Nitro

Have you listened to him the last 2 years? Distant Relatives, the Dr. Dre song 'Topless', 'Triple Beam Dreams' with Rick Ross (my favorite verse of his from the last few years), his 4 new singles, thing song...dude's lyrical prowess has really improved recently over what he was doing much of the latter half of the '00's.

All 48min of the basketball game are equal. Yes, there are moments later in the game which have higher pressure and seem to be extra-important, however they are just as important as the beginning of the 3rd quarter when half the stadium is still getting food from the concession stands, Therefoir, give me the olayer who diominates through the 1st 3 quarters and only occasionally comes up big in the 4th over the reverse of that. I don't really see that logic when it comes to LeBron, though. Throughout his playoff career he's had so many big clutch moments even before this year...hitting 2 game winners in his 1st ever playoff series, Gane 5 against Detroit in 2007, Game 6 against Boston in 2008, Games 2 and 5 against Orlando in 2009, a few games against Chicago in 2010, Game 5 against Boston in 2011 and Games 2, 4 and 5 against Chicago that same post-season. The only real choke jobs I had a big problem with in LeBron's career was Game 5 against Boston in 2010, and Games 2-6 against Dallas in 2011. Both had nothing to do with him folding in the 4th after a stellar 1st 3 quarters...it was him completely mailing it in the entire game. They aren't the smartest analysts, but they are SO entertaining to watch them together. They both have such different, yet similarly argumentitive personalities, so their debates are so firey and fun to observe. Any time I get the chance I make sure to watch First Take.

He doesn't need to. It'd be nice to add one more counter move, but in the context of his game, and with his physical tools, he doesn't need it.

