Top 50: Derrick Rose, no. 4

Over Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr.??? This is madness. Apparently loyalty is frowned upon on this establishment! SLAM, are we taking side bets?

So then Kobe at 3 KD at 2 and bron bron are the remaining top dogs?

can a top 5 of Lebron KD Kobe Rose and Wade beat the next 5 in Paul Williams Melo Dirk and Howard in a game of basketball?

I am sorry I missed LA. Made the exact points I would have made about Deron as a scorer only more eloquently. Thx homie.

Just got home from the longest work-day on record, watching Knicks-Bulls 93 ECF Game 4 on NBATVCanada. John Starks is doing his “puffed up rooster” prance. So, what’s been up on this thread today? From my skimming, I gather that people don’t like Rose being ranked over Wade, even though the rankings are projected performance for next season and Rose’s game is on the rise while Wade’s is due for a decline based on Lebron’s continued rise and Wade’s aging. I also gather that Maniac may have worn out his warm welcome from yesterday. Also, Charles Oakley just whacked Ho Grant in a way that would lead to a 700 game suspension under today’s rules. No-call in 93.

@Caboose – what did you do to your back? I’m in the same boat. Going up for a rebound, some turd jumped on my back while I was on the way up. Been having disc problems since. Pre-back injury, I could get up around the rim (and when the moons and stars aligned, throw it down). I’m 5’9″, so getting up around the rim was pretty cool when I was 15. Post-back injury, I can’t even touch the backboard. I went from feeling like Rex Chapman to feeling like Chris Mullin. Except I didn’t have Mully’s game. It took about 5 years to reinvent my game. I ended up trying to pattern my game after Larry Johnson. High flier early on, post grinder and solid shooter later on. I also watched a lot of old Kevin McHale and Charles Oakley moves. Neither of those guys could run or jump and were still great players. I’m 33 nowadays, starting to get that older guy fat and wondering what I’m gonna do to stay in shape now that it hurts to run and jump. I can’t swim, I hate riding a bike and lifting weights was never my thing.

@nbk – I just think Wade is due for that inevitable decline that hits players that smash their bodies up when they’re younger. Call it the Iverson-slide. Wade isn’t going to age gracefully like Reggie or Shuttlesworth. He doesn’t have that skill-set that ages well. I also have a feeling that Lebron is going to go all “eff you effers” and put on a show, which will force Wade to be more of a facilitator than a finisher. I don’t have anything to back it up other than a feeling of what may happen next season. Lebron doesn’t know how to be anything other than the main guy who dominates the ball. If he doesn’t go full-on Magic Johnson-meets-Scottie Pippen and turn himself into the greatest 2nd guy ever, he’s going to be a wrecking ball and Wade will have to ride shotgun.

That’s my caveat. If Lebron goes Magic on O, then Wade’s production will jump. My money is on Lebron’s ego not allowing that to happen.

O alright lol misunderstanding there. Idk I just think if Miami doesn’t do something about the PG position LeBron gonna be forced to be a facilitator even more – make Mario Chalmers and a healthy Mike Miller corner 3pt statues. If Spoelstra does anything productive with that offense that’s PART of the answer.

If Miami addresses their PG and C situations, they’re going to be dangerous. However, you can say that about any team that doesn’t employ Rondo, Rose, CP3, D-Will, Westbrook, Nash and Dwight Howard. If NY addresses their PG and C situations, they’re going to be dangerous as well.

Damn Dark. Achilles tear at 34. Yowch! I had a partial Achilles tear when I was 17. In a walking cast for 3 weeks, crutches/cane for another couple weeks. Luckily my foot healed up fine. That was the only time I followed the doctor’s orders and didn’t ball until I was told I could. I damn near cut my left index finger off when I was in 10th grade and I was balling with 47 stitches and a finger cast. Nothing helps your righty scoop shot like having 47 stitches in your left hand.

Love “the Melo backyard” term btw.
Guessing it’s the same as the “Barkley bufferzone”?

My love of premium European beer is certainly not helping matters.

Heat’s PG problem, as I see it, is that the guys they can realistically get don’t fit what they need. They can pretty easily go out and get a guy like Telfair, but he can’t shoot for ish, so he’s not a good fit. They already have guys that can dribble the ball up the court and start the offense. They need a PG that can do that, as well as hit from deep to stretch the D. Where or where have the BJ Armstrongs gone?

Zywiec and Tyskie are amazing. They’re Polish brews. I lived in Poland for a year after university. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my useless bachelor of arts degrees, so I decided to teach English. Great experience. Poland is an amazing country with gorgeous women. On one hand, I wish I hadn’t gone with my girlfriend, but on the other hand, I ended up marrying her. I’d have plowed so much Polish ace had I gone as a single man, but I wouldn’t be married now, so…. I played some pretty fun ball when I was there too. Typical of the European stereotypes. Very solid passing, shooting, dribbling used to get to a spot and nothing more. Nobody there liked being bodies up on D, and they hated the Johnny Stock elbows-out back screens.

Grizz would have been a problem. I think they might have ’07 Warrior’d the Mavs. Z-Bo would have been too much to handle on the block. Dirk would have had to either guard Z-Bo (yeah right) or keep Gasol off the glass.

