don1481

I've seen Braun at Elsa's on the Park before with his family and girlfriend. They were at the table right next to mine. I've seen Carlos Lee (and family - kids sporting Lee shirts) at Cubanitas.

If Crean takes this, he's a total moron. IU is not at all a reputable franchise anymore, not with all of the recent "issues" they've had. This may be a purely ego-related thing for Crean. "Ooh! I've been successful turning around a franchise before! Let's do it again! I'll be a hero in IU!" Lame, if you ask me. I'll be fine. Especially if they get Bennett to come to MU. Turns down the IU job and gets the job the new IU coach vacated.

Now remember: This guy is not cool. http://idol-mania.com/images/Idol-Season7/Jason-Castro.jpg

Bayshore's Bar Louie sucks. Bar Louie is generally only good for their dollar burgers on Tuesday nights. Mmm... burgers. Yeah - that and dealing with college frat boys that left McGillicuddy's and wandered north on Water.

Why Nedly took so long to warm someone up after Gagne started to stink can only be explained by the following: "Oh, we've got a 3 run lead. I need a cup of coffee. I'll be back in a moment." ... Ten Minutes Later... "Mmm... nothing beats a nice Starbucks mocha.... what the....? Nobody bothered to go page me?" "Uh, Ned, you told us Starbucks Time is Quiet Time." "Ahhh... Starbucks Time. Now where were we...?"

Which pretty much sums up my point from page 1 of this thread. I just like to single Mo out because, well, he's beyond aggravating to watch. Speaking of - anyone have any updates about Scott Williams and his sudden "disappearance" after singling out Mo and Redd on-air for being the cause of the Bucks' terrible season due to their lack of caring?

Haha... your avatar (and username) kinda give it away - I call my 3 1/2 year old niece "Ewizabeff" (or some variant therein) whenever I talk to her. That's the prediction I've been hearing as well. I say Wrigley Field should be leveled, and if the Cubs aren't contracted, the stadium should be replaced with something that has a retractable roof.

Brandon Roy is a combo guard. Blake may be called the "point guard" but really - Roy plays more of a sort of Devin Harris role and therefore is relevant to this discussion.If we're going to count Ford, I'd say he's a better PG than Mo. Much better overall court vision. Lousier shooter, yes, but he does make his teammates in TOR look much better. I'd take Felton over Mo; his upside as a PG is significantly higher plus he's got better court vision right now. Andre Miller is underrated by many, many people. I'd rather have him here than Mo any day. Speaking of Devin Harris... I'd rather have him at PG than Mo as well. So IMO there's still a number of PGs I'd rather have than Mo without hesitation.

Yes - according to JSOnline: I do agree with The Prince of Darkness, where in the same blog, he says: This is also why I'm shocked MIN didn't build their new stadium with a roof. Especially for April/May and summer rainstorms. Tomorrow cannot come soon enough for me.

I was just thinking about that. I just have this feeling the game's going to be postponed until Tuesday... Actually, given Prince's flu-like symptoms, I would prefer it get postponed so he gets an additional day of rest.

And there are at least 13 that are better, IMO. But more about that later in this post I agree with that statement, hands-down. I cannot emphasize enough how mis-cast Mo Williams is as a PG. His ability to shoot is masked by his inability to pass and recognize matchups. And play defense, but we've all beaten that to death here. My top thirteen: Chris Paul Deron Williams Steve Nash Jason Kidd Baron Davis Chauncey Billups Tony Parker Allen Iverson (tough call whether to call him a SG or PG, either way he's still better as a PG than Mo Williams) Andre Miller Brandon Roy Jose Alderon Raymond Felton Basically my point is that I can list off quite a few PGs who are better than Mo Williams. I'd say he's at the bottom of the middle third as a PG. He's that mis-cast. I agree with this. Redd's contract is so bad it is virtually untradeable.

