• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Official 2018-19 NBA Season Thread - NBA Finals Raptors Win #WeTheNorth

Iso Joe is trying out for the Sixers. Not sure how much is left in the tank. Maybe he can coach Zhaire Smith and Tybulle.
 
RJKarl said:
Iso Joe is trying out for the Sixers. Not sure how much is left in the tank. Maybe he can coach Zhaire Smith and Tybulle.
Click to expand...

He would likely be a situational and match-up player for the Sixers if he signs there. Other teams have had him in for workouts.

For an added Sixers note, 6-6 guard Josh Harris had a small revelation when he found out he was the shortest guy on the Sixers roster. Said that had never happened to him before.
 
Deaconblue said:
He would likely be a situational and match-up player for the Sixers if he signs there. Other teams have had him in for workouts.

For an added Sixers note, 6-6 guard Josh Harris had a small revelation when he found out he was the shortest guy on the Sixers roster. Said that had never happened to him before.
Click to expand...

Josh Richardson?
 
Either way at the very least Trey Burke and Raul Neto are shorter.
 
Signing Joe Johnson would reek of a desperation move for them, like they are just trying to throw some fantasy team shit at the wall and see what sticks because they don't have enough belief in their core. What would they actually need him for to justify keeping him over someone younger and cheaper unless they actually intend to count on him? The only thing his presence does is create controversy and doubt when Simmons again can't or won't shoot. It isn't like he has a winning pedigree from which they can try to gain wisdom.
 
Copy and paste, not gonna format:

When Chris Paul, a product of nearby West Forsyth (N.C.) High School, committed to Wake Forest, no one involved with his recruitment knew he’d be future Hall of Fame good. But what coaches, teammates and managers all say is they immediately noticed his relentless drive to compete.

During Paul’s two seasons with the Deacons, from 2003 to ’05, he was named the ACC rookie of the year and was a consensus All-American as a sophomore. He also led the team to the Sweet 16 as a freshman, the Deacs were ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press for the first time in program history and had a combined six wins against in-state rivals North Carolina, Duke and N.C. State.

This is the story of Paul’s tenure at Wake Forest that proved a hometown kid really can make good.

Tim Fuller, West Forsyth junior varsity coach, Wake Forest director of basketball operations: When I looked in the open gym (before Paul’s junior year of high school), I was like, These guys aren’t going to get you better; let’s go play against the college dudes. So I started bringing over all my former teammates at Wake Forest. We played at N.C. State, played at Duke, and he’s holding his own. We get out on the court to Cameron Indoor for a pickup game and him and Jay Williams were going head to head. He (Paul) came down and hit J-Will with a mean cross — boom — and dropped it off for a layup. I was like, Hold up. You’re doing this against a future pro. This was arguably the best guard in the ACC so I was like, This dude has got something special that you can’t teach.

Pat Kelsey, director of basketball operations/assistant coach: I remembered him coming over to our practices after he committed and he’d just sit there so he could learn the terminology. He’d come to practices in the spring and sometimes on the weekend and he’d have a notepad. (Coach Skip) Prosser used to say that’s what made him great. He would almost be offended if the coach had to address something before he was able to get it correct.

Jeff Battle, assistant coach: That’s what I’m saying, that was part of his DNA. I remember asking him that specifically, like, Why are you over here every day? He would leave their practices at his high school and come over and see us. He said, “Coach when I get here, I want to already know what’s going on, I don’t want to have a learning curve.” For a high school kid to think in terms of that was just mind-boggling to me. I knew that mentally he was ahead of most people his age already. That all goes back to his competitiveness and his winning attributes. Every now and again you come across a player that just gets it, and he just gets it.

Chris Ellis, forward: The thing is this. As a freshman, he came in yelling at the upperclassmen. Everybody was looking at him like, What is he doing? You haven’t earned your stripes yet. I didn’t understand it. He would yell at me the most because I was the 4 and supposed to get the ball out. He wanted the ball as fast as possible, so he could get out in the court. What I didn’t understand at the time was, he was yelling at us because he demanded perfection. He saw how the play was supposed to be run. He would not start the play until everybody was in the right place. His court IQ at that age, knowing what players were supposed to be doing and knowing what we needed, it was amazing to be a part of. I can’t really put it into words.

Adam Ampuja, manager: One of our first exhibitions, we played Athletes in Action. They were a bunch of guys who had just graduated. I remember Joe Crispin from Penn State was a big-time player. It was a tight game and Chris went coast-to-coast on a last possession and scored on a three-point play that would have won the game. (AIA hit a shot from 30 feet to win it.) I remember the crowd going insane that this kid who is 18 years old is getting the last possession and going through five guys end-to-end and scoring a basket.

