Since others are doing, my nba trade deadline thoughts…?
criticize me all you want or give me your ideas…but here’s how I see it…
-Washington trade Antawn Jamison and Deshaun Stevenson to the Cavs in Exchange for Ilgauskas, JJ Hickson, and a 2010 1st round pick. For the cavs, it’s overly obvious why this makes sense. The wizards seem like they are in clearing house mode with rumors lately. They get a big expiring to clear up room for the 2010 free agency class, they get potential in hickson and a pick.
-Washington trades Caron Butler to Milwaukee for Luke Ridnour and Joe Alexander. Milwaukee gets another offensive threat who could hopefully keep them competitive. Washington gets ridnour to man the point with agent zero gone. They get alexander who has potential.
-(going to get arguments on this one) The Knicks trade David Lee, Jared Jeffries, and Larry Hughes to the Rockets for T-Mac and a 2010 first. Most will say that houston won’t take on JJ’s contract, but honestly, he still plays great D, but you also get D-Lee who might make the all-star game via coaches selection. Hughes is just another shooter to mix in. The knicks get their expiring and a first they don’t have; granted, it’s a late rounder. As a knicks fan personally, I’m mixed on the whole t-mac situation. I’d rather keep lee personally, but it’s arguable when jeffries contract is thrown in the mix.
Minnesota trade Al Jefferson to the Golden State Warriors for Raja Bell, Speedy Claxton, Anthony Randolph, and a future first rounder. Minny wants to rid themselves of Al; Nelly wants to rid himself of Randolph. Match made in heaven. Randolph provides tons of potential to a young minnesota team while GS gets a young, proven power forward who is agile and athletic enough to fit the uptempo system.
Last One:
Utah trade Carlos Boozer to the Bulls for Tyrus Thomas, Taj Gibson, Jerome James, and a 2010 1st. Utah gets value for boozer who will surely leave after this year while acquiring expirings (one with potential in tyrus) as well as potential in taj and a first; The bulls acquire an excellent complement to Noah to fill out a great lineup.
I’ll rebut any arguments, but post them anyways.
Just two responses, for the bucks one, i’m not sure if caron has that much value due to his non-expiring, but I may be wrong.
and with al, my thought is that if Lee could fit in d’antoni’s system; I don’t see why al couldn’t make it work in GS considering he’s more athletic than lee
Appreciate the input never the less.
Like the first Cavs trade, and I think something like that will probably happen. Jamison would be a great fit for that team and with Shaq and Varejao, they no longer need Big Z. Think the Wiz would also like JJ Hickson as a good re-building block…
The second trade is great for the Bucks (I’m a fan so I’m happy!), but I think the Wiz could do better for Butler. Ridnour is a defensive liability and Joe Alexander hasn’t done much in the league thus far…
I actually like trade 3. Think the knicks are crazy to just focus on Lebron and should grab TMac while they can. Although giving up Lee wouldn’t be ideal for them, I think he’s somewhat overrated, as there’s very few other players on that roster who can rebound or score inside anyway. If they traded for TMac and spent whatever else they had on a quality big man, the kincks would be relevant again…can also see the Rockets liking this trade as well…
Trade 4 has one big problem, that I can see…how is Al going to fit into Nelly’s offensive system? Al is a half court/post up player and Nelly is all about running. Just can’t see how they’d fit…
Last trade is a nice one all round. Think Boozer would combine well with Rose and give the Bulls some interior strength. Utah also pick up a bunch of nice players and money (I’m not, and never will, include Jerome James as a player), but there could be some positional issues with Milsap at PF…
All up, good and thought-provoking question!
it is better to be from neck up?
It’s better to be paralyzed from the neck down, than to be paralyzed from the neck up…
Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Dr.. Krauthammer is on Fox News. He is an M.D. and a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.
Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr.. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.
The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally.
Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free.
Summary of his comments:
1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn’t show his emotions. It’s very hard to know what’s behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he’s on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along.
He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn’t care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid!
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he’s a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their
agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.
8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage.. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future… We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller gov
I could have told exactly who he was by the company he keeps, his college records sealed so we can’t see his radical writings and his apology tour says exactly what his wife said she was never proud to be an american until the day her husband was elected, another words obama hated what america stood for so he said sorry, i blame the media for hiding everything that would have showed us his real colors, and the democrats for going along with a radical leftists, the best thing that could come out of this is America never trusting a liberal again and doing extensive research into peoples back-rounds
Boyfriends 21st bday coming up, what to get him?
