danzig6767

Weeks manages to drop more line drives or throws that hit him in the glove than any other player i can think of.

Yea i don't really have any hopes that this roster can legitimately compete to get in the NBA Finals much less win a title, but i do hope they can be a 50 or more win team this coming year and the following year. Winning a playoff round or two would be great also. I'm not a fan of 5 years to either Gooden or Salmons, but i won't throw a fit over it either. I'm simply going to try and enjoy a hopefully fun Bucks season where it's the best team we've had in awhile instead of spending to much time worry about what will happen say 4 years from now as Salmons/Gooden could be in the ugly years of those contracts. After so many years of watching terrible Bucks teams and going into seasons with very low expectations, it is refreshing to be really excited for a Bucks season to start.

Yea well i see no evidence that Macha has much confidence in Gerut as a player to use him over Edmonds when it comes to a RH on the mound. So Gerut gets left being just yet another LH bat on the bench and the LH pinch hit option that Macha has the least confidence in. Unless it's early in a game where a starting pitcher gets yanked or the game is a blowout, Macha will almost always use Counsell or Inglett to bat vs a RH pitcher before he'll use Gerut. Until/if an injury hits Edmonds which no question is possible, Gerut will largely have no role on this team except sunflower seed eater so long as Macha remains the manager.

Obviously it's easier for a starter to be really good by having 3 or 4 quality pitches, but a guy can be a good starter with largely just two pitches if they are very high quality. Hell, just look at the two best starters the franchise has turned out lately Ben Sheets threw either a fastball or curve on about 99 percent of his pitches. He was very effective with that because both were high quality and Ben had great command of both. Gallardo is also a fastball/curve starting pitcher like Sheets, but i'll grant he does throw changeups more than Ben did. That said, my guess is that Gallardo throws either a fastball or curve on about 95 percent of his pitches. Both are such plus pitches for Gallardo that i have no doubt he could still be very effective if he never threw anything except those two pitches. Maybe Jeffress is just better off focusing on making his 4 seam fastball and curve special pitches that he can consistently command instead of pushing him to be able to throw 3-4 pitches well with command and then he might not ever learn to consistently command any of them? I'd rather he be able to throw two dominant pitches consistently then have erratic command of four pitches.

Jennings and winning will make Milwaukee more appealing to some players in the NBA, but the top elite players are a different animal. They have nearly unlimited options as to where they can play because pretty much every team in the league would try to make room for them if that player showed interest.

You're forgetting the most important aspect, getting Bosh to choose playing in Milwaukee over multiple other more appealing destinations for young athletes. Bosh ain't picking Milwaukee.

He started off last year with Ukic as the 3rd string PG. He wasn't a rookie, but he was only in his 2nd year and was also a 2nd round pick and more of an SG.We'll see, maybe Hobson looks fabulous in Summer League and camp. My point is quasi running the half court offense at New Mexico is a vastly different animal than playing PG in the NBA. If NBA coaches got even a sniff that Hobson couldn't handle strong on ball pressure, they'll pressure him relentlessly in the backcourt and trap him once he gets the ball passed half court. That's one reason why Skiles rarely trusted Bell playing PG, he really struggles with strong on ball pressure defense. Being able to handle pressure like that in college is vastly easier because most college teams aren't loaded with tall and long great athletes like nearly every NBA team has.

If any sport should have replay, it's World Cup soccer. It's a sport that only happens every four years and a sport where a single score can have a massive massive impact on who wins or loses a game. The majority of games seem to be decided by a single goal, a blown call on a goal isn't some small obstacle that you can say, well that can easily be overcome. Plus, the average soccer game has what, three goals scored in it total? If replay was in place for goals only, you are looking at in the majority of games maybe one replay needed and often none needed.

