2012/2013 NBA season thread

[Hockey_Ninja]

Thought i might as well start it. Haven't really watched the regular season that much in a while outside of all-star weekend and the playoffs but i'll be tuning in more this year especially since there will mostly likely be no hockey to watch. Here's hoping the Raptors can improve this season.

[PeteLFan]

Go lakers. excited for the new season.

[FanIn80]

Me too! Should be some pretty exciting basketball out west.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Should be interesting to see how L.A. does with Nash and Howard. Dwight has to get healthy in order for them to start rolling IMO. I still think OKC and Miami are the teams to beat but we'll see.

[bluejays]

Personally, basketball has been dropping for me with all the big teams loading up. I really won't be tuning in this year, as my interest has dropped substantially. I'm interested in how Valencunias does, but who are we kidding here? Even if all the Raps up and comers grow into all-stars, they still can't compete with teams like LA. Hate to be a debbie downer, but it's really frustrating this year.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Yeah I'll watch the Raps to see what Jonas can bring to the table, but is there a point to watching a game until next June? The only way its not the Lakers and Heat is injuries. NBA just becoming less and less relavent to me, give me college ball every day of the week. At least they call travelling there.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Yeah I'll watch the Raps to see what Jonas can bring to the table, but is there a point to watching a game until next June? The only way its not the Lakers and Heat is injuries. NBA just becoming less and less relavent to me, give me college ball every day of the week. At least they call travelling there.

Big men are notorious for being slower to develop/adjust into the NBA game. I don't see JV's first year being much more than a steep learning curve. To me the real point of interest on the Raps this year is Lowry. A guy at the point who can actually play defense will be very interesting in a Casey led system. Casey already took them way up the ladder defensively and that without even the benefit of a training camp. Now he has a guy out front who won't just be a blow by machine.

I can see them being in a lot of games thanks to a very good defense. Offensively I don't see how they have enough to enable them to win more than around 35 but they should be pretty entertaining if you like watching some good defense.

[PeteLFan]

Dwight is working with the great Kareem Abdul jabbar. He tweeted picture, and said its going to be a great relationship for many years to come. Kareem seemed excited to be working with the best big man in the game as well.

If Dwight can pick up tidbits on footwork and offensive moves from Kareem he's going to be lethal. If ready to go from day 1 he's easily a MVP candidate with Steven Nash feeding him the ball.

[Hockey_Ninja]

^I think Durant is going to take MVP this year.

[D to the iddy]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

If Dwight can pick up tidbits on footwork and offensive moves from Kareem he's going to be lethal. If ready to go from day 1 he's easily a MVP candidate with Steven Nash feeding him the ball.

You think that just because he has someone passing him the ball, that he magically becomes an MVP candidate? He will be getting a lot less touches than he was in Orlando regardless of who is passing to him (Kobe shot almost double the amount Dwight did last year with only 4 more game played). The only way he comes close to an MVP is if the rest of the Lakers don't defensive rebound and he pulls down 15/30 a game, and even then he'd get a defensive POY and not MVP. My opinion is that it'll be a battle again between Durant and LeBron split down the middle at 50/50 right now.

[PeteLFan]

Umm no I don't think because he has someone passing him the balk he magically becomes a MVP candidate. I think it because he's the most dominating big man in the game and the offense will run through him. He's already averaged 14 boards for the past few years and anchoring the laker team he will be on the big stage now. He's a top 5 player in the game.

[Hockey_Ninja]

ESPN's top 500 player list was completed today:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/82...nkings-401-500

Top 10:

1. Lebron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Dwight Howard
4. Chris Paul
5. Derrick Rose
6. Kobe Bryant
7. Kevin Love
8. Dwyane Wade
9. Russell Westbrook
10. Deron Williams

[Hockey]

Ill be cheering for the Heat even more this year. My favorite player in the NBA has been Ray Allen since I saw him in He Got Game, now that he is a Heat my 2 favorite players are playing for them.

[MissTeeks]

The NBA has announced that David Stern will be stepping down as Comissioner in 2014:

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/...14-sources-say

NBA commissioner David Stern will retire on Feb. 1, 2014, completing a 30-year run in which he helped grow the league to dramatic new heights of popularity.

The elevation of Adam Silver, Stern's deputy, to commissioner was unanimously approved Thursday by the NBA Board of Governors.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

The NBA has announced that David Stern will be stepping down as Comissioner in 2014:

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/...14-sources-say

Awesome News! Money, greed, and corruption over the last few years sum up David Stern the best.

[Senator Clay Davis]

It would be awesome news if the successor wasn't Sterns hand picked and groomed successor. I'm not sure we'll see the changes to the game we want (namely that they actually call the game properly for all teams/players), but who knows?

[Joborule]

Less timeouts damnit! That'll be a godsend to the NBA.

[TitovFTW]

Yes, Dwight Howard is really good. He's also still a huge ######.

[Wise Gamble]

Even though I've said a lot of bad things about Stern the past 2 years I still give him props for what he's been able to do to make the NBA much bigger internationally and well known.

[Drake]

James Harden traded to Houston after contract talks broke down for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two 2013 first-round picks (from Dallas and Toronto), and 2013 second-round pick (via Charlotte).