no you are the one being dense. you simply have no idea how his body and knee feel. you have no idea if he is able to play hoops at a high enough level.

i have an idea that he's a big cool guy but a total wuss. Still, I'm 100% rooting for him to be a dominant force and leading Portland to 10 rings while Bynum misses 30 games a year.

edit: wait, I own Bynum in the N2 league. Scratch the last part.

except for the fact that the team doctors have medically cleared him to play.

i would be pretty surprised if the spurs weren't better off on the whole offensively as a result of parker's increased range

ok so if the dr says it doesnt hurt or limit mobility then obv there is no way that it would.

Ya, I'm about ready to write an ESPN.com PBP parser. The format of the NBA.com stuff is easier to parse in general, and they are taken from the exact same source. (not the same as some others like yahoo and cbs.sportsline) It'll also integrate nicely with the shot-location data I can get from ESPN.

Bleh, writing parsing code....not my idea of a good time.

lol

Well, it's basically the difference between Tony "keeps getting benched for Speedy Claxton" Parker and Tony "Finals MVP, Eva let me be on top tonight" Parker.

And Eric Gordon and Ray Allen

He dislocated it man.

Awesome, I am legitimately torn about who I would vote for (or against)

lol @ bolded. victor loves being a badass


What gives you this impression?

I'm watching the tivo and am in a very close game late in the 3rd, so I should probably hold out on reading this thread.

The Cavs have been terribly underrated up until, oh, right nowish? I remember getting into it with a whole bunch of guys 2 years ago that the Cavs weren't favorite over the Nets. Edit: I actually looked it up, it was actually more about how 2006 Chicago was a championship contender while the 2006 Cavs would be "big dogs" to either CHI/DET. Either way, ******ed.
Last year, immediately after the big trade I said they had mid-50 win talent, but for some reason most people ignored how good that trade was for the team.

This year, 47 wins? They had won 50, 50, and 45 the previous three years starting various combinations of Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, and Eric Snow(like 4-5 man years of NBDL-caliber player between them) at the guard positions(the 45 win year was injury-plagued).

They are obviously playing better than expected, but Victor is definitely right about this.

TSC- Given that Greg Oden is better at basketball than you are at anything, and that he's only 20 but has had to rehab from several very serious injuries(likely more serious than any you've had), how about you spare us the pop psychology?

Obviously my Tivo cuts out with 1 minute to go in the Celtics game. AHHHH. They were up 1 when it cut off, and looking at the recap they lost. wtf

lara croft is on TBS now. man, angelina jolie is so banging.

Flip Murray next time you have a ****ing 10 footer at the buzzer for the win, please knock it down.

Thanks, Atlanta

This has nothing to do with anything. The fact that the he is better at basketball than 99% of the world means nothing in regards to this discussion. Quit try to being an ass.

Secondly, you pretty much answered the debate in your post. He has had to rehab two bad injuries. You don't think this weighs on his mind?

Finally, this discussion has nothing to do with me or my own personal experiences. They bear very little on the overall debate mostly because anecdotal evidence or experiences from one person do not correlate over to another.

lol @ some of the quotes from this article from October '08

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/sp...=2&oref=slogin

I was one of those "other idiots" and I still believe - strongly - my regular season bet w/ Victor was a +EV bet. The Cavs ran ungodly according to Pyth, whereas the Wiz and Raptors ran bad.

This year the Cavs stepped it up FAR more than expected; LBJ, big Z, Ben Wallace are all playing MUCH better then last year, which is really unexpected. If anyone said the Cavs would have the best record in the league in the preseason (and put money on it) kudos to them.

I guess so. A win was important though

exactly.

haha +1

cald comes through again

sorry dude, you ran well last year. congrats. This year it was probably a mistake making the Pistons bet, but again, not only did Billups->Iverson **** them over, but it seems everyone aside from Tayshaun Prince decided to suck, too.

I still don't think the Cavs are as good as the Celtics. Only if they win the ECF vs them will I be convinced.

Glen Davis is a ****ing joker.

"I was a pitcher, and growing up I thought I was going to the NFL," says Rondo, who was a quarterback with a 55-yard arm before he chose to focus full time on basketball after his freshman year of high school.
That is awesome.

Actually, his quote was that he believes with practice his jumpshot will get better.

This discussion is you ignorantly badmouthing the work ethic and psychological makeup of someone you've never met. So yeah, it is about you.

That Oden is such a superb basketball player is relevant, and not just in a "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye" context. People who don't have the "killer instinct" or "will to win" or whatever ******ed catch phrase you heard on The Herd yesterday don't work as hard at basketball and come back from as many injuries as Greg Oden already has.

This is hilarious in context.