Both very tough options, i agree. BUT Dirk, in single coverage mostly, also kept Pau (yeah, yeah the chick problem, yada, yada) from going off in round two.
But he matches up ok with the Gasols, Zach would have made life hell for him, probably would have been Chandler’s cover cause of his length and speed. Zach would have had him in foul trouble by the 3rd quarter though.
Oh well, shoulda, woulda, coulda…

Mike C. You might want to do something about that back man. I suggest yoga ASAP, or perhaps some form of core training. You dont want to go down the ciadica road….

@blakos – between my work’s medical plan and my wife’s coverage, I get $1500/year in chiropractic coverage. I’m in a low point right now. Hurt it a couple weeks ago moving a table and it hasn’t gotten better. Dr. Dan will get me back on track. I’m just in the dumps right now because my pickup league starts tomorrow night and I don’t think I’ll be able to play. Which puts me in the tryout pool with the rest of the turds that didn’t get to play last year. By the time I get my back healthy enough to play, I’ll be behind the curve. Once I get rolling and get my legs in game shape, I’ll be aight. Just feeling ishty right now.

To Dark you joining our online league on PS3!

Dang Mike, that’s rough man. I dove for a ball and an uncoordinated fat kid stepped right on my lower back. Severe herniated disc (that surgery can’t fix) and no more ball. Well, scratch that, I took two weeks off, then went to practice, closed out on a guy, and that was it. Back locked up, couldn’t walk for a bit, and then the career was over. Sorry for rambling on a sob story, guys.

also sorry to hear about your injuries, caboose, mike and darksaber

It’s ok datkid, all war wounds from the game we love. No problem sacrificing for our art, right guys?

First of all, let me say one thing : I’m a huge huge Kobe fan. Always have been. There. So, if you guys think I’m biased, point it out and I’ll check it out.

Kobe vs Wade: Kobe’s older. Yeah. Wade had a great season and will finally jell with LeBron. Yeah. But you guys are underestimating/misunderstanding a few things IMO :

1.Kobe, as publicised, has become 33. But he hasn’t had a break for 3 years straight with his creaking body. Phil himself said after 2nd title that he was shocked Kobe was still in one piece till the end of the run. Most guys are hence saying that Kobe’ll save himself only for the POs. Wrong. If a banged up guy playing for 3 years straight (something NO other player has done the last 3 years) after a few knee surgeries and gets bogged down by serious injuries can manage to produce like this while pacing himself ( Kobe and Phil both told it ), why is it too hard to imagine Kobe being a bit better next season? After an extended rest and a surgery which seems to have got him some of his old hops back??!

2. Wade vs Kobe stats : Points : Push
Assists : Kobe
Rebounds : Push
Blocks : Wade
So far, so good. Now let’s go to the main sticking point : FG%

First of all, Kobe and Wade play in different systems. I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t watched too many of the Heat’s games. So, I’ll just stick to my defense of Kobe and hope that some of you help me out with Wade.

Kobe takes a LOT more jumpers than Wade does not just because Kobe’s lost athleticism and can’t drive like he used to ( he doesn’t need to but his fckked up hands don’t help matters much here ) but more so because the paint is clogged with Pau and Bynum. Kobe can’t do what he does best (Post-up) like Wade does what he does best (driving). If y’all think I’m kidding, just check last year’s stats when Kobe’s stats were MJ-esque on an MJ-esque oriented offense ( Enough lack of paint presence for Kobe to work on the post like MJ used to regularly do on the Bulls ). In order for him to accomodate Pau’s and Bynum’s skillset, he needs to shoot more from the perimeter and I’m pretty sure he takes 3-4 more jumpers. Also, Kobe’s FG% is a bit flawed. If you watch Laker games, you’ll see Kobe was stuck with the ball last season a lot in the dying seconds when a play for Pau failed when Pau couldn’t get a good position. He’s either left to shoot the ball and hope it falls or not shoot at all and save his FG% or pass the ball and hope to rack an assist ( that has as much probability as Thunder going back to Seattle. ). Kobe’s had 2 such shots atleast per game almost every game of the season. Just check out the games too folks.

3. If what Mike Brown means to say and what I think he means by the new O is true, LA’s game will cement the inside-out spirit even more in the new O. And assuming LA can run the offense without too many hitches, I fail to see how Kobe won’t get more open looks ( Bynum/Pau feeds or screen rolls ), get more lift on his shots ( last season’s shots lacked some jump and the new surgery seems to be working well ), drive more to the basket ( since his knees/fingers/back/other body parts will have recovered a lot so that even he can go “me-against-the-world” in the paint like DWade does in a limited fashion ).

Now, as I stated earlier, I haven’t watched a lot of Heat’s games as I didn’t have enough time. So, any info there would be cool.

On a side note : One thing I do hope is that Bynum/Pau can extend his range so that Kobe can get more opportunities in the post. The guy flat out kills from there and if anyone disagrees with me, go watch 2010 start. Still disagrees? Pass the pipe.

For the record, I had : LBJ #1, Dwight #2, Wade #3, Kobe #4, CP3 #5, Durant/Rose #5 and #6……..