Nitro

If there is ANY classic Pharaohe Monch song it's... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvuNK0DIVnU Alchemist + any good rapper is always a treat.

Sick song. Always liked Pharaohe Monch, sort of reminds me of MF Doom with his flow. One of the better underground rappers out there...

He has the right to have an opinion, and I don't think it's SOOOOO far out there to predict the Heat can possibly tie or beat 72 wins. Afterall, at no time in the last few decades (except maybe the early 2000's Lakers) have 2 of the top 3 players been on the same team...in their absolute prime. Throw in another top 15 player, a few elite 3pt shooters, good depth, and a good defensive coach, and you certainly have all the proper ingredients. I personally don't think it will happen because the '95-'96 Bulls had their main core together for a number of years and had the luck of being in a league with 2 brand new expansion teams. Top to bottom the league is deeper with the bottom teams being a lot stronger than they were in the '90's. But if any team has the potential to do it, it's the Miami Heat.

http://outofbounds.yahoo.com/?id=21303209 Wow, what a douchebag haha. I mean, I understand throwing down a few dunks on the fastbreak, but not stealing a little kid's pass and throwing an alley oop to yourself. And also knocking some kid down while trying to throw down a tip-in dunk. These kids are like 6-7 years old. C'mon lol...

I kind of agree, although the Nets still have a very young core with potential, and just as importantly still have a decent amount of cap space. Not to mention plenty of draft picks. Even though they struck out on this FA, at least they didn't give a Rudy Gay or Joe Johnson max money. That would have seriously locked this team in terms of cap space for many years. Instead they took a conservative approach and still have the cap room and assets to either sign a big-name FA down the road or make a trade for a star player.

Hahahahahahaha...funny... So you're telling me that LeBron had a more impressive season than the 2003-2004 MVP, Kevin Garnett's? Garnett led his team to 58 wins (good for first in the WC) and averaged 24.2 PPG / 13.9RPG / 5.0APG / 2.2BPG / 1.5SPG / 49.9% FG. Duncan led his team to 57 wins and averaged 22.3PPG / 12.4RPG / 3.1APG / 2.7BPG / 50.1% FG. Really think LeBron should have won it over Duncan as well?

Videos + Article Can't make this [expletive] up...

Evans certainly had the better season statistically. Not only did he have a better FG % but he also managed to keep his TO's to just 3.0 per game (compared to LeBron's career high 3.5 his rookie season). However, I do think I'd give James the nod simply because I think he made a bigger impact. He was one of the very few big-time rookies whose team was actually BETTER statistically with him on the court (for Rose, Evans, Beasley and many others this is not the case). LeBron helped the Cavs win 18 more games than the previous season, and that was with their previous best player (Slick Ricky) traded halfway through the season. He kept them in the playoff hunt until the very end. Evans' impact was smaller, and his team only won 8 more games than in 2008-2009. Granted I know there are plenty of other variables to take into account, but I think the proof is in the pudding that LeBron as a rookie made a greater impact than Evans.

I don't understand it either. I understand that Horford is certainly better suited for PF, but so is Josh Smith. I assume that Pachulia will be moved to starting Center but it just doesn't seem like the best move.