Dino Gaudio, assistant coach: He was a terrific leader, and he just had a way with guys. He knew which guys he had to hug a little bit; he knew who he had to push a little bit. When Chris came in as a freshman, these guys had tasted success, but he was still the leader of that team just because he was one of those guys that’s rare that they just matriculated to him. They respected him. They listened to him. I can’t remember him just snapping on a guy. He wasn’t going to start for us as a freshman. Eight days before the game, Taron Downey had an emergency appendectomy, and that’s when Chris got in the starting lineup.

Taron Downey, guard: Anybody would have known that he was going to be starting soon. Even if it was the way we eventually played with me, Chris and Justin (Gray.) Chris wasn’t going to not be in the starting lineup. Sooner or later he was going to play. You just can’t hide that type of talent.

Battle: He was so smart. He would watch a ton of film with me. After every game, I don’t care what time we played or got in the night before, he’d be waiting for me in my office the next morning to watch film. He always wanted to watch his bad clips, what he could get better at. He didn’t want to watch the things that he did well. So he was a step ahead in terms of film and preparation.

Tom Norton, manager: In hindsight, you look back and he was CP3 from the beginning. He knew he was building a brand; it was pretty clear. I’m not sure how calculating it was. He knew he was something special for sure. He would get Nike ID customized Jordans that had CP3 on the back. It wasn’t his logo that he has now, but when you had a freshman come in and see that, I’m sure that rubbed some of the guys the wrong way. But at the same time, you see that and go, That’s awesome.

Ampuja: We knew he was a big-time prospect, but we knew he was really big time when he was getting texts from Michael Jordan before the game. They weren’t allowed to have phones on the bench back then, so we gathered up everybody’s stuff to put it away. Chris’ phone was buzzing with, I think it was set to Air Jordan or MJ — however he had him entered into his phone. That was pretty wild. It was the same message I’m sure 20 other guys got: Keep your head up and work hard, that kind of thing. Seeing those messages come across his phone you knew he was going to be a lottery pick.

Kyle Visser, forward: I think we all knew he was really good. Sometimes when you’re around greatness every day, you don’t always realize just how great someone is because it just becomes sort of a normal thing.


Paul battles Clemson guard Shawan Robinson for a loose ball during the team’s game in January 2005. (Rex Brown/WireImage)
Ellis: Chris came from a big family and he treated us like we were his family. I was injured freshman year. After my surgery, Coach Prosser and Coach Battle came to make sure I was OK. About 20 to 30 minutes later, CP came. He was my first teammate to visit me. He brought me some Cookout. Coming from Atlanta, I never had Cookout before my first time coming to North Carolina, and I ate that stuff like every day. He knew everything I wanted — a large Oreo shake with extra Oreo; double burger with double spicy fries. He just tried to keep my spirits up.

Kelsey: He was this boy next door. I remember him leaving one time, running out after a workout in the spring his freshman year. We asked why he was in a rush and he says, “I told my dad I was going to cut the grass.” And here he is the No. 1 point guard in the country. He had this wholesome way about him, but then he’s got this nasty fire. He’s got this fire that can boil over and get him in trouble sometimes. Just that burning fire to compete. And you see it. You could just see it in practice sometimes when he’d get into somebody. He was this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and turn into something else where he’s this killer going for the jugular. It was one of greatest strengths, I guess it can be a weakness too if it’s not harnessed. How passionate of a competitor he is. That was something we all recognized early on.

Justin Gray, guard: He did have a nasty side to him. He was trying to win. If you didn’t want to win or weren’t trying to win, he didn’t want you to be in the game. He felt like he was giving his all, and he expected that same thing from his teammates. Some people say it’s not being a good teammate, but at the end of the day, as a leader you want to get the best out of your players. Everybody is not going to like you, but they can’t fault you for trying to win.

Downey: I tell people all the time he is a nice guy, but he also has that mean streak in him that the greats have to have. Something like a killer instinct in him to be where they are. You would never think that off the court. He’s a family guy. It’s one of the weirdest things — how you can turn it off and on.

Ellis: We had a scout team player, Allen Williams, who was a senior when Chris was a freshman. Al Will had this patented behind-the-back move he hit CP with this one time to break him in. After that, CP would pick him up 94 feet and would give Al Will nothing. Like he was saying, Don’t you ever try to make me look bad out here. He was always competitive.

Ethan Gelfand, manager: The competitive nature was just unparalleled. I can’t remember what team we were preparing for, but the scout team was kicking their butts. Skip stopped practice and sent the starters out to get it together. Chris would take it upon himself to make up for it. Scott Feather had hit a couple of 3s early; Chris would not let him touch the ball again. As soon as he stepped on the court, his focus was laser-like.

