Real Deal

C - Dalembert PF - Brand/Young SF - Iguodala SG - Williams PG - Iverson Bench Young or Brand once Williams returns, stick Iverson at the point, and run with that five. I'd play Williams at the point, but you'd much rather have Iverson defending the smaller, quicker guards. There are too many offensively-injected SG's in the NBA, and Williams is a better defender.

I could create a subforum for other sports articles. I'm just not sure if it would be a good idea to add football writers to the basketball writing staff. Maybe we can discuss this later down the road, possibly at the start of the new year. We could have baseball writers, maybe even some guys who will want to write about the MMA or soccer, so it's not going to be ruled out just yet.

Yeah, I get where they think passing the ball takes a ton of IQ, but Duncan's defensive IQ is far greater than LeBron's, and I would go on to say that his offensive IQ is just as good, if not better.

I'm really, really excited about this.

We have a few guys going around with excuses as to why they left OTR, mainly to our affiliates, which (in their minds) will be a good way to turn people away from us. One of their excuses is that 80-90% of the site is full of Lakers fans. And they'll see the topic here because they still browse OTR, despite leaving or being banned. Really not so happy about guys blasting our community, either. Plus, it's always good to see what teams' fans we need more of.

Just selected the active members for the last couple of days, 109 of them. Here we go... .50. (Cavaliers) .thnextone (Nuggets) andreusito (Suns) Anhemta25 (Rockets) AtTheDriveIn (Magic) BadgerFan (none) BasX (Raptors) Big Chief Triangle (Lakers) bigdog17k (Magic) BlueDevil (Hawks) Brand New (Lakers) bravenewworld (Heat) Built Ford Tough (Raptors) CaliCurbStomppa (Nuggets) Celtics3420 (Celtics) ChosenOne (Rockets) Cleveland's Finest (Cavaliers) CobbFC09 (Hawks) Confidence (Lakers) Dabearfan101 (Bulls) damien (Nets) Dash (Rockets) deestillballin (Mavericks) Doc (Raptors) Dr. Feelgood (Blazers) Eastcoast Assassin (Wizards) EastCoastNiner (Celtics) Epidemik (Mavericks) Erick Blasco (none) Eternal (Lakers) Fartman (Hornets) Fish7718 (Knicks) Flash (Heat) fly3rs18 (Sixers) Force (Lakers) GamerGuy (Lakers) Gil-Zero (Wizards) godfathermonkey (Lakers) GogglesNaproN (Lakers) Gooner (Bulls) GURU™ (Nets) His Greatness (Sixers) HornyWetPenguin (Sixers) HotSauce81 (Lakers) iBoldin (Hornets) Ignition (Cavaliers) jamas33 (Lakers) John (Suns) JYD (Knicks) King Bosh (Raptors) kingfish (Lakers) Klashnekoff (Nets) Kobe24 (Lakers) Kobe824 (Lakers) Lafan9 (Lakers) Lakerzboy (Lakers) Lambeezy (Celtics) Legacy (Warriors) Lkr (Lakers) LocalGunfighter (Suns) Lone Wolf (Wolves) Makaveli (Lakers) Mamba Man 420 (Lakers) Massacre (Lakers) mav4life (Mavericks) MiamiSolja7 (Heat) MilwaukeeBucks (Bucks) MJ23 (Bulls) MoeRoadKill (Thunder) Mr. Clutch (Lakers) N4S (Sixers) NeTs15VC (Nets) Nissan (Lakers) OG_Kush (none) OldChili (Magic) PapaDoink (Suns) papertrail (Cavaliers) Phightins (Sixers) Poe (Heat) Poohdini (Grizzlies) Real Deal (Lakers) richkid_33 (Rockets) Riot (Magic) s.t.a.t. (Wolves) Showtime3000 (Lakers) Sky (Lakers) Smitty (Sixers) Sportsguy9695 (Nets) SRV (Heat) Sun Tzu (Suns) Swish (Magic) TASHstrocity (Lakers) The Next Knick (Knicks) TheHutch (Cavaliers) travesy3 (Raptors) trutrojan8 (Nuggets) Universe (Nets) Vital24 (Lakers) Vitasoy (Lakers) Waldo (Nets) Warren2ThaG (Lakers) Willie Green (Lakers) wired (Raptors) X-Phylez (Lakers) Ya Dig! (Hornets) Years (Jazz) YoSixers (Sixers) Zero (Rockets) Zolor23 (Celtics) 30 Lakers fans, 27% of our active members. 27%. Four of them just registered, four others are here just for the Sim League, and of the members we've lost in the last week, none of them were Lakers fans. Ever posted on RealGM? How many Lakers fans do you think they have? How many Raptors fans? You'd be surprised to know there are tons. So before we start throwing out inaccurate statements about OTR in attempts to shy posters away from the site, let's get our facts straight. I really don't like doing things like this, but sometimes, it needs to be done, to educate those who just don't take the time to lay everything out on the table before opening their mouths. After I finish up the current projects I'm working on, I'll set time aside to recruit. Once that's finished, it'll be hard to take any jabs, at all, about our collection of posters...something I really can't stand anyone doing.

