UMFan83

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!

Now they are saying Jackson isn't in the deal Shumpert and Smith to Cavs, Waiters to OKC, not sure what Knicks are getting at this point. I think it's a salary dump for NYK though

Good stuff. Damn, Torres potentially in the top 100

I can't find anything funnier than Lovie hiring the coach that succeeded him and failed miserably to a subordinate role. TBH, I hope he does go to Tampa and does well.

All signs point to Ballard, too much smoke.

Would suck to see Sosa chopped off the ballot but he isn't getting in through the voters anyways. His only shot is the veterans committee and attitudes toward the steroid era doing a 180. I know Sosa was an [expletive] who cheated repeatedly to get his numbers and is now a weird vampire, but dammit he gave me too many happy childhood memories so I hope he gets in one day.

Brandon Marshall's extension hasn't even kicked in yet has it? Ugh. If they are just going to dump him, we'd better hear about some really damning locker room antics from him that hurt the team. Otherwise, there's no reason to get rid of him.

Can we speculate that this means the Bears are zeroed in on him?

I said hire him if he's the best guy. It's just going to be a hard sell to fans. I realize that doesn't mean anything at all and the Bears shouldn't make decisions based on what the fans want, it was just an observation.

Angelo didn't work out, Emery was a disaster...I know lets hire a guy that has spend almost his entire career working for those two. No. The Bears were good when Ballard was here. It's just an odd narrative to sell to the fan base. If you believe he's the best guy, fine hire him.

Angelo didn't work out, Emery was a disaster...I know lets hire a guy that has spend almost his entire career working for those two.

definitely...and Nashville only got 1 point tonight so we pull back into a tie for 1st with them (Nash has 1 game in hand) I know, I know its dumb to care about the standings in January, or like ever if you're a Hawks fan, but it helps me get through the dog days of the season before the playoffs.

I hear ya. I used to watch sportscenter on repeat from like 9am-12pm during summers in the 90s when I was out of school even though it was the exact same show played 3 times. At first it was "The Big Show" with Patrick and Olberman, but then new guys like Stuart Scott, Rich Eisen and Scott Van Pelt came to the forefront and became part of my daily viewing through high school, college, post college, etc. I know a lot of people hated him and his style but for someone my age, I loved it, he seemed much younger and more in touch with my generation than Patrick and Olberman. I rarely go out of my way to watch sportscenter these days, but occasionally it will come on after watching a game on ESPN, and those familiar voices are always there, Berman, Scott, Levy, etc. Now one of those voices that I've been hearing for 20 years is gone. I think that's part of the reason why Scott's death hit harder for some like me than other celebrity deaths. Robin Williams you see in a movie a couple times a year, but Scott, even in the later years was one of the people you always saw and heard on SportsCenter.

AJ Green and Gresham out today. Not going to help the Bengals get their first playoff win in 25 years.

It's kind of creepy how much prepackaged material they had prepared for this. Seeing people in tears talking about him that was obviously recorded when he was still alive.

Very sad. His style was quite polarizing, at least 10 years ago, but from all accounts he was a really really good dude.

Under .500 teams are 2-0 all time in the Wild Card Round