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Built Ford Tough

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Everything posted by Built Ford Tough

  1. With a second round pick would you rather take a chance on a high potential project with a high likelyhood of busting (obviously, or else he would've been drafted by now) or a player who is a finished product but, best case scenario, projects as a 8th man? Just to use an example to make this a bit more clear... Would you rather take a chance on a raw big like, say, Solomon Alabi who has a very high chance of being a huge bust, but also has a chance of being a solid rotational player, maybe even starting center, or would you pick somebody like, say, Robert Sacre from Gonzaga, who is never going to be anything more than a 9th man (at best) but you know should give you solid energy, physicallity and hustle? Another way of looking at this is would you rather swing for the fences with a 2nd round pick or take more a of a sure thing, despite that player never being more than a 15 minute bench guy? I know some of this will depend on the team in question, but just on average, ignoring team needs and what not, which would you prefer to do?
  2. I agree that Barnes is at the top of the list and he definitely should be. Problem is that there is absolutely no way that I see him falling any further than 7th. It makes no sense for Golden State to pass on him. That realy is the worst thing about losing that coin toss. It basically eliminated any chance of Toronto having a shot at Barnes. I just don't see a situation in which he falls past Cleveland, Sacramento, Portland and GS, all of which Barnes fills a need. The only thing I could see happening that would make Barnes to Toronto an option is they trade with Portland (assuming they want Lillard) and the first 5 picks go like this: 1. Davis 2. Robinson 3. MKG 4. Beal 5. Drummond Raptors then move up to 6th and draft Barnes while Portland moves down to 8th and drafts Lillard. The only way I see Portland trading down like that is if Drummond is gone (likely, as I think Sacramento would take a chance on him at 5) and if they are really high on Lillard and think New Orleans would draft him at 10, eliminating any chance of him being their when they pick 11th. It sucks because Barnes was my favourite college player, playing for my favourite college team and the Raptors were in position to draft him all season long. Then they go and [expletive] it all up during the final two weeks, eliminating any chance of being able to draft him. In an unrelated note, the Raptors had a player in for a workout who didn't even know he was in Canada. Casey mentioned it during an interview. Safe to say, that player didn't make a good impression.
  3. I was thinking it was more San Antonio Spur thinking that led them to win 4 championships. Or Boston Celtic thinking that led them to assemble the big three and win 1 championship and become a contender for 5 years. The Leafs are idiots for not tanking and instead rotting away in mediocirty because of their annual "drive for 9th".
  4. I was planning on doing it so long as the interest is there. I'll post a signup thread with rules and what not either this weekend or at the beginning of next week.
  5. In Toronto today was: Harrison Barnes - UNC Austin Rivers - Duke Jeremy Lamb - UCONN Scott Machado - Iona Kim English - Mizzou and a bunch of late second rounders/undrafted players. - Lamb sprained his ankle and had to leave early on. He didn't do an interview and has cancelled his next couple of workouts (Portland was one, not sure of the other) as well. He may come back to return when his ankle is feeling better. - Rivers hurt his ankle as well, but he didn't leave and stuck around for the interviews Some tweets: A quote from Rivers taken from a tweetpic on MacKenzie's twitter page: Interviews are on the Raptors website if you guys want to check them out. Not related to Raptors workouts, but here is a video of Damian Lillard's workout with the Kings. I have to say, the Kings are probably the best team at posting workouts online and have been for the last few years. That is about all I've got for today. I think the group tomorrow is another 2nd round and undrafted group like yesterday was.
  6. Chad Ford mentioned this in his draft chat today. To Chicago: Jose Calderon 8th pick To Toronto: Luol Deng 29th pick Thoughts/opinions? It is worth noting that Ford always seems to be pretty off when it comes to Raptors stuff (hasn't gotten a pick of theirs right in a while) so I'm not sure if this is what he is hearing or simply something he thinks woudl make sense for both teams. Nobody else has really run with it, so I would lean towards it just being his opinion.
  7. Bunch of potential second rounders and undrafted players came to Toronto today, so not a whole lot worth saying. The players were: Bigs: Robert Sacre - Gonzaga Justin Hamilton - LSU Wings: Kris Joseph - Syracuse Kenny Gabriel - Auburn Guards: Jordan Taylor - Wisconsin Tyshawn Taylor - Kansas Depending on what happens with the 8th pick, I could see them being interested in Tyshawn or Joseph with the 37th pick and Sacre seems like an option with the Pacers 2nd. I guess Jordan Taylor is an option there as well. Nothing really noteworthy came out of the workout, though. The most interesting piece of news comes from Doug Smith. He mentioned that nobody in the group yesterday really jumped out to the team as a must have. Maybe that means they aren't as high on Lillard as it would seem? However, it is Doug Smith after all. I don't exactly take his word as gospel as he is basically a mouthpiece for the organization. For all we know they absolutely adore Lillard but wanted to get word out that he didn't impress them that much so that a team ahead of the Raps that is interested in him (Portland being the most likely candidate) would feel comfortable that he would slide past Toronto at 8. So they float it to Doug and he reports it. Or maybe there is no agenda here and they simply weren't that impressed with him. Who really knows? EDIT: As for tomorrow, Rivers will be working out. He is currently in Toronto. I haven't heard anything else but I do know he is there.
