2013 NBA Season News and Discussion

[Deleted]

Well... next few season became a 2 team league. Lakers vs Heat anyone? OKC, as good as they are, lost a big advantage. Dwight can guard the paint against driving players better than Bynum. Westbrook cant just run circles around Steve Nash now and score easily. It'll be one hell of a finals though.

There's no doubt that these two teams are the favorites, but to say it's a 2 team league is taking it a bit too far. OKC, Spurs, Celtics, Knicks and Clippers all has a legitimate chance to win the titel in my opinion.

[Blueobelisk]

*cough so hard on conscript knocking Knicks in an earlier post*

*but also lols to thinking Knicks can win a title from Werrezer*

[gzathegenius]

as a laker fan im not comfortable till i see dwight sign a extension. if he doesnt...we might be screwed

[Deleted]

as a laker fan im not comfortable till i see dwight sign a extension. if he doesnt...we might be screwed

Also another worrying factor is his back. He just had back surgery and it's not sure he'll be ready once the season starts. Backs are tricky.

[gzathegenius]

Also another worrying factor is his back. He just had back surgery and it's not sure he'll be ready once the season starts. Backs are tricky.

tbh im expecting him to be back playing after the all star weekend

[Deleted]

tbh im expecting him to be back playing after the all star weekend

And then another drama next year with him not wanting to sign extension, I can imagine it, lol.

[gzathegenius]

And then another drama next year with him not wanting to sign extension, I can imagine it, lol.

if he doesnt.....dam i dont even wana think about it lol

[Aristeia]

Practically frothing at the mouth due to excitement as a Nuggets fan, this will be an exciting year.

[Deleted]

Practically frothing at the mouth due to excitement as a Nuggets fan, this will be an exciting year.

Nuggets are going to be quite good with the addition of Andre. Definitely an upgrade.

Lakers: Really good deal for them in my opinion. Howard is a significant upgrade compared to Bynum. La La Land throw a parade already, lol.
Sixers: Good deal.
Nuggets: Good deal.
Magic: Big losers in this trade, I don't know what the GM's were thinking.

[Aristeia]

I don't know I don't feel like Howard is that big of an upgrade from Bynum, ya I'd say he is better but it's not like this makes the Lakers that much better overall. I think upgrading their PG to Nash was a much bigger deal, honestly Nash with Howard or Bynum and Gasol will be terrifying...

[nutty323]

16 years ago Orlando Magic lost Shaq for nothing and they traded Tracy McGrady who was in his prime. Granted they got players this time around, but no where near the deals they could of had earlier. Seriously though I could of have been the GM if the organization was going to pull this desperate pathetic trade. Poor Hedo, nobody wants you and your inflated contract. Congrats to Kupchak for finding blind GM's to formulate lopsided trades.

[Deleted]

I think it's safe to say Mitch Kupchak is a genius. First the Kwame Brown trade for Gasol which gave them two championships and now they got Steve Nash for basically nothing and Dwight Howard for Andrew Bynum. I'm sure this will land them atleast 1 more championship the next three years.

[Pendulous]

Say what you will about Dwight Howard, and all this crap about him being traded and whatnot. He's a damn entertaining guy.

[Manavz]

There's no doubt that these two teams are the favorites, but to say it's a 2 team league is taking it a bit too far. OKC, Spurs, Celtics, Knicks and Clippers all has a legitimate chance to win the titel in my opinion.

You have a point, but soon enough, NBA will be a 6-8 team league. All the stars are sooner or later going to gang up to pull a Heat or Lakers 2.0. Players like Dirk, Duncan, and Durant are getting damn rare. Next super team are going to be the Clippers. Then some other team. Then another. It isn't healthy for the league fan wise or fairness wise. Either support one of the 8 teams or gtfo.

---------- Post added 2012-08-11 at 07:15 AM ----------

I don't know I don't feel like Howard is that big of an upgrade from Bynum, ya I'd say he is better but it's not like this makes the Lakers that much better overall. I think upgrading their PG to Nash was a much bigger deal, honestly Nash with Howard or Bynum and Gasol will be terrifying...

I have to disagree here. With Nash, Kobe, and Pau all pretty good scoring options, Lakers needed a presence down low to make up for Nash's non existing D. Howard is a monster in the paint, and the points he puts up will be the icing on the cake.

[conscript]

I don't know I don't feel like Howard is that big of an upgrade from Bynum, ya I'd say he is better but it's not like this makes the Lakers that much better overall. I think upgrading their PG to Nash was a much bigger deal, honestly Nash with Howard or Bynum and Gasol will be terrifying...

He is a massive upgrade where they need it, interior defense. They don't need Bynum's offense. They desperately need someone to support their aging perimeter defenders who were eaten alive by Westbrook and Harden. That is exactly what Dwight does and why he is an absolutely massive upgrade.

