Real Deal

It looks like Deng is the best player in Chicago anyways, and there's no way Hinrich (or anyone, for that matter) can hold Bryant by themselves, especially when they are wrapped up like a mummy from all the injuries.

LOL, the NBA is not rigged. Milwaukee was up six with a minute to go. If the league was rigged, that would've never, ever happened, because it's extremely difficult for ANY team to win the game being down by that much, with that little time left. And that was a travel, and it was also a blocking foul. Bogut's feet were moving. He probably needs to take a class in Flopping 101 if he thinks otherwise. Complain about the refs all you want, but it was Andrew Bynum getting hacked down low all game, didn't get to the line once. Kobe's seven turnovers, and his poor shooting in the first half, was the main reason why Milwaukee stayed in the game. Otherwise, a healthy Kobe, and the Lakers, would've smoked them in three quarters. EDIT: Hahaha, I take back what I said. No travel, and Bogut was out of the circle on that charge, AND still moving. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89w3ciG7lMQ

Battier goes to the bench, and you turn Ariza into a spot-up shooter that feeds off of McGrady's passing. Otherwise, you trade T-Mac.

That big three, especially Arenas, should be making teammates better. Look what Garnett, Pierce and Allen have done for Rondo, Perkins and House. Did anyone know who Shannon Brown was when he played in Cleveland? How good was Trevor Ariza in New York, or Orlando? Washington has Foye, Miller, Blatche, Haywood, McGee, McGuire, Young, Stevenson, Boykins, James, and Oberto (probably leaving one or two out). Problem is, Arenas is shooting the ball 18 times per game at under 40%, and Caron is getting 14 shots per at under 42% shooting. Even then, Arenas is turning the ball over almost four times a night, Washington is 21st in points allowed per 100 possessions, 23rd in points per 100, they have no leadership on the floor, no defense among their players and no defensive coaching with Flip Saunders. I don't see how it's not obvious that Washington needs to toss Gilbert aside. He's becoming what McGrady and Redd are to their teams, what Marbury was to the Knicks, and what Baron Davis is to the Clippers: a player that scores, stops the ball, turns it over, plays zero defense, and does nothing else for his team. It's why the Knicks are garbage, why Houston kept getting tossed in the first round, why Milwaukee was nothing without Jennings, and why the Clippers are still a joke. Injuries, just having a bad year, whatever...he hasn't done anything for Washington since suiting up for them. He's shot 43% or less from the field almost every season of his career, he completely choked in the 2005 Playoffs, did absolutely nothing in the 2008 Playoffs, and the team actually looked better without him a few seasons back. Arenas is done, and the sad thing is, he has about $96 million, five years left on his contract. Keep him for those five, and you might as well write off any success this team will have in that time frame. It was being strongly preached that the Wizards were going to do very well, maybe grab that fourth seed, and I actually believed it at first...but open your eyes, this team is doomed as long as they have Arenas running the offense, and I should've stayed with my summer prediction of exactly that.

Roll with the big three until they retire, then. Apparently, you're still banking on Arenas to be fully healthy someday. That trio has been together since the 2005-06 season, and there have been a total of four failed seasons, not including this one (which will also be a failure). Fact is, Gilbert was supposed to be 100%. He was supposed to be a changed man. The Wizards were supposed to be a 50+ win team. None of that will happen this year, and it hasn't happened in the last four, either. When you settle for mediocrity on a yearly basis, you become the laughingstock of the sport you play in. The Clippers did this, and now they are the butt of everyone's jokes. The Seattle Supersonics did this, and now Seattle wishes they had their team back. The Knicks re-signed all of their favorite players a few years back (like Washington has done now) and they are now praying to the basketball gods that LeBron rescues them next season, or else they are done for another ten years. Kobe just dropped 42 tonight, with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. Brett Favre has played the last 2-3 years of his career injured. Those are greats who get the job done, no matter what...athletes that teams would like to build their franchise around. Well, Gilbert isn't that player. He's not even half that. I knew it before the season started, and I knew it two years ago after watching him crawl around against the Cavs in the playoffs: he's done as that starting point, that leader that everyone thought he was. His clutch is gone, he scores a lot of points on open shots or screens, and he plays absolutely no defense and makes poor decisions with the ball in crucial moments of play. If Washington finds a suitor, it's go time. Trade him and move on, like Houston needs to do with Tracy McGrady and Milwaukee needs to do with Michael Redd...all guys who can give you 20 points, but do everything else to hurt your team in the long run, big contracts, while staying injured most of the time on or off the court.

