SpongeWorthy

San Antonio still would have been really, really good if you would have swapped those two players in the two years. Would they have been as good as they actually were? Probably not. But they wouldn't have sucked, which is what ElCaballo45 is suggesting with his Garnett-Jefferson argument. So the Bulls would have been nearly as good with Clyde or Dominique? I sincerely, sincerely doubt that. The intangibles that people get (correctly for the most part) up in arms about when talking heads use them for baseball (clutch play, heart, chemistry, etc.) actually do matter in basketball. And let's not forget that defensive metrics in basketball are still a long way away from being strong. I mean, I've seen enough basketball to realize that Garnett is fantastic on defense while Camby is largely a compiler of blocks and rebounds.

There are some people putting way too much emphasis on PER. It's a nice stat but numbers are a long way (at least the ones we know about) from having the same explanatory power in basketball as they do in baseball. The league has been littered with players who have put up good numbers on bad teams (Stephon Marbury and Zach Randolph being prominent examples from the same team). Garnett's counting stats aren't great but he's arguably the best defender on the planet. He absolutely erases the pick and roll. I don't think he's MVP but he's close. He has completely remade the Boston Celtics. Al Jefferson is nowhere close.

I love Westbrook's game and wouldn't mind seeing him in a Bulls uniform at all. Excellent slasher, decent handles, improving shot, lock down defender, and a great athlete. He reminds me of Monta Ellis a whole lot. Regardless, I think the Bulls have proven with this season that they lack a consistent guy who can get his own shot or create for others off the dribble (Gordon's too small). Hopefully one of Westbrook, Mayo, Bayless, or Gordon will be available. I wouldn't mind trading up to nab one of those guys. Hinrich is looking like an unmovable piece right now.

This is a long piece on Canseco that was posted on Deadspin a few weeks ago. It's well worth the read, though. In fact it'll be the best thing you'll read all month--Sam Zell would bank on it. http://deadspin.com/372409/chasing-jose-by-pat-jordan Anyone leaf through Jose's latest piece of hard hitting journalism yet?

lando calrissian?? duh http://bfcgroup.com/helluvatough/billydeesign.jpg

There's some rematches from last season. Like PHX/SA (and the Spurs won't be using their hockey thuggery to check Nash into the crowd), and Utah and Houston. I believe the Lakers will be sent home by Denver (my lone BOLD prediction). In a non-upset upset, I see Dallas knocking off New Orleans. San Antono moving past Phx quickly, and Houston finally making it past the first rd. I would say Denver over LA, while not a huge upset, would be fairly surprising. Dallas over NO slightly less. I think the whole lack of experience angle is being overblown for the Hornets. Paul is the only player without it--and he's just way too good not to abuse Kidd. I think the Lakers are going to blow Denver away. Kobe is going to be a man possessed and Phil vs. Karl is a monstrous advantage for the Lakers. The Lakers are very dangerous, IMO. Phil has never lost a series where he's had the best player in the world with a decent supporting cast (once we got past Detroit of course!). Spurs vs. PHX is a toss-up but I'll be pulling for the Suns because I like entertaining basketball and I have an irrational hatred for Ginobili. Should be an awesome playoff series despite the epic failure of the Bulls season.

He should use better grammar because he's black and should set a good example for his fellow African-American internet message board posters--especially when discussing racially sensitive topics. Also, the fact that the poster in question who ridiculed his grammar has the screen name of "OleMissCub" possibly hints at a nefarious undertone given the region's difficult history with African Americans. (Just to get things out in the open and end the ridiculous race baiting.)

How is Chris Gomez still in baseball? Has there ever been a more non descript 16 year career?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/images/oly98/photos/kerriganknee_0202.jpg WHYYYYYYYYYY

The horror...the horror

This is a Kurtzian nightmare.

How was Kerry's HR pitch? I can't watch the game but I'm guessing it was a trademark belt high fastball on the inner half while Soto was setting up on the outside corner?

I didn't get to see the last two games. How's Kerry's location been?

How much can final 4 experience really be worth when said experience largely consists of being embarrassed? Collison played worse than Afflalo did in his final 4's and that's saying something. Howland is a good coach but Donovan and Calipari have really made him look bad. When Dorsey went out with three fouls the only touches Love got were on high screen and rolls for 3s. What the hell was that? And they stuck with Collison on Rose/CDR for WAY too long. Should've been Westbrook and Mbah Moute. I think Rose and CDR are still abusing Collison off the dribble.

