Built Ford Tough

Might have an obvious answer, but could anybody tell me how to remove custom destination markers from your map? I can't figure it out at all and it is really annoying seeing that blue maker everywhere. (PS3, by the way).

I don't mean to make fun of something as serious as the concussion problems the Flyers have, but I couldn't help but laugh at the bolded part. How bad the the Couturier play look? I was actually hoping to watch that game but completely forgot about it until reading your posts in this thread, although by the sounds of it I didn't really miss much.

I'm scared about this game tonight. Seeing how badly shitty powerplays like Buffalo and New Jersey have lit up Toronto, can you imagine what a potent one like the Canucks will do? I have a feeling that this game will get ugly really fast if the leafs continue to play as undisciplined as they have in the past week or so.

You mean like taking a center with the 5th overall pick in the draft? Maybe somebody like Jonas Valanciunas? He is coming to the team next season as his contract with his Lithuanian club Lietuvos Rytas doesn't have a buyout until after this season. I think Magloire might start, but won't see many minutes. I can see him starting, playing the first 5 or 6 minutes of each half, giving a couple of hard fouls to try and set the tone that the Raptors won't be pushed around in the paint as easily as in previous years. Then they will sub in somebody like Gray or Johnson who will likely close out the quarter. I think Ed gets the majority of backup power forward minutes and a few here and there at center when the Raptors go small. I don't see him playing too much center alongside Bargnani, but I certainly wouldn't be opposed to it.

Probably because he plays for Zalgiris Kaunas in Lithuania and not for the Toronto Raptors. Anyways, I'm going with Bayless. From everything I've read/heard, Casey and assistaint coach Johnny Davis really like him and I think that he is going to have a real big role with the team this season, even if he starts the year coming off of the bench. I think that when he enters the game that the Raptors will make a concentrated effort to establish him as an offensive threat. I just hope that they don't completely ignore developing him as a point guard and turn him into a Jason Terry type of reserve. He is much more valuable as a point guard than as a high scoring 6th man, at least as the roster is currently constructed.

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/7360189/miami-heat-coach-erik-spoelstra-gets-new-contract-pat-riley-says I guess the rumors/speculation of Riley taking over may have finally be put to rest after extending Spo.

Not a bad signing if you ask me. I know Murphy isn't as good as he once was, but Mike Brown loves his stretch 4's, and Murphy is a solid stretch 4. Assuming he runs a similar offense with the Lakers as he did with Cleveland (ie, give the ball to your star and get out of the way, haha), Murphy will be a valuable addition as a floor spacer to give Kobe, Pau and Bynum more room to operate.

I actually wouldn't mind Calderon back after his current contract is up, assuming he doesn't regress over the next two seasons. I think if the Raptors are able to land a stud point guard in the draft or through free agency, which I think Colangelo hopes to do within the next two seasons, I like Calderon as the steady, risk-averse vet off of the bench behind the young, risk-taking starter that I hope Colangelo is able to acquire. Calderon has also proven to be a very productive backup and that he plays better as a backup from when he was coming off of the bench behind TJ Ford or Jarrett Jack over the past few seasons. Of course, if the Raptors deal him next season I won't be upset by any means. I just wouldn't mind him as a backup heading forward, assuming the circumstances are right.

Nice haul for the Yotes. Runblad and a 2nd for a player who was clearly not in their plans? I'll take that kind of haul anyday. Unless Turris completely breaks out in Ottawa and lives up to his draft position, I think that Phoenix wins this trade easily. I honestly don't even know if Turris will be better than Runblad, unless his attitude completely changes, while I think Runblad is going to be a very dangerous offensive defenseman who can quaterback a PP in a few years. On the other hand, Turris does have number 1 center potential and with Spezza already on the roster, a 1-2 center punch of Spezza and Turris could be lethal, if Turris reaches his potential.

Wasn't it an aortic aneurysm that they found, not a tear? If that is the case, Green is very lucky that they found it early. If they didn't find it and he continued to have it go untreated, it could burst at any moment, and the chances of surviving that, should it happen, is something like 10-25%. If it were to burst, he could easily just bleed out and die within minutes. Very fortunate that they found it and were able to operate on it early. This could easily have saved his life.

Yeah man. Quick question, can you tell me when Compton, California became part of Canada? Did Canada absorb just Compton, or is all of Cali know a part of Canada?

I think there is. He is, and always has been, more of a shooting guard than point guard anyways and he is still a pretty good player. He isn't a star or anything, but a Stuckey/Knight backcourt does look somewhat promising for a team in such a dire position as Detroit is. A three-headed guard rotation of Knight, Stuckey and Gordon is talented and has the potential to be fairly productive.

It is a well known fact that the Raptors intend to play Bargnani at the 4 this season, at least for the most part. What isn't very well known is who will be starting at the 5. Johnson is the best player of the bunch, but even with the extra bulk he added in the offseason, he may still be too small to handle the grind of playing the 5. If that is the case, it is likely down to two new Raptors in Magloire and Gray. Who do you think will start? Who do you think should start?

Pretty simple question. Who do you think will be the Raptors 3rd option this season? Bargnani and DeRozan will undoubtedly be options 1 and 2, but who is the go to guy after them?

