Poe

A league where most of it's members happen to be black is much different than a league that actually does not allow people to play if their skin doesn't meet their criteria. You're allowed to play in that league, so you have nothing to complain about.

You serious?

Umm.. I never said I wanted the award... at all. I don't see how talking about rep, disagreeing with your point on Jamison, and disagreeing with your point on how an underrated player is the same thing as an underrated member = "I want an award". Besides, I asked about the underrated member thing since the nominations, before the voting thread. And actually, I don't even want any awards whatsoever. I'll ask for them when I deserve one, but then again, if I did deserve them I would have been nominated in the first place without having to ask. And you're talking about "trying to debate me" as if I'm attacking you through words. All I'm doing is just stating my opinion on something I don't agree with. Back to underrated member awards, I don't care who else has done it. I need a way to understand how members are rated to know who is the most underrated member is, so I can fairly nominate and vote. Again, this is the first time members are being rated, yet the most underrated is brought up in the same poll.

In the summer I predicted the Heat to be a 50 win team. I thought Chalmers would GROW from his very, very solid rookie performance for the Heat... instead he stopped showing up to practice early, among other things, and his overall game took a huge slide. I thought Daequan Cook would add more aspects to his game while improving his three point shot... instead he's shooting 28.6% from the field and 28.8% from 3. I though JO was "back"... while his bad knee was actually fixed, it turns out he was still fragile as [expletive] bruising his hip and breaking his nose, and now he's too timid to rebound the damn ball like he did the first few games this year. I'm learning that not everything goes according to plan. The only players to play somewhat as well as I expected is Michael Beasley, Dorell Wright, and of course, Dwyane Wade (despite what people say about him "dogging it", he's still producing even better numbers than his career averages). It looks like the Heat have some major holes to fill at the 1, 3, and 5 going into next year. That's all good, though. With the cap room the Heat have, they still have a great chance at putting together a championship caliber team this upcoming summer.

I couldn't have been more wrong, lol. Good job to the Raptors for their improvement. They played well on the defensive end yesterday. Shame on the Heat for not executing and finding consistency. I thought the Hawks' record would drop. They had a bad stretch, but bounced back well enough and are managing to stay in the group of elites in the East. BTW, I think I'm the biggest homer on the site. I'm always overrating my team

Free agent PGs include: Raymond Felton, Chris Duhon, Steve Blake, and Luke Ridnour, among others. Take your pick. Mine is Steve Blake, personally. Steve Blake's numbers last year as a full-time starter: 11.0 ppg (43% FG, 43% 3PT), 5.0 apg (1.5 TOpg), 2.5 rpg, 1.0 spg, 31.7 mpg Jason Williams' numbers in Memphis before heading to Miami: 10.1 ppg (41% FG, 33% 3PT), 5.6 apg (1.8 TOpg), 1.7 rpg, 1.1 spg, 27.5 mpg Just saying... As for T-Mac: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC4GHt0HXwg Looked pretty healthy to me. Tim Grover said he is 100% and ready to play the full load.

Strange. Most blacks I know like to just be called... "black". I'm still in high school, though, but I'm pretty sure it's that way for most people. I don't see how African American is more respectable, personally. If it was, then Whites would be called European American. Plus, we're all original from Africa if you dig deep enough into the roots of your family tree. I don't like this whole separation of race to begin with, like we're all completely different species of human. We should all just be called "people". Only add their skin color when describing their looks.

Rep isn't really an accurate way to look at a contributing member when one liner jokes get about the same rep as entire articles. Not saying there is anything wrong with repping a good joke or a small but well said statement, but long thought out posts don't normally get a whole lot of credit through rep. And your talking about Antawn not being an all star, well that's like [insert member here] not being nominated as a most valuable member. Plus, analysts discuss players values all the time. We hardly ever discussed the value of specific members until now.

I hate the term "African American". The average Black person living in America is no more African than the average White person here is European. And whether the topic was about any race or religion, I'd still discuss it. Just because there are a lot of them doesn't make it any more right or wrong. Skin color and opinion should not be a reason to reject anybody from anything.

-- In my opinion, T-Mac > Rudy Gay. For one, he's cheaper, and I think he's at a stage in his career where he'll just be happy enough to play. He's a good defender when motivated, and we all saw the change in Q-Rich after joining the Heat. T-Mac is easily the much better passer than Rudy Gay. The Heat don't need another player who looks at the basket with the ball in his hands and nothing else (referring to Michael Beasley). In T-Mac you get a playmaker and an all around player, in Rudy Gay you get a scorer and rebounder. T-Mac looks like the better fit to me. Also, I think I heard somewhere that the Heat have been keeping progress reports on him. The Heat seem very interested in the possibility of bringing him in. And again, he'll most likely be a lot cheaper than Rudy Gay given how much money he's already made in his career. --If Joe Johnson is available, NO WAY do the Heat turn him down, max contract or not. Here's a guy who can do it all. Score, pass, rebound, shoot, defend... He'd be the perfect Scottie Pippen. It's not like the Heat can't afford this guy. --Camby would definitely be a great pick up. With Blake Griffin due to come back next year, he should be looking around to contribute to another team, especially a contender for the possibility to end his career with a ring. If the Heat get Bron or JJ, even Gay or Mac, you know Camby won't be too far behind. --I want no part of Gilbert whatsoever. He simply does not bring the right things to the table. If the Heat didn't have Wade, I'd probably accept him as a two guard to bring some scoring... maybe.

