Built Ford Tough

Dimemag.com thinks that Avery Bradley will be 2010’s Breakout Star http://dimemag.com/2010/06/nba-draft-avery-bradley-will-be-2010s-breakout-star/ While I think that Bradley has a lot talent and upside and could wind up becoming the biggest steal in the draft (he could also become one of the biggest busts), I don't think that he will be as good as whoever wrote this believes he will be. Those are some pretty lofty comparisions he is making. I really don't see the comparision between Wade and Bradley. Just throwing that out there, haha. Then again, Dime Magazine isn't exactly known as a great talent evaluator. I got a bit of a laugh out of this article considering I thought I was high on Bradley, but man, this was just something else. Also came across this about Aldrich: And the Bradley vs. Bledsoe debate: It may just be me, but I really think that it will come down to Aldrich or Bradley for the Raptors. All of the talk has been about drafting a center or a guard and these two just seem like the two players that they like the most at their respective positions who will most likely be available at 13. I think that George could sneak in there, but I honestly think that Patterson is a smokescreen to throw people off of the Aldrich/Bradley trail. Colangelo used James Johnson in a similar manner last year to throw people off of the DeRozan trail. I think Patterson is this years Johnson. I also think that if the Raptors pick up a late 1st/early 2nd that they will look to pick up Devin Ebanks. Him coming in for a 2nd workout yesterday combined with some of the comments that have been made about him seem like he is the leading candidate for the Raptors should they pick up another pick (I think they want Alabi, but he won't be around). With that said, I don't think that they pick up another pick in this draft. The excuses have already been brought up by Colangelo and company.

First off, just because teams are interested in Turkoglu doesn't mean that the Raptors are going to get something of decent value in return for him, so I would wouldn't start acting cocky yet, Poe. Secondly, look at what the source is. Hypothetically speaking and there actually hasn't been a lot of interest in Turkoglu, say only a team or two has inquired about him, do you really think that Bryan Colangelo and the Toronto Star are going to say "yeah, nobody is interested him other than one or two teams"? Colangelo certainly has his flaws when it comes to being a general manager, but knowing how to play the media is definitely not one of those flaws. He is very good at playing the media and getting them to leak information that he wants out there. Even if there had only been a couple of teams that were interested in Turkoglu, you know damn well that Colangelo won't admit that as it gives him absolutely no leverage and would result in teams lowballing him. Lastly, exactly how many teams is "a handful" anyways? That is such a subjective term. With all of this said, I am not surprised that teams are inquiring about Turkoglu considering what I have read/heard over the past week or so. It seems like teams are willing to give Turkoglu the benefit of the doubt because the situation in Toronto was just completely dysfunctional. I am sure there are a couple of general managers out there who would take a chance on Turkoglu. I still don't think it is realistic to expect much of a return, but Colangelo has made some very surprising trades in the past and gotten decent value when I thought it was impossible, so you never know.

Well, to be fair, even with my typo in my first post, your comment was still completely off considering I said that they would have $36M in cap space, which would mean that they definitely would be able to offer more than the MLE.

The having $36M in cap room was a typo on my part, it was supposed to be a team salary of $36M, which I edited in when you were probably typing up your reply. And I don't know where you are getting your information from, but the Celtics would have a hell of a lot more than just the MLE to use. If the three scenarios I mentioned in my first post played out, the Celtics financial situation would look like this: Kevin Garnett: $18,800,000 Kendrick Perkins: $4,390,208 Glen Davis: $3,300,000 Rajon Rondo: $9,000,000 Total salary: $35,490,208 (salary numbers from Hoopshype) The salary cap is projected to be $56,100,000 for next season. That leaves the Celtics with $20,609,792M in cap space (assuming that they trade their draft pick). That is a hell of a lot more than just the MLE.

While listening to the chat between Chad Ford and Bill Simmons, it made me think. Is it possible that the Celtics lure a big name free agent to Boston? If Rasheed Wallace retires, Ray Allen leaves and Paul Pierce opts out of his contract, the Celtics are suddenly looking at $36M or something in cap space with a roster of Rondo, Garnett, Perkins and Davis and whoever they take at 19 (assuming they keep the pick as there has been speculation of them trading it). If all three of these scenarios play out, do you think that it is possible for the Celtics to lure one of the marquee free agents to Boston EDIT: They wouldn't have $36M in cap space, they would have a team salary of $36M. My bad on that. They would have just over $20,609,792M in cap space. 2nd EDIT: This isn't taking cap holds or anything like that into consideration, which would obviously play a factor.

