Nitro

Depends on where you go. I've always had to go to ones in the hood (Plainfield, NJ) to sell my [expletive]. They give you like 1/4 of what the item is really worth, and less than 1/2 of what they will end up selling it for. As far as what they sell, it's usually electronics and crap. A ton of $1 bootleg DVD's.

Haha ok...first off [b]YOU[/b] brought up Jordan in this topic in comparing he and Hakeem to Kobe and Duncan. I wanted no part of bringing Jordan into this because I knew we'd get to the point where it'd be a pissing contest between me defending Jordan and you defending Kobe. Anyhoo... 1) Way to avoid the fact that I completely shutdown your arguement about Jordan and Kobe's overall post-season stats in their prime years. 2) Kobe's shot better than 43% only once in 7 Finals' appearances. Chop it, screw it anyway you want, that's not good. Jordan did it 4x in 6 appearances. Those teams you mentioned were not indestructable. Vince Carter averaged 30PPG on 47% shooting in 7 games against those 2001 Sixers. Wade averaged over 30PPG on 55% shooting against the 2010 Celtics (with NO help). LeBron, who supposedly tossed in the towel against the 2010 Celtics shot 45% against them for the series. Ray Allen shot over 44% in the 2000 series against the Pacers. My point? I don't need to compare Kobe to Jordan to show his FG % both in the regular and post-season is at or below par to his competition, both in the past and present (especially when you compare him to Wade and LeBron). Hell, in 2 of the 3 years during Jordan's 2nd 3-peat he shot a better FG% than Kobe EVER has in the regular season. And that was an out of his prime Jordan. 3) Jordan averaged 32PPG on 46% shooting against Russel in the 1997 Finals. He averaged 33.5PPG on 43% shooting in the 1998 Finals. Both series' he averaged more points than Kobe ever has in the Finals, and if Kobe put up those stats the shooting percentages would have been good for 2nd and 3rd best in Kobe's career in the Finals. 4) If you want Phil Jackson himself to say the one major thing Jordan has on Kobe is his 50%+ seasons, here ya go- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_WNTx3gG_s First off, I slammed Kobe's Finals' performances because YOUbrought up Duncan's 2005 performance. Stop acting like I'm taking things out of thin air to use against Kobe. You're giving me the ammunition, gift-wrapped. Secondly, I didn't ignore Bell and Marion, and I showed what many of Kobe's peers did to those same players the same seasons. LeBron, Arenas, Allen and Melo especially TORCHED them consistently BOTH seasons. Lastly, I don't need to compare Kobe to Jordan to get my point across about his poor Finals' performances or FG%. Compare him to his other peers that can be considered as top 30 all-time. You'll see the same type of trend. They ran those defenses with a multitude of different rosters, the one constant being Tim Duncan. You'll see the same thing with Dwight Howard during his career. Big men can make that kind of impact regardless of who their teammates are. Then don't bring him up in non-relatable debates to promote Kobe.

