Dash

First is lottery protected.

Ditching my Cavs association (although I might go back to it later) and starting up another one with the Bobcats. Came up with a few rules to make it difficult. -No trading players unless a CPU team offers a deal to me (and their deals are usually pretty shitty). -No signing free agents unless team capacity is below 12 players -No firing a head coach until the contract of that coach expires

Evans plays the 2 and Thornton at the 3. I'm not sure if Hickson will be in the starting lineup beyond this season since there will be a glut of power forwards in the 2012 draft class. Either way that is very solid foundation, Evans and Cousins just need to mature.

Pick is probably lottery protected but I don't see why it was necessary to include it just to get Hickson. Casspi is a good fit though, Irving is going to love his off-ball skills. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more deals later. Today is sort of another trade deadline with the lockout just 12 hours away.

Anyone have the crack to FBB?

They switched to each other's username. Why? I don't know.

Yeah some of these grades don't really make any sense. As a fan who spent a majority of the past season pouting about being a mediocre team and not getting high draft pick, I have to agree. Morey has made some great picks at the 14th slot in Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris and always manages to get a few other nice pieces later in the draft (Budinger, Motiejunas, Landy etc), but you have to wonder if the Rockets picked a rebuilding path and lost about a dozen more games, they could be the ones with Kyrie Irving instead. The 2012 draft class looks absolutely stacked, there is no reason for us to be gunning for the playoffs (Nets own our lottery protected pick) with that many good looking prospects. I love Budinger as a sixth man and do think that he could make it as an NBA starter but not in the same lineup as Kevin Martin and Luis Scola. Morey praised Jordan Hill's work ethic last summer (leading to high expectations for Jordan from Rockets fans) and Patterson also said that he was very impressed with Hill's work ethic just a few days ago. I don't think its been a matter of a love for the game but rather a severe loss of confidence. As for Thabeet...well apparently he's been working pretty hard on his game along with McHale. Hope Dream is able to work with him this summer too.

I know, I know we could be months away from free agency but no harm in speculating now. List of top free agents (in no particular order): Nene Hilario: David West: Tyson Chandler: Kris Humphries: Wilson Chandler: Marc Gasol: Yao Ming: DeAndre Jordan: Tayshaun Prince: Jamal Crawford: Rodney Stuckey: Thaddeus Young: Jason Richardson: Aaron Brooks: Mario Chalmers: Greg Oden:

Dirk Nowitzki for Patrick Patterson.

Sounds a lot like Yao in his rookie year.

Yeah I didn't think Twitter was much of a threat until I signed up and saw it for myself. Having two lockouts in two major sports only makes things so much worse.

Its all good Guru. :glasses:

You don't make the NBA Finals twice in the past decade and are a "pathetic" franchise. That said, I'm not sure if Marshon Brooks will make much of an impact during his rookie season but he's an excellent addition at the 25th pick and gives Deron Williams another option besides Lopez and Morrow down the road. I am offended.

Well thanks for Cahill.

Lol interesting choice. Any particular reason why you picked them?

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/85/england/2011/06/26/2548621/report-manchester-united-set-to-lodge-a-20m-bid-to-sign I would absolutely HATE this move but it wouldn't surprise me if Wenger lets him go. Nasri is a better player than he gets credit for and is constantly misused by Wenger.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/69/transfer-zone/2011/06/28/2551444/arsenal-close-in-on-bolton-defender-gary-cahill-as 17 million euros has got to be the most I've seen Wenger use in a damn long time. I would love this move though, Arsenal is in a desperate need for a proven defender. Ownership has given Wenger a budget of 60 million euros for the summer. Hope there are more moves to come.

Yeah I'm beginning to think it was scripted too but there were so many truths behind it, and you could tell Punk felt strongly about some of the things he said. Either way it was amazing. Stone Cold:

Did anyone catch his rant just now? Holy [expletive].

http://twitter.com/#!/WojYahooNBA

I don't understand why the are shopping Parker if they intend to compete next year. Like you said, there aren't many players on the open market that are on the same level of a Tony Parker or would improve the team much or at all. You have to wonder how Parker is going to react to being shopped hard if the Spurs are unsuccessful in moving him. I do think the Spurs will once again be one of the top 3-4 teams in the West, but I can't see them in the championship conversation. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Good read. I think you were being too harsh on the Timberwolves. They might have missed out on Mario Chalmers and Eric Gordon but still came out with one of the top 2-3 players in the draft and shed some salary in the process. As for the Rockets...not one of Morey's brightest moments but I think the main reason behind the Batum for Greene trade was for McGrady to take on pupil and see what Adelman and the staff could mold him into. Not trying to defend the deal because I would love to have Batum in this team and I can see why we went for it.

Agreed. Its the fact that he already has an established post game that intrigues me the most and apparently not half-bad from mid range either. If he can make the transition from power forward to small forward then he has a chance to be really, really good. As for defense... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYoZrBC9WjE

Donut Motie is God. As a defensive specialist off the bench I like Shumpert but I can't see him being anything more than that. Doesn't have a shot or the point guard skills to remain on the floor for long.