LeBron slaughtered Iguodala last year in the playoffs, and he burned Deng in the EC Finals as well. In both series' he did it almost strictly via jumpshots. Dallas played tremendous defense on him, but his jumper was not the main culprit for his struggles...it was his refusal to assert himself in an aggressive way, his inability to take advantage of his defenders in the post, and his inability to hit the open areas of the court Dallas was giving him via offball cuts. I'll talk about this more in detail later in my post. Huh? Boston almost beating Miami had NOTHING to do with LeBron. It was Bosh's absence, Wade's lackluster and inconsistent play, and the team having zero clue on knowing how to defend Rajon Rondo. And I don't know if you watched Game 6, but LeBron scored those 45pts primarily on difficult jumpers. LeBron isn't a stellar shooter...that is correct. However, he has become a very good jumpshooter, and this season he learned to pick and choose his spots better, and cut down his 3pt attempts,,,the result? Shot a career high from the field, 3pt range, and TS%. Only 69% of his attempts this season were on jumpers, and he shot an EFG of 47.9% on them. To compare, 88% of Kobe's attempts were jumpers, and he had an EFG of 43.6% on those attempts.. Paul Pierce had 74% of his attempts made up of jumpers, and he had an EFG of 44.6% on them. 88% of Dirk's attempts were jumpers, and he had an EFG of 47.8% on them. 71% of Carmelo Anthony's attempts were jumpers, and he had an EFG of 41.0% on them. Durant had 82% of his attrempts made up of jumpers, and he had a blistering EFG of 51.6% on them. What does all that say? That he takes less jumpers than his famous perimeter scoring peers...Kobe, Dirk, Durant, Pierce, Melo...and ONLY Durant was more efficient with his jumpers. That is over the course of a full regular season, not just a 5 game series. Considering that only Durant scored nearly as efficiently as LeBron did overall from the field and in terms of TS%, his gameplan has worked tremendously well. LeBron's improvements this season as a scorer were amazing. He went to Hakeem last summer, and instead of learning a bunch of fancy post moves like most people who see Hakeem try to learn, he went on record and said he worked pretty much exclusively on his mentality as a post player, and increasing his comfort level. Last season I noticed that whenever he wanted to post someone up, even a guy as strong as Ron Artest. he got to whatever spot he wanted to on the floor. However, he would look awakward backing people down, rush his attempts, and would miss close shots that are a 1 on a 1-10 difficulty scale compared to many of his insane and-1 finishes when he gets a full head of steam driving to the rim. This season, however, he became absolutely lethal in the low post because of a few simple adjustments...he takes his time and doesn't rush a shot or move, he's made passing out of the post a legit option as opposed to last year where he was always only paying attention to making a scoring move, he no longer brings the ball down on face-ups when going for a shot, he's made the little turn around hook/floater an automatic go-to weapon... and my FAVORITE adjustment is when he is posting up smaller players, instead of crudely backing them down and risking an offensive foul as well as giving the help a chance to get into easy position, he now makes very quick spin moves which gives him an angle to use his strength while avoiding charges, makes it harder for the help to prepare, and helps him get a head-of-steam for a strong finish at the rim. On top of that new comfort level and simple, but highly effective adjustments in the post, he's also developed improved footwork, guards his dribble better, and has gotten better with his lefty hook and turnaround jumper. Aside form his post improvement, he's also gotten FAR better at moving off-ball. The two cuts which he really ate other team's up this season was the baseline cut where the ball swing from the strong to weakside, and he makes a baseline cut to the weakside and catches the ball righr at the hoop. where he is able to finish over whatever shot-blocking big man who comes over to help. The other cut is the one he could have KILLED Dallas with last year in the Finals against zone/modified zone defense, where he cuts to right below the foul line, which is a soft spot in the zone, and with his improved floater/hook that he's practiced via his expanded post game, it's almost always an automatic two. These off-ball cuts have given him routes to get himself efficjent looks against zones and teams who overload on him when he's iso'ing beyond the 3pt line, which is a HUGE addition to his game. Also, by learning how to not just stand around when he doesn't have the ball, it keeps the offense from stagnating and forces the defense to always keep moving, which has opened things up for his teammates as well. Lastly, as I said earlier in my post, he's made the simple choice to cut his 3pt attempts in half, and by pikcing his spots from out there more often, he shot a career high this season from beyond the arc. And by cutting down his 3pt attempts, and jumpers overall, his FG% rised to an unbelievable 53%, and a career high TS%. Basically, I really don't understand your agenda, RD. If it was just to show OKC's inability to clog the paint (which i really don't see as topic-worthy, and I don't think that was the main point you were making, even if your point was subliminal), then you have to realize that a lot of it was the evolution I mentioned above in LeBron's game. Him posting up a lot, his ability to hit open spots in the defense via off-ball cuts and making quick moves out of those situations before the defense sets, etc.. If it was to still show that LeBron has a big hole in his game, I think my post kind of debunked that, both statistically and anlytically. With LeBron's strength, size, athleticism, and handles, he's never had to be a great jumpshooter to be able to score A LOT and do so at an efficient clip against ANY defense. He's only needed to have had a very good jumper, and he's had that for a few seasons now. The only thjing he needed to develop to beat a defense like the one Dallas threw at him last year was to find ways to take advantage of his strength/size/handles/athletcism/ability to finish without simply using PnR's and making straight drives to the rim from the perimeter. His new post game and ability to move off-ball has completely solved that final hole in his game.

He's an awesome defensive coach, and after a year finally started getting the team to run more, use his team's versatility to his advantage by playlng unique lineups with some players out-of-position, running sets that got LeBron and Wade making more off-ball plays and post touches, etc... However, his late-game playcalling is still poor, he doesn't do the best job of keeping his team focused when they have leads, he still is too slow at making adjustments during the game and sticks to his original gameplan too long, he did an awful job of managing Bosh through his first 4 games back from his abdominal injury, and he did a terrible job at continuously [expletive]ing with the starting lineup and rotations the regular season and first 2 rounds of the playoffs (he did the same shit last year during the regular season and Finals once he started to panic). Overall, though, he's one of the better coaches in the league, has handled the toughest coaching job in pro sports with confidence and strength, he does a tremendous job of implementing an amazing team-oriented defense, and he appears to command the respect of his star players. He is just really bad at makiing in-game adjustments and with his lineups/rotations.

