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Watching this World Cup, I wish NBA can make its games more like soccer where it's about the game, not about "everything else" surrounding the game. In soccer: - There's no game music... the only sound you hear is the thuds of the ball kicked, the fans, the whistles of the refs, the commentator and that's it. You really focus on the game. What do we see/ hear in an NBA game? Fireworks, bloody arena musics that dominate the game you can't hear dribbles or players' shoes squeaking anymore, cheerleaders showing off their boobs and asses - Continuous game play... obviously there's timeout with basketball. But what annoys me a lot is these players' interview videos during a freakin game... hey the game is goin on, it's just a dead play. I don't want to hear what Amare Stoudemire has to say about Lamar Odom that "he had a lucky game" in an interview from the day before. And these "NBA Cares" showing off after every break... I really applaud the NBA for its marketing genius, but it has to be toned down. - Refs do not dominate the game. In soccer, refs are refs... they make sure the game is played properly and they will make calls. But they don't care if you're Cristiano Ronaldo/ Messi... if you're offside, you're offside. If you tackle hard the wrong way, you get called for "defensive foul"... if it's excessive, it's yellow card. You object/ [expletive] like Kobe whenever he gets his shots blocked clean, and you get sent off. What do we see in NBA? If you're LeBron James you're allowed to take crab steps, or as we all know, the star/ superstar treatments. Best of all, soccer refs will give you a yellow card for flopping... a red card if you dare it to do it twice. I witnessed it when a ref gave a yellow card to Ozil (Germany-Australia) because he flopped... what do we see if Wade flops? He goes to the freakin FT line. So I feel like in an NBA game, it's more about superstars/ big names like Kobe, Wade, LeBron... and "the happenings" in an arena, rather than the basketball itself. If NBA can't make its games more like soccer, then I really hope it can make them at least more like NCAA games... I read a SLAM article from a few years back, and I agree when a writer said (not the exact quote but something like), "in NBA game it felt like you go to a rock concert where there happens to be a basketball game." I agree. When you have no fanfare/ side things, you have no options but to focus on the game. I think it's no coincidence soccer has billions of fans worldwide, while basketball has yet to reach that billion mark. I really think if NBA can adopt an approach where it focuses on the game, instead of the marketing side of the game, it will really attract the adult fans... those 30-60 year old who ditch NBA games because they're more like soap operas/ drama episodes than real sport. The game will be more exciting to watch... as they all say, "I let my game speak for myself". I wish NBA can do the same. Especially the freakin refs... this NBA ref domination has to stop. I can accept if it's about superstars, but the fact that we all know NBA refs names like Salvatore, Bavetta, Eddie Rush, Joe DeRosa, not just the obvious "Tim Donaghy", makes it clear this game is also about the freakin refs. I don't pay money to see a ref "dominates" the game. Name me a soccer ref, I bet you can't. I pay money to see the game... I can give in and accept paying money to see superstars dominate... but one thing I can't stand is paying money to see refs dominate a game.

It belongs here as every1 knows by now.

