Brokentree

Pessimist me says... 42-40 - I expect a hot start but I think injuries are going to be an issue this year. 1st round loss to the Celtics 7th seed 138 min Optimist me says... 55-27 - Consistent all year. Injuries are for other teams to worry about this year. Loss in Finals, we all really felt bad about Lebron being hurt but hey other teams have to deal with that stuff all the time. 1st seed 2200 min. Comeback player of the year. Realist me says... (my prediction on record for when we look back at this at the end of the year to see who was closest) 48-34- Hot start, hot finish, stinky mess of wtf in the middle. Loss in conference finals, but harder fought than last year. 4th seed 823 minutes

I'd only want him on the team if he isn't a distraction and if Dwight wants him on the team. He could provide some good minutes at center and pf.

If I paid money to go see UFC 200 live I'd probably boo everything I saw too. I don't think too many of the fans were happy about the Cormier/Jones fight cancellation.

Can confirm from multiple sources that workouts involved a round orange object. Rumor that, despite it being a "workout", the activity took place indoors still needs to be confirmed but is thought to be likely.

I disliked Gearon enough to vote for him 5 times. Is that cheating? He is the one person on the list that I felt did harm to the team knowingly. Everyone else was just inept. I would have voted once or twice for Belkin but now I believe that Gearon was the source of that whole mess as well.

I could be wrong but I believe if a player is "dismissed" from the league his contract can be voided which would make dropping him for fear of him being convicted mute.

My official guess will be 64 based on... Dwight's time in the NBA up to now has been his "baptism" of sorts. Now he returns home to start over as a better person and a better teammate.

I think it would take a 3 or 4 team trade to get Rudy to Atlanta. We basically have Splitter to offer and the Kings have no need for a center. Would probably need teams like the Suns and the 76ers moving pieces and or draft picks. Just doesn't sound realistic.

He mentioned something along the lines of the number being a surprise but it makes sense when he explains the meaning. I can't really think of any number being a surprise except a high digit number. My personal hope is that he picks 3 or 30 so we can corrupt it into a new nickname of D3P0.

Unlikely scenario but wouldn't mind if it happened. Who said projections had to be accurate. Trade Millsap for Brandon Knight - Suns still have Bledsoe and seem a bit weak at PF. Knight has had injury issues. If injury issues are behind him then he's signed for a few years at what will be a bargain price. Trade Schröder for Okafor - We all know this has been talked about. I prefer Okafor to Nerlens. Trade Thabo for Trey Burke - Change of scenery for Burke might do him good. Jazz would probably let him go without asking for too much. Allows for more playing time for Prince/Bembry. Sign Harrison Barnes - Above trades save about 4 million. Not sure what it takes to sign him but I think he has potential and is still really young. Resign Horford - Gets to play PF almost exclusively.. you know.. until Okafor gets hurt. Sign a bargain bin PF and PG.. Humphries/Leuer and Ty Lawson/Jennings? PG - Knight, Lawson, Burke SG - Korver, Hardaway, Bembry SF - Harrison, Prince PF - Horford, Scott (will he even be in the NBA next season?), Leuer, Moose C - Okafor, Splitter, Walter Would be some growing pains but I like the mix of youth and experience.

People don't hate Joe Johnson. They hated the fact that he'd be getting paid 23m and almost 25m his last two years. People expect Lebron for that amount of money and sadly Joe Johnson wasn't even in the same hemisphere. People always talk about how the Hawks NEED a super star player to come to Atlanta. When Joe signed that contract we knew he was it. We weren't going to be able to sign anyone better for 5 years and we knew he wasn't a super star. If Joe Johnson was making something closer to 16m per I think we'd be talking and thinking about him a little differently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYSKRsJVrrE

He's got some "Leadership" in him, and I don't say that in a bad way other than he's a guy that will have post where its nice out front but if you go out back he's saying other things under other names and then patting himself on the back for no reason whatsoever.

Ferry trading away Bebe because he wants to move on is one thing. Trading him away for absolutely nothing is the first real issue I've had with anything Ferry has done so far. There is still some hype with Bebe and some potential. You have to try to get more for him. Edy has a long way to go. You can kind of see the gears turning in his head when he's out on the floor. The effort he puts out on the court seems solid and you can tell he's upset with himself when he does make mistakes so I think he's aware of what he should be doing out there. He just really needs a lot of good coaching and playing time to train himself to do things without thinking about it first.

That was the most amusing end to a basketball game I've ever seen.

Agree. He looked pretty bad yesterday. Needs to build his strength though or he won't have much of a future.

He's another wing and not a very good shooter but Al-Farouq Aminu is young, from the area, plays defense, and is an elite rebounder at his position which this team is in dire need of. Like to see him on this team if he's cheap and Scott isn't brought back.

We literally have 3 pf/c types with guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts for next year in Horford, Millsap, and Muscala. Horford missed most of the year with injury and Muscala played in 20 games averaging 10 minutes per. I look at the roster and think "Good pick!" and laugh at the sites out there that randomly throw out grades based on a teams roster from 4 years ago.