What? Did you just move or something? It's why I made sure to move back in January. I even scheduled my digital cable hookup around the GB-SEA game. And since they only brought one of my cable boxes, I got free DVR AND Showtime. While not HBO, I can't complain about free. I agree with Logan - that's just terrible. Sadly I cannot get off of work tomorrow afternoon (I have an afternoon full of meetings) so I guess I'll just have to catch an update when I can.

I wanna play! American League West 1. Seattle Mariners 2. Los Angeles Angels 3. Oakland A's 4. Texas Rangers SEA improved while the Angels and A's regressed for this year. And the Rangers, quite frankly, need a ton of help. American League Central 1. Detroit Tigers 2. Cleveland Indians 3. Minnesota Twins 4. Kansas City Royals 5. Chicago White Sox Tigers' offense pretty much covers up any bullpen deficiencies for the regular season because there are few (relatively) save opportunities due to blowouts. This will, however, catch up to them in the postseason... American League East 1. Boston Red Sox (90-72) 2. Tampa Bay Rays (88-74) 3. Toronto Blue Jays (86-76) 4. New York Yankees (84-78) 5. Baltimore Orioles (68-94) Yankees' ancient pitchers (Mussina and Pettitte) cannot stay healthy and the Yankees refuse to continue to mortgage the future to win now. Kennedy and Hughes get shut down after 160 IP. Chamberlain has to move into the closer role for good because Rivera's arm finally gives out. All the offense in the world won't do any good if the pitching can't hold up its end. American League Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays in a 1 game playoff over Cleveland American League Cy Young: Starting Pitcher Erik Bedard from the Seattle Mariners American League Rookie of the Year: 3B Evan Longoria of the Rays. Gets called up like Braun was last year and - without the fielding issues - proceeds to tear the cover off the ball from the hot corner. American League Most Valuable Player: Papelbon. Saves like 70 games. Threatens to eat writers who won't vote for him. American League Coach of the Year: Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays American League Division Series: Rays over DET, Boston over SEA American League Championship Series: Boston over Rays 4-2 American League Champions: Boston National League West 1. Arizona Diamondbacks 2. Los Angeles Dodgers 3. San Diego Padres 4. Colorado Rockies 5. San Fransisco Giants COL's starting pitching can't help their beer league offense. Arizona's rotation plows through as Randy Johnson is so close to 300 wins he can taste it, so he'll pitch through anything to get there. National League Central 1. Milwaukee Brewers (92-70) 2. Cincinnati Reds (85-77) 3. Chicago Cubs (84-78) 4. Pittsburgh Pirates (80-82) 5. Houston Astros (76-86) 6. St. Louis Cardinals (70-92) Kerry Wood - big shocker - can't make it through an entire season and Marmol's control issues resurface. Game over for the Cubs. Cordero, even with a 4.6 ERA, still manages to save 45 games. Gagne from the first half of 2007 shows up in Milwaukee and saves 40. Sheets actually pitches close to his potential and since the Brewers are up 12 games come the trade deadline, he's traded to BOS, who's willing to give up key prospects in their attempt to fight off hard-charging TB and NY in the AL East. And the Brewers STILL win the Central by 7 games. Sheets' exodus, however, does not come back to haunt the Brewers in the postseason. National League East 1. NY Mets 2. Philadelphia Phillies 3. Atlanta Braves 4. Washington Nationals 5. Florida Marlins Santana is everything and more that the Mets hoped he would be and Pedro Martinez becomes a solid #2. Oliver Perez has a phenomenal contract season. National League Wild Card: Philadelphia Phillies National League Cy Young: Santana National League Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin National League Most Valuable Player: Prince Fielder. Braun finishes 3rd behind Chase Utley. National League Coach of the Year: Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers National League Division Series: Milwaukee Brewers over the Phillies, Mets over Diamondbacks National League Championship Series: NY Mets over the Milwaukee Brewers National League Champions: NY Mets 4-3. Gagne gives up a 2 run shot in the bottom of the 10th to lose it. World Series Champion: Boston Red Sox, 4-0 World Series Most Valuable Player: Papelbon as he saves all 4 games with 18 strikeouts in 6 innings. Used for two two-inning saves. Proceeds to breathe fire at any opposing hitter that dares foul off a pitch.

