About the shooting I agree. I alter my shot everytime to see what gives the best results... As for the comparisons of players... here I go.

Nash or Stockton?

I take Stockton, both of them made their teammates better (would the mailman be a hall-of-famer without Stockton and the pick and roll) . Stockton was as good as shooter as Nash and he was a better defender than nash. Nash has the MVP's but like Stockton he doesn't have a ring. And Stockton is the all-time assists leader (by far). Nash is the better free throw shooter of the two but Stockton wasn't bad at the line, so again overall I take Stockton.

Shaq, Chamberlain, Yao or Hakeem?

I love yao Ming, but he shouldn't even be in this conversation yet, he's got a lot basketball ahead of him. I can't take Chamberlain because he's overrated, I know he dropped 100 but he was 7 feet tall and the second tallest Center was Russel (he was 6'9) so Wilt wasn't facing any real threats. Shaq is Shaq and probably more dominant than Shaq but his terrible free-throw shooting hurts him despite his four rings (Plus, you can't forget Wade and Kobe who helped him in getting his rings). So, I'm taking the dream Hakeem Olajuwon go look at the footage from the 1995 finals and you'll see Hakkem dominated, toyed with the opposing Center who was... Shaq! Olajuwon was solid from the free-throw line had 3-point range (though he rarely shot them) and had a vast array of moves in the post... Not to mention his defense.

Lebron, Kobe or MJ?

Jordan... Because he's Jordan. Lebron hasn't won anything abd Kobe hasn't won anything without Shaq (nor has he won an MVP).. There's more reason but overall Jordan is, was and will always be Da Man. A Great leader, a Fierce Competitor a great defender not to mention his offense... Again, Its Jordan.

KG, Duncan or Jermaine O'Neal?

I would take Duncan, despite his troubles from the line he's a great defender, great in the low-block and really can't be guarded (except by Sheed) and he has the rings. For as great as David Robinson was he didn't win a title until Duncan arrived in San Antonio. Jermaine O'Neal is probably the worst of the three although he's a great player I've always felt he lacks that somethng to lead his team over the hump.. And then there's KG, probably no other player I respect more, he plays hard and plays hard through injuries, his team may not be that good, but its throuh no fault of his. He didn't let Casell go, he didn't ignore Sprewell when it came to his contract negotiations (but that's a whole different story). The one gripe about KG is tha's he doesn't post up often, he can but he just doesn't do it and he prefers to settle for long jumpshots. And he did go 7 seasons without getting out of the first round of the playoffs.. So, Duncan, FTW!

Marion, Kirilenko or Artest?

I'm taking the Matrix, despite his funky looking jumpshot. Artest is great but he comes with too much baggage although he's the best defender of the three. Kirilenko is a Fantasy league player's wet dream.. He scores, blocks shots, grab eboubds, has steals and does the hustle plays... but he can't stay healthy so for now he's out. Marion can also do it all but last year he stepped up, not to mention he was playing at the Power Forward position and guarding bigger men than him.. The only knock on him is that sometimes he relies too much on the three instead of relying on his athleticism. But overall he gets the nod.

And that's it... for now, I might write more later if I feel like it.

Hey have you guys seen NBA.com's redesign? I think it looks a lot better.

At 10/17/06 09:38 PM, DaSadGirl wrote: Who is better?:

I'm only going to comment on these cause I think the other two are pretty obvious.

KG, Duncan, or Jermaine Oneal?

Definitely Duncan. Although he's one of my most hated players, I have to admit he's one of the best PFs in nba history. The only thing I would like him to improve is his passion and emotion display on games. I want to see him pumped up, screaming, excited....

Marion, Kirilenko, or Artest?

AK-47 is one of the best all-around players in the league. With some effort, I'm sure he could reach a quadruple-double somewhere in his career. But Marion is much more valuable as a player. He's a great scorer, rebounder, and more importantly he plays perfectly in the Suns' style of play. I'm gonna go with Marion here.

