Let's get this started. The Warriors are playing fantastic basketball this young season.
If (a big if) they can stay healthy a high seed is very possible.
Maybe watching them dominate the Clippers in the first half tonight has me giddy.

The Grizz are 5-0 and looking good. Contributions are being made by most everyone on the roster.
They have been very fun to watch thus far.

Early thoughts; the West looks like a meat grinder with 8 teams that you can honestly say are very good teams but the East looks pathetic with maybe 3 good teams in Cleveland, Chicago and Washington. For instance the Bulls won't play another game that means anything until 11/17 when they go out west.

Side thought; has there ever been another superstar, in the twilight of his career that has played for as bad a team as Kobe is for this year's Lakers? That's not necessarily rhetorical I'm really not sure although I suspect it to be true.

The Sixers almost won last night. Hey now.

Utah Jazz destined to make the playoffs in the West! O.K., maybe a little far fetched, but hey, they beat the Cavs and Lebron last night (again), and have a better record than the team many have claimed to be title favorites. I have a feeling the Jazz are going to exceed expectations and show dramatic improvement over last year. Oh, and few things are more satisfying to a Jazz fan than to see the Lakers (and their smug fans) wallowing in the 0-5 muck.

The upgrade from Boozer to Gasol has been tremendous

I got nothing this season. virtually the entire roster is injured including Westbrook & KD who have both had surgery this year. Who knows when they'll be back. Serge is good but he can't carry em.

Zip City wrote:The upgrade from Boozer to Gasol has been tremendous

Yes, but Gasol is playing way too many minutes against bad teams. Why is Nazr Mohammed on the roster if not for garbage minutes in games you barely have to try?

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

Zip City wrote:The upgrade from Boozer to Gasol has been tremendous

Yes, but Gasol is playing way too many minutes against bad teams. Why is Nazr Mohammed on the roster if not for garbage minutes in games you barely have to try?

I always worry when Thibs plays an entire game with just 8 players. It makes no sense

UTHeathen wrote:Utah Jazz destined to make the playoffs in the West! O.K., maybe a little far fetched, but hey, they beat the Cavs and Lebron last night (again), and have a better record than the team many have claimed to be title favorites. I have a feeling the Jazz are going to exceed expectations and show dramatic improvement over last year. Oh, and few things are more satisfying to a Jazz fan than to see the Lakers (and their smug fans) wallowing in the 0-5 muck.

The Jazz will never win a title as long as they keep that name. True opinion. Probably even fact.

4sooner wrote:I got nothing this season. virtually the entire roster is injured including Westbrook & KD who have both had surgery this year. Who knows when they'll be back. Serge is good but he can't carry em.

Gonna be a long season. They could get healthy late, and sneak into the playoffs.
Somebody could be a 1 or 2 seed and have to face a healthy, fresh Thunder team in the first round.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Early thoughts; the West looks like a meat grinder with 8 teams that you can honestly say are very good teams but the East looks pathetic with maybe 3 good teams in Cleveland, Chicago and Washington. For instance the Bulls won't play another game that means anything until 11/17 when they go out west.

Side thought; has there ever been another superstar, in the twilight of his career that has played for as bad a team as Kobe is for this year's Lakers? That's not necessarily rhetorical I'm really not sure although I suspect it to be true.

Has there ever been a superstar that deserved it more? I'm no basketball expert, but Kobe is a friggen douchebag with 5 rings. No sympathy from this former Laker fan.

oilpiers wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Early thoughts; the West looks like a meat grinder with 8 teams that you can honestly say are very good teams but the East looks pathetic with maybe 3 good teams in Cleveland, Chicago and Washington. For instance the Bulls won't play another game that means anything until 11/17 when they go out west.

Side thought; has there ever been another superstar, in the twilight of his career that has played for as bad a team as Kobe is for this year's Lakers? That's not necessarily rhetorical I'm really not sure although I suspect it to be true.

Has there ever been a superstar that deserved it more? I'm no basketball expert, but Kobe is a friggen douchebag with 5 rings. No sympathy from this former Laker fan.