We have been together for 2 years now, and I want to get him something special to show him how much i love and appreciate him. I am kind of looking for the equivalent of diamond ear rings or jewelry but for a guy. It can be a gift, an action, or both. I just need some ideas i have about a month to plan it out. He’s into football and other sports. He is the average guy i would say. But he doesnt really like to party all the time, occasionally he will. He has a very good sense of right and wrong. He does not hunt. He is athletic and works out. He also has some "gamer" to him too. He plays xbox and xbox live. The games he mainly plays are forza (racing), call of duty 4 (war) rainbow six vegas (war) and grand theft auto. He really really wants a 32 in plasma tv, but it’s about 1000 dollars and that’s way out of my price range. (i think him and his future room mate are going to go in on one together though.) I am looking to spend maybe $200 at the most. He works at a local lumber store as the recieving manager. HIs ideal date is "dinner and a movie." He loves watching movies, all the time. He really loves his car which is a Jetta, but he is going to trade with his buddy for a GTI. The gti pretty much already has everything that it needs so i couldnt get him any mods for that. Any ideas??
You can get him a LCD monitor with an HDMI input for under $200. He can attach his Xbox to this and play.
You maybe also want to look into tickets for a sports game or music show.
How do you tell a stock correction from its run-up climax (right before it crashes down)?
I’m reading several of William O’Neil’s books on stock investing and huge gains in stock prices actually worries me than losses. I really don’t know when to sell. O’Neil says to sell when the stock is on the way up but I think it’s better to set a trailing stop to follow on its gains to avoid missing out on huge surges. O’Neil points out no matter how great a stock is, it will top at some point and crash in the future. Since stocks have many corrections, I’m having trouble knowing how to spot the difference correctly. I’m currently in Ford (F) and the stock has surged 16% total in four days and I don’t know if it’s sell time. O’Neil suggests that a stock climax is when the last trading days will experience run-ups significantly greater than the previous ones. I don’t think that’s the case with Ford yet and believe there’s more room to grow. Should I hold Ford or set a trailing stop on it? Please advice. Thank you in advance.
I would suggest you go to www.bigcharts.com and enter "F" in the symbol line.
When the chart comes up, at the top of the page next to the symbol is a drop down. Click the down arrow and select "All data".
That chart may tell you all you want to know regarding Ford and whether or not it is overvalued, undervalued or just now in its long-term trading average.
Could Ford continue to go up? Absolutely.
Will it? Who knows.
If it were that easy to predict, NO ONE would ever lose money in the stock market.
Should American’s allow the outsourcing of jobs to other countries?
Should our larger companies not burden a substancial tax in trading/ laying off/ mis-treating the true American workhorses to the Middle East and other countries/lands peoples that harbor sweat shops for the benefit of their ‘shareholders’
Is there not a time when our American, power hungry RICH put the foot down and open their eyes to see what the future may hold for them and their own peoples?
Is there any conscience or room these days to do the right thing for your immediate neighbors with out the thought of me, me, me and my, my my , my pocket book.
Thanks for listening to me air it out …….
I apologize for sounding so bleek and negative, it seems to me we are allowing self-destruction here in so many ways. Our leaders are not true American leaders as they were when there were no huge supermarkets.
Fishing the lakes around here are not like they were when I was younger and a hamburger is not the even close to the same as it was years ago as well. Going forward it was Grand to see some of the awesome Blue skies, the crisp fresh air there was. The Love that was visible, not just a thought but it was a verb called Love.
With all I got I still say God Bless America!1!
We should bring home all our troops, eject illegal aliens, close the borders, tell the rest of the world to get bent, and rewrite all the rules.
And Josh Cribbs sets the all-time record! How will this guys career go? Will he become an elite player?
Josh Cribbs 26 year old kick returner/PR/WR/RB/Wild Cat/QB/Defensive specialist. Who today set the all-time record for most kick returns for TDs at 7.What will happen to this guy who wants more more money from the Browns, is only 26, is the best pure athlete in football, can play anywere, was undrafted out of Kent State, were he played QB. Will this guy get paid? request a trade? get released? And how will his future go? Maybe get a permanent position? Or go to a top team were they willl make him known, and make him an all-star every year. Or will another team not have room for him, and maybe hell just be a forgotten player. And Does josh Cribbs have a chance to make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame??
