Real Deal

Don't drink or smoke anything that will alter my state of mind or my body, not even to try it. I'm really a health freak, to be honest.

Now I'm willing to bet you wouldn't say the same thing about Jordan, who came back to play for a 19-win Wizards team at the age of 38 years old...right?

Marbury took a lesser role and did little to nothing for the Celtics. Most Boston fans will tell you it was a waste of a roster space. Gary Patyon came to the Lakers, took a lesser role behind Kobe, Shaq and Malone, and completely sucked in the Finals, scoring just four points per game, and never actually got the offense down to begin with. Payton went to Miami, didn't even start half of his games (only started 30 because J-Will was hurt), shot 42% from the floor and scored 7-8 points a game, and rode Wade's coattails to a championship. I respect Iverson for trying to take a bottom-feeding team to the playoffs. If he goes to a contender just to win a ring, he's just like every other superstar that gives up when they are in their mid-30's. You see it as a heroic act. I see it as being a quitter, when he is still fully capable of scoring 25 a game. It's really that simple.

If it's not them, I'll pull for someone outside of the Big 12, since it's my duty to hate on the others in our conference, and I just find my favorite player and root for his team (right now, it's Tebow).

Nope. The Magic did. The Magic beat the Lakers in both regular season meetings last year. The Lakers were very fortunate they didn't meet the Magic in the Finals.

Then my apologies, I didn't realize you were joking in your initial post.

They would have the cap room to sign someone good. If Bosh left, their payroll would be around $44-45 million. The cap will be set at $58.6 million this upcoming season, and for now, I'll assume it'll be around that for the 2010-11 season. So getting LeBron and Wade would require them to deal a contract for cap space, or a sign-and-trade (which they have nothing to deal with in the first place), but nothing is impossible. I'm not sure if Amare would take $14 million...but who really knows.

...not to mention he's also pretty cheap. Wasn't the offer $3 million or so a season?

Yeah, I don't see the point of keeping Buckner over Green. Singleton? Yeah, keep him. I think he can be better than Gerald Green, for sure. He plays limited minutes, sure, but he produces well for the teams he plays for in those 12-15 minutes.

What are the chances that Kevin Durant finishes top five in the MVP award voting in 2010? Check his $tats, LeBron...second season for Durant: 25.3 PPG on 47.6% FG 42.2% 3PT 86.3% FT 6.5 RPG 2.8 APG :o

I don't see how the hell Adonal Foyle is still in the NBA, to be honest. If he were a guard, he'd be playing overseas or in the D-League, so I guess it would have to be his size.

Honestly, Big Ben should've just retired. I feel bad for him. On the other hand, Detroit isn't looking so bad up front. I know people hate on Kwame quite a bit, but he's a pretty good man-to-man defensive player. Villanueva can score the ball. Maxiell still has hopes of duplicating Big Ben's career. I just hope he gets some time in. Maybe he should bring back the fro.

Where do you go from there?

In other words, he's saying that he's hoping the Cavaliers will offer him the max money, max years, and will tell him that they will bring in any veteran player he wants by his side for the rest of his career. I'm really, really interested in this upcoming off-season already, even though we haven't stepped into the 2009-10 season yet.

Definitely not a rumor, but I'm curious...as a Sixers fan, or if you were a fan of the team, would you trade Elton Brand for Carlos Boozer right now (today)? Consider Elton's health, but also the possibility that he could return as a 20/10 player.

You aren't completely dead in the water, haha...but if guys like Jordan Hill and Danilo Gallinari don't pan out to be anything special soon, I'm not really sure what else to say if the Knicks don't pick up a superstar.

Chad Ford seems to think that Marquis Daniels will contribute more to the team than Rasheed Wallace will. Not really sure about that...but we'll see.

If it does, can we safely assume that it will AT LEAST get the Charlotte Bobcats into the playoffs in 2010? Tyson Chandler Gerald Wallace Raja Bell DeSagana Diop Gerald Henderson Larry Brown This might be a great time for the Cats to find an offensive-minded player, to at least give them another 15-20 a game, because no matter how much defense you play, you can't win if you can't score.

Yep. I'm more worried about Redd, though. If he doesn't come back 100% healthy, you can run a small backcourt, at least, and hope that Sessions and Jennings can get it done. Don't be too down on Jennings, though. He can be pretty good. But having the security of a proven point guard (proven through one season, anyways) is better than just tossing a rookie in there to do the dirty work.

I think the small forward spot can be debated, but there's nothing that convinces me that Udrih should start over Evans. Sacramento could've picked Jordan Hill, or someone else to fill a few more holes in the frontcourt, but it was obvious that Beno was too overwhelmed as the starting point on a team that really doesn't have enough talent to make the playoffs. While Tyreke was once considered the best player in the draft, he's still not good enough to throw this team into the playoff loop...but he gives them a better chance than Beno does.

Cross your fingers, Hawks fans. It seems like players are breaking theirs while playing for their country this off-season, including Gasol and Francisco Garcia.

Haha, people read the article (as shown by the number of reads tallied), but it's hard to disagree with most of what you write, Sean. It makes sense to start Miller. He'll be that shooter that spreads the floor for guys like Butler and Arenas. Foye, Young and the others will be alright coming off the bench. As far as coaching goes, it's a great thing they let go of Eddie Jordan. Bringing in Flip Saunders won't help their defense much, because he's strictly offense, but it's still an improvement, nonetheless. If Gilbert is finally healthy, then yes, the Wizards can win 50 games. That will do two things: push them into the top four in the East Playoffs, possibly, and help them avoid a first-round matchup against the Cavaliers, haha.

There's no reason to say anyone other than Beasley. I wouldn't worry too much about his rehab. It will help him focus on the NBA, probably do him quite a bit of good.

They probably thought they were getting Sessions or Iverson, and decided to make some more room on the roster for one of them. I wouldn't be surprised if they went after AI, though...but I still think he'll land in Memphis or Charlotte.