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Exile on Waveland

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Everything posted by Exile on Waveland

  1. Exile on Waveland
    SSR answered this question in the post above yours (and yet people continue to mention other teams/players, while ignoring the obvious). Hakeem Olajuwon, 1994 Rockets. Their second best player was Otis Thorpe with Kenny Smith or Vernon Maxwell being the third best player. As for the Walton/Portland, Maurice Lucas was better than anyone, other than Olajuwon, on the 1994 Rockets (though Thorpe-Lucas are very comparable).
  2. Exile on Waveland
    Yeah if you take away Griffin that's right about where he falls. It's a total joke that he wasn't on the All-Rookie team and finished 6th in the ROY voting. I liked him going into the draft and he had a better rookie year than I expected. He still has the same physical limits but he's a good NBA starter. Monroe was my third (fourth at worst) favorite player in the draft and I really wanted the Pacers to be in position to draft him. Though Paul George looks very promising.
  3. Exile on Waveland
    Yes, that's true. But you attached that to a larger point with predictive value; that's the problem. Relatively short point guards basically never used to be picked No. 1 overall, regardless of experience level. From John Lucas III in 1976 to Derrick Rose in 2008, Allen Iverson (1998) was the only other player shorter than 6-foot-6. In thirty two years, only two players shorter than 6-foot-6 were drafted with the top overall pick. But times changed. Now, two of the last three picks have been such players, with the possibility that this year will offer a third in four years. The previous big-man-or-bust mentality with the top overall picked has dissipated. I find it highly unlikely that wouldn't have trickled down to high school point guards, if they were still eligible.
  4. Exile on Waveland
    Why, because you say so? It didn't happen, but that doesn't mean it would never have happened -- you have a serious correlation/causation problem. While NBA teams will likely always chase the elusive big man, the times are changing. In just the short time since Paul/Williams were drafted, the game has substantially changed to favor guards/penetraters (and, still, point guards went 3-4-5 in that draft). A point guard was drafted No. 1 overall last year and two years before that (and won an MVP!), despite potential franchise interior players existing in both drafts. This is also an exceedingly weak draft.
  5. Exile on Waveland
    They could hypothetically land the 1 and 2 pick. At least it would get them something. I love how Irving plays like 5 games in freshman year and is gonna probably be a top 3 pick. People used to play in zero games their (nonexistent) freshman year and were picked No. 1 overall. Not PGs. So?
  6. Exile on Waveland
    Yes, he seems like a very good kid. I never understood why exactly he went to Kentucky. That said, seeing as the same seems to hold true for Irving, I fail to see how that's relevant, at all, in any comparison.
  7. Exile on Waveland
    They could hypothetically land the 1 and 2 pick. At least it would get them something. I love how Irving plays like 5 games in freshman year and is gonna probably be a top 3 pick. People used to play in zero games their (nonexistent) freshman year and were picked No. 1 overall.
  8. Exile on Waveland
    I like Irving about a thousand times better than Knight. Frankly, Knight seems like a good kid and an excellent shooter. Otherwise, I'm less than sold.
  9. Exile on Waveland
    Very much so. He seems to be a classic tweener. Wow, is this draft bad. (Though I do think more quality players exist than the conventional wisdom, there's just not much worthy at the top.)
  10. Exile on Waveland
    That is a completely, 180-degree, totally different argument than your statement that he isn't the best player in the league. Frankly, I'm inclined to agree with your revised statement. In basketball/the NBA, where one player is so influential, you really need to win a championship to be considered one of the upper-echelon greats. We should hold off on that until his career is more complete and he's won the titles he's going to win. That doesn't make him any less the current best player in the world though.
  11. Exile on Waveland
    Was wondering the same thing. Seems fine to me.
  12. Exile on Waveland
    your team is down by 1 with 5 seconds to play. Would you rather have LeBron, Wade, Kobe or Dirk take the final shot? I'd want the ball in Lebron's hands because he's the best player. Regardless, making an assumption as to your ultimate point, it's misleading and specious. I'd rather have, say, Reggie Miller take a last second shot than, say, Magic Johnson. But Reggie ain't better than Magic.
