2017 NBA Offseason

[Tim]

Sure are a lot of posts about a subject you don't care about.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Botten... I thought for sure that Kelvin Cato was going to lead your team to the promise land.

I'm only half joking. I was at Iowa State his Junior year and he was my favorite player so I've always been a big fan of his. It was nothing but monster dunks, swatted shots... and otherwise complete offensive ineptitude but he was fun to watch. He somehow carved out a much longer NBA career and made a lot more money than I ever thought possible.

And he brought his mom into the bbq place I worked a couple of times and seemed cool.

He very nearly did--when we traded him to Houston for Pippen.

Sure are a lot of posts about a subject you don't care about.

No. It's a lot of posts about something I care passionately about, but presently has no meaning whatsoever.

[Socnorb11]

To put this in you all's terms: the team of the 90's is now a pathetic joke. Rec League mongoloids. Come back and see me when you have had added Hakeem, Bulls.


(I don't care for the Warriors and what they've done to the league.)

But I guess it's not that different from Wilt joining Jerry West and Elgin Baylor to finally get over on the Celtics, who had like 5 of the 10 best players in the league on their team for like 20 years, or Earl the Pearl joining the Knicks with Frazier, Bradley, DeBusschere, and Willis Reed. You realize that it's not all that different from what has always happened in the league.

To me, it's different.

Wilt had already beat the Celtics, and led his team to a championship. He wasn't a player in his prime, joining the best team in the league, to chase an elusive ring. He already had one, and the Lakers weren't the best team in the league.

Earl Monroe isn't even relevant to the discussion, in my opinion. He didn't choose to join the Knicks. He was traded to them. Also, he was a good player, but he wasn't an MVP-caliber player at that point.

Is there any example, ever, of one of the top 2 players in the league choosing to join the best team in the league?

[Swirls]

Botten... I thought for sure that Kelvin Cato was going to lead your team to the promise land.

I'm only half joking. I was at Iowa State his Junior year and he was my favorite player so I've always been a big fan of his. It was nothing but monster dunks, swatted shots... and otherwise complete offensive ineptitude but he was fun to watch. He somehow carved out a much longer NBA career and made a lot more money than I ever thought possible.

And he brought his mom into the bbq place I worked a couple of times and seemed cool.

Iowa State... BBQ... Hickory Park? I was just there a couple weeks ago after having not been there for almost a decade. Such good food.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

If I was a fan of the Dallas Bayonets through the forties and fifties, maybe I'd have felt about Auerbach's Celtics as I do today about KD's Warriors.

The best scorer of his generation, in his prime, joined a 73 win team. There is no precedent for that in what I feel perfectly comfortable calling the NBA as we know it. I could squint and look at pre-merger stuff, to when there were fewer lines on the court, ladders next to peach baskets, or Magic and Bird--but I don't think I'll find a relevant comparison where the parity was more bleak, or the trends (IMO, at least) were more depressing.

[tlombard]

Botten... I thought for sure that Kelvin Cato was going to lead your team to the promise land.

I'm only half joking. I was at Iowa State his Junior year and he was my favorite player so I've always been a big fan of his. It was nothing but monster dunks, swatted shots... and otherwise complete offensive ineptitude but he was fun to watch. He somehow carved out a much longer NBA career and made a lot more money than I ever thought possible.

And he brought his mom into the bbq place I worked a couple of times and seemed cool.

Iowa State... BBQ... Hickory Park? I was just there a couple weeks ago after having not been there for almost a decade. Such good food.

Battle's BBQ. George passed away years ago and I don't think the place is there anymore but maybe? Anyway, when it comes to brisket, Battles is still the standard that I judge bbq by. I miss that food. I was making way more money delivering pizzas but I kept my job there working 11-2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays just for the free sandwich each day.

Edit: I did a quick Google search and it looks like Battle's may still be around knows as Battlecry but in a larger location than the tiny hole in the wall it was in when I worked there. I doubt it is the same since George is gone though. When I worked for him he was still holding all the secrets to himself. He'd tell you what was in stuff but would never tell you how much or how to do it. Other than the turkey (which was just roast turkey) he literally made everything else in house from scratch; bbq sauce, rubs, cole slaw, potato salad, brisket, pork, lemonade, sweet potato pie and lemon meringue pie. Really simple menu but the food was all amazing. It's been 20 years since I was last there and I'm still craving it.

[tlombard]

Just looked a little more and Battlecry BBQ closed a few months ago according to posts on their FB page. Good. I don't like what they did with the place anyway. They expanded to a full bar in a much, much larger building and started adding all kinds of things to the menu. It was nothing like the original Battle's BBQ in the end. George had previously had a larger restaurant in KC and moved to Ames and opened a smaller place because he was tired of the larger operation and just wanted to keep it simple so what the last owners turned Battle's into really didn't fit the spirit of the original.

[thrill]

The best scorer of his generation, in his prime, joined a 73 win team. There is no precedent for that in what I feel perfectly comfortable calling the NBA as we know it.

I'm not going to argue that this is actually good. I think it sucks. It greatly reduces the amount of compelling matchups and rivalries. It increases tanking, which makes it harder for teams to tank effectively. It's lame, it's cheap, and it's still my favorite league in sports.

Something will have to be done, because it doesn't seem like it's a phase. Congrats to this generations NBA living up to every lazy millennial stereotype, tho. I can't begrudge anyone for wanting to work with their best buds and live in great cities over being told you have to live in a [expletive] place like Oklahoma City, play with people you're not crazy about, never win a title, AND constantly be told you're not one of the greats, even though you clearly are, just because you never won a ring. As an observer of the league for entertainment purposes, I still won't like it, but I get it. I do.

Now I happen to be a person who would much rather live in Portland than Miami, New York, or San Francisco, but unfortunately I'm not a transcendent athlete. If you can find a generational basketball talent who cares about girls who read a lot, coffee, mountains, fly fishing, mid-sized cities, and 40-60 degree weather as much as I do, you'll finally have a shot.

[Leroy]

Remember when Moses parted the Celtics and Lakers when he came to Philadelphia and delivered on his three commandments (almost)? Fo-Fo-and Fo. Only missed by one game.

Those were the days.

[cardsfansince82]

I'm not as smrt as the warriors, but I have to think that supermax contract for steph only gives them another year or two before the supporting cast starts to dip.