1. I am the only opening day starter that has a higher playoffs Player Efficiency Rating (PER) average than regular season PER. Jeff Teague 2. For this season, I have the lowest PER among the opening day starters. Al Horford just because everyone else seems to be doing well. 3. Like a Fine Wine: As a reserve that has started many games in the past, my True Shooting % has increased rapidly over the last four years, and if I keep this up, I will post my highest PER ever...even better than the years when I used to be a starter! Tough choice between Vlad and TMac. I'll go with Vlad. 4. Despite my rise in FG% this year, my True Shooting % has decreased over last year, and yet I am on track to post the highest PER of my career as a starter. Marvin Williams since his career per is probably easiest to improve. 5. I have the distinction of having the lowest PER on the team (remember the exceptions I listed at the top). I'd be surprised if it is not Pargo. 6. As an opening day reserve, my PER this year surpasses two of our opening day starters' current season PER. Plus, it would be the highest I've posted in seven years. Another one where it almost has to be either Vlad or TMac, and again I'm going with Vlad. 7. I am the only starter that posted a 20+ PER last year that hasn't eclipsed that mark this year. If I said Al Horford for question number 2 I guess it makes sense to go with him here too. 8. As a big, I am counted on to provide a lot of things our guards just can't/won't do. While posting the lowest True Shooting % of my career this year since my rookie year, my PER has been the highest it's been in 3 years despite playing the fewest minutes of my career in all but my rookie year and one other. This one is tough. I have to go with Marvin. 9. Despite an abberation in my 4th year, my PER has steadily declined each year. However, if I keep up my current pace, I will post the highest PER of my career...surpassing my previous high by 25%! I'm going to go the Vlad again. I'm answering way to many of these with Vlad. 10. I am an opening day starter that has started for multiple years, yet I have never posted a [partial or full] season PER over 20. I want to say this is the easiest question but i'd feel stupid if I was wrong. Marvin. 11. In my long career, I have never averaged fewer minutes in a season. However, I have only posted a PER higher than this season's PER twice. Another tough one. Willie Green is my guess. 12. Wins Shares are an estimate of the number of wins a player has added to his team. Of course, the higher the better. So far this year, I have the highest win share figure on the team. Who am I? Based on the last three games I'd have to say Josh Smith.

Maybe something like..Douglas and Biedrins to ATLBalkman, Walker, and Hinrich to GSWCrawford to NYKThis would add something like 2m (just barely below luxury?) to the Hawks payroll and would clear enough money for the Knicks to get Crawford at something close to 5m. It would clear 9m off the GSW payroll next year instead of a few years down the road and they kind of need a defensive combo guard. We'd just have to hope that Biedrins returns to form and that Douglas and McGrady can replace Hinrich.Of course this means we wouldn't have Hinrich coming off the books next year so we'd be in danger of being in tax territory next year for sure.The more I think about it the more I think that maybe GS is just taking Balkman and Walker and we're just getting Douglas and the Knicks will get Crawford. Maybe a second round pick somewhere for GS.

I don't understand the negativity. His career numbers are almost identical to Korver and he shoots only a slightly lower % on 3's. He's taller and a better rebounder and assuming its a min deal we got him at 1/5 the cost of a korver and he's not locked in for two years. Oh and most importantly.. he doesn't look like Justin Bieber.

Not much available. How much do you think Josh McRoberts is worth? He's 6'10 at least and is young and improving.

Two threads on this created at basically the same exact time and this one is mostly positive feedback and the other is mostly negative. Love it!

Will Conroy and John Brockman must have #*$# themselves then they saw their names on that advertisement. Even I don't know the #(*$ they are.

People keep comparing the NBA to other types of businesses. People keep saying NBA teams need to be smarter and spend less and they shouldn't have any problem making money. The big snag in all of this is that they CAN NOT FIRE their employees if they are not performing to the standards of their pay. NBA teams gamble on players. For a small market team to be good they NEED to gamble. They need to sign a player at a better than you would expect deal and hope that they not only live up to it but exceed expecations. They can not sign "sure things" like the big markets can. It is a broken system that can never be fixed without seemingly "unfair" and "socialistic" means. Some NBA teams might not be making money? Its debatable? They should, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, be making money if their employees average 5 million per year. Holy #(*#$ don't we all work #(*$# jobs for 20 bucks an hour? Don't you all go to company meetings once a year where they say if they made money that year or not? Oh my (*#$(*# god. If I go to my meeting and we've lost money that year I'm wondering if I'll still have a job for the next year. I don't have a contract that I can just sign and then do #$(# and still make my money guaranteed. Small market teams are forced to trade away players that turn out to be good because they KNOW they won't resign with them because they can get more endorsements by signing with a large market team. Joe Johnson signed a max deal with the Atlanta Hawks when no one thought he deserved it. Why? Because the Hawks were absolutely petrified of sucking and the big market teams weren't willing to pay that much. Pay him what he's worth and he's in Chicago or New York and the Hawks are potentially missing the playoffs and deeper in the red. How is this system fair? Most NBA fans seem to be completely clueless perhaps because they are fans of the players. Gosh gee I really like this guy and I REALLY wish I was him so I'll support him in his quest to make as much money as possible? Wow.. If this post didn't make much sense to you then I'd like to introduce you to the http://www.stonebrew.com/. It's what keeps me going (and posting!) when I realize I'm not an NBA player.