Kelsey: After practice, we’d rebound for guys and then we’d play two-on-two. It was Chris Paul, Chris Mack, myself and Justin. I’m competitive as crap. There were some times where it would almost come to blows. Chris Mack is a great trash talker. If we beat them we were chirping until the next day. I’m not saying we played all the time, but we had some legendary games. We’d go at it. The funny thing was how dumb Chris Mack and I are. We’re playing so hard, fouling two of the best players in the country and we have a game the next day.

Gray: I don’t know if it was a day before a game, I know we were practicing at the Joel (Coliseum), so I’m assuming it was. We’re playing two-on-two, and whenever we’d get close to winning, Kels and Coach Mack would start fouling. Things like a shoulder check to the sternum. Next possession we’d talk junk. The game got heated and the ball is thrown in, Chris trying to back him down but Kels holding him to the point where Kels ripped the jersey. Coach Prosser walked in like, What are y’all doing? That’s it. And if somebody gets hurt you’re fired. I thought he was joking. He might have been serious, though.

Chris Mack, assistant coach: It was really intense, and it really started in the summer going into his freshman year just playing one-on-one with him. Chris was one of the first guys I played. All you had to do was brag about a bucket or say something like, “You’re too small to guard me.” The assistant coach title went straight out the window, and he played like he didn’t know you. He had this fake spin move, so one time I remember he drove baseline and acted like he was spinning. I was going to steal it from behind. He came back in the same direction and caught me in the eye. I probably got eight to 10 stitches that night. He never flinched. He was like, You want to keep playing. I’m like, Hold on let me go get my eye fixed up. Those guys would stay in the gym until you told them you have to get out of here.

Visser: Chris loves bowling and, I think it was Tuesday nights, four to six of us would go down to the bowling alley. Chris and Justin Gray each had his own shoes and bowling ball. They were the serious ones. We’d go play $1 or $2 games. That’s how we would blow off some steam and just have some fun together.

Gelfand: CP and Justin Gray, they were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Trent Strickland was kind of the clown of the team. But Chris and Justin would keep things light too, especially on the bus drive to UNC or Duke. Even Georgia Tech. I don’t know if I’ll get in trouble for this, but I remember Chris and Justin, one of their favorite songs was Vanessa Carlton’s “1,000 miles.” She’s playing the piano. They would sing and do more than that, kind of clowning around.

Ampuja: Chris was sort of like the little brother at first, but by the end of (his freshman) year, he was all serious. Everyone heard the story about his 61-point game for his grandfather, of course. Before every game, he had that obituary laminated. I remember him praying in front of that before every game.

Gaudio: Chris grew up a Carolina fan, but they had already received a commitment from Raymond Felton. A day later, Skip and I call Chris and said, “If you want to go to Carolina and carry Raymond’s bags for two years, go right ahead.” That’s all it took because he’s such a competitor. To this day, and him and Raymond were on the Clippers together for a while, but whenever he’d play against Raymond, it was all out war.

Mack: We played Duke and I remember watching ESPN. They had on the bottom line how many times in a row we had lost to Duke. I remember Chris at the shootaround saying, “That ain’t happening tonight.” You hear guys say things all the time; I just feel like that game he would not let us lose. Everybody played really well. We had to, to beat such a terrific team. But to be led by a freshman? I thought that was special. Against Carolina in Roy Williams’ first ACC game, when he got fouled at end of one of the OTs, he made all three free throws to tie the game with no time on the clock. Moments like that, when you do it against the heaviest of the heavy hitters, that’s when you knew that he was never scared of the moment.

During the regular-season finale against N.C. State in Paul’s sophomore year, he deliberately punched N.C. State star Julius Hodge in the groin. The officials missed the punch, and this came during a time when video review was not a resource afforded them. Paul was neither ejected from the game nor called for a personal foul. He’d hit a runner to win the game, but he was later suspended one game by the ACC . The Paul-less Deacons lost to the Wolfpack in the ACC tournament.

Visser: I was on the bench. That was kind of a turning point in that season. I don’t know if I fully witnessed it, but I witnessed the aftermath. N.C. State, in general, was always a chippy team and a hostile team for us to play. We just matched up with them weird. It was always one of those environments going there it was always tough. Any time you get Julius Hodge there was always some antics — let alone the student section. Hodge knew how to push buttons and take people out of their games.

Gaudio: I think Chris regretted that tremendously. That was such an out-of-character thing for him. That was a really, really difficult game. Fans in the student section were saying stuff that nobody should ever say; I don’t care if it’s an NBA or college player. Like, Where’s your grandfather, Chris? It’s no excuse for him doing what he did. He hit the game-winning shot, but that was a bad environment to begin with. I’m sure he’ll tell you the same thing.

