nitetrain8601

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 30, 2010 -> 11:31 AM) Lee is a tier above the rest of those options, but I'm still not a fan for a few reasons... 1) As you mentioned, someone is going to overpay him. I think if you give him more than $12 mil a year that can easily be a Deng-like albatross. 2) He's not really a difference-making scorer that can consistently create quality shots, he's a guy that gets his points off pick and rolls. He averaged 20 a game this year, but a lot of that is because the Knicks are awful and they play at a pretty good pace (he also shot well above his career norm on long jumpers). I realize Amare is somewhat similar, but he's more explosive, has a history of being a dangerous mid-range shooter, and has put up big numbers for more competitive teams. 3) A lot of his value comes from rebounding, which is something the Bulls already do pretty well with Noah. I really worry that if Lee is the big signing of the Bulls' off-season that they're going to be paying him 15 mil a year to put up 14-9 on a team that actually has some decent scoring options and another big man that already does the dirty work. Having that much money tied up in two good-but-not great players like Lee and Deng is just asking for trouble. I agree. First, that list is flat out putrid. Contenders? Yeah, maybe for one 50 win season and a 2nd round exit. And secondly, David Lee is getting vastly overrated. He's not a good defender. He's a good rebounder and decent offensive player who found the right system for him. He would be a mistake though for anything over $10 million. And if you took three of those guys, combined them, they would still not be better than Ben Gordon at 60 million. What's so good about Ben is that he was legit starter material, a legit dynamic longbomb scorer. Most three point shooters are not great scorers. he was a rare breed. That's what the Bulls missed the most this year. The closest guy you could get to Ben is Joe Johnson, which is why I wouldn't be too mad about getting him. Lee = Deng is probably the best comparison I've seen from a Financial standpoint.

Well, there's legal ramifications they have to hitch out such as not getting sued by VDN once he is fired.

Yeah, that's a dumb rumor. He signed the LOI and all accounts state he was more than happy to sign it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 07:59 AM) I certainly didn't get the impression that either of those were true. I got the impression that JR didn't want to get into a bidding war against the Knicks for D'Antoni, because he was going to lose that bidding war, and I got the impression that Doug Collins had the job if he'd wanted it and he decided he didn't want it. JR kept stalling with D'Antoni. Despite JR stating he doesn't get involved, he really really does. He got involved in the Deng negotiations, he didn't want Gordon, he's been Hinrich's biggest fan. JR was basically dicking around with D'Antoni and Mike wouldn't have it. Collins wanted the job, badly too. Paxson was completely on board with it and that's when Doug talked about it on TNT basically sounding like he would be the next coach. JR stepped in and basically told him he didn't want to have to fire his friend, so he didn't want to get him the job. VDN was a lameduck coach since he was hired. The Bulls only wanted someone to work cheap until 2010 came around and then go from there.

Drive Thru at White Castle.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 07:27 PM) i have a hard time calling a sixth round pick on anyone a waste. As do I. I honestly believe he could develop into a good QB under Martz's system. Anyone beyond round 4 is pretty much a crapshoot.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 09:21 AM) They make it sound like the Bulls had a choice. VDN's hiring was symptomatic of everything else that has gone wrong...basically since the year Wallace was signed and Thomas was drafted, I'd say. They did. D'Antoni's first choice was Chicago. JR didn't want him. Doug Collins wanted to come along, JR didn't want to have to fire him again. Everyone else out there were okay options, but none really stood out. As far as VDN alienating players, I'd say the author is wrong. This team played hard for VDN, even when it was known he was a lameduck coach. When management quit on him, his players still kept playing. Derrick and Joakim seem to like him a lot. The only player VDN had problems with is Tyrus. You may be able to add Jannero in there, but he sucks and was mad about PT when he deserves none. Right now, the only player with a bone to pick is Acie Law. If the Bulls did have Ben Gordon this year, I have no doubt they would've been nothing lower than a 5th seed. They missed his dynamic and consistent scoring. Bulls basically win when Deng and Hinrich are hitting shots. If not, they are toast and they still give up a lot of points because the defense doesn't have to work hard, nor do they have to respect them. Management is who set VDN up to fail, and I'd say he's still done a damn good job considering he made the playoffs both years.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 01:58 PM) You do when he has Jenks' track record, you have no better in-house options, and your bullpen outside of Thornton is pretty much terrible (nobody could've foreseen a converted SS becoming our best bullpen arm this winter). Better to pay Bobby year-by-year than to throw a $10M+ multi-year deal at somebody like K-Rod and hope that he doesn't blow his arm out. I don't want Bobby around next year, but bringing him back this year was absolutely the right thing to do. Don't worry. I also do not believe the bullpen is as strong as people make it out to be. I think Pena, Putz, Williams are all big question marks. 2 of those 3 will get a lot of the innings. Jenks is also entering that territory.

A big mac with fries.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) Nice stat wite. Bring this back up in July/August as well as I wanna see if some of these guys are still the same. I know for a fact Richard was 91-93 early on before he was cranking it up at 94-97 around that time last season (between AAA and the bigs). Couple the fact that he is probably the top 5 best pickoff pitcher (not just LH) in the game. I don't think David Price (or Kershaw) will be third (or 6th) on that list very long either. I'm shocked Johan isn't on the list.

