cynic

Keon Clark is, in my opinion, almost as good as Theo Ratliff. I can't be sure though. However, I think Theo is more respected around the league, and I think Clark is considered a backup player because he's never shown that he can play starter's minutes for a whole season. Maybe Sac thinks they can upgrade their defense by getting Theo. Then, they'd probably have to package Hedo with Clark. Who else are they gonna give us to make us give up Theo??? Sac will want to upgrade interior defense after they get beaten by the Lakers. If they'll bite, I say it's a good deal. Note: I do not think Theo necessarily upgrades a team's interior defense against power-post players, as he is obviously more of a roving blocker. However, I'm thinking that maybe Sac doesn't use this line of reasoning.

The Bulls have set themselves up to be a very good team by making smart draft picks. The only pick you might question is that of Fizer, but the only better player was probably Miller, and he's not great. Krause just knows how to draft. Some say he got lucky in the Bulls first run with Pippen, but that's hogwash. He had the foresight to trade for Pippen and to draft Horace Grant and Charles Oakley and Toni Kukoc. Maybe Jordan fell into his lap. I dunno. A lot of GM's might've taken a more accomplished Charles Barkley instead. Krause cleaned up in the draft the last few years. Many criticized him for taking Elton Brand #1, but who was better? Steve Francis? That's VERY debateable. Maybe Matrix, but nobody would've taken him #1. Krause knew that Brand was sure stock, and there were too many question marks on the board. He drafts Artest when so many passed over him. Then, Krause gets Fizer/Crawford the next year. After that, he trades Brand for Chandler, because he knows that Chandler has a chance to be a superstar, while Brand does not. He drafts Curry, when other GM's are scared off by the hype. Jay Williams? Still a good pick; will be a very good player. He couldn't have used some of the good frontcourt players on the board, and the team needed a PG then.

It's becoming clear to me that the post-season potential of this team is dependent upon the emergence of one starter (Hampton) and one reliever. Assuming Maddux returns to form, we have to have 1 other major horse. I think that will be Hampton. Ortiz is only a fair pitcher, in my opinion, but certainly worth a #3 slot. We must have a shut down set up man like we did last year. Getting to Smoltz is key. Hernandez gave up the tying HR in the 8th yesterday. Can King do it? I think Cox wants to use him in the 7th. Hernandez is 38, so he may not be the solid guy we need. Maybe it will be Jung Bong. At any rate, we have to have a good set up man. Most champion teams do. That's the formula...good offense, 2 big time starters, 2 lights out relievers. BTW, I love our bench offense this year (that's a first!). The Francos might be the best pair of pinch hitters in the league this year, and Derosa can back up the infield. Bragg is not too shabby for a backup outfielder, either.

Making Reef play the three would be like making JT play the point. The four is Reef's more natural position. Making him play the four would be like making JT play the 2, as that is more natural for JT. We have to keep our analogies straight around here, or it's anarchy for us all. 'The power of accurate observation is often confused for cynicism' -Oscar Wilde

If somebody wants to trade his lottery pick for Big Dog, we're keeping it! Why would you trade a lotto pick for Turk??

I have to be honest, I thought his upper cut swing wouldn't work at the MLB level. Of course, it's only been 16 games, but this kid is a patient hitter with ice water in his veins. I hope he keeps at it, because he's got fire in the belly.

Bring him on board. I don't know what we'd have to trade.

It looks like there are 2 sides developing on the forum. One side feels JT has to go, while the other feels GRob has to go. I'm in between. I personally think we'd do better trading JT for a true PG. If GRob could be traded for a Jalen Rose, I'd be for it, but I don't think it's possible. We could probably only get mid-level or role players for GRob.

You were banned from the site? That's funny. I'm new. I hope I don't get banned!!What did you get kicked off for? Being too much like Hotlantadude?

No way DJ gets a 3 year deal from anybody. The most we'll do is give him 1 yr, 1 mil. He won't get that from anybody else. There won't be many teams who'll even give him a roster spot. Now, Glover is a different story. We might end up signing him for 3 years. JT. I want to trade JT for reasons I've summarized in Andre Miller posts. Newble. I want to keep him, but not for Crawford-type money. Ham. I don't think we'll resign Ham. He doesn't bring enough to the table.

