Real Deal

Haha, dude, that's fine. I'm not trying to say only losers smoke, nothing like that. I'm just pointing out how bad it can get, that people CAN be addicted to smoking, and that there are some that blow a lot of money on it. I get pissed because my parents buy a pack of cigarettes a day (one each), which ends up being $70 a week now, since they've gone up in price. That's $280-300 a month, which is a car payment.

Matt Cassel isn't going to be the guy for anyone. He's horrible, and I hate his attitude. He was a bitch yesterday, and I realize a couple did drop his passes, but he was also throwing them behind his receivers, in nasty coverage, 3-4 yards away from receivers, etc. He's just ignorant.

While people say weed isn't addictive because it doesn't contain anything like nicotine (just an example), it's a fact that it relieves stress, among other things, and anything you use, aggressively, that produces a mask for your senses will eventually cause an addiction. I mean, people are addicted to a lot of things that, really, don't ask for dangerous chemical intake (such as eating, even healthy eating). People can become addicted to working out. For my uncle, there is nothing better than smoking weed because, quite frankly, it relieves stress AND helps with the pain he would typically suffer every day (from him breaking his back years ago). He smokes all day, and this is no joke. In fact, I've seen people smoke 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day, which is asinine. My uncle does that with weed...hardly ever see him NOT smoking. Why? Because once he feels a bit of pain, he knows where to go. If you want to know how addicted he really is, he just found his way into the hospital and had 33% of his right lung removed, due to a major infection caused by sand-blasting and smoking (and a couple other things, but those two were the major causes). He was hours away from needing his entire right lung removed, and doctors told him to get his will ready, because they weren't sure he would be able to survive with the left long because of its damage. He stopped smoking cigarettes, but the day he was released, probably 30 minutes out of the hospital and on the way home, he was smoking weed and still having trouble breathing. People in their teens and 20's can say what they want about something, but when about 3-4 men in my family, ages 50+, are proof that weed is addictive and can be a burden (losing jobs, less money), and I've been there to witness it since I was able to recognize what they were smoking? I'm sure I'm right.

http://goodmenproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Adam-Morrison.jpg

Not going to defend Selby just because he's from KU (because I can't stand what he did to us), so I'll start with the logical question: what if that wasn't Selby on that Twitter account? Kind of reminds me of my friend getting his Facebook "hacked" (leaving his FB up on his phone) and people writing messages on it. Let me put it this way: if someone knew my four-digit code to get into my iPhone (or if I didn't have it locked, which was the case for a LONG time), what would stop someone from doing this same exact thing to me, using my Twitter app? I'm automatically logged in. I'm not going to assume it's him. The message(s) he supposedly sent sound weird...like those a dumbass friend would send, not really sure how to explain that, but I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about.

That, and I can go out and play ball 3-4 consecutive hours without collapsing on the court and needing oxygen. A friend of mine will sit here and admit that we can only get about an hour out of him because he smokes so much, and before anyone asks what he smokes, he hasn't smoked a cigarette in five years. Unfortunately, I know how much a bag of weed can cost, and I've seen all four of my uncles broke because of it (maybe not completely broke, but I do have one uncle that smokes more weed than anyone on this site, I would put that on my life without even knowing anyone on here personally, and he has failed many drug tests and lost jobs due to it, has sold his truck and can't stop smoking because it keeps him from having to deal with his "back pain").

Fuuuuuuuck. DHB, Ford, Murphy, Boss are all inactive. McFadden for a record 300+ rushing yards? LET'S GO DEFENSE.

Sad, huh? The Lakers really never had a better PF than Gasol. I would put Worthy, but he was primarily a small forward, and I can't say that AC Green was better than Pau. It was really either Gasol, or Odom. Clyde Lovellette put up three big seasons with the Lakers (four total, but his rookie season wasn't impressive, so I'm not going to bother with that), better scoring numbers than Pau and better rebounding, but I doubt he was the better player. Plus, this was back in the mid-50's, and his three big seasons were after Mikan was basically done, so Lovellette was starting at center for two of those three. Dukes came in during that fourth season, started at center and bumped Lovellette down to PF. So, it was one productive season of Lovellette at PF, versus Gasol winning two championships and spending four seasons (so far) as a guy that can put up around 18/12.

Yes. Nope. The current rookies will remain as such, and the 2012 draft class will be rookies as well. Yes. Nope. The NBA can't skip the draft, and if they could, they wouldn't choose to. The seniors would have a full year with nothing going on, which could be a big problem for many of them (some don't have the money to go overseas, some are financially in trouble to begin with, etc).

