Nitro

You're the one who said LeBron doesn't want to play in Newark, and you're the one who said Brooklyn wouldn't be the draw for the Nets. Both unfounded statements. This entire topic, as I mentioned earlier, is about LeBron saying to "a source" that he wanted to LIVE in NYC...two years ago. A normal sensationalized story by the NY media. Stop spending so much time focusing on dissecting what Universe says and back-up what the original point of this topic is. I also don't see what the problem is with playing in Newark for 2 years. The Prudential Center is one of the nicest arenas in the country, and playing right across the Hudson leaves him in the same media market. Not quite the same stage as playing in the Garden, but he'll still get roughly the same exposure. And when they move to Brooklyn in 2 years it'll all get even bigger.

How in the world do you have Steph so far ahead of Steve Francis (and almost every other PG on that list)? And Cassell only had 5 really good to great seasons this decade...if number of seasons affects your view on guys like Paul and Williams, it should be the same for Cassell (and Marbury, Francis, etc..). As for my list... 1a) Steve Nash 1b) Jason Kidd 3) Chris Paul 4) Deron Williams 5) Chauncey Billups 6) Baron Davis 7) Tony Parker 8) Andre Miller 9) Sam Cassell 10) Mike Bibby Put Nash and Kidd at 1a, 1b. If I had to pick I'd put Nash slightly over Kidd because Kidd hasn't been the same player the last 3 seasons, never won an MVP, and Nash overall is just a much better offensive player. I put Paul at #3 and D-Will at #4 because they have been so far and away better than the non-Nash/Kidd PG's ever were in the last few seasons. Probably could put D-Will over Paul because of playoff success, but Paul was 2nd in MVP voting in 2008 and led the Hornets to a surprising run through the post-season. Paul is the slightly better player so I put him ahead. Billups is a Finals MVP, always been a very good defender and scorer, and from 2003-2009 made the Conference Finals every single season (winning 2 of them). His success really put him up a spot or two in my list. Davis was the best of the Marbury/Francis types, and unlike them his teams had some playoff success and he's remained consistent and in the league throughout the decade. Parker is another Finals MVP, has 3 rings and has been an All-Star. Once again, success counts in my eyes. Miller's been extremely consistent over the decade and was once an assists-leader. I put him over Cassell because Cassell only had 5 really good seasons this decade, while Miller did it the entire decade. If we're talking career, Cassell is hands down the better choice. And then Bibby rounds out the lineup because he's been consistent, teams have had success and he's always been a good PG.

1) The biggest player on the US team in soccer is 6'4'', 210lbs. That's an undersized SG in the NBA. Most players on the US roster are below 6ft, 180lbs. Let's say the physicality was 100% equal in both sports (which it absolutely is not, but play along), just different...who do you think is going to feel the affects of a foul more? A player getting hit by a 5'10'', 180lbs athlete, or a player getting hit by the 6'8'', 260lbs athlete? 2) NBA players don't get tripped up? You consider falling on the soccer field a nastier fall than falling on the basketball court from a few feet in the air after getting fouled hard going to the rim? 3) Yes, there are OCCASIONS where soccer players have to use physicality. But all players on the soccer field do NOT have to be physical virtually the entire game. In the NBA, everytime down the floor you have to deal with elbows, blatant fouls, jersey pulling, tripping, hip checks, and whatever punishment a player like Dwyane Wade has to take on his hard drives to the rim. And that's every single player...on every single possession. In soccer it's just the players with the ball, and whenever there is a free/corner kick. There is FAR more physicality in the NBA because the punishment is dished out on a consistent basis the entire game. It was an example, not to set a standard. If I used 5 different soccer games, and 5 different NBA games, completely random, and accumulated the averages, the fouls per minute will always come out to over 2:1 in favor of the NBA. In that example it happened to be over 3:1. 1) You're not getting my point...I explained to you how much more involved the NBA game is, and how much there is to ref ON EVERY POSSESSION. In soccer, there is very little to referee except offsides (when once in a blue moon a team is actually in scoring position), hand-balls and fouls (which as I showed are far less common in soccer than the NBA). So yes, there may be only one referee in soccer, but there are at least 3x more penalties to enforce in the NBA. That is why I said that the NBA having 3 refs and soccer having only 1 makes no difference. You can't possibly have 1 referee in an NBA game...you can in soccer, even if the results leave something to be desired. 2) Soccer is more spread out than the NBA, yes...that doesn't mean much. Except for on free/corner kicks, there is really no physicality to enforce in off-ball situations in soccer. All the penalties to enforce are where the ball is/is going. In the NBA, you have to pay attention to every single player on the floor, and have more penalties to enforce. Also, the ball also isn't going back-and-forth every 24 seconds on the dot either like in the NBA, and when the teams do trade possessions there are no rules to enforce whereas the NBA has the 8-second clock and such. Yes, a soccer ref has more area to cover than an NBA ref, but the NBA ref has more responsibility and areas to pay attention to than a soccer ref. *MOST IMPORTANT* One final thing- We can argue all day about which game is more physical, which game is harder to ref, all these things...and it DOESN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Why? One word... Context. Basketball and soccer are two totally different sports. Have a totally different set of rules. What constitutes a foul in basketball is a lot different than in soccer. You admitted this yourself by saying soccer is all about the lower body, basketball is moreso the upper body. The refereeing situation is totally different in terms of responsibility. FIFA is not the NBA, either. What does all that mean? Using what happens in soccer and comparing it to what happens in basketball is completely pointless and misguided. They are two totally different sports, two different orginizations (FIFA and NBA), and both have issues with flopping. It starts and ends there. The NBA's problem with flopping stands completely alone from FIFA's. They should not be compared or contrasted. So, can we please get off this soccer crap and get back to the NBA?

