ZoomSlowik

Here is the roster for League #1: 1) Knightni- commish Cellmates 2) Southsider2k5 Southside Hoosiers 3) Kalapse The Black Ichiro 4) Rock Raines Babybearhater 5) Steve9347 Steve9347 6) DBaho DBAH0's Destroyers 7) Sox1422 sox1422 8) The Bones The Bones Malones 9) whitesoxin' whitesoxin' 10) Soxbadger Badger's Black Sox 11) ZoomSlowik (that's me ) ZoomSlowik 12) TRU A Tribute to Kalapse Knightni, you can go ahead and take over this thread now...

Alright, I've got the league rosters organized. I had to fudge things a bit, but I have 5 full leagues right now. I will be posting the rosters in their own league threads shortly, take a look to see where you are. I've notified the commisioners, so setup should start in a fairly timely fashion. Some of you are in more than one league, you know who you are. Unfortunately, I had a few too many players and could not get everyone into a league at this point. The following people are on the waiting list, and will get first crack at a new league: soxfan3530 soxpride77 DVsoxfan Bo Knows rackemup Strangesox Signups are still open. Anyone that hasn't already registered can still join, and anyone that wants an additional team can register to get another one. Good luck and have fun!

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Feb 17, 2007 -> 12:31 AM) You can start up leagues now as well. Unfortunately, we're not quite ready to go. Some of the rosters are close, but I'm still waiting to see how many returning players we have. Hopefully we'll be ready to go by Monday.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 15, 2007 -> 04:52 PM) Where are we on this? There are two people I'm still waiting to hear from, so our roster is entirely set yet. Once it is, I'll set up the league and get things going.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 02:37 PM) I like how what everybody posts is fairly predictable according to what team they root for. Hey, I'm neutral, NU isn't going anywhere.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 02:30 PM) Yea, I guess I just fail to see why the Big Ten should be given more than three considering how competitive the ACC, SEC, and Big East have been. I mean, come on, Michigan St/Michigan last night, live on national television and each team has 36 points approaching 10:00 minutes left in the second half? Come on. I love IU, as diehard as they come, but the Big Ten as a whole hasn't impressed me much. I don't think anyone is saying that they deserve 7 or 8, but I don't see how you can say that the 4th team in the Big Ten is worse than the 7th best team in some of these other conferences. There's still a giant mess in the middle of those other conferences getting all those bids, the only difference is that all of them are getting in in this scenario. How can you honestly say that 4 ACC teams that are .500 or worse deserve to be in the tourney? Or how a conference that has basically been crap outside of Florida deserves 3 more bids? It's certainly not a good year for the Big Ten, but leaving the 4th Big Ten team out over so many other mediocre teams borders on criminal...

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 02:24 PM) Look at the break down fo that bracket: ACC- 8 Big East- 7 SEC- 6 21 out of 64 teams from the east coast. 1/3 of the entire bracket. What's worse is Florida State was the last team out... That is total crap, I don't see how Georgia, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Louisville and Alabama ALL get in and the 4th place Big Ten team (whoever it turns out to be) doesn't. I could buy a handful of them, but not all of that group. Of course his defense will be "I just go by what the numbers give me, and right now this is what would happen". That's why projecting brackets at this point is kind of pointless, there are still SOOO many potential changes.

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) Go Depaul.. Keep Kansas in the Chicago pod. Hey, if they can beat all-mighty Kansas, who knows what can happen.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 13, 2007 -> 05:15 PM) Oden would fill a huge need for the Bulls. In fact I will say that i think he is better than Ben Wallace, right now. I would definitely say that's true. Oden is bigger and is actually a threat on offense, and is probably on about the same level defensively.

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Feb 12, 2007 -> 12:07 PM) Should I start a league or just wait for an invite? Just wait, I'll have things set up eventually, just trying to get a feel for where I need to put the new guys after I know where I have returning players and where I need people.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Feb 11, 2007 -> 06:36 PM) I'll be in the leagues I was in last year, League #1, the Keeper League, and Walleye's League. Can't remember if there was another. Walleye actually ran the league last year? I never got any info on that at all. Who else was in it?

