Yeah Olympic basketball where the vast majority of starters on the better teams are NBA or Euroleague players. You know the Olympics that many on this board thought that we would lose like the previous olympics. Yeah the players are terrible.
Saying that a person cant guard a particular position and using Dwayne Wade as an example of the type of player at that position seems a little excessive doesnt it? Does that mean every guard in the NBA during the late 80's and 90's couldnt play defense because they couldnt seem to cover Micheal Jordan?

If you happen to go to a Cavs game please note that Lebron is bigger than Ben Wallace and I am doubting that Wallace has shrunk much other than his hair.

Your contentions are fairly ludicrous. But keep digging. Maybe next you'll tell me that Lebron couldnt guard Jerry West or Bob Cousy or George Mikan or Danny Ainge or Connie Hawkins or Herman the helicopter or Trevor Ariza or Wes Unseld or Elvin hayes because he is 6"8 and 250 and is either too slow or too weak or too tall or too short to mess with them.

[quote=Cannon Shell]Yeah Olympic basketball where the vast majority of starters on the better teams are NBA or Euroleague players. You know the Olympics that many on this board thought that we would lose like the previous olympics. Yeah the players are terrible.
QUOTE]

Look who is trying to change the argument now. LOL. No one said anything about Olympic guards being "terrible". My point is that they arent as athletic as NBA two guards. How many euros start two guard in the NBA? Why do you think that that is?

So of course Lebron can cover a guard in the NBA but can't effectively cover a good two guard. He simply doesnt have the lateral mobility...being 280 lbs like you claim.

I know i have someone on the ropes when they start talking about "digging" and then they start bringing up players from other eras to support their futile arguments.

We are talking about here and now. In case someone hasnt come down to the barn and told you, ainge doesnt play anymore and neither does west, cousy or mikan. They are all players from another era and it is debatable as to whether or not they would have had the same success in this era. We are talking about HERE AND NOW. And here and now, Lebron James is not mobile enough laterally to stay with a quick NBA two guard and certainly not an average NBA point. He can't cover five positions and your attempt to try to stay with this ridiculous contention shows either a lack of knowledge of the game or a silly stubborness.

Me thinks it is more the latter.;)

It really depends on what points and two's we refer to. He obviously would have a difficult time with Chris Paul or Tony Parker. Really fast PG that can shoot. But he could easily cover Rajon "no shot" Rhondo (sp?). He would obviously get much more tired covering either a guard or centers for reasons that involve legs.

But if you had to name one guy who would be the best
at covering all 5 positions, it would have to be Lebron.

To change the subject a bit.

I think it would be very interesting to see the younger
Dennis Rodman who played very good defense (not the older
version that just waited for rebounds) cover Lebron. Rodman
crazy, and stringy-quick-strong, playing against a guy that
might eventually try to kill him. Rodman also excelled at drawing
charges. This matchup would be classic.

No...it would be Garnett but you would have to say Lebron is in the conversation. Rodman is the only player that I have seen literally cover all five positions and he was an extraordinary once in a lifetime defender. Did he have to flop against the big boys? Yes. But was he just something to behold? Rodman would have locked him down like he did Bird and to a lesser degree Magic and Worthy although Locking Lebron down simply means holding him to 29 points.

As far as Lebron covering Rondo there is no way. Rondo is too quick and gets to the basket too well. Could he cover kidd? Sure...but who cant these days? But a guy like Brooks who was killing the lakers but yet is very mediocre? No way. He simply isnt that good of a "lock down defender"...yet. Let me add that at 250 (or 280 as chuck claims) there is no way he should be able to guard small players like that. Kobe could but he was 40 lbs lighter and much more mobile laterally. Remember, kobe could lock down on the other teams best scorer whether it be 1,2, or 3. He could guard Iverson in AI's prime and Wade in Wade's prime. Lebron will never be able to do that.

This stuff is pure comedy. LeBron can't guard all five positions but Garnett can? This is better than anything on tv. Keep it coming guys.

I didnt say he could and to borrow your line i would love for you to show me where i did say that. I dont think anyone can guard five positions.

ok you got me. i was wrong. i will admit Jerry West knows basketball better than I do. He says lebron could only play 4 positions...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4178437

LOL. No one debated whether or not he could play four positions. The question was whether he could legitimately DEFEND five positions. Of course he can play 1,2,3 or 4...and?

Just give it up. First you bring up Euro swingmen and then you try to misquote jerry west when it is obvious in that article he wasnt talking about defense. Geeez, is it that big of a deal to be wrong about something?

Yeah, and apparently on April 15th they sent paperwork to the WWE making sure they still wanted to reserve the arena. I think this will wind up a bigger deal, I could see Vince doing a show in the parking lot or something to get the publicity which could cause major traffic issues.