Ridnour isn't going to sign for just one year. Sure, a sizable number of the free agents who project to be bench players in the NBA will be stuck getting only one year deals. The guys though that legitimately can be considered upper tier bench players will still be able to cash in multi-year deals because GM's realize that you need some quality bench players in your top 8-9 man rotation to be a good team over a long 82 game season. Ridnour will be viewed like that. Once teams though get into filling out their 10th through rest of the bench guys, yea those guys generally get stuck having to accept one year deals at 1.5 million to the league minimum. Obviously the quality of a teams starting five is by far the biggest key to success in the NBA, but the top 3-4 guys off the bench can also be pretty important because they'll also play quite a few minutes even on a healthy roster. If/when injuries hit, those 3-4 bench players become even more important. If they are all cheap scrubs, they'll quickly get exposed as such.

Skiles won't go into next year with a rookie 2nd round SG as his 3rd string PG. Whoever that 3rd string PG is, he won't see the court much so i understand the appeal of having someone else on the roster like Hobson having the job. All it would take though is an injury to Jennings where he had to miss a 3-5 weeks and suddenly that 3rd string PG will need to play around 10-20 minutes a game. I'd be shocked if Skiles would trust that role with a kid like Hobson. My guess is the 3rd string PG job will go to some fringe guy who makes the league minimum, but who is really a PG unless Hobson absolutely wows Skiles/Hammond in Summer League and camp.

I've always wondered about how many superstar hockey players might be out there who never even laced up skates. Of all sports, it seems like hockey would have the greatest chance for undiscovered talent -- everyone kicks a ball, shoots hoops, throws a football, and swings a bat a handful of times growing up, but ice hockey is just so involved with equipment, prerequisite skills, and kids just aren't nearly as confronted with it. I can relate to this a bit. When i was a kid i played little league baseball and was really good at it, but i so badly wanted to play hockey. Two of my cousins that i was very close to both played pee wee hockey at Wilson Park. Not only that, my grandma lived a few minutes walking distance from Wilson Park and back then the Admirals played there. My uncle was a county worker that took care of Wilson Park and got to know Admiral players enough that two or three times a couple players came over to eat at my grandma's house. I had signed sticks and jersey's. I'd sit and watch the Admirals practice at Wilson Park with my cousin. I'd watch my cousin's pee wee games. I skated all the time. Every Saturday/Sunday night i'd watch Badger hockey rebroadcasts on PBS channel 36 at 10:30 if they played at home, pre-cable TV days. Hockey though was expensive to play and my folks couldn't afford to put me in given they had three kids to feed and take care of. Thinking about it now, i wonder if i'd have been any good at hockey. Man i loved hockey back then.

A normal tennis set would take - at most - 13 games (with one player winning the set 7-6). The scoring in this match has gone 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 59-59. It's not quite like a 40-inning game....27 would be closer to reality. Imagine a baseball game where the 9th inning lasts longer than two full-length baseball games. That's what this is like. I'm not much of a tennis fan so let me get this straight. These guys played 108 full games in the final set without a single guy breaking serve? When i saw the 59-59 i assumed it was tiebreaker points. Is the tiebreaker now gone in tennis then? Wow that is utter insanity.

From what i've read by Warriors/Clippers fans, Maggette isn't terrible defensively, but it certainly isn't his strong suit. That said, my hopes are that he can be at least somewhat better defensively ride on 1. He spent the last few years playing in Don Nelson's street ball fun and gun style of play where nobody defended. That kind of culture where almost nobody defends helps lead to nobody defending. Hopefully once Maggette gets here and sees everyone else defending hard and taking it seriously, peer pressure and any personal pride he has leads to him also taking defense more seriously. 2. Skiles. In his two years as head coach, Bucks fans have clearly seen that he isn't like some coaches who say that their teams will defend hard, but it's little more than lip service as players don't defend hard and yet still get their 30 plus minutes. Under Skiles, if a guy plays lazy defense, he gets yanked from the game regardless of it's the best players on the team. Hell, in Skiles first year, i remember him yanking Bogut once after about only 2 minutes into a game for not hustling on defense. When Skiles says if you don't defend hard you don't play, it's not lip service to the media, he flat out means it. Maggette will quickly find out he's not in Golden St. anymore come training camp and the first time he doesn't hustle back on defense or say is lazy fighting around a screen. The next stoppage in play will have him sitting on the pine.

