CheezWizHed

Pippen also played with the Bulls when Jordan was playing BB. But he did nothing without Jordan. I'm not demeaning Pippen, nor did I say Jordan did it all himself; Pippen plus Rodman or Kukoc, plus a misc 3pt shooter was generally the formula. But I don't see any of those guys a superstar. Superstars are the likes of Jordan, Magic, Bird, Koby, Shaq, Duncan, LBJ, Giannis, etc... more than just all-stars, but the elite. Pippen seems much more akin to Khris Middleton than a true superstar. Not sure I have a strong opinion on Kyrie... Probably not a superstar, but at least as strong as Pippen. But a fair point overall about that one team. Its LBJ's tendency to run away as a FA and try to attract big names to play with him that taints his legacy, IMO (that and running off the court in playoff losses or making prime time shows to announce where he is going next).

[sarcasm]Hmmm... can we get Matthews back?[/sarcasm] He'd be a good DDV replacement. LeBron never was the GOAT. He can't win without superstars around him. Jordan had Pippen, but I don't consider him quite the superstar...a good #2. Lebron needs other #1s around him.

Well, there is precedent of having that guy hold a clipboard for 3 years. When you draft Love, you give yourself options: A) Rodgers' play declines (or he retires), we have a possible starting QB B) Rodgers gets hurt, we have a backup QB with actual talent to keep winning (potentially) You essentially have a 5 year window where either A or B could go into effect. That seems pretty valuable to me. It is highly unlikely that neither case would occur in 5 years.

He said it had nothing to do with the player. But he clearly didn't appreciate the Packers drafting him as a backup/replacement plan without somehow informing him. I listened to the entire interview with Kenny Mayne and he did not say that. He said, "it was never about the draft pick". When did he specifically say it was about drafting Love without telling him? That, to me, sounds like the media making assumptions. He said some things "were put into motion last year", but could it be about cutting Kumerow and not about drafting Love? Cutting Kumerow happened last year. I haven't seen anything from Rodgers indicating it had anything to do with drafting Love and not informing him. "I think sometimes people forget what really makes an organization," Rodgers said. "History is important, the legacy of so many people who've come before you. But the people, that's the most important thing. People make an organization. People make a business, and sometimes that gets forgotten. Culture is built brick by brick, the foundation of it by the people, not by the organization, not by the building, not by the corporation. It's built by the people." "With my situation, look it's never been about the draft pick, picking Jordan," Rodgers told ESPN. "I love Jordan. He's a great kid, a lot of fun to work together. Love the coaching staff, love my teammates, love the fan base in Green Bay: an incredible 16 years. It's just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It's about character, it's about culture, it's about doing things the right way. A lot of this was put in motion last year and the wrench was just kind of thrown into it when I won MVP and played the way I played last year. This is just kind of, I think, a spill-out of all that. But it is about the people, and that's the most important thing." The only way his MVP puts a "wrench" in the "lot of this" that was "put in motion last year" is if he is talking about the Packers replacing him. There is no other reason why him playing well is a "wrench". If it had to do with Kumerow, his winning an MVP without him is the opposite of a "wrench", but instead proof that Jake wasn't needed on the team. He starts the interview off with high ideals (i.e. culture, people, team, history), but it ends being about him and his MVP wrench.

If you assume that he won't play for us again, his trade value will never be higher than right now. Waiting longer just drags both team and player through the mud more and lowers the amount of time the trading team has to get him up to speed with the players and system.

Lauer | 22 IP | 2.45 ERA | 167 ERA+ | 0.5 WAR Davies | 50 IP | 4.65 ERA | 82 ERA+ | 0.0 WAR Lauer has been more valuable than Davies so far in 2021. DOH! Here is another: Davies: $8,630,000 Lauer: $562,500 It was pretty obvious that part of the trade was to move "backwards" into the cost-controlled years of Lauer over the arbitration/FA years of Davies. Plus, I didn't dump on Davies as a bad pitcher. I said they had similar ceilings as a #3/4 type SP.

Yeah, I didn't necessarily mean he pitched the same as Davies. But more of a #3/4 type SP ceiling. Giving up Davies wasn't too bad in the trade, but seeing Grisham blossom in SD (or continue his success as he did pretty well his last year here) was tough. I read that Lauer did shorted his pitching arm path to improve the repeatability of his mechanics. I wonder if that had any impact to his velocity too? Seems counter intuitive, but who knows...

