It all makes perfect sense - they didn't play him this year because Kobe wanted to make sure that this championship would be credited to him, and him alone.

Next year they'll go 96-0 with this superhuman monster on the block and Kobe up top.

I'd hate for the Rockets to lose Landry, but if it meant getting something good and unloading McGrady, I can't argue with that one bit.

Unless the SOB suddenly stays healthy the rest of his career.

And it did happen--RJ to the Spurs.

Very exciting. Manu won't be playing international ball this offseason. The early elimination from the playoffs means less wear and tear. If there were ever a time for a last run, here it is. The Lakers are a mighty hurdle, but the stage is set. I am already psyched for next year's Western Conference Finals.

Seems to me that, with all the injury problems the Rockets seem to have, that an overhaul in the training department is in order...

Of course, they have to play the regular season games and the semifinals first; and rare is the season that goes as expected.

That said, it would make a pretty good series.

Best,

Geoff

It would seem. McGrady of course has a legendary history of injury, dating back to the back injury in Orlando (or even TO) that so compromised the player he might have become.

And with Yao, there are a certain amount of musculo-skeletal woes that accrue to those those over 7'2", or so, to pick a spot. Smits was big with the stress fractures too, as I recall.

That team/city deserves one season of the two of them healthy, especially with the excellent supporting cast in place--a "supporting cast" that took the eventual champs 7. The combo of Artest, Battier and Hayes makes them a relentless defensive team, and if there is anything Adelman has always been masterful at, it is designing a halfcourt offense, so if all their parts are in working order and Artest stays on his meds...

If you are wondering where the challenge to the Lakers is coming from next year, the answer--one way or the other--is Texas.

Smits was an idiot who didn't realize he could ask for shoes that fit his feet...

I should add that that was a shame, as he was a hell of a center

While other teams will ramp up in order to be competitive next year, the Wizards are making a trade with the T-Wolves.

The team needs a real center and another player with some grit.

Oh well, it is still early in the off-season. I guess they stand a chance of winning a few games.

Rik, Reggie, Mullins, The Antonio and Dale Davis, McKey, Mark Jackson -- gotta be one of the best teams never to win a title--just more Jordan roadkill in the annals of history

'
I didn't want to start a new post on sport issues (as this supposed to be a keyboard forum!), but I'm from the UK,
and football is our main sport
(proper football, where you play the ball with your feet [ie: 'foot' ball], not the stop-start grid-iron 'throw & catch' stuff!!!)

The greatest current football team in the world is my hometown team - Manchester United.

Winners of the English league (the highest quality -and most watched- league in the world) 11 times in the last 16 seasons
(including this season just finished in May).

Only recently deposed holders of the European Champions title (by Barcelona - another fantastic team)

Current official World Champions.

Winners of the FA Cup (the worlds biggest football KO competition) a record 11 times.

Millions upon millions of fans around the globe... etc, etc!


Football - the worlds most viewed & supported game!

I bet this post either generates total apathy, or, maybe, puts the cat amongst the pigeons? !!!!!!

.

You must be talking about the USA team that beat Spain today and is ready to take on Brazil.

In typical US fashion they slacked off by losing 3 quick ones and lulling Spain into over confidence. The perfect time to stike is when a team is 0-3. I think it's great the US will win that championship this weekend with a 2-3 record.

soccer is NOT a sport.

We get a post like this about once a year, although people usually post about it in the NFL (American football) thread rather than in the NBA (basketball) thread, as you have done.

Keyboard forum or not, "the occasional sports thread" is actually on-topic here.

If you want to start an "Official FIFA 2009 Thread" or an "Official IFAB 2009 Thread" or something else of that nature, I doubt our esteemed moderator Dave Bryce would object.

Best,

Geoff

True in one way, 'cos the only people who refer to football as 'soccer' are from the US !

But, please explain - in whay way is football (ok, 'soccer') not a sport???


Quote (Cambridge Dictionary)
"sport (GAME)
noun
1 [C] a game, competition or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job"

Ps - what does "I am an enemy of the Pats" mean? I don't know if it has a different connotation where you come from,
but over here 'the Pats' usually is regarded as referring to Irish people
(of which there are many good folks here in Manchester)
and could be interpreted as derogatory/racist.
Please correct me if I'm wrong?
.

It's not a sport because the only sport in this particular thread is NBA basketball. That having been said, Go USA!

I like, though, that we're discussing a sport in which there's practically no scoring in a thread about a sport in which there's scoring almost every few seconds.

Best,

Geoff

Shaq in deal to go to the Cavs.

He's just dying to sing 'Kobe, tell me how my ass taste' again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3zYUmF-ww8

As a Celts fan Shaq will be a real PIA to the East again.

Link here:

Sources: Shaq to Cavs for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic (Deal awaiting final owner approval.)

Best,

Geoff

Moving Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the 4 spot with Joe Smith gives Cleveland a couple 34 year old guys at the 4.

Delonte West is a good off the bench SG not a great starter. I expect to see Cleveland try one more trade or signing at those two positions.

Wally Sezerbiak won't be back. His 13 million dollar contract is a done. I expect a solid 2/3 will be the next signing and a PG drafted.

One things for sure: They'd let Joe Smith (PF) go and sign Odom if the price is right which means the Lakers will have to pay Odom some dollars to keep him. Given that Odom's dollars count double due to the salary cap paying him 10 million is obscene but its pro basketball. Everyone's overpaid.

Cleveland Free Agents
Zydrunas Ilgauskas (team option)
Joe Smith
Wally Szczerbiak
Anderson Varejao (Player option)
Lorenzen Wright

Soccer is not a competition - things that are competitive do not have "extra time" arbitrarily added to them at a ref's discretion. Things that are competitive do not have major championships decided by free kicks in the event of a tie. The only kind of physical effort one sees in a game of soccer are the lame attempts at faking horrific injuries that these guys miraculously recover from in mere minutes. People get carded for buying alcohol - they do not get carded in real sports. The only thing enjoyable or interesting that ever breaks out at a soccer game is a riot. Now rioting, THAT's a sport, but soccer, merely a game designed to incite riots, and not in fact a sport in its own right...

In the US, the Pats are a football team, the football that is a sport, i.e. not soccer. That said, if any football team had the lack of self respect to be a soccer team, it would be the Pats. Pats is short for Patriots. They are the chief rival of my hometown team, the Indianapolis Colts. In an NFL thread a couple of years ago one of the other forum members (a Pats fan), while discussing a little border war I was having with Pats fans, said he understood why I was saying what I was saying because he knew I was "an enemy of the Pats"

You'll never get that minute back...

looks like this will actually happen...wow...Shaq/LeBron...wow

That really is an ignorant sounding statement. Especially considering soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

It can't be the most popular sport in the world as it is NOT a sport...

The greatest current basketball team in the world is my hometown team -

The Los Angeles Lakers!!!



Just like The Los Angeles Lakers!!!



Well, you got me there.

Foot fracture yet to heal for Yao

Crap.

Oy, false grail, I'm afraid, by a team that does this over and over. Desperation heave. It will produce some very entertaining moments (especially the potential Shaq/Howard playoff matchup).

How high did Shaq elevate the Suns last year? Squarely into the 9 seed...

The foul idea here is that because LeBron is LeBron, someone like Shaq should be just enough to make the difference. NO! LeBron needs another multi-dimensional star in his prime. Shaq is not either.

It will not produce a championship. Put me on the record with that...Ferry is just trying to save his job--and his city--right now, and he was out of options. I hear th Cavs had as many as six different deals on the table. I would love to hear what some of them were.