[RubberMallet]

blocks and steals are like a fraction of what a good defender is. bruce bowen did neither and is considered one of the best defenders of the 00's.

[From the class of 09]

Say whatever you want, be done with me if you want. I could care less.

Miami will be "done" with the NBA the next 5 years. Enjoy Boozer.

that has nothing to do with dwade being a horrible defender....can't say i'm not surprised.

You went from saying "wade isn't that good of a defender" (a position that I may disagree with but I could see your point) to saying "dwade being a horrible defender"...really a horrible defender?

It looks to me you may have over reached in you second comment just to try and argue… to say Wade didn’t deserve defensive honors is one thing but saying the Wade is a “horrible defender” would simply be “factual statements that are self-contradictory”

[jcmanson]

I don't care if, according to Mallet, Wade's a horrible defender or not; it's all about winning. He's already won one championship, and before it's all said and done he'll win at least a couple more.

He's from Chicago so I can understand why he's so bitter.

[Schfourteenteen]

LeBron + DWade + Bosh + 9 scrubs = 0 NBA Championships.

[jcmanson]

LeBron + DWade + Bosh + 9 scrubs = 0 NBA Championships.

[flamesbball84]

you know who got steals and was an average defender at best? allen iverson. Many guys who get a lot of steals gamble in the passing lanes to get their steals. When the gamble fails, which is more often than not, the offensive player is going to get some easy shot opportunities

you know who gets blocks and is an average defender at best? amare stoudemire. Many guys would much rather roam off their man to try and get weakside blocks. obviously this is going to result in more defensive lapses than blocks since even the best shot blockers only average around 3ish a game.

According to 82games.com, this season, the player's Wade defended at SG had a PER of 15.6, which is 0.6 point above the league average, which is right around par for the course for All-NBA players, but select folks like Kobe, Artest, Howard, Oden, and Varejao have truly elite opponent PERs at below 14.0 this season, and Bruce Bowen and Ben Wallace historically had PERs below 14.

So while Wade is a good defender, I would not classify him as an elite defender [which in my opinion would mean being classified as one of the best defenders of all time, which Bowen and Wallace would be], especially considering he often is not guarding the opponents top guard in order to save his energy for the offensive end.

[thepostman]

dwade isn't a great defender but he is far from a bad one...

so if lebron goes to miami and one of them gets hurt during the year what is going to happen to that team?? Wade already had a history with getting injured and bosh isn't exactly the toughest guy around...but then again you always have those players willing to take a pay cut to win a championship, so who knows who will come calling for cheap if this does happen...

I do think it would be funny if with all this fan fare he ends up going nowhere and staying in cleveland...

[jcmanson]

At about 9:12 EDT tonight, the Miami Heat will become the New York Yankees of the NBA.

[jcmanson]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... z0t739wVJp

The Heat have offered Mike Miller a five-year deal, worth approximately $27 million-$30 million.

Miami has given Miller a deadline of Thursday night to decide.

Miller has been told by the Heat that they are 'confident' LeBron James will be joining the Heat.

[flamesbball84]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... z0t739wVJp

The Heat have offered Mike Miller a five-year deal, worth approximately $27 million-$30 million.

Miami has given Miller a deadline of Thursday night to decide.

Miller has been told by the Heat that they are 'confident' LeBron James will be joining the Heat.

That would be a really, really good pickup for the Heat, especially at that price. Miller is a very well rounded offensive player - he can pass and shoot really well and is a terror on the fast break. Plus, he is one of the best rebounding SG/SFs in the game. Can't play any defense though, but does a lot of other things well. They could put him at PG some with Wade, maybe Lebron, Bosh, and somebody at C and that would be a title winning lineup regardless of who is at C.

[RubberMallet]

Say whatever you want, be done with me if you want. I could care less.

Miami will be "done" with the NBA the next 5 years. Enjoy Boozer.

that has nothing to do with dwade being a horrible defender....can't say i'm not surprised.

You went from saying "wade isn't that good of a defender" (a position that I may disagree with but I could see your point) to saying "dwade being a horrible defender"...really a horrible defender?

