b3bawla

I had to get my frustration off my chest so i sent one too

Quote: I can see room for Stern and the players Union to have a say in this. That's what I'm thinking too. We're getting screwed a bit but Al is the one really getting shafted and he doesn't deserve it. He's been the consumate professional. Seriously, if we can't sign him then basically he's gonna have to sign with a team through their exception clause. Which means he's losing out BIG TIME. I would be so surprised if the players union doesn't speak up on his behalf. But Stern too has interest. He;s gotta be disgusted by the bad press this gets his league. And any one franchise that has problem affects everyone else.

Marvin is the only 3 on the roster so he is going to get a lot of time. Salim Bozeman Marvin Shelden Esteban

That's a well thought out trade that works for everybody. The only thing is I imagine that Seatle would much rather deal Petro or Sene than Swift. I heard someone say that Swift has some Bill Walton in him (in a good way).

That is GOOD COMEDY sir...GOOD COMEDY!!!!

Quote: Let me ask you this: Would you offer Al and Josh Childress for O'Bryant or is he too raw to make that type of offer? I'm not the biggest Pat O'Bryant fan. I was one of the few touting Shelden from since I got on this forum but I would seriously consider that if I were either team. The only thing is that those contracts aren't even close so it would have to be O'Bryant and Dunlevy to ATL Al and Chillz to GS That really might work. We could have Dunlevy be a tall waterboy

I don't mind screw ups personally...since I think we all have varying levels of "screw-upification" in us. I just don't like screw ups that dont admit to being screw ups.

If you were Golden State would you make that trade?

Hey they got something talking about J.R. Smith going to Chicago ion the caption of the main picture. But the pic is of Marcus Fizer.

Quote: Actually, I'm intrigued by Orlando. Nelson, Redick, ___________, Darko, Howard. Howard is a stud. They've added a scorer in redick. That is a very unathletic starting team...especially is Turkolu (sp?) starts...I could see them having defensive troubles since the Nelson, Redick and Hedo may get beat off the dribble and get Darko and Howard in foul trouble.

I think Al for Foster, James White, and a 1st rounder would be good. White is a freak of an athlete that won't be ready to play big minutes for a while who handels and passes very well.

Quote: Point of the post? We have to "overpay" to bring in good players. That's the way the market works. That's a very interesting post. Do you know who was second in payroll this year? The Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks. They shelled out 97 mil I think. I agree that one day we need to start paying out big bucks. I just don't think that time is right now.

Two Way Players Speedy is the 10th guy down...NOK gave up 4.5 less points per 100 posessions when Speedy was on the floor. If you look at the bottom of the page on the right side you see that Speedy is one of the guys that they named a "Two Way" guy. That's really good news.

I was trying to find out what kind of defensive player Speedy is. I like that he gets his share of steals and all, but a lot of steals don't equal a great defensive player. But maybe if you pair that with offensive fouls drawn...you may have something. Speedy was 19th in the league with 38 offensive fouls drawn. (Note that these are unofficial stats). Here is the webpage I got it from, it's pretty interesting.

The Bulls are gonna be serious next year... Hinrich/Duhon Gordon/Sefolosha Nocioni/Deng Sweetney/Thomas/Songalia Wallace/Chandler That team can get defensive...with Miami getting older and Detroit losing Wallace Chicago really may be pushing to be a top 2 seed in the East

I used to be a Lakers fan (before they disbanded one of the greatest teams in the last couple decades) and I remember the young Ty Lue as a defensicve Wiz. In fact I remember the Lakers using him to slow Iverson down in the Finals. The first game, Lue got done up. But for the rest of the series he was much more than servicable. He was at least a much better option (at guarding AI) than Kobe at the time. So what happened? Did he decline that fast? And this is not a rhetorical question because I don't know.

Quote: 4 yrs 25 million not really the guy I wanted hes too injury prone. Iwould have preferred Andre Miller or Banks I guess this will have to do even though hes a shoot 1st PG. I thought Speedy was a pass first guy...kinda like a Brevin Knight

Quote: Quote: Excellent, finally, a complete team..Good job BK..It seems though BK didn't stick with his "at least 6'2" point guard" statement..Speedy is 5'11"..I think Speedy was the best pure point guard available.. Speedy shoots 41%. Enough said. Randy Foye shot 41%...in college.

Is it just a coincidence that Orlando has always pissed of their star players? Think about it...1st Shaq, then Penny, then T-Mac, then Francis...maybe it's a pattern that is more reflective of Orlando's ineptitude than Steve's bad attitude.

Is Al for Mihm, Cook, and McKie any better?

Plus it's not a foregone conclusion that he'll leave after his freshman year. Oden is a great student that will probably love college...so he could stay 2 or 3 years.

That Lineup of... Francis/Lue/Ivey JJ/Chillz/Salim Smoove/Marvin Shelden/Solomon Zaza/Estaban aint too bad with Lue, Chillz, and Marvin getting the majority of the bench minutes. Seeing Stevie break people down and kick it out to Lue, Salim, and Joe wouldn't be to bad. And the fast breaks where Stevie throws alley's to Smoove, Chillz, Marvin, Shelden, and Solomon could be pretty fun too. If were our team, I think we'd be a top 5 team in terms of athleticism.

