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Quote:
hey prp, how's that facepalm smiley coming?
You can just use SMH.
and in draft news...
Irving leaving Duke after 1 season for NBA
DURHAM, N.C. (AP)—Point guard Kyrie Irving is leaving Duke after one season to enter the NBA draft.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement issued Wednesday by the school that Irving plans to hire an agent, ending his college career.
“Our whole program is overjoyed with having Kyrie here for one year and that he has the chance now to pursue a dream of being a high draft pick and a great player in the NBA,” Krzyzewski said. “We are totally supportive of Kyrie, his family and his decision. We look forward to continuing to work with him during the upcoming months leading to his entry into the NBA and afterwards while he is an NBA player.”
Irving played only 11 games and missed roughly two-thirds of the season with an injured big toe on his right foot. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists for top-seeded Duke, which was upset by Arizona in the West regional semifinals.
“It was a great experience playing for Coach K,” Irving said. “He taught me a lot about the game. Even when I was hurt, I learned a lot. Also a special thanks goes to the medical staff for getting me back on the court for the NCAA Tournament and my teammates for sticking with me throughout the entire year. Duke offered me an experience I could never have imagined.”
When Irving was healthy, he was electrifying. His 31-point performance against then-No. 6 Michigan State marked just the fourth time in school history that a freshman scored 30 points in a game. He was the MVP of the CBE Classic after averaging 14.5 points and six assists.
But his only season at Duke ultimately might be defined by the 26 games he missed after he jammed his toe during a win over Butler on Dec. 4, and the lingering subplot surrounding the Blue Devils was when—or even if—he would return.
He worked out in full public view before an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game in uniform shorts and sneakers, told reporters after the championship game win over North Carolina that he could return and wound up coming off the bench for Duke’s NCAA tournament opener against Hampton. He reached double figures in scoring in each of his three tournament games, capped by a 28-point showing in the loss to Arizona.
After that game, he said he didn’t want to take off his No. 1 jersey and could see himself wearing it again as a sophomore, but wanted to consult with his coaches, family and friends before coming to a final decision on his future.
“This was a special year for me. I love everything about Duke and I’m going to miss it,” added Irving. “Duke has a special place in my heart. Even though I’m leaving this year, Duke will always be in my mind and my heart. I’m going to miss putting on that No. 1 jersey.”
Irving’s departure leaves another hole in the Duke lineup that will be missing graduated seniors Nolan Smith, the ACC’s player of the year, and Kyle Singler, the most outstanding player at last year’s Final Four. Among the Blue Devils’ incoming freshmen is guard Austin Rivers, the son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers and one of the nation’s highest-rated recruits.
Joe Thomas made Justin Timberlake change his name. He didn't want wusses to have the same initials...
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1st String
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Kyrie Irving is a very good player. But he is not even close to the level of player John Wall or Derrick Rose were when they came out. And he's the probable #1 pick. This is not a good draft.
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Quote:
Kyrie Irving is a very good player. But he is not even close to the level of player John Wall or Derrick Rose were when they came out. And he's the probable #1 pick. This is not a good draft.
Irvings ceiling is a stronger Tony Parker with a better jump shot.
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Kyrie Irving was born in Australia? Who knew?
A better version of Tony Parker seems like a good comparison. But if that's his ceiling he is still not a franchise player.
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he's pretty good, but i wish i could have seen more of him, sucks that he was hurt most of the season and duke went out early in the tournament.
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I would definitely try to shop the 2nd pick if I could, to get a guy that could contribute right away. Look what b diddy has done for this team. The chances of us hitting on both of those picks are slim in this draft. I fully expect gilbert to use that 14 million from lebron.
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i would like to see gilbert get a lottery pick for next year. 2 this year and most likely 2 next year would be really nice.
much better than 3 this year and 1 next.
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Hall of Famer
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Quote:
Kyrie Irving is a very good player. But he is not even close to the level of player John Wall or Derrick Rose were when they came out. And he's the probable #1 pick. This is not a good draft.
He might not be but that's a bit premature thinking considering he only played in 11 games...
One might say his ceiling is out of this world...
Go Browns!!!
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JJ frustrates me,
His last 10 games:
20 points, 17 rebounds
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JJ frustrates me,
His last 10 games:
20 points, 17 rebounds
it's called actually living in the post rather than pretending he's a stretch-4.
thank Scott for starting Hollins (who noone would want living in the post, so Hickson has to do it)
#gmstrong
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Irving won't be a Rose, Wall, or Westbrook. However he is the type of player a team would LOVE to have on their team. His ceiling is a top 5 PG.
