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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 21, 2017 -> 01:25 PM) Cody Westerlund‏ @CodyWesterlund 5h5 hours ago John Paxson on Gar Forman: "Gar doesn't get enough credit. There's been a narrative, unfortunately, that we do everything wrong." I barely follow any Bulls news these days knowing how incompetent the front office is. I guess now I realize that's nowhere as frustrating as how delusional the management is from top to bottom. Ask anyone outside of this team what exactly has the Bulls done right that Gar deserves credit for. He literally has not done a single thing right since drafting Jimmy Butler, from handling of coaching staff, to training staff, to free agency, to trading, and lastly drafting.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Sep 15, 2017 -> 10:44 AM) What a well thought out response. 1) Cleveland traded a defensive liability in Kyrie himself. Significant downgrade in that department? No. 2) Role players like Crowder gets overlooked, but his +/- past 2 years look pretty good. 3) Player like Zizic may never play in there NBA. Well, you MAY very well be wrong 4) Nets is bad, at no worst top 5. 6) Need this forum to remind you how players who rely on athleticism come back from ACL injuries? 7) Markkanen at no worst is Niko 2.0, who has absolutely received no interest in this offseason. 8) Dunn is literally the second worst rookie in the league last season. He was old, and thought as a reach by most. 9) We gave up Jimmy Butler who is no doubt a borderline Top 10 player on the league. Unlike George he has at least 2 years left on his deal. THEN we had to give up our first rounder too? GMAB. Let's say Cavs ended up getting the 7th pick in 2018 draft, would you trade IT, Crowder, Zizic and he 16th pick for Lavine and Dunn? Not to mention Cavs will almost certainly get better than 7th pick, and Butler > Irving. The two trades are not even close.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Sep 15, 2017 -> 11:33 AM) They got a short, 28 or 29 year old PG "star" who can't play defense and who has legitimate hip problems on a one year deal. He's not even going to play a full season. They're going to have to decide whether to offer him a max deal, or near max deal, to be their franchise player once Lebron leaves. I wouldn't want the Bulls to be in that position a year from now. That's a hard, hard pass. They got a 27 year old Jae Crowder, an ok role player who can't shoot very well and has had his own problems with injuries (ankle) that Celtics fans will tell you limited his defense (the one reason you would want him) They got Ante Aizic, someone who will probably never play. And they got the Brooklyn pick, which may or may not be great. The Nets won't be good, but the east will be super s***ty and the Nets have no incentive to tank. The Bulls, Pacers, Hawks, Kings, Magic are going to be worse. Are the Lakers really going to win 25-30 games? It'll be a lottery pick, but not necessarily a top 7 pick. On the other hand, the Bulls got Zach Lavine, a 22 year old super-athlete who averaged 19, 3 and 3 last year and has consistently gotten better each year he's played. The ACL tear is worrisome but plenty of guys have come back from it. They also got a big, beefy PG prospect that had a bad rookie season playing under Thibs (not uncommon) but still has tons of potential, and the #7 pick in the draft who at worst will be Niko 2.0, i.e., an ok role player. I don't see how, in any way, this is a substantially worse deal than what the Celtics got. If there was as a misinformed and biased post, this would be it.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Sep 3, 2017 -> 03:56 PM) Adequate, commanded it nicely. The secondary offerings were on display today. Excellent. I've been impressed with his changeup and curveball his first two starts. He left too many fastballs up in his first start which led to long fly balls. If he could command his fastball well even in the low 90s, he could be an all star.

Missed the game today, how did Gio's fastball look?

QUOTE (Lillian @ Sep 3, 2017 -> 03:19 PM) The value of the BABIP stat is a little suspect. What is more significant is how the hitter is consistently "barreling up" the ball. If he is hitting lot's of line drives, rather than soft grounders and pop ups, his average simply reflects that. By contrast, if a hitter makes a lot of weak contact, it probably isn't simply bad luck that is causing his poor results. It appears that Avi is not trying to hit homers, and is not using an upper cut swing. His hits consistently have high exit velocity. If he continues that approach, it may not be unreasonable to expect him to have continued success. On the other hand, if he is to become more of a power hitter, he may have to alter his approach, which will significantly reduce his BABIP, and average. If you look at the numbers I posted earlier, he isn't hitting the ball significantly harder or hitting more line drives, yet his BABIP has increased signicantly, at a very unsustainable rate. He's bound to regress to somewhere around 1-2 WAR next year.

