thecampster

The public health campaign is a good thing but like most illnesses...this is going to just have to run its course and yes, some people will die as with most illnesses.

So true story, I went to an organizing meeting for the Republican Party about 15 months ago (mostly to check out what was going on - 1st I'd ever attended). When the meet and greet was finally over and they started the meeting, they chose to begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. I politely declined and this immediately drew a lot of attention to me in my section. So I took the next 10 minutes or so educating those around me to the origin of the pledge. It was conceived in a time when "no Irish" was a common phrase and it was originated as a way of proving you were willing to assimilate. Later, it was used in loyalty testing for Japanese citizens interned during WW2. It was later forced upon people with a religious objection and was law of the land for 3 years until the Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision. I explained that my extreme conservative libertarian leanings wouldn't allow me to consciously pledge allegiance to a state that could do then be controlled by those who would do evil. That I would never pledge to blindly follow anything, especially something that had very sketchy origins at best. http://bostonreview.net/politics/jack-david-eller-pledge-allegiance For this very reason, the over-reaction at things like SARS, Carona and the like scare me. Bad people use these things for their own nefarious ideals and then George Takei ends up a 5 year old reciting the pledge in an internment camp (true story). http://allegiancemusical.com/

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/fake-news-history-long-violent-214535 but to be fair, the internet cranked everything up to 110.

https://scroll.in/article/830110/cartoons-the-era-of-yellow-journalism-the-fake-news-of-the-19th-century

Its because of who is in office. If Biden were prez, Fox would be elevating it. I am really sick of the news in general. MSNBC's agenda does not jive with mine but I'm honest enough to say.....all news is fake news in some aspect these days. That said, I like the previously proposed idea of taking advantage of this and offering NBATV for the next 3 months at a discounted price. Or maybe the NBA could put up sneeze glass like in the NHL and add rules where you can pin someone into the wall like in the old indoor soccer days.

Also, open your curtains, blinds in your house. Natural sunlight kills many viruses. And now this tiny tidbit. I have allergies and sneeze a few times a day no matter what I take. I was taught many years ago that if I was going to sneeze in public to pull open my shirt and sneeze on my chest. Weird...ya I know but every time I do it someone tells me thank you and comments on how novel a way that is to not sneeze on their food/drink, my hands, etc. It's pretty much the reason I've taken to wearing undershirts with everything. Maybe that's why Vince wears undershirts with everything now too...hmmmm......... And now I return you to your regularly scheduled episode of KB21 - Doctor at Large, internet advice you should actually listen to (now streaming).

Of everyone on this board, you know I'm on the KB train in 1st class....but I'm thinking you are blind here. I've looked at the free agent class and although I agree there is no game changer there, our large amount of cap space in the summer allows us to take on someone else's salary again. This time though, for better talent and future picks. I honestly believe the draft pick for us is either James Wiseman or bust. I'm not even sure (given our list of young wings) that we'd pick Edwards. If Wiseman is not an option, I think we use the pick in trade for someone else's star level talent to help a team rebuild. No I don't have specifics yet. I haven't done the research. Take this year's roster. Add Skal, Capela + $50 million in salary. Yes, I'm thinking 45 wins. The subtraction of Collins for 25+ games cost this team (I feel) 10 wins. IMHO, we should be about 28-29 wins right now, not 19. Let's say 28-37. Now consider they played without a second point guard for 45 games. That's another 5 wins, so 33-34. Lastly, rebounding was atrocious. Add Skal and Capela and that's another 5 wins. 38-29. Maybe I'm being generous, but its at least over 500. You can't discount the cost of that 62 million in wasted salary on the roster this year and the 1/2 of a wasted season for Collins. Resign Teague or get a quality second point and bring in one more + level starter and I think you have a 45 win team. Collins, Heurter, Young, Reddish, Hunter will all take a mild step up in size/strength/maturity in the off-season naturally. Could it all fall off the rails again. YAH! But we are now 3 years in to this nonsense and its time to take off the our blinders and see what assets we do have going forward.

I will go out on a short limb now. Barring major injury or a complete strikeout in the off season, this is a 45 win team next year. Too many variables to make a bet at this point, but a good offseason with signings and we're a 6 seed. There, I said it.

So I definitely saw it from both Huerter and Hunter. Jones I can't tell if he's just bad or disinterested. I see if from Teague when Trae pulls up from 3 without running the offense or having a defender in position. Collins gets agitated when the rooks get caught watching and don't rotate on the pick and roll. Leaving nowhere to pass out. IE, they sit in the corner instead of rotating to 1/2 way to the top of the key. We've had at least 20 turnovers this year from either passing to an empty spot or Trae getting caught in the air. Collins also gets irritated when Jones and Bruno get in the way on a lob potential or fail to box out early.

