Jhawk

That's one ugly fucker you got there.

Shot my best round ever yesterday. 86. 1 double and 1 par on the front with 16 putts. 5 pars on the back with one triple and 11 putts. 45/41 on a par 71. I’ve been struggling and got to a 19.8 index. Over the last 2 weeks it is coming together big time. I’ve really loosened my grip in my short game. Really practiced putting from 7-10 feet. I have gotten REALLY good at recovery with punch shots, low runners, and these awkward 120 yard 7 iron shots that keep me low but get me over small trees. I also swing about as slow as I can. The biggest thing, other than getting the breaks that I’ve never gotten, is the swing speed. I’ve played a few rounds now where I’ve never really gone after the ball and that makes a huge difference. I’m also very conscious in lining up every song shot using the something 12-18” in front of the ball as suggested here. And oh yeah... I’m playing a shitload. I think I’m going to grab some lessons because I’m still hitting a fade and a draw and it’s a little unpredictable. If my short game wasn’t as good as it has been I’d easily have shot mid 90s. I think my plan is to play out the season until August/September getting my swing consistent to a draw and then get fitted for new clubs. Play the last 2 months of the season with the new sticks and go into next year with momentum.

100% agree, but with the caveat that LBJ would be worth it. KD would probably make far less than LBJ but he would probably still get $50M+. You'd have maybe 1-2 guys a generation that would make dollars like that and the rest would be bunched around their "true" value between $5-$18M per year. Are you familiar with how European soccer contracts work? Do they have max contracts? Just doing some cursory research shows that their team values and TV revenue are all around the NFL and NBA values, so a system in place where players just get paid what they are worth (more stat driven) could be feasible. Neymar makes $54M a year, not including his $250M transfer fee. I think that the max contract negtiation is going to end up being market or less than market for about 8 guys, it will pull about 10-12 guys above their value, and then it will use up all of the money for medium size contracts spread out over the other 400+ players in the league. I'm looking on basketball-reference and counting that there are about 18 max contracts that have been signed in the last year or two (have years through the 21-22 season). This represents $545M of contracts and doesn't include contracts signed/agreed to this offseason. This represents about 17% of all of the money below the salary cap. So there is about $2.725B left for 432 players (450 roster spots - 18 max contracts). That's about $6.3M per player. Obviously there are a ton of other factors to consider (vets taking minimum, rookie wage scale, etc) but the average player in the NBA is worth far more than $6.3M. And that number is going to go down with how many new guys were sucked into the max vortex this summer. I'm not sure if this is eve nclose to the right way to analyze the value of a players relative to each other based on their contributions on the court, but I can't see how this model works for the greater percentage of the players union. It seems to feed the biggest names the close to big names and not the majority of the league.

I agree, but he had to know that the fans in Oakland would never put him on the same level as Steph. Durant going to that team was a scrutinized move but you could argue that the guy wanted to win a championship. More power to him. But it seems more like he wants to be the most appreciated on the team AND win a championship (or maybe just be appreciated more than anyone on the team?). If that was the case then him moving to GSW was one of the dumbest ideas he could have had. I'm starting to think that KD is either a complete idiot or just flat out doesn't really know what he wants. That being said, if he wants to win AND be the most appreciated guy on the team then a move to Toronto might have been better than New York. That team has proven it can win with a top 5 player (granted injuries helped) and Kyle Lowry is more than willing to give the team over to a new star. He's going to basically have the same schemes in brooklyn that supposedly ran him out of OKC when he said he wanted to play team ball. I've got a feeling that Brooklyn isn't going to be the last stop in his career. I wouldn't doubt that his legacy just ends up being an amazing player (top 10 all time) and that's about it. Not the hero of some town/team like it sounds like he wants.

You can't think of it as opportunity cost in my opinion. Just what someone is worth. JJ Reddick got $23M one year. Everyone knew he wasn't worth that. Kyle Lowry is getting $33M. He isn't worth that. Those guys got those contracts for various reasons (cap reasons, loyalty reasons, only guy on the team that a brand/fanbsae could even be built around) but none of them were because their stats justify the number. Saying a player isn't overpaid just because there was no one else to get or because the team had the money is like a wife saying "I had to buy it because it was on sale" even though she already has 5 purses and only uses one of them. I'm just saying that if you level everything out based on stats then there are many players worth their max, a big group of guys being overpaid, and a TON of guys being underpaid relative to the guys being overpaid. That's taking the market conditions (who is out there, how much money is available, negotiating power) out of the equation.

I think the lack of cap smoothing is starting to show that the rich are getting richer and the mid-level players are getting the shaft on contracts. The NBA GM's are getting surprisingly smarter with their contracts and only giving the biggest deals to top 20 players. Then you seem to have a group of guys that are $18-24M guys (this is a small "middle class") and then everyone is making under $10M a year. It seems to me that with the super max, the size of max deals, and the concentration of the "true" max players on a handful of teams you end up with a widening gap between the haves and the have nots. Some teams that aren't getting a "true" max guy are paying above average guys huge money because the market deems it necessary (have to pay someone) but they are underpaying guys like Kanter who can be very solid contributors. CJ McCollum comes to mind as a guy who is overpaid because he has to be and a lot of solid players are missing out on millions because the 2nd tier guys are paid so heavily. When the dust settles I'd love to find a spot where I can download all 2019-2020 season contracts and make a visual on how many players fall into the $1-3M range, $3-5M range, 5-10M, 10-15M 15-18M, 18-24M and then >$24M. I'd also like to play with tenure in the league with those numbers to see if my feeling of poors vs. rich NBA players is actually true or not. Timing of when the contracts were signed would be good to see as well. Has the gap been widening, narrowing, or staying the same since the last CBA was negotiated and how has the new TV deal changed things?

