ever heard of Tony Posnanski?

WIth all due respect, thats not the wrong perspective...did they stick up for him when he was being marginalized? Dude is a potential HOFer and for all that Rondo means today, where is the loyalty? Sure he was only there four years, but without him they don't beat the Lakers that first year.

Pierce is hurt now? They didn't want him to go to a rival team? Their biggest rival? Jonie Mitchell wrote a song about it. This was never about business. It was about no one wanting to tell Rondo to shut the heck up and respect your elders. This was about Ainge totally disrespecting one of the best shooters of all time (shopping him around constantly) and the final piece of the puzzle for their championship. This was about no one looking out for the reason the Celtics have been able to compete (tremendous outside shooting). This is about Ainge going 3 for 30 (Rivers as coach, and the big three off-season) since he got there and whiffing on everything else. The Celtics are screwed now, and it's pretty clear that he was more important than they thought...

but it's all Jesus Shuttlesworth's fault? Please...

J.J. Hickson has some talents, but it's what he doesn't have that keep biting him in the butt. He'll grab a board, get a bucket, but something about his game just doesn't translate into anything. He's like a poor man's Shareef Abdur-Raheem.

The most underrated aspect of playing the game, LONGEVITY!

Not sure if Hanson belongs. Anderson and Ray Guy come to mind...but if a guy can play 21 seasons of 16 games and mini-camps and pressers, and boos and wins and losses and it's nothing then you or I could do it. Fact is, the fact that he played 21 seasons and didn't get cut. Didn't get injured. Game didn't trail off. Was always one of the best and most reliable at his position. If kickers aren't worth squat, which seems to be the prevailing opinion, do away with extra points. However, the HOF is reserved for the best of the best. Jan Stenerud is the only one? Please. DO away with kickers if they dont matter and do something else. However, as long as they are an important part of the game, they should be recognized for their contribution. It should be Stenerud, Anderson and Hanson. They play the game too! And if they play the game, again, the best of them should be recognized. The Bills might have won one had they had him. Besides that, he played for 21 season which only the very very best have been able to do at his specialty.

Fact is the dude has athletic talent...if he can get the head game together he can be a quarterback in the NFL period. If he earns a second chance, someone will likely give it to him on an incentive based (if that) short term non-guaranteed flyer hoping to hit the jackpot.

he was just entitled and mid-20's and rich with nothing to do...a lot of time to do nothing

That said, he looks like a good fit in Cleveland or even Philly though I hope my Cavs don't sign him. Maybe David Kahn needs him or Daryl Morey...

NBA GM's need to come around to understanding that the most important aspect of athletic ability is being able to do it night in and night out. ANYONE is capable of putting up 20 and 10 on any given night. Or even 10 and 5 (points and assists). Or whatever combination of stats that will help a team win on any given night. I could average maybe 4 and 1 if I could hit a free throw. The difference comes down to guys who can do it every game of ever season (or average it at the least).

Bynum makes the baseline. However his time as a superstar level game-changer left when he was operated on the last time and probably before. He's probably good for 16-18 ppg. and 7 boards. This takes into account the games he will miss (at least 10 per season average), the games against the Bobcats, bottom dwellers and assorted teams with no big man. Add to that fact that he has just missed an entire season because of injury and he is worth a speculative 2-year with a third year team option. He's still fairly young, so you have to give him the benefit of the doubt bonus...he gets 30 mil over 3, first two years guaranteed at 7 and 11 mil. The final year is good for 12 mil if he plays in 70 games in year two.

I think Carmelo will turn out to be a sympathetic figure ultimately. He wont get a ship as long as he shares his prime with Lebron. He may get one by teaming up with Lebron but at best you can call him Drexler or Malone to Lebron's Jordan...

Every CB who has the 'shut down' in him thinks he is the next Deion Sanders. Want t get paid like him too. Well I might say, once you start running back kick returns for touchdowns, then you deserve to get paid 10+ mil per year. Deion was practically Jordan in his prime for all his impact on a football game...Revis, not so much...not even close

Bynum's big mistake was getting photographed at the playboy mansion with the playmate on his shoulders while he shoulda been rehabbing his knee injury. Otherwise he is no worse than Greg Oden...

That said, when he played he is all-PRO caliber. Now either one of two things are going to happen with Bynum. Either he is in fact 'fat & happy' with the millions that he has earned and has proven Shaq right (remember he called Bynum a juvenile delinquent when he was drafted), OR he has a sizable chip on his shoulder and is eager to prove his critics wrong.

I'm guessing the kid is a little more complicated than people give him credit for. He's 7 feet tall and knee injuries carrying around that kind of load are no joke. Philly should just start over with Turner and Holliday and Hawes and whatever other role players they have. Bynum isn't bringing a ship there anyway, experiment failed. Let somebody else get a crack at'em.

A big name that is prominent in the news always gets the axe eventually. NO matter the amount of success, owners usually care as much about perception and never lack for ego. Nolan Ryan is getting too much credit and before he gets too big for their breeches, they need to knock him down a notch.

