Real Deal

The Bulls are so much better on defense with Boozer on the bench.

Get Rose's dumb ass out of the game.

Boozer sucks. Dude needs to learn how to finish at the rim.

Wow, maybe LeBron should defend Rose. The MVP is just killing it out there tonight. Chalmers and Bibby, step your games up!

Damn straight, Reggie.

Foul, foul, foul. Pathetic.

Lullllll Dang.

Heat will need the charity stripe if they want to win this game. Rose with two fouls already, no surprise. It's Watson time.

Flynn, Pekovic, and Ellington aren't going to get you anything...and nobody in the NBA will want Darko because of his contract, and because he sucks. If this were a #2 pick in the 2003 draft, you have a point (ironically, that was Darko, but it could've produced Wade). But, you're assuming that people actually want this pick, and won't be getting other offers (better offers) for someone like Granger. Indiana already has a team full of "maybe someday" players. They are banking on Paul George to become a decent starter. Why would they want the #2, really? I'll note it once more: moving someone like Kevin Martin over to the Wolves will turn them into a 30 win team, like the old Kings. What's the point? What if Derrick Williams becomes an all-star? He actually plays defense, has proven he can score the ball, and is a versatile player that can basically play three spots on the floor. You say Kahn has taken enough gambles? Yes, but not just in the draft. He needs to settle with picking the best player available if he's not going to be Monta Ellis or Andre Iguodala (which is probably unlikely). Otherwise, he's going to screw up again, and trade for pieces he really doesn't need, and miss out on a player that could be something for him.

Haha, if only it were that simple. It's not 2k11. Like I said, sticking LeBron on Rose means Miami loses their best help. The Heat would much rather have him helping off Deng, because it's far easier to rotate over and catch Deng than it is to have to do the same thing with Rose. Even without the help, Rose still gets to the rim, and Mr. Superhuman isn't going to block many of his layups, or else he'd be doing the same damn thing to a slower Deng every game.

First of all, don't talk to my posters that way. He's right. Your trade doesn't work. You can't trade $21 million in salary to a Philly team that's giving back $2 million and a free agent, unless you think Philly is going to sign and trade Kapono for $17-18 million a year. Same with the proposed Mavs and Clippers trades. Thomas, Davis, Kapono, Henderson and Augustin would be the worst starting five in the NBA, also. Four of the five are bench players, and Augustin doesn't have the primacy on offense to create for guys that need spoon-fed their points. He shoots a very low percentage and doesn't have the passing ability of a Nash or Kidd...not even close. Defensively, they would be undersized. Kapono is a terrible defensive player. Davis can't defend, more scrappy than anything (like an oversized Nocioni). Henderson doesn't play defense. Augustin was one of the worst defenders on the Bobcats last season. Tyrus Thomas plays defense, but he's no Dwight Howard. That Charlotte team would win 10 games.

Quickness? That's where LeBron is going to get burned. He's not as quick as Rose...come on. That's not the issue. Chicago has a few guys down low that will step up and challenge LeBron even before he gets to the rim, and force him to pass it. Noah and Gibson don't mind doing it, and neither does Asik. Two of those three are excellent defensive players, and Asik has improved significantly on that end of the court. Having them back up one of the best perimeter defenders in Luol Deng? I don't see why you would think LeBron would have his way. He may be hard to stop, but he's sure the hell not impossible to slow down. Minus Wilt, who was a giant compared to those defending him, there hasn't been a single player that could overcome the best defense in the game without the help of his teammates. Players like Jordan averaged a good amount of assists because their teammates knocked down perimeter shots every game, once the defenses collapsed, and even those superstars fed off of their team...and things like that opened the game up a bit more, because teams didn't want to get beat by giving up 50 open jumpers a night. If you want LeBron to do better, you should be asking where Dwyane Wade is. When there's another offensive threat on the floor, whether he's getting to the rim or not, he will require defensive help...and that opens up the game for LBJ. Bosh is defended by Boozer...that match-up is going to be meaningless in this series, all because Boozer doesn't care to play help, and would rather match Bosh point-for-point (as much as possible). Chicago won't double Bosh with two superstar teammates in the game. If this were Hedo defending LeBron, and Dwight Howard sitting the bench in foul trouble, I'd get where you're coming from...but it's the best defensive team in the league, with their best defenders either defending LeBron face-up, or coming over to help before he gets to the rim (actually, both at once). It's not like we haven't seen it before, with Paul Pierce, Tony Allen and Kevin Garnett...and, to no one's surprise, LeBron struggled scoring in that series, shot under 39% in the final three games (21% in Game 5)...and Cleveland lost. Credit to the defensive genius coaching that Celtics team, and this current Bulls team, and the defenders he uses...not credit to LeBron being less aggressive.