  13. Exile on Waveland
    This is completely moronic. Lebron is the best player in the NBA. It's not even close. At all. His championship(s)/ring(s) is coming; it's inevitable. I suspect the first will be this year, though I sure hope not.
  14. Exile on Waveland
    I don't think Hodgson is a bad manager at all. He just never realized he was at Liverpool (i.e., a big club, even if currently not up to standard). His interactions with the fans/media were also exceedingly poor and I think symptamatic of that.
  15. Exile on Waveland
    Can you imagine the pressure of being drafted, showing up for minor league camp and trying to perform? The whole process of going through HS, college & the minors will weed out the guys who are "unclutch". I understand this line of reasoning and believe it has some merit, but, at the same time, I think the underlying assumption is specious. Sure, there is pressure to succeed in camps and tryouts and whatnot for personal reasons. But I think pressure from endogenous factors is completely different from exongenous pressure factors. I don't believe wanting to succeed for yourself is terribly comparable to wanting to succeed for yourself and your teammates, all while in front of tens of thousands of fans, with millions more watching. A tryout isn't the same as the World Series. If you fail at the former, you're career path is detrimentally altered; if you fail at the latter, your name may live in perpuitity as a joke (e.g., Bill Buckner). (There was also an excellent point earlier in the thread that everything is relative and compared to your peers that have also gone through the weeding-out process, one might become "unclutch" without changing.) None of this means clutch is currently predictive or any signings or player evaluations should be based on "clutchness."
  16. Exile on Waveland
    Basically no one has ever argued clutch doesn't exist -- if a player hits a walk-off grand slam down 3-0 on a full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, it's a clutch hit. The argument, instead, is that clutch hitters don't exist. Those numbers figure to somewhat work themselves out.
  17. Exile on Waveland
    Zambrano's still awesomely enthusiastic and it's all he's ever known. Those people are resilient. What do you mean, "those people"?
  18. Exile on Waveland
    It's a shame that one of Liverpool or Tottenham - likely Tottenham the way both teams have been playing recently - will be left out of Europe next year in favor of Stoke. This only applies if Man City wins the FA Cup and Stoke goes as the FA Cup runner-up. If Stoke wins the FA Cup, I have no problem with them going. Ugh, I hate Stoke. They so don't deserve a Europe spot (unless, of course, like you said they win the FA Cup). Lucky for all soccer fans, Liverpool hosts Tottenham this weekend for a game that likely decides the final Europa spot.
  19. Exile on Waveland
    Remember when Liverpool had no players and Hodgson was doing as well as possible? Yeah, neither do I. http://twitpic.com/4vmqkz
  20. Exile on Waveland
    How? What better package is out there? Frankly, I cannot imagine a better package -- or one even remotely close -- than Gasol and Bynum. If/when the Magic trade Howard, I almost guarantee they won't get the equivalent of Gasol/Bynum.
  21. Exile on Waveland
    The Bears were going to take Paea in the first if Carimi was gone, so at the very least they loved him. Paea was the guy I really wanted for the Colts in the second round (although I was fine with the guy they took). From what I have read about him, he should be good for the Bears as well. Me too. I thought for sure the reason the Colts traded up in the second round was for Paea. Oh well, I'm happy with all three picks so far (man I love addressing the lines).
  22. Exile on Waveland
    Huh? You thought Garza would be better than leading the league in HR/9 (0.0) and K/9 (12.0)?
  23. Exile on Waveland
    \:D/ I never, ever thought Castonzo would be available at No. 22. Position of need, (arguably) best player available, and seems like just an outstanding fit. Great stuff.
  24. Exile on Waveland
    While he could start, I wouldn't be surprised to see Gabbert sit next year and develop behind Leftwich. It'd be the best move. Wrong crappy QB. Garrard. But I'm sure you're right about Gabbert not starting.
  25. Exile on Waveland
    So . . . Freeney and Mathis against rookie QBs for a fourth of the schedule next year? Interesting . . .
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