1984Echoes

Seriously? Is that the new base? It looks 4 times the size of the old base. I mean, I knew it was bigger, but... wow!!!

Damn!!! I typed exactly this 3 or 4 years ago on the old site. I mean, not word-for-word, but almost! Sliding scale fees. Multiple weapons increase fees. I don't think I had different fees for classes of weapons but... I like that idea!!! Annual registration requirements. Annual mental, financial (those under financial duress are liable to do...) reports. I think I had weapons crimes as mandatory 10 year federal crimes felony... but maybe that's a bit draconian? Anyways: TWO THUMBS UP for you MC!!!

So he wants to be President and is using Twitter to take over America. He's ineligible I believe...? But if he isn't ineligible... Got it. I understand this now.

Sign him up!!!

So Avila signed all sorts of superstars each year he was GM? Or was it that he signed a bunch of bottom of the barrel guys who had maybe 1 or 2 choices to sign with a team? Either Detroit or some other bottom of the barrel team? Remind me who we signed the past 6 years, on an annual basis?

I'm going to take another swipe against the "Weaver is or should be on the hot seat" takes that are floating around here... I'm going to approach this differently though because I want to make a specific comment: I believe Weaver came here to: 1) Dump all the crappy unproductive vets and the crappy contracts that constituted our team pre-Weaver. Status: I think he pretty much did that in one fell swoop. Accomplished and completed. 2) Accumulate talent. We were so deficient in talent that he pretty much had to build this area from zero. I believe we've had 100% turnover. We had no "good" vets to trade for lots of extra 1sts or for young talent, at a trade deadline or offseason. So he had to start with nothing, had nothing to trade to kick-start a talent rebuild, and in fact had negative value vets which sort of put him behind the eight-ball. Does anyone disagree with this. Status: I think we are still in this phase. I think others are disagreeing and believe we are now in a "create playoff team" phase, and are impatient that we are not. So... 3) Build a playoff-quality team. Status: Is this where we are at? Or supposed to be at, next year? This is where I take disagreement. I believe we are still in talent accumulation phase #2, not "we better make the playoffs this year" phase #3. It's why 23 y.o. good-but-not-great Bey gets traded for a huge-potential-but-has-played-close-to-nil-in-3-years lottery ticket swing in Wiseman. Other reasons: Not every prospect makes it. The expectation that we MUST be in the playoffs because Weaver must win on EVERY prospect he drafts is unrealistic. Period. It seems like perfection is demanded of Weaver and, whether he builds or really damn fine playoff team or not... I can assure you he won't be perfect in either case. Put another way... it seems like what I am seeing posted is "we had 3 1sts in 2020 so we MUST be a playoff level team." Really? What is the success/ failure rate of the 16th and 19th picks in the NBA 1st round? Isn't it pretty hit or miss? Correct me if I'm wrong. So, Weaver picked 3 useful players, no stars, in his first draft. In 2021 he selects Cade Cunningham (who misses almost all of this year due to injury, still 21). In 2022 he selects Jaden Ivey (20 y.o. at the time) and Jalen Duren (18 y.o. at the time). And we have another high draft pick this year. So now we're a playoff-level team, per your guys' expectations? I'm sorry, but... no. These are kids. We are still in the talent accumulation phase. I think everyone is completely ignoring how young this team is. If we make the playoffs in 2024 because all these kids just take off... great. But if not... I am not putting playoff expectations on these kids until they get past their learning curves. I mean, you guys go ahead and do whatever you want, which you will do anyways... but I think your expectations are just a bit too premature. And demanding that Weaver gets fired next year if he doesn't make the playoffs still strikes me as beyond ridiculous.

+1. To reiterate: I hope he sticks.

Which doesn't bother me at all. Fix all our Broken Players (pitchers and bats). Fix all the weaknesses in our draft and development system. Show progress again, on the field, at a high rate... And then I'll worry about who we are able to bring on to the team from outside to put us over the top...

Budget has absolutely NOTHING to do with it. It's the specific issue that chas was pointing out... Budget doesn't matter this year. Instead, it is free agent perceptions of the team. They look at this team and think "they suck" and they look for a better opportunity to win games. Nothing more to it than that.

I want Stevie to try and be a buyer this deadline as well as a seller... See what he can come up with...

