PJ, I would take that with a grain of salt. We seen the Boston press corp be just a press release for the Red Sox whenever they wanted to kick somebody who just left town. Sounds like the same thing here.

Is there a chance that Darren Collison is actually pretty good?

[849] Presti is already releasing a press release about how he failed to shoot 90% from the FT line. "We knew we made the right choice."

Is there a chance that Darren Collison is actually pretty good?

he looked really good as a rookie, and then worse and worse and worse every year since.

Can we start a fan campaign for him to officially change his name to this? 1000x better than Chad Ochocinco, as far as vanity names go.

as long as i am here, i will personally guarantee that no man, woman, or bieber (of anaheim) will forget the name or face of "dispencer hawesome".


although i will admit that if i was really good, i'd also find a way to work in a reference to inspector spacetime.

We seen the Boston press corp be just a press release for the Red Sox whenever they wanted to kick somebody who just left town. Sounds like the same thing here.

Brian Windhorst is not part of the Boston press corps. Never has been. And it's not like unnamed sources or something -- Allen went out of his way to hold press conferences and talk about Rivers and Rondo.

How did Anthony Davis look tonight?

Curry and Lee are a combined 3-for-28.

Great debut by my boys tonight, especially our newbies (Mo and Marv Williams, Foye). Nice rebounding effort all around, and a snazzy 37-13 third quarter. A few substitution patterns I hope don't continue throughout the season, but I'm gonna withold any complaints until it happens in games that we don't win by 19.

On an 82-0 pace! ;-)

holiday signs extension for 4/41 (+5m in incentives), gibson for 4/32 (+6m in incentives)
nash hurt - lower leg contusion

i'm guessing that it's not a good sign for the lakers that, in the <5 minutes that jodie meeks and chris duhon were on the floor together tonight against the blazers, the lakers were -13.

on the other hand, kobe and tafka ron artest hit 6 combined 3s, and dwight howard went 15/19 from the FT line a night after locking up the nick anderson award.

holiday signs extension for 4/41 (+5m in incentives)

first we show up, then we see what happens.

Somebody needs to track down a picture of this:

Afterward, [Enes Kanter] sported a black straw hat with feather, black leather jacket and blue-and-while skull-and-crossbones belt buckle.

Don't have the belt buckle in there, but here's a pic of the rest:
Tribjazz pic

Checking out the standings the Timberwolves are tied for 8th, right on the bubble! :)

Watching the Houston highlights. Harden made some awfully pretty passes last night.

the name or face of "dispencer hawesome"

Looks like fat Chris Tucker and Wooderson

Let's see....Harden is awesome. Kind of excited about watching Houston now. Can he average, say, 24-25 per game maybe? /1st game overreaction, sort of

Stolen from Twitter:
Lin +23 in 35 minutes
DWTDD -14 in 13 minutes

Finally - and I say this as someone who believes they'll ultimately end up with 55+ wins and (at least) an appearance in the Western Conference Finals - I am really enjoying the new Laker dynasty thus far.

Anthony Davis' first game was against Tim Duncan.
I hope they schedule Tim's last game in 2015 to be against Anthony Davis.

aaron brooks with the first lost tooth of the nba season.

I hope to god it was a fake tooth. That came out way too easy, there didn't appear to be any blood, and he didn't miss any time. Otherwise, he's hella tough.

gibson for 4/32 (+6m in incentives)

Great deal. Gibson gave in. Before the game, he said he wouldn't sign it, then he had all these quotes afterwards about how it was too much to pass up, how happy he was in Chicago, etc.

---

Some other thoughts on that Bulls/Kings game:
-The Kings actually have more guys I like than I thought (Hayes, Brooks, Thorton), but the pieces just don't look like they fit yet.
-The Bulls were going offense/defense (actually, if I were being honest I wouldn't call the one group "offense") and the defense team was Noah/Deng/Butler/Hinrich/NateRob...and it kinda worked because of how crazy the Kings roster is.
-The Bulls got great games from Noah and Boozer, and about as good of a game as you can hope for from Rip and barely won. I don't want to overreact, but perhaps I did overrate their chances.
-The Bulls are not fun or interesting to watch at all. Ugh.

Let's see....Harden is awesome. Kind of excited about watching Houston now. Can he average, say, 24-25 per game maybe? /1st game overreaction, sort of

I see no reason why he can't, he's going to get the shots. If he can keep the same efficiency, now that would be impressive.

---

It's kinda funny the Allen and Rondo stuff here is breaking pretty clearly along rooting lines. I'm hopelessly biased, so I've been trying to avoid commenting, especially since if I were to comment on the Rondo/Wade play from the other night I'd have to take Wade's side and I'd rather not do that.

Gibson's quotes, btw:

"It dawned on me I didn't want to be a selfish player. I wanted to get what's fair. It's a lot of money. I can't really turn it down, especially for the security. You never know what can happen during the year. At any given moment, I could pull a groin or hurt my knee."

Gibson said Bartelstein told him he likely could earn more as a restricted free agent next summer "but you could end up playing in some hellhole."

"It probably would have been on my mind if I turned it down," Gibson said. "Now I get to compete on a solid team in a great organization."

---

I remember when people were blasting the bulls for wasting a pick on taj Gibson. Things have changed.

Indeed. I for one was very critical of that pick.

---

Looking at those other extensions signed yesterday, I like the Gibson deal even more.

Looking at those other extensions signed yesterday, I like the Gibson deal even more.

