Fökai

No pick.

I need a sack machine, and here he is... Defensive end - Neil Smith. Twelve seasons. 105 sacks. 12 fumble recoveries. 4 INT's. 6 Pro Bowls. NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.

If any teams go dead, I'd like to take them so they aren't "dumped" back into the players' pool. Hell, I have free time for the next few months.

Haha, I was wondering why the Pacers took Bayless. I thought that was just the quintessential "fuck you" to Tinsley.

Sacramento had to take a big man who can finish at the hoop, says Coach Theus. I don't know what that makes Spencer Hawes, Brad Miller, SAR, Mikki Moore, Lorenzen Wright and Shelden Williams then. Sure, only a few of those guys have an offensive skillset, but when will Thompson even get a chance to play? Hawes didn't even get 15 minutes a game last season. Get a fucking point guard, guys. Francisco Garcia as a combo guard is not the solution. Don't worry, if you've ever seen any LSU game, guy's already got the "sad look" down to a tee. It's not even intentional either -- guy could have a 25+ pt night, and he's still on the bench with a look as if his dog was just shot at halfcourt.

The conditional pick is lottery-protected. Isn't the bottom of this draft strong? Couldn't the Hornets and Nuggets use these picks?

The point of the Heat trade is Wilcox's contract. His contract, at the least, clears enough space next summer to re-sign Marion and make a run at a decent point or center, whichever they don't draft on Thursday.

All I can come up with are Seinfeld and Eddie Murphy, but no one will come close to the previous three in terms of influence. It's a strange thing when comedians from different generations all have the same influences, and it goes back to the original three.

The other rumor of note right now is Miami sending Blount and the #2 to Seattle for Wilcox and the #4, where we will then see the Sonics draft Beasley and the Heat draft either Mayo, Bayless, Westbrook or Brook Lopez. That's a great trade for both teams.

Carmelo at the 4? Holy shit, I am watching every U.S. game this time around. Howard and Boozer will be looking to shank Melo by the second quarter. And Tayshaun can't get away with a 4 in international play. He couldn't get away with it in a rec league. I agree with Rip that he's a better option than Melo for this team, but he isn't the "name" that Melo is to get the seal of approval from fans. Prince and Chandler on the same court poses trouble for any team, and that's just your bench players if LeBron and Boozer get in foul trouble. I just hope that Melo fails and pouts so he doesn't get on the 2010/2012 team. He's a liability on both ends when his shot decides not to fall, because he's still demanding the ball shooting 2-12 or whatever it may be. I'd love to see him prove me wrong this summer, but he won't.

Tayshaun is not even going to play unless it's in garbage time - he's on the depth chart behind LeBron and Melo. They need Chandler WAY more than they do Prince. What a waste of a roster spot.

Food poisoning is absolutely the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life - there are fewer than ten instances in which I can recall vomiting (pretty much all alcohol-related), but at least those headaches subsided. I estimated projectile vomiting TWENTY-FIVE TIMES in a three hour bout with food poisoning, where the subject of said food poisoning (chinese noodles) exited after the second or third time around. That left the remaining instances to consist of blood and some type of clear oil-like fluid that I never knew existed in my body. I had contemplated ending my life bashing my head against the base of my toilet, but I stopped after seeing double. They said a mild concussion. But...at least the burning in my chest subsided.

It's not worth fretting over a sport that only deserves attention for just four tournaments a year. I was going to make a big argument about Tiger being the most dominating "sports person" (so I could avoid the athlete debate) at his/her sport, but like golf, no one's going to care about this thread in a few days.

Do you agree that golf is a sport? In the scope of what?

I promise you'll get your money with just the F4W content. I genuinely believe the biggest sell to prospective subscribers should be the back-issue archive of Observers that will slowly be added over time. The archive of F4W newsletters is already pretty comprehensive, but we're talking about Observers dating back to 1991 (it was typewritten prior to that, which will be harder to transcribe obviously). Great news.

The F4W/Observer merger is pretty big news in the context of the IWC. If you haven't already signed up for F4W, now you're officially out of excuses (that is, if you have PayPal or a means of sending payments). Both newsletters online as they go to print and now, at least three weekly audio shows with both Alvarez and Meltzer.

But the big stink is being made about Van Gundy even mentioning the referee's comments -- as if the the NBA fined him because he was a conspiracy theorist. As a coach myself, I have had to ask a referee to target a player for throwing weakside elbows and illegal screens. When the opposing coach complained about a subsequent call to his player for a high elbow, the referee later told me that he told the coach he was watching that player from there on in. This is common in all levels of basketball. I can't believe that Van Gundy wouldn't even be allowed to talk about that type of targeting. It doesn't seem like a conspiracy - just the NBA using a fire extinguisher where there was no fire. That was a ridiculous fine for what JVG actually did.

Garnett took himself out of the game when he kept going back to his jumper. Odom struggled to defend him even with bad shot selection, and he's going to stay in foul trouble all series long if he's going to defend that and give up a rebound being out of position. Give Garnett his points out of the paint and hope he doesn't wise up and realize he can terrorize the Lakers' frontline 3-5 feet from the basket.

Thank god -- Pau Gasol would have about 30 rebounds by now. I've never seen a team this bad at rebounding schemes, so late in the playoffs. Everyone in that frontcourt just has no idea when the shot is going up. Kobe, Fisher and Sasha have been reduced to jump-shots, which you would think would help guys like Gasol, Odom and Turiaf get in front of fucking non-jumping P.J. Brown. Just a bad performance all around. How has Sam Cassell regressed into such a black hole on offense? He looked damn good in Los Angeles last season and I had figured he would translate well to Boston.

The Clippers backcourt is ass - they have to be desperate by now. Their offense is forced to revolve around Brand's low-post game, Thornton's mid-range game and Maggette getting to the basket. That would be fine for a team to contend, but Brand is standing in front of Thornton, Maggette is streaky and Kaman can't be counted on to take over a game. That is why they need a solid guard(s). Do you honestly need to guard Dan Dickau or Brevin Knight? The fuck are they going to do? Brand is certainly going for a 1 and 2 if Livingston still hasn't improved physically (and mentally). I'd think an offer of Hinrich and Gordon/Hughes would pique the Clips' interest. That's certainly not the best offer out there talent-wise, but there are very few teams that can move a Hinrich-caliber point and replace him the way the Bulls can with Rose. Hughes' contract would be a nice piece to hold onto since the Clips don't have a lot of players under contract past 2009 (four by my count: Thornton, Thomas, Kaman and Mobley). A frontcourt of Thornton, Kaman and Maggette is still pretty formidable, and a solid backcourt would make them dangerous.

I'd like to take the 20th slot if Goblin doesn't want it. It''s quite alright if he takes it, though.

Most players do it just because it is legal to do so. The worst thing that'll happen within the current rule is a blocking foul when you're on defense. A best-case scenario is what happened to Rasheed for calling out Pierce on that ridiculous flop. Pierce nearly got a suspension out of Wallace, too. Just the fear of fines and possible suspensions will stop most of the league from flopping.

About 90% of the league is. I can give you a list of 10-15 guys this rule is designed to curb flopping from. Pierce is on this list.

Chauncey Billups is now his own best defender.

The two teams that would also be attractive for James would be New Jersey and Chicago. The Knicks better be on the cusp of something success-wise when they make a pitch for LeBron, or they're going to be left in the dust by Jersey and Chicago's rebuilding projects. EDIT: I think it was Pat Forde who just mentioned Durant, Gay and Wade being "mesmerized" by Jay-Z's presence at the lottery.