If you have Facebook, like our page, and even use the Share option (left sidebar on our page) to get others to like us. It only takes 10 of you to get 3-5 of your friends on board (each), which could recruit at least 10 of those 30-50 as very good posters here. Our link... http://www.facebook.com/otrbasketball Twitter? Follow us, and please help us out by using things like #FF (follow Friday) and re-tweeting our articles to your own followers. http://www.twitter.com/otrbasketball Thanks everyone.

Hope not, because I never knew about it, lol. Maybe in 2k11, because I didn't play much of that.

We've heard three sonic booms in the last five days. Three. Before this week, I have never heard one in my life. Funny enough, people in this town thought the first one was a meth lab explosion...it was LOUD, rattled the windows. Three in five days, though...nuts. Haven't really had anyone legitimate confirm it was a sonic boom, though. Basically, our oil refinery called the city and stated it wasn't an explosion out there (which would have blown up our city), and the police didn't find anything significant, so I'm thinking it's just assumed?

That post defense (the double team on Griffin) at around 1:45 is a bad thing. I like the player movements better, how the PG pushes the ball up the floor in front of him, how Blake grabbed the rim and how it snaps back into place when he lets go, minor things like that. Also, I love how you can roll the ball in and allow it to find its way down the court, keeping time on the clock. That's sick.

Conservative pass defense doesn't contain some of the best receivers in the league. Why rely on pass defense against an excellent QB and/or receiving core if, say, the opposing o-line is feeding you an open highway to that QB 1-2 times every four downs? If you have both, there's no reason not to use both, especially if you're playing Tom Brady and about 4-5 different weapons of his choice in the air, including two TE's that are fairly difficult to match up with from the start. No reason not to blitz a couple of times and put pressure on him if you're sitting 80 yards away from the endzone, as long as you're not going to let Welker sprint down the field like the Flash.

No, I definitely see your point. All of that COULD happen, but there are really only two examples of all-star players coming together on one team via free agency or trade demand, and that's Miami and New York (Boston and Minnesota worked trades that I suspected McHale had a big part of, but that's for another discussion). I mean, who knows if Dwight will really leave? If he does, though, it's not because he wants to join forces with another superstar, it's because the Orlando Magic were dumb enough to set fire to a decent team that they could've improved, and their decisions to take hold of Arenas and Turkoglu's toxic contracts make it even worse. Same with Chris Paul and what has happened to him in New Orleans. Minnesota could've had Stephen Curry with Kevin Love, and instead of having to wait on Rubio, they could've selected DeMar DeRozan in that same draft...but, instead, they took Rubio and Flynn. Then, the following year, they take Wesley Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins...and for what reason? I don't even know. They didn't need Johnson. Milwaukee was excited to get Jennings, yes, but what have they done before and after that? Bogut was a nice pick, but let's see...Jennings would've been in the 2009 draft with Blake and Curry, so in the 2008, the Bucks took Joe Alexander, who should've never been drafted. I don't remember very many after him, but Brook Lopez, Roy Hibbert and JaVale McGee were all selected after Alexander, and so was George Hill. Many others who would've contributed more. I never understood bringing Shaq to Cleveland. Never understood Jamison there. Sadly, these are teams that have much better selections than teams like the Lakers and Mavericks, who are always selecting late first and second-rounders. The NBA works like this: free agency provides the bigger markets with a way to acquire a superstar, but in return, it will cost them a max contract for 5-6 seasons (and, most of the time, double the contract because of luxury tax). That's why you see teams like Dallas trying to actually build a legitimate team, and not stack the roster with LeBron and Wade. All the while, you have small market teams that feast on the NBA Draft and the ability to overpay players. Unfortunately, they end up overpaying role players, which hurts them tremendously when they finally land someone like Jennings because, despite what anyone would want, the Bucks have wasted money and picks trying to build around someone they THINK is a franchise player, when in fact, he's not. Cleveland was fortunate to land that #1 pick AND have the #4 as well. What if one of those foreign bigs they passed on ends up being an all-star? Poor international scouting is to blame, or Gilbert just not wanting to take a chance. I mean, Tristan Thompson can be decent, but it's a long shot, and quite frankly, after losing Hickson the way they did (instead of getting Amare, which was another mistake), you'd have to wonder what's going to become of Varejao, who is an underrated defensive player.

Easy answer (no pun intended). That game against the Lakers was amazing, not to mention the fact that LA would've swept the entire playoff run if they didn't lose that game, which is jaw-dropping.