Gotcha. I'll check it out. Illgauskas really hasn't fallen off nearly as much as you're implying. He started in 534 straight games before last season, and played about 10MPG less than what he was averaging those previous 7 seasons. He also missed a month of action due to the trade and buy-out (not surprisingly he shot below 40% for the remainder of the season, whereas before the trade he was around the 47-48% we're accustomed to seeing). Last year, besides TS% which was hit so hard because of the amount of change he had to adapt to, everything was pretty constant considering his usage..TRB%, Drtg, etc... Had Shaq not been signed to the team (which he shouldn't have been, they were better without him last year), I think Z would have given virtually the same production as the last 3-4 seasons. Anyway, even though he's been on great rebounding teams before, in theory this team should be the very best. Z himself is a very solid rebounder, Bosh is a very good rebounder, Wade's a very good rebounder for his position, James is a great rebounder, Miller's a very good rebounder, Haslem is very good, and the list goes on and on. Against the likes of LA and Boston they shouldn't be getting killed on the boards. The Heat should be better on the boards than either the '09-'10 Cavs or Heat, and both those teams did well in the rebounding department (Cavs outrebounded both LA/Boston in the regular season and split the Boston series in rebounding 3-3, and the Heat generally held their own even though they had poor rebounding talent and were a bit undersized. Boston exposed them in the playoffs, but nontheless they were a pretty good rebounding squad). And I stand by my opinion that as long as he can stretch the defense and occasionally hit the jumper, he'll be a positive offensive addition. Even though Boston/LA/Orlando can make sharp rotations, you can't be in 2 places at once and eventually there will be give. In the past, teams could afford to stick on Z and force him to shoot over the defender because no one else on the Cavs besides LeBron could hurt them aside from spot-up jumpers. Against this year's Heat, you have arguably the best penetrators in the league at the SG/SF/PF positions. Z has enough range where teams will have a lot of trouble defending them, even if he's used simply as a decoy. As Wade showed in the post-season, even with little floor spacing and surrounding talent a defense like Boston's can be ripped apart with such elite slashing ability. Getting Miller was #1 priority. They did the smart move and signed him to a few seasons at a reasonable contract. He was the single most important role player they had the ability to sign this off-season. Having a lights-out shooter is absolutely the most important piece to have when you have 3 guys that can cause so much mayhem off the dribble. He's also unselfish, a good passer, good rebounder and also tough. The Heat will already have a great defense and be very good on the boards...getting Miller/Haslem with their remaining cap space was paramount. If you can name only one player who MAYBE was a better fit at Center with the vet minimum, I'd say the grade for signing him should certainly be higher than a D+. Z is a very nice value for that asking price. Besides, from a basketball standpoint, I really think it does make sense. Not the ideal Center for this team, but a nice fit nontheless.

T-Mac. Hopefully he can play well enough this year to show contenders he can still positively contribute. Even though the reason many teams passed on him because of his attitude, I think some of the fringe contenders also passed because they don't know if he has anything left in the tank.

Yao. Drives me nuts sometimes, but the guy is the closest thing in the NBA to a dominant offensive Center when he's healthy. Fantastic guy off the court and a helluva player on the court.

Unfortunately the opinions placed on this movie follow one of two paths- It is either overrated by people because of Ledger's performance, or underrated by people because of Ledger's performance (by them thinking it was only so popular because of his death). Personally, I LOVE this movie and it's one of my favorites ever. It is by no means one of the greatest movies ever, but there are a LOT of sublimal messages and underlying dramas that people don't really pick up on because they stereotype it as a typical comic book movie. I found it pretty fascinating, and Ledger's Joker made it that much better. What made the movie great to me was almost everything BUT the action. The action was solid, but nothing special. The hand-to-hand combat was pretty poor IMO. The best parts of the movie were psychological.

Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. However, I think you're SERIOUSLY overrating Wallace's abilities and impact if you don't think O'Neal can contribute at least 90% of what Wallace did last season and in the post-season. O'Neal is a very solid player and a good defender. He has been relatively healthy the last 2 seasons and was the anchor of one of the league's best defenses last season, as well as the 2nd best overall player on a 47 win team (yes I am aware it was a poor team and he bombed against Boston, but nontheless...). I am not saying he's a championship caliber 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th option, but to think he can't or won't be a solid contributor as a 2nd or 3rd backup in the frontcourt positions is foolish. PS- I'm a stat guy, but have never heard of dMult...what is it? I think O'Neal having the best defensive rating on the team alongside Wade (Magloire had the best drtg but played very few minutes), while also being one of the best defensive post players in the league speaks enough to that he is a very capable defender. 1) In regards to Joel Anthony, Kendrick Persons also did NOTHING offensively his first few seasons in the league. He went from shooting 49% his 4th season to 61.5% shooting in his 5th, which was the Big 3's first season together. He was equally as foul prone in similar minutes, if not moreso. My point is that with so much offensive AND defensive talent on the roster, Anthony is going to look a whole lot better. He'll have more leeway defensively, and offensively he won't have to do much more than dunk the ball and finish easy plays off. I think he'll have a very nice season next year. I don't expect him to average many minutes, but he should be able to contribute a useful 20MPG. 2) I think it's very premature to say how Illgauskas will influence the game without seeing him on a team this talented and stacked. He's never been on a team with such good defenders on the perimeter, and hasn't been on a team that should KILL opponents on the boards. He's also never had anyone that has demanded defensive attention besides LeBron. My point is that you can't expect perfection when you are so limited in finances. The Heat got a guy who is 7'3'', can effectively defend and box out some of the bigger Centers in the league, has a consistent midrange game that will be important in spacing the floor, etc... Really, that's a decent amount of value for a vet minimum Center. 3) Kurt Thomas would have been nice, but I wouldn't say he's marginally better than Illguaskas. Theo Ratliff hasn't played in 50 games any of the last 4 seasons while Illgauskas has been very reliable since his foot injuries early in his career. Brad Miller? I don't know the terms of his contract off the top of my head, but I would assume it's considerably more than the vet minimum. And if it is, the Heat would have been CRAZY to waste cap space on him instead of Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem. Also, I fully believe Z/Haslem/Miller and a few others were signed with great influence by James/Wade since they already have built chemistry with them.

