Real Deal

Maybe more to the dinner table. Hardy har harrrr. Cain should probably put an electric fence around his 999 tax idea, so he doesn't continue revisiting it. Yeah, he'd probably destroy Obama in a debate among a crowd that laughs at letting people die if they can't afford their own healthcare. Newt isn't the big name in the race? Sadly, he was supposed to be, but he's just looking more and more like Trump as things progress...the clown of the group.

LOL...Cain and Gingrich are absolute jokes. In fact, you can almost take that statement literally.

I figured Jones would be in their top three, really...didn't expect to see Sullinger over him. I'm not so sure I can argue with the top two, though. Drummond is obviously on top of the list. The dude is scary, and you know potential bottom-feeding teams are already drooling at the thought of getting him at #1. Plays like Amare, kind of looks like him...but Drummond could bring Amare's offensive talents, and mix them with a defensive mindset, and that's dangerous. Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone...these guys had it all on offense and were stellar defenders, and if Drummond keeps working hard (hope the hype doesn't eat him alive), he can be in that category. Sky's the limit. I could probably rearrange the entire 5-10 section of the list, but there's no point. I'd rather do that in March, because really, we don't know what we're going to get from a few of those guys.

Aldridge's best games came against a Dallas team with both Chandler AND Dirk in the regular season. The two worst games he had (out of the four vs. Dallas), Chandler didn't play one of them, and Dirk didn't play the other (and Dallas actually won that game). Without Chandler, Dallas would just use Dirk's length to disrupt his jumpers, but Marion would be playing the four every now and then, and Marion is a problem for a lot of PF's, including Aldridge.

Funny thing is, the same thing was said about Diesel...but he made his intentions very clear when he re-registered four times, used three fake Facebook profiles to harass me (and members here), used fake Twitter profiles to harass people and athletes, and then went over to RSZ to troll there (where it's supposedly fun to troll). Pay attention, people...he wasn't banned for being a pest and being overconfident in his teams, he was banned for his personal attacks. If he really cared about the community (meaning, all of you), he would've changed. For at least two years now, he has been baiting almost everyone in the football forums. He was doing it during the NBA season as well, about Amare, the Celtics, the Suns, whatever. I turned my head, let him get away with so much, and he started coming to me in PM's, bitching about OTHER MEMBERS, as if he was doing nothing wrong. He mentioned that these other members were on staff, that they deserved to be suspended for the baiting, or at least kicked off the staff. At that point, I threw my hands in the air, and let it go. I knew this would happen. Four people have come to me in the last month (still have the PM's), asking me to do something about him, because they were sick and tired of talking football in topics he would participate in. Why? Because every quality post made by our members would be ignored, and it was all due to ECN's baiting, drawing people in and dragging our threads off-topic. I'm not losing quality members all to save a low quality one. If he's so damn intelligent, he should've been smart enough to actually hold his own in a debate, instead of getting rocked constantly, then having to resort to baiting and personal attacks for weeks. Not going to happen here. I lost ALCS because of a couple of guys I refused to get rid of...all they did was destroy our basketball discussion in the same way ECN has done football talk. I'm not going that route again, doesn't matter who approves or disapproves. Kyle makes the decision to bring him back, because he's the one that handed him the ban. But, again, if he's brought back, I'm going to instruct Kyle to stay completely out of it the next time something happens, and I'm going to handle it myself. Everyone involved will be handed suspensions or bans, and I'll do what's necessary to make sure it'll never happen again, even if that means blocking the entire NFL subforum from other members, or removing it from the site entirely.

Kyle made the appropriate decision. ECN wasn't going to get banned until he started calling Steve a "cheesy kunt" and, to be honest, he's just not worth it. Everyone here knows that the activity means less than the quality of this site, and I would rather us starve and die due to no activity, than to see us turn into a couple of other sites I won't need to name. If Kyle wants to bring him back in five, so be it. I gave him the keys to do what he wants in this situation, where I knew the reaction would be mixed, and he didn't back away from it. But, I will say this: if everyone is on board with him coming back, and this shit continues after he returns, I'm banning him for good AND adding back our word censor...so for you who are against what happened, I hope you understand that I'm going to get involved if I have to this second time around, and it's rare that I lift a ban on anyone that is considered a troll, especially when I'm the one making the ban.

Good. It needs to be done. The idea that 25% of it will still count against the cap is fine, too, but I'm not sure if I like the fact that they spread it out over the course of the former contract. That really makes it VERY easy for owners to recover from it, despite the 25%. Suddenly, the crippling $20 million that prevents these owners from signing a big-name player turns into $4-5 million that season, every season, for 4-5 years...and, well, that means they'll open up $15 million every season. But, something is better than nothing.

