Jordan4life_2007

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 08:16 PM) I hope so. I imagine they look into Edwin though. And then next week the Red Sox will have acquired Tommy Hanson. Though I have no idea what they'd give up. I'm just saying the Latos and now this Pineda trade have come out of nowhere.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 14, 2012 -> 09:59 AM) This is the best start the Bulls have gotten off to since the 72 win season. Enough said. Not to mention that there was no training camp or off-season this year. This team just knows how to win. We'll see if that's still the case against the Heat int he playoffs though. The Bulls actually started out 17-1 in 1997. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 14, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) This is where returning the whole core and not having a big off season is really helping them. The depth has been huge too. This is true. I underestimated these facts in a short season. You see it in the other conference with the Thunder.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 14, 2012 -> 09:48 AM) Even if Montero is Miguel Cabrera, it'd be hard-pressed for him to earn his value as a DH. No matter how good of a hitter you are, you'll only be like a 5-6 win player as a DH. I'm pretty sure the Mariners would be quite content with that. Don't get me wrong. I like the deal better for the Yankees. But all the pitching in the world doesn't mean much when 4 runs is considered an explosion by your offense. I'd be a lot more cynical from the M's side if they didn't have three premium pitching 'spects in their inventory.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 14, 2012 -> 07:35 AM) I don't understand why teams don't make the Yankees pay a premium when they trade. They should always be forced to include an extra prospect or two in a trade because of their ability to outspend everyone in free agency. How do you give up a 23 yr old guy who throws 95-100 coming off a solid rookie season? Dumb trade. I take it you don't know much about Montero. The Yankees indeed paid a steep price. He's a consensus top 10 prospect in baseball (top 3-5 if you don't include pitchers). He doesn't have a position. But his bat is real. The Mariners desperately needed some offensive reinforcements. And they got a real good one.

That article is awful. That package would be worse than what the Hornets were going to get for Paul before Stern stepped in.

Well, the Yankees went from suspect rotation to top 3 in the AL in a day. The Rangers are going to sign Fielder (if they can't sign Darvish). The Angels did what they did. The Rays continue to be brilliant. All the Red Sox need is another quality starter. The Tigers are the prohibitive favorites in the Central. The White Sox haven't been this irrelevant since 1995. I'm predicting 65-97.

What.the.f***? This came out of nowhere. Damn. It's even more laughable now to think that Danks was going to bring back a great package.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:52 PM) Deng's Games Played from 2009-2011: 7,524 AK's Games Played from 2009-2011: 5,313 Um, what? OK. I see the correction. And? He's been more durable. He's not a better player.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:49 PM) Carmelo Anthony is so good it's scary, people. How bad was Denver pre-Carmelo? They were a Kobe Bryant away, the second best SG that's ever lived, from at least one trip to the finals. A Luol Deng-led team would be 2000 Bulls bad.

Deng's PER from 2009-2011: 14.7, 16.1, 15.5. AK's PER from 2009-2011: 16.8, 18.2, 16.6.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:37 PM) J4L trollin the NBA board....nothing new here. If you say so. Dude just said he'd rather have Deng than Carmelo. And I'm the troll? That's like me saying Joakim Noah > Dwight Howard. Take that garbage anywhere else and he'd get banned.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:35 PM) Carmelo is clearly way more talented than Deng, I did the list very quickly and overlooked him. But, in all honesty I'd almost rather have Deng because you know your getting max effort on both sides and the Nuggets actually improved losing him. Yes they got multiple peaces in return but they also lost Billups who at the time was still playing at a high level. You'd rather have Deng than Carmelo? Just say that to yourself 10 times without wanting to clone yourself and beat the s*** out of yourself.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:27 PM) *Facepalm. I hope you're trolling. Deng was 4th in Win Shares among SFs last season. How the hell is Marion better? And I sincerely hope that AK is not Andrei Kirilenko. You might have been right a few years back, when Deng couldn't stay healthy and wasn't the player he is now. But to say that Deng is not a top 10 SF is just wrong. GMAB. I'm not saying Deng is a scrub. But he's no all-star. He had no defensive reputation at all before TT came aboard. Guys like AI2, LeBron and Wallace are much better defenders.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:26 PM) I don't think you understood me, of course Melo is way better than Deng, Melo is a scoring machine.What I was wondering was if Melo score 25 pts in a game, what is the opposing SF pts that night...that's why I said it might break even, what Melo score to what the player he's defending scores since Melo is basically a turnstile on D. Carmelo's defensive ineptitude is overblown. The NBA has yet to catch up with MLB in regards to quantifying defense. Didn't Q post something the other day that suggested Carlos Boozer was an elite defender? Going by DRtg, LeBron is not much better defensively now than he was in 2005. And that's just ridiculous. I'm not saying Carmelo is a stopper. But he's not nearly as bad as he's made out to be.

