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The final stragglers have chosen a team, and the rosters for the upcoming 2010-2011 season are essentially complete. Let’s look at the final free agent signings and how they’ll affect their upcoming teams. Ronnie Brewer—Chicago Bulls Brewer is a solid perimeter defender with terrific athleticism and long arms. He’s excellent at playing passing lanes, but is also a disciplined positional defender. He’ll add some defensive punch to the Bulls, who with Brewer and Luol Deng, will have two solid defensive presences at the wings. On offense, Brewer is an explosive leaper who will excel in transition, and along the baseline whenever Derrick Rose breaks down the defense. Deng is another player who operates mostly along the baseline, however, and Rose also does most of his work going to the basket. With the personnel, it’ll be difficult for the Bulls to play to their roster’s strengths, while maintaining good court-balance. Also, a major reason for Chicago’s downfall last season was a lack of spacing. Brewer’s chicken-wing release renders him an unreliable jump shooter, while Deng and Rose also aren‘t proficient long-range shooters. Defenses will be more effective at packing the paint when Kyle Korver isn’t on the court. Brewer’s defensive chops and top-flight athleticism will help Chicago in the regular season, but he doesn’t do enough for an offense that will have trouble against the better defenses in the league. Grade: C+ Keith Bogans—Chicago Bulls Bogans is a physical defensive presence and a respectable three-point shooter who adds some depth to Chicago at the wing. He’s not quick enough to be a full-time defensive stopper, nor is he accurate enough from deep to be a difference maker. He does provide insurance should Ronnie Brewer go down with an injury, and he’ll able to slow down some of the league’s bigger wings. He’s not the worst fourth swingman in a rotation, but he’s not the best either. Grade: C+ Kurt Thomas—Chicago Bulls Thomas is an instant defensive upgrade over Brad Miller, and lineups with Thomas and Joakim Noah will be difficult to score against. He’s still an effective back-to-the-basket defender, and as a help defender, he knows where to be and when to be there. He’s still a solid rebounder, though his diminishing hops allow some opponents to steal rebounds away from him. Offensively, he can still plug mid-range jumpers with regularity, though he needs teammates to create his offense. However, Thomas will be 38 when the season starts and has logged major minutes over his NBA career. With Taj Gibson’s solid defense, mid-range shooting, and younger legs, Thomas will be a fourth man in a three-man rotation, which is the perfect role for him. He’d play enough spot duty to keep his senses honed, but won’t be overtaxed by the strain of playing too many minutes. A good situation for both Thomas and the Bulls. Grade: B+ Brad Miller—Houston Rockets Miller can stretch the floor with his perimeter shooting, and he’s still a terrific passer for his size, but he can’t move, is a total stiff defensively, and is an awful rebounder. Given that the Rockets can use some more movement in their offense, Miller can facilitate some scoring, but it’s impossible to hide him defensively. Given Yao Ming’s injury history, the Rockets may be forced to give significant minutes to Miller, where the more he plays, the more his defense gets exposed. It’s doubtful that Miller, who is 34 years old and coming off a miserable season, will contribute too many productive minutes for the Rockets. Grade: D+ Tony Battie—Philadelphia 76ers At this stage in his career, Battie is little more than a mid-range jump shooter who doesn’t provide much else. He’ll be the sixth big man on Philadelphia’s roster, and will mostly provide leadership for a frontcourt that is extremely young, excluding Elton Brand. Grade: D Luke Ridnour—Minnesota Timberwolves Ridnour is a heady point guard who is excellent at running an offense and maximizing the capabilities of his teammates. He sees the floor well, makes good decisions, and has an excellent mid-range pull-up jumper when he needs to score. He’s not a good finisher, and while he can apply some ball pressure, isn’t much of a defender either. However, he’ll be a veteran mentor to Jonny Flynn, and will provide some stability off the bench to an extremely inexperienced team. Ridnour’s value will be that he’s one of the few players on Minnesota who knows how to play more than one-on-one or two-on-two basketball. Grade: A Royal Ivey—Oklahoma City Thunder Ivey is a terrific defensive point guard who doesn’t bring much to the table offensively. Given that the Thunder are stacked with offense throughout their roster, Ivey will fill a niche as a spot defender over Eric Maynor. Also, should Maynor go down with an injury, the Thunder would be fine with Ivey playing six minutes a half spelling Russell Westbrook. Grade: B Matt Barnes—Los Angeles Lakers Barnes is a rangy forward who plays disruptive defense and can run the floor, which makes him a useful player off the bench. However, he’s also a poor three-point shooter who doesn’t space the floor, which will be problematic in the Lakers’ triangle. He’s not an ideal signing, and the Lakers won’t operate at peak offensive efficiency with him on the floor, but he does bring some defensive chops and athleticism to Hollywood. Grade: C+ Theo Ratliff—Los Angeles Lakers The ghost of Theo Ratliff can still bang in the post, commit six hard fouls, and grab an occasional rebound, but the more that’s asked of him, the worse off you are. On the other hand, he’s an improvement on D.J. Mbenga. Grade: C- Antoine Wright—Sacramento Kings Wright is an average defensive player whose reputation is better than his game. Offensively, he isn’t a terrific shooter and can’t pass or create his own offense. For a Kings team building around young talent, signing a player like Wright, who doesn’t have a treasure chest of experience or upside, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Grade: F Josh Powell—Atlanta Hawks Powell has good athleticism for a power forward and he can hit his share of mid-range jump shots, but if he couldn’t take advantage of the multitude of open looks he was afforded as a Laker, what can reasonably expected of him on the Hawks? He’s not a defender, rebounder, or playmaker either. Grade: D Eddie House—Miami Heat House can’t handle, he’s a mediocre defender, and he’s not good at finishing in the lane. What House can do is change the outcome of games with his three-point shooting. He shoots the three