soccer10k

We obviously have different definitions of what a bust is. A guy drafted number 1 overall should be considered a bust if he's just contributing somewhere. Kwame Brown has been a bust and so has Diop. Kendrick Perkins is sure looking like a flop as well with 4 ppg and 4.3 rpg in his fourth year. Martell Webster is headed down that road though this is only his second year. Same goes for Gerald Green though he's shown actual improvement this year. But with him, it's hard to get behind a guy who can only get 20 minutes a game for the worst team in the league. Robert Swift is hard to tell since he's injured this year and it would have been his third year. Telfair has regressed this year but like Swift, it's only his third year. But both these guys are headed down the bust road also. I was wrong in the only first rounders statement and, like you said, a lot of the flopped high schoolers were second rounders. Also for your star list I would include Dwight Howard also. Dude is a stud.

New polls out and not surprisingly Ohio State is #1 in both. They are followed by UCLA, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Florida in the AP poll and UCLA, Kansas, Florida, and Wisconsin in the Coaches poll.

Gotta tip your cap, right? :wink:

Playing time in college > practice time in the NBA. It's not highly unlikely he won't get much time in the NBA. He's not a very good offensive player right now and he would benefit from playing another year in college. I don't think he will stay, but it would be better for him. Yes, something bad could happen to him, and people always throw this out there, but it's highly unlikely. This isn't football. You're really understating his ability on the offensive end. No, he's not Tim Duncan. But he's probably no worse than Samuel Dalembert, and he gets 30 minutes on a bad team. And bad things don't just happen to football players. (Donnie Boyce?) Besides, wasn't even talking on the court. It could be anything (a la Jay Williams.) Staying in college doesn't make much sense. I didn't know being compared to Samuel Dalembert was a good thing for a guy who is supposed to be the next great center in the league.

Playing time in college > practice time in the NBA. It's not highly unlikely he won't get much time in the NBA. He's not a very good offensive player right now and he would benefit from playing another year in college. I don't think he will stay, but it would be better for him. Yes, something bad could happen to him, and people always throw this out there, but it's highly unlikely. This isn't football. Oh yeah Kobe and LeBron always go on and on about how they didn't develop at all once they got to the NBA. Well actually LeBron might be a bad example. Lol. You go to college to prepare to make money or get a nice job. He has the job, why should he stay. Do I really need to list all the players coming straight out of high school who were drafted high in the first round but flopped in the NBA? Because there are probably more high schoolers who flopped than those who are stars right now.

Cobs. We can only hope.

Playing time in college > practice time in the NBA. It's not highly unlikely he won't get much time in the NBA. He's not a very good offensive player right now and he would benefit from playing another year in college. I don't think he will stay, but it would be better for him. Yes, something bad could happen to him, and people always throw this out there, but it's highly unlikely. This isn't football.

With their payroll if the Cubs fail to contend in a league this crummy then Hendry should be shot out of a cannon Do you honestly believe every single one of those predictions and believe there will not be one single 90-win team in the whole darn league? The Mets were the only 90 win team in the NL last year. Its not far fetched. Q: When was the last time, in a non-strike shortened season, that no team in the NL has won at least 90 games? A: 1959 when the Dodgers won 88. But they only played 156 games that year also so it's never happened in a 162 game schedule. Q: When was the last time the NL was this pathetically weak. A: Never. 1. How do you know the NL has never been this "pathetically weak"? I don't understand how you can make that assertion. 2. I'll take 40+ years of the NL playing a 162 schedule with at least 1 team winning at least 90 games each year. Every single year there are teams that perform better or worse than they are expected to. I guarantee at least one of the 16 NL teams will win 90 games in 2007.

So did Jason DuBois. And where is your information for this? That's conjecture, plain and simple. I'm sorry, but that is way out of line. His minor league career OPS is .692. Last year, in 534 ABs, he put up a .610 OPS. His OBP was .271 and his K/BB total was 17/109. I actually agree with his defensive skills, and think those errors were just flukes. But he's looking like a Neifi Perez at best right now. Jason Dubois shouldn't be compared with Cedeno. They have nothing in common. Any time I saw Cedeno (BP and FP) he looked lackadaisical. Not to mention Bruce saying he needed to do some growing up. So no, it's not just conjecture. It's pretty silly to use his minor league career numbers when he showed so much offensive progression as he advanced through the system. He was a whopping 17 when he was playing rookie ball for the Cubs and didn't really start turning it on until AA after a decent start in rookie ball. Sorry he didn't take off right away. That shouldn't be held against him. His K/BB was trending in the right direction the last few seasons before his first full season in the majors. Give the kid a break. Has Cedeno ever OPSed .800+? Yup, in rookie ball and AAA. It's not so far fetched. And Bill James projected Cedeno to hit .310/.358/.442/.800 last season. Bill James must have been on some pretty strong drugs when he made that prediction.