Uh-oh, Ford just insulted Pierce. Things should get interesting now. Ford: (The broken down vets were Davis and Pierce) Simmons: Ford: Simmons:

And now Simmons is turning his attention from to the Warriors: Ford had an interesting take on a potential Tyreke Evans/DeMarcus Cousins duo: I don't think that too many people looked at it from this angle and just looked at it from the "two highly talented players, one a shooting guard the other a center, both under 21, make it happen" angle. It brings up a valid question of just how these two would compliment each other with their respective playing styles and/or dominant personalities. Oh yeah, and Ford is now falling Simmons lead and ripping into the Warriors:

Ok, this is moving at an absolute snails pace. They have made 4 picks in about 40 minutes, haha. Some interesting comments from Chad Ford about DeMarcus Cousins: Oh yeah, another humerous dig at Minnesota by Simmons: He is absolutely roasting the Wolves. He retracted that pick and picked Cousins for them though.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2010/news/story?page=ford-simmons-100623 I love reading anything Bill Simmons, whether I agree with him or not, so I am finding this interesting. Thought I would post it for anybody else who wants to read it as they make their selections and comments. Bill Simmons:

Whoever got the most picks correct. That is what I used last year at NBAD at least. I forgot to mention that, thanks for reminding me. And in the event that the two people who tied got the exact same amount of picks correct, we can either do who got the most picks 1 off or who managed to get the most picks correct in succession. Which would you guys prefer? Or any other suggestions that you feel would work?

Rules: 1. Each poster will create a mock draft of the first round only which they will private message to me. Each poster will have until 6pm ET on Thursday to submit their mock. You can edit your mock and send a new one to me whenever, but once 6pm ET comes, all submissions are final. 2. Point system: For every correct pick you receive 3 points. For every player 1 pick off you receive 2 points. For every player 2 picks off you receive 1 point. If your mock has a player more than 2 slots away from his draft position you get 0 points for that player. (example below) 3. Each poster will need to private message me their mock instead of posting it in the thread to keep from others looking at your picks. I will post all of the mocks in a new thread just prior to the start of the draft and will total them after the draft finishes. 4. 5 bonus points will be rewarded if you are able to get the entire lottery correct. 5. In the event of a tie, the winner will be whoever gets the most picks exactly correct. 6. Brandon has said he will reward the winner with a prize, what exactly is unknown. Example of scoring system: Real draft 1. Blake Griffin 2. Ricky Rubio 3. Hasheem Thabeet 4. James Harden 5. Brandon Jennings 6. Tyreke Evans 7. Demar Derozan 8. Stephen Curry 9. Earl Clark 10. Jordan Hill Your mock draft 1. Blake Griffin (3 points) 2. Hasheem Thabeet (2 points) 3. Ricky Rubio (2 points) 4. Tyreke Evans (1 point) 5. Stephen Curry (0 points) 6. James Harden (1 point) 7.Demar Derozan (3 points) 8. Stephen Curry (3 points) 9. Jordan Hill (2 points) 10. Earl Clark (2 points) 19 total points If you have any ideas that you feel would make this better, feel free to mention them to me and I'll take them into consideration. If you are interested sign up here. Participants Built Ford Tough Dash TheHutch AboveLegit xx. Cotton Camby Real Deal STL10 FreeAgent BasX AtTheDriveIn MoeRoadKill Confidence deestillballin Prodigy Waldo Have received mocks from

I added a poll so feel free to vote. Judging from Chad Ford's latest blog/article, it sounds like Paul George will be off the board by the time the Raptors pick, whether it is at 10 to Indiana or 12 to Memphis. It sounds like Udoh will go 6th to Golden State if Cousins is off of the board. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16937/late-night-draft-buzz He also says that Aminu is a lock to the Clippers at 8, the Jazz are leaning towards Davis at 9 and the Pistons will take Monroe at 7. This creates an interesting scenario for the Raptors because if everything goes according to how Ford thinks, it sounds like Cole Aldrich (if New Orleans doesn't pick him) and Patrick Patterson will drop to Toronto. It makes for an interesting dilemma as the Raptors seem to be the highest on Alrich, Patterson and Avery Bradley (and George, but it sounds like he will be gone). I always figured that the Raptors would have a list of 4 or so guys that they would want and would wind up picking whoever is left from that list, but if things play out like Ford expects them to, it is sounding like the Raptors won't have their decision made for them, which, to be honest, kind of scares me considering their shoddy draft history.