at roughly 40% for his career, and isn’t shy to make them in pressure situations, excelling from deep in the 2008 Finals and 2009 playoffs. He gives the Heat a reliable shooter when teams focus on Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, and his lack of a handle is mitigated by Wade and James’ ball-handling abilities. His strengths play well to what Miami can use, and his weaknesses are mitigated by his surroundings. He’s a smart signing. Grade: A Tracy McGrady—Detroit Pistons Because the Pistons didn’t already have too many wings, they signed Tracy McGrady. T-Mac has lost much of his explosion and is almost strictly a perimeter player, so much so, that most teams backed away at signing him, even for a bargain-basement contract. While he’s still an above-average playmaker, there’s a high level of redundancy between McGrady, Ben Gordon, and Rip Hamilton all playing the same position, none of whom are adept at creating their own offense consistently anymore. Is McGrady there to simply sell tickets? Asking if he’s part of a future plan implies Detroit actually has a future plan. Grade: D Shaquille O’ Neal—Boston Celtics Shaq is certainly going to be an interesting fit with the defense-oriented Celtics. First of all, let’s get the Shaq screen/roll talk out of the way. Of course Shaq is going to be a screen/roll liability, and he’ll certainly give up some baskets based on his inability to shown or recover on screen/rolls and screen/fades. The hope is that Boston’s coordinated help defenders can rotate in time to cover for Shaq’s statuesque defense. On the other hand, Shaq’s hulking mass takes up an enormous amount of space in the paint, where the specter of painful contact deters some players from attempting to drive into the middle. Shaq’s big enough to rough-up the roughhouse post scorers, and sometimes people fail to comprehend that sometimes, being that big is good defense by default. Still, the prospect of Shaq defending in space will surely turn Doc Rivers’ hair white. Shaq makes up for his defensive deficiencies by continuing to be a solid post performer. He still is too massive for many centers to guard, he’s still enough of a scoring threat to force double teams, or at least increased defensive attention, and he still assaults opponents with foul trouble that wouldn’t be accrued against other centers. The hope is that Shaq can provide some post scoring for a Celtics team which, with Kevin Garnett playing more and more on the perimeter, doesn’t have much of a frontcourt post threat. He’ll also sets massive screens allowing teammates the extra space needed to turn the corner or pop an open jumper. Most importantly, by the time Boston rolls into the postseason, Kendrick Perkins should be healthy, allowing Rivers some liberties in choosing Shaq for his post offense and defense, or Jermaine O’Neal for his jump shooting and more rangy defense. There’s still some gas in Shaq’s tank, particularly since he won’t have to abuse his engine with the teammates he has. Grade: B+ Von Wafer—Boston Celtics Wafer is a streak-shooting guard who can create his own offense, but displays poor shot selection and fails to comprehend his own limitations. He’ll either fall into place in Boston and provide some punch off the bench, or he’ll wind up in Doc Rivers’ doghouse. Grade: C- Earl Boykins—Milwaukee Bucks The diminutive Boykins used to be as quick as a shadow, allowing himself to scoot and shoot from anywhere on the court. Court vision and running an offense were never his strengths, plus, despite being better than you think at defending the post, his small stature made him a defensive liability. Still, he had enough juice in his legs to be an effective backup guard on an uptempo offense. Nowadays, Boykins isn’t as quick as he once was, which limits his ability to get to openings on the court, and magnifies all his weaknesses. In short, Boykins is a less-than-satisfactory backup, and will likely be the third-string point guard on Milwaukee’s roster. As a backup to the backup though, Boykins is certainly a better option for a playoff-destined team like Milwaukee, than a project guard, a D-League call-up, or a head case. Grade: B- Kwame Brown—Charlotte Bobcats Brown’s stock-in-trade is post defense and rebounding, but his lack of offensive skills, and his bad hands leave him a one-dimensional player. For the Bobcats, who lost Raymond Felton in free agency, scoring is going to be a season-long problem for them, and a problem Brown won’t alleviate. The hope is that Brown can help anchor an elite defensive unit, but with Charlotte’s roster, the best they can hope for is another early playoff exit. Grade: C Delonte West—Boston Celtics The hope is that West’s personal issues stemming from Bi-polar disorder can be smoothed out, and he can put aside a disastrous 2009-2010 season and return to being the tough, smart, bulldog of a player he was prior to last year. However, with personality disorders like Bi-polar disorder, it’s difficult to anticipate how West will perform. His downside is as a useless third-string point guard who contributes little to the team. His upside is a gritty, championship-caliber third guard who can get into the paint, make plays off the bounce, pass, shoot, and defend. Given the low-risk, high reward associated with picking him up, signing West is a smart move. Grade: B- Rodney Carney—Golden State Warriors Carney is a good athlete and a decent shooter who doesn’t have a high basketball IQ. Given that Nellie-Ball is officially done by the bay, the Warriors will return to more of a conventional approach to basketball by default. Still, the Warriors roster is shaped to run, just as Carney is best off in a running offense. Should Golden State get enough defense and rebounding to fuel their open court attack, Carney could be a useful player off the bench. However, given that Carney’s a very ordinary halfcourt player, and the Warriors still don’t project to being a respectable defensive team, Carney likely won’t contribute many wins to this year’s Warriors. Grade: D Louis Amundson—Golden State Warriors Amundson makes an impact on a basketball game despite not being able to create his own offense. He’s an energetic defender and shot blocker, with a perpetual motor and non-stop hustle. He moves well without the ball, has a soft touch around the rim, and runs the floor as well as any big man. As seen by his personal success in Phoenix, and how he helped the Suns reach the conference finals, Amundson is the perfect fit for a madcap offense with runners and scorers lacing the roster. Grade: A+

