Built Ford Tough

If DeRozan is still in the game after this commercial break, I sense a first career ejection coming up for him. He looks ready to snap on the refs. Can't say I blame him, though. He has gotten absolutely no calls from what I have seen (2nd half) in this game.

Is there a member of the Raptors who understands the concept of help defense? God this team is pathetic. Speaking of pathetic, I think Ajinca is worse than Alabi. The guy is the definition of a scrub.

Bargnani missed the first game too. DeRozan gets no love from refs. I know that he is taking some dumb, off balance shots in this quarter but a foul is a foul. Nice move by Bayless to end the quarter. That was a nasty cross over on Barea. Lucky that he got the and 1, though as I definitely think that was a charge and not a block.

How different is the gameplay? I loved the first game, but the one complaint that I had about it was that the gameplay was a bit choppy. The story was amazing, graphics were great and the voice acting was top notch, but the gameplay definitely could've used some work. I don't have my PS3 at the moment so I can't download the demo to check it out for myself.

If I was a Suns fan, I'd probably want to miss the playoffs this season. I know that Nash doesn't have much left in the tank and only has a few more years, but even then, I'd probably rather miss the playoffs this season so that the first rounder you traded to Houston for Brooks would be the Magic's first, which will be a late first, instead of a mid first like it would be if the Suns actually make the playoffs. Then again, with a draft as weak as this one projects to be, maybe making the playoffs and being able to watch an extra 4 games would be more beneficial than a mid first rounder. I'd take the draft pick over a sweep, though.

According to Ford, that is exactly who the Cavs have their eye on. If Cleveland gets LeBron for 7 years, tanks for one season and winds up with Irving while Toronto gets shafted in the draft yet again, I think I may go and put a hit on David Stern. Life in prison is a small price to pay for the league to finally be rid of him, right?

Being without Boozer was probably a good thing for their defense. He is just awful on that end of the floor. What is most impressive about the Bulls being so solid defensively is that outside of Deng and Noah (who like you said, missed 30 some games), they don't really have one starter who would be considered better than average. Often times they have 3 pretty poor defenders on the floor at once with Boozer, Korver and Rose and yet they are still among the top. It is like Howard constantly anchoring the Magic's defense to a top 5 ranking despite the fact that he is constantly surrounded by trash on that end of the floor.

It is an insider article, so I'll only post a tidbit of it: He has Kyrie Irving, Perry Jones and Jared Sullinger ahead of Williams on his top 100 board. Anybody know anything about his game? I haven't seen him play before and I've read that he is pretty much a 3/4 tweener. People have apperantly said that he is basically a less talented, less athletic version of Michael Beasley and that doesn't really sound all that appealing to me. In a weak draft, I guess that warrants first overall consideration, though. Personally, unless Irving's foot injury proves to be career threatening or threatens to have long term implications on his game, I don't see how you pass him up with the first pick in this years draft. He showed more in his first 6 games than any other prospect has shown all season long at least from what I have seen. EDIT: I forgot to mention that this is clearly subject to change once the tournament rolls around. There is always one player who shoots up the draft boards due to his play in the tournament (Rose, Hayward, O'Bryant just to name a few) so who knows what the discussion will be in a couple months time once the college season is all wrapped up and workouts start to begin.

Guy has the worst shooting performance in the last 25 years and this is what you are going to hate on him for tonight? Drawing an offense foul on a flop (albeit a brutal one) was about the only good thing he did tonight.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/NBA-Draft-Prospect-of-the-Week-Perry-Jones-3630/ A lot more at the link, including the video that is mentioned in the last sentence, which I think is worth the 6 minutes. It isn't just a highlight package like you see on Youtube but instead it actually features game footage. All in all, this is a great read from John Givony, who is one of the best draft guys around. I would much rather read what he writes than somebody like Jay Bilas or Chad Ford (no offense to either one of them). People talk about him being a small forward and all, but I just don't see it. I don't claim to be an expert or anything on him as I have only seen about 4 Baylor games this season, and they were at the beginning of the year when he was being underutilized, but I definitely see him more as a face up 4 who operates in the high post, much like Chris Bosh, although Jones looks to have more potential as a passer and ball hander while not possessing the jumper that Bosh has. Obviously he can develop more of a perimeter game as he is still young, but I defintiely see him as a high post 4 more than a 3, althoujgh he looks like he has the ability to play the 3 at times. Anyways, I will just end my post here as I don't want to post a bunch of nonsense. I'll just reccomend taking a read and watching the video posted in the link because they are both excellent and provide a lot of information on Jones.

Well it makes perfect sense now why they gutted their frontcourt. They are getting Leon [expletive]ing Powe!

Absolutely. If you can't afford to take on salary or include cash in a trade, you shouldn't be able to do it. They shouldn't be able to use the NBA's money in a trade because they can't afford to do it themselves. If you don't have the money to make a deal, you don't make the deal. It really is as simple as that as far as I am concerned.

