Poe

Um... Ron is just, uh, fooling everyone in the offseason. We'll see the REAL chucker when the season actually starts. :glasses:

I thought crews were 5v5. I'd rather start, or I guess I could come off the bench as 6th man and bring some fresh legs and scoring in (85 midrange + 70 shot in traffic/off dribble so far. All I gotta do is crossover, step back, and the shot's money). I got a 90 in on ball D, so I can D up just about anybody, and 60 strength should keep most people from posting me up, but nobody really thinks to post up with a wing player anyway. It's ok if you don't want me anyway. There are some people on my friends list that sent me the request cause they saw how good I was in 2k9. I'm sure I'll be getting a few invites anyway by this weekend. Can I be a part of more than one crew?

Yea, that is a pretty damn good bench. Better than maybe the worst teams in the league's starting line ups (like the Kings and Bucks), but nothing I would personally rely on to start games. None of those players are really starter-ready except perhaps Marcin in the right system, and Jason if he's not getting too old to handle the minutes. Call me a homer, but personally I'd call the Heat bench just as good as the Magic's, if not better. Quinn-Cook-Wright-Beasley-Anthony (who actually beat the Heat's starting lineup in a scrimmage). Quinn > Williams (not joking, Jason is getting old and Quinn is actually a pretty good offensive player with a high 3PT%, very low TO tendency, sees the floor well, and has the ability to create his own shot against PGs his size or under - there is a reason why Riley didn't go after veteran PGs), Cook=Pietrus (two different players, Cook is a shooter and Pietrus is a slasher. Both are pretty good defenders), Wright>Barnes (both are similar in numbers as far as scoring and rebounding goes, but I give Wright the edge for upside and what he can do defensively), Beasley>Bass (obvious reasons, assuming Jones starts over Beas since Jones is on top in the depth chart atm), and Joel<Marcin (size, and I'm assuming Marcin's pay check is for a reason). Personal opinion, but hey, I wouldn't be so quick to call the Magic bench the obvious best in the league.

I think Ryan makes a better compliment to Howard than Bass. I think it could actually be a good idea to start this guy ahead of Bass and let Bass come in and bang in the paint when Howard is on the bench. Having Nelson-Carter-Lewis-Anderson spreads more room in the paint for Howard than have Bass starting games off at the 4 leaving opposing PFs room to crowd Howard. If Anderson proves to have defensive efficiency, hits the 3 ball consistently, starts, and plays 25-30 mpg, then I think the Magic will have a better shot at keeping their status as a top 3 team. Otherwise, I still don't see this squad pulling off last year's success with Bass or Pietrus starting.

My guy is a PG but he has enough strength and on ball D to guard the wing. I can play either SG or SF with him, or else I guess I could start over on a 6'9'' SF with enough strength and vertical abilities to play PF and C, although I don't really feel like redoing anything at the moment..

Increasing you D ratings (like on ball D and defensive awareness) can help with staying in front of players. Off ball D push the Right stick towards your man to deny the ball. A way to help your framerate a lot for your 360 (your using one right?) is to install your games. Put your game in, go to your dashboard, go to game library, click on NBA 2k10, and click on install game. It should take about 10-15 minutes. Next time you play your game, go to game library and click "play from hardrive". You still have to put your game in to play, but from now on when you play from the harddrive your xbox will be much quieter and the game will play much faster and smoother. If your using a PS3, try to check to see if they have a feature like this. If not.. well, try keeping your console in a cool temperature, i guess. If nothing else works... then return your PS3 and get a 360

Nice game for him. I figured that he could have a good chance of starting because his size.

But PS3 itself costed more, so I guess it all evens out. I suppose PS3 still has its advantages with the whole blue ray thing (which could be a reason for it to sell more than xbox, cause it's more appealing to parents since they can watch their blue ray movies without buying a separate dvd player). Overall, I think PS3 probably has a better overall console than the 360 in terms of what it can do, but the rest is just opinion. Online experience is normally based on the quality of your connection, but which company makes better quality games and which console has better controllers is all opinion. Determining which console to buy for someone new to video games probably depends on whether they think blue ray player is a factor and which console most of his/her friends have.

You can get rechargeable controllers for xbox, you can get a wireless adapter for the xbox, and my 360 has worked perfectly fine for me since I got it. Matchmaking in xbox is pretty quick with most games, but it ain't free. So I guess you win there.

Well it looks like you're gunna have to make like Kobe in '06 and take it upon yourself to score most of the points. If your teammates are that unreliable where you have the higher chance of scoring even when their open and you are double teamed... why not? I'm sure the Lakers organization can understand. I never started for my d league team either, yet I got accepted to the Heat after about 5 or 6 games (I don't remember exactly how many). I don't start for my Heat team either... since Wade is taking the PG and T-Mac has the SG, but I normally take the finishing minutes anyway. Sometimes the line up gets so weird when I'm out there, it can get as bad as: Quinn - Me - Chalmers - Wright - Haslem. I feel like I'm back in the D League

Nope... neither of those things happened to me.. Weird about the cut and re-acceptance to your team. Are your minutes ever changing? Maybe everything is normal, just a glitch with the insider.

Nice The only time I ever got a triple double was my first game in the draft combine... haven't gotten close to one since getting the full game. And it's damn near impossible getting one in the NBA (I don't think I've gotten more than 4 boards in a pro game). Every time I'm just about to get a rebound, someone, usually a teammate, jumps up behind me and snags it... then hands it off to me. BTW, if you're getting enough minutes to pull off stats like that, you're probably pretty close to going back to L.A. Hopefully one or two more games by the sound of it.