My post had NOTHING to do with soccer besides 1 comment saying how basketball is the hardest sport to referee. Basketball is its own entity, and I was treating its situation of flopping as such. Which leads me to... STOP COMPARING SOCCER TO THE NBA!!! Basketball is on an entirely different level of physicality and action. Besides offsides, there is nothing to call in soccer except for fouls and hand-balls. In the NBA you have to deal with shot-clock violations, 8-second rule, 3-second rule, travelling, double dribble, carrying, on-ball fouls, off-ball fouls, shooting fouls, blocking fouls, charging fouls, goaltending, backcourt violations, etc... In soccer, there is very little physicality on-ball or off-ball...the NBA requires physicality each and every possession down the floor. To give you an example, in yesterday's USA-Ghana soccer matchup, there were 30 fouls. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, there were 54. Per minute, that equated to .3 fouls per minute in FIFA, and 1.1 fouls per minute in the NBA. THAT is why the NBA game is so much harder to referee than a soccer match, especially from the position of fouls/flops, which is the point of this topic. There's just a LOT more going on to have to pay attention to, and there's a lot more physicality, which makes judging fouls that much harder. And yes, there may be only 1 referee in soccer on the field, but do this...Take a random soccer match, and watch just 5min of it. Any 5min of the game. Now, watch an NBA game for 5min, once again any 5min. What do you notice? That referees have very little to actual referee in those 5min of soccer. Meanwhile, in the NBA, there's a ton of calls to be made in that same 5min span. So, the fact that soccer has only 1 on-field ref really makes no difference in this topic IMO.

My favorite ever was back before I believe the 2007 NBA Finals. It had the same background music of the recent NBA Finals commercials, but it was a compilation of clips of all the great past NBA champs walking out onto the court and stuff. When they showed like the '80's Celtics walking through the tunnel then Kobe in the starting intro's I got goose bumps. If anyone can find me this commercial it'd be greatly appreciated. Besides that, this is my favorite- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpfzaqIuR34

Supposedly LeBron wanted Amare over Jamison, even if he didn't come right out and say that through the media. I think that decision will come back to haunt the Cavs because in no way, shape or form was Jamison ever going to be a consistent 2nd option, and he's already 34 with a pretty big contract. And yes, they were building a championship team, but they were also fighting to keep LeBron for the long-term. They likely failed on both fronts, and the blame should go solely to their roster moves the last season or so.

I'm not going to comment on the last few posts, but my problem with this article is the ONLY backing to the title is: So, because LeBron (supposedly) said he wanted to LIVE (not play) in New York TWO YEARS ago automatically means he "still" prefers NY as his next playing destination? That's why I hate living in this media market. It's entertaining for sure, but there's nothing but crap coming from these newspapers and such.