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Top 5 PG in this league is a major statement. He can be better than Rose, Westbrook, Wall, Paul, Williams, Rondo, Curry, and Jennings? All of those guys are pretty young and I don't see Irving being potentially better than any of them besides Jennings and Curry. And both of them still have room for improvement.
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Physically he will not be ahead of the super freak athletes PG. However he could become better than guys like williams, curry and jennings.
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normally, I would laugh this off to late-season boredom resulting in conspiracy theory ramblings. but, with David West out for NO (so they are worse than their record) and Gerald Wallace fitting in so well for Portland since the trade deadline (so they are better than their record) I could see it as a strategic move Quote:
Ah, the last weekend of the NBA season, where lottery-bound teams will get a little more liberal in resting key players and meaningless games verge into defense-less chaos. Things just get a little funky at this time of year; Jordan Crawford might take 30 shots in a game this weekend.
And so I present to you a nominee for the season’s strangest game so far, at least in terms of bizarre playoff implications: Friday’s game between the Lakers and Blazers in Portland. The Lakers are nearly locked into the No. 2 seed, meaning they will face the No. 7 seed in the first round. As of Friday morning, the Hornets (45-33) inhabit the No. 7 spot, just a half-game behind the Blazers (46-33). A few of the more candid Lakers told Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times that the team would prefer to avoid Portland in the first round. That makes sense, considering the Lakers’ recent history in Portland, where they had lost nine straight games before a tough win in February.
The Lakers have one easy way to increase Portland’s odds of snagging the No. 6 seed: by losing. No team is ever going to acknowledge tanking, and the Lakers are healthy and set to play their normal rotations. But don’t be shocked if the minutes distribution between starters and bench players looks a bit different than usual.
But wait! The Lakers in some respects have a lot at stake. They’ve lost three straight, prompting some angry words from Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant. And the Lakers hold a slim one-game edge over the Celtics and Heat, two possible Finals opponents.
There’s also this: Regardless of what happens in Portland tonight, the Hornets will earn the sixth seed if they win their final four games, since New Orleans owns tie-breakers over Portland and Memphis. And three of those four games are very winnable — home games against Phoenix (tonight) and Utah, and the season finale against the Mavs, who will rest their guys if they are locked into the No. 3 seed by then.
That leaves one toughie: An important road game in Memphis on Sunday. And the Grizzlies bring yet another complication into Friday’s calculus, since they are the second team those anonymous Laker players admitted they’d like to avoid; one of those players even told Medina the Grizzlies would be L.A.’s toughest possible first-round opponent. The Grizz still play the Hornets and Blazers once each, and they can clinch the tie-breaker over Portland by beating the Blazers on Tuesday. In other words: The Grizzlies are still very much in the conversation for the sixth and seventh seeds, the latter of which would mean a matchup with the Lakers that is probably something neither team really wants.
And just for fun, the Lakers and Blazers will know the results of tonight’s Hornets and Grizzlies games by the time they hit halftime in Portland.
There are so many moving parts here, many of which the Lakers and Blazers cannot control. Perhaps the best course of action for the Lakers is to play hard, refine some stuff that needs refining, hope for a win and cross their fingers the basketball gods will smile upon their effort. Either way, the Lakers are too good to let their anxiety about a first-round opponent determine their effort level and game-planning. Umm … right?
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/04/08/lakers-blazers-may-be-strangest-game-of-year/?eref=sihp
#gmstrong
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If the Lakers play Portland it will go at least six games. They have real trouble winning there. That crowd is crazy.
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not to mention Gerald Wallace defends Kobe as well as anyone (going back to his Bobcat days too). And they have Batum to give him breathers from that assignment.
since the Cavs aren't in it, the Blazers are "my team" for the playoffs this year.
#gmstrong
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I still like the Thunder. I love the way that team was built and I love the way their players play.
The series I'm looking forward to is the Heat/Celtics versus the Knicks. Melo and Stoudamire are going to be geeked for those games and the New York crowds should be great. Warriors-esque.
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Because I'm in Chicago....I'm rooting for them.
It would have made my skin crawl at the thought of doing that 15 years ago....but I've made this town my home for over a decade and this a whole different team. D.Rose is fun to watch (still can't stand Noah).
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/Punchsmack/punch.gif) “...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
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Because I'm in Chicago....I'm rooting for them.
It would have made my skin crawl at the thought of doing that 15 years ago....but I've made this town my home for over a decade and this a whole different team. D.Rose is fun to watch (still can't stand Noah).
i can't. i love derek rose, but i can't stand the rest of that team. boozer, noah, korver, those guys are all worthless.
i think people around here are getting way too excited about this team. they're good, but they haven't gotten out of the first round since jordan won the finals in '98.
so, if chicago struggles this year, will bspn start pushing derek rose out of chicago? i mean if they don't get anywhere, you can make the same argument that bspn tried to make for cleveland and lebron. he doesn't have the help. they don't really have another great player, and when the dust settled on the 2010 free agent sweepstakes, they only came out of it with boozer and korver.