I agree with this (Really, Toronto?), but $8 million plus per year for a guy who plays 20-25 minutes per game? Feels like a lot to me - maybe I am underestimating what a guy like him should make. Are they planning on playing him more this year?

Gibson said Bartelstein told him he likely could earn more as a restricted free agent next summer "but you could end up playing in some hellhole."

And exactly what NBA city is a hellhole for a young man making millions? That is some silly right there, and I think he can decide to sign or not for any reason he wants, but hellhole? Really? Of course it wasn't the player talking about hellholes, but still.

And exactly what NBA city is a hellhole for a young man making millions? That is some silly right there, and I think he can decide to sign or not for any reason he wants, but hellhole? Really? Of course it wasn't the player talking about hellholes, but still.

Detroit. Memphis. Sacramento. Oakland. The two California ones really stand out because you add in California taxes. Plus, you know with the Bulls you're going to win, you get no guarantees from that if you leave.

I don't think DeRozan is worth his contract, but isn't the only way for a team like Toronto to ever get significantly above the salary cap to extend its former first round picks? If they ever want to add an expensive player, they need the salaries to balance that out (or need to go way under which won't happen).

I don't think DeRozan is worth his contract, but isn't the only way for a team like Toronto to ever get significantly above the salary cap to extend its former first round picks? If they ever want to add an expensive player, they need the salaries to balance that out (or need to go way under which won't happen).

The problem is they bargained against themselves. Hollinger points this out every offseason, but few teams realize the power they wield in restricted free agency. The Hornets did in the offseason with Gordon, the Bulls appeared to with Gibson, but why give DeRozan that kind of cash? Do you really think that someone else was going to? Wouldn't you like to see this year first to determine if last year was real or not?

The money's not going to cripple them, and you're right, they won't get near the cap because players seem to have an aversion to Canada. I just think it shows that the front office doesn't understand the market and the CBA.

I agree with this (Really, Toronto?), but $8 million plus per year for a guy who plays 20-25 minutes per game? Feels like a lot to me - maybe I am underestimating what a guy like him should make. Are they planning on playing him more this year?

Yes. I don't think Mohammed is going to just absorb all of Asik's minutes. I could see Boozer's minutes declining more, and with both Noah and Boozer as injury risk, I'll be surprised if Taj doesn't end up starting at least 20 games this year.

Wouldn't you like to see this year first to determine if last year was real or not?

Even though he scored more last year, he still kinda sucked. I don't think he was worth his contract last year, so in essence they're paying for hopeful future improvements.

Afterward, [Enes Kanter] sported a black straw hat with feather, black leather jacket and blue-and-while skull-and-crossbones belt buckle.

I saw the post game interview with Kanter and loved the attire. For the sake of entertainment, I'm hoping that's how he always dresses and it had nothing to do with Halloween.

With Millsap and Jefferson in the starting lineup and Favors and Kanter coming off the bench, I'm thinking the Jazz could be a serious rebounding and double-double machine this season.

Even though he scored more last year, he still kinda sucked. I don't think he was worth his contract last year, so in essence they're paying for hopeful future improvements.


I actually meant it in the "last year sucked, i hope this isn't real" sense. I thought it was just generally accepted that he regressed last year. This is why I'm a scientist, not a writer.

Derozan seems like the classic type to score points and do little else on a bad team. Yes, that type of player usually gets overpaid. I understand the idea that Toronto needs to draft well to succeed, but long term commitments to mediocre players just compounds the mistake. If they wanted to have money on the books to balance out a trade, sign him to a shorter deal, or let him walk and find someone else to take 2/22 because it isn't hard to replicate the on-court value.

Collison- he just lit up Steve Nash and Mo Williams. That result against the Jazz is about what you'd expect from Dirk-less Dallas. Hard to read too much into what they did against LA's current state of confusion. I'm sure the Lakers will repay the favor once they get it figured out.

Harden really was a boss. Not much to add. He was so assertive and never faded out of the spotlight when he was in the game. Lin looked ok, and I am sure he will be featured more as time goes on, but there was one play where you could see him trying to prove he could go left when they hedged on a pick, and he instantly turned it over. I also liked the play when he had the ball on the elbow with 3 secs on the shot clock, everyone was covered, so he rapidly backpedaled 2 dribbles to get behind the 3-pt line and maximize the value of his jacked-up shot.

Denver looked sickly. The only guy who pushed anything in the parts I watched was Andre Miller. They took a lot of contested long twos. Philadelphia gets credit for not giving them anything easy. They also get blame for not finding a plan B when the fast-break plan wasn't working against a low-TO opponent.

Detroit. Memphis. Sacramento. Oakland.

I'll spot you Sacremento (though I think hellhole is strong even for that cow town), but the others - especially Oakland - have very nice areas around them to live in and plenty of amenities (clubs, whatever). And you can't be serious that he took less money to avoid possibly paying a bit more in California taxes - that is just silly. Making a Florida versus New York taxes calculation is one thing, making an Illinois versus unknown locale tax rate argument.

I can see taking certainty and have no complaint with him choosing whatever, but hellhole is jsut a silly thing for anyone to have said about pretty much any NBA city. It's not like they are playing in Beruit or anything.

My bad. New thread is up.

I didn't know either.

Here's the link.

I'm playing fantasy basketball for the first time this year. What are the best sites to check for projections and tips? Is Basketball Prospectus the go-to site?