Built Ford Tough

I don't really like including players who had their greatness taken away because of injury since that is something they can't really control. If I were writing this, I wouldn't include guys like Hill or Yao because they didn't really fool anybody. They were great players who had their greatness taken away due to injuries. Oden falls in the same group, although he never was able to prove greatness like the other two. I'd rather the list be players like Jerome James, Hedo Turkoglu, Charlie Villanueva, etc... I realize they aren't big names, but they all "fooled" fans and GMs by putting together great stretches of play during contract years, cashing in on it in free agency and then coasting afterwards. Or players like that have clear talent, athletic ability and would be stars if not for a questionable work ethic, although you did include some of those guys. Otherwise, nice work.

Could you imagine if Bradley ever developed legitimate point guard skills or even offensive skills? Throwing out a defensive guard duo like Rondo and Bradley against teams with smaller backcourts would be just ridiculous. He is the total package defensively. Elite quickness, awesome instincts, fantastic ball-denial. The only knock on him is his size at 6'2 and 180 pounds.

Raptors really need to stop screwing around. Cleveland is showing no shame at all in their tanking, losing 7 in a row and getting blown out by nearly 40 at home. Irving is hurt and don't be surprised at all if he takes his sweet time coming back. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they don't win a game for the rest of the year. Their tanking is that blatant. As for Toronto, they are currently sitting in 4th, which is about the best we can hope for. They aren't catching Charlotte, New Orleans or Washington (regardless of how improved they've been since getting rid of McGee and Young). The problem is that 2 or 3 wins will bump you from 4th all the way up to 8th since New Jersey, Cleveland, Sacramento and Detroit are are all so close. That makes me really worried about this upcoming stretch. They play: vs. Washington vs. Charlotte @ Philly vs. Cleveland I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they went 3-1 during this stretch, which would absolutely kill them in the tank wars. Crucial week ahead.

The Withey call was brutal, but Craft's strip was clean, at least from what I saw. I was watching it on my phone during my lunch break, so I could easily have missed something, though.

The demeanor and competitive nature I can definitely see. Even in an All-Star game like the McDonald's game Muhammad was going all out trying to win while pretty much everybody else was joking around, laughing and just out there to have a good time. Bryant is the same in an All-Star game. I see more Wade than Kobe in him, though. The explosiveness and relentlessness in attacking the rim is a lot more Wade than Kobe. Although a younger Kobe was a very aggressive player before he lost some athleticism, but even then, I see more Wade than Kobe in him. Muhammad also has a somewhat shaky jumper like Wade did when he was at Marquette and came into the league, although I do think his jumper is much further along than Wade's was at this point of their respective development.

What was that about from Bosh? I don't think I've ever seen a guy celebrate a meaningless dunk in the final seconds of a double digit game like that before. Its not like the crowd was even that hard on him. They were mellow compared to the kind of reaction that Antonio Davis or Damon Stoudamire got coming back to Toronto, let alone Tracy McGrady. Hell, they were cheering him compared to what Carter got. I legit laughed when I saw it. Fun game, though. It has been a while since I said that about a Raptor game. I knew they would pull away at the end, and Wade completely took over offensively down the stretch while James locked Bargnani up defensively. Calderon kind of iced DeRozan and Bargs by not being able to get them shots down the stretch, but you have to give credit to the defense the Heat played. It must be nice to be able to show up for one quarter and still get a double digit win. I'm sure it infuriates Heat fans seeing them coast like this, but hell, I'll take anything at this point.

James has played some excellent defense on Bargnani over the past 5 minutes or so. Ever since James switched over on him, Bargnani hasn't even been able to get the ball, let alone get a shot off. James is all over him playing some ridiculous ball denial defense.

What is Johnson supposed to do there? Let Wade get right in his jersey? That is the exact thing that people clown Bosh about not doing when KG gets up in his face. All he did was rip the ball through like you are taught to do when a guy gets up on you like that. It's not his fault he has about 4 inches on Wade, which is the only reason why there was contact in the face. If he wanted to be dirty, he would've actually thrown an elbow and not did a typical rip through move. Also, Wade exagerated it. I'm not saying he didn't get hit, because he did (again, basketball play, though) but the Raptors feed showed a replay that clearly showed Wade selling it.

I wish Johnson would've just smashed Wade there. You know for a fact you are going to get a foul called aganst you anyways given you are James Johnson and he is Dwyane Wade, so you might as well take some teeth back to the bench with you. If a guy gets up on you like that, make him pay.

Even if they don't get that trio and just get Muhammad, I think they will be an Elite Eight team at worst (barring injury or anything like that). Anderson is going to have a Jalen Rose like impact next year in my opinion. He isn't as athletic as Rose was during his Michigan days, but other than that they are eerily similar. Shabazz is basically a much more skilled MKG and look at how big of an impact he has had this year at Texas. Take MKG's aggressiveness and will to win, give him elite explosiveness and the ability to create off the bounce? Scary. Throw in the Ware brothers, Adams and Josh Smith (even an unmotivated one still carves up space inside offensively and defensively) and you have a dynamic 6 man rotation and at the collegiate level, you really don't need a lot more than that. EDIT: Kentucky, not Texas. Not sure why I had Texas on my mind when typing that, haha.

