Nitro

LeBron. 2 MVP's, multiple All-NBA First Team selection, led a team with the worst supporting cast in NBA history to the Finals, never really been injured (where as Wae essentially missed the better part of 2 seasons), and since 2006 has been out of the first round every single season (where as Wade's been out of it only once, granted he won a championship that one year). Most importantly, at no time has Wade been regarded a better player by the masses. For the record I thought Wade was a better player the year he won a championship and the following year before the injury, but since LeBron developed a consistent jumper and defensive ability, he's been the better player.

As others have said, there's no guarantee Melo will choose NY in the 2011 free agency. Not only that, but there's talk that Melo would sign an extension now if he got word he'll be traded to NY, NJ or Houston. The Knicks should be putting on a full court press to get Melo if Denver is indeed fielding offers.

Meh...I liked the old uniforms from the LeBron era a LOT more. I get why they wanted to get away from those times, but these are very bland. I'm also SO SICK of the throwback craze. It's ridiculous.

The same Lakers you believe would have beat the Pistons in 6 if it wasn't for the Karl Malone injury Anyway, the problem with the Cavs was they didn't have a great 2nd option. Jamison is a very good player who can fill up the stat sheet, but he's not a championship caliber 2nd option. That was made LOUD AND CLEAR in the Boston series where an old Garnett (the Celtics' 3rd or 4th option) outplayed him on both offense and defense. It also didn't help that Mike Brown ran him very few plays and often times made him another spot-up shooter for LeBron. There's been a few teams that have made it far in the post-season when it was one superstar surrounded by very good defensive role players, but it's almost impossible to expect that kind of team to win a championship when you're playing teams like the Lakers and Celtics.

I know LBJ wasn't this humble, but at the same time pretty much everyone thought he was loyal to Cleveland and would never do the things he did to that city this off-season. My point is that of course it was an easy decision for Durant, and that we should take his word with a grain of salt. I feel everyone is being naive if they think he's going to be an OKC-lifer, or if they have a few bad seasons leading up to his contract expiration that he won't leave. And yes, he's the youngest scoring champ in history...but in all likelihood from a statistical standpoint he won't improve much from what we saw last season. You can't look at it from an age standpoint. He's been in the league 3 seasons and that's when many superstars who get the kind of run he has plateau (think LeBron, Melo, etc...). He definitely has room for improvement on things that don't show up in the stat sheet, but to call him the best offensive player in the league already? He's not even top 3 because all he can do is score at this point (and he's not an extremely versatile scorer either). He doesn't know how to run an offense or make the players around him better yet. That will eventually get better, but he's probably never going to have that feel for the game or court vision that guys like LeBron, Kobe and Wade have.

Added the new Jazz jersey. I'm kind of sick of the whole throwback craze but they're nice.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/5453/uniformtweakawayfront10.jpg http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/9212/uniformtweakhomefront10.jpg http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/729/45078425988946876406059.jpg http://i33.tinypic.com/hrbjno.jpg I like both changes, especially the subtle changes to the Wolves' uni's. EDIT: Added the new Jazz jerseys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U1UN4P9Mnw R.I.P. My favorite song from one of my favorite rappers ever.

T-Mac wasn't very good last season. I watched almost all of his games and he got by purely on court-savviness/IQ. He was out of shape and a complete liability on the defensive end. He couldn't move laterally, his quick first step was non-existent and he had no vertical explosiveness. Because of all that he was also a ghost on the court when he didn't have the ball in his hands (not much different than with the Rockets, but with them he could occasionally make a hard cut or come around a screen for a jumper). His jumper, much like the last few seasons (besides 08-09 where his 3pt shot and FT's were unusually very good) was inaccurate and inconsistent. That won't change until he gets his lift back because he's a line-drive jumpshooter. Expecting 20PPG from a guy who had workouts so bad with the Bulls and Clips that they wouldn't offer vet minimum contracts, and from a guy who's now on a team that's stacked at the wing positions, is just being very unrealistic.