You could make an argument that he has more power than Pujols. It wouldn't sound strange because there are several players who have more power than him. What you have to take into account is overall package. Howard isn't that great in terms of overall. He K's way too much for my liking. That alone would make me shave $25 million off his contract.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 11:32 PM) I was going to post something similar. The rest of the west (and the league for that matter) is being put on notice. The Thunder have arrived and they're not going anywhere for quite a while. But it all begins/ends with Durant. He wasn't supposed to be THIS good THIS fast. And Westbrook is not of this universe. He makes prime Kevin Johnson look slow. Fisher better hire somebody to pull a Nancy Kerrigan on Westbrook. Eh, I would wait a little before I crown them. For Durant, he was always supposed to be an instant superstar since he was in high school. Then they made that rule change regarding playing at least one year college ball. He's certainly a heck of a talent. With that said, the Blazers looked promising as soon as they drafted Oden and had all these lottery picks already on the team and people were ready to give them the West for the next 10 years. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. We'll see what happens. I really really like the team and hope they do end up winning a championship in that town as they have some of the best basketball fans in the world.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) I know nothing of the guy. Can you give me a scouting report and why did he fall to the 6th? Cas he played at Central Michigan. The guy was a beast at QB. The main concerns is that he did not play in the pro-style offense and his arm strength is not that of Jay Cutler's. With that said, he can still make any throw and with pretty great accuracy. He's also 6'3 and has a great IQ for the game. He reminds me of Chad Pennington before his first surgery in terms of accuracy and touch. I would say he's a better playmaker than Pennington though. He can make good throws on the run. He's going to need like 2 years on the bench to learn a pro style system though. Many thought he was a 3rd, possibly 2nd round talent.

The Bears got LeFevour? That's a pretty damn good pick. He's a guy who actually has a chance to be a damn good QB.

Anyone watching the OKC-Laker game? They just broke the record for the loudest decibel level at an NBA game. Also, Amare Stoudemire is going to be suspended for throwing an elbow about 10 minutes ago.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) Latest rumor is Ben and #18 pick to KC for Cassell, #5 pick, and 2nd rounder next year. Steelers apparently really trying to get up to #2 and get Suh. That would be a stupid trade for KC and I'm not a huge fan of Cassell. I'm a lesser fan of Ben though.

Why Mickie James? I'm glad they cut Shelton loose. They wasted him in my opinion. TNA only should call Mickie, Katie, and Shelton. The rest are meh.

Roth got lucky honestly. He should be looking at jail time, not a 6 game suspension. I'm not surprised the Steelers wanted a hard suspension for him. They don't like to put up with poop like that. With that said, Raiders are smart for taking a chance on him as they desperately need a good QB and they probably would screw up their draft pick anyway. Rams should not go after Roth though. I have the feeling that Bradford and McCoy will be better than he is. Heck, I think Jimmy Clausen, who I'm not a fan of, will be better than Roth.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 09:32 AM) I've mentioned this before, and I still think it's true: Jenks was a better closer when he had his 100 mph heat and the deadly curve. I'm not saying it's not wise to diversify (especially to avoid arm damage), but I'm not sure Jenks has caught on to what Coop wanted from him. He seems timid with his curve, and his fastball is not as effective. He had some great pitches last night, and the change-up for the final strike was nice. He seems to get too selective after two outs...almost as if he's trying too hard. I agree big time.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 03:39 AM) Of course this is assuming Durant has a good playoff series. Artest could easily shut him down. He's not fast enough to keep up with Durant. They are better off putting Kobe on him.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 01:35 AM) Illinois definitely underperformed this year. The problem is, there is no reason to believe they won't do it again next year. They've underperformed drastically 2 of the last 3 years now. How is it underperforming if they performed that way as the norm for the past 2-3 years?

QUOTE (Real @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) I'll agree his stuff looks much better than what Jake had, but if Peavy doesn't have his STUFF then that's what he'll look like. I'm gonna wager when he gets a few more starts in him, he'll look a lot better and his slider will be a much harder breaker and have more control with his FB I still don't think he's hurt I'd be more concerned if he wasn't hurt to be honest. If he's hurt, then we have Daniel Hudson in the wings who got start while he's out. If he isn't hurt, then he won't get some resting time and we'll have to have him figure it out as the game goes along. I do worry about him shaking off the catcher when he doesn't have his stuff. If he had his stuff and was looking like 2007 Cy Peavy, then shake him off because I'll have the confidence in knowing that the next pitch you throw will be enough to get the guy out. When you have given up 5 runs and you're shaking off the catcher, that tells me you don't know what's good for you.

I'd love almost as much as a HR to have Rios his a double, stretch it into a triple and flick off the fans while rounding 2nd!

QUOTE (Real @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 07:46 PM) If Peavy is hurt, do you think he would be pitching? Peavy's 2nd bad start, mass paranoia envelopes Chicagoland! Yes, didn't he want to pitch last year when he was hurt with the Padres and finally decided to go on the DL after they lost a bunch of games in a row?

Honestly, you do have to be concern with Peavy's fastball and where it's at. It's not like he's pitching outside in the freezing cold. His fastball needs to be at least in the mid to high 90's. If not, he's not all that effective. Sorry, but it's the truth boys.