8 a.m. Saturday, and Randolph said he woke up at 8:45 a.m. ``The alarm clock didn't go off,'' Randolph said. ``I can't help it if the alarm clock doesn't go off. Stuff like that happens. Hey, I'm here now.''

Good ol' Zach.


I'll use this extra post to give you some bad news

"The attendance of 13,863 was the smallest home crowd in the Raptors' 10-year history. "

WTF?! Well we're 3-0...I'm going to their next home game, and more people should show up. Our city has no excuses, the Leafs aren't even playing!!

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

Flash Animation: Four ways Tim Duncan drives the Spurs offense

Tim Duncan - routinely extraordinary

Duncan consistently finds ways to amaze.

Somewhere between the Kevin Garnett coronation, the Detroit Pistons revolution, and Shaquille O'Neal's first merengue lesson, Tim Duncan anonymously slid back into the practice gym and became the absolute best basketball player on the planet so far for the 2004-05 season.

He didn't try any new tricks like behind-the-back passes or reverse dunks. He didn't dye his hair or add any body ink or pierce any extremity. Nor did he demand a trade, fire his coach or get arrested for jay walking.

He practiced his bank shot. Then he practiced it some more. Sometime in between, he worked in a few free throws. He did what Tim Duncan does.

In case you missed it, the Spurs power forward took 17.1 shots per game last year. He took 17.1 shots per game the year he won his second MVP award and his second
NBA title. Over his career, he's taken, well, 17.1 shots per game.

To put that in perspective, Tracy McGrady averaged 23.3 shots per game last year.

Garnett averaged 19.6 while also leading his team in rebounding, steals, blocks and minutes.

Kobe Bryant averaged 18.1 with Shaq in the lineup.

Peja Stojakovic, a player who took 6.8 three-pointers per game, averaged 17.1 shots per game.

Duncan, the most-polished player on the planet, was taking the same amount of shots per game as some Eastern European sharpshooter.

And speaking of that career, he's played seven NBA seasons, made seven All NBA first teams and seven All-Defensive squads. He's won two league MVP awards and two NBA titles. The surprising aspect is that Duncan has averaged only 22.8 points per game over that career and never more than 25.5 in any one season. Those numbers are good, perhaps, great, but not immortal. They are not fitting for a guy described by the first sentence of this paragraph.

Heck, Baron Davis averaged 22.9 points per game last year.

Allan Houston averaged 22.5 the year before that.

Antoine Walker averaged 22.1 the year before that. And they've got no All-NBA first team citations. There's not one all-defensive team, NBA MVP or championship among them.


But that's just the Duncan we've come to know and love and wonder what was really going on behind that stoic face and calm demeanor.

Where other players dealt in quantity, he preferred quality. Instead of cacophony, he strived for consistency. He's never led the league in scoring or rebounding but over the last seven seasons, no player has more double-doubles.

So why would anyone ever expect any no-look passes or fancy reverse dunks from him?

We expected 17.1 shots per game. We expected more double-doubles. We expected him to ease into the season unnoticed, a reputed slow starter, warm up and unceremoniously push his team deep into the playoffs.

So in his first preseason game of the new year, he scores 16 points and grabs eight rebounds. It's preseason. That;s typical for any returning All-Star. Two games later, he scores 18 points and grabs 11 rebounds. Two games after that, he scores 15 points and grabs nine rebounds.

By the end of preseason, he was averaging a very Duncan-like 18.6 points and 7.6 boards as a warm up for regular season No. 8.

What we didn't notice was that he was scoring those points and grabbing those rebounds in only 25.6 minutes per game.

He was shooting 63.2- percent from the field. November's notorious sleeper was absolutely on fire coming out of October.

But this was Duncan. We didn't see any highlights on SportsCenter. He didn't dunk over any Frenchman over the summer, didn't show up at the MTV Music Awards and sit behind J-Lo and in front of P-Diddy while singing back up to Ciarra.

Besides, Duncan always starts slow and by the time the first regular season game of the year rolled around on November 3, we knew what to expect.

He missed his first shot against the Kings.

He also missed his third. Over the next six minutes of the first quarter of the first game of the season, he never took another shot.

He made a few free throws but after two fouls, he was forced to the bench with one basket on 33-percent shooting.

A typical Duncan start. Right?

He returned about three minutes into the second quarter and soon dunked the ball. He made a hook shot. That was followed by another hook and a turnaround jumper.

