Official 2009/2010 NBA Season Thread

Eddymon · 10.26.09, 01:04 PM

The season tips off tomorrow Boston @ Cleveland to be followed by Clippers vs. Lakers.
Whats up scheduling the Clippers for a nationally televised game on opening night? Should be Denver vs. Lakers, any good team other than the Clippers. I guess the league wants to showcase last year's #1 draft pick.

Wruff_ajax · 10.26.09, 02:54 PM

I watched the Lakers play so many shitty teams on national t.v. last season it was stupid. League don't care, as long as the Lakers are involved and the Lakers are winning. It's kinda like boxing in that sense. God forbid the cash cow get beat up in front of everyone. So we get to watch them beat up on the Clippers opening night instead. No contest. Yay.

seenbad · 10.26.09, 02:59 PM

Watch out for the clipps this year. Yep. I said it.

I Coulda Hada VH · 10.27.09, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seenbad

Watch out for the clipps this year. Yep. I said it.

Speaking of the Clippers, the curse lives on ...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4597949

It's Mike · 10.27.09, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wruff_ajax

I watched the Lakers play so many shitty teams on national t.v. last season it was stupid. League don't care, as long as the Lakers are involved and the Lakers are winning. It's kinda like boxing in that sense. God forbid the cash cow get beat up in front of everyone. So we get to watch them beat up on the Clippers opening night instead. No contest. Yay.

they like to feature the #1 pick in the draft on opening night against the star team of that conference. I think they scheduled Oden to face the Lakers last year. Makes perfect sesne to me.

seenbad · 10.27.09, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I Coulda Hada VH

Speaking of the Clippers, the curse lives on ...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4597949

Yep. Geez. That's too dang bad.

Eddymon · 10.27.09, 06:41 PM

Nice start by the Celtics, nice rings for the Lakers.

Brett · 10.27.09, 06:59 PM

Cool ceremony....Silk, Stormin' Norman, The Logo, Coop, even Horry (who got a huge ovation)....very nice.

Now here we go, season on.

Brett · 10.27.09, 09:11 PM

Well the Lakers didn't play very well, no Gasol, but at least they didn't lose on ring night like they usually do. The Clippers suck.

Kobe looked very good tonight, so did Bynum...even Odom looked really good. Artest played excellent D, but is very lost on offense so far.

Brett · 10.27.09, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wruff_ajax

I watched the Lakers play so many shitty teams on national t.v. last season it was stupid. League don't care, as long as the Lakers are involved and the Lakers are winning. It's kinda like boxing in that sense. God forbid the cash cow get beat up in front of everyone. So we get to watch them beat up on the Clippers opening night instead. No contest. Yay.

They only lost 17 times least year Wruff, the cash cow didn't do that much losing, what do you want? They beat the Celtics twice, the Cavs twice on national TV in the regular season. What more do you expect?

The league makes most of their TV money on the Lakers, just like baseball with the Yankees, Cowboys in football. Just the way it is. Better ratings watching the Lakers beat the Clippers, than Dallas vs. Washington or something, whether it's a better game or not.

seenbad · 10.27.09, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brett

Well the Lakers didn't play very well, no Gasol, but at least they didn't lose on ring night like they usually do. The Clippers suck.

Kobe looked very good tonight, so did Bynum...even Odom looked really good. Artest played excellent D, but is very lost on offense so far.

Yep, Bynum looked beastly. Looking forward to see how he does with Gasol back in the mix.

Blazers looked....weird. Got the W, nice, but Andre Miller is going to take some time for me to get used to. It's a weird mix.

Also weird seeing Blazers block a million shots.

Also weird seeing them turn the ball over 26 times and still winning. Nates going to run them hard and put em' away wet for that.

Oden gets 12 boards and 5 blocks which is nice, and actually managed to not foul out. Odd though that the guards didn't get him the ball more than 3 times with a 6 inch height advantage over Hayes with no Ming. Really? Didn't want to take advantage there??

Weird opening night.

lovemachine97(Version 2) · 10.28.09, 09:33 AM

Former Celtics star Antoine Walker is broke and in debt

By J.E. Skeets

In 12 years, Antoine Walker(notes) made more than $110 million playing professional basketball moderately well. Take away taxes, throw in some adidas endorsement money and a "NBA Live 99" cover, and he's left with, what, $60-to-65 million?