True, but I'd stick Tim Duncan in that list somewhere.

New Jersey will be the one raking in attention because they can be a playoff team in the East, if everyone is healthy. Even with Love on the court, the Wolves will be a bottom team in the league, so while there's no jaw-dropping going on in Minnesota, you can't say the same for the Nets.

Not everyone shot the ball well. Jennings was terrible once again.

Because, quite frankly, nobody cares about Big Z anymore, despite his long journey with the Cavs.

Good help defense, not a good man-to-man defender (sort of like Camby, except less defense).

Just to boost morale a bit more... OTR was up for 53 months before the hack. I deleted probably 30,000 posts over that amount of time, so add that to the 620,000 we put up. 650,000 posts, divided by the 53 months...12,264 posts a month, on average. This November, we've hit just over 10,000 posts. We can surely do better, but we aren't as bad as I thought when compared to our averages.

Haha, I'm sorry...but Jose Calderon? Again? He shot 1-7 from the field, was absolutely murdered by Nash, and didn't get to the line at all. Five of the players for Phoenix had 15 or more points (Nash, Amare, Barbosa, Richardson and Frye), shot 51% from the floor, 43% from three, and won the game by 19 points after a 50-49 halftime score. Toronto needs work.

I actually thought the point guard play by the Knicks was going to keep the game tied up until the final seconds of the game. J-Will wasn't doing a great job defending anyone out there, and Anthony Johnson was just too slow. Lee did a number on Howard, wore him out a bit, but it was nice seeing the Magic look to Dwight in the post more...which helped him get to the line and ultimately make for an easier win by Orlando.

Yeah, like I was saying earlier, having McGrady back takes the ball out of Ariza's hands, and it means that Trevor can go spot up and knock down shots. When you combine that with Battier doing the same thing, Landry's improved scoring and Brooks slashing, you have a team that can hurt you in more ways than one (which, right now, is the pick and roll).

The problem is that Wade is trying to work Jermaine like he did Shaq in 2006, and that's not going to happen. Jermaine isn't going to command that much attention in the post, so he's going to need to work the two-man with Beasley (even though Beasley is no Shaq as well, but he's a threat from more spots on the floor).

I don't know about Gasol, but he's better than Andrew, who has been playing average to below-average defense all season long. Shot-blocking is okay, but you also have to stop your man, not just the small penetrating guards that blow past Fisher. I can't say that Gasol is a top ten defender...I guess you can argue he's top ten, at least...but no way is he in the top five.

Conley isn't a starter. Run Mayo at the two, Tinsley at the point, Arthur at the four and bring both Randolph and Conley off the bench. Both don't belong in that first unit with Mayo, Gay and Gasol on the floor. EDIT: Is Arthur hurt?

There is no way Detroit should've won this game, not with Gordon, Prince and Hamilton out. Despite being on the road, this was the Hawks' chance for an easy win, and they just blew it. On a side note, Smith is playing really well. I've been impressed with him so far this year.

...and not only that, but Kevin Martin looks like a good piece to move. Sacramento could get quite a bit out of him...young, explosive scorer, could be used as a second option on a team needing one to get over the hump in the playoff race. Build around Evans, bring in some defenders, and beef up the five a little.

The other thing I just realized was that we almost hit 400 without me actually posting much. Before this one and the other few posts I've had since the day ended, I posted maybe 20 times, probably less. That's definitely a good thing, because usually, boards struggling with activity tend to lean on their staff for an extra boost, and you guys didn't need that today.

Yep, both Scott and Johnson have had success in the past. Johnson and Scott would both push for defense as well.

Yeah, Przybilla has been a good defender throughout his career. I don't consider Josh Smith a big man. His position is at the four, but he's not a big. Greg Oden Joakim Noah Tim Duncan Dwight Howard Kendrick Perkins That's my top five, no particular order. You can make arguments for... Brendan Haywood Chuck Hayes Joel Przybilla Marc Gasol Kenyon Martin

I plan on adding something cool for us in the next few days, finishing all of the promo sigs I've been working on, and getting to those player databases. Some of my recent decisions...I wish I would've made a long time ago, so I'm sorry for that. Probably best to have made them before the season started, but we all make mistakes. It's much tougher to reconstruct and replace while the season is in progress, but it's never impossible.

Just thought you guys would be interested in our recent activity. Post count is reaching for the 400's again, but better yet, our actual posts are of really good quality, and that's even more important. Very impressed with what we are doing right now, especially tonight. Great, great, great job guys. Our most productive day since 11/16. http://i46.tinypic.com/166j0ap.jpg