Nitro

Dwyane Wade, with Paul inching closer and closer.

BRAYLON EDWARDS!!!!!

Kobe Bryant. I'd love to pick his brain about the game, and have him show me some techniques to improve my game. To smoke a blunt with, definitely SuperCoolBeas.

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised how great they've looked so far, especially on the offensive end. They are also doing a whole lot of damage without relying much on Duncan, which will be a huge plus as the season moves forward. However, I am still skeptical of if this team can continue to stay healthy, especially the big 3. If Pop can manage their minutes and they enter the post-season healthy, they are definitely going to be the 2nd best team in the West.

Seriously, if it wasn't obvious that the Heat needed Dampier before this injury, it should be a no-brainer now.

Griffin really is pretty amazing for a rookie. He's not just extremely athletic/explosive, but he is also more polished than I expected. He has a few post moves, decent touch around the rim, is amazing on the fastbreak, and he also has some decent passing ability (a huge rarity for young big men). He is also terrific on the boards, and like I said during his first game, he is likely going to lead the league in offensive rebounding very soon with his awesome hustle. However, as long as Wall keeps up what he is doing, I'd have to give ROTY to him. He is leading the league in steals with over 3 per game, is hovering around 19PPG and 10APG, throwing in 4 boards, and his team so far is having more success than the Clippers are (and personally I think he just makes a bigger impact than Griffin). But, it's going to be an awesome race, and both plays have extremely bright futures.

It's because he's using a statistical system, it probably doesn't reflect his subjective views (although you wouldn't know it since he never forms a non-robotic opionion).

Again, statistically, Wade was a better man-to-man defender last season than Kobe, so even if Kobe is a better man-to-man defender (which I fully agree with, without question), Wade did better in those situations last season on tougher defensive matchups (because he didn't have the luxory of Artest). I also strongly disagree with disregarding Wade's help defense. Help defense is EXTREMELY important, even for perimeter defenders. Wade wreaks havoc with his help-defense, which can greatly disrupt the offense. His ability to play the passing lanes is elite, and that ability directly effects most passes that are within his vicinity...whether he actually gets the steal, forces the passer to look to another option, forces the player he is defending to catch the ball where he doesn't want to, etc... He has been the best shot-blocking guard in the NBA for years now, and many of them are straight-up blocks against big men when he comes over to rotate. As I said before, because he is so athletic he makes quick rotations, and his quick recoveries help negate some of the negatives of being a bit of a matador. He also helps deny the post and is generally just a pest. When he's matched up with guys like Allen, who run around countless screens and can't be left open for a blink of the eye, his defense can be exposed, but generally speaking he is an exceptional, underrated defender. Again though, if he isn't taking the other team's best perimeter player most games, and he isn't playing insane off-ball defense, I just don't see how he can deserve the highest defensive honor besides DPOY. Even though Kobe's defense was great on Westbrook and Rondo, they were poor jumpshooters last season. Kobe played very smart defense on them, but nothing I would consider "lock down." He played way off them and gave them about 5-7ft of room. Against Rondo it worked extremely well because Fisher wasn't giving Allen an inch of separation, Pierce can't do anything against physical defensive players like LeBron or Artest, KG looked like a broken man, and Perkins was a non-factor offensively. Kobe was still letting Rondo in the lane, not all the way to the basket, but he still let him get around 10ft within the hoop without much resistance. If Fisher doesn't lock up Allen like he did, and if that's Ariza instead of Artest on Pierce, Kobe's defense wouldn't have been very effective. I saw that last week when the Celtics played the Heat. Arroyo was playing Rondo the same way Kobe did, but because Ray had it going, Pierce got a few favorable mismatches, and the Heat are so small up front, it didn't do all that much. But yes, I know Kobe is a feared defender, and I know he's tremendous defensively when he turns it on. But for an award that's for an 82-game season, he just doesn't deserve it.

In terms of creativity, it wasn't on the same level as his old stuff. The subject matter was a little redundant, but good. My big problem was how he conveyed his thoughts. Old Eminem had his own, unique style of conveying messages and telling stories, which I think he has lost a bit. I don't expect him to be as zany and such as on SSLP or even MMLP, but I'd love to see the style he used on songs like Sing For a Moment, My Words Are Weapons, Beautiful and Careful What You Wish For. I can't put it into words, but if you listen to those songs and compare them to most of the songs on Recovery, you will see what I'm saying. He sticks to the story, relates it amazingly well in a way that really captures the audience, and doesn't just take what seems like a bunch of different lines he wrote and stick them together, which is what I took from a number of his songs on Recovery. But honestly, my biggest problems with Recovery were his constant screaming, singing his own choruses, and the production. Lyrically (mechanically) he is still amazing and about as good as it gets. I just wish he went with a more unique approach with the production, rather than taking what's hot on the streets...I understand that's what sells the most records, but it is very annoying and takes away from his lyrical content IMO. It goes back to what I was saying before...going outside of the box is awesome if it's well-done. Em tried that with Relapse, but even he admitted that was awful. He also went outside the box when he first came up, and it was well-done and awesome. Basically, if it's good it's good, if it's bad it's bad. When you are a top 5 all-time MC like Em, you are always going to be critically analyzed if it's not exactly what the fans want. At least he got rid of that stupid accent, haha...