At 10/18/06 12:54 AM, ElMaster wrote: Hey have you guys seen NBA.com's redesign? I think it looks a lot better.

meh, I like the old one. Though in terms of league home pages, I have to say that MLB.com has the best by far.

I'll post my response to the who vs. who stuff tomorrow.

il join but do i have to be from the us?if not then il join my fav team is new jersy(cause they own)and i dont know any name's of players i only know where the team come's from.

and i have some experience in basketball i joinded my school's team(GO VIPERS!!)and iv been to a few mini tournaments and thats about it.Oh and i also teach grade3-5 basketball in my spare time.

At 10/17/06 09:38 PM, DaSadGirl wrote: Who is better?:

Nash or Stockton?

Stockton, Short-shorts>Girly hair. Also Nash wasn't as good defensively, and all the other reason's Pepeatumi said.

Shaq, Chamberlain, Yao, or Hakeem?

I'm taking out Shaq and Yao because one's one-dimensional, and the other isn't that good. Hakeem did some great stuff w/o food or water and became a great philanthropist. But I'm going with quite possibly the greatest player of all time. He was domination more than Shaq ever was. He could take you outside, inside, upside, whateverside. Oh, and lets not forget he scored 19 more points than the guy I think is the winner of the second argument. Also, he had sex with 20,000 women- that's gotta count for something.

LeBron, Kobe, or MJ?

Kobe, I'm a Lakers fan, all my arguments are moot because of it.

KG, Duncan, or Jermaine Oneal?

Duncan has the rings.

Marion, Kirilenko, or Artest?

Ron Artest. Any team he goes to is instantly 10 games better. He's like a cooler Dennis Rodman, he'll pound the boards, score some points and do the other things. He provides a special spark (not a violent one) that drives teams to win. If only he were on the Lakers, but apparently (I think it was Buss- it was either him or Kobe+Phil) said that they didn't want Odom to go.

God, now I have to go cut myself because I just realized that Mitch Kuptchek is our GM after writing that last sentence. East Coast my ass, Dirk+Kobe would have won a championship.

At 10/17/06 07:30 PM, pepeatumi wrote:

Its all in the wrists and remember to follow through on your shot even after the ball has left your hands... That's usually what I do, but its bette for you to find a way in which you're comfortable when shooting.

thanks bro that helped

At 10/19/06 10:20 PM, DaSadGirl wrote:
On MJ, Kobe, and James. As the generation goes, the player seems to become of a physical player and less focused on defense. Kobe has the best range, Jordan was the most clutch and best defender, while James relies too much on his physical strength to bully his defenders. I have to give it MJ. Kobe never won a ring with Shaq, but would have MJ won a ring without Pippen?

MJ probably wouldn't have won a ring without Pippen. But I still give him the nod over Kobe because when you think about while Pippen is a sure fire hall of famer, he was never as domninant as Shaq was during the Lakers three-peat. Just look at Shaq's numbers in the finals during the Lakers three title runs.

Some terrible news to report... Arguably the greatest coach in NBA history has passed away.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Red Auerbach, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships in the 1950s and 1960s, died Saturday. He was 89.

Auerbach won 938 games with the Celtics and was the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season. As general manager, the straight-talking Auerbach, who celebrated victories with a postgame cigar, was also the architect of Celtics teams that won seven more titles in the 1970s and 1980s.
He died of a heart attack near his home in Washington, according to an NBA official, who didn't want to be identified. His last public appearance was on Wednesday, when he received the U.S. Navy's Lone Sailor Award in front of family and friends in ceremonies in Washington.

I'm sure he'll be lighting up a cigar as soon as he gets to heaven.

At 10/28/06 10:01 PM, pepeatumi wrote:
I'm sure he'll be lighting up a cigar as soon as he gets to heaven.

Right after he's done rolling over in his grave. The Celtics are having cheerleaders.

