[tin mad dog]

Originally Posted by streetball

Live press conference for the finals is right now

Can we ban spammers? All this guy does is come in to advertise.

[GC_STONES]

I was cutting him/her some slack but spammers shouldn't be welcomed.

Looking at his posting record; every post contains a link to an article/page so that is spam.

Any objections for his banning, post in 'about the forum' thread.

[GC_STONES]

Guess I called Chauncey choking once again in the conference finals. Bill Simmons agrees from his latest article Bill Simmons: NBA Finals preview for Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic - ESPN

Q. How long do you think I can keep milking this "Mr. Big Shot" gimmick without anyone pointing out my nasty habit of disappearing in deciding games?
-- C. Billups, Denver
[+] EnlargeChauncey's totals against L.A.: 39.7 percent from the field, just 22 points total the final two games.




SG: Chauncey! You're alive! I thought you had died after Game 4 of the Lakers series; what a relief! Anyway, I give you credit for bringing this up. You no-showed in Games 5 and 6 of the 2003 Eastern finals (playing injured, but still); the entire 2004 Eastern finals (Detroit still won); Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals; Games 5 and 6 of the 2006 Miami series; and Game 6 of the 2007 Cavs series. You inexplicably disappeared for the first four games of the 2008 Boston series. And I mistakenly thought you had passed away after Game 4 of the 2009 Lakers series. That's an inordinate amount of no-shows, no? I vote that we change your nickname back to "Chauncey."

followed by this

Q: Wait a second, if you thought Billups had disappeared during the L.A. series, does that mean I'm off the hook for dumping his salary for Iverson?
-- J. Dumars, Detroit

SG: Absolutely not. Billups had/has real basketball value as a veteran point guard and leader, plus an extremely fair contract: $36.3 million through 2011, then partially guaranteed in 2012. If Ray Allen was worth Delonte West and the No. 5 pick two years ago, how could anyone say Billups was worth a fading Iverson's expiring deal and that's it? You're telling me Portland, Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland or Miami couldn't have topped that offer? Don't play the "Chauncey wanted to go home to Denver" card; that's insulting to your fans. And don't play the "We needed to give Rodney Stuckey the car keys" card, because Rodney Stuckey ain't that good. Bad trade. There were smarter ways to clear money for the summers of 2009 and 2010. And if you're so desperate to clear cap space, why extend Rip Hamilton's deal? So confusing. I remain confused.

[TJPiston]

Bill Simmons is confused?

Shocked!

[RodimusPrime]

You have to admit Joe's plan to rebuild so far has been a complete disaster. He replaced a high a caliber PG with a cancerous, me first, washed up loser that quit on the team and replaced a quality coach with clueless clown. The Pistons went from a top 3 team in the East to a team a game or two away from not making the playoffs.

From the looks of it our best bet with the cap space is an injury prone Boozer. If we miss out on Boozer and no absurd deal that lands us an all-star big develops the Pistons will be worse than last season. Sure we'll have a ton of cap space in 2010 in this scenario (unless of course Joe makes another panic move and signs Nazr 2.0) but how attractive of a destination for free agents will Detroit be after we miss the playoffs? Not very. Joe has to hit a home run this summer or else this team is going to stink for a long time.

[Diddy]

Our roster has gotten worse every year since the title. Dumars signed Kwame Fucking Brown this offseason! That is in no way acceptable. No fucking GM would touch that guy. Yet Dumars did.

Dumars traded for Iverson also after he started to slow down last season.

Prepare to get worse. Maybe he will sign Rasho to pair with Kwame so that we can totally suck!

[Orwellian O.]

Kwame was serviceable.

It is what it is. I don't think anybody could have predicted that Iverson would have been such a disaster.

[TJPiston]

Originally Posted by Diddy

Our roster has gotten worse every year since the title. Dumars signed Kwame Fucking Brown this offseason! That is in no way acceptable. No fucking GM would touch that guy. Yet Dumars did.

