Wow. Chris Paul to Nets now??

 I don’t know I guess its the new thing now. I’m certainly not a fan of it. I doubt dwill will be traded now, not with what the Jazz have done this offseason. They have gotten so much better this year. Dwill likes it in Utah, and is happy to win a championship there especially after what they have done this offseason.

Utah has done what this offseason? I’m not sure they improved. They basically gave away Ronnie Brewer at the middle of the year last season, Jefferson is probably better than Boozer, but how well is he going to do coming down the court with Williams, also if the proposed Melo trade goes through, they lose their best perimeter defender, they also lost their best shooter in Korver and a big contributor last year in Wes Matthews. I don’t blame them for not matching that deal, but the point is he is still a loss.

As for Paul I can’t blame him for wanting some talent. He hasn’t had any talent since he has been in NO. The best talent he had the whole time was David West who can play and Darren Collison, who plays the same position and is another sub 6 foot tall guy so they couldn’t really play together. This isn’t a Lebron situation. Lebron has been playing with a contending team for awhile and he left as a leader of a contender to jump on someone elses team. He (Lebron) was the catalyst of the team and they obviously won’t be as good this year, but he has still played with some good players and guys that could actually either start or get playing time on other contenders

I don’t like the trend though I like the idea of having one maybe two superstars on any team at the most and watching guys battle it out. I know playing in pickup games (the one time I got to pick my teammates) I loved to play with my friends, but by the same token I loved a challenge and it was just as fun to play against them and probably more satisfying to destroy them or to take a team of guys that are ok and make them play above their abilities. The thing is that this Miami trio is going to start a new trend because a lot of guys won’t think they have a chance without teaming up now. Wade, Bosh and Lebron are all in their prime and are going to be there for awhile. You are not going to beat them or even the aging Celtics or Lakers without some really good teammates. So guys like Paul and Dirk off the top of my head I can’t fault if they had left or wanted to leave because Paul hasn’t had the players around him and the guys Dirk has are mostly really good players in name and are living off past reputation.

 i dont get why you people dont like this

this means that there will be some very elite teams battling each other, which should be the highest level of basketball and a real battle, and also the rivalries will be bigger

if anyone remembers, the 2007 Finals when the cavs played the spurs had the worst finals rating ever, and this past finals with the loaded c’s against the loaded lakers had one of the higher ratings ever

if anything, this is probly good for the nba and for the fans (maybe only the small market teams’ fans will be dissapointed) 

To win a championship you need to play with atleast 2 all star players..  IMO I like the idea of watching teams with superior talent battle it out, it makes for high quality basketball games.. If you look at teams that have won championships in the past 20 years, all of the teams except for maybe the Pistons has mutiple HOF type players on their team and even the Pistons had a loaded team…

the hornets need to win. if the dont cp is definetely leaving. hes already said he likes the city and wants to stay there as long as they win

I could see it come down to NY and Brooklyn for CP3

Also, I wouldn’t dobut D-Will staying in Utah. I remember years ago they were linking him to Dallas. We would say "Man, these guys would never leave" well, looking at the era where in now…I would not be surprised.

Super teams vs other super teams ppl talk about the loaded teams in the 90s was the golden age of basketball someone explain to me how in any way it is bad for the NBA

The Nets have nothing to give the Hornets in a trade though Harris, Favors would be gone.

Only real peace left is Lopez and w/out him they have no big man.

Wait for Paul 2 more years in New Orleans than u can sign him.

the playoffs are going to amazing

cant wait

if everything goes right for nyk, playoffs back in the garden nothing better then that

heat vs chicago in playoffs derrick rose puts on heroic performances in playoffs now he has booz with him theyll make noise

thunder vs la part 2?

see if spurs have one more run in them in the playoffs

the old big  vs the new big

and potentially LA vs MIA in finals how sweet it would be for kobe to beat lebron wade nd bosh

cant wait super teams is going to make everything better

so to all you superstars join up and lets get thing started lol

Ok look at this,

Big Al>Booz, Elson>Koufos, Bell>Matthews, Diaw=AK (for half the price!). Then they added Earl Watson who is a much better PG than Price. He could be Utah’s Derek Fisher this year! Yeah losing Brewer hurts but he can’t shoot if the world depended on it. And he plays the SHOOTING guard. There’s a reason why they call it that. It means he can shoot. But Brewer can’t shoot the ball to save his life. He may be a great defender, but Miles and Bell aren’t bad defenders themselves, and they at least can shoot the ball a heck of alot better than Brewer. Don’t forget about Miles, he averaged 15pts in the playoffs against both the Nuggets and the Lakers. Gotta give him his props. He did pretty well against Kobe, and JR.

