Real Deal

Yeah, pot is a gateway drug. Younger people will deny it all day, but the older guys (30+) won't. I don't know if that has anything to do with denial, experience, or what...but it's true. I've talked about my uncle before on here. He started with marijuana. It was smoking pot, then selling it, then getting mixed up with others who started him in on cocaine, and he will admit that he needed something better than weed, and he found it. You even see it on television. There's nothing good about it, either way.

They would've beaten the Cavaliers, yes. Cleveland really had no offense outside of LeBron. The Lakers didn't have to play much defense against a 2001 Sixers team, which was very similar to Cleveland's 2007 team.

I'll be replacing it with Iverson tomorrow.

Sean, Wilkins never played for the Jazz. But I agree, it's Phoenix. There's just too much talent there, and they would've actually had a championship (just as the Jazz would've) if it wasn't for Jordan...but even after Jordan retired, I think Phoenix had it in the bag again before a Robert Horry hip-check.

The whole problem with Laker fans is getting ridiculous again. It does every season. It's sickening, just as some of the BS I read in the football topics. Topic closed.

One more and you're suspended for two weeks, just as Slaven was. It's getting ridiculous, and while I was taking it as a joke at first, it's turning into a habit you need to break. This topic has absolutely nothing to do with Kobe Bryant. Same with my Charlotte Bobcats topic. No way of getting around it this time. It ends now.

Haha, for real. I remember contributing BIG TIME to a topic at Clublakers, when we all wanted Ron Artest back in 2005-06. http://www.clublakers.com/lakers-discussion/ron-512-t45412.html First post is updated for 2009, but that is an 11,000 post, 570 page topic about Ron Artest coming to Los Angeles. Lakers fans didn't like him?

If you KNOW you're going to score the ball, just be patient and figure out your defender. Jab step, move the ball around, step in slowly, put your shoulder into him, etc. See how he moves. Then catch him off guard quickly. It irritates them a bit too much to where they give up right before you attack.

Good one, Kyle. Spot-on.

Jordan's last game in Boston: WAS 99, BOS 98 (OT) 25 PTS (10-22 FG), 13 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO In Cleveland: WAS 100, CLE 91 26 PTS (10-19 FG), 10 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TO In Portland: WAS 95, POR 91 25 PTS (11-19 FG), 5 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 1 TO He also dropped 39 points against the Knicks in his last game at MSG, nearly won the game for them if they hadn't fouled him and put him at the line with the Wizards down three. Jordan's final game in Chicago was terrible, one of his worst games of the year. He scored 11 points on 4-14 shooting in 39 minutes, three assists, one turnover, and lost the game to a struggling Bulls team. He was 40 years old in some of those games, though (maybe all of them)...which is truly amazing.

15 PTS (6-15 FG), 4 REB, 4 AST, 2 TO, 28 MIN Nothing to be amazed at...but it's good that he hit those two free throws at the end, at least.

Go to around 2:30 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4A2FhPLnB0 Look at all the people standing up and chanting that they want him in the game. :o Yeah, I've seen it before (saw it live), but it's been a while.

Yes. Charlotte has the defense (especially the help defense) to overcome Iverson's defensive lapses, and Charlotte needs a scorer, because Gerald Wallace isn't going to put up 30 a game. Excellent opportunity for the franchise. They need to get it done.

http://www.carpentersalliance.com/Media/old_man_walking_with_walker_lg_nwm.gif

There's a drop-down menu below the banner, a down arrow to the right of your name. When you get a PM, you'll get a bolded message (you'll see it in a minute when I send you one). Otherwise, you use the drop-down menu.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H__J0s-Ta8Q/SDlYa7LoFuI/AAAAAAAAFCI/vXLwDKmBWf4/s400/tattoo.jpg That's SICK.

Simply put, you're going to judge a player after five seasons. I'm going to judge him when he's considered a true veteran, 10+ seasons in the NBA. I don't call anyone great at anything until they reach that mark. Ben Gordon doesn't hold any three-point records today. He doesn't hold any for attempts in a season, makes in a game, percentage in a season, percentage in a career, wins in a three-point contest, makes in a three-point contest, nothing notable as a record mark, and I don't even think he comes close to any of those, either...and he's too young for me to say he's done good enough to be called one of the greatest ever. Let him give us a couple of seasons of 46% with those 300 attempts sometime in his career, mixed with consistent 37-40% shooting from downtown. Or let me see him become a 27-28 PPG scorer and feel amazing defensive pressure (like Bird) and still reach 40% from the arc in four consecutive seasons. Let me see SOMETHING that tells me he's a great three-point shooter, not a really good one, and then we'll agree. And in all the years I've watched Ben Gordon on League Pass and on WGN (in Kansas), I have never seen him doubled on the perimeter more than once a game. And by the way, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng have both been excellent teammates up until 2008. Technically, his best teammate has been Derrick Rose, this past season. And Eddy Curry was the leading scorer, and a true offensive threat, in Ben Gordon's rookie year, shooting 54% from the floor and dropping 16 PPG, which is better than what Pau Gasol did for Memphis in 2004 and 2005.