There is no chance the T-Wolves take Cousins as he refused to work out for them and has straight up told them he doesn't want to play for them. If the Nets take Johnson they will happily take Favors. And you wouldn't want either Love or Jefferson, as neither gives a damn about defense. I think Love tries somewhat on defense, but he has serious athletic limitations as a power forward, especially in today's NBA where a lot of the PF's are athletic face up guys instead of back to the basket bruisers. Besides that, teams often go small and Love ends up having to guard guys like Corey Maggette for stretches. He is a top 5 rebounder in the game though and can provide spacing with his ability to shoot. I think he can be a valuable player on a good team, but Love has to be paired next to a good defensive center and Bogut does fit that description. Having him paired next to Jefferson though is a recipe for the paint being attacked at will.

Painful on the ears

Speaking of poker, i stopped playing online a few years ago, but do play some games with friends once in awhile. That said, i also stopped regularly watching High Stakes Poker on the GSN. Well, i decided to tape a few episodes lately and i saw an absolutely fabulous hand of poker between Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. I'm not sure if it if it was from this season or last, but it became a 650,000 dollar pot and neither guy had anything. After Dwan threw in a third and final big bluff, around 250,000 i believe even though he only had 9 high, Ivey seriously looked like he might call even though he was only holding a pair of sixes and the board was showing a King, Queen, and Jack i believe. That was fabulous poker to watch between arguably the two best players in the world. Dwan has some ridiculous balls of steel whenever i've watched him play, i'd hate to ever play against the guy while Ivey is thought of as the best player in the world by the majority of the better players. The very definition of sharks at the poker table.

If they get the 18th pick from Miami, it's quite possible that Hammond could get a jump shooter like Henry or James Anderson out of one of the two picks along with a big man from the other pick. That's my hope at least, unless somehow Paul George slipped to 15, but i doubt it. This draft though seems to have quite a bit of depth among the 10-20 pick range, maybe even to 25. So with so many players considered close in ability, it seems really tough to peg who will be there at 15 and 18 if we did get the Miami pick. I always enjoy watching any draft, but i'm particularly curious to see how this years NBA draft plays out both for the Bucks and just overall. If Hammond does a good job, the Bucks could ad some real contributors for the future and hopefully some help for next year.

That would be totally incorrect with almost all mid-first rounders. In the cases of really late first rounders, teams who lack the cap space, don't want to use cap space on a rookie, and/or don't like any of the players when they'd be picking in the late 20's, then yea they'll sometimes just get rid of the pick. Usually these are the top teams in the league. Not sure what you're talking about though with this line, ""They rarely do them, however, because the fan base would not get it." Teams bail out of late first rounders all the time and many of their fans entirely get why. It's not hard to understand why. Hell, sometimes they don't even bother with getting anything back in return, they'll sell the pick for straight up cash in the 3 million range. The NBA in the last CBA changed how rookie contracts go and now teams only have to guarantee the first two seasons, the final three years are team options. This makes first round picks more attractive, even late first round ones because in the past NBA teams had to guarantee the first 3 or 4 years, i forget exactly. For example, the 29th pick last years draft only got 1 million as his first year rookie salary. This year he's only guaranteed 1.1 million. After that, the Knicks hold team options for the next three years at 1.2/2.1/3.1 million. It leaves very little financial risk for the team, basically a 2yr/2.1 million dollar contract. If he doesn't pan out, the team can just waive the guy after those first two years. If though the guy shows promise and is productive over those five years, the Knicks will have got Douglas for only 8.5 million over those five years, a fabulous bargain. On the flip side, if say Douglas went early second round and became a player, he'd likely be a free agent after only year two or three because that's the norm contract for 2nd round picks. Plus, you'd maybe save only 200-500 grand each of those first two years depending on the draft slot, compared to if the player had gone later 1st round. That all said, if a draft is considered deep like this years draft is, later firsts and early second rounders will be in more demand than in years where a draft isn't considered deep, last year being the case.