Oh my goodness. Get out of here. Melo >>>>> Deng

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 04:09 PM) Shawn Marion? No. AK-47? He's not even in the league. Marion is not what he once was. But he's more versatile than Deng. He can guard 2's, 3's and occasionally 4's. Yes, I forgot AK is not playing right now. Luol Deng scores 17 PPG (much lower right now). But he also plays nearly 40 MPG. His PER has consistently been slightly above league average.

It's become quite clear that the right coach/system can make average defenders (something Luol clearly was before last year) look better than they are. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had no reputation whatsoever as good defenders before '08.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 03:48 PM) You truly believe that Hedo Turkoglu is arguably better than Luol Deng? Not really.

SF's better than Deng: LeBron Durant Melo Pierce Gay AI2 Wallace Granger Marion AK SFs arguably better: Wright Gallinari Butler Hedo Hill Deng is somewhere in that third-tier.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 03:12 PM) Deng is a top 10 SF (considering both off. and def.). I have no idea how Noah can remind anybody of Longley, totally different types of players... Top 10? No way. Grant Hill is 50 and he's just about as good. Noah was arguably the second best C in the conference this time last year. He's fallen off a cliff since then.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 02:51 PM) For the Cubs to be competitive in 2013, they first need a lot of their young guys, like Rizzo now, to step up and have big time seasons in their rookie or early career campaigns. That alone seems pretty unlikely. Then they need nothing to go wrong with guys like Castro going to jail or something along those lines. Then, they're still going to have a fair number of obvious holes. They will presumably have some money to spend at that point, being rid of Dempster and Zambrano's deals, but the Free Agent pickings don't include a Pujols or a Fielder next offseason. There is good starting pitching in Cain and Hamels that could make a difference for them if that's their one big need, but those guys could well get extended first, and if not, there's no way the Yankees and Red Sox aren't in on them, so they won't be cheap. So, for the Cubs to win in 2013, they need everything to go correct in 2012 in terms of development, land someone like Hamels to bolster their rotation, then get really lucky by adding someone like Quentin in Free Agency and having him suddenly return to form. In other words, there's no chance. But Theo, Hoyer, etc, have been consistent in saying they want to rebuild this thing from the ground-up. They're not looking at '12 or '13 as years in which they can legitimately contend.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 02:43 PM) I have a hard time bringing Rose's one year at Memphis into the discussion. It's true, we don't know what Rose would do with the best scorer in the league on his team, but one can assume his work ethic and drive would have him feeding that freak and getting his when he gets his. Listen, we all just saw what the Bulls' 2nd and 3rd options look like without Rose on the floor in that game against the Wizards, and both Deng and Boozer shat themselves. I'm just saying. They're both "scoring" point guards. They're both athletic freaks of nature, similar skill-sets, and the same age I believe. And I said before the season started that I don't like the Bulls' roster outside of Rose. They've overachieved the last year+. Much credit to TT. He's a better coach than I ever thought possible. Boozer is garbage. Deng is like the 15th best SF in the league. And Noah reminds of Luc Longley at times.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 02:28 PM) You got a good point there but Rose doesn't have anyone like Durant besides him, sometimes he needs to force a shot up since he's basically the player who can create his own shot on the Bulls. All I'm saying is Westbrook shouldn't be jacking up forced shots while he has KD on the floor with him... You just proved my point. It's OK that Rose at times takes bad shots because there's nobody for him to defer to. Who's to say Rose wouldn't have similar difficulties meshing with such an uber-talent like Durant? Rose is not Nash or Paul or Williams. He looks to score first. He was that way at Memphis.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 02:16 PM) It would help OKC if the more efficient and better scorer would get more shots at the end of a game...I remember a game last year when OKC rebounded the ball during the final seconds, Westbrook pushed the ball up, had Durant open at the wing and still Westbrook forced up a shot while KD had this look to his face like "there you go again", lol. I wish I could remember what game it was but Durant's dismayed expression stuck with me... I have no recollection of the specific instance you're referring to. I agree that KD should always be the first option at the end of games (depending on what the defense throws at you). But Westbrook gets way too much crap for playing with Durant. Statistically, standard and advanced, he was every bit as good as Rose last year save 3-pointers. His shot-selection and decision-making is suspect at times. But so is Rose's.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 01:44 PM) and to round out the 8-10 spots in my opinion... 8.Carmelo Anthony (acoring machine but a big minus on D) 9.Russell Westbrook (my beef with him is that he takes too many shots away from KD) 10.Deron Williams (I won't hold it against him that he has garbage to play with) KD has won the last two scoring titles. How many more shots is he supposed to take?