Your thoughts.
I interupt this question to add this note.
JOsh Cribbs has just returned his 2nd TD of the game to extend the all-time record to 8 Kickoffs for a touchdown.
Serving as an athlete is surely a major pursuit
Will cap and trade work?
Has everyone has been asking all the wrong questions?
By now we all are feeling the effects of an economy in crisis! Since WWII the American population has maintained a materials economy. Consumption is the bloodline that fuels our current economy. Extracting, manufacturing, and distributing goods provide jobs, while consumers keep cycle moving.
Disposal also provides jobs. Unfortunately, we are running out of places to dump our trash. Landfills are filling and the great pacific garbage patch really shouldn’t be an option. The faster we pollute our earth, the better the economy does. This realization has brought forth the revelation for a “green awakening”.
Is climate change a problem? Or is that a really dumb question? When producing goods we extract, manufacture, and pollute through the entire process. Pollution releases harmful toxins into the atmosphere. The atmosphere allows us to survive (simply put). When the United States declared itself a developed country and did not want to deal with the pollution we sent it to developing China and India (along with low paying jobs, and cheaper standards of living). It wasn’t going to solve the problem, just delay it. However, we all belong to the same planet and with jet streams and wind currents soon there problem will be everyone’s problem. For years the problem has existed and delayed and we now face a time of great economic, social, and cultural change. With projections of countries underwater in five years from melting glaciers, to overfishing causing tuna to be extinct in 20 years the only way to sustain human development is unity through non-anarchic international regulations and more than a few great ideas. Every action has a reaction and the human footprint on this plant is so significant that we are in danger of upsetting a very delicate balance.
With these realizations in mind the Copenhagen convention was created. The masterminds behind Enron and mortgage backed securities created the idea of Cap and Trade. Although this is a strong first step in the right direction, it also leaves room for corruption and human greed. Cap and Trade is the idea that companies will be given licenses to pollute. Those companies that move towards more environmentally friendly energy alternatives will have extra licenses that they can sell to other companies. The idea is to award less licenses every year until we dramatically reduce our greenhouse gasses. Thus each year the licenses will become exceedingly more valuable. Some people such as Al Gore are capitalizing on this and are acting as license brokers.
Companies such as Goldman Sachs owns 10% stake in the exchange of cap and trade deals and pays no federal taxes, which forces taxes to fall back on citizens. People are finding ways to exploit the economic climate crisis and generate billions.
Others who have built there industries on natural resources such as oil foresee there future turning towards unemployment. These already extremely wealthy companies have significant influence in our current government system. This has brought forth the climate gate scandal where corruption is telling the news that climate change is not a problem. It is a problem. The first step is admitting we have a problem and the next is to find a way to solve this problem. Will Cap and Trade work? Will it create steady jobs, or simply temporary ones? Any other ideas? Globalize, socialize, merge government and private sector, currency change, revolution…anything?
It will reduce carbon emissions and encourage the growth of green technologies. That is all it is intended to do.
Allowing the rest of the energy industry do become more competitive with fossil fuels will create economic growth and jobs
Those who are complaining about cap and trade would complain about anything the Obama administration brings up. They just like to complain.
Republicans should just get out of the way and let us fix this mess they put us in.
Help! My father-in-law is a gift-giving nightmare!?
My father in law is a nightmare around presents. This will require some background, I think. When my husband and I were engaged (an ordeal in itself, but I won’t digress) my father-in-law was a complete beast over the gifts. He told us where to register, tried to register for us when we didn’t take his suggestion (really), threw a yelling fit when we told him when we registered at Target, berating us because we had registered for "cheap" stuff and "people wanted to buy us nice, expensive things", etc. He was infuriated when he found out that people were shipping gifts to my (re: the bride’s) house instead of the groom’s parents house and actually CALLED people to tell them the "correct" shipping address, then opened every present that came to his door before we even had a chance to touch it. He and my mother in law even decided that their friends would give us better gifts, and proceeded to throw us a "couples shower" at a friend’s house where out of the 50 or so attendees, I knew exactly 4 people and my husband knew at best 12 people, mostly because they were the parents of his friends.
