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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 07:09 PM) Bobby was still touching 98-99 earlier this season. I think he usually sits at 95 this season. When he was having weight issues the previous years, he throws 93-94, and he allegedly lost weight coming into this season, so figures. The funny thing is, the guys throw over 100mph Strasburg and Chapman are skinny dipsticks also, it really depends on the guys arm speed to a good fastball, so Sale should be fine even if he stays Alexei skinny

i still remember the good ol days when Jenks was throwing 100 mph then he "bulks up" and couldn't even strike out Mark Reynolds.

i really think that EJax was on a roll throwing the baseball up till the game vs Cleveland where he already threw 8 innings of 1 run ball, with 120 pitches for the night. but Ozzie decides to leave him in in the 9th, and he gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. At that moment, i was really hoping the bad ending won't derail EJax from his hot streak, you know, baseball players are all about streaks, rituals and superstitions. EJax has really cooled off since, and back to earth he comes.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 11, 2010 -> 02:03 PM) LoL ?? not saying Westbrook is better, but Westbrook sure knows how to make things happen with his athleticism, haven't seen the same from DRose in the Worlds

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 11, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) I don't know if anyone is following the FIBA World Championships, but Kevin Durant has been dominating, making his case as maybe the best player in the world. USA up double digits on Lithuania in the semis. yep, and DRose had another bad game, got benched most of the second half in favor of Westbrook. It just seem like Westbrook is everywhere on court with his athleticism. Rose needs to learn something from that guy.

we should really push signing vmart, if we let konerko, jenks, and aj walk, and trade away CQ, i think we should have the cap space to do it. I think a package of CQ and Danks2 should be good enough to get Choo, if not a guy like Markakis. If we do sign Vmart, talk about the flexibility we have LF Pierre 2B Beckham C Vmart DH Manny CF Rios RF Choo 1B Viceido SS Alexei 3B Morel bench: Viquel De Aza Jones (I heard he's willing to return for the same money) Castro Both Morel and Viceido are fairly young and inexperience, we can throw them out there 4-5 days a week and still have a pretty good secondnary lineup with Vizquel at 3rd, Vmart at 1st and Castro catching. I am no expert at contracts, but I think Vmart can be had for 5 year $65 Mil or so? really gives us someone who can play the catcher and first base, and switching hitter in the middle of the lineup.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 27, 2010 -> 10:51 PM) Fuentes would be nice right now - with Threets going down. in case you missed it, fuentes was traded to them evil twins this morning

I am not sure if this has been brought up but I hope his 149 pitch outing will not come back to haunt us later on. At the moment when I saw him throwing all those pitches I was like ehh that's not our problem. But now we will have to keep our fingers crossed

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 03:20 AM) I despise LeCoattail (and this was before the "Decision"). But from a statistical/all-around standpoint, there's nobody close. And I'd pay to see this video. LeBron's defense was pretty mediocre pre-2009. Certainly not the case now. I see LePiggayback averaging something like 26-8-9 on ridiculous efficiency next year. Rose very well could be and should be one of the top players in the game soon. But even if he maxes out, he still probably won't be better than Chris Paul, let alone LeSidekick. lets hold off that judgment for now. Chris Paul wasn't a superstar or even an allstar after 2 years in the league. He basically averaged 17 and 9 while shooting 43% from the field. Rose on the other hand was an allstar after 2 years, led his team to the playoffs each year, average 20 and 6 while shooting 49%. He is already consider one of the best if not the best midrange shooter, scorer, and slasher at his position, and overall, one of the tops in the league in those regards. Once he start hitting the 3 consistently, learn to play shut down defense, and he actually gets a real team around him, there is no reason he can't be better than CP3. Paul took off and became a superstar in his third season, and there is no reason we can't expect the same from rose. If you say Rose might never be as efficient as Paul is in terms of TS% and holding a high AST/TO ratio, that I won't argue with you. But Rose will have the ability to do things on the court Paul will not be able to do. Think about it, Rose has better size than CP3, and is the best athlete at his position (athletes usually take longer to develop, just like in baseball), and he incredible work ethic, and a winning attitude. There is no reason, if he reaches even 90% of his potential, that he won't be better than CP3 p.s. I really think 2 years from now, when Rose learn the ins and outs of tough D, he will pulverize CP3 when they go head to head, just like how Deron chews up Paul in head to heads.

