alfdogg

Are you willing to give him the entire MLE is the question. Because that's what he's asking, from all I've read.

I don't really like this trade. Are you telling me Charlie Fucking Bell is going to be counted on to carry the PG load now? I mean, he's not trash or anything, but he's no TJ Ford. As far as Toronto, I doubt Bargnani's going to be ready to be a second scoring option.

One thing I will say...people booed the Damon Stoudamire pick when it happened, as well, and all he did was win the ROTY award. I certainly don't think Balkman will be ROTY, but I'm willing to wait and see what he's got this season, because for all his faults, Isiah does have a good draft history.

"On draft night, Thomas said he took Balkman early because he was sure he would be gone when the Knicks selected again at No. 29 (they did not have a second-round pick). According to Thomas, the Phoenix Suns were set to draft Balkman with one of their two picks, at 21 or 27. "That's funny," Mike D'Antoni, the Suns' president and coach, told a Phoenix radio station. "He wasn't even on our radar." New York Times "When Isiah Thomas defended his decision to nab defensive South Carolina small-forward defensive specialist Renaldo Balkman at 20 instead of waiting for 29, he said his "due diligence" discovered the Suns were going to take him at either 21 or 27. Sherlock Holmes, Isiah is not. Three sources, including one inside the Suns organization, told The Post yesterday Phoenix was not taking Balkman in the first round and that's not why they traded their picks. One league source who spoke to a Suns official said if Balkman was available at 45, they would have passed." New York Post "One South Carolina source said Balkman, who came off the bench 12 times and has no offensive game whatsoever, thought the Knicks could be interested at 29 but not 20. Balkman was not included in the draft media guide that lists 100 players. The Suns may not have taken Balkman if there was a third round." New York Post

Odom was in New York when it happened...to attend a funeral. That's what makes it even sadder.

^ fag

I totally spaced on the show tonight. I entered an announcement on the World title match at Battlebowl near the beginning of the show.

