NBA

[Dissident]

I'm not sold on the Lakers even making the conference finals to be honest.
I don't think Howard will be anywhere near as big for them as they would like.
There will be a lot of surprises I think. I would not be surprised to see OKC not finish 1/2.
And would not be surprised if Dallas make it to the lottery.

Money is on Lillard for ROY. Will play the most minutes along with Davis for the rookies, having no one in front of him in that spot at Portland.

Davis has impressed me more offensively than I thought he would. Still unsure he is the franchise changer they speculated though.

I picked up Beal and Barnes in my fantasy draft keeper league this year so I'm hoping those two rookies do well But I reckon Jae Crowder who I also picked up with my last pick will be a monster for the Mavs.

And finally, I hope Perry Jones works out his ability and stops being scared. CARN THUNDER.

[Turbo]

Lakers are 0-8 in preseason and Kobe might miss the season opener.

Stern has also announced he will retire next year.

am quite happy about the lakers going win-less in the preseason. the last two times we done that i think was 2000 and 2009. ya'll know what happened at the end of those seasons?

Spot on. Enough said!! Bring on the proper season!!

[Johno6]

James harden has been traded to the rockets.

[Freo HeaveHo]

60 mill for 4 years

[Grahaml]

Harden moving on the eve of the season is a big eyebrow raiser. Wonder if something changed his thinking on his OKC future, or whether the Rockets suddenly felt a need to add something and made a late play.

Rockets taking a fair risk here, there are many question marks over Lin and Harden as individuals. But a punt worth taking IMHO.

[PPLions]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8564589/james-harden-expects-sign-long-term-deal-houston-rockets

HOUSTON -- James Harden plans to sign a long-term extension with the Houston Rockets before the regular season begins.

Its a very interesting trade for Houston which has cut or traded every veteran player from last season's roster - mainly in the hope of landing a franchise player such a Dwight Howard.
Is Harden that player? Judging from last season's NBA Finals - probably not.
Jeremy Lamb and Kevin Martin are two great additions to the OKC roster.

[Johno6]

i cannot wait for saturdays double header
will be front n centre in front of the tv all day.

[blink]

Harden moving on the eve of the season is a big eyebrow raiser. Wonder if something changed his thinking on his OKC future, or whether the Rockets suddenly felt a need to add something and made a late play.

Rockets taking a fair risk here, there are many question marks over Lin and Harden as individuals. But a punt worth taking IMHO.

Devastated about this move. The real winners out of this deal are the Lakers - can't see them losing the west now!

Harden especially has a lot to live up to - his form for OKC in the playoffs at times was poor and has not had a great start to his preseason either (although this new deal might explain that).

[Dissident]

The only thing confusing about the Harden trade is the timing.

Besides that, it was always going to happen - just a matter of to who and Houston had more to offer than Dallas, Phoenix etc.

Other option was that he stayed - made a title run and then left anyway for the max. Sam Presti is an extremely aggressive mover of talent - moving Jeff Green started that reputation - so moving Harden before he moved himself was a smart move.

Might backfire initially, with chemistry. Who knows.

Also it depends where/when they use Kevin Martin. He could start as the shooting guard and move Thabo to the bench but that really reduces the OKC scoring once the second unit comes on. Or, he comes on with Maynor, Collison etc and pushes the floor there.

Being an OKC fan, I'm sad Harden is gone, but see the logic.
Being a Fantasy Manager who has Harden in his roto league - I see the benfit to me now - starter et al.

Am NOT sold on the Lakers winning the West yet.

[RoosterMarty]

Harden should have stayed with OKC instead of moving for money. An extra 8 mill (less after tax) over 4 years, not sure if it's really worth it when he could have stayed at a young team which is building something.

[Dissident]

It's the extension after that which Houston WILL offer and he WILL take that makes the difference.
Isn't as simple as the years/money that both could offer yesterday

[Dissident]

Also, it wasn't his decision really - Presti traded him.
Negotiations had stalled with his management, but it was more to do with the long term issues of being a max guy.
He walks season-end for a max contract somewhere and OKC get nothing.

[Grahaml]

The benefits for Harden are clear. Starting and playing extra minutes gives him the chance to prove whether he's all star quality or just a decent player who adds a bit from time to time. He'll find out where he fits in and if he steps up he'll earn a stack more money. OKC were never going to be able to pay him what he was worth with all those other guys getting most of the money.

I'm not convinced this torpedoes OKC's title chances but no doubt it'll mean a few rotation changes and the will really need to find some other option for bench scoring.

[BZB27]

OKC also did this trade to aviod free agency talks about Harden all through the season, not sure that Kevin Martin is the bloke you would want to replace him with, i think he is a very streaky shooter nowdays.

I think the Clips will challenge this year they got a very gd squad who i think will push the lakers even with all their In's all i know is bring on Halloween

[brod]

And once again no one mentions the Spurs...

[brod]

ESPN Preseason Power Rankings

1 Miami
2 San Antonio
3 LA Lakers
4 Boston
5 OKC
6 LA Clippers
7 Denver
8 Indiana
9 Memphis
10 Utah
19 Golden State....the over/unders for games played by Bogut this year is....52.5

[brod]

Plenty of big names who wont be playing on opening night/games
- Stoudemire out for 6 weeks has to hurt the Knicks...will they be playing catch up with the Nets?
- Kobe is a game time decision
- Odom has missed practices this week
- Bogut wont suit for the Warriors
- Kaman will miss for the Mavs (I know not really a big name..just big)

[Johno6]

Is Nowitski playing?

[saintal]

Great to have the NBA back, although I can see a longish year coming up for my Trail Blazers.

[Johno6]

so no kaman, dirk or delonte for mavs today?