Kobe defends Kidd. LeBron doesn't defend PG's for an entire game. The one time he did (for CLE), it was due to injuries. I don't think Chalmers and Bibby are injured, and again, I didn't see Rose put up a monster scoring night with 10+ free throws and 50%+ shooting. If Rose had three consecutive games where he was torching Chalmers and Bibby, it would be different. They'd deserve to get thrown under the bus, even though Rose is a superstar, because they would be getting lit and (most likely) not providing anything on the offensive end. But, it was LeBron who struggled producing on the offensive end, and also defensively, so I don't know why he's talking right now, after just one game.

If Kobe had said that he would defend Dirk for the entire game after Game 1, I'd expect Gasol to take that as a personal jab. That's pretty pathetic. James needs to let Chalmers do his job as a player. You said it yourself all season long: this isn't the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron doesn't have to do everything...or does he? If LBJ didn't say this for a kick-in-the-ass directed at Chalmers and/or Bibby, that's fine. I'm really not saying he did, now that I think about it...I just think he needs to worry about his own position, where he was clearly outplayed in Game 1. Still, not a smart move. If Spo sticks LeBron on Rose for 40+ minutes a game, Rose tears his ass up, much like any elite PG would, and takes a big chunk of Miami's help defense out of the equation along with it. But hey, LeBron knows best.

I don't get the obsession with Kevin Martin. If you throw him into the mix over in Minny, you'll just end up with another Sacramento team. Martin and Love aren't legit first options. We can talk efficiency over and over again, but Martin hasn't proven anything to me as someone who can put up a primary option's FGA. Beasley doesn't have any trade value, at least IMO. He was acquired for two second-rounders. He did the exact same thing for the Wolves as he did for Miami, just with more shot attempts (which meant more points) in an increased role. It also led to having the worst team in the league, despite sharing the ball with an all-star teammate in Love. Bogut has played six seasons, but technically, less than five if you consider the amount of games he has missed. I don't consider him a veteran, at all. He also has three more years, $39 million left on his contract. With the players they have under contract right now, plus Bogut's deal, the Wolves would be over the cap (more than likely) for the following season, and with the possibility looming that the new CBA could eliminate the MLE and LLE, will Bogut be the answer? If not, Minny is taking a player that doesn't provide much offense, misses around 13-14 games a year and plays injured quite a bit, and combining it with a team that is the worst in the NBA. Nash doesn't make sense in the offense, and he's close to done, with limited minutes. He couldn't get his Suns into the playoffs last season, and if they are bringing him in to mentor Rubio, it's basically Minnesota falling deep into the lottery and banking on Rubio to be their savior...which is no different than just trying their hand with Derrick Williams, possibly another good pick next year, AND hoping that Rubio turns out to be a good player. Granger, Iggy...that's fine. I don't see Granger being dealt, though. The Pacers probably want at least one more season with what they have, unless they can land an all-star at the two (which will be hard to do right now). Monta Ellis would work (for the Pacers in the situation above, or the #2 pick). He sure looked pissed when he didn't land #1. He must be really, really high on Irving. I haven't approved of what Kahn has done, with the exception of getting Beasley for two second-rounders. I don't like him hiring in Rambis, knowing that Kurt would bring the triangle with him. I didn't like the Wesley Johnson pick, considering the fact that Beasley was on board (wasn't too high on Cousins, but you have to go with a big). Didn't like Rubio and Flynn selected back-to-back, and didn't like the Flynn pick at all (I have no idea why he thought Flynn was better than Curry). Any reason why he traded Lawson, or even selected a third PG? He ended up getting Luke Babbitt for Lawson. The Darko signing was awful. Webster, Pekovic? I wouldn't be surprised if Kahn blows it, trying to trade this pick. He just needs to go with an NBA-ready college player, take that gamble, and wait for Rubio (if he's not 39 years old by the time he comes over). Play Johnson at the two and create mismatches, Williams at the three, Beasley behind him, Love and Darko up front, and [insert name here] at the point. Hell, trade Beasley for a vet PG. I don't know. This team is truly too complicated to figure out.