It doesn't really matter who is defending those guys when the help defense is so god-awful. In the 2006 post-season they had Boris Diaw starting at Center. In 2007 they had one of the worst defensive bigs in the league, Amare, at Center. Bell and Marion were roasted on a regular basis by elite perimeter players because of this fact (along with the fact that Raja is ridiculously overrated defensively and Marion's strength isn't on-ball defense). Some stats... Dwyane Wade vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 1G, 25.0PPG, 2.0APG, 1.0RPG, 50.0% shooting 2006-2007: 0G LeBron James vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 2G, 45.0PPG, 9.0RPG, 7.0APG, 57.4% shooting 2006-2007: 2G, 32.0PPG, 7.5RPG, 5.5APG, 54.0% shooting Paul Pierce vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 2G, 30.0PPG, 5.0RPG, 3.5APG, 44.0% shooting 2006-2007: 2G, 30.0PPG, 5.0RPG, 4.5APG, 40.0% shooting Ray Allen vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 4G, 32.5PPG, 4.0RPG, 2.8APG, 49.4% shooting 2006-2007: 2G, 28.0PPG, 4.0RPG, 6.5APG, 47.6% shooting Carmelo Anthony vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 4G, 30.5PPG, 4.5RPG, 1.8APG, 53.9% shooting 2006-2007: 3G, 30.7PPG, 9.3RPG, 6.0APG, 53.5% shooting Gilbert Arenas vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 2G, 28.5PPG, 3.5RPG, 6.0APG, 46.8% shooting 2006-2007: 2G, 42.5PPG, 4.0RPG, 4.5APG, 51.6% shooting Allen Iverson vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 1G, 16.0RPG, 2.0RPG, 2.0APG, 30.4% shooting 2006-2007: 3G, 31.0PPG, 2.3RPG, 8.0APG, 53.3% shooting Vince Carter vs. Suns, 2005-2006: 2G, 21.0PPG, 7.0RPG, 4.0APG, 42.0% shooting 2006-2007: 2G, 27.0PPG, 3.5RPG, 5.0APG, 57.5% shooting Need I keep going? Or are you going to make the Raja/Marion tandem out to be like Jordan/Pippen to simply boost Kobe's legacy? They had good perimeter defenders but a horrible defensive scheme and help defense. No perimeter player in the NBA is going to lockdown a great offensive wing on a consistent basis without the help from his teammates and coaching staff. That happens to be precisely one of the main reasons TD is so much more effective defensively than Kobe. For a more recent example, look at what Dwight Howard is able to do with some horrible defensive role players. He has anchored a top 5 defense each of the last few seasons because a great defensive big can make that kind of impact. A perimeter player can't, not even Pippen. Also, those Suns teams were in the bottom 5 of the league in PPG and bottom half in opponent FG%. Their defensive stats looked average because their style of play forced teams to play out of character. If they were truly average defensively, they would have made the Finals at least once with that highly effective offense. Re-read my original post about that. I said since the middle of the 3-peat he hasn't had to do it. And as far as I am concerned, Kobe didn't really hit his prime until Shaq was gone. Since he hit his prime he has never had to take on the most difficult wing player defensively on a big stage. He's had Ariza and Artest to do it. Duncan pretty much has always had to do that since he arrived in the NBA, and had to do it in the big-heavy Western Conference. All the while playing all-time help defense and anchoring one of the top 5-10 defenses of all-time. And even if Kobe had plenty more tough defensive assignments over the years, and even if he kept every single one of those players below their regular season averages, it's not nearly the same impact as Duncan doing the same to big men while protecting the paint against any and all perimeter players trying to get deep into the lane and finish. Ok, let's talk strictly in Jordan and Kobe's prime years ('88-'93 for Jordan, '05-'10 for Kobe), where Kobe had arguably less help than Jordan overall to boost stats: Jordan post-season stats: 91G, 34.4PPG, 6.7RPG, 6.8APG, 50.0% shooting 50pt games: 3, 40pt games: 20 (twice as many as Kobe's career) Kobe post-season stats: 79G, 29.9PPG, 5.7RPG, 5.4APG, 47.0% shooting 50pt games: 1, 40pt games: 7 BTW, Jordan's career playoff average is 33.4PPG. Kobe's matched this in only three series his ENTIRE CAREER- In 2001 against the Kings, and in 2008 and 2009 against the Nuggets. But go ahead, keep rationalizing... I'm not saying Duncan is as good offensively as Kobe is...he simply is not. But in terms of effectiveness, the difference between their offensive games in their prime years is far less than their defensive games. I don't even see how that can be argued. Ha I can use the same methods regarding Kobe and use his low career FG % against pretty much every all-time elite wing player in modern NBA history...Jordan, Drexler, Wade, LeBron, Erving, Nique, Dantley, King, etc... And if we are talking Finals stats, Kobe's career stats in the Finals is arguably the worst among the all-time top 25-30 players. Do I even need to bring up his 38% shooting Finals against those same Pistons, where he didn't even grab more 3 boards per game and averaged less than 5 assists? While Duncan shot horribly he also played great defense and never grabbed single digit boards that series, and he blocked less than 2 shots only twice.

http://www.tmz.com/2010/09/06/ron-artest-los-angeles-lakers-car-ticket-chp-eagle-roadster-photo-picture/#comments-anchor LMAO. Ron Artest is the man.