Ah, when they're that good aren't they all douchebags though, with the possible exception of LeBron I guess? Jordan was and his end of career antics were shameful.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

oilpiers wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Early thoughts; the West looks like a meat grinder with 8 teams that you can honestly say are very good teams but the East looks pathetic with maybe 3 good teams in Cleveland, Chicago and Washington. For instance the Bulls won't play another game that means anything until 11/17 when they go out west.

Side thought; has there ever been another superstar, in the twilight of his career that has played for as bad a team as Kobe is for this year's Lakers? That's not necessarily rhetorical I'm really not sure although I suspect it to be true.

Has there ever been a superstar that deserved it more? I'm no basketball expert, but Kobe is a friggen douchebag with 5 rings. No sympathy from this former Laker fan.

Ah, when they're that good aren't they all douchebags though, with the possible exception of LeBron I guess? Jordan was and his end of career antics were shameful.

LeBron is a massive douchebag, too. He's the most talented basketball player on the planet, but he is also a douchebag. He's The King alright.... The King of calling attention to himself, overhyping things, throwing teammates under the bus, and generally being self-absorbed egomaniac. Things get a bit messy in the first few games of the season and he wants everyone to "RELAX". You can't have it both ways Bron-Bron. Completely ignoring the circus that was 'The Decision', LeBron has some guy in SI carefully pen some fluff piece about him "coming home" like some messiah. He proclaims the Cavs opener is "one of the biggest sporting events ever." But when things don't go as smoothly as planned, we all need to "RELAX". Gotcha, LeBron.



I'm sure it was like pulling teeth to have LeBron participate in these commercials:





You can't continue to feed the beast and not expect it to bite back every now and then. But, yeah, LeBron isn't a douchebag.

Well he sure might be. I just hear a lot of talk from guys who covered him that seem to think he's one of the nicest athletes going. A beat guy in Miami said he was the nicest athlete he ever had the privilege of covering and that was after he left. Maybe I pay that stuff too much credence. The Chicago guys said a lot of nice stuff about Jordan when he was playing and a lot of ugliness came out after. What's going to be interesting with LeBron is to what he is as a player now. He doesn't look like the player in the world at the moment.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Well he sure might be. I just hear a lot of talk from guys who covered him that seem to think he's one of the nicest athletes going. A beat guy in Miami said he was the nicest athlete he ever had the privilege of covering and that was after he left. Maybe I pay that stuff too much credence. The Chicago guys said a lot of nice stuff about Jordan when he was playing and a lot of ugliness came out after. What's going to be interesting with LeBron is to what he is as a player now. He doesn't look like the player in the world at the moment.

He may be nice to reporters or others in the media, after all he has an image he has to maintain. But if you are a server and have the misfortune of waiting on him and his entourage, don't expect to be tipped. I believe, like Tim Minchin, that how you treat those of lesser social status than yourself, says everything about the quality of your character. And don't believe those bullshit, made for TV feel good PR spots that portray him as a decent human being. He is the anti-Peyton Manning.

UTHeathen wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Well he sure might be. I just hear a lot of talk from guys who covered him that seem to think he's one of the nicest athletes going. A beat guy in Miami said he was the nicest athlete he ever had the privilege of covering and that was after he left. Maybe I pay that stuff too much credence. The Chicago guys said a lot of nice stuff about Jordan when he was playing and a lot of ugliness came out after. What's going to be interesting with LeBron is to what he is as a player now. He doesn't look like the player in the world at the moment.

He may be nice to reporters or others in the media, after all he has an image he has to maintain. But if you are a server and have the misfortune of waiting on him and his entourage, don't expect to be tipped. I believe, like Tim Minchin, that how you treat those of lesser social status than yourself, says everything about the quality of your character. And don't believe those bullshit, made for TV feel good PR spots that portray him as a decent human being. He is the anti-Peyton Manning.

I'm from Chicago the land of "no tippin' Pippen" where servers would sometimes literally quite rather than wait on his entourage. I knew two personally that did.

The Chicago media has been very blasé about the Bulls season thus far because most feel the games they've played have been been mostly meaningless against lesser opponents and give know guage to how good the team actually is. I wonder if the Clipppers count as a meaningful game because, and I only saw the first quarter, they awfully good from where I sit. They play another pretty good team in the Kings on Thursday, looking forward to seeing what they can do there.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:The Chicago media has been very blasé about the Bulls season thus far because most feel the games they've played have been been mostly meaningless against lesser opponents and give know guage to how good the team actually is. I wonder if the Clipppers count as a meaningful game because, and I only saw the first quarter, they awfully good from where I sit. They play another pretty good team in the Kings on Thursday, looking forward to seeing what they can do there.

