ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 19, 2013 -> 07:33 PM) Sigh, I remember posting a question about whether he'll be drafted next year. He was good against Ohio State but he's just been dreadful the last 2 weeks. I still wouldn't mind the Bears taking him in the 7th or as an UDFA. It started in the second half against OSU when they realized he can't handle pressure. He threw a horrific pick deep in their own territory and they stalled two other times with him (plus another time when he came in after NU got a first and goal). Lawrence's catch and run prevented it from being a complete disaster.

So, if Trevor Simien is NU's starting quarterback, bet big against them. Awful.

Survival missions are awesome in GTA Online. They're fun, you get a s*** load of rep (or whatever they call XP) and if you're with good people you can make a bunch of money. I've made like 50 or 60k just doing this tonight.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 03:46 PM) Oh mother f***er. The "Violent Duct" exploit missions has been used by so many people....except me. Someone even found a glitch to complete the mission in 15 seconds. That's $9000 in 15 seconds. And now they've patched it out. So now we have a GTA Online world where a lot of people have over a half a million dollars or even a couple million from using that exploit, and the rest of us are dirt poor. Or, if you are like me, you've planned on making that easy money, so you spent a large portion of what you had. I just dropped like $25K in to beefing up a car, and now I am back down to 60K. f***ing s***. I guess everyone is going to be getting 500k because of all the server f***ups, so there's that...

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 11, 2013 -> 08:45 AM) It's a team with slow and old players run by a rookie head coach who is going to want to run, run, run. It's a perfect recipe for poor defense, fatigue, and injuries. Hell, the Knicks might be better. If you want to talk about a team that can space the floor and drill it from 3, that is the team that can do it. And they still get rolled by the Heat. I just don't think Pierce and Garnett are a good fit schematically on that team. Take those 2 (and Terry, I guess) away from the Nets, and you are looking at a team that suffered a 1st round loss to a rather pedestrian Bulls team, yet suddenly, yet somehow Old Man Pierce and Denture Adventure Garnett are going to push them into a top 3 team in the league? You're crazy. Ugh, the Knicks. I'm sorry, you're just not a threat when your 2-4 scorers in some order are JR Smith, Andrea Bargnani and Ray Felton. It's not like they play any D outside of Chandler and Shumpert either (well, I guess Artest in the right matchups). I'd guess under 50 wins for the Knicks if the East wasn't complete trash below #5.

When you make Brandon Jacobs look like a legitimate running back, your defense is playing like s***.

Last note: I'm not saying the Nets are definitively out of the picture. I definitely think they're better than the rest of the East. What I said was I have to see how it works before I put them above one of the other three "contenders" in the East. I have considerably more faith in the Bulls and Pacers (and obviously the Heat).

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 09:39 PM) lol@make them sweat. Stop with the 1992 Knicks nonsense. 37-year old KG makes the same difference defensively as prime KG - just in 30 minutes instead of 40. Which is why the Nets won't win 60 games. The object is to get him through the regular season healthy and unleash him in the playoffs. Throw in AK and his overall versatility and Pierce (underrated defender) and it's not hard to see a much improved d-rating. If they're not a contender, then neither are the Bulls and Pacers. I don't need to see a bad movie two/three times to come to the conclusion that it's a bad movie. The Nets are the most talented eastern conference team of the big three era. Okay, fine, the series had to go 7 games without Granger, but they have NO CHANCE of winning whatsoever. The Nets have the best "names" of the Big 3 Era. There's a difference.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 09:10 PM) Chicago and Indiana have "slowed" them down and all they've done is lose. Dallas/SA have proven what it takes to beat Miami. Fair point on their overall defensive abilities. They'll definitely be better. KG/AK alone do that. But they don't have to be a defensive juggernaut with their offensive firepower. Well no s***, you need both to actually win it all. That said, the Pacers made them sweat despite finishing 20th in offensive efficiency last year and Boston did it at 27th (albiet without Bosh). San Antonio was 7th O and 3rd D, the Mavs were 8th in both. The Nets were 17th in defensive efficiency last year, they need to move up around 10 spots to be a real threat. If you have to score 100 every game against the Heat to win, you're going to lose. Prime KG makes that big a difference no question, 37 year old KG not as much. Offense wasn't their main problem last year, they finished 8th in offensive efficiency. They'll be better, whether they're a "contender" remains to be seen.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 08:51 PM) Terry, too. They're going to stretch the s*** out of teams with their 3-point shooting. That's how you beat Miami. Slowing down Miami on defense is a much bigger part of beating/pushing them. The jury is still out on that front. Lopez is a fairly big liability at the middle of their defense and several of their other players are issues now that they're past their peak. It can't all fall on KG and AK47. They'll be an interesting team. Certainly they have offensive talent, but I need to see if they can stop people and/or keep up with more athletic teams before putting them above Chicago and Indiana.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 08:31 PM) Let me put it this way... Flip Boozer, Deng and Dunleavy for KG, Pierce and AK47 and the Bulls would probably be the favorite. The Nets aren't going to win 60 games. I'd say 55 is their ceiling (I expect 50-52). They'll be a nightmare in the postseason if reasonably healthy. Those three guys for the Nets are the only reason anyone is worried about them. Before they merged with the Celtics, the Nets lost a playoff series to a Bulls' team that was virtually playing on crutches.

If there's a Bulls/Pacers series, there's no chance the winner makes it to the Finals IMO. That would be a long, physical series, with few scores above 90.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 12:12 PM) hmmm we have a keeper league with 10 full slots. Wonder how expansion could work... Expansion would be a clusterf*** of epic proportions.