The only way you can is to mention his insane longetivity and absolute individual domination in his prime relative to his peers (he won 6 MVP's in a 10 year span). However, the issue is he led the Bucks to only 1 championship (time he was at his peak), individually dominated in arguably the league's weakest decade, and it's very hard to make a case for him actually being a better basketball player than Jordan who was near-flawless.

Ariza was selfish last season. The first few months he was jacking up 15+ shots per game and shooting a horrific 36%. Good for worst on the team for anyone who played more than a few minutes per game for a handful of game. That just should not happen, if you're on THAT horrible of a cold streak you have to tone down the shooting and get others involved. Continuing it is a glaring sign of selfishness. It was obvious when he was on the court that he had selfish tendencies, from his chucking to throwing up his hands when not getting a pass to other things. What just came out about his rift with Brooks kind of backs this up as well. The goal was NEVER to bring him along like the Thunder did Durant. You don't get a Durant-type talent or go-to scorer for the MLE. They got him because he's still young and he had an impressive 2009 post-season. They took a gamble and it backfired. If his attitude and selfishness tendencies were as promising as his talent, he'd still be on the roster. And yes, 44% shooting from the field and 66% from the FT line from a SF is still pretty inefficient, despite the impressive 41% from beyond the arc. Shane Battier is still a very good defender and will do a fine job on the other team's best wing player. And it's not about Lee being better than Ariza. It's about the things the team acquires by getting rid of Ariza (efficiency/chemistry/money) while also adding a very solid role player in Courtney Lee. But the Rockets aren't a championship contender, and if Yao's foot acts up and he retires they'll be a perrenial lottery team. For a solid, middle of the pack playoff team like the Rockets, saving a bunch of money on a move that won't significantly help/hurt them on the court is a very smart decision. First off, I agree with much of what you said in this part of your post as I acknowledged in my first post. However, this part is misguided. Brooks had a TS % over 6% better than Ariza's for the season, and just like Ariza his shooting percentages and assists all spiked post All-Star break. Brooks is a scoring PG and he does it on decent efficiency. The Rockets are a team built on consistently good unselfishness and passing throughout the roster, which is why they averaged more assists than opponents last season with Brooks' low 5.3APG leading the team.

Anyway, it's always easy when you're only 3 years into the league and just came off a very successful season (both individually and with the team). LBJ was saying similar things 4 years ago when he signed his extension. Even though I love Durant as a player and person, I think people are sipping on the Durantula kool-aid a bit too much.

LoL really? I literally made an almost identical post a few hours ago in the Random Thread haha. But yeah, this is like the 8th or 9th night in the last 2 weeks where I either haven't slept at all or didn't get to sleep until well after sunrise. Fortunately I have a prescription called Seroquel that knocks me out within an hour after taking it, but the problem is I lose track of time. If I take it too late I wake up very late and groggy. Need at least 6-7 hours of sleep on that stuff. So many nights it'll be too late for me to take it and I just kind of stay up all night. With the new semester starting up in a week or two I gotta get my sleep back on track (even though none of my classes start 'till like 2pm the earliest).

I'm so sick of being up 'till 5-8am every [expletive]ing day then waking up at 2-4pm. Mentally I just kind of forget to go try and go to sleep and before I know it the sun is up. It's horrible and completely my own fault. Oh well. Beach today and hopefully some [expletive], bj or handjob...or at least have a girl look at my penis. That's a self-esteem booster right thurr.

Don't think I am. To think the only reason people hate on LeBron is because he isn't on their team and want him all for themelves is too ridiculous for words. Maybe a very small part of the basketball fan population feels that way, but the majority hate him for much different, yet related reasons. It's plain ignorant and oblivious to think that. No one knows his true intent, but the fact of the matter is he did humiliate an entire city. Not only did he humiliate them, but he refused to even acknowledge the team that drafted him and gave him an oppertunity to develop as a player. It wasn't even until a month later did he say the name 'Cleveland' in public. And what was he doing at the bike-a-thon thing? Maybe repairing his obliterated image? And keep in mind, this is coming from one of LBJ's bigger supporters here (as a player) and someone who is actually excited in a positive way about the Miami Heat.

