Tue May 05, 2009 12:22 am
24th September, '05 - NBA changes the schedule system.
3rd May, '06 - Billy Knight steps down, Jamey Cusworth's the replacement.
Around the League: 'Sonics forced to move, Draft lottery.
Tue May 05, 2009 12:22 am
STARTING 5
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Ben Wallace : Marvin Williams : Boris Diaw : Marcus Mbembe (R) : Kirk Hinrich
MAIN BENCH
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Josh Childress : Troy Murphy : Tyronn Lue (C): Roshown Pierce (R)
DEEP BENCH / INACTIVE
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Loren Woods : Earl Watson : Donta Smith : Lars Jovanovski (R)
'06 OFFSEASONIncoming players
Ben Wallace (FA) : Earl Watson (FA) : Loren Woods (FA) : Lars Jovanovski (FA)(R) : Troy Murphy (FA)
Marcus Mbembe (Draft) : Roshown Pierce (Draft)
Kirk Hinrich (Trade)
Outgoing players
Royal Ivey (FA) : Tony Delk (FA) : Al Harrington (FA) : Michael Stewart (FA) : Jason Collier (FA)
Kevin Willis (Retirement) : Tom Gugliotta (Retirement)
Josh Smith (Trade)
Tue May 05, 2009 12:23 am
No player has yet to receive an award.
No player has yet to achieve anything.
Points: 33 by Marcus Mbembe, 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
Rebounds: 11 by Ben Wallace30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
Assists: 4 by Kirk Hinrich, 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
Steals: 2 by Marcus Mbembe and Kirk Hinrich on 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
Blocks: 6 by Ben Wallace, 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
FG Made: 10 by Marcus Mbembe, 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
3Pt Made: 5 by Marcus Mbembe, 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
FT Made: 8 by Marcus Mbembe, 30th October '06 against the 76ers (W)
The team hasn't been to playoffs yet.
Tue May 05, 2009 1:29 am
Tue May 05, 2009 1:38 am
Chicago, 24th September, '05 -- After the 04-05 season, many star players around the league complained about the amount of games and fatigue. It had been like this for a while until' the league noticed and in the end of the offseason full of trades, the league came up with a big decision to change a lot in the league.
From 82 games a season to 29, teams will only face eachother once and with longer breaks. Each team will face all of the teams in the league, but not play a team twice. Not only this, but the league also changed a bit of the playoffs, instead of the old 7-7-7-7 system, a 5-5-5-5 system was approved. The first team to get 3 wins - advances.
"This will make a lot of difference," said NBA's commissioner, David Stern. "In the end of the season, going to the postseason, players will not be as worn out, instead, they'll be ready for the playoffs, which will have an even bigger meaning from now on." When asked about teams losing money, Stern had an answer. "NBA ticket prices will be a little bit higher, but since everybody is ready for the game and less player will have injury problems, every game for a the fan's favourite team is like a special event. Players will give, or even, will be able to give a hundred percent of them every game, which among other factors will sell more tickets, hence the teams will still be able to make profit.
A lot of players approve the new system, yet some don't like it. "That's definitely good news, from now on, we'll all be able to rest longer.. and, uh, play better." said Rockets' Tracy McGrady. A lot of bench players complained though, being afraid of even less minutes and a chance to prove themselves, since the rested starters will take more minutes than ever.
Tue May 05, 2009 1:43 am
Sit wrote:Good luck with this one Oskar! I am loving the retired jersey banners
Tue May 05, 2009 1:46 am
Tue May 05, 2009 2:22 am
Tue May 05, 2009 2:29 am
Martti. wrote:Interesting team choice! Looking forward to more updates!
(Edu!)
Tue May 05, 2009 6:07 am
Wed May 06, 2009 12:40 am
Wed May 06, 2009 7:01 pm
thierryhenry50 wrote:Wow the Nets NBA ChampionsGood luck Oskar!
Sit wrote:You need a star player!
Wed May 06, 2009 7:15 pm
Atlanta, 3rd May, '06 -- After another unsuccesful season by the Hawks, the general manager, Billy Knight, decided to step down thanks to many reasons, one of them being the incident with the team owners about coach Mike Woodson. This didn't help Knight at all, instead, it only made the situation worse and led to this, Billy Knight stepping down.
