DBAHO

Who knew that signing Ben Wallace would amount to Bobby Simmons. Ouch.

He'll instantly improve America's standing across the world, just because Bush had become so unpopular and Obama is the complete opposite. I think he'll eventually fix the economy, but it will take time, and people need to be prepared for that and not a "quick fix". I think overseas policy wise, it's good he knows that Afghanistan is a real problem and become a bigger one than Iraq. That's an issue that needs addressing ASAP. I am interested to see what he does in the Middle East and with North Korea also. Global Warming and Climate Change is another issue that I think he needs to look at and take a greater stand on, but I don't know if he'll do that if it's going to negatively effect the economy, which is probably the #1 issue right now.

Did anyone realize that Brett played an elf in LOTR also? Hilarious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figwit

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 11:19 AM) I love Murray, but I still think Jemaine has some of the best lines and subtle humor. I could see how it could go either way though. Jermaine is certainly better than Brett. Brett doesn't really add much to the show for me personally.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 10:25 AM) Watching Nick Swisher in 2008, he didn't appear any more "unlucky" than any other player. As was pointed out earlier, Konerko, using the same theories, was more "unlucky" than Swisher, still outperformed him, and a lot of people were still calling for Swisher to be Paulie's replacement while he was shown the door. If Swisher is a lock to bounce back, so must be Konerko. Well Konerko definitely bounced back in the 2nd half of the season at least (and was our best hitter after the ASB), while Swisher after having respectable numbers in mid July went completely downhill. I think the main thing for Paulie is to keep healthy, but he's certainly not the hitter he once was. At least with Swisher you could argue he's not in his 30's yet, so he could be an excellent candidate for a bounce-back season, but I don't think he'll hit above .250 again anytime soon.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 10:01 AM) I was thinking along the lines of this... Agreed. I saw a few Mets games last season, and this guy was just terrible, and was booed horrifically every time he took the mound. Pitching in Seattle is the perfect opportunity for him to bounce back though.

Why would anyone want Kung Fu Naki's autograph?

Just watched it last night on Demand. Murray's lines were the best again as always. I agree with the more sketch comedy and less singing viepoints.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 11:02 AM) Like how can Hurly still be massively overweight while living on a deserted island. Dharma Supplies Dude. Dharma Supplies.

Yep, I don't think I've anticipated the opening of a TV show season as much as this one. So many questions still to be answered.

I'm trying to find a live stream somewhere that actually works. MSNBC is still loading for me, that might be my best shot.

Where's the best place to get a live feed on the net?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 17, 2009 -> 03:18 AM) Think it's about time to start looking at the Magic as a legitimate contender in the EC. They've got to be the least talked about 32-8 team I can remember. Very impressive road win against by far the best team in the west tonight. Yeah we've got the best road record in the NBA IIRC. We've just been doing what we've been doing. Dwight's progressions into a bonafide superstar and Nelson's all-star level play have obviously made the differences there.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) I wasn't arguing that Garland is worth more than Perez... or even the same amount. Perez had a WHIP of 1.40 and an ERA+ of 100 last season. That's better than what Garland did, but to call Garland "terrible" and Perez "good" - based on essentially one season - is silly. Perez being "average" and Garland being "mediocre" is a lot more accurate. Oh my bad sorry, I thought you were. Well I was basing it on two seasons, obviously Garland has the more proven track record, but I can see why people may think he's going downhill. Your last sentence is spot on though.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 05:05 PM) Bingo. KW has made way more questionable moves than Paxson has at the time acquisitions were made. Of course, baseball and basketball are two different things, but at the same time, on the day of actual moves, I don't think no one could say that was a terrible trade minus letting JR Smith go for nothing. Other than that, Paxson has always solid acquisitions. Paxson's problem has always been his lack of trades and consildating talent. Right now I think Paxson's aim should be to clear as much cap-space in 2010 as possible, to try and sign either Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire to a max deal. Either of those 2 playing next to Derrick Rose would be an insane combo (Bosh especially with his shooting ability).

