AtTheDriveIn

Hey :o

It doesn't come out for another week in Australia.

He was waived by the Kings? I just thought he wasn't playing in games for them. As for impact on the Bobcats, Hughes is a 15 minute per game player who's going to be expecting double that amount of playing time. Like with Iverson on the Grizzlies, I think things will just turn sour very quickly. Hughes has never struck me as the player who just wants to win without playing a vital role. He seems more like a player who wants to play and win and get paid more than he's worth and if things don't go that way, he'll give up on playing hard for the 'Cats very quickly.

Interesting observations; almost all players mentioned are either bald of have very little hair and there's not a single mention of a white player yet.

Probably 1961-1962 Wilt (the 50.4 point per game average). I wouldn't be shocked if all his games were over 30 or even 40 points that season. Jordan in 86-87 also had 67 games of 30 or more points. Bryant in 2005-2006 had 57 games of 30 or more points as well. I'd assume the record unoficially would belong to Wilt, but officially, it'd have to be Jordan's 86-87 season.

Rick Ross - Hustlin "Who the [expletive] you think you [expletive]in' with, I'm the [expletive]in' boss" gangsta. :glasses:

I have that thing somewhere on my MSN account!! Solid pick with Jackson at #5. He's the reason that the Bobcats are in with a shot to make the playoffs for the first time in their history. I've always liked Jackson's game when he's not complaining about something. He's not the smartest player out there, and he probably takes too much of the offensive load onto himself but he always gives 100% and he hustles for every ball. Without some of his off-court problems, I would take him on my team 100 times out of 100.

I don't like it when Built Ford Tough posts a lot. It gives me absolutely nothing to post about anymore.. lol. 22 and 8 seems a bit more reasonable than 25 and 10, but I still think it's unrealistic for him. I don't want to sound like I'm looking for an argument, but I see little to no difference between Beasley's first year and his second year as far as he as a player and not as a statistic is concerned. He's still erratic with the ball; he still struggles to create good opportunities and his defense is just mediocre due to what looks like his apparent laziness and unenthusiastic approach to actually playing defense. Conversly, his usage percentages are down from last season (surprsingly, Haslem, who plays the same position as Beasley is posting all time highs in player usage), his offensive rating for the second straight season is straight up mediocre as he's failing to oust Jermaine O'Neal and even Joel Anthony among others in this category, his rebounding percentages are down with no real explination for it and his eFG% is down as well due to him taking more threes than before. If you want a comparison, Garnett's second season, aside from his rebounding and usage percentages, Garnett's numbers are better in Garnett's second season compared to Beasley's second season. Similarly, Dirk's offensive and rebounding statistics were much better than Beasley's in Dirk's second season. I understand that you might have some biases toward Beasley, but I don't think it's exactly fair to put him in with names like Dirk or Garnett or Bosh quite yet. I see Beasley at the moment to be a player who has Jamison like potential - ie. a player that everyone really does want on their team who'll put up stats, albeit shallow stats and will look good on the court, but wont affect the game as well as you might think by looking at his numbers. I don't think it's a bad thing to be compared to Jamison as Jamison as Jamison is a career 20 point per game scorer, but like Beasley, Jamison never shows the x-factor which makes superstar or even consistent all-star players (Jamison only has 2 all-star selections and 8 seasons above 19.5 points per game) what they are. I'm sorry I didn't reply to any of the rest you typed. It's quite late here by my standards, and I've had a crazy weekend. Sorry once more.

As I type this, Michael Beasley's mug is staring me down in the banner. That just seems like a very, very unrealistic expectation of him. I think Beasley's problem was that transition from always being the star player, the player with the ball in his hands all the time to the second or even third option. He doesn't know what to do with himself out there and it's evident; He doesn't slash back and forth along the baseline for easy feeds from the guards, he doesn't look to get open off of screens for a good look at the basket, he doesn't demand the ball and when he gets it he immidiately looks for a shot because it his natural instinct back from his Kansas State days, or even before that. Of course, the flashes of a player filled with extraordinary potential are there on a game-to-game basis but at the moment, it's not enough for him to earn the right to call himself a definite second option offensively, even for the Heat. Beasley needs to accept his role-player status behind Wade and sometimes even behind Jermaine O'Neal at the moment and work off of it.