A lot of teams had a busy deadline, including some contenders like Boston and OKC. However, some of the top teams in the league who were expected to make a move or two before the deadline, such as the Bulls, Magic and Mavs, had a quiet deadline. Others who probably could've benefited from a move, such as Miami, just didn't have the pieces to get anything done. So which of these top teams in their respective conference do you think should've made a move at the deadline?

He got a point, though. It is pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

Still, it doesn't really change the fact that he is going to look to get paid this summer and the Suns will be forced to make a decision on him. He is going to make more than the $2.1M that they would've paid Dragic next season and he is a bigger name so I would imagine he will sign a more lucrative deal than what Dragic will get after next season. That was just one minor reason why I dislike this trade for Phoenix. The main reasons I don't like this trade for the Suns is because they are giving up a first round pick and because I just don't see Aaron Brooks as the point guard of the future. To be fair, I didn't see Dragic as that either, but at least with Dragic he can run an offense half assed. Brooks is pretty much a less talented, 5'10 version of Gilbert Arenas. Whenever I have watched him he has never shown the ability to run an offense at all. If the Suns plan on continuing to run the system that they have, Brooks is going to be an awful fit in that offense. Sure he may get his own offense, but every other Sun who feeds off of open looks is going to be in trouble with him running the show. Bottom line is the Suns management continues to show their incompetence. Great deal for Houston, though.

What I don't understand about this trade is that Brooks is an expiring and will be looking for a fat contract this offseason. It would be one thing to trade for a young, struggling point guard like Darren Collison (just first name that came to mind), but Brooks isn't any younger than Dragic (might even be older although I think they are the same age) and I think it is safe to say that Brooks is a finished product at this point. I honestly don't think I would've traded Dragic straight up for Brooks, all things considered. Adding a first into the trade is just ridiculous. Suns management is just baffling. They really have no idea what they want to do with this team.

What did you expect to happen? The Raptors had very little to work with after they traded away the Miami pick. Their only real trade assets were: Calderon - Nobody is going to take that contract on, especially considering the relatively low demand for point guards right now. Not too many teams were really after a point guard, especially one who is being paid another $19M over the next two years. Barbosa - There was a bit of a demand for a shooting guard from teams like Chicago and Boston. However, Barbosa's health is a huge question mark considering how much time he has missed this season and the well known fact that he is going to need surgery sooner or later. $7M next season may be a tough pill to swallow for a team if Barbosa ends up being hampered by injuries again next season. He already isn't the player he once was and he needs another surgery. Evans - He is a 5th big, rebounding specialist who seems to have a knack for getting hurt and missing significant amounts of time. Looking through the deals made today, most of the deals involving big men were either bonafide centers (Perkins, Nazr, Pryzbilla) or young and/or cheap bigs (Erden, Thabeet). Evans is neither a legit center or young. It would've been nice to move him for a pick, but really, did you expect that to happen? I'd much rather they hold onto him than flip him for a late 2nd and a contract or something like that. Don't get me wrong, I would've loved to see a trade as much as the next guy, but the bottom line is the Raptors didn't really have much to work with outside of these three players and the TPE. I would much rather see them not make a trade than make one just because they can. PS: According to his interview on the Fan earlier today, he had the opportunity to make a few trades but would have to give up the Raptors 1st in order to do so. At least that is what he said.

Looks like I was right about him at least contemplating comng back: . http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/211434/Sources_Rasheed_Contemplating_Comeback

Celtics also got a 2nd out of this deal, for what its worth.

http://twitter.com/ESPNinsider_/status/40876250306314240 http://twitter.com/ESPNinsider_/status/40872237686980608 If this is true, I think Miami will have officially passed the Celtics as the best team in the East. Even if these don't happen, they may have already surpassed them after Ainge's deadline moves. Either way, a stretch four like Murphy and a PG like Bibby would be very nice on this team. Neither one of them are the players they used to be, but both of their games fit fairly nice with Miami's style, especially Bibby.

On the Trade Deadline show on NBA TV they talked about this for about 10 minutes and everybody said Davis won't seek a buyout and will definitely be suiting up for the Cavs. One has to wonder if a buyout would be better, though. We saw how an unhappy Baron Davis played in LA, could you imagine how terrible he will be in Cleveland?

I know there was talk about this earlier in the year, but I thought I would bring it up again. With Boston absolutely gutting their front line to now consist of a 38 year old Shaq, a broken down JO, an undersized Davis and a scrubby Kristic, do you think that this opens the door to a Sheed return? I know there is a bunch of talk about Murphy coming back and all that, but I think this may be a possible scenario. Does anybody see this happening? It obviously wouldn't make up for losing Perkins, but if he can get into shape and play motivated (huge question marks) I'd rather have him over Murphy.

Just an FYI, there is talk of Charlotte buying Pryzbilla out so that he can join a contender in time for the playoffs.

Atlanta and Montreal also had a trade. Brent Sopel and Nigel Dawes to the Habs for Ben Maxwell and a 4th.

Multiple people said that in the chat that I was getting all of my info from. It got shut down before I could post any link, though. Should've mentioned that probably.