Sounds about right, but there's something wrong with that. What advantage has anyone had over the Spurs? They have won four championships since 1999, and they are a small market team. Everyone likes to talk about how small-market teams have a disadvantage. The truth is, small-market teams don't know how to spend their money wisely. Instead of blowing it all in free agency, they need to hire better scouts and look to land a gem in the NBA Draft. San Antonio is a great example (a small-market team) of how well that worked out for them. Over the last decade or so, the Spurs have had the best scouts (and definitely the best international scouts) we've ever seen in the league. Again...four championships since 1999, not all because of Tim Duncan. It wasn't too long ago that Malone and Stockton were playing for the Utah Jazz, a small-market team that would have two rings if it wasn't for MJ. What happens with the Kings if Horry doesn't put them away? Do they win an NBA title? Take a look at how loaded that team really was, and they are considered a small-market team. These teams may not have $100 million to spend on their players. It's not that creating the problem, though. The problem lies in the economy itself, and the fact that these players are making FAR too much money. Overpaid players such as Gilbert Arenas are causing small market teams to spend less and less, while the "big dogs" like the Knicks...well, they just don't care. Your very own Cleveland Cavaliers were in the NBA Finals in 2007. They were one all-star away from winning it all, really (a real all-star, not Mo Williams). Cleveland is not LA or NY. The fact is, the Cavaliers landed LeBron James, and they were lucky to have him for seven seasons. Had they played it smart and traded picks and decent players to bring in a second scoring option, that would've put a smile on James' face, and there's a huge chance he would've stayed for another 5-6 years, long enough to win them a ring. The Grizzlies were shopping Pau Gasol...look what the Lakers got him for. Cleveland could've offered, but they decided not to. The Indiana Pacers were in the NBA Finals this last decade. I could go on and on, but there's no reason to. When it comes to who's winning what, it has little to do with the salary cap and everything to do with the owners and their careless spending + poor decision-making. Certain aspects of the CBA can be changed to help keep lottery picks in town, contracts can be changed up a bit, amnesty clauses can be instituted every season, but there's no reason for a hard cap OR tossing the cap completely out the door.

Can't agree with your decision to put Chicago's TE's over the Pats' guys. A lot of that is because Brady uses his TE's better than any other QB in the game, though, and maxes out their potential. QB - No discussion...it's Brady over anyone else in the NFL. HB - Forte is going to be the best back in this discussion, but the Pats have both Woodhead and Green-Ellis, so it's a toss-up for me WR - Pats, thanks to Welker. TE - Pats, see my explanation at the very top of my post. I'm sure Brady would be able to do the same for Davis, though. OL - Pats, better protection. Sometimes, Brady can go to sleep in the pocket. Not even sure this is close. ST - Bears, thanks to Hester. DL - Bears, thanks to Peppers and whoever else they can send around the corner. LB - Bears. Must be nice to be able to send someone like Urlacher down the middle. DB - Bears. I wasn't impressed with NE after seeing Henne have his way with them, although you have to give credit to Marshall as well. Just one game, though. Looks like the Bears are better on paper, but if you have the Tom Brady factor, that changes quite a bit. The Pats can score at will, and you can rarely count them out of a game early because of it. It takes an elite DB crew to slow Brady down, which is obviously their bread and butter, and Chicago doesn't have what the Jets have (should've made a play for Aso, not sure if they did or not, or if they even had the money to).

Buy it for me?

That's pretty expensive for any computer, laptop or desktop, unless it's brand new (and still, that's high, considering it's coming from a private seller). Hope you get a buyer.

Here, I'll make it VERY elementary for you: I never said Chargers FANS beat their chest. Here was your ignorant initial reply... Again, I never said the Chargers fans do. Where in my sentence did you see this? ------------- You beating your chest, though...that's what you do. All of the time. And it's annoying. Ask the rest of the site. You can say you weren't being a troll by bringing up the 2007 game. I've seen you bring up MANY games in the past, reminding people of what the Pats did early decade OR what their team failed to do, etc...so it's not out of the box to think you're doing it again, especially when you've never stopped. I'm trying to read too far into things? When I give you multiple quotes from this past week, last week, last year, and if I wanted to, since you've registered...no, I'm not looking too far into things, I'm placing it all on your floor and telling you to pick up your mess. Haha, really? Because it was you that cried like a bitch to me in a PM not too long ago, asking me to stop the other members from "trolling" you, when it was clear as day that you have been [expletive]ing with them (trashing their teams, boasting about yours, and being a pest) to get a rise from them. I don't have anything else to say to you. You'll fix it.