Someone's not Livin' La Vida Nitro!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XtDyDUjIU

It is impossible for the answer to be nobody.

pokemon & dragon ball z & wrestling /thread

AND DAVID LEE AND MONTA ELLIS, YOU WARRIORS FAN YOU.

I wonder if he will ever grow up.

No one will disrespect Mr. Noah again. Ever.

No team is worse than the 49er's right now. Try watching them play and you will love watching the Redskins play.

They were bad on special teams, but come on. 90% of the flags were horse[expletive]. Carrol is caring his cheating ways to the nfl, so it seems. These refs were obviously paid off.

Very good writeup. I think the Brad Miller signing should be closer to a B because of Yao's injuries and the fact that Miller is one of the best backup C's in the league, and I feel you overrated the Shaq signing (although I completely understand your reasoning...I just feel he's a bad fit). But overall, great job.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d36/Fish7718/rofl.jpg

Your ignorance is quite baffling. What makes any religion superior to another? Your a [expletive]ing tool. Let people practice what they want, where they want. These guys setting up the mosque have no ties to terrorism or what happened on 9/11. And what are you accomplishing by burning the quran? What are you accomplishing by burning a bible? To those people I say: Get. A. [expletive]ing. Life. You apparently have way too much time on your hands.

You guys had 2-3 weeks to make a list. Quit [expletive]ing.

Sixth in the nation in team rushing, a rusher in the top 15, they return 2 of 3 1000-yard rushers from last year in which they were ranked number one. C'mon. Don't be a fool.

Stop [expletive]ing [expletive]ing please a good amount of people made it today I would say.