ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 6, 2013 -> 05:43 AM) I think another point that you've raised is about Small Forwards that get drafted very highly such as Beasley / Williams, where they're not really cut out to be 3's and play more like 4's, but in the NBA, they're not big enough to play the 4, and are willing to post up. So they fit that "tweener" sort of mould, and that's exactly the problem I see with Bennett, he's not athletic enough to play the 3 IMO, but he'll get dominated down low by the bigger 4's in the league. I think with the Small Forward position in the NBA today, unless you have a real special talent like a Lebron or a Durant, you'd want a "glue guy" such as a Luol Deng, Andre Igoudala etc. Someone who won't shoot the ball 20 times a game at around 35% success (Carmelo come on down), but can play very solid defense, hit the corner 3, and give you solid rebounding. Having a star big or PG is probably going to be a better outcome, unless you have either James or Durant (although Paul George is quickly heading to that status also). There's already speculation about Irving joining the Knicks, but I don't see how that can happen cap wise, and I think actually Orlando gets either Denver or New York's 1st rounder at this year's draft, which could actually end up being a pick b/w 10 and 20 the way both teams are looking at present. I'll be curious to see what happens with Eric Bledsoe come the end of the season also. His current averages aren't sustainable, but if he can get over 17.5 PPG and 6 AST's a game come the end of the season, how close does that get him to say $12-$15M a season from someone? The A/TO Ratio at present is terrible though. Those guys definitely had issues. I was blinded by Beasley's dominance in college, but the other two I didn't really like. You can throw in a bunch of 6'9" "athletes" that people take for potential too like Tyrus Thomas or Stromile Swift. It's tricky though because guys with legit SF talent frequently play PF in college (Durant, Melo, Granger, Deng are a few off the top of my head). It just doesn't seem like they are many elite wing players right now, most of the top shot-creators end up at the point right now. Every team would rather have a Lebron/Durant/Harden/George (and probably Melo, though he doesn't always play smart), but if you don't have one of them you probably want a 3-and-D type that blends in. The Knicks could have cap space depending on how things shake out over the next two years. Chandler and Amare both expire after 14/15 (Amare's is technically a player option, but he's not turning down $23 million) and they only have $13 mil committed outside of a potential Melo extension. Who knows what they'll do between now and then though. Someone will definitely pay Bledsoe a ton.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 01:17 AM) Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but taking Dion Waiters at #4 in the previous year's draft really forced their hand. I wonder if Kyrie Irving thinks if he can win with that team as currently constructed in the long-term. Throw in the Tristan Thompson pick too, they reached on all three of those. Without stretching things too much (ie expecting them to take Kawhi or Klay Thompson), they could have had Jonas Valanciunas, Andre Drummond and Victor Oladipo. Instead, they have Thompson, Waiters and Bennett. Their bad picks definitely forced their hand on subsequent picks, which is why I'd be shocked if Kyrie stays (unless Lebron miraculously returns). I was never a fan of the Bennett pick, he pretty much looked like a clone of Michael Beasley/Derrick Williams. At least they got the Irving pick right...

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 12:27 AM) Oladipo's already putting up some very nice numbers off the bench, a 19/6/4 line today vs. Brooklyn. Having him on the court has made Affalo a much better player for Orlando also. I've got mixed feelings though in terms of if everyone for the Magic is healthy (no Harris or Davis currently), that's probably a 30 win team at least, and that doesn't get you Andrew Wiggins. The team that has the worst record never seems to win the lottery anyways. Besides, getting Julius Randle or Dante Exum (if he comes out) wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. They do have some nice young talent. Vucevic is way better than I expected when they acquired him, Oladipo is legit and Harris and Harkless are fairly solid (my fantasy needs Harris to get back though!).

I don't get MCW. Clearly talented, but he looked like he needed another year at Syracuse. He was ridiculously erratic, shooting below 40% from the field and under 30% from 3 while turning it over 3.4 times. Now he gets to the NBA and he's tearing it up. Even his "bad" game out of the first 3 he put up 14-3-5 with 40% shooting and only two turnovers. I realize there's much more space inside in the NBA, but I still have a hard time seeing how THIS is happening.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 07:26 PM) How the Hell did this team beat the Heat? As we're seeing right now, they have some athletes. People thought Carter-Williams was going to suck this year and drag down their offense, but so far he's a big positive. They're going to have some ugly games, but they don't look like your typical s***-show tanking team so far. That said, there's a possibility that they go on like a 2-20 run since they have no depth, a spoty defense and guys that will take some ugly shots.

I would be getting blackout drunk right now, but unfortunately I have to work tomorrow.

