Built Ford Tough

Just picked up the 5th one the other day but haven't started it yet. I'm re-reading the first four before starting the 5th since it had been a while since I read them. I also didn't have the time earlier in the year but my schedule is a lot more open now. On my second read through I'm about 400 pages into A Storm of Swords. Is it for sure that they cut out the Reeds? I know they haven't introduced them yet and if they followed the book to a tee they would be in the show by now, but I was kind of hoping that they were just going to introduce them at a later time. I don't want to spoil anything for anybody who hasn't read the books so I won't get into any sort of detail, but it will be interesting how they handle Bran's story if the Reeds are in fact not in the show since there will need to be fairly major changes. Agree with that, but it was well worth the wait as I loved the ending, especially the Jon and Arya parts that really set the tone for the rest of their stories.

Telfair really stepped up and played excellent defense on Paul down the stretch. He got a little too aggressive on him and picked up a foul outside the three point line, but other than that he did a great job forcing a tough step back jumper and then blocking his attempt at the rim. Tough break for the Clippers as that Williams three looked good when he released it and then they got about as good of a look as you could hope for down 3 when inbounding under your own basket. Griffin just couldn't knock the shot down. Huge win for the Suns, though. They really needed this game since their playoff chances still aren't great considering their schedule in comparision to Utah's and Houston is still just a game back despite their 6 game losing streak. Picking up this win was huge and if they can manage to beat the Jazz on Tuesday, they could end up finding themselves in the playoffs, which would be a great accomplishment for this team. That is going to be a very big game for both teams and could easily end up deciding who finishes in that 8th spot.

I just caught up with the first 3 episodes and it looks like they are deviating from the books as I've noticed more differences in the first 3 episodes of season 2 than I did in all of season 1. Part of me likes this because now I don't know exactly what to expect and how everything will go down, but another part of me hopes they don't stray too far since I absolutely love the books. I do know that the last half of this season is going to be awesome, regardless of what they do. I'm expecting one more slower episode to establish the story and then from episode 5 on it will be action packed.

7-3 with wins over some solid teams in Denver, Memphis, Utah and Houston (also beat Minnesota, Charlotte and Sacramento) since Gordon returned. They are 8-4 in total with him in the lineup. They're 12-39 without him. I'll tell you what, if they do a good job of drafting, which shouldn't be hard given they are likely guaranteed a top 5 pick and another top 10 pick, they could have a very quick turnaround within the next two years, assuming they lock up Gordon long term and he stays healthy.

That was definitely a hard foul from Lopez and I don't claim Griffing flopped because he definitely got hit. However, why was he holding the top of his head when he was hit in the neck? Lopez gets tossed for the foul. Can't say I disagree with the decision.

Been almost a month since the last update, so I figured I'd post some more. Mar 23: 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists on 6-10 FG in 27 minutes Mar 27: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block on 6-6 FG in 25 minutes Mar 30: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks on 4-5 FG in 20 minutes Mar 31: 6 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks on 3-7 FG in 25 minutes Apr 2: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block on 6-9 FG in 29 minutes Apr 8: 6 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks on 2-6 FG in 25 minutes Apr 10: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals on 3-5 FG in 20 minutes Apr 14: 4 points, 1 assist on 1-2 FG in 8 minutes Apr 15: 10 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks on 4-7 FG in 26 minutes Apr 18: 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks on 3-6 FG in 28 minutes He also was named 2011-12 Eurocup Rising Star: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/220259/Valanciunas_Named_11_12_Eurocup_Rising_Star_Trophy_Winner#ixzz1sYKjHv9g He finished 2nd in MVP voting for one of the leagues he plays in, although I can't remember exactly which league it was.

Chris Webber with some awesome commentary on a Griffin flop. "Vlade Divac would be proud." and "Getting his WWE on." The flop wasn't bad, though, wouldn't even make his top 10 for the year.

People are seriously complaining about that pick? The only reason it looks even remotely like a foul is because LeBron is basically twice Lucas' size and he was completely unaware that a pick was coming. Neither one of those is LeBron's fault. I don't particularly care for the Heat, but I'm almost at the point where I actually want them to win a championship this year just to see how much whining and crying would come of it.

Prior to the game against the Pistons tonight, the T'Wolves hadn't won a game in April since a 105-98 win against Golden State back on April 8th, 2009. They lost 27 straight games in the month prior to tonight.

Way to rub it in... Oh, wait, you weren't talking about how many consecutive seasons the Leafs have missed the playoffs?

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7834605/agent-says-orlando-magic-dwight-howard-needs-back-surgery-done-rest-season

"You're in the [expletive]ing bench!"

So does that mean they lose by 30 instead of 40?

What do you mean by work his way back into the top 5? He is already considered a unanimous top 5 pick. DX has him 2nd Draft.net has him 4th Hoopsworld has him 5th Hoopshype has him 5th Fox Sports has him 5th ESPN has him 5th Anyways, CJ Leslie will be returning to NC State for his junior year. That team is going to be very good next year.

I can see it happening but I wouldn't have them at the top of my rankings. Adding Bennett would help and improve their chances. It really all depends on if Noel can basically duplicate Davis' impact from last season. They aren't as good as they were last year, but I'd still bet on them being at the very least a consistent top 10 team, more likely a top 5. I'm guessing you are going off of the post season All-Star games, right? I know that is the only time I've seen him play and, yeah, he didn't look as good as Davis did last year. However, according to high school scouts, Noel is actually a better defensive player than Davis was at the high school level. It has been said that he is the best defensive big since Greg Oden. Davis himself said that Noel is a better shot blocker. He isn't as good offensively, though. He is still very raw on that end. I really can't say since I'm probably in the same boat as you in just seeing All-Star games, which are hardly the best medium to make a judgement on a player.

