UMFan83

Hard to do with GM's. Best I can say is that the Bears didn't just go with the expected. But then, they didn't with Trestman either so.... All we can really go off of is the fact that: a) The Saints really didn't want to lose him b) The Saints fans are pissed that they lost him c) Pace apparently had such a good interview that they diverted from hiring Ballard at the very last minute when it seemed like Ballard was the heavy favorite going into the process.

Yeah there was an article 2-3 days ago that said he wasn't expected to leave NO

How's his relationship with Sean Payton?

Wow. Wasn't expecting that. What do we know about him?

anything Entourage related < everything else in the world Entourage Sloan is the exception.

http://i.imgur.com/XgsBHif.jpg I'm definitely more of a Michigan fan, but DePaul is a clear 2nd favorite team...great to see some sort of progress, although only 1 of the 3 teams they beat (Xavier) is any good. Guessing the honeymoon is over quickly though....next 8 games are @ Nova, vs. Georgetown, vs. St. Johns, @ Seton Hall, @ Xavier, @ Providence, vs. Villanova and vs. Seton Hall. 5 against ranked teams, 2 additional road games against good teams, and a home game against almost ranked Georgetown. If they win 2 of those games I'd probably be thrilled.

Again, his per 36 numbers have actually looked pretty similar to his career numbers outside of PPG and FG%. Even his advanced stats like WS/48 are only very slightly lower than his average season. And given the fact that he starts out slow every single year of his career I am not too worried. We're not going to see MVP caliber Noah mostly because he doesn't need to be orchestrating the offense on this team.

Depaul is winning again, this time at Creighton. I swear in the couple games I've watched, their opponents make a ton of bad unforced errors when DePaul is winning in the second half. Simply put they look like they are panicking. I am going to call this the "Losing to DePaul" effect, where teams start freaking out that they are actually losing to DePaul, thus play even worse.

I think his legs have hit a wall. Everything he's shooting is short even floaters. If that's the case then the game shape argument makes sense. The other possibility is that he's hurting. Either way Rose was shooting like 44% from the field and hitting a high percentage of his shots at the rim until like 5 games ago. He didn't just suddenly forget how to shoot, there is something else at play here.

Is that bad? I'm sorry officer, I didn't know I couldn't do that

Bill Simmons once tried to make a case that successful coaches go to crap after they hit I think 63 years old. It was a horrible premises, although the numbers he used seemed to sort of back it up. His buddy Bill Belichick is turning 63 next year so I can't wait to see him backtrack on that theory. The argument I've heard against hiring an older coach is that if you bring them in they want to win immediately, meaning more emphasis on veteran FAs, etc. I find that theory stupid too because unless you are trading draft picks for these veterans you can still build through the draft while trying to field a win now team.

Make that 54. 54 save shutout against the Hawks

43 shots, 0 goals

So that accounts for all the games? 80 on CSN 45 on WGN 25 on ABC That leaves 12. Is that the standard allotment held for FOX/ESPN, or will WCIU account for some of those 12 (or are they included in WGN numbers)?

Shanahan is younger than I thought...since he's been around so long I assumed he was nearing 70. He will be 63 before the start of 2015. That's still too old...even if he's successful 4 years seems about right.

Sosa stays alive!

I think they will almost certainly get Marc Gasol. They will probably sign Jimmy Butler to a max offer too, but the Bulls will match. Not sure what else is out there, unless you believe LeBron will opt out and go to a team that currently has the worst record in the NBA because Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony are there. Edit: looking at the FA class there are some good targets, Aldridge, Gasol and Rondo are the "max range" unrestricted FAs available. LeBron, Love and Wade have player options, while Leonard and Butler are restricted. If you go beyond that level you get guys like Al Jefferson, Dragic, DeAndre Jordan, Milsap that might work as secondard pieces, but not really the level of players that the Knicks want to be clearing cap space for. Why would you think they will almost certainly get Gasol? Most of the speculation I've read put it as a longshot. Most have him staying in Memphis (most money/years, comfort in the city and with the system he's in, perennial contender). I've read some speculation about the Spurs if Duncan retires, which would make some sense. I just don't see him leaving a good team to go to a terrible one and take less money at the same time. I would bet they don't end up with anything better than Greg Monroe and Wesley Matthews. Good point on Gasol...I guess I mean that he will be the guy the Knicks go after most aggressively (assuming LeBron isn't an option). Please correct me if I'm wrong bc I don't understand the nuances of the triange, but on the surface he seems like a great fit as a big for the triangle with his passing ability and not needing to dominate the ball to be effective.

He was at his worst when he had pneumonia and got better as he recovered. Yeah, I thought Allen was fine the from about the time Houston went out to the end of the season when Young went out. I wouldn't cut him, just make sure he doesn't get more than 60% of the snaps. He was fine but I think people don't notice that because they expect Jared Allen the game changing sack machine, but those days have probably passed.

I think they will almost certainly get Marc Gasol. They will probably sign Jimmy Butler to a max offer too, but the Bulls will match. Not sure what else is out there, unless you believe LeBron will opt out and go to a team that currently has the worst record in the NBA because Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony are there. Edit: looking at the FA class there are some good targets, Aldridge, Gasol and Rondo are the "max range" unrestricted FAs available. LeBron, Love and Wade have player options, while Leonard and Butler are restricted. If you go beyond that level you get guys like Al Jefferson, Dragic, DeAndre Jordan, Milsap that might work as secondard pieces, but not really the level of players that the Knicks want to be clearing cap space for.

Does this logic make sense? http://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-football/7/71/264288/jerry-angelo-chris-ballard-bears-couldnt-get-better-candidate

I disagree. He's played extremely solid defense. Yeah he has good defensive instincts, and overall has been pretty good lately but he still makes mistakes occasionally, which I think a lot of players do when they a) transition from europe to the nba and b) learn thibs' defense. Also the only thing I worry about with Niko playing the 3 is having to defend smaller and more athletic players that can blow by him.

I've seen them twice in-person this season. Yes, you can see that Noah is struggling some on TV, but you can see the extent of some of it (lateral movement; lift in his jump) better in-person. His straight ahead speed seems fine. Rose looked filthy fast and strong the two times I saw him. His D was just ok. Butler is a freaking beast. I didn't realize how muscular he has become until I saw him in-person. His strength really shows on D. His leap is also amazingly quick and effortless, making him a great rebounder for his position. I think Noah has been better lately. He did a good job limiting Howard last night when he was guarding him and that's especially commendable because with Mirotic playing SF he had to be extra diligent of playing help defense. It's obvious he's not 100% but he's been improving as the season has gone on IMO. Offensively you aren't going to see the Noah of last year because they don't need that Noah this year. If you look at Noah's Per 36 numbers, other than FG% and PPG his stats are in line with his career numbers..and when you consider Noah starts out slow pretty much every season for some reason, I think he's fine.

Yep. I said something very similar last night. And like I said a few days ago, it's great to see them just hang in there all game, and put it away at the end. This team closes out games really well. Butler rightly got the attention last night, but hot damn Mirotic was a stud last night. http://giant.gfycat.com/GreatBrownKatydid.gif Mirotic was awesome all night. What's amazing is that his jumper wasn't falling until the last 3 but he was still able to affect the game pretty much everywhere. The guy is definitely on the road to being a star if he's not there already.

Don't forget Sean Payton!