Built Ford Tough

Leo Rautins showing his stupidity again. On Friday he said Paul Pierce is the 8th best Celtic ever. Now he says Kobe Bryant is the 3rd best Laker ever and has no chance of moving any higher. Can somebody please get this douchebag off my TV?

LeBron Johnson with the coast-to-coast buzzer beating dunk. Honestly, I think he is the most exciting prospect on this team. Sad, but true.

Wow, that Kobe airball three was a good 3 feet short of the front of the rim. That was DeRozan-esque.

Lol at Fisher. Gets Magloire on a switch, does a whole bunch of pointless dribbling, crossovers and fakes only to pull up from three, which he would airball. He really is something awful. Also, lol at that last Raptors possession. Kleiza drives out of control into the paint, losses control of the ball, saves it to DeRozan who drives into the paint, almost losses control of the ball and passes it back out to Kleiza who hits a three. Raptors offense, summed up in one play.

Yeah, it was pretty trippy for me when I first saw it, too. It takes a while to get used to. Oh, hi DeMar. Glad you decided to actually do something. Only took about 16 minutes. Seriouly though, nice drive from DeRozan. I don't understand why he doesn't do that more. I know he has a weak handle and doesn't have a great first step but with his body control he can still get to the hoop when he actually sets his mind to it, just like that last play.

http://raptorsrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/josecalderon.jpg

At least the tank is back on track. Calderon also doing a nice job in his audition for the Lakers.

Looks like DeRozan is channeling his inner Kobe tonight and hoisting up the mid range jumpers. Too bad he can't shoot worth a damn, unlike Kobe. I think all the work he put into improving his 3 point shot this summer completely screwed up his mid range game. It was so solid last season and so terrible this year. Start attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line, please. Raptors down 11 and Kobe hasn't scored. This is going to be a long game.

Gotta love Leo Rautins. Keys to the game: 1. Score more points than the Lakers. 2. Make sure Lakers score less points than Raptors. Moron. (He didn't actually put it that bluntly, but that was pretty much the gist of what he was saying).

Well, Sam Mitchell isn't the coach anymore and Dwane Casey isn't stupid enough to go out and purposefully embarass his team like Mitchell wanted to so... I'll say 53. Bynum will probably grab about 30 rebounds, though.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7560912/milwaukee-bucks-brandon-jennings-doing-homework-big-market-teams Does this really surprise anybody? I don't think many people expect him to actually stay with Milwaukee any longer than he has to. Where do you think he wants to go? Obviously being from Cali he the Lakers would be at the top of his list and they need a point guard. It also makes things interesting to see whether he will actually come out and demand a trade (which, this is basically doing without directly stating it) before the deadline or in the summer.

Well, I guess instead of ending the night tied for 4th worst like I had expected, the Raptors now have sole possession of 6th last. Hopefully they blow one of their easier games of this 7 game homestand to make up for this win. I'd be lying if I said I don't love seeing Toronto beat the Celtics, though.

Calderon has had a really solid game. Not over-dribbling, being aggressive turning the corner, sticking shots and finding teammates in rythym for legit assists, not those phantom ones he got against the Bucks. Kleiza getting into it with Rondo after Rondo was getting a little chippy/mouthy. I love this guy. So far this season he has gotten in an altercation with Harrington, Rondo, Sanders and Cousins. Guy does not back down from anybody. It also doesn't hurt that he has been a really nice bench piece since recovering from microfracture surgery. Lol, now Garnett trying to start shit for DeRozan and DeRozan just laughs in his face. Nice to see the Raptors not backing down from the Celtics mind games.

So I'm not very encouraged by the Celtics making a comeback after watching the first half of the 3rd quarter. They look completely lethargic and disinterested in this game after last night's OT loss to the Lakers. By no means am I saying this game is over, but it is not looking good for Boston right now, or Toronto's tank for that matter.

Missed the first half so I'll have to watch it on league pass later. Glad to see DeRozan with 13 points on 4/7 shooting and getting to the line 5 times. Hopefully the Celtics can come back and get the win in the 2nd half, though. Normally I would put aside the my tanking thought process in a game against Boston but with Detroit and New Jersey playing each other as well as both Washington and Charlotte guaranteed to lose tonight against Miami and Chicago respectively, they really need to lose this game to remain within striking distance of a bottom 3 record.

Valanciunas played today and I'm not exactly sure what he finished with. I know he had 16 points (5/6 shooting and 6/6 from the line), 4 rebounds and 4 blocks in 19 minutes after the 3rd quarter. From what I read on RealGM he made some poor mistakes in the 4th and the coach decided to go small, so I doubt his final stats were much more than what I posted above. As for how he is doing, well... 1st. in efficiency (23.3) 1st. in points per game (15.8) 2nd. in FG% (71.1%) 4th. in fouls drawn (4.8) 6th. in FT% (85.25%) 6th. in rebounds per game (7.4) 2nd. in Off. rebounds per game (2.9) 1st. in blocks per game (2) (numbers are Lithuanian League games) The best part of all this? He is doing this all in 23 minutes a game, which is 47th in the league.

