Poe

Championships are a team accomplishment, and MVP awards aren't always given to the truly deserving player (for example, Nash has two career regular season MVPs and Kobe has one). With that aside, the best individual Laker to ever play is Kobe.

Nash is probably the most exciting current NBA player to never dunk in a game.

It's ironic because banned members weren't allowed to be nominated, and someone actually nominated you IIRC.

Probably because most of them didn't see the thread, or maybe they don't know every member well enough to vote for all the categories. Almost forgot to say congrats to the winners. Well deserved, especially Confidence and Chosen One

Kind of ironic how Yugo gets unbanned right after the member awards.

By far, Three Point Shooting. I had a hunch that three point shooting was a major problem for the Heat this year, but tonight I decided to look a bit further into it and checked the three point shooting stats for all the games so far. Here is what I came up with: Heat record for three point shots attempted: - 24-24 when attempting 7 threes or more - 19-23 when attempting 12 threes or more. - 14-18 when attempting 15 threes or more. - 7-15 when attempting 17 threes or more. - 3-11 when attempting 20 threes or more. - 1-10 when attempting 22 threes or more. - 0-6 when attempting 23 threes or more. And.. - 24-24 when attempting 26 threes or less. - 23-13 when attempting 20 threes or less. - 20-11 when attempting 18 threes or less - 16-8 when attempting 16 threes or less. - 10-6 when attempting 14 threes or less. - 3-1 when attempting 11 threes or less. Heat record for three point shots made: - 24-24 when making 1 three or more. - 19-18 when making 4 threes or more. - 15-15 when making 6 threes or more. - 10-9 when making 7 threes or more. - 5-5 when making 8 threes or more. - 3-2 when making 10 threes or more. And… - 24-24 when making 13 threes or less - 23-23 when making 10 threes or less. - 21-20 when making 8 threes or less. - 14-16 when making 6 threes or less. - 9-7 when making 4 threes or less. - 5-6 when making 3 threes or less. Conclusion: These numbers prove that the less threes the Heat attempt collectively, the less likely they are to lose the game. On the other hand, whether the Heat make or miss threes have little to do record-wise with whether the Heat win or lose. So, really, the main adjustment the Heat need to make this year is much more simple than it seems. Just attempt less threes, preferably 16 or less. Use those other possessions that usually result in a three point shot, and instead attack the basket and look to get to the FT line.

By his prime, there is a very good chance. Dude is only 21 years old getting his first season of consistent playing time, and do I need to mention, leading the league in 3 point shooting already in his career. I find it hard to believe you can rule out all star potential in a 6th overall pick so early in his career when he's having such a successful start.

Strong prediction for a lot of these high draft picks that are capable of developing, but you can't even say Gallo, who has made more threes than any other player in the league in only his sophomore year??

Yes, I'm an idiot for believing the Hawks aren't good enough for the Cavs, who clearly have the better record AND destroyed them last year. And Josh Smith has not changed very much, at least from a numbers perspective. He's had better seasons with blocking shots, he's averaged less turnovers before with similar minutes, his rebounding isn't that far higher from his career average, and his assists are barely a career high. The only thing that has changed is that he's stopped attempting threes, and all of a sudden he's the most mature athlete in the league. Crawford's extra scoring he brings will help the Hawks with their regular season record, but there is no way one bench player is turning a second round sweep into a conference finals, or an NBA finals team. The Magic have lost three of their five starters that originally brought them to the finals. They decided they needed to fix something that wasn't broken, or rather worked remarkably well. They decided to throw away their only starter worthy SF, who was arguably their best or second best player last year, and now it turns out JJ Redick is becoming close to outplaying Vince Carter, and the coach is still having trouble figuring out who is replacing Turk at the 3. Come playoff time, with the way the Magic play, it's all about "getting hot". If their shot is off collectively, they could lose to anybody in the first round, especially when they are ignoring Howard in the post. And yes, the Heat are going to the finals without a half-decent PG, a fragile center, only two good bench players, and a superstar who has decided to stop slashing and start bricking threes.

Maybe in just two threads, but that discussion of Chalmers has gone unnecessarily long. And forgive me if I'm coming across with the wrong tone. I'm just a tid bit frustrated about the loss, and how [expletive]ing [expletive]ty the Heat have been lately.

The Heat need to stop taking so many god damn threes, and I'm particularly looking at Wade.

Why do you keep bringing that up? Nobody is blaming entire losses on him, but his individual play hasn't been good. Also, Arroyo was one of the best players out there today. 10 points in above 50% shooting when the team was shooting just 36%, and he also had a couple dimes, a steal, and no turnovers in 22 minutes.

The only predictable one is Gallo. The rest haven't shown signs of all star talent... yet. They are still young and developing. Some might break out, but I doubt any of us can be sure at this point. We need to wait more time on these guys.

Nevermind. Watch the Heat GET blown out. And WTF is Cook doing in the game. GTFO.

I love the home crowd today.