---------- Post added 2012-08-11 at 08:21 AM ----------

You have a point, but soon enough, NBA will be a 6-8 team league. All the stars are sooner or later going to gang up to pull a Heat or Lakers 2.0. Players like Dirk, Duncan, and Durant are getting damn rare. Next super team are going to be the Clippers. Then some other team. Then another. It isn't healthy for the league fan wise or fairness wise. Either support one of the 8 teams or gtfo.

Its been a 6-8 team league throughout its entire existence, nothing will change about that. From 1959 to 1970, three teams won titles, Boston x9, Philly and New York once each. The next decade had the slight parity eight different teams, then it went right back to LA and Boston for a decade except 83 when the Sixers won. Then the 90s were all Bulls with two each from Detroit and Houston. Since then it has been all Lakers, Spurs, and Miami. There have been THREE titles won since 1999 by teams not in SA, LA, or Miami. The NBA has no parity, and never has. If anything, actually having all the stars move to 5-6 teams will improve parity and make more than 2-3 teams relevant each season.

[Manavz]

[/COLOR] Its been a 6-8 team league throughout its entire existence, nothing will change about that. From 1959 to 1970, three teams won titles, Boston x9, Philly and New York once each. The next decade had the slight parity eight different teams, then it went right back to LA and Boston for a decade except 83 when the Sixers won. Then the 90s were all Bulls with two each from Detroit and Houston. Since then it has been all Lakers, Spurs, and Miami. There have been THREE titles won since 1999 by teams not in SA, LA, or Miami. The NBA has no parity, and never has. If anything, actually having all the stars move to 5-6 teams will improve parity and make more than 2-3 teams relevant each season.

Wasnt the point of the new CBA to stop this? I could be wrong, but it seems like it failed. Horribly. I mean having all the stars on 5-6 teams might be fun for a while, but sooner or later its going to end up with fans looking at maybe 30ish games and skipping the rest because the "interesting" teams arent playing.

[Pendulous]

You have a point, but soon enough, NBA will be a 6-8 team league.

Sadly, I think it already is. There's only three or four teams in each conference that ever has a chance each year. Which is part of the reason I'm losing interest. Not just because the Jazz aren't on that list, but because it's boring watching the same teams. I don't think any other sport has two teams from opposite conferences that are so historically good that they're assumed to make it every year. At least in baseball, there's not really any teams in the National League that can be considered that. The NFL is usually diverse enough. Dynasties don't usually last a decade, but in the NBA it's usually a given that the Lakers and Celtics are going all the way. Add three teams to that list for each side, and you have a very predictable sport.

[conscript]

Wasnt the point of the new CBA to stop this? I could be wrong, but it seems like it failed. Horribly. I mean having all the stars on 5-6 teams might be fun for a while, but sooner or later its going to end up with fans looking at maybe 30ish games and skipping the rest because the "interesting" teams arent playing.

That was all a myth. The lockout was just to make more money for the owners, not to promote balance. That was all a line to justify their greed to fans. Instead of trying to really promote competitive balance, all the new CBA did was make luxury tax penalties incredibly harsh, not harsh enough to stop the ultra big markets from spending to their hearts content, but harsh enough to where the teams that aren't the 6-8 destination teams will basically get paid for not being that good. New York, LA, Chicago (but they won't because their owner is ridiculously cheap), Boston, etc. can spend to their heart's content, pay a huge luxury tax and be none the worse. Miami is like the one destination location that can't do that because they have just a horrible fanbase which tanks their tv contract money. They lost money this year and they aren't that far over the tax because they earn a pittance in tv money compared to LA and New York.

Its not really a CBA issue unfortunately. There is absolutely no way to fix the flocking of stars to big markets. Why? Because of endorsements. The CBA gave home town owners the ability to extend and extra year and for more each of the five years on a max deal, but even with those terms (which they just sign and trade anyways) the stars are earning way, way more in endorsement money than contract money. Its why Howard didn't want to go to Chicago. He is an Adidas athlete. So is Rose. That hurts the earning potential of his next endorsement contract which is worth more than his contract with the Magic would have been. So of course he wanted to go to Brooklyn, Dallas, or LA where he would be the big Adidas fish in the NBA market. The CBA can't fix outside endorsement money basically picking the destinations unless they ban endorsements which they won't do.

[Skarsguard]

What I don't get is it's not like the Magic are in Nebraska or some midwest state/city where there is nothing to do. Orlando has a ton of stuff to do and has no state tax that just tells you how bad the Magic's front office is. Look at the Spurs people stay and don't complain they have a great front office players are happy it seems anyways. Point being the Magic needs to change the way they run the office up front and then they will keep the superstars instead of giving them away to the Lakers.

[Pendulous]

Look at the Spurs people stay and don't complain they have a great front office players are happy it seems anyways.

Didn't Tim Duncan take a pay cut to keep people on the team?