Boogua

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 02:45 PM) Getting heavy sanctions on your sports programs has a direct effect on your school's image. I'd rather the school/donors invest in legal and NCAA allowed methods, such as facilities, coaches, etc. Do things the right way, no matter what. Yeah, USCs academic prestige took a huge hit the whole Bush thing. Same with tOSU and the tattoo scandal. Miami and little Luke. I understand what you're saying, but it's really not that black and white.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 02:39 PM) You clearly view Illinois as a sports first school, I don't. Apparently there is no middle ground. Fair enough.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 02:18 PM) I don't want to either. All "Illinois sucks" jokes aside, I'd rather play it clean (or at least clean compared to the big cheaters) and not have to possibly face terrible sanctions later on. f*** playing it clean. What we have right now is almost as bad as sanctions. I'd rather experience a few amazing years followed by some terrible ones (due to sanctions) instead of all terrible ones. Getting blown out by La Tech at home, Penn State (a team with sanctions), and ASU on the road (admittedly not a bad team) isn't fun to watch. Even if we did it the "right way".

The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons premieres tonight. Pretty stoked.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 11, 2012 -> 10:29 AM) Battle of the Seasons starts soon. Exactly. September 19th I think. Wasn't on his list though.

No RW/RR challenge?

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Sep 10, 2012 -> 08:28 AM) That might have been like a screen play they were trying to set up and it went wrong. This.

Trey Lyles, an IU recruit from the 2014 class, just reopened his recruitment. Says IU still 1st on his list. Interesting.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 6, 2012 -> 11:32 AM) So instead of fighting about the Bulls, lets fight about why Zoom is wrong: http://flapship.com/the-all-time-dream-team/ Here is who I would have gone with: (* denotes not on Zooms team) C- Kareem dont call me Alcindor Jabbar PF- Sir Charles * SF- Lebrizzle James SG- Jordan PG- Magic Where are the perimeter shooters in that lineup? There is also only one basketball so having Lebron and Magic on the court at the same time seems like a bad idea. Lebron isn't very good off the ball at all. They would be pretty fun on the fastbreak though.

Okay, so this trade isn't that great. Villanueva is a solid prospect, but is only in high A ball and is still a project. He isn't anything special. The Kyle Hendricks guy is a minor league pitcher. I'd be absolutely shocked if he did anything in the majors. He'll be 23 this year, is in high A ball, has a high 80s fastball, and gives up a lot of hits for that level (almost a hit/inning). Lefties are hitting .353 against him. In high A. This trade was fine because they had to get rid of Dempster, but it's meh. The Maholm trade was obviously much better for the Cubs.

So this Hendricks guy is supposed to be really good? The numbers are very, very good, but in that article it says his fastball sits at 87-89 MPH. I'm having trouble thinking of good RHP that throw high 80s.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 24, 2012 -> 07:34 AM) The biggest reason I hate this Bulls' 2014 grand plan is when has that ever worked in the past? 2000 we had grand plans and ended up with Eddie Robinson. In 2010, we had grand plans and missed out of the top talents. Why is the summer of 2014 going to be any different? Who was the Bulls GM in 2000? Who was the Bulls coach in 2000? Who was the Bulls star player in 2000? I understand your skepticism, but it's a different situation. And in 2010 we were able to sign Boozer (albeit underwhelming), the bench mob, and Thibs. The Bulls had the best record in the NBA the last two years and who knows how they would have done in the playoffs had Rose not gotten hurt. I wouldn't call that a bad offseason.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 10:17 AM) One thing I'll say, is that just seems to be a really strange core for the lakers. It might take a bit for that group to mesh. I can't decide if you'd see Howard flourish offensively with Nash or go Garnett and relish the opportunity to just focus on defense and defer offensively. But jesus, Howard and Gasol? who can compete with the two best 7 footers in the league...AND the best pure PG offensively... And Kobe. edit: apparently howard is only 6'11. I find it funny that people argue that today's era is so much better athletically (which makes the defense better) than the past, but Steve Nash is still so good. I think it's saying something that the best offensive PG in the league is some 38 year old white guy. But we're in a golden era for PGs!1!!!1 ZOMG

