I believe it's a calf injury - I don't know for certain that he's out for the year, but with only about 15 games to go, and him out for at least a few weeks, I'm guessing they will just shut him down, even if there's a chance he could play the last few games. Either way, losing down the stretch only helps the Suns as they Atlanta's pick (for the Joe Johnson trade).

Yeah, the Knicks had a 10 point late in the 1st half...guess, Toronto got it going, and NY was on the road, so reality hit them last night.

Fred dropping some more knowledge this morning. When talking about Rick Carlisle being fired from the Pacers, Fred tells us that he only got half a season with Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy after the big trade, and that they should have given him next year to build around them. Yes, Fred did actually say that some team should build around Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy.

Yes, I heard that, and started laughing. First off, I was surprised that Fred had even heard of them, and secondly, what a stupid comment!

He also was sort of making humor of Mike actually watching NBA games into the late night.

It drives me nuts that these hosts somehow get jobs in prominent positions, don't do their homework (like watching or pretending you watch the NBA playoffs), and then just don't even care if their listeners know that they don't care. Boers is the king of this, but Fred's NBA knowledge is just Annie like.

This drives me crazy too. I have never understood this at all. I'm assuming that these guys are actually sport fans, that the job to them isn't akin to cleaning a grease trap or hanging drywall. So how come if I, as a person with a job all day, can manage to watch several games and keep up on the various sports news and they can't.

I think they get away with it because they can - that station wants to focus on Cubs/Sox/Bears 24-7 with some Bulls/Annie mixed in, and without a focus on knowing anything outside of Chicago, they just get spoiled. Funny thing is, half the time these guys aren't even on top of the chicago sports news.

Did anyone catch this gem this morning?

While criticizing Ben Wallace, North says Wallace isn't the type of big that changes a game. Like Shaq (ok, sure). Like Chamberlain (ok, sure). Like Pau Gasol (huh?)

Then a little later on he mentioned Erick Dampier in his last season in Golden State. Trust me, I watched enough Warriors games to know no one at all was scared of Erick Dampier.

Mike stated he didn't want Wallace on the team next year. After berating him for having too many 6 pt 7 reb games, some caller asked what he thought they should do with him, and Mike said trade him. The caller asked who would want to take on such a large salary. Mike offered the Knicks. Mike, I agree the Knicks are pretty damn stupid but they already took Curry from us. Right after tearing Wallace apart, he says some team could use a rebounder and an upgrade. So 7 rebounds isn't enough for you, but some other team might be happy with that? If we was acquired to push the Bulls over the top and couldn't, what other team could possibly have any use for him (at that salary). Sure if he was making a hell of a lot less, I'm sure plenty would be interested.

I don't think Wallace becomes tradable until the last year of his deal. Paxson did do one thing right with the Wallace deal - it's front loaded. I think the total deal is 4 years, 60 million, and this year he made somewhere around 16 or 17 million and the rest of the contract goes down each year. Maybe in the last year, some team will want the cap space.

Knicks and Bulls aren't talking a whole lot these days, and if the Knicks really wanted a high priced player, they will look first at Jermaine O'Neal.

Mike may watch the playoffs, but he doesn't know a whole lot about the league.

BD (or anyone), did you happen to catch Mike talking about Garnett this morning? I was doing something else so I could have heard wrong, but I thought he was claiming that when the Wolves had Wally Szczerbiak (missed what other players he said before that- Spree? Cassell?) that it was just as good of a nucleus as Pierce and Allen.

I didn't hear the show today, but I wouldn't be surprised if he made a comment like that. I seem to recall North calling for the Bulls to trade for him a few years ago (I could be mixing him up with another host).

I don't think it's an outrageous comment as that team of Garnett/Szczerbiak/Sprewell and Cassell did get to the Western Confernce Finals, but I'd much rather take my chances in the East with the Pierce/Allen/Garnett combo (minus a point guard).

They still have their exceptions as well. Adding Brevin Knight and Chris Webber would make me a bit more nervous about Boston’s chances. What they’re really in need of, though, is a combo forward that can do some damage off the bench.

The major roadblock is luxury tax land, right SB? As it is, if they just sign the remaining players to fill the roster at minimum salaries they would avoid it as I understand, but using the MLE would put them over. I would add Knight or Boykins in a heartbeat. What's the sense pussyfooting around the luxury tax when the difference between Rondo and Knight/Boykins could be the difference.

Are you telling me Brian Scalabrine is not that player?!?

Adding Brevin Knight would be a great move. As long as he stays healthy, he's a pesky point guard who's good at involving others so I think that move would be under the radar, but an excellent move.

Webber doesn't really do much, but I guess if they could get him cheap, there's another big man for a season who can provide some scoring.

I think they are going to be over the tax (and may be already), but I did hear one of their owners saying that the tax wouldn't be an issue.

