sturt

lol

Actually, I was having fun w/ you independent of any spelling concerns.... I'm a Marshall alum. :) And Crabbe? I would have offered $15m, and sat back to see if their Evan Turner signing didn't make them tuck tail. The bigger problem to that, though, is that that's $15m that would have been tied up for 3 days, and almost certainly would have ensured that most of the free agent market evaporated in the meantime.

Doc Holliday?... I thought he was the head coach at Marshall ?!?

I stand corrected. You're right, Splitter is even slightly worse than DH... that surprises me b/c my recall would have guessed DH a little less than that, and Splitter a few points higher. Okay... this helps.

I get your point that if Splitter is seen as a fit, then how much moreso ought DH be. That helps. But given deeper thought, what makes Splitter valuable--again, specifically on offense--is his familiarity with the system and the passing ability that you mention... and, importantly, that he can actually shoot from as far as 15 feet... all of which are superior to DH. And building on that thought... I wouldn't say that Bud "only values stretch bigs," if by stretch bigs we're speaking of 3 point shooting. I would say Bud values bigs who can shoot. Because, clearly, what allowed Teague or Schröder to make those drives to the rim was the threat of Horf standing out there near the free throw line, where he's deadly. Can't do that with DH.

Cs are meeting with Durant today or tonight... I'd say their front office is pretty preoccupied as-is... and as bad as we are right now, their fans have to be about as wired as could possibly be imagined.

Key point made there is that he's a superior pick-and-roll player. I just don't see the evidence for making that claim.

I'd love.... l-o-v-e, love.... to be persuaded otherwise....

Oh, if we could only even know THAT much. If Al signs, maybe.... if Al doesn't sign, there's almost surely more crying and moaning and hand-wringing to come.

The contract part is pretty straightforward.... the bigger issue almost has to be what's going on on the trade front... who's offering what for whom.

This is the last big contract of Al's career. I can't be surprised. I'd be squeezing Budcox, too.

All I know is this is no way to be spending our holiday weekend, chained to a computer and sitting around like a pack of Pavlov's dogs at the mere scent of meat. Yesterday, I got so much done... internet outage.... today?.... I've barely gotten up to eat my lunch of string cheese and crackers.

"know how to coach him"... What does that even mean? Not concerned about coaching him. Some are.... I'm not one of those. I'm merely affirming what others too are seeing--this is not a natural fit for our offense. Defense, yes. Offense, nope.

So, yeah.... never fail to understand the concept of posturing, and the power of putting the word out that the Celtics and the Bullets--two of your bigger competitors the last two playoffs--have emerged as the leading options.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/why-bazemore-chose-to-re-sign-with-atlanta/nrrRY/ I'm one of those who give C-Viv plenty of grief around here... he gets props for filing this story so quickly after the announcement. I know, I know... that's his job, after all... but with everything else going on in this Black Thursday environment it's at least a little admirable.

My opinion.... anything we learn out here in the nosebleed bleachers is more often than not the equivalent of stale bread.

How could anyone say no to this face? (... can't stop laughing... )

C-Viv just reported as much.... probably based on that B/R story (... not sure if that's a joke or not, actually). So, sounds to me like there's some time here for Budcox to figure out what trades make the most sense. Hard for me to believe that a guy who is reportedly so intent on maximizing this contract is going to turn down his best offer-- which almost certainly comes from us. But then, I can imagine Al also wants to know, if they're trading Sap, what's coming back in return so-as not to sign up with a team in even worse shape (in his opinion) than before this all began.

Can't blame him for wanting that 5th year, myself. First, if he's not going to play the money game by signing a 1+1, preferring the security of a long term deal, then you get all you can get, imo... and too, a 5th year says something beyond words about how the franchise values him. (Or, if not, then not.)

I feel compelled to repeat... don't dismiss everything you ever thought you knew about Al Horford, and don't be surprised if this is the desperate move of an agent making one last gasp for a 5th year.

Literally.

Don't overlook the possibility that this is just posturing on Horf's agent's part, guys and gals.

One step forward, two steps back.... as it stands right now. But again, things are still fluid, and God help us, this is all going to make sense in the next 24 hours or so.

My mind instantly tracks back to....