Is that seriously the video? Wow...what the [expletive]? I mean, it's kinda trippy which is cool, but damn. Pretty good song, just not a fan of the jungle theme to the beat.

Yikes...I'll name a few off the top of my head- -'T.R.O.Y' by Pete Rock & CL Smooth -'Worsr Comes To Worst' by Dilated Peoples -'The World is Yours' by Nas -'C.R.E.A.M' by Wu Tang Clan -'Brain Damage' by Eminem -'Platinum Plus' by Big L -'Ho Happy Jackie' by AZ -'It's So Hard' by Big Pun -'Cereal Killer' by Redman/Method Man -'Buggin Out' by A Tribe Called Quest (my favorite high song ever) -'G'z and Hustlaz' by Snoop Dogg -'Forgot About Dre' by Dr Dre/Eminem -'93 Till Infinity' by Souls of Mischief -'Astronomy' by Blackstar 'Ice Cream' by Raekwon (made a diss to my ex using this beat) -'ALL CAPS' by Madvillian -'2nd Round KO" by Canibus -'Superman' by Eminem -'Give Up The Goods' by Mobb Deep -'ATLiens' by Outkast -'Desire' by Pharoahe Monch -'Mathematics' by Mos Def -'The Food' by Common -'Battle Cry' by Army of the Pharoahs -'Oxy Cotton' by Lil Wyte -'Role Model' by Eminem -'Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta' by Geto Boys -'The Militia' by Gang Starr -'The Light' by Common I'm sure I forgot a ton, but that's just a rough draft. Not sure who I'd put in my top 10...I might make that list up tomorrow.

From the first scene to the scene where Stallone and Staham are confronted by those dudes in the truck, there's no action. That was a good 20-25 minutes. After that it was pretty much non-stop action, but I was expecting a bit more considering the cast. Honestly in terms of action the new Rambo (which I LOVED) had more action IMO.

Either Avon or Pt Pleasant. Gonna make that decision on the fly.

Basically. I [expletive]ing HATE how I live in the same state as this crap. Although I'm heading down to the Jersey shore tomorrow so...

From the reviews I have read about people who have actually played the rough-draft version of the game, they seemed to have made a lot of improvements from a gameplay standpoint. That's what makes the NBA2K series so great. The graphics also supposedly are better in-game, but some of the improvements to the gameplay are very promising.

Three reasons- 1) Ariza was extremely selfish, inefficient and dissapointing as a Rocket, and IMO didn't fit in with the team. After they got Martin it made Ariza's abilities as a scorer at the wing expendable. They got Lee who is also a high-energy player, can defend well and doesn't come with the baggage. 2) Money. They saved a TON of money on the trade. If I have it right they got below the luxory tax which saves a lot (by taking on a lesser contract in Courtney Lee's and a TPE). 3) As for Collison, they already have a very good young PG in Aaron Brooks. Granted Collison is probably already the better player and a much better playmaker, but they would have had to take on Posey which is not a favorable contract (which goes back to #2). On paper it looked like the Rockets got robbed, but IMO they made a solid move.

None of those guys are good 2nd options...not even close. They might be able to put in 15-16PPG, but they aren't going to be able to consistently create their own offense in critical games or help take over when Melo is off. Billups is the only one on the roster remotely suitable to do that. All the elite teams have better 2nd scoring options than the Nuggets (Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Magic(.

Yeah, he was screwing them over even when they were a GREAT team (one game away from the Finals in 2001). That's the point...read the entire post.

My big problem was they took a 18/9 rookie (as a starter) and essentially traded him for an above-average role player. How in the hell is that supposed to keep Paul in NO? Now if Paul leaves they are left with Trevor freaking Ariza, Emeka Okafor and his gigantic contract, and no All-Star level PG to replace Paul. I know Paul sells tickets and is an absolutely elite player, but he's unhappy and almost certainly not going to be a Hornet by 2012. They should have traded him for a bunch of assets and cap relief while keeping Collison, who has plenty potential himself.