Real Deal

TIME: 9:00 PM ET TV: ESPN

Set my alarm for 7 AM so I can wake up and check on all of my people. Are you guys still alive? Post if you aren't.

I remember a while back, when I was young, my mom got my dad's belt out of the drawer, and I took off running around the house. Ran into my room, shut my door, and tried to lock it, but realized my room was the only one in the house that didn't have a damn lock, so I jumped over to a chair and tried to prop it up against the handle, and she beat me to the door. She tried beating my ass with the belt, and I grabbed at it, took it from her hands, and took off running outside. I waited for her to come out the front door, then I threw the belt up on the roof and climbed into our tree in the front yard. She couldn't do a damn thing about it until my dad got home, and threatened to throw away my Super Nintendo. I was probably 24 or 25 years old at the time...it sucked.

What stupid teams think that? He's obviously not going to be an NBA four, just based on the way he plays.

Kind of sad that my old HS had their graduation across the street yesterday, and someone yelled "OH YEAHHH" as they were playing Pomp and Circumstance.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/Macho-Man-Randy-Savage-dies-in-car-accident-052011/?GT1=39002

If the Rockets trade Lowry for that pick, then select Jimmer that high, they are officially ignorant, sorry to say. I see no point in doing that. Jimmer will be a major crutch on the defensive end, and you're basically removing one of your best defenders (probably second to Hayes) for a guy that could want the ball as much as Kevin Martin. I doubt Knight slips past Utah. If he does, and Cleveland decided to select Williams with their #1 pick, they will most definitely take Knight at #4. If the chips fall perfectly at that point (for Houston), and he's still there...well, he's not moving past Toronto. In that case, I would rather see the Rockets get Kemba Walker, who can do more on the floor. Jimmer isn't going to be selected until the mid-first to begin with, possibly late first. If Houston really wanted him, they could just keep their pick and wait it out.

He's the two-guard from Colorado...saw him on TV quite a bit in Kansas. I'm not sure who to compare him to right now...maybe a Tayshaun Prince with better scoring, less defense. He's got a lot of potential, though. The only thing I thought was bad about him, that really stuck out like a sore thumb, was that he took a lot of bad shots. He would pull up early in the clock, or try and take guys off the dribble and pull up at the wrong time, a contested shot. A couple of years ago, the dude was pretty damn efficient, but last year, his percentages fell across the board. I don't remember how well he shot by the end of the season, but it wasn't as good as the previous year with Colorado, and he missed a lot of threes (although he probably took around 2-3 a game). He needs to hit the gym. He's MJ's height, but less weight (the 6-6, 198-pound Jordan, not later on, when he put on a few more pounds). Dude can jump, though. Honestly, at #10, it's probably the best selection for Milwaukee. Him, or Marcus Morris.

Non-decision-making advisory role? Yeahhhhh right. People will listen to him, and make decisions based on what he says. The Warriors pick 11th. Any word as to who West thinks is the next Kobe?

Yeah, he's still super quick, but you can tell there's a slight difference. He uses screens a lot more than he used to. Against Fisher and Kobe, though, he looked like a vintage CP3. It's obvious why, haha. He wasn't afraid to take them off the dribble, because quite frankly, their knees are as bad, or worse, than his (Fisher just can't move fast enough, Kobe has 40 year old knees). The thing is, Jason Kidd had to change his game significantly. He's been taking players in the post a lot more, and spotting up, and throwing oops. The fact that he's slower doesn't change much on the defensive end as well because, well, he's a big PG. Chris Paul is not meant to spend his time in the post. He's also not going to defend someone like LeBron in the post (like Kidd would). CP3 can spot up and shoot, but he's going to need more than just Ariza and West on his team if he wants to be effective doing that. Scary thought for him, really. I will admit he's the best true PG in the NBA (coin-flip with Deron for part of the season, but I'll hand it to Paul), but in three years, I'm not sure that will be the case.

I wouldn't be too surprised, because he could show out before the draft. Baron Davis is going to be in Cleveland for another two seasons, I believe...and while that's no green light to avoid a PG in the draft, I don't think Dan Gilbert has a reason to believe that Kyrie Irving can be a better player than Derrick Williams. The truth is, it takes a lot of time for PG's to adjust to the game, for the most part. Irving isn't like Wall...he's a bit less talented, less defined in certain areas of the game, and he's also not as proven. We all knew what we were getting out of Derrick Rose, who was more NBA-ready than Irving as well. Irving could run a team better, but there isn't much of a team to run. Is it possible that Derrick Williams would be more effective in that larger role? I'd say there's a chance.

