The Big B

Recently there has been alot of shaking up going on with coaches in the NBA. Coaches leaving and going to other teams, and other coaches finally getting a job again. Let's take a look at what has gone on so far:

Larry Brown to the Bobcats:

Larry Brown was hired to become the new coach in Charlotte. He is a highly prestige coach that has alot of experience and has been very successful; most recently winning the 2004 NBA Finals with the Detroit Pistons. He is a defensive minded coach which just adds to how valuable he is because of the importance defense has on being successful in the NBA. The Bobcats are a young team that has lots of young talent. If Brown can get these guys to play defense, and work together as a team like he always has been able to do, don't be surprised to see them in the playoffs next year. He was able to take the 76ers to the playoffs almost every year and all they had was Allen Iverson. He has Gerald Wallace, Jason Richardson, Emeka Okafor, and Raymond Felton to work with here. This was a very smart move by MJ, and should help the Bobcats to finally have some success

Rick Carlisle to Mavericks:

Mark Cuban decided to get rid of his young coach Avery Johnson because of their struggles in the playoffs recently. First he gets rid of Nelly, and now Avery? Does anyone see a pattern here? New coaches yet same old struggles? Maybe it's him and not the coaches that should be punished

Anyways their new coach, Carlisle, is also another experienced NBA coach. Won the COY with the Pistons in 2002 and led the Pacers to league leading 61 wins in 2004. He also took them all the way to the ECFs, but only to lose to the Pistons in their championship run. Is he the answer for the Mavericks? Probably not. The Jason Kidd trade destroyed the Mavs future, and next year will be their last to compete for the title for along time. It's probably only a matter of time before Cuban gets upset again and fires Carlisle.

Mike D'Antoni to the Knicks:

Oh boy this should be interesting. The Knicks finally decided to answer the pleas of their fans and finally get rid of Isiah. Now, with Walsh running the show, things have gotten interesting. Walsh has definitely going to go after one of these big name coaches from the beginning. When the "D'Antoni to the Bulls" rumors started, I thought for sure he was going there. When I saw today that Mike had decided to go the Knicks, I can't say I was completely shocked. It did take me by surprised, but it's kind of a perfect fit for him. D'Antoni has always been a guy that doesn't preach defense has a "short" bench. With the Knicks, he probably won't have to change much. They already don't play much any defense, and their bench just sucks anyways.

Can he turn them around? I'm sure they will improve from the pathetic year they have had this year, but don't expect him to have the same results, or anything close to it, that he had in Phoenix. He might be able to sneak them into the playoffs somehow with how well he can run the offense, but don't expect him to do wonders in New York.

Scott Skiles to the Bucks:

This is an "okay" sign by the Bucks. They have a playoff caliber team with guys like Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut, Mo Williams, and Ramon Sessions. Skiles was able to have some success with the Bulls, but the team gave up on him and fell apart this year. He may not be the best of coaches, but he is better than Larry Krystkowiak. He should be able to help Bucks improve from they way they have been playing recently. Will he get them to the playoffs? Who knows? Maybe, maybe not. We will see what happens. This isn't a huge sign for the Bucks, but it's not like Krystikowiak is going to do any better.

Erik Spoelstra to the Heat:

Pat Riley has called it quits again. He's going to step down from the coaching job and resume only his GM duties. The guy taking over the job is Erik Spoelstra. He has been a video coordinator for the Heat since 1995, and has become an assistant coach/video coordinator for the Heat. He is the youngest head coach in the league at 37, and has never been a head coach on any level besides the NBA Summer Leauge. He is inexperienced, and is taking over the league's worst team this year. Though it's not all bad. Dwyane Wade should be at full health again next year, they have acquired Shawn Marion in a trade with the Suns, and alot of the Heat players are confident in Spoelstra and believe in him.

Can he make the Heat bounce back next year? I think he can. He is inexperienced, but with the great players the Heat have, a high draft pick coming, and the confidence his team has him, I believe the Heat could be a back in the playoffs next year. Who knows, they might even be contenders again very soon.


