Nitro

There won't be a lockout for a full season, there is far too much money to lose. If there is a lockout, I highly doubt it will last by the time 2012 rolls around.

...that LeBron is the best player in the league?

^ BTW, is there still any doubt that LeBron is unquestionably the best player in the NBA?

Meh...they should be able to be together and get the same legal rights as married couples, but I think the religious aspect of it should be taken away completely in gay 'marriages' (and I am not a religious person). Having that thrown in there just causes way too much controversy and rifts.

Bingo, although I think LeBron's been better overall than Dirk this post-season.

Eh, LeBron is still pretty useless in the post, aside from occasionally attracting defensive attention which opens up some looks for Bosh/Haslem/3pt shooters. The one thing Spo has done more of is give LeBron the ball on the wing below the 3pt line more often, which make him a lot more effective than constant iso's/PnR's at the top of the key. I do like making him set more screens as well.

I thought Spo should have been gone at the beginning of the season, and for good reason; the team was dysfunctional, not performing, and he refused to implement offensive sets until over a month into the season (and no, it wasn't that they weren't running the plays, he admitted he didn't implent them before the season started). Luckily for him, the team pulled together, started performing, and he finally started to make the kind of adjustments that win you a championship.

Haha, after 4 months in Florida today felt like a brisk spring day.

I can't believe the Heat won this game either...that was a complete and utter meltdown by the Bulls. They had everything going for them; Brewer was hitting shots, Wade was being shutdown, LeBron had missed 9 straight shots, they had a double digit lead with the crowd going crazy, all the momentum, and they blew it. Rose choking and some bad fouls on Wade/LeBron buried Chicago.

Drop it. The main reason, IMO, it was implemented was to change the 'thug' image of the NBA, much like the dress code, respect for the game rule, etc... With the majority of the league being black, having immature 18 year olds looking past education and personal growth for the big bucks just adds to the unfair stereotype the league has. But, bottom line is that these guys are adults, and should be able to make the HS to NBA jump if they want to.

www.thesportsroadtrip.com That's the site I use for very, very indepth rankings and reviews of each stadium in the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL.

I just don't see how you can say that with Rose, and not the same for LeBron, yet LeBron is still dominating while being defended by an equally strong defense (also being defended one-on-one by Deng, who some here felt should have been DPOY). Also, as mentioned before, he's struggled all post-season, shooting just 40%.

That's ridiculous, Rose isn't scoring 35PPG like Kobe back in 2006. LeBron actually averaged more minutes than Rose did during the season, 2 more points than Rose, averaged about the same number of assists, and LeBron has a FAR bigger responsibility on the boards and defensively than Rose does...all that applies to what has gone on in this Heat-Bulls series as well. Rose has decent supporting offensive help, and while LeBron has considerably more, Rose also has far more help on defense and on the boards than LeBron does. Anthony and Haslem are very good defenders, but they don't anchor that defense....Wade and LeBron do. Besides Boozer, Rose is the worst defensive player in the Bulls starting lineup, and there's 4 guys on that bench (Gibson, Watson, Asik and Thomas) who are all better defensively. Meanwhile, LeBron is the Heat's best defender, defends the 1-4 positions, and sometimes the 5 as well. In this series, Rose has had easy defensive assignments in Bibby and Chalmers, and occasionally Wade (who has forced double teams in those situations because Rose can't defend him). Meanwhile LeBron has defended Deng, and last night locked down Rose, who is the most explosive player in the league. He's also grabbing rebounds at a PF's rate. Also, the fact that LeBron is so much older and has more mileage should be extra incentive for fatigue to not be a viable excuse for Rose.

Personally, I'd rather see Kobe as a player's coach before Brown, but I think he should be given a chance to show what he can do with a team with that much offensive talent before crucifying him. Defensively, there is no doubt they will improve. They should have definitely went with JVG, Adelman or Shaw instead, however.

Finally back home in Jersey :glasses:

JYD- You are giving a HUGE double-standard regarding Rose and his 'fatigue'. LeBron has played more minutes than Rose each game, had more points in 3 of the 4 games, the same or more assists in 3 out of 4 games, more blocks/steals/rebounds in each game, and has been assigned to tougher defensive assignments. Much the same can be applied to when he was in Cleveland without Wade/Bosh. Fatigue should not be used as an excuse for superstar players. The fact is that this year Rose has been a little overrated like Durant was last season. As for the game, tough loss for the Bulls, but Rose took way too many bad shots...9 3PA is far too many for him. Korver is also really killing the team as he helps open up the paint for Rose to operate. Besides Rose, Gibson and Korver, the rest of the team played exceptionally well, but they just didn't have enough firepower, even with Wade playing one of the worst offensive playoff games I've ever seen from him. LeBron was dominant, Mike Miller finally showed up, and with Haslem finally back the team is really firing on all cylinders.

