ZoomSlowik

76. I didn't really have a major time issue, my problem was there are a lot of lesser known players on the board, not just on the newer teams either.

91, mostly missing guys I should have.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 2, 2009 -> 10:20 AM) just picked up tix for Illinois @ Northwestern game. Its always my favorite game to go to, the little high school gym is usually over half orange, and its on a Saturday night this year. If NW could have some success and get some more fan support, I think that gym could be a big home court advantage for them. Its so small, I'm sure its gotta get pretty loud if packed with all Wildcat fans. The student section is usually pretty good, but there are far too many alums that buy good seats and never show up. Against a lot of Big Ten teams it is often 50-50 or worse.

To be fair, Pau Gasol hasn't played for the Lakers yet. He's easily their second best player and gives them a pretty nasty frontcourt if both him and Bynum are healthy.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Oct 25, 2009 -> 10:24 PM) Yeah Robert Sarver's always trying to save money with that franchise so I agree with you there on that proposal. It's scary to think of how much better they could have been if they had someone like Paul Allen or Mark Cuban as their owner. They let Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion go and flat-out sold picks that could have added guys like Iguodala, Rondo and Rudy Fernandez.

I can't see Phoenix taking on what could be almost $100 mil in future commitments to Deng and Thomas after this season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 24, 2009 -> 06:36 PM) The Knicks aren't taking on contracts right now, they're still convinced they can steal another SF in free agency this offseason. Oh, and I believe NYK doesn't have a 1st rounder this year again. I believe you are right, Simmons mentioned it in his article. I believe Phoenix has it since it's from the Marbury trade. Even if such a team were out there, they would also have to be far enough under the cap to take on Deng's salary unless the Bulls take back a similar sized contract. If they're in that situation, why not just wait until the end of the season and take a crack at numerous better players?

QUOTE (danman31 @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 10:16 PM) You forgot Detroit. Also, what makes you think the Thunder will be 9th? That's a big jump, even for a team with a lot of young talent unless you talking a big drop off from Phoenix. That's what I get for editing. Not sure what you mean about the Phoenix part, I have them in 8th. As for OKC, that has as much to do with the general crapiness of the lower tier of the west as it does with them. Golden State took 10th last year with only 29 wins, OKC won 23 last year. I don't see it taking anywhere near 46 wins to take 9th this year like Phoenix had last year, not with Houston losing Yao for the year and T-Mac appearing to be on his last legs. Durant is an elite scorer, Westbrook has star potential at the point, and Green and Harden are impressive 3rd/4th options. The Clippers are probably the 9th most talented teams but I'm factoring in some injuries, the Rockets just don't seem to have enough talent to survive without Yao, Memphis and Golden State are a mess chemistry-wise (what the hell is Nellie thinking with Maggette at PF?), and Minnesota and Sacramento are just bad.

Getting back on track a bit, I'll also post my league predictions, with spaces representing tiers. East 1) Boston 2) Orlando 3) Cleveland 4) Atlanta 5) Toronto 6) Miami 7) Washington 8) Chicago 9) Philly 10) Detroit 11) Indiana 12) New Jersey 13) Charlotte 14) New York 15) Milwaukee West 1) Los Angeles Lakers 2) San Antonio 3) Portland 4) Denver 5) Dallas 6) New Orleans 7) Utah 8) Phoenix 9) Oklahoma City 10) Los Angeles Clippers 11) Golden State 12) Houston 13) Minnesota 14) Memphis 15) Sacramento Conference Finals Boston over Magic in 7 (prediction varies heavily with health) LA over San Antonio in 6 Finals Lakers over Celtics in 7 MVP- Lebron ROY- Griffin MIP- Anthony Randolph if Don Nelson actually lets him play 6th man- Gordon

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 09:25 PM) Fantasy-wise, Rose, Noah, and Thomas are all due for breakout seasons. I would actually say Rose is the polar opposite of Thomas: he makes a FAR bigger impact in real basketball than fantasy basketball. He doesn't really hit 3's or get steals, and he's only an okay free throw shooter. That's three categories that really hurt him and are also typically the main categories you look for in point guards (with assists obviously). He really has to average at least 20-10 with a FG% around 50 to have top-30 fantasy value, that's a lot to ask. Just look where Tony Parker rates with a relatively similar statistical profile. I really didn't intend to turn this into a fantasy thread.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 09:13 PM) Haha.. I'll be damned. You know.. most people here will learn to love his studliness. Key part of my statement: he's a decent option in FANTASY sports. I don't have to worry about his basketball IQ or suspect basketball skills as long as he's racking up steals and blocks.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 08:27 PM) Trade me Thomas then Zoom. Ha, his steals and blocks have WAY more value in fantasy than they do in the real world.