If only you knew lol...I make that chick from the puppy tossing video look like the virgin Mary.

http://tomcoffin0526.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/kanye-west-gay-fish-2.jpg

If I told you guys my biggest sins I'd be labelled as absolutely insane...like seriously I've done some really, REALLY [expletive]ed up [expletive] that ya'll wouldn't even be able to comprehend. So, I'll go with something I did relatively recently; I stole my dormmate's Ipod and digital camera (which evidently was his mom's) and pawned them for drugs. I also jerked off on his toothbrush because I didn't like the kid or his infatuation with the Air Force.

I know. But my point is that if you're going to nit-pick certain circumstances regarding Duncan's post-season stats (like you do when comparing anyone to Kobe), then I can do the same vice versa. Who cares about a few crazy outbursts in some regular season games? In the regular season I value consistency because it's such a long race, and Kobe is not a model of consistency. When it all averages out, a prime Kobe will produce roughly 30PPG on 45-46% shooting, whereas Duncan will produce roughly 22PPG on 50% shooting. We know both Duncan and Kobe can lead teams to 50+ win seasons and HCA. The post-season is a more valuable measure. Kobe's had one 50pt game ever in the post-season (in an OT game against the Suns), and 10 other games where he's eclipsed 40+ points. Keep in mind that's in 198 career playoff games. It's not like we're talking about Jordan, who had 1 career 60pt playoff game, 7 50pt playoff games, and 30 40pt playoff games. Kobe doesn't go on those crazy scoring outbursts in the post-season often enough to say he's miles ahead of Duncan offensively, who would produce roughly 4-5 less points than Kobe on better shooting % while dishing out almost the same amount of assists. Not to mention while Kobe's rebounding and assist numbers in the post-season never really exceeded his regular season stats, Duncan's numbers across the board all went up during his prime. He was a 25/14/5/3 guy in the post-season during his prime. Also, for what it's worth, in 170 post-season games Duncan's had 6 40pt games. 5 less than Kobe in 28 less games. Not as staggering a difference as you'd expect. I'm not using it to downplay his individual ability as a defender, but rather to show that unless he is locking down an elite swingman, it is absolutely LAUGHABLE to say he's anywhere in the same vicinity as effective a defender as Tim Duncan is. And the fact that he's never really had to do that on the biggest stage speaks volumes to that. Duncan constantly had to defend elite big men in the post-season while also helping shutdown perimeter players from making plays at the rim. The Spurs defense since he joined the team has been elite, especially during his prime when he was anchoring an all-time level defense.

Since Blazed hasn't posted yet, I'll just post mine to get things going... -------------------------------------------------------- I rip bars like they 2 mil Xanax Blazing Blazers fans, have you queefin out your tampax I can’t conceive or believe your rap’s hot to perceive In this battle I’m Yao, you’re [expletive]ing Yi You spit nursery rhymes while my style’s too complex These words intersect, disrespect and infect Like a virus that’ll slowly eat your flow and Accelerate your aging like your name’s Greg Oden I call you the ghost of Reno, cuz I never see no Posts from your account, it’s like Finding Nemo I’ll make you wish for death like you takin Chemo It’s like I rolled a 4-5-6 in a game of Cee-Lo An automatic win, in Spanish it’s ya ‘fin’ I go in like when maggots begin to chew ya skin I run with dudes who leave [expletive]gots tazed (HA true story) Son pass the haze, consider me Blazed

Just take his spot for now. If you advance and CLHN wants to be in the Finals, you two can battle for that spot.

