Real Deal

Yep, Granger just didn't show up. That might be the difference between an all-star and a superstar player. You have your Kobe, LeBron and Wade...then you have guys, like Granger, who may not be ready to carry that load, and win the game, with it all on his shoulders.

Just ran through the game (DVR's are great, get one). Just bad decision in that final quarter for the Nets. The Wolves, however, made good ones by letting Flynn go to work. Jefferson was so worn and tired, possibly that injury bugging him, and it showed. Thing was, he made one of the biggest plays of the game with that block on Lopez (that came out of nowhere), and Flynn just capped it off by attacking all quarter long. Nice win. They have a few kinks to work out, though, with or without Love.

Charlotte is missing Okafor. They don't have that inside presence anymore.

Why the hell did the Raptors suddenly stop going to Bargs? It's like they came out of the locker room at the half and changed their entire game plan. Just stupid.

It looks like you Raptors fans know your team the best. That lead just shrinks in the second half. But with Shaq out, yeah...the gaps open up, and the ball moves around quite a bit, while the lane is wide open for anyone to attack and kick out. Cleveland is still a mess, though. Why isn't LeBron pounding the ball inside?

NBA LP Broadband is essentially League Pass on your computer. http://www.nba.com/leaguepass/index.html

You can post links to streams, you just can't make a topic for them. And keep in mind that NBA League Pass Broadband is free right now. Just go online to NBA.com and look for it.

Yeah, we had a topic with them in it, actually. I don't have any saved on my computer, and I never uploaded them (others did through Imageshack and Photobucket). I'll create some, though.

Looks like the Sixers are the same team from last season. Just one game, though.

I suppose I could make some.

I said it when he went to Phoenix, and I said it when he was traded to Cleveland: Shaq is one of the worst players at defending the pick and roll. It's not even up for discussion. Not only that, but he can't move anywhere out of the paint, not even to defend the likes of Bargnani or Bosh, and Toronto is taking advantage of that quickly. Remember "Desert Dud" (the article I wrote)? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/8844-desert-dud-why-shaquille-oneal-wont-work-in-phoenix Quite a bit applies here, and all of this showed against the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs two years ago. Shaq needs to be in a half-court offense that doesn't rely on a slashing forward to get their points. He needs a team with a good defensive backcourt. He needs a team that will feed him the ball and play off it. Cleveland does not look like the team that won 66 games last year. The chemistry is still there with everyone, but the defense isn't, and LeBron can't do what he pleases.

Let's set some goals, and I'm not talking about one-liners. 1) Try to make at least one lengthy post (prediction or post-game) in every game topic in our Gameday forum. It's not so tough, takes 30 minutes of your time on nights like tonight, less on a night like last night. 2) Make an attempt to create a topic in every team forum sometime during the season. Start a discussion about a superstar or a role player, how a new addition fits in, a rookie's impact, how much better a team is, how far a team can go, if that team can make the playoffs, what that team must do to become a contender, what coaching changes could be made, etc. There's so much to talk about, it's not even funny. 3) Create a couple of player comparisons for our comparison forum. 4) Make your own power ranking and post it in the NBA General discussion forum. 5) Post at least 15 times a day. Honestly, that's not that big of a task. If it takes 3 minutes per post, that's less than an hour spent on the site a day. Not bad at all. Your discussion stirs the pot for others to dive in, but it only happens when you add an explanation to your posts. Quality, not quantity...but to achieve quality, we need more posts. We need more discussion. 200-300 NBA-related posts aren't enough. We need to shoot for at least 500 a day, at least half of our discussion (hopefully more) NBA-related. We can do this. Recruit if you have to (no spamming). Find affiliates. Post articles from RealGM and NBA.com, Yahoo, anywhere you find news. Use Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to let everyone know about OTR. Above all that, stay active, and please help in creating that dominant community we had months ago.

All but Dalembert. Sammy D is a train wreck.

Well, I loved Oden in college. Once KU was eliminated, I was pulling for Oden and Conley at Ohio State. Oden dominated defensively, and he was a good offensive player when he wanted to be, even when he was playing left-handed (due to the injury). But college and the NBA are two different beasts, as we all know, and I think Oden is finding that out already. I really shouldn't have compared him to Ben Wallace as far as scoring goes (all Wallace could ever do was dunk the ball), but at this point, Oden's game is mostly a dunk as well. He has what looks to be a nice drop step if he'd just work on it more, maybe a short hook, but it's just not there yet, and if he's going to score on anyone, he needs to dunk the ball.

Just heard it on the radio here in Pittsburg (they cover the Chiefs like crazy here). Saw this coming, or at least a trade.

Well, to be fair, Bynum has played one game under his new contract...and he put up 26/13. We've seen that he can give us 40 points. We've seen how he can average 13/10 when healthy, still raw. I'd say that $12.5 million this first season is fair money compared to all other centers.

Richardson has never, ever, ever been a good defensive player. Even in his prime in Los Angeles, he was pathetic, and it's the main reason he was tossed around like a rag doll this offseason. Beasley at the four would work, though. He needs to start at one of the forward positions. Why isn't Wright starting at the three?