LeBron and Kobe both led the 2 best regular season teams last year. When Kobe is healthy and on, he's probably a better player than LeBron, and can put up nearly as impressive stats (he could still give you 31/5/5 if he wanted). I think it's a good analogy. Not perfect, but my point is that the award should not be given based on defensive potential, but rather productivity and body of work. I acknowledge it, but to say he deserves the selection over a defensive specialist like Sefolosha, who almost always defends the other team's best perimeter player and does a terrific job, or Wade, who last year almost always took the toughest perimeter assignment while also being arguably the best off-ball perimeter defender in the entire leage? I just strongly disagree. Kobe rarely takes the other team's toughest perimeter assignment, his off-ball defense isn't in the same league's as Wade's (not just with steals/blocks, but also fast recovery and rotations), and he has a tendency to play lazy. I am sure you can find game's where Wade and Sefolosha also played lazy, but it's not as common of an occurance, which is to be expected since he has a LOT more miles than Wade and isn't a specialist like Thabo...but it doesn't change the fact that he doesn't deserve it over them.

I agree about Meth being the best of the group when he's within the confines of the group (or with other rappers like Redman). I think the best lyrically of the bunch is GZA, but the issue is that his style doesn't have a ton of range. That is why I'd agree that overall, Raekwon is probably the most well-rounded of the group. OB4CL and the sequel were both amazing albums.

I would agree about Jordan's selections during the last 3-peat, but the difference is he still put a greater effort than Kobe did on that end, and he was a major part of their stifling defense (top 3 in the league every year during the last 3-peat).

That's like saying Kobe has deserved the last few MVP's because "when he wants" he can be a better player than LeBron. The fact of the matter is that All-Defense selections should be based on your body of work, not your potential. Kobe's body of work in the regular season has not warranted his 1st team selections the last few seasons, especially over guys like Sefolosha and Wade. I'll try to find the exact stats, but Wade statistically was a more effective one-on-one defender last season than Kobe and *I think* Artest, while also getting around 2 steals and leading all guards in blocked shots.

Woah there buddy. In 2008-2009 they had a full season of Shaq (a major change), Amare missed 29 games due to his eye injury, J-Rich was on the team for only 58 games, Nash missed 8 games, Barbosa missed 12 games, Bell and Diaw both played only 22 games with them due to the trade, and Dudley only played 48 games with them. ...yet they still won 46 games, with no difference in win % before and after Gentry took the head coaching position midway through the season. They simply were killed by injuries and change. I'll reply to the rest of your post later, but I disagree with D'Antoni being a good coach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md2GNgaYfMk It's a shame the whole East Coast/West Coast thing happened when each rapper was at their peak, they could have made some great music together. At least Nas didn't carry that beef past Pac's death, and decided to make this song. I've never been a fan of acoustics, but this has always been my favorite rap acoustic.

It's my 20th birthday today...as a birthday present everyone who passes this post give me a +1. If you don't, that's bad karma, and you will die in a horrible car crash....and your grandparents will be raped...by an evil monkey.... http://www.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/FM2063~Family-Guy-Evil-Monkey-Posters.jpg

Athletically, he reminds me so much of Amare (who destroyed Tolliver last year as well lol). I love the way he plays, and how hard he plays. He has a very, very bright future.

How can the quote be taken out of context when the entire interview was televised?

That's exactly why his last few All-Defense selections were bull[expletive], and just on repuation. He doesn't bring it in the regular season unless it's against an elite perimeter player, and his off-ball defense is very, very lazy. Still, when the post-season comes around, he has that ability to lock people down, which is extremely valuable.

ONLY 20?!? Man, it hurts to get out of bed, I pee every 20min, I keep spare hard candy in my pockets at all times, I wear extra long socks under extra short pants, and I drive 40mph on the NJ Turnpike. ONLY 20????

It's my b-day today, one of my least favorite days of the year. The big 2-0... "I woke up early on my born day, I'm twenty years of blessing The essence of adolescence leaves my body now I'm freshin' My physical frame is celebrated cause I made it One quarter through life some Godly like thing created" ~Nas

I don't think he meant it the way he said it, but nontheless he still said it. Riley should just cut he and LeBron's tounges out and hand it back to them in a jar once their contract's run up.

So, I was looking at Chris Paul's stats tonight, and his efficiency this season has been INCREDIBLE. Here are his stats so far this season (10 games)... 17.8 PPG/ 10.2 APG/ 4.8 RPG/ 2.2 TO/ 2.5 SPG/ 52.0% FG/ 48.0% 3PT/ 85.0% FT Also, he is currently the leader of the 9th best offense in the league in terms of Ortg, while being only 26th in the league in pace (that pace helping the Hornets to be a top 3 defensive team). The team is now 9-1 as well, with a good, but not elite supporting cast. As long as the Hornets can win 50+ games, the MVP award should be his.

All that I've learned from the first 10 games is that the team simply doesn't have the talent required to be a good NBA team, and certainly doesn't have the talent to play in D'Antoni's system. They desperately need more depth, size and rebounding in the frontcourt. They also desperately need more 3pt shooting, as well as a true go-to scorer on the perimeter.

Another thing to consider, which I heard brought up on another forum, is that all of Oden's injuries have been separate...microfracture, knee cap, etc... That's really, REALLY bad.