If they keep roughly the same scoring averages from the last few seasons we're talking around/over 80PPG from 3 guys. Not happening. At best that means 9 other guys would have to average 3PPG or less to get to 110pts, which IMO is the ceiling for this team since they will likely have a defensive identity considering it IS the Miami Heat. Also, because the team is so deep they will not be playing the same kind of minutes as previous seasons, so even if they somehow did carry the same load as in the past, they won't reach the same stats. Bron/Wade averaging 25 a piece and Bosh throwing in 18-19 is about the most you will see from these guys.

I think you're really grasping at straws, man. Wallace shot sub-42% from the field and sub-35% from 3 in the post-season. No matter how you cut it, that's not exactly impressive. Not something so out of reach that JO can't match or at least make up for (as he surpassed 52% EFG in the 2006 and 2009 post-seasons). And again, we're not talking about Indiana or Miami Jermaine O'Neal in terms of what is needed from him. I think that's the biggest reason you felt Rasheed had an abberation of a post-season last year...he was a bench player and a 4th or 5th option virtually everytime he was on the floor, as opposed to in the past where his flaws were glaring because he was a featured player. He didn't really play any differently (sans Game 7 in LA, where his efforts didn't end up mattering anyway), it's just that you appreciate what he does offer when he isn't looked to as a primary weapon. JO will have the same role, possibly even less because the Celtics will be deeper than last year in the frontcourt. As for defensively, you can't realistically expect the Celtics to get a defensive player with such little off-season payroll as good as Wallace was. JO is a very solid defender who is very good at defending post-players, can block a few shots and isn't horrible on his rotations. On a team with a good amount of defensive talent and a terrific defensive gameplan, his defense will get better on the Celtics. I'm not saying he'll turn into an All-NBA defender, but often times players get better defensively when they are on the right team with the proper structure. As it is, he was a good defender to begin with. The thing is, Miami won't need Z to play major minutes in either the regular or post-season. They have a really, really good defender in Joel Anthony that caused guys like Bynum tons of trouble last year by properly fronting the post as well as blocking shots on the weakside. Howard and Haslem can play most bigs with success as well at the PF and C positions. Even Magloire isn't a bad defender if they need a big body to be put on Dwight for spot minutes. Even IF Dwight goes off on the Heat, he's going to have a lot of problems staying out of foul trouble against 3 of the top 8 players in the league last year in FT's made. Every year LeBron and Wade rip apart the Magic's defense. Bosh dropped 40 a year or two ago on them. The Heat have arguably even greater depth than the Magic with better talent. Dwight won't beat the Heat. His flash in the pan offensive showings is something Wade/Bosh/James can do on a nightly basis if the Heat need it. Also, the Heat have been top 10 in defense virtually every season since Wade was drafted. That's with a few totally different rosters top-to-bottom, 3 different coaches, them going from Shaq to being very undersized, etc... The organization will always have a defensive identity as long as Riley is in some position of prominence, and they made some huge upgrades on that side of the floor. They will figure out a gameplan to minimize Z's flaws just like they have done with so many players over the years. Offensively he doesn't even have to hit a shot; stand 15ft out and force the defense to pay attention to him so the lanes open a bit for Wade/James/Bosh. Anything else is gravy.

Depends on the town as others have said. For my own personal benefit I'd love for there to be less cops, but for the benefit of society more cops would only improve things.

