Diesel

Like I said Nash was an above average point guard in Dallas, but no way in hell was he being discussed for MVP which is still laughable to this day. He was one of those borderline all-star players for most of his tenure there. He still played absolutely pitiful defense. In fact after Nash left as a FA Dallas became a better team immedietly with Jason Terry at point. The Suns thing was doomed from the beginning and was just a stupid trade for them sacrificing the team's greatest strength for an old Shaq which wasn't worth it. I think I said this before. Cleveland previously had Big Z in the middle who isn't the best pick and roll defender either. Big Z's speed in the playoffs made Shaq look like Usain Bolt. They did fine with Big Z in the middle and isn't significantly worse or anything than Big Z on defense. Cleveland didn't need any shut down perimeter defenders to be the third best defensive team last year. Giving Z slightly less minutes and putting Shaq in there isn't going to lower that rank by much at all.

If Cleveland can add a 4 that can hit the mid range shot to pair up with Shaq it would be great. They really missed out by not getting Dice, but it is still an issue that needs to be addressed. If they can do that their set. Anyway I've seen some interesting statements in this thread. Is this a joke? The top 5 in basketball right now isn't even debatable. It's the Cavs, Lakers, Celtics, Magic, and Spurs. The Cavs are a lock to finish top 3 in the East. Unless LeBron James misses the entire season or the majority of it there's no way their not top 3. The Cavs weren't overrated. Everyone had them as a lock going to the Finals and for good reason. They dominated the regular season and dominated the first two rounds of the playoffs winning by an insane margin each game. They just didn't match up well with that Orlando team. They had Big Z guarding Dwight who is way too slow(Shaq's speed is underrated, he'll do better) and they had Varejao guarding Shard a lot which was a disaster from the beginning. Holy [expletive] the Heat and Detroit finishing above the Cavs? Detroit will finish around the .500 mark and Miami will have a similar record to last season unless some tweaks are made. Detroit fans were complaining about Sheed and his three point fetish, I can't wait til they see Charlie Villanueva. At least Sheed brought some defense. So with one great player and a bunch of scrubs the Cavs won 66 games. Not bad. Now they add the third best center in the league for the upcoming season who is an all-star and future hall of famer. They add a shooter and a two-guard with size in Anthony Parker to provide additional depth. They didn't lose anything. The Cavs had their best season in franchise history last year and they added an all-star bigman. Other than the Magic series Cleveland was impressive all year. That's because Phoenix was a fastbreak team prior to Shaq. Before Nash came back to Phoenix for his second stint he was just your above average point guard. The fast break game utilized his advantages and when Shaq came they had to slow down and play more of a halfcourt game to get him involved. Suddenly Nash turned back into the guy he was in Dallas. And everyone on ESPN said that it was a dumb trade for the Suns, I remember. Cleveland however was probably the slowest paced team in the league last year so Shaq will have no trouble fitting in and Cleveland won't have to change their gameplan to accommodate for Shaq. The reason people say the Spurs are old because other than Parker everyone of their key players is in their 30's. Duncan is the catalyst for the Spurs. Shaq is not the catalyst for the Cavs. LeBron is. He's going to do more for Cleveland than that dumbass Sheed in your sig. Less minutes for KG and Perkins. Can't say I'm against it.

oh hai there Eastcoastniner http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4691/lick.jpg http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4691/lick.jpg http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4691/lick.jpg http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4691/lick.jpg http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4691/lick.jpg

When big time stars are traded the team getting the big time star always wins the deal in the short term and currently the value for both sides is clearly uneven. Look at the Flyers, they got Chris Pronger and gave up essentially a young player, some future draft picks, and a current player that is OK. It is similar to basketball because that is usually a similar kind of deal traded for an all-star. Shaq was traded from the Lakers for a young player(Caron Butler), future draft picks, and a current player that is pretty good(Odom) with Brian Grant filled in just to make the salary work. When you trade a star in any sport(a big time star) you will not get equal value for him in a trade. And only a retard would trade a big time star when he's only 23. Those Ovechkin proposals to Boston are huge bs trades that are so unrealistic it's pretty unbelievable. If your telling me to not post a bs trade proposal look at that dudes. It's impossible to get net value for any star in any sport. The Colts and Patriots would never trade Brady for Peyton Manning even though it wouldn't be clear who won the trade. Guys like Roy Halladay, the reason their being shopped around is because their team blows and they want to save money/get young players since they know their not winning now. If the Phillies do the trade for Roy Halladay right now they don't lose anything in the present making it a lopsided trade for right now. However when you get to the good teams their superstars arn't going anywhere. St. Louis trading Pujols? That would never happen and any deal involving him is just as unrealistic as a deal sending LeBron out of Cleveland. Crosby getting traded? Team's could throw their entire farm system all they want, but that would never make Pittsburgh give them up. Even with the farm system and the additional young prospects it's not going to even make Pittsburgh think about trading Crosby or Malkin or the Giants/Cardinals with Pujols/Lincecum. Boston would never do that trade so I don't see what your point is. I could post a similar deal having the Hornets or someone trade half their team for LeBron James , but it doesn't matter since none of those deals have any shot at going down.

Hockey's the coolest sport to watch in person, but I think going to a football game is the best just because of how intense and crazy the atmosphere is. It's really awesome. All the sports are fun to go to in person though.

Odom wants to be a starter and he isn't getting that into LA. On Miami he will take the starting spot. That is also something to consider.

Well to get Boozer Beasley would have to be traded. I'm not sure if that would be worth it? I'd probably rather have Boozer since I don't think Beasley will ever have the inside game of him. If they can get Odom too that would be pretty straight. Just need to get upgrade the center and point guard positions or hope their guys develop into capable starters.

