Harden is such a baller. I remember I was skeptical when they drafted him as high as they did. I was wrong. Dude is a stud.
What's UCLA done lately, even with some first round NBA picks? Drew Gordon and Mike Moser both bailed on Howland, which is telling.
I like Ibaka a lot for where he was picked, but he is a complimentary player. I think Harden is a stud, but not a franchise star. I think Westbrook is pretty overrated and don't think he is All-NBA caliber. I would hate to try and build a team around him. Not the type of player I like. Without Durant, and having to commit much of the salary cap to 3 those three good players, they would be a good team that would never win a conference finals, let alone an NBA finals.
I understand he is a total stud, but is he a much bigger stud than LMA is right now? And how good is Portland? For Charlotte (or anyone) to turns things around as quickly as OKC they need a stud who can create his own shot at will like a Rose, Durant, LeBron or he even Kyle Irving. Big men are needed of course, but in today's NBA it is the PG's, SG's and SF's who are the major game changers. (Dirk being an exception) They are not easy to find and everyone is looking for them. I guess all you can do is build your team and hope to god one falls in your lap. Maybe there is one out there this year. But I don't know who it is.
I don't think the Bobcats are planning on being a contender next year with just the addition of Davis (assuming they get him I think his ceiling is much greater than LaMarcus') but I kind of like Kemba (who's had a quietly good rookie season after a rough start) and I think Biyombo could end up a real difference maker on the defensive end. They definitely need stud on the wing (preferably a shot creating 2 or 3) but who knows what they'll do?
Thats cause he let Reeves Nelson rule the roost. I'm not a huge Howland fan, but about 5 years ago he went to the Final Four in 3 consecutive years. Few coaches have ever done that. I don't think he falls under the category of a shitty coach.
Just the opposite. The Blazers have been following that strategy for 9 years now. The difference is Durant and Westbrook remain healthy while Oden and Roy are out of the league.
I understand the lack of faith people have in the Blazer front office. Here's the catch: no matter how little faith/respect you have for them, we are still better off with the 8-10 pick than with the 14+. The better the pick, the less chance they will get it wrong. This team is desperate for an influx of talent. We don't have the assets to make block-buster trades, and free agency is fools gold. The draft is the one legit chance we have...period.
Henry Abbott knows nothing. A shaved-headed clown. The Thunder are good because 1) they lucked into Durant, and 2) owner Bennett is a hard guy. He demands hard effort. He fired Lenny Wilkens, a soft head like Pritchard, and replaced him with the very young and controllable Presti, age 32 I think. The paper is owned by Bennett, so he had no fear about public repercussions to his tanking their first year there. Here, Allen has to load all the bad news into one day (trading 2 starters, firing the coach, waiving Oden) to minimize the Oregonian's anger. Bennett is a merciless dictator over his GM and public opinion, so he gets results. Portland is more decentralized and gridlocked among centers of power.
Forgot to mention the underrated Scott Brooks, who transfers Bennett's pressure down to the players. The whole organization trickles down pressure from the dictator owner. Allen doesn't dare act like that in this namby-pamby environment orchestrated by the touchy-feely missionary Quick and the moralist preacher Canzano.
That article is a summary of what's in this one. There's more detail if you click the links within this one, especially the 4 links in the list. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39645/talking-thunder-and-virtues-of-tanking
I think I see why Cho got fired now. Sounds like the Thunder plan is his hammer, and every team he works with is the nail. While in hindsight (Roy, Oden, etc etc) it probably would have been better to hit it with the Cho hammer last year, I can see how Paul might have thought Cho was a little too fixated on one and only one solution. He thought he was hiring a generalist and instead he got a specialist. barfo
Last week I had Cho look at my carburetor and now I'm on a 3-year payment plan to replace my Yugo with a new limo fleet.
