My guy has talked around NBA circles of late

[REHawksFan]

 I read that Ramona Shelbourne article on ESPN about Ben Simmons.  It's fascinating.

 

Part of me thinks he's an easily offended individual that is throwing a massive temper tantrum and doing what amounts to taking his ball and going home until the team trades him to a more tenable situation.  

And then part of me thinks he's an introvert that has been so embarrassed and called out and blamed by his teammates and coach after the playoff series that he's just mentally broken and gets anxiety just by the thought of playing for them again.  In that vein, a change of scenery would likely do him very well. 

 

Maybe both are true.  Maybe neither.  Who knows?   

 

IF Philly doesn't get a deal done and he doesn't play, I have a feeling the Sixers are going to really regret this.  Yeah, they may be doing pretty well in the regular season in the East (where no team has pulled away), but there's no way anyone can say the actually look like a title team this year.  MVP player in Embiid, but I'm skeptical he alone is going to take them through the playoffs.  

[Diesel]

Simmons will make up a lot of ground with me... if he starts playing after the deadline. 

But if he keeps holding out after the deadline... I don't consider him a championship level Basketball player. 

[Gray Mule]

2 hours ago, Final_quest said:

I live in Chattanooga, it's got a mountain town cool vibe.  Downtown is nice and the mountains and rivers give you a lot of outdoors stuff to do.  

I'm 2 hours east of you - 2 hours from Knoxville, 2 Hours from Asheville, 2 hours from Atlanta.

I'm just 2 hours from anywhere!

 

 

[gurpilo]

1 hour ago, capstone21 dijo:

I always liked Josh Hart … not going to get you 20 but he is a solid defender who can hit the three … would be a nice addition for the bench 

Bench? I think he could start at SG, he is not redundant with Bogi or Huerter and is a good fit.

He is 2nd or 3rd best player at NO.

Edited February 2, 2022 by gurpilo

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, REHawksFan said:

mentally broken

But isn’t he actually going through mental problems? I thought it was him unless they were saying it was just his sister. 
 

Ya, if he’s sick I hope he gets better. The introvert thing, possibly but I’m afraid he doesn’t truly love winning like Trae.

I want players on board with what we do in a team style.

[Final_quest]

Let’s bring up the Morey factor.  With a different GM Simmons would have been traded weeks ago and be playing now.  

[sturt]

1 hour ago, capstone21 said:

I always liked Josh Hart … not going to get you 20 but he is a solid defender who can hit the three … would be a nice addition for the bench 

Like him, but he's more of a SG/SF than a SF/PF. Kenrich is beefier, and because of that, a smarter target from where I sit. Of course, the price demanded for Kenny Hustle might seriously mitigate that conclusion.

[AHF]

3 hours ago, thecampster said:

yep, yep but I think we're saying similar things here. I think I'm saying I'm not sure this is an ADA thing and you're saying he doesn't have a leg to stand on via ADA.  I'm not stating ADA but I am saying this is a fixed term employment agreement.

Lets move to that. So in an FTE, under what terms can the employee or employer terminate that agreement? Again this is more your arena and yes on the non-compete. I should have said non-competes don't apply to most employees. Non-enforceable was bad phrasing.

In general, there is typically a "termination for cause" provision that defines the circumstances under which the Company can let the employee go without paying them for entire length of the contract (or a buy-out).  Most terminations don't meet this standard.  When they don't, the employer is normally obligated to pay for the remaining term of the contract.  This is very much how NBA contracts work. 

You could also have a buy-out right which might cap or define differently the amount that has to be paid but that is more commonly captured in a severance and retention agreement for an at-will employee (generally no advantage to do a fixed term agreement if you are only going to be on the hook for a maximum of one year's pay or something).

Another example of employees on a fixed term contract are college and professional coaches.  It doesn't work that differently for executives than it does for coaches.  Just examples of people in the same bucket.  They are usually due to be paid the remainder of the contract if they are terminated unless they meet that "for cause" definition and they can't work for anyone else as long as they are being paid.

[kg01]

2 hours ago, capstone21 said:

I always liked Josh Hart … not going to get you 20 but he is a solid defender who can hit the three … would be a nice addition for the bench 

Basically a worse version of Wright.

[Spud2nique]

41 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Basically a worse version of Wright.

Wait, Hart was ya boi! No? 

Oh wait, is this about him being a Pel? {laugh snort )

 

 

Was it when he was a Laker you wanted him. I dunno but he was your backup to Sexboyton. 