  8. Offensively I'm sure he would since Magic was never really a great defender. Rose's explosiveness would certainly cause Magic a fair amount of trouble. However, as much trouble as Rose would give Magic, I think Magic would return it back double on Rose. Magic's size and strength advantage would be a nightmare for Rose. Rose would have to make up for it with his superior athleticism, but Magic was too smart of a player to get sucked into anything by Rose. His size advantage allowing him to see over the top of Rose would be absolutely huge. He would be able to pick him apart from the high post because of it. It would be a huge mismatch that, in my opinion, would be much, much more significant than the advantage Rose would have on the other end. I really think Williams would pose the biggest matchup problem for Magic. I know he isn't as tall as Magic is, but the guy is a tank yet still have fantastic explosiveness. He would put up much more of a fight when Magic bodied up on him (which you know Magic would look to do a lot against the smaller guards) and while Magic would still have an advantage, it wouldn't be as glaring with Williams on him instead of Rose. Really, the best matchup for Magic would be LeBron, but there is no way that Durant would be able to handle Barkley so that is definitely out of the question. I do agree with your general point in that it wouldn't be domination from the Dream Team by any means. The one thing that makes me think the Dream Team would be able to win is their size advantage. I could see Robinson, Malone, Barkley and Ewing and being wearing down the smaller 2012 team. On the other hand, if the 2012 team could get on the break, they'd definitely be at a huge advantage. It would be very fun to watch.
  9. Wilner is a tool. Don't listen to anything he says. What happened was there was basically an agreement in Vlad's contract of a "deadline" (for lack of a better word) of him being called up to the majors by June 10th. That date was pushed back to June 11th because he missed a game. The Jays didn't call him to the big club by that date and he told them he wasn't going to go back to Vegas (Jays AAA team) so either they had to call him up or release him. Obviously, the Jays decided to release him.
  10. http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/other_nba/view/20120612source_bobcats_trim_coaching_search_to_3/srvc=home&position=recent If I had to guess I'd say Shaw is the most likely. Sloan is obviously the best of the bunch by a wide margin, but I would imagine that he will hold out for a better job than the Bobcats.
  11. PJ3 still gets my award for absolutely freakish physical abilities. 6'11.5", 234 pounds with a 4.6% body fat, 7'1.75" wingspan, 8'11" standing reach with a 38.5" vert and 3.19 3/4 court sprint. Just ridiculous. Drummond is a close second, but PJ3 really is something else.
  12. Problem is that he won't be close to playing at an MVP level by April. Maybe I'm old school in my thinking and ACL and MCL injuries aren't as bad as they once were, but I can't recall any player being 100% healthy after less than a year removed from the tears and subsequent surgery. Say what you want about me thinking they'd be better off tanking the year while Rose recovers, but rushing him back is by far a worse idea than anything I've said in this thread. Who knows, though, maybe he recovers faster than most people and is actually 100% healthy by April. I highly doubt it, but it is possible, I guess.
  13. For anybody who doesn't know, Lindsey is an assistaint GM for the Spurs and Bower is a former GM and coach of the Hornets. Obviously, Hennigan is with the Thunder.
  14. This is correct. In other news, it sounds like Brandon Morrow will be going on the DL after leaving last night's game after just 9 pitches with an oblique problem. Not goot news at all as he really has been the only pitcher that I am confident in every time he takes the mound. Other than that Texas game where he last just two thirds of an inning, he has been phenomenal this year.
  15. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention a couple things in my first post. - Anthony Davis, Tomas Satoransky, Royce White and Dion Waiters did not participate in any of the athletic tests. - Jared Cunningham only did the bench press. - Kim English, Kyle O'Quinn and Kendall Marshall didn't participate in the bench press for various reasons (Marshall because of his elbow and wrist injury suffered in the NCAA tournament). - John Henson skipped some of the speed and agility testing due to an ankle injury.
  16. Players in Toronto today were: Guards: Kendall Marshall - UNC Damian Lillard - Weber St. Devoe Joseph - Oregon Wings: Terrence Ross - Washington Hollis Thompson - Georgetown Bigs: Henry Sims - Georgetown Kyle O'Quinn - Norfolk St. Not really a whole lot of news on anything, but if you want to watch their interviews you can check all of them out at: http://www.nba.com/raptors/video/playlist/raptors-pre-draft-workout-video This is really the only thing that caught my attention in terms of news: EDIT: I forgot to mention that Stefanski said something about them possibly wanting their 2nd round picks to spend a year or two in Europe, even if they are North American born. Don't know how that one slipped my mind as that, along with the tweet about Lillard above, were probably the two biggest things of the day for me.