They will trade Randolph if it means getting rid of MM. GRob/Nazr for Randolph/MM is very reasonable.

of his ability to play PG. I mentioned trading him SNT for Andre Miller, and I think we'd be stupid not to do that if Miller wanted to come here. There were many protests, and several people said JT is better than Andre??? You pointed to his 7 apg??? Assists are a valuable statistic, but they do not fully describe a players effectiveness as a PG. We have iso-scorers on this team who get JT easy assists when he dumps it off. It's like using steals to evaluate a player's defense. Ira doesn't get as many steals as Big Dog, so is Dog a better defender? I'm all for trading Big Dog. If we can get something decent for Big Dog, I'd trade him. Rose? Oh man. Mo Pete? That's OK, too. However, no matter what we do, I'm not believing that JT is a very good PG. I'm comfortable with JT IF we can get Alvin Williams or Eric Snow, but Hawks have been trying to do that for a long time. The man can shoot. He can drive and dish. Those are good things, but not enough to contend in the East. I think the Clipps would take JT. They want a more exciting player than Andre. JT is exciting; I'll give him that. The fans would love him.

The team that handled Philly (on a good night by Iverson) the 15th behind 33 from Jamal Crawford and 31 from Eddy Curry ain't going anywhere. Let's not forget that they have the 7th spot in the draft, tenatively. Many, many people made fun of Krause for the way he went about building that team, but they're going to be [censored] good. Curry will be the 2nd best center in the NBA next year. Crawford is scary good. Those long arms.... What's funny, is he was Babcock's 2nd choice behind DJ in that draft. If he'd known how much he'd need a 'big' PG, he would've drafted Crawford easy.

Babcock peddled our draftpicks for squat. Look at Indiana. They traded us a protected pick, which was perpetually lottery protected. We had no chance of ever getting in the lottery with that pick. Babcock traded picks like they were worthless. Two consecutive years, we will have had a #8 pick go to another team. We would've most likely selected Caron Butler with last year's 8th pick, though Amare Stoudamire remained on the board. We have about a 10% chance of picking top 3 this year. It sure changes things if we get lucky. If we don't, we're stuck trying to move Big Dog for something of value. I think people around here are underestimating the difficulty of moving him and his contract. We'll almost certainly have to take back a bloated contract on a mediocre player. Van Horn is a possibility, as are Spreewell and Houston. This talk of Vince Carter is naive.

We cannot draw a conclusion from one game. Hawks played terribly last night. We can't draw a conclusion from the 12 games without Big Dog, either, BUT, it certainly appears that the team is more active, plays better defense, and passes more efficiently without HOG on the floor. Are we better without him? According to those attributes listed above, yes. Do we need his scoring? Yes, but not at such a great cost to our team chemistry.

Van Horn is NOT another Robinson. He's a much more active player. However, I do think he's drastically overpaid. If we could swap Robinson/Henderson for Van Horn, I'd do it.

Given that you said this earlier today, "If we win tonight I'd be very surprised," and that you're watching the game and posting on it, I have a hard time believing that you are truly indifferent to the outcome of this game. If you are indifferent, spend your time doing something that adds to your life. Take up cross-stitching...

Don't worry, there's still another half to play. You might just get your precious defeat. Then you'll be happy because you can complain more (not that a win will keep you from complaining).

It would be a no-brainer. We wouldn't even have to think about it. Dog for Vince would be a coup de gras. Don't you think Toronto could do better? Vince for: Jalen Rose Richard Jefferson / filler Wally Z, Nester Desmond Mason, Tim Thomas Hughes, Kwame Brown Those are just a couple that come to mind right away. Basically, Toronto has a lot of attractive options in trading Vince. I cannot imagine why they would move him for Dog.

Fish bolster an already star-studded defense with another tenacious LB. The Fish are going to be Super Bowl favorites, but that's nothing new. Let's see if they actually get there this time.

He won't come cheap this time. The least it would cost to get him to stay is 4 yrs, $12 mil.

If we're going to have to keep Big Dog, I think we need a PG like Miller. He hasn't had a good year for LAC.

The Knicks always overvalue their players. They wanted to push something like LJ/Childs for Deke, right? We wanted Houston/Camby, and they wouldn't do either.

And I agree with every word, assuming the given statistics are valid.

I'm over at Clemson right now. Sure, you can get in with a biochemistry BS. If you're being considered for med school admission, I assume your grades were pretty good, so you can get in here. It's not too late to apply, either.