Real Deal

I'm sort of mean, so it's a permanent ban.

Utah fans...lol. Go figure.

As you can see in the game against Utah, the Suns' pick and roll, and their ability to run, can win them at least 40 games. I wouldn't be shocked to see them as a bubble team in April, or actually in the playoffs as a bottom seed.

Is it just me, or does Warrick get really close to suffering from neck whiplash when he dunks?

Yeah, I miss Ivan Drago.

Yeah, they will need to retract a few of them, because your Suns are going to be in a bad mood for 48 minutes tomorrow night. BOOM!

YO GUYS, FROM NOW ON, YOU WILL SHOW NO EMOTION IN YOUR POSTS, OR ELSE YOU GET SUSPENDED FOR THREE DAYS! BE ROBOTS. - Real Deal Stern

Man, that was a nasty dunk by Hakim.

Haha, and the reporter was like, "Chris. Chris Bosh?"

I guess I'm not seeing what you guys are when it comes to Jefferson, because to me, he's struggling putting the ball in the basket, and he's looking confused out there. Utah just lost too much in one season. Korver was the best shooter in the league last year, by far...and while he wasn't dropping 20 a game, he was still a threat and spread the floor for Deron. Matthews and Brewer? Those are two good defenders that held their own against some of the NBA's best scorers...maybe not stopping them, but definitely defending them better than an older Raja Bell, who seems to still be injured. Plus, Boozer hits at a higher percentage than Jefferson, and also rebounds better. Probably a better defender, even though both aren't that stellar to begin with (and I feel like I've typed this up before, lol).

That's the other thing. You don't even consider Duncan? Is it because he doesn't average 30 PPG, or 14 RPG, or 4 BPG, or 10 APG? 21/12 average, just 51% FG throughout his career. Per 36 (which is what he would be getting if Pop wasn't resting him for the playoffs), he's still averaging the same numbers he has throughout his entire career, with one of his highest shooting percentages ever. Duncan has been a superstar for years without doing any of that. It's why he's the greatest power forward of all-time, and why he has four rings. I wonder if you consider Scottie Pippen a superstar at any point of his career. There isn't much more for me to say, really.

The Thunder would run them to death, and they are no match for the Lakers in a seven-game series. Other than that, though, they can probably beat any other team in the West, but I can't really say they'll be fully healthy, either. There's always a problem, it seems like.

Three Raiders fans on OTR? Is it possible?

He grabbed the referee's arm...that's a fine.

OTR isn't a place to spill your racist jokes. There are other message boards for that, so off you go.

Welcome to the best. Show off some of your GFX work...I'm curious to see how good you are. We used to have a GFX team of about 16 guys before a couple of sites opened up and stole 75% of them, haha...and most of them were amazing.

It's great to be optimistic, but most want to call it like they see it. Few see Minnesota doing much with what they have. It takes a while to recover after losing someone like Garnett, especially when the trade ended up being a ripoff. It doesn't help that one of your top picks couldn't make it over here for a few years, because if he was here now, people would have higher hopes for the Wolves. It's asking a lot more from Ridnour, a guy who has scored around 10 PPG his entire career, shot around 41-42% for most of it. In Minny, he'll need to score more, shoot 45% or better, and throw seven or eight assists per, all while doing this in an offense he'll need to facilitate...so, more or less, a 2005 Kobe Bryant role. That is, unless Beas and Johnson (and Love) all start scoring the ball effectively while finding a balance. Is it possible? Most definitely. Is it likely? I don't think so. With the talent, they should be a 45-win team...but lack of defense, no discipline in the offense, rotational issues and lack of true size (relying on Darko is not going to work out for them), it's just something you have to expect before a game is even played. The Heat are in a different boat. I can predict that they will be a top team in the East because James and Wade are true superstars, and Bosh is an all-star. They will win 50+ on talent alone, especially when those players were winning that many games with their own teams. But out West, I don't see very many teams challenging the Wolves (if that makes sense) for that 15th spot. Sacramento has Evans, Cousins and Landry. The Clippers have Griffin, Gordon, Baron and Kaman. Pending injuries, those two teams should win more games.