Well, I'm not sure if I am writing this because I am optimistic person facing a gloomy predicament...With Cassell staying in Cali, Bobby Jackson going to NO, and Mike James on his way to Dallas...our options are quickly fading. And this supposed rumor of Al to the Lakers for Mihm, Cook, and McKie is just disgusting. While the only team that is interested in Al that can sign him outright being Chicago, it seems that there aren't enough good guards to satisfy us. There is basically only one real option I see out there that gives us a player that helps us and that Al fits in with. Al for Stevie Franchise. I haven't been a supporter of this rumor. I really used to like Steve when he was in Houston and everybody expected his turnover problems to subside. But they never did. So he got traded to ORL in the TMAC deal and did about the same thing for them. But, he got in the doghouse of the coach Brian Hill and went into the tank. Now even for this deal to work, Al would have to want to play in New York. And I'm not sure if the lure of the New York market is enough to outweigh the teams futility. But let's say he does. Is this deal so bad for us? As our PG options dwindle, I am reminded of Vince Carter when I think of Steve Francis. Remember Carter was a bonafide star in Toronto. Things were great (a 47-35 record). In the 2000-20001 season, Vince had his best year and lead the Raptors to the Eastern Conference finals (I think against PHI). But remember that whole graduation fiasco happened and the Raptors lost. That was the begining of the end. The next year he only played 60 games and they baerly made the playoffs before getting bounced in the first round. In the 02-03 season Vince only played 43 games and the team went 24-58. The next year he played the whole year but the team still finished 33-49. Now all throughout these years Vince was having good years. Sure they weren't superstar years...but they were darn good. The whole while vince had a couple strikes against him. He didn't go to the line enough, he didn't make teamates better, he didn't rebound the way he should, he didn't play the defense comparable to someone of his talents. And he heard this bickering from fans and coaches and media for a while. It was prolly true...but by the 04-05 season he didn't want to be in TOR anymore and it really showed in his play. He played like a scrub. But after he found a place that he wanted to be that also wanted him back...he got his passion back and is a better player than he has ever been. Stevie, like Vince had a bunch of early success. He won the Rookie of the year, made 3 all-star teams and was a fan favorite. But everyone expected him to take his game to the next level by reducing his huge turnover numbers, shoot better from 3, and play better D. Well, he never really did. But he came into the league as a stud. But remember what happened to him. In 03-04 T-Mac had run into problems in ORL (as did Penny and Shaq had before him). That year he had an OK year (by T-Mac's standards), but the year before he had one of the better individual seasons that anybody had seen from such a young guy. Well because of all the bad blood in ORL, HOU (who as I remember was much more enamoured with the prospect of getting McGrady than disgusted with Steve's play) did whatever they could to get a true superstar. Francis was traded with his close friend Cuttino Mobley and did what he always did (avg 20 pts, 5 rbs, 6ast, a bunch of to's). That's not bad at all. But then ORL traded Cuttino, and that was it for Stevie...he no longer wanted to be there. And it showed, he played like old hot garbage. Then he got dealt to NY and only got 27 min with all those other guards. Now check this out guys...Steve Francis is no saint. But he's not Terrell Owens. He's not even Stephon Marbury (who is more immature than anything else). He's done some flaky stuff (like give up in ORL or threatening Vancouver so they wouldn't draft him). But in that light he reminds me a lot of Vince (and even T-Mac). The really interesting thing is when you look at the only team that didn't absolutely love him was ORL. They could only say nice things about him in Maryland and Houston. But has ORL ever had a star player that left on a good note? Shaq was not happy with them...nor was Penny...nor was T-Mac...nor was Stevie. In fact it seems like the breakups get progressively worse. Anyway, maybe the ORL/ Francis marriage was a failure more because of ORL rather than Steve. And maybe the New York thing didn't work out because...I mean it was New York. So what I am saying is this...Stevie really may not be the cancer that we make him out to be. He's not the lockeroom savior either, but there are far more detrimental players (listen up Salim). And from a basketball standpoint, if you think of him as 2 guard that can really pass well, handle, and play decent D on the opposing PG, it seems a lot better. I know the idea of having a PG that averages 3.7 turnovers a game (identical to Iverson's)is a nasty thought to a turnover prone team. But, he'd have to handle the ball much less with us because of Joe. Maybe that would allow him to be less turnover prone. But what if Stevie pulls a Vince and not only return to form, but better himself with his new team? It's very possible as he is 27 years old in his athletic prime. Now that he's hit rock bottom (the Knicks) he may be much more devouted to do anything to win. Trading for him is a risk, but letting Al go for nothing is a much bigger risk. Maybe we can get the Knicks to take some of his contract too. I mean its the Knicks...anything is possible.

Read Sekou Smith's article in the AJC on Al. There are only 5 teams that can sign Al...and the only one that is interested in Al is Chicago. So that means's our asking price just went up. If any other team wants him (and many do) the will have to give us some value for him.

LAL Smush Parker, Andrew Bynum, and 1st round pick for Al. DET Ben Wallace for Al...straight up. MIL Magloire and a 1st rounder for Al. GS Monta Ellis, Troy Murphy, and either Taft of Biedrins (if we could) for Al. HOU Head and a couple 1st rounders (as long as Van Gundy is there they hardly bring in young guys anyway) for Al. IND David Harrison, James White and couple of 1st rounders for Al. MIN Marcus Banks and a couple 1st rounders for Al. DAL Devin Harris and Marquis Daniels for Al. This seems a little far fetched until you realize that DAL will resign JT and are really making a play at Mike James. Personally I like the BOS, DAL, and HOU deals the best.