Per Espn Insider: good news keep coming for d rose fans.

I guess Blake Nation of Seattle will have the easiest time campaigning for this contest. Just Vote for the Blake Nation!!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 20, 2010 -> 08:40 PM) McGrady is a me first type of guy. There are a lot of NBA people hoping he would take the minimum in Miami so he could ruin that team. I would be shocked if the Bulls sign him even if he would play for the minimum and would be more shocked if the Bulls signed him if he actually was a useful player and lasted the entire season on the roster. I strongly disagree with you on that one. McGrady was one of my favorite players back in the days, I catch over half of the magic/rockets games back in the days. People often mistaken him as a me first type of guy because he takes a high volume of shots. But when playing with Yao Ming, he often feeds the ball to the post to set up Yao, and takes his shots when Yao is not available. You are talking about a swingman who was one of the best passers in the league at his position, and averages 5-6 assists a game in his career. He is definitely not a shoot first type of guy like Jamal Crawford, Allen Iverson, or even Kobe. Character-wise, he is actually a pretty mild manner guy. Rarely does he go into public and criticize anyone or demand anything of any sort. And look at his effort and donations to the Dafur Charities, switching his number from 1 to 3 just to promote his humanitarian efforts, he is actually a pretty unselfish guy to say the least. Before the end of last season, he actually talked about willing to take less money to play in New York if the Knicks were able to sign Lebron and Bosh. Also, at this point of his career, the last thing he cares about is his individual glory. He is most likely looking to be part of a winning team in which he will finally make it out of the first round. All that said, signing T-Mac will be a risk, but it' a risk that's worth taking as he can still be a good passer, a threat to score and shoot from long range, even in limited minutes.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 02:23 PM) Why, did someone kick you? nice catch man ... limb - limp same difference. About Omer Asik From Wikipedia Looks like this guy is a bit of an injury prone and had some knee surgeries in the past. For a 7 footer, it's gonna be problematic. From what I've read, he is a great shot blocker, but his offensive game is limited. Base on his injuries and lack of offensive game, should we hunt for an scoring big man, perhaps bringing back Brad, so he can serve as an insurance, if not a mentor for our youngsters?

I haven't watch Q Rich play in a while, but I will go out on a limp and say he is a better defender than both Korver and Reddick. The dude is a very good three point shooter, he's got the size that Reddick doesn't have and he is definitely more athletic and probably a better defender than both of them. He will be a better starting 2 guard than either Korver or Reddick. AND the dude only signs for 3 years $7.5 mil, only half of what Korver makes, and really make the Reddick offer seem outrageous, and a guy like Morrow costed 3 years and $12 mil also. I know we got cap space and all, but I rather look for bargains and save some of those money to make a run in free agency next offseason, or acquire a big name at the trade deadline when some teams are out of it. I mean other than the lucky Derrick Rose pick, the franchise hasn't really done much to impress me the past decade or so, I think it's time for some change in the management already.