As the years went on this practice of gift-beasting did not stop. He and his wife went out the weekend after I told them I was pregnant with our first child to purchase almost all of the items they decided we needed, most from garage sales in poor condition, without asking what we might like, whether or not we had room for it, or even if we needed assistance in purchasing items (we didn’t). My mother in law contacted my best friend to "help" with the baby shower and proceeded to invite everyone from HER office (who I didn’t know from Adam) in order to procure extra gifts.
At one time, my in-laws "gave" us an old car that they had in the garage as an "anniversary present", because they decided we needed an extra (we didn’t). After a year, the car was essentially unsuable and was an unneccessary expense, so we sold it. Fire rained from the skies after we DARED get rid of THEIR car without their express consent.
Obviously, these are only a few of the examples over the last 9 years of my in-laws giving nature, but every time a gift is given it is given with directions on how they requrie it be used. I have reached the end of my rope, and so has my poor husband, who for years now has been begging them to stop giving us anything. For my husband’s birthday about 7 months ago, my in-laws gave him a gift card to a very fancy steakhouse we had never heard of two towns away. We thanked them, and then put the card away for a nice occasion. We are VERY busy people, we don’t often go out to eat, and we have three children under the age of 7, so fancy steakhouses don’t really fit into our schedules, certainly not during the school year. Today, my father in law called my husband to yell at him (really, actually yelling) that if we weren’t going to use to use the damned thing (evidentally we were supposed to use it on our anniversary, but we took our kids out of town on vacation instead) he would just buy it back from us.
I am appalled at this point, and I don’t think I can take it anymore. My husband (who was at work during this nonsense) told him he would call him back at a more appropriate time, and then called me to tell me. He was completely livid, and told me that he would love to give the gift card back, and threatened to tell his father where he could stick it. We will most certainly NOT be trading this gift, which we had every intention of using, for cash, but using it will now leave a bad taste in our mouths. I would like to just give it back to them and apologize for not using it when they wanted us to, but I really just want to throw it in their faces.
This is sticky for us, my in-laws live literally 5 minutes away and we see them at least twice a week. I need a sane, impartial suggestion on how to deal with the return or non-return of the gift card, and also on how I can refuse future gifts with strings.
Thank you!
Ashley
Moving is not an option. I will not cut off ties between my children and their grandparents just because their grandparents annoy me. Also, my husband’s job is not transferable, and my parents and brother also live in this town.
that is a tough one! i think i would take the gift card and drop it off at their house. then they can use it and maybe get some enjoyment out of it. don’t make a big deal out of it as it will most likely not make a difference. as far as future gifts i would totally stop accepting gifts. tell them you have decided to stop doing gifts for birthday/christmas. tell them you will not be giving them gifts nor will you be accepting gifts from them. What a shame for your children but, you have to do what you can to protect them from being hurt!
Is President Obama doing exactly what he promised not to do as a candidate?? (secret lobbyist deals)?
Check out the Air America segment in the first link. Apparently during the campaign, Obama bashed Billy Tauzin specifically as an example of how Washington makes back room deals with lobbyists instead of discussing new legislation in an open and transparent way with the public.
Well guess who visited the White House over 10 times since January?? BILLY TAUZIN (Who represents BIG PHARMA)
Isn’t this EXACTLY what Obama campaigned AGAINST?!?!!? Hence all the "change" rhetoric??
http://healthcarehorserace.com/media/08212009/air-america-calls-obama-fascist-liar/
But now Air America Media, formerly Air America Radio, is attacking the president for his backroom deal with Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of PhRMA, an industry trade group representing the pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies in the United States. The deal entails the drug industry agreeing to give Americans a future savings of $80 billion on the condition that President Obama agrees not to negotiate for lower drug prices. The kicker in this (outside the fact that he broke a prominent campaign promise to include the American people in any negotiates made with lobbyists and that there would no longer be any backroom deals in Washington under his reign) is that Obama’s own administration announced that over the next ten years Americans will spend roughly $3.6 trillion for prescription drugs. That $80 billion in future savings covers roughly two percent of that.