Well, TC, they are in the east. It sounds funny to say the Kings are pretty good, but so far this season they have been just that.
Boogie's time on team USA seems to have helped his game and attitude. Watching Cousins and Noah go at it should be fun.

LBRod wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:The Chicago media has been very blasé about the Bulls season thus far because most feel the games they've played have been been mostly meaningless against lesser opponents and give know guage to how good the team actually is. I wonder if the Clipppers count as a meaningful game because, and I only saw the first quarter, they awfully good from where I sit. They play another pretty good team in the Kings on Thursday, looking forward to seeing what they can do there.

Well, TC, they are in the east. It sounds funny to say the Kings are pretty good, but so far this season they have been just that.
Boogie's time on team USA seems to have helped his game and attitude. Watching Cousins and Noah go at it should be fun.

I realize the East sucks and the body snatchers have stolen LeBron for the Galaxy or something but give my moment will ya?

The Brow is putting together an awesome season so far, seems like he's made another leap. I watched him enough at UK to know he'd be special, but he's exceeded even my lofty expectations thus far in his career. Here's a play from last night that shows just what a freak of nature he is.

I had no idea Vince Carter is still playing.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11906 ... eo-tribute

So what do you guys make out of LeBron's start? I mean the league is circling the wagons defending the guy from all criticism but his numbers are clearly down and even more than that he doesn't look like the same player and certainly isn't quite the intimidating factor on the floor. I've only seen him play 2 games including part of last night against the Spurs but it's pretty obvious he's not the player he was last year. Is it growing pains with the new group in Cleveland? Is he adjusting to his new body type? I just think it's nuts that any criticism is shot down with an intense fury. Strange story. Worth following.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:So what do you guys make out of LeBron's start? I mean the league is circling the wagons defending the guy from all criticism but his numbers are clearly down and even more than that he doesn't look like the same player and certainly isn't quite the intimidating factor on the floor. I've only seen him play 2 games including part of last night against the Spurs but it's pretty obvious he's not the player he was last year. Is it growing pains with the new group in Cleveland? Is he adjusting to his new body type? I just think it's nuts that any criticism is shot down with an intense fury. Strange story. Worth following.

I think it's mainly needing to adjust with the new teammates. Neither Love or Irving have ever played with anybody else as talented as the other, much less as much as LeBron. And Irving appears to be struggling in transitioning to a distributor/playmaker role. Remember how much Miami struggled early? And Love and Irving are no where near the players Wade and Bosh were at that point in their careers.

Besides, LeBron has been the best player on the planet for quite some time now, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt for a few games at least.

Plus, he's gone from winter in Miami to winter in Cleveland. It doesn't matter how much you love a place, that has to be at least a little depressing on some level for anybody.

SIXERS WIN! ! SIXERS WIN! !

Kyrie Irving scored 37 of the Cavs 90 points tonite on 12-18 shooting plust 10-11 from the line. I guess that compensates for your point guard having only 2 assists (LeBron had 12).

Meanwhile C Anthony shot 4 for 19.

beantownbubba wrote:Kyrie Irving scored 37 of the Cavs 90 points tonite on 12-18 shooting plust 10-11 from the line. I guess that compensates for your point guard having only 2 assists (LeBron had 12).

Meanwhile C Anthony shot 4 for 19.

Boy that's a weird team and until they can gel, and LeBron becomes Lebron again I'm not sure you can pencil them in as anything in the playoffs. I don't quite believe in Toronto yet but Washington appears to be the real article. I have no idea what the Bulls are either but it can never be a good thing when your star has his own training staff that decides whether or not he's going to play independent of the coach or GM. Meanwhile the West looks like a chamber of horrors for pretty much any Eastern Conference team. Yikes there are a lot of good teams over there.

He didn't wear his "I Can't Breathe" t-shirt? Now THAT would have been something to talk about.

But, bubba, he's The King. Apparently Kate is already a queen, too.