shug94

Quote: team dynamics. Your Center doesn't have to be a great runner?? Nor do you need runners at every position??? That's BULL... You need ball control to be a running team. Let's review some of the great running team: 1. ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS (40 minutes of Hell defense.). This team is very familiar because they had ole Oliver Miller at the Center position. Miller couldn't beat any Center down the court. They also had Todd Day and the others. They worked by the outlet pass. The pass usually went from Miller to Lee Mayberry... and he had enough basketball sense to find a wing on the break. 2. The Lakers. Magic ain't beating nobody in a footrace. Kareem was OK but I wouldn't call him a speedster either. However, it was Rambus and Worthy running. I think this means that you agree. You can have a running team if everyone on your roster can run. You can have a running team if you great rebounders who have mastered the outlet pass, and athletic wings who can run the floor. You can have a running team if you have a fast effective PG, coupled with good rebounders and some support from at least one other position. But if you are running, then you must be fit, or otherwise your defense will REALLY suffer.

Last season was my first at Tufts, and while we had some troubles ( going winless in nonconference), we ended up doing pretty well in the conference games, winning 30%. We fielded a team of four juniors and 8 freshmen, and inexperience was a big problem. Now we have 8 soph's and four seniors, and everyone's talent level (as well as bball IQ) is greatly improved. I foresee some great games this coming season. First, the starters: PG - David Nash (So) - Managed to wrestle the starting job from John Champagne in the middle of last season, and is both the defensive backcourt specialist and the best distributor on this team. SG - Richard Haskins (So) - This guy has silky offensive moves, and shot over 80% last year from behind the free throw stripe. Averaged just over 10 ppg last season, but now he knows the offense and so he should do even better. SF - Christopher Levin (So) - This kid from the suburbs has the type of work ethis that I have rarely seen. He rebounds well from the small forward position, and has both low post and perieter shooting skills. Something of a jack of all trades, he is like my teams white, less skilled, shorter Shawn Marion. PF - Jacob Bledsoe (So) - Won the NESCAC rookie of the year award last season, and with his length and skills, he should easily average a double-double this season. C - Alan Quintal (Sn) - Was the teams lone representative on the All Conference teams, a former conference rookie of the year winner, and he led this team last season in rebounds, points and steals. Tufts will do well if Quintal does well. The backups: PG - John Chapagne (So) - a great ballhandler and scorer, his defense cost him the starting job. Has weak academic skill and will struggle to remain eligible. SG - Adam Maxwell (Sn) - very high percentage 3pt shooter, jack of all trades. PG/SG - Edward Bell (So) - Good work ethic, bad defense, bad durability. SF - Raymond Castellano (Sn) - Good rebounder and defender. SF - Charles Winchester (So) - Very poor player, with poor work ethic and barely saw the court last season. Recruited him to ensure that there was a warm body at practise. PF - Tony Wadsworth (So) - Solid rebounder, great shotblocker, efficient scorer, but hasn't quite grasped the concept of passing yet. C - Lloyd Johnson (Sn) - Great rebounder, defender and shot blocker. Lacks some low post skills and doesn't have the overall athleticism of Quintal. The season following this one will feature all of my current soph's, but my all conference center tandem will have graduated. So I decided to be pro-active and do something about it now. I have cut Winchester, and I plan to sit and wait until the end of recruiting before picking up a high work ethic center who drops from division II so that I can stash him on the bench for a year and then not have interior weakness the following season. I have also red-shirted Edward Bell so that he can work on the holes on his game and to give him one more year of eligibility than his peers. I am trying desperately to spread out my team amongst more than just two classes, so that I don't have to fully rebuild every four seasons and I can just reload every year. I will keep you all posted on the recruiting trail! Go the Tufts Fighting Elephants!

It's true that there are a LOT of factors that we have to consider when gauging how successful these kids will be in the NBA this season, but I can think of 3 main factors: 1. Opportunity - A player can be fantastic, but not get the opportunity to show his skills, or to learn the NBA game, if the players in front of him are solid. 2. Talent - Obviously a more talented kid should be able to compete far better than a less talented one. 3. Learning Curve - How quickly can the player learn and adapt. Not only to NBA quality of the game, but also to a new coach, new teammates and potentially a new offensive and defensive system. Noah lacks opportunity. So does Stuckey. But Durant, and Green in Seattle both have plenty of talent and opportunity. For them, their eventual success THIS season will depend on their learning curve.

I would think that all parties would just want this settled now, to free their money up so it can be invested elsewhere.

This is from the Salim Q&A on AJC right? I hope he didn't partake in any extra curricular activities while he was in Jamaica.

