Spaceman Spiff

Right, but some of those years Durant was hurt. Admittedly too lazy to figure out which ones they are. He has shown he can distribute, though he's a shoot first PG. I think Butler's still the man but it's a three guard system. Rondo is as close to a pass first pg right now, it goes through Butler first then Wade. I'm assuming Wade knows that it's Butler's team first. They don't have anymore bigs so I'm assuming they're going to try to attempt some watered down version of what GSW did this year. He gets to go home, I guess that's what this accomplishes. Chicago can compete in a weak East but it's still Cleveland's to lose.

I don't mind Durant leaving, but I just don't think it looks good to go to the team that beat you. People have made some good points in this thread about how Jordan, Bird, Magic, etc wouldn't switch teams because they couldn't....but I honestly don't think it'd occur to them to have done it even if they had the chance. I can't imagine Jordan, at any point, going to Detroit to play with Isiah and Dumars and the rest. Durant wants to win, I get that....but he was damn close where he was. They just got Oladipo who's a pretty good defender and decent scorer, Steven Adams developed pretty well in the playoffs and proved to be a pretty good player. Dunno, I think he could have won in OKC eventually. Wouldn't have been easy, but I think he could have done it. Ah, the ball-hog who somehow averaged 10.4 assists last year and averaged 11 in the playoffs.

Doesn't look like KD ever wanted to come here. Hard to get a meeting with a guy when the guy isn't interested in playing here.

Who the **** is Ian Mahimi? Man, I feel bad for John Wall. I really like that dude, I think he plays hard, seems like a class act. He's going to waste his career here, he deserves so much better.

i don't watch the Wizards or the NBA like I used to but this is ****ing pathetic. I've been pretty lenient on Ernie over the years because at one point he's helped assemble some of the winning teams we've had, but he's just completely **** the bed this time around.

While some of you have been lamenting your time watching the new ID movie, I just finished up the Godfather a bit ago. A+, nothing more needs to be said. If you've got an Apple TV, they have it for 8 bucks. It's been forever since I've seen it, what an amazing film. Where'd you find it? I had the DVD awhile ago, I can't find it.

After reading all of this, is it okay to give exactly no ****s? I find it interesting but honestly I'm running out of ****s to give these days.

RG3exit Why limit it to southern states we like to make fun of? In that case SouthernVAexit

If you're taking the Rockets out of the 1990s conversation then I'm taking out the Sixers of the 80s. Very good, certainly. The 1983 team kicked ass and swept the Lakers but got bounced from the playoffs early the next year. They made back to back finals but only won it once. When I think 80's basketball I think of the Lakers and Celtics, to be sure but I don't think about the Sixers. If you're talking great 80s teams I'd put the Pistons ahead of the Sixers. But if you're pointing to the prior two decades and saying that those decades had TWO great teams each and the 90s only had one...I don't see what the big deal is.

Kareem was still averaging 17.5 ppg as late as the 86-87 season. He might not have been a dominant force on the boards but he was still a force to be reckoned with. Parish was effective until about 1990. Laimbeer wasn't ever the player those guys were on his best day but he was still effective as well. He was certainly more productive than any center Jordan teamed up with. IIRC, he did have a string of averaging double doubles for about 3 or 4 years in the mid to late 80's. IIRC, the Blazers didn't have a dominant big man the year they met the Bulls in the finals. Same with the Suns. However, Jordan had to get past an extremely physical Knicks team each year to get there. I think the Knicks/Bulls matchups in the playoffs were often more exciting and bloodthirsty than anything in the Finals. While he was away the Rockets won with Hakeem, matching up against a young Shaq and Ewing. Duncan and Robinson were at the end of the decade, too. It still was a center driven league throughout the decade, IMO. So you're right, teams didn't HAVE to have a dominant center back then but it sure made things easier. Centers on Jordan's teams were never better than the centers that they were matching up with.

That's just dumb. The Rockets went back to back and were a great team. Utah Jazz made two consecutive trips to the finals to get nixed by Jordan. At the tail end of the decade you had Duncan and Robinson teaming up to win a title for the Spurs. Team of the decade? Absolutely. The ONLY great team in the 90s? Hardly.