I think that, even if he were healthy, Yao is not as good as Dwight. It's not that Yao has lost his touch, or hasn't improved enough...it's more about how Dwight has probably surpassed Yao in every aspect of the game but shooting the ball. He's actually a more efficient scorer, has proven he can score when he wants, rebounds better, is leaps and bounds the better defender (while Yao improved, it's not even close, and will never be), and quite possibly a better leader, and this is me pretending Yao is at full health. I mean, people didn't poke at Shaq for not being able to shoot jumpers (just made fun of him over his free throws, but they didn't consider him worse than Hakeem because of it, especially after Shaq proved Hakeem couldn't defend him), so I can't do the same here. Dwight has reached a level of play that I don't think Yao would ever get to, even at full health. Ming may have the more rounded offensive game, as far as skillset goes, but that only gets you so far. LeBron is considered better than the older Kobe these days because he's more dominant at the rim...but we all know that Kobe has about 500,000 more post moves, and ways to score outside of the post, than LeBron, and far better footwork. Hakeem was incredible, so difficult to figure out, but Shaq was too dominant under the rim, and people consider him the greater center because of it. I still love Yao, and I wish he was fully healthy because he was a very talented center, and a complete "good guy" for the NBA...but things just didn't work out, and I doubt they will now.

That would shock the hell out of me. Or, seeing a donkey fall out of the air, created from collisions of particles, right before my eyes.

Well, it may not be up to him to stay in Houston. I just don't believe his ankle is showing progress...or, enough progress to matter, at least. He's going to have to be healthier than he was back in October.

Ah, you got me with Hakeem. I have to stick him over Malone. And Sir Charles was my favorite player (along with MJ), but I can't even say he's the third best PF in the history of the game (which would go to KG, in my opinion). Duncan, Malone, Garnett...then we can start talking about Barkley.

Sit your ass on the bench, Russ. Great game by Harden, and I loved the way Maynor played out there. Props to Durant, as always. Also, shout-out to my boy Nick Collison, who missed two free throws in a row in a huge clutch situation, took the ball right back to the rim in a fearless state, and knocked down the next two as if he was in practice. Westbrook played okay here and there, but once he started to lose control of his game, Brooks pulled him, and it was the best move of the night by Scotty.

I like the confidence, but this reminds me of Brandon Jennings talking before the draft.

With who is coming off the books, if the Pacers trade Granger, that entire roster is younger than me, with the exception of Posey and Jones.

1) Jordan 2) Kobe 3) Shaq 4) Hakeem 5) Duncan I started watching basketball around 1989 or 1990, so I didn't see much of Magic and Larry, just games I've downloaded or have seen on Classic (which has been quite a bit, but not compared to those I listed above).

Not going to believe a word he says, sorry.

The shot-blocking thing is really a matter of opinion, still think Reggie Lewis is right there with Wade because he blocks those he defends more than he does others off help, but I'm already done arguing about Rose finishing at the rim because I'm pissed off at him after Game 2's catastrophe.

The only thing that I would worry about is CP3's knee. Apparently, it's bone-on-bone, and he's really too young for that (he has Kobe knees). In 2-3 years, it could change the way he plays the game, and I'm not really sure if CP3 would be as effective playing any other role.

It wouldn't surprise me if the deal fell through because Kahn was unwilling to give up Rubio.

I don't think the schools should be allowed to make unhealthy foods available to kids in school...but at the same time, you shouldn't be allowed to stop a student from bringing what he wants to eat for lunch. There's a difference between the school and parents. If a student brings a cupcake for lunch, the school needs to turn their head. One big reason for this is because of me, being a diabetic, I needed to do things like this back when I had gym class right before lunch. I needed the sugar. As far as providing it for the students, in candy machines and what-not, it's fine to avoid that, but they shouldn't be able to regulate what you eat for lunch if that student is packing it.

This is what I figured Kahn would do...give up too much for someone like Granger. He needs to keep the pick if he's going to do that, but I've already put in my two cents.