COLE Let's go up to "Mean" Gene Okerlund, and the drawing of our first match! OKERLUND Thank you, Michael...Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the third annual OAOAST Battlebowl! *crowd cheers* OKERLUND Joining me tonight to conduct the drawing, the lovely Maria! *crowd cheers* OKERLUND Maria, you look ravishing tonight. OK, what's gonna happen here is Maria's gonna draw a name, and then hand it over to me, and I'll read it to all of you. The first two names drawn will represent team #1, and the second two will represent team #2, and those two teams will go at it in the ring. The winning team will advance to the big battle royal at the end of the night, and the winner of the battle royal will compete for the World heavyweight championship at AngleSlam. So Maria, if you'd just draw me a name out of there... *The screen splits to show the two separate locker rooms, as Maria reaches into the bin and pulls out an envelope.* OKERLUND OK, here we go...first name drawn...THUNDERKID! *crowd pops as TK gets up and makes his way towards the ring. Colombian Heat pats him on the back on his way out the door. Maria picks out another envelope.* OKERLUND Thunderkid's partner will be...get a load of this...BROCK AUSSTIN! *crowd gives a mixed reaction, actually mostly cheers, as the former Heartland champion looks stunned at his partner, before picking up his chair and firing it across the locker room, causing the room to go silent. Everyone has wide-eyed looks as Brock exits.* COLE Brock obviously not happy with his randomly drawn partner! COACH Brock may be upset, but what a great team this will be if they can co-exist! OKERLUND Now, let's conduct the drawing for their opponents...Maria, if you would please... *Maria takes out an envelope.* OKERLUND First member of Team #2...the CUBAN WALL! *Crowd boos, as Wall gets encouragement from his fellow LC mates on his way out. Maria draws another envelope.* OKERLUND Let's see who his partner is...from the Hooligans, and the Global Party Xchange, SCOTTY STATIC! *Crowd cheers, as Scotty gets high-fives from partner Johnny and Jamie O'Hara.* COLE The GPX hearing the cheers of the crowd once again, as Scotty Static will be the partner of the Cuban Wall in this match! Cut to the arena, where TK crosses the curtains, enciting a big pop. Brock Ausstin follows, to another surprising pop. COLE And this crowd here at Madison Square Garden seems to be into Brock Ausstin, Coach! COACH Well, what's not to like about Brock Ausstin, Cole? Wall comes through the curtains to boos. Wall taunts the crowd on his way down the aisle. Scotty Static follows after, to cheers. Wall turns around and sees Scotty, then turns back around with a "WTF" look on his face. COLE And it looks like we've got four unhappy customers here at Battlebowl already! TK and Brock argue in the ring, as Wall and Scotty do the same on the floor. COLE And you'll notice no Rick Heyross in the corner of Brock Ausstin, a very special announcement coming up later in the show to explain his absence, as well as why his team of Charlie Moss and Quentin Benjamin, Team Heyross, is not a part of this event tonight! TK breaks off conversation with Brock and climbs the top rope, leaping off and taking down Wall and Scotty with a flying bodypress on the outside! TK slugs away with Scotty Static, but Wall attacks from behind. Scotty and Wall double-team, until Brock comes out to help, hammering away on Wall. Scotty slides into the ring, and TK follows. *DING DING DING* Scotty pounces TK as he slides in, and hammers him with forearm blows. As Brock and Wall step back into their corners, Scotty picks TK up and whips him into the ropes, catching him with a flying forearm! COLE Scotty with a nice job of recovering from that move by TK on the outside! Scotty stays on TK, attempting another Irish whip. However, TK reverses, and catches Scotty off the ropes with a PRESS SLAM~! TK follows up with a clothesline! Then a second! Scotty quickly slides into his corner, as TK stops in the middle of the ring. Scotty tags in Wall. COACH And now the big Cuban Wall in there! COLE The momentum has swung quickly in this match, let's see what the Wall can get going! Wall and TK circle the ring, and tie up. Wall quickly drives a knee into the stomach, then delivers a big bodyslam! Wall stops for a minute to pose for the crowd, drawing boos, then backs into the ropes, and attempts to drop an elbow, but TK rolls out of the way! COLE Nobody home on the elbow, as Wall took a little too much time! TK gets to his feet, and catches the charging Wall with an armdrag! Wall charges again, and TK catches him again, and this time holds him on the mat, standing up to drive knees into the joint. COLE And Wall faring no better than Scotty Static, as TK has it under control once again! TK brings Wall up and wrings his arm, then reaches his hand out for a tag. COLE Will there be a tag here? Brock mulls it over for a second, then slaps the hand of TK as the crowd cheers. COLE Yes, there will! Brock in there now! Brock grabs Wall and backs him into a corner, firing off rights and lefts as the crowd noise escalates with each blow! COLE And the crowd really on the side of Brock here, which is a bit befuddling to me! COACH Good thing you brought that thesaurus tonight! Brock drags Wall out of the corner, and executes a Russian legsweep! Brock floats over and covers... 1... 2... Kickout! Brock picks up Wall, and walks over to TK for a tag. TK tags, and Brock delivers a backbreaker and holds him. Brock then motions angrily for TK to go to the top rope, which he reluctantly does, coming off and driving an elbow into Wall. TK covers... 1... 2... Kickout! TK picks Wall up, but Wall is able to back him into the ropes, where he makes a blind tag to Scotty Static. Wall pushes him to the other side, then ducks down as TK hops over. Scotty slingshots himself into the ring, but TK ducks and Scotty flies over. Scotty somersaults on the mat, ala Eddie Guerrero, as Wall rolls to the opposite side of the ring. Scotty ducks a charging TK's clothesline, and as TK comes back off the ropes, Wall buries a BIG BOOT right into his head! COACH What a foot! COLE And what teamwork that time by Scotty and Wall! Scotty grabs the legs of TK and flips into a rolling cradle... 1... 2... Kickout! Scotty picks up TK, and delivers a snap suplex! He then tags in Wall, who comes in and drops a leg on TK! Cover... 1... 2... Kickout! COLE And Wall and Scotty continue to show good strategy, making quick tags and covers! Wall whips TK into a corner, and follows him in with an Avanalche! He holds him in the corner, and drives knees in. The referee tries to separate them, and Wall threatens him. Wall then brings TK out of the corner, and delivers a shoulderbreaker! Cover... 1... 2... Kickout! Wall tags in Scotty, who drops a knee right to the sternum! Cover... 1... 2... Shoulder up! Scotty picks TK up, and sets up a suplex, but TK executes a quick small package! 1... 2... Kickout! COLE And TK almost stole it there! Static tags in Wall, and whips TK into a corner. Wall charges for another avalanche...but TK gets his feet up! COLE And TK buys himself a little time there! It only makes Wall stagger back, however, so he charges in for another one, but this time TK pops out, and floors Wall with a clothesline! Both men are out of it, and the referee begins a count... ONE!!! TWO!!! THREE!!! FOUR!!! FIVE!!! SIX!!! SEVEN!!! EIGHT!!! Both men inch over to their corners. Static tags back in, but TK is finally able to tag Brock! COLE Tag made, and Brock is in! The crowd cheers loudly as Brock pounds Static, then takes him down with a BIG clothesline, and lets a big yell out! Static gets up, and Brock delivers a BELLY-TO-BELLY! Wall is still in the ring, however, and catches Brock from behind, driving him into the mat with a CHOKESLAM~! COACH There you go, Wall! This time, there's no count, as the referee's still ushering TK out of the ring! Static hammers away on Brock, as Wall comes back in, and charges with a boot...but Brock moves, and Wall hits Scotty! COLE And Scotty takes the errant boot from his own partner! TK is able to get over and clothesline Wall from the ring! TK then comes down on Wall outside with a PLANCHA~! COLE And TK takes to the air! Meanwhile, in the ring, Static gets to his feet, only to walk right into Brock Ausstin, who drives him with the F-STUNNER-5~!!!!!11111 COLE Brock hits it! Forget about it, we've got our first team! 1... 2... 3!!! *DING DING DING* The crowd pops as Brock jerks his hand from the referee and makes his way back to the locker room. BUFFER [i]The winners of the match, advancing to Battlebowl...the team of THUNDERKID and BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROCK AUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!![/i] COLE So we've got our first two participants in the battle royal, it's Thunderkid and Brock Ausstin! Fourteen more to come, as the show goes on!