The funny part too is Monday Night Raw drew more viewers than any of the Mavs/Nuggets games:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/05/12...pongebob/18531

That would be some piece of marketing to have a wrestling/basketball double header extravaganza. Do you think it would work? I would imagine the demographic is a little different.

You have different demographics but the bigger problem would be it would take a couple hours to take down the wrestling stage, ring, floor seats, etc, and then setup the court. They would probably have to have the wrestling at noon to possibly be able to do both in one day.

Ok, true. You didn't say he could. You said if you had to name one guy that would be the best at guarding all five, it would be Garnett. You honestly feel that Garnett would be able to come closer to guarding a point guard than James could to guarding a center? Hell, James is stronger than most centers in the league. Garnett couldn't guard any point guards.

Agreed.

ANd overall
this is a classic
practice in futility.

You honestly think James can cover an NBA point guard? A legit NBA point guard?

Terrible job by the Nuggets. Plenty of chances to finish the Lakers off and never put the dagger in.

I thought you were a Laker fan?

Composure.
Nene goes off on the bench.
They scream at each other during Time outs
about the refs.

Billups is a godsend for this group.

Yeah, until those two three-pointers though, he wasn't worth a lot in this game. He also should've come to the ball on that inbound. Though I don't know why the hell Carter was inbounding to begin with.

Ariza did make a good play.
Bolded yeps.
Billups got lazy and did not help
make that an easy pass.

bounce pass low with Billups bodyup
against Ariza would have made it simple.

Denver has the talent but they look infantile.
I did get some pleasure watching Carmelo
beat the hell out of Kobe.

I'd rather take my chances with James on a point guard than Garnett. If you think Garnett could do a better job on an NBA point guard than James can.......I don't mean to be harsh but you really should refrain from joining any of the basketball discussions.

Denver lost because of their inability to hit free-throws. That's it.

17 offensive rebounds by the Lakers leading to 16 more shots didn't help.

It didn't but even in the one game the Nuggets beat the Lakers this year, the Lakers beat them on the offensive boards 22-11. In the third game it was 18-10 (they were only one apart in the first game). So the Lakers typically outrebound them and because of their size, dominate the offensive glass. But you can't give away free points. Denver went 23-35 from the line, 12-21 in the first half. That's unacceptable at this point in the season. Giving away 12 points in a game you realistically lost by only 1-2 points is disappointing.

And you are the arbiter of who should join basketball discussions? LOL. I didnt say Garnett could do a better job on an NBA point...I said he would have a better chance guarding 5 positions. Is there a comprehension problem here? Garnett can guard an NBA center...well! Lebron isnt covering a center or a guard well.

Suddenly, Lebron is a lockdown defender of 5 positions...and i shouldnt be discussing basketball.:)

Thats the reason Billups gave. No doubt a contributing factor but I disagree it was "pure and simple". 12-21 in the first half means they shot 11-14 in the second half including an intentional miss so they actually went 11-13 when it counted. That is pretty darn good on the road in the playoffs and it was just as good as the lakers shot down the stretch.

To me that game was lost on tempo pure and simple. The lakers are 8 and 0 when scoring over 100 points and 1 and 4 when they scored below 100. Its not too hard to do the math. If you play an uptempo game against the lakers they will beat you.

My God. It took me a while but I finally see what everyone else has seen for a long time. I give up.

:wf :wf :wf

So it's like a 80/60 thing?

From what I can surmise KG can guard the 2-3-4-5 while LeBron can ONLY guard the 2-3-4.

NT

Thank God for mirrors and acne meds.:)

My only contention was that lebron can't guard five positions and anyone that knows anything about basketball knows this. Someone else said Lebron could come closest to doing it and my quote was that I think Garnett could come closest but Lebron would be in the same sentence of who would come closest. For some reason, this seems unreasonable to some.

Yeah yeah yeah. And i misquoted jerry west too. If someone says you can PLAY 4 positions than surely the 50% of the time you spend on defense should count no? Why you think James couldnt guard the vast majority of NBA centers is strange since there are lots of post defenders in the NBA smaller and not nearly as athletic as James.

What did you think about the game last night?

Couldn't believe that. So many missed opportunities to steal one in LA. That stretch where they were up 7 with about 6 minutes to go and JR Smith just kept gunning up threes was killing me. Had they worked it to 11 there instead of Smith's obsession with making it a 10 point game that backfired, the Lakers don't get back in the game. I HATE the foul up three at the end of games, makes for such an anticlimactic finish.

6 points and a steal doesnt make you Larry Bird

[quote=Cannon Shell]6 points and a steal doesnt make you Larry Bird[/QUOT

? LOL. i wasnt even talking about Ariza.

What was your take? I was incredibly please to see Carmello perform like that. To me it really vindicated what i always have thought about him.

[quote=dalakhani]Entertaining game that Denver blew. Anderson played well, should get more minutes