Manu Ginobili

Good to see the recognition. Thanks

BBD was key, both in terms of production, hustle and chemistry. Anyway, since this is not a playoffs season, it gives JV the chance to see what AN, Hark and Vuc can produce with more minutes. Nik, BBD, Afflalo, JJ, Etwaun, Nicholson, O'Quinn and Harkless are keepers. Nelson is not my favourite because of his lack of D, but he is a good offensive guard. I wouldn't mind getting a more solid PG. Let's build through the draft next two offseasons, while keeping the core young guys.

When the trade was about to happen, my wish was: Howard + Duhon + Turkoglu + Richardson for young players with potential (could be Vucevic, Morre) + rookies (Harkless) + future lottery picks + expirings When all was said and done, I liked: - Vucevic / Moore / Harkless - The amount of picks - Sending out Duhon and Richardson - Keeping BBD and Redick I was torn about: - Bringing Afflalo. Have always thought highly of him as a player, but just didn't see the point of basic rebuilding with quality guys. It was supposed to be all potential, raw, upside. Not ready guys like Arron - Keeping Nelson. Never a good defender, and has been continually declining since 10 playoffs. At the same time, always a positive leader and can be really good offensively from time to time. I disliked: - Bringing Harrington. Not an expiring contract, a perennial scorer for losing teams. - Keeping Turkoglu. I think he was a great player once, but nowadays he is almost useless and taking valuable minutes away from youngsters. - The quality of the draft picks received - Letting Anderson go. Price was really a lot for a guy his caliber, but was starting to blossom here, and still very young and overachieving (except in the postseason). As it turns out, hopefully the model for rebuilding is not just being atrocious and running into the #1 pick, but building a good core from scratch and adding a few pieces. Me, personally, I would like NOT TO MAKE ANY TRADES for a long time, and just build through the draft and getting a huge FA when the time comes. Meanwhile, seeing this team competing for a playoffs spot and with an explosive offense is not too shabby. Certainly not dreamlike, but not a bad scenario after Howard practically destroyed the franchise.

And people still want to trade him :svgsad:

I don't agree at all with the notion of trading BBD. The guy is pure hustle, team-first kind of player, who is having his most productive season so far. Why the need for more trades? Keep the young core, add a few draft picks and just sign a big name FA when the time comes.

Chris Duhon starting PG for LAL We are all witnesses

They had possibly the worst coach of the league, and replaced him with a middle of the pack one.

JJ our own Harden? 3 20 pt scorers? BBD breaking out? Three guys named Nikola Vucevic, Daequan Jones and Etwaun Moore starting? Rooks playing? Your 2012 Orlando Magic

For me, so far, that man tops Shaq, Kobe and LeBron as the best player since MJ. I do think, however, that LeBron will be better when his career comes to an end.

NOT seeing Duhon in the white unis is the highlight of the season

Your D vastly overplayed our O. They were all over the place and the new formation with Kaepernick didn't work at all. Eli simply doesn't do anything wrong against us, and Bradshaw was the best runner out there. It was that kind of day.

49ers won in a nailbiter, struggling and then getting a heave in the End Zone for the winning score

Faceoff was not bad at all. Also, could you be more off topic?

After successfully predicting last year's Ryno's growth (http://truebluenation.com/forum/index.php?/topic/22814-ryan-anderson-breakout-season/page__p__651941__fromsearch__1#entry651941), I think this is the season BBD breaks out. Having watched him for a full season, I can't say I am in love with the guy's game, especially his mid range jump shot. However, he is a beast (though undersized) near the rim, both in attack and in D, which will lead to many 20/10 nights for him, IMO. He is also a decent defender, and continues to hustle in every posession. Now the primary point of attack of our new squad, I predict he will average a double double throughout the season, and will be in the hunt for an All Star bench spot.

Only taking into accounts stats while not watching anything is your specialty. Because if you think 49ers didn't dominate the Packers last sunday, then you didn't watch the game. So you might as well shut up and let people who see things talk.

Garcon is a beast. His only mistake so far was that play in the SB. He will be a Top 5 WR soon

That's why I mentioned Lugano's age. Is highly doubtful that the giants would sign a 30 year old guy. Still, it was also his decision. What's Ibra doing there then? He is still young...but PSG is the new Man City. Lugano is great, make no mistake about it. You will see it in his farewell tournament, Brazil 2014. I wish we had a central defender like him. I respect your opinion, but I could not agree less in Mascherano's assesment. First of all, his height is a liability against tall striker. Second, he is just learning the position. Sabella doesn't even plays him as central back, even though he perfectly could, since Gago is now earning the def mid spot, and deservedly so. I think that being covered by that great Barca defense minimize his flaws. But make no mistake, Mascherano is far from anything special, as we have learned here in the last 8 years since he left River.