Agreed 100%. I hope tomorrow's not rained out - I just cannot wait for this season any longer! I mean... I even watched the Nationals play tonight. Thrilling ending there!

What a shot by Zimmerman to end that! Un-freaking-real especially after the pwnage the Braves were dishing after the first inning. Wow.

I'm comfortable with the two of them combining for 15 shots/game, which is what we'd like out of our 3-spot. We're 1 on 5 or 2 on 5 because players realize that Mo isn't going to pass. Period. I would love to see how many of Mo's assists come on 3 pointers to Redd compared to the rest of them. That would probably paint a better picture of the real situation - the ball isn't getting passed around enough. I didn't mention Redd's contract because, quite frankly, it's completely untradeable, unless we want complete garbage in return. And, as we saw with the nixed Randolph trade, I really would rather not go that route. I'd rather not have Kobe, thank you very much. Kobe's overall bog-hogging and inability to play as part of a team has been well-documented. Granted, this year he's playing a bit more like a team player but... that's also because he has a decent supporting cast, which will get better when Bynum and Gasol get back. Likewise, as we saw with Garnett in MIN, he didn't do so hot - in terms of team w/l record - without the strong surrounding team he has now in BOS. As you point out, though, a high end PG does make a lot more difference for exactly the reasons that I've outlined before. And as I said before, hopefully they can find a better PG in the draft this year. I could go on and on about Redd and Williams' collective inability to play defense but that would probably put me here at my keyboard through tomorrow morning. As I said - a team looking for a 6th man/scoring option would be fine with Williams because that's all he can really provide - some instant offense. As a counter-point to this, look at Miami after the Shaq trade and before Wade was shelved for the year. Wade and Marion both qualify as stars IMO, especially Wade. Yet the Heat were still atrocious. Look also at New Jersey with Jason Kidd prior to him being shipped to DAL - a decent team but one that wasn't a legitimate contender, even with a "star" like Kidd. What about KG when he was in MIN? What about Ray Allen in SEA? A "star" alone does not make the team. As you do say, a star plus a few other solid pieces can lead to a competitive team, but as we've seen in Denver with AI and 'Melo, stars and player that "should" combine to make a great team do not necessarily do so. No - the Bucks' biggest mistake was not trading up in the 2003 draft to get Wade. Drafting a PG that they knew had a pre-existing condition that could turn out to be - and has proved to be - career-threatening was not smart at all. I'd honestly say that Bogut is one of the better C's in the Eastern Conference and remember - he's only 23. IMO a solid C is harder to find than a high-caliber PG. Especially when you're looking at the top of the draft. While I'm sure that one of those two - Paul or D. Williams - would probably have us in the playoffs this year (probably a 4-5 seed), I don't think that the Bucks would be that close to being bona fide contenders due to the lack of an inside scoring presence. We saw it all too well with George Karl's Bucks - live by the jump shot, die by the jump shot.

Yup. During October, he averaged roughly 15 and 8. And each month thereafter, his assists have gone down and up until this month, his scoring went up. He may shoot better than Redd but again - that does not necessarily mean that he should be taking such a large percentage of the shots. As a point guard, his job is to distribute the ball to other options and make them look good. A good point guard, like a good quarterback, makes his teammates look better than they may otherwise be. As far as options go... I'd consider players such as Yi, Villanueva, Mason, Bell, and even Simmons tolerable 3rd through 6th options, if we exclude Mo from being an "option." Mo himself should at best be the #3 option for that team, behind Redd and Bogut. Averaging 24 and 6 for a PG over an entire month (January) is unacceptable if the team hopes to win. Again - look at Chris Paul and Deron Williams. Neither of those teams have much beyond a couple of other bona fide scoring options besides the PG, yet both teams are quite successful. A legitimate PG may put the Bucks far closer to being competitive than many people believe. EDIT: But what are his assist totals in wins versus losses? There's the real issue. If Mo's not passing the ball effectively, then the Bucks have no chance.