At 10/28/06 11:07 PM, seventy-one wrote:
Right after he's done rolling over in his grave. The Celtics are having cheerleaders.

Who knows, maybe they'll be cigar-smoking cheerleaders?

The '06-'07 NBA season starts today!!
Too bad I won't be able to watch any game because I will be at a Halloween party, but I'll be sure to check out the highlights on ESPNEWS.

At 10/31/06 06:06 AM, ElMaster wrote: The '06-'07 NBA season starts today!!
Too bad I won't be able to watch any game because I will be at a Halloween party, but I'll be sure to check out the highlights on ESPNEWS.

I'm going to tape those two games.. I want to see first hand what Chicago looks like with Ben Wallace.

Well, I guess I should get a crack-a-lackin' on my 2006-2007 official picks here. I'll post the standings for each division, then the overall conference, then the playoffs. Under each major categorie I will put notes in that fade-quoted font thing.
Lets go (note my heavy Laker bias):

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
1. Toronto Raptors (50-32)
2. New Jersey Nets (48-34)
3. Boston Celtics (45-37)
4. New York Knicks (29-53)
5. Philadelphia 76ers (21-61)

As much as I would love a freak trade that gets Bosh to the Lakers, I'm lovin' this Raptors' team. Bryan Colangelo doing to this team what he did to the downtrodden Suns. Mix of veteran foreign and young American talent=win for them. Nets not that far back, a solid but not spectacular team. The Celtics could have a decent season. Hopefully Rajon Rondo will get a lot of fantasy production. Then we arrive to the Knicks and Sixers, they have the possibility of being the two worse teams of all team. I was generous so I gave them more than 8 wins. But....

Central Division
1. Chicago Bulls (54-28)
2. Cleveland Cavaliers (49-33)
3. Detroit Pistons (48-34)
4. Indiana Pacers (42-40)
5. Milwaukee Bucks (38-44)

Ben Wallace to the Bulls creates a tremendous power shift in the division. The Bulls with a lot of key role players now have a superstar that dominates in their arsenal. Ben Wallace puts them over the top- the Pistons have a struggling year, and the Cavs do well for themselves.

Southeast Divison
1. Miami Heat (52-30)
2. Orlando Magic (45-37)
3. Washington Wizards (44-38)
4. Charlotte Bobcats (33-49)
5. Atlanta Hawks (30-52)

Miami at the top because- well they're Miami, Orlando 2 because of what pepeatumi hassaid, Wizards 3 because of their shooting, Bobcats 4 because they're better than the Hawks, who are 5 because its a franchise running deeper into the ground.

Overall Standings
1. Chicago Bulls
2. Miami Heat
3. Toronto Raptors
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Detroit Pistons
6. New Jersey Nets
7. Orlando Magic
8. Boston Celtics

Eastern Conference Playoffs:
Round 1:
Chicago Bulls over Boston Celtics in 4
Orlando Magic over Miami Heat in 7
Toronto Raptors over New Jersey Nets in 5
Detroit Pistons over Cleveland Cavaliers in 6
Conference Semifinals:
Chicago Bulls over Detroit Pistons in 6
Toronto Raptors over Orlando Magic in 5
Conference Finals:
Chicago Bulls over Toronto Raptors in 7

Well there you have it with the East. Clearly I'm high on Chicago and Toronto.

Western Conference

Southwest Division
1. San Antonio Spurs (53-29)
2. Dallas Mavericks (50-32)
3. Houston Rockets (44-38)
4. New Orleans Hornets (41-41)
5. Memphis Grizzlies (40-42)

Houston w/ Yao and T-Mac healthy=possible playoff spot. Memphis w/o Pau=no playoff spot

Northwest Division
1. Denver Nuggets (46-36)
2. Seattle Supersonics (45-37)
3. Utah Jazz (40-42)
4. Minnesota Timberwolves (38-44)
5. Portland Trailblazers (30-52)

More like, Northworst division...lololol I'm so witty

Pacific Division
1. Phoenix Suns (52-30)
2. Los Angeles Lakers (48-34)
3. Sacremento Kings (47-35)
4. Ana- I mean, Los Angeles Clippers (45-37)
5. Golden State Warriors (35-47)

I hate the Clippers, they do bad. Lakers, they do well. Sacremento has a good team w/ Artest for a full season.