The last 3 years they've only been an above average regular season team and then one of the most dangerous teams in the playoff. Now that they're an elite regular season team it'll be interesting to see how much better they can play in the playoffs. Lebron will obviously be getting more minutes but I'm not sure how they'll tighten their rotation. Kinsey obviously won't be playing. I wonder if they'll cut down on Boobie's minutes. He's been their worst rotation player, imo.

TSC, I think you're overdoing it.

You know what, all of you? The ability to shoot does not matter. As long as you understand your limitation. Rondo understands this; he drives and drives. Later in his career when he's less able to get to the rack then sure, his effectiveness will be diminished. But now, he doesn't take bad jumpshots. He is able to finish. And as far as I'm concerned, Rondo "shooting" (even if that "shot" is a layup) at .555 TS is more valuable than Parker "I take midrange jumpshots" at .540 TS.

I give Parker the edge too, but it's not "clearly" one way or the other.


haha, arthritic old man

ooh, touche

I even have a good quote from apbr about Stuckey:

I mean, Oden is cool I guess, but he really does need to pick it up. I'm such a Durantula fanboy now that I feel Durant >>> everyone else drafted in his class.

reading the recap he seemed to take it very hard. Atlanta's race for the 4 is actually pretty important.

TSC,

You seem to be airing the sour grapes common from a fan base when one of their key players has recurring injuries. Such as Orlando did with Grant Hill (who was booed lustily when he returned) or Kevin Johnson here. It's always "he's out again? What a pussy." From there you're just projecting that he doesn't have any heart, or drinks and smokes P.O.T., or whatever else will convince you that he doesn't care about being well and contributing the best he can.

I mean, I fully understand that you read/follow his situation far more than any of us, but a lot of what I have read in your frothing rants seems to be nothing more than conjecture.

I am curious, have you been folllowing the Blazers since the pre-season? Listening to local media, reading the beat writers? Do you have any idea what has been happening with him all season long? The Blazers were legitimately trying to acquire Conley, just for Oden. Reports indicate he sticks to himself, that he rarely looks happy or interested. Another article earlier this year mentioned that after a game, Nate specifically mentione something about Odens game, in an attempt to build his confidence.

In the preseason, Oden had another injury, a minor one, and the team said he would miss a few games. If it had been the regular season, he would have still played. The media openly questioned if they were babying him. Again, how can he learn to play with minor pain, if the Blazers won't even let him?

You act like I am pulling some conspiracy theory out my ass after two games, in which he didn't play. This is not just my opinion on Greg Oden. This is an opinion shared by a lot of people in Portland.

You don't think a guy like Kwame Brown had/has massive mental problems adjustint to the NBA and the pressure of being the #1 pick?


So you don't think attitude and a desire to be a winner have anything to do with this? What do you think makes the difference between the best players in the league and mere above average ones? I don't think its just talent or athletic ability, but rather dedication, a desire to improve, and some serious competitiveness.

I do not think this at all.

tuq, ive noticed you do this all the time. why do you always refer to pot as P.O.T. ?

I want you to think about just how dumb this complaint is.

I cherry picked this paragraph - although last night you gave me many to choose from - to encapsulate why Cavs homers (admittedly for the most part you and Schwallie) annoy me far more than Lakers or Celtics homers. You must constantly defend to the death any single criticism involving the team, no matter how valid, and you must do it post after post, page after page. There comes a point where nobody could be possibly expected to care. And I think you do it way more than any homer of any other team. It really does seem like an inferiority complex. Celtics are defending champs, they have nothing to prove. Lakers have won what, twelve times, and three times this decade? They don't either. Cleveland's claim to fame is a river that is no longer on fire. So I kinda get it.

Anyway, your team has one of the best records in the league, is getting kudos high and low, and rather than letting that be you still go on monkey tilt every time the slightest criticism is levied and play the whole Rodney Dangerfield card.

I realize ALL homers are annoying to everyone else to a degree, but to me the Cavs ones have been lolbad. Please think twice before you make 25 of the posts in the next page (1/2 the posts obv at 50 posts/page) defending Mo Williams or whatever.

"You know what, all of you? The ability to shoot does not matter. As long as you understand your limitation. Rondo understands this; he drives and drives. Later in his career when he's less able to get to the rack then sure, his effectiveness will be diminished. But now, he doesn't take bad jumpshots. He is able to finish. And as far as I'm concerned, Rondo "shooting" (even if that "shot" is a layup) at .555 TS is more valuable than Parker "I take midrange jumpshots" at .540 TS."

Bobbo,

Have you watched the last two Celtics-Lakers games? How do you not see this as being exploitable?

Parker >>> Rondo, and I think Rondo is a top 6 point guardd in the game.