I'm not eating any words. I was wrong about the Heat, though I still think they are capable of a better record than what they have now. No, the Magic aren't that bad. They have the DPOY and some great shooters around him. They are good enough to make the playoffs at a high seed in the East.

I wasn't suggesting that, nor am I saying this site is perfect in any way. Real Deal has done an excellent job overall. I'm just saying that, in general, a site should be good enough for members to stay active and not have to resort to dedication as the sole reason to stay, but their enjoyment for the site itself. Dedication should be something extra, the next step for those that care about the site to a level where they want to make a difference.

Cleveland killed the Hawks last year. Crawford isn't going to be enough to turn around a 4-0 series to one in the Hawks' favor. The Magic aren't even the same team. They are much worse than last year. They will get beaten in the first or second round.

LeBron has changed his attitude since the beginning of the season. Not only will they finish first seed, LeBron will win MVP, and they will face the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

I'll say it again... watch the Heat blow this one out.

I think it's the other way around. A good site should be the reason for members to stay.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=3196&year=2009 Cook was only effective last year for a short period of time. From the beginning of November through midway of December was his only good shooting stretch, other than that Cook's game has been completely on and off. I'm done with Cook, personally. If Spoelstra's line up stays the same, and even if he ever does become a consistent shooter, I don't want to see him replacing Dorell's minutes off the bench. Dorell's upside is way higher than Cook, and he's already a much better all around player. If Wade starts at point guard like I suggested, with Dorell and Richardson on the wings, maybe there will be some more room to have Cook come off the bench in the rotation. I just don't want to see him eating up another player's minutes just for the high hopes of him "regaining" his touch.

I think it's too early to say whether Wright can truly be developed into an all star or not. Yes, I know how long he's been in the league, but much of his time in the league has been on the bench without being given any chance to develop. His first couple years, he was sitting on the bench behind Antoine Walker and James Posey while the Heat were pursuing a championship. It wasn't until his 4th year or so when he finally got consistent playing time, and he was getting better and better each game, but then he got an injury that sidelined him for the next year and a half. Now he's back, and I think by now he's right where he left off. Though he may not be an all star now, his abilities show a very high upside. He is the best free throw shooter on the team, one of the best midrange shooters, he's becoming reliable at the 3 point arc shooting .400 this year, and has always been a good finisher around the basket. Combine that with a point guard-like courtvision and ball handling ability, and defensively becoming a ball hawk for getting steals, plus his size and length to block shots and grab boards... You got yourself a very, very good all around player there. As his confidence and maturity continues to grow, so will his game. Spoelstra and Wade have both expressed that he has been their best player in many of their practices. It's only a matter of time before it starts to show in the real games.

I still don't believe Haslem is inconsistent. No, I don't know what specific numbers he will put on a single night, but I know exactly what he will bring as a player. He always works hard on the boards, whether the ball goes his way or not, he's still working for them, and still the best rebounder on the team. He can be relied on to stay in front of his man defensively and always be at the right place in his defensive rotations. He'll get his points from working hard off the ball by setting good screens, finding an open spot from midrange, cutting to the basket, and grabbing offensive rebounds. Though you can't expect a player to shoot the same percentage every night, I know he'll average roughly 50% as a whole for the season. That's his role, and that's what I know he'll bring on a nightly basis.

Wade has been three-happy in the fourth this year. That is something Wade will have to adjust. Q-Rich has been a much improved player defensively this year, every Heat fan will tell you that. Still, even if his defense actually was bad, if you're talking a change in the Heat line up, there isn't much to look for other than Wright. Though I would agree that Wright should start, both of them have been better than any point guard on this team, therefore both of their minutes should increase. The most minutes should go to the most productive players, and you can't increase two players' minutes who play the same position without decrease someone at another position. That's one reason why Wade should start at the point with both Wright and Richardson as his wing options. Also, Jermaine is the best thing the Heat got for big men, whether he's playing good D or not. With his contract, the Heat are stuck with him until 2010. I don't think his D has necessarily been bad, but the Heat will have to wait on an improvement considering his contract. The glass hasn't been a problem with Haslem, at least not comparing to the rest of the team. He's the Heat's best rebounder on a good team-rebounding team. Haslem's offense is a product of his teammates. His role is not a creator, and he wasn't put in position to be against the Bucks, since he kept the same role with Joel Anthony being the starter instead of Haslem, though I still expected him to be extra aggressive offensively. Overall, his shots normally come from midrange jumpshots, battling on the offensive boards, and cutting to the basket off of pick and roles. If his scoring is down, it normally isn't a fault of any sort of inconsistency. It's simply the fact that either his shots weren't falling, or his teammates weren't finding him. That said, his midrange shot hasn't been as effective as usual this month as a whole. The past two months his overall field goal percentage has been nearly 50 percent, this month he's dropped to 43.8 percent. So rather than it being an inconsistency, his shooting has been down as a whole for this month alone. Still, if there's one area of consistency you want to point at, it's not the shooting percentage or the rebounding, but maybe it's the unusual foul trouble he's faced, but that could also be a result to extra aggression from coming off the bench and knowing his minutes will be less than he's accustomed to.