Most of the the time I find him hilarious,but this

[GoDawgs21]

From the Sportsguy on ESPN:

What does JJ have to do I know we had this discussion last week about elite or not. But CMON, when you are one of 4 players to avg 20 pts, 5 ast, 4 rebs per game last year.(The other 3 being Kobe,Lebron, and Wade). I think he has done more on actual play then CP do get on this list.

MY 10 FAVORITE RANDOM STORY LINES OF THE SEASON SO FAR (OTHER THAN VLAD RADMANOVIC INEXPLICABLY DECIDING TO START WEARING TRAVOLTA'S WIG FROM "WELCOME BACK KOTTER")

1. The New Rat Pack

Sports Illustrated's fawning, masturbatory puff piece/cover story/PR release about LeBron, Carmelo and Wade was good for one thing: the revelation that those three young players have formed a hangout group called "Our Family" with Chris Paul and Joe Johnson. Apparently they hang out and stuff. And I can see how Paul gets an invite, but Joe Johnson? Joe Johnson??? Who invited him? More importantly, if this were the Rat Pack, LeBron is Sinatra (the leader), Wade is Dean Martin (coolest guy on the group), Joe Johnson is Peter Lawford (in other words, why is he even here?), and maybe you could even talk me into 'Melo being Sammy Davis Jr. But Chris Paul as Joey Bishop??? I'm not seeing it. They may need to replace him with Jalen Rose.

[Final_quest]

That's weird. Sports guy's insults aside, this is really a group? Sounds very high school to me.

[GoDawgs21]

I think they all becamse real close in the summer on the US team. From what I remember in the article tehy aren't hanging out all the time during the season, clearly, but are going to try and vacation and stuff togther this coming off season. Kinda like Charles, Tiger, and MJ.

[thesheedera]

Yeah, it sounds immature, but just another sign that Joe Johnson is becoming a more and more relevant NBA player all the time. He's creeping his way into the conversation that includes all these young stars.

And I think it bodes well for his game and the Hawks as well. These guys are his peers, they resect each other but they're extremely competitive. I believe guys like MJ and Barkley were better because though they were close friends, they always wanted to beat each other.

Bird and Magic, that's a bit different, but same effect.

Mutual respect, seeing each other as friends or rivals, all fuels a guy to work extra hard to be the best.

[BossTweed]

Quote:

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That's weird. Sports guy's insults aside, this is really a group? Sounds very high school to me.

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I would guess it has to do with their shoe deals. Didn't I read something about Chris Paul and Joe Johnson joining the Jordan brand, and Melo is already in it. And of course Lebron is a Nike guy too.

[Final_quest]

Quote:

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Mutual respect, seeing each other as friends or rivals, all fuels a guy to work extra hard to be the best.

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I agree with that. Certainly better than being friends with Eddie Griffin and trying to out do him.

[thesheedera]

ditto!