NBA 2012-2013 Season: The King Has Arrived!

[Scar]

I just noticed we did not have a 2011-2012 NBA thread. Shame...

In case you weren't watching, this happened.



Also, that one guy some people called a quitter just went out and out-performed everyone else on the court for a FULL NBA season, got a MVP, Finals MVP, and is on his way to become an Olympic Gold medalist. I THINK that has only happened once before...from some guy that was in Space Jam...

Oh yeah, and he just so happens to play for my favorite team. Yay me~

Fun Fact: Since the Heat's entrance into the league, only eight teams have won a NBA title: Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, Pistons, Rockets, Heat, Celtics, Mavericks. That makes four West teams and four East teams interestingly enough. 

I would also like to point out that my love for Dwight Howard has taken a serious nose dive. Real talk, if you honestly thought what LeBron James did two years ago was bad, this...this shit right here must be blood-boiling infuriating. It's a shame because I would really love for Howard to stay in O-Town, the town and team could use his superstardom to bring in revenue and possibly other star talent, but he is holding the team captive basically and it's annoying. Why sign up for one more year if that was never your intentions from the get go?

Ah well. Hopefully the Magic can bounce back form this fiasco. I would just like this Dwightmare to end, one way or the other.

But hey, there is other things to talk about in the NBA!

I think my new favorite team in the West has become the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the exception of Brandon Roy, (who was a late addition to the team), they could sport a starting five of all white boys! Rubio, Ridnour, Budinger, Love, Pekovic. White power! 

The nets change cities, colors and half of their team! Will that make them one of the new powerhouses in the East? Who knows! I was not a fan of the JJ trade. I felt that they had a young and talented SG in Marshon Brooks on the roster already, but whatever, that's not my concern!

After failing to get D Will, the Mavericks actually had a very sneaky, successful free agency. Kaman, Mayo, Collison, Brand. Dunno if that is a championship team, but its better then last years mess of a squad.

The Lakers get Nash! I absolutely love this trade. Not because it makes them a contender again, but because I want to see how Kobe lives on a team with a ball dominant PG. It should be fun to watch.

The Thunder did almost nothing in free agency. It's okay because they are young and still very very good. I still think Westbrook is the leader of this team, while Durant is the teams number one scoring option, but that does not equate to a leader role. I think the NBA and most media outlets have him pegged incorrectly. If he wants to up his game, he will tone his scoring down and learn how to play defense, because he plain stinks in that category. 

The Celtics reloaded quite nicely! I hate that! but man oh man is the NBA tip off game of Heat vs Celtics going to be interesting or what! Ray Allen spurns his long-time squad and joins up with the beasts of the east in Miami. The two teams meet up after a long fought Eastern Conference Champions match-up that lasted seven games. Both sides do not like each other and now there is some extra fuel for this fire. HAWT~

I wonder how the Bulls will look now. I know they had the best record in the NBA for two seasons, but I can't imagine that happening for a third year, ESPECIALLY with Rose out for so long, (reports say if he recovers fast he should come back by March.) Still a team that is led by Carlos Boozer is destined to fail, so they better hope that someone steps up in a big fashion if they want to sneak into the playoff this year.

LINSANITY IN HOUSTON! I don't know what this means other then Houston being smart financially. Two years for 5 million for Lin's rights, then his third year kicks up his pay to 15 million! If i were the rockets I keep him for the first two years, see what I get out of him and package him away before he gets that big pay day. can you imagine the money overseas this kid will generate for them? Sick!

I know it's strange, but I am looking forward to what Kyrie Irving does in year two. His rookie year was very impressive, and the kid has tons of talent and confidence. He should have a strong 2nd year. Cavalier fans shouldn't be mad at LeBron, because because of him leaving you have yourself a absolute stud.

The free agency craze has died down a bit, so now is a safe time to take a look at every team and see just how well they will perform all of next season.

POWER RANKINGS!

1. Miami Heat
2. OKC Thunder
3. SA Spurs
4. LA Lakers
5. Boston Celtics
6. Indiana Pacers
7. Brooklyn Nets
8. Dallas Mavericks
9. LA Clippers
10. Memphis Grizzlies
11. New York Knicks
12. Denver Nuggets
13. Milwaukee Bucks 
14. Golden State Warriors
15. Utah Jazz
16. Philadelphia 76ers
17. Chicago Bulls
18. Phoenix Suns
19. Houston Rockets
20. Cleveland Cavaliers
21. Minnesota Timberwolves
22. Atlanta Hawks
23. Orlando Magic (My poor poor Magic. ;_; )
24. Portland Trailblazers
25. Washington Wizards
26. Sacramento Kings
27. New Orleans Hornets
28. Detroit Pistons
29. Toronto Raptors
30. Charlotte Bobcats

~

PREDICTIONS!