I don't drink much pop (soda), but I can down a couple of two-liters of Diet Sprite, and you down four liters of beer, and we'll see who runs over a kid first. If everyone knew how to drink at home, or drink at a party and stay the night there (or just have someone sober take them home), drinking wouldn't be so bad. But that's not the case. I can't stand people that are wasted. I've had two girls cheat on me, and both were drunk when it happened. I fought one of my best friends, fist fight, and he was wasted. I've been in yelling matches with my mother when she used to drink on weekends. Although pot puts your brain cells to sleep when you smoke it, and it puts you to sleep as well and costs much more than booze, it's not as bad as alcohol, in my opinion. I don't judge people that use either of them, though, or smoke cigarettes, as long as they do it in moderation and are responsible with it. But if we start talking cocaine, heroine, etc...well, I don't respect anyone doing that. No reason to.

Yeah man. I would've probably cried if I was at that game, no joke.

The question is about right now, fellas. You don't have a chance to see if Brand will be that 20/10 player this upcoming season. If the Jazz offer Boozer right now, do you do it?

I didn't say Ewing and Hakeem. Both of them were traded. Why did Grant Hill re-sign with the Suns? Why did Dikembe Mutombo stay with the Rockets? Why did Gary Payton go back to the Celtics after the Hawks waived him, and after he failed with the Lakers? Why on Earth did Scottie Pippen sign with the Bulls in 2002? Let me know how many more examples you want.

Who remembers this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8p_kam7MQ Jordan isn't the greatest player ever? Thousands disagree, and so do the players, coaches and referees. Probably one of the greatest moments I've ever seen watching basketball, right up there with Kobe's 81, Jordan's championship-winning jumper vs. Utah, and Paxson's championship-winning three.

Ben Gordon was never doubled on the perimeter. Ever. I watch enough Bulls to know that. No team is that stupid to double him, anyways. No point in it. Larry Bird drew much, much more attention. Three times as much. And, at first, you're dismissing how many attempts players shoot...but now it's important? Bird is a career 38% 3PT shooter. He also had his string of 40's, and again, that's with much more defensive attention. But okay, Ben Gordon is the greatest three-point shooter in the history of the NBA. You win.

Haha, I actually gave you more examples of players doing such things, but I suppose you need about ten or twenty more? Dismiss Jordan all you want. You still have a few more to explain, and if I wasn't so bored with the argument, you'd have another handful.

He could've done that in practices, like he did when he retired for the last time (and like he still does to this day). So, in other words, once you taste winning, you can be done with it? Really? Because in that case, I hope the Lakers decline to give Kobe that extension this year. If you want, I can give you other examples. You brought up Payton. Why did he return to the Boston Celtics after the Hawks waived him? He had already tried to win a ring in Los Angeles...then he went back to a Celtics team that he knew wasn't going to contend for a title. I can find some more players that have done this, actually. It's not a selfish act. It's just an act that defines the pursuit of happiness. Iverson wouldn't be happy playing alongside ball-dominant players such as Kobe, Gasol, Artest and Bynum, so he's not going to go to Los Angeles. Does winning make him happy? Sure, it makes everyone happy, but maybe Iverson has seen guys like Hakeem and Ewing finish their careers with mediocre to poor stats, bad teams or not, and he's seen guys like Jordan do it to be happy, and Payton going back to a decent team before jumping ship with a contender. He also witnessed guys like Marbury jump to Boston, only to be let down. He was around when Dikembe Mutombo could've went to a contender. He heard about Grant Hill staying in Phoenix, despite their ongoing troubles and a declining Steve Nash. Plenty more where that came from. All of those guys are selfish? I doubt it. Iverson wants to turn a team around. Maybe he wants to mentor OJ Mayo. Maybe he wants to be the Iverson of old. Maybe he wants to see if he can boost a team into the playoffs with young talent surrounding him. Maybe, in his head, he believes that he, Mayo, Gay, Conley, Gasol, Randolph and Thabeet can make it big. I think it's more of a hate you have for him than anything else. You aren't observing the bigger picture. It's not always about submitting and becoming a lost face when you're 34 years old, being like many who never win a ring by the time they reach 34-35. He just wants to play basketball.