Adam Francis of RaptorsHQ writes about how the Raptors need to find a team to trade Barbosa to. http://www.raptorshq.com/2011/12/16/2640066/barbosa-odd-man-man-out-in-raptors-backcourt I couldn't agree more with this blog. Everything that he mentions in it I have likely either posted about already on here or at least thought about posting on here (although Francis obviously gets his point across better than I ever do). What are the chances of Barbosa being dealt this season? He is expiring after this year so I think he may have some interest come deadline time to teams looking to add an offensive spark to their lineup. I'd absolutely love it if the Raptors were able to deal him for a late 1st or something as I definitely think that there could be some late first/early 2nd round gems in this years draft. Barbosa is easily the teams best chance at acquiring a late round pick.

Today is the 5th anniversary of Kessel being cancer free.

From an ESPN Insider piece counting down the 5 most promising rebuilds in the league: The top 5 was: 1. Washington 2. New Orleans 3. Toronto 4. Sacramento 5. Utah

The Wolves were supposed to be "on the upswing" for what seems like 5 years now. I'll believe it when I see it. Rubio is far from a sure thing given how his production has actually regressed since he was drafted and there seem to be even more question marks around him now than they were when he entered the draft. I realize that his game seems to be more suited to the NBA level and by no means am I saying he will be a bust, but I wouldn't expect a miracle worker during his rookie season either. Williams is good, but not without questions of his own. Can he guard either 3's or 4's? Is he quick enough on the perimeter to be able to play the 3 offensively? His value is much, much higher as a small forward than it is as a power forward, especially since Kevin Love is already on the team, and it is far from a given that he will be able to play the 3. He is talented, but as a rookie will experience ups and downs as well, just like Rubio. Barea? Please, he is going to come crashing back down to earth after playing well over his head during the Finals on a great team. That isn't to say that I think the Wolves will end up with a bottom 3 record or anything like that. But I'll be absolutely shocked if the pick is a low lottery pick. You really think that the Wolves will go from the worst team in the NBA to a near playoff team just because they added Adelman, Rubio and Williams? The pick will be 10th at the very latest, in my opinion. Even if it is 10th, you are still going to get a very good prospect considering the depth of this draft.

Terms are 3 years, $15M, in case anybody was wondering. I'm honestly not sure how valuable he will be to the Bulls. I realize that on paper he is a very good fit at the 2 guard spot, but no matter how well he is at running his man off screens, using cuts and curls, etc.. but you also have to have an effective playmaker to get him the ball. For all the strides Rose took last season, he still didn't really impress me much from a playmaking standard. He still picks and chooses when he wants to attack and when he wants to pass too often for my liking. He still needs to do a better job of simply taking what the defense gives him. Even with that said, I like the signing for the Bulls. Hamilton isn't the player he once was both offensively and defensively, but he can still contribute when he just plays ball and doesn't worry about any other crap. There aren't really any other better options out there, aside from maybe a Jamal Crawford, but that didn't seem all that much of a possibility anyways.

Very disappointed that the Clippers caved and gave both Gordon and the Minny pick. It really should have been one or the other, but oh well. Then again, this is the kind of price that should be paid for a bonafide superstar, not a bunch of role players like New York gave to Denver (not that they were bad players, they were just solid, no future stars) or a bunch of established vets who would keep you as a perennial treadmill team like the Lakers offer had. When a team is looking to rebuild and move their superstar, top 10 player and arguably the best point guard in the game, this is exactly the kind of price that teams should have to pay. I absolutely love the deal for the Hornets, though. Gordon is a budding star and quite possibly a top 5 shooting guard in the league already. In a few years, I can easily see Gordon as one of the top 2 or 3 shooting guards in the NBA. I absolutely love his game and he is going to blow up in New Orleans. Add to Gordon the possibility of two top 5 picks in the draft and the potential of Aminu as a jack of all trades small forward (he will never be a star, but he can be a nice glue guy if he puts it together) and the Hornets' future is looking very bright. Coming out of this season with a core of Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis/Andre Drummond and Harrison Barnes/Michael Kidd-Gilchrist/Quincy Miller is absolutely amazing. Even if they "only" get two top 10 picks, they are still going to come away with a fantastic core to build around as I haven't even mentioned guys like Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Jared Sullinger. Now they just need to get that team out of New Orleans and they can really blow up.

I like the signing. Golden State didn't make him a Qualifying Offer since they wanted as much space as possible to make a run at Jordan or Chandler, but that kind of backfired on them since they didn't get either of them. I'm not sure how he will slot into the rotation, but I like the signing considering how cheap it is.

From Chad Ford: I definitely see him taking the 1 year QO and then bolting next season as a UFA. I get the impression that he has no intentions of playing long term in Detroit and wants to get out of there. I really don't see him getting a better offer than $9M per year, so it seems likely that he will just play outt he season and leave next year, unless Detroit caves and overpays him.

After seeing how well Bayless played as a starter down the stretch last season and knowing that Calderon is better off of the bench I was hoping that Bayless would be the starter, but knew that it was unlikely. I wouldn't mind it too much but the part about liking Bayless' spark off of the bench worries me a bit. I hope that they don't plan on using him in the Barbosa or Terry role as purely a scorer off of the bench. As far as I am concerned, it is too early in his career to give up on him as a point guard and there is no better season than this one to give him an extended shot at it. We will see how things play out, though. There is no point in jumping to conclusions about roles and all that without knowing anything concrete.

They also got Brewer: