Preseason Thread

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

I just glanced over the replies, I will look into the specifics of what was said tomorrow. I saw something about Rafer, which i for some reason couldn't resist commenting on...no one has been able to successfully contest that Jameer was the better player for us at the time we were speaking of. The common response was to say how well he was doing pre injury which, while encouraging for all at the time, was irrelevant to the original statement that Rafer was the better pg at the time in question.

 

I'm a bit confused by this. What time are you referring to? The time when Jameer was actively injured? Because I don't think anyone is really arguing that Jameer was better than Rafer when Jameer's arm was in a sling.

 

I said plenty of nice things about Jameer and lauded his time with Orlando, it wasn't a witch hunt...he just wasn't the better point guard upon his return-and our team played better without him than with him. To deny that is both lame and blind.

 

Again: what time frame are you talking about? They literally only played on the same team at the same time for one series, and Jameer was playing hurt.

 

Even if you take the prime player, you still would be hard pressed to successfully argue that Jameer was a better point that Rafer. He was a better scorer, sure...better at FT's too, but that's literally it. Don't give me that assist garbage unless you are willing to tell me that John Stockton would still be considered one of the best pg's ever if he had played with Harvey Grant instead of Karl Malone.

 

Jameer's career per36 numbers are better than the per36 numbers of any season of Rafer's career.

 

Rafer didn't spend his prime years in the league either.

 

He entered the league at age 23.

 

Either you don't know what a point guard is supposed to do or you confuse someone who scores 17ppg once in their career with a blip increase in the assist column superior to an all around player who made our team better on the fly.

 

Literally every statistic I can think of disagrees that Alston made the team better than it was with Jameer. Like, literally, I can't think of anything that supports that argument. But I'm happy to see any evidence you have of that.

 

The collective thought on AN has been stewing for probably two full seasons by now-to not recognize the vast number of comments made since then shows that those whom responded either have the memory of a goldfish or they realize that they were the ones throwing around senseless drivel and resort to the tried and true method of parsing words to make an empty point.

 

What does any of that even mean? What point do you think you're making?

 

If only you could apply context evenly it wouldn't make your justifications seem so defensive and shallow.

 

Apply context evenly to what? What are you even talking about, man?

 

Did I say no one had said a single good thing about AN's game? Of course not-then what good does it to mention a time when someone said he had some good post moves?

 

If the general consensus on a player is that he has some positives but more negatives, you're going to see more negatives than positives. That's just how player criticism works.

 

There is so much more weight to the criticisms of AN in this thread and the off season thread alone compared to acknowledgement of his game that if he were a celestial body he would collapse in on himself from the disproportion

 

See above.

 

This hypocrisy is exhausting.

 

That's not hypocrisy. I can say that Andrew Nicholson has a very effective post game while also saying he's probably a fringe rotation player on any team, because he's bad at literally everything else a big man needs to do. I can also say that he has no use on THIS team, because there isn't the roster here to mask the things that he's bad at, which more than overrides any value he has on offense.

 

Those statements aren't contradictory. It's an honest assessment of Andrew Nicholson's value as an NBA player.

 

And to be completely honest that mindset, in addition to the systematic bullying of newer members, are the two biggest factors in what makes this board insufferable at times and a near ghost town.

 

This is ridiculous, and presents a gross lack of understanding of what caused this board's usage to decline. There's a reason this board peaked in popularity the year the team went to the Finals.

 

Not one of you who responded is capable of looking at yourself and seeing your contributions to the problem.

 

I used to be told that I was the problem on a daily basis, and I eventually got annoyed by that enough to stop posting more than a few times a week for the last 2 years. Low and behold, nothing changed. It's almost like blaming every problem this board has, real or imagined, on one person or group of people is completely nonsensical and ignores the complex realities of a given situation.

 

You are in this odd clique that lets you think you are impervious to accountability among other things. I need to step away from this before I have to ban myself.

 

 

I legitimately want to know who you think is in this clique. Name names. It should be hilarious.

[The Neighborhood Bully 266]

Should The Thunder Trade For Channing Frye

 

With Serge Ibaka being an elite 3-point shooting big man, the Thunder should explore the possibility of playing five out basketball. To do that they need a stretch-four like Channing Frye. Kevin Durant can play as a power forward, and he’ll certainly spend some time there this season, but it won’t be often.

 

The addition of Frye would hurt Mitch McGary’s minutes, and would likely mean time spent in the D-League. McGary has potential, but he’ll never be a superstar. Best case scenario he tops out as a solid rotational big, which is what Channing Frye is now.

 

Oklahoma City are in win-now mode, and if they can upgrade at a position of need, without mortgaging the future, they should jump at the chance. Who knows what happens at the end of the season, Kevin Durant could bolt in free agency.

 

Oklahoma City has plenty of second-round picks to throw away on a player like Channing Frye. They can also add a couple of expiring contracts in Dion Waiters, D.J. Augustin or Steve Novak to make the contracts work if they need to.

http://hoopshabit.co...-channing-frye/

[Catman 380]

Lol. You're delusional. And you make bad points.

 

In your mind Alston is probably a better point guard than Russell Westbrook because you cling to some novice definition of what a point guard is.

 

 

It's like saying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that you find on the side of the road is a better sandwich than a quesadilla, because your mind can't comprehend that both fit the description of sandwiches.

 

 

In the moment most people have said Nicholson is playing bad because in the moment, he plays bad. Most people have noted when he plays good. Most people have pushed that we trade Nicholson because everyone can agree that he's the best player that doesn't fit in with this team's style. We have 3 guys on our roster that are hyper athletic. We have another 4 guys that are merely above average. Nicholson is unathletic. He's slow and he's in his prime already when the rest of the team collectively won't be in their prime for 3 or 4 years.