Nobody said Green was a polished player. That doesn't change the fact that he's a better starter than Avery Bradley or E'Twaun Moore. The Boston offense wasn't a problem during the season. They won nearly 60 games with an offense ranked in the bottom half of the NBA. It was their defense (a top three) that did it for them. They also put up 90's in four of the five games vs. the Heat, who were a top five defense in the league (let's be honest, they weren't train-wrecked like the Lakers were in 2004, when we were held under 87 in every game but one...but that was Detroit, so yeah). That's just what you expect from two defensively-talented teams. If I'm not mistaken, Boston's offense was average in 2008, also. Surely not a top five...I'd bet anything on that. Also, if we're going to bring up the playoffs, we might as well talk about what Pierce didn't do. He got his ass kicked in three of those five games vs. Miami, and I don't remember him shooting a high percentage in any of them, nor did he defend anyone well enough to matter. In fact, Ray Allen had the better series. I doubt Boston does a damn thing without Pierce, or without Allen...but, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'd rather start Green than Bradley, or have to move Pierce down to the two-guard position (or try Green there), and losing Pierce means they lose out on things the other three can make up for (not completely, but comfortably), while losing Allen means you empty a roster spot entirely, and you lose the deep ball...and that's five a night, better than 44% shooting from there.

I think Dallas beats both Portland AND Los Angeles without Chandler. I watched both series, but obviously, I was checking out the LA/DAL series closest, and I'll just put it this way: it wasn't Dallas' defense that beat us, it was our lack of defense + Dallas going ballistic from three. Dirk also went off, but he wasn't the biggest problem. And I can't sit here and say that Chandler WAS the defense in Dallas. I can say he was the most important part of the defense...but Marion and Kidd were huge in their efforts as well, and very underrated in the NBA Finals. Portland probably loses that series in seven. The Lakers lose in five. As painful as it is to say, LA doesn't beat any playoff team in the West last season, with the exception of the Hornets. Bryant was on one leg (actually having the surgery after he told us he probably wouldn't), Gasol was in Spain or Pluto (take your pick), Ron was in Hollywood with Odom and Khloe, and the rest of the team didn't amount to anything, either.

If Green wasn't in Boston, and if the Celtics had a legitimate two-guard to replace Ray, I'd change my mind...but all of that factors in as well. And I wouldn't say Pierce can spread the floor as much as Ray. He doesn't spend all of his time 20+ feet from the rim. Getting to the line? Pierce isn't the same guy he was a decade ago. Is he even getting five free throws a night now? Boston has had success without all of the free throws, probably bottom 10th in the NBA in attempts last year (I know they were bottom five at one point of the season). I'd much rather lose Pierce than Ray. If that means putting the ball in Rondo's hands much more, I'm all for that...and that's part of why I'd do it as well.

I'm backing up OTR tonight, to use in the afterlife!

I wonder if Bargnani still has this idea that his expectations are far too high, and that's changing the way he approaches each and every game. What did we know with Dirk? Nothing. Nobody gave a damn about Dirk when he was drafted, not even the Bucks. I'm not even sure if Dallas knew what they were getting themselves into by trading Tractor for him. At the time, it was a high risk, medium reward (if that makes sense in the NBA). It wasn't that Dirk was hyped as much as LeBron was, but that Dirk came into the league as this "soft, white guy that acts like Larry Bird" and worked his ass off becoming "the next Larry Bird." I think Bargnani is too interested in what people think of him as a player. I think he feels he needs to lead the Raptors to the playoffs, win a series or two, and ultimately, be THAT guy. I just don't see him being that guy. I see Bargnani being a borderline all-star (much like Lamar Odom) that has to take a backseat to a superstar to start getting that respect. Maybe he doesn't want that...but, in turn, he's going to struggle. Now, that may change if Toronto actually had a superstar to put next to him...but I didn't see much change when Bosh was there, although CB is not a superstar to begin with. Good idea with the change of scenery. Toronto deals him to a playoff team, he becomes a second option that ends up tagging with an assistant coach that works on post play and a defensive-minded coach (or assistant) that can push him to become a better defender, and his career finally takes off from there.

You'd probably get a pretty damn good player, haha. If West actually hustled more, and played defense, he'd be a top PF in the league.

