Seano

Quote: The draft is a lot of work; you have to do a lot of research, lot of investigating, trying to accumulate as much information as you can, and then hopefully you make some logically induced conclusion. Yeah I can imagine the draft has to be one of the toughest parts of the whole job. Lots and lots of pressure to get it right and not screw up, and with a really bad team and the #2 pick I believe that pressure just increases. If that guy busts, then you're REALLY gonna be screwed. I don't envy BK's job much. It's a very difficult gig. I wonder how much of drafting comes down to just good old gut instinct? I think a lot of it if not all of it just has to, in the end. Because you can't read the future, and you don't know...so you take a leap of faith, cross your fingers and hope and pray for the best.

I'm not sure how anyone could really question Billy Knight if he did/does take Marvin Williams. It's a pretty simple equation, if there are two players considered to be above all others in this draft, and you've got the second pick, then you draft one of those players- whichever doesn't go #1. To do otherwise is to devalue that pick. You've got to get top value for it, no matter what. So if you want one of the two point guards- then pick Marvin and trade him. It's not like that will be difficult to do. So you'd end up with either Deron or Paul + extras- either picks or players.

Yeah thank you for posting this. It's interesting. I would not be sad at all if we were to make that trade and get Chris Paul at #5. Fills a positon of MAJOR need, and Paul does have some question marks but I also believe he has true star quality, there's an electricity about him- like the kind of player who could draw fans to the arena on his own. Deron could be the better player, but I'm not sure he has that star quality. Chris Paul would not be a bad consolation prize at all.

Good point.

Your guess is as good as mine, man. In other words, I have NO idea.

Quote: how do you not perceive any difference between the game now and the game before the Bad Boys era? That's something practically everyone sees... at least if you're old enough to have seen the mid-80s Celtics/Lakers series. The problem has always been that we just never could figure out why. Oh I perceive a very big difference between the game today and the way it was played back in the leagues heyday back in the '80s. I still don't know the exact reason *why* the quality of play has gone down so much since then (in my opinion), but I am not blind and can clearly see that it has. The game was just so much more entertaining then. Teams actually regularly scored in excess of 100 points per game *gasp*, and you didn't see all these 82-74 scores like you see today. Heck, I remember when the Pistons beat the Nuggets 186-184 in something like quadruple overtime back in the early '80s. Now that's a game! If I want to see clutching, grabbing, elbows and bodies flying and a physical mugging, I'll go to a hockey game! The fact is I could go watch a local high school team put up 82 points in a game, probably have more fun and see a better game in doing so, and save myself big, big dollars on the ticket price. Pro basketball used to be much more artistic, and seemed much more skilled than the game we're seeing today. I still don't know why that is or what has caused this degradation, but I totally agree that the quality of play overall has gone way, way down.

Well if the league were conspiring to influence results in favor of certain teams or players, then why are we seeing the Pistons and Spurs in the Finals rather than the Suns and Heat? Not necessarily that the Suns and Heat are better teams, but they are vastly more entertaining with very exciting offensive players, and I can guarandamntee that a Suns-Heat Finals would be blowing this thing right out of the water ratings-wise. Stoudamire, Wade, Nash, Shaq? C'mon, man. This Pistons-Spurs was one of the leagues worst nightmare scenarios. Very little star power on either team. Great players on both teams, but beyond Ginobili neither one of them have much personality. So, I don't buy the contention that the league is trying to influence results. In fact I believe that's just ridiculous.

Interesting. I'll be happy with either Bogut or Williams, or even one of the two point guards if it came down to a trade down scenario. We have a lot of needs on this team. I just really want a good player.

Quote: Sources have indicated that the New Orleans Hornets have a promise to take star Illinois point guard Deron Williams with the 4th pick. I've never understood why teams make promises to players prior to the draft, because almost inevitably that info gets out one way or the other. So....why give away what you're planning on doing? Isn't that a disadvantage to have the other teams knowing your plans? So now everyone knows New Orleans is locked in to Deron at #4, so what's to stop some other team who's really hot for him from trading up to #3 to steal him away from New Orleans? Unless this is all just some giant smokescreen, I don't understand why you'd compromise your position that way. Makes no sense to me. If I were a GM my lips would remain tightly locked RE: draft plans, and I would make no promises to anyone.

Quote: I think there needs to be teams that can be sucessful for 4-7 years. Well you're seeing one, man. The New England Patriots. This run that they're on has cemented their status as one of the 10 best teams in the history of the league, it's only a matter of how high up that list they go. And their rivalry with the Colts is just epic. The games between the two of them are awesome. It's like 2 heavyweight fighters going after one another, pounding the crap out of each other- but the Colts just haven't found a way to get past them yet. If and when they do, they'll go to the Super Bowl. It reminds me of us back in the '80s and '90s when we had such great teams but just couldn't find our way past the Celtics, Pistons, and Bulls.

Quote: One year a team is 12-4 and the next year they are 3-13... The NFL has what it seems to me been very mediocre the last couple of seasons. That's the kind of parity the league was aiming for when it introduced free agency and a hard salary cap. They took those measures in large part as a direct response to the almost decade-long dynasties in San Francisco and Dallas. Some fans feel it's better for the league to have dynastic franchises like that, but the league feels it's better off as a whole to have more competition, and I have to agree that it keeps fans interest up across the league when in any given season a team can rise from worst to first or fall back the other way. Even fans of traditional dreg teams like the Bengals and Saints can at least feel a sense of hope now. It makes what the Patriots have been able to accomplish all the more remarkable in my opinion, as it's really really tough to maintain that level of excellence for a 4 or 5 year period in this the era of free agency, salary cap and massive player movement every offseason. I personally feel this is a great time for the NFL, and I really enjoy the quality of play.

Quote: Sports seem to be in decline in just about everything other than NASCAR. Not in the NFL. That's the king of sports in America and it's only getting stronger. The ratings are holding steady or going up despite the fragmentation of the American television audience, and then you see small market teams like the Minnesota Vikings selling for nearly 700 million bucks, and a larger market but lousy team like the Washington Redskins valued at nearly 1.5 billion dollars (the highest valued franchise in any sport btw).....I'd say the NFL future looks very bright.

This poll is way too complicated, man.

Yeah this has been a terrible series in my opinion. There has been some really good defense played by both teams, but that doesn't explain or justify the amount of terrible shots, air balls, turnovers etc. etc. etc. It's been ugly ball, and every game has ended in a blowout. Not a whole lot to like there....

What position does he play?

I don't know. It's entirely possible that you're reading way too much into it. I mean I think the natural human reaction after suffering through the kind of season we just suffered through, is to be disappointed to not get the #1 overall and be completely in control of your destiny. As it is, our future will be dictated by what Milwaukee decides to do, and that's disappointing. Yes, it could have been worse. We could have ended up with 3, 4, or 5, but that doesn't mitigate nor lessen the disappointment (at least to me) of not getting the #1.

I think it's a good thing there's no LeBron in this class, else I'd be *really* pissed. As it is, I'm just disappointed. Would have been nice to have the #1 to show for that horrible season we had.