NBA Playoff Thread

Just my personal take on folks who should or shouldn't make it.
Ray has one title, did you say?
That's not a very meaningful stat, then.
Mark Aguirre, Bobby Dandridge, Phil Chenier, Ro Blackmon.
That's just a few, and I don't think any of them should be in the Hall.
Ray is simply not one of the elite players ever.
His longevity and the ever-changing dynamic of the game (which helps more recent people "look" better than past players) is not enough, I don't think, to give him access to the Hall.
Will Juwan Howard be a Hall of Famer? He has done everything Ray Allen has and I don't think Juwan is a HOFer.

 

Juwan Howard = Ray Allen? Really? Here, take a second look and try to say that again with a straight face:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/allenra02.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/howarju01.html

 

Allen might go down as the best shooter ever. I think he'll get in. Also, he made it with two chicks at the same time on a college visit.

 

Numbers-wise, perhaps.

But if anyone can provide a list of his Top 10 - OK, Top Five - buzzer-beaters, I'd be interested in seeing it.

 

Here's a nice video package. They're not all buzzer beaters in the strict technical sense, but this clip seems to focus primarily on his two years in Boston. I'm assuming there would be several more nice ones if you go back through his career in Seattle and Milwaukee.

 

Wow, those are impressive.

I stand corrected.

 

Here's a statistical sample of a five year period in the NBA, which lists Ray Allen as hitting the third most game winning shots from 03-04 to mid 08-09:

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

 

My bad,

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

 

I didn't know he had so many.

He's still not a franchise player, but he's hit some good shots, that's for sure.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/13336982/durant-belongs-with-thunder-and-thunder-belong-with-oklahoma?tag=headlines;other

Great column on OKC, its fans and Durant. I remember three things about Game 6 the other night; the Lakers' awful second unit, Gasol's last-second putback for the win and the OKC crowd standing and cheering -- all 16K strong -- for a good five minutes after the game. No one left. Pretty damn cool.

 

After the Lakers face their age-driven decline in the next couple of years, it will be fun to see how high that Oklahoma City team rises. (or as Bill Simmons calls them, the Zombie Sonics . . . there's a joke to be made here about how the Zombie Celtics are right around the corner, speaking of age-driven decline).

It will be equally fun to watch Laker fans desperately come up with scenarios in which the team could somehow acquire Kevin Durant (or some other young perimeter player) to pair with Andrew Bynum's latest knee injury.

(Don't think they won't. After the Shaq trade, Laker fans were frantically hoping the team would create cap space for 2007 or 2008 to sign . . . wait for it . . . Yao Ming).

 

Yeah, um, this Lakers fan never -- not once -- was even remotely hoping they'd sign Yao Ming. The ones that did were stupid. And I have no illusions that the Lakers will ever sign Durant. Westbrook? Yes. Durant? No. I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up with the Wizards when his deal is up.