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 03:00 PM) Really isn't much else to say. I've been optimistic about this team from the start, with the mindset that while we'll be an awful team this year, we're heading the right direction something that wasn't the case in years past. Good convo. They do have a decent chance to be good in the near future. Pierce and Jefferson already looks like a nice foundation, and they have a very good chance to add Oden or Durant. Even if they get screwed in the lottery, someone like Brandan Wright, Horford or Noah would be a nice addition. One major problem that I see is Wally Sczcerbiak. He's a one-dimensional player with an awful contract, and it looks like you guys are stuck with him for several more years. He's also a real detriment to their development as a team as he eats up valuable minutes on the wing that should be going to Green (that's killing my fantasy team ), and it'll get A LOT worse if they end up with Durant. He's got to go if they want to succeed. Even if they could get something like PJ Brown and Malik Allen from the Bulls (note: I am NOT endorsing this deal AT ALL) that'd give them some much needed cap relief to possibly add a good free agent (Mike Bibby might be available, and some other lofty targets would be Billups, Carter, Lewis, or a more realistic target might be Mo Williams). I might even package some of those non-essential youngsters to get it done (ie Rondo or Telfair, Perkins, maybe Gomes, though I'd try to avoid that). I actually would kind of like to see the Celtics good again, it's disgusting how bad they've been of late given their rich tradition.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 02:23 PM) I stopped reading after you threw Tony Allen under a bus. You clearly don't watch enough Celtic basketball, which to be honest, I don't blame you for. This losing streak started when Allen went down. He's an Artest like defender and a better shooter. He doesn't have the size or strength that Artest has, but he's very comparable. Also, the Ratliff situation. He's signed for one more year. I imagined the deal taking place this offseason which means it would be expiring at the end of the season. Even if the trade were to be made near the deadline this year, a guy with only one more year left on his deal when guys like Brad Miller and Shareef Abdur-Rahim have 3+ makes a whole lot of sense. Basically. When talking about the Celtics. I'd rate Jefferson, Green, and Allen as great young talents. Gomes, Rondo, West, and Perkins as good talents who haven't been able to show consistency. Allen is decent, but he's far from an elite piece. He's a mediocre scorer, and though he's a good defensive player you're going a little nuts there. He's not a difference maker, he's a glue-guy on a good team, which generally has little value in trades. At the end of the season that would be another story with Ratliff, but Gasol would likely be gone by then, and who knows about Bibby. Mid-season he's going to have little value, because while the contracts of those guys might be longer, they're also actually useful players at this point in their careers. They're also making considerably less money per year (Rahim is at about 6, Miller at about 9, Ratliff at about 12), so the short-term cost in money and cap flexibility negates a lot of the value of the future savings. It also makes the actual deal harder to pull off because the salaries on each side have to be withing 125% of each other. Allen is far from a "great" young talent. He's not a guy with All-star potential by any stretch of the imagination. If he can't get over 25 minutes per game for these depleted Celtics, how good can he really be? Green does have a lot of talent, but he's just not a center-piece for a major deal yet. Rondo still needs some work before he can be considered a good trading chip as well, and Perkins needs MAJOR improvement to get his stock back to anywhere near what it was coming into the draft (plus if I'm not mistaken this is his last year on his rookie deal). I'd guess that it's MUCH more likely that they stand pat and see what happens in the lottery. If they get Oden or Durant they might move some pieces to build around a Pierce/Jefferson/Oden or Durant trio, though I doubt it'd be a blockbuster move since that'd be 3 of their 4 major trading chips staying put, with Green having by far the lowest value of that group right now.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 01:56 PM) As I said, the Bulls have some excellent young talent. However, if were talking about trades and being realistic in the process. The Bulls shouldn't trade Luol Deng, shouldn't trade Kirk Hinrich, shouldn't trade Ben Gordon (who I would give up in a heartbeat) or else the nucleus of that team will be disrupted. The Celtics won't trade Jefferson but beyond that, when talking about a realistic trade, the Celtics have more young talent able to be used as bait without disrupting the nucleus of the team. Point in case, the Bibby example I gave. P.S. Where are you seeing that Jefferson would have to be included in talks with Memphis? Throughout the summer when talks of Bibby first started, and from the draft until the night Iverson was traded Jefferson's name was never involved. I'd say at this point Pierce is traded before Jefferson, which is tough to say because Pierce is my all time favorite basketball player. The problem is that NONE of those guys has anywhere near enough value to complete a trade for a player of that caliber except for Jefferson. Also, Boston doesn't have a sizeable expiring contract, which hurts their ability to make a deal. Whatever team got Ratliff would be stuck with him for an extra year. It's not that easy to just add money to a deal for Boston because of the large number of cheap youngsters of varying talent that they have. Your Bibby deal is extremely unlikely. You're not going to get a good starter for one passable PG, another backup PG, a highly paid stiff with a non-expiring contract, and a future pick unless Sacramento gets seriously desperate. That deal doesn't help them unless that pick gets very high value, which would be a lot less likely with Bibby/Pierce/Jefferson/this year's pick in Boston. It would likely take at least one of Jefferson or this year's pick, or possibly something like Green, Gomes or West and a future un-protected pick. Guys like Telfair, Allen, and Perkins just don't have a whole lot of value, and even Gomes and West aren't stellar. They're going to have to sacrifice at least one of Jefferson, Green, or the pick to even get close to getting something done for Gasol or Bibby, and even then unless it's Jefferson the Bulls can likely beat it by giving up one of Deng/Gordon/Hinrich (though the last one would be tough with the poison-pill clause in his contract), or possibly something like Nocioni/Thomas (or possible Sefolosha)/Brown/future pick (or likely the Knicks' pick if it's Sef). I first saw that Memphis deal in a Sporting News article, but if you look hard enough you can find it in a lot of places. It's not a proposed deal, it's what it would likely take to make it happen. Considering that Memphis' original asking price for the Bulls was Deng AND Gordon, I don't see Boston getting away with much less if they want to get it done, especially without an expiring contract. The current offer from the Bulls is supposedly Gordon, PJ Brown (large expiring contract), and either a future pick or the Knicks' pick with top-2 protection, so about the only way Boston would beat that is with a package like was mentioned. The Bulls are the only team in the league with all of the pieces that teams want: a number good young players, a large expiring contract, and a likely lottery pick. They easily have the best chance of making a deal if they chose to go that route.

