Nitro

Maybe by then Gilbert will be smart enough to write his angry letter in Times New Roman... As for Bynum, you trade his ass if he still has decent value. You can't build around a guy who is pretty much guaranteed for at least 20 missed games every season. And honestly, he's not good enough to build a contender around. People just buy into the 'talented center' hype too much.

That team was led by Big Ben IMO. This Memphis team is of a similar identity...their leaders aren't necessarily the guys doing the most chucking, but rather giving them the most in the areas they are strongest, which is defense and rebounding. Z-Bo and Gasol are the "leaders" of this team. I'd lean towards Z-Bo, since he was clearly their motor 2 years ago when they took out SA and brought OKC to 7.

Lopez absolutely torched Pau that quarter. They need to keep feeding him throughout the game. Kobe was playing beautiful basketball. Besides that one turnover that led to him fouling Humphries, he was basically flawless. Not forcing anything, scoring extremely efficiently, making solid passes and playing active defense. Joe Johnson needs to step up, he was completely invisible the first quarter.

Contender, although I don't know if they can beat Miami, either of the LA teams, or SA in a 7 game series. Their defense, rebounding, top scorers and terrific homecourt can give them a chance against any team in the league in a series, but I question if they have the depth and scoring off the bench to be a serious contender. Losing OJ Mayo's scoring punch off the bench will hurt them in May when a series against those teams reaches Game 6 and 7.

I totally, 100% didn't see this coming :o He looked completely done 2 years ago. Dude has no cartiledge whatsoever in his knees.

Thanks brotha.

Ugly game so far, especially that 2nd quarter with both teams badly bricking shots and commiting careless turnovers. Knicks defense has been sensational so far, rotating quickly and not getting badly beaten by their man. Melo is getting NO calls, it's pretty ridiculous considering the calls most other superstars get. Hibbert got hurt in the 2nd quarter, seemed to be in a good deal of pain. Don't have the volume on so I don't know what his status is. And lol @ Kidd's headband.

http://i.imgur.com/XwrGc.jpg

You have the G.O.A.T avatar. Thank you. And Memphis is looking very, very scary.

Cartilage damage? Uh oh. Definitely karma for retardedly shopping Iggy all those years.

Crawford's probably been the best so far, and out of all them he will have the most responsibility on his shoulders to produce the rest of the season.

Jason Terry is basically his ceiling. A strong scoring punch that can also occasionally make plays for others. That makes him a good 6th man, but he's too inconsistent, inefficient, one-dimensional and small. He's a streaky scorer, is a low-percentage volume scorer, he's not a very good playmaker who is forced to be a PG due to his size, and defensively he will always be at a disadvantage against most opponents.

Allen's actually been surprisingly good defensively, and Lewis hasn't been a huge problem. The issue is simple...effort. It's manifesting itself in very late, or non-existent rotations. They've always had trouble defending the 3 ball (at least in the regular season), but that's because their whole gameplan is to defend the rim. They don't do it with a natural shot-blocking anchor, but with sharp rotations ala the Celtics, and those rotations also lead to turnovers with Wade/James/Chalmers anticipating plays. This year, though, they've been very late on rotations to the rim, so now not only are they getting killed from 3, but they are also giving up easy paint attempts as well. And since teams are slashing them up, it's led to less forced turnovers, and without Joel Anthony getting any minutes (besides being a human victory cigar in blowouts), they don't have much to defend players when they get that close to the rim. Wade has been lazy and late on closeouts, and LeBron has been giving up on plays once he is beat. He's had a ton of chasedown opportunities that normally he would spike into the 3rd row, but this year he's been letting them go. Also like Wade, been slow and lazy with closeouts. Those are the two anchors of the defense, so once they decide to turn it on, everything will fall into place. Besides, this is a Riley team. They won't get away being this lazy on defense much longer.

Bingo. I'd go with Mayo at this point in the season.

He just got offseason surgery, and moreso than ever he is taking a backseat to LeBron. That means he has to pick his spots better as he doesn't have as much time in the game to get into a rhythm. I think we'll see 10-11/early 11-12 from him at some point, though I don't think we'll ever see 08-09 Wade ever again. He needs more post opportunities.

Good matchup. Very even teams. The one thing that the Kings had going for them is that they had a very diverse offense with a bunch of great passers and different scoring weapons. The Thunder, meanwhile, had an offense last season that would die in the halfcourt at times. They were also better on the glass, and in a series would have the better coach on their side. And lastly, they had slightly more firepower coming off the bench. However, the Kings would have NO ONE to defend Durant, and OKC had the tougher defense to fall back on in tight games, while Sacramento would have to rely on keep putting up points to stay in the game. It's a tossup, though I'd probably give a very slight edge to OKC for being the more well-rounded team.

Wow...that hair can't be good for his knees.

Yes. They have the best PG in the league, one of the best PF's, and a TON of offensive weapons...Crawford, Butler, Bledsoe, Green, and eventually Hill and Billups, with Jordan blocking shots and finishing off everything near the rim. Vinny Del Negro will probably be the difference of whether they are serious contenders or just fringe contenders, but they definitely have the firepower and talent to get out of the West.

Wow that is one of the most boring trades I have ever seen.

Good lord. And fyi in 8 games this season he's had only one game shooting below 50%, and only one with under 9 rebounds.

Great in-season adjuster? Eh. He's a poor in-game adjuster, though. And Miami was an awfully coached offense the first year of the Big 3 and I believe their offense was ranked top 5 in the league that season. Just because Phoenix was around league average (a lot of which had to do with the pace coaxing other teams into quick, long jumpers) doesn't mean he resembles anything of a decent defensive coach. There is a reason NY had to basically hire him a defensive coordinator.

I bet Chris Duhon is ecstatic right about now. D'Antoni wasn't the best option out there, but I don't think he'll do a terrible job. In close games during the playoffs I'd be a little concerned having him coaching, though.

As iMan said, you completely missed what RD was trying to say. It was not a shot at Bynum, either.

20/10 with over 2 blocks and 65% shooting is the same as 0/0 with 0 blocks and 0% shooting?

$JJ.