Precious Roy

Yeah, you meant 300th with LA, he's got well over 800 total

Only 300 for Phil??!? I would have figured he had more than that by now, especially with the 72 win season tossed in... Knicks got RAPED by the Hawks, 5th straight loss. WFAN tonight is busy writing the obituary on everyone involved with the team sans Frye

what's the difference?

Marbury gets a bad rap, but when you make that kind of money and your nickname is "Starbury" it comes with the territory. He's definitely a guy who, like someone said, needs to be playing alongside a top tier superstar to be totally effective. If he'd have stayed in Minnesota we wouldn't be having this conversation. Kidd also had Kerry Kittles, who had missed the entire 00-01 season. Richard Jefferson wasn't anything special in his rookie year, neither was Collins (Todd McCulloch was the man!) but Kittles was huge that season, not quite as invaluable as K-Mart, but right up there. Kidd carried those teams though, Marbury couldn't have done that.

I just went to basketballboards.net and the delusional Pacer fans think they're getting Odom and Bynum

I feel bad for the Pacers fans, but y'all ain't getting anything close to equal talent back for Artest. I mean, talent-wise he's absolutely one of the top guys in the league, but his baggage is going to make him very unattractive. Not only is he a dangerous headcase, but there's a good chance he alienates his teammates, plus with the public demand/placing him on the inactive list they have no leverage. Someone mentioned Odom, lmao, there is NO way that would happen. No fucking way. Phil Jackson loves Lamar, he hits the board hard on a team that's weak inside, It makes absolutely no sense for the Lakers. Someone mentioned the Grizzlies. Ok, lets say Bird would jump on a straight up deal for Battier (he would), there's absolutely no fucking way that would happen. You might be able to get Mike Miller and a draft pick. Richard Jefferson?!?!?!??!?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?! You can't be serious.... Really, this is going to end up being addition by subtraction. I'm thinking Artest will pull a few role players, a few picks, or a crapshoot on a guy with talent who hasn't put it all together and isn't a good fit on his current team. A trade for Peja IMO is the best you can hope for. Unless of course Isiah Thomas makes one of his brilliant moves and trades Marbury for him, but I really don't see that happening. LB is not confident enough in a Robinson/Crawford duo, two scorers, to run his offense. If they could get Artest for something like Ariza/Q-Rich/draft picks they'd do it. Guys like Jackson, Jones, Granger and Jasikevicius are going to have to step up and replace Artest's production, because nobody who can come close to doing what he does on both ends is coming back. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, just being realistic, anyone with Odom/Jefferson expectations is going to be really disapointed.

the right price being what, league minimum? Brown was an extreme groundball pitcher, but I would have serious doubts about him getting back to that form. With his back as screwed up as it is, he couldn't bend enough to keep his pitches down, everything hung, he gave up a lot of smashed ground ball and line drive hits. The best hope with him is finding a miracle cure for his back. Whatever team signs him should force him to try Yoga, among other things....

Los Guerreros gets a freebie this week, I left LeBron, Camby, Battier and Billups on the bench from Friday to today, including THIS .655 .900 5 52 7 7 2 0 from LeBron

If we trade Pavano for Wilkerson in some fashion, the Rangers basically traded A-Rod for Pavano

PARTY AT MY PLACE!

lolololololololololololololol - Brad Wilkerson, when healthy, is an awesome player. He was playing with a bum shoulder last season IIRC, but he has the potential to absolutely tear it up at Arlington. I like Soriano and all, but that's an awesome deal for the Rangers. - I also really like the Brewers chances to make some noise next year. I think they could have made out better in trading Overbay, but they seem to do real well with their pitchers, so who knows. I love the trade for Toronto, Overbay/Hillenbrand/Koskie is a good trio of workman type players, and it gives them some flexibility at the corner spots/DH. I wouldn't be surprised to see Shea moved, but for a team that has spent a ton of money on pitching and done nothing to upgrade the offense this was a smart move. - Damien Jackson is now the full-time 2B for San Diego I assume? He had his moments when Loretta was out last year. Greene/Jackson is a talented young middle infield. San Diego needs to add a few more pieces, a solid #2 wouldn't hurt, but they still look like a contender in the West to me.

People don't seem to realize that Lugo has turned into a pretty good player since arriving in Tampa Bay. He's also a proven commodity. 41 and 36 doubles the last two years, 21 and 39 steals, .765 ops last year. That's good production for a middle infielder. Marte gets a ton of hype, but who knows if that will translate into success in the bigs.

I can't believe the Red Sox got fucking Loretta for their backup catcher. He's basically a Bill Mueller clone, so he'll fit their lineup perfectly, definite upgrade over Bellhorn/that scrub they had down the stretch last year. I'll give them credit, they've made a totally smooth transition without Epstein, and filled some holes on their team. Beckett, Lowell, Mota and Loretta is a pretty nice haul, and they'll probably bring Damon back. I never thought I'd say this, but I have interest in Corey Patterson. Moreso I have faith in Don Mattingly, worth a shot I guess. Womack for Patterson?