holy hamburgers, what a night for Flowers! another SB for him? that is the second in 3 days. Looks like has been taking lessons on the basepaths instead of learning to swing for contact

what amazes me is they are really dominating as of late, especially the pitching. It's like if the Sox strikes first, you just know that the pitching will hold up till the end. They are also getting quality wins, it's not like they are barely winning by coming from behind most of the time. There weren't really doubts in many of those games that the Sox will come out on top. I think the team is really spoiling us now by not even giving the opponents a chance to win:)

looks like the big 3 douchebags will each take less money next season. all three will get 6 year deals via sign and trade, bosh and lebron will get $14.5 mil while wade takes $14 mil. Their combined salary with Chalmers is around $44 mil, leaving $14 mil to work with. With addition of Miller, possibly Haslem, Raja Bell, Fisher, and Ilgauskus, looks like they won't have to field a team with scrubs or minimum contract as thought.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 05:03 PM) Outstanding signing at 5 mil per. Dude can fill it up from deep. We are quickly becomming the Utah Bulls. damn! he is a good signing, very good shooter, but for that type of money, the heat got mike miller. Korver is a good shooter, but pretty much one dimensional while miller can pass and rebound. I hope he won't be the starting SG for us next season, he and rose will get smoked on defense. Nice way to throw away the $20 Mil cap space we have, I really expect him to be a $3mil guy.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 04:02 PM) It is incredibly difficult for me to remember any game winners or Jordanesque moments Kobe has had during any of the Lakers championship runs. It was always a role player like Horry, Fisher, Artest, etc. that made the big shot. Sure the Bulls had Kerr and Paxson but Jordan hit tons of game winners during the playoffs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUDdF8MPzBs i remember watching this live, when kobe was coming down with the ball after the tip, I knew it was going in, even though I didn't want it to. I never had that feeling about Lebron.

i said the preseason that this guy is under the radar given if his age is legit, and he plays at a premium position with good tools. Glad to see him performing at GF. But he moved he 3B now so his value took a little bit of a hit, if he can manage to stay at SS, he could easily be a top 20 given his age and our weak system. on a side note Flower is really struggling 0 for 3 with 3 k's though he didn't pick up a SB, interesting.. He used to draw alot of walks and is a great OBP guy, now he is not making contacting, striking out 40% of the time, and is not drawing any walks, somethings need to be done about this guy.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) Seconded. agreed, you guys are awesome.