Avi batted ball stats between 2016 & 2017 2016 LD%/GB%/FB%: 21.7/55.0/23.3 Pull%/Cent%/Oppo%: 36.7%/37.0%/26.3% Soft%/Med%/Hard%: 18.3%/47.3%/34.3% BABIP: .309 2017 LD%/GB%/FB%: 21.5/52.0/26.5 Pull%/Cent%/Oppo%: 43.7%/32.6%/23.7% Soft%/Med%/Hard%: 16.0%/49.2%/34.8% BABIP: .395 The glaring change in his game seems to be slightly less GB% and increased in FB%, pulling the ball more instead of going up the middle or opposite field, and hitting the ball slightly harder than before. The biggest change obviously is going for a slightly unlucky BABIP to a league leading BABIP. I am in the camp of selling high on Avi, in case that some teams may think he's capable of a couple more all star caliber seasons. If you don't get a solid offer, I am not opposed to keeping him either, I think he's a capable hitter and seems to be passable in RF this year. I think long term projection hitting-wise is what Melky gave us the past two years, except as a right fielder.

Ugly offensive night for the farm. Only 11 hits and 1 run across the five games outside of the AZL game.

In case if anyone wonders if Gar does his homework before making a trade: https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/24731...er-2nd-Practice

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 1, 2017 -> 11:02 AM) Even above that we are starting to see results from the previous classes. Micker Adolfo had a great year. A guy like Luis Martinez is pushing through the system. Carlos Perez improved a lot as the season went on. These guys are filling up the rosters in Arizona and Great Falls. The best way to sum it up is these kids are coming along VERY slowly. The last DSL graduates are Andre Rienzo and Carlos Sanchez, but we still got long ways to go to ripe the fruits of the current LatAM crop. (Don't think we need to mention the Widler scandal here.) The good Adolfo finally stayed healthy and shown developing power, but still got ways to go to become a top tier prospect. For comparison sake, his contemporary Jimenez is already one of the best hitting prospects and should knock on the door of big league debut next year. Luis Martinez was signed back in 2012, but have spent the past 3 years in Low A. Turning 23 in January, he was slaughtered in his High A debut before getting sent back to low A for rest of the season. Decent number in Low A, I think next year is a make or break year for him. I am as big a Carlos Perez fan as any, but he hasn't received consistent playing time to evaluate his development. His splits are very even throughout the 3 months of GF season. Jose Colina in his third season has actually played well when he got a chance to play, but still has another year to go before he hits full season ball. Other guys I'm keeping an eye on - Maiker Feliz seems to have good hit tool, but again, did not receive consistent playing time, which baffles me. Beltre finally broke through the DSL wall, but he does not seem to project to be more than a utility player. Felix Mercedes for the second year in a row played well in Rookie ball, but has sidelined since mid-July. I hope they would push him to A ball next season. The bad Amando Nunez and Jhoandro Alfaro maintained a decent walk rate, but have regressed in every other area. Franklin Reyes has gotten a few more hits, but posted a ugly BB/K ratio for the second year in a row. Solorzano was disastrous in his first full season of A ball, Johan Cruz, my 2017 breakout pick, has also regressed significantly. Ricky Mota has failed to stay healthy for the second year in a row. Antonio Rodriguez is on the verge of being done with baseball, while Hanleth Otano, Luis Castillo and Victor Done are actually done with baseball.

QUOTE (RudyLawRules @ Aug 31, 2017 -> 10:02 PM) INF Tiquan Forbes. Hope not. Lotto ticket or not, I do not like the 1/10 BB/K ratio type of prospects.

