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I had to bump this thread after watching the Lakers-Spurs game tonight. My God, they (Spurs commentators) have to be one of the worst in the league. They literally have an orgasm after each point scored by the Spurs. They were also calling Odom, Mr. Kardashian throughout the entire game.. It's funny and all, but they're acting as if Tony Parker wasn't married to Eva Langoria not too long ago.

No such thing as too much money.

A lot of people are not a fan of what happened at the end of Raw last night, but I personally think it was a really smart move by WWE. CM Punk is probably the best mic worker in the WWE, and with Nexus as a crutch he becomes instantly more credible against Cena. Can Punk realistically beat Cena one on one? No, but with Nexus behind him I think it is more realistic. This angle is the kind of angle the SES should have been. My biggest concern is Barrett is going to get lost in the shuffle. I would LOVE it if Barrett and Punk both led Nexus together and wound up with both the titles (I know I am dreaming), but it seems Barrett is gone from the group, a real shame honestly, he is just way too good to be a mid carder. It is just great to finally see Punk back in the feature feud in the company, first time since he was facing Hardy and then buried by Taker. The Heat Nexus will garner with Punk as their leader now is going to be insane. It was kind of funny hearing the crowd chant CM PUNK over and over for a few seconds as he sat over the laid out Cena. Basically Punk partnering with Nexus = chance at beating Cena at a PPV, rather than facing him himself and getting buried. I'd like it if the title got involved in this feud, Miz is failing badly right now, you wouldn't even know he was the champ based on how the shows have been booked, he is facing [expletive]ing Jerry Lawler every week. I know they are trying to build him up, but seriously? Lawler?

After tonight's loss, the Lakers will drop to 21-10 after starting the season. IMO, they're most impressive win was against the Bulls (without Boozer) at home. They've lost in Denver, in Utah, in Chicago, in San Antonio, and at home against Phoenix and Miami. Now, they've had some key injuries (Bynum specifically), and certainly aren't playing with a ton of heart, so the issue may be non-existent as the season progresses. However, I've seen a few alarming things that will prevent them from winning another championship... -Kobe is taking way too many shots. Kobe continues to decline athletically, and his fingers/hand isn't going to get much better, so leading the entire league in FGA per 36min (21.1 heading into tonight, the only player in the league with over 20) with as much supporting talent he has is unacceptable. I completely understand that he has two starters shooting sub-40% this season (which I will get to shortly), but besides those two players Kobe is shooting the worst percentage on the team among players taking over 5+ shots per game. I think Kobe will be fine, but he has to understand that the team runs most effectively when his teammates are more involved. In the 21 wins this season, Kobe is averaging 17.8 FGA's per game, and shooting 46% from the field. In the 9 recorded losses, he's taking 23.3FGA's per game (will go up after tonight's loss) and shooting 42.4% shooting (will go down after tonight). Basically, he's got to take a little step back, focus more on getting everyone else going, and try to be more efficient with the shot attempts he does get. -The PG play this season has been unbelievably bad. 39% shooting for Fisher, 37% shooting for Blake, both with under 2.5APG, and neither have been effective defensively. They are hitting their 3's, but sub-40% shooting from the starting AND backup PG is unacceptable, especially when neither player is doing much else. This is a huge problem. Should the Lakers try and see if Blake will improve, or should they make a trade? Personally, I would let it play out and see if there is some improvement as Blake gets more comfortable in the triangle, but if there isn't they need to make a move IMO. -Artest has been awful. He's still a very good defensive player, but he is no longer a dominant player on that end of the floor, and his offense has been even worse than last season. He's at that age where he will only continue to decline, so if I were the Lakers trading Artest would be a move I'd make immediately. He is an offensive liability, and his defense simply doesn't make up for what they lose on that side of the ball. -The fact that the Lakers have been this complacent is a concern in and of itself. I understand they are the defending champs, and had a similar run last season, and did it to a degree in the 2009 post-season, but you can only play with fire so many times before getting burnt. The Celtics have only gotten better from last season, the Mavs and Spurs are vastly improved, and the Heat are starting to look scary. I think the level of competition is stronger than it has been in years, and if the Lakers show any kind of this arrogance or complacency in the post-season, they WILL NOT win a 3rd title. IMO a change or two has to be made to kick their asses into gear and hopefully give them some energy. Thoughts?

I feel the Lakers need to make a change, and two changes are certain to me: 1) Andrew Bynum needs to start 2) Artest is playing much too poorly to start for this team, and the same thing with Derek Fisher. The problem though is that Artest is not very useful as a bench player, since his only value is at the defensive end. It's fine when he's starting next to good scorers like Kobe, Pau, and Odom, but much less so next to Blake, Brown, Caracter, or Walton. Instead of simply switching the roles of Barnes and Ron Artest, I suggest trading Artest, and in the process, changing the make up of the starting line. Perhaps they should trade Ron (among other things like draft picks) for a big man with a similar contract, like Tyrus Thomas, or Anderson Varejao, or Drew Gooden, etc and change the starting line up to: Steve Blake Kobe Bryant Lamar Odom Pau Gasol Andrew Bynum With Fisher, Brown, Barnes, and someone like Anderson Varejao backing them up. The reason I suggest starting Odom at the 3 is because I feel Odom has become too good to come off the bench. Not only has he improved the ability to shoot threes, his true shooting percentage is at a career high 62%, which is far better than he has shot the past two years, and is the highest TS% on the team this year. His PER is also the third best on the team at 19.0. Putting him at the three would also allow the Lakers to overwhelm the opposition with their size including a 7'0 PF and a 6'11 SF. It wouldn't hurt spacing since starting Odom would actually improve the three point shooting, and though Odom might not be as good of a defender as Artest (by reputation), he can still use his length to bother wing players at the very least. Alternatively, the Lakers could go back to bringing Odom off the bench, and instead trade Artest for an upgrade at point guard, perhaps including Steve Blake and/or Shannon Brown in the deal. Perhaps for a point guard on a bottom seeded team like Mo Williams, or maybe just a shooting guard LA can stick at the point in the triangle like Ben Gordon. Some people might think LA has no hope of getting a player of the same caliber as Mo Williams or Ben Gordon without removing something too valuable, but remember the way they got Pau Gasol... So anyway, an end result of... Mo Williams Kobe Bryant Matt Barnes Pau Gasol Andrew Bynum With Fisher and Odom, and whoever else remains off the bench. I think either of my suggested moves would result in a much improved team.