I don't think Mo Williams gets enough fingers pointed at him for the team being as bad as it is. Mo is not the shooting guard - your argument for him taking a ton of shots further backs up the point that he's a 2 guard masquerading as a 1. Redd is, however, the shooting guard, and should be taking shots, although it should be noted that if he's taking an inordinate percentage of the team's shots, the Bucks generally will lose because the ball's not moving around. I don't expect to win with the roster the Bucks currently have; however, I do expect pieces that do not fit in Milwaukee that can be traded be sent far, far away. And to me - the only piece that the Bucks have which doesn't fit into their plans that they'll get any value on flipping is Mo Williams. He has value to playoff teams looking for a 6th man or shooting guard to provide scoring and occasionally serve as a distributor. I expect a Mo Williams trade to be done this summer, ideally prior to the draft, for hopefully a mid-late first rounder. You're right, though, the Simmons and Gadzuric contracts are atrocious. So atrocious, in fact, that the only thing that the Bucks could get in return is a bad apple who would most likely do nothing but tear that locker room apart, like he did in POR and is doing in NY. I wonder seriously if either of them would accept a buyout... I expect the Bucks to target a PG in the draft this year... if they land the Beasley lottery I would expect them to do a draft & trade (a la Nowitzki) to someone in exchange for the best available college PG. A top-end PG makes the rest of his team look great - look at what Deron Williams and Chris Paul have done with relatively limited surrounding talent in Utah and NO. Having pieces such as Bogut and Redd in place would give the new PG passing options.

If Mo was really as "valuable" as implied here and elsewhere, this differential wouldn't be this bad. Maybe theirs is worse because Bogut's a more valuable player to the Bucks... just a thought.

-307/63 = -4.87-268/62 = -4.32 -251/68 = -3.75 That's a 30% difference between Mo and Bogut. And over a full point differential. That's not what I call "minimal."

Yes - Bogut and Redd have had negative differentials this season but Mo's does take the cake. And let's be honest - Mo is not even an average PG. His performance - or lack thereof - this season shows just how right I have been about him being a 2 pretending to be a 1.

I will be blessing the chat room with my presence on Friday as I will be working from my downtown office in the morning and watching the game on TV in the afternoon. I'm awesome like that, you know.

A typical example of just how ineffective Mo Williams is at the point came last night during the Bucks' 114-111 loss to Chicago: The Bucks had, during the just under 30 minutes that Mo Williams played, a -16 point differential. When Ramon Sessions was at the point, for example, the Bucks were +17. Keep in mind that for most games, Mo not only has a negative differential, but has one of the LARGEST negative differentials for when he's on the court. He can score - in streaks - but he's always so consistently bad on D that other teams score more and fails to distribute the ball enough to give his teammates the best opportunities to score. Mo needs to go.

What do we have to lose? If they're colossal busts, DM has invested quite a bit of money into a CF and a closer that didn't get the job done. And knowing Ned's inability to bench someone who's a "starter" in spite of a long slump, Cameron being a bust in CF could have a significant impact on the offense. Likewise - how long would Ned stick with an ineffective Gagne? Those are questions which I hope we will not have to face this year, but they are legitimate risks. That's the risk that small market teams have to take, though, I guess.

Compared to the "Vargas can only go 5 innings and is killing our bullpen" committee - of which I was a proud member - Bush's ability to pitch deep(er) into games is not a huge concern. Even last year he still averaged about 6 IP/start. I'll take that over Claudio's "I can use 90+ pitches (and 5 hours) to labor through 5 innings." DM did the right thing by keeping Bush and jettisoning Vargas. I am not convinced of DM's greatness; he's shown himself to be quite fallible during his last couple of major trades, as discussed earlier in this thread. He's good, yes, but I guess the signings of Cameron and Gagne will go a long ways towards defining what his legacy as GM will be.