SpongeWorthy

Des Clark is a guy I would be interested in keeping in the organization after he's done playing. Anyway, balance is nice if it works. As Martz mentions in the article you can substitute passes designed to go to the backs, rather than using them as a safety valve, and get much of the same effect as handing it off. Forte caught the ball a lot but the screen game under Turner was terrible to non-existent. Taylor is great at that too.

Every situation is different. We'll still have money for an ancillary piece even if we signed/S&T for a max guy right? You could find a shooter or a defensive big with that money. I think the Bulls would have a window to really contend if you lose Noah, add Bosh, add a decent piece with the remaining money, and get a player in the draft that can contribute. Something like PG: Rose, Law? SG: FA/draft shooter (preferably with size), Pargo SF: Deng, Johnson PF: Bosh, Gibson C: FA/draft center, Asik That's maybe a viable contender especially if Lebron goes to somewhere like New York.

Well the key is moving Deng along with him... that's the only reason I'd include Noah...it'd be a sweetener to get them to take the contract. Otherwise there's no point. We would only need to give them value because of the fact that we're asking them to take on a bad contract. And I wouldn't do it if it weren't a move to pair him up with LBJ. It might come down to a mini bidding war for Bosh though. That 6th year is much more valuable to him than it is for someone like Lebron. A S&T centered around Noah for Bosh, without the motive of clearing cap space to pursue another max FA (which would be great obviously), but to get him away from the Raptors isn't out of the question. I like Noah and it would be great to have him on the team and even more fun to win with him but Bosh is a borderline top 10 player in the league. You have to do that I think. Of course you could always sign Amare, Boozer, or Lee outright and keep Noah. There's no bidding war in that scenario... if the Bulls have a slot open and are just looking to sign Bosh and not trying to peddle away Deng, Bosh has the leverage. It's not like Bosh is just telling Toronto to sign him and trade him to whoever gives them the best offer. Bosh chooses where he goes and then the S&T is worked out. Why would Bosh want the Bulls go give up one of their most important players just to sign him (without leaving a max slot open for LBJ)? Bosh has the leverage in the sense that he can leave. But the Raptors have the leverage in that if he wants that extra year he has to play ball with Toronto. Toronto could signal to the league, "our options are to resign Bosh, let him leave outright (and just getting that space is better than taking back a Deng-like contract, IMO), or S&T him." If Bosh really wants that extra year and a team really wants Bosh, they might have to send legit value in return. Sending Noah alone rather than sending Deng + Noah is better value especially since they've already got a really bad contract in Turkoglu.

Well the key is moving Deng along with him... that's the only reason I'd include Noah...it'd be a sweetener to get them to take the contract. Otherwise there's no point. We would only need to give them value because of the fact that we're asking them to take on a bad contract. And I wouldn't do it if it weren't a move to pair him up with LBJ. It might come down to a mini bidding war for Bosh though. That 6th year is much more valuable to him than it is for someone like Lebron. A S&T centered around Noah for Bosh, without the motive of clearing cap space to pursue another max FA (which would be great obviously), but to get him away from the Raptors isn't out of the question. I like Noah and it would be great to have him on the team and even more fun to win with him but Bosh is a borderline top 10 player in the league. You have to do that I think. Of course you could always sign Amare, Boozer, or Lee outright and keep Noah.

If we drafted someone like Hassan Whiteside I'd have to think moving Noah for Bosh would possibly be part of that equation. I'd do it just for Bosh probably. It'd suck to lose Noah but Bosh might not leave without getting that extra year.

Our old pal Nocioni got traded to the Sixers today for Sam Dalembert.

Is Blanco the fattest man to ever score a goal at the World Cup?

I bet Cutler is an incredible practice player. And he's usually pretty good at the noon starts. It's those damn prime time games.

Looks like the big bombers who spray it aren't going to contend. Tiger's gonna struggle I think. When he won in 2000 he had that stinger 2 iron off the tee down to perfection and for some reason he doesn't use it any more. Toms, Choi, Weir, Poulter, Johnson, etc. That's a lot of short dudes with precise ball striking.

They'll use it on at least Bosh or Amare I would think. I suppose they would still have enough room next year though. They've been selling their fan base on this offseason for at least 3 years...they're gonna spend.