Something different was happening.

A finger roll followed, an offensive rebound and put back and we were seeing a different Duncan.

In 7:20 of play in the second quarter, he scored 12 points on 6 of 6 shooting and the Spurs went on to whip the Kings, 101-85. Duncan finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds -- another double-double. He also connected on 64.7 percent of his field-goal attempts.

But here's the crazy part.

He's scoring more, exerting himself more, impacting the game as a whole even more. But look right there in the boxscore, to the right of his name, behind the points, in front of the rebounds.

Exactly 17 shots in the game.

I pity the fool who doesn't consider Duncan the greatest player in the planet.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I pity the fool who doesn't consider Duncan the greatest player in the planet.

Garnett > Duncan.

I find it funny that people are complaining about Duncan being overlooked last year, when it was like the only season Garnett was in the spotlight. Every year, Garnett has been in Duncan's shadow, due to the Wolves' lack of success compared to the Spurs. It's about time KG got the recognition he deserved.

 

[AirBrian]

Not to sound like a delusional Lakers fan, but I’m gonna say the Mavs are looking really good so far. If they keep playing defense like they are now, watch out West!

Oh, and Devon Harris = rookie of 3 games!

 

[Matrix]

Portland Trail Blazers Zach Randolph (L) reacts to seeing Toronto Raptors'' Morris Peterson's left nut during first half NBA action in Toronto, November 7, 2004. Randolph had a game-high 33 points,but was never the same after that in a losing effort for the Trail Blazers. The Raptors defeated the Trail Blazers 101-97.

 

[AirBrian]

"Let me touch your Raptor."

 

[Eminem]

Garnett > Duncan.

I find it funny that people are complaining about Duncan being overlooked last year, when it was like the only season Garnett was in the spotlight. Every year, Garnett has been in Duncan's shadow, due to the Wolves' lack of success compared to the Spurs. It's about time KG got the recognition he deserved.

I'll take Duncan over Garnett any day. Duncan is much more a team player. Not that Garnett is selfish or anything...guy is one of the top 3 in the league...but I'll take Duncan. He won't jack a guy in the face for scoring on him =p

 

[Matlock]

:lol?!

 

[GaimeGuy]

I'll take Duncan over Garnett any day. Duncan is much more a team player. Not that Garnett is selfish or anything...guy is one of the top 3 in the league...but I'll take Duncan. He won't jack a guy in the face for scoring on him =p

heh. Or will he?

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

What a stinker by the Spurs, so far. They didn't show up to play, especially TD and Barry.

Oh well, I was actually surprised to see them playing so in synch this early, so I guess it's back to a normal season start for SA.

 

[Fifty]

We are never going to hear the end of this from Incognito. Sonics beating the Spurs, oh boy.

 

[Matrix]

We are never going to hear the end of this from Incognito. Sonics beating the Spurs, oh boy.

We can all put him on ignore till we think its safe to read his posts again

 

[bionic77]

God, the Hawks are the worst team in the NBA. I am guessing 9 wins.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

SonicsOwned!

Oh well, I can draw a couple of positive things from this game. Despite his awful shooting performance(Carmelo-esque? [face_tongue]), TD seems to be much more comfortable at the line going 9-10 tonight, and Manu seems to be finding some much needed consistency and slowly becoming the solid 2nd scoring option of the team. Oh yeah, Tony kinda woke up too.

 

[bionic77]

SonicsOwned!

Oh well, I can draw a couple of positive things from this game. Despite his awful shooting performance(Carmelo-esque? [face_tongue]), TD seems to be much more comfortable at the line going 9-10 tonight, and Manu seems to be finding some much needed consistency and slowly becoming the solid 2nd scoring option of the team. Oh yeah, Tony kinda woke up too.

Who was guarding TD tonight?

 

[Poody]

Lakers coulda beaten the spurs. Too bad refs let the spurs get away with too many fouls.
Lakers gona own the hawks tonight. So many highlights in the 1st half already.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

Lakers coulda beaten the spurs. Too bad refs let the spurs get away with too many fouls.
Lakers gona own the hawks tonight. So many highlights in the 1st half already.

Don't kid yourself, fanboy. The Spurs manhandled the Lakers since tip-off until the last second. But in typical Spurs fashion, when they get a big lead, they let down their guard for a moment. What happened tonight is the kind of game any great team can suffer any day. They came out flat. In contrast to the Sonics who played well and shot great.

