Real Deal

LMAO. Have you watched Gasol in his last 10 games? Just curious. 56-133 FG (42%), 15 PPG Kobe? 99-219 FG (45%), 28 PPG Our losses are mainly due to the way Gasol is playing basketball right now. He is missing hook shots, struggling to defend, taking breaks late in quarters (including the fourth), and seems to be only good for rebounds right now. Guess who is running the top-ranked offense in the NBA right now, and guess who's scoring the most points in it? Hint: it's the best player on the Lakers. You can sit and say LA will struggle and not find rhythm, that Kobe isn't the best on the team, whatever you can come up with to make even the JAZZ look better...but this is what people did when we went 16-12 in the second half of the season last year, and Kobe was shooting BADLY. He had his knee drained, we kicked teams in the face on our way to our second-consecutive NBA title with Kobe running off 30+ points in 11 of 12 playoff games after Game 5 vs. OKC, and it was funnnn. I'll re-visit this discussion later, for sure.

The concern with the Heat not having anyone else scoring the ball will be most exposed when they play a team that can match intensity, on the defensive end, at the Heat's strongest positions. Right now, there are two teams that can... Bosh - Gasol LeBron - Artest or Barnes Wade - Kobe Bosh - Garnett LeBron - Pierce Wade - Allen That's much different than something like... Bosh - Thompson LeBron - Greene Wade - Evans No matter how much the Kings try and push the tempo, the Heat are going to run them into the ground because there's nobody to stop the bleeding once it starts. Not only that, but the Lakers and Celtics have those two extra all-star players (Odom and Rondo) that Miami has no answer for, and what could be the worst part, two true centers (Bynum and Shaq) that the Heat wish were injured for the entire season. Plus, the guys defending the big three at their positions...five of the six can score 25-30+ if they needed to, two or three with the ability to hit 40+ points, so there will be no room to sacrifice defense for offense.

Also, Chicago's 9th pick was also added in trade offers not including Deng, which is what helped spark the final offer to begin with.

I don't like the idea of two MLE's, but I will say that Buss wouldn't use both every year. In fact, I have a hard time thinking he would use both at all, ever, unless the Lakers were well under the luxury tax and cap. Let's put it this way: he declined a deal that would bring Kirk Hinrich to Los Angeles, just for Sasha, Farmar and Walton, because he wanted Farmar to expire, plans on letting Vujacic do the same, and did not want to grab at Kirk's $9 million a year contract. He has stated himself that he's not making as much off of each season like he used to, despite winning championships again, and that he's looking to save money (which is one reason why he let Ariza go even though Trevor ended up signing for less than he wanted), and eventually re-signed Lamar for much cheaper than the $14 million/year he was making in the 2008-09 season (making just $7 million now). I have a gut feeling a lot of owners, despite the money, would do the same...but yeah, I can imagine a few would go all out.

I'm looking for a quote by Phil, where he stated that Kobe never wanted dealt. It's somewhere. It would be nice if there was a site that logged all of these important quotes, because a few months back, I was looking for one from Jordan, where he stated he wanted to go back to Chicago and play his final two seasons, instead of Washington, but I never found it. Also, I distinctly remember an article on Yahoo that had a couple of trades listed (that were offered), and there was one from another team I can't remember, and it was a complete rip-off in favor of that particular team...and Kobe declined it. I remember all of this mainly because an OTR member was all over my ass about me supporting a trade. At the time, I really thought Bryant wanted it, and I really thought the Lakers were going to rebuild and expect him and Phil to do something they shouldn't have had to do (Mitch had told both Kobe and Phil they were going to bring in a big man to operate with in the triangle back in the 2005-06 season, which is one reason why Phil decided to return to coaching...a small reason, of course...and they went two seasons without doing it, focused more on the guard position). It seemed like only Lakers fans were interested in the deals being made, which makes sense. Most everyone else wanted to see Kobe traded, no matter what the team, who the players, what the situation.

Melo wanted to go to the Knicks well before Amare signed with them. And Bryant was retracting his comment that same day he gave it to Steven A. Smith. He threw it back out there later probably because he spoke to Phil a second time, and both he and Kobe felt it was a good move. Again, Bryant could've signed elsewhere BEFORE all of that even took place. The Clippers had the offer on the table, and he decided against it. Chicago had an offer, and he turned his head. Had he just become a free agent, he wouldn't have had to demand a trade 2-3 years later. And Chicago did offer without including Deng, one of their last offers. It included Ben Wallace (who was making $16 million), Hinrich and Nocioni. They were going to retain both Deng and Gordon (and Tyrus). LA showed interest because Hinrich was the perfect triangle guard, Nocioni was the shooter they wanted to bring in, and Wallace was still putting up 11 boards and over 2 blocks per game, in 35 minutes (unlike he is today). Chicago offered PJ Brown in a deal with Deng, trying to keep Gordon, Hinrich, and Tyrus...that was probably the second or third offer. The first was Deng and Gordon, if I recall correctly, which is what you're referring to.

Haha... http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=8903 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2886927 http://www.nba.com/playoffs2007/news/kobe_trade_070530.html And by the way, direct quote from The Jordan Rules, page 169... Yikes...haha. Guess we know what both players wanted after all.

