Poe

Ummm.... yea, totally...

I agree. +1 As exciting as it sounds that Miami could have a slight possibility at getting LeBron in the next offseason, at this point I still think he is just as unlikely to go to the Heat as any other team in the league. For now, we can only wait and see.

Team record. And the overpaid players came in from trades.

Yep, so ugly they are 5-1 to start the season with an average win margin of 7.8 points. The Heat don't have to make moves to get better. And, yes, they do have a core with young players like Chalmers, Beasley, Cook, and perhaps Wright, plus veterans in Wade and Haslem, who are both at least 4 years away from a declining stage in their career. And saying that Wade is "forced" to play alongside O'Neal, Haslem, and Q-Rich is just laughable. Wade has built a good relationship with his team working out with them over the offseason, and besides, he's been friends with Q-Rich since before joining the NBA. Haslem is extremely underrated, he does so much for the team that you can't put a stat on. There is a reason he finishes games. O'Neal is showing signs of his old self, and by midway into the season he should be averaging close to 20 point per game on top of somewhere between 8 and 10 rebounds per game. Q-Rich has been way better than I expected. He's been a great compliment to Wade and the team, knocking down open look shooting 43% from 3 and 48% from the field. He's been the Heat's 3rd best rebounder, and has done a surprisingly solid job with his help defense and holding his own on the ball as well. And about Beasley, don't think just because he's starting he suddenly earns the right to big minutes. He's only starting for developmental reason, and his minutes are based on how he plays. If he plays well enough, he'll get 30+ minutes. I'm not too worried about his recent production, either. The coaching staff and the players are confident in his abilities. He's only 20 years old, he'll come around. Chalmers has played well in his position, being active on defense, shooting a high percentage, and finding his teammates for open looks. Arroyo has fit in well off the bench in his limited minutes, and Joel has been very solid defensively as usual. All in all, I'm having a lot of trouble finding where the mess is, exactly. A superstar surrounded by solid players playing solid as a team on both ends, especially defensively holding their opponents down to 90 ppg on 42% shooting. Believe me, if the team was as messy as you say it is, then they obviously would not have stuck with the same line up as last year and only two role players added to the rotation.

How so?

Chris Kaman is averaging 23 and 10 right now. He's beasting statistically. With Chris at 27 years old playing so well, and Marcus at 35 years having an expiring contract... I think the answer is obvious.

No way are the Cavs trading their Franchise player. Fans would be upset, and they are paying tickets to see LeBron play. It's horrible on the business end.

I like it. Both Miller and Blake are pretty big for PGs, so it works well enough defensively, plus they are both pretty good perimeter defenders anyway. It adds a lot of good ball handling to the offense.

I don't think any championship is automatic, but in no way can you rule out a Wade and LeBron duo. Two huge driving threats with recently increased shooting range, both willing passers, and both capable of scoring 50 on any given night... That would be a scary [expletive] duo, no matter who the supporting cast is. It's a possibility, but I'm not counting on it to happen. There are good arguments for LeBron to wind up anywhere.

Umm.. you in the right thread?

12 boards and 4 blocks... based off stats, Mbenga does a great job filling in once again, and he even managed double figure scoring, which is probably the first double double of his career.

I was joking about an idea like this with a friend a few years back... I can't believe someone actually made something as silly as this.

I've said in the past that I think LeBron may have a chance at going to New Jersey, but I change my mind, now. LeBron could stay loyal to Cleveland, or he could even go to the Heat since they are on their way to a very good record plus having big enough cap space to sign him, while keeping Wade, their young talent (Chalmers, Beasley, Cook), and still have enough room for more key players. I'm sure you could find an argument for LeBron's possibility to sign with any team in the league that can afford him, but I think the reality is that we really have no clue what his intentions are until he comes out and says his own plans himself. So, my answer to the question is #1 pick, based on their horrid start to the season this year.

Yep, no problem.

The Heat had a great start in their first 5, and even managed to pull a convincing victory against the red hot Nuggets who were 5-0 before facing the Heat. Next week, the Heat should easily win against the Wizards and Nets, although they may have trouble against OKC cause they've shown that they can hang with the best, especially after that huge victory against the Magic. I can see the Heat managing a win against the Cavs, too, simply because they are still trying to find a way to click together. The Cavs are always a dangerous team being led by LeBron, though, so that game could go either way.