In the East, it'll be the Raptors. They look like they'll be playing city rec basketball the entire season, give me the ball and let my parents watch me score basketball, lol. In the West, Minnesota. The rotations are weird, the players won't learn the offense, Beasley and Johnson's roles may be too big right now, and Rambis isn't exactly the coach you want to bring in for this type of team. Minny needs Rubio, badly.

Cool. More power to the East, please.

That's actually a good point...didn't think of that. And I wouldn't be quick to say that's not Rondo's reasoning behind it, unless there's proof of it, lol. I wouldn't be surprised, especially the way Boston has been complaining about the refs over the last couple of seasons.

Manu seems to think Tony Parker is underrated at the point guard position. He says that he won his first ring at 19 years old, has three total, was the Finals MVP for the last one, and has been a major contributor to a Spurs team that has 11-consecutive 50+ win seasons (he was a part of nine). Underrated point guard? Where do you rank him on the top ten list?

When did I put words into your mouth? LeBron won the last two MVP's. If we're going to talk about players being superstars, we should probably stick to what they've done over the last season or two, not what they were doing in 3-5 years ago, or else Tim Duncan makes the list. Then there's no point in using the stats, because they were, by far, the two best defensive players on the team. ORTG makes similar mistakes. According to ORTG numbers, four other Lakers are higher than Bryant..and one is Sasha Vujacic. Two years ago, Channing Frye was ranked above Roy in DRTG...and I'm a better defender than Frye. Last season's Suns, Robin Lopez was fifth...under Channing Frye and Amare Stoudemire. Dudley was seventh. I've seen Kobe, LeBron and Wade all struggle when Roy switches over to defend them in spurts, and I've seen it happen to Kobe more than those two because I've watched every Lakers game since I can remember. He is in no way, shape or form your average defensive player. Taking DRTG and allowed EFG% numbers to support a player's defensive abilities is like taking a bench player's PPG in garbage time, and multiplying it by four to see how many he would average if he were a starter. If we go back to those DRTG numbers, they even show that Kevin Durant is a better defender than both Kobe and Artest, and that he's nearly as good as LeBron...which is something you probably don't agree with, just like saying Kobe was a better defensive player than Jordan ever was, since Kobe's best DRTG was a 98, and Jordan never found his way under 100 in his entire career. No, watching the players play basketball is.

They banned Nike and other types of headbands, also, just years ago. All headbands have to be sponsored by the NBA. If you aren't wearing the logo, you aren't wearing the band (if I recall correctly).

Well...in the NBA Finals, the home team is 20-6 (26 series) since the 2-3-2 format was put into play (1985). There have been four seven-game series, and the home team has won all four. That's also dipping into the assumption that home court advantage in the Finals isn't actually an advantage...but, as you can see, it is.

My bad...four championships in six seasons. Or five (according to Poe) in six. Without playing a preseason game. You know what I was getting to...but as usual, it's one of those "We are the hated, we are the victims" mindsets, and a good way to drill that into everyone's skulls is to take everything people say with offense. Two games in, Wade scores his 30 and it's like the Heat, while LeBron scores his 30 and it's like the Cavs. Funny stuff...but would a Heat fan find that funny? Hellllll no, it's offensive, and it's WRONG, because the Heat WILL be better, the Heat ARE underrated. If you guys blew the Celtics out, then destroyed the Sixers by 40, you guys would most certainly be smiling from ear to ear, bragging about how badass your team is and how you guys are already too dangerous, and this is all based on the fact that five of OTR's Heat fans (including you) predicted four or five titles in the next six seasons, on September 27th. You really have no idea how excited Boston haters were to see them beat the Heat in that first game, and it's not all because of LeBron and Bosh, and it has absolutely nothing to do with success because, the fact is, there has been no success to hate on. No need to hover over a minor joke that, really, should never offend anyone...probably because it's accurate after those two games (and basketball analysts already stated the Heat look like the old Cavs team), so I don't know why there are vultures over my post.