Morey immediately let the world know that he was gunning for the 3rd and 4th picks the moment the lottery was done with. However ever since then the Rockets' draft camp has been quiet and tough to read these past few weeks. Now concerning the prospects you listed at #14... Cole Aldrich - in a heartbeat, no need to even second guess this if he falls to the Rockets. However the chances of that happening are slim because, like you posted, of teams like the Raptors that would jump on the opportunity to snatch a Cole Aldrich. What is interesting though is that in Draftexpress' new mock, which was posted today, has the Rockets selecting Aldrich (Raptors take Bradley) but of course its only a mock. Daniel Orton - Orton is actually the last guy (on the short list) I want the Rockets to take. He could be a decent player but from what I've read recently, he sounds more like a project than an NBA ready player like many tried to make him out to be. Ekpe Udoh - a prospect I wouldn't be excited about but it wouldn't be a terrible pick either. He's got a nice skillset but I worry if he can translate his game into the NBA. Larry Sanders - excellent prospect who will be going around the late 'teens and early 20s. He's got wonderful wingspan and shot blocking ability, if we're trading down then he's not a pick at all. Solomon Alabi - he scared me away earlier in the year but apparantely he has been somewhat impressive in his workouts. Still not sold on him. Hassan Whiteside - yes please. I've heard all the negatives about this guy but I still want him for one reason, the light at the tunnel. Whiteside has the tools and potential to be a top 5 player in the draft. The Rockets already have a roster loaded with talent and with Yao coming back and the talks of a possible splash in free agency, I think Houston is one of the few teams that can be patient and take a Hassan Whiteside and groom him for a few years before he makes any impact. Like you said, with Yao's future in Houston unknown, it might be wise to take a big man who could possibly be the cornerstone of this franchise. Another prospect that no one hasn't mentioned in this thread is Paul George. Lately I've become enamored by his athletic ability and potential, he doesn't fill a big need but if Shane Battier is traded then Budinger will return to his natural position (SG) and George can run with the second unit. A second unit of Lowry - Budinger - George - Hill is insane. However, George slipping to us is also very unlikely to happen. I don't see Memphis passing him up unless Luke Babbit is available. Again I don't really have any clue who we will end up picking but those are just a few of my thoughts. Right my gut feeling is that we will take Hassan Whiteside but my brain says otherwise.

That's bs IMO and you're just saying he bit AZ and Nas because those are the 2 artists that are mentioned on the Infinite Wikipedia page. I'm a HUGE Nas fan and also an AZ fan and besides rhyming 4-5 words a bar, there's little connect between Em's early style and Nas/AZ's. Em had an entirely different flow and his unique articulation of words also seperated him (for example on Infinite- "Immitator, intimidator, stimulator, simulator of data, eliminator").

I hope Pau left his skirt in Boston. Artest needs to go bleep himself too.

