Real Deal

Well...Bayless screwed that up.

Haha, funny ending there...

Yeah, I was excited to see Kobe come out in the third and drop 16. Very limited minutes, also (just 24 minutes, 24 points). He needs all the rest he can get. He missed three consecutive free throws...don't think I've ever seen him do that before. But, he did hit 4-6 from three, if I recall correctly...and the thing with that is, he's using his legs to hit those shots. The free throws depend more on the form and the hand/fingers, which are giving him trouble.

Cuban will jock anyone not named Phil Jackson or Jerry Buss. He has stated, twice (over the last two seasons), that his Mavs would take out the Lakers in the playoffs. You can take Cuban's word for it. I'm sure you weren't listening to him when he was contradicting your predictions that the Lakers were going to win it all, though.

Other than the Knicks, no other team will take Melo in February, unless he signs the extension first. Trades are a two-way street. Now wait a minute...I can pull up a lot of Shaq quotes where he has slammed Bryant well before Kobe said that about him last summer. Did you see the interview, by the way? Kobe laughed after he said it. Again, you can hate Kobe for whatever reason, but I don't feel like it's fine to hate the dude for something like that OR for putting his kids on the court after the season is over. He's cocky on the court...that's a reason to hate him (even though Jordan was as well). He's the closest to MJ, and people say it all the time...a reason to despise Bryant (and that's probably the biggest reason for you, really). I love Jordan. He's the GOAT. I don't like many other Jordan fans who seem to overrate him. It's incredibly difficult to overrate a nearly perfect player, but there are many who still do it...and the worst part is when they do it by slamming everyone else that has played in his era or outside of it.

Joe Smith can barely walk. Unless he has a time machine, I don't see how he's going to be effective.

I hate Nick Young.

Wow, I had no idea we are letting go of the 2011 first-rounder. That's worth more than Vujacic and Smith combined. Sasha is going to expire. We should've just let him do that.

Joe Smith is 35 years old and was a complete waste of space for Atlanta last year. The Nets, who could use another big anyway, can't even play him for six minutes and 4-5 games. Come on...

JOE SMITH? WTF.

And the Lakers get Brook Lopez.

Those teams let their foot off the gas and cruised through those fourth quarters for a while, but I guess that doesn't matter. All of those wins were comfortable, for the most part. Oh well.

I'm pretty sure you may have remembered a couple of comments in the past, and they are the same exact ones I remembered... But I won't venture out into that swamp any more than I have to.

Okay, fantastic argument. Cuban is usually the person to listen to in these situations, so I'm convinced.

So what argument do you have for the Heat being better than the Celtics, right now? We'll leave Dallas out of this despite them being better as well.

Haha, I've had it for 17 years, and I don't know everything about it yet. I keep reading things that shock me, to this day. Let me know some of the stuff she's finding out when you have the time. I'm pretty intrigued by all of it.

...he's not a free agent.

He didn't run Shaq out. It's a fact that Shaq demanded $28 million a year from Jerry Buss, and Buss told him it wasn't going to happen. I can find a link somewhere for that. The public trade demand, that's fine if you hate him for that. Some still bring it up. I am still 110% sure he did it to bring in talent, though, and even Magic Johnson believed he did. He didn't diss Shaq in a way that was meant to be insulting. Kobe and Shaq are actually friends off the court. I didn't even know they were until two seasons ago. He was doing it in a joking manner, maybe even the way O'Neal was (which, at first, I thought otherwise). Brings his family onto the court after winning titles? I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. The season is over, and he wants to share his earnings with his daughters and Vanessa. Did you watch the Bulls in the early 90's and see who was on the court with Jordan when he won his first or second title (don't remember which one it was)? And, I'm pretty sure Shaq had his family on the court when he won his title in Miami. I don't see why that would be an issue. I think it's great. Your last reason, I actually understand...but you have to keep in mind that Kobe Bryant is going to have a statue right next to Magic's. My friends went to Chicago, and they said people still walk around in Jordan jerseys, and wear them to games. A lot of them. I thought they were just being stupid because they love Jordan to death, but my girlfriend went there three years ago, and she told me the same exact thing, not even knowing what they had said. Not to turn this into a Kobe/Jordan discussion, though. It's just that a lot of people consider Kobe the greatest Laker of all-time, and they have a legit reason to. He's got five rings, as many as Magic, and he has knocked out all of Baylor's scoring records AND is the longest-tenured Laker of all-time. He also has a three-peat under his belt, something Magic, Kareem, West, Wilt and Baylor don't have (only Mikan accomplished it once, in the early 50's, with limited teams in the league...and Shaq is the other, of course). If he gets his second three-peat, that will be yet another milestone. There's nothing bad about wanting to play in New York. The problem is, he's wanting JUST the Knicks, and he's not signing any extension with any other team, and this is all happening in November and December. If Carmelo is going to be that picky, he should've just left it all on the table, let it all play out, and become a free agent in July, no matter where he's at by the end of February. All he EVER had to say was, "I want to become a free agent in 2011, so I won't sign an extension with the Nuggets." That's it. Then, in July, he can go anywhere.