[JayBirdHawk]

Anybody watching this guy play in GL?

 

 

[warcore]

5 hours ago, thecampster said:

FYI, if looking for a really cheap place to live tax wise. Wyoming is highly subsidized by the federal government due to the large military vs civilian population.  No income tax, 4% sales tax and very low property taxes since most homes are not in city limits. Plus views like this: 

It is a nice view - this is true. But I drive through Wyoming about once a year and lemme tell ya.... the majority is endless green fields with nothing. It's in my bottom 5 for states to drive through. Texas being #1 -- I'll do everything I can to avoid that hell hole. 

[shakes]

10 minutes ago, warcore said:

It is a nice view - this is true. But I drive through Wyoming about once a year and lemme tell ya.... the majority is endless green fields with nothing. It's in my bottom 5 for states to drive through. Texas being #1 -- I'll do everything I can to avoid that hell hole. 

that's insane.  When I did my 15 states in 14 days road trip after graduating college back in 1994 I thought Wyoming was the prettiest state I drove through on the entire trip.

[AHF]

6 hours ago, thecampster said:

FYI, if looking for a really cheap place to live tax wise. Wyoming is highly subsidized by the federal government due to the large military vs civilian population.  No income tax, 4% sales tax and very low property taxes since most homes are not in city limits. Plus views like this: 

It is amazing how many states that preach "small government" rank at the top of the list for eating at the trough of federal subsidies.  Like Mitch McConnell likes to proudly oppose new government programs while his state takes wayyyy more from the federal government than they contribute.  It is such a strange dynamic where the people who oppose spending on others are themselves taking like crazy and then they portray states like New York or California as lazy government spenders when they contribute way more than they take.  Not sure if it is just cognitive dissonance or really good marketing.

2 minutes ago, shakes said:

that's insane.  When I did my 15 states in 14 days road trip after graduating college back in 1994 I thought Wyoming was the prettiest state I drove through on the entire trip.

Depends on the part of the state you are driving through for all the states in that area.  There are parts of Wyoming, the Dakotas, etc. that are just stunning.

[warcore]

2 minutes ago, shakes said:

that's insane.  When I did my 15 states in 14 days road trip after graduating college back in 1994 I thought Wyoming was the prettiest state I drove through on the entire trip.

What were the other 15 states? Texas, ND, SD, Idaho, back to Texas and keep looping? Wyoming bored me to death. 

[shakes]

11 minutes ago, warcore said:

What were the other 15 states? Texas, ND, SD, Idaho, back to Texas and keep looping? Wyoming bored me to death. 

It was a great but exhausting trip.   Chicago to Denver, then down to Santa Fe (beautiful city) and then Grand Canyon, then over to Vegas, then San Francisco, then Reno, then up to Yellowstone and then through Wyoming and South Dakota to Rushmore and Wall Drug, then Minneapolis and then through Wisconsin and back home to Chicago.

Wyoming stood out as the prettiest state to drive through.   But it was 1000 years ago.

Edited February 2, 2022 by shakes

[JeffS17]

8 minutes ago, AHF said:

It is amazing how many states that preach "small government" rank at the top of the list for eating at the trough of federal subsidies.  Like Mitch McConnell likes to proudly oppose new government programs while his state takes wayyyy more from the federal government than they contribute.  It is such a strange dynamic where the people who oppose spending on others are themselves taking like crazy and then they portray states like New York or California as lazy government spenders when they contribute way more than they take.  Not sure if it is just cognitive dissonance or really good marketing.

You hit the nail on the head here.  I think it's a concoction of factors including poor education on the fiscal budget (sources and uses), strong internal bias and dunning kruger effect (ppl makes excuses for themselves but hold others to gold stadards), but probably more than anything, all mainstream political discourse is so heavily laden with propaganda and misinformation, people get sucked into pockets of tribalism and emotionally charged rhetoric without much substance.

[sturt]

25 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Anybody watching this guy play in GL?

Yes.

Earlier comment was that he reminds me of a young Paul Millsap... extremely effective within 10 feet of the basket. 25 year old workhorse.

 

23 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

On a team with serious playoff aspirations?

That's two gargantuan ...

 

... from our friends from Soaring in the space of, what, one day???

 

On a team without serious playoff aspirations? Maybe.