Are you talking about Wesley Johnson? I don't think he'll be top 3. I don't think he'll even be top 5. I actually don't really know many people who could seriously argue Johnson as a top an 'imminent' top 3 pick. I guess everyone has there opinions, though. If I can't choose Johnson, then my top 5 out of the the guys you mentioned would probably go something like: 1. Derrick Favors 2. Al-Farouq Aminu 3. Ed Davis (am I allowed to pick him?) 4. DeMarcus Cousins 5. Hassan Whiteside If Davis isn't in, then slide Aldrich would get the nod below Whiteside basically for his stability. I don't actually think he'll be much of a player in the league though.

Simple fact is that most 18 year old players aren't good enough. There's one or two each draft that can play somewhat meaningfully for some of the worse teams in the league, but there's also ten to fifteen guys who don't make it and ruin the prospect of playing college basketball. I'm generally against allowing high schooler's into the NBA. I think that college makes high school players better than sitting on an NBA bench for three years ever could and that's my only basic reason for my thinking. Plus seeing players like Monta Ellis at Mississippi State or Lou Williams at the University of Georgia (Their colleges of choice before opting on being non-guaranteed second round picks) only makes another league that I love, the NCAA, more interesting, more competitive and certainly better to watch.

^ I just took the numbers from the guy on ISH, I didn't calculate them myself. Either way, it's definitely an impressive record by Jordan.

I voted for LeBron to stay with the Cavs because I simply can't picture him in another uniform. Marquee players like LeBron also lose some points in my book for not staying loyal to their teams; it's why I'm a big fan of Karl Malone, Stockton, Reggie Miller, Dirk, Kobe etc. LeBron really has no reason to leave either. His team is challenging for a championship and the Cavaliers organization basically lives to serve LeBron. They're also prepared to offer him major cash. Taking that into consideration, If I were LeBron, I wouldn't see a reason to leave. I have to go, but I'll do the other two later.

^ It's what came after the 2008 trade, not out of. If memory serves me correctly, Zach Randolph was traded from the Clippers in exchange for Quinton Richardson. Neither had a direct (or indirect) part in the 2008 between the Lakers and the Grizzlies. Likewise, Brewer was recently traded to free up cap room in exchange for a pick that the Jazz will never see anyway. The aforementioned trade had no effect in attaining these two players. For the rest, I'm not sure, Gasol is good, but M. Gasol, Dontae Greene + a 2010 pick (They later got Sam Young and Darrell Arthur for Greene in a three team trade) for Pau and a second round pick still seems to be in favour toward the Lakers in my opinion because of the effectiveness of Pau in the Lakers system.* In the end, Marc is a good player, but will never outshine his brother, Young and Arthur both could be good role players but not much more. Meanwhile, Gasol wins a championship because the Grizzlies traded him to the Lakers without asking in return for any immediate impact players (meaning not draft picks). In essence, by not taking a player who was valuable to the Lakers immediately, the Grizzlies sort of assisted the Lakers later on in winning a championship. *note, I didn't include Crittendon and Kwame in my analysis because neither stayed very long in Memphis, nor was the intention to keep either for very long.

Some fun numbers, courtesy of Joyner82 from InsideHoops: Kevin Durant 29 games of 25+ ppg 32.4 ppg 20.5 FGA 10.4 FTA 1.58 PPS 50.8 FG% 54.6 3P% 90.1 FT% Michael Jordan 40 games of 25+ ppg 36.4 ppg 27.8 FGA 11.6 FTA 1.31 PPS 47.4 FG% 16.4 3P% 86.3 FT% The efficiency of Durant is through the roof! It's also surprising to see Durant's Points Per Shot stat is higher than Jordan's, who's always been regarded as a highly efficient shooter/scorer in his own right. Oh and team record for these games: Chicago Bulls - 21-19 Oklahoma City Sonics () - 20-9 Regardless of how it may end up in the end, Durant has impressed me more than any other player in a long time with regard to his scoring; moreso than Carmelo ever could, more than Iverson in his younger days and more than McGrady during his Magic years.

