Real Deal

TIME: 8:30 PM EST TV: TNT Contestants Los Angeles (Pau Gasol, Brent Barry, Marie Ferdinand-Harris) Texas (Dirk Nowitzki, Becky Hammon, Kenny Smith) Atlanta (Joe Johnson, Angel McCoughtry, Steve Smith) Sacramento (Tyreke Evans, Chris Webber, Nicole Powell)

TIME: 8:30 PM EST TV: TNT Contestants: Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Steve Nash and Brandon Jennings

TIME: 8:30 PM EST TV: TNT Contestants: Daequan Cook, Danilo Gallinari, Channing Frye, Stephen Curry, Paul Pierce and Chauncey Billups

TIME: 8:30 PM EST TV: TNT Contestants: Nate Robinson, Shannon Brown, Gerald Wallace, and the winner of the Dunk-In between DeMar DeRozan and Eric Gordon

Friday, February 12th, 2010 All-Star Celebrity Game, 7:00 PM EST, ESPN T-Mobile Rookie Challenge, Slam Dunk-In, 9:00 PM EST, TNT Saturday, February 13th, 2010 All-Star East/West Practices, 12:00 PM EST, NBATV 2010 D-League All-Star Game, 3:00 PM EST, NBATV TNT All-Decade Team, 5:00 PM EST, TNT H.O.R.S.E. presented by Geico, 7:00 PM EST, TNT NBA All-Star Saturday Night, 8:30 PM EST, TNT Haier Shooting Stars Taco Bell Skills Challenge Foot Locker 3-Point Contest Sprite Slam Dunk Contest Sunday, February 14th, 2010 All-Star Tip-Off, 7:00 PM EST, TNT 2010 NBA All-Star Game, 8:00 PM EST, TNT

Thanks bro, but WHY ARE YOU JUST A LURKER HERE?!?!

Right, but there's no point in the zone biting on the ball movement if you don't have shooters to cover the perimeter. An intense, intelligent zone defense will give you guys threes all night long. The Raptors (or anyone for that matter) don't need to be highly intelligent on defense. All they need to do is recognize that the Heat are a one-trick pony with Beasley out. Wade's penetrations won't work because there isn't a true, dominant post player down low to dish it to for a quick two, and they won't be as effective because tossing a dime to an outside shooter would be rare as well. Toronto pushed Dwyane Wade, and he pushed back. This was actually a good thing for the Raptors, and a terrible idea for Wade and the Heat. Teams trust that the Heat, as a team, can't win games. This is why Miami went from 14-3 and I believe the best record in the league (or at least in the East), to going 12-19 since and dropping to the sixth seed in the conference.

You guys don't have anyone else that can create on their own, and you also don't have the capable shooters to break the zone. It's also a reason why teams can force a hard double on Wade, make him give up the ball, and continue to keep the ball out of his hands on the perimeter. Miami doesn't have anyone else like Wade, and they don't have anyone like Posey (the Posey from the championship squad). Wright isn't going to be the answer, though. He's not a legit second option to Wade, and that's what Riley needs to find, through trade or free agency.

Most boring game I've watched this year, I think. LeBron with 12 on 3-8 shooting (or something like that), and Hickson was Karl Malone out there. That's around the time you know you need to change the channel permanently.

I called Kris Humphries before the game, and the dude told me he's tired of people trading him as a filler in sim leagues, and he's tired of losing in New Jersey, and that he was going to play like Shaq tonight: good amount of points, ton of fouls, limited minutes, quite a few boards. He's good at keeping his word!

Kobe caught fire in the second half, and this game turned into a blowout at that point. I love those moments, lol. Hibbert did pretty good, actually. His game is coming along nicely.

The Heat lost this game because nobody wanted to step it up in the fourth, not even Wade, and because the Raptors have been rolling, mostly due to their confidence and desire to steal that fifth spot in the East. Toronto can play defense when they are inspired to...not the best defense, but they can force bad shots with their length and athleticism. Beasley would've helped the Heat tremendously.

