Nitro

You got it twisted there. Rose is an awesome midrange jumpshooter who is consistent in that 15-20ft range. Wall's jumper is still nowhere near consistent from any range. However, I will say that Wall has been extremely impressive so far, and I have no doubt will be the better player. Already he is clearly a better playmaker and more skilled passer than Rose is, and also clearly a better defender. I'd probably still take Rose at the moment because of his experience and he's more capable of currently carrying a team, but very soon Wall will without a doubt be the better player.

Bosh really hasn't been that bad this season. He is not rebounding as well as he should, and he has relied more on his jumper than ever before, but his defense has been surprisingly stellar. He's great defending the PnR, has the athleticism to make sharp rotations that can bother offenses, and his man-to-man defense has been pretty good as well. I whole-heartedly expect, even if he doesn't average 18-20PPG, that his offense and rebounding will look a lot better as the season moves along. The biggest disappointment to me, on that list, has been John Salmons. It feels like I'm have deja vu as his beginning of this season is almost a mirror of the beginning of last season with the Bulls. In 08-09 he was great for the Bulls, was that X-factor that helped them to the playoffs and push the Celtics to a really tough series, and then he was invisible the first half of last season on an underperforming Bulls team until he got traded. Once he got traded to the Bucks he was awesome, helped lead them to the playoffs and a near-upset of the Hawks. And once again, after a great 2nd half of last season he's been a dud this year and the Bucks have gotten off to a terrible start. He really, really needs to just play his game and be the guy he was when he got traded to the team last year.

Honestly, the 2-3 Clipper games I've seen this season I haven't really watched closely, and when I did I was only really paying attention to Griffin, so Bledsoe has gone under my radar. From the very minimal time I saw him in college the only thing that ever really stood out to me was he was very turnover prone for playing primarily the SG position. From looking at his raw stats, his TO's still seem to be a bit of a problem for a PG (less than 2:1 AST:TO ratio), but his scoring has been very efficient. Next time the Clippers are playing a team that is worth spending 2+ hours of my time watching, I'll take a closer look at what he really brings to the table.

I don't think so. They could very well end up with the worst record, but some of those expansion teams from the late '80's/early-mid '90's had a lot less talent than this Wolves team does. It's just that right now we are kind of in a golden age of NBA where the top teams are LOADED with talent, and for the most part the entire league is saturated with talent, so the Wolves are going to suffer more than those teams did in the '90's when the talent pool wasn't as rich.

PG- Kirk Hinrich SG- Ray Allen SF- LeBron James PF- Kevin Garnett C- Dwight Howard Bench: Manu Ginobili Josh Smith Ron Artest Rajon Rondo Andrew Bogut Udonis Haslem Mike Miller Good luck scoring on this team

While this debate is kind of ridiculous since we only know about 1% of what goes on in the locker room and how each coach motivates their players, it's my personal belief that no one motivates players as well as Jackson does. With Riley, it's his way or the highway, and I don't think he can get the most out of the more unique and challenging characters as Jackson can.

Wait...is that real???

Don't think so. I think it's just like before we were born...blackness/nothing.

I don't see it happening. There's only been 3 guys to do it besides Kobe (who has done it like 5x) in the last 9 years or so, and that's AI, T-Mac and Arenas. The common thread between all 4 is at the time each one did it, they were extremely streaky, high-volume scorers. And besides Kobe's 61 at MSG, they did so when they had pretty crappy offensive talent around them and had the green light to take 30-40 shot attempts. Also, besides AI, the other guys could really stroke it from 3, and when they caught fire they could throw up anything within 35ft and have it go in. The final factor is that those guys were able to get to the line often, and in many of those 60pt games I am sure they all took at least 15+ FTA's. In other words, it takes a very specific type of player with loads of talent to score 60+. If you aren't a high-volume guy for your team, don't have the ability to get red-hot from the field, can't stroke it very well from 3 and can't get to the FT line for an obscene amount of attempts, you probably aren't getting 60. If I had to pick a single player that I think could manage it this season, it'd be Kevin Durant. The main thing that I think is working against his favor is that he's just not selfish enough. Even though he led the league in scoring last season and was very efficient, he took over 30 FGA's only ONCE!! Compare that to the last time Kobe led the league in scoring, where he took over 30 shots in TWELVE games, or T-Mac in 2002-2003 when he took over 30 shots ELEVEN times. As elementary as it sounds, I do think shot attempts could very well be the biggest reason why Durant, who will lead the league in scoring, won't score 60+.