I never believed that for a second, though (that they didn't want to wait). Cleveland wasn't going to contend this season, and they weren't going to make the playoffs (barring a complete annihilation of the league by Irving). I think Gilbert made a huge push for that second overall pick from Minny, and when the Wolves decided to keep it, Cleveland took the guy that impressed them the most in workouts. Thompson wasn't that bad, but that could be a mistake in the end, because we've seen many players have good workouts, then eventually become scrubs.

I'm going to go in a different direction with this, probably much different than everyone else on OTR. 1) Rajon Rondo He runs the offense and is an exceptional defensive player. He's also a very good rebounder for his position, and if he could knock down jumpers, he'd be arguably the best PG in the NBA. 2) Kevin Garnett Now that Perkins is in OKC, Jermaine isn't in his prime, and Shaq's 500 pounds isn't in the paint, Boston really doesn't have anyone playing defense up front, aside from KG. While he's declining (evident by the numbers and just by watching him), he's still the defensive anchor, and without him, Boston gets torched in the paint. 3) Ray Allen Hard to say he's more valuable than Pierce right now, but I have to. He's the only one that can truly spread the floor for the Celtics, out to 23 feet, consistently. Plus, if Jeff Green returns, he's able to play the three, and that covers up what would be missing without Pierce (no, Green is not Pierce, but read the next explanation). 4) Paul Pierce Yeah, he's a better player than Ray Ray, but here's what I'm thinking: Boston has a shooter, they have a playmaker, and they have a post player (Garnett isn't a traditional, back-to-the-basket post, but he can still post up). They have defensive players in Green, Rondo and Garnett. Losing Ray Allen seems like it could hurt them just a bit more than losing Pierce. Make no mistake...the Celtics aren't going to be as good losing any of these guys, but I would think they have the pieces to cover what's missing if they lost Pierce, instead of Ray Allen.

I'd actually consider Carl Landry the more valuable player. For what West provides on the offensive end (which is above average production), he gives up just as much (if not more) on the defensive end of the court.

Ariza did a lot of spot-up shooting for us, and of course, he was open all the time. It's no wonder his percentages were higher in LA than in Houston or New Orleans. The more defensive attention (due to the larger role), the more he struggles. He's just not a guy that can create for others, and really, while he's fairly athletic, he's not LeBron...so asking him to get to the rim against decent to exceptional defensive teams is probably expecting far too much out of him.

If you had to choose one of the guys for THIS season only, or from this point on? That will definitely change my answer, haha. But, I kind of like Tebow. Maybe it's because I've seen far much more of him, and believe he works too hard to fail as a QB. I really wish Tebow wasn't in Denver (Broncos = evil), and Gruden ended up coaching whatever team he was on. I think Gruden would maximize his potential, beyond expectations.

They said that this guy had a ton of chicken placed near his body, probably to get the animals' attention so they would eat him after he shot himself dead. I guess a Bengal tiger had bitten the top of his head, and was dragging him around a bit, immediately after he killed himself. WTF.

Okur has $10.89 million left, expiring, so you're correct. Iguodala is interesting. The Sixers love what they have with Jrue, so I doubt they care about Harris...but it makes me wonder if they wouldn't take a big for Iggy. Utah has one available...I believe Favors is capable of starting, and maybe Philly wants to take a shot at that (contracts would have to match up, but as you know, that can be arranged). Yeah, if the Jazz can land someone like MKG (assuming they fall around 12-15), that would be nice. He plays like Iggy, really...very good defensive player (which Utah needs if they are going to lose AK47), and he can jump out of the building. Quincy Miller is another, as long as he stays true to his game. I'm not really sure where he'll fall by draft time, though...he has the potential to boost his stock and get considered in the top five, honestly.

Do you think Bargs would actually react that way? He seems like the type of player that would sit and sulk, kind of like Rudy Fernandez...but I don't know.

I think we overpaid for him, but Palmer is the better QB. Tebow is the better athlete. I have no idea how Ponder's college game will translate over the remaining games, because if you just look at his body of work up until now, you'd think he could be a decent starting QB. As far as Beck goes, I'm clueless. I don't expect much.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/libyan-fighters-say-qaddafi-stronghold-has-fallen.html

With everyone healthy, do the Knicks take Boston to seven games? Do the Celtics still get the sweep? Would the Knicks have enough firepower to pull out a series win?

With Carter: 25-26 With J-Rich: 12-13 By win percentage, okay, it's Carter (by one percentage point), but what if one played the entire season with the Suns? What Suns team was better? With Phoenix missing the playoffs by six games, did they just need to give Richardson a full season, or was it that they didn't have Carter from Day 1?