Because there's no need to pin that many topics in NBA discussion. Rookie/Sophomore game HORSE Skills Challenge Dunk Contest Three-point contest All-Star game The forum will be made, and after the events are over, the entire forum will be changed to the all-star weekend archives, and moved into NBA Discussion as a sub-forum.

Yep, I'll get that up later tonight.

He'd be third if Griffin was playing. But yeah, he's trailing Evans...and I'd stick Flynn behind Curry at the third spot, maybe.

By the way, the Houston Chronicle is saying that the Rockets are in pursuit of Andre Iguodala and Caron Butler, as of today.

Niss, I thought Hinrich was terrible? LOL. And you say you don't THINK they can get Gay or Iggy for McGrady, but you don't know that. I didn't think we could get Gasol for his brother and Crittenton, either, but we did. Boozer is definitely done in Utah...95% sure of that, and he sounds like he is as well. There's someone who's much better than Thomas, if they are indeed interested in a power forward. The Sixers can't win with Iggy, Brand, Young and Dalembert, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they decide to throw Iguodala out to the other GM's. Not only that, but the Knicks were in rumors for McGrady as well, and why wouldn't Houston want someone like David Lee, who probably won't be back in New York after this season? Nate Robinson would be an excellent backup for Brooks. The Nets want to unload Harris and Lopez, according to rumors. Why would Houston not jump on that deal, especially with Yao's future in question? There are numerous teams who will be interested in McGrady as the deadline nears, especially with talk about a lockout. That, and the 2010 free agent class...there's no reason why teams wouldn't want to wipe out $23 million.

I'm sure it is a better deal for them, but Houston will have no interest in that. There's no room for Hinrich on that roster, not with Brooks starting and the Rockets already paying Ariza the money they did, and once Yao gets back, Hayes will share time with Landry and Scola at the four, so again, just another reason not to have Tyrus. Houston would be stupid to take that deal over the others they can potentially have, or even just letting McGrady expire themselves.

If I add the dark skin (and there's a chance I will), it won't be the default...and the biggest problem is that you guys will be switching from dark to light (and back to dark) when you visit the team forums, which may turn people off from them. Plus, it won't be done within the next month, for sure. There's a lot of things I need to get done here, especially those damn team banners. That's the #1 priority right now, and I'll be finishing those up tonight up until the weekend (hopefully, they'll be done by then). Maybe if the dark skin becomes super-popular, we'll move it to default...but that means team forums will have to be re-done, so I don't know guys.

Well, maybe...but with the current rumors of a lockout, some teams would probably rather save the money, especially someone like the Grizzlies, who I figured were in danger of moving soon. In the end, you have to pay young players and picks.

I REALLY wish I had that topic now, the one where I told everyone I was gone, closing the board, etc. There were a few of you that were laying into me, also...can't remember now, but I do know that the ones that were actually surprised me, haha. By the way, there was no relationship between that hacker and the one that actually got in and deleted everything. At least I don't think so...never did connect the two. And the message left behind that was said to be from "moot" over at 4chan, that's impossible, because he would never do that. I can't say whether or not someone else from there was involved, though, but it definitely wasn't moot.

I haven't really paid much attention to Washington's commentators, but in that Wiz/Lakers game, they weren't really that bad, at all.

That won't happen, at least not for the next 5-10 years. EDIT: Sky beat me to it, haha.

LOL, with the final statement you made, you can stick this entire post into a movie clip, as a voice-over, and it would work just fine. People don't really understand that, once players get paid, pulling money from them is a big deal. There are plenty of them who are used to splurging, buying houses and vehicles, sticking basketball courts, swimming pools and private gyms on their land, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities, etc. Giving an all-star like Amare Stoudemire a huge, HUGE paycut would cause one hell of a mess I'm glad I don't have to be a part of.

I'm sure there will be a lockout, but saying that salaries will decrease as much as 65-70% is insane. That won't happen, ever.