If they really had as much good young talent as you claim their record wouldn't be so crappy. Not having Pierce is counter-acted by the crap-tacular division that they play in. Jefferson and Green are really the only exceptionally talented ones, and the latter still needs at least another year before he takes off, he needs to work on his shot selection. The rest of them are decent but not stellar, especially when you consider how much more playing time they've been getting with Pierce and Sczcerbiak missing so much time. Teams aren't exactly going to be beating down Boston's door to give up stars and high picks for those guys. Besides, the long rumored deal for Gasol to Boston is Jefferson, the pick, and Ratliff, and I can't imagine it'd be THAT much less for Bibby. That doesn't exactly leave you as much as you seem to think it would, though Gasol and Pierce still might be enough. Boston might have more young players, but when you throw in "good" young talent, the Bulls have to be considered better since they are actually winning games.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 10:50 PM) Then we go reverse alphabetically to determine the winner. Sweet, my screen name is finally paying off.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 03:58 PM) 2nd time in two days I've seen a bracket that has Texas in the 8/9 game. I'm sitting here dumbfounded. I mean honestly, what have they done to get in the tournament(for those keeping score at home, the answer is nothing)? And why such a high seed if you do put them in? If you're a major conference team you're rarely going to get lower than a 10 seed (though A&M did it last year). That'd just be super-bogus for some 5-seed, they're still a lot stronger than a good chunk of the mid-majors. If you're someone like Indiana or USC, don't you think they'd much rather play someone like UNLV than Durant and the Longhorns in the first round? The bubble teams from major conferences usually fall in the 8-10 range so they're playing a similar team to them in the first round and get one of the big boys in the second round. QUOTE(thedoctor @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 03:39 PM) i think nw is kind of going by the same philosophy the football academies use in football. since you aren't going to bring in top talent, introduce a system that could get you some wins against teams that can't figure it out. Yeah, they pretty much have to use that right now to stay competitive (or at least somewhat competitive). Even with their god-awful talent level they didn't get totally destroyed by OSU or Wisconsin at home. I wish they'd speed it up and try to run more against some of these little-sisters-of-the-poor teams that they play out of conference though since it keeps them in the game too when it probably shouldn't. Some quick-hitters out of it would be nice too, they often get in trouble when it gets down to 10, or when the ball gets knocked out of bounds with like 12 seconds left, or if they get pressed. Still, it's better than losing games like 80-40 on a regular basis... Plus there are other stronger teams that run it like Georgetown, West Virginia and Air Force they just actually have athletes and/or guys that can shoot. I am not a fan of the 1-3-1 defense though. That creates some absolutely awful matchups inside. A high-low offense can just destroy it, because they'll be swarming the guy in the high post while the guy on the low block is covered by a guard (since the low man has to cover both corners). It also hurts their rebounding. Plus they still allow the other team to get a ton of open 3's. I'd rather see them play a 2-3 so they can pack it in a little more and actually have a chance on the glass.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 10:41 PM) Losing Nick Young is really going to hurt though, he's my favorite non-UNC player in the nation. Amazingly under-rated by the public before this year. O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson give them a hell of an influx of talent to make up for that though. Plus Young is only a junior, so there is a chance he'll be back, even if it might be kinda slim.