FWIW a lot of people around the NBA think that Otis Smith isn't a very good GM because he's put the Magic in a cripple salary cap situation. But I see a lot of similarities b/w Smith and Paxson and also a lot of differences. Both have #1 picks on their team. Both signed a player to a max deal, who many people think they overpaid for. The difference is, Rashard Lewis is still contributing very well compared to Wallace. Both gave out a mid - level exception deal to small forwards in Hedo Turkolu and Andres Nocioni. One won the MIP award last season and has flourished as the playmaker, while the other is known as one of the dirtiest players in the game who flops more often than not. But most of all, the difference came down to the coaches they hired. Otis first hired Brian Hill, which was more of a PR move than anything. They made the playoffs in his 2nd season finishing 40-42, but Smith had the balls to see that it wasn't working and fired Hill, to hire Stan Van Gundy. Right now, I would call SVG one of the 3 best coaches in the NBA today. Paxson hired Skiles and that worked well originally, but he wore out his welcome. Now Paxson hired an unknown coach, who many think is over his head. It's those type of decisions that make Paxson argubly one of the worst GM's in the NBA today.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 04:02 PM) As far as the O-line, we should all pretty much get used to the idea that Garza is not going anywhere, Beekman probably isn't either. Kreutz has declined quite a bit in the last couple of years but he's not going anwhere either, but if he did, Beekman can play C. I wonder what happened to LeCharles Bentley? He was supposed to be healthy enough to play this year but nobody signed him. I guess he couldn't pass a physical. Crossing my fingers and assuming Chris Williams can play (he looked decent to me physically in the limited sample size I had to work with), we definitely need another OT, because Tait's in the twilight of his career. Would the Bears go after Jordan Gross to play RT if he became a FA and cut John Tait I wonder? Gross is probably one of the best 2 or 3 RT's in the league.

QUOTE (DonkeyKongerko @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 04:56 PM) I don't have the exact figure but it's widely stated that some 80 percent of Circuit City stores are within five miles of a Best Buy. I understand there are only so many good locations for a big box electronics store but CC never seemed to take their competition seriously. They tried to take the low road with their cheaper labor and stores. But their prices were never good enough for me to shop there. Best Buy stock up 8% on the day. In Manhattan next to Grand Central there's a Best Buy and a Circuit City right next to each other. My guess is, Best Buy will just buy that space and expand their store.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:22 PM) He's coming off of a below-average year. He also has several solid years, youth, and a ring on his side. Oliver Perez has had some absolutely terrible seasons (especially for the NL), so I'm not seeing your logic here. Well Perez has better stuff than Garland for starters (even if he doesn't use it effectively and has high pitch counts and walk rates). Perez is also coming off an excellent season in 2007, and a pretty good one in 2008, with a good finish in 2008 from his Post ASB numbers. This is unlike Garland who has an ERA of 5.99 in Post ASB 2008. So I can see why when you look at Perez's age and stuff, and numbers over the past 2 seasons, why he would get more money in a contract than Jon Garland.

