SoxFan1

I'm wondering if a hockey player has had a worse series than Matt Walker has had for the Blackhawks vs the Canucks. My goodness, that man is playing absolutely horribly.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:24 PM) WHAT? Magic Johnson averaged 20 points, 11 assists and 7 rebs. (Career) Lebron James 27.5 pts, 6.7 assists and 7 rebs. 4 more assists > 7.5 points Especially when you consider Magic was a 6'8 POINT GUARD, where as Lebron is a small forward/shooting guard. Its not even a great comparison because they both played very different positions, and Magic never was really the "scorer" with Kareem already there. At age 22 Magic averaged 18.6 points, 9.6 rebs and 9.5 assists. That's basically averaging a triple double. Lebron is good, I just doubt that he could play point guard as well as Magic, where as Magic could easily have been a SF/SG and even played Center. I dont buy the position argument at all. Scottie Pippen was a point forward. If Magic can play Center, then Lebron James SURE AS f*** can play Center. Lebron also doesn't have the players around him that Magic did. And if you're going to say that 4 more assists > 7.5 points, then that's kind of nitpicking. Assuming that those 4 assists all ended in 2 point buckets, then Magic has .5 points on him. And even if all 4 were 3 pointers, he's got 4.5 points on him. I wouldn't call Lebron a small forward or a shooting guard, I wouldn't call him a point guard either. He does whatever he wants, and he does handle the ball a lot anyway.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ May 5, 2009 -> 09:11 PM) Cutler's physical ability is superior to just about any QB in the league. He obviously has a cannon, but Rodgers went through hell and back last offseason and still came out and had a great year. Ryan Grant decided to take the first half of last year off and Denver's OL was better then the Packers. Just because I think there's another QB who is better then Cutler doesn't mean I'm not extremely happy to have him. Going through hell and back because of Brett Favre has NOTHING to do with his abilities on the field. He still had to practice and he was still getting all the snaps. Ryan Grant is NOT as good of a RB as people think he is. And I'm sure Rodgers was just sooooo pissed about having to throw to Driver and Jennings all season. Please, Cutler > Rodgers. And if you're going to use the running game argument, it still doesn't apply, because Denver didn't have one.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ May 7, 2009 -> 06:45 PM) I'd take Russell, Chamberlain, MJ, Magic, and Robertson over LeBron. Lebron is already better than Magic. Sorry.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 7, 2009 -> 01:25 PM) Now, I'm a pretty big Jordan homer and all, but Jordan pretty much invented the superstar call. For every superstar call, he got nailed twice. Players are such pussies now it's not even funny. No one would dare make a hard foul on the stars of the NBA now. You've got Rajon Rondo running around like a f***ing mad-man thinking he can take on the world and get away with it.

QUOTE (rangercal @ May 7, 2009 -> 12:58 PM) I think soxfan1 made the best post in the thread. Thank you sir.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 7, 2009 -> 09:55 AM) Maybe I have the blinders on then... Steve, what the f*** are you smoking? The NBA plays NO defense compared to the days that MJ played. No hand checks...you kidding me? MJ would average 40 a night without many problems. Who the f*** is going to shut down MJ in today's league with todays defense? They couldn't freakin' stop him back then!

You're going to miss college a lot. Sorry for the bad news.

Word's cannot describe the awesomeness of this post. "Scrumtrulescent" even falls short.

No honeydew love?

If they want to wait it out, they can start this one after 8:30 or so.

Well....?

Seriously, SoxTalk needs to get in on this...

I am soooooooooo voting for Lastings.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:40 PM) Good old SlavkoSrbija defending Tyrus on YouTube... Blame it on the stupid Warriors fans.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:29 PM) Ronaldo Messi and Torres. Excellent. My top 3 as well. I might slip Kaka in there. I like Kaka a lot (hehe), but there is something about him that irks me. Admittedly, I haven't watched them a lot recently, but he doesn't seem to have the ability to make something out of nothing like some of the other world class players.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) Agreed. No doubt he has heart, but I think he lets others get the best of him in his head. Definitely agreed about the defensive aspect. Its something that bothers me about the NBA. Players are too f***ing lazy/selfish. Thats why I respect the s*** out of Ron Artest so much. He doesn't take plays off on defense. He works his ASS off. It's entirely effort. Norm van Lier wasn't making s*** up with the 48 minutes of intensity. It's true. if you try hard, you will succeed. I absolutely LOVE watching Artest play defense, because its pure effort. Of course you'll get tired quicker, but if you want to win, you'll work.

