not sure who this basketball expert* is, but he made the point I did earlier, which is you can't play with a center in today's game.

*Kelly Dwyer

Dan had a great question posed to the Mark Gonzales just now...

Dan: "Have you asked Joe Maddon how hard it's going to be for him not to make moves just to make moves? He's got so much talent, it seems like it may be difficult not to manage every game like a playoff game. Has he been asked about or talked about that at all?"

Gonzales: "No."

That's incorrect though. While the last 2 championship teams have largely emphasized finesse and guard play, there will always be a role for a strong center and I would say the next evolution of the position is going to be guys who can draw attention down low precisely to facilitate perimeter play (and the best big man of the generation kind of showed the effectiveness of that tactic on the Spurs title run, albeit in a more limited capacity due to his age). Predicting the death of the center is like predicting defensive teams without stars would dominate the game starting in the mid-2000s just on the basis of Detroit's run, and we all saw how accurate that was.

An additional issue has been the absolute paucity of good big men for the last few years but I would say things are looking up. It's a bummer Embiid may never play because I think he would thrive in the current context.

Well it's a valid question. He is managing the most talented roster in baseball history.

Any scouts out at Durty Nellies...any peeps in the house?