Good start by Cease tonight. Good to see him getting through 6 innings effectively. Sheets doesn't get talked about a lot here, but I like the season he's having. Strong BB:K rate and hits a lot of fly balls and line drives. Those outs should start turning into XBH and HRs if he develops his power.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 10:54 AM) Not that I'm complaining as an absolute Alexa mark, but if there was once a Super Cena, there is now a Super Bliss. She's very oddly being booked as a heel that says something, and then goes out and proves what she said without cheating to do so. "Bayley, you ain't extreme..." Proves it. "Sasha, you ain't a Legit Boss, you're a Legit Loser that can't defend a title ... ever." Proves it. The only thing I can think of here is they're looking to turn her babyface, because this is so against the grain of how a heel is booked in WWE. She's just massacring people on the mic, and then in the ring. Which are not bookings I agree with. They basically turned Bayley from being a fan favorite to being boo after injury, and Sasha now becomes the worst champion in WWE history. This is in additional to what they've done with Emma's character (not Bliss related). They have talent in the division, but through the poor bookings Alexa is left as the only one who's legit, while others are no longer credible characters.

The Yurchaker is interesting. May have one of the best hit tools in our system.

Vince definitely hates Sasha.

I think Cam would be in for a big payday next season, enough for his family to be well off. But if the injury is as bad as it looks, he may never be the same player again. Really feel bad for him.

Romaine acting like a tough guy ripping off his mask, he had it coming.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 23, 2017 -> 07:33 PM) It could very easily be the Lakers. There are no locks with Cleveland beyond this year and only the pick with potential to improve. Thomas has only been elite for one year and his hip appears to still be an issue, plus he's a FA. Love is trending in the wrong direction and hasn't been able to maximize his production with Lebron. Crowder is fine, not great. Thompson and Smith are overpaid role players and anyone else is barely worth mentioning. Not a lot of defense either. If the pick isn't a stud pretty fast, they're going to be moving in the wrong direction at the end of Lebron's peak. And for about the fifth time, the pick is more likely to end up at 4 or 5 than 1. There's a big difference between Porter (or whomever emerges as #1) and someone that's more of a wild card like Bamba or Williams. Even if it's Bagley or Ayton, it's going to be hard to play them, Love and Lebron. LA would have George (or Westbrook or Cousins) who are all elite players at their peak, and two strong prospects on the roster that won't be rookies. I'll put it this way: the Lakers would be in better shape than Cleveland when he came back. Not enough to beat GSW or enough to draw Lebron there. But I give up, think whatever you want. The matter is Kyrie demanded a trade, Cavs had to either trade him for 80 cents on the dollar or end up with a dysfunctional locker room with no financial flexibility or draft pick assets. They virtually had no chance of retaining Lebron. Yet after the trade Cavs end up with two players who look like who should fill in for Kyrie's production, a 20 year old European prospect, a high draft pick in a very top heavy draft. In fact, even if they don't use the pick, they could package the pick to a get another star to play alongside Lebron, Love, Crowder and possibly IT. So yea, I absolutely think Cavs have a BETTER chance of retaining Lebron than before the trade. And I am ok if you don't think the same way.