The Clippers looked pretty good last night, despite not having Griffin in the lineup, along with a limping Baron. Gordon played an excellent game, and Camby looks younger. Phoenix just dumped Shaq mainly so they can speed up their offense again. They do say they play better defense, but that remains to be seen throughout the season. The biggest concern isn't going to be Nash or Amare, but Channing Frye. He proved he can hit from downtown, and both Kaman and Jordan are too big to follow him out of the paint. That may force Camby on Frye, which means Kaman (or Smith) will be defending Amare. I like the Amare/Smith match-up because Smith seems to be determined to prove a point this season, and he's a strong player willing to bang down low, or face up and get to the rim. He's going to have to be careful in pick and roll situations with Nash, though, as a switch will throw Baron on Amare, leaving him dead in the water against Nash, and Amare pretty much open to a dunk. I would say it comes down to defense, but nobody in Phoenix can defend Gordon other than Hill, and he's not fast enough...and, at the same time, there's not a single player for the Clippers that can contain Amare. If the Suns utilize the pick and roll more times than not, they'll win the game.

Houston looked decent for a while against the Blazers, but the full 48 minutes wore them down completely. There's no scoring threat other than Brooks and Ariza, and their defense comes from Battier and Hayes, while Ariza isn't the greatest man defender (he's an excellent help defender, plays the passing lanes very well). Thing is, neither of those defenders will be able to slip down to defend Ellis and Curry, who should have big games in Golden State's home debut in Oakland. So the defensive load will shift to Ariza, which will trash him before the first half. Since this is on a back-to-back, two road games, I can't fathom Trevor hanging in there for another 35-40. Nelson needs to tell his backcourt to attack at will, wear down Houston, and don't be concerned too much about interior scoring. If Maggette does start, it won't be that big of an issue against a small Rockets team. The Warriors should win this game, and it could be worse for Houston than it was last night.

Billups seems like he lost a step, and I can't say that losing Kleiza didn't hurt Denver's bench. Afflalo is no legitimate replacement, and Balkman can be a horrible player on the court. On the other hand, Lawson is a freak. Deron may be playing extra minutes in order to contain that Denver backcourt, unless Maynor proves he can hang in there with Lawson's slashing. Utah was a good team at full health. Denver was a 54-win team last season. At Denver, I expect the Nuggets to pull it out, but that's only if they contain Deron Williams. It's a huge assignment for Billups, but the downfall for the Jazz could also be letting Smith rack up his threes. Brewer is a decent defensive player, but he needs work on closing out shooters. If all of that fails for both teams, they have enough in their frontcourt to make a game interesting. Boozer and Melo can produce 25-30 points, and Okur is always a mismatch against Denver.

For some reason, the Hornets just don't look the same (based on the preseason, at least), and their play last season seemed to be lackluster at times. I'm wondering how big of an impact Emeka will have over Chandler, who was the perfect complimentary player to Chris Paul. The Spurs are at home, and they have everyone healthy. If they lose this game, it would be a cause of concern for me if I was Popovich, even though it's the first game of the year. The Hornets aren't exactly your clear-cut favorites in any individual player match-ups against the Spurs, not even the Parker/Paul match-up. However, there's nobody on the Hornets that can handle Manu off the bench, and I don't see Emeka or West giving Duncan any trouble, as he's well-rested and healthy for the first time in a while. Spurs should take this game by 8-9 points.

I just don't see how a Kings team with such little chemistry, experience and leadership (and coaching) can defeat an up-and-coming, overly-talented Thunder team with a legitimate MVP candidate in Kevin Durant (a candidate assuming they were to win 50 games, which is a stretch beyond belief, haha). Westbrook and Green can give the Thunder 20 points, and Harden could play very well off the bench, assuming he's going to take that role with Thabo starting. Evans and Martin can certainly cause the Thunder problems, but if they want to win this game, they will have to rely on the play of Thompson and Hawes, as the Thunder are still lacking defense in their frontcourt. At the end of the night, I expect OKC to pull out a win.

As much as I would like to see Rambis win games in Minnesota, it's going to be tough. The Wolves will have to go small all year long, and the truth is, that doesn't fit well with the triangle offense Rambis will try and bring to this franchise. If I were Kurt, I'd try something more simple, until they get Love back (who is an excellent passer and versatile player). Lee is going to be a pest out there on defense, and if Brook isn't getting his, Harris certainly will. The Nets have this game locked up if they limit the turnovers.

So...no Iverson? That sucks. With Conley hurt (what's his status?), I believe Mayo will be running the point. I just can't see Memphis pulling this off. Detroit has a lot of offensive firepower on the perimeter, with Gordon being among the best three-point shooters in the league, Hamilton's ability to hit from downtown, and Prince with the seasonal three as well. Problem is, the Pistons can get to the rim if their three isn't falling, and even though it does seem like they've tossed defense out the window, Prince is still in Detroit, and Kwame Brown isn't that bad of a defender. Memphis will have to chase Hamilton around all night long, and that's going to wear out whoever is assigned to him. Could be Mayo. If that's the case, this gets ugly.

Kobe (33), LeBron (38), and Dirk (34) have dropped 30-point games in their opening games. I wonder how big of a role Wade will have in this one, with Beasley having his hand in the cookie jar a little more, in addition to the rumor that Jermaine is much better than he was last season. New York should probably drop Lee down to the four and play Darko at the five...but I don't see that happening. Chandler may have a big game if Wade isn't bugging him, depends on what position he plays (if the above happens with Darko, he'll be at the two). The Heat should win their home opener.