chw42

I actually hope LeBron goes to Cleveland. It really evens out the East a little bit and I feel he'd be better in Miami than in Cleveland.

Neymar out for the rest of the tournament with a fractured vertebrae. Not looking good for Brazil.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 05:20 PM) I can't believe people are buying into this Broussard stuff. KC Johnson reported Rose and Melo talked for 20 minutes. The whole freaking world knew Melo was going to be visiting the Bulls all day, yet Rose was shocked. Broussard is full of s***. Some reports that the Bulls might have a trade worked out w/utah for Boozer. Where did you see this?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) No one is really saying this. But there should be an understanding that there is a decent number of people who abuse the system and that instead of saying "whelp, they deserve it!" we should be figuring out ways to stop the abuse. Welfare was meant to be a short-term crutch, not a lifetime entitlement. Not a "well, i'd prefer to do this, not that so gimme gimme gimme." That's not what I see when I see conservatives complaining about government handouts. I have absolutely no issues with getting rid of loopholes that enable people to abuse the welfare system. It's made for people who are legitimately in need of help, not free-loaders. I don't want to support drug addicts who spend their welfare checks on...well...more drugs. I don't want to support people who can work, but don't feel like it. However, it's my belief that those are in the minority of people who do receive welfare and that they're probably not getting enough money to live a great lifestyle. The problem I see is that conservative media likes to give extremely broad statements about government-aid. It's usually some anecdotal story about how so and so got this much government aid and we should all be pissed off about it and THANKS OBAMA! So of course, the base relays this type of sentiment and it leaves an impression that conservatives just hate welfare. Not just welfare for free-loaders, but welfare for everyone. To on-lookers who aren't conservative (a decent amount of the country, according to the previous two Presidential elections), this can leave an impression of conservatives being selfish and hypocritical. It's selfish because, well, imagine a guy making 6 figures a year (conservatives usually have more income) kicking a homeless person to the curb and telling them they can't have food stamps and that they should just stay poor, stay hungry, and deal with it. It's also hypocritical because a huge amount of the conservative base is Christian and one of the pillars of Christianity is charity and welfare. Talking about welfare in generic and politically-designed catch-phrases isn't going to help the overall debate and it's not helping the image of conservatives. While you may think no one is really saying we should get rid of welfare, almost everything the conservative media throws out there (*cough Fox News) says they don't want any welfare. I find the same problem with Liberterians arguing for smaller government. That's fine and all, but if you get rid of the entire government, who the hell is going to build the roads and teach your kids? There won't be a real discussion about any of these issues until people stop talking about them in such broad and generic ways.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 03:13 PM) Melo + Pau is not good enough even in the East. Not even close. Gasol is not the same Gasol he was a couple years back. Melo can continue to enjoy early playoff exits. Bulls without Rose could probably beat them. Yeah, the Knicks would still be a bad team with Pau and Calderon. Less sucky, but they're not getting out of the conference with that team.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 09:53 AM) Statistically, more people receive government support then any point in time in the countries history. Now I'm not sure if that is adjusted as a % of population so it trends better historically or not but that was a stat I saw about 6-12 months ago in a journal article. I have a real hard time believing that the percentage of people receiving government help right now is greater than it was during the Great depression. It's probably the overall number, which is extremely misleading since we have 3x as many people now in this country.

Lowry re-signs with Toronto for 4 years.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 09:51 PM) MLS can be entertaining. I'm excited about Orlando City joining MLS next season. They just signed Kaka yesterday. And with the new soccer specific stadium being built for the start of 2016, this is really the perfect time for me to really get into MLS. Kaka is still playing?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 03:01 PM) Hayward averaged 16, 5 and 5 last year on a s***ty team. Butler averaged 13, 5 and 2 without 2 of the Bulls' best offensive players. I'd give more money to Hayward too. Both had pretty much the same shooting efficiency last year. Butler's a much better defender. If you thought Butler couldn't shoot last year, Hayward wasn't any better. 41% overall, 30% from 3 compared to Butler's 40% and 28% from 3. Not sure I'd be willing to give anywhere near max money to a guy like Hayward. He's shot better before, but that was when he wasn't taking 13 shots a game.