Overall Standings
1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Phoenix Suns
3. Dallas Mavericks
4. Denver Nuggets
5. Los Angeles Lakers
6. Sacremento Kings
7. Seattle Supersonics
8. Los Angeles Clippers

Western Conference Finals:
Round 1:
San Antonio Spurs over Los Angeles Clippers in 7
Phoenix Suns over Seattle Supersonics in 7
Sacremento Kings over Dallas Mavericks in 7
Los Angeles Lakers over Denver Nuggets in 5

Clippers aren't that bad, they can push it to 7. Mike D'Antoni is a capable regular season coach, but is not a great playoff coach. It takes them 7 games to understand teams, or they lose. The Kings have a decent enough team to win.

Conference Semifinals:
Los Angeles Lakers over San Antonio Spurs in 7
Sacremento Kings over Phoenix Suns in 6

Reasons I've said above for Phoenix's loss. I guess the Kings make the cf by default. A great Lakers vs. Spurs rivarly adds another chapter, Kevin Garnett is going to have a big series for the Lakers after being traded to them midseason (j/k, but I'm too much of a diehard Lakers fan).

Conference Finals:
Los Angeles Lakers over Sacremento Kings in 6

Clearly I'm on some sort of drug here

NBA Finals
Chicago Bulls over Los Angeles Lakers in 7

And you thought I would pick the Lakers

The Lakers were my fan-based pick, my sane side- all 1% of it is saying the Spurs lose in the finals.

Note, I put quite a bit of time in this, more than I do in the other sports- except football.

Whoops, forgot:
Individual Awards:

Again, note the Laker bias

Executive of the Year: John Paxson, Chicago Bulls

Unless the Lakers get KG, in which, Mitch Kuptchak would be exec. of the year- unless Jerry West retires from Memphis, Mitch pulls a Rudy TJ, and the Lakers hire West- and if that happens, the Lakers will win every title from here to the day he dies.

Most Improved Player: Kwame Brown, Los Angeles Lakers

He'll half to be, if my picks come true

Sixth Man Award: Andres Nocioni, Chicago Bulls, if he starts then lets go....Luke Walton
Defensive Player of the Year Award: Ron Artest, Sacremento Kings
Coach of the Year: It'll either be: Scott Skyles, Chicago Bulls-Phil Jackson, L.A. Lakers- or Eric Mussleman, Sacramento Kings
Rookie of the Year: I was thinking Rudy Gay, then I thought Jordan Farmar (as collateral from my picks), but in the end I'm going with Saer Sene, Seattle Supersonics

Unless he gets sent to the D-league, in which case the order of my thoughts come into play

MVP: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

Its the ocho times treso

I'll make my predictions a bit later... Don't sleep on the Pistons, they're time isn't over yet.

I kow its just the first half, but.... Damn, Chicago is looking mighty impressive and Ty Thomas is already paying dividends a couple of blocks (including one on Shaq) and a monster put-back... The Bulls might just be for real.

At 10/31/06 09:11 PM, pepeatumi wrote: I kow its just the first half, but.... Damn, Chicago is looking mighty impressive

42 point win. What was that a college game.

The Bulls might just be for real.

So far so good on my predictions.

At 10/31/06 09:44 PM, DaSadGirl wrote: Kobe won't play tonight. That sucks.

( 24

Doesn't matter now, I guess. This Laker team can win without Kobe. Imagine what they would have done to the Suns with him.