I think it is safe to say that the trade is pretty much a done deal. CDR has been posting "FTD" all over his Twitter account, which I assume stands for "Fear The Deer". I could be wrong and that has an entirely different meaning for him and it is merely a coincidence, but you can't help but notice the timing and think to yourself: Hmm...

Alright, I'll make up a more detailed thread later on where people can sign up and all of that. And yeah, FreeAgent, I don't really think there is much to do as it isn't a very complicated thing to run, haha. If I need any help with anything, I'll definitely let you know though.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16937/late-night-draft-buzz I think those rumors about the Bucks promising Larry Sanders are looking more and more legitimate. If this trade goes down, combined with the earlier move acquiring Maggette, that leaves the Bucks with a decent wing rotation. I definitely think that they will try to trade down and take Sanders on draft night as drafting a wing would create a logjam with Maggette, Redd, Mbah a Moute, Deflino, CDR and the draft pick (is Ilyasova a 3 or a 4? I can't remember).

There is talk about him being traded to Milwuakee for a 2nd round pick. Maybe that is why he is excited? http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/16937/late-night-draft-buzz

If people want to participate, I have no problems of running one.

I organized something similar to this last year on NBAD. Here is how I ran that one. Rules: 1. Each poster will create a mock draft of the first round only which they will private message to me. Each poster will have until 6pm ET on draft day to submit their mock. 2. Point system: For every correct pick you receive 3 points. For every player 1 pick off you receive 2 points. For every player 2 picks off you receive 1 point. If your mock has a player more than 2 slots away from his draft position you get 0 points for that player. (example below) 3. Each poster will need to private message me their mock instead of posting it in the thread to keep from others looking at your picks. Example of scoring system: Real draft 1. Blake Griffin 2. Ricky Rubio 3. Hasheem Thabeet 4. James Harden 5. Brandon Jennings 6. Tyreke Evans 7. Demar Derozan 8. Stephen Curry 9. Earl Clark 10. Jordan Hill Your mock draft 1. Blake Griffin (3 points) 2. Hasheem Thabeet (2 points) 3. Ricky Rubio (2 points) 4. Tyreke Evans (1 point) 5. Stephen Curry (0 points) 6. James Harden (1 point) 7.Demar Derozan (3 points) 8. Stephen Curry (3 points) 9. Jordan Hill (2 points) 10. Earl Clark (2 points) 19 total points If people like this idea, I'd do one here on OTR. It is basically the exact same thing as FreeAgent (how many times have you changed your name now? haha) is suggesting with just a few modifications.

I can see the similarities between the two. They are both good shooters, both are basically the same size (6-6, 220 pounds) and both were/are known as solid defenders coming out of college. However, I highly doubt that Henry becomes as good as Redd was in his prime. People forget just how good Redd was at scoring the ball before his knee troubles. He averaged 24.5 ppg on 45% shooting over a 4 year span. He was pretty good at getting to the free throw line as well as he averaged 6.9 free throws per game during this time frame. I don't think that Henry will ever be able to get to the line or create his own offense nearly as well as a prime Michael Redd did. People always talk about Redd's ability to shoot the ball, or point out his weaknesses in regards to playmaking and things like that, but he was a damn good scorer during his prime. I see Henry's prime being more of a 15 ppg scorer on good shooting percentages, but limited to mainly set plays and scoring off of others setting him up than him creating for himself and being more of a defender than Redd was in the NBA (he was actually a very good defender during his time at Ohio State, but it never translated to the NBA). A good role player, but not the borderline All-Star that Redd was during his prime. I can see some similarities though, and if you want to make the comparision, I can understand why somebody would call him a poor mans Michael Redd. I don't think that he will ever be as good as a prime Redd though.