Ha..I can't use Duncan's 27PPG playoff run? Then you can't use 2 of Kobe's 4 most efficient post-seasons where he beat up on a terrible Phoenix Suns' defense in two first round knockouts. Keep in mind, those are 2 of the only 4x Kobe's ever shot 46% or better from the field in the post-season. And I can play the nit-pick game as well for Kobe beating up on certain poor defenders or defensive teams, but it's absolutely pointless. From 2000-2006 Duncan never averaged below 23PPG in the post-season, and eclipsed 24PPG 4 seperate post-seasons. He also threw in over 14RPG 3x (all from 2001-2003, his prime years), over 5APG twice (2002 and 2003), shot over 52% 3x, blocked over 3 shots 3x, etc... In the 2003 post-seasn he also led all players in both offensive AND defensive win-shares. Bottom line is in a big-heavy, tough Western Conference Duncan was able to score at volume and do pretty much everything else at great volume and generally great efficiency (a few post-seasons he shot under 50% which isn't great for a big-man). BTW, that series against KG both teams scored over 90pts only once in the 4-game set, and both Duncan and KG had generally poor series'. Minnesota shot below 40% 3 out of those 4 games, and SA wasn't much better. For the most part KG and TD went tit-for-tat, which isn't a knock on either as they are two of the top PF's in NBA history on both ends of the floor. And it's not like David Robinson exactly lit it up either. He played slightly better than Duncan, but he was also defended by Rasho and Dean Garret for that series. I was referring to taking on the OTHER team's best offensive player as a defensive assignment. Kobe rarely had to guard any elite swingmen during his post-season runs because the West was chock-full of elite big men at the time (Sheed, Webber, Duncan, Shaq, KG, Dirk, etc...). In recent years Ariza and Artest have taken those assignments. While what Kobe did against Rondo and Westbrook was very, very smart basketball, it's not nearly on the same level as Duncan having to guard Shaq/KG/Dirk/Webber in their primes. I cannot stress this enough, and while we've beaten it to death plenty of times...Kobe is not Jordan. He just isn't as effective on either end of the floor. I'm not going to even get into it again. You know my stance. And generally speaking, it's much easier to find a star wing player that can score and pass well than it is to find a big man that can dominate both ends of the floor. I am NOT saying those wing players can do the things Kobe can, or as well as Kobe can, but I feel a lot more confident in taking a franchise big man like a prime Duncan and building around him than I do a prime Kobe. TD certainly had help in winning his titles, but in his peak year (2003) he had a rookie Ginobili, a retirey-to-be 9/8 David Robinson, a raw 2nd year player in Tony Parker (who was certainly a key to their championship but a poor 2nd option), and a young/inefficient Stephen Jackson. It's certainly a solid supporting cast, but for that team to get through the 3-peat Lakers and 60-win Mavs the Spurs needed Duncan to have a legendary post-season run. Which he delivered. Do I feel a prime Kobe could take a similarly talented team to the promise land in that Western Conference? Possibly, but I doubt it. Different era, different league. And for the record, I'd take prime Hakeem over prime Duncan anyday of the week. Probably over prime Shaq, too.

Yes it does, when we're talking about who we'd rather build a team around. I'd rather have the guy who can dominate more aspects of the game, and if on a championship team a guy can lead the team in so many statisitcal, that's pretty amazing. And if the concept of hockey assists are to be thrown away in this arguement, then you are being COMPLETELY biased towards Kobe. It is roughly as relevant as using raw statistical assists when talking about big men. I didn't throw it out, but at the same time saying Kobe's facilitating and playmaking is way beyond that of Duncan is false. The fact that a big man's playmaking value statistically can't be proven is why I disregarded Kobe's 2APG advantage. Duncan was putting up 24-27PPG in the post-season during his prime years on 50%+ shooting, along with 4-5APG. I fail to see how Kobe putting up 2-3 more points on worse FG % and getting less than 1APG more equates to him being miles ahead offensively. We're not comparing Kobe to Chris Bosh here...we're talking about one of the premiere post players in NBA history who was the primary scorer on multiple championships. Kobe doesn't lockdown whoever he wants, and he's only wanted to lock someone down in less than 50% of his games since the middle of the 3-peat. And yes, the fact that big men make a greater defensive impact is precisely why I'd rather build a franchise around a prime Duncan over a prime Kobe. Not to mention he's the better, smarter defensive player to begin with. The fact that he's a PF/C and Kobe is a SG widens the gap immensely. First off, I brought those stats in because you were so quick to bring Kobe's volume scoring and assists numbers into the mix. My arguement for Duncan on defense was not only his size and shot-blocking ability like Dwight Howard, but also his elite post-up defense, sharp rotations, defensive rebounding and all-around defensive IQ. Amare did go to work on TD in the past, but Kobe has been lit up before as well. The fact that he's RARELY had the most difficult swingman matchup defensively in his prime hurts his cause. But even if Kobe was Scottie Pippen defensively, I'd still say Duncan has the edge defensively by a comfortable margin.