The fact that you and Mauro disregard Lugano makes me think you have not been watching a lot of South American / International football lately. In South America, whenever a team's defense is bad/mediocre, first thing that comes up in regular cafe discussions is "we need a Lugano". Lugano has become the most dominant defensive presence that this sport has seen in a long time . IMO, he is twice as good as Pepe. Opposing strikers fear him. He is not the best talent-wise, but he is marking-wise, jumping-wise and phisicality-wise. But you have to take into account that Pepe is 29 and Lugano is 31. Not only that, he is a much better scorer than Pepe (Pepe scored 3 local goals in last 6 seasons...Lugano 21 in 5 in Turkey) and his offensive header is probably unmatched for a central def. I agree that the Falcao/Rooney/Ibra positions are debatable. But Lugano cannot be discounted.

I didn't watch Bucs game yesterday (as everyone knows, I am a Niners die hard). But according to highlights and your comments, it looks like you guys might as well be following the 2011 Harbaugh blueprint. How is that? We were coming of 2 miserable seasons under Singletary, a fiery motivator with absolutely no idea on X's and O's whatsoever. You know who looked JUST like him? Your own Raheem Morris, a short tempered guy in his first experience thinking everything was done with just personality, kicking and screaming and no strategy at all. That team already had Willis, V. Davis, Gore, a then-horrible Alex, Crabtree, Justin Smith and Goldson.He left, Harbaugh came. Solid picks, added veteran help from FA (Rogers) and were one ever lasting heart breaking fumble away from SB. Your team already had a very talented Freeman and a decent RB/WR tandem. Schiano comes, add Nicks and V Jax, solid picks, and plays conservative. Avoids TO's and is stunning against the run. I watched a couple of TB's games last season, and it looked like the potential was certainly there. Same thing happened with us. The material was there. What was missing was richt coaching and adapt it through a conservative playbook, trying to minimize the mistakes and pound the ball.

We dominated the packers. Alex Smith looking better than ever, with added help at WR. It seems the idea might be to rest Gore to prevent his usual decline towards the end of the season. D was great until the final period. Bowman, Rogers, Goldson, Brown and Culliver are definitely intimidating.

Conca, FYI, is an Argentinean leftie playmaker, who had 1 good season in Brazil, then everyone there thought he was god, then he was sold to a Chinese team for a fortune. He didn't even play in our National Team. It is really outrageous that this kid makes more than Messi, or even 100 other much better players than him. Eto'o, I think the guy has had a truly amazing career. It's more of a "Lifetime Achievement Award", similar to Roberto Carlos' last season or Drogba now. In terms of current skill and quality, list should be: 1- Messi 2- C. Ronaldo 3- Iniesta 4- Xavi 5- Casillas 6- Lugano 7- Rooney 8- Ibra 9- Falcao 10- Dani Alves

What I saw there was: Crap, crap, I think I'm clever, crap, crap, Stats tell everything, crap, crap, The most cruel thing you could do to a person is telling they are good at something when they are not (which is probably the most absurd sentence I heard, by the way)

His goal was fantastic

Nobody is arguing he is still a Nigerian citizen. I have repeteadly stated that he is a Nigerian and an American. Therefore, since you cannot consider an "American" player to be "Not American", I didn't consider him. If they both (he and Duncan) were not American, there is no doubt in my mind, they would be leaps and bounds ahead of any foreign player that has ever played in the NBA. Regarding Rudy, DOM quoted me as saying once "Rudy is the 2nd best international player of all time", behind Manu. I believe this was around '08 Olympics, when he was in the Spanish team that played the famous Gold medal game. Obviously a very poor judgement from my part and shortsighted, since he probably wouldn't crack a Top 100 in history. I just saw in him every condition to be a stud in the NBA, which obviously didn't pan out as I expected (maybe because of mental issues, adaptation, not being as good as in FIBA, not being physical enough). He did have many things to be a star. Stupid statement from me. Then again, DOM says sample size sample size when I posted Ryno was going to have a breakout season, he does have it, and afterwards he says every young player who is given lot more minutes and a bigger role is going to improve. Of course, if you NEVER make any bold statement, you are probably not going to miss. And you can poke fun at the idiots who said stupid things. But YOU NEVER LOSE. I guess its more fun that way.

He starts being American. A Nigerian/American is no longer an international. Got it? Or do you need further explanation? It was the best I could do without having to explain everything to you again.