I'll throw in a bunch of Bulls predictions... -Bulls finish in the 38-42 win range and sneak into the playoffs. They promptly get blasted by Orlando or Boston. -Rose averages about 21-8, starts drawing more fouls, and starts showing SOME life on defense. -Noah becomes a dependable player up front, averaging roughly a double-double with close to 2 blocks per game. -Tyrus continues to be schizophrenic, looking like an unstoppable monster some nights and a career bench player on others. He ends up averaging about 13-7 and someone gives him 9 mil a year in the off-season (hopefully not the Bulls). -Deng averages 15-6 on about 46% shooting, solid but not enough to make a real difference or live up to his contract. -Much like a young Tyrus, Johnson will have flashes of stellar play but not be consistent and spend more time on the bench than many will like. -At least 3 above average players will be traded at the deadline, likely for 50 cents on the dollar in salary dumps. None of them will end up on the Bulls and that will aggravate their fans to no end.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 22, 2009 -> 11:09 PM) This team looks like it's had a disaster of a training camp. With Rose and the guys they do have, they'll be good enough to win 30+ games, but if Rose misses the first week and takes a while to get back to game shape, then we can pretty much write off the first month+ of the season since there's the circus trip. On top of that, right now Luol Deng looks terrible, and Salmons and Hinrich have been missing practices/games. Noah's had some really solid games in the preseason but has also been inconsistent. Maybe i overstated things a bit, but this training camp has really troubled me. When do things EVER look good for the Bulls early in the year? I wouldn't even worry about it until February or so. They've only been .500 or better after November once in the last 5 years and were well under .500 into January 4 times as well. Yet they've finished under .500 only once over that stretch and were still 9th in the lottery drawing. It's a loooooong season, it just doesn't make much sense to freak out about people getting minor injuries/sucking in the pre-season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 22, 2009 -> 07:04 PM) I sincerely doubt the Bulls will have Tyrus after this season. Cutting him lose is the only way to extend a max offer to Bosh or Wade. Problem with thinking about the draft now is...we're not going to know if we'll have a shot at either of those guys or at any of the lesser folks on the market (Amare, Dirk, etc.) Aside from PG, it's possible the Bulls could go in to the draft next year with major difficulties at 4 different positions, if Deng does poorly and the PF's or C's stagnate a bit. Aren't we the pessimist. SG/SF I can definitely see, but even if they let Tyrus go Noah looks like a reasonably safe bet and they just took Johnson (who minimally has nice upside) and Gibson, plus PF would likely be their top target in free agency if they went that route. I'm not saying I'd turn down a Derrick Favors, Ed Davis, Greg Monroe or John Henson, but they'll likely have to suck fairly hard/get lucky to get one of them.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 22, 2009 -> 12:11 PM) So if Derrick Rose misses substantial time, are there any top picks we can hope fall our way? It's a very good draft, but it's heavy on PG's/combo guards and athletic big men. We definitely don't need the former and while a team could always use the latter we still have Tyrus, Noah, Gibson and a combo forward in Johnson up front. I'd be extremely happy if we got Evan Turner in the late lottery, though it'd be nice if he developed the 3-ball a bit to improve his fit with Rose. Devin Ebanks and Al-Farouq Aminu are other options, though both are more athlete than basketball player right now. Xavier Henry is probably a better fit for us than either of them, but he relies on his jumper a bit more than I like. I guess in summary there are a few guys, but it's a better draft for really s***ty teams that need high-upside big men.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 11:13 PM) Fantasy basketball? I posted info like 2 weeks ago, league is full and drafting tonight.

Jesus, why don't they just put the points on the board for the Irish already...

Alright, league set up. Yahoo obviously. ID- 220235 password- soxtalk

Is there enough interest to do a league this year? If so I'll create a league and run it. We'd have to draft relatively soon since games start the 27th. Just post in this thread and I'll start it up once I get some responses. Mods, I'd prefer if it stayed in the sports pub for a while so people actually see it, but I understand if it doesn't...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 23, 2009 -> 08:40 AM) I really could see the Bulls missing the playoffs without the scoring of Ben Gordon to save them at times. I expect them to be a lot like last year: some nights they'll look like world-beaters and pull out wins against teams like Boston and Cleveland while other nights they'll look like a clueless lottery team that losses to teams like Charlotte and Sacramento. That's the problem with their roster, several of their guys have inconsistent effort levels and their offense is inconsistent because they have no interior scoring. They have a budding star in Rose and some clearly talented players, so I think they'll make the playoffs barring injury. However, I don't think they'll be good or consistent enough to be more than about a 6-seed and a first round out unless we see some significant improvements from their trio of young guys.

That's pretty iffy calling defense and rebounding strengths given what the Bulls did last year. Sure, Tyrus and Noah block shots, but they also allow plenty of offensive rebounds and let a number of pretty average big men have a big impact (ie Big Baby in the playoffs).

In a game of horse maybe, everyone knows Wallace is a poor shooter. In a strictly one on one game where he can back you down and dunk on your head, not so much. You might get lucky hitting a jumper or two, but come on Steve, he's still a fairly effective defender in spurts against much better players that you.

I'll throw in a third for Geovanti's (Green and 4th). I'm also a big fan of Za's (roughly Green and Wright), pretty good pasta and it's quick. I can't believe no one mentioned Papa Del's (also on Green, closer to 1st), easily the best pizza down there. If you have a vehicle, my favorite for dinner down there is Crane Alley over in Urbana (115 Main). It's a little more upscale and has some pretty solid food, plus a varied beer selection.

Twice now that Mexico had enough time to have a cigarette before a defender got there, and both resulted in goals.