My mistake on the first thing. I was a supporter of Rubio before and still am. But Wall's game in general is better than Rubio's. Rubio might be the better passer but that's just one aspect of a complete repetoir. Wall's whole game is lightyears ahead of Rubio's.

It was actually 8.7 points per game on 28.3% shooting. Things are picking up for Feb though: Stat-line versus the Bucks tonight: 18 points (46% shooting), 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Carter for GOAT!

Well answered and not at all a generalization of both players. John Wall does much more than score. He's one of the best passing guards in college at the moment at 6.8 assists per game. He's also shown a lot of effort and hustle on the defensive end. Wall's more than just a scorer.

There was a lot of talk before the season about Warren being read to be the primary ballhandler for Oklahoma. However, from watching them this season, I think they prefer either of their two other guards (Mason-Griffin and Crocker) than Warren to be the 'generals' at this point. Warren's body is probably more suited to a point guard position, but his game at the moment says that he'll be at best an average at best combo guard in the NBA. I have to be honest in saying I never saw what the big deal about Warren was even when the Griffins were at Oklahoma. He reminds me a lot of Randy Foye, and Foye's game hasn't translated particuluarly well. He did have a nice scoring season last season in Minnesota, but poor shooting percentages and and unwillingness (or inability) to do anything other than score will basically keep him on the 'role player' level for his career. I'm not saying Warren will end up the same, maybe he works hard and becomes an integral part of some team, but at best, that's the way I see Warren's career going at the moment. I haven't seen Johnson play so I wont comment; as for Collins however, I don't think there's enough of him for him to be able to stick it in the NBA for very long. His most successful seasons will most likely come when he aknowleges that Europe is probably the best option for him as a professional. None of the guys you mentioned are worth of even coming close to a lottery pick at the moment, in my opinion.

Good article, as usual. I needn't say much about it. Just adding a quick opinion of mine on the Mavericks; I've always thought that Dallas were the best at rotating their defense to cut off all backdoor cuts and penetrations into the lane. They've assembled a team who's collective basketball IQ is through the roof, but as you said, Erick, they are getting up there with age and they don't have too many years left at going for the glory that the NBA championship holds.

You could field a whole Euro-team! Ironically, it would be the most defensively challenged team in the history of the the NBA: Bargs, Montiejunas, Turkoglu, Bellinelli, Calderon. Imagine the confusion it would cause if all players spoke their first language. Actually.. you could do it now with Nesterovic.. nevermind. Funny to me, nontheless.

Big call on the #5 pick. From what I hear, Whiteside is a 6'11 forward, very raw offensively, skinny, is very long and mobile, has springs in his feet which make his lateral quickness quite awesome and could be quite a dominant defensive player. A lot of analysts think he needs at least another year or more at Marshall to understand what sort of player he'll be at the next level, but if he jumps to the NBA earlier, I'm not sure he'll go that high unless some GM is sold by Whiteside's potential. Also, did you know that aside from Latavious Williams, who really screwed himself by deciding to go to the NBDL, your whole second round is made up of either NCAA seniors or International players. Wow, lol.

Too shy to post.

Congrats on the five years. I'm not sure, but I think Real Deal and I met in about 2007 or early 2008 and that's roughly around the time I joined, too; although I've never been anything more than an occasional poster/full-time lurker. Congratulations again. Real Deal, you are by the far the most deticated administrator I know.

^ My mistake then. A C isn't all that bad, especially for a first year in university. The ratings here are somehting are 7.0 for an A+ working it's way downwards. A 4.0 is a pass, but as I mentioned, it's quite an average pass. So you can imagine why I thought a 2.0 was a miserable fail. My mistake.