Precious Roy

1. There's an argument to be made for him at SS. SI already named him as the SS on their all-time team. As far as SS/3B goes the list is a lot shorter, but Cal Ripken is really, really popular.... 2. I don't think so, he's got an outside shot, but it's highly doubtful. He's 31 and already has 464. I expect him to hit 500 in 07. I doubt he plays past 36-37 years of age though, and he'd need to to break the record. And playing in Yankee Stadium he's not going to hit 50+ in a year, which he'd need a few of to even be close to Bonds. I do think he's got a good shot at passing Willie Mays. 3. Absolutely not, nor should he be, but his numbers will always put him in the conversation. 4. No. His best shot was playing in Arlington. 5. They won't. Nor will A-Rod opt out. He'll have a great, relatively controversy free year in 07, win the gold glove, the Yankees will battle their way to a world series victory behind his clutch hitting, Joe Torre, Bernie Williams and in a shocker Mariano Rivera will retire as champions, and A-Rod will play out his career in pinstripes as a beloved NY sports hero.

And of course he'll bolt the job in a year to go coach the Bobcats or the Grizzlies or the F'n San Antonio Silver Stars

Anthony isn't a spot-up shooter and he isn't a guard. He's a prototype 3 who can score inside or out. He gets a lot of layups and trips to the line. His favorite move seems to be the mid-post face up where he can either drive or shoot his fadeaway jumper. He's not a spot up shooter at all, I'd venture to say 90% of his perimeter shots he creates himself. I don't know, it should be interesting to see how this team meshes on the court. On paper they're very good, but it's dependent on them avoiding the "alternating isolations for 48 minutes" like Alfdogg said. JR Smith should be ok as he's a spot up shooter who'll get a ton of kickouts from Iverson just like Kyle Korver did in Philly. Personally, I think the combination of Iverson/Melo w/ Smith on the wing and Camby cleaning up scraps will put up a ton of points, and between George Karl coaching, Iverson wanting to stick it to the man, and Melo knowing his reputation just took a huge blow I think they'll make it work and be one of the better teams in the second half.

That's Underdog Lady. She used to be a regular on the Howard Stern Show.

Apparently the Marlins are closing in on an Armando Benitez deal. I've always like Benitez, and it seems like he gets a bad rap from the fans of whatever team he's on. I remember when he was on the Mets the WFAN callers just dogged him constantly. He'll blow a few saves and make a couple of em interesting, but he's intimidating on the mound and throws straight gas, and you really can't argue with his numbers. He was great for Florida in 04. When I saw that he was being shopped I was hoping the Yankees would take another look at him.

I totally forgot about the Isiah/Karl thing, that was all over the NY papers early in the season. Isiah took exception to comments Karl made about the Larry Brown thing, got in his face about it at a summer league game, and called him out in the press saying he "should keep his mouth shut about us and worry about his own team" So yeah, that's probably the root cause of the whole thing. Karl wanted to run up the score on Isiah, Mardy Collins was trying to impress his coach. Isiah was on the Bad Boys and with the things he says in the media, and no doubt to his team, he's not so subtly called for something like this. Frankly I'm all for it. This is going to build character and make us a tougher team, and I love Jared Jeffries taking his role on the team to heart. If he's going to be our defensive stopper and live up to all the hype Isiah has laid on him he's got to have that attitude. And really, I hate that the Knicks are the laughingstock of the NBA, shit like this makes me proud to be a Knicks fan, because when I think of success for the Knicks I think of hard-nosed, take no shit teams. Charles Oakley, John Starks, Anthony Mason, brawls with the Miami Heat, that's my Knicks, and as a team they need that chip on your shoulder to win playing in the 'mecca of basketball' And would anyone here seriously want Nate Robinson coming at them in a fight. Dude has a major complex about his height, he's unbalanced, I bet he'd fight dirty as shit.

They've got Wkllk Mk Pknk

Tampa Bay signed Al Reyes to a 1 year deal. He's 35 and coming off TJ surgery, but he had a great year for STL in 05. That's a shrewd pickup.

