Built Ford Tough

What do you think the chances are of the Sixers moving Dalembert? I know that there has been talk about the Sixers trying to move Dal for a while now but as far as I know nothing has ever come close to fruition. I used to think that Dal would actually become a pretty good NBA center. Nothing special but a solid defensive anchor that would be able to pitch in every now and then on the offensive end of the floor. It seems that he just doesn't have a good enough understanding of the game and a low basketball IQ which leads to him being out of position a lot and as a result picking up cheap fouls. Also, he makes a ton of stupid mistakes which obviously doesn't help much either lol. At least, this is what I notice about him when watching the Sixers, which I admit, isn't much more than 10 times a season. And Erick, I completely agree with your points as well. The falling salary cap may even become a blessing in disguise down the road because it will undoubtedly force GM's to make smart decisions with their money and not throw around money just for the sake of it. Too often GM's tend to get into a bidding war with theirselves and throw ridiculous amounts of money at players that no other GM would even think about doing just because they want that player. I agree that in order to get the player that you want sometimes you need to over pay a little bit to make sure, but over the years so many GM's have just thrown absurd amounts of money at players. A falling salary cap will undoubtedly make GM's be a bit more conservative for players which may end up being a blessing in disguise.

I don't think that Bargnani is going to see a large increase in his points per game next season just because of the fact that the Raptors added some more offensive fire power this offseason with Turkoglu who will most likely be the Raptors 2nd option on the offensive end of the floor. Also, a fully healthy Calderon might be more aggressive next season and look to score a bit more as well, so that might take a couple of shots away from Bargs as well. However, I do agree with you that he has a very good chance of being a much better player. Even if he doesn't score 20 points a night and hovers around the 15-17 ppg mark, I think that it will be the best Bargnani that we have seen to this point. I expect to see a more efficient Bargnani and to see him expand his game more. On the defensive end I expect to see him continue to further his development there as well. I can only hope that he ups his rebounding numbers but to be perfectly honest, I don't think that he will ever be more than a 7 rpg player. Basically what I am saying is that Andrea Bargnani is poised to have his best season of his career and such, but I don't know if we will see too big of an increase in any of his numbers just because of the additions that the Raptors made during the offseason. I expect him to average around 15-17 ppg but do it in a more efficient manner. He will have games where he goes off and showcases his skill set though, that I am sure of. Oh yeah, I forgot to say, nice work on this. It was a good read.

If I were the Bobctas, I would try to explore plenty of sign and trade scenarios with Felton. Felton is a rock solid point guard and would be a starter an most teams in the NBA, but I really like Augustin's game and think that in a year or two he is going to be the better player than Felton is anyways, so I would try and see what you would be able to get from other teams in a sign and trade deal. I could see a team that is in need of a point guard like Portland giving up a solid piece in order to acquire a player like Felton (somebody like Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster etc...). Then the Cats could go out and sign a good, veteran backup point guard like Anthony Carter or Brevin Knight (would he be open to coming back to Charlotte?) for cheap and just hand the reigns over to Augustin. Don't get me wrong, Felton is a very solid point guard and is one of the better players on the Bobcats, but I think that the Cats should at the very least shop Felton around a bit and see what teams would be willing to give up for him.

Does anybody know if they have released the contract details yet? I know that it is 4yrs/$20M but I was wondering if anybody knows if the contract is front loaded, back loaded or just strictly $5M straight across the 4 years.

You know what, screw it, you obviously don't know nearly enough about MMA to even have a knowledgeable discussion with, so I will just leave it be and not bother responding to this because I can see that you will probably just use the same reasoning as to why Tyson would "destroy" any MMA fighter no matter what type of points that I make. I will just say a couple of things before I am done responding to this thread. 1) If the fight never went to the ground and stayed on its feet for the duration, yes, Mike Tyson would definitely win the fight and probably win it quickly. 2) The minute the fight gets taken to the ground, and it would, Mike Tyson would be finished just as quickly as the fight would if it were to stay on the feet.