I never said that Duncan was the better offensive player. I just think you got it twisted- I feel the gap between them defensively (in terms of effectiveness and impact) is bigger than the difference between their offensive games. Using volume scoring and assists from a perimeter player against a post-player is a skewed way of looking at things...itt's like me using Duncan's FG% against Kobe. Duncan is one of the 3-4 best post players in NBA history, and could score the ball at respectable volume (24-27PPG in each post-season from 2000-2003) with good efficiency. He is also one of the best passing big men of this generation. However, as much as he'd like to try, Kobe could never make the kind of impact Duncan did every single night on defense. Duncan's defensive stats, both in the box score and in advanced statistics, are absolutely mind-blowing. Blocks, defensive rebounds, DRtg, defensive win-shares...all WAY off the charts, and those Spurs teams were among the greatest ever even with the revolving door of role players. Yes, on a skill level maybe the difference isn't as big as I am making it out to be, but the extra 6" and 40lbs do make the difference that big. Great perimeter defenders can affect their man and occasionally disrupt passing lanes and such. Great interior defenders can disrupt an entire offense consistently throughout the game. It is also kind of unfair to use Kobe faciliating the offense against TD though. Big man don't rack up assists like perimeter players do, but make no mistake about it, the offense was ran through TD during his prime years. Just because he wasn't at the top of the key setting the offense up doesn't mean he wasn't facilitating offense for his teammates. Unfortunately there's no stat for hockey assists (i.e- the pass that leads to the assist), but I'm sure Duncan would have been pretty high up there in the league ranks if they were, as would most great post players who can pass the ball. That's just as valuable as Kobe racking up 2 more assists per game in his prime. And I can't believe you'd bring stats into this...in 2002-2003 (Duncan's absolute peak year) he led the team in points, rebounds, blocks, FG%, ORtg AND DRtg. And he was 2nd on the team in assists. That team won the championship, knocking off you know who. Most seasons during his prime years were much of the same...he led most of the major statistical categories or was 2nd-3rd.

As a #1 option, you're probably right. But as a #2 option he'd absolutely be good enough to win a championship. I don't see how that can even be questioned. Anyway, back on topic, I don't feel Deron would ever demand a trade. He's in a nice situation with the Jazz where he's on a darkhorse contender every year, and the fanbase loves him. I could see him eventually landing somewhere else via S&T, but he's not the type of guy that would put his franchise in turmoil by demanding trades while he's still under contract.

