Nitro

The people have spoken, and Nitro it is!

I got an Illuminati tattoo on my right forearm and a tribal band/skull (worst decision ever) on my upper right arm. Love the Illuminati one though.

So, I'm contemplating changing my username to just Nitro. I've had the Nitro1118 screename since my first message board was back in 2001. However, I think just Nitro may be better since that's what everyone on here calls me anyway. So, vote and give your advice :glasses:

If he learns how to effectively pass out of double teams and read his teammates/the offense better, Kevin Durant. Both he and Bird are elite scorers with near 7-footer height and a lethal jumper and efficiency. Both guys can grab 9-10RPG (Durant was at 7.6RPG last season and that should only go up). The only major difference is the passing/playmaking game. Durant is still kind of an offensive blackhole, and doesn't know how to effecitvely pass out of double teams and read both his teammates and the defense a second or two before he has to react. Bird was an EXCEPTIONAL passer because of his unselfishness and ability to read the defense. Normally I would say if Durant has showed great playmaking skills yet he may never scratch even 5APG, but at the same time I don't think anyone realized T-Mac would ever be the 2nd best passing wing in the league (next to LBJ) when he was 21 either, So I'd say Durant has tha same oppertunity.

Coming from a T-Mac homer, I think he'd be a GREAT fit on the Bulls if he's in any better shape than he was last season. Right now the Bulls are weak at the wing positions, and none of the wing players are really great at making plays. Not just for themselves, but for others as well. I'd argue that if the Bulls signed T-Mac, he'd be tied with Rose as the best passer/playmaker on the team. I think that'd be extremely valuable for the Bull as it would take a ton of pressure off Rose to do EVERYTHING. Hope he impresses in the workout.

Loved reading "The Last Season" by Phil Jackson, "The Jordan Rules" by Sam Smith, and "7 Second or Less" by Jack McCallum. All very interesting, especially "The Jordan Rules."

Paul Pierce. Love him as a player, hate him as a person.

Unless they find a 3rd party, I don't see Orlando making a serious run at him. The only reason I could see the Hornets looking at the Magic as a legit suitor is because of Carter's $17M expiring, and I believe Pietrus is also a $5M+ expiring. However, the Magic will also have to swallow Okafor's huge contract. If you find a third suitor who would be willing to take on Jameer and give the Hornets a decent prospect or two, and if the Magic throw in a few draft picks, I could see the trade working out. That would give the Hornets well over $20M in cap relief at the end of the season, get rid of Okafor's long-term deal, and maybe get a decent prospect or two. I don't know if they will be able to find a much better deal.

http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-loren-wright-missing,0,6101949.story Yikes.

It's like any business bro. You do what you can to protect your image. It's a privilege, not a right to be an NBA owner. If you are an owner of a team, you are a representative of the NBA. He can say what he wants, but he's going to get slapped with a fine if he says something that could hurt the league's image. Talking about Beasley's drug problem, a VERY personal topic, and calling a former NBA great and current NBATV employee a schmuck is offensive. He said it, and he's going to get punished by the commisioner for it. Case closed.

No one's against free speach. But if what you say hurts the public perception of your team and league, Stern should have the right to hand out fines. This is a business, and you do what you can to protect the image of the corporation.

I count it. Getting traded on draft day is essentially the same thing. Kobe is the guy the Lakers wanted in that draft and they made a move to get him.

He shouldn't be talking about his drug addiction like that to the media. Period. Also, what the quoted part of the article doesn't mention is he also called Chris Webber a schmuck in the interview. I think that's where the $50,000 fine for "inappropriate comments" came from. Kahn is seriously becoming the worst GM in NBA history. God damn.

Oden was selected 1st because of his potential to be an elite Center, the easiest position to build a contender around. And since when is MJ's final season in college statline of 20/5 on 55% not pretty? Anyway, I'll actually back Snake up a bit on this...I know where he's coming from. Nene is extremely talented and has a similar body to Cousins. However, I have two problems with the comparison he made- 1) Cousins played on a Kentucky team with Wall dominating the ball. In college big men that can play the post are always under-utilized, and it is a totally different style of play. To say he's going to be passive in the post and not make the most of his offensive talent in the NBA just because he was coached that way in college isn't a great conclusion to draw. He's the only go-to post player on the Kings (Landry has a decent post arsenal but he's not a guy you consistently feed to in the post). He'll get his chance to get a lot of post touches and start to reach his potential, which is the beauty of being on such a young Sacramento team. I really think he'll be a great post scorer once he gets comfortable in the system; he is a lot more polished than I thought he was. 2) Cousins has a much better repetoire in the post than Nene and utilizes it a lot more. That's the big difference in their play. Nene has a lot of talent but doesn't have as much skill in the post that Cousins has. Cousins has the potential to be an ELITE big man in this game. Nene had potential, but not to be a go-to scorer for a team. Cousins does. Sacramento knows this and will utilize him as such.

