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Nah, I know he's not going to be a "do-all" on the defensive end...but he's being asked to be. Ron is playing little to no help defense, unless he's stuck at the four and defending the post (which doesn't happen much). Then, he'll come over and help Sacre, or Gasol (when Howard is on the bench). I don't expect Kobe to run clear across the court and contest that shot by Green. I'm not denying that he doesn't get lazy on the defensive end...but for that second particular possession the article is referring to, I can't blame Kobe for that. -------- Did you watch the Lakers/OKC game? Kobe was on Westbrook...and then he was on Durant. He had to help on Martin, even had to step in and help on Collison. While he was doing that, we had Ron Artest going 5-18 from the floor, and we launched 28 threes in this ignorant D'Antoni offense (and made only six). All season long with Mike D'Antoni, we have been near the middle of the pack shooting threes...yet, taking top three most per game. Long threes, low percentage shot, long boards and fast breaks that we cannot stop. Kobe will get his shots in, from anywhere...but even when we had a full roster, Ron Artest was getting more touches than Dwight (second-most on the team at one point, in shot attempts...how the hell does that happen?), and both Dwight and Gasol weren't doing anything in the P&R. Guys like Jamison and Ron were missing wide-open looks, yet D'Antoni felt the need to continue to rely on those buckets...and it hurts our defense, significantly. With the increased role, playing 39 MPG (something Kobe hasn't done since the 2006-07 season), and having to average 30 PPG on 22 FGA/G and his typical five boards, five assists...with defending some of the best PG's on opposing teams (Westbrook and Paul most recently)...what the [expletive] is this team built for, really? For failure. They run an offense that suits the 39-year old PG that refuses to use his 50/40/90 shooting skills...and one that takes the ball out of the hands of Kobe and Dwight, who are two superstars who create for their teammates AND have seen the NBA Finals doing so. Then, back on the defensive end, everything is man-to-man, no defensive system in place, no defensive strategy outside of just asking Kobe to roam all over the court. Mike Brown was a horrible offensive coach, and that was a given. Kuester did everything for him. We dumped Mike Brown, found success with Bickerstaff for five games (because he knew exactly how to coach these guys...and we didn't have Nash at the time, either), and then enter a coach that stays dedicated to ONE system his entire coaching career, has a player he feels he has to be loyal to, and one that doesn't coach a lick of defense. It's very, VERY hard for me to blame Kobe for anything that is going on right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4I1hnszzKI * * * A video for the site's 8th anniversary (made with Real Deal's knowledge). ALCS logo used with permission.Note to Brandon and GamerGuy: that's not the original version you saw in November, a few subtle improvements have been made since then.

How do you slice your neck with blood? Might need a knife for that, Warren. Stay strong, bro. Malt liquor, raw steak, red pepper, and an old Hasselbeck jersey to use as a napkin...get it all ready and have a nice, quiet dinner to lessen the pain.

Just go buy some more malt liquor.

Whoever wrote this should be fired and not allowed to write anything related to basketball for a good amount of time!

Why do you even have to have a sig with him involved? He's not the one that the sig bet was with. He's an easy target for a lot of people here. Does he make some pointless threads sometimes? Yes, certainly, but he tries to keep this forum active. He gets enough shit here from people as it is (some deserved), but there's no reason to go out of your way to put him in a sig that has absolutely nothing to do with him.

Dumb thing I'm reading here... http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2001353/kbb2_4_medium.JPG Uh...nope. He's standing there because Splitter is about to get an open dunk. Jamison is one of the worst defenders on our team (okay, he's the worst). I want to know...does he (the guy that wrote this) watch what happens when Kobe doesn't help Jamison? It's an easy two almost every single play, and most Lakers fans are wanting to trade Jamison because of it. We actually hate him now. --------- I won't make an excuse for the first one, and Kobe actually called himself out on it...but why would anyone be surprised at Kobe ball-watching? He has to do it every possession he's on the floor, because D'Antoni loves combinations of Nash, Jamison, Gasol, and Meeks out there. Ron Artest hasn't been defending the best players all game, like he used to. He's getting pounded. Kobe has been doing a lot of that lately, more than usual...and scoring 30 a night, AND having to be a facilitator, AND being the main help defender now. Really?