Look at the late 90's Cowboys. Pure ego took that franchise apart. The Bosox and Epstein. Even the Bulls wanted to get rid of Jackson. Art Modell NEVER gave Paul Brown the respect or due for making the Browns a dynasty in the late 50's and 60's. The Yankees and Torre (though he had lost a little of his fastball it seemed, still...). Quite a list...

First the pay cut, and then the roster cut. Bolding already has a Superbowl ring now and San Francisco or N.E. would snap him up in a minute. He needs to be a man and leave if he's not wanted. He'll make up the cash and he has already been to the mountaintop.

Flacco's contract has made the Ravens essentially the Colts (like someone else said). A team with too much cap plugged into one player. The Colts underachieved for soo long because the coaching could never get past the mediocre roster they had. No wonder when Manning went down they had NOTHING!

Guess I missed the memo, but why us Dusty Baker a 'tool' a 'dink' and all that other Ringling Bros. stuff? He slap one of you guys' mama?

looks like a 9er fan to me

If you dont have aQB you need to trade for Smith. The ONLY question is how much you pay. He's probably worth a 3 rounder straight up. If you are the Chiefs or Browns, Smith is an upgrade. Not much, but he knows how to play. There are a few teams that could be playoff teams with Smith at the helm instead of some dude learning the ropes. Minnesota for example. Buffalo? You don't need to win the Superbowl to justify trading for him, but he wont turn over the rock and he can take care of the offense. If you have no QB, you have no QB and Smith IS a real live QB who knows how to play in the NFL.

He's a good player but he's no MVP. He bats in the middle of one of the better lineups and produces. He is a good player, excellent, elite maybe. Surely. He's entered his thirties. He's worth more to the Yankees than to other teams.

30 mil per year? Are you guys serious? I might pay a future HOFer that if he were 28, but Robinson Cano? No man. He looks somewhere around Hamilton. Maybe an extra year and a a couple mil more per year...but. He wont get 150 over 5 with ANY team...

I think both parties understand this is a business. Revis gambled that the Jets would need to keep him to keep a championship caliber team (so they thought) strong. The Jets went south, he got hurt and the GM got fired. A definite worst case scenario candidate. To pick up the pieces for the Jets, it might be time to cut him loose.

I think he goes where he has the chance to bag another Championship. he's 29 and just finished earning 27 milli...His best bet would be to go somewhere like N.E. or maybe even Cincinnati. Teams like my Browns, or some other scrub team will give him what he wants, but he'll just end up like Alvin Harper (remember him? Used to play on the other side of Michael Irvin. Left as a free agent for Tampa Bay and was never heard from again).

I think what you call 'whining' is in reality the change of basketball from a non-contact sport to a sport where hip, elbow and shin pads are necessary to play the game. Oakley, Barkley, the Bad Boys Pistons, the Sixers in the 80's were all rough teams. Today though it has gotten out of hand where it's no longer about skill but more about strength and brawn. Athleticism used to be about having the energy to play at a certain level game-in, game-out. There is very little art to the game anymore. Nothing wrong with a knock upside the head over the course of a game, but that is the dominant factor. As opposed to ball handling, shot making, vision and skill...

Lakers fans love Phil Jackson because Jim Buss severely threatened the ability of the team to have ANY success moving forward. D'Antoni finding a way to beat the Thunder? No way! D'Antoni convincing DHoward to stick around? Well, he woulda signed on the dotted line the day Phil Jackson coached his first game. D'Antoni makes him take a wait and see attitude. The fact is that the Laker future is up in the air.

Their best supporting players, Kobe and Gasol, are declining and how in the heck can they improve? By trying to juice more offense from an aging superstar backcourt? Suspect move at best. Who will counter Durant and Westbrook on a mission? Phil could scheme a title out of this team because the triangle is proven with Phil at the controls - with a dominant big man. The 'seven seconds or less' gimmick? We'll see, but there's no championship at the end of the road, and it only gets worse going forward.

Kobe MUST share the rock to keep Gasol interested, to keep Dwight happy, to keep Nash effective. On the other hand, Kobe hasn't really changed from the 20 year-old guard who bombed airball last-second-shots except for the fact that he peaked (and subsequently made those shots) and then got older and less dominant athletically.

Kobe wont change! He's gotten this far doing what he knows is best, and like Iverson, he won't realize it until it's too late. No way he defers to some dude who cant even hit his free-throws. No way Howard plays second fiddle as a top-3 player to an aging and heavy mileage having perimeter player.

The KEY to L.A. doing anything is Kobe changing, and at this point that might not even be enough. SO many great players...past their prime. One great player IN his prime. Coach who stresses offense at the expense of defense. Someone tell me how that's gonna work out. Not exactly the championship formula the Lakers were betting on, and it wont get the job done. Major MAJOR, disappointment.

Thats gone come back to get you bro...

Wall is a scorer, but he hasn't proven himself to be a basketball player. His game is speed and buckets. He reminds me of a little Maggette, low shooting percentage, low impact on the team, folks be waiting and waiting and 7 years deep after the injuries and no playoffs, people forget that he is still in the league...