Playoffs03

I like the signings of Ham, but we still need a 3 pt threat to spread the floor a bit more offensively. We will need a SG who can shoot a high percentage from downtown, doesn't demand the ball on offense, and plays solid defense (doesn't have to be a defense specialist). Mike Miller does shoot a high%, but he took close to 13 shots a game last year, will he be willing to take less shots? what about his defense? I don't think we should trade Nazr, we will need him because Theo's health is a major factor to this team success. I opposed to the Mike Miller deal. I would rather see us buying out E-mail's or CC's (unlikely) contract and get us a Walt Williams type player to come off the bench to drain the 3s.

Well done Pete! Ham is a great pickup. Anybody know what kinda contract we offered him? I hope Pete has something else going on to bring us a 3 pt threat. We only have one right now (JT).

Paul Pierce was almost stabbed to death, he woulda spent his entire life watching the NBA rather than playing in the NBA, but some miracle happened, and now he not only is fully recovered and has a very bright future ahead of him. Demarr Johnson was almost killed in a car accident couple days ago, but miracle was definitely on his side. I just wanna say, get well sonn Demarr, I am looking forward to see you having the same success as Pierce.

The Chinese use a different sets of characters (and they are so complicated and look like pictures, which is really cool). They have something else called Pinyin (or something like that), and they are represented by english characters with all those little slashes, bars, back slashes .... on top of those letters. Every few of those letters combined corresponds to one chinese character. "Yao" probably came from that. I have learnt Mandarin for 2 years in highschool couple years ago. Thats why I know quite a bit about the Chinese character and stuff like that.

If you watch the game yesterday in Vancouver (which I don't think you have), here is what happened, the style he used to play is different from american basketball. you can call him soft, but he is soft only because the style he used to play is different. Basically, if you seen some Mavs games last year, and have a close look at Wang, you will see why Ming only had 5 rebounds. The transition from China league to the NBA may need a year or two for Ming. He has real good shot selections and he is pretty fast for a guy his size. he is no shawn bradley. Nash was incredible, drove pass those Chinese guards (they suck) anyway he wanted. One more thing, thoses Chinese guards couldn't get Ming the ball inside, Ming could have scored more if he had a better guard who knows how to get him the ball. I did not go to the game, this is from two of my teamates, who went to watch it. I had a final exam yesterday and talked to them immediately after my exam, thats why i didn't go. BTW, they saw Ming in the bar the other night and talked to Nash (they know his cousin). I wish I could have go because that was probably the best basketball game in Vancouver for years.

As you guys know, the Chinese basketball team came to Vancouver (thats where I live) to play against team Canada. Ming is no Shawn Bradley (thats for sure), he is pretty fast for a guy his size. The Chinese guards suck, they couldn't get Ming the ball in the post. Steve Nash drove pass the Chinese guards so easily. Ming was on fire, shooting 100% from the field and the free throw line as well. He got pushed around because he wasn't aggressive enough (the style the Chinese played is just different, so I don't blame him), anyway, it was nice seeing Ming and I believe it will take at least 1 or 2 years before he will be good. My prediction for the coming season is, 15ppg, 6rpg, 3bpg, his shooting percentage will be one of the top in the league because he has really good shot selection.

I've been to Tokyo once (last x'mas), and it is a nice city. but flight time took like 8 or 10 hours (don't remember the exactly number) from west coast to tokyo.

at least 3 games for a first round exit at most 5 games for a first round exit at least 7 games for a second round exit at most 12 games for a second round exit at least 11 games for a conference final exit at most 19 games for a conference final exit at least 15 games if we go to the final at most 26 games

having the grizz in vancouver was not a mistake. the management was a joke. the owner, mike heisley is a liar. the grizz averaged over 13000 fans per game in its last season in vancouver (2% lower than the previous season). guess what? that is more than the hornets, the rockets and the hawks attandance last year. consider the fact that the grizzlies won less than 50 games in total, during its life time in vancouver, the fans in vancouver really supported the team well. by the way, there was a guy (forgot his name) who wanted to buy the grizzlies back then to move it to st. louis (i believe he owns the NHL team there), but the seller (arca bay) didn't sell it to him becoz the fans in vancouver didn't want to lose the franchise. and then this f***ing heisley (current owner) came along and promised to keep the grizz in van. but after 1 season, the grizz is gone to memphis. this heisley guy is such a liar.