Knight's idea was to make Josh Smith the captain of the team, coach Woodson did exactly that. After a horrid season by Josh Smith, Billy Knight put all the blame on the coach and not taking any of it on himself.
After Knight stepped down, the Hawks found a replacement quite quickly - Jamey Cusworth. Cusworth was hired as a scout in the beginning of the 05-06 season and did quite well, scouting the rookies, helping with offseason plans and so on, which led to thoughts about Cusworth being the assistant for Knight during the 06-07 season, but since everything didn't go as planned, Jamey Cusworth got the nod for the position.
"I've got some plans for the offseason, " said the 33 year old Cusworth, when asked about his new job. "The best thing is - I know all the major rookie candidates myself, I've talked to them, seen their games, know their personalities, everything, hence we'll definitely get a good rookie from this years draft."
Wed May 06, 2009 8:00 pm
Kofi Hawkins - C, 7'0", 248 lbs, 24 years old - projected 2ndA strong and tall center who can absolutely dominate the paint. Excellent inside scorer with a lot of
different post moves along with the strength and dunking ability. Terrific rebounder with quick and
long hands. Good defensive awarness. Can shoot a good percentage from the FT line. Can also play
outside of the paint, making mid-range step-back jumpers or simply catch and shoot.
Can get tired and can't stay on the court for too long. Can't pass or dribble at all. Needs to bulk up
and add some extra weight.
Marcus Mbembe - SG, 6'3", 228 lbs, 23 years old - projected 1stAn extremely gifted athlete with the ability to jump out of the building. Thunderous dunks and
acrobatic layups make him fan favorite everywhere he goes. Can get a lot of steals. Good offensive
awarness. can hit long range bombs, especially during the final minutes of the ball game. Can play a
lot of minutes. An ironman, rarely misses games despite playing out of control. A strong body that
helps him getting to the rim at will.
Thinks about himself first, then team. Might not be too passive as he likes to shoot a lot, despite
not being a really good shooter. Gets a few steals, but gambles on defense and often leaves his team
with 4 defenders.
Mario Hammonds - SG, 6'5", 231 lbs, 24 years old - projected 3rdA great offensive player with a lot of different moves. Excellent dribbling ability. Can shoot from
just about everywhere on the court, except from the FT line. Terrific inside scorer with the ability
to get to the paint at will. Good court vision and passing ability. Smart defensive player who never
gambles. Can stay on the court for long time.
Not going to work on his game a lot. Might be a lockerroom cancer. Shoot first, pass second type
player, despite having a great passing ability. Not a fast, neither quick player. Not going to pass the
ball during the clutch, instead, forces all the shots.
Soulis Lindquist - PF, 7'0", 276 lbs, 23 years old - projected 4thA very good player with great fundamentals. Great size along with the skills makes him a good rebounder.
A good shooter for his size. Really strong body. Great all-around game, from dribbling to defending, from
defending to passing. A hard-worker who spends a lot of time in the gym.
Not the most interesting player to watch. Not exactly slow, but not the quickest guy on the floor.
Could take down some weight. Needs to improve his FT shooting ability. Good defensive awarness, but not
a great shotblocker and won't lock down anyone.
Ben Iwanaka - PG, 6'0", 170 lbs, 22 years old - projected 10thA fundamental point guard. Very good passing ability. A terrific shooter with great range. Good FT
shooter. Good defender. Pretty strong for his size and position. Works extremely hard to improve every
aspect of his game. Does everything to win the game without forcing anything.
Too slow to be a lockdown defender in the NBA. Could run a fastbreak, but is too slow for that. Not a
gifted athlete. Not a good rebounder, even for a guard. Not the best dribbler. Has a weak crossover and
rarely even tries to use it.
Sat May 09, 2009 2:47 am
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The Seattle SuperSonics who have been in Seattle since 1967, when the team was found, are now forced to leave the city. The team will move to Oklahoma City and will be named "Thunder".Read more ..
The NBA Draft lottery is done and the top three teams are the following - 76ers get the first pick, Hornets the second and Hawks, thanks to an huge luck, get the third pick.
The 76ers, who received the first round pick from Orlando during the season, got the ability to pick first. Last time when Philadelphia had the first draft pick was in 1996, just 10 years ago. That day, they used their pick on Allen Iverson, who is still with the club and led them deep into the playoffs this year, where they lost to the eventual NBA Champions, New Jersey Nets.