  17. I figured I'd make a new thread for this since the athletic testing (along with measurements) are really the two things that fans find the most interesting about the combine now. Here the top 10 and bottom 5 for each test. Harrison Barnes' 38" standing vert is the 4th best ever recorded in DX database. http://www.draftexpress.com/article/NBA-Combine-Athletic-Testing-Analysis-3965 If you want to see how a specific player did, all you have to do is look him up on DX and it will give you a complete table of how he measured and did in every test.
  18. Barnes will be in Toronto as well: Obviously the date is wrong (Raps didn't work anybody out today) but he will be in Toronto. For what it is worth, I think Marshall is going to be working out tomorrow. By the sounds of it, he is in Toronto (I think I read something about him being at the Blue Jays game today) so the logical explaination would be him working out for them tomorrow. If that is the case, I think it is logical to assume that Lillard and possibly Rivers would be here as well. That is speculation on my part, but you would think they would have guards together. At least that is how they have done things the last few years.
  19. Probably not as I still don't see them getting by Miami. It would most definitely make them the second best team in the East next year, though. If things go their way (like a Wade or Bosh injury for example) they could find themselves in the Finals. They may not be a contender by my definition (For what it is worth, I thought there were a total of 4 contenders this year in OKC, Miami, SAS and to a lesser extent LAL) but if everything goes right they could be one of those surprise teams that win it all like the Mavs last year.
  20. Not exactly. You are right in the sense that he would be able to play around April, but the recovery time of a torn ACL for an NBA player is closer to 18 months than 12. Most cases the player can step back onto the floor after about a year, but they rarely are they back at 100% for at least another 14 months, typically about a year and a half. That is kind of the point, though. David Robinson was ready to come back in 1997 but the Spurs held him out of the lineup because they knew that their future was better if they held him out for the rest of the year. What exactly was the point in bringing Robinsn back, a middling playoff seed and an early exit? Why do that when you can ride out the rest of the year and get a great core piece? Obviously, there is no Tim Duncan in the 2013 draft, but the guys that I mentioned in my first post would be a lot more beneficial to the Bulls future than sneaking into the playoffs and maybe coming away with a series win. Lets be realistic, this Bulls team is a very good team, but their chances at a title are slim to none. They are basically a worse version of the LeBron Cavalier teams (worse because LeBron is better than Rose). They desperately need that second All-Star (not Luol Deng All-Star, but a legitimate star) to ever have more than a punchers chance of winning a chip. What better way than by tanking next year? Sure, they may not get any lottery luck but really, what are they costing themselves? PS: Don't get me wrong, I don't think that they will do this. I'd be shocked if they did. I just think that they should as it is their best chance of finding Rose that running mate he so desperately needs to compete for a championship.
  21. I'm not defending Bernier. It was a stupid hit and put his team in a terrible position. I was just pointing out the facts and one of those facts is that if the refs do their job and call the Stoll board that play never happens. That doesn't excuse Bernier for delivering the dumb hit, but it is still worth mentioning. Really, though, that one play didn't lose the Devils this series. This series was over after game 2 when they dropped two very winnable games at home. It was pretty clear to me once the Kings won those first two OT games that New Jersey really didn't have a shot. Hell, if you ask me, this series was over before it started. I thought it would be a Kings sweep. I know it is easy to say this now and I'm fine with anybody who calls bullshit on me saying this, but it was pretty clear that the Kings would wn the cup this year after their dismantling of both Vancouver and St. Louis. After game two of that Blues series, I knew nobody was stopping this team so long as they stayed healthy.
  22. I imagine what he is saying is that if the refs call Stoll boarding Gionta then that play never happens. The Bernier hit was bad and I understand why it was given 5 and a game, but that play never happens if the refs call the obvious penatly 10 seconds earlier.
  23. 5 years together: 1 championship 2 trips to the finals 5 Atlantic Division titles Regular season record of 273-121 Playoff record of 54-39 Would you say that the Celtics met your expectations, overachieved or underachieved during the 5 years of the big three? Some other factors to consider: Garnett's injury Perkins' injury in Game 6 of 2010 FInals Blew a 3-2 series lead 3 times and in each of those 3 game 7's they had a double digit lead at one point
  24. Boston re-signed Chris Kelly ($12M over 4 years) and Gregory Campbell ($4.8M over 3 years) today.
  25. Is there any reason why they shouldn't tank next year? With Rose out for the year, the team in dire need of a second option, and having a rabid and loyal fanbase, doesn't it make perfect sense for them to pretty much throw the season? Keep Rose on the sidelines all season, have Deng have wrist surgery and keep him out as long as possible. San Antonio did it and they were able to pair David Robinson with Tim Duncan. Why shouldn't Chicago do it and look to pair Rose with Shabazz Muhammad, Nerlens Noel, Cody Zeller or James Michael McAdoo (or Dario Saric if he declares)? Sure, it may not work and they could end up with no chance of drafting any of these guys, but it is still better having a top 10 pick than sneaking into the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round.
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