You have to buy the combine to be picked in a draft, or else your just a free agent getting invites to training camps... which is pretty much what happened to me, anyway. I think the real purpose of the combine was to keep some people occupied a little bit before the actual game comes out, and for 2k to make some extra money, of course.

1. Try getting used to icon passing (RB on xbox, probably R1 on PS3). It's more accurate for getting the ball to the right guy, plus you can use icon passing to lead players to where you want them to catch the ball. It can help create spacing or lead them closer to the basket. 2. Again, icon passing can help out a lot with this. Using the left stick with icon passing, you can throw the ball in a direction away from the defender. 3. When your man doesn't have the ball, you can push the right stick towards the offensive player to deny the ball. This can help keep Kobe from running around the court as easily. Also, if you're having trouble guarding him when having the ball, press LB/L1 to call for a double team to hopefully get him to give up the rock. Double teams will also increase your grade slightly for some reason.

Haha. I noticed that raising your On Ball D is somewhat cheap for PGs, I got mine up to 85 after a few games. That should help somewhat in guarding a guy like that, lol. Even after getting your rating up, it still can be hard as hell, though. I played big minutes against the Hornets and CP3 got me with 20 points even though it felt like I was up in his grill the whole time on defense (some of his points were while I was on the bench, though, but still). If you play well, you shouldn't be stuck in the D league for too long. 3.. 4.. 5 or so games should be about it, hopefully, maybe more since I had a head start with the Draft Combine. For some reason I was still coming off the bench for my D league team before the Heat took me back. I was surprised to go back from a game to see my player wearing a Heat uniform.

It seems to me like live spends more on advertising than the actual game.

I got a chance to play some today. I got drafted by the T-Wolves in the first round (28th pick). After the summer circuit, I got cut and got a chance to try out for the Heat, and got sent to the D-League after the 5th game. After a few D League games the Heat took me back and is now having me play off the bench. I don't know what the comp GM was thinking, but wtf. The stupid comp Heat GM traded JO for T-Mac without getting a replacement center. Now every time I play everybody is playing the wrong position (for example, sometimes the line up when I'm on the court is Poe - Quinn - Wade - T-Mac - Beasley). At least I have a lot of scoring options, but the defense is freaking horrible! Well, at first I was getting about 3 minutes off the bench in each game. Then they started giving me more and more minutes after getting good grades in each game, and I got to play almost the whole game against the Knicks. My 6'3'' PG that has a 60 strength rating pounded on little ol' Nate all game long. Winded up lighting him up for 27 points in 15 shots (I think I had 11 made FGs and 5 made FTs), plus I had 9 assists and 4 steals. Right now I'm still coming off the bench, but only after like 30 seconds into the game. They should just start me

The difference is that Sasha camps and shoots, this guy is actually doing a great job coming off screens to get open for his shots. I don't have too high of expectations for him, yet, but it'll be interesting to see if he can actually pull off performances like this consistently in the regular season. If so, he definitely will be a steal.

Damn, that dude's a shooter. I like how well he moves without the ball, and he has such a quick release from the catch. If he keeps this up, gets the minutes, and starts adding more weapons to his game he'll have a good successful career.

I'll join if you want. If you want a 6'3'' PG with defensive versatility to guard the SG and SF positions. I'll guard the best perimeter guy on the other team, and I rarely shoot the ball when I'm running point. My main concern on O is to give everyone a fair amount of shots, and I'll get you consecutive shots if your shot's hot. If you want me running the wing, I'll stick to that position and look to get open from mid range. I won't be able to play until this weekend, though.

Odom could have been a nice addition, but Boozer? Not if they are losing Haslem and Wright in the deal, especially for this defensive minded team. I doubt Pat Riley was ever interested in such a move, and he also confirmed that he was never truly interested in getting a veteran PG, which shows his confidence in Chalmers and Quinn (and, perhaps, Wade and Wright's versatility to play the PG, if needed, as well). We're definitely going to see major improvements from Cook, Chalmers, Beasley, and Joel, and perhaps Quinn (if given the PT) and Wright coming off a long injury. With all the questions on who's going to get minutes at SF for the Heat (between Diawara, Jones, Beasley, Wright, Q-Rich, and Cook), all of these guys have put in a ton of extra work to prove themselves. Mainly because of this, this has become one of the most competitive off seasons for the Heat team in a long time. There is also competition between Joel and Magloire for back up minutes at the Center position. Spoe's style is that everyone has to earn their minutes for this ball club, nothing is guaranteed. I wouldn't count out JO, Magloire, and Anthony out as replaceable bigmen just yet, although it would be nice to have a couple 7 footers brought into this squad. Joel is an underrated big. He is like a very poor man's Dennis Rodman - he is only concerned about rebounds, hustle, defense, blocking and changing shots, and setting screens. It's a sure bet that he'll be improving his offense, too, thanks to Alonzo in the coaching staff. I'm also confident that JO will be improving his game, mainly due to his performance in the playoffs. He had a few game streak of averaging roughly 20 points and 8 boards, before going down with injury to miss the last couple games. He's worked this offseason with the same trainer that kept D-Wade on his feat for his career high of 79 games last season, and I'm sure that he will have a similar affect on JO. Also, Jamaal Magloire produces in ways that doesn't show up in his raw ability. For instance, his presence has helped young players like Beasley learn better positioning on defense. BTW, the Raptors still need to develop chemistry with all of their new additions. They've made all the right moves, but I doubt they'll all gel perfectly together right from the get go, especially since there are only 3 remaining players from last year's team (I think). I put the Heat > Raptors next year, but not by far.

idc, it's only preseason. The Heat will win when it counts

I wish I could, but it looks like I won't get a chance to play it until the weekend

Haha, go figure. Grizzlies fans are in for a LONG season.