bird_dirt

jj is our no. 1, but i think smoove could surpass him and become a bigger impact/star player with a little time. i don't think that durant will ever be able to take the hawks to the championship like lebron did with the cavs. lebron is nearly a once in a decade kind of player. i don't think oden will have as much of an impact as lebron, either. not that i wouldn't want either of them on our team, and in fact believe they will be perennial all stars for a long time to come. however, just because lebron could do it, i think it takes much more than just being a number 1 pick to carry a load like that. we'll see how soon bargnani, bogut, dwight howard, yao ming, kwame brown, or kenyon martin (aka, every other #1 pick since 2000) take to get to the championship. in fact, i think that you have to go back to 97 before you can find a player that was picked first overall that has made it to the finals (tim duncan). hmm...97 and now it's 07, yep, i guess king james is a once in a decade kind of player. you'd be hard pressed to find one other player that you could trade out with james and take the rest of that cleveland roster to the finals in only his fourth year.

after 2000, jr. had about 440 hr.s. if he stayed healthy enough to average 35 a year after that, and he played for two more seasons after this one, he would be right at 755. i don't know if he could continue playing productively for two more (as dh maybe?), but 35 a year avg. if healthy wouldn't be a stretch. from 93-00 he hit 40 to 50 something homers a year (save for the strike year). he'd reach 760 after one more season if he avg.ed 40 a year from 01-08. i'm a big reds fan and have always felt so bad for how unlucky he's been since "the trade".

Quote: Maybe the idots on radio and the falcons fans, will stop calling him a thug now. Even though half the people who say that have no idea what a thug is... He's making some changes and it's only going to make him a better person and player... wow, i never realized that a hair cut made such a difference in changing a person's life. i also never realized that it was a particular hair style that caused people to think of vick as a thug. in fact, i never realized that i would ever waste so much of my time talking about mike vick's hair--i'm kind of disgusted with myself.

upon further review, diesel did spell it correctly in the body of the post--my bad diesel. hedging his bets, i guess.

Quote: Why are there so many repeated post about Aldridge when they have said in no uncertain terms that he is not gonna be traded. glad someone got his name right. i'm no spelling bee champ (far from it), but i think that if you really want a player bad enough, you should at least be able to spell his name. seriously, it's not some f'ed up eastern block player we're talking about here. sorry, pet peeve got the best of me.

now the pacers just hired jim o'brian, formerly of celtic and 76ers fame, as their coach. this must be national signing week for nba coaches.

money, one of the most exciting cities in the world, tradition. they're crap now, but given their history and fan base, they aren't expected to stay so low for too long. (at least not as long as the hawks, clippers, etc. tend to go)

orlando didn't have to go far to hire their next coach--billy donovan. wonder how he'll fair. he's always been a "great recruiting coach", but generally surrounds himself with great assistant coaches for the games. so i hear anyway.

he's got to make sure he looks nice and clean cut for when he has to go to court over the dog fighting.

atl ptl praise the lord parent/teacher league whatever...

Quote: Who or what is PTL? are you kidding, or what? in case you're not...it stands for the PorTLand jailblazers.

Quote: After hearing this interview, I don't want to touch this guy. wow, never thought i'd hear jerry west say that about kobe. my thinking is that kobe is trying to scare the lakers to do whatever to keep him. i think if there is any way possible for them to trade odom and bynum for kevin garnett, everyone will kiss and make up. kg would be the perfect compliment to player for kobe, dominating the opposition on the court, but a quiet leader/second fiddle in the locker room.

Quote: This isn't a bad move, but I think we are maybe giving up a little bit too much in this trade. If Memphis were to also throw in a 2009/2010 first rounder, then I would do that in a flash. we're giving up a number of pieces, but i don't think it is too much for a player like gasol. if anything, i would think memphis would think we weren't giving them enough. it's like trading them two nickels for a dime.

how could you go wrong with a guy named "acie"? i'd take any of the three and be happy, though. for god sakes, bk, just draft a d@mn point for a change (and i mean an american pg, not some turkish guy you never plan on bringing to the states).

not much. i hope for the best, but realisticly, i don't think we will get the 1 and 11. even if we did, i think we would struggle to get 40 wins. i don't think a greg oden, or any other rookie, would be capable of adding an additional 15 wins on a season and get us into the playoffs. i hope and pray for a great underdog story for the hawks in the coming season, but i don't think that much will change. i don't think we will be any worse, though, either. i would personally give the hawks probably 36 wins in the coming season, give or take about four games depending on the health and who gets drafted. they would have to get something really special through free agency, or possibly trade, to break 40, and with the owners in court, that's not going to happen.

Quote: Optimist view: The glass is half full. Pessimist view: The glass is half empty. Realist view: It's a half a glass.

Quote: Im not sure if there are any centers that have the potential he has and a team is willing to give up. Id rather give up marvin but i would trade smoove if the center or guard was really worthy of the trade. the nuggets will likely move camby, as they can't afford to keep him on with the rest of their high priced roster, and just sign nene to that mega deal. he has had big injury problems in the past, but has played fantastically this year, and played like seventy something games. i could see some senerio of smoove for camby with other fillers added in. the nuggets could likely be moving boykins, too. i wouldn't mind seeing both of those players in a hawks uniform soon.

i also prefer insidehoops.com and hoopshype.com over many of those offered above.

mv7 is (once again) in the headlines for a possible link in a dog fighting ring. S.I. article honestly, it states that the home that was raided, though owned by vick, was being occupied by "a relative". obviously no one knows one way or another at this point, but mike and his family sure seem to keep close company with trouble. one observation i made while i lived in atl was how HUGE dog fighting is there. it seemed at least once a week on the news i heard about another ring getting busted. i lived a few years in east lake and there were TONS of stray/feral dogs running around there that were all either pure or mix of pit, rott, or chow. there were many more i saw chained up in yards while out walking my dog. i had many run-ins with the dogs in that 'hood. many instances that got pretty hairy (sorry for the pun), and i've got big dogs, too. i'm not some hippie, peta vegan or anything, but that sh!t is just sick.

cool, learn something new everyday. thanks.

Quote: Indy keeps it if they get into the top 3 in the lottery (it is top 10 protected but the only top 10 positions it can land are 1, 2 or 3). what's that? i don't follow you. i thought if their ball gets drawn for any pick of 1-10 they keep it. what's up with this 1-3 thing?

there is no way we could get a first round pick for lue. i like him okay, and i think plenty of other teams like him, and would like to have him, but not for a first. i wish it could happen, but i'm not holding my breathe. he's just a career b.u. and has reached the pinnacle of his career. there's no possible "potential" hidden anywhere in him. i think most teams hope to get someone who may be capable of starting in the first round, and lue won't ever be that (except for sometimes with the hawks). we might get lucky and get a second round pick for him (like we traded away for a.j.)

ditto that. i think they also have conley being taken at #12. i've seen conley being taken as high as 6 in some mock drafts.

Quote: You made me feel unwelcome on these forums, and I have not posted here in a while... you registered on 4/05/07. it's now 4/22/07. you haven't posted here in a while? you haven't even been registered here for a while. take a pill. people disagree here and say it out loud. if you don't know him personally, you shouldn't take it personally.

congrats, capstone. that was a pretty big league and it got tough scraping for players to make up for injuries. judging from capstone's yahoo fantasy profile, it looks like he's on familiar ground. good season, everyone. --b.d. (a.k.a. gutter punk)