2009-2010 NBA Season, Lebron to Miami!

[Absolutely Virtue]

Peace out forever AJ, you bitch.

"The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached agreement on a six-player, three-team trade that lands them former All-Star forward Antawn Jamison(notes), league sources with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports.

The Cavaliers are sending center Zydrunas Ilgauskas,(notes) a first-round pick and the draft rights to Emil Preldzic to the Wizards. The Wizards also will receive Brian Skinner(notes) and Al Thornton(notes) from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Cavaliers will get point guard Sebastian Telfair(notes) from the Clippers. The Wizards will send Drew Gooden(notes) to the Clippers."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

I don't know much about Thornton, but sounds like he has upside. Anyone know more?

[Moss]

Thornton can score and that's about it from what I've heard. Here is a scouting report:

"2008-09 season: Thornton played a ton of minutes, and his scoring average might make you think he played well. But don't be fooled. He showed virtually no progress from his rookie season, which shouldn't be too big a shock considering how old he was (25) for a second-year player. His outside stroke in particular abandoned him. Thornton shot only 25.3 percent on 3s, and though a third of his shots were long 2s, he converted only 37.3 percent.

As a scorer he was terribly inefficient, with just a 50.2 TS% and no capacity whatsoever for setting up teammates -- he was 61st out of 63 small forwards in assist ratio. On a positive note, he finished strong for the second straight season, averaging 17.9 points on 52.0 percent shooting in March before a foot injury prematurely ended his season.

Scouting report: Thornton is big, athletic and can shoot, but his basketball IQ is microscopic. He'll force long jumpers off the dribble early in the clock, goaltend shots several feet into their descent, and barrel out of control toward the basket. The latter was a common source of his 26 offensive fouls last season.

Because of his basic skills, he's a very good defender in one-on-one situations, whether it's a perimeter isolation or a post-up. But in more complicated situations he gets lost, tending to lose track of shooters and get caught up in screens off the ball. He's also not an avid help defender. Sum it all up and the Clippers gave up 6.5 points more per 100 possessions with him on the court. The data from 2007-08 was similar (4.0 points).

Offensively he's a bit of a tweener, but he has his greatest success playing small forward and attacking off the dribble from the top of the key. Thornton gets great elevation on his jumper and can get his shot off against most wing players. But that's not necessarily a good thing, as it only encourages him to take poorly chosen shots. Thanks to his leaping ability he can really finish at the basket, and is lethal in transition for that reason.

2009-10 outlook: Currently, the whole for Thornton adds up to much less than the sum of his parts. With the bar raised in L.A. this season, he's going to have to step it up or see a reduction in playing time. Thornton's superficially good numbers from last season cloaked the per-minute reality: He was 31st among small forwards in PER and hurt the team defensively.

He'll be in the rotation regardless, but it seems inconceivable he'll play 37 minutes a game again, given the upgrades on the Clippers' roster. Even on a per-minute basis, he'll probably get fewer shots. "

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playe...?playerId=3237

[Absolutely Virtue]

ouch, lol

[SDSD]

Al Thornton is a bit of an offensive black hole...

[Moss]

Yeah... it was more harsh than I expected.

"his basketball IQ is microscopic" ouch

[Arvin]

antawn jamison was a steal for the cavs..

[Deejay]

loldrew gooden going to his 9th team in 8 years

[Tyche]

I don't watch a lot of NBA, is Jamison as good a talent as Amare post-micro-fracture surgery?

[Absolutely Virtue]

Jamison is a gifted scorer, but one of the worst defensive players in the history of the NBA. He'll help the Cavs, but he will be a liability in the playoffs.

One thing about AJ though- he's not a headcase, and Amare' kind of is. AJ won't cause any trouble in the locker room, whereas Amare' could very well have fucked things up.

Meanwhile the Wizards, playing without any of their "all stars" are about to beat the Timberwolves.

[Tyche]

Well, I know enough to know that Amare was no defensive all star.

[Kyo]

loldrew gooden going to his 9th team in 8 years

antawn jamison was a steal for the cavs..

:3

[Absolutely Virtue]

Nah you don't understand lol. Amare' doesn't defend because he doesn't care. AJ is physically incapable of moving his feet.

[GRT]

i know i should be worried being a Laker fan, but damn am i excited for the Cavs

now they can meet in the Finals and my Lakers can beat them in 5 and shut everyone up about Kobe vs. Lebron

[Heavencloud]

I honestly don't think adding Jamison will make them any more of a threat. They still don't have a good big man (that can play more than 25 minutes). I do hope they meet the Lakers in the finals and get spanked though.

[GRT]

it makes Lebron's barrel-roll-into-a-wall-and-bailout-backward-pass that much more effective, just what Lebron fans would like to see

OMG LEBRON IS SUCH A GOOD PASSER

[Dimmauk]

i know i should be worried being a Laker fan, but damn am i excited for the Cavs

now they can meet in the Finals and my Lakers can beat them in 5 and shut everyone up about Kobe vs. Lebron

Lakers have to get by Denver and/or Dallas. Not going to be easy. Mavs looked good tonight, and it kills me to say that as a Spurs fan.

[Akiyama]

I don't think it'll be as hard as you'd think. The Lakers are dominating right now with Shannon Brown starting. Once Kobe gets healthy, shit's gonna be over. Only team I think can stand in LA's way is Denver, and that's because of their style of play. If they meet Boston/Orlando/Cleveland in the Finals, I'm sure it'll be a 5 game series, 6 at best.

[GRT]

the most encouraging thing I've seen so far with Kobe out is how each of their 4 wins had a different guy stepping up and became leading scorer

vs. Portland: Artest
vs. San Antonio: Gasol
vs. Utah: Odom
vs. GS: Brown

now word is that Kobe will sit for tomorrow against the Celts and get a full 18 day rest since the Lakers have the weekend off until Tuesday, it would be pretty much the ultimate final exam for the rest of the team, would be very exciting if they pass

[Hex]

Whoa! Kings outta no where landing T-Mac.

[Moss]

Trade also sends Carl Landry to the Kings, with Kevin Martin to Houston. The deal might expand to have TMac going to the Knicks. It's possible the Kings would buy out TMac if it stays as a 2 team deal.