Wade: 22PPG, 5APG, 4RPG James: 21PPG, 8APG, 7RPG Bosh: 16PPG, 9RPG, 3APG

Wow very random. He must REALLY want to start and be a primary offensive weapon. Kind of upset he went this route instead of waiting for a player on a contender to go down, or completely retiring, but at least we'll get to see him play regardless.

Rasheed did hit shots in the post-season...at a sub-42% clip. Since JO went to Indiana the only major knock on most of his post-season runs was his FG % (compared to what he was expected to contribute based on regular season). Fortunately for this comparison, Rasheed had the same problem, shooting over 44% only once in his final 10 post-seasons. JO was horrific in the Boston series, but using a 5 game sample against one of the best defenses in NBA history is really being stingy and narrow-minded (especially since he just joined that same team). He shot well over 50% during the regular season, and shot over 50% in the 2009 post-season. Besides, at best he'll be the 5th scoring option in the starting lineup...he's not going to make or break the Celtics offensively. He just won't get that oppertunity. As for him not being a defensive factor in that series...1) He had a DRtg of 100 that series, the next closest on the team was 104 by Wade/Q-Rich, 2) Who did he have to defend that would make a big impact for Boston? Perkins? Broken down KG? Cavs were helpless with him on the court? They wouldn't have had back-to-back 60+ win seasons if they were helpless with him. Just because he's not athletic and or like to bang down-low on offense doesn't mean he's a liability. He was 2nd last year in post-up defense, he's still a quality rebounder (which next to a Bosh-level rebounder will be plenty sufficient), still can hit open jumpers, and he's simply a big, servicable body. For the vet minimum you can't get much better quality at Center.

Good read, although I disagree with you about O'Neal and Big Z.... O'Neal is not a bad replacement for Rasheed at all. As long as he's not a primary option offensively like he was last season, he won't hurt you on that end. He has a consistent midrange jumper and can finish at the hoop reasonably well. Defensively he should fit in just nicely on the Celtics. Last season he was one of the best Centers in the league in defending the post (SOURCE), and he still has decent shot-blocking ability and makes proper defensive rotations (DRating of 103 as well, tied for best on the Heat for players who played consistent minutes). As a backup in the post-season I think he'll be a valuable asset. As for Z, you can't expect way too much out of him, and there won't be a need for him to do too much. He's a big body who can rebound decently well, cause some problems to post-up players with his length, and he can stretch the floor with his solid jumper. Is he the ideal Center for the Heat? No, but when all you really have to work with is vet minimum contracts to fill out half the roster, beggers can't be choosers. Besides, they have very good depth in the frontcourt, and have many different potential lineups to put out on the court that can be effective.

Bye bye T-Mac's chance to go to Chicago.

I like it, just looks unfinished for some reason. Definitely has a very fresh, clean look to it, but it could use a lil something else. Maybe some texture to the Staples Center portion of the sig, and a little bit of a color tone? I don't know, but I like it regardless.

Jordan. Magic was clearly the better passer and slightly better rebounder, but Jordan was the greatest scorer in NBA history and arguably the league's best perimeter defender as well. If Magic was as dominant of a defensive player, it'd be a very close comparison. But the fact of the matter is he wasn't, and could only dictate the game from an offensive standpoint.

Paul's a better/more efficient scorer, a better/more efficient playmaker, grabs more rebounds and is a better defender than Williams. He also has statistically murked Williams in the clutch the last 2 seasons. I trust Paul more to run and carry a team than Williams. Howard may not be anywhere near as polished as Williams, but IMO he certainly makes a bigger impact. Offensively he demands a ton of attention just for his sheer size and ability around the hoop, where he is unbelievably efficient. Because of the amount of attention he draws against teams that don't have a defensive player that can play him 1-on-1 (aka 25 teams or more teams) he completely opens everything up for what was one of the greatest 3pt shooting teams in NBA history. He also dominates the offensive glass and gets his team many 2nd chance points. On defense his impact is bigger than anyone's in the entire league. He's a dominant rebounder, dominant shot-blocker and annually makes a very averagely talented defense at best an elite defense. No doubt I take Howard over Williams. As for Durant/Melo being ahead of D-Will, it's definitely very close. I'll take Melo between the 3 because I think he's a better, more dominating player than D-Will and is more adept to taking over games as well as hitting clutch shots. I'd say it's the same thing with Durant, but the reason why I give Melo the nod over Durant is he's more experienced and has a more polished all-around game.