C'mon, Magic hadn't been diagnosed yet, that is completely inaccurate. That season, he averaged 19.4 ppg, 12.5 apg and 7.0 rpg. To act like Jordan beat a diminished Magic to win his first title isn't accurate at all. Magic, that year, was the same age as LeBron is this year. Definitely a veteran but by no means over the hill or unproductive. That, and he finally beat the Pistons that year to get to the finals...they weren't as strong as they were in previous years but they were still formidable. In the finals, he faced Barkley the year that Barkley won the MVP and faced Malone the year he won the MVP, too. I'm not sure what your argument is here. Barkley and Malone are two of the top 5 power forwards of all time. Jordan also did it in on teams with no center in an era where having a dominant center was completely crucial to winning it all. Magic had Kareem, the Celtics had Parrish and the Pistons had Laimbeer...who wasn't in the same breath as the other two but was still better than anyone Jordan played with. The years Jordan stepped away to play baseball, the league was dominated by Hakeem Olajuwon who faced Shaq and then Ewing in back to back finals. The fact that Jordan won 6 rings without a dominant 7 footer in an era where dominant center play was pretty crucial to teams success is one of the things that never gets talked about. Clearly you never watched Bulls vs. Knicks in the playoffs, those were physical battles that we'll never see again. To act like Jordan faced inferior competition during his title runs is such an off base argument it's not even funny. He played in an era with harder defensive rules and less teams which means the teams were deeper.

He did, but I still hate watching him play. So many dribble drives where he just doesn't even think about passing. Someone shut Stephen A Smith the **** up.

I've always held a long suspicion that Ohio has insanely hot women and the girls in the background on Sportscenter right now aren't doing anything to dispel that thought.

James is up there but Jordan never lost in the Finals. Just didn't happen.

That, and I think that Bulls team would have dismantled this Warriors team. Granted the rules are different these days but I don't think it'd even matter. Jordan or Pippen would lock down Steph...switching between him and Klay wouldn't be an issue. Rodman would be so far inside Draymond's head and take him out of the game. Golden State is a cute team and they shoot the ball well but they didn't have to play anyone truly mean and ruthless until these last few games. You saw what happened when LeBron said ****it and started carrying the team.

Happy for LeBron. Used to not like him but coming back to Cleveland to win a title and then delivering is a great story. You can't always go home. It must be nice to alleviate a city's pain like that. I've never liked Steph Curry. Softer than Charmin, showed it tonight.

The Americans. Can't get hyped enough. Just realized I've got the season finale from last night on my DVR at home, can't wait to go home and watch it after work. That show is unbelievable, I can't figure out why it doesn't get more attention than it does.

GSW had an off night. Curry and Klay didn't play well, the whole team didn't really play well. Only way Cleveland can beat them is when they have off-nights like that. It's the only way OKC could really beat them, too. I don't remember which game it was that OKC ran them out of the building but GSW looked like that last night. He is terrible. More possessions than I could count where he just came down the court and tried to go one on one with a defender and didn't even look to pass. A buddy of mine told me he was like Westbrook...not even close, Westbrook averaged 10 assists per game this year. John Wall has averaged 10 assists twice in his career, I think. I hate watching Kyrie Irving play basketball.

Warriors just play a great brand of basketball. They play team ball, they make the extra pass, they're completely unselfish. Their two big stars Klay and Stephen, don't mind if they don't score. Witness game one where their bench pretty much outplayed Cleveland's starters. Kyrie is dynamic, an athletic freak but no wonder Cleveland is losing. First two games I've already lost track of how many times he's brought the ball upcourt and not even looked to pass, hiking up a stupid shot or driving to the lane and throwing up an ugly layup. I honestly don't see Cleveland getting a win at home, I think the Warriors just tightened everything up and got hot in the Western finals down 3-1. Remember, two of those wins OKC had were essentially off-nights for the Warriors. There was that one game where Steph and Klay and the whole team didn't shoot particularly well. If Cleveland gets a win in this series it'll be because the Warriors had an off night shooting, not because T-Lue came up with a great game plan to fix what was going on or LeBron suddenly started taking over games.

What, no Durant to DC??? What happened to that? Don't watch the Wizards and NBA like I used to but still would love to see them compete and make the playoffs.

Awesome at what? Soccer? Having some good looking women with nice asses? Poverty? We interviewed this kid a few weeks ago who's parents are from Brazil, he couldn't shut the **** up about being Brazilian. Managed to work in soccer and Brazilian women into his interview. Everyone I've ever met who's got some ties to Brazil manages to work that into the conversation within the first 5 minutes, guaranteed.

I'm not sure what we're doing to deserve all this rain we're getting but last week was plenty. Looks like we're in for a lot tomorrow, clouds all week and then more rain next weekend.

Openly rooting against the Warriors. I don't watch the NBA like I used to but still, I don't want them beating the record.