All the Heat need a is a point guard that plays good defense, can hit the 3 ball, has a high assist/TO ratio, and isn't ball dominant but can score and make plays when needed to. Alston has played good D, but is inconsistent with his threes and his shooting tendency is a bit high for my taste. I hope the Heat go after Steve Blake this offseason. He's underrated, a very good friend of UD, and his whole skillset is exactly what I believe the Heat will need. Also, I don't want JO back. With all the scoring the Heat will have after grabbing a big time free agent, there won't be enough shots to go around to make Jermaine happy, and he gets most of his off of isolations. The Heat need a guy like Marcus Camby or Ben Wallace who strictly do the dirty work. I don't like Rudy Gay that much, either. He doesn't pass well and his defense is questionable. I'd prefer if the Heat only went after Gay if small forwards like LeBron, JJ, and even T-Mac aren't available first. A line up of.. Blake/Alston Wade/Wright LeBron (dreaming...) Beasley/Haslem Camby/Alabi ..sounds best to me.

It's nice to see HORSE being brought back. Hopefully the contestants will be more creative this time. Also, I wonder if a 1 on 1 competition would be any good. Durant vs Melo, LeBron vs Kobe... or maybe just have them line up with 2 going 1 on 1 until one scores, and whoever scores stays, gets a point, and the next guy in line comes in and plays defense to try to get the ball and score.

Meh..

Beasley 4 MVP!

I look forward to Crash and Shannon, and DeMar if he's healthy enough.

Dae-dae's in... Dude's gunna get crushed.

A career high I think... at his age..

I've said it since watching them play against the Heat the first time this year. At playoff time, I think Dallas will make it to the ECF, and will give LA a good challenge before the Finals.

I don't see it that way. There is a difference between being a part of a team and supporting a team. They are the ones out there playing, I'm just watching them do it.

I find it odd how people make such a big deal out of a naked body.

Just wondering, but why do people always use "we" and "you" when referring to favorite teams? Anyway, the answer to a zone when you don't have great shooters is to swing the ball from side to side and make the defense work, then attack it as holes open up. Instead, Wade tried to attack it on his own, getting doubled in a tight spot, then dishing it out to the perimeter to unreliable shooters. Wright isn't THE answer, but he's effective when involved and confident. The problem is he hasn't reached his potential yet. He can be a great sixth man moving forward once the Heat can grab a free agent when they are available.

I agree that the Raptors outplayed Miami and that Chalmers wasn't the cause for the loss. I wasn't personally blaming the whole loss on Chalmers, and I doubt Flash was either. The Heat lost because they answered a zone by shooting threes when they aren't a three point shooting team, plus shot more threes and free throws as a whole, they allowed a jumpshooting team to get 50 points in the paint, and they got flat out outrebounded and outhustled. Or, in Toronto's perspective, they out hustled, rebounded, outscored the Heat in the paint and didn't attempt more than 10 threes, and forced a bad three point shooting team to shoot more threes than free throws. @Flash, please don't throw anymore insults at him. Let's try and make this a healthy discussion instead of escalating it into something personal when it doesn't have to be.

Second half scoring was down from the first without him. The Heat don't have too many guys who can create, and Wade couldn't get it done by himself in the fourth, but it's not all his fault. The Raptors zoned and the Heat chucked. The Heat also lack rebounding. When Calderon is getting more rebounds per minute than anyone on your team, you know there was a certain effort lacking. Dat Big Cat on the bench NEEDS some burn.

I want to see Magloire in the game. Anthony can't rebound for [expletive], and Arroyo or Wright need to take point when Alston is sitting instead of Chalmers. Dude needs to go back to Alaska. Anyway, Beasley could be out for next game and there's no back up PF with Shavlik gone. Suppose Wright could play some minutes there?

Bad defense doesn't look so bad when the offense is even worse. The Raptors had a few "stops", gained confidence defensively, and slowly got back into the game. I'm not discrediting the Raptors. This is just something we see all the time with Chalmers running the point. The offense basically becomes dead, and whatever lead the Heat may have vanishes. I'm basically saying everything I've said before here.