Well said. People will say we are crazy and mock us. But they dont see the dangers ahead.

Yes my friend, the Illuminati is everywhere. Not much we can really do about it, as its part of the grand scheme. Keep your faith in God and stay true to who you are and treat others kindly.

Yea, might even prefer the Wolfpac

He's no lil B, that's fa sho

Poor, poor game from LBJ offensively. Some real bad shots and decisions down the stretch. Wade really carried us tonight and his late 3 was really the spark that got us out of there with a W. We Bosh had a nice game but it took us too long to expose that matchup he had against Chandler. Bosh took over the third though. The Knicks tried Turiaf, Williams, Chandler and Stoudemire and Chris scored on all of them.

against a third string qb! 24-14 THIS IS GREATTTTT!! : )

50 cent is so wack.

Did you guys read the quote? It says the Magic will go after him if he's bought out.

http://i56.tinypic.com/vrq4ih.gif

If you jerk off use the stop-and-go method, as you are about to bust put your finger on the dickhole and press down hard as you are orgasming, and hold it for like 3 seconds, then let go really quick...your man-goo will shoot out like 10ft.

Shaliq, where are the pics? :-/, a thread like this needs pics.

Here's what I said: "Big L was the easiest and most prominent way to show this, but there are dozens of rappers who have polished that technique a lot better than Wayne has." I didn't use Big L as a measuring stick, although in that style of rap he is the gold standard. I used him as the easiest example of how to properly incorperate punch lines into rap with it not being completely random or simply not making sense. It was also to show that Wayne's clever lines that apparently make him a beast aren't so spectacular. They aren't bad, and some are pretty darn good, but it annoys the [expletive] out of me how this topic can get pages of replies while I post videos of far more developed and insightful songs that get no more than 20 views, let alone a reply. I'm in the camp where I feel he's ok. I think it's absolutely insane to put him on the same level lyrically as many of the past and current greats, but he does make some good music.

But...there's no point in bringing up Big L at all.. We all know how great he is, there aren't many rappers out there (or ever) that are as good as him. It seems like you are comparing him to Weezy, and I don't understand why.

Let's not get into a RSZ/OTR thing

^Is that Earl Boykins photoshopped?

http://www.wakeskating.com/forum/files/popped-collars-.jpg Popped collars gonna pop.

You're already spoiled by your parents money, you shouldn't be spoiled with reps

Put what I said into perspective...I said IF he had better shot selection, specifically throughout his prime, he would have had a higher peak. Like I said in my last post, he probably would have been shooting around 48-50% from the field at least, which would have increased his scoring production without increasing volume. Also, like I said in my last post, once he started losing his legs his play would have reduced to what we see now, at least when it comes to efficiency. That constitutes as a drop-off. It is marvelous that Kobe has maintained such fantastic consistency over the years, but HE ROBBED HIMSELF of being the player he could have been for a good 5-6 year span simply because he had poor shot selection. And yes, driving to the rim more would likely have resulted in more physical damage, but you can't use that to justify poor shot selection. Using that logic, it'd be fair to not criticize LeBron for taking 5+ 3's per game last season. And once Kobe started to pile up some injuries, that's when he should have adjusted his game to a style we're accustomed to seeing from him. What are you talking about? I said Kobe having better shot selection during games wouldn't have affected how his jumper eventually developed. AI is a horrible comparison because he never developed a great jumper in the first place, and he didn't have the size to be an effective SG once he lost his speed. MJ is a much better comparison because he and Kobe have virtually the same build. Jordan had terrific shot selection early in his career and during his prime, gradually adding a jumper and some post moves to the mix. After he came back and the Bulls got bounced by the Magic, he spent the summer adding muscle and developing his jumper and post game. Because those were naturally lower percentage shots than what he used to take when he had his prime athleticism, his efficiency dropped to about what you see from Kobe now (even if you factor in pace and different era's between the '80's and mid-late '90's, Jordan was still going to be a 50% scorer from the field when he had that athleticism). Only when you make some ridiculous claim regarding Kobe, specifically when someone says something that doesn't favor Kobe and you put the blame on his teammates, Phil Jackson, Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers Dancers or whoever. Sometimes you're right, like in regards to your posts in the Knicks topic about Kobe's trade demands, but other times you are wrong. And you play it off like you're a die-hard Lakers fan, yet when Gasol was playing the best basketball on the Lakers earlier this season you'd pounce on people for that assertion. When the Lakers succeed, it is all Kobe. When they don't succeed, it is Kobe's fingers and everyone else's fault.

Activity is better on other boards, for sure...but that definitely doesn't matter much to me. I'll take the general NBA knowledge we have. That's the entire point. I'd rather discuss basketball with Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, just those two, than 200+ football or baseball fans, all in the same room, that have never watched a single NBA game all the way through.

Almost every post other than the OP has gotten a +1 rep.

http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/brown-nose.jpg?w=300&h=300

Jeff Van Gundy is the best color guy going in the NBA, and he's up there with Collinsworth and Herbstreet as the best color guy in any sport. You're allowed to be a little annoying when your analysis is spot on and you're so funny.