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-broken/
"I’m going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We’ll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies — they’ll get a seat at the table, they just won’t be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we’ll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/white-house-visitor-logs_n_370921.html
Business wasn’t the only topic that brought visitors to the White House. Health care reform was another big draw. Billy Tauzin, the CEO of the pharmaceutical lobby PhRMA, stopped by the White House eleven times — for both formal bill signings, a town hall meeting, and gathering with high-ranking staff. Once Tauzin met with the president himself. Karen Ignagni, the president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, came to the White House on eight occasions, usually for meetings with high-ranking officials. As the Associated Press reports, the heads of Kaiser Health Plans, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, the American Hospital Association as well as several major health care industry lobbyists, were also White House visitors.
yes, and has no shame that he said it and doesn’t abide by it.
if not for lobbyists…he wouldn’t be president. fact!
will the pistons be the worst team in the nba this season?
I see the Kings being a disaster, the T-Wolves being horrible, the Bobcats having all sorts of problems, the Sixers getting screwed every night (they’re starting Lou Williams at point guard. LOU WILLIAMS), and of course there’s the drama in New York, the European circus in Toronto.
But other than the Rockets (before T-Mac comes back), the Pistons have the worst talent in the NBA. You can’t say the Grizzlies or the Thunder don’t have talents. It’s a matter of putting the talent together and develop chemistry for these teams. Even bad teams have a go-to scorer, the T-Wolves have Al Jefferson, the Kings have Kevin Martin, sixers have Elton Brand and Iguodala, the Raptors have Chris Bosh, and the Bobcats have…well, Larry Brown and the Knicks got D’Antoni and David Lee.
The Pistons have a rookie coach (like last season) and spend all the cap room they got from trading Chauncey Billups on mediocre role players (ie. one-dimensional shooter Ben Gordon and undersized, shoot first, no defense power forward Charlie V) They have a horrible frontline full of role players and draft busts. Kwame Brown has no lowpost game whatsoever. Ben Wallace can’t score and is in decline. I already said what I had to say about Charlie V. There was a reason why he can’t even stick in the starting lineup on a lottery team last year. Chris Wilcox can score some points, but doesn’t consistently rebound or play defense. Maxiell is nothing more than an energy player.
Then you have long time stalwarts Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, both are the ultimate "team" player who can’t carry the team by themselves. Rip was a loser in Washington years ago. They are system players who can’t win without Billups.
Then, you have the messy backcourt with Dumars’ man crush Rodney Stuckey, 55 million man Ben Gordon, and late season savior Will Bynum along with Rip. None of them is a point guard. Stuckey obviously is not the answer. He single-handedly destroyed the Pistons’ season last year. (They were 23-13 with A.I. and Rip starting last year.) My question is: why waste your cap space paying Gordon to be a backup? It’s not like Rip doesn’t log heavy minutes. Why sign Rip to an extension if you’re gonna spend all that money on another shooting guard? Why does Stuckey have to start over Bynum when Bynum is clearly the better player? But at the end of the day, this team is a mess. If Stuckey doesn’t "breakout" this year, then Dumars should be fired. He messed up the chemistry last year by insisting to start Stuckey last year over either Rip or A.I., both established all-stars who were meshing well. Besides, if you want to get rid of Billups and sabotage a future Hall of Famer’s career (A.I.), at least get something better than Gordon + Charlie V. to show for it. I’m not a fan of Gordon. He’s one dimensional and a better version of Rashad McCants, who is unemployed. He isn’t worth the money. Not even close.
This team will struggle to defend or put points on the board. Ideally they should start either B. Wallace or Kwame alongside Wilcox, since Wilcox can score. I don’t trust Charlie V as a full time starting power forward, he’s more of a tweener. I would make him the 6th man along with Will Bynum. While Ben Gordon is no point guard, Stuckey isn’t a point guard either. Might as well start both Gordon and Rip and Tayshaun, so at least you can put points on the board even if you can’t defend to save your life. The only good defenders they have is a washed up Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. Rodney Stuckey should have a minimal role with Detroit going with a 3 guard rotation of Hamilton, Gordon, and Bynum. Prince can do some ballhandling as well.
Pistons aren’t the worst team in the league. They aren’t even the worst team in their division – Milwaukee was a doormat last season, and essentially gave away Richard Jefferson.
The Pistons fired Michael Curry- one of the worst coaches in the history of the NBA.