Sig about Shaliq will result in a permanent ban for anyone involved, including an IP ban and a complete deletion of the account and all posts associated with it, without hesitation.

Great picture of two great players. http://i.imgur.com/wAimA.jpg Credit to Chad Steele (@CSteele32)

You think you're slick huh? Voting in the poll once the game is over. :o

Miami would crush this team in a 7 playoff series. I think we have enough proof that one superstar with role players doesn't cut it come playoff time.

There are a handful of members who have already left because I've been very kind to a few of our jackasses over the years...since we're all being honest. Straight-up jackasses that don't deserve an account here, that spend more time mocking others than actually contributing. Some of those members were more dedicated than almost anyone here. One was an admin. Some were writers and graphics guys. None of them left because of Shaliq...and none of them had problems with Shaliq. THAT is when the community started to fall apart, and this entire staff (who are staff members for the way they conduct themselves, and they have been here for quite some time now) knows exactly what I'm talking about. In fact, in eight years...there has not been a single staff dispute on this website. Eight. Ask any staff member. When it comes to the way things are handled here, any decisions that are made, any rules, the way a member is treated, this staff has never had a dispute. Why? Because the staff members here are selected for how they present themselves, how they respect others, how they avoid issues. More truth: the Lakers site I run, the one I put up in June or July of 2008...it had a similar problem. I wiped out about 10 dedicated members who became too "buddy buddy" with each other, who thought they could run around and say what they wanted (and get away with it) because they were all from LA and friends with the owners of the website. They were racking up a ton of posts per day. Tossed aside. What happened? They were replaced, and quickly, and now, we are pretty damn active. Here, I played the game differently. I made far, far too many attempts to keep people here, and it was by far the most ignorant thing I've ever done for this site. It led to where we are today, and that's all on me for making such a detrimental mistake. For these people who I should have booted, I... 1) dropped the word filter, which allowed them to run their big ass mouths even more 2) ignored the small jabs they were getting away with saying to other members, because those other members didn't find time to come and complain 3) erased IP and member bans, all of them, one day...and allowed anyone to return 4) changed "baiting" to "excessive baiting" in regards to what isn't allowed...and eventually got rid of the entire guideline, just so we could have more trash-talking 5) stopped using the warning system and decided to give out verbals, not keep track of anything, and let major offenses be the reason for suspension MISTAKE. Huge mistake. I'm strongly considering shutting the board down for an extended amount of time, keeping in contact with everyone who I want as a returning member (personally), and then opening it all back up with a major upgrade (software upgrade, which was going to be done last month) and a brand new skin...work that I will only do when I feel this place will be appreciated again. We just lost another shot at 20-25 members moving here for a sim league, and I don't have to guess why this happened. As of yesterday, the Referral System is done. The Video System is done. Nobody gave a damn about them, so there's no point. I've removed the donations section, because I'm done accepting them. The small text ad that only guests could see, that was helping pay for the hosting...is gone. Also, the betting system I had in place, once the board was upgraded, is deleted. Same with the new Member Team modification, since it would lead to nothing but trouble. Ah, and the suggestion that I heard about...that I'm being out-worked by another site owner and it's the biggest reason we're in the gutter...I skinned this site from scratch, with 30 team banners and 30 color-coded team forums, new team rep icons, all in less than 24 hours during a day I worked for 10 before sitting down to do all of it. Also, the day I decided to put this site back up, after the hack...I installed the board, skinned it from scratch, designed banners, team avatars, found a new host, AND designed a simple home page in a little over 24 hours. I'm lazy? Nah, I'm tired of doing it for nothing. I don't think I've ever been this disappointed with this place, and I know for a fact that the staff feels the same...and the absolute last thing that will happen is me losing staff members over this bullshit, real talk. I'm sure they are tired of babysitting without me paying any of them, and I'm sure sick and tired of eight years of work being sucked down the drain. We used to take pride in being the site up for eight long years, being able to name many sites who have went up and ran into a brick wall as we stood pat. Now, we can call ourselves one of those sites. Thanks.

Clark better continue his good play then.

Shaliq is just trolling and pretending its as an objective basketball fan. Nobody is allowed to say anything, so shut your mouth Cobb.

Never underestimate the powers of His Greatness.