Yeah I could understand if there was some big geographic difference but there isn't and you're probably breaking up some rivalries. The CA schools don't really have rivalries with any of the Pac NW schools (maybe Cal and Oregon) but USC/Cal and UCLA/Cal is pretty decent. Even Stanford and USC has gotten pretty snippy.

I hope there's a bunch of injuries and we end with an Adam Morrison/Brian Scalabrine duel for the championship.

You don't think NY is going to use up all its cap space this year?

Anyone got any opinions on the draft? We're picking 17th. NBAdraft.net has us taking Hassan Whiteside and Drafexpress has us taking Damion James. That's weird. Whiteside is intriguing--we do need a big man and he's a legit 7 footer with insane shot blocking numbers. He'd be a nice piece to have to go up with the Dwight Howards and Bynum/Gasol/Odom combos of the world. But we really, really need a shooter for the 95% of the games that aren't against those teams. James Anderson is the perfect fit, IMO.

Yeah I read the California schools are going to be broken up. I don't like that. I would put CU and Utah with the Oregon/Washington schools and put the CA schools with the AZ schools.

I guess I was thinking of quality of their football programs with my last post. In terms of value to a conference, Texas is alone at #1. But OU is still head and shoulders above any other team in the conference. I think you can reasonably refer to them as the top 2 in the conference. Historically OU's football program is better than Texas'. Since 1945 OU has the best winning percentage out of any football program, most wins, most weeks ranked #1, most weeks ranked in the top 5, weeks ranked #1 in the BCS, Weeks ranked in the top 5 of the BCS, and the most all-americans. OU has 7 national championships, Texas has 4 (i think) Ou has 42 conference championships, Texas has 32 OU has 142 All-americans, Texas has 129 OU has had 5 heisman winners, Texas has 2 OU has 21 players in the College hall of fame, Texas has 11 OU also has the record for most consecutive victories with 47, a record that will never be broken. But Texas brings more money to a conference because the size of their state and all the viewers in that state. So in terms of bringing money, Texas is number one. In terms of the actual football team, OU is by far number one. OU also played in the greatest college football game of all time. I don't think they put that one in the brochure though :cool:

Don't forget Ron Mercer.

yeah, i think hyperbole has made it more difficult, but foulacy's ultimate conclusion is right: there is no big 3 in the Big 12. OU/Texas are alone at the top. Well, Texas is alone at the top. Certainly historically and in the last few years. Though OU had a pretty good run there. I think the separation between Texas and OU (currently) is significantly smaller than that between OU and the rest of the field. They made the BCS title game 2 season ago. I guess Texas has a more recent championship and just played for one but there is barely separation there. It's like Alabama vs. Florida.

Doing what the Pistons did last offseason is basically the exact template to avoid. They felt obligated to use their cap money and ended up giving it to Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva instead of being players this year (ignore that it's Detroit). And they were still really bad, although not as bad as they should've been for drafting purposes.

Not on the football field.

At the same time, I am also nervous that Wade will snag Bosh, LeBron will go to NYK, and the Bulls will, as you correctly say, overpay for Joe freaking Johnson, and have a nice little 50 win team that won't get anywhere in the playoffs. Amare, Johnson, Boozer and David Lee are all gonna see nice paydays, but I don't think any of those four make the Bulls championship caliber. Basically, I'm really, really, really wanting us to snag LeBron or Bosh, or I'll be sadpandaland. I think the Bulls could be a 50 win team even if they didn't sign any of those guys, drafted a good shooter, and stayed healthy. But yeah David Lee and Joe Johnson ain't putting you over the top regardless. Much better to hold on to the cap space and hope for Melo or some other big fish becoming available through trade than give a non-star superstar money. We've already done that with Deng.

A&M isn't on Texas or OU's level. Texas Tech has gotten more nationwide attention in the last 5 or so years than A&M has.

I'm always surprised when preseason hockey starts up again. The offseason seems like nothing when you don't follow the sport much.

Utah is a nice program. Those games are gonna be a bear for anyone in the Pac 10. Although adding CU and Utah doesn't seem like the economic game changer that people said was the conferences primary motivation. I wonder where the Pac 10 championship game will be held now. Vegas would be great although they don't have the stadium for it.

nobody is saying paul is better right now Are we talking because of his health? A healthy Chris Paul is way better than Rondo.