Dangerous A

If the Lakers are patient, they may be able to land Chris Bosh with about the same package they will offer Garnett, maybe less if they wait a year or unless Bosh starts making a huge stink about wanting out of Toronto. Bosh will probrably want out of Toronto anyways and his game may compliment Kobe's even better than KG's, plus you get him in his best years. Of course I do not want that to happen, but that's also out there as a possibility.

Interesting you brought up Kanye West. Both of his albums are critically acclaimed and I think they'll hold up over time very well. Does anyone think Kanye has/or will produce 5 mic album material?

Started a thread about it already.

From the Observer page... Well, it's at least good news for the go home show before a PPV. I wonder what the quarter hours were since the show opened with Team 3-D/James Gang confrontation and then started getting better with Sabin/Puma, Nash interview, Sting/Joe revealed, and then the 6 man tag. It'd be interesting to see who held any kind of audience or if it petered out again.

They probrably dont' want to go up against first run shows and season finales that occur around this time. They start up tommorrow and continue through next tuesday depending on how a series is going.

Good news for people with Comcast and yearning for 24/7. From the Observer... "WWE has confirmed today's Hollywood Reporter story that a deal has been made with Comcast Cable to carry the 24/7 service. A company press release stated the subscription service would be available this summer to the nearly 10 million digital homes under the Comcast umbrella, which includes some penetration into 22 of the 25 largest markets in the country."

I know Ross was getting used. The point wasn't for Ross to stop Nash. It was to relieve Cassell from having to do it since he's already gimpy.

Don't forget the move of Q-Ross guarding Nash so Cassell doesn't have to chase him up and down the floor. BTW, some shitty news to report as Larry Hughes has left the Cavaliers to be with family following the death of his younger brother... CLEVELAND -- Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes left the team Thursday to be with his family in St. Louis following the death of his brother. Justin Hughes, 20, died early Thursday, Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry said in a statement. Justin Hughes was born with a heart defect and had a heart transplant 10 years ago. No timetable has been set on Larry Hughes' return to the Cavaliers. Cleveland trails Detroit 2-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Game 3 is Saturday at Cleveland. "Right now, basketball should be the furthest thing from his mind," teammate Damon Jones said. "He has to be there for his family. They're going through a trying time right now. If he's able to get back, that's good. if he's not, were going to continue to keep him in spirit in our hearts."

All Defensive First Team... G Kobe Bryant G Bruce Bowen G Jason Kidd F Ron Artest F Andrei Kirilenko C Ben Wallace (Dont' ask me why there are 6) Second Team... F Tim Duncan F Tayshaun Prince C Marcus Camby G Chauncy Billups F Kevin Garnett (Dont' ask me why there are 3 forwards) Here's the article... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2441608 Discuss I guess.

Excellent point about De La Soul. I found it weird looking at the list that DLS is Dead was 5 as opposed to 3 Feet High... As far as discussing the list, I just wanted a starting point for talking about hip hop albums. I'm not a huge fan of The Source either and I get your contempt for it. Geto Boys Grip It isn't one I'd call 5 mics myself. I should probrably revisit sometime.

Not necessarily. I mean, Get Rich or Die Tryin has made money hand over fist and I'd fight to say it is not a 5 mic album. You sort of have to look at the list and see that those albums were influential and had an impact on hip hop. Either that or it's THE very best and peak of a particular time in hip hop.(ex would be Eric B & Rakim, not groundbreaking, but the best of it's kind at the time)

Good statement. An example is PE's Fear of a Black Planet. That's an excellent album with a ton of memorable tracks, but there's nothing there that is really important that you can't get from It takes a nation.... Mos Def is a great MC and his albums are very good. Because of the social nature, he will have longevity as well, but he just doesnt' have that one album that really goes past what he's already done. Same thing with a guy like Common. I'd say the best albums out of these 2 off the top of my head are Blackstarr with Talib Kweli and Be. To me these are very good and I have both in my collection, but I'm still hesitant to say they are 5 mic status.

That guy is just goofy. I don't care if he saw all of Williams games. There is no way you can justify Deron fucking Williams as ROY. I think Deron Williams will end up being a solid-very good player, but Chris Paul has the talent to be mentioned in the same breath as Magic, Isiah, and J-Kidd.

Same here. He has a bunch of great singles on his other albums, but Dark and Hell... is great all the way through. His other albums have either great singles or a bunch of really skippable garbage tracks.