Dumars traded for Iverson also after he started to slow down last season.

Prepare to get worse. Maybe he will sign Rasho to pair with Kwame so that we can totally suck!

Actually, Iverson's overall numbers in conjuntion with his shooting %'s were better than ever.

[Dave Bing]

if the NBA wants to be more like the NFL and less like the WFC, they should promote the corporate professional side of the game.

[Dave Bing]

LBJ, You?re Better than That

This is amusing. Brendan Haywood writes a blog. Normal post on the LBJ thing. But then he starts responding to the comments below the blog post. He obviously has time on his hands.

[Dave Bing]

This has been a fun discussion... I am sure all the people with Iverson jerseys have been really affected by Stern's efforts to make basketball family-oriented and respectable again.

I can't see how anyone would take the mass media, least of all sports, seriously as a repository of our culture's deepest values.

I have to go -- I am going to tune in some "reality" TV, watch ball players on 'roids, cheer on people beating the piss out of each other in extreme mixed martial arts, and laugh at reruns of Jackass.

I don't understand. Are you saying that because our society is coarse, we should coarsen it? The dismal state of modern media is an argument to try to make it better, not resign to it.

And yes, TV does shape values. It's not a great thing to hear but it is a fact. Modern media shapes values. Always has.

[Jeff Hause]

Originally Posted by GC_STONES

Guess I called Chauncey choking once again in the conference finals. Bill Simmons agrees from his latest article Bill Simmons: NBA Finals preview for Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic - ESPN
followed by this

No, you said he was going to be completely stymied for the whole series by Derrick Fisher. You were wrong, and you're hiding behind this...

[Money23]

Originally Posted by bozo the clown

Do you think kids are that gullible, unless they are four years old?

The short answer: yes. They absolutely are. They emulate what they see, period.

[Money23]

Originally Posted by Dave Bing

And yes, TV does shape values. It's not a great thing to hear but it is a fact. Modern media shapes values. Always has.

Probably more than any outside aspect of life. How could it not? For one thing, there are just hundreds of thousands of kids whose adult role models don't give shit one.

[hack]

Never mind kids -- adults too emulate what they see or hear, which explains many of the opinions in the politics thread.

[Money23]

EXCELLENT point. Bozo, you simply give people too much credit, sir.

[bozo the clown]

Originally Posted by Money23

The short answer: yes. They absolutely are. They emulate what they see, period.

Well, I think you're right. They do. So is the NBA making players wear suits and speak to the press after games going to stop people from emulating the misbehavior of players?

"If only Lebron James shook the hands of the Magic in that one series, my son wouldn't be in jail right now... He emulated the behavior of those thug athletes..."

The NBAs moral high ground on these points is unassailable. They pluck half-educated, and sometimes poorly socialized, athletes out of colleges that most of them wouldn't even qualify to be in if they had to follow the same rules as everyone else, then pay them millions of dollars to play a game where they are worshiped before large crowds of people and on television, while the league circulates obscene amounts of dollars in the process. So their important role in promoting the best in people is clear.

[Dave Bing]

For the very reasons that you mention, the NBA needs conduct rules. A portion of these young people thrust into the spotlight might have bad ideas on how to behave in public. So the league makes rules on what is acceptible conduct. What is the big deal? Morals clauses in contracts are common. Dress codes at work are universal.

Obviously, your hyperbole about a kid going to jail because LeBron didn't shake a hand is silly. What is more likely is that my 12 year old loses a little league game and pouts and refuses to shake hands because LeBron doesn't shake hands either. Will it land him in jail? No. But it is one more brick in the wall that a parent has to deal with. Why is it ok for LeBron to be a bad sport but not ok for Little Timmy? LeBron is a golden god.

[hack]

Well, if Little Timmy also can rock a 9-button white suit and get on the cover of GQ, then it's all good.

[The Guy]

LOL, word.

[Money23]

What a tool.