I think Hawes will be a nice player one day, but like most pivot men he will take a while to develop. I think that Durant, Stuckey, Horford and Bellinelli will be the rook of the year frontrunners. Oh, and probably Scola, if his game translates to the NBA.

Is it just me, or are the Miami Heat over-rated. They won the championship a few seasons ago, and their young star - DWade - has more experience. Yet I predict that they will be among the weakest teams in the East. The main reason is age. Shaq was a shadow of his former self when Miami won their rings, and now he is barely a blip on most teams radar. He is generally unfit, overweight and underskilled. Without his speed and maneouvarability he is not the player he used to be. Alonzo Mourning was the other important player in the center rotation, and he is also old. He is also slow, and he cannot log too many minutes. Jsaon Williams is gimpy. Gary Payton is old (and is leaving the team). James Posey is gone. Antoine Walker had a terrible year last year. The only bright spots are Udonis Haslem (who is a bit inconsistent when compared to other starting fours) and Dwyane Wade (who, while brilliant when healthy, seems to be unhealthy more often than not these days). And I don't think that Smush Parker or Daequan Cook is the answer to their troubles. I think Atlanta will finish the year 10 games ahead of the Miami Heat.

This Trade Succeeded! Go back to adjust your trade or start over. Denver Nuggets Incoming Players Tim Thomas Salary: $5,632,200 Years Remaining: 3 Cuttino Mobley Salary: $8,350,000 Years Remaining: 3 Outgoing Players: Kenyon MartinLos Angeles Clippers Incoming Players Kenyon Martin Salary: $13,250,000 Years Remaining: 4 Outgoing Players: Tim Thomas, Cuttino Mobley

I am up for this. I love fantasy bball.

I was reading a book on the genetics of foetus development, and human growth (my girlfriend is a genetics major and I just picked it up and had a bit of a look, so this may not be 100% correct.) While we are still growing our bones have 'growth plates' on them. Whenever we generate HGH as a natural result of puberty, this cause the bones to lengthen at the 'growth plates'. This is what causes our growth spurts as a teenager. Once we hit 20 or 21 and stop growing, our 'growth plates' on our bones close up. After that point, any HGH will simply affect muscles and other tissue, but bone will stay the same size and shape. However if a teenager of 14-15 took HGH then they would likely grow quicker than they would have otherwise, and it could add a few inches to their eventual height. I think that is roughly how it works. As far as muscle growth and increased rates of recovery, I am unsure.

Yep, I've got Moss in my lineup, and I am pretty happy with how things are looking. My team scored 121 points in my yahoo league, good for most points in the league. I am pretty happy with how things are coming!

HOLE 1: Shooting percentage. His shooting percentages are simply too low. How can he remedy this? Better shot selection. Taking it to the hole more often. Practising his shot. Getting game-time experience to learn how to create off the dribble. HOLE 2: Rebounding. He rebounds a bit, but nowhere near as good as a man his size should. If he worked on his footwork and positioning for a little while I think he could use that lower body strength of his to be an above average positional rebounder. HOLE 3: Defense. His lateral speed is not good enough to play against other SF's. He can improve this through drills and playing defense on the toughest guys in his summer pick-up games. He is not strong enough to D up on PF's, so he needs to hit the weight room. Those are the three main holes in his game, in my opinion. Other things could improve, but if he focused on these areas this offseason, and started next year 10% improved at each of these areas, then he would be a far better assett to this team.

I think the real factor here was that Minnesota just has a really, really good defense. ATL will do fine against some of the softer defenses in this league.

