Nitro

The only thing that makes me hesitant is the fact that since his knee surgery, he has struggled to get to the rim on a consistent basis, along with drawing fouls near the rim. His midrange game is absolutely disgusting, he has the handles to get off any shot he wants, he's a dead-eye shooter from 3, he's incredible at creatng shots for others, great FT shooter, and he's one of the most efficient ballhandlers/decision makers in NBA history....but in crunch time, getting to the rim and drawing fouls is extremely important, and CP3 just isn't great there. However, Melo doesn't offer much besides iso scoring in clutch situations, Wade tends to get sloppy with the ball and isn't a great clutch FT shooter, Kobe often times forces the issue with his shot instead of making the correct basketball play, and Durant isn't the greatst iso scorer and doesn't offer much else offensively in clutch situations. Dirk is a choice no one else has mentioned but he's an unbelievable clutch scorer in iso situations or in catch-and-shoot opportunities, Nash pretty much does the same things as Paul does, Pierce is a tremendous iso scorer in the clutch, Ray Allen is arguably the best catch-and-shoot player in the clutch in NBA history, and you can't forget about Ginobili who is one of the most underrated clutch players in NBA history. I don't know, but Paul is definitely one of the 5 best or so in the NBA.

Both have played in less than 60min of "clutch time" this season, and Paul has only played 12 games where those situations arose. In other words, way too small of a sample size to make any reasonable conclusion, along with the fact that even though they are both PG's with the ball in their hands a lot, the roles are different...Paul is looked to score a lot more than Rubio is, and is put in far more iso situations in the clutch than Rubio is.

It's because the Middle East, by an large, is unstructured, which allows people to manipulate the religion to get the desperate masses to follow through on their agendas. It has nothing to do with Islam specifically...any relgion can get manipulated like this, and each one has been manipulated for evil, selfish agenda's.

Fun fact: My aunt was one of his teacher's in high school. Anyway, great signing, especially for the price (he's at the very least an MLE level player). He gives the Knick bench a desperate talent upgrade, and hopefully when Melo gets back Knick fans never have to see Bill Walker or Toney Douglas play anything beside spot minutes. Yes, Smith is a headcase, and yes he has a quick trigger, but he is a smarter player than people give him credit for, and he will fit in quite nicely into the D'Antoni offense. If Melo comes back and fits in reasonably well, the Knicks all of a sudden become a really dangerous team come playoff time.

I'm verrrrrry curious to see how the Grizzlies look when he shakes off the rust and gets back to the form. When he's healthy and motivated, he is arguably the 2nd best PF in the league behind Dirk, as evident in last year's post-season. Rudy Gay has been the focal point of the team since Randolph went down, and the Grizzlies have managed a very respectable record and picked up some huge wins, but when Randolph gets back he NEEDS to be the focal point of the offense. He is their best, most reliable offensive weapon, specifically in iso situations. Can Rudy adjust and learn to play a little more off-ball and become more effective in other aspects of the game beyond scoring? If he can and lets the offense primarily run through the twin-tower duo of Randolph/Gasol, this team could be my favorite to knock off the Thunder out West.

Agreed, he never gets the recognition he deserves, just like Ginobili. I still remember a few years ago how sensational he was to start the season, including like a 55pt game against I believe the T-Wolves. He still has an incredible nack at getting to the rim and finishing, plays smart, and while he isn't a great playmaker he doesn't go outside of his capabilities and gets the job done. Definitely been the best player on the Spurs this season, especially with Ginobili out most of the time.

Agreed. Turnovers are what makes what Chris Paul does on a yearly basis so amazing and different from other high-volume PG's.

He got [expletive]ed over so badly last year in the dunk contest...I'm sure he's bitter about it, I know I would be. As for the list this year, that's probably the worst group of participants I've ever seen. [expletive].

Yeah I'm with the people saying that's gross. I mean, the work was well-done, but being tatted head to toe takes so much away from her natual beauty IMO.

Actually was going for 25min, but 30 works too.