FOUND IT! It was Anthony Randolph of the Warriors...

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:03 PM) Lol... Wow.. for the record that sentence I was talking about the center position of course. I still love ya Slav, but I'm not gonna waste my breath (or fingers for that matter) Since he was drafted, You, Joe, Steve, etc.. know how I feel about my man crush. Kinda hard to let him go away. (it's kinda like you and Kirk Hinrich though you don't like to admit it) I gotta back him up. Hey if he absolutely blows donkey balls next season or two years from now, you bet I'll be the first to admit it. (or I'm sure all three of you will mention it first before I can even type a sentence ) Like I said earlier this fourth year is crucial for Tyrus. Barring any unforseen circumstances (ala traded this summer or something) he's got one.. maybe two more years to either continue progressing, or he's gone. Only thing ima say is.. I'm glad we have a real superstar (before anyone jumps the gun, I'm talking about Rose here) on the team now. I've been over Hinrich for a while now. His downfall to an incredibly average player has stumped everyone. Yet, he's still a great defensive player, a good leader, can play and guard 2 positions, and has valuable experience. And he can also light it up once in a while. QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) He doesn't play ole' defense, but he does make some stupid fouls sometimes, I agree. Blocks don't equal defense, I agree. But blocks, sticking with your man, rotating out to help defend and steals are considered defense. Again, the main thing he struggles with are guys who can shoot because he'll allow them to take the jumper all day instead of manning that person up. I'll say Tyrus should be able to rebound more, but for a guy who is completely relying on athletic ability and not technique nor strength, almost 10 rebounds per game is pretty damn good. If he could muscle up, it would help his technique in that he would be able to box out his defenders and therefore grab more rebounds. Now if he actually bulks up is a whole nother story as we saw guys like Deng or Tyrus never do it. I'd still venture to say, 60% at most are blocks from help defense. Obviously, unless we find a stat online somewhere, there's no way to tell because I doubt either of us have every game saved to our DVR. Our DVR hard drive aint big enough. One can argue we're a terrible defensive team because of our scheme. I think you're one of them, but I won't quote you on it. The thing is, say Tyrus really is a bad defender and it's not scheme. In that situation, Rose is 90X's worse than anyone imagined and that's solely on him. I look at a defense which switches every single time, even if the matchup states we should stay at home. I personally think it's a flaw in either VDN's system, or the players themselves who always switch. That's up for debate. If it's the scheme, then VDN, Ociepka and Bickerstaff who all handle the defense need to work out several kinks. I think Tyrus' main issue is laziness and lack of hustle on the court. It pisses me off endlessly. The fact that guys like Big Bayby Davis beat him down the court is unacceptable. He just seems to not care sometimes and he definitely gets frustrated EXTREMELY easily. I can't remember who it was again, but there was a game a couple months ago that Tyrus went up for a dunk, got absolutely rejected and hit the deck HARD. He wanted a foul, but it was a super clean block. Then a possession or 2 later, he threw down a dunk on that player. And still pissed, a possession or 2 later, he tried to do it again only to get a ridiculous charge called on him. And on the other end, he fouled the player again. And as far as our team defense, it's a mix of both. Our scheme is stupid. We play man defense and stress help defense, but our players are too dumb/lazy/slow/bad to rotate quick enough. And we're HORRIBLE at making adjustments in game. Glen Davis killed us all series, yet we still allowed him to take open jumper after open jumper. Defense is ENTIRELY about effort. It's as simple as that. We saw how good our team could be at times against Boston when the team REALLY wanted it and buckled down defensively. Stay on your toes, keep your feet moving, keep your hands out, and play with your feet, not your hands.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:07 PM) List your top 3. I'd honestly say, and I hate to say it, he's the best player in the world. Messi and Ronaldo are top 2, order not a horribly big deal. There are quite a few players fighting for that #3 spot. Nemanja Vidic has asserted himself as one of the best defenders in the world. Steven Gerrard is still an incredible playmaker for Liverpool and Fernando Torres is a prolific goal scorer. I'd say those are my top 5... Ronaldo, Messi, Torres, Vidic, Gerrard