Tywon Lawson is becoming one of my favorite college players. He's just so quick, he can do anything he wants. That guy is going to be a monster if he sticks around a few years, though this is a weak PG class so his stock might end up high enough when the year is over for him to go.

QUOTE(AssHatSoxFan @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 08:42 PM) yeah...i was surprised to see them take so many bad shots since the Princeton offense usually relies on running the clock and looking for the good passes and whatnot I can tell you haven't watched this year's version of the Northwestern Wildcats very often. Seriously, they are really bad. Coble is decent, and Doyle keeps using his vodoo magic to score points in the post at 6'5" with no athleticism. Outside of that, they really struggle to get good shots, and even when they get them they often miss them.

Realistically at least to start the year the first three appear to be the only legit choices, and the general consensus seems to be that Danks isn't quite ready yet. That leaves Floyd and Haeger, and they seem to be more enamored with the former.

I would keep the following: C - Brian McCann 1B - Adam Dunn 2B - Jose Lopez SS - Jose Reyes MI - Hanley Ramirez RF - Jeff Francoeur CF - Rocco Baldelli OF - Alexis Rios UTIL - Edwin Encarnacion UTIL - BJ Upton SP - Mark Prior SP - C.C. Sabathia SP - Matt Cain P - Daniel Cabrera P- Zach Greinke Minors 1 - Justin Upton 2 - Alex Gordon 3 - Mike Pelfrey 4 - Cameron Maybin The last few are toss-ups because your depth isn't very impressive, but that's probably what I'd do. I'd seriously try to trade Hanley, you could probably get good value for him and you could really use a good OF or a SP. That bench is awful, and there's no real reason to keep relievers until they become closers, and even then they better be good ones. Those minor leaguers are sick, keeping any 3 of those 4 would be good. Gordon is a must, and Upton is a future stud, though it'll take him a while to get to the majors.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Feb 6, 2007 -> 10:43 PM) Air Force getting rocked by a talented SDSU team. Maybe the Aztecs are finally starting to wake up. The Aztecs have been one of my favorite mid-majors all year, unfortunately they just haven't been playing to their talent. They've got quite a bit of high-major talent and would be dangerous in the tourney, I just don't know if they'll get there. That win would help though. I just don't know how a mid-major with two big men like Abukar and Habel and wing players like Heath and Wade can be so unimpressive for long stretches.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 6, 2007 -> 09:41 PM) Even worse yet, I'm behind you. Actually, you're tied with me now. Honestly, I thought you'd smoke me in that category...

QUOTE(Soxy @ Feb 6, 2007 -> 09:32 PM) Don't worry, I haven't won anything either. We should start the "Always smile when someone else wins" group. I'm, like, one of 3 girls on this site and every damn year I lose "person to have a drink with" to Flaxx. Come on! I'm a girl! And he would talk about science the whole time (okay, I would too, but I'M A GIRL). Could be worse, you're tied with me right now. That's really sad.