His one way of fighting would be instantly negated once whomever he was fighting took the fight to the ground, and obviously they would. Nobody would be foolish enough to even consider trying to strike with Tyson and once the bell rang they would instantly shoot for a takedown, and in all likely hood, they would succeed in getting it because Tyson would not have strong enough takedown defense in order to prevent them from getting it. Even if he did manage to stuff a takedown or two, it would only be prolonging the inevitable, which is that this fight would get taken to the mat which would mean that Tyson would be out of his comfort zone and his one major (I'm almost tempted to say only) weapon would be negated just like that. As for you saying that he would need some time to train, in your first post you said that he wouldn't need the time to train to win: And just so you know, a few months of training wouldn't be nearly enough for Tyson to be able to do anything at all on the ground against people with accomplished wrestling backgrounds like Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Georges St. Pierre, Brock Lesnar, Josh Koscheck, etc... Nor would it be nearly enough to prevent BJJ black belts and elite submission fighters like Damian Mia, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, Frank Mir, BJ Penn etc... from slapping on one of numerous submissions that Tyson would have absolutely no chance of preventing. With a few months of training Tyson would learn the absolute basics of BJJ and would maybe be able to last about 30 seconds on his back rather than 15. A few months of training is not even going to come close to making any sort of difference if he were to be fighting somebody that has spent years and years training these skills. A few months of training would do [expletive] all when Tyson would be faced against people that have years and years of training in disciplines that are reliant on technique and skill rather than strength and power like BJJ, and, to a lesser extent, wrestling. Its like I said above, if Tyson could somehow, someway keep this fight standing and avoid the mat, he would win like 99% of the time but the minute that this fight went to the mat, he would lose 100% of the time because he woul just not have any sort of answer for anything that MMA fighters would throw at him. He would be submitted within 30 seconds at the most. PS: Lol at you saying that we are all caught up in the UFC hype too much. Nobody is trying to argue that if the fight were to stay standing that the MMA guys would be eaten alive (and knowing Tyson, this could be literally and figuratively speaking), but we are just speaking logically by saying that nobody would even try to stand and bang with Tyson. If somebody was trying to argue that an MMA fighter could out strike Tyson, I would agree that they would stand absolutely no chance and whoever said that would be just buying into MMA hype. However, since we are simply saying that an MMA fighter would just take Tyson out of his comfort zone and nulify his only advantage over them, how are we caught up in hype? If anybody is caught up in anything, it is you with your blatant MMA hate.

I actually don't know what to make of this, given the competition, the fact it's the offseason, etc. I don't think you can read too much into it either way. Thought I'd post anyway though in case anybody was interested.

I was at another forum and a Cavs fan made an interesting post in a thread about signing Jamario Moon that I think could lead to some decent discussion. Here was the post that he made: Do you think that Ferry is making moves with the thought of beating Orlando being first and foremost in his mind?

Pride was bought out by the UFC a couple of years ago. Not sure if you knew that or not, but Pride was bought out by the UFC in about 06 I think it was. That is how the UFC got fighters like Dan Henderson, Anotnio Rodrigo Nogueria, Mirko Cro Cop etc... Just thought I would point that out. And obviously Shaq would get his [expletive] kicked by Lesnar. Anybody that knows anything about MMA would know that, and I don't take these words from Shaq very seriously.

Relatively speaking, any boxer would be able to beat any MMA fighter in a boxing match. Relatively speaking, any MMA fighter would be able to beat any boxer in a Mixed Martial Arts match. A boxer would defintely have a punchers chance if they were to fight in a MMA match, and the fight does start on its feet so he would have a chance of landing that shot. However, any MMA fighter would realize that the boxer would have a significant advantage on his feet and would immediately look to take the fight to the ground. Once the fight got on the ground the boxer would not have much of a chance to win because he would be completely outclassed. I would be willing to bet that the boxer would get submitted within 15 seconds of being on the ground just. You say that Tyson wouldn't be able to be taken down, but that is a complete joke. If somebody like Brock Lesnar were to try and take Tyson down, Tyson would end up on his back even if you give him a couple of months to train. A couple of months of training would not be enough to make up for the years of training that all of MMA fighters put into the different aspects of MMA (like Jiu-Jitsu, Werstling, Muay Thai, Judo etc...). The fact of the matter is that unless Tyson could manage to KO his opponent within the first minute of the fight, he would not stand a chance because after that minute, I guarantee that his opponent would manage to get the fight onto the ground and from there they will either Ground and Pound Tyson out, or they will submit him. If by some miracle Tyson did manage to keep the fight standing then I would agree with you that he would win the fight because with those 4 oz. gloves, all Tyson has to do is connect once (it probably wouldn't even have to be a flush connection either) and the fight would be over. I just don't see how he would manage to connect before being taken down because any MMA fighter would instantly take this fight to the ground and I don't see how Tyson would be able to prevent himself from being taken down.

They gave him a Qualifying Offer, which made him a restricted free agent, but as far as I know, they have yet to extend him a formal offer and he is still a free agent. I could be wrong though.