Schenn will join Phaneuf on the Canadian team for the World Championships.

I'd rather see the players have a choice. You can enter the draft straight out of high school, but if you choose to go to school you have to stay for 3 years. I don't really care all that much one way or the other, though.

Lamb would be my first choice, followed by Lillard. After that, I'd just say [expletive] it and roll the dice on PJ3. I also forgot to mention Kendall Marshall, but I don't like him for Toronto as I think the Raps offense would have much of the same problems as they do with Calderon. You know what is the worst part about the Raptors playing around .500 ball over the past 2 weeks? New Orleans is playing great since Gordon came back and are now up to 19 wins. If you take away the Raptors two wins over Boston and Atlanta over the last week, they would be a half game away from being 3rd worst. Instead, they are just 1 game away from 9th worst. Awesome.

Not that it should surprise anybody as the only one that was really any sort of question was Teague, but you know Calipari was pushing him out the door considering Ryan Harrow can play next year after transfering from NC State. So I don't think anybody is really surprised about Teague leaving early, even if it may have been in his best interest to stay another year. They basically have all of their replacements already in store: Noel replaces Davis Harrow replaces Teague Poythress replaecs MKG Goodwin replaces Lamb And once they sign Bennett, he replaces Jones.

The same general idea, but a bit different. In the NHL you sign a player to an offer sheet and if the team who holds his RFA rights doesn't match the offer, they get compensation in the form of draft picks, the value and amount of picks depending on the salary. In the NBA if you don't match you just lose the player. You don't get compensation. As far as Jennings, I wouldn't be opposed to having him on the Raptors as I think Casey would be able to bring out the best in him. He is a solid player. I just don't think he would be worth what you would have to give up to acquire him or the likely money it would take to pry him away from Milwaukee. I know it is a small sample size, but from what I have seen from Bayless as the starting point guard over the last two seasons, I'd rather pay him $5-6M a season than go out and sign Jennings to a deal twice that amount. If they could get Jennings without having to overpay or give up major assets (in other words not happening) I'd be perfectly fine with him on the team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyHkbQ6uics The cause of this was from these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9YOgxz22EU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMyOACjafeU&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URkurrZDo_U Am I reading way too much into this, or does the reaction of Garcia, Hayes, the rest of the Kings bench and even Thornton himself all but confirm the Kings are legitimately trying to lose games? The word tanking gets thrown around a lot, but it is more of a management thing. Even in the last 2 years for the Raptors, I've never actually seen a them legitimately try to lose a game or react negatively to a win. This video suggests that the players are actively trying to lose. That, or they had money on the game and Thornton just cost them their bet.

Sorry, I didn't see this post before for some reason. I don't think motivation was an issue. I think he just looked unmotivated because of having to adjust to a new system and he made mistakes and kind of looked around trying to figure out what to do next. I do think his poor January hurt his confidence and it wasn't until after the all-star break that he was able to get more comfortable and confident. There was a stretch of games last week that he looked completely disinterested, though. The OKC, Indy, Philly stretch had me thinking the same thing, but his play against Boston and Atlanta immediately after made me think it was just a case of a young player being taken out of the game by 3 good defensive teams. Also, he plays better without Calderon in the lineup. Calderon is basically the anti-wing point guard. His overdribbling and completely pick and roll reliant game kills any rhythym for wing players. It is great for bigs like Bosh, Bargnani, Johnson and even Gray, but in my opinion it is not a coincidence that guys like Turkoglu, DeRozan, Parker, Weems etc... all played better when it was Ford/Jack/Bayless starting at the point instead of Calderon. As for Jennings, he isn't a free agent this offseason. He was drafted the same year as DeRozan was which means he is an RFA next year, not this year, assuming he doesn't sign an extension. I also don't think it would be worth it for the Raptors to trade what Milwaukee would want in return for Jennings. He is good, but there are better options at the point if you ask me.

Lol. So basically everything goes right for the Raptors. Cleveland beats Washington last night and Thornton hits a game winner with 6 seconds left to give Sacramento a win over Portland. What do the Raptors do? Blow out the Hawks by 20. Epic tank failing. Maybe it is time to start talking about Damian Lillard, Perry Jones III, Jared Sullinger, Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb because unles the Raptors get lucky in the lottery their chances of being in a position to draft any of Davis, Drummond, Barnes, Beal, Robinson or MKG are looking less likely with each passing day.

Well, it definitely wasn't great and as the game went on (2nd half of the 2nd and the 3rd) you could really see the puck bouncing and jumping on players, but I guess all things considered it was about as good as you could hope. As for the game itself, Quick is so damn good. His positioning is brilliant and he has the athleticism and reflexes to make the desperation saves. You basically can't beat him with a shot that is below his elbow. I am (was) cheering for the Canucks, but if (more like when) they lose, I hope to see LA go far just so I can watch more of him and Kopitar. The two of them don't get anywhere near the credit that they deserve. Brown has been a force in the series as well and Willie Mitchell has been an absolute rock on defense. He is the best defenseman on that team without question. Vancouver played much better today than the first two games but faltered in the 3rd and LA took advantage of it with the Brown goal after Pahlsson lost track of him after hitting him into the boards. With the way Quick was playing and how strong the Kings were defensively, you knew that goal was going to be the winner.