Like I said, I see him as more of a PF like Millsap than he is, say, a Wes Unseld or Dave Cowens, ie other historically prominent but short NBA centers. And he doesn't have Big2O's hops, and in prospect terms, he's old... so I'm reluctant to put any faith in him at C.

 

 

[thecampster]

25 minutes ago, AHF said:

It is amazing how many states that preach "small government" rank at the top of the list for eating at the trough of federal subsidies.  Like Mitch McConnell likes to proudly oppose new government programs while his state takes wayyyy more from the federal government than they contribute.  It is such a strange dynamic where the people who oppose spending on others are themselves taking like crazy and then they portray states like New York or California as lazy government spenders when they contribute way more than they take.  Not sure if it is just cognitive dissonance or really good marketing.

Depends on the part of the state you are driving through for all the states in that area.  There are parts of Wyoming, the Dakotas, etc. that are just stunning.

Its not purposeful in Wyoming though. The highway system in the state is mostly federally maintained to support the Air Force Base there and the rail lines and a central point for cattle/crop drop off before hitting the Rockies. There are only 600,000 people in the entire state (bigger than Georgia but less people than Cobb County). Its biggest city has 60,000.  They don't have a huge need for services there and what they do need is maintained by the feds to support the Air Force base.  Unlike say Mississippi where what you're saying is fairly true.  My statement had to do with lower needs for tax dollars because things taxes are normally collected for are all handled by the Feds and Big Agriculture. (Unless you count the data center Microsoft just built in Cheyenne as valuable).  The state is the easiest for data lines to flow through and so was used and has a very large amount of federal lands contained there.

See here for some accurate numbers not fueled by politics.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state

 

"

The ten states with the highest total federal funding are:

1. California ($43.61 billion)
2. Texas ($26.90 billion)
3. Florida ($23.77 billion)
4. New York ($22.06 billion)
5. Virginia ($17.68 billion)
6. Pennsylvania ($15.58 billion)
7. Illinois ($13.18 billion)
8. Ohio ($12.57 billion)
9. North Carolina ($11.31 billion)
10. Michigan ($10.84 billion)

The ten states with the lowest net federal funding per resident are:

1. New Jersey (-$2,368)
2. Massachusetts (-$2,343)
3. New York (-$1,792)
4. North Dakota (-$720)
5. Illinois (-$364)
6. New Hampshire (-$234)
7. Washington (-$184)
8. Nebraska (-$164)
9. Colorado (-$95)
10. California ($12)

Here are the 10 states with the most federal funding per resident:

1. Virginia ($10,301)
2. Kentucky ($9,145)
3. New Mexico ($8,692)
4. West Virginia ($7,283)
5. Alaska ($7,048)
6. Mississippi ($6,880)
7. Alabama ($6,694)
8. Maryland ($6,035)
9. Maine ($5,572)
10. Hawaii ($5,270)

"

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, shakes said:

It was a great but exhausting trip.   Chicago to Denver, then down to Santa Fe (beautiful city) and then Grand Canyon, then over to Vegas, then San Francisco, then Reno, then up to Yellowstone and then through Wyoming and South Dakota to Rushmore and Wall Drug, then Minneapolis and then through Wisconsin and back home to Chicago.

Wyoming stood out as the prettiest state to drive through.   But it was 1000 years ago.

I drove almost this exact same route back in 1987 with three of my four brothers.  We took three weeks to do it, in a rented car (unlimited miles!!).  I drove up from Atlanta, picked up one brother, drove to Iowa to pick up another, then down to Texas to pick up a third brother.  Over to New Mexico (cresting a hill and seeing all those huge radio telescopes was like being on Mars!), Grand Canyon, Vegas, LA, SF, up to the Redwood Forests, then on to Oregon, back down through Salt Lake City, Denver, Nebraska (Frontier Town - VERY eclectic museum-like place), back to Iowa (drop off a brother), Chicago (drop off a brother), and home to Atlanta. 

Craziest thing, however, was that my older brother had a map of all the tackiest/wackiest roadside attractions in the western USA (like Dinosaur land, largest ball of twine in the world, secret magnetic house, and insane, mostly fake stuff like that) and we used that as our guide, visiting many, many of them - all while NEVER ONCE driving on an expressway and only eating in diners and sleeping in mom and pop motels.  

Yes ... we almost killed each other by the end ... but it was something we all cherish to this day.

We later took a similar trip with all five brothers, and my father, all throughout Europe for a month.  Amazing experience.