Say all you want about Dwill and him "wanting to leave" but if he loves it in Utah than why leave? And, with all of this great activity this offseason, how can he not love it in Utah.

You may disagree now but come next year you will see what I mean, mark my words.

Realistically there probably needs to be less teams. There are some franchises which are pure garbage like in Minnesota and then others that tend to be garbage because their owner knows that no matter what he puts out on the floor he is going to make a profit (i.e., Clippers). No offense to the Wolves and their fans, but they wasted some of the most amazing moments of Kevin Garnett’s career. A lot of guys should not be in the league that still are. The Collins twins have no real talent other than being tall and the ability to set picks. Johan Petro, come on now. Carlos Arroyo? He had maybe one good year, two decent ones and six horrible years. I could easily kick six players from the majority of teams in the league out of the NBA and no one would ever miss them. Most of these guys are filling out rosters because of league rules, in case of injury and for practice purposes.

In response to Rubio. The major pickup of the offseason for the Mavs was Tyson Chandler. They traded the best expiring contract in the league for Tyson Chandler. The same Tyson Chandler that played for team USA because they were desperate for a center. The same Tyson Chandler that had Gerald Wallace going off because him and Diaw were not doing their job rebounding. Chris Paul could only revive his career for one year and now he’s depending on Jason Kidd to create for him. If anything, since Jason Kidd can’t keep anyone in front of him maybe he will create some more block opportunities for Tyson. As for the other guys, Shawn Marion isn’t as athletic so now he’s getting exposed. Terry and Butler aren’t getting any better. I expect for Haywood to under perform now that he’s financially secure. Beaubouis is the only guy with any potential on that whole roster and he’s gotten hurt the last two offseasons. The team is one all star and a bunch of above average role players. If anything happened to Dirk, I don’t see these guys holding things up until he came back.

The movement of three or more stars to one team is bad for the league. It is going to cripple alot of other franchises. It also takes the compettion out of the sport. You could minimize the number of teams but there are already alot of good players not in the league as it is. Yes the 80’s and early 90’s had super teams, but the players didnt pick those teams. NotIhing wrong with super teams that players are drafted to or a key signing or trade is made. Yet when a group of players get together fab five style it diminishesthe competition level. How many stars will teams up and go play in toronto, Minnesota, Utah, Clippers, Charlotte, or even Detroit? Answer is NONE. This Bad

And you guys may think Utah gave away Ronnie Brewer for nothing when actually they didn’t. Without that Brewer trade Utah never would have gotten Big Al. Ronnie Brewer was traded to Memphis for a lottery pick. Then Utah trades that same lottery pick Kosta Koufos and a bunch of money from the trade exception acquired from Chicago when Booz signed with the Bulls. So without that Brewer trade Utah never would have gotten Big Al. (Do you really think Minny would have the pulled the trigger with just Koufos and a bunch of money from the trade exception? As if) That Brewer trade was a brilliant move by Kevin O’Conner. So yeah Williams is upset that Brewer was traded, but in the end I think he realizes that the rewards outweigh the risks. 

 This is why even though I love basketball and it is and always will be my favorite sport the NBA is a complete joke and predictable.  There are only like 4 teams in the whole league, EVERY YEAR, that have a shot at winning the title.  It’s hardly fun to watch the season anymore because you know you’re playing for nothing more then probably stats.  It’s way too lopsided and it needs to change because it’s ridiculous.  It would be different if the playoffs were like March Madness and one game elimation, which I’m only a fan of in football, or they were atleast 5 game series.  But there is just know way you’re beating the better team in a 7 games series.  It rarely happens.  Especially not any elite team like L.A. and Boston.  

I’m a big fan of the 2 superstar model.  That’s really fun and easy to compete with.  But the direction the league is heading is going to ruin the league.  

I like the two star model as well. It’s good for balance. The problem is that a lot of teams don’t even have a real star. A lot of teams have a number 2 guy as their number one. Think Philadelphia, Atlanta and Indiana.

@Dwill…seriously? Most people would agree that Jefferson is better than Boozer so I’m not going to argue that even though he has only played on bad teams. Wes Matthews is like a younger version of Raja Bell, besides Bell is an overrated defender. Diaw might be half the price of AK, but he’s also gives you half the effort. One of the biggest knocks on him is that it seems like he has conditioning issues. When he stays in shape he does well, but usually that is not the case as you may have seen him nice and out of shape at the Olympics. Not too sure why anyone would be thrilled by a guy that gets 30+ mins a game at PF and can only pull down 5 rebounds a game. I will give you Elson and Watson. Elson likely won’t play once Okur gets healthy and might not play much if at all before then. Watson will get maybe 8 to 10 mins a night so even though it’s an upgrade it’s one that’s not going to be playing much.