I can't say this enough about the Heat...Z NEEDS TO START!!! Joel Anthony is just too small to defend true post players, he can't rebound and his offense is miserable. For as slow as Z is, at least he has size, is actually pretty damn good at defending the post, he gives the offense another weapon and he has chemistry with LeBron. I don't know what the [expletive] Spoelstra is trying to prove by keeping Anthony a starter. As for the Nets, Harris needs to stop disappearing against good teams. He was invisible out on the court tonight (something like 4pts and 1ast), and with Lopez having such a poor shooting night, it's amazing the Nets managed to keep it from being a 30pt blowout.

Well, you listed LeBron, Wade and Kobe, who all have around/even more help than Rondo does on the Celtics, so I guess I took your comments more as you saying his teammates make Rondo that much better. If Kobe put up 26/5/5 (about what I expect him to average this season) and the Lakers win 61 games, while Rondo averages his 11/16/6 and the Celtics win 59 games, I'd say Rondo would be more worthy of being MVP. I am kind of prepping for the fact that Kobe, as long as he doesn't miss a ton of games, has an awesome chance at winning a lifetime achievement MVP award this season, so you may be right about the whole media thing. But I will say that last year, and definitely this year the media has recognized the Celtics as Rondo's team, so if he can keep it up and the Celtics win a whole lot of games, he has a strong chance. As I said, the fact that Paul is simply a better player than Rondo is a huge factor. Right now, as awesome as Rondo is playing, Paul is averaging 10 more points on 13% better TS%, more rebounds, and nearly 3 less TO's (only 1.3 TO's per game so far which is insane), while leading a far less talented team to an undefeated record. I also fully expect Paul's stats to go up even more as the season goes on, closer to the 23/11/6/3 that he averaged in 08-09.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwOSS9gT_zU Crazy game, I remember turning it on in the 4th quarter, right as the real show began. Kinda wish (as most probably do) that we had at least a few more seasons, and maybe playoff series', of these two going head-to-head. They always put on a show.

Honestly I am not too surprised at the Thunder's slow start to the season as all offseason I was saying how they were being overrated. Last season they maxed out what they had, but they still lack the talent and depth after Durant/Westbrook to get far. I did not expect, however, for their defense to be so horrible after such a strong season on that side of the ball last year. They are giving up 107PPG on 49% shooting this year, and the first half against the Blazers has been much of the same. The Thunder need to get back to the strong defense they had last year if they want to have any shot at getting homecourt and winning a playoff series this season.

The thing is that Crawford is not locked up, and as it is the Hawks are already $11M over the cap. Horford's salary after this season is going to jump up a few million, Johnson's contract will keep increasing over the next few seasons, etc... From a basketball standpoint of course it is smart to keep Smith, but financially it might not make sense.

I think the arguement that his team is too talented has a lot of holes in it. Of course if Durant puts up 30PPG and his team gets a 1-4 seed in the West that it'll be his to lose, or if Paul leads the Hornets to 50+ games he'll be more deserving, but right now Rondo is playing out of his mind. Yes, he has one of the most talented and deep teams in the league, but he's the motor that makes it all work. Without Rondo, they are old, slow and have a bunch of former stars that can't carry a team anymore. He gives the team a spark that no one else on the team is capable of providing. At this point, even though a healthy (key word) KG is still a better player, Rondo is without a doubt the team's MVP. With that said, the issue Rondo has in the MVP race is that he's not a top 10 player in the league, which IMO means he should not be league MVP. He's not even the best player at his position, which is another dagger to his chances. I still think he should be in consideration, but IMO the race will come down to Kobe, Paul, Durant and Howard (LeBron/Wade will cancel each other out). If Paul can get the Hornets to 50+ wins, I think he should be the favorite to win MVP.