And he's 3rd paired with Hagg who has been atrocious so far this year...

Even barely used RHD Gustav Lindstrom has a goal & assist this game...

It also appears to me that Husso has caught a second wind after the break.... Seems like he's playing every game since, and is saving at .940+ each game... (Did that off the top of my head) - checked the game logs - recency bias says I forgot he got bombed by Edmonton but in the 3 games since including this one... yeah.

I was just thinking about going to the picture show this weekend...

I don't even remember. I think I had to go to the principal's office about a dozen times in 3rd or 4th grade because I was raising hell... And my grades were dropping... St. Suzanne's Catholic School just down the road from Cody High... The nuns cured me of my desire (and dad too... yeeks!!!) to visit the principal's office right quickly after that spell and my grades went right back up... commensurately.

I'll let Holmes manage that balancing act. It's a tough one and I do not disagree that he both needs to build talent on the defensive side as well as not ignore opportunities to add significant talent on the O side... I think I've said before that if he drafts Bijan I'll get behind whatever moves he makes. I mean, I have personal preferences, and believe a 2nd/ 3rd round RB will suffice for this team... and I do want him to concentrate on adding a lot of defensive talent in the draft and FA this year.... But, yeah, again, if he drafts Bijan or anyone else on O it's "Trust in Holmes". So in theory I don't disagree with ya'... although I may have different ideas of which players I'd like Holmes to target. 😉

No, he's not.

You're still stuck in Mel Kiper mode. You don't seem to understand that the Lions are in professional NFL GM mode (Holmes), not TV draft analyst (Kiper) mode.

Dylan Larkin is a better player than Chychrun. And you're ignoring my other post that opened up more options then just "an old stay at home defenseman". You seem to be getting stuck on that. One last comment: It depends on circumstances. Let me turn that around on you: SY discovers that Larkin has had it with negotiations and is refusing any further talks. He is going to become unrestricted and can't be talked out of it. The Red Wings are going to lose him for nothing. OR... what package would YOU accept for Larkin, who is adamant on leaving the Red Wings with nothing?

PS: If there's excitement on my part surrounding Stew/ Duren/ Wiseman, and there sort of is... It's ALL based on potential. Because the current on-floor product is WAY far down below what would be acceptable if the team gets good enough to chase playoffs/ pennants... So I'm stuck with potential and patience. Two very dirty "P" words.

Just for a moment... But Smith quickly went downhill... Monroe looked more immobile by the minute... And Dre obviously could not play together with Monroe... Although it took me a few years with Dre to fully buy into the "his ten-cent head will never allow him to reach full potential...". His ten-cent head was indeed a disappointment.

They're not going to do it with a tag though. Cruzer is way off base with that... like... in outer space. We get an affordable contract with Chark, or Holmes moves on. It's that simple. Either with a different FA that replicates Chark's ability... or a later round draft pick flyer that the FO likes. IMO.

That's the exact same comment you made on my Horvat trade proposal. Which turned out to be not unrealistic at all. So let me rephrase that: Is my proposal unrealistic? No, it's not. Is it unlikely? Yeah, probably. But I was just using it as an example that Stevie should be looking to buy, as well as sell; not just one thing. It wasn't actually meant as "what is a realistic trade proposal for Chychrun." Also (another "but"): It really depends on circumstances. Arizona I believe has been asking all along for 2 highly regarded prospects and two 1sts for Chychrun. But receiving no qualifying offers says (A) No one was willing to meet that price, and (B) Zona therefore signed him to an extension till 2025 I believe. But again, circumstances change. And I have no idea what their FO is thinking... but they've tried to move him before... and if they do so again, but under the circumstances that they "must" move him for the best package they can get... My package may very well win the day. Is it an unrealistic proposal? No, it is not. But it depends on circumstances. Is it unlikely? Probably... because it depends on circumstances...

If you want to talk about being immobile... Those 3 were immobile. In comparison to Stew's/ Duren's/ Wiseman's mobility... there is no comparison. We'll see it on the court if we get Wiseman... And... no guarantees... but I believe/ am hoping we'll be seeing in a year or so Wallace/ Wallace 2.0, not Smith/ Monroe/ Drummond 2.0.

The Cost of Freedom is sometimes high... but this country has the wherewithal to do so... so I could care less about monetary complaints.