There are still some coaches out there and teams that need one. The Bulls still need a new coach, and Avery Johnson still needs a job. Rumors of Avery becoming the Bulls new coach have come up. Rumors of college Michigan State Spartans head coach, Tom Izzo, taking over for the Bulls has also been talked about. Mark Jackson was rumored to be looking to head coach, and was at one thought to go to the Knicks, but that isn't happening anymore.

Last night, Viktor Krapper and I had a great discussion about how messed up our country is. It all stemmed from coaches being interviewed at the end of quarters and went on to things to may become the fall of our civilization. It was a great discussion that could have went on forever, but we have other things to do besides post on CBS all night.

Check it out, you might be interested:

Viktor:

Why the heck do people need to be entertained every waking second of a game? Please for goodness sake, let a basketball game be a basketball game. How do you expect the game to have any credibility if you turn into a circus, which is pretty much what they have done. If you want to see morons jump through flaming hoops, go to the circus. If you want to see scantily clad women dance, go to a strip club.

It's the same with this bullcrap interviewing of coach's between quarters.This has got to stop immediately. It is a complete joke. What do you expect coaches are going to say? Actually meaningful insight towards the game? Let the coaches focus on the game for goodness sake.

This is the NBA playoffs for goodness sake. If you need all this crap to keep your interest, you have no business watching basketball.

When's the last time you've seen a halftime show at a European soccer match? Stop embarrassing our nation. I bet the international audience had to be cracking up at our stupidity.

And they wonder why so many kids are being diagnosed with ADD?

If people can't sit still at a frickin basketball game for 90 seconds without being entertained, how do they expect kids to manage in class?

Stop trying to turn this into entertainment. It's a basketball game. I watch basketball to see basketball, not to see morons jump through flaming hoops and sideline reporters ask ridiculous questions to coaches who want to get out of there as soon as possible.

Please somebody tell David Stern to stop hijacking the game of basketball with his crap. There have been some well played games for the most part for once, and they have to drag this crap into it. Just stop already.

Big B:

That's great Viktor, but as long as we are controlled by the media, this will never change. It's a sad realization, but it's unfortunately inevitable.

Viktor:

Yip. It is.

It's just sad to see our intelligence go down before our very eyes.

I just feel that we are owed to see basketball being played, not this fabricated entertainment package. But you're right, it will never happen.

Big B:

I've been watching this new show from Lewis Black, "Root of all Evil" that has really shown how bad America has gotten. With things like YouTube, reality shows like "A Shot at Love" and "Flavor of Love", etc. it just goes to show how much the IQ of our nation has dropped.

It is really sad to see this kind of stuff happening right before us, but as long as there are a few us of still sane enough to realize this, we will survive....but who knows how long.

Viktor:

That's the problem when money is valued over wisdom.

In our society money is used as a scorecard to dictate who the winners and loser are. It's not what you contribute to society, it's how much money you make.

My dad's theory is that the reason the US will face a hefty decline is that our "brightest" are going into law rather than something more useful...

Big B:

You're dad's exactly right. Now days, or smartest people are going into business or whatever career will pay the most money. If those people would actually try to go into government or politics and take a leadership role, we wouldn't have to deal with people like George Bush as our leaders.

Viktor:

Yip. Why is the US falling way behind Japan or even the socialist Scandanavian countries in terms of technology? Because you have to be a sucker to go into an engineering or technological field in the US.

Viktor:

The American goal has become to make as much money doing as little as possible.

It was inevitable we were going to face an economic because you can't ride high without putting the work in like we were doing. That was completely false.

Maybe we can reassess our priorities.

I think these "Elite" colleges have a lot to do with our downfall. That's why I wouldn't be caught dead going to one of them. Elitism is killing our country.

Big B:

It's sad to realize it, but we as a civilization are on a decline.