Lauer really has only had one bad outing this year (ATL 3ER in 3IP) and 3 good starts. He is looking more like the pitcher we expected to get back in the trade (i.e. younger Zach Davies) and not the 2020 version he showed last year.

Is Small really a big arm? Beyond the intended pun, he seems more like a #4-5 SP than a TOR type guy.

He said it had nothing to do with the player. But he clearly didn't appreciate the Packers drafting him as a backup/replacement plan without somehow informing him.

[sarcasm]So how about going for that FG in the NFC championship instead of a TD? If we were are the 3.1419 yard line would they had gone for the TD?[/sarcasm]

Well, they sent Huira down already this year. And neither Shaw nor Vogey are playing much right now. I wouldn't say that is "shaking things up"... But didn't the Dodgers just sign Pujols and start playing him quite a bit? Doesn't matter if you are winning or not. When you have a hole in your lineup, you need to work to fix it.

Weirdly... when I refinanced, I couldn't quite get to a 15-year loan, but the 20 year wasn't a better rate than the 30-year. So I just took the 30-year and paid the 20-year equivalent payment. If you plan to stay in your house for a while, take a look at paying points. I paid the max points they would let me, added the amount to what I financed and took my rate down to 2.25%. Payoff will take 39 months, but since I plan on being here for a while, I wasn't worried about that. Saved thousands over the life of the loan.

Just thought of another impact. When I spoke to my mortgage broker about cashing some money out of my house, she said that typically that is seen as a higher risk and I wouldn't get as low as a rate as a straight refinance.

Don't take my comments as a knock on PJ Tucker.... Matthews was a huge part of the team last year. I was extremely disappointed he left for LA (both on our loss and their gain).

But how do you have a guy like Aaron, and you don’t go out of your way beforehand to make sure that he knows that he’s loved?” I'm sorry... but REALLY? [sarcasm]Wow, I hope my boss professes his love for me in my next performance review...[/sarcasm]

Well, if the housing bubble bursts and you get upside down on your mortgage, you'd be stuck in the house and not able to sell it. Probably a pretty small risk and a zero risk if you don't want to move in the next 3-5 years. That is about all I could see as a drawback. I've heard people do an interest-only loan where they plan to pay off the mortgage with their investments. That has a bunch more risk to it, but that doesn't sound like what you are doing.

Generally, it is worth one run unless others were on base.

Odd. I wasn't looking that closely and didn't realize the game was a mid-day game....on a Saturday? Ok. Well, good they won.

its not the same team as last year. the additions that they made have really helped. Holiday is a massive improvement over Bledsoe. Tucker is a decent improvement over Matthews. Portis and Forbes has been FA's that have exceeded all expectations. you are right, I am sure Giannis and the rest of the returning cast really took it personal, but Horst has adjusted the roster pretty well to overcome the bucks defencies. Another big factor is that the bucks learned that you don't need to exert so much energy in the regular season to get the best seed, but rather it make sense to save it for the playoffs. The bucks - nets series will be fun to watch. Holiday is a massive difference maker just in his ability to shoot a 3 ptr. Several times, the play went inside and Butler couldn't cheat and crash inside just because Holiday was standing at the 3 point line. The inside was much more open last night. I've not seen Tucker play much, but I'd think at best, he is a "wash" with Matthews. Matthews was huge defensively last year. But having Portis, Forbes, and Holiday being able to shot threes has helped in spades. The defense is also more diverse. Homer said there was more to prepare for, but I think they just have more options to matchup on the offense. They can play a few ways and aren't as predictable as before.

Battle of the old lefties! Those two pictures make it look like the guys could be brothers.

Yes, I was pretty happy for making it 20 hours on a day without anything to do. Normally, I'm decent on eating well (i.e. little to no junk food) as that is typically the way to buy food. But we had some left over chips from a party last weekend...I may have eaten a few. We are pretty traditional on eating home cooked meals. We will have candy in the house, but we made the habit (self and the kids) of only having one small item after supper. Keeping things in moderation - not denying the good stuff, but not indulging in it either.

Well, I made it 20 hours today in trying to hit a 24 hour fast. Unfortunately, I was off work today and it was cold and raining... so I was pretty much stuck inside.

Hmmm... Ironically, I was planning on eating spicy Thai food for lunch tomorrow (breaking my fast). But that will only be 16 hours, so I'm good, right?

Their other problem is preventing the opposing team from puttng the ball in the basket. I didn't think that was a thing in the NBA anymore...