QUOTE (bshah723 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 12:57 PM) Hayward's max is only $14M in his first year. Total of 4yr/63 mil deal. 15.75 a year. Year 1 - 14M Year 2 - 15.05M Year 3 - 16.18M Year 4 - 17.39M Total - 62.6M High but not a what you think of when for when its a MAX DEAL. Hayward's not a $14 million/year player. I think I understand why an exec said Butler could get the max now. If Hayward can get a max, I don't see why Jimmy Butler can't.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 05:42 PM) In retrospect Green maybe should have subbed earlier instead of Wondo. He is young and raw but he may be the most technical player on the ball the US have. At that point I think the US was still playing for pks if necessary. Johannsson probably would have been better than Wondowloski.

We had so many chances to equalize. That set piece on the Bradley free kick was beautiful, yet we couldn't capitalize. Execution is what hurt both Belgium and the US in this game. Belgium couldn't execute at all until they scored their two goals even though they had around 20 chances. The US had 4 golden opportunities at the end of the game and only capitalized on one and it was by a 19 year old who wasn't even supposed to play. There's no reason Wondolowski should have missed that shot at the end of regulation. Dempsey and Jones also had incredible opportunities to put in an equalizer. The US team is definitely improved under Klinsmann, but we're not quite there yet.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:16 PM) Rumor: Miami Heat Chris Bosh will sign 5 year deal starting at $11m/yr. Dwyane Wade 4 year deal starting at $12m/yr. (Source: John Canzano) If so, kudos to Bosh, who is actually valuable, to take that significant of a pay cut to make it happen. That will give Heat enough money to bring in Lowry +. Wow, that is quite the paycut for Bosh... He's really sacrificed his career for DWade and LeBron.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 01:31 PM) I was just writing this, Argentina out would have been great. Much easier opponent for the US if we advance.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 01:31 PM) Wow that was close.. Two chances to get it in...that really blows.

Anything could have been possible in penalties. I was really hopping Switzerland would pull it off.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 11:12 AM) There is a difference between Max with your own team, and max with a new team. Right. The 20.7 million figure is based on the old salary cap. The new one should be $63 million. So LeBron should be able to make as much as $22 million since he can make 35% of the cap. Melo can make 105% of his $21.5 million figure with the Knicks last year, which puts him at $22.5 million. Both can sign for 5 years with their current teams as opposed to 4 if they signed with a new team.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 11:00 AM) Why is Haslem so important to them? The guy is replaceable Because he opted out of $5 million. Haslem is awful, but he shares the same agent as Wade and Bosh. He'll get paid somehow.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:30 AM) I disagree. Last year when he was getting starters minutes, he was very productive and his offensive game has improved significantly. Not sure his efficiency has changed but he's far more productive and more dangerous a threat and defensively he's extremely good. Last year was actually his best year in terms of TS% (not by much), but as the other poster said, his rebounding numbers were way down. So overall, his offensive efficiency wasn't any better than in previous years. It was definitely encouraging to see Taj maintain his offensive efficiency with more minutes (a lot of bench players have trouble doing this) though.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:44 AM) I'm confused, an ESPN.com article says $20.7: "The max number for James is projected to be about $20.7 million. " However, CBS quotes the same ESPN artcile with $22.2: "The max number is projected to be $22.2 million." The $22 million figure is actually right. LeBron can make up to 35% of the team cap, which is rumored to be around $63 million this year. That's at around $22 million. Anthony can sign for that or for 105% of his previous contract with the Knicks, which would be around $22.5 million.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) ESPN says $20.7 Why can Melo make more on the max than him? They have the same years of service.

Not enough stuff to be a closer long-term IMO. Command also an issue.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:17 AM) 55 under the cap but likely: 25 to lebron 35 under cap $25 to Bosh/Wade 10 under the cap 5.5 mill then in roster holds 4.5 under cap Obviously sign and trade is what would matter plus getting rid of Cole would help out even more. Wildcard obviously is Lebron, but I think in his angling to be players rep, he'll need to take max. LeBron's not getting $25 million a year, he's getting somewhere around $22 million.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 09:15 AM) I personally think Taj is underrated. He never received consistent minutes with Boozer here, but when Boozer was out and Taj started, he was nearly a 20/10 guy (granted he played a ton of minutes those games). Add that output to his elite defensive abilities and if starting, he is definitely a very valuable player. If I am the Bulls, I am trying everything in my power to add Melo while keeping Taj. If you add Melo, Taj's defensive versatility can really help compensate Melo's lack of defense. Taj is good, but he's a role player, albeit a good one. You don't sacrifice a star for a role player. That's ridiculous. Cowley's been wrong numerous times before, so I hope he's definitely wrong on this one.

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