They shouild definitely amnesty him. Miller, Battier asd Jones are a log jamof one-dimensional 3pt shooters playing the wing positions behind Wade and Bron. Miller has the steepest contract of the three, but has serious back issues, doesn't offer the very good defense that Battier does, and is at best an equal 3pt shooter as Jones but is also more of a defensive liability. Also, Terrel Harris impressed me in the spot minutes he received during the seasoin, and offers some explosiveness that is a major change of pace compared to what those 3 other guys possess, and he still has a lot of room for improvement while the other 3 are either peaked or on the decline. Miller's contract wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't for the Heat's gaping hole at C. Joel Anthony is an incredible defender, but he is unbelievably bad offensively and on the boards, and with his limitations it was proven in the playoffs that the Heat are better off playing a small lineup that doesn't need to play 4-on-5 offensively...they get away with this because they have strong rebounding SG's/SF's/PF' who can play without Anthony and see no dropoff in team rebounding because Anthony is so god-awful on the boards. Against, most teams in the league, those small lineups pose no issues defensively and on the glass, but there are teams who can expose this area of weakness. They got lucky in the ECF and Finals because Boston is one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, and OKC has a poor rebounding C and zero post presences. However, people forget that if it wasn't for a historic 2nd half performance from Wade and James in Game 4 against Indiana, they would have likely been bounced in the semi's due to Roy Hibbert absolutely murdering them in the post and on the boards. In the future, if they keep this same C rotation, it could end up ruining their chances at back-to-back titles, especially against teams like a healthy Chicago, whatever contender Dwight lands on, Indiana if they keep making solid additions, LA and Memphis if they add some pieces, etc... Basically, if amnestying Miller meant getting a guy like Chris Kaman (long shot either way), or even someone like Omer Asik, then it is a no-brainer. Miller's redunancy with the Heat's other backup wings makes him expendable, and that's not even mentioning his injuries or contract, And even if they can't find a legit big man, getting rid of Miller could mean they'd have an outside chance of being able to sign a Ray Allen/Jason Terry, who would be a big boost to their bench even if their basic skillets are similar to what the Heat already have.

Well, they blew-up their youthful core and chance to get major cap relief from Shard's contract for a few mid-level players and a less flexible cap situation for the near future. I don't really consider the moves they've made in the last year strong win-now moves, and as BFT said, now they are in purgatory.

-2011-2012 NBA Champion -NBA Finals MVP -NBA MVP -All-NBA 1st Team -All Defensive 1st team -All-Star -4th in DPOY voting -3rd in PPG average -1st in PER and WS -Regular season averages of 27.1PPG / 7.9RPG / 6.2APG / 1.9SPG / 0.8BPG / 53.1% FG / 36.2% 3pt / 77.1% FT / 3.4 TO / .605 TS% / 30.7 PER -Led team during regular season in points, assists, rebounds, steals, TS%, PER, OWS DWS and WS, Drtg of players who played more than 13 games -Playoff averages of 30.5PPG / 9.7RPG / 5.3APG / 1.9SPG / 0.6BPG/ 50.1% FG / 26.8% 3pt / 73.3% FT / 3.4TO / .576 TS% / 30.6 PER (doesn't include Game 5 stats from the Finals) -Led team in playoffs in points, assists, rebounds, steals, PER, Drtg. OWS DWS and WS -Was 1st in the league in post-season PPG, PER, OWS, DWS, WS So, where does his 11-12 season rank, roughly, among the all-time greats? I was thinking about it, and since I started closely watching basketball, I can't think of a season since Shaq in 2000 that was so dominant from start to finish. It was dominant in virtually every fashion...his stats were unbelievable in every facet, from volume to efficiency, he led his team in virtually every area in both the regular and post-season, he won the MVP award convincingly, could have very well won the DPOY award, dominated the league in the advanced stats categories, he came up very clutch in the playoffs, put up some of the greatest games in playoff history when his team was down 1-2 to Indiana and 2-3 to Boston, scored at least 26pts in I believe 19 of his 23 playoff games, and was remarkably consistent in every series en route to his first championship and Finals MVP. Dude was simply on another level this season, and was about as complete in terms of talent/skill/regular and post season performance as I have ever seen. I thought this season was more impressive individually than any season Kobe, Duncan, KG or Dirk have ever had, and was right up there with some of Shaq, Bird, Magic and MJ's best seasons. If he has another season or two like this, and a few more years at an elite level, I think he has an awesome chance at being somewhere in the middle of the top 10 all-time greatest players.