"Miami Gay. Mmm LeBron, I'm pretty sure you look super gay in that jacket, like a raging homo." "Bosh gave me this jacket." "Homo..." Hahahahaha.

Uh oh, Odom looks really hurt, grabbing his thumb. If he goes down Lakers are going to have some issues...

Kobe is playing out of his mind this game. I've also been very impressed with Cousins, I just REALLY hope as he develops he doesn't fall too much in love with that jumper.

That's the thing, though...Charlie made it public. I am sure the word "[expletive]" is thrown around the NBA court many times a night, yet you don't hear a peep about that (in fact I remember KG being video taped on TNT during a game against Cleveland saying, "[expletive]ing [expletive]gots" to the fans). To me, going on Twitter and saying things that are meant to stay on the court is a [expletive] move. Get back at KG with your play, not trying to expose what we already know, which is that KG is a jackass. As I said, it was really messed up and unnecessarily ruthless as an insult, but I still think it is fair game when it comes to trash talk.

IMO bringing family into it is crossing the line, especially kids. I'm sure Villanueva would have fought KG on the spot if he brought up his kids (if he has any). Saying someone looks like a cancer patient is certainly extreme, but in the realm of trash talk, I don't think it's going too far. I am sure there is lots of really, really messed up things that are said on the court every night, and I'm 100% sure KG has said worse. What does that have to do with anything? And I wasn't defending the people that abuse welfare and can get a job, I was defending those that can't find a job and need welfare.

Eh, as messed up as it was, I don't mind KG saying that. When you're on the basketball court, trash-talking is a part of the game, and I'm sure a guy like KG (who is insane) says whatever he can to get any little advantage. If I'm a Boston fan that is a good thing.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/1148/10075079.jpg

LMFAO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....*catch breath*....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

That's the thing though...he's not, and never has been a true #1 option. It was something that was forced on him in NY. He was the best/most capable #1 option on those teams, so naturally he had to take on that burden. I don't think it's something you can necessarily fault him for. I think that goes along with his new role. When you're not the #1 guy, things don't have to be as forced. And when you have more talent and weapons, defenses are generally going to give you some shots that you wouldn't have as that #1 guy. But generally speaking, I don't think being on the bench has humbled him on Atlanta. He still plays with the same style, and is still taking pretty much any shot he wants without fear of being in the doghouse. I agree he is a ballhawk, but I really don't think his defense is so bad that it will make or break a team. Their Drtg as a team actually remained the same from the year before they acquired him and last season, while their offensive rating went from being the 10th best in the league to 2nd, with Crawford being a huge reason for that. I'm of the belief that when you have as much talent and skill as Crawford has, you certainly have a place on a great, even championship level team. The issue is finding that certain niche, and I think the situation Crawford is in on the Hawks is the perfect situation for him.,

They miss him because... 1) He was exciting to watch. 2) He played hard. 3) Even if he was inefficient and forced into a role his style of play is not suited for, he still was the best player on those Knick teams and gave the fans the only memorable moments of that era. You're looking at it from an NBA analyst POV as opposed to a fan. Crawford is extremely fun to watch, period. Also, Crawford coming off the bench in Atlanta doesn't humble him. If anything, it enables him to have even more freedom to pull the trigger on any shot he likes. Last season, per 36min he averaged more shot attempts than in ANY season with NY. It just so happens he has more help to take some defensive pressure off him, and he doesn't have to do as much heavy lifting in the passing/playmaking department. And he is not a cancer on either end...just because he isn't a great defensive player doesn't mean he's a cancer. I would agree that it is one of the primary reasons that his game is best suited for the bench, though, along with the nature of his offensive game (which is instant offense).