Yeah, it's a toss-up, really. I just don't think that the Spurs could beat the Celtics in a seven-game series, if we were to go into the playoffs today.

I have a feeling Melo doesn't want to lose too much support from his fans in Denver, so it makes sense to deny the report. The only way I'll change my mind about that is if he signs his extension somewhere else, other than Denver and New York...because after all, Melo has given us every indication he wants to live in NY.

Other than the trial, which was in 2003, why do you hate Kobe? Unless Kate Faber was your sister or you're related to Vanessa Bryant, I don't see the reason for it. LeBron's actions have all come within the last 1-2 years. Danced around that ONE game? He did it in almost every win they had. Which game do you think I was talking about? The most severe instance of it was against the Bulls...but even Cavaliers fans on RCF thought it was annoying and embarrassing throughout the season, also...and that was when he was leading them to 60+ wins. My point is, Bryant's image has been repaired, beyond a shadow of a doubt. There are still fans who are flipping out about the 2003 incident, but it has nothing to do with them, their team, or the game...so clinching something like that for so long is a bit weird, don't you think? But if LeBron and the Heat beat the Lakers on Christmas Day, and he's dancing around the court (he probably won't because Riley would put a boot in his ass), that would give me another reason to hate him. You can hate Kobe the person...but we're talking what Carmelo and LeBron are doing to affect more than one team in this league (LeBron and multiple teams, Melo and Denver/NY/NJ). There's a big difference between what you do well outside of a basketball court, and what you do that affects the game of basketball and the fans who both support, and don't support, your play and your team.

Bryant wasn't playing bad early in the season because of the hand, though. He was coming off his knee surgery. He almost missed the home opener. The knee is fine now. You can't be overplayed just 20-25 games into the season unless you're playing 45 minutes per game AND asked to shoot 20+ times. Gasol has a hamstring issue, the same one he had last year that caused him to miss part of the season (the beginning of it, actually), but it's not bad enough to keep him off the court this time around. You predicted the last two Lakers championships...but there's no relevance to that because I did as well, and so did many Lakers fans who think we're going to win our third consecutive title. There was no point in you telling anyone you predicted them. Good for you...it doesn't add legitimacy to your current prediction because you're not the only one in that boat. So, with a similar starting record produced in their last 2-3 seasons, and the fact that they have come from behind to win a lot of their games this season...you really think the Jazz can beat a healthy Lakers team? They were swept last season. We have knocked them out of the playoffs for the last three years, where their record against us in the post-season has been a combined 12-3. What makes you think Al Jefferson changes all of that? No Boozer, no Brewer to defend Kobe, undersized...there's nothing that would make anyone think that.

Yeah, that's true. I think it would be best in Nash's system because he can curl off a pick and roll, go straight to the rim and look for a pass. Never really has to handle the ball if Nash is dominating it. Teams would have to adjust to him just to fit him into the lineups, and that may be why he's been a disappointment.

I know all of that. It's not about LeBron going full speed to the rim, it's him running the offense or dictating what they are going to do back down the court. When he gets a defensive stop or rebound (or steal, whatever), he can run the break, slow it down and drop the ball to Chalmers, bring the ball up himself, whatever. He could play off the ball and demand it, then take a jumper or drive and kick out to James Jones. Basically, a play is ran through, or for, LeBron. I actually thought this was most evident during that Hornets game. I watched it last night, and it's basically how they are doing it. I'm not sure if it applies to anyone else other than the big three, though...because I saw Chalmers get a couple of nice stops on one end, then become invisible on offense back down the court.

They are going to have to beat the best teams in the NBA before they are considered the best team in the NBA. Sorry. The entire Celtics team would chuckle reading that, and I'm pretty sure the Spurs, Mavs and Lakers would all do the same.