The league. 100% Players do it to gain advantage. They're mastering the technique and it wins their team an extra possession. They are basically creating TO's by flopping. Referees have NO motive to "reward" floppers. The fans hate flopping, many players hate flopping, and the league supposedly hates flopping. If they know a player is intentionally flopping, they have no reason to hold blow their whistle. Here's the problem- There are only 3 referees in a game looking at essentially 5 different 1-on-1 matchups. These players are professional athletes, and when you watch an NBA game in-person and have a close proximity to the action, the game speed is astonishing. Everything happens in a split second. They do not have the benefit to instant replay every foul, they don't have the benefit of seeing each foul from different angles, and most of the time they only catch a foul out of the corner of their eye. A foul takes place in the fraction of a second. Basically what I am getting at is refereeing an NBA game is harder than ref'ing any other sport, and in person it can be very, very difficult to determine what's a legit foul and what may be a flop. And what if a player reacts in a way that looks like he's flopping, but he is actually hit hard and just exaggerating the foul a little bit. Should a ref swallow his whistle because he assumed that player was flopping when in reality he was legitimately hit? That brings me back to the league. Players do what they can do to get an advantage, and referees do their best to call the game within its rules. To stop flopping, the league has to A) Allow for more physicality so fouls become more black-and-white than gray, and B) Start fining players more often for flopping. If players start getting fined or suspended for flopping, the flopping trend will slow down tremendously. By tweaking the rules to allow more physicality, it takes pressure off the refs to swallow their whistles unless they see a foul that could not be disputed.

Holy crap, PFG is STILL trolling? I was arguing with that fool on like 3 different sites a few years back over T-Mac being a point-forward...I can't believe he's still around, and apparently still hasn't learned. Anyway, in no particular order, I'd say the top 3 are Real Deal, Blasco and Mason.

It's so hard to make this list for a team whose entire roster is basically gutted heading into FA. I also have no idea how much some of these FA's are going to ask for, and if another team will come in and overpay for their services. Regardless, here's my list, which is largely based on assuming the Heat will sign a star PF this offseason. Also, my decisions are with the assumption that the Heat will be a contender next year with a big-time talent infusion... 1) Dwyane Wade 2) Udonis Haslem 3) Jermaine O'Neal 4) Quentin Richardson 5) Carlos Arroyo 6) Dorrel Wright 7) Joel Anthony Wade and Haslem need no explaination. I put JO at 3rd because it's VERY hard to find a center as good defensively as he is that also possesses a nice offensive arsenal. Heat fans, as Poe mentioned, are probably all fuming over his 2010 post-season performance, but remember this- JO was a 2nd/3rd scoring option for the Heat the last 2 seasons. Next year the Heat should have the type of talent to where he will have that burden taken off him, and he can focus simply on defense/rebounding and finishing off the open looks that he gets. I probably wouldn't offer him any more than a 2 year contract, but the good thing is neither will any other team. Q-Rich is a terrific 3pt shooter, very good defensively since he lost the weight, and he's tough. Replacable, but he'd be an ideal bench player. Love Carlos Arroyo. He's smart, well-rounded and rarely makes mistakes handling the ball. Perfect backup PG in certain situations. Dorrel Wright...eh. He's young and still has some upside, but playing over 44 games only twice in 6 seasons would make me weary. Still, he's young and could add depth to the bench.

That team is solid...but that's it. There's very little draw to that roster as opposed to what he'll certainly have in Chicago and possibly Miami, NJ and NY. The Cavs really screwed themselves over when they traded for Jamison instead of Amare. Jamison is getting up there in age and showed his true colors this post season. On top of that, they have him locked up for another few years with a high price tag. Bad, bad move.

Very, very nice. I've been going to Nets games ever since I was a very little kid (got to see MJ as a Bull when I had a season tickets). As much fun as the J-Kidd era Nets were, having LBJ in town would be amazing. Definitely pulling for the Nets to some how, some way land him.

I know it's a year old, but.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzHnNPLWsDQ Anything else Cannon or his army of fudge packers say is pointless. And BTW- ANYONE who think Em's MC skills have fallen off, take a look at that song where he's not screaming or using somne retarded accent. His flow is insane. Even though it kind of annoys me that Em's never really went at Canibus (the only real good rapper whose ever dissed him, and yes I know about the song Cani[expletive], but that was more of a joke than serious diss), he murders Mariah and Nick on The Warning.

It's the Western Conference. We have no idea how Griffin will be coming back from a full year off (not to mention he's never played a second in the NBA), we don't know how any of their young players will progress, we don't know if Davis will continue his piss-poor play and continued decline...there's too many if's IMO to think the Clips won't be a lottery team for at least another season. That is, unless they make a few big moves and sign a big-name FA. I highly, highly doubt that will happen, but it's possible. But it's the Clippers, so that possibility is extra-slim.

The main reason they lost in the ECF 3 seasons in a row was Billups/Hamilton coming up with duds, Larry Brown leaving town, and the team overall just not having quite the firepower they had in '04 when James, Okur and Williamson were coming off the bench. I do agree that he wasted his potential as a post player, but his entire career as a Piston he was primarily a jumpshooter. He hadn't been a low post-first player since around 2001, which is why he went from averaging over 50% shooting 5 straight years with the Blazers to never cracking 44% as a Piston, including that first season.