Also, I really don't think that was a bad trade for Houston, although I'm obviously in the vast minority. I think it was a good deal for both teams. I've heard and read a lot about how well Gay can take over a game when he gets assertive. Houston already has two guys like that, Yao and McGrady. As much as I love Pau, you can't really say the same about Memphis. The Rox have plenty of shooters and scorers. What they needed was a guy who is primarily a good perimeter defender and, when needed, a good outside shooter who will get lots of open looks, and Battier gives them all those things. I know that sounds redundant, but what I mean is that they have lots of good shooters, too, but none of them can really do anything else.

More trades! Yay! Toronto trades the rights to Edin Bavcic to Philadelphia for cash considerations. San Antonio trades the rights to Damir Markota to Milwaukee for a future second-round pick. LA Lakers trade the rights to Cheick Samb to Detroit for Maurice Evans. Dallas trades the rights to J.R. Pinnock to LA Lakers for a future second-round pick. The Battier-Gay deal has apparently still not been cleared by the league, and I've seen nothing including Swift in the deal.

Pierce used to have as much emotion as anyone, but now it almost seems like he's given up on ever winning anything with the Celtics. I try not to give Antoine Walker too much credit because I don't particularly like him, but Pierce just hasn't been able to cut it without him there.

C'mon, isn't it obvious why Jordan took Morrison?

And you factor in the possibility of trading for KG, however remote that may be...shit. The Bulls could be winning titles by the time the decade's out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...ht&lid=tab1pos1

No Marco Killingsworth, either. Minnesota usually comes through for us, they drafted Andrae Patterson and Bracey Wright.

Death, taxes, and the Spurs drafting a foreigner.

...a business reporter??? WTF.

Cheick Samb: 7-1, 195 pounds. eek

Well, I hope James White is good, since the Pacers felt the need to trade *three* second-round picks for him.

It's funny because it sounds like "penis", see.

"On the clock are the Houston Rockets, who acquired this pick in a trade with...THE KNICKS!" Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

First round over. Now get David Stern out of here, he sounds awful.

Isiah's not playing the tank game, because, again, the Bulls have the right to switch picks with them as part of the Curry trade.

More "Fire Isiah" chants. Wasn't Kupchak's hair brown a couple years ago?