I wouldn't put much stock into what he did in SL. It is likely the first time in months that he's played in serious full-court games, and he has an entire new cast of teammates and a new system to play in. Is it concerning that he didn't play better against much inferior competition to what he'll face in the NBA? Sure, but I wouldn't be too worried. He has a great feel for the game with polished skills as well. That combination will always get you places in the league. My only concern is he doesn't have great athleticism for an elite SG, and that is a big reason why guys like Cousins and Wall are bound to dominate SL. But once Turner gets comfortable and learns the system as well as his teammates, he should be a very good player in the league. Maybe not a superstar, but very few players become superstars in the NBA. You can only hope he works hard and makes what he can of his talents.

Players are bigger than the team because in the NBA it is nearly impossible to win anything without a superstar player. Not to mention all of the national media coverage/increased ticket sales the team gets when they have this star player. Unfortunately the players know this and they and their agents use it to their advantage. As much as a star player can make a team better, they can also destroy it if they aren't happy (Vince Carter). With the stars having this much power, they can pretty much dictate anything and everything.

Both, but take a look at the last 27 champions (since the '82-'83 Sixers): 26 of those 27 teams were led/co-led by superstar players that were DRAFTED by their teams (Lakers- Kobe/Magic, Bulls- MJ, Celtics- Pierce/Bird, Pistons- Isiah, Rockets- Hakeem, Spurs- Duncan, Heat- Wade). The only team that broke the mold was the '04 Pistons. Basically what that shows is that it is MUCH easier to grab a stud in the draft and build a championship team around him rather than try your luck with FA. The reason is because there are only a select number of true superstar talents in the NBA, and if they happen to test the FA waters, the chances of you actually landing that player are very slim (ask all the teams that failed to lure LBJ and Wade to town). But as RD said, you should build through the draft and patch up the rest via FA.

No, I think you're wrong as well...it's Jarron Collins.

Robin isn't even on the Team USA roster right now, and I did a google search for Brook on Team USA and in each pic he's wearing #38...the same number as he's wearing in the first post. It's Brook. I don't think Universe would have posted it in the Nets forum if he wasn't. I think he misspoke in his last post saying it's Robin, but I'll let him clarify when he posts again.

It's Brook. Got these two pics as well where he's also wearing #38. First is off the Nets official website- http://www.nba.com/nets/photos/brook_400_100210.jpg http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g8L5j4-6gFY/0.jpg

It's Brook Lopez. Robin isn't on the Team USA roster. That does suck, though. I've seen a few people go through hell with mono, and it definitely looks like it took a toll on Brook. However his game shouldn't be effected much by the weight loss (at least not on the Nets...may struggle a bit in the WC's).

Phew, I thought Nas was going to make like an Untitled 2 when I read the title of this thread. I didn't love or hate Untitled, but I definitely didn't want to see him use the same subject matter. To me Nas' biggest problem since God's Son has been horrible production. If he got Kanye to produce the album like was brought up in the article, that'd be amazing.

Losing a 13pt lead in the 4th quarter is a collapse. Notice how I didn't say the Celtics choked? If I did, then I'd be discrediting the Lakers. And don't make it seem like we're comparing the NBA in 2010 to the NBA in 1965. 1996 was only 14 years ago. I agree the league has more talent nowadays and the top teams are generally stronger, but it doesn't make up for the massive gap in dominance between the 2010 Lakers and 1996 Bulls. And even if you ignore all the stats proving the Bulls dominance, we can use your method of head-to-head comparison that will also show why the Bulls are clearly the better team.

Good signing for that price. He's a solid role player who's tough and is a decent defender. Not the best 3pt shooter in the world, but neither was Brown. Definitely gives the Lakers bench yet another boost.

Talent-wise? No. Paul isn't better than Wade, Melo isn't better than LeBron, and Amare isn't better than Bosh. But I do think it could be a more well-rounded trio with better chemistry for sure. Anyway, Paul to the Knicks would be awesome for NY, but I wouldn't be so quick to say they'd make noise in the playoffs just yet. If the Hornets are going to deal Paul, they will want a package to revolve around Gallo and Curry's expiring. They will also want to dump Okafor's contract on the Knicks, which is where problems arise financially. If the Hornets are set on dumping Okafor with Paul, the Knicks will likely need to bring in a 3rd team to make it work dollar-wise. However, if the Knicks can persuade the Hornets to trade Posey instead of Okafor (doubtful), they can try Paul/Posey for Gallo/Douglas/Chandler/Curry/picks. That would take about $20M off the books at the end of the year for the Hornets, and give the Knicks the best PG in the NBA and a very solid role player in Posey. But my point with that whole spiel is that the Knicks are going to have to give up a lot to get Paul, and IMO next season wouldn't be as good as the Suns were last season. What it does do is give them 2 legit superstars to build around and attract big-name FA's to play in NY. If the deal is on the table they should take it, but don't expect the Knicks to make much noise next season if it goes down.