April 22th, 2009 | Canadiens vs. Bruins | Game 4 Thread

[Trizzak]

That is being a fan. Supporting a team even when they suck.

2000-2002 were amazing, 2003-2006 were sad and 2007-2008 provided their moments.

This season was abysmal, but I am still a fan and will remain one through thick and thin.

I pretty much know nothing about basketball, but I like to see the Raptors do well. So I watch a few games every season, just to get a finger on the pulse of the team.

So with that extremely casual history of being a fan of the team, I gotta say I liked what Marion brought to the Raps. They are a different team, a better team, with his set of skills. I hope they can re-sign him. And if Bargnani can continue his development where he left off this season and actually play with his muscle as well as his talent, Toronto will have a much better season next year.

[Wamsley01]

I pretty much know nothing about basketball, but I like to see the Raptors do well. So I watch a few games every season, just to get a finger on the pulse of the team.

So with that extremely casual history of being a fan of the team, I gotta say I liked what Marion brought to the Raps. They are a different team, a better team, with his set of skills. I hope they can re-sign him. And if Bargnani can continue his development where he left off this season and actually play with his muscle as well as his talent, Toronto will have a much better season next year.

I wish I shared your optimism

Bosh is not a MAX player, and if they keep him mediocrity awaits.

[Fanpuck33]

Bosh is not a MAX player, and if they keep him mediocrity awaits.

Please explain. The guy is in the top 10 in rebounding and scoring. He's one of only two guys in the league that averaged 20 and 10.

[Wamsley01]

Please explain. The guy is in the top 10 in rebounding and scoring. He's one of only two guys in the league that averaged 20 and 10.

Stats do not annoint your status as a Max player.

Is Zach Randolph a Max player? He put up similar stats in less minutes.

Antawn Jamison? He averaged a 22 and 9 as opposed to Bosh's 22 and 10.

That one rebound makes Bosh a MAX and not Jamison?

The NBA has some crazy notion that the best player on a team gets MAX money, when there are

5-6 deserving MAX players in the league.

James, Wade, Kobe, Paul, Howard and maybe Pierce.

Duncan, Garnett and Shaq were. Durant and Roy probably will be.

But everybody else is a second banana. And everybody who tries to win a title around the other players

will fail unless they insulate them in a style similar to the Pistons 4 years ago.

Hockey seems to have a better grasp on this and do not annoint MAX deals as often.

But I digress, this is a hockey board.

[Fanpuck33]

You give me my choice of big men in the NBA, Bosh is easily my second choice behind Howard.

It's not really fair to compare the NBA and NHL salary caps, they're totally different. The NBA salary cap is an absolute joke with all of its exceptions. Only one team in the entire league is under the cap, some teams are as much as 40 million over the "cap." A max contract in the NBA isn't nearly as restrictive as one in the NHL.

[Wamsley01]

You give me my choice of big men in the NBA, Bosh is easily my second choice behind Howard.

It's not really fair to compare the NBA and NHL salary caps, they're totally different. The NBA salary cap is an absolute joke with all of its exceptions. Only one team in the entire league is under the cap, some teams are as much as 40 million over the "cap." A max contract in the NBA isn't nearly as restrictive as one in the NHL.

The chasm between the two of them is huge.

Bosh does not change games, his game is a support game. He does not dominate defensively,

the majority of his blocks come from help D, he cannot shutdown scoring bigs one on one,

he does not raise the level of team defensive play like Garnett does. He cannot create his own

shot in crunch time.

Paired with Wade, James or Kobe in a Gasol like sidekick role is what he is suited for. But as a top

banana, he will fair no better than irk (No D) Nowitzki in a best case scenario. The only way he will

ever win a title is as a number two, or in a situation like the Pistons created, but in order to fulfill

either of those goals, he cannot make MAX money.

Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Howard and Paul have the ability to set the tempo of the game, they are players

that coaches spend pages on in preperation. Bosh on his own has been neutralized by guys like Marc Gasol and lit up offensively by players like Al Harrington, one paragraph will do.

Edited April 28, 2009 by Wamsley01

[ForumGhost]

Yawn.

Anyways, BACK TO HOCKEY...

If you aren't will to sacrifice time in order to develop our young goalie with star potential, would you rather just put a bag of pucks in front of the net instead?

Or maybe we should sign a mediocre goalie in free agency. We'll have relative stability in goal on occasion and never have to worry about winning a Stanley Cup!

In our minds, it's put up or get out time.

Well, too bad 'your minds' don't count for anything. Anyways, it's not like we aren't trying to 'put up'. In case you haven't noticed, putting up a team that contends yearly is VERY RARE and hard to do. So who do we have contending on a yearly basis? Detroit. Okay. Who else?

No one. San Jose, who always dominates the regular season, always fails in the playoffs. Devils have had success in years past but I wouldn't really say they have accomplished much lately. Everyone else is up down, in out. That's the landscape of the NHL today, so you are going to have to accept it eventually. Dynasties do not and cannot exist in the cap era.

Edited April 28, 2009 by ForumGhost