Honestly, he is not who I had a problem with last night. 1) I saw Trae pass the ball very early in a number of sets and there was an attitude to it. This usually tells me other players were not moving during the sets, not in the right spots. People were lethargic. On 2 lobs, Collins was late and it was obvious. 2) I've been paying attention and I'm seeing a bit of conflict on the team as a whole. I think that the rooks get so much time and Trae has free license has rubbed some the wrong way. 3) The officiating last night was awful. Memphis played a tight 3/2 zone most of the night as evidenced by all the strips, ball pokes, off-balance play in the lane. 1, 4, 5 in defensive scheme were in the lane all night and in some cases I counted up to 6 seconds in the lane for one player. It led to terrible play at both ends. It was an ugly game to watch. 4) This will be my first negative LP comment ever. LP needed to lose his temper last night. Just benching the starters wasn't enough...He needed to scream a bit, get in someone's grill. He needed to go full Doug Collins on someone last night. He can't be their friend all the time. He is their coach.

Another sign we turned the corner....we got the calls late.

It isn't just Collins but that wasted 62 million in Parsons, Turner, Crabbe that just ate up our roster without playing meaningful minutes. The 3 of them combined for 850 minutes this season of our so far 14,000 minutes. They are 6.1% of our minutes played but were 56.9% of our cap. Of course we sucked once Collins went down. I outlined a number of ways we could have turned that cap into meaningful players pre/post draft and I'll do it again this year but Had they put 40 million of that money into quality talent to put around Trae and John, we could be having a very different conversation right now. 39 wins in the EC right now gets you the 7th seed. 53 wins is the 4th. It still feels like cheating how we did this rebuild and although I love our young players....GAH!

The Atlanta Hawks started 2-3 this season. then John Collins got suspended. The Hawks went 4-21 in his absence and lost the following 2 when he got back to boot, starting the season 6-26. Since that time they have gone 11-15. Depending on how you look at it...the Hawks, before the emergence of Reddish, before the trade for Capela, Skal and Teague were a 13-18 team or a 34 win team. I'm still teetering on anger and forgiveness for Collins over the banned substance thing. I hate tanking. I hate the rebuild. I like our players but I hate how we got here. We could have made the playoffs this year. Had we dropped that 60 million on players and not expiring contracts we could have had a decent season. We were very lucky Trae hasn't gotten hurt. We were very lucky the rooks played as much as they did without major injury. But I can't help thinking about the Collins suspension and the chickenbleep tank tear down and wonder what could have been this season.

1. Both 92.9 and 93.7 spent more than 30 seconds talking about the game last night. 2. Trae's 50 was the top story in my yahoo feed this morning. 3. And most notable, multiple people in my office having real conversations about the game last night (very rare). I am encouraged.

Kemba Walker has been hot garbage in this 4th quarter.

Link to the breakdown. Nearly verbatim.

Why I posted it. I made that shot breakdown a month plus ago that hits each of the points in the 2 quotes I posted. I am thrilled the kid is putting in the work.

Carter, playing in his NBA-record 22nd season, had noticed some extra wiggle and movement in the long 6-foot-8 Reddish’s game (Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce had previously pointed out Reddish wasn’t always “shot-ready,”) and worked with him one-on-one to tighten his footwork and shooting motion.

From the article "They also worked on staying balanced, not rushing and trying to shoot the same way every time."

and yet if we offered him in trade they'd all be gushing to fit him in.

I miss Mace

I love reviving these old threads and seeing how opinions change in a year. KG, Jaybird...I'm looking at you.

So to be honest I didnt know much and I just watched a few analysis vids. Watched the player, didnt really listen to the analysis. Slow release on his shot. Lumbering frame for such a narrow. More athletic than the eye test which almost looks lazy. Relies on hops over positioning. Clumsy footwork too passive getting position. The good...man this guy needs a good big man coach to work with him on footwork because his frame and hops are excellent. His attitude is great but his body language tells you when the play is going away from him. Good shot would be better if he would get to his spots more aggressively. Good vision and understanding of what the team is trying to accomplish. Overall a useful player. Could really use a few lessons with Oakley about aggressiveness.

Quit ruining threads with logic and reason based on wisdomed analysis.

@Supes so back to the Bembry thing. It seems no less than 6 teams called on Bembry but all were trying to get him for nothing of value because they see us going Cam, Kevin, Hunter at the 2/3. They all thought we were looking to dump him. It seems LP very much likes him and says he's been very good to the rooks and took the step back like a man and a professional. They are valuing him as a pro.