No Bayless tonight, not like it would make any difference if he played. Toronto are pretty much Boston's bitch. On the bright side, after tonight the Raptors will either have sole possession of the 5th worst record in the league (currently tied with New Jersey) or will be tied for 4th worst (with Detroit) since Jersey and Detroit play each other.

Murray State, the final undefeated team, lost its first game today. Lost to Tennessee State by 4 points for their first lost of the season. FYI: I merged the UNC/Duke game into this thread as well.

Iguodala is averaging 13 points, 7 rebounds (6.7 rounds to 7, not 6), 5 rebounds and 2 steals a game with a TS% of 53.2 Jennings is averaging 19 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.6 steals a game with a TS% of 52.6. The difference is, Iguodala is arguably the best defensive player at his position and arguably top 5 in the NBA. Jennings is a mediocore defender at best. Iguodala is also the best player on the team with the 4th best record in the league, which always plays a part in the decision. Iguodala is more than deserving to be an All-Star. The guy has been one of the best two way players in the game this season. As for your other gripes, I can understand where you are coming from. I'm completely fine with Nash considering he is leading the league in assists to go with his 15 points a night and also doing it an absolutely ridiculous TS% of 64.8%. If Lowry had played like he had to start the season I'd agree that he should be there, but his numbers have fallen off fairly dramatically since then and his efficiency has plummeted. I wouldn't have complained if he was named over Nash, but I think Nash is more deserving. He is playing some of his best ball since his MVP seasons and it is remarkable that he has that awful Suns team within just 2.5 games of a playoff spot. Fully agreed on DIrk, but reputation definitely played a factor there. He has come on as of late but it is still not worthy of being an All-Star. I'd have put Millsap ahead of him, but I can agree with Gay as well.

On Insider Trading during the 1st intermission of the Flyers/Leafs game Bob MacKenzie mentioned that don't expect either Grabovski or Schenn to be traded. He also said that he fully expects Grabovski to be re-signed prior to July 1st and stay with the Leafs. The most likely comparision is the Tomas Plekanec deal, which was a 6 year, $30M deal. With Burke, expect it to be around 4 or 5 years instead of 6, but the $5M per year seems to be likely.

East Andre Iguodala Luol Deng Paul Pierce Chris Bosh Roy Hibbert Deron Williams Joe Johnson West LaMarcus Aldridge Marc Gasol Kevin Love Dirk Nowitzki Steve Nash Tony Parker Russell Westbrook Thoughts? Who do you think shouldn't be there and who was snubbed?

Meh, agree to disagree. I understand where you are coming from, but given the circumstances (up by 2, less than 4 seconds left) I just can't defend Zeller giving Rivers that good of a look at the game winner. Maybe I was wrong in saying it was terrible defense, but I still stand by my initial stance of it being poor defense more than good offense. Also, I forgot to mention this earlier in regards to your comment about this being a poor UNC team in comparision to years past, you should also keep in mind that they are without their starting shooting guard, backup point guard and best defender in Dexter Strickland who tore his ACL earlier this year. They have also been without Leslie McDonald, who was another rotation player, for the entire year as he tore his ACL earlier in the summer. Add those two into the lineup and this team would definitely look better, especially Strickland and his excellent perimeter defense. I think you went into the game without realizing the type of player that Marshall is. He is a pure point guard in every sense of the word. His first reaction is to pass, second is to pass and third is to pass. He isn't the type of player that is going to go out there and look for his own offense at all. In fact, he was actually more aggressive looking for his own shot last night than he usually is. He took 9 shots last night and only averages 5 attempts a game. If you go into a game expecting to be wow'd by Marshall's shooting or scoring, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If you go into it expecting to see a fantastic floor general, a brilliant tempo controller, superb passer and excellent playmaker you will be impressed. His lack of scoring or shooting ability is going to hold him back from being a star at the next level, as well as his poor defense and athleticism (and I believe I mentioned that in this thread) but there isn't a better game manager in college basketball than Marshall.

Not this season, but next year I can see somebody being interested in Jefferson and Millsap, especially if Jefferson continues his very solid play that he has shown this year so far. With the Jazz being in the thick of things in the West playoff picture I can't see them dealing one of them, especially since they will have Golden State's pick which is likely to be in the 9-12 range in addition to their own. They will potentially make the playoffs and still add two solid young pieces to the team next year. They have really positioned themselves nicely after the Williams trade last season.

The teams that would be the most interested in him are the ones that have the least to give. Teams like the Lakers, Knicks and Magic would all love to have him. The problem is that what exactly would they have that would interest the Suns? Phoenix would have to take on a large salary or two and that really isn't worth it just to pick up a late 1st or run of the mill prospect. They'd be better off just letting him expire. Nash's worth is probably a solid prospect, a pick and an expiring contract, but I don't see any deal where that happens.

http://eye-on-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/34771445 Shaq joins some pretty prestigious company in: Abdul-Jabbar Johnson Worthy Goodrich West Baylor Chamberlain Very well deserved for the big man.