The Bucks also got the 44th pick in the draft (the pick that they acquired from Portland for $2M) in this trade as well. I don't know if I really like this trade for the Bucks. Maggette is basically useless without the ball in his hands, like Brandon said. He isn't a good shooter and doesn't move well without the ball. When he does have the ball in his hands, you can pretty much guarantee that he will be putting up a shot as he is a huge blackhole. He doesn't create plays for others or anything like that. The one thing that he is great at is getting to the line though. The thing is, how often will Maggette have the ball in his hands in Milwuakee with Jennings and Bogut on the team? It is pretty clear that the Bucks will run their offense through these two and they will be their primary focus on the offensive end. They are going to have to find a way to incorperate Maggette into the offense without disrupting their flow, which I think will be tough to do. Should be interesting seeing how Maggette reacts to Scott Skiles dictatorship coaching style though. I can either see this working out really well and Skiles does a good job of changing Maggette, or it will be result in some very entertaining clashes. Either way, it should be fun. As for Golden State, it is pretty clear why they do this. They dump Maggette's contract and correct the mistake of signing him in the first place. This gives more touches to Curry and Ellis next season and gets rid of a contract, and player, that did not fit into their long term plan at all. I think they save about $15M or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIL9-T4KrU&feature=player_embedded Sonny Weems was talking a lot of trash in that video. The best was when he started to trash talk DeRozan for losing to "a 5 foot 10 dude" in the Dunk Contest. I really hope that the Raptors are able to bring back Amir Johnson though. I love watching these three play and it just wouldn't be the same without Johnson. On a different note, what exactly is DeRozan's nickname? Has anything stuck yet? I've heard Heir Canada (my personal favourite), DDR, D-Ro, Double D and, of course, Matt Devlin's notorious Kid Dynamite ( )

With a draft as unpredictable as this one, combined with the chaos that will be free agency, you knew that you wouldn't be able to stay away from this site, haha. Hope you feel better soon.

Who is to say that Bosh can't improve on his 22/10 averages though? For a large portion of this past season he was averaging 24/12 on 50% shooting. And you don't have to be a lock down defender either, that is bogus. Dirk Nowitzki has led the Mavs to 50 wins for the last decade, and came within 2 games of winning an NBA Championship while being a mediocore defender. Charles Barkley was never known as a great defender and he came within two games of beating the Bulls in 92/93 for an NBA Championship. Pair Bosh up with a good defender at the center position, instead of a liability like Bargnani, and all of a sudden his defense isn't nearly as much of an issue. Bosh is better than Gasol was during his Memphis days, and the one season when Garnett had a legit supporting cast they won 58 games, made it to the Western Conference Finals and lost in 6 games to a Lakers team that were the favourite to win the NBA Championship until they imploded int he Finals. Give Bosh a team of more than mediocore at best players and I'm sure that he could lead them to more than "missed playoff apperances and 1st round exits". Again, I'm not saying that Bosh is going to lead a team to a championship. I just think it is laughable that people are basically telling him to give up his dream at only 26 years old. It is like he said in that interview, that wasn't mentioned in this thread, This has been his dream since he was a kid and he should give it up at 26 years old? I'm sorry, but I find anybody who hates on somebody for wanting to fufil their lifelong dream completely pathetic. When you are 26 years old and mention wanting to accomplish your lifelong dream, whatever that may be, and somebody tells you that it is impossible and you should just give up, are you just going to roll over and give up? Or are you going to try and accomplish what you have wanted to do your entire life? And, lastly, you do realize just how completely retarded your comparision of Derek Fisher to Chris Bosh is right? Their situations aren't even remotely similar. Chris Bosh is in the prime of his career; Derek Fisher is in the twilight of his career. Chris Bosh is a top 3 player at his position; Derek Fisher is arguably not even in the top half of his position. Chris Bosh is a 5 time All-Star; Derek Fisher has never been anywhere close to an All-Star Chris Bosh is coming off of the best season of his career; Derek Fisher is considered a fringe starter. Do I need to continue? Bottom line is that Bosh probably won't ever be able to lead a team to an NBA Championship, but trying and failing to do this would be a hell of a lot better than looking back at his career in 20 years and wondering what if.

Colangelo talked to the media today. And the excuses for when the Raptors don't buy an extra pick are starting to come. Also, didn't Colangelo already confirm that there was a list from Bosh? I remember posting that in the thread about Bosh releasing a wish list. Doug Smith: Basically, a whole lotta nothing.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/67353/20100622/nba_announces_green_room_invitees/#ixzz0rc2agJTi