Nope. I'll say whatever the [expletive] I want, and if you don't like it, good...I hope my words eat at you and each post I make gets you more and more steamed. I hope I offend you. I hope you hate me. I love it. For this specific case, donate it to one of those anti-bullying campaigns so there can be more done to teach kids from an early age the harmfulness of verbal abuse. But, I don't think there should be money donated at all. I can't believe people are actually up in arms over this. She's a [expletive]in grown ass woman. If she can't handle being mocked by a couple MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, that is [expletive]ing pathetic. For her to be getting half a million dollars for it is even more pathetic. Shit happens every damn day that is so much worse than this, and I ain't even talking about things as extreme as murder. Small example from my life...when I was 13 I saved my mom's life because she overdosed in front of me and I helped revive her then drove her to the hospital. What did she say a week later? "You should have let me die." Hearing that from your mom at 13 years old is awful and something you never forget, and it has stuck with me my entire life. That is worse and more traumatic than being an old lady getting made fun of by a few early teens, yet I don't expect sympathy and definitely not money. Especially with all the stories I've heard in my life from other people who have gone through truly insane scenarios, accepted what happened, fought through the struggle and came out stronger in the end. Shit like that is a part of life. Things happen to every one that is [expletive]ed up and probably deserves sympathy. Every day kids and adults alike are verbally abused in far worse and more traumatic ways than this lady was. Every day there are senseless murders, rapes, robberies, and other serious crimes commited in which people look the other way, and a lot of them don't even make the papers, blogs, youtube, or whatever. However, this is a cute old lady and it was put on youtube, so people are ignorantly acting like this is so horrible, offensive, out of the norm, or whatever. I can see people adding comments expressing their disgust and hatred towards the kids responsible for hurting her feelings, but for her to actually profit off this is ridiculous considering how this is such a meaningless and unextreme event in which she wasn't even physically assaulted and her life wasn't put in serious danger. SHE'S JUST A GROWN WOMAN WHO WAS MADE FUN OF BY MIDDLE SCHOOLERS!!! IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL!!! As for what I said at the end of my post, it was extreme, and in retrospect it is NOT her fault and I am NOT mad at her. I am mad at how ridiculously stupid the reactions are from everyone else. So, I somewhat regret saying it as that is not on her shoulders, although I am very glad I pissed Jenneral off...[expletive]ing [expletive]got.

Who the [expletive] cares? She's an adult. She should be able to take a few kids mocking her and verbally trying to make her feel like shit. Kids do it all the time. It makes them look cool in front of their friends, it's funny to do when you have that low maturity level, and it is kids acting reckless with the 'pack' mentality. They didn't physically assault her from what I saw in that video, so it really isn't that big of a deal. It's just a bunch of kids acting like pricks. For people to actually be raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for this lady makes me sick. She doesn't deserve it, and so much shit happens every day that isn't caught on camera which results in death or lives being completely traumatized and ruined. Those people get nothing. This grown ass lady get s made fun of by a few immature kids and she's getting over a quarter milion dollars. Give me a [expletive]ing break. I hope she gets raped, then maybe her life will be [expletive]ed up enough to warrant even 1/10th of that being awarded to her.

I still don't understand why Howard took the year extension instead of forcing his way out at last year's deadline. He knew he didn't want to stay in Orlando and wanted to be in Brookyln, so instead of getting traded and kickstart the process of building a championship team around he and D-Will, he's delaying the inevitable and wasting the time of all parties involved. Also, he'll still get the max, but instead of making the trade and inking himself to a long-term deal, he waited and then immediately had back surgery.

