His Greatness

Cavs fans must feel heaps better after this. When it comes to the manner of re-signing, there is no word more assuring than the word of Boozer's. EDIT: gtfo CF

Danger Mouse and Pete Rock.

Will Durant become the youngest scoring champ in NBA history, or does LeBron win something he could win every year if he wanted to but doesn't care enough to? LeBron is leading by a massive .1 PPG margin. Cleveland has 10 games remaining: tonight at San Antonio, Sunday against Sacramento, Wednesday against Milwaukee, then Atlanta, @ Boston, Toronto, @ Chicago, Indiana, Orlando, and finish the season on the road against Atlanta. They'll probably clinch long before that. OKC has 12 remaining: tonight vs. Lakers vs. Portland @ Philly @ Boston @ Dallas vs. Minnesota @ Utah vs. Denver vs. Phoenix @ Golden State @ Portland vs. Memphis

McNabb said he would prefer Minnesota if he were to be traded, but it's highly unlikely with Favre's indecision, which will probably last the whole offseason. Also, Philly doesn't give a [expletive] what McNabb wants, and I doubt they'd trade to a competitor.

Larry Bird is a three-time champ, MVP, and a top-10 player. LeBron has not accomplished nearly enough in his short seven years to dethrone Bird as the greatest three. LeBron will still be the greatest when it's over, but not yet.

Too bad you missed out on him operating in crunch time. That's truly a sight to behold. The front office is clueless, the coaching is counterproductive, the personnel is unbalanced and being paid franchise money, and we're stuck in no-man's land — not qualifying for a championship (or the postseason even) or a lottery pick. At least New Jersey has the offseason to look forward to. Any observations on Jrue Holiday?

Very insightful, and the analysis is accurate. Not much to add, although I will say that while Elton is not the right "brand", he isn't the wrong one either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll7rWiY5obI I will never get bored of this movie.

It does work, because your detraction from Pacquiao's performance sounds exactly the same. The Sixers couldn't score more because they were the inferior team just like Clottey, who was thoroughly smothered. He was hesitant for a reason.

The Sixers would've beat the Heat last night if they scored more points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE2Vdcv9Q_o Such a good song.

Fight's tomorrow night. Discuss.

Bill Russell anchored 11 championship teams. Him.

Owens can barely get off the line anymore... of course he's lost a step.

Same. Better than VII, IMO. I said it.

Cloud, Squall, and now Lightning. The protagonist in XIV is going to be named Haiti Earthquake.

Who was ranked at fifth before this season? Carter? Ginobili? Jackson and Ellis just don't feel right.

He's protected (like every superstar), but I would wager that it has less to do with the officiating and more to do with his style of defense and him just being smarter with his fouls. Aside from the occasional strip and block attempts, when have you ever seen him play physical? He doesn't body up on the perimeter, and he never takes unnecessary fouls inside. Watch him on the outside next time: he's often very liberal with the amount of space he gives his man. The Artest brand of defense is very different from the LeBron brand of defense. I believe someone collected a series of 'questionable' plays regarding his fouls on defense last year in the playoffs and there was nothing conclusive.

I'm torn on LT. His ego presents a foreseeable problem, and I still feel we should be cultivating young talent with Young, who is well prepared for the backup role. Peterson should also be getting more touches. It's a wonderful tradeoff for Chester talent-wise, but I am not as excited about the possibility of this as other fans are.

Holiday has the higher ceiling, and is already one of the best first-year defenders I've ever seen, but Collison is the superior player. This will become a legitimate debate in three years' time.

If you're not saying that it's everything, then why are you implying that Brown is just as good a defender as LeBron "for all I know"? There is no timing statistic, but you don't need one. You eventually get a feel for it if you observe them enough, just like with everything in basketball. Having the physical tools to do everything (like LeBron) is a plus. BTW, judging from the infrequency of Brown's blocks—27 career total, 14 total this season and averaging .2 BPG—I'm inclined to believe these are spectacular occurrences rather than something routine. And that is absurd — no one is as athletic as LeBron. And he is much bigger than Shannon Brown, which makes a huge difference when you're judging this.

I hope Obama declares war on Canada tomorrow.

You're getting caught in the trap that team/help defense is all steals and blocks again. It's not. And uh, my proof is through watching. It's the only "proof" you need to evaluate defense. Brown doesn't do anything as well as James, and physically and athletically it's not even close.

LeBron is not a good defender because he gets blocks and steals; he gets blocks and steals because he is a good defender. You were saying that he was in same vein as Shannon Brown in that their numbers define their defense. Brown blocks shots and gets steals but that does not make him a good defender, just like it doesn't make Smush Parker or Al Jefferson good defenders. Context. How often do Brown's come, and in what situations? How well does he time his block attempts? How fast is he? How quick is he off his feet? How high can he jump? Does he gamble a lot? Does he foul? LeBron is a better shot blocker than Shannon Brown just like Dwight Howard is a better shot blocker than LeBron. Defensive anchors do most of their work inside, LeBron is all over the floor. Not many defensive wings have the range to do that. You said it. I never implied even implied DPOY. Chill. You already know my take on this. I think that he's such an exceptional and versatile team/help defender that it compensates for not-so-excellent man-to-man defense. I see it differently. Agree to disagree, because this is getting tedious.

You guys have strong reading skills.