Agreed, DMX isn't great, but that first album was and still is the shit. It holds up and I think it's 5 mics. After that, I'd have trouble giving DMX's other work anything above 4 mics except maybe Grand Champ. Black Album is in some ways better than Blueprint. I think Blueprint gets a lotta love because of the time period it was released and the time capsule people relate the music to. If you were to tell me that Black Album would overtake Blueprint as a 5 mic and Blueprint take a step down, I would agree.

Jay-Z has 2 albums rated 5 mics.

Totally forgot about this. I would have no issues if this was rated 5 mics. Beastie Boys have a bunch of albums on that 4 and a half mic status like Ill Communication and Paul's Boutique. PB is really close to 5 while Ill Comm. is really, really good, but not nearly as influential and more just a solid album. I think PB would be more a 4 and 3 quarter mic album if there ever was one.

I very much agree with the Isiah love. He's still underrated as one of the all time greats at PG. He is one of those people who you could tell was born to not just play basketball, but play PG as well. Just an awesome natural talent.

Here's another album that is 5 mics to me... Cypress Hill- Cypress Hill Their first album was on hit. They got progressively shittier as time went on, but this first album is a classic to me. Hand on the Pump still gets me in an ass kicking mood to this day.

Chronic 2001 to me is a borderline album as well. It's a great album, but it's more 4 and a half mics and not quite 5. Same with Stillmatic. Very good, but perhaps more on the cusp of 5 mics.

Most rap/hip hop fans are aware, The Source has a mic rating system they took from Rolling Stone magazine. 5 Mics is the top award an album can achieve, at least in the eyes of The Source magazine. Of course, anything like this is subjective and the last 7 years under Benzino have really been scrutinized by many fans of the magazine and hip hop in general. I feel some albums, for one reason or another, should be added to 5 mic status. I figured I'd start up a thread as to what TSM hip hop/rap fans feel are 5 mic albums and debate whether current 5 mic rated albums really belong. Here is the current list of 5 mic albums as rated by The Source... Run DMC- Raising Hell & Run DMC LL Cool J- Radio Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded & By All Means Necessary Eric B & Rakim- Paid in Full & Let the Rhythm Hit' Em Big Daddy Kane- Long Live the Kane EPMD- Strictly Business Jungle Brothers- Straight out the Jungle Slick Rick- The Great Adventures of Slick Rick NWA- Straight Outta Compton Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Geto Boys- Grip It! On that Other Level The DOC- No One Can Do it Better Ultramagnetic MC's- Critical Breakdown A Tribe Called Quest- People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm & The Low End Theory Brand Nubian- One For All Ice Cube- Amerikkka's Most Wanted & Death Certificate De La Soul- De La Soul is Dead Main Source- Breaking Atoms Dr Dre- The Chronic & The Chronic 2001 Snoop Dogg- Doggystyle Wu Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Nas- Illmatic & Stillmatic Notorious BIG- Ready to Die & Life After Death Mobb Deep- The Infamous Scarface- The Diary & The Fix 2Pac- Me Against the World & All Eyez on Me Raekwon- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Fugees- The Score Jay-Z- Reasonable Doubt & The Blueprint Outkast- Aquemini Lil Kim- The Naked Truth I don't know about Lil Kim's album here. I'll admit I haven't heard it, but is it 5 mics? Also, I personally liked ATLiens better than Aquemini. Not saying Aquemini doesn't belong, but if it does, then ATLiens belongs as well. As for stuff that should be in, just off the top of my head... DMX- It's Dark and Hell is Hot Eminem- The Slim Shady LP GZA- Liquid Swords Of course this is all subjective and that's what will make this good discussion. What deserves 5 mics in your opinion that didn't get it and what 5 mic album is perhaps a bit overrated?

Man, Wade has come out of the gate with a vengeance.

Either it was the ref screwed up or they were getting worried about the battle royale they had to run, I forget It was the time because they had to tack on the battle royal because of Nash pulling out at the last second, so they shaved time off of this match, which was scheduled to go around 13-15 minutes.

I know. I just think LeBron is so special he won't be categorized as the next anything. He'll just be LeBron. If anything, I think he'll be the next Oscar Robertson. While I think it's still impossible to average a triple double in this day and age, LeBron will be the one guy who gets a good look at doing that.

LeBron is a better scorer now than Pippen ever was.