Here is a newer promo for it. Before you watch it though, just know that in the video it shows who's team Kimbo Slice is on, so if you don't want to know who's team Kimbo is on, I wouldn't watch this. A bit of what could be classified as spoilers is in white text below, so highlight it if you want to read it. It has nothing to do with the results or anything, just talk about Kimbo and his coach. I can't wait to see Rampage and Kimbo's interactions. I think that those two could make for some very intersting moments on the show lol. I am glad that Kimbo got on Page's team though because I think that Page and Kimbo would get along much better than Rashad and Kimbo. Page and Kimbo are a lot alike really, and Slice can learn a lot from Jackson.

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=21299 Their first fight was a very close, somewhat controversial split decision victory for Hendo (it was scored 29-28 Hendo, 30-27 Rich, 29-28 Hendo), which made him the Team USA coach on the past season of TUF and was a great fight. Last time they fought at Middleweight, but this time I would imagine that they will fight at Light Heavyweight. Whether that will play a role in the rematch, I don't know. Their first fight was a very entertaining and underrated fight, and I expect another great fight in the rematch. This definitely came out of nowhere and I did not see it coming. It also seems to be a little soon for a rematch as their first fight was in Janurary. However, with that said, I don't understand the reasoning behind this fight on the UFC's behalf. Don't get me wrong, it will be an entertaining fight, but it doesn't make much sense to me as Franklin and Hendo are both currently making runs in different divisions (Rich at 205 and Hendo at 185). If Franklin loses, it really doesn't give him much beyond avenging one of his losses and it would absolutely derail all of the momentum that Hendo had built up at 185 since he lost to Silva, and would probably wreck his chances of getting a rematch with Anderson (I mean can you see the UFC giving Hendo a rematch with Silva if he is coming off of a loss to somebody that Anderson KO'd twice?). If Hendo beats Franklin, it sort of ruins Franklin's momentum, but doesn't really do much for Hendo in the MW division either. Strange. Oh well, it should be a good fight. UFC 103 is actually looking solid, although it really doesn't do much in terms of rankings and such (aside from Swick/Kampmann). Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann Tyson Griffin Vs. Hermes Franca Josh Koscheck Vs. Frank Trigg Some good fights, but like I said above, aside from Swick and Kampmann (winner will probably earn the right to get beaten by GSP) there really aren't any fights on here that are going to have impacts on their respective divisions. Anyways, enough rambling on my part.

If you ask me, Jack is as good as here and with the Pacers reportedly signing Earl Watson, I think that has all but sealed the deal that Indiana is not going to be matching the Raptors offer sheet, so I was wondering, what do you think is next for the Raptors? As it stands right now the Raptors have 12 players on their roster (13 if you include Jack) which means that there will be 2 open roster spots The Raps have a team option on Patrick O'Bryant but I think that they will keep him around. However, I don't think it is a guarantee that Devean George and Marcus Banks will be with the team on opening night so there may be more roster spots to fill. Anyways, basically, what I am asking is, what do you think is next for the Raptors? Do you think that they will sign Rasho, bring back Delfino and be done with things or do you think that Colangelo might attempt to get rid of some players in order to try to be able to bring in a player for the minimum or something?

Do you guys think that Pops will be back with the Raptors next season? Also, what are your feelings towards Pops? Would you really care if the Raptors didn't resign him or do you think that it would be in the Raptors best interest to try and bring Mensah-Bonsu back?