 

[Poody]

In that case we shall wait till the mailman comes back and he'll make TD his bitch like last season. We just need to get more playing time so the team can gel.

 

[Fifty]

Lakers coulda beaten the spurs. Too bad refs let the spurs get away with too many fouls.
Lakers gona own the hawks tonight. So many highlights in the 1st half already.

I think the Bobcats will own the hawks when they play them. That team is just awful

 

[Bowser]

I think when people were trying to say the Bobcats were going to challenge the record for least wins in a season, they forgot about the Hawks. I seriously believe the Bobcats will have a better record then the Hawks.

edit: BTW, are the Sonics scizophrenic or something? Blown out by the Clippers, but defeating the Spurs...wtf?

 

[Poody]

man there aught to be a law against kevin willis to be in that good of shape.

 

[Cloudy]

I warned you, Loki

 

[Loki]

I warned you, Loki

About what? They just showed the scores on ESPNews, and it said there was 9:30 left in the 4th quarter, Kobe had 13 points and 5 rebounds. Unless they made a mistake.


Not exactly a stellar showing; of course, he's entirely capable of putting up 15-20 points the rest of the way.

 

[retardboy]

Kobe isn't shooting this game, he's throwing out assists and getting people involved. Very entertaining game.

 

[DMczaf]

They need to rename the Hawks to the Atlanta Isos :lol

 

[Loki]

Kobe isn't shooting this game, he's throwing out assists and getting people involved. Very entertaining game.

Oh, ok-- I just figured that if he had a lot of assists, they would have shown that instead of the whopping 5 rebounds. That's cool, then. At least they'll win the game.

 

[Poody]

Hawks suck... Now atleast we cant go 1-19 like last years magic

 

[bionic77]

Lakers are turning the ball way over way too much. I think that number will go down once we get Vlade back and run the offense through him. Odom is a good scorer, but he doesn't make good decisions. I think Slava comes back for the next game, homefully that pale bastard will get some rebounds instead of just jacking it up everytime he touches it.

 

[Boomer]

Kobe only shot 12 times, what is going on?

 

[Loki]

Kobe only shot 12 times, what is going on?

Because he realized that that's the only way he can shoot > 40%. It's ok though, the refs sucked him off again by giving him 12 trips to the line. His season average is now "only" 15 FT's per game.

 

[Poody]

NBA Farm system!!!

The NBA doesn't guarantee playing time for everyone who skips college and goes straight to the pros.

Detroit's Darko Milicic and the Trail Blazers' Travis Outlaw, among many others, have discovered that. The second-year pros have done far more sitting than playing, which doesn't seem to be doing them, or the league, much good.

NBA commissioner David Stern is working on a plan to create a true minor league system -- similar to the systems used in major league baseball and the NHL -- that would allow player movement between the NBA and the league-owned National Basketball Developmental League.

Stern said this week that he envisions a system with 15 development league teams, each affiliated with two NBA clubs, in which players under the age of 23 or those rehabilitating injuries could be assigned while still earning an NBA salary.

"The players have not warmly embraced the idea as of yet," Stern said Tuesday while attending the Detroit Pistons' opener. "But we hope by constantly repeating it, it will get better."

NBDL president Phil Evans has discussed the commissioner's plan and recognizes what a direct NBA-to-NBDL affiliation could mean to his league.

"The biggest appeal is the potential for star power," Evans said. "As with minor league baseball, you could have some pretty big names coming down and spending some time rehabilitating injuries with NBDL teams. And depending on how the age-limit question gets resolved, you could have some pretty good players in the league who will ultimately be NBA superstars."

Evans said Outlaw is a good example.

"Most people would be in agreement that if he could be playing competitively somewhere and the team could still have the rights to him and could pull him up any time they needed him that it would make sense," Evans said.

Blazers general manager John Nash endorses the plan.

"It would certainly bode well in this day and age when so many younger players come in and have to basically earn their minutes in practice, and get so little opportunity to play in meaningful game situations," Nash said. "Right now, there are a lot of players languishing on other teams' rosters that I can't tell you whether they can or can't play, because they haven't played.

"So, to me, it makes sense. I think anybody who runs an organization would welcome the opportunity to get valuable experience for their younger guys or allow a player coming off an injury to get back in the groove by playing a few games at the minor league level."

Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said there are several young players around the league who might develop more quickly with the help of a minor league system.

"If you're in a situation where there's a lot of pressure on you to win or jockeying for playoff position, it's tough to play and develop young guys," Dunleavy said. "Even when you want to do it, it's tough to do. But if you had their rights and you had a good staff that's teaching them someplace else, they're going to become more ready.

"Guys develop and learn a lot from being around it and playing in practice, but it would also be nice for them to be able to get real significant minutes."
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/1099745829326700.xml

IF you ask me its a great idea. Althought some players earning nba type salaries is questionable.

 

[etiolate]

I don't know how sharing teams will work though as NBA teams have different systems and part of that development is learning the system. A player could maybe get more shots and game time in a minor league like that, but he'll still be clueless when he joins his NBA squad.

 

[Ripclawe]

If they can make the farm system focus on the fundamentals of the game and not worrying about different systems, this would be a great idea.

 

[Shinobi]

I doubt that'll be the case...any minor league coach is trying to improve his own stock, and he'll improve it a lot quicker by winning then by teaching. That's why no one in college is learning anything either...the premium is on winning, because that's how the colleges make the big bucks. And if you don't win, you're fired.

Nine? Wow, hopefully he's getting his game back; if it weren't for his injuries, he would've been a top 3 or 4 PF in the league right now.

Well I got the names mixed up...it was Ratliff that had the nine blocks on Friday. Had five blocks today as well, including a disgusting two handed job on Bosh.

Wow, the Heat play 3 shitty teams to start the season and that means Shaq's made them a title contender (even when it's Wade that's been going off?) :lol

Going shot for shot with the Wizards in the final minutes? Yeah, the NBA is soooooooooo scared

Weren't you going off on how world beating Kobe and the Lakers looked during PRESEASON??? :lol Not that I disagree...the Heat are extremely overrated at the moment.

Bingo, Matlock. In fact, that's all I see -- a big flowery flower in Shinobi's avatar. Never knew him to be so "artsy".

Heh, it's far from artsy...in Canada, Australia and the UK, it's a very important symbol of Remembrance Day, which falls on November 11 (obviously the same date as US Veteran's Day...also happens to be my birthday).

Remembrance Day
Poppies

In May 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps was working in a dressing station on the front line to the north of Ieper, Belgium, when he wrote In Flanders Fields:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.




In 1918 Moira Michael, an American, wrote a poem in reply, We shall keep the faith, in which she promised to wear a poppy 'in honour of our dead' and so began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance.

It was French YMCA Secretary, Madame Guerin, who in 1918 conceived the idea of selling silk poppies to help needy soldiers.

Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for those who had been incapacitated by the war.

Garnett > Duncan.

Nah...KG's close and more versatile, but TD's more polished, more cerebral, and can score or make a pass out of a double or triple team in the clutch.

Lakers coulda beaten the spurs. Too bad refs let the spurs get away with too many fouls.

And what do ya know...the Raptors are one of six teams standing with a 3-0 record. Who would've thought that, particularly with such a tough opening home stand? 0-3 wasn't out of the question at all for this bunch.

Vince Carter showed once again why he is indeed a great player, despite more and more idiots thinking otherwise. The step back three he dropped with 5 seconds left to break the tie was just a thing of beauty. It was probably an ill-advised shot, but the sort of shot that a player with stones will fire when he's confident. Great contributions by the bench and supporting cast as well, something that's been seriously lacking for a few years now. Now the west coast trip from hell begins...Sactown Tuesday, Utah Wednesday, Seattle Friday. Like I said before, if they can go 2-4 on this trip I'd be more then happy. If they go 3-3 or even better, then people will have to change their opinion on their potential fortunes.

It's ironic that in their tenth season, the Raptors go 3-0 for the first time ever, in front of their smallest home crowd ever. What's funnier is that some teams would kill for the 13,000 and change drawn today.

 

[Bat]

Because he realized that that's the only way he can shoot > 40%. It's ok though, the refs sucked him off again by giving him 12 trips to the line. His season average is now "only" 15 FT's per game.

Well, the offseason "rule change" (more of a different standard in calling, though) on fouling a player while he is driving towards the basket was basically done to benefit Kobe (and guys like him, but him the most). Which isn't suprising since the way the Piston's defended him was the impetus for it (much like in the NFL with the Patriots CBs and the Colts WR). So i'd expect him to get a ton of free throws this year.