buddha

the entire nba playoff schedule is painful. 7 game first round series are dumb. not having same-series games every other day is excruciating.

2/3 in my preseason bets. wings to make playoffs. loss rangers to miss playoffs. win! ducks to make playoffs. win!

We are serious about rules! (keeping in mind there is a "Lakers exception" to every rule. see also, celtics exception).

NOW you come back in the 3rd.

and celebrini has been better, which might sting a little.

he was hyped to be the next sidney crosby and he's fallen well short of that standard. that said, the hype was the problem, not bedard. he may be more like patrick kane, and i'm sure the hawks would take that. besides, they used to call kane a disappointment too

we'll see.

mitchell and harden will hunt duncan all day long.

the bulls are such a waste of an organization. if they had decent ownership they could be dominant. theyre STILL living off mj's legacy. they are putrid and still lead the league in attendance every year and still sell more merch than most teams. if reinsdorf and his investors ever sold the team, they could get billions quite easily.

nuggets a decent bet at that number.

pistons in 6 celtics in 4 knicks over hawks in 6 cavs over raptors in 5 cavs over pistons in 7 celtics over knicks in 6 celtics over cavs in 5

not to get all "gen x nostalgiac" on you, but can you imagine jordan or isiah or bird or magic not wanting to play? not wanting to win? take the all star game, they actually used to try to win the game. how novel. i know this sounds old mannish, but i think its generational. does lebron really care about winning every game? or is he more concerned with brand and "mental health"?

Almost everything about the league's regular season is embarassing nowadays. from marginal players setting records for offense, to teams deliberately playing g-league lineups to lose games, to sitting star players every other night, to the massive blowouts as teams do not care if they win. its a real problem in the nba. the fact that the players do not care enough about the game to play every night is an issue that will haunt the league. i dont know how you fix that. they should give the commish the ability to punish teams for sending out inferior lineups to lose. give it real teeth and not the half-assed measures they use now. in other words, give the commish the ability to take picks away, or to lower the draft odds, or say the team cant pick higher than 8th because of repeat tanking offenses. they can tweak the lottery in ways that will help, but i doubt they have the cojones to do it. make a win "floor". if you dont finish with at least 25 wins, the highest you can pick is 8th. something like that. but make it so teams have to win a certain number of games during the year.

just shuffling the deck chairs. no thanks.

one thing in their favor for a larkin trade is that he's on a really good contract, assuming he doesnt crater. put him as a #2 center on a team and he'll thrive.