 

We often discuss Nicholson based on what he's not because he's in an relatively easy position to upgrade. It's not fair to him but I think most of us have a realistic view of what he is.

 

I agree with this. Honestly it reads Murphy takes everything way too seriously and has some anger issues. There was positive dialogue here on the Magic and he comes in out of the blue and starts going off for really no reason at all. As stated, we have a ton of PFs so it is only normal that AN is usually discussed in the topic of trades. I don't know, that post was so over the top, that it was a little awkward to read.

 

There is no point to be made unless you believe that being positive about a member of the Magic showing improvement is a bad thing.

 

As for calling out certain people for being a problem to the boards, it is pretty silly to storm in the middle of a civil discussion about preseason with a drama laden post attacking people for no reason and stirring things up, especially when it is the exact thing you are supposedly upset about in the first place. To act like you have not contributed to negativity on this board is pure delusion.

[Catman 380]

[/size]

http://hoopshabit.co...-channing-frye/

 

From what I have seen so far from Skiles, I think he values low post defense over a stretch 4, so this could work out. Things will be a lot clearer once we see how Gordon does at the 4 spot.

[~O~ 565]

09..feels distant now. Just in 2012, we only had a shadow of that team left with a false hope in Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, Chris *uh**, Von Wafer, Earl Clark. We even traded for the corpse of Penny Hardaway and Larry Hughes.

I think I understand the gist of what Murphy is saying. When it comes to stats, Jameer Nelson was the better point guard. When it came to character, Rafer had the dynamic toughness and grit that we wanted out of Jameer but would never get. Jameer would never ever have the guts to slap someone and go up to his face (and it wasn't only that). That's the toughness Rafer Alston instilled in our point guard position. That year, we made it to the finals with Rafer starting and I don't remember us being bullied at point that season.

 

Jameer's toughness that first half of the season was absolutely lighting up the opponent with his play. After a hardship he suffered that summer, Nelson transformed into a man possessed with an objective. Who could imagine that at his size, he could put up a 50 percent field goal percentage in the league. He would have went on to win MIP that year if things kept its course.

 

Brendan Haywood....our curse.

 

http://www.basketbal...p3=&p4=&p5=&p6=

 

Well I guess this isn't Murphy's opinion after I just ran the train off the rails. Its simple to overlook that we acquired Rafer literally halfway through the season and he made an immediate impact. Imagine one more season with Alston here. I also forgot how many huge shots he'd make and it wasn't his strong suit. Rafer shot 38 on fields and 33 on threes; abysmal.

 

This the best highlight mixtape I could find left of the Rafer. Had to blow the dust out of the VHS. This sounds like it was ripped out of the 90's. I also caught a lenovo stat on this video saying that rafer was +12 being on court and -12 off court. I'm sure as hell confident we wouldn't have gotten to the finals without him. It couldn't have been Anthony Johnson starting all season.

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

On a side note to point out early bull****tings(I know its not a word, shutup) the NBA has their story set for the finals already set similar to the year when Miami won their second. A very discrete tactic. They probably did some early working projects for the parade ceremony for Cleveland. They're has not been one day in the last two weeks where Cleveland was not on their front page. Its just been Cleveland and other teams in variations; determined to feed it down people's throats.

 

Realistically, I know Cleveland will get there since the higher ranked teams in Eastern Conference consistently disappoints without any notion of competitive transcendence of their persistence and perseverance: Chicago(stagnating and a fringe team), New York City(moved forward then to complete mediocrity), Indianapolis(were on the brink but completely fell to shreds), Toronto(Stagnating), Washington D.C.(Stagnating), Atlanta(made a breakthough but gave up when reaching its highest stage).

 

 

The Magic, Pistons, Celtics were the last legitimate undaunted teams the conference had left till it succumbed to LeBron James. The teams nowadays are just placeholder teams doomed to a predetermined fate of failing in the playoffs.

 

 

[fan for too long 2 534]

The Magic, Pistons, Celtics were the last legitimate undaunted teams the conference had left till it succumbed to LeBron James. The teams nowadays are just placeholder teams doomed to a predetermined fate of failing in the playoffs.

 

 

Very True, but very depressing, Here to hoping that our nucleus of young players will blossom as The Lebrons Wither.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

So...

 

Paul George is back.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,033]

So...

 

Paul George is back.

So f'n happy for the guy

[Catalina Maria 64]

The Magic, Pistons, Celtics were the last legitimate undaunted teams the conference had left till it succumbed to LeBron James. The teams nowadays are just placeholder teams doomed to a predetermined fate of failing in the playoffs.

 

 

Very True, but very depressing, Here to hoping that our nucleus of young players will blossom as The Lebrons Wither.

 

We have a very athletic, marketable, and good looking bunch of young guys. I believe the Orlando Magic are poised to be the next San Antonio Spurs -- perennial winners and NBA semi-darlings. If Hezonia is as good as advertised, Dipo becomes all star caliber, and Payton becomes the next Rondo, we could be a young Boston Celtics type or an OKC, which are also beloved by the NBA.

 

Our time to shine is coming ...

[Catalina Maria 64]

The Magic, Pistons, Celtics were the last legitimate undaunted teams the conference had left till it succumbed to LeBron James. The teams nowadays are just placeholder teams doomed to a predetermined fate of failing in the playoffs.

 

 

Very True, but very depressing, Here to hoping that our nucleus of young players will blossom as The Lebrons Wither.

 

 

I also think Tobias will be an all star this year. Channing Frye too!!!! WOW!!!!

[TheNameIsOrlando 310]

So...

 

Paul George is back.

 

Looks like the move to PF had no ill effects on his game...so far that is. Will be interesting to see if his body holds up or if they decide to move him back once his body starts to shut down. Might be too late at that point though.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

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