Okay, I'll give you this one, Flash. Lulz Johnson.

Tell me about it. There was one play in the 1st half where he had Ed Davis on him and he sat there playing with him and ended up settling for a contested fade instead of just blowing by him like he should. There is no way in hell Ed Davis can stay in front of LBJ if he just lowers his head and explodes out of the triple threat.

Meh. I'll believe it when I see it. I've heard that kind of stuff way too often from players with similar track records to simply take his word for it. I hope he does get his shit together because he is wasting a very impressive skillset (much like Renard Sidney) with his laziness. He could be an absolute force at this level if he were to get himself in shape and motivated.

It isn't bad. Toronto is just getting lucky.

You act like it is some fluke. DeRozan always plays well against Miami. In 5 games spanning the last 2 seasons, DeRozan is averaging: 23.6 ppg, 4 rpg, 4 apg on 49 FG% Bargnani torched Miami last year as well: 29 ppg on 45 FG% Bosh can't guard Bargnani and for some reason, DeRozan goes off against the Heat. Lets not pretend otherwise.

One thing that would worry me about Tony Parker going to UCLA is the possible influence of a Josh Smith on him. On one hand, Smith is a very talented big who would help Parker a lot by simply just battling each other in practice. On the other hand, Smith's work ethic and conditioning is terrible. Parker already had concerns about his conditioning and if Smith's laziness rubs off on him at all that would be a disaster waiting to happen. Of course, this is assuming Smith stays at UCLA and his attitude or dedication continue to be shitty, both of which are far from guaranteed. Then again, even if that were the case, Muhammad is the kind of fierce competitor who would be all over laziness. From everything I've seen and read of him, he would not tolerate any of that crap and would make sure his teammates worked their asses off.

Lol. Chalmers had his hands all over Calderon from the minute he started the drive (outside the 3 point line) all the way to the end of his drive (right under the basket) and there was no call. I did enjoy seeing Calderon's "angry face", though. It is always good for a laugh. Miami really bugs me. Could they please stop screwing around and put this game to rest already? All of these vastly superior teams (Denver, Chicago, New York, Miami) letting Toronto hang around is annoying. They've already stolen 2 games they shouldn't have won and in the process are doing a great job screwing over their lottery chances. At the rate they're going, Cleveland, Detroit and Sacramento are all going to pass them and they'll end up picking 8th.

Toronto doesn't miss Barbosa at all. Since being given minutes, Forbes has been better than Barbosa was at any point during his time in Toronto imo. He has played really well since the All-Star break. EDIT: Forgot to mention that I loved seeing Casey bench Bargnani early in the 1st after his pathetic effort both offensively and defensively.

I'd laugh so hard if Bynum jacked up a 3 immediately.

"Lets go Blue Jays!" "Lets go Blue Jays!" "Lets go Blue Jays!" "Lets go Blue Jays!" "Lets go Blue Jays!" Oh yeah, nice job Phanuef. Way to show those excellent leadership skills by trying to fight a rookie.

As Flash said: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46896485

For a prospect of Muhammad's calibre (ie. a surefire top 3 pick) I agree it is an easy sell. However, do you think for a lesser prospect who intends to be a one-and-done (say late lottery/mid 1st round like an Eric Bledsoe was) do you think that UCLA is an easier sell than Kentucky? Cal has spat out a ridiculous amount of 1st round picks in his short time at Kentucky and even when he wasn't at a power conference school he was still getting top recruits prepared for the NBA. Do you think that would weigh more heavily than the UCLA factors (which, I agree with by the way) listed above? PS: One thing about Parker is that he hasn't actually declared yet. Not sure if you are just going off the assumption he goes to UCLA or if you thought he had signed already.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46896485

I got a good laugh out of that. Good job, you dunked over a 30 year old, 6'3 Spanish white dude who can't even jump! Always nice to listen to Jack Armstrong (Raps color guy when games are on TSN) rip into him, though. He goes on hilarious rants whenever they play McGee.

Rivers is gone for sure. He has declared already, will be hiring an agent (or already has, I'm not sure) and everything. I can definitely agree about Cal. It would be nice if we had one season where he didn't manage to have an absolutely stacked recruiting class. Hell, they already have the 2nd ranked class despite still being in on guys like Muhammad, Noel and Bennett, all of which are ranked #1 at their positions and are all in the top 10. Poythress, Gooden and Cauley is good enough as is. I can't agree about Duke, though. Seeing him tear UNC apart at least 2 times next year would not be something I'd enjoy, haha.