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 04:38 PM) How exactly did Larry Bird help Robert Parrish when he was still on Golden State? Cause he was averaging 17-11 for two years before he ever became a Celtic. The Cavs core was bad, that's why they sucked the second Lebron left. Jamison was a chucker that played huge minutes for bad to mediocre teams to pad his stats and was only there for half a season anyways. He was also a bad defender. Williams could shoot, but couldn't create shots for anyone else and was brutal whenever they really needed him. Varejao was alright as an energy guy when he was actually healthy. The only way that team was beating anyone good is if Lebron averaged 35 a game, and even that wasn't enough in the series against Orlando. 19.3, 17.2, 20.8, and 20.0 were his PER the years before he went to the Celtics. Year one with the Celtics he has a PER of 25.2. His offensive winshares were 0.2 lower in that year than the previous 4 years combined. He was just a much better player with the Celtics. Oh, and feel free to look up how many games Jamison, Williams, and Varajao played in/ started the year after Lebron left. That whole roster basically missed time due to injury. And again, for the umpteenth time I don't think the Cavs core was good at all. I just think people exaggerate how bad they were. They had homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs the last few years. AGAIN I agree that it was mostly due to Lebron, but one player doesn't get the best record in the NBA all on his own. I'm sorry.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 04:26 PM) No, but MJ taking his little gambling hiatus definitely helped Olajuwan win those titles. If MJ was still in the league, those titles wouldnt have left Chicago. I completely agree, although I've seen people argue otherwise. The Bulls had lots of trouble with the Rockets usually. However, that still doesn't take away from the fact that Olajuwon won a championship (the second one he had a bit more help) with a terrible supporting cast.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) Not sure where in my post I said that. I said admittedly most of the help was brought in year two, in the exact same post you just quoted. LBJ didnt have that kind of help by year 7. They added Parrish who blew up after he came to the Celtics (probably nothing to do with Bird I'm sure). McHale was a rookie who averaged 10 points per game. He averaged 8.5 PPG in the playoffs. Nobody else was really added. They won the NBA championship. I honestly don't even like the stance that I'm forced to take. I agree that Lebron wasn't provided with that much help. I just think it's a bit exaggerated. Mo Williams wasn't a terrible player and averaged 17 PPG before joining the Cavs. Jamison averaged around 20 PPG before going to the Cavs. Varajao was good defensively. Anthony Parker was a good shooter. I don't think Pippen would have been the same player he became without Jordan. I don't think Parrish would have had the same career without Bird. I don't know who you could say that about with Lebron. He's just a ball dominant player that improves his teammates (although a great amount) by driving and dishing. It just seems like he doesn't hold his teammates accountable like Bird and Jordan. And Lebron wasn't forced to leave Cleveland. Look at Olajuwan's Rockets. He went through like a 5+ year stretch where his second best player was Otis Thorpe. That didn't prevent him from ultimately winning two championships.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 03:34 PM) 3 years removed from a title and 2 from a playoff run. Maxwell was a damn good player on top of the older core like Archibald and Cowens. Admittedly most of the major players to help bird were brought in starting in 1980 (his second year) which is a MUCH better situation than LBJ was in. .... So the number of wins went like this. 54, then 44, then 32, and then 29. Yes, very strong core. Clearly on the upswing when Bird was brought in.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 02:52 PM) Unfortunatly for LBJ, he was drafted by a crap organization with no history of winning, Bird and Magic were fortunate enough to join franchises that teamed them up with HOFers. Jordan was also drafted by a team with no previous championship history but they drafted well and teamed MJ with great talent like Pippen and Grant, LBJ had Mo Williams as his second best player. Shaq not considered top 10 All Time based on him switching teams multiple times is silly, his peak was as dominant as any GOAT players' peak, including MJ. I agree. It is unfortunate for LBJ. His legacy is still forever tarnished because he left. And those Cavs teams weren't as terrible as everyone made them out to be. And yes, Magic joined hall of famers, but would McHale and Parrish both been hall of famers without Bird? Would Pippen have been a hall of famer without having to practice against the greatest player of all time everyday? He came out of Central Arkansas extremely raw. And I never said Shaq wasn't considered top 10, but I often see him below Hakeem. If you look at rings and pure dominance Shaq is obviously > than Hakeem. I would have to think intangibles (including changing teams multiple times) and Hakeem leading lesser teams to championships come into play here.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 02:42 PM) Bird and Magic were lucky enough to be drafted by teams with all time greats on it already though, and they both added to it. LBJ could have waited for that to happen but clearly he was a little short changed compared to them. MJ however was drafted to dogs*** (somewhat) and pieces were added to him. Bird was drafted to a team that won 29 games. I don't know what all time greats were already on his team when he was drafted. Archibald and Cowens were way past their prime and were both on that 29 win team the year before.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 02:31 PM) and that's the biggest difference between LBJ and Howard. LBJ was willing to team up with top flight talent, took less money and got hammered for supposedly wanting to defer to Wade even though it's clear the Heat are LBJ's team. I don't think it was that clear last year, especially in the finals. It's just worked out that way. And LBJ is supposed to be the best player on the planet. People expected his career to play out like Bird, Magic, and Jordan's. None of those guys went to different teams. Dwight's career is somewhat playing out like Shaq's, except he looks worse right now. Shaq, despite having 4 rings and being the most dominant force in the NBA is usually lower on All time lists because of playing on so many teams IMO.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 03:18 PM) Exactly, and I hate to see people repeating the myth that Lebron "shut Rose down" in that series. Such an oversimplification. Completely agree with you here. There's nothing more overrated than Lebron's man defense.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 03:16 PM) You can package picks to either move up in the draft or include in a larger package for a good player. Picks are never useless Second round picks in the NBA are about as valuable as 6th or 7th round picks in the NFL. They are as close to useless as draft picks come.

Can someone provide me with some insight as to why Kenrick Perkins is playing so much? The guy is worthless right now.

The NBA has regressed so much it's unbelievable. How many jumpshots were made in that 4th quarter by both teams?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 4, 2012 -> 10:06 PM) No, thats BS. Anzalone's parents hated the commitment in the first place, Bosa's family has OSU ties. Otherwise he wouldnt keep PSU on the list who took decades to out a Pedo who was a coach and not a fake fan. Yeah, I don't know either way. Was just sharing what I read by some tOSU fans.