Probably because Bynum and Odom have been giving up a lot.

SRV, you can definitely learn a ton on computers using the net. I've taken college courses as well, but I can say that the internet has given me more knowledge than anything else, combined with having to actually work on my own computer from time to time (along with others' junk), and even rebuilding one or two.

That "big three" was healthy in 2006, when they all played 75 games or more, and they still won just 42. Do whatever it takes to trade Arenas. He's done as a winning starter in this league. He never did change. Jamison doesn't play any defense, but at least he knows how to score the ball without shooting 30% from the field. And Caron Butler isn't a good defensive player. He was a matador in Miami, even worse in Los Angeles, and he's one in Washington. The only defensive player on the team is Brendan Haywood. Trade Gilbert for whatever you can get (preferably a pick), never play Stevenson again, trade Butler for an expiring, use your draft pick to snag Derrick Favors (someone who will play defense), move Jamison down to the SF position, and use free agency to bring in a starting point guard, even Nate Robinson would suffice.

This is better than the dancing, no question about it. That kid will remember that for the rest of his life.

Nothing is certain when Kobe is injured. This team doesn't know how to run the triangle with him out or in bad shape, so who knows what'll happen tonight.

Yeah, you can pretty much do whatever you want on that thing. How about sending me your old one? Thanks.

Harris is a legit combo guard. Keep him and draft Wall, which takes the pressure off of Devin a bit, helps him stay healthy, and go straight for LeBron in FA. Bring CDR off the bench as the sixth man, start Lopez with whatever power forward you decide can run with the five, and you have a very, very scary team that jumps from worst in the East to one of the best in the NBA. C - Lopez PF - your neighbor SF - LeBron SG - Harris PG - Wall Sixth - Douglas-Roberts Hell, you could even play LeBron at the four quite a bit (especially against a few small East teams) and start CDR.

Too bad you guys weren't die-hard fans when Barkley was traded to Phoenix. I know a 48-year old Sixers fan (friends with my dad) who used to live in Chestnut Hill (not even sure where that's at), and he said a ton of older Philly fans stopped watching basketball after the Sixers traded Barkley for Hornacek, and it started after Barkley won the MVP that following year. This current state that they are in has to be up there, though, with the younger audience (which I'll go ahead and say that includes me as well, since I wasn't THAT big of an NBA fan in 1992). Eddie Jordan had three all-star caliber players in Washington, and he managed to win less than 46 games every year, and despite the injury-plagued seasons, there were one or two where they were all healthy enough to win 50. Actually, I can't remember the one year that Eddie actually coached well, in Washington or Sacramento.

Well, again, East teams play each other 3-4 times a year (same with the West). Opposing conferences play each other only twice. So while the Heat would play the Nets four times, the Spurs only play the Nets twice...and in the same fashion, the Heat play the Lakers twice, yet the Spurs play LA four times. And that is where winning percentages come into play.

Dude was licking the blood off his gloves, too, which is really crazy.

JaMarcus Russell = Ryan Leaf.

If Wade wanted to contend, he'd do whatever it takes. He's a combo guard anyways.

Gasol has never attempted more than 15 shots per game in his career, even as a primary option in Memphis. Right now, he's at 12 per, one less than what he took last season as an NBA champion. With the addition of Ron Artest, and a healthy Bynum, I'm not sure what he expected this year...but averaging nearly the same amount as last year isn't that big of a deal. But yeah, with that said, he deserves more shots. Bynum is getting 12, Artest with 11, Gasol with 12, Kobe with almost 22. That has to change now that Kobe is injured. Otherwise, it was working, and it gave us the best record in the league.