I knew exactly what you're intentions were. You do it all the time. The coincidence gave you an opportunity to bring it up, but I digress. Everyone knows your history. Haha, oh no, sir, you have the reading comprehension problems. Where did I say anything about you talking about the Charger fans? LOL, let me help you...here is my exact sentence: "The Chargers like to beat their chest before the season?" Oops. Guess it's you. You talked shit on many other teams, and you told us how bad ass your Pats were going to be (and you were persistent when they were on their way to the 14-2 record they had). Maybe I'll find time to dig all of that up for a later reply to you, but everyone here remembers it, and I know you do, so there's probably no point. I'm not the kind of poster that goes and digs up LeBron's 2007 ECF Game 6 against the Pistons, showing where he shoots under 30%. That's basically what you would do, and proceed to say the Pistons are going to wreck the Heat this season. Very much like you, actually. Two different things, and you know that.

I know we're hanging on by our fingertips, but there are still things to talk about, and OTR isn't going anywhere. Because we're going to be around until I'm 120+ years old, we have no reason to let the walls collapse around us if we still have football, baseball, and other things to talk about. I want a GFX team put together, and I'm looking for someone (who can make sigs and avatars) that can lead this team, go out and recruit at least 3-4 others for it. I don't care what sport they like, don't care if they never post about basketball, as long as they are filling requests and posting about SOMETHING on the board. I also want to tackle another writing team project, and we need a team to do it. I'd like to see more roundtable articles, rankings/ratings, etc. Just like the GFX team, I need a writer that can lead the way and recruit a couple more, and I'll take part in these projects from the start, eventually handing it all over to the team. There's no doubt that our age is catching up to us. A lot of us are busy now, and OTR isn't filled with 15-18 year old teens that have a lot of time on their hands. That's good AND bad. However, we can fix that without a massive reboot. We don't need to flip the site over and start again, don't need to make a major change. We have newer sites around us that offer a similar environment, but because they are new and refreshing, more are interested. It happens all the time. How many of you remember RealBallers? They came out of nowhere and were picking up members from all communities, and honestly, was what they were doing any different from the rest of us? I wouldn't say so. OTR can't pick things up by putting out things like newsletters and podcasts. While I'm not completely ditching those ideas, I'm not making them a priority right now. We need interest, more diversity in our community, and just more in general. I know some of you post elsewhere. It would be incredible to have links in your sigs at other sites (if they allow it). Also, if those sites are large enough, we can affiliate with them. I'll go out of my way to set up a unique affiliates page, if that's what it takes. Personally, I feel like we can do better. To this day, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that our community is still the most knowledgeable when it comes to the NBA and basketball in general, and I don't say that to encourage anything...I've been saying it since 2007 or so, when we started to break out from others' shadows and took off as far as bball discussion goes. It's true. We just need to find ways to highlight that, and we can't if we don't have activity.

Keep in mind that I'm going to talk about translating the Bible, and how it's presented to us, not sitting here debating religion in general (if there's a God or not). That's not the point. So, yeah, I believe. If you don't, and you want to start ridiculing everything, turn around and find another topic to post in. My criticism is for anyone (not just a preacher) that makes life so easy as long as we trust in God. This bothers me. They turn around and tell us about free will, which means that, quite frankly, God does not intervene and regulate anything. When Joel Osteen says that we need to make God bigger than the problem we have (and I'm using blindness as the example), I'm calling BS. If the problem is major, it's major...there's nothing that will change it. You can't "put faith in God" to make everything better, but then still believe in free will (which is a huge staple in our lives, according to the Bible itself). I want someone to translate it all by saying, "Look, what you do is free will, simple as that. There are consequences, and the only people that are around to help are the ones that are willing to help. God isn't going to be there. He's not performing surgery on you, and he's not giving you a new eye." I am a firm believer that the Bible has always been poorly translated, and that a lot of the stories are twisted and turned, all due to being told over and over again over thousands of years. I stopped going to church for this very reason, knowing that my translation is going to be the only one I can accept.

Yeah, I have to agree. That was my initial pick, but the triple-double looked nice as well. The importance would be what separates the two, I guess. I mean, he did obliterate Detroit in that stretch...but make no mistake about it, while the Pistons were the 6th or 7th best defense in the NBA at that time, they weren't the best, and they weren't on the level they were at in 2004 (with Larry instead of Flip). Plus, you said they looked to be going down 3-1 heading back to Detroit when LeBron went ballistic. That was Game 4, that Cleveland won, and LeBron shot poorly and had 25 points, 11 assists. They were tied up, 2-2, going into Game 5 (the game LeBron went off, as you said). I'm not really sure the Cavs were going in there as underdogs, anyway. They were a better defensive team, and they only had three less wins. There was no Ben Wallace (instead, we had an old Chris Webber), and Detroit had Flip Saunders, a coach that not only doesn't know how to coach defense, but has been notorious for not being able to stop superstars from scoring, relying solely on individual defenders. Not to say LeBron's feat wasn't amazing, because it was (one of the best I've seen in the playoffs), but saying it's in the same boat as his MSG triple-double is no reach, lol.