Because I thought it was pretty common knowledge that Dirk is still in his prime while Duncan is not. First off, who did the Mavs sweep in the first round of that postseason? Who did Dirk severely outplay that series as the #1 option? Right. Secondly, you can't isolate that 1 foul call for being the reason the Mavs beat the Spurs. You can't make a big deal about that 1 foul (which WAS a foul) when Dirk scored 35pts, grabbed 15reb, dished 3ast and had 0 TO's. Dirk came up big and the Mavs beat the defending NBA champs...who according to you weren't an "elite team." Lastly, Dirk didn't play well in the Finals, although blaming him for the loss is really pushing it. Dallas' offense didn't lose the series, Dallas' defense did. And that is solely on Avery Johnson's decision not to throw a double at Wade at all in the series, who had one of the greatest NBA Finals in NBA history. Dirk had a tough series, but it's not like Gasol has never had a tough series, including in the NBA Finals. And yes, I know Gasol is a different player than 2008, but so is KG and the Celtics. Dirk was #3 in clutch scoring last year in the league behind James and Bryant. In 08-09, he was #8. In 07-08, #3. He has hit the 8th most GW shots since 03-04 (playoffs included), and the 2nd most GW FT's. Gasol's clutch scoring since joining the Lakers is skewed because of Kobe (skewed meaning his #'s are way down, to be expected), but if you look at his 06-07 stats he was HORRIBLE in the clutch, scoring 35PPG less per 48min in the clutch and shooting 13% worse from the field, 40% worse from the FT line than Dirk. In 05-06 Dirk averaged 10PPG more per 48min with the same FG %, and shot 21% better from the FT line than Gasol. So, knowing all that...do you HONESTLY think Gasol would have done any better in the clutch against any of those teams you mentioned? Do you REALLY think Gasol is anywhere near the clutch player Dirk is? AND ONE LAST TIME- IT DOES NOT MATTER IF DIRK IS A JUMPSHOOTER!!! What hurts jumpshooters is they don't get to the FT line and shoot a low % from the field...Dirk gets to the line 7-8x a game and shoots 48% from the field, 42% from 3 and 90% from the line. He's one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, just look at the stats. LeBron basically gave up against the Celtics as well...does that mean he's a worse player than D-Wade because Wade played hard all 5 games vs. the Celtics and his team over-achieved this season while LeBron's under-achieved? Howard has led his team to the Finals and the ECF this season. He's a dominant player. He has quite a few holes in his game, but like the few other physical specimens like him in NBA history, his presence and freakish abilities negate his lack of skill in certain areas. Certainly nowhere near as versatile offensively as Pau, but only a fool would call Pau a better defender or rebounder. And Gasol has never been dominant enough offensively to cancel out the things Howard does so well. We can talk about all the what-if's with Pau, but he's proven nothing to show he's THAT dominant offensively to say his offense is more impactful than the difference between each of their rebounding and defense. Thanks for putting words in my mouth...I said JVG was a horrible OFFENSIVE coach. Any Rockets fan from 2004-2007 will agree with that. I personally love JVG as a coach, but his offensive sets and principles are horrible. Secondly, how do you in one breath say T-Mac was brittle and he had mediocre role players, and then question why doubling Yao was so effective 2 sentences later? Yao is an underrated passer...certainly no Pau Gasol, but it isn't nearly as big of a difference as you're making it out to be. Lastly, you can talk about his underwhelming postseason stats, but for his career Gasol's are even more underwhelming. Your point? If Bosh was healthy for March, then I would gladly just use his entire season as an example. But the fact of that matter is that he averaged 27/12/3 on 55% shooting in January/February, and his team was 29-23. He got hurt, his team floundered, he came back too early, and the rest is history. Bosh didn't have a tenth of the help Gasol had defensively. The year before Gasol left Memphis his team was the 2nd worst defensive team in the league...it doesn't prove much. Not to mention they are TOTALLY different players defensively. Gasol is taller, stronger and longer than Bosh. He's more capable of guarding some of the bigger, stronger post players in the league like Duncan, Howard, etc... Bosh is quicker, better rebounder and more versatile of a defender, and that was displayed best in the 2008 Olympics. When you have crappy defensive talent around you, the team won't perform and your own defense will suffer. That was seen with Gasol in Memphis a few years back, and Bosh this year. *One last thing...when you are on bad teams and expected to do all the heavy lifting, all the "little things" that you talk about with Gasol are lost in translation. It's why KG went from never mentioned on defense to DPOY by joining the Celtics, and why Pierce went from being considered really good to arguably the game's best player in 2008 after the calvary of help arrived. It's why Gasol's all-around skills, which haven't changed since his Memphis days, were magnified the second he joined the Lakers. We can speculate about what Bosh or Dirk would do as 2nd options, but the fact of the matter is that since they became truly productive NBA players, they were put in the position to be that #1 option. Therefor you have 0 example to say what they would do in those roles, just speculation. As far as defense goes, Bosh's terrific campaign in the 2008 Olympics was my proof of what he could do with the right coach and defensive talent around him. Other than that, there's just no proof. HOWEVER, Gasol has been #1 option of his team for plenty of years, so we do have a place to judge him against Dirk, Bosh or Dwight besides the X's and O's. What defines the NBA's BEST players is how they can lead or carry a team, which is why I stress that ability so much. And there is 0 question to me that Dirk and Dwight can carry and lead a team much better than Gasol, and I truly believe in the right place Bosh can as well.