Charles Oakley is available:

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/240973

Yeah, obviously they need someone who can distribute and not need to shoot very much. Both Knight and Boykins fit that description and I have to think they're going to land one of them. Whoever it is could have a good chance at leading the league in assists. Knight is usually up there anyway

Yep, Knight is a very underrated fantasy player with the assists/steals he gets.

How long until Pappy starts the "bring back Oakley" campaign ?

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I’m not thinking about their starting lineup so much. There really isn’t a great deal of difference between

Rondo
Allen
Pierce
Garnett
Perkins

VS

Knight
Allen
Pierce
Garnett
Webber

The issue is their bench, or lack thereof. Outside of Tony Allen, it’s just a bunch of unproven rookies (or just plain garbage in the case of Scalabrine). Gabe Pruitt, Glen Davis, Brandon Wallace, these are the guys that are going to get minutes off the bench, and odds are they aren’t even close to being ready.

Bringing in a veteran poing guard & big man gets them very close to a solid rotation:

Rondo / Knight
R Allen / T Allen
Pierce
Garnett
Webber / Perkins

As I mentioned earlier, they’d still be missing a suitable forward off the bench. Depending on how cheaply they could acquire somebody like Webber or PJ Brown, etc, they might be able to split their MLE and still add a forward as well. Currently, they only have about 8 guys under contract. They just added Eddie House (playing the role of JamesOn Curry) as well, not sure if they wasted an exception on him though, he might have signed for the minimum. As for the luxury tax, looks like they’re going to be over the mark, and I don’t think they can do much about it unless they want to play with a really piss poor bench.

An emailer asked Mike to ask John Paxson about trading for Kobe and Mike said he wouldn't do it. Then Fred dropped this gem:

"There's no room. Where would we put him?"

Yeah you idiot. How could anyone make room for possibly the best player in the league

If you're a Chicago sports talk personality and your last name isn't either Hood, Bernstein, Goff, or Schuster, you shouldn't try to talk about NBA basketball.

_________________
Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Last night ESPN Classic had a Pistons-Bulls game on from the 91 Conf. Finals- forgot if it was game 1 or 2. It was sweet.

These guys drive me nuts talking about the NBA....they're arguing that Garnett and Kobe and Fred wonders why Garnett never won in Minnesota with "all that talent"...examples they brought up including Szczerbiak, Marbury and Sprewell. Well first of all, Wally was an all-star one year and obviously it was a fluke because he hasn't done jack shit since then. He was a completely one dimensional player and got terribly exposed on defense (lit up) in the playoffs. Marbury was only there a short time and decided due to his own selfish reasons that he was the most important person on the team and decided to leave. When they did have Spreewell and Cassell, they went to the conference finals, only to lose to KOBE and SHAQ. They consistantly won 40-50 games during the regular season, only being in the West that was only good enough for a lower seed. Thus, the the teams they played were SUPPOSED to beat them. They played the Rockets when the Olajuwon and Drexler. They played the Spurs several times. I'm not saying they shouldn't have won a 1st round series at some point, but eventually they did and I don't think all the blame goes to Garnett. But back to Mike & Fred, on one hand they're going to say Garnett never won anything, then in the next breath say he would be a much better fit on the Bulls than Kobe. That's just ridiculous.

Yeah on both stations right now there are some seriously unqualified opinions on the NBA. Waddle is actually as bad or worse than anybody, just he articulates better than North so wont get as much heat for it. When Silvy was talking about the Bulls winning the East, he was acting like there was absolutely no chance in hell of it and that Silvy was being a huge homer by acting like they could. Did he even watch last season? Does he know how bad the top of the east is compared to the west?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Mike: Deron Williams is as good as LeBron

Fred: (while Mike runs down the numbers) The Jazz don't ask Williams to score as much as LeBron, the Cavs don't ask LeBron to assist as much as Williams

Yes I heard that too.

_________________

And lets not forget this Mike told us today that Deron Williams is a good reason why is great to stay in school for 4 years as opposed to Lebron James coming out of HS.

Someone should tell Mike that Deron left after his junior year....

My GUY!!!!!!!

_________________

I can't believe someone would still believe a line like that....

College ball doesn't really matter at all anymore, and that rule about having to play one year is ridiculous. Yes once upon a time taking a high school player or a 1st year college player was a huge risk but it's pretty commonplace now. I'm not saying it's not still somewhat risky, but it's pretty much the way it is now and that's where the players with the high ceilings are. The draft is all about potential. If you play 4 years in college, people assume you've already shown that potential.

There have been many, MANY four-year players who came out of college and tanked in the NBA. By contrast, think of many of the Hall-of-Fame caliber players of the last 25 to 30 years: Barkley, Jordan, Ewing, Malone, Pippen, Magic, O'Neal, Isiah...NONE of them stayed in college all four years. And it just so happens that two of the best players in the last 10 years, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett didn't even go to college. I could continue but I think you get my point.

_________________
Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"