I can handle (sorta) being shut down by the Webbs and Sheets of the world. Not Livan Hernandez and Jeff Suppan.

No because he made stupid mistakes and was lazy. Now you're just making things up. How did he make stupid mistakes? How was he lazy? Wasn't Theriot the one who sat at home all winter while Cedeno played winter ball and tried to improve? Yes, Ryan Theriot just sat on his ass in Louisiana ALL winter long and refused to do anything to improve his baseball skills, being in better shape or being a better baseball player overall. What a silly comment. Since Cedeno worked so hard to improve over the winter compared to Theriot (as you allege) wouldn't that make Cedeno now "gritty"? There's no such thing as a gritty Latin player. Duh.

6-3 or 4-3 for Theriot?

He wouldn't have reacted that way if he didn't think he could've caught it. He's just taking the high road by trying to take away whatever lingering resentment there is towards Bartman. And even though he'll never live it down, I think he's largely a sympathetic character at this point. (Not as much from me because from the day it happened I never agreed with the "everyone else would've done what Bartman did" apologists.) And yeah, Gonzalez should thank his lucky stars for that play. He did swing a decent stick in that series though didn't he?

Everyone says "relax, it is only one game...." and I agree, but yesterday's game is a prime example of why Kerry shouldn't be used as a closer. He takes a long time to warm up and needs to throw a few pitches and face a few batters to settle into a pitching groove. You Wood followers know that he has been like this his entire career. Kerry Wood has a career .707 OPS allowed in the first inning. He has a career .674 OPS allowed in the second inning. Generally the second inning has the bottom of the order, so a drop is expected. He has a career .705 OPS allowed in the third inning. Sure his OPS against is about 40 points higher for pitches 1-25. But that's true for every starter. Pitches 1-25 come against hitters 1-5. Pitches 25-40 probably go to hitters 6-9. Is it really all that much of a surprise that better hitters hit better against him? Johan Santana's the same (.692 to .644). Pedro Martinez's the same (.639 to .599). Fair point. I don't have any explicit numbers to back it up but Kerry's "feast or famine" tendencies seem much more apparent than other pitchers given the erratic control he's shown over the years. If he's hitting his spots, he's dominant--but has he ever done that consistently? He's never going to be the guy that is going to hit the black with regularity (ala a Pedro or Santana) but when his release point or arm angle is out of wack it's pretty obvious. Consequently, he falls behind more often and grooves more pitches in hitters counts. That worries me.

I don't know...there are lots of situations throughout the season where the closer doesn't always get a lot of time to warm up. You get KW throwing in the pen in the bottom of the 8th inning, your hitters go down 1-2-3 on 11 pitches and next thing you know it's Kerry time. Solo shot by Ramirez with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th inning, Cubs are up 1-0 and the next thing you know it is Kerry time. He can't pitch under these tight closer restraints where every pitch counts. Everyone says "relax, it is only one game...." and I agree, but yesterday's game is a prime example of why Kerry shouldn't be used as a closer. He takes a long time to warm up and needs to throw a few pitches and face a few batters to settle into a pitching groove. You Wood followers know that he has been like this his entire career. I really think this aspect is being overlooked by a lot of people. Granted, it's a trait that doesn't bode well for any reliever but it does spell out some of the concerns I have of using Wood in high-lev situations.

the same guy who had no walks in ST, and, iirc, 1 walk in the last month of last year? Wood always had a fairly high walk rate when he was a starter. He also gave up a fair amount of home runs when he got a lot of innings (unlike a Z for instance who also walks many batters). "Effectively wild" has summarized a lot of the healthy parts of Wood's career. He also has a tendency to start off cold. Look at his splits by pitch count for his career: 1-25 pitch count opponent OPS: .718 26-50: .646 50-75: .688 75-100: .687 100+: .591 I'm not saying he's not any good. But a high walk rate and high home run rate pitcher who has exhibited a need for an inning or two to "settle down" throughout his career isn't exactly the shutdown guy I want at the back end. Wood won't be horrible but he's going to make me reach for the antacids this year.

Why isn't there reason to worry about a pitcher who still hasn't learned to hit his spots by his early 30s? Wood at closer is a bad idea.

How long until Theriot starts getting the Jock treatment? At least Jones had some pop and a cool looking bat flip...

Find a hole, Riot.

I despise Bob Howry with an almost unspeakable hatred right now.