I am a history guy, so I once had to do a paper on the compare and contrast on the Fall of the Roman Empire to the U.S. now. They are almost eerie similar to each other. We are heading on the same path as the Romans were. We peaked, and are now declining and heading towards the end of our civilization. It's kind of scary to think about, but its unfortunately and very real scenario.

Viktor:

You know I'm from South Africa, and our country is going down the absolute krapper.

The sad thing, is the same stuff seems to be happening here. The time has come where it's not even news that someone got shot and killed in Chicago. The lower class has become so disillusioned that life no longer has value. It's just a matter of time until the violence spreads.

Big B:

Another eerie similarity to the fall of the Roman empire as well. I just hope I'm not around when things get really bad.



As I said before, we could have went on with this forever, but decided we would continue this discussion at a later time. Look for more of this discussion to come in the future.......

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now ready to start the NBA Member Mayhem for NBA playoffs. I know you have all been waiting to see this after the great turnout with the March Madness Member Mayhem (or MMMM ). It is very similar to that, but we tweaked it a little. For anyone that doesn't know the rules here they are:

Rules:

A) Only posters from playoff teams can make it in.

B) We will have 2 representatives for each team.

C) A poll will be put up along with the question asked, and each member must give an essay form answer to the question. Other members can vote in the poll to decide the winner.

D) We will have we 3 way voting:

1. Starters (1st representative) get to answer question No. 1

2. Reserves (2nd representative) get to answer question No. 2

3. Since we are having polls, we would have each 10% count for 1 vote. That we would add it up between both members of each team and who ever has the most votes wins. That way we there would be less of a chance of a tie. In case of a tie, I would ask a tiebreaker question.

Schedule:

First Round: 2 days per matchup (48 hours)*
2nd Round: 3 days per matchup (72 hours)
Conference Finals: 4 days per matchup (96 hours)
Finals: 5 days (120 hours)

* for the First Round only we are posting the starters question on the first day, and then the bench on the next day. There will be 16 total matchups to vote on in the first round (including starters and bench), and I don't think we should have more than 8 matchups going at a time. For all the other rounds, all matchups will be posted at the same time.
Here are the matchups:

East Matchups:

(1)LogicMan/thefarnz vs. (8)axesstar/BucFan40

(4)BuckeyesROK/LBJ-MVP-08 vs. (5)Viktor Crapper/gazzso

(3)North Harbour/Frady vs. (6)takman777/doc1394

(2)DJTANKELITE/Sheeds-Law vs. (7)Miamigregory/Huyho924

West Matchups:

(1)lakers2408/bosh4prez vs. (8)CowboysForever9/Bronco4life24

(4)Cowboynut_73_/slcmoney vs. (5)whoosh/toby20708

(3)Hornsstampede/Spurs Fan 4Life vs. (6)ChrisperJ10/wildcatsfan1

(2)RFMoldaner/GoHornets21 vs. (7)mavsyear/slim33chance

Make sure you come to the NBA boards and vote on all the matchups.

Here are the links to all the first round matchups:

Starters:

LogicMan vs. axesstar: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858331

BuckeyesROK vs. Viktor Crapper: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858356

North Harbour vs. takman777: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858402

DJTANKELITE vs. Miamigregory: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858440

lakers2408 vs. CowboysForever9: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858466

Cowboynut_73_ vs. whoosh: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858509

Hornsstampede vs. ChrisperJ10: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858543

RFMoldaner vs. mavsyear: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7858572

Bench:

thefarnz vs. BucFan40: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873693

LBJ-MVP-08 vs. gazzso: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873737

Frady vs. doc1394: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873754

Sheeds-Law vs. Huyho924: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873773

bosh4prez vs. Bronco4life24: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873792

slcmoney vs. toby20708: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873832

Spurs Fan 4Life vs. wildcatsfan1: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873815

GoHornets21 vs. slim33chance: www.sportsline.com/mcc/messages/chrono/7873850