Oh, and speaking of my predictions. Replace every mention of the Denver Nuggets with the Utah Jazz (and vice versa). I'm feeling something...

Season starts soon for the Mavericks. I hope they play better this game again agasint the Spurs.

How about some Lamar odom, going nuts agaisnt Phoenix? I've said this before but I'll say it again... Lamar Odom is a walking triple double.

Props to Bynum to for playing well, LA may have found its center.

At 10/31/06 07:05 PM, seventy-one wrote: Individual Awards:
Rookie of the Year: I was thinking Rudy Gay, then I thought Jordan Farmar (as collateral from my picks), but in the end I'm going with Saer Sene, Seattle Supersonics

Unless he gets sent to the D-league, in which case the order of my thoughts come into play

Farmar is also going to the D-League.

"For all the fascination with Jordan Farmar -- his knack for the game is definitely hard to resist -- the Lakers are going to resist. Kurt Rambis put it about as plainly as it can be when he said Farmar is more likely to play extensively for the D-Fenders of the NBA Developmental League this season than the Lakers.

"If Shammond Williams is healthy, and Sasha Vujacic is healthy and Smush Parker is playing, it will be hard for him to crack the rotation of the guard position," Rambis said."

And damn what a blowout yesterday...worst loss by a defending champion on opening night.
I couldn't watch the Lakers/Suns game, though...it was too late.

BTW NBA Fluffers was submitted to the portal and I thought it was pretty funny, you should check it out.

At 11/1/06 07:32 PM, ElMaster wrote: Farmar is also going to the D-League.

Damnit when I hit the post button I knew I forgot something...

here are the Preseason rookie standings by nba.com:

Top 10 Rookies from Preseason
1. Marcus Williams (NJ)
2. Rajon Rondo (BOS)
3. Brandon Roy (POR)
4. Steve Novak (HOU)
5. Rudy Gay (MEM)
6. Paul Millsap (UTA)
7. Tyrus Thomas (CHI)
8. Shelden Williams (ATL)
9. Adam Morrison (CHA)
10. Alexander Johnson (MEM)

Noteworthy: Maurice Ager (DAL), Andrea Bargnani (TOR), Yakhouba Diawara (DEN), Jorge Garbajosa (TOR), Leon Powe (BOS)

At 11/1/06 09:24 PM, DaSadGirl wrote:
I just saw on ESPN that the Magic are pounding the Bulls. Nice. :)

( 24

Pounded. Everyone looked great for the magic and almost everyone contributed. Grant Hill looked like his old self which is bad news for the rest of the league and Dwight Howard... Well, he was Dwight Howard.

And in Boston, Chris Paul is doing his thing... 20 points, 10 assists and 6 boards. Alos a couple of surprised, Utah is beating up on the Rockets 56-38 to be exact and the Bucks are winning in Detroit, and here's the kicker, guess who got ejected in the 3rd Quarter... Rasheed Wallace!!

Gee, I didn't see that coming.

At 11/1/06 10:23 PM, DaSadGirl wrote:
Wow! Thats pretty good for Paul, but I don't see them being a playoff calibur team, this season. Peja isn't as good of a shooter as he was four years ago.

I'll say although Peja had a big basket to guarantee the win he shot 4-15. Its a shame Boston lost, Pierce had himself one hell of a game 29 points and 19 boards.

As for the rookies, Foye did nothing and Morrison scored 13 although he shot 5 of 13, so far Brandoy Roy has looked good against Seattle.

And the Knicks are up to their old tricks as they blew a 19 point lead against Memphis and are now heading into OT. Rudy Gay has 15 points and 5 boards, including some key buckets in the 4th quarter.

lmao 71, Kobe as MVP, Kwame Brown as Most Improved!? agagagagaga. Seriously, Kwame is to the high-school basketball generation as Manute Bol was to the oversized foreign center generation: trash.

Also: Stop being a fanboy, the Clippers are playing better than the Lakers this year. Yeah I said it, I'll go there. Elton Brand, mofo.