Whatever the details, it was a big chunk of change, which, amazingly, wasn't enough.

That's right, during the last several months, the once multi-millionaire athlete has been pursued by multiple financial institutions for unpaid debts.

In fact, according to The Boston Globe, "Employee No. 8" owes more than $4 million to his creditors and is facing felony check fraud charges in Las Vegas. All of this at the age of 33. Wild.

Now I know what you're thinking: How in the world does somebody — not named Montgomery Brewster — even begin to blow through that amount of money?

The answer: fairly easily.

"[Walker] liked to move in an outsized entourage; his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another. And speaking of his mother, he built her a mansion in the Chicago suburbs, complete with an indoor pool, 10 bathrooms, and a full-size basketball court. [...]

Living at the Bishops Forest condominium complex in Waltham during the Celtics season, Walker turned the pavement surrounding his home into a virtual luxury car lot — two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer. Often, the vehicles were tricked out with custom paint jobs, rims, and sound systems at considerable added expense. He also collected top-line watches — Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers."

Condos, luxury cars, watches ... I guess that'll eventually force you into bankruptcy. Especially when you're not investing any money or collecting $200 with every fifth or sixth roll of the die.

But Walker's lavish lifestyle wasn't all "me-me-me." He was also a generous friend and teammate who had custom suits made for coaches, routinely picked up giant team dinner tabs and, when there were funds to spare, gave to underprivileged youngsters. He was basically spending money like it was going out of style.

And it did.

I guess Biggie was right after all: mo' money, mo' problems.

It's Mike · 10.28.09, 09:48 AM

bad things happen to stupid people. i have no compassion. I'm a bad person.

lovemachine97(Version 2) · 10.28.09, 10:03 AM

Yup, these people don't realize you can't support your family and friends completely. If you wanna give them money, give them a job. If they don't understand that, fine, they aren't your friends.

Hell, if I won a big lotto, I'd set aside a good amount for my parents, and then I'd split a decent amount amongst my friends and family based on need.

I'd keep at LEAST half for myself (depending on what I got), and invest at least half of that.

But living that lifestyle is ridiculous.

seenbad · 10.28.09, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovemachine97(Version 2)

Former Celtics star Antoine Walker is broke and in debt

By J.E. Skeets

In 12 years, Antoine Walker(notes) made more than $110 million playing professional basketball moderately well. Take away taxes, throw in some adidas endorsement money and a "NBA Live 99" cover, and he's left with, what, $60-to-65 million?

Whatever the details, it was a big chunk of change, which, amazingly, wasn't enough.

That's right, during the last several months, the once multi-millionaire athlete has been pursued by multiple financial institutions for unpaid debts.

In fact, according to The Boston Globe, "Employee No. 8" owes more than $4 million to his creditors and is facing felony check fraud charges in Las Vegas. All of this at the age of 33. Wild.

Now I know what you're thinking: How in the world does somebody — not named Montgomery Brewster — even begin to blow through that amount of money?

The answer: fairly easily.

"[Walker] liked to move in an outsized entourage; his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another. And speaking of his mother, he built her a mansion in the Chicago suburbs, complete with an indoor pool, 10 bathrooms, and a full-size basketball court. [...]

Living at the Bishops Forest condominium complex in Waltham during the Celtics season, Walker turned the pavement surrounding his home into a virtual luxury car lot — two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer. Often, the vehicles were tricked out with custom paint jobs, rims, and sound systems at considerable added expense. He also collected top-line watches — Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers."

Condos, luxury cars, watches ... I guess that'll eventually force you into bankruptcy. Especially when you're not investing any money or collecting $200 with every fifth or sixth roll of the die.

But Walker's lavish lifestyle wasn't all "me-me-me." He was also a generous friend and teammate who had custom suits made for coaches, routinely picked up giant team dinner tabs and, when there were funds to spare, gave to underprivileged youngsters. He was basically spending money like it was going out of style.

And it did.

I guess Biggie was right after all: mo' money, mo' problems.

That's too bad. If he was just an idiot, period, I wouldn't feel too bad for him. The fact that he was generous with it leaves room for some compassion.

The NBA should institute a policy for assigning a two hour meeting with a financial adviser for all rookies entering the NBA to chat up the basics of managing money. Just basics. Principle, interest, compound interest. Some of these guys just don't have any clue.