It looks to me you may have over reached in you second comment just to try and argue… to say Wade didn’t deserve defensive honors is one thing but saying the Wade is a “horrible defender” would simply be “factual statements that are self-contradictory”

i can take that critisism. i obviously was reaching a bit at horrible but he can be very terrible at times.

defense in basketball is difficult to put on paper. defenses now require alot of shifting and "zoneish" type man to man defenses. n so you can't jsut say that since pg A scores x amount of points, pg B is a bad defender. likewise, steals and blocks are not good indicators as well. you pretty much have to go off of what you see. and you get to see alot of heat games during the year and dwade gets blown by all the time. whether he just can't handle or he's attempting a steal, he doesn't shut down the offense. most of his blocks come from behind because he at times recovers from getting broke.

lol at jcmanson..."he's got championships" which means nothing. so does bill wennington.

and i ahve nothing to be mad about...i lived through 6 of the most dominating years in basketball history...the bulls can win 0 more championships in my lifetime and i'll still feel it a successful run.

[jcmanson]

http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic ... ach-201087

LeBron James has rented six cabanas at the W Hotel South Beach this weekend to celebrate his team decision, two sources confirm to UsMagazine.com.

This is getting comical

[jcmanson]

"he's got championships" which means nothing.

Really? I thought that was the whole point...

[flamesbball84]

Chris Paul has left Octagon and will now be represented by LeBron James' LRMR marketing company.
LRMR has yet to make a formal announcement that Paul will be joining them, but that news will likely hit during tonight's televised extravaganza. "He’s left Octagon," Paul’s agent Jeff Austin said. "We’re proud of the work we did with him over the past five years. We wish him nothing but the best." This could also mean Paul has a better than average chance of being traded to LeBron's team (Miami?) at some point down the road.

[RubberMallet]

"he's got championships" which means nothing.

Really? I thought that was the whole point...

means nothing when it comes to how good someone is on defense which was what the conversation has been about. *insert retarded emoticon*

person A - "that player isn't good at defense"

person B - "he's got a ring"

person A - "were you on the debate team?"

[flamesbball84]

1) the bobcats are apparently highly motivated to get beasley, making the cap room for lebron

2)

The Jazz will complete a sign-and-trade deal that will send Carlos Boozer to the Bulls.
The get a $13 million trade exception and a protected second-round pick, and this also means the Bulls can sign him to a sixth year.

3)

The Warriors and Knicks have an agreement in place to do a sign-and-trade deal that will send David Lee to Golden State for Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike.
It sounds like the deal may be written and will only need to be signed once LeBron James makes his plans known. Of course, if he ends up in New York, the deal is off. We'll have to wait for LeBron's official decision tonight, but as of now, it sounds like there's about an 80 percent chance this deal is going to happen.

[prototype]

Rumor has it - Miami done deal...

July 2nd - I made this announcement!! I can get any props for calling it????

[Sly Fox]

Sure ...

[Cider Jim]

Is anybody else outside of Miami HAPPY for LeBron? No offense to my midwestern friends, but I bet he was glad to get out of Ohio to work in sunny Florida with his 2 best friends. And weekends and nights in Miami must have more to offer than Cleveland. And then there is Miami Beach vs. Lake Erie...

[flamesbball84]

Is anybody else outside of Miami HAPPY for LeBron? No offense to my midwestern friends, but I bet he was glad to get out of Ohio to work in sunny Florida with his 2 best friends. And weekends and nights in Miami must have more to offer than Cleveland. And then there is Miami Beach vs. Lake Erie...

Doubt, he has quickly become quite possibly the most hated basketball player in America.

[thepostman]

but it was all about the "brand"

[jcmanson]

No it was all about winning. He's said that for years now.

[Cider Jim]

the most hated basketball player in America.

Lang's local fishwrap had an article and pics of of Cleveland fans BURNING their LeBron jerseys.

[Schfourteenteen]

No it was all about winning. He's said that for years now.

If it was really about winning he would have showed up to a game vs. the Celtics. He wants to win, just not in Cleveland.

[olldflame]

Can we PLEASE give the Celtics a little more credit for winning that series? They almost beat the Lakers and won it all, and might have if Perkins wasn't hurt (and keep in mind the Celts were pretty much at full strength against the Cavs). Rivers thoroughly outcoached Brown, and had a defensive scheme (and the players to execute it) that made things really tough on James.

There are aspects of how "Team LeBron" handled this that I hate, but as far as the actual decision to go to Miami, I have no problem with it. He is taking less money and will have to share both the ball and the spotlight with Wade, and to a lesser extent Bosh. It's a bit of a gamble, so here's a poker analogy. He has gone all in on a set of kings, and if some other team or teams end up drawing a flush or a straight on the river, he will take a bad beat.