This really has all the hallmarks of a great barroom debate: who's the team of the "noughties" (a term Mookie used within his piece)? Here are three opinions on this... one from TBF who did the draft preview here, another from Mookie of A Stern Warning, and my own.
We also talked a bit about it within Bloguin NBA - Dave Kelsey of TWolves Blog thought LA ("I hate them because they have been the best. The Lakers."). Brian Packey of Detroit4lyfe thought LA as well. Kinda ("I would probably lean toward the Lakers")... and a few others fell either way.
But now... the slightly longer opinions. First up - A Stern Warning's Mookie...
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I'm sure you're still celebrating the Lakers' title... but I'm here to rain on your parade with my 2 cents for the Greatest team of the 00's debate:
The battle for the title of greatest team of the past decade is a clear-cut two horse race. It comes down to the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. I don't even want to hear the Pistons enter the conversation.
Now, if we want to get technical, the Lakers have won four titles in the noughties, whilst the Spurs have only won three... but, the Spurs did win it all in 98-99 as well, so that's virtually a tie. Putting that aside for one moment, and I'll even say notwithstanding the Lakers 4-3 victory on titles, the best team of the past decade has to be the Spurs.
There's been a lot of talk about Bruce Manley. Fake... BS... Here, they're attempting to prove the haters wrong. He gets it (on the 14th try) - two cameras - both angles maintain the ball in the frame the entire time.
Me? I buy into it. Looking forward to his HORSE with Shaq!
Every now and then you get to see an amazing story unfold... and such a story is that of Bruce Manley. I posted a video of Bruce here the other day, and his friend and CEO of Left Lane 6, Thomas Litteer contacted me. We spoke a bit via email, and the story unfolds... I'll let Thomas take over...
Take a second and Google Shaq challenges B.MANLEY. I finally was able to get Shaq to glance at my link, I posted it under false pretenses (I said "Dunno if you saw this... it's Chris Bosh and Greg Oden's love child *link*") He checked it, and enjoyed it. He tweeted minutes later "I want to play this guy in HORSE for $1,000 fnd him pls *link*"...
Luckily, I checked my email and twitter before going to bed, noticing he had just posted it. I went straight to the vid, and put annotations on it, letting everyone know my twitter, and telling Shaq to hit me up there. TONS of people let him know my twitter name. But he got my email off of the end of the Next Pistol Pete video yesterday, sent me an email askin for my number, and called an hour later. We spoke for a few minutes, and agreed to have the game in July sometime working out the specific dates this weekend (the trade, and interest from your favorite television sports network might push the actual game to the 23rd of July. The game will be covered by my crew here at Left Lane 6 (as I mentioned, most likely a major sports network we're all VERY familiar with).
Bruce Manley, B.Manley, is 25 years old. He lives in suburban New Jersey, where he spends his days as a bank teller, and his nights and free time humiliating his competition in pick up games and various street ball syndicates. While he's been playing basketball since anyone can remember, the behind the back mastery we've all seen is actual a by-product from a baseball injury. As a teen, Bruce hurt his shoulder pitching. He was unable to make long passes overhand with a basketball without experiencing a lot of pain. He began making longer passes behind the back. With as much time as he spends on the court, this talent was quickly sharpened and honed. Combining that with his other skills, and love for the game, it evolved into what you see in the vids. Bruce's videos have been featured just about everywhere now, but for months, I was sending them to ESPN, and various other outlets with no luck. Now they all want in.
Bruce Manley is represented by childhood friend and CEO of Left Lane 6, Thomas Litteer, who shot and edited the videos.
Here's the newest video, some of the most insane alley oops you will ever see. B.Manley to some amazing dunkers we had out. We want to get shaq to catch a few oops from Bruce.
Just an amazing story, and believe me - I'll keep you posted as further developments pan out.
G'luck Bruce! Not sure who's gonna need it more: you or the Big fella!
Looks like Bloguin will be doing a liveblog of The Draft. I'll be in and out, but there'll be people discussing it all the way through. Come on back here for all your draft-day yabbering - there'll be a Coveritlive live-blog here (and at all Bloguin NBA blogs) tomorrow (well... tomorrow my time!).
This piece is written by TBF - in his debut here. TBF originally wrote this as a forum piece, but in discussion he & I agreed it was definitely good enough to put up as a blog-piece. TBF hails from the same part of the world as Usher & 46 (who both have shared their insight over the past 6 months)...
There are pretty much two ways to draft a player these days: to fit a glaring need on your team, or to take the best available talent. There are other scenarios for stashing players over in Europe to save on salaries and also trading down to second round picks so you can ship them off after training camp, but as a general rule this is how the first round is drafted.
If we take this to be true, then this is how I predict the top 10 in the draft would look if teams drafted according to their need:
1. Blake Griffin to LAC.
Yes they have 2 other PFs already, but LAC NEED to not stuff up another pick more than they need anything else and truth be told they have decent players at every position. Randolph can be traded. Davis can be traded. Sounds like a long-shot, but if you're a GM that really wants to change the culture you can easily get some nice role-players for those "troublesome" stars.
2. Hasheem Thabeet to MEMPHIS.
They do have Marc Gasol, but together with Thabeet they'd have a very solid inside presence to build around. A decent coach and they could actually put together a strong defensive unit. The reason they don't need Rubio is Conley's finish last season. He, Mayo and Gay worked ok together and by adding in Thabeet to draw some down low attention Mayo will get more open looks and improve his FG%.
3. James Harden to OKC.
Yep I've gone cold on Rubio in OKC. This is because I see a lot of playmaking ability in Harden, Westbrook, Durant AND Green. With all that on the floor (or at least 3 at any given time) you don't need a bonafide distributor as these 4 can create for one another. It also gives a very deadly backcourt as Westbrook and Harden both have range, both like to penetrate and both can create for themselves. Anything that gives Durant more open shots is a good thing.
4. Ricky Rubio to SAC.
No need to trade up for Sacramento. They'll get their guy at #4, they'll finally have a young COMPLETE core, and Rubio will land in a destination he's actually willing to go. Rubio fits the personality of this team and will grow exponentially under a coach like Paul Westphal. Rubio/Martin/Garcia/Thompson/Hawes. Sacramento's 5 last draft choices. All young, all capable - and all capable of a bright future together.
5. Jordan Hill to WAS.
This is purely because what Washington need to do is trade for someone who can come in right now and help. They're strong at pretty much every position except SG and so by getting Hill they have the ability to dangle him for a SG type player to any team needing a sold PF. This is a tough one to pick as they could easily be told to draft someone by another team so that a pre-meditated trade can go through (e.g. Steven Curry, Brandon Jennings).
Game 1 - June 4, Staples Center, W 100-75 Game 2 - June 7, Staples Center, W 101-96 Game 3 - June 9, Amway Arena, L 104-108 Game 4 - June 11, Amway Arena, W 99-91 Game 5 - June 14, Amway Arena, W 99-86
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 