dawson1989

There's not really anything in the NBA rulebook about intentional fouls. The rule on flagrants cites "unnecessary", but the NBA has never interpreted this type of foul to be part of it. Teams do this type of foul all the time with the hack a strategy. They often tell the ref they are going to foul the guy and then wrap him up in the backcourt. This is certainly an innovative way to do it though that I've never seen before. Well duh they do it in the back court. In this case it is a dead ball because the clock isn't running. That's what makes it different. They are fouling when the ball isn't even in play. Why allow this when a defender isn't even allowed to be out of bounds in that area legally anyways. If this is allowed then why wouldn't a foul on any player on the court before the ball is even in bounded?

And just like that Dickerson drops like a Cardinals bloop single.

That many PAs for those four seems unlikely, unless they start trusting Schwarber to catch more than just Hendricks and Hammel, which I doubt. Arrieta has the best stuff in the league, and Lester and Lackey might actually physically harm him if he poorly frames a couple of pitches. Personally, my ideal rest of the offseason would be trading Soler for Blake Snell, then signing Austin Jackson. It helps the pitching situation for 2017/2018 and I think a Coghlan/Jackson platoon (with Heyward switching between CF and RF) has a pretty good shot at outperforming Soler anyway. I have doubts the Rays go for that though. There's roughly 1,944 PAs between the 3 OF spots for next year (4 PAs per game per 3 spots). Heyward at 600 drops it to 1,344, 500 for both Soler/Fowler drops it to 344, that means Schwarber catches about 35 games to get him to 500 PAs, which seems reasonable. There's also an additional 10 games in AL stadiums so DH adds about 40 PAs, if most of those are given to Schwarber/Soler that drops the games Schwarber needs to catch to about 25 games. It can be done fairly easily with those rough parameters. On your ideal offseason move, I'd rather just re-sign Jackson as the 4th OF and get rid of Coghlan for whatever we could get than move Soler. Schwarber can't swap between LF and C every 4th or 5th day and actually get passable defensively at either. Cubs need to pick one (LF) and let him work every day at getting the defensive part down to a degree that is sustainable. Trying to have a guy easily swap between the toughest defensive position and the OF, where he is very inexperienced, is not feasible. Add in the fact Schwarber is slow and not athletic in the traditional sense and your looking to have a guy be more of detriment defensively than anyone in history and completely destroy the value of his bat.

No, the deal isn't there for Soler. If Fowler is somehow brought back dumping Coghlan is the move. Making Soler a 4th OF is a terrible idea. Play him or trade him. Benching him will just mess with his confidence and waste a top prospect.

I've literally never seen this before, nor knew that it was a rule that the inbounded could get FTs They said it's a technical for delay of game if they knock the ball out. Players should just drop it when touched.

Where is Kyle anyway? There's an uneasy lack of conflict these days. Then spice it up a bit. Do it ... DO IT.

The last part is key. I think if a team was willing to move an SP we want it would have happened already.

Watching Rockets v Spurs and at the end of the 1st the Spurs intentionally fouled the inbounder (Capela). Like literally ran over, stepped out of bounds next to him, and grabbed his arms. How is this not an intentional foul? Ball is not in play.

Tim Howard supposedly close to going to Colorado Rapids. Been gone from the MLS 13 years.

Peyton has very rarely played lights out in the playoffs. Most of the time his team fails to reach the level they should because he turns in a pumpkin in the playoffs.

Manning was terrible and was the main reason the game was close. He threw it up for grabs and receivers made plays. He was able to hit a wide open Daniel's twice. This is the 1st time Manning has had to rely on his defense to carry him to win games. It's fun to see the old man get this shot with the worst QB play he's ever had. I completely disagree with the Carolina has this easy talk. Peyton made some weak throws but Sanders ruined a perfectly thrown ball that would have been a ~30 yard touchdown or so by stutter-stepping when he shouldn't have. He's still plenty capable. Take a look at the playoffs the one year a Peyton led team won the Super bowl. His defense carried him. Forced at least three turnovers in all 4 games and averaged four per. Peyton meanwhile had double the turnovers than touchdowns.