Of course Nash would be an awesome addition for any team, but as I've said the last 2 years, they need to add youth and athleticism at the wing positions. When Ariza was on the team, they were so much more complete...he could take the difficult assignments like Artest, but he was also a killer on the fastbreaks, receiving passes from Kobe/Pau/Bynum out of the post when cutting to the rim, and also hitting the occasional 3. The Lakers are getting older, Kobe/Artest is one of the least athletic/explosive wing combo's in the entire league, Pau is a C playing PF, and Bynum is a lumbering big man. Odom used to give them a lot of the athleticism and explosiveness to help speed up the tempo and balance out the team, but without him or Ariza they desperately lack that aspect on the team. Look at OKC and Miami in these Finals...no matter how much size and polished execution the Lakers can possess, those teams will always run laps around them and simply overwhelm them with their quickness. LA needs to get younger and more explosive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBiMRyMrEwE Putting this up in anticipation for Nas' new album which comes out in less than a month. Much like pretty much everything he has been on recently, Nas kills this joint, and from what I've heard at the exclusive listening party of his new album, Nas is back to his old form and he's starting to get a lot of mainstream buzz again. Can't wait 'till his album drops.

Even without a good jumper and one-on-one skillset he's still averaged 22/12/4 on 52% shooting his first 2 years in the league, which is productivity VERY FEW players ever reach. His combo of athletcism and strength is unmatched at the PF position, and he's naturally a very good rebounder, ballhandler and passer for his size. Amare was also very unpolished his first few seasons in the league, but he ended up becoming one of the most polished frontcourt scorers in the entire league by his 4th healthy season. The easiest thing for an NBA player to learn is how to develop a solid midrange jumpshot, and with the right coaching and enough in-game attempts (which Griffin will surely get), it isn't hard to develop a few deadly, go-to iso moves. When he learns those things, he will be a full-blown superstar of the highest caliber. To say he doesn't have talent is ridiculous...the numbers he puts up aren't coincidence or solely due to athleticism. The only area I'm concerned with in terms of his development going forward is his defense. He has tremendous athleticism and strength, however he has short arms and poor instincts. With VDN on the bench, those areas of his game will continue to be under-developed unless he makes it his #1 priority every off-season to seek out the right coaching to teach him the fundementals of individual and team defense. Unlike the holes in his offensive game, his defense will likely never be above-average. Regardless, he's only in his 3rd year and has 22/12/4 career averages, with a superstar PG there to make his life easier and speed-up his progression. That alone is more than enough to throw him the max. Not to mention having him there will entice CP3 to stay, will fill the Staples Center for many years to come, and will entice management to continue pouring in money to round-out the roster.

Milsap will probably garner more interest, but I'd trade Jefferson. He's the worse player defensively, and everywhere else they are pretty similar. Similar reboundibg numbers, scoring efficiency (albeit Jefferson has a wider arsenal in the post,,,on of the best in the league there), and neither are good enough passers to truly run an offense through. However, Milsap has a cleaner injury history, 2 less NBA seasons on his odometer, and is on a much more managable contract. Also, Milsap has always played with elite offensive big men in Boozer and Jefferson, so I feel he has some untapped potential in terms of productivity, and with the right opportunity could be the better player for Utah if they traded one of them. They need at least one big-time perimeter player. It doesn't necessarily need to be a PG, although that is where they are weakest. If they made a move for Gay or Iguodala in a trade involving Jefferson, that would give their offense a HUGE boost, and with Iggy they'd also get a very good playmaker and one of the best defenders in the league. It is also easier to find a great swingman than it is to find a great PG whose team is willing to part ways with him.