You'll just smoke anything in a black pack, huh? I love Periques, but I only know of a few places that sell them, so I usually just get the blues. American spirit pouches will save you a ton of cash though, if you don't mind rolling your own (which I don't). And what is it, 10 packs in a carton? $6 and 5 UPCs (of any brand) isn't bad when you figure it would cost close to $60 for all those packs

To add to the 100's discussion earlier, men who smoke 100's look femme as fuck, and are inviting themselves to much derision, and a possible stomping. I had a roommate who used to smoke 100's, and if I ever bummed one off him I'd either cut a 3/4 inch or whatever off the end, or just bust down the whole thing and roll it in a paper. My advice to 100 smokers who like that they last longer: SMOKE AMERICAN SPIRITS! They'll burn longer than ANY 100 you can find, fuckers will burn for 10 minutes if you're sleeping on it, they're organically produced (none of those nasty chemicals and foreign substances that are the worst thing about brands like Marlboro and Camel), just pure delicious tobacco http://www.nascigs.com/ they'll send you a free carton

around 13mil

And I say so what? He's a great coach. His players always praise him, even the ones he has little spats with. He's got a public persona, he's got an ego, he's a little eccentric, big deal, a lot of great coaches are like that. The older ex-players especially. He gets on his guys, he gets them to shoulder the blame when things don't work? Yeah. You know what else he does, he gives them all the credit in the world when things do work, unlike some coaches who alienate their players with arrogance and aloofness. A traditional post player is an axis. Traditional post play is the foundation of international basketball. I'm not talking about guys getting the ball, backing down, and making a move. That's NBA post. I'm talking about a presence down low, or at the high post, that allows you to pass the ball in and out. It's the only way to beat a zone defense, where the post is most valuable as a facilitator of offense, rather than an initatiator. Duncan can do that, he's great at that, but that's where the lack of shooters comes in. In the Olympics the defense would collapse on him, because they knew when he threw it back out the US perimiter players would dribble drive, which gives them time to recover. I saw a lot of US guys driving into congested lanes, biting the trap that other teams were setting. No pure shooters to keep the D honest, guys like Iverson, Marbury and Wade always have to dribble a bit and step into their shot.

In the old thread Al seemed to think Farnsworth will be ok. I have some doubts, but hey, it's a worth a shot. We know he's got killer stuff. I was listening to Mike and the Mad Dog today, and they just shit all over the signing. Of course, they didn't offer any better ideas...

yeah, you're right. I've been drinking Now they're saying Dodgers have offered 3 years/40mil for Furcal. TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, RAFFI!

You can't move Chacon to the pen. He was easily our best starter in August and September, and there's no reason to think he can't continue that success in 06. I don't think Wright will have success as a reliever, but out of the starters he should be the guy who makes that move.

The Angels signed Hector Carrasco for 2/6.1mil, and plan on having him compete for a starting job. Baseball fans across America respond with, "Who?" The Phillies released the Keiper-pimped Pedro Liriano, and signed Franklin Perez Supposedly the Yankees are interested in Julian Tavarez. He pitched well in 03/04, but his numbers declined last season. I get the feeling they're going to overpay for him

Comparing TO to Larry Brown is a POORLY CONSTRUCTED comparison. Is that better? And don't call me kid, old man. Now, onto more important things. Larry Brown didn't LIE about the Cavs contacting him to anyone who actually mattered, way to twist the facts. HE TOLD THE MEDIA "NO COMMENT," said he wouldn't discuss anything til the season was over. That's a huge difference. Joe Dumars knew what was up, it wasn't the public or media's right to know at that point in time. And it was them being entered into the loop that caused the biggest distraction. Was Brown wrong to even entertain the Cavs' offer? Probably, but it's not like he was really getting down to negotiations or anything, it was a flirtation, and if it hadn't leaked it would have been harmless. Plus, the Pistons had already decided that Brown wasn't coming back, and Brown knew that. And he wasn't in any negotiations with the Knicks til after the Playoffs, so I don't see what that has to do with anything. The Cavs were the team that contacted Brown during the playoffs, not the Knicks. I'm not a homer, Brown's been coaching my team for a month, he's done nothing to endear himself to me yet, I'm just seeing a lot of BULLSHIT being floated out here about the guy. Just noticed you're from Michigan. Bet you loved Brown when he won that trophy for your boys, didn't you? Now you're buying into all the Detroit hate, all the media spin, first in line to slag him. Who's the homer?

Oh, and George Lynch had DNPs in games 1, 2 and 3, and played 8 and 6 minutes respectively in games 4 and 5, so you're just pulling shit out of your ass there

Do it! I'm totally down on Henn after last year's debacle, and after two years in the pen Proctor has looked pretty unremarkable. If they get great on Florida, oh well, those are the breaks. Pierre isn't the ideal CF, but he's sure as hell better than Bubba Crosby.