IU currently doing their best IU impression. Defense falling apart in 2nd half. See if Wisconsin can actually close.

The exact immaturity that holds him back from being truly great. All the talent and physical abilities you could want but only half a brain. There's plenty of "truly great" players that have done stupid, immature things. Hell, probably most of them. Right, but did it effect them on the court? Blake has always been plagued in my eyes by never being 100 percent focused on dominating. Too interested in having fun much like Dwight Howard.

The exact immaturity that holds him back from being truly great. All the talent and physical abilities you could want but only half a brain.

Altuve and Shields and it's not very close. Shields is less of an injury risk and Altuve and Shields aren't changing teams. Who knows how good an aging Zobrist will be in Wrigley or how good Cueto will be in SF? Plus Cueto really sucked in KC.

Back to the woman coach ... Can it work? Eventually. I think 100 percent of players will be more skeptical of a woman coach but as an assistant she'll earn their trust when she speaks the jargon and proves to have the ability. Players want to win and if someone of the opposite sex proves to have the ability to scout well, see things and give ways to improve ... etc. they will accept it. They are just not going to give the benefit of the doubt.

I expect Schwarber to struggle. Too much hit and miss still to his swing. Bryant should improve a bit, Soler will either have it figured out or be sent to the minors and Russell will get more contact in a .260, .320, .400 way. It should all add up to a top notch offense and I expect Maddon to play the hot hitter a lot with constant lineup and defensive movement.

Maybe. Everyone thought New England was going to kill Denver too. Denver's D really impressed me today. I knew it was great, but they way they were able to consistently get to Brady was really impressive. I think Carolina is certainly playing extremely well and should definitely be the favorites but I'm not counting Denver out at this point. Comes down to Manning. The Manning that showed today could allow Denver to win. He didn't turn it over and managed the storm. That said, he's a rigid statue these days and Carolina's D is fast. Meanwhile, Cam can move. Both defenses will get pressure. The few times Cam escapes for big gains will probably be the difference.

I'd play

Purdue forgot who they are and Iowa got hot and stayed hot when chucking.

Weirdest FA season ever?

He's gonna be the Lakers coach next year as long as Kerr can coach full time, imo. Also sounds like Love and/or Mozgov may be on his way out. Could see Rockets getting him too. Roster and front office already in place to play that style.

Kind of a weird trade. Rockets give up rights of two foreign players who will never be in the NBA, they get a player who was key to playoff run last season from one of the teams they beat during the playoff run AND the Clips pay his salary for the rest of the season. Clips get nothing and pay to get rid of a player to an in conference team who got the most of said player the year before and have struggled to replace him. Just weird. Rockets get a player who could spark them back to life and if not they have no cost or downside to taking the shot. Why would Clips do this? Josh Smith is pretty terrible, plus the Clippers have a log jam of players with it only going to get worse when Griffin comes back soon. Rockets need bodies at PF/C with Howard playing sporadically and Montajumus (spelling) hurt. The Rockets really should consider going the other way trading everyone and blowing it up to acquire lotto picks/young talent, it's pretty clear they are never winning with Harden/Howard as their 2 best and highest paid players. Agreed. Just don't understand why Clips agreed to cover salary. I would think they could have dumped him to some other team for free. Why trade him to the one team he could really help if your asking price is nothing?

Kind of a weird trade. Rockets give up rights of two foreign players who will never be in the NBA, they get a player who was key to playoff run last season from one of the teams they beat during the playoff run AND the Clips pay his salary for the rest of the season. Clips get nothing and pay to get rid of a player to an in conference team who got the most of said player the year before and have struggled to replace him. Just weird. Rockets get a player who could spark them back to life and if not they have no cost or downside to taking the shot. Why would Clips do this?

Probably will close strong, win NIT and be primed to rise next season.