I know we've gone at it plenty in the past because I didn't like your hatred and under-valuing of LeBron as a basketball player, but it took a lot of balls to make this post and get over your vendetta over him. I respect you a lot for this post, good for you. As for this game, it is really important Miami comes out and chokes OKC out from the get-go. Even though it is almost unfathomable based on the first 4 games to think Miami could lose this series, you have to remember that OKC won 4 in a row against SA, who was fresh off a 20 game win streak. OKC, top to bottom, is younger, more athletic and explosive than Miami, with 2 superstars who can go off for 40-50 any night. They lost 2 games that they could have won if the ball bounced their way in the final minute, and that is without their 3rd best player (an All-Star caliber one at that) doing ANYTHING this series besides the first half of Game 2. If they can win Game 5, they will have the momentum heading back home, where they play much better and have the best homecourt advantage in the entire league. All they need is to win the next two games, and Game 7 will be a complete tossup with the momentum and fan support on their side. Based on their physical advantages and proven ability to be mentally tough and go on post-season win streaks against some of the toughest compeition in the league, it is NOT far-fetched to believe OKC will come back and win this series. However, I believe Miami will end it tomorrow. This is now the 2nd Finals run they've made together as a unit, and this post-season they've had their backs against the wall and had the mental foritutude to overcome the odds and win. They did it against Indiana down 1-2 and with a big lead hanging over their heads in Game 4 (and without Bosh), they came back from 2-3 down to blowout Boston IN Boston and then win a close Game 7, and took the Game 1 of the Finals whipping on the chin and have racked up 3 straight. LeBron is playing aggressive and all-around out of his mind, Wade and Bosh are making solid conributions, and the role players which struggled and were inconsistent all season are coming up big...guys like Chalmers, Battier, Cole, etc... Unlike OKC, they spent their entire post-season in the Eastern Conference, where defense is at a premium and every game is a grind. This has clearly helped them turn around their late-game struggles and learn how to grind-out close game, never taking their foot off the pedal which completely destroyed them in last year's Finals. LeBron, especially, has learned to be aggressive in close games, and when the best player in the world is making the big plays, the role players follow. Miami has peaked at the perfect time, and it is all due to Bosh going down in the 2nd round and having their backs against the wall and still grinding out big wins against Indiana and Boston. Those 2 series' could have been what officially completed this team and made them reach their potential, and could be the start of a dynasty.

Besides the move for Sessions, which was a marginal move, the Lakers haven't made any strong moves to their roster in years, as they keep getting older and losing core players. Artest was a good pickup for a year, but his decline mixed with his awful contract has killed the Lakers in recent years.

Awful jumpshooting from each position in the starting lineup, assuming Beal starts. It could be an exciting, athletic and strong defensive starting lineup, but if teams pack the paint and limits turnovers against them, Washington is going to have fits trying to score the ball. And as BFT said, from a financial standpoint it cripples them for a few years, which is the last thing a team that's in full-blown rebuilding mode needs, especially since this trade will make them good enough probably to be right on the edge of late lottery/8th seed territory where they won't get any star players via the draft. As for NO, I love the trade. It opens up so much cap room, as well as a starting spot for Anthony Davis. Kinda wish they didn't trade Ariza, though...

The Dream Team's size would give them the edge IMO. Ewing and Robinson had the athletcism, strength and size to give Dwight Howard fits defensively, and were arguably both better offensive players (Robinson was easily better on the offensive side of the ball). In fact, at every position the Dream Team has an advantage on the boards, with each player in the starting lineup having at least one NBA season averaging over 8RPG. Their size advantage would make up for any gap in athletcism there might be for the 2012 squad. However, with the 2012 team's edge in 3pt shooting ability, and athletic advantage at the PG, SF and PF positions, it wouldn't surprise me if they won the series or made it extremely close.

You are so simple minded and ignorant with your over-generalizations of people on welfare. 3/4 of people on welfare truly need it to survive and they do use it for the orrect things. Like anything with such a huge pool of people participating, there is going to be a large chunk who abuse the priviledge of welfare, but it is my believe they are in the minority and it does more good than bad for the country.