Phil trashed Pau a few weeks back, talking about how he gets punked by his brother. Jordan slapped Kerr in the face, and he has thrown his teammates under the bus plenty of times while interviewed during games (stating how they aren't playing well). Him trashing Bynum was a bad thing to do, but it was warranted. Kidd was still an all-star quality point guard at that time (made the AS team at least once after that), and while all of that is going on, Drew is on his fourth consecutive season with a major knee injury. Not sure what else to say about it. Here's a fact: if he wanted traded to Chicago, he wouldn't have voided the trades (two or three of them, in fact). If he wanted to go to the Clippers, he wouldn't have voided that deal. It was written, over and over again, that he was voiding deals that Chicago and the Clips would lay out for Mitch. Same with Atlanta when they phoned. Do you think Melo would void a trade to the Knicks if he had a no-trade clause? Haha, no way. Would LeBron have voided a trade to Miami? Bosh to Miami? When Garnett wanted out of Minnesota, would he have voided a deal to the Lakers? Did he dispute going to Boston? When a player wants out, they ask for the trade, and then they take it. Kobe voided at least 6-7 trade offers from other teams. It's not hard to figure out what his intentions were. People found reason to hate on him because he won rings with Shaq...then they found reason to hate when he was accused of rape. They found reason to hate when he asked for a trade. Now they have found reason to hate because he's got two more. Puts a smile on my face. Kobe stated before that he would be a Laker for life, he declined trades that would've given him a better opportunity to win a championship (in the East, on a better team than the Gasol-less Lakers). He didn't ditch the Lakers for the Clippers, when they offered him the cash and a way out of a relationship with Shaq in 2004. He has never opted out to become a free agent. It's all right there in front of you guys. He's loyal, and he knows where he should be, win or lose (usually winning). Can't say the same for others. Ironically, the Heat and Knicks fans are going to be pissed off when someone opposes what LeBron did, and what Melo will eventually do, but I definitely understand why.

Bryant was never going to be traded. He axed every trade on the board on purpose, even to Chicago. He wanted someone like Garnett, and he received Gasol, and it ended up winning the Lakers two extra championships...the team he has been with since his first game. Once the dust cleared, everyone should've been aware of what he did. He fooled me, and fooled a lot of Lakers fans...but at the end of the day, it's obvious he wasn't going to be traded, nor was he going to accept a trade (using his no-trade clause). Much, much different situation.

LeBron and Melo are both punks, one for telling Cleveland he doesn't want to go ring-chasing and wants to build a champion there (and eventually going against his word, last-second), and the other for demanding a trade and refusing to sign that extension for anyone other than the Knicks. Denver just needs to deal him to the Eastern Conference for picks and youth, and let that conference stack their top teams with trios of all-stars and superstars, so they can all fight to see who gets beat in the NBA Finals next.

Duncan isn't even averaging 30 minutes a game anymore. I wonder how this Spurs team will play in the playoffs, once he's implemented back into the lineup for some serious minutes.

Blake Griffin: 27 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists. If he's not leading in everyone's ROY race so far, I don't know what else to say.

Gasol sucks again, missed way too many easy shots. Lopez isn't Dikembe Mutombo, so those hooks and short jumpers have to fall. One game can be excused, but he has been shooting like crap for a while, maybe just one decent game shooting in the last 5-6. Shot 4-13 against the Clippers, 2-8 against Houston, 5-13 against his brother in Memphis, 5-15 before that against the Pacers, and an ugly 6-19 today.

LMAO, I'm going to have a 3-4 point week. I seriously cannot believe this. It's the last time I actually gamble on a few of my picks. I figured it would pull me ahead by about 3-4 if I were to take some chances and beat everyone else out (picked Cincinnati, for example), but wow...great way to obliterate my lead and screw myself over.

Had they actually pushed the tempo and ran teams to death from the start, they would probably be on top of the East. Wade and James were too busy trying to figure out how to get each other open jumpers.

Haha, for sure. I'll get caught up eventually. Busy couple of months. Work sucks.

None at all. Same with the other guys. I can't even find a single post for you through the archives. What names have you posted under? I know of MilwaukeeBucks (the one I think you registered with from the start) and your current one.

Blake Griffin: 19 PTS, 11 REB, 5 AST, 17th double-double in 24 games. Pretty impressive.

Houston and New York are both going to be 30-40 win teams by the end of the season anyway, so who cares? OOOOOOOOHH.

Sore and swollen. Not really sure. I know he's got arthritis in them, and the tear he played with last season (on his index finger) can't be repaired. I honestly have no idea how he can shoot a basketball like that. I can't even shoot a ball with one jammed finger. Today, Bryant has two dislocated fingers and one tear, three of the five, and all on his shooting hand.

Seems like it's been pretty bad all season long, no matter what he says. Explains a lot of missed layups and open shots (if you haven't noticed by watching the games OR even looking at his shooting percentages). http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/91/fullj.5c1df63f3036fce71d7e04a4681ee3ae/5c1df63f3036fce71d7e04a4681ee3ae-getty-103889397jg011_sacramento_k.jpg

You guys do know that it's not just Bynum that's injured, right? Gasol is playing on a bad, bad hamstring again (what made him actually miss games last year), and he nearly missed the Kings game just nights ago. And do you guys not know what has been happening with Kobe's fingers/hand after every game? http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/91/fullj.5c1df63f3036fce71d7e04a4681ee3ae/5c1df63f3036fce71d7e04a4681ee3ae-getty-103889397jg011_sacramento_k.jpg Yeah, you guys don't have Haslem or Miller, but at least your top three players are all healthy as a horse. Come on now...you can't seriously tell me a fully-healthy Kobe/Gasol duo would lose four straight, five of their last six, can you? We had only lost three in a row once since getting Gasol.

Haha, everyone does, depending on the distance the noise is from you (and this also depends on the person). It's a natural reaction to protect your eyes.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20101210_ORL@UTA

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20101210_ATL@SA