Yeah, Bynum averaged just 6 PPG, 4 RPG on 46% shooting in the 2009 Playoffs. I can't say he really contributed like a HOF'er, let alone an all-star or even a very good sixth man. Odom has no shot at the Hall, and Fisher isn't even close. Gasol was a second-round virgin until he became a Laker, and everyone was determined to make this a point right when the trade happened, claiming that he was too soft to go up against the likes of other great power forwards, and the Lakers, despite being contenders, still needed a solid second option. Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, David Robinson, John Stockton...those are HOF'ers. Gasol would only get in because of his success in international play, while guys like Fisher and Odom have absolutely no chance at all.

Yeah, and man, we close that paint up quickly on defense, and I LOVE that. That's something we haven't done as well (consistently, at least) in the past, and that's one of the reasons why Derrick Rose came out of his shell for about 20 minutes of that championship game in 2008. John Wall is the best freshman in college basketball, hands down...and I worry about that...but I'm still confident we can make it happen. And credit has to go to Bill Self...I rarely give him props, but he's doing a great job.

Damn Diego. He has no patience. He was acting like he wanted to get the fight over with, quickly, every 30 seconds...and every rush he made at Penn, he'd get stuck in the jaw. He didn't come into this fight smart enough to beat Penn, simple as that, and because of it, he didn't land hardly anything (with the exception of a nasty uppercut against the cage, but he failed to capitalize on it). Diego may be good at 155, but he's not good enough to beat Penn. In fact, I think he's lost too much weight. As far as the Kongo fight goes...saw that coming from a mile. The only chance Kongo had against Mir was keeping it a slugfest, but once he hit the dirt, that was all she wrote. Mir is just too good of a submission artist for his weight, and it could've been a simple armbar, ankle lock or the choke...Kongo was still done at that point. The Fitch fight was weak. Pierce decided to fight with less than a minute to go, and by then, it was too late. Garcia and Johnson surprised me. I figured Johnson was going to get bloodied quickly, and it almost looked like it was his fate, but that nasty kick and triangle was wicked. I'm sad that Guida lost, but he needs to cover up against someone like Kenny. I know he loves getting punched, but the cut was way too much for him to overcome, and it came from one of Florian's elbows to begin with (no surprise there). The Buentello/Struve fight was just odd. Both were gassed, and neither wanted to jump on any chance of winning once they landed something nice. It was worth $50, but I'm just disappointed in Diego getting crushed. The cut on his head was insane, came from BJ's shin, and right when it opened up, I think everyone knew the fight was over.

Love the Jayhawks, and I think they are playing amazing defense and scoring buckets from all over the court...but man, these games get boring QUICK. As much as I enjoy us winning all the time, I don't like watching blowouts.

Well, I still think it lies on the fact that dominant centers are too hard to find. Kobe is just as dominant. I don't think anyone here can name me one single player that can lock him up all by themselves in two consecutive games (to avoid the fluke). The fact is, Kobe has done more with less, because since Shaq's first year or two in Orlando, he has never went a season without a star guard. Kobe does more on the court than O'Neal does. But today, you want a dominant center, mainly because there are less in the league, and because there are plenty of all-star caliber guards to select from...so if I'm building a team, I take Shaq. The only problem is, I'd have to be guaranteed to get that all-star teammate, or else I take Kobe. I trust that Bryant would do more work, and find more success, in that situation of being alone...while Shaq had no chance at beating the Bulls in the first round with Wade being injured (champs were swept), and his play in Phoenix was just ugly when Nash decided to just dump him the ball and let him do whatever he wanted.

They don't? I could've swore I paid for one of my shirts via Paypal.

Wow, this is a bad thing for Kobe. He's gotta heal up as fast as he can. I don't even know why he shot 24 times to begin with.