Miami isn't trading a 20 year old kid with a ton of potential for a 30 year old Odom. That would be an insanely dumb trade by Pat Riley and he doesn't make dumb trades.

No way lol, Farmar is butt. I like the Duhon and Blake deals myself.

Honestly I'd rather wait til next year to sign Wade. If the Heat give him the extension now there won't be any CAP room to sign someone like Bosh to pair up with him. The Heat just need Wade to stay committed so he can be paired up with a star. Wade ditching Miami after this year would be devastating and it can't afford to happen, but if the best team is to be put out on the floor we gotta sign Wade and an all-star next offseason.

No way Cook and Haslem > Odom. Give them Chris Quinn and Jamal Maglorie. I can't think of a realistic trade that LA and Miami would agree upon to bring Odom for Miami and he isn't going to come to Miami for the MLE. Seems like an unrealistic scenario IMO.

Harris is more clutch? What clutch shots has Harris made? He made that half court bull against the Sixers, but that was entirely luck. Harris's field goal percentage in clutch situations(final 5 minutes of a game/OT) is 33%. Rondo's is 44%. Rondo also shoots a better free throw percentage at the line in clutch situations(87% to Harris's 85%) lol @ more clutch, way to pull that out of your [expletive].

What [expletive]ing [expletive]s. They already have Dwight and are selfish not allowing Gortat to go elsewhere to get an oppurtunity to start and he is a capable starter at the Center position. It isn't fair to make him sit on the bench and play 10 MPG.

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3540/l33c3a3b50dc94806a0c760.jpg

Anyone else love this deal? I would do this in a heartbeat.

LOL wow never realized that, thanks for pointing it out. So even if the Knicks do suck this year guess what? No pick for you. Anyway yeah it looks like Sacramento or New York will be the worst team next year.

lol Smitty you love the Sixers rookie every year lol His numbers don't look too impressive in the summer league games and unfortuantely I havn't watched any of the games. They certainly weren't translating to W's though either. Jrue seems like a nice defensive player right now, but his offensive game needs a lot of work.

LeBron would bring back the most in a trade. Team's would have to give up a current all-star, their entire nucleus of young players, and their future first rounders for quite a few years. It would have to be legit young players too, none of that Ryan Anderson bs or stuff like that. I know I would any assortment of players on the Sixers for LeBron James because a superstar of that caliber is just THAT valuable in basketball. Other than the 2004 Detroit Pistons every championship team since 1990 has been built around MJ, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant. So with one exception every team in basketball to win it all has a top 10 player of all-time on their team. LeBron has the potential which is why he is so valuable at the young age of 24. I am curious to see who you think is more valuable than LeBron whether it be a guy like Sidney Crosby that only plays about 1/3 of the game in hockey, or a a 29 year old like Albert Pujols who's bat is limited to use only 1/9th of the times his team is at the plate. A Basketball Superstar of LeBron's caliber at such a young age is the most valuable thus having the most trade value. Team's would have to trade their entire roster of good players just to stand a chance and even that won't be enough. His trade value is unlimited and sooooo high btw leave it to a Mets fan to use "sexy looks" for one of their players as a reason in this topic.

LeBron James. In Basketball more than any other sport, one individual can make more of an impact. Marketability is a valued trait for people saying otherwise. LeBron is probably the easiest guy to market and he will bring in a ton of profit for your organization which is definetly valued. Not to mention surrounding a guy like LeBron with a bunch of average players makes your team a contender. LeBron's age combined with his skill set, marketability, and sport make this an obvious choice for me. This guy has the potential to be the best ever in his sport. I realize that he would never get traded unless the Cavs had their backs against the wall, but isn't that what it means to be valued most?

He was doing crazy [expletive] like lat raises while hopping on a bosu ball and weird stuff like that. Not going to criticize though as the guy is like 10 times more jacked in person. I say the same thing about Reno Mahe , did you really meet him tho lol

Yeah none are that bad on D. Dampier is actually a decent defensive big and Salmons is ok. Even Melo isn't that bad on D, far from the worst defensive SF in the league. Anyway I say the team makes the playoffs in the East, but not in the West. They finish with one of the 7-8 seeds.

C: Emeka Okafor F:Al Jefferson F: Kevin Durant G: Andre Iguodala G: Deron Williams

Some guy in this thread took their cellphone and filmed LeBron doing some dunk. I'm sure there were some people holding it out recording crap. There ALWAYS is at some event at every moment And to the Laker fan right above me how do you or that source know exactly what LeBron said to the Nike guy?

14 points in 34 games with a -2 is nothing. That is an average of .4 points per game. If we're trying to get that kind of production we mind as well trim Mike Richards pubes and give them a hockey stick. For a 2nd line RW you need something better than .4 points per game. The guy is way old and only likes playing half the season so he can try and hop on a contender to win the CUP. I don't want him. Shanahan would most likely want 1 million AT LEAST if he was going to play the entire year(and he won't do that). That's not THAT cheap. Shanahan knows his name is well known and your going to have to look for some gems to get the cheapest possibilities.

That wasn't confiscated because a member on here took that video personally. He probably didn't stand out very much seeing as how he didn't have a huge camera set and what not. Which brings us to another point; out of all the people in attendance not one person caught the video on their phone or got a picture? Interesting. Now if you can find an official media source covering an event from any of the 4 years ago you would have yourself a point. Also how do we know LeBron is the one to [expletive] about getting the tapes taken away? Maybe he was talking about something else to the Nike guy? Were the witnesses right there and involved in the conversation? We don't know and there is no proof so no conclusions can be made. I'm not going to take some fat no name cameraman's word above all else