As if Lebron + PG + Russ need more wings or ballhanders who could not shoot. That sounds nice on paper, but that trio needs rim protection and shooting to round out the team.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 23, 2017 -> 04:37 PM) Westbrook has a player option after this year, he can leave too if he wants. From Cali, went to UCLA. (insert hmmm emoji) Well aware of that. As I said Russ is loyal to OKC, I don't think it's too likely he leaves, especially since LA is set at PG. I think it's more likely Cleveland S&T LBJ to OKC for Adams and 1st (PG and Russ re-signing of course) than him going to LA.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 23, 2017 -> 03:30 PM) Those scenarios are way less likely. Even if the Nets are the worst team (which isn't a lock), they only have a 64% chance at a top-3 pick. Then they have to take the right guy. Then he has to be good relatively fast. Oh, and Thomas has to resign. All the Lakers need is to convince someone like George, who already said he wants to go to the Lakers. Then they're at least in the running if not the favorite. George's tone has changed since the trade. He's mentioned he's willing to stay in OKC if they are competitive next year. Russ is loyal to OKC, so we will see if he could convince him to stay. Even if PG goes to LA, would a core of him, Lonzo, Ingram, Clarkson, and Randle be definitively better in 2018 and 19 than Love, IT, Crowder, Porter Jr (or another top prospect), and Zizic? I think not. Not to mention now they have to play in the same conference as Warriors, Spurs, and Rockets.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 23, 2017 -> 12:34 PM) Again, we have no idea what the pick will be. What if the Nets win 30 games? What if they get bad lottery luck? What if the top guys right now disappoint or get hurt? Someone like Ingram or Brown could very easily be their top option. Even then It's no lock they're good early. Look at Wiggins, he's the 3rd best player on a 6-seed type team. You're assuming great things for the pick but discounting development for a guy with as much raw talent as almost any draft prospect. Well does that sound more ridiculous than saying Lebron is 100% going to Lakers next year (Not you, but you were supporting Jenk's proclamation)? What if KD and Curry gets hurt and Cavs wins championship this year? What if Lonzo totally bombs and Ingram doesn't improve? A lot more can go wrong with that theory than Nets landing a top 3 pick next year. All I said was Cavs have a higher chance of retaining Lebron with the 4 pieces they got than they did before the trade, which I still think is true.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 23, 2017 -> 08:37 AM) I lost a bigger post I don't feel like retyping. This is the cliffnotes. You're putting so much stock in the 2018 pick while hand-waving the last two #2 picks. It's a good asset, it might be as good as Ball and Ingram! We have no idea where the pick will be right now, who it will be or how ready the player will be. Ball will have a year in the NBA and Ingram will have 2. That's big on the development curve. They don't fit any worse than Irving and Love. Kyrie does plenty of dribbling and Love is a bad defender that can't switch. Ingram has tons of talent and another year to develop before Lebron arrives. He has the length and athleticism to switch and his shot isn't broken. He needs polish. It's close to impossible to have too many versatile wings in the current NBA environment. Ball looks like as good a bet as any rookie guard right now. Minimally he shouldn't suck. Is he Kyrie? Probably not. The big deal is the other FA. As for Kyrie, if it was just a LeBron issue, he could have waited a year. He got out first to get away from a bad management group that creates drama (with a big assist from Lebron). Cavs definitely wouldn't be drafting someone like Ingram with the Nets pick next year. Ingram is a raw kid with upside, Cavs would likely be targeting someone in the Tatum or Fultz profile, guys who can come in day 1 and be a contributor. So no, even though Ingram was a high pick, he's the not the type of player 2018 Cavs would be targeting if they want to convince Lebron to stay. Like you said, if Lebron leaving, he's leaving to go to the best situation to win. I don't think Laker is unless they could fit 3 max contracts, and that won't happen unless they trade Deng, and Clarkson (and use Randle as a sweetener ). It could happen, but no guarantees.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 10:49 PM) Lonzo/Ingram aren't the primary reason to go to LA. Its the 60-80m they'd have to spend on him (who will take a team friendly deal) + whoever else he wants. There will be other teams with cap space who could afford two near max free agents. So Lebron to LA is possible, but definitely not 100%. And Lonzo and Ingram aren't great fits to play next to Lebron. However, if Lonzo proves he could be a good shooter and could do damage when Lebron does the ball handling, and if Ingram takes a HUGE step forward, especially as a shooter, then I like the chances better.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 10:29 PM) He's not going to know how good they are before he has to make a decision. Also, none of those guys were superstars as rookies. It's going to be 2 more years off his career before those guys are real difference makers even in the best case scenario, probably more. Kyrie and Love weren't enough to make him commit, so downgrading at PG and adding a role player aren't likely to swing things much. Because we did not know those 3 guys were going to be good and 90% of the league didn't pick them to win ROY. Just as we do not know Markelle Fultz is the most NBA ready rookie this year. QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 10:31 PM) Lonzo, Ingram (pretty big one to skip) and Randle are in the league already. That's a big difference. He's also likely not going alone. It's obviously a concern for the Cavs, otherwise Kyrie wouldn't have been so anxious to get out of there. What? That's not the story. And how many years of Lebron's career will it take off for Lonzo/Ingram to be real difference makers on a championship team? I purposely did not mention Ingram because he looked BAD last year, and he's also a bad fit on the floor at the same time as Lebron.