Battier has had 5 seasons in his career shooting over 39% from 3. This was the worst year of his career scoring the ball, so people forget just how lethal he used to be as a spot-up shooter, especially his first year in Houston. I don't expect him to be getting double figure points every game, but I do expect him to be someone who will make OKC pay when they leave him completely wide open from 3. For Miami, the key to this game is continuing to hit FT's like they did in Game 2...the entire post-season they've been AWFUL from the line and lost a few close games as a direct result of that. Also, I expect Bosh to be the most important individual player this game. He had a terrific Game 2 on the boards, and he's a tough matchup for the OKC big men due to his shooting, PnR ability and use of the pump fake when Ibaka is defending him. For OKC, Westbrook needs to pick his spots more wisely, and get Ibaka/Collison/Perkins some easy looks near the rim. The Big 3 alone of OKC will not beat Miami, especially in Miami. They will need contributions from everyone.

LeBron isn't the more effective scorer. Durant has had a higher TS% 2 of the last 3 seasons, and has scored at slightly greater volume each of those seasons. Where as LeBron generally needs the ball in iso/pick-and-roll situations to get an efficient shot off, Durant can do that as well as be one of the most lethal catch-and-shoot players in the NBA. And having more tricks in your bag does make you more effective as long as you do it efficiently as Durant does...it helps you counter whatever type of defense is thrown at you. Having those extra tricks also makes Durant the easier player to build around offensively because he can be an efficient 30PPG scorer in a system where he has to create his own shot, or a system where his sidekick absolutely needs the ball in his hands constantly to be effective (which is what Westbrook requires). As a scorer, I believe Durant could do what LeBron did in Cleveland, but I don't think Bron could do what Durant is doing in OKC with Westbrook playing the way he does. Wade changed his style immensely and yet there still is a chemistry issue between he and Bron. With Durant those problems would be non-existent. As an overall player, I don't think KD will ever be better than LeBron has been the last 3 years, and I don't think that will change for another 3-4 years. However, Durant does have the capability to do so, physically and mentally. With his size, length and athleticism, he can become an extremely dangerous player defensively...I envision him becoming the SF version of Kevin Garnett on that side of the ball. He could become devastating defending the PnR, closing out on 3pt shooters, cutting off passing lanes, and altering shots off and on ball due to his length. Remember, LeBron didn't become a great defender until around the 2008 Olympics, and it all had to do with effort and learning how to use his physical tools to his advantage. With Durant's dedication to improving his game and a solid defensive coach in Scott Brooks, I feel he can make similar strides. Durant cracked 8RPG this season, something Bron has never done, and there is no reason to believe he can't improve that even more. The huge area Durant will never come close to Bron in is ballhandling/playmaking...that is something that you either have, or you don't. However, Durant has made HUGE strides in this area, even if stats don't reflect it. With Westbook needing the ball so much to be effective and Durant being so good playing off-ball, he's never going to be a big assist guy, and it would hurt the team if he did take a bigger role in that area. However, his ability to find open teammates off dribble drives and in the PnR has imrpoved immensely, as has the accuracy and strength of those passes. This has to do with an increased comfort level playing in the NBA and learning how to counter every defense the opposition throws at him. This area of his game will continue to improve, but he'll never be even half of what LeBron is there. Overall, I was kinda hard on Durant his first few seasons, but he has truly become a superstar of the highest caliber, and his game is rounding itself out as each year passes. I don't think he'll ever be better than LeBron is right now (which is top 10 all-time level, easily), but he's going to be unbelievable and a top 3 player for many years to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9KjsBIsr2g One of the most epic, embaressing moments in rap history happened last weekend. There was a freestyle battle on PPV that one of the greatest lyricists of all time, Canibus, attended. To be fair, he's never been known for his freestyles, and most well-known rappers would never sign up in fear that they might lose. However, this is cringe-worthy. There were 3 rounds between these 2, and through the first 2 rounds Canibus gets destroyed. So, before the 3rd round, he starts yelling at the crowd that he isn't a great freestyler, conceeded to everyone that Dizaster wins, and then PULLS OUT A NOTEBOOK to finish off his 3rd round. One of the worst things I have ever seen. Then, he still chokes and sucks, and the other dude RIPS him in the final round, completely obliterating one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Two songs that I think you'll love... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiBDw2TPgA (Only last verse is Technique. Before that it's two very underground rappers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhKyq3P11Po Crooked's verse is jaw-dropping.

Already averaging 1.0 unibrows per game.