AND YOU PUT DETROIT AND UTAH HIGHER IN YOUR RANKINGS RIGHT NAO >:[

Oh, and speaking of my predictions. Replace every mention of the Denver Nuggets with the Utah Jazz (and vice versa). I'm feeling something...

Yeah, that's more like it. You better recognize. Respect.

And I'd like to ask: how did Q-Rich get like 35 points a couple nights ago? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that...

At 11/2/06 10:30 PM, Buddhist wrote:

And I'd like to ask: how did Q-Rich get like 35 points a couple nights ago? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that...

By knocking down open treys and by remembering that he has a post game. Q is better than he showed last season, he's not 35 points a game good, but he can get 20 on any given night, its just that well.... He plays for the Knicks.

Mavericks lost the opener. Damn oh well. I'm going to go see a Warriors and Mavericks game when they play here.

The Jalen Rose sweepstakes appear to be over.

The winner? Phoenix.

According to his personal blog at JalenRose.com, Rose has chosen to play in Phoenix after being courted by the Suns, Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons.

The office of Rose's agent Arn Tellem confirmed to the Associated Press that the posting was correct, but the Suns said they had yet to hear from either the player or agent.

Rose, who received a $14.5 million buyout from the New York Knicks, reportedly had narrowed his choices to Miami and Phoenix. The Heat could pay more than the Suns, who offered the veteran minimum of about $1.2 million, much of which is paid by the NBA.

Ahahaha, the Suns. That's humorous. He'll fit in like I'd fit in on the Suns. He's not fast at all and the Suns are an up-tempo, fast-paced offensive team. He'd be much better suited in Detroit, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Pistons fan, either.

At 11/3/06 04:51 PM, Buddhist wrote:
Ahahaha, the Suns. That's humorous. He'll fit in like I'd fit in on the Suns. He's not fast at all and the Suns are an up-tempo, fast-paced offensive team. He'd be much better suited in Detroit, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Pistons fan, either.

I'll agree, he should have gone to Detroit and again not because I'm a Pistons fan, but because Jalen is from Detroit and he played his college at Michigan.

I disagree when you say he won't fit with the Suns, he's a shooter and Nash will find him when he needs him. Rose just has to knock down open jump-shots.

At 11/2/06 10:30 PM, Buddhist wrote: lmao 71, Kobe as MVP, Kwame Brown as Most Improved!? agagagagaga. Seriously, Kwame is to the high-school basketball generation as Manute Bol was to the oversized foreign center generation: trash.

Hey its my Collateral Effect of Predictions Postulate. If, in order for Team A (in this case, the Lakers) to do well, then Players X and Y (and however many you wish to use, in this case X is Kobe, Y is Kwame) must do well. Therefore, if Team A does indeed do well, then you could summize that Players X and Y also did well.

Also: Stop being a fanboy, the Clippers are playing better than the Lakers this year. Yeah I said it, I'll go there. Elton Brand, mofo.

Okay, since they haven't played each other yet (and even when they do in the reg. season, Phil isn't a reg. season coach- so expect losses), we'll go by either A) Record, or B) Common opponents. Lets look at both, shall we?:
A.) Lakers: 2-0
Clippers: 1-1
But, fair enough, its only the first two games of the season and so one can say that one team had an easier schedule, so lets look at common opponents:
B.) Lakers: 1-0
Clippers: 0-1

And its all without Kobe. Seriously, the Clippers are the most overrated team since Notre Dame.

AND YOU PUT DETROIT AND UTAH HIGHER IN YOUR RANKINGS RIGHT NAO >:[

Utah yes, Detroit no.

Lakers won, thanks to the amazing play of Ronny Turiaf, and now they are 3-0. Best in the league suckas.

Phil Jackson, 69-13 season anyone? Nah, they're probably just going to throw away 20+ games to make it interesting.