QUOTE (hitlesswonder @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 03:08 PM) I agree. People that say he'll never be considered the greatest player ever are likely to look foolish. Lebron is going to have long career and probably will win more championships than Jordan. Moreover, as you say, he will be on TV all the time and he will be the best player on the Heat. In time, after a lot of winning and a of pro-Lebron media, I think people will say that Lebron cared more about winning than making people happy (that will be the spin at least). By the time James career is done, a lot of people will believe he was in fact the GOAT. Winning and modern media desperate to cover "the greatest ever" will cover up any sin committed last night. too bad he will take a BIG hit compared to the days with the Cavs, and Jordan had better stats and higher PER than he did before. Also, he won't be known for winning with a team he built around him. Great player like Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Bird are recognized as great by winning with their team. but douche Lebron had to join forces on somebody else's team with a guy who already won without him to try to win a ring. He will be given far less credit than Jordan did even if he wins. If a guy can't win with a team that is built around him, had to go join other superstars to win, how is he better than guys who created a dynasty with the team he has? You don't see Jordan say oh yea let me go join Hakeem or Isaiah or Ewing because I can't win on my own. He built a dynasty with his own team, he deserves way more credit than Lebron Plus, it's not a given that Lebron will win more than 6 rings, or it's not a given that he is clearly that much better than Wade on the team while putting up Jordanesque numbers. Cross him off the GOAT conversation.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 02:37 PM) I never said he was a bad defensive player, just not a really great one. He is nowhere close to Dwight, a true game-changing big man that makes his entire team better. Four other guys on the Cavs put up the same defensive rating he did, and they finished 7th as a team. No one would even know who he is if he didn't play for the Cavs. The Cavs won 60 games because of Lebron. He did basically everything for them on offense and was a huge part of their defense as well. That roster works entirely because of Lebron, without him they're not a very good team. Now you're just making s*** up on the "not being a closer part". Did he not single-handedly beat the Pistons by scoring like 20 of their last 24 points in the conference finals? Did he not hit a ridiculous buzzer beater against Orlando to win game 2 last year? He's just fine as a closer, maybe if his team was good enough to keep them in the game when he's averaging 38-8-8 like he did in the Magic series last year he wouldn't have left. No one can do it by themselves. A lot of it is Mo and Jamison's fault, they were ghosts in the playoffs. Jamison only averaged 12-7 against Boston and shot 3-16 from the arc while getting destroyed by an aging Kevin Garnett (almost 19 PPG at a 52% clip). Mo was 4-19 from the arc in the Boston series and only averaged 13 points on 41% shooting while Rondo was putting up 21-12 against him. That was after Mo shot 39.6% against Atlanta and Orlando the previous year. Lebron didn't have a good series against Boston either by his standards, but it's hard to win by yourself. That's the difference between Lebron and Kobe right now: when Kobe shoots 6-24 in game 7 of the finals, his team finds a way to bail him out. i am sorry, but you tried to prove me wrong when I said he was one of the best defensive big in the league, and you tried to give s*** and say he can't block shots. well he can't but he is a good help defender, good physical defender, hustles, full of energy, and does the little things to annoy the offensive player, those qualities can not be measured by the stat sheet. Basketball is much more than stats. Stats wise, his on/off court for defense is -5.2 points, meaning the team gives up 5.2 more point if he is off the court. FYI, lebron was at -.9, and howard was only -3.6. I am not saying he is better than howard, though people have argued in the past season. but, if the guy was in contention for DPOY the whole season, and finished in all second team defense only because he didn't play too much minutes, I don't think it's a stretch to call him one of the defensive big in the game. This is what Adrian Wojnarowski, one of the better writers today, had to say about lebron: I am not the only crazy soul here who thinks Lebron is not a great clutch player. The pistons moment and the only buzzer beater he hit vs Magic was nice, but that was about it. He was and will never be Kobe or Jordan when it comes to performing in clutch. Duncan was show successful because he mans up when it mattered, such as hitting a 3 point( i believe it was) against lakers with 0.4 left, only to have fisher hit a buzzer beater on the other end, and hitting a 3 pointer against the Suns to force over time. Those shots were normally not within his range. Guys like Horry and Fisher are celebrated for the same characteristics, but frankly, lebron was doesn't have it. He just want to be part of something, he doesn't want to be something.

people need to realize that the 08-09 Cavs won over 60 games and reached the conference finals. This team is already talented. the additional of Shaq and Jamison only made them better. So he had a better team, a very very good team in 09-10, yet failed to get back to the Conference finals. so stop giving crap about him not having a good team to win anything.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 01:56 PM) James didn't have control over the pieces that they brought in around him.. Sure, he has his input but im pretty sure he wanted Amare last season and the Cavs didn't want to give up Hickson so they went with Jamison.. They never gave him to second impact player he needed, and after 7 years he decided that he needed to move on to win a Championship.. Its all about winning for him, and when he does something about and goes somewhere that can make it happen hes bashed for it.. come on Correct me if im wrong, but im pretty sure that Kobe has not come close to having as successful seasons as LeBron has had without Shaq and Gasol on his team.. I don't recall the just Kobe Lakers being anything special, at all.. correct me if I am wrong. Every team is built differently, it doesn't take two superstars to win the championship. Take the 03 spurs, 04 pistons, and the 05 spurs for example. from 03 to 05, if you take a survey around the league, Parker and Ginobili are not regarded as superstars nor even top 20 players in the league. There definitely no superstar on the 05 pistons. It takes defense and chemistry to win a championship, and I believe that Cavs is built on that same model under Mike Brown. He quitted because he knows he can't win if he was the main guy on the team, if he knew he could win, then why did he leave? People need to stop giving him too much credit, he had a team that had the best record for 2 consecutive years, a team that was favorited to win the East if not the nba title after the acquisition of Jamison, yet he came away empty handed both time.