Favourite NBA teams and players?

Lafortezza

I haven't been keeping as close an eye on the NBA this season as in previous years but I followed the LA Lakers 3-peat championship run fairly closely a few years back.
Seeing as I don't have digital tv to see any live NBA games (or any basketball at all really) I can only follow it through the net.

This season though I'm keeping an eye on the Heat with the newly acquired Shaq and rookie Damon Jones seem to be playing well.

One of my favourite players in the last few years has been Eddie Jones I loved watching him, Kobe, Shaq, Horace Grant for the Lakers, but since he's was traded to the Heat his game seems to have gone waaaay downhill, from All-Star and All NBA Defensive Team member to run-of-the-mill starter for the Heat.

So who else has favourite teams and players?

Kulgan

Like you ive only been keep up to date through the net as ive no way to see live games

But ive been mostly following young bulls , after their 0-9 start they seem to be finally clicking ( 7-3 in their last 10 i think) and a lot of bulls fans expect them to sneak the 8th seed playoff spot but there is still a long way to go , but after a miserable 6-7 years post MJ era good to see things are finally getting better.

Aside from that its great to see Grant Hill's comeback , after all those years of injuries he seems to be finally back healthy and is set for an all-star start . Just hope he can make it through the whole season with no problems.

Lafortezza

And Vince Carter is back after all his recent injury woes. There was an interview with him in som ebball magazine (linked from nba.com) where he was saying that he's lost the amazing jump and athleticism that made him the best dunker in the game, he can still jump out of the court these days but he admitted that he has had to change his game from his high-flying ways of old.

latimer

I'm really enjoying watching the Miami Heat at the moment. Dwayne Wade is running the show there; Shaq's taking a bit of a back seat.

Crumbs

I've been a Pacers fan for years which started mainly because of the great Reggie Miller. Then a few years ago, my girlfriend at the time mentions that her cousin is married to some basketball player named Chris Mullin and my jaw drops and I say "Chris f***ing Mullin???". He was playing with the Pacers at that time and I got loads of free gear!

They made the finals in 2000 and the eastern conference finals last year. Close but no cigar. They started this season very well but then were involved in the infamous brawl in Detroit. Since then, they've been understandably inconsistent, playing with half a squad at times. Currently 18-17 but I'd expect them to make the play-offs and could be a force by then.

Lafortezza

I read about that brawl, saw a little bit of the footage too on CNN at the time.
One Q I had was that the people in the crowd, why the hell would they confront and angry 6ft11 black dude who is looking for someone's head to punch in??

phil

Cause the guy picked on an innocent supporter!

zAbbo

Followed it fairly closely back in 96-2000, sorta missed too much to catch up, knicks fan, fave player Marbury, outside the knicks theres the usual crowd pleasers of
LeBron
Dwade
Carmilo Anthony
Iverson

john_g83

Fave player and perhaps one ove the most under rated players in the league:
Tony Parker from the spurs even tho his french. All time fave Shawn Kemp... kinda like vince carter version 1.0. magic

Dooid

I love the Pistons, I know that makes me a bit of a weirdo given most people hate them because they're seen as defensive. I like the way they're all about teamwork, they're greater than the sum of their parts. My favorite player in the NBA is probably Mike Bibby, a clutch player if ever there was one and a great all round player. We all know Kobe's the king though, he may be a twat but he is the best.

Balfa

I'm a Mavericks fan. Cos i live in Dallas

And Nowitski's my favourite player

I also like (and fear) the spurs, and Tim Duncan is the player i respect most in the league. He's far more useful than kobe bryant :P

upmeath

Celtics fan here! Paul Pierce is possibly the most underrated shooting guard in the league, he's been through thick and thin for the C's since being drafted there, he didn't run when things got bad like T-Mac did at Orlando, and Celtics, although the team with the lowest %win leading their division right now, look damn hot to at least make the east finals this year. Ricky Davis, Raef LaFrentz, and Antoine Walker are all there to help him, and Payton looks like being waived by the Hawks at the minute so that's a pretty good team to have going into the playoffs!

Balfa

paul pierce is underrated??? he's considered very highly by the media here.

upmeath

in bray? i just think he's one of the unsung heroes of the league. there are loads of them, guys who slave away for one club for 20 years. look at karl malone, he's deserved it for years, but because he never got to hold the trophy he'll never be held in the same regard.

Lafortezza

upmeath wrote:

look at karl malone, he's deserved it for years, but because he never got to hold the trophy he'll never be held in the same regard.

I'm not a fan of Karl "The Elbows" Malone. I think he's the only afro-american redneck in the league.

upmeath

lafortezza wrote:

Karl Malone...afro-american redneck

lmao, he was still one hell of a player. whats his career ppg, something around 22?

Lafortezza

Around that but a few less over his later years. Still was fairly close to 20ppg, 10rpg and 5 apg for the vast majority of his career, which was about a hundred years...

upmeath

his bio on nba.com ( http://www.nba.com/playerfile/karl_malone/index.html ) shows he had a career average of 25.0p/10.1r/3.6a, and I did a quick tot on his ppg's excluding his first and last years, the only ones where he got less than 20ppg, and it returns 25.9ppg in his good years (all 16 of them). The man is a ledge. Amen

zAbbo

the mailman always delivers.

It also helps when you have john stockton, the leagues leading assist on your team. That said, he was savage.

on Paul Pierce being underated, well he was an all star this year, is getting top 20's in all stats and is held in very high regard in the east.

Balfa

upmeath wrote:

in bray?

Heh, never got round to changing that. I live in dallas now, as mentioned above

As for malone, i don't think he's underappreciated either.

Because of the way the league is, with the salary cap and so on, no-one expects a star player should be winning trophies. Every team has their star players, but it's getting the right combination of people together that leads to championships.