Gelfand: I thought it was our center who tapped him. I thought it was Eric (Williams). Boos were raining. Julius was pointing at Chris. At halftime, we’re running in through the tunnel. Chris looked at me and said, “Did people see what I did?” I thought it was Eric so I didn’t know what he was talking about. So there were five seconds left and the crowd was on edge ready to explode, hurling insults. Skip draws up an awesome play, and Chris hits an off-balance shot off the elbow to win. Crazy ending. In the locker room, Skip looks at me. He had driven to the game separately. He threw his keys at me and said, “Go back to the office. I want to see it when I get back.” We were recording it on VHS. I had to hurry back to Winston-Salem, but I was scared of driving because Skip had a really nice Mercedes that I was afraid I was going to wreck.

Gray: It was some things that were said that were disrespectful. In the heat of the moment, you just react. After he got suspended, we still had a chance to win a championship. You live and you learn. We all had his back no matter what. When he did it, we supported him. If one of us was going to fight, we all were.

Battle: I’ve never really spoken to him about it, even to this day. I’m sure it’s something now, as he gets older and more mature, he probably looks back on like, Man, what was I thinking. At the same time, he’s such a competitor, he’ll do anything to gain an advantage. I don’t know what was said to him from Julius Hodge. I never even looked at it up to this point.

Downey: All the places we played, the fans they can take it a bit overboard. I don’t even know how they got the information we did. Julius Hodge wasn’t like the nicest guy either. I don’t know if they got in a talking contest or what. I didn’t even see him when he did it. I just remember Julius being on the floor and saying something crazy. We had a meeting shortly after that and Chris apologized. He was hurt that he did it. He was suspended for the next game and, sure enough, we played N.C. State in the game (ACC tournament quarterfinals). They beat us. I think he felt like he let the team down because he wasn’t able to play. He definitely felt remorseful for it.

Visser: That was kind of a turning point in that season. (Wake lost in a double-overtime thriller to West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.) Momentum is a big thing in sports. I don’t blame him for not winning a national championship, but it didn’t help our way. I’m sure it’s a moment he looks back and probably wanted to do different, but we all have those.


(From left) Michael Drum, Williams, Cameron Stanley, Visser and Richard Joyce listen as Paul announces his intention to declare for the 2005 NBA Draft. (Brian A. Westerholt/Getty Images)
Ellis: I really feel like the narrative on him, he’s just misunderstood. Anybody with greatness you always hear negative about them because they want to win. I feel like a lot of people in the league don’t understand CP3 because the man wants to win. They said the same thing about Kobe. He’s one of the greatest point guards in history. The knock against him is that he doesn’t have a ring and he wants it, so on the court he’s pushing people. If you get to know the dude, he’s down to earth.

Battle: He thought we had a team that could win it all. He talked about being at Wake and trying to get Wake to a Final Four. His big thing was winning. That was his ambition because he was a local kid. When he first got on campus, I never heard him talk about the NBA.

Gray: I can remember before the end of his sophomore year. we were roommates. And we sat there before he went and he was like, Man I’m coming back. And I’m sitting here like, Dude, you got a chance to be the No. 1 pick. He was like, I want to win a championship. When he told me I was pumped. Sometime between that walk to the offices and the walk back, it changed.

Visser: We kinda knew it. We thought maybe he would be back one more year. About a week or two after, I was taking clothes to a store that would buy them. I was trying to get $50 for some gas money and dinner money, and they’re like, Take a seat on the couch and we’ll get back to you. I sit down, and here on the cover of ESPN the Magazine is Chris Paul with diamond-encrusted headphones on. That’s the moment I really realized that, Oh, this is a life-changer. He’s made it. That’s when I realized my next-door roommate, my teammate and my bowling buddy was on the path to just a whole ‘nother level of life.
 
Definitely it's on thread.
 
Shaun Livingston retires. Hell of a career from a guy with the injury he had.
 
Joe Johnson signing with the Pistons. Completely forgot he had 7 All-Star appearances. If you had asked me, I would have said 3, maybe 4.
 
Livingston was on his way to becoming a truly elite PG. The light was coming on when that horrendous injury happened.I almost threw up while watching it live. There were prognostications that may never walk without a limp much less ever play ball again. His return was so great.

He was absolutely key to the W's winning those rings. He have them the ability to sit Steph or Klay. His ability to get into the lane to shoot or pass was hugely important.

Shaun was tough and classy. I will miss him.

Have a great retirement.

P.S. It doesn't hurt that he broke K's heart by going pro at the last minute.
 
WNBA, but former Deac with a big finish to win a playoff game

 
Whoa. She threw that up with plenty of time left.

She was recently named WNBA 6th Woman of the Year, following in the steps of another Deacon great, 2000 NBA 6th Man of the Year, Rodney Rogers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top