NBA News: Phil Jackson, Chris Paul
Phil Jackson and the Knickerbockers have parted ways "mutually"
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19755552/new-york-knicks-team-presid…
Chris Paul was JUST traded to the Houston Rockets. Details are still coming out.
Paul and Harden can co-exist. Harden needs the ball basically all the time.
shall feed him the ball. I think D'Antoni has a plan
Mike is in the NBA... I think, but I could have this backwards.
I think they are perfect for each other. Now, when Harden crashes into people trying to draw a foul, CP3 can complain to the refs for him.
when he's with OKC when he's the 3rd option behind Russ and KD. He prefers to play off the ball and having CP3 on the team will help him.
fact is Harden was able to play with ball dominant PG and still succeed tells me that he can't play with ball dominant PG is wrong. It takes pressure off from Harden on having to do everything for the Rockets with CP3 on board.
If you watched the Rockets this year, you saw Harden taking way too many step-back/off the dribble 3's. Yes, he was elite at making them, but that is not efficient basketball for anyone outside of Steph and maybe Durant. At least at that level of usage. Players get tired at the end of games and in the playoffs especially when they are relied on that much for offense. On top of that, we all saw what happened when Lebron went off the court for the Cavs in the finals. Having a team rely on one player for that much of the creation burden is tough to overcome when they are not on the floor. Adding CP3 allows them to stagger the minutes and constantly have a top-5 playmaker/shot-creator in the NBA on the floor at all times. I agree that it is not perfect, but the idea that Harden needs the ball in his hands all game just because he had the ball in his hands so much this year is false. The fact that he could handle almost the entire playmaking for the Rockets while on the floor and still have good efficiency is a testament to how good he is, not an indictment of his ability to play off the ball.
that CP3 can get paid by reupping his contract and keep the super max contract in play for him. Plus, it helps the Rockets to keep the MLE as well which is huge for their team building.
Speaking of ESPN, and in other news, did anyone else see the picture of a naked Ezekiel Elliott on the cover of ESPN the Magazine? I mean, fair is fair and they often have female athletes on there in various stages of undress, but my God, someone get that man a leg waxing...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/06/26/naked-ezek…
DAMN YOU TO HELL FAUXMO!! Somebody wash my eyes!!
If I had to see it, so do you... :-D
Some things can't be unseen...
But who will stay and teach the Knicks' players the Triangle Offense? Can the Knicks find another zen master?!?
Oh, the humidity!!
Talk about a guy that went from "genius" to "totally idiot" overnight.
both Larry Brown and Zeke both had their worst moments leading the Knicks (though Zeke's tenures in other positions haven't been great shakes). When everyone is at their worst in on place (Mike D'Antoni as well), it would seem there's a common denominator, in this case, the lead singer of J.D. and the Straight Shot
Larry going to Charlotte and then SMU made some sense. He wanted a different ending than the awful one in New York.
Dan Savage says about relationships that if the only people you ever date are impossible, and there's always drama, maybe the common denominator is you. I think this is the case here, with Dolan as the common denominator. Same thing is true, in a different way, with the Ford ownership of the Lions. The Fords are/were, in may ways, ideal owners. They spend money willingly (not cheapskates), they don't regulalry intervene in decision making (not meddlesome). They are/were just really bad at hiring people.
to what Mike Holmgren did in Cleveland. Pure cash grab.
I love that Phil Jackson is considered a tactical genius for running the same offense as thousands of high school teams.
I thought he was considered a genius for coaching MJ and Kobe in their primes.
I think he legitimately is good at dealing with superstars and their egos. The hype about the Triangle is just funny though. Our HS team ran a version of that.
And whenever they really needed a basket, MJ/Kobe just waved everybody off and did their own thing.
Now people will start saying that LeBron's going to Houston next year.
This is a good trade for the Clippers. Beverly and a first round pick.
This trade signals that the Clippers are going to blow up their team and rebuild from scratch. Blake Griffin probably signs elsewhere.
Clippers could have over $80 million in cap space in 2018, but does Chris Paul leave if LeBron was going to come there next year? No. Clippers will have to bottom out and hope to rebuild through the draft.
from the two of your avatars that you guys see things from different angles
right now. Their roster is terrible. I'm not sold that Lonzo Ball would succeed in the NBA. He's not explosive, lacks ball handling creativity and his shooting form is awful. To me, he's basically a better shooting version of Ricky Rubio which isn't a bad comparision but not the one you would spend #2 overall in the draft IMO.
I think Griffin will stay with the Clippers. They're going to offer him a max or near-max deal, and they're not going to be bad next season (although not as good as they would have been with Paul). Any team that will be interested in him would be a lateral move from a talent perspective, so why not stay in LA?
CP3 demanded a trade? He was a free agent, he could've walked and left them with nothing, but instead he opted into the final year of his contract so the Clippers could trade him. It cleared up space for the Rockets, Clippers get a solid pg and a draft pick, plus will have almost $80 million in cap space next year.
It's a good time for them to hit the reset button, which it appears they are doing.
Everyone predicted doom and gloom for the Pistons, but karma has it's way. Tim Duncan decided against leaving San Antonio for Orlando, Grant Hill's ankle turned to mush, and the Pistons won a title and went to six straight ECFs.
If LeBron wants to go out West, a team that wants to sign "aging stars" would fit the latest rumors. LeBron, DWade and Paul George would be the makings of an old ass superteam.
Thanks for the snarky free agency explanation, and maybe we're getting at the same point here, but you failed to mention a pretty important detail about the player option in CP3's contract, by opting into his final year with the Clippers he will still be eligible for his Super Max contract. (which is funny since he was the NBAPA president who negotiated the new CBA). Had he actually signed a new contract and then been traded, then I might buy that he demanded a trade.
Whether getting a late first + a good young(er) pg instead of nothing is considered "good," I guess that's a difference of opinions.
but this looks like the proverbial, 4 quarters for a dollar trade. CP3 is getting older and they weren't getting far enough with the core they had, so the best option (once he told them he was leaving) is to break things up and embrace "The Process." The first round pick brings almost no value considering the Rockets are going to be in the top 5 of the league, meaning the pick will be a fringe first rounder.
with Paul, they've won 50+ games 5 times in a row. Prior to this current run, they went 42 seasons without ever winning 50 games. They only had a winning record 8 times in those 42 seasons. Randy Smith (a generic name for a generic team) is still their all-time leading scorer, and he did most of his work with the Buffalo Braves.