ersimo2889

Maybe out by sea, the "Hakuna Matata" (name of his ship) got taken over by pirates. Sorry to say, but I'm pretty sure he's not alive anymore. There are pirates out there on the sea that just kill for the ship's money and jewelry, so that's my theory.

..according to ESPN the Magazine. This may piss some people off that I am even posting something from ESPN, but this isn't written by Chad Ford. It's about the teams that came out as top dogs/underdogs of summer deals. This is what they say about the Hawks - "Glenn Robinson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim can score, neither can defend. That puts a lot of pressure on C Theo Ratliff, who's missed 25-plus games each of the past three seasons. Factor in Jason Terry's production on the point, and the money-back playoff guarantee the team made to season ticket-holders is already in jeopardy." Among those that "got paid" are the Clippers (Andre Miller), the Blazers (Rid of Kemp, Sabonis), and the Nets (Mutombo). Joining the Hawks in the "got played" section are the Bulls and the Sixers. This article was written by some guy named Sam Smith from ESPN if anyone has ever heard of him, and maybe you can mail him, too, just like Chad Ford.

Yea, watching the game, I was really impressed with Vick, too. He threw 40 yards with no effort, reaching across his body. Warrick Dunn is also a lot better than I thought he would be, but, damn, Ahman Green was killing us!

Tim Duncan wouldn't be eligible to play for the US since he's from the Virgin Islands, but nice try. And how come Chris Webber wasn't even considered for the U.S. team? The U.S. just lost to Spain for 5th place, 81-75, and in case anyone here was wondering, they shot 63% (10-16) from the line.

No, there was a fairly long article about it in the AJC a few days back on the back page of the sports section. I think it was the exact same one as at the RealGM one.

So I guess this really screws up my projection of the Celtics. I don't know who they're going to start at PG next year now, unless they sign a decent free agent PG. And I don't see any more decent free agent PG's.

My bad. I guess that would be a better move for them. They still may not want to take a chance with Baker EARLY ON, so they would use my lineup, but I guess the other way would go a bit better later on. Thanks.

I guess this means they can finally start a point guard over Anthony Carter or Eddie House. Anthony Carter can't pass, and I don't know if Eddie House can, because I've never seen him try. This'll definitely improve the team.

http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/0904/1427366.html This is the link; Notice how in the article Chad Ford finally "learned" something.

Yea, and now the Pistons feel its necessary to sign an Argentina player. They signed Pepe Sanchez right after that game, I think. Funny thing is, I've actually heard of Pepe Sanchez before. I think he might have gone undrafted. Anyone know?

Amazingly, though, the US still isn't out of medal contention. I guess it wasn't a single-elimination round or something. We'll probably end up losing to Yugoslavia, too.

If you read his chat with David Aldrige, Yao Ming seems to have the right attitude towards playing the game, and is very mature. For those skeptics out there, I think he'll get 18 points and 12 rebounds per game this year. After all, you're not a #1 draft pick for nothing (unless you're named Kwame Brown or Pervis Ellison). http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/aldridge_david/1426822.html

He backs up Antoine Walker, but I don't think he'll have too big of an impact for their bench.

I guess I'll do the Celtics, then. Starting with - PG - Erick Strickland v Jason Terry - Adv. Jason Terry - Erick Strickland averaged 2.3 assists last year and scored 8 points per game. JT averaged 19 points and 5.7 APG (as a 2-guard most of the year). SG - Paul Pierce v DerMarr Johnson - Adv. Paul Pierce - I think Boston will start him at SG for reason of mismatch. Advantage definitely to Pierce for being one of the best players in the L. If you don't believe me, look at his stats and watch him in the WBC. SF - Eric Williams v Glenn Robinson - Adv. Glenn Robinson - An obvious choice. For those of you who don't know who Eric Williams is, your probably still won't know at the end of this season. He has no outside shot, as opposed to the deadly perimeter threat of Glenn Robinson. PF - Antoine Walker v Shareef Abdur-Rahim - Adv. Shareef Abdur-Rahim - This wasn't as hard a decision as it may have looked. I think Antoine Walker is pretty overrated, and his game is nothing like what a PF's should be. He take way too many shots. Shareef has a well-established low-post game, putting him, in my opinion, in the top 5 PF's in the league. C - Tony Battie v Theo Ratliff - Adv. Theo Ratliff - Tony Battie doesn't make many shots, and when he shoots them, Theo will probably block them. But then again, it's not like Theo makes a lot of shots, either. Bench - Adv. Atlanta - Boston has a terrible bench with the exception of Tony Delk. Their back-up PG is J.R. Bremer, and their back-up C is Bruno Sundov, which is not saying much. We outmatch them at every back-up position. Coach - Jim O'Brien v Lon Kruger - Adv. Jim O'Brien - I like what he did with the Celtics last year. Also, Lon still hasn't proven to me that he can win consistently.

