NBA Draft
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They AJ / Peterson battle sounds closer than people think
Lamarcus would have been a rookie the year before they drafted Noah so I don't think it would have mattered. The blazers also had a healthy Brandon Roy in year 2 who was a superstar in his own right and drove a lot of that improvement.
The NBA gave the Bulls Rose so all they needed to do was be a part of the lottery.
To be completely fair, if D Rose stays healthy, that's a team that would have gone nose to nose with Miami for a half decade. That injury derailed what probably would have been a Hall of Fame career.
I don't think that it's ever fair to blame a coach for injuries because you never know if the ligament was already weakened and it was just a matter of time....but up 10 points vs Philly, with 50 seconds to play, Rose should have had the warm-ups back ok resting up for the next game of the playoffs.
In any event, circumstances being what they are.....yes, those Jordan/Pippen years were the only ones that produced an elongated stretch of competence.
This is a conspiracy theory hill I will die on.
That and Jordan was soft suspended for gambling when he 1st retired. The 2 could reasonably even be related since Jerry likely would've had to play ball, literally.
I'm not trying to change your mind since you said you'll die on the hill. To each their own.
But I've never understood the logistics of this theory. So, David Stern had secret henchmen or something spying on Michael Jordan. They uncovered that he had been betting on NBA games. They took this info to Stern and no one else. Stern then takes it to Reinsdorf and Jordan and presumably a team of agents and lawyers and gives this ultimatum. And no one ever speaks a word of it? The competitive maniac that is Michael Jordan, at the height of his celebrity and influence, just quietly accepts it? If Stern would've suspended Michael, Stern's career probably would've been in greater jeopardy than Michael's and I'm sure Michael and his camp knew that. If Stern was worried about the financial fallout of suspending Jordan then why would he not be worried about the fallout of (secretly) suspending Jordan? Why not just look the other way completely?
Honestly, the theory that his dad was killed for his gambling debts, while even more outlandish, holds together a little better.
Stern, Jerry & Falk were THE major NBA power brokers in the 90s. Suspending Jordan, the NBAs biggest brand, would be devastating for a exponentially growing league trying to surpass MLB.
Scenario would be: the NBA gets a tip, investigates and gets corroborating but not iron clad evidence, Jerry mediates a truce including complete forgiveness (Jerry even honored his NBA contract for the year), involves the lawyers to put up NDAs and people don't speak because (as you noted) it would be legacy killing for everyone involved.
If anything thats a simpler scenario than one of the most competitive, brand aware & money saavy people ever created dropping his lifelong passion (that his Dad heavily supported) to play minor leagues in a sport he hadn't played in 12+ years (including college).
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...and yes, I know that people react differently to grief and I sound crazy.
Personally I don't find it crazy. Full disclosure, I am generally not a crackpot and to make my 2 cents even less interesting, I didn't follow it closely back in the day.
That said, while the NBA has a degree of power and money, so does Vegas. If something could blow up from MJ's gambling, it would make sense that it was in everyone's best interest to find a resolution as quietly as possible. If I read that to say the lottery was rigged, that's a stretch for me for obvious reasons but I couldn't rule it out either. Interesting that the presentation back then was to open marked envelopes --not very transparent. Maybe they wanted conspiracy theories? Any PR is good PR!
The Frozen Envelope!
Clippers will trade down, most likely
I immediately thought of the Bears trading up so that they could draft someone that nobody else wanted anyway. I hope those days never come back.
I know that it's a different sport. I'm so scarred from the Bears nonsense that it carries over.
the top 4 is 100% solidified. i wont be shocked wagler having better career bc hes less raw but wilson is great fit for the bulls defense is nonexistent there.
bulls will likely move up and with brunson midget guard winning means acuff stock will rise he is easily gettable with taking bad contract in someone like lavine in exchange for 15. if wagler doesnt fall not end of world brown, flemings are good enough prospects from a non lotto pick.
just get wilson and wagler they will be one of the top players in a redraft.
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same here. its bs bc chicago has developed one of the best guards especially 2 guards in butler and ayo.
IMHO Ayo mostly developed Ayo.
Go Bulls, go Wagler
I mean duh? Didn't anyone watch the S16 game?
Weird that they felt the need to do this.. We all saw it on March 26th.
Very unlikely that's how it works. It's the team's individual evaluation of the prospect, that matters.
Flemings' team beat Acuff on December 20th. I haven't seen one mock draft that has Flemings ahead of Acuff for draft night.
Wagler's floor is 7.
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