Once Perez re-signs with the Mets for around 11M a season, then I think the market will move on JG. It was long speculated that he'd end up in B-More, and that could still be the case, but they signed Uehara from Japan, and are going to turn Baez into a SP. I think Garland will still end up with 8-9M if he wants it, but he may have to take a short-term Kyle Lohse deal to do so, and I don't know if he's willing to do that.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 01:12 PM) While I think they will cut him, I don't agree with it. However, if we do, we'll save almost $5 million which could help us land a guy like Terrell Suggs or Julius Peppers. But, this is Ogunleye's last year on his deal. He could be playing for a contract this year and he could very well put up 10+ sacks. Plus, Marinelli is a DL genius and he could have some effect on Adewale's play. Peppers is going to get franchised I think. That'll mean that Jordan Gross will be a FA though. A LOT of teams will be after him if that's the case.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 11:58 AM) Dbaho and Steve, The points I'm making are that his moves did not look horrible at the time. It's easy to bash now. I give you guys the Tyrus-LA trade. But even that did not seem like the end of the world at the time. But yeah, show him the door for other reasons: 1.) Not having the Balls to stand up to ownership in regards to the luxury tax. 2.) Not having the balls to make a gutsy deadline deal. 3.) Letting the Deng and BG negotiations become a distraction. And Steve, read my explanation on Rose. I never gave him credit for winning the lottery. I gave him credit for drafting Rose over Beasley. Which might have been a 50/50 pick outside of Chicago circles. Also, I'm pretty sure the contracts of Ben and Hughes both end at the summer of '10. http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm Well personally I hated the Wallace signing for you guys at the time. I don't think anyone who averages less than 10 points, and had declining stats elsewhere, deserved to be given a max contract for 4 seasons. I think it was a panic signing by the Bulls more than anything, because you were close to getting out of the East the season before, and you thought that 1 move may have put your over the top. Instead it crippled your franchise for 3-4 seasons.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) I really don't know about GM's, but I've got a variety of names of people I'm collecting who might be much better coaching options next year. Avery Johnson Paul Silas Thom Thibodeau John Kuester Lester Conner Tim Grgurich 4 assistants who have put in their dues in 10+ years on the bench, 2 retreads with decent reputations. I'm more than happy to add more to my list if others have suggestions Johnson would be an interesting mentor for Rose. I still have questions about him as a coach though. Silas has been out of the NBA for a while, that would worry me. My thought on Thibodeau are well known, he deserves to be a head coach somewhere. I think Eddie Jordan would be a very good hire. He kept the Wizards in the playoffs for around 5 seasons which if you look at their record now, was a great achievement. Flip Saunders would be another possible option, as Michael Curry hasn't exactly impressed in Detroit this season. I think Del Harris (current assistant to VDN) would do a better job than what VDN is doing ATM. I think a wildcard would also be Mark Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy if you could get either out their commentating gigs.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 11:21 AM) For the record, I want Pax gone. However,it really is hard to fault him for : 1.) The Ben Wallace signing ( he was a premier FA at the time and most Bull fans wanted that major FA popped) No one complained about the signing during the 06-07 season. 2.) The Luol Deng re-signing . Most Bull fans were complaining about not showing Luol and Ben the money (stating ownership is too cheap) . We re-signed Luol , he sucks now and it is Pax's Fault, I don't buy that. 3.) The Tyrus Thomas -Aldridge trade. I think I am more pissed on how Tyrus has been handled than the actual trade. At face value, I would want LA, sure, no-brainer. I'm not sure to write Tyrus off as a wasted selection just yet, I just wish he could be a little more consistent. (coincidentally, it may be hard to be consistent when your minutes are not.) 4.) The Noah pick. Ok, Noah looks to be a bust. But, any serious basketball publication or fan who did a mock draft that year had Noah as a top 10 pick. Most fans who I talked to that hated the pick, hated Noah for his looks or personality, not skills. Based on our needs at the time, It came down to Hawes,Trade the pick or Noah. I only remember Slavko on the Hawes bandwagon at the time. It really was not a good draft that year. In hindsight, he should have traded the pick or drafted Hawes. 