Meh.. don't sweat it too much, man. Just take a break from the game. Eventually you'll find motivation to try something new in the mode, like a different position and skill specialist, or maybe you'll just enjoy doing the same thing as before, although it's always a drag to redo things. Also, 2K has been working to fix things like easy inside scoring and awkward substitutions, and online pick up games work now, so that's also something new to try.

In My Player mode in the menus go to Save/Quit - Save - Create New. My original saved file name is Poe PG. After some progress, I made a second save and called it Poe PG 2 or something as like a checkpoint save, and then save over Poe PG again to make sure it autosaves on the original file. Every now and then after playing several games, I save over the other file so I wouldn't have too much to redo in case anything happened.

A toss up between the Celtics and Lakers with everybody healthy. Magic and Mavs look pretty good on paper, too. Grizzies and Clippers have some names, although the teams as a whole aren't doing too well.

I think it's a bit early in the season to turn to trading like it's a last option. At least TRY adjusting the line up before making any big moves. And there is no way Shaq will ever be coming off the bench. There are a lot of players in the league that have a hard time accepting that their getting old, and Shaq, one of the greatest centers of all time, is one of them. With an ego as big as his, he'd rather be traded than accept a bench role. Also, I don't see how simply starting LeBron at PF would be a setback in any way. He's definitely strong enough and athletic enough to more than hold his own against just about any PF in the league defensively. And like I said, even though he can match up with any PF on the defensive end, he'd be a matchup nightmare offensively for anyone playing in that position. Coaches would be pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to defend a situation like this. Plus, LeBron would be a much better compliment to Shaq than Varejao. Also, LeBron doesn't even have to play PF the whole game - just while Shaq is on the floor at the same time. When Shaq comes out, put big Z at the center position, Varejao at PF, and LeBron back to SF, and it'll be back to a similar line up to the best record in the league they had last year.

Starting LeBron at the 4 isn't a bad idea.. He'd be a big help defensively in the front court and would create huge mismatches on the offensive end, plus help space things for Shaq.

That's why I have multiple saved files, so if that happens, I have a back up. I do this with all games. Currupt files can happen with any game on any console.

I'm sure it should work with any position, although I've only tried it with my point guard. A couple notes about it from trying it out myself: - The setting doesn't save for some reason, at least not for me yet, so you have to adjust your settings in the coaching menu in each new game. - Sometimes plays don't work because defensive animations gets players stuck and the play fades out. - The plays normally go to the hot hand. If you've been making recent baskets, more plays will be called to get you open looks. - Remember, you don't always have to do exactly as the play says. If you have a scoring opportunity, take it. If a player is open that it doesn't say to pass to, give it up. If you are open in a play and it wasn't set up for you, call for the ball and take the shot if you get it.

That's true. The Heat still have adjustments to make, of course, they haven't perfected their play. Still, instead of concentrating on how the Heat lose their leads, I like to look at the positives on how they've been gaining those leads in the first place. They've had great team defense forcing opposing teams to low scoring games. Q-Rich has been playing surprisingly well, Chalmers has been quiet but solid, Haslem seems to be playing even better off the bench, and O'Neal has even shown signs of his old self. There have been a lot of good things individually in each player that has led to these leads, and the Heat have been playing unselfish team basketball as a whole creating a good flowing offense. Beasley has been a standout since the Knicks, however, but not in a good way. The Heat are still looking for him to fit into the offense better, and he needs to keep hustling and being aggressive defensively even when his shots aren't falling. Besides holding on to leads and Beasley's production, that's it when it comes to main issues. When the Heat have doubts, there's always the superstar D Wade to fall back on to take over at any time.

I'm pretty sure they did at some point in the 2nd or 3rd.. maybe I'm wrong, cause the quarter-by-quarter scores don't show it. The Heat still won by 8 points, though, which is one basket away from a double digit victory.

That's probably true, although I don't think that's the Knicks' main problem this year. I think it's simply that the Knicks don't have the right players to fit D'Antoni's offense. He needs a true offensive playmaker, like Steve Nash or perhaps Ricky Rubio. The level of talent and playmaking at the point will determine how well the offense is run. He needs pure shooters to compliment the point guard, and those that can also defend the perimeter, like Raja Bell. And he also needs quick running bigs who can defend their position well enough, rebound the ball, and play both inside and out, like Amare and Marion. Without those pieces, D'Antoni's offense doesn't work. Duhon isn't half the player Nash is. Chandler isn't a very good shooter and isn't a complete lock-down defender. The only players that truly work for the offense is Gallinari, Lee, and Harrington, but none of them can defend well at all individually.