With the NBA salary cap decreasing for just the second time in NBA history since the salary cap was introduced in 1983-84 this upcoming season (from $58.68 million to $57.70 million), and with a further drop expected to come in the 2010-2011 season (as much as 5%), it makes you wonder what kind of impact this is going to have on the way that teams and players alike approach the lucrative 2010 offseason. Before the news of a decreasing cap, basically every single team in the NBA was looking at cutting salary in order to get under the cap and sign one of the countless amounts of all star players that would be available in free agency. Teams like the New York Knicks have been cutting salary for the better part of a year now in an attempt to entice a superstar player to come to the mecca of basketball, New York City. Then there are teams on the opposite end of the spectrum like the Oklahoma City Thunder who have significant cap space already, but are hesitant to use any of it and would rather wait another year in hopes of attracting a great player to pair with their dynamic young roster. It is no secret around that the majority of NBA teams have done a lot in order to get under the salary cap for the 2010 season in hopes of landing a marquee player. However, with the recent news about a falling cap being announced by the NBA, how will this effect the stance that teams and players have going into the star studded free agent class? Early reports suggest that the NBA salary cap will be somewhere between $50.4 million and $53.6 million and that the luxury tax threshold will sit somewhere between $65 million to $61 million. This is going to have a significant impact on teams and we are already starting to see the repercussions of this news as of this very moment. Players like former All Star Allen Iverson and promising youngsters like David Lee and Paul Millsap are just some of the numerous players that are being affected with the decreasing salary cap as they are struggling to get the contract that they feel that they are worth. In most years, young big men like Lee and Millsap would have been two of the hottest commodities during free agency and they would've had plenty of very lucrative offers coming their way. Despite the fact that Iverson's value has dropped significantly after his tumultuous tenure with the Detroit Pistons last season, in the past there would undoubtedly be a team willing to throw a substantial offer at the former league MVP, but with the dwindling economy, teams are almost scared to offer him any sort of deal over the Mid Level Exception. With this seasons biggest free agent names in Ron Artest, Ben Gordon and Hedo Turkoglu already off of the market, we are undoubtedly going to see plenty of players having to settle for limited money as teams are going to be doing everything that they can to save costs heading into the highly touted 2010 offseason. With the salary cap falling this season and if things go like they are expected to in the future, next season as well, it makes for an interesting dilemma not only for teams that were looking to be big spenders in the 2010 free agent frenzy, but for the players that are able to opt out of their contracts to forgo signing a larger, more lucrative extension in 2010. The big three free agents from the 2003 draft in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all set their selves up to receive a lucrative, long term contract in the summer of 2010 by deciding to sign a shorter deal when their rookie contracts were up but the contracts that they can receive are not what they originally expected them to be as a falling salary cap means a falling maximum contract as well. By opting out of their current contracts, all three of these players will actually be earning less money in the first year of their new contracts than they would if they decided to play out their current contract. Another possibility is that these three players, along with the other marquee free agent in Phoenix Suns' power forward Amare Stoudemire, could decide to sign an extension this offseason instead of waiting until next year and an even smaller salary cap. If these four star players don't choose to sign an extension this offseason and do decide to opt out of their contracts next season, they are going to realize that teams that were talking about signing two superstar players will, in all likely hood, not be able to do this and may realize that it would be in their best interest to sign with their current teams for the extra year and higher raises each season. It is not just the superstars that are going to be hit by the falling salary cap as there are going to be plenty of free agents next season that are going to realize that they are not going to get the deals that they had originally planned on. Players like Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Steve Nash and Ray Allen, all of which are All Star caliber players, are going to get a smaller pay day than they first anticipated if they hit the open market in 2010 and, as a result, may look to sign long term extensions with whichever team they are playing with in the 2009-2010 NBA season to ensure that they can get the best deal that they can get. One team that may face the harshest reality next season is the New York Knicks. Before reports of a falling salary cap circulated, the Knicks looked poised to be able to sign two superstar players in 2010. Everybody knows that New York would love to have LeBron James call Madison Square Garden home and they had a very powerful bargaining chip to work with in that they could not only sign James, but they could also sign a player like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire as well to pair with one of the games premier players. However, with the Knicks looking to have roughly $10 million less to spend in the coveted offseason, the chances of them signing two superstar players in 2010 are next to none. This puts a huge snag in the Knicks plans heading into 2010. The same can be said for basically every single team that was looking to be major players in the 2010 free agent frenzy. With the cap decreasing, they will ultimately have less money to offer potential free agents and may not be sitting as pretty as they originally had thought. With the luxury tax decreasing as well, team owner may be in danger of paying a hefty sum of money out of their own pockets. There are quite a few owners that are willing to go over the luxury tax threshold in order to give their team the best chance that they possibly can at winning a coveted NBA Championship, but where will they draw the line? If the cap drops by 5% we will see the luxury tax drop by $10 million and this will set of alarm bells in plenty of owners. With a significant drop in the luxury tax we just may see less and less owners that are willing to bring out the big bucks. The falling salary cap is definitely a cause for concern for teams around the NBA. Teams that were banking on rejuvenating their franchises by adding a superstar player to the mix may find their selves in a position where they are unable to do this as a result of the falling cap. Superstar players that were looking to cash in on a huge payday in the open market may be having second thoughts on whether or not they really want to forgo signing an extension with their current teams and test the open market. As a matter of fact, any free agent that was looking to cash in on a lucrative deal may be having those doubts heading into 2010. Owners may be more conservative when it comes to spending money with the substantial decrease in the luxury tax. As of right now, we don't know how much the cap is going to drop by, but one thing that we do know is that no matter how much it drops by, the falling salary cap is going to have a significant impact on how teams and players approach the 2010 season and beyond. http://www.alldaynba.com/nbageneral/falling-salary-cap-to-play-a-large-role-in-2010