For those looking for fantasy basketball, send me a PM with the E-Mail address associated with your Yahoo account. I can't seem to figure out how to set a password (I clicked "re-new league", that might have something to do with it). I will send you an invite when I see it (usually after 7 PM Central). Keep in mind, this is an AUCTION draft. This is non-negotiable because auctions are awesome. The draft is set for Sunday October 27th at 7:45 PM. Keep in mind that auctions take longer (probably 2 and a half hours). Also, if you can't make it, PLEASE set prices for your players (it will screw things up for everyone if you don't).

So, I'm bored, my fantasy football teams suck, and it's almost NBA season. I thought I'd throw up some predictions here... West Clippers over Blazers in 5 (have the Clippers #1 due to the Spurs resting old guys and Westbrook's injury costing the Thunder a few wins) Spurs over Mavericks in 4 Thunder over Warriors in 5 Rockets over Grizzlies in 7 Clippers over Rockets in 7 Thunder over Spurs in 6 Thunder over Clippers in 5 East Heat over Cavs in 4 (going out on a limb and saying they get around 100 games combined from Varejao and Bynum. East sucks beyond the top-4) Bulls over Wizards in 5 Pacers over Hawks in 5 Nets over Knicks in 6 (obviously depends on health of Brooklyn's old dudes) Heat over Nets in 6 Bulls over Pacers in 7 Heat over Bulls in 7 Finals Heat over Thunder in 7 MVP- Durant (only because of Lebron fatigue) ROY- Trey Burke (would be Oladipo if he could start at SG) 6th man- Reggie Jackson if he qualifies Most Improved- I would say Valanciunas or Drummond, but it usually goes to guys that have slightly more NBA experience. I'll also avoid the obvious Utah guys and go with Ersan Ilyasova finally putting together a good season instead of just half of one (something like 17-9).

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 10:57 AM) I'd really like Bulls to run with a lineup of Rose-Butler-Lou-Gibson-Noah this year. Just dominating defensively (beside rose), and hopefully Rose can add the offense to make it feasible. The rebounding would be insane. Jimmy is just ridiculous on the o boards. I think a lot of Bulls' fans would like that. I know I would, Boozer's +/- stats have been terrible with the Bulls. Let him destroy fringe NBA guys with the second unit. Even if they don't make the switch, I'd like it if Taj gets closer to 30 MPG than 20.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 07:43 PM) White has had some good years off the bench and I've got a soft spot for Pittman as a fellow fatty. I thought with some work under Thibs he could be a better option than Naz. Saw him for a second pre game and he looks to be in "good shape" for him. White was never a "good" bench player. He had some passable seasons several years and a couple of teams ago. The bigger issue is that he's a PF, which doesn't help the Bulls. If they're going to play a 6'9" guy, they might as well use Taj. Pittman wasn't even that great in college and has been brutal in the NBA. I'll put it this way: the Heat cut him, and they desperately need size.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) Eric Murphy, he's a PF. Looking at the box scores I was kinda surprised to see neither Pittman nor White got any minutes, esp with Noah out...Looks like Nazy will be the backup C and Murphy will be the 5th big. Why? Both of those guys are terrible.

I started following NU in 95 when they were good. Unfortunately, I didn't get in and ended up in Champaign. I guess I still make sene though since it's local and my Mom got one of her degrees there. She donated to the school but none of us really followed the sports teams before 1995. In fairness, the football and basketball teams were both hilariously bad at that time.

honestly, the play that pissed me off the most was the 3rd and 1 after the Miller fumble. You CAN NOT run an option play with Mike Trumpy as the pitch man, especially against OSU. Of course the Buckeyes forced Colter to pitch it and Trumpy got stuffed. He's too damn slow to be a threat on the edge. That play was a killer because OSU had a short field after the punt/penalty and of course punched it in.

Since several people mentioned it, I'm down to join some of you for missions in GTA. Be warned that I haven't really done anything yet, couldn't get online to work earlier in the week and have been busy the last few days. PSN-ZoomSlowik

NU was complete horses*** before 95. Beating Notre Dame was the first significant thing they did since, s***, I don't know, Ara Parseghian? Those back to back Big Ten titles (second was shared) were obviously the peak, though they shared another one in 2000 and have been fairly competitive since then (they're 50-62 in conference since 2000, which I think is pretty good considering their facilities blow and their head coach DIED in 2006). This is definitely one of the biggest games in NU history, or at least the history any of us can remember. Other than 95/96 (when they didn't play OSU either year), the only real contender in my lifetime is the 2000 Michigan game, which had championship implications. Hopefully this one is similar, I'm nervous though. By the way, they just announced that they're opening the lots at NOON tomorrow. That's unheard of for NU.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 09:54 PM) Damn man, you got the all bust team there. I think id still sit Wilson but good luck. And my runningbacks in my other league are Spiller and S-Jax. Thank god it's almost fantasy basketball season.

So, I have an impressive collection of non-productive RB's in one of my leagues. I have to bench at least one of them (my only real flex option at WR is Michael Floyd). Ray Rice vs MIA Lamar Miller vs BAL Eddie Lacy vs DET David Wilson vs PHI The season so far would suggest Wilson is the guy to sit, but with a favorable matchup and Scott gone, he might finally produce. I'm kind of thinking Miller because his lack of touches despite decent production the last few weeks scares me.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 08:40 PM) I have been able to get on but I have trouble connecting with my friends. All I've been able to do so far is edit my character. I've tried multiple times (got to be double-digit attempts) to connect to a game with no success.