John Wall, of course. All he's gotta do is learn how to control his tempo as well as improve his jumper and the sky will be the limit. After that, it's just a matter of putting a quality team around him. The potential is still sky-high. Nick Young is a low percentage chucker who doesn't do much else, but he is still a very explosive scorer who could be lethal in a 6th man role on the right squad. He's too one dimensional and streaky to be a dependable starter, but he's definitely a game-changer who can completely turn games around off the bench. I have liked what I've seen from Trevor Booker this season. He's pretty tough, doesn't play outside of his capabilities, and is a pretty good defender. That's it. I'm convinced guys like Blatche, Crawford and McGee have had lobotomies, which is the only explanation for what I see from them on the basketball court every night.

I'd personally dangle Favors out there, along with some filler to make the contracts match. There is no point in Utah keeping Favors with the Milsap/Jefferson duo getting so many minutes, and Favors still has a very high ceiling and value. Nash could really make Utah a dangerous team, and if they manage to hold onto Harris it would move him into his natural 6th man role. If they added a wing that could be dangerous playing off Nash while occasionally being able to operate out of iso situations, you are talking about a contender here. Unfortunately, with Nash's age, by the time they got that piece they may only have a year to contend. Still, they should give it a try since Favors right now is being under-utilized while maintaing a high value.

To be expected. Before the Nets game a week and a half ago he had played over 20min 3x in his career, and never over 20min. He has now played over 35min 6 games in a row, and over 40 in 2. Not only is he playing major minutes, but he has the ball in his hands all the time, and with Melo and Amare out he's essentially been the guy teams have been gameplanning for on the Knicks. This drastic change in role is something I've never quite seen happen, at least not this quickly.

I wouldn't say they are smoother. In fact, I'd say they are more harsh, it's just they are less minty than brands like Marlboro or Camel. There is NO cigarette quite like a Newport. Oh, and as far as thinking dudes who smoke Reds must be hillbillies...that's my usual cig of choice lol. As far as E-cigs, I tried them once. It was a pretty expensive one that came with liquid cartridges and they tasted just like hoo-ka (sp?). In other words, they tasted very good and hit a little harsh, but there's no tobacco. And it's just vapor, so you can smoke it in the middle of work or class and people a few seats down wouldn't even smell it. However, there is something about regular cigs that I just love. When I smoke E-cigs or hoo-ka, it feels more like a novelty than something I'd smoke throughout the day to get my true fix.

FYI if you guys want a new writer, or someone to do the occasional fill-in, I'm down.

There's still discrepencies based on your criterea though, like Rose being on there at all, and Dwight being so low. He doesn't just throw lobs, his court vision and ability to control a game, from tempo to managing the shot clock, is basically unmatched in this league. And the majority of his shots are contested...he's lethal in iso situations and scoring off the PnR. The last few seasons he hasn't had much at all in NO and still had insane efficiency scoring the ball (as well as, once again, one of the lowest TO rates in NBA history).

Assuming that's PFG, yep...lol. Also ran into him on like 3 other sites, too haha.

How about you respond to the actual points I made in my post rather than this crap? T-Mac was the 4th best wing in the NBA those seasons besides Kobe, Wade and LeBron. To say LeBron would have done better isn't a knock on T-Mac...he's gonna go down as a top 15 player all-time when it's all said and done. But if you think a Vince Carter, Joe Johnson or Carmelo would have done better with those teams, you are insane. But would have they won any championships those seasons? No. And to hit the reset button and make this hypothetical assuming Yao is healthy makes it completely insane...the 2nd biggest reason (besides lack of talent) they failed during the seasons they had the strongest chances to advance past the 1st round from 04-08 was Yao's injuries. In 2007, without Yao missing 30+ games, they would have been better than a 4th seed and wouldn't have ran into arguably the team's worst matchup, the Jazz (because Yao couldn't defend Okur due to his 3pt range, and then he got absolutely murdered by Boozer). In 2008, when they finally had enough help around T-Mac/Yao to make serious noise, he couldn't even play a single minute in the playoffs.