Raja Bell is an overratted defender.  He would come out and put on a defensive show some nights, but then there were the nights when he wouldnt defend a lick and hed just let the other offense do as they pleased.  He can shoot a nice three, but he really isnt the solution to any of the Jazz’ problems

I’m starting to get what  your saying, but the way basketball is and how much the elite talent is separated from average talent I don’t think it could ever have as much parity as football. Plus I like 7 game series it allows you to see who the better team really is and most importantly it gives me something to watch heading into the summer lol

7 game series for every playoff matchup just gets long and boring. Watching the same team win game in and game out with no contest from the other team, just gets on my nerves and I can’t take it anymore. Its great for the Finals because of the close competition but thats it. The # of games for each round should go like this 3-5-5-7.

I don’t like the trend of teaming up with 2 or more stars either. It creates no contest for so many teams. When you see a matchup you practically already know who’s gonna win before the game even starts, and then when you look at the score in the end, you really aren’t surprised. The 2 star system is great but anymore just starts to be too much. Basically the league is comprised of LAL, Boston, Orlando, OKC, Miami. (Chicago to an extent but I’ll wait and see how well Booz does with his new team) Who wants to watch those 5 teams play the other 25 teams in the league?? Its not even fun to watch your favorite team play them and then just get creamed, and humiliated. Enough is enough.

Didn’t Lebron say he loved Cleveland? I don’t think going off of a player saying he loves a city or he only wants to win in that city is legit. We will see when the time comes. His contract is up in 2 seasons if I’m correct.

The NBA has always been about the haves and have nots, this isnt nothing new….

 my personal playoff fantasy was Melo to chicago, and The raptors becoming good enough to be the 6 seed through some drastic trading. 

the east first round could have been 

1.chicago V Charlotte Aka (MJ’s team)

2.Miami V Atlanta a rematch from last year, except Wade remembered to bring friends

3. Orlando V Toronto

Vince Carter playing for his home town V the raptors, thats a great series, especially if toronto have a chance. 

4. MIlwaukee V Boston

Jennings V rondo. Allen V redd, two hard defensive teams fight it out. 

2nd round

Chicago v Boston the rematch or Rose V Jennings both great scenarios

Miami V Orlando aka the Florida Bowl or

Toronto V Bosh like their starting PG is Scott Pilgrim

Finals Bulls V Heat 

Rose V Wade in battle of chicago’s finest,

Lebron v Melo, Bosh v Boozer,

korver v miller for best sharpshooter.

Noah V florida

big al better then booze when?..in a couple years because he hasnt in the past nor is he better now. if im not mistaken boozer has been on the all nba team..how many exactly has jefferson had?..how many allstar games over boozer?

I understand you wanting more parity, but the last time the NBA had a lot of parity was in the 70s and it didn’t work.  Bird and Magic came in the 80s and practically saved the league.  This is the NBA it is not about parity its about star power and the more dominant teams in the NBA, unlike other sports, the better.

It’s not like having 3 stars like this is a new thing. Weren’t the glory days of the NBA when Johnson, Worthy and Jabbar were battling it out with Bird, McHale and Parish? Didn’t the Bulls have three Hall of Fame Caliber players in Jordan, Pippen? People tend to say that the 80s and 90s were the best times in NBA history, and the dominant teams of the eras had three Hall of Famers each.

More recently, the Spurs haven’t had 3 HOF, but they have had one in Duncan and a supporting cast that consisted of two all stars in Ginobli and Parker. The Championship lakers teams of the early 2000s had two HOF, one of whom is the closets thing to Jordan we’ve ever seen and the other you can make a legit argument for being the most dominant player in the history of the league.  When Miami won they once again had two Hall of Famers in Shaq and Wade. The only real notable exception we’ve seen to this formula is the Pistons. 

Simply put, Championship teams are usually super teams. And no one seemed to be complaining about them then. People look at the Heat and potentially another combination of Paul and Anthony differently, because of the way the have formed, but in terms of personnel, they are quite similar to the dominant teams of the NBA’s golden age. 

Some of this about the 3 superstars is overrated the Celtics when it started Ray Allen wasn’t a superstar he was a star.  They year they won the title he didn’t have a strong run in the playoffs till the Finals, actually he went through a big shooting slump through the Cavs and Pistons series.  Even with the Big 3 they went to 7 game against the Hawks and Cavs.  Obviously KG isn’t the same player and Pierce and Allen aren’t what they were in 08 either.  The Heat have all 3 in there prime but no real Pg and the Center position is a concern though the league doesn’t really  have great Centers anymore.  Outside of that the Heat do have some nice role players in Haslem, Mike Miller and Juwan Howard and Big Z should provide some veteran leadership to the team.  I do agree the Heat will be a great regular season team just not sure how that will translate in the playoffs.