As I said in the NO team forum...

Paul on the Magic would be lethal, even if it means giving up Jameer and Carter. But as others have said, it's going to take more than that. If the Magic could actually get Paul they would do it instantly, regardless of what anyone says about them not looking to deal Jameer. But for the Hornets, Carter's expiring is nice, but the issue is giving both Jameer and Collison their minutes. Unless the Hornets feel they could trade Jameer, it just doesn't make sense. Seriously, though...Paul on the Magic? That's scary to think about.

Yeah, but he also helped lead them to back-to-back WCF appearance (in 2000 was 1 quarter short of a win over the Lakers and a likely NBA championships). The 'Sheed years were the franchise's best behind the Walton and Drexler years.

Melo's in a very interesting position because of the new CBA next season. From a financial standpoint it is a major risk not taking the extension now. From a basketball standpoint it's an even bigger risk taking the extension now because the Nuggets are an old team with little upside. Signing that extension basically locks him into playing his prime years for a team that would need a total makeover to be a contender. I'd love to see him retire as a Nugget because him and Denver just seems like a perfect fit. But if I were him, as much of a risk as it is financially, I think it'd be a mistake for him not to at least force Denver's hand to build a championship caliber team around him by testing the FA market.

[expletive]es. My ex-gf is making me go through emotional gymnastics right now. No one I have ever met can make me as happy as this girl can, and no one can make me as crazy and depressed. We went from hating each other to being best friend types to her starting to fall for me again while she's in a relationship (with a [expletive]ing girl!)...all in the last week and a half. She's driving me nuts. We've been through more than most people can imagine (like really personal [expletive] that most couples don't go through), and I'll always have love for her, but I can't keep doing this. So, yeah...[expletive]es.

I'm not saying I PREFER a girl who smokes, but it doesn't make the slightest bit difference to me at all if she does. I am a smoker so there are certainly perks to having a girl that smokes...all of my gf's have smoked, and it's nice to not hear crap about my smoking from my girl. But even before I started smoking, if a good looking girl wanted to get it on with me and she smoked, that fact wouldn't sway my decision on whether to smash at all.

Try taking a closer listen to of Going Through Changes. The hook is annoying but lyrically and from a subject matter standpoint it's a great song.

So, as an ode to my favorite player in the NBA, I decided to make this thread. It's not so much to ride Dwyane Wade's dick, but show why he deserves to be in the same discussion as LeBron/Kobe. Instead of fighting with the LeBron/Kobe homers in other threads about how he is a distant 3rd, I decided to post this here and here all your opinions. He's the greatest Heat player ever, and when he's healthy he's an all-time talent. IMO his 2008-2009 is one of the most underrated single-seasons of all-time, it doesn't get much better than what he did that year. If Kobe deserved MVP in 2006, Wade deserved it every bit as much in 2009. Anyway... Career Accomplishments/Accolades: 1x NBA Champion 1x NBA Finals MVP 2x All-NBA 1st Team 2x All-NBA 2nd Team 1x All-NBA 3rd Team 3x All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team 1x Scoring Champ 6x All-Star (5x starter) 1x All-Star Game MVP All-Rookie First Team Career Stats: 25.4PPG, 6.6APG, 4.9RPG, 1.8SPG, 1.0BPG, 3.7 TO, 48.2% FG, 28.9% 3PT, 77.0% FT Career Playoff: 26.3PPG, 6.0APG, 5.3RPG, 1.7SPG, 1.0BPG, 4.2 TO, 48.2% FG, 34.7% 3PT, 79.3% FT Best Season (2008-2009): 30.2PPG, 7.5APG, 5.0RPG, 2.2SPG, 1.3BPG, 3.4 TO, 49.1% FG, 31.7% 3PT, 76.5% FT

I honestly thought this was a fake because I really can't imagine how low your self-esteem has to be to have relations with an NBA player that looks like a full-fledged downie. He looks like he belongs in one of those wheelchair basketball leagues.

Eh. I know Jefferson has a big contract, and has had his fair share of injuries, but the dude is still only 25 years old. He's an annual 20/10 player with some of the best post moves in the league. I know he's pretty horrible on defense, but trading him away would be a mistake unless they got a deal they absolutely couldn't refuse. Also, you traded KEVIN GARNETT in his prime (tail-end, anyway) to get this guy...by conceding defeat in that trade after one down season, I don't know. I just think it'd be a mistake.