Well, you have to see how I ranked them- It was by who, for one season, I'd build my franchise around. And historically speaking dominant big men are the easiest to build around. When Tim Duncan was in his prime he could drop 22-25PPG on solid efficiency, clean the glass with 12+ boards per game, be able to dish out a 3.5-4APG, block nearly 3 shots per game, and provide solid consistency. The only time there was ever a big discrepency in his play was when it was elevated in the playoffs. His 2003 post-season run remains legendary and one of the most impressive I have ever witnessed. His stat line in that post-season... 2003 post-season: 24.7PPG, 15.4RPG, 5.3APG, 3.3BPG, 52.9% FG In that post-season, he knocked off the Lakers who were back-to-back-to-back defending world champs. And he did it with Tony Parker in his 2nd season, Manu Ginobili in his rookie season, a very young Stephen Jackson, and a very old David Robinson who retired after they won Game 6 of the 2003 Finals. It was a solid team, but quite probably their weakest of all their championship teams. They did it behind Duncan's brilliance when he was in his absolute prime. As for what RD said about the difference between Kobe/TD's offense and defense, I whole-heartedly disagree. Kobe is a great perimeter defender, but he's not the game-changer that a guy like Scottie Pippen was, and the great perimeter defender NEVER makes the kind of defensive impact a great interior defender does. Besides being an elite shot-blocker Duncan was amazing at post-up defense (gave prime Shaq more fits than anyone, including Hakeem, Mutombo, etc..), could make crisp rotations to cut-off perimeter players trying to drive to the rim, and he was one of the best at contesting all shots around the rim. Kobe can only really affect his man on defense, whereas Duncan can disrupt an entire offense. And offensively, a prime Duncan could put up points in the regular and post-season, and was a very good passer out of the post so the offense was routinely ran through him.

Livin' La Vida Nitro: An in-depth look at the life and soul of one of OTR's most notorious basketball geeks. Part 1. -Evidently they've officially changed brand-name OxyContin pills to THESE pieces of crap. Basically, whereas with the old pills you could scratch off the outer-coating, crush the pills and then easily snort it, these gel up once the pill hits moisture. In other words, you can't abuse them. And that sucks and is absolutely depressing. -When a girl says no, it always means yes. Just because the law may or may not agree shouldn't persuade you to not stick it in even if there's a sign that says, "DO NOT ENTER." Stick it in, do ya thing, make sure no pubes get on her so they can't pull some CSI [expletive] in court, make sure you don't bust in her so you don't have lil-[insert member name] running around while you locked up, and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS say thank you after you're finished. -Whenever I see Fish7718 post, instead of listening to what he says I always picture this in my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAxailJPU5Q Anyone who agrees E-Mail me at: idontgivea[expletive]aboutyouropinionstopemailingmeyou[expletive]got@yahoo.com -"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound?"...Respect. -I'm going strangle Justin Bieber with a mic-cord until his eyes pop out...skin him...hack into his Twitter account and write a message saying one lucky girl won a fake contest and that she gets one night alone with the almighty Justin Bieber...and when she gets there I'm gonna hop out of a closet and chase the 12 year old [expletive] around while I'm wearing Bieber's skin as a suit...I'll make sure to adjust my fitted every 5 seconds while all this is going on as well. -So recently I got into a debate with my friend about who the better duo is- Nas/AZ or Nas/Damian Marley. My friend Nas/Marley because of how deep and meaningful their music together is, and it doesn't hurt that he's a music major who's into live instruments. I picked Nas/AZ, although it was very difficult. I think Nas/Marley's clash of style is WONDERFUL and a really nice, fresh breath of air. However, I can't take the clash of styles all the time, and Marley can get old to me (personally). Nas/AZ are very much a mirror image of each other, similar to Mos Def/Talib Kweli are. Even their first albums (Illmatic and Doe or Die) are extremely similar, with their only rapping guest appearance being one another. With both Nas/AZ being very smooth and lyrically off the charts in the same genre, the outcome is amazing. I really, really hope Nas makes a guest appearance on AZ's upcoming Doe or Die 2. -People need to stop riding Kevin Durant so hard. I understand he's only 21 and recently became the youngest scoring champ ever. But until he learns how to dominate a game when his shot isn't falling like Kobe/LeBron/Wade/Howard/Paul do, I don't believe he should be annointed to that elite group. He needs to learn how to occasionally run the offense and be a better playmaker for his teammates, he needs to put a more consistent effort on the defensive end, and he needs to get a LOT better in clutch situations. Most everything he needs to improve, besides passing/playmaking (which I believe is kind of one of those things you do or don't have), can be improved. But he's not there yet, and he's quickly becoming one of those players that annoy me simply because of the hype media/fans give him. I don't want that because he's a fascinating talent and is a very bright kid, but the craziness surrounding him needs to be silenced a bit. -"All I got for ho's is hard dick and bubble gum." ~Big L R.I.P -People say the era of hippies is long gone...I disagree. They have mutated and formed into hipsters, with cheap female sunglasses, skin tight jeans and overall douchebaggery. Unfortunately they are not as cool and trippy as the hippie's from the '60's and '70's. They are just useless scum. This fad needs to fade before I shoot up the Student Center at my school with an AK-47. Let it spray, make the hipsters go away. -I know it is somewhat mindless entertainment and South Park ripped it apart in "Cartoon Wars," but I'll always have a great appreciation for Family Guy. I was a weekly viewer before it got popular (during it's first run around the start of the millennium) and eventually cancelled, so I will always have the soft spot for the show, even during one of the overly long flashback sequences. -W.B Mason- Who but? --------------------------------------------------------------- Well, hope you liked the first installment. If you didn't, then you must not be Livin' La Vida Nitro!!! (Ahhh...see how I did that?!? I'm so [expletive]ing awesome I'm gonna jerk off in a mirror...)