You don't go off and say you want to defend Rose after Game 1. He shot 10-22 (45%) for 28 points, didn't go ballistic, had just six free throw attempts. Chalmers didn't do that bad of a job on him. LeBron needs to worry about his production more than he does someone else's defensive assignment. It was also Luol Deng who was more efficient than Rose from the floor (7-15 FG) for 21 points. So maybe someone should step up and say they are willing to defend Deng for the rest of the series, and that they are willing to take a few more shots from LeBron, if he's going to shoot 33%. It's not that hard to understand, but forget it...no need for me to draw diagrams and shit.

With 24 free throws, so I'm not really dropping my jaw at the point total. Not saying it wasn't a great performance, but I'm not to the point where I'm putting it up there with Jordan's game vs. Boston (just an example). Tell me that Dirk shot 9-10 free throws and landed 48 points on amazing efficiency, and I'll be much, much more impressed. TS% is basically how many calls a player can get, and how many free throws he'll hit. Let's assume Dirk has just three FGA (he goes 0-3) and has 24-24 from the line. Probably impossible to see something like that, but that TS% is around 90% because he shot and made 24 free throws, and had the calls to get there. A lot of those calls on Dirk and Durant were questionable. If Dirk were to land 45 with 70% FG, about 10 frees, I'd be more impressed. That's just me, I guess.

Technically, Iggy isn't a veteran (10+ years in the NBA), but if that's the idea, it's fine. I wouldn't be opposed to trading the pick for Iggy, in that case.

Beasley would be nice off the bench. I just don't see who they would get for that pick. If you could give me some examples, I'd probably have a better idea as to why Kahn would do this...but, otherwise, it makes little sense to me.

Remember, if you want to be the next participant, you have to ask questions. Topic closes May 22nd (or whenever I remember, ha). Ask away!

Veteran help? Who could they get for that #2? It's not like anyone in the draft is a potential superstar, and most of the 10+ year vets in the league are going to be staying put, OR aren't productive enough to lead the Wolves to a decent record. Just take Williams and cross your fingers for a future all-star. Love, Williams, Rubio, Beasley...see where that takes you.

Jumpshooters never get those calls, though...duh.

Layman's terms, just for you... Bibby and Chalmers get killed by Rose. LeBron says, "I will defend Rose if needed." Kind of like when you're at the park, getting lit up, and your teammate is like, "Switch up, I got this dude," and you're stuck on a guy that can't score because, well, you suck on defense. Makes a lot of sense. Maybe Bibby should say, "I will take and make more shots if I need to," because he knows that most of LeBron's shots are going to fall short due to the way Luol Deng plays defense on him. Not hard to understand if you're a non-Heat fan...not trying to crack a joke.

Dead Nation or inFAMOUS? Dead Nation looks a bit more fun to me.

Awesome game by Dirk, but good God, do they have to make it sound like it's the greatest playoff performance in NBA history?