I'll start from the early '00's (I followed the last 2 seasons of MJ's career but I still was young), and I'll got by prime play rather than career... 1) Shaq 2) Kobe T3) Duncan T3) LeBron 5) Garnett

Yeah, he's been hard to watch this season. He's a much better rebounder, ballhandler and passer than most 3pt shooters in the league, but the issue is he's afraid to shoot. All those other things are a nice luxury to have, but bottom line is he got that contract to make teams pay for collapsing their defense on Bron/Wade, and he hasn't done that. Anyway, if the Bulls want to win this series, they need to form a gameplan that will allow Rose to catch the ball on the move instead of iso'ing the Miami defense, and they need more out of Deng/Noah. The last 2 games LeBron has been way too efficient (22pts on 13 shots and 10 assists to 0 turnovers last night), and a big reason for that is Deng's not pressuring him as much as he was in Game 1. If you want to have success against LeBron, you have to consistently apply pressure, and have active hands (because sometimes LeBron will get a little nonchalant with the ball). Much like with how Bogans is defending Wade, you have to be very aggressive on-ball, and trust the help. If I were Thibs, I'd much rather see LeBron get to the FT line a few times over seeing him have 10 assists to 0 turnovers (which is where the Bulls will get high percentage shots off of). As for Noah, his rebounding dictates how his offensive game goes, and when he's not very effective on the boards the rest of his game suffers. He needs to play smarter and not rack up stupid fouls as well.

They definitely had the most dominant post-season run in NBA history, but does that make them the best playoff team ever? Not necessarily. They had probably the most dominant version of Shaq, and Kobe was starting to reach his peak, but the rest of the team was rather unremarkable. Fisher, Fox and Horry all were great role players, but after that the team really lacked depth...an old Horace Grant, old Brian Shaw and Tyronne Lue made up the rest of the playoff rotation, and all were average to below average that season. I don't think they would have beaten the '96 Bulls (I think the '93 Bulls would have probably taken them out as well), and there are a few other recent teams ('04 Pistons, '08 Celtics) that would have given them some trouble as well.

Saw this on RealGM and thought it was very interesting...specifically the Wade and Dirk stats. These links are about their career performances, and also include interesting stats on other great past and presents players (Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Hakeem, KG, etc...).... Excerpt: LINK 1 Excerpt: LINK 2

1. OJ Mayo 2. James Harden 3. Evan Turner I believe that OJ Mayo has the most talent, and while he had a down year this year, I still believe he's a better scorer than Harden and much better defender. Harden might be a slightly better passer, but if you let either of these guys take the reigns of the offense you're in trouble. EDIT- Just realized you were asking who I'd want for my franchise rather than who's the better player right now. In that case, I'd put Turner first, Mayo second and Harden third.

The majority of Wade's blocks are in the face of his opposition as well, and a lot of his blocks are on big men as well... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecZ71ZJLOg8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYwbFSpb6vI&feature=related If we are going by single season, then T-Mac was probably the best shot-blocking SG ever (or at least the last 30 years or so) for those 2-3 seasons. Wade shot between 66-67% at the rim each of the last 5 seasons, while having a variety of different teammates, injuries and even coaches. And the stats are applicable because Rose and wade both take a huge percentage of their attempts at the rim, and both have a very similar style of play and receive similar defensive attention. The stats just back up the fact that Wade finishes better at the rim due to being longer and knowing how to finish with contact better.

You're crazy if you wouldn't do that trade in a heartbeat. Westbrook is a very good player, but CP3 is a top 5 player in the league (IMO). He's on a totally different level than Westbrook.

It was one of the greatest games scoring the ball I've ever seen, playoffs or not. He scored 48pts on 15FGA's, without taking a single 3....I've never seen anything like that before. I agree that it would have been more aesthetically pleasing if he had gone 18-24 from the field and 12-12 from the line to get his 48pts, but it doesn't really matter because he still got his 48pts while scoring at an almost unheard of efficiency (according to a guy on RealGM it was the most efficient 45pt game or higher in NBA history). Not to mention that the majority of his jumpers couldn't have been contested any better.

They should keep him, and he should start. The only thing that needs to be changed from previous years with him in the lineup is continue to make the focal point of the offense the post. Gay can still get his fair share of iso's, and he can work off Randolph/Gasol's post-play far more effectively than Tony Allen and Shane Battier. He just needs a chance to get comfortable playing off of Randolph and Gasol, and he certainly has the ability and style of play to make it work...it's just up to Hollins to develop a system that Gay will have to get acclimated in.