5.) Anything that involves going over the Luxury tax( Gasol etc ) I am not sure how much of a say he had in this area. I could only fault him for not being critical of ownership in this area. This series of events are what have crippled the franchise. Can things turn around in the foreseeable future? I think so. But, the play of Luol and Tyrus are key. If they played like studs every night Pax would not look so bad. Do not forget some of the good Pax has done: 1. The Ben Wallace to Cleveland trade. Wallace for Hughes is a wash. Gooden is a nice mainstay (hopefully). Joe Smith has seen better years. 2. Eddy Curry to the Knicks for 2 1st Rd picks. Noah could have easily been Oden or Durrant (lottery balls are a funny thing) . The trade in itself was very good. 3. He did draft Derrick Rose. Sure, the majority wanted Rose ( Though, I think most fans were biased because he was the home town kid. ) don't forget Beasley was a STUD coming out of college. The only reason Rose's stock rose (does that make sense? lol) was because a good showing in the tournament. Beasley was the consensus # 1 pick for the majority of the season. Heading towards the draft it was like 60/40 Rose (outside of biased Chicago) . I would have been content with either pick at the time. With the series of misfortunes I want Pax gone. It is obvious he crossed some black cats and broke a few mirrors. On your points ranger; 1 - I think the writing was on the wall for Ben Wallace when you signed him. In his last season in Detroit, his PPG went down to 7.3 from 9.7, and his rebounding and blocks stats were down. Someone who also takes as much punishment as he did for Detroit against those bigger cents, I think it was inevitable that he was going to break down and just not play at a high level at some point in the future. Also the Bulls badly needed a low post scorer. Wallace doesn't give you that. 2 - The Deng re-signing. On the fence with this one. He's a good player stuck in a system right now that doesn't fit his skills (he's a slasher and not an outside shooter). But still, 13M a season is a lot to pay for someone who's never been an all-star before. 3 - The TT drafting. Was a mistake from the first moment. TT was raw, and was always going to take time. And yes the Bulls have handled him horrible no doubt, but I don't see him becoming anything more than a poor man's Shawn Marion. He has no jump shot, and needs to play in an uptempo system that fits his skill sets. Aldridge would have given the Bulls the low post threat they needed. He was the safe pick, albeit not the sexy one, and the Bulls would be a much better team if they had him today. 4 - The Noah pick. Noah was always going to be a poor man's Anderson Varejao. And considering the Bulls already had Ben Wallace on their roster, and still needed low post scoring, I don't see how you could end up picking basically another version of Wallace in Noah. Hawes would be perfect for the Bulls with Rose right now. He can hit the outside jumper, and be a good center long - term for the Bulls. 5 - Gasol trade. JR just doesn't want to go over the luxury tax, and a lot of owners don't obviously. But still, the chance was there, and the Bulls are one of the best attendance teams in the NBA today. 1 - Wallace trade. Basically a bad contract for a bad contract. If Paxson was smart now, he'd dump Hughes and Sefolosha for Miller and Kenny Thomas. 2 ending contracts in 2010, and they would give the Bulls the size they need. 2 - Eddy Curry for 2 1st rounders. I put this more on Isiah Thomas's ineptude as a GM than good business by John Paxson. No other GM would have given the Bulls that. And still the Bulls wasted one of the picks on Tyrus Thomas anyways. 3 - Rose pick. Obviously the right pick, and Rose looks like a stud. Paxson is just very, very lucky that the Bulls ended up with Rose, because imagine where they would be right now without him. And I'll add something else. The VDN hiring. It looks like he's alienating the players, calling for more teamwork, effort and leadership. VDN has to realize that this is a players' league now. I think thre were better options out there for the Bulls. If they're smart, they'd dump VDN in the off-season and hire someone like Eddie Jordan. Still I don't see that happening, and it could end up costing Pax and VDN their jobs when it's all said and done.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 09:40 AM) I don't see how it is laughable at all. If Colon(and probably Garcia) doesn't work out, the kids are in anyways. Whats the problem with this? Its a small price to pay for a pitcher with a track record of pitching a lot of innings with pretty good results. This isn't signing Milton Bradley for 3 years, this isn't giving AJ Burnett for 5 years when he can only stay healthy for one, this is an insurance policy for the aptly named CR/AP experiment. If Richards and Poreda can take the 5th pitching slot, show it. If they cannot, bullpen or AAA for them. It doesn't really seem like the sox lose with a deal this cheap. Bingo. If Colon doesn't pitch well, we cut him loose, and give someone else a chance. Trading Vazquez for Flowers, Lillibridge, 2 extra prospects and to pick up Colon as a replacement, could turn out to be a very shrewd move by KW when it's all said and done.