The Yankees signed Kei Igawa, 5 years 20 million The price is right, 5 years is a bit long for a gamble, but even if he falters in NY he'll have decent trade value, ala Irabu and Contreras. I don't like the idea of trading Melky to Atlanta. Gonzalez would be a nice player to have, but he's had some arm troubles. I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world though. I think from Cashman's POV he doesn't see Melky becoming a starter for a couple years and it's better to get good value for him than have an overqualified 4th OF (with Tabata in the farm system) and it also gives him an excuse to bring Bernie back for another year. I think Cabrera is going to be a really solid player though, the Yankees can use his defense and squeeze 300-350 ABs out of him by giving Damon, Matsui and Abreu regular rest/DH time. If it were up to me I'd keep Melky. Bring Bernie back too, but in the Ruben Sierra pinch hitter/occasional DH/emergency OF role. He's still good at the plate and great in the clubhouse, but he really shouldn't be a regular in the field.

I bet Melo and Robinson get 10 games each This was awesome. The Knicks should be fighting with people every night. Isiah Thomas blamed it on George Karl for leaving his starters in too long. HA!

http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=1768

Howard has a horrible assist-TO ratio and shoots .66% from the line. He's a beast, but he's not winning an MVP award yet. And Orlando has lost 5 of their last 7, they're coming back to earth. If you want to bring a newcomer into the MVP argument, how about Carmelo Anthony? Denver has the same winning % as Orlando in a much tougher conference, he's scoring 31 pts a night on 50% shooting, putting up 8 or 9 FTs a night and actually making 80% of them, and in the top 15 in steals. He'd get my vote before Howard, as would both Wade and LeBron.

How long til the Andrew Clay inspired publicity shots?

Jorge Posada and...

James Posey (1 yr, 6.5 mil) and Jason Williams (2 yr, 8.5 mil) would give Philly some cap relief, and the contracts match up enough to make a deal possible, but Miami doesn't have the young players or high picks that the 6ers want. I don't think Dorrell Wright, Wayne Simeon and a high teens-mid 20's pick cut it. They're going to have to involve a non-playoff team to facilitate a deal, though the problem then becomes what would that 3rd team get in return for giving up a lottery pick in what projects to be a stacked draft? How about this, done using ESPN's trade machine? Miami gets: Allen Iverson Portland gets: James Posey, Kevin Ollie, Dorell Wright, cash Philadelphia gets: Jason Williams, Darius Miles, Jamaal Magloire, Portland #1 pick, Miami #1 pick Philly gets one big expiring contract (Magloire, 8.5 mil), one that expires after 07-08 (Williams, 8.25 per), a lottery pick from Portland and a mid first rounder from Miami. They'd have to take on Miles' albatross, but after clearing over 30 million in cap space between Magloire, Williams and Webber it won't look so bad. Portland swaps for a couple expiring contracts (Posey and Ollie), gets a promising young player (Wright) and finally finds a taker for the untradeable Miles.

John Stockton and Gary Payton would disagree

Isn't West going to retire in a year or two? And really, it isn't the Czar's fault that Memphis is so bad. Not only is Pau Gasol hurt but they traded Shane Battier for a rookie who was woefully inconsistent in college (and has been more of the same in the pros), Damon Stoudamire is coming off major knee surgery at age 33, Eddie Jones is 35 and his game has been in decline for a few years now....and then you consider the quality of the other teams in the West, it shouldn't be a shock to anyone that they're at the bottom of the conference.

http://asher.baseballevolution.com/bagwellconspiracy.html

It's all about ZIPPY

Is that THE John Ennis?!!?

He's on a hunting trip. After that he takes a physical before the deal becomes official, so not til next week.

Just to throw a new name out there, Marcus Williams... I thought pre-season that Brandon Roy would have the best career, but with this lingering foot injury I'm getting worried about his durability. Morrison will be a 20 pt scorer in the league, but he'll never be the 'next Bird' that some people tagged him as. How about JJ Redick?

The Celtics were the closest in the offseason and I still think they have the best odds. Something like Ratliff, Gerald Green, Delonte West and a draft pick would make sense for both clubs.

Y'all are just mad cuz I'm in first place