League MVP: LeBron James

Defensive Player of the Year: LeBron James

Sixth Man: James Harden

Most Improved: Paul George

Rookie of the Year: Damian Lillard

Coach of the Year: Erik Spoelstra

[Scar]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Howard is a Laker.

Funny how the Lakers got the best end of this deal, while not giving Gasol up.

Funny indeed.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Howard is a Laker.

Funny how the Lakers got the best end of this deal, while not giving Gasol up.

Funny indeed.

Yeah. Hilarious.

I do like the trade for Denver, though. Afflalo didn't have a very good year last year and Harrington's contract was becoming onerous. Iguodala should be the best player on the Nuggets. McGee and Faried had higher PER but off a lot less minutes, and giving up more than double the defensive PER. Igoudala's defensive PER is spectacular for a starter, and I think it's more important to have good defense at SF than SG going forward.

[Scar]

Well the trade is good for every team...except Orlando.

Iggy really helps the Nuggets. The team might be an ever better fast break team now, PLUS they have one of the best wing defenders in the league to boot. Losing Afflalo and Harrington should not impact them that much.

The Sixers get a dominant big man finally. Bynum had to play behind Kobe and Gasol for a majority of his career, now he is the clear cut star on the team. With Iggy gone, Philly might have to change things around in the line up. They can go big by making Hawes the PF and (Thaddeus) Young the SF or decide to go young and assign Richardson the starting SG while sticking Turner as the SF.

The Lakers get Howard. How much of an improvement over Bynum D12 actually is won't be evident until Christmas time or so. That's when Howard appears to be scheduled back on the court for playing time. His points and rebounds won't be as pretty looking as they were with Orlando. Gasol will eat up a lot of boards and Kobe, Pau, and newly acquired Jamison will all be trying to score as much as ever. It's going to be interesting to see if both the big men that were traded actually decide to stay with these teams or if they are one and done options.

And the US team wins the gold! LeBron becomes the first player to ever record a triple double in an Olympic game. You can say that he just had quite the year for an athlete. The Heat welcome the challenge of all these West teams. It's going to be a fun year!

[Scar]

Harden gets traded to the Rockets a week before the season stats!

and then I found this.



which makes it all the more better!

Heat v Celtics tomorrow! Finally get to see these rings!

yay!

[Shale]

The season starts tomorrow! With Bynum on the bench! God dammit, life.

[Luther Lansfeld]

I feel like playing the world's tiniest violin for the Lakers and their fanbase.

[Scar]

Lakers Heat tonight! Let's see what the Fakers can do against the defending champs!

LeBron becomes the youngest player to reach 20k points. Quite the feat. Now, do you think KD can surpass that mark? Remember LeBron has a couple years on KD since Durant did attend college and I think is a somewhere in the under a year time frame disparity concerning age when both players entered the NBA. It will be interesting seeing as KD already is at 11k points for his short career.

Either way, it's a nice accomplishment for a member of my Miami Heat. LeBron also reached 5k assist in the same game making him the youngest player to accumulate 20k points and 5k assist and rebounds as well. He's just breaking records left and right. *tear* And just think, a year ago people were branding him a choke artist. They grow up so fast.

[Scar]

and then this happened.

http://youtu.be/Ir2TdfSwH8g

[Luther Lansfeld]

I love Mario Chalmers dressed as Mario.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

After the Grizzlies-Heat game, Magic Johnson and Jalen Rose talk about how the Grizzlies missed Rudy Gaye... when Tayshaun Prince held LeBron below 20 points for the first time in what feels like forever, and the Grizzlies finally lost their eight game win streak to the reigning NBA Champions.

Not even my seething envy of Bill Simmons, the one kinda-sorta-celebrity who I honestly might have been able to have the job of if I'd made different choices in life, changes how right he was there.

[Shale]

I love Mario Chalmers dressed as Mario.

The dance is dumb, the costumes are pretty amazing.

[Scar]

Shane Battier as the Horsetonaut doing the robot was the MVP.

[Lord Ephraim]

Your NBA's MVP ladies and gentlemen.

[Grefter]

Have you ever tried walking with legs that long?

Don't judge bro.  why you got to hate?  its a legitimate tactic.  nothing important in the rule book that says you can't do it.

[NotMiki]

rulebooks never tell you what you can or cannot do.  they merely tell you the potential consequences of doing it.

[Scar]

Flopping is dumb, but hey...some of these stars don't get calls if they don't over sell the contact.

meh.



Anyways, I doubt LJ cares too much about any of that these days!