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I think the Bulls are built for the regular season. Deep team with a good closer. it'll be interesting to see what happens from round2 on in the playoffs.
that said, if they somehow get the Hawks, they could coast to the Eastern Finals (they matchup really well with Atlanta IMO). I don't think that'll happen and the Magic present problems for them in a 7game series, but it's possible.
I wish we could somehow get an unfiltered mike on Garnett and the rest of the Celtics for the 2nd round vs. the Heat. they are all pretty well-known trash-talkers and I think they might have some choice digs for LeBron and co.
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that'd be funny if kg were all "i was kidding about that loyalty comment last year, hahahahahaha, sucker!"
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It looks like JJ may have figured it out over the last couple months. Look at his box scores game by game and compare early season to the last couple of months. He's night and day more productive (scoring and rebounding) and more consistent. That mixed with his highlight reel potential could make him an all-star over the next few years. I'm cool with JJ as part of our future big 3
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at the very worst he is a solid rotation guy.
if his jumper keeps improving, he can play in this league for a loooooooooooooong time.
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at the very worst he is a solid rotation guy.
if his jumper keeps improving, he can play in this league for a loooooooooooooong time.
His jumper is what seperates him from Amare. He is maybe one inch shorter than amare but the same physical frame and quickness
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Ty Lawson was 10-10 from 3 before taking an off balanced buzzer beater at the end of the 3rd. He had 37 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists
Holy... I really wanted Lawson out of college. I knew he was going to be a stud because of his speed.
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Are you saying Hickson is better than Amar'e? Or can be better than Amar'e?
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"The medium for the bad news was ESPN, which figured. The network represents much of what is loud, obnoxious and empty in sports today."
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I am saying he can become a player like Amare if he works on his range.
Scouting report on Kyrie Irving
+ Efficient scorer who can get it done in a variety of ways - penetration, three-point shooting, pull-up jumpers. (Shot 52.9% from the floor, 46.2% from three, 90.1% from the line).
+ Jumper is much better than previous one-and-dones (John Wall, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans).
+ Doesn't over-dribble/over-penetrate, so he doesn't get himself into bad situations.
+ Unselfish player who gets his teammates involved well. Runs the offense and can manage a team through set pieces.
+ Has the ability to take over games when necessary. He knows when the team needs him to score, knows when the team needs him to facilitate.
+ Will excel in any offensive system because of ability to break defenders down, get into the lane and either finish or dish for an easy bucket. Will be an outstanding pick-and-roll player.
+ Has a good pace to his game. Never out of control, never moving too fast.
+ Can go left and right with equal effectiveness.
+ Very high basketball IQ, which comes from playing at elite high school and college programs.
+ Quality on-ball defender with good lateral quickness and understanding of how to play defense.
+ Game reminds just about everyone of Chris Paul, which is always a good comparison.
+ All reports are that he's an excellent kid with good work ethic. Someone that you can build a team around, not just on the court, but in the community.
+ A true point guard.
- Size is good, not great.
- First step isn't explosive, but it's good enough because he knows how to pace his game. Uses excellent footwork and other moves to make up for lack of an explosive opener.
- Off-ball defense could use some work, but he's a willing learner/hard worker.
- Doesn't have great wingspan, but makes up for it with good lateral quickness.
- Toe injury is a concern
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Are you saying Hickson is better than Amar'e? Or can be better than Amar'e?
he said they have a similiar frame and that Amare has a much better jumper.
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I now understand that I misread his post.
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JJ is not as bulky as amare is.
I think the thing with JJ isn't so much the physical part, because he's young, his body is still immature. it's the sloppiness and the lack of drive that bugs me.
you watch amare play or any of these other 4 types and they know exactly where they are going and what they want to do. there are times where jj just seems to be winging it.
what i kinda hoped for with him is that he'd turn into a guy similiar to antonio mcdyess.
mcdyess had bigger hype coming in but there was a lot of talk about jj after the first year too. mcdyess accepted the fact that he wasn't what people thought he was, and polished his game, probably netted him millions instead of being outta the league in 3 years.
when you watch jj at times you can see how good he can be.
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Also, Stoudemire was as good as Hickson is now in his first NBA.
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and lolz did anyone see our old buddy drew gooden got a trip-dub?
i bet he went through quite a bit of diversity in that game too, to get the triple double.
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Triple Double in what categories? TOs and bad defensive plays?
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