I was assuming you were talking about your realistic MVP predictions. Every year, the MVP is handed out to the best player on one of the top 2-3 teams, at worst top 4-5. The Lakers have the 10th best record in the league, while the Heat have the 2nd best record now that the Thunder lost tonight (same numbers of losses as Bulls, but have played one less game, otherwise the Heat would have the best record in the league). LeBron hasn't just been better in terms of stats...he's, to put it bluntly, been by far the best player in the league this year. In dominant fashion he kept the Heat nearly undefeated without Wade. He has been by far the most efficient of the top 2-3 scorers in the league, giving you 7+ assists, 8+ rebounds, and is arguably the most dominant all-around defensive wing in the NBA. CP3 has been ridiculously good this season. 19PPG/9APG/4RPG/2.3SPG/51% FG/44% 3PT/86%FT and only 2 TO's (which is absolutely insane). Yes, the Clippers have a stacked backcourt, but only CP3 is a true playmaking PG, and he is what has made them so lethal this season, and he has taken over multiple 4th quarters this season and hit game winners. Also, yes, they added Butler and Billups this season, but last year they had Eric Gordon who was playing at an All-Star level, Baron Davis for half a season (who they traded for Mo), and Aminu and Kaman as well. So, the talent all-around isn't that much different from the team that was far below .500 last season. What's the one major difference between that team and the current Clipper squad that is 3rd in the stacked West? Chris Paul. If nothing else, he's way more deserving than Rose, especially based on your criterea since Rose's team is like 8-2 without him.

I disagree with guys like Goudelock and Novak being on the list. When you've played in only like 60% of the games and are getting like 10-15MPG at that, you just shouldn't be in the contest. James Jones is the reigning champ, so that's passable. Love started the season on fire from 3, and he brings star power to the contest, so I understand that selection. I kind of agree with Joe Johnson, I would have rather seen Ray Allen in the contest again, although he probably did get an invite and turned it down.

No way does Kobe deserve to be ahead of LeBron. The Lakers are only 5th in the West while the Heat are a half game behind the Bulls for 1st in the East, and LeBron has been better in literally every aspect this season...scoring, passing, rebounding, defending, etc... Derrek Rose shouldn't be on the list. He's had a good season, but he's missed a bunch of games and the Bulls are like 7-2 without him so far. I'd probably put CP3 on there ahead of him.

Nope.

That actually isn't what broke us up, and even though I regret what happened more than anything is the [expletive]ing world, she did do something that hurt me more than I've ever felt. Even she said she would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. That is NOT to say what I did was justified, but it definitely wasn't a one-sided thing where I hit my girl for not making my sandwich the right way. ^ECN, the authorities were called, hence why I was charged with simple assault.

I went thru a breakup that included me getting arrested for simple assualt for punching the bitch in her face. This is a bad time for me...2 V-days ago I broke up with my first long-term girlfriend, last V-day I was in rehab not allowed to be in contact with females, and now this. Tomorrow I have court for it and am facing 6 months in jail. [expletive] BITCHES.

Source- http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/12441/after-much-promise-lebron-thriving-in-post Surprising numbers for sure. Basically, he's doubled his number of attempts in the post from last year, and his FG% from there is significantly higher than Carl Landry, who is 2nd in the league in that regard. Also mentioned is that he is 3rd in efficiency overall due to his high turnovers, but that is still a huge jump after his weaknesses there became really apprarent last season and in the Finals, From my observation, he really hasn't improved a whole lot in terms of footwork or skill, but what has improved is his willingness to make it an effort to get in the post more often, and as opposed to last season he looks a LOT more comfortable in the post. He is taking his time and not rushing his moves or shot. Last year he was constantly getting great position by backing down anyone and everyone at will, but he would get antsy and blow simple hooks, layups and mini-fadeaways that he makes in his sleep off drives or in the face-up position. He still needs to use it a bit more often, as well as in 4th quarters where he tends to rever to bad, old tendencies, but it is definitely a big addition to his game, and a big reason his FG% has skyrocketed this season. FWIW, the Heat now have arguably the best post-up wing duo in the NBA, as Wade is absolutely sensational in the post. He is very, very patient down there, has tremendous footwork and is incredible with his touch around the rim. If these guys learn how to better pass out of the post and continue to incorperate more and more into their games', as well as learn to use it more in tight 4th quarters, they will extend their years of dominance considerably. For Heat fans, this is a huge development and major reason to be even more excited for the future.