Built Ford Tough

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx144/lillehammer/RasualSmall.jpg

Rudy Fernandez, potentially Vince Carter (low risk, decent reward signing), Sam Dalembert and have maintained their future flexibility. It isn't just who they have added, though. I just like that they didn't overpay to keep players like Chandler, Butler or Barea. Chandler and Butler are both near or in their 30's and both have extensive injury pasts, so giving them high money, long term deals is risky at best, especially if you can replace them while saving money, which it seems like they have been able to do. As for Barea, he isn't necessary on this team since he plays the exact same role as Jason Terry does. He is a liability defensively, streaky shooter and inconsistent as hell. A couple of good playoff games completely overrated him and the Mavs made a good decision not to overpay to retain him. A lineup of: Haywood/Dalembert Dirk Marion Fernandez/Carter Kidd with Terry and Odom off the bench really isn't that much worse than what they put out last season and when you factor in how expensive it would've been to retain their team from last season, I just really like how they managed to still stay competitive while not handcuffing themselves into long term contracts.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/217348/Odom_Dealt_To_Dallas_In_Straight_Salary_Dump#ixzz1gChxjFhr Fantastic pickup for the Mavs after this whole CP3 fiasco made it obvious that Odom wouldn't be playing for the Lakers. I really like what the Mavs have done this summer. Yeah, they lost Chandler, but they have added some really quality pieces and Haywood is more than capable of stepping into the starting center role. EDIT: The Mavs are moving their 1st rounder this season in the deal, possibly a 2nd rounder as well:

So..... This Jon Jones guy is alright, I guess.

http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/warriors-talk/post/Warriors-to-sign-Jordan-to-four-year-40-?blockID=609864&feedID=5882 I figured somebody would throw out at least $10M after seeing the Clippers offer him $8M. My opinion on Jordan being offered these large contracts has been posted on here more than once, so I won't repeat myself. Once Chandler went to NYK, you just knew that Golden State was going to be offering him a large contract. Will the Clippers match? I would assume so, but you never know with Sterling.

Blah, totally forgot about that. Well, there goes my dream trade.

That Big Nog/Mir finish was amazing. The sub Mir pulled off after being basically out on his feet was awesome. Him pulling it off on Big Nog of all people? Epic. Nogueria made a huge mistake by trying to transition into a sub when he had Mir dead to rights, but Nogueria built his career on his BJJ so it is understandable that when he has the chance to finish a fight, he would go to his bread and butter. You have to know that he is thinking that he would've easily won this fight had he simply continued to ground and pound Mir. Well, at this moment he is probably thinking about his completely jacked up arm, but later on he will be beating himself up over that.

So with both UK and OSU losing today, does 'Cuse jump into the #1 ranking?

Oh yeah, how [expletive]ing awesome would it be if Cleveland joined the deal and was the reason why Paul ended up in LA after all the shit Gilbert said? I can just imagine the comic sans font letter now, and let me tell you, it is glorious.

What would Boston be after? Obvioulsy they love Paul, but he is clearly going to LA . I'm sure they'd be interested in Gasol, but why does Houston get involved if they aren't getting Gasol? New Orleans has little that would interest Boston, I imagine. Maybe Okafor? Aren't the Hornets really keen on getting Odom, so that would eliminate him as well. It would be very interested to see what pieces would go where if Boston does in fact get involved. At this point, it is obvious that Paul will end up in LA and Howard will end up in either LA or New Jersey/Brooklyn. That, combined with Miami and New York really makes the league a 4 or 5 team race, which sucks for me since I'm a fan of parity, but honestly, I just want to see some huge trade that features legitimate stars like Gasol, Paul and Rondo as well as great complimentary pieces like Scola, Odom, Martin all switching places. It would be just such an epic trade, esepcially factoring in all of the shit that happened the other night. Besides, its not like Toronto is ever going to win a damn thing in this league, so I might as well just hope for some absolute crazy shit happening, and this would fit that perfectly.

Correct. As far as I know, picking up a player who had been amnesty cut has the same restrictions as trading a newly signed free agent. In a normal season, that means you can't trade him until December 15th, which is about 6 weeks from the start of the season. Not sure how they are going to compensate for the shortened season, but I know that there is a similar restriction.

Korean Zombie KO's Hominick 7 seconds into the 1st round after Hominick comes out swinging wildly, which is completely out of character for him. Fighting in front of his hometown got him a little too jacked up for his own good. It was a sick finish (tied the UFC record for fasted KO) but I was really looking forward to this fight as I thought it was going to be an absolute war.

It is going to be absolutely hilarious when Stern allows this trade. Adding two end of the bench scrubs, a late, late 1st and a mediocore prospect (I'm guessing Jordan Hill) to the original trade will make Stern suddenly change his mind? It is going to be awesome. I mean, the Rockets can't possibly be stupid enough to trade somebody like Patterson or Lowry in this trade, can they?

PPV portion starting right now. Big fights are: Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida for Light Heavyweight Championship Frank Mir vs. Big Nog (Potential title implications on the line as well) Tito Ortiz (Possibly his last fight) vs. Lil Nog Also on the card is Brian Ebersole vs. Claude Patrick and Chan Sung Jung (AKA "The Korean Zombie") vs. Mark Hominick. A very nice card to say the least. Looking forward to it.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7338271/ryan-braun-milwaukee-brewers-tests-positive-performance-enhancing-drug It is baseball so it is never really a surprise when somebody tests positive for PED's, but if you told me that a Milwaukee Brewer star tested positive for PED's, I would've assumed you were talking about Fielder and not Braun.

Nope, and you probably won't until next summer at the earliest. Colangelo is going to spin the whole, "he is finally playing at his natural position, give him time" card. As for the signings, Gray's is for 2 years with a team option for the 3rd. The other two are both for one year.

Watford with the buzzer beating 3 for the win. What a shot.

If they don't run a two man game with Watford (I think that is his name, at least) and Zeller, something is seriously wrong.

Dick Vitale is so annoying. You have to respect the passion he has for the game, but man, he is terrible to listen to.

The only thing money about his game is his ability to turn the ball over. Indiana falling apart right now.

Best was Tu Holloway's response after the game. "We got a bunch of gangsters in the lockerroom. Out motto is to 'zip 'em up'".

Nasty slam. Miller is keeping UK in this game, which isn't a surpise at all. He isn't spectacular, but he is without a doubt the most reliable player on this team.

Nah, scratch that. It is working now. I tried it once I got home from work and it wasn't working, but it is fine now. I'm honestly not that surprised that Kentucky is losing, though. They are a great team, don't get me wrong, but all of their inexperience and erratic play isn't going to cut it in an environment like Indiana. I'm not shocked at all that Teague is playing like shit. He is bad enough at home, so him being on the road in a hostile environment is obviously going to be a complete disaster.

Do you have a stream by any chance? I don't get ESPN and the ones over at firstrowsports/soccertvlive aren't working.