The Mega-Sleeper 12. Atlanta Falcons In the history of Dave Cirilli's Ewing Theory, no professional sports team has ever looked like a more promising candidate. Check out how I defined the Theory in 2001: "Dave introduced me to the Ewing Theory three years ago, and we've been tinkering with it like Voltaire and Thoreau ever since. Eventually, we decided that two crucial elements needed to be in place for any situation to qualify for "Ewing" status: "1. A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series). "2. That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) -- and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season." AP Are you really surprised that Joey Harrington didn't succeed in Detroit or Miami? In the parentheses section of Element No. 2, had we included the words "dogfighting suspension," it would have looked like the "Ninth Wonder of the World" comic book from "Heroes." Has the Ewing Theory ever fit someone more perfectly than Michael Vick? Look at the 2007 Falcons logically -- they self-destructed last season because of Vick (who struggled on and off the field) and Jim Mora Jr. (who ripped the heart out of his team by pining for another job midway through the season). Both of those guys are gone. Why is this a bad thing? I love their schedule (easy), their new coach (this year's Sean Payton, Bobby Petrino), their running game (the Jerious Norwood/Warrick Dunn attack), their rookies (they got three starters out of the top 41 picks) and the fact that everyone -- and I mean, EVERYONE -- is counting them out. Now, here's where you say, "Their QB is Joey Harrington." Solid point, even if you'd feel between 10 and 150 times better about him if his name were "Joe" instead of "Joey." Just remember, he was thrown into the fire in Detroit and blamed because the Lions' blue-chip receivers weren't doing better. Upon further review, Harrington couldn't get a passing game clicking with Charles Rogers (out of the league), Mike Williams (headed that way) and Roy Williams (double-teamed at all times) on a team with a crummy defense and no running game. This was his fault? His second "chance" came in Miami last year, when he stepped in for an 0-4 Dolphins team that had a subpar offensive line, the least efficient receivers in the league and a coach looking for a way out by Week 8. Paul Crewe in his prime couldn't have turned that team around. You might call Harrington a failure; I call it unfortunate that he hasn't found the right situation yet. (Note: How am I doing with the Harrington defense so far? You didn't think it could be done, did you? You might want to do a shot before you read the next two paragraphs. OK, back to the column.) Now, Harrington is playing for one of the best offensive minds in football on a team with good running backs, an excellent tight end and two former No. 1 picks at receiver; he gets to start 12 of 16 games in domes and ZERO games in cold weather; and if that's not enough, for the first time, a city is actually happy to have him as its quarterback if only because he's not Michael Vick. You're telling me it's inconceivable that the third pick of the 2002 draft could succeed under these circumstances? I'd rather bet on Harrington playing in the perfect situation than David Garrard or Jake Delhomme, that's for sure. As for the rest of the 2007 Falcons, forget about PETA members -- is there anyone who wouldn't make a ceremonial bandwagon jump if Atlanta regrouped from the Vick Saga and made an out-of-nowhere playoff run? Just know that I believe in the Ewing Theory, I believe in the '07 Falcons, I believe in Petrino ... and ... (gulp) ... I believe that Harrington could be a half-decent quarterback in the perfect situation. I'm even willing to hinge my 2007 Sleeper Pick on it. Stranger things have happened. Yes, stranger things than Joey Harrington leading Michael Vick's old team to the playoffs while Vick watches the whole thing unfold from behind bars. (I swear, stranger things have happened. Eventually, I might even think of one.)

I think this is really good news. I read it on probasketballnews.com, where they kinda 'paraphrased' Sekou's article: Finally, Atlanta shooting guard Joe Johnson has insisted teammates join him for workouts at Phillips Arena. The workouts are voluntary, but nearly all the Hawks have been there, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. "Yeah, people will still tell you that we're a young team. And we are," Johnson told the newspaper. "But we can't keep giving that excuse. It's time for this team to grow up now. And we're here trying to develop our chemistry early on with the additions of Al Horford and Acie Law, we've got to get those guys acclimated and ready to go from the start." Hawks coach Mike Woodson isn't allowed to direct practices yet, but Johnson told the Journal-Constitution that Woodson "presented some ideas to me regarding what we could do on our own." The Hawks officially open training camp Oct. 2.

Darko pwns!

Gurovic (SER) 19.0 Who is this guy? Maybe we could add him to the end of our bench. Is he an SG? We could slot him behind JJ,Chillz and Salim.

Yeah, the previews make it look kick-ass!

yeah, I can see how it becomes an all consuming passion. I try to only check it once per day now. But recruiting was crazy.

The NESCAC Conference awards have been announced. Woo! Freshman of the Year: Jacob Bledsoe (9.9 ppg , 5.8 rpg, 1.4 bpg) PF - Tufts University Go team! I figured that three of my guys were contenders for Frosh of the year. Good work Bledsoe. Also, my star Center Alan Quintal ended up as center on the all conference third team. But he was the only junior center selected, the two above were seniors. I am really excited about next season, I should get some improvement from my guys, and I will dump one of my crap players to spend all of my recruiting budget on one star freshman. Let's see if I can win Freshman of the year two years in a row!

GO HAWKS!!! (and go graymule!)

I hear that he is friends with Oden, so that alone shouold guarantee that Portland will give him every chance to succeed.

Acie was a pretty good defender in college, but that does not mean that he will necessarily be a good defender in the NBA. I hope he is though!

Spain looks really Freaking strong! That team could maybe even contend for an NBA title!

Here it is: 2008 HoopsHype mock They only do a mock of the first round. As we will not have a first rounder next year, I wanted to be the first to ask the question: Which of these guys can we hope falls to the second round? And regardless of the fact that we don't have a pick, which first round talent would you most like on this team? ------------------