Jake

With a salary cap system, can't get too wrapped up in the dollar figure. The question is whether he's worth X% of the cap, which in this case is based on the yearly salary. And with Steph and now D'Angelo Russell on the team, GS is now in the position where they could keep Klay at this salary but they couldn't replace him with someone at the same salary because of the way the soft cap allows you to go over the cap to keep your own guys but not to add new ones.

Robert is definitely the type that strikes out a bunch whenever he struggles

I was agreeing with you

I think it's reasonable to say that the lack of draft picks kind of "forced" the new management of the Nets to try to win and in the process, probably put KD and Kyrie at ease that the team wasn't a complete shitshow like the Knicks.

I wonder...if a player had a drug problem, would they be tested frequently enough for that to be caught before it spiraled out of control?

I agree that it would be a big negative for the NBA if Kawhi goes to the Lakers. For once there could be no major favorite to win the title going into the season, but Kawhi to LA would change that

Well that's what I'm thinking about as the potential cause. There are a number of teams that aren't projected to be good and partly because they already did their teardowns, but are they tanking? I don't know. Pelicans sort of tanked without tanking. Hawks and Mavs have assembled a bunch of young pieces, as have the Bulls. Knicks are terrible but they're still signing vets in free agency. Cleveland seems to be the team that isn't doing anything, but maybe I'm forgetting something.

Am I wrong or does it feel like more teams are trying to be competitive than ever?

Bulls are in a spot where they need to take this season to see if the star is already on their team (LaVine? Markkanen? Late blooming Porter?)

Big fan of the Satoransky move. Kind of fills two holes at once

lol I love it

So the Pacers are giving Malcolm Brogdon 4 years, $85 million and had to give Milwaukee a first rounder and two seconds to get them not to match.

Certainly doesn't help but AFAIK there aren't projected to be any major guys next year. The third year of this deal is only partially guaranteed and at any rate he should be a tradeable asset if we really need the space.

Being the worst team is not worth the costs of trying to get there anymore, especially with where the Bulls are with a number of young pieces that would probably have to get traded or spend much of the season hurt (as was the case last year) in order to be near the bottom of the league

Honestly Thad Young is a pretty good player

Hard to argue that Hahn stuck to his plan not to allow MLB needs to affect Cease's timeline

Right, so the lack of explanation paired with the implausibility of the recovery time makes me wonder what is being withheld

They've been saying "bruised" but no explanation offered for how he got such a bruise

I really hope MLB does something about the baseball. This is getting silly.

Saw some chatter on Twitter about comparing Jose Abreu to Brett Favre. Idea is basically that although sometimes the numbers don't match the eye test, your gut tells you that you want to see him at the plate with the game on the line

I have a really hard time guessing what an appropriate price tag for Portis would be. Then again, in the NBA it's almost always hard to figure out what to pay guys who aren't at either the top or bottom of the market. There was a point in time last year where it looked like he had really taken a step forward. Hit some clutch shots, was showing some ability to score in isolation situations. I will give him big credit that he has fixed a major flaw in his game: free throw shooting. When we acquired him, it looked like his free throw shooting would undermine any chance to be an efficient scorer. Going from 61% to 80% in so small feat (he was about 69% in college).

Never forget Lillibomb

I know his OPS looks decent compared to the other underachievers down there, but striking out in 40% of his plate appearances was a major cause for concern I'm hoping Rutherford's recent hot streak is a sign that he's figured something out, but if the season ended today it's hard to say he's improved his standing or given much confidence that he's a MLB. I didn't say anything negative about Walker, I said he tore up A ball and is getting hot in A+

I think Leury Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez will make a nice run at this list before all is said and done