come to think of it, i remember one of my friend told me that he is mixed couple years ago.

i've just found out that newble is a restricted free agent, so ... 1) if ira get an offer from other teams for let say $1 million (thats how much we are willing to sign him at most), we can always match the offer. 2) if ira get an offer for let say $3 million (what he is asking for) from another team, we can still match the offer and do a sign and trade. 3) if ira doesn't get any offer, he will have to accept anything we will offer him. or else, he will have to play in the CBA or NBDL or those europe leagues where he will get paid less. option 2 is very unlikely, becoz no other teams have shown interest in ira and who would really want to pay $3 million to get ira who played less than 82 games in his NBA career. in addition, only the 1st and 2nd overall pick in every year make more than $3 million in their second season. i wonder why ira should worth more than a 1st or 2nd overall pick? we can basically rule out option 2. either option 1 or option 3 will get us newble, we are very very likely to get newble back. thoughts?

BHD, i think your statement towards Bibby is perfectly fine except ... Bibby is black? i've seen him play for 3 full seasons in vancouver plus almost all of his playoffs game last season plus all of those kings games that were boardcast on NBC and i've never knew that he is black. am i missing something here?

inside man, nice graph, that is your own website? jay, bibby used to average like 8 ast in vancouver, but never made a clutch shot. i bet if jason kidd or andre miller plays with the kings, they won't get more than 6 ast. i don't think bibby is a top 3 point guard. not even top 3 in the west.

Nique, here is the one from the sporting news, Link "http://mfile.akamai.com/3310/rm/sportnws.download.akamai.com/3310/i/media/audio/2/20020802/9919.ram"

Nique, Link "http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll id=1082636&segment=86391" is the address. (use html code and just link it as if it is a normal webpage)

zhizhi is not an above average rebounder, at least he wasn't last year. but i heard that he has improved on his rebound and defense dramatically over the summer. he has a center's body, but not a center's game. he plays like a small forward. he is a hard worker but i really don't see him as a good fit for the hawks. zhizhi is definitely better than bowdler, but he would cost more (3+ million a year).

nique, try linking that sporting news radio about the big dog trade. some where in the middle of the audio clip, lon said that JT is our point guard. and i believe in yesterday's big dog press conference, either babcock or lon mentioned about JT being the starting point guard. you can try to attach these two links and they shouldn't be too hard to find.

i think andre miller could be an allstar this coming season if one of the following top notch point guard in the west is injuried. they are: francis, payton, nash andre and bibby are right behind them in the west.

class of 96 allstar game appearance: (9 players) shareef, ray, iverson, walker, peja, jermaine, kobe, nash, marbury none of the following will be allstar, but they are pretty good. delk, fisher, jyd, othella harrington, mcinnis, ilgauskas, shandon anderson, lo wright, kittles class of 99 allstar game appearance: (4 players) davis, brand. francis, wally how many of the following will be allstar in 3 years? odom, bender, rip, andre, JT, marion, artest, posey, glover, kenny thomas, krilenko, devean george, jumaine jones, nailon, zhizhi, t-mac canada only odom, andre, JT, and marion (maybe rip and artest) have chances to be an allstar in the next 3 years.

i guess i misunderstood what you were trying to say. i think we should move dion now if we aren't likely to resign newble. i would prefer a defensive sg/sf to come off the bench. CC should go too. he hasn't played more than 50 games a season and his contract is bad. he is a decent player with heart, but we must move on and get a guy who can help us more. as for hendu, i really want to see how good he will be with the arrival of glenn robinson.

Raptor has the coolest site! if you put your mouse cursor on top of the raptor's icon, its mouth open.

it is always good to look at different ways to improve. even the lakers (rush), kings (keon or donyell) and mavs (lewis) are trying to improve. we are a good team now, no doubt, but yet, we haven't proven anything to the league and won't until we start winning games consistently, we shouldn't stop improving just because our team just became much better.

i get your point, but ... lets say we sign ira, and then we have 12 players. would you rather buy out email's contract so that we can sign kevin willis or keep email as a practice player and sign willis and put him on the lineup? you will have to pay either way.

Now we have