development be damned. if oden is a top 3 pick, he'd be insane not to go pro. Just because he could be a top 3 pick doesn't mean he's ready to play in the NBA. They are two completely different things. You are forgetting one big factor: $$$ You obviously didn't read or didn't understand what I wrote. Just because he is projected to go high in the draft and could make a ton of money doesn't mean he is ready to play in the NBA. In baskeball, all you hear about in regards to the draft is "potential" and "upside". You don't hear that anywere close to as much in football (since somebody brought up Matt Leinart). You rarely hear about teams drafting "projects" in the NFL but you hear that many times every single draft in the NBA. I don't think Oden is ready offensively for the NBA. Defensively, he's an animal. I really think staying at OSU for another year will benefit him in the long run. He's going to get good coaching regardless of whether he stays or goes pro. I really don't understand your point. If he's going to get the good coaching regardless of where he is, then why not get paid millions to get the good coaching, rather than only hundreds of thousands.(Yeah it was easy and lame, but somebody was going to follow up with it anyways) Game experience. He won't play all the time at the NBA level and when he does, he won't be be the center of the offense. He'll be better served playing 30-35 minutes per game at OSU and getting the ball regularly than 15-20 in the NBA without getting the ball much.

development be damned. if oden is a top 3 pick, he'd be insane not to go pro. Just because he could be a top 3 pick doesn't mean he's ready to play in the NBA. They are two completely different things. You are forgetting one big factor: $$$ You obviously didn't read or didn't understand what I wrote. Just because he is projected to go high in the draft and could make a ton of money doesn't mean he is ready to play in the NBA. In baskeball, all you hear about in regards to the draft is "potential" and "upside". You don't hear that anywere close to as much in football (since somebody brought up Matt Leinart). You rarely hear about teams drafting "projects" in the NFL but you hear that many times every single draft in the NBA. I don't think Oden is ready offensively for the NBA. Defensively, he's an animal. I really think staying at OSU for another year will benefit him in the long run. He's going to get good coaching regardless of whether he stays or goes pro.

Can somebody post the AL predictions also?

With their payroll if the Cubs fail to contend in a league this crummy then Hendry should be shot out of a cannon Do you honestly believe every single one of those predictions and believe there will not be one single 90-win team in the whole darn league? The Mets were the only 90 win team in the NL last year. Its not far fetched. Q: When was the last time, in a non-strike shortened season, that no team in the NL has won at least 90 games? A: 1959 when the Dodgers won 88. But they only played 156 games that year also so it's never happened in a 162 game schedule.

Maybe KU can slip into a 1 seed. Wiscy has lost twice this week. UNC loses again... Florida lost also.

development be damned. if oden is a top 3 pick, he'd be insane not to go pro. Just because he could be a top 3 pick doesn't mean he's ready to play in the NBA. They are two completely different things.

I always wonder when someone with a last name starting with K names their children K first names. Especially when they butcher a regular name in order to make it start with a K... As long as they don't have middle names that start with the letter K it's alright.

His arm fell off the other day. They have to reattach it.

Would Bill Simmons' head explode if Durant and Oden stayed in school another year? It's quite possible. Especially if Boston ended up with the #1 pick. ETA: Though I think Durant is more likely to go pro then Oden.

Oden should stay in college for another year. He's nowhere near polished enough offensively to play in the NBA. I know his hurt wrist hasn't helped his play but that is also the same reason he should stay for another year. I just think he would be better served playing at OSU for one more year.

They haven't begun to think in those terms yet. That's disturbing that they haven't at least thought of it. We're talking about a guy with a 6.02 ERA last year. I can't believe that he'll be allowed to post those type of numbers for very long after all the "World Series or bust" talk this offseason. It would make those words ring hollow if they were willing to keep a player starting for no reason other than contract. Why in the world would they talk about that issue publicly to the media? No team signs a guy for three years and $21 million and then says, "What do we do if he sucks?" No team. You're right, there's no way a team will talk about that publicly. Why plant a negative seed in a player's mind? The Cubs fully anticipate Marquis being in their rotation and being effective. If that doesn't happen, they'll cross that bridge when they come to it. Not to mention that they haven't even started playing spring training games yet. If Marquis gets hit hard in his first few spring training appearances, I could see the team, at least internally and not in the media, talk about what they would do if Marquis didn't show improvement. But they signed the guy for a reason (not saying I agree with the reason) and they aren't going to start considering alternatives when the guy hasn't pitched in a game in their uniform yet.

And JaMarcus Russell is a sure thing? Close to one, but look towards South Bend for another Russell is far from a sure thing. The hype machine really started rolling around him because of one game - the Sugar Bowl against a bad (sorry Andy but it's true) Notre Dame defense. He decided to go pro because the media was going crazy over his performance. Personally, I think Brady Quinn is the better QB and will be the better QB but I'm not sure if he's worth the number 1 pick.

It sure didn't look very good.

His scoring.

I don't think they need to trade Porter and I don't think they should. His beef last year was mainly with Art Shell. So if he gets along with Kiffin, there is no reason to trade him. Moss is completely different story.

And JaMarcus Russell is a sure thing?