hold on, that's not fair. There's a lot of stupid people out there, after all...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I'm saying by the end of the season they will.

I think the answer will still be Paul but Rose closes the gap and it becomes a legitimate question.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It wont even be legitimate IMO. I love Rose, but it's only his second year, and he's miles behind Paul in terms of defense, and a ways behind him in terms of court vision in the transition game. I will be very happy if Rose is considered the best PG in the East by the end of the season. Rondo is a beast.

_________________
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

Chris Paul is one heck of a defender, Rick...

And I still would like to see Rondo's performace on another team, FF.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I dont see how it would change. But you will soon enough. Either Boston will be dumb as hell and trade him, or he will be the transition guy to build around when the rebuilding starts in a year or two. He is scary athletic, and learning how to play still. The guy is still the most underrated player in the NBA IMO. God help their opponents if he develops a reliable jumper.

_________________
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

I think a full season of Miller & Salmons plus 2 promising rookies give the Bulls a record of 45-37 & maybe squeak by the 1st round of the playoffs.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

35-47

The Bulls still won't play any defense and the perpetually injured Luol Deng remains perpetually injured.

This projection is based on an expectation of moderate improvement by Rose. If he becomes a star, the Bulls will obviously win more games. But I don't see that happening this year.

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Expecting a somewhat deeper conference than the past couple seasons?

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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

Yeah, 46 in the East gets you the 4.

ESPN's NBA coverage for the last three or four years has been lifeless and perfunctory and dreadful. Of course the Friday night doubleheaders were never as good as TNT's on Thursdays, but for a while it seemed like they were at least trying to put some effort into their production. Now it's bad reporting, bad studio analysis, bad announcing, bad production values. Remember when Dan Patrick was the lead anchor? Why the hell was that? Bill Simmons offers nothing useful on the NBA either, unless you need to know how various nights spent at the Boston Garden in 1986 remind him of various movies he saw in 1986.

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That's absurd. He often has unconventional ways of looking at the league, and is often on point. His contemporary knowledge of the NBA is pretty accurate. He's one of the only national writers to write about it often, and well.

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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

Bill Simmons good, ESPN bad. But not Bill Walton bad. Not yet, anyways. They're trying to turn VanGundy/Jackson into Walton/Snapper. But they've got no good PBP guys.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Curious, Turner/TNT Sports has been in the NBA biz for many years, and I enjoy the way they cover the NBA game. You'll see proof positive of that tomorrow night and when the Thursday night games begin later this week with the Bulls hosting the Spurs on TNT's air. Ernie Johnson, Jr., Kenny Smith & Charles Barkley are informative, funny & entertaining with their Atlanta studio show. Kevin Harlan is one of the most exciteable PBP voices in sports television, and we all know how good Doug Collins is as an analyst. You'll notice whenever the Bulls are nationally televised, TNT seems to get their games, and not ESPN/ABC. I wonder why...

Does Mike Breen work only for TNT? He's the best I've heard in a long time. Breen, Van Gundy, and Jackson are great as a booth. Makes any game much more entertaining.

_________________
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

Factually speaking, Mike Breen is the lead PBP for the New York Knicks on MSG Network, as well as ESPN/ABC's lead NBA voice. He's not on the TNT payroll. Kevin Harlan, Marv Albert, and Dick Stockton are. (Insert jokes here.)

Thats what I was thinking. Kinda forgot though. Yeah Breen is a terrific PBP guy. Dick Stockton is awful on the NBA. Almost as bad as Al Micheals.

_________________
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

FavreFan, I disagree. I'm old enough to remember when Dick Stockton was CBS Sports' lead NBA voice back in the day, and his partners were the likes of Tom Heinsohn, Bill Russell & Hubie Brown at courtside. Nobody was more synonymous on the NBA broadcasts than Stockton.

I'm not old enough to remember that. But I think my ears would start bleeding profusely trying to endure a Stockton, Heinsohn, Russell booth.

_________________
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

Hey Shark,
I,too,enjoyed Stockton & Russell. They did a fine job.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Stockton is awful on baseball and Football, but I have to admit to liking his call for an NBA game. As long he doesn't mess up the players name his play by play is usually pretty good. TNT has a great roster of announcers. It's tough to beat Marvelous Marv, and Kevin Harlan leads a pretty decent B team but Stockton is solid as a #3 guy. Doug Collins and Reggie Miller are also both solid color guys, along with Steve Kerr when he was there (Phoenix probably can't wait to get that guy back in the booth). And you cannot forget about the czar and his color skills. They also have the best in studio analysis for any sports IMO.

TNT Broadcast > Every national sports network broadcast

This post is starting sound very Shark-ish. I apologize.

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Marv & Czar are tops. Kevin Harlan is a professional Marv Albert impersonator, which isn't the worst thing you can be in sportscasting. Reggie Miller should not be paid to speak, however, inasmuch as he has a speech impediment.

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Dick and AL have both passed away. Al literally and Dick figuratively

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

What is Dr. Jack Ramsey a Doctor of?

Basketball?

One of the best/most unheralded teams in history.

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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

I love Dick Stockton, but that's because I grew up listening to him and I'm the biggest espn Classic fan this side of OKC. I don't dislike VanGundy/Jackson, but I'm not a big Breen fan and those two tend to talk over the action a lot. Marv is the best, in my opinion. He should be doing football on TV as well. The best in my opinion was Marv and the Czar of the Telestrator. Uncle Dick was quite good back in the day. Boy there was some bad athlete commentary back then...see the Golden State championship series against the Bullets-I think it was Oscar Robertson and he was Fun-Bad.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

No love for the Bill Walton/Steve "Snapper" Jones duo?

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I mentioned them earlier, but my hate is so huge for Walton that I never completely liked the duo. I wanted Snapper to savage him, and he was content to sit back and pepper him.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I love Walton as a player and a Deadhead. Other than that he's of no use.

_________________
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

I like Bill Walton. His commentary, while not insightful, is hilarious. His voice alone cracks me up.

I have low expectations for NBA announcers.

That was horrible.

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+1

I loved when Walton was teamed with Steve Jones. Their teasing of each other made bad basketball actually entertaining.

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