Real Deal

Dirk and Redd? Marion won't be a shooter in that offense, and he doesn't have to be. Howard isn't a shooter. Kidd doesn't shoot at all when he has offensive weapons to pass to. Terry will be coming off the bench. I think you're a little worried about a team you despise and that is in your conference and division, sort of like the Spurs.

Ah, damn...nevermind. Howard is a pretty good defender as well. Maybe Dallas is thinking they can go small? C - Nowitzki PF - Marion SF - Howard SG - Redd PG - Kidd That would work offensively, but they would have heaps of trouble stopping guys like Yao (yet, Yao is out for the season, so yeah...).

Marion can defend multiple positions. I doubt they will really be any worse defensively. Diop has always been their big defensive presence, not Dampier.

C - whoever PF - Dirk SF - Marion SG - Redd PG - Kidd Sixth - Terry That team is sick on paper.

It's Sun Yue. I could care less. I would waive him if it means more playing time for anyone but Sasha.

Brock is one scary dude.

Yeah...I wasn't kidding, unfortunately. I don't really have time to deal with rebelling members right now. I'm creating a skin I've been designing for the last 18-20 hours or so. People that don't want to be here, don't deserve to be here, or really don't need to be here...I'm not going to get a headache trying to reason with them.

One more smartass comment, and you won't be saying anything on your mind on this site ever again.

Doesn't matter. You can't bypass the word filter. You should know that, seeing that there's a word filter in place. And if you don't like it here (reading your ridiculous status right now), you can go elsewhere.

Do you even see a right sidebar to begin with? You may have collapsed it. If so, tell me what all you see on the right of the main index.

They are in the sidebar. I had to remove a few already.

There's no way to ban someone from using a single element of the board like that. Not that I know of, anyways.

It looks like we're going to lose them altogether, guys. I will wipe them from the sidebar AND your profiles if they are being abused. The inappropriate content not allowed in posts are also prohibited in status updates. I hope a few of you don't ruin it for everyone.

Guys, can we stop messing around with the status updates? We already know why I tossed the shoutbox. Why try to ruin things for everyone else?

I don't think Childress will ever be anything special in the league. He left for a reason, and I'm not quite sure it was just the money.

...and I'm now reading that Jarrett Jack is close to signing with Toronto.

I really think Kleiza would fit in the most, actually, and Barnes would give you guys that defensive presence off the bench (at the small forward slot), and a guy who can actually score the ball. Barnes is like Ariza in a way; he has a lot to work on offensively, but he practices defense, and he would be a guy you'd want to sign to a long-term deal if he shows signs of improvement in both areas of his game. Thing is, Barnes was drafted in 2002 or 2003, if I remember right, and he's not as young as Ariza (and we're talking five or six years older). Kleiza is just another player who can play big sometimes, get to the rack, or shoot the outside shot...and he just causes too many mismatch problems on the court. Both would be solid additions in Toronto.

I'll be rooting for Brock and GSP. Also, I'm not a big fan of Bisping, so I hope Henderson KO's him. I was going to buy it, but I can catch it online somewhere, haha. Should be awesome.

Those homeless people can be managed. If tens of thousands of sports fans can be managed pre-game, so can the homeless. People take advantage of everything. Many rich people dodge taxes. Many CEO's have dug their hands in company profits. Many losers have gotten on Medicaid, despite not deserving it. Political parties like to sway the public's decisions based on the people they help. They could care less about helping EVERYONE, and that's why America (and the world) is the way it is today.

Exceptions are a big deal. If there were 40 terrorists in a cabin, and they were holding two American kids hostage, I wouldn't go blow up the cabin because most of them are terrorists. There's always a way around things. People aren't set on making the world a better place, they are set on making it an easier place to live in. Problem is, making it easier to live in doesn't help those who have already hit rock bottom, and really have no means of standing back up on their own. It's generic and simple to say it can be done by anybody. It's more complicated to figure out a way to help those who deserve it. Most don't like complicated.

That would suck if the homeless guy had diabetes, had eye and circulation problems, and didn't have family to help him through it. But I suppose this is assuming all homeless people are healthier than we are.

Alright, there's an update coming out next week that will fix a few things, including the View New Content option, which will revert it back to the old IPB 2.3 option, among other things.

Cleveland's defense is more about help defense than the individual. We've known this even when LeBron went to the Finals in 2007. Ilgauskas isn't a great individual defensive player, but his help defense is okay. Shaq's is terrible...and you'll find that out soon enough. Shaq's 17/8 tells me he's a good offensive player, to be able to average 17 at the age of 36/37 years old. That doesn't tell me anything else. What does Zach Randolph's 20/10 tell you? That he fits into the Clippers' offense? If Shaq doesn't take the ball out of LeBron's hands, what's the point of having him? He's supposed to be there to draw double teams. That has been Shaq's forte most of his career. Problem is, he only does that against guys like Joakim Noah and Andris Biedrins, guys that don't have the strength or body weight to contain him. Your two biggest rivals in the East, Boston and Orlando, have two guys that can contain Shaq without help, and the regular season doesn't mean much at all, as we saw over a month ago.