Hornets getting a high draft pick isn't something special, because they didn't manage to do too much during the season, being led by the rookie PG, Chris Paul, who was one of the top candidates for the rookie of the year award. Look for the Hornets to draft a big man, probably Kofi Hawkins - if available.
Differently from the Hornets, the Hawks got their 3rd draft spot by luck, huge luck. They were projected to get a pick somewhere around the 10th place, but went higher and higher, til' they ended up having the third pick. A big possibility is, that a top 3 pick in this years draft will also be the best player for the Atlanta Hawks.Read more ..
Sat May 09, 2009 10:55 pm
A few weeks after scouting and the draft lottery, where the 76ers got the first pick, New Orleans the second and Atlanta the third, the NBA Draft was coming. Scouts saw it as a draft without no one standing out too much more than others, instead, a very very deep draft with many of the top 10 being eventual all-star caliber players in the league.
The draft started off pretty strangely, with the Philadelphia 76ers drafting the 6'5" shooting guard from UCLA, Mario Hammonds. Everyone expected the 76ers to draft Marcus Mbembe, but the 76ers general manager later said, that they didn't want a backcourt of two undersized shooting guards, and this is exactly how it would've been with Iverson and Mbembe. Instead, they get a big, strong and athletic guard next to Iverson.
The second pick by New Orleans was a no-doubter, everyone knew they were going to pick the 7 feet behemoth from Michigan, Kofi Hawkins. None was wrong, as they did exactly as everyone knew they were going to. Hawkins said, that he's extremely happy to be with the Hornets, he loves the city and the organization, especially playing together with a pass-first point guard in Chris Paul. They're both looking forward to go side-by-side for a long time and have the team winning.
The third pick by Atlanta, was a probably the most interesting one. They had no players to build around at that point, they got the 3rd pick by huge luck and the player they would pick, would probably end up as the franchise player, unless a big free agent is signed. The Hawks didn't dissapoint their fans, picking Marcus Mbembe from Oklahoma. Mbembe, a 6'3" combo guard is happy to be in Atlanta and is looking forward to play with his new team.
In the second round, the Hawks drafted Roshown Pierce - a 6'10" PF from Congo. If Pierce is going to get some playing time in his 1st year, most of it will probably be in the center position, despite him not being too big.Read more ..
The FA signing wasn't too spectacular. Not too many star players left their teams to look for better offers from different teams. Despite this, there were still some that did, such as Jason Richardson, Ben Wallace, Al Harrington, Donyell Marshall to name a few.![]()
The biggest signings were probably, when the Hawks signed Ben Wallace and Troy Murphy and the Hornets signing both, Al Harrington and Donyell Marshall to get an even better team around Chris Paul and 2nd pick, Kofi Hawkins. There were a lot of roleplayers signed aswell, but none for a big contract or something that should be pointed out.
The trading period wasn't an amazement either, with only one major trade being done, between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks. The trade sent Josh Smith to Chicago for Kirk Hinrich. This trade will give Atlanta a young, yet experienced point guard who can shoot, make plays and defend really good. Chicago, therefore, get a young, athletic forward in Josh Smith, who fits exactly to the description of what the Bulls needed. Smith can do almost everything except for shooting, and the Bulls have enough shooting ability and range from the guards, Chris Duhon and Ben Gordon.
"Ofcourse, we're extremely happy to get Kirk Hinrich to Atlanta," said the Hawks' new GM, Jamey Cusworth. "He's a big defensive minded guard who can make plays for his teammates and he can also shoot. Tyronn Lue, who did the similar things last year, when he was playing better than many expected, earned himself a contract extension to play behind Kirk Hinrich at the point guard spot. Hinrich, Mbembe, Lue and Childress will give us a nice depth at the guard spot."Read more ..
Sun May 10, 2009 12:36 am
Sun May 10, 2009 12:01 pm
Sun May 10, 2009 7:41 pm
Sun May 10, 2009 8:50 pm
Wed May 13, 2009 5:13 am
Sun May 17, 2009 5:43 am
Sun May 17, 2009 5:49 pm
Sun May 17, 2009 8:47 pm
Mon May 18, 2009 12:16 am