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:50 AM) Cristiano is an even bigger douche, though I respect his talent. With that said, I hope AC Milan or Roma handles any one of these guys. Ya, he's a douche, but he's probably a top 3 player in the world right now. His 2 goals yesterday were absolutely amazing.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:42 AM) Hmmm... let's see. I'll make this short.. Bulls***. A good majority, to basically most of his blocks do come from help side but not "all." You can't say every one of his blocks are from help D, because that's what I'm implying from what you said in "all." Hell he's got 3 f***ing videos on youtube alone on pages, on which he's going one on one and blocks the shot even if he gets beat to the basket. Jesus. ... Of course you don't. Hmmm.. rebounding.. coulda sworn you actually had to jump most of the time to get those (what theyre gonna fall in your lap?) you also need strength also (hell Noah is pretty damn athletic himself, who also gets rebounds for tip-ins mostly, or you guessed it.. out jumping and out fighting the opposition.. unless its Dwight Howard who can "out jump" anyone) which both improved on their strength from, last season. Congrats Slav.. you beat your old record of B.S./hyperbole statements by just a touch this time. OMG, take things uber literally why don't you. Ok, not ALL of his blocks come from help D, but MOST of them do. There, I'm still f***ing right. Yes, I don't realize where Tyrus' steals come from, because I cannot honestly remember a single relevant steal Tyrus made all season, and I'd say I watched at least 3/4 of the games. It's not like he's shutting down his guy and not allowing him to do anything and just stripping the ball from him. Give me a f***ing break Gerry. And I maintain that he's not a good rebounder because, well, he's not a good f***ing rebounder. And don't ever f***ing bring up Dwight Howard when talkign about Tyrus again. Dwight had like 2-3 inches and 50 pounds on Tyrus and could snap him the f*** in half. I realize that athleticism leads to a lot of rebounds, but if Tyrus is such a freak athlete, he should be able to rebound a f***ton better. So don't give me your bs/hyperbole crap, because as much as I hate Tyrus, you slurp the guy twice as much. QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) Not all of his blocks come from help defense. A lot do, but not nearly the 80 or 90% you make them out to be. I'd probably say 55-60% do which is fine. A block is a block. No need to be picky about it. You also have to take into account the fact that since he has great blocking/jumping ability, he alters a lot of shots. He gets steals as he has long arms and he's super athletic. With that said, it's easy for him to reach around a player and pick the ball or when he plays help defense or when he plays the passing lanes which he's able to do and not get burned frequently because of his ability to recover quickly(see: athleticism) I agree, he should be outrebounding people, and maybe that's something he can improve upon in the offseason. His man defense is solid as well despite popular belief. When he struggles, it's with guys who can shoot. Like Bargnani flat out eats this guy alive because Tyrus always lets them take the jumper instead of bodying up. He's far from a perfect player, and he's very very frustrating at times, but it's easy to see the upside and improvement that he has made. I also find it funny that the very same people who claim defense is the uber important thing in a team and b**** about Gordon's defense, complain about one of our top 3 defenders and our best post defender whether you like to admit it or not. In a legitimate, sincere statement, I'd argue that 75% of his block are on help D, no joke. Like I've said, I'm not denying that Tyrus improved this past season, because he absolutely did. But he's still incredible mediocre, he's always going to have to prove himself because of the Aldridge trade, and all the retard fanboys who only see some sort of amazing potential make me hate him even more. And again, you're top defender argument is SUPER flawed. We're a horrific defensive team. Being a top 3 defender on a terrible defending team means nothing. If anyone thinks that Tyrus is actually a really good defensive player, I'm going to disagree a whole hell of a lot.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) Impressive lack of composure by Chelsea after conceding an incredible goal for Barcelona. Barca was down 1-0 and a man down (on a terrible red card call) and scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to qualify for the final. Chelsea damn near assaulted the ref on nothing questionable, embarrassing. Michael Ballack is a piece of s***. Go ManU in the final!