Tim Duncan is well past his prime. Dirk Nowitzki just came off one of his best seasons. Horrible example. Do I think Dirk can be the 2nd option of a championship team? Hell yes, he came within 2 wins of winning a championship as a 1st option. And yes, he's essentially a jumpshooter...so what? He's one of the elite jumpshooters in the league, and unlike other pure jumpshooters he gets to the line 7-8x every single year. And despite being primarily a jumpshooter, it hasn't stopped him from averaging 26/11 for his career in the post-season on solid shooting percentages across the board. As I said, after Dirk you can make a great case for Gasol against any other big men. You can't simply use a playoff series 1-on-1 matchup to determine who the better player is though. Gasol was punked by Amare Stoudemire and Dirk Nowitzki in the postseason with the Grizzlies, getting swept both times and never grabbing over 7.5RPG. Dwight is the kind of player that even if his offensive game never evolves, his teams are always going to get deep into the postseason even as his supporting cast changes. As badly as the Celtics exposed his game, he still made a big impact with 22/11/3. I'll be the first to tell you he's one of the most overrated players in the league and not as great defensively as most claim him to be, but he's always going to be a bigger impact player than Gasol. As for Yao, for years he had a horrible offensive cast and coach (JVG) to work with yet still got his 25PPG in relatively limited minutes (33-35 was the norm). I watched the Rockets religously from 2005-2009, and the only thing that ever stopped Yao was his foul-prone nature and stamina. When he had a bad game, it was usually because he'd get in foul trouble early and mentally would get taken out of the game. This started to change when he took over T-Mac's role as the team's go-to player, but nontheless it was what it was. Pau has more moves than Yao does, and slightly better range, but he also has more moves and range than a prime Shaq. When you're talking about a 7'6'' player with unbelievable touch and talent, the slightly better versatility Gasol offers doesn't mean much. And yeah, I know it's unfair to expect Yao to come back the same player he was. But that's all we have to judge from at the moment. If I were to rank the top players coming into next season I wouldn't even list Yao because we don't know what to expect. But you were critiquing Yao as the player he was pre-injury, so I went along with it. Oh c'mon now...before the injury Bosh was the most dangerous offensive big man in the league. From October-February he was averaging 24.5PPG and grabbing 11.4RPG. Toronto was 29-23 before his injury. That was with Hedo Turkoglu having the worst year of his career and for the most part a team of scrubs/young talent. The team went 3-4 in his absence, and he came back from injury still not playing healthy. As a result, the team went AWOL and he's on the path to a new team this summer. As for his defense, Bosh will never be the shot-blocking defensive presence that traditional big men are, but he showed in the 2008 Olympics how good he can be defensively. He was the team's best interior defender that Olympics, and showed his versatility in locking down many of the Euro big men that can take it outside. And unlike an Amare Stoudemire or Antawn Jamison, he cleans the glass among the best in the league. He's far from a defensive liability. Once again...c'mon now. Bosh is not the same player he was in 07-08, his last postseason appearance, just like Gasol isn't. And even though you criticize his series against the Magic, he still averaged 24/9/4 on 47% shooting...the kind of numbers Gasol never came close to in the postseason with the Grizzlies. And he won a game...something Gasol couldn't do in 3 straight postseasons. And those games you mentioned from this year were literally RIGHT after he came back from weeks on the sideline. A few weeks later he put up 28/12/7 against the Warriors and 42/13 and 5 steals against Philly. And earlier in the year he put up 36/11/5 against the Kings. Bosh has never been the 2nd option so I'll hold off judging him in that role, although that is likely to change next season when he may team up with LeBron or D-Wade. But we have seen Gasol in the first option role and IMO Bosh's resume is clearly more impressive than Gasol's in that role. And as I mentioned before, if the 2008 Olympics are any indication, Bosh can do many of the little things that a great 2nd option has to do. I'm very excited to see him perform with a legit star and supporting cast playing around him. I think he'll flourish.

Dedicated members jerseys.

So where will Kansas go in this mess. Surprised they haven't been included knowing the value of their basketball program.

You're right...saying a former MVP, 9x All-Star, 4x All-NBA first-teamer and #1 option who led his team to the Finals is better than Gasol means you have no credibility...right. Anyway, Gasol is arguably the most complete and skilled big man in the league, and certainly a perfect compliment to Kobe Bryant. But, do I think he could be the centerpiece of a championship-level team? No. People will say that he could be so much more productive if he was the #1 option...I don't buy it. He certainly has grown since his Memphis days, but I just don't think he could be the 25-28PPG scorer like Dirk or the defensive monster like Dwight that you could build a championship team around. And that's not a knock on Gasol and how great he is, but when talking about the game's best big men I take that ability to be "the guy" into major consideration. Because of that, I'd still take at least Dirk over him for sure. After that it's more of a 'what have you done for me now?' thing. Before this post-season, I don't think there'd be more than a very select number of people to take Gasol over Dwight. Now it's becoming more common. If Chris Bosh was on a team that had more success last season, he would be getting mentioned a lot more in the 'best big man' debate...he had a tremendous season, especially before the injury. And if Yao ever comes back healthy, he'll reclaim his spot as the best low post scorer in the league.