I can't believe this is even a question. Some may prefer 50 and his style of music, but there is no way he's a better rapper/lyracist than Jay-Z. Not even in the same vicinity. Ironically enough 50's best work lyrically by far was on Power of the Dollar, 3-4 years before he became mainstream. But I doubt half of you who vote for 50 in this debate have even heard of that album so I won't bother.

Better than THE Jamario Moon?!? Wow, you're shooting for the stars!

If I were building a team for one season and needed a single franchise player in their prime to carry the load, my list would look something like.. 1) Shaquille O'Neal 2) Tim Duncan 3) Kobe Bryant 4) LeBron James 5) Dwyane Wade 6) Kevin Garnett 7) Tracy McGrady 8) Chris Paul 9) Dwight Howard 10) Steve Nash

Yes lol. And let's go people! Get your [expletive] up.

Warriors. Great fanbase, only NBA team in the area (as opposed to the Clippers who will ALWAYS be option B for people in LA), in a desirable location to attract FA's (unlike some of those other teams you listed), and currently have a solid young foundation to build off of.

http://z.about.com/d/movies/1/0/P/Q/O/codenamethecleanerposter.jpg Of the movies that actually hit theaters, ^this. Saw it at the theater too. Absolutely horrible.

This. Until we see Bosh on a great team in a role he's more suited in (i.e not first option), it's hard to give a straight answer. But I'd give Gasol the edge just because he's proven to be a big-time playoff performer while the sample size with Bosh is too small to go either way.

Don't know what you're talking about...Rose's midrange jumper STATISTICALLY was much more efficient than Wade's. The bigger difference between he and Wade has to do with the size difference between the two. Wade has an inch in height, 5" advantage in wingspan, and a good 10-20lbs on Rose. He is also (IMO) one of the 5 best in NBA history at getting to the rim and finishing.

You must have completely missed one of the key points of my post, where I said that UNLESS THE BULLS HAVE AN ALL-TIME DEFENSE ALA THE 2004 PISTONS, they will either need Rose to start being a dominant player (which I don't see happening for reasons I stated in my post), or will need more roster adjustments. And the chances of the Bulls being as dominant as those Pistons or 2008 Celtics are next to zero. Boozer is on the opposite spectrum of defense that KG/Sheed were, Joakim Noah is no Ben Wallace and at C won't be much more effective than Perkins, Deng is not the defensive player Prince was in the middle of the decade and has to prove he can defend as well as Pierce did in the 2008 post-season, Rose isn't the defender Billups (or Rondo) was, etc... And those Pistons were a perfect storm and in a horrible Eastern Conference. This current Lakers squad is better than the banged up 2004 Lakers, and the Heat/Celtics/Magic are better than those Nets/Pacers/Heat teams. And keep in mind, the 2004 Nets brought the Pistons to 7 games, and the 2005 Heat probably would have made the Finals had it not been for Wade's injury.