Miller at #4? Hopefully, you're talking about Brad, and not Pig, but still, even Brad Miller is not one of the top centers in the league yet, even though he still has plenty of time for improvement. He can bang inside and rebound and score, too, but you can't put him above Mutombo (old, but still got it), Ratliff (You'll see this year) or Elden Campbell (He's pretty underrated). Then i guess my list would look something like - 1) Shaq - no question. 2) Mutombo - He's old, but he's still one of the best defensive players in the game. 3) Vlade Divac - He can score, has range, can pass, and he can act. 4) Theo - He'll show the skeptics what he can do this year. 5) LaFrentz, Olowokandi (tie) - Same rookie classes. Both are pretty effective, but I would pick Olowokandi in the long run. 7) Elden Campbell - He's underrated. He'll put up a good 15 and 8 for you every year. 8) Jermaine O'Neal - I don't know if he can be considered a C or a PF, but he's a rising star. 9) Marcus Camby - When healthy, he's effective. 10) Lorenzen Wright I didn't know whether Ben Wallace was a Center or not. He and Cliff Robinson both kind of shared the position.

I don't know if you can put David Robinson in the top 5 anymore, nonetheless the number 2 spot. If you can say that stuff about Alonzo Mourning, you can say the same about David Robinson. He is nowhere to where he used to be, either. Last year he averaged 12 PPG, and 8 RPG, which isn't bad, but compared to his other seasons, it looks terrible. His rate of decline is getting to be very steep. His points per game, and rebounds per game are dropping on the stat sheet, and on the court he is noticeably more fatigued and slower. I watched a few ESPN Classic games of him in his prime, and he was extremely dominant. Now centers like Samaki Walker are getting the better of him. He should be at about maybe the #9 or #10 spot. On another note, why is Marcus Camby ahead of Theo Ratliff? Camby is just as injury-prone as Ratliff, if not more, and when both healthy, Ratliff is a better player. I know you talked about him being in the #3 or #4 spot when healthy, but even an injured Ratliff can take an injured Camby. But this is just one man's opinion.

Sure, David Stern has his faults, but he's an OK commisioner. Now switch the conversation over to MLB, and you got Bud Selig. Who would you rather have running your league? Bud Selig makes David Stern look pretty good.

There's stuff like the rookie drafts (international draft or U.S. draft), revenue sharing, payroll tax, and more stuff about money.

I agree with most of your list TomahawkChop, except for Antoine Walker. His basic stats look good on paper (22.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 5.0 APG), but if you see him play, its a completely different story. He does not deserve to be in front of Nowitzki or Shareef. Again, though he averaged those good stats, he had the most minutes per game. He also led the league in 3-Point FG Attempts (Outnumbering #2 Ray Allen by 117), and FG Attempts (nearly 21 a game). His assist:turnover ratio is 5:3, meaning he handles a ball that he can't handle way too much. And shooting only 74% from the free-throw line makes his 22.1 PPG not look too magnificent anymore. Though, it was said before, he has no postup game, and he doesn't have much of a drive or perimeter game, either. Just wondering, but, has anyone ever actually seen Antoine Walker dunk?

I agree Seattle will get ripped off in the short run, but Indiana, I don't think Indiana will fare bad on this trade in the long run. Sure you have Gary Payton retiring after about 3 or 4 more strong years, but Rashard Lewis is on a steep developmental rise. He's doubled his points, assists and steals from two years ago, and nearly doubled his rebounding. Rashard Lewis (99-00) - 8.2 points, 0.9 assists, 0.76 steals, 4.10 rebounds Rashard Lewis (01-02) - 16.8 points, 1.7 assists, 1.46 steals, 7.00 rebounds And like you said in another post, looking at what Isaiah Thomas has with the development with Jonothan Bender, Jermaine Oneal and Jamaal Tinsley, he could probably do the same with Rashard Lewis, who is still only 23 years old. This trade won't happen though because pretty soon I think Houston will pick up Rashard Lewis through free agency.

I agree with you but people were also probably saying the same thing about Mike Bibby before he put on the show in the Western Conference Semifinals, and he probably would not have gotten close to as much money as he just signed for (7 year - 80.5 Million) a few days ago. Yea, he probably isn't one of the top 10 centers in the game, but then again was Bibby solely on every one's top 10 pg's list before last year? Or when he was in Memphis/Vancouver? Not disagreeing with you, just throwing a thought out there.

After I heard the Blazers waived Shawn Kemp, I checked his player profile on NBA.com and I realized just how sorry he was. I always thought of him as maybe a 15-10 guy, but it turns out he averaged just 6.1 ppg, and 3.8 rpg in 75 games. Maybe he should retire since I doubt anybody would want to pick him and his 33 year old butt up. Sorry if I'm offending any Shawn Kemp fans out there..

No, I don't think any city ever has. I think I remember a year (not sure when) when Pittsburgh won in hockey, football and baseball (of course PiT doesn't have a basketball team). But I'm pretty sure that all four never happened.

I was just wondering if anyone knows whether the NBA or the city that is hosting the All Star Game is in charge of the rules and regulations of the events (Dunk Contest, 3 Pt Contest). So if Atlanta is in charge this year we can get rid of the stupid wheel that they used in last years dunk contest and maybe stick in a one-on-one contest or something. Just a thought.