YOU'VE GOTTA BE f***ING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear, Northwestern is going to have to forfeit by the end of the year because they don't have enough players. They're down to their 6th string RB and numerous other key players have missed games.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 07:48 AM) Is miles plumlee the real deal? His stats in college weren't overly impressive but he had two huge games to open this year. Considering picking him up in fantasy basketball in favor of varejao or faried (who appears to be on a time split with jj hicks on this year) Probably not. Good athlete, but he sucks at basketball. Then again, he's going to play big minutes until Len gets his s*** together (if ever), so he's probably a better option than Faried.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 06:00 PM) This myth was already busted. If his 42 inches is correct, it is only about 2 inches over his combine totals. Math probably isn't one of his strong suits. He needed someone to take his SAT's to go to Memphis for f***'s sake.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 03:53 PM) So, the alternate question. Is there some roster configuration that would make Steph the better fit? I'd strongly consider it if I had an elite wing that drives a lot or a big that draws a crowd down low. There aren't too many of those out there though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 01:15 PM) That legendary series against the Celtics? He shot 38.8% in that series, and if you take out the 42 point game 2 it drops to 34.5%.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 01:07 PM) when was ben gordon SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good at shooting that he could cover things up. By sooooooooooooooo good Zoom meant "possibly the best pure shooter since Reggie, and likely better" Yeah, Curry is quite a bit better than Gordon ever was.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 10:51 AM) You are starting a new franchise in Seattle. The NBA, in a strange move, says you can choose one of two players as your franchise cornerstone whose salary won't count against your cap. You can have Derrick Rose or Stephen Curry. You're an expansion team, so you don't have any existing pieces to consider in your choice. Who do you choose? Rose, relatively easily unless you're talking fantasy basketball. Curry is an amazing shooter, but he has several flaws. He's not a big threat on the drive, he's a pretty mediocre ball-handler/passer and he's a bad defender. He's SOOOO good at shooting that he can cover up most of that, but Rose is going to have a bigger impact with a league average cast around him. If salaries count though, I'd be more inclined to take Curry. Rose would cost you $19.5 mil a year for the next 4, Curry is only going to cost you $11 mil a year. That's a pretty sizeable difference if you're trying to put together a contender.

If I were 7 feet tall, I would look exactly like Byron Mullens does right now: hilariously bad.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 09:03 PM) Can we eliminate clear path? Takes sooo long to sort out. Nope. Those multi-minute reviews are fine, but god forbid they lose a couple of seconds because someone touched the ball after a basket.

i gotta admit, I think Phoenix is worse than Philly now. That team is garbage outside of Bledsoe and Dragic, who play the same position. Young and Turner are decent NBA players and you could do worse than Spencer Hawes inside. Then there's Carter-Williams, who most people probably expected to average 8-4-5 with under 40% shooting and over 3 turnovers. If they get anything from him, they'll beat some of these awful teams. Then again, they have like 6 NBA-caliber players and no one that I'd say is a top-3 scorer on a contender, so under 17 is still possible.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 26, 2013 -> 03:33 PM) The injuries to Colter and Mark haven't helped. Definitely, though Colter more than Mark. Green and Buckley are serviceable and Trumpy is okay if you keep him between the tackles. They lose a lot on offense without Colter's running ability though.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 26, 2013 -> 02:17 PM) I haven't watched every minute but I feel that Simien at least looked adequate at the beginning of the year and has just gotten worse and worse as the season has went on. He was fine against the s***ty defenses early in the year and started out well against OSU. He started getting rushed like crazy though and now he's hearing footsteps. After I thought about it, most of his previous success came in late-game situations where teams generally drop 8 and don't put on much of a pass-rush.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 26, 2013 -> 01:54 PM) Man Northwestern sucks. Too bad. Their D is about what I expected, maybe even a little better. The problem is the offense has been out of sync most of the year. Their offensive line stinks, a lot of holding penalties and false starts (plus somehow they have like 5 false starts on receivers). They're not a team that can consistently recover from penalties. I'm really worried about next year's offense without Colter, Simien has looked brutal this year.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 23, 2013 -> 04:27 PM) Ugh. Bill Simmons picks the Bulls to win the title. His reasoning (in 15 seconds of a radio interview): Rose will be a top 3 player in the league as he was 2 seasons ago, and everyone is sleeping on them. Jinxed. Over before the season even starts. Sigh. Considering I just heard Simmons talk about the Pistons winning a playoff series in one of his podcasts, I wouldn't put too much stock in that either way.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 01:32 PM) I'd play but can't make the draft. And in auction formats an auto draft is a death sentence. Pretty much, though if you pre-rank players you can at least get some of the guys you want. I do that as a backup.

By the way, this is a Soxtalk-centric league (might be a couple of randoms left from filling it out last year), not just a collection of random guys I know. Steve, SCS787, MHizzle, Quinarvy (I think) and a couple others are in. So please join!

So, I posted it here in the hopes that enough people will see it to fill out the league... I need at least 2 (preferrably 4) more for a league. It's a 9-cat auction league with the draft scheduled for this coming Sunday at 7:45 PM Central. If interested, PM me with your E-Mail tied to your yahoo account so I can send you an invitation. If you join, please make sure you either attend the draft or pre-rank your players (preferrably both) as auto-drafts really suck for auctions.

I'm staying out of this Miami/Chicago bulls*** until the playoffs. They're both going to win 60 games and crush a lot of bad opponents. The Bulls play balls-to-the-walls every game so they'll beat some good ones too. Nothing really matters until the second round of the playoffs though when the top-4 in the East all play each other.