Ahh crap, I completely forgot about the Jack signing lol (everything that I have read has basically said that the Pacers won't match). The most the Raptors could offer Kleiza would be their Bi-Annual Exception which is about $1.9M. Even then, I think that Kleiza could be had for that much because to be perfectly honest, I don't think that there are a lot of teams that are knocking Kleiza and his agent off of their feet with offers. But yeah my bad on the Kleiza thing. I completely forgot about the Jack signing lol.

http://raptors.realgm.com/articles/63/20090716/a_quick_rebuild/ If I were Delfino I would just take the $4M per season and run with it because quite frankly, I think that is a pretty generous offer on the Raptors behalf. I was thinking that he would be getting a contract offer of like 3 years at 10M or so at first so this $4M deal that the Raptors are apperantly offering him is a very good deal on Delfino's behalf in my opinion. I think that he knows the Raptors have a fairly large hole at the shooting guard spot as of right now and he is trying to milk the Raptors for as much as he can. If the Raptors would be able to get Kleiza for $2-3M a season I would almost rather see them just go after him. Start Wright or DeRozan at the 2 guard (preferably Wright in my mind) for defensive purposes and have Kleiza as the back up small forward for Turkoglu. Wright isn't that good of a player but at least he is an above average defender for his position and the Raptors wouldn't have to over pay (in my opinion) for Delfino. Good news about the Rasho thing (although I already expected that it would be a sure thing that he would be back). Rasho was a favourite of mine during his last stint with the team and I think that he would be a very good back up cetner for Bargnani and a great veteran leader. I may be bias but whatever lol. Anyways, thoughts on this? Do you think that Delfino is worth $5M per season?

Iginla and Joikenen (sp?) are always 1-2 in the scoring race for me every season. I have finished about 4 seasons (3 on an old dynasty and one on a newer one) and every single season Iginla has won the Hart, Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophies while Joikenen finishes second to him in goals and points all of the time. Also, Ryan Miller has won the Vezina and Jennings trophies in 3 of the 4 seasons that I have finished lol.

Terrific signing for the Celtics if you ask me. I really like Daniels game and wanted the Raptors to try and pursue him. Hell, I would've been okay with the Raptors giving him the full MLE so the Celtics getting him for the Bi-Annual Exception is a freaking steal. He is going to really strengthen their bench and add some talent and toughness off of the bench. Very good move on the Celtics behalf and they are just further solidifying their spot as the team to beat in the East in my opinion (assuming KG comes back and plays like we all know he is capable of and they aren't hit with injuries).

Yao Ming has played in 481 out of a possible 574 games (regular season only) which is 83.7%. Tracy McGrady has played in 784 out of a possible 984 games which is 79.6%. Gilbert Arenas has played in 433 out of a possible 656 games which is 66%. Take this for what it is worth though as some of the missed games can be from DNPCD's and things like that so it isn't strictly injuries.

Tito Ortiz is my favourite fighter, but other fighters that I enjoy watching are GSP, Rich Franklin, Rampage Jackson, Urijah Faber, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson and Nick Diaz. Really though, I have a certain amount of respect for anybody that gets into the octagon/ring and fights. Even fighters that I don't particlarly like (like Bisping, Lesnar and Penn) I have respect for just because they have the balls to get into the octagon/ring and fight.

There are also some other good ones that the link you posted didn't include and they are: * Baron Davis gets $1 million just for playing 70 games and leading his team to victory in at least 30 of them. * Nick Collison of the Thunder gets $100,000 if he wins -- wait for it -- MVP. * If Carlos Boozer plays 65 games, averages more than 32 minutes, and finishes in the top 12 in boards (total or average), he gets $333,333. * Larry Hughes gets a $1.6 million bonus if his team -- whatever team he's on in '09-10 -- wins 55 games or more. * Tony Battie (base: $6.06M) has some odd incentives. He gets $100,000 if he plays in 50 games AND averages eight rebounds. He pockets another $100,000 if he plays in 50 and averages five free throw attempts per game. And he'll bring home an extra $100,000 if he is just active for 50 games and the team reaches the second round of the playoffs. http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2009/07/nj_nets_incentives.html I love the Collison one. I would think that if he managed to win the MVP somehow he should be in for a larger bonus than The funny thing about this one is that Bonner was only 1 made free throw away from getting his $100,000 bonus. Bonner finished the season with a sum of 167.5%. If he would've went 18/23 from the line (which is 78.2%) instead of 17/23 (which is 73.9%) his total would've been 171.8%. I bet Bonner wishes that he made one more free throw during the course of the season lol.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/rollaracerGTS/biedrins-okafor.jpg Who do you think is the better player?