Rob Deer isn't a good hitter to use in the argument you are making. Deer did hit a lot of home runs and struck out a ton, but he also walked quite a bit. Deer was much more like Branyan than he is like Katin. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/D/Rob-Deer.shtml

Come on folks, this guy had to be spoofing with this thread.

I honestly don't remember a single major league player simply drop as many balls that hit him square in the glove like Weeks does. It's incredible.

Oh i disagree strongly, third base side is the only place i'll sit on a warm sunny day game. I love hot sun and it drives me nuts to be in the shade on a sunny day so the first base side is a no go for me.

Yep, this is professional baseball, not high school or college. Stern doesn't have a scholarship that the Brewers should have to honor. He's the same fringe player that he's always been and for guys like him that want to continue having a shot to play in the big leagues, they have to be willing to accept that professional sports can be a very cutthroat business for guys on the fringes. Sure it has to suck for Stern to be going up and down like a yo-yo, but at least the Brewers offered him that opportunity to play games again in the majors. Odds are high that few if any other teams offered that opportunity.

I understand what you're saying, but i do think in a situation like this Melvin/Attanasio need to also consider the PR factor involving Suppan. When he enters games at Miller Park, it creates a toxic environment for Suppan, Macha, and the fans. There have been numerous threads as to whether it is ok for fans to boo their own players, but the fact of the matter is most Brewer fans who attend the games can't stand Suppan the pitcher and look for even the slightest reason to voice their displeasure with him being in a game. The Brewers could be down 10 runs and if Macha puts Suppan in a game, the crowd will start attacking him from the first hit or walk he gives up. If Jeff starts getting jacked around which he certainly is prone to doing, things will get ugly as it did on Sunday. Personally, i find it hard to watch because Suppan seems to be a genuinely good man. If he can't perform any better than say a random scrubby AAA/fringe major league pitcher, it's better IMO to remove Suppan from the roster just for PR reasons so we don't have to continue seeing stuff like happened Sunday at Miller Park. I see no way that vicious booing won't be the norm each time he pitches in Miller Park except for times he manages to not give up runs. He could throw two innings where he only gives up one run which isn't a terrible outing for a relief pitcher and the crowd would still be all over him while he gives up that run. Then you factor in that Suppan generally has the mop up role job which can force Macha to keep him in games even if he's giving up bullets all over the ballpark, it could lead to more toxic environments at MP where Macha has to leave Suppan in games in which boos and worse are loudly raining down from the home crowd. Are situations like that worth keeping him on the team given how unproductive he is with a 7.22 ERA and 1.92 WHIP?

His ERA is already 7.22 with a 1.92 WHIP. As i was watching the game today, this whole situation with Suppan just gets more and more baffling to me. The guy is terrible, his manager is terrified to put Jeff in any even somewhat close game unless he feels he has no other choice, and regardless if people think it's ok/wrong for fans to boo players on their own team, the crowds at Miller Park generally loathe Suppan. The minute he enters a game at Miller Park, the crowd immediately gets restless and starts booing Suppan if he just lets anyone get on base. When hitters start lining bullets across the stadium as Suppan is so prone to allow, the crowd goes after Suppan as harshly as i can recall any other Brewer. I just can't figure out what the rational is for Melvin to keep Suppan on the roster any longer? Do they really believe he'll turn things around to where Macha will ever trust putting him out there in any game that's relatively close? Even with all the cash Suppan is making, he seems to be a genuinely nice guy and thus i can't help but feel a bit bad for him each time he enters a game at Miller Park. Such a huge percentage of the crowds dislike him so much that they almost seem to be just waiting for Suppan to struggle so they can him boo constantly. It's uncomfortable for me to watch, what's it like when Melvin is watching? There have been some fairly bizarre roster decisions to me this year from regularly having only lefthanded hitters on the bench to what happened the other day where the only bench hitter Macha had available was Counsell and thus Wolf had to pinch hit in a tie game with the bases loaded, but why Melvin and/or Attanasio have refused to let Suppan go for this long ranks right at the top. I'd love for someone to explain it to me?