Nice of Spears to publish this text. Now Enes's brother is probably a wanted man. Didn't his entire family have to disavow Enes so they wouldn't be arrested? I'm sure when the turkish gov't finds out they are communicating the whole family will be harassed.

Report out today of both Marc Spears and Kendrick Perkins saying KD left because he felt under appreciated by the fans. Felt he was a distant second to steph. The 2 back breakers were apparently the fans chanting MVP for curry and not him and bob Meyers joking that KD would get any contract he wanted in free agency just like curry, during their parade. Personally, I like the move to Brooklyn. It is a good chance for him to separate himself from the reputation he developed by joining the warriors. It comes at an awful time with his injury though so I hope he can become even 90% of the player he was. That being said, if Marc and Kendrick are correct in his reasoning for leaving GSW... yeaasshh man. If you knew that you would get upset not being the center of attention ALL the time then you should have never gone to a team that had just won 73 games and had the reigning 2 time MVP and possibly best player in the game at the time. Especially when that player was on the same team that drafted him. Not a chance in hell those fans appreciate a transplant as much as the kid they raised.

I don’t have any reason to hate the lakers and don’t hate AD at all. I have tremendous respect for lebron but the fact is that he destroys franchises with his front office sway. Look at what the lakers have sacrificed for one guy so lebron can be happy. I get that lebron is worth it. I think lebron is worth it. But he’s reached a stage in his career that he isn’t even going to be around for the consequences of the trade. The second he isn’t happy he quits on his team, he’s done it every year he hasn’t won a championship. He’s the best athlete (overall) that I’ll ever see in my lifetime. He’s got possibly the best brand (behind mj) that I’ll ever see in my lifetime across sports (maybe behind Tiger). But there are other, more sustainable, ways to build a franchise. The lakers free agency has played out just like everyone expected and even how I have described. So I haven’t been wrong at all in my thoughts. The only difference is that you think this is the right way to build and I think they are sacrificing too many depth components to have home court advantage and eventually win a championship. Let me ask any lakers fan this... if they miss out on kawhi and get bounced in the first or second round next year because injuries have them as the 5 seed and they carry some injury into the post season, do you think you’ll be happy with the decision making? What if AD says he wants to shop? If they don’t have injuries but have their roster in the same spot as the rockets and don’t win a championship in 3 years when lebron is 37 and clearly declining in his ability do you think you’ll be happy? If they can’t win it with lebron and AD do you think AD will stay if lebron is still running the front office at that age?

I was shitting on their depth even if the get anyone but kawhi. I guess there are two ways to look at it now... get kawhi and just wait out everyone else until the money is all gone to get “quality” minimum guys. Or, start shopping and try not to overspend on any one guy. The second will be tough because if they start shopping then anyone they go to will have leverage to say “you missed kawhi and if you miss me then you’ll have NOBODY”. They’re in a shit ass position just like many have said they would be. It isn’t hard to see that lebron, his people, and pelinka are a fucking circus and were going to be regardless of how much money and how many billboards could go up. While I’m not shocked Davis went to LAL at all, if they miss out on kawhi he might end up looking to move to the clippers next year.

Wait wait wait... so it’s ok to criticize GSW I’m having no money and an unfilled roster but not LAL? Also, Bob Myers already said he has an unlimited budget when it comes to the tax. I don’t like the move either unless steph is just going to run around the court all day off the ball like Rip Hamilton used to (which presents other problems), but they could flip Russell for 2 players (not including the ones they got). They’re in a better depth position right now than the lakers given their budget doesn’t matter, and will be in a far better depth position if they flip Russell. If the lakers don’t get kawhi real soon the talent pool is going to be very dry.

Let's assume the lakers get Kawhi or butler for their last max spot (regardless of whether butler is worth it or not). They have 4 players and have about $10M of cap space. Doesn't that mean that the other 11 guys all have to play at the vet minimum? Also... this is not how the heat were assembled. The heat retained 7 of their players from the previous roster. They didn't wholesale everyone and then come back with a bunch of vet minimum guys because they were trading for ONE guy. Lebron, Bosh, and Wade took pay cuts so they could be together. AD, Lebron, and #3 are all getting max'd out to be together. You can say what you want about my shitty opinions but acting like this is how Riley built the heat is just not true.

If you watched him in college it was always apparent that his talent far outshined his desire. He can do anything he wants on the court. But it’s like he doesn’t want to be there. I actually told a buddy that it wouldn’t surprise me if he got his last paycheck to earn $172M and then just retired because he hates basketball. Nothing seems to motivate him.

Let's hear some predictions on the top 10 free agents (as ranked by sporting news). Here are mine: 1. KD - Brooklyn 2. Kawhi - Toronto 3. Kyrie - Brooklyn 4. butler - I think this is the toughest one. Going with Clippers out of nowhere. 5. Kemba - Charlotte 6. Klay - GSW 7. Middleton - Milwaukee 8. Tobais - Philly 9. Horford - Clippers 10. D'angelo - Boston

Read my post again... I was questioning if they made the rule with the caveat that they had to be "assistant" or not. Maybe OSU is breaking the rule.. wouldn't be the first time a coach at OSU broke a rule in the last 12 months. If they aren't breaking a rule then the rule apparently is they family member has to be labeled "assistant" which takes one of the 3 official assistant coach jobs on the team.

I thought they put a rule in about hiring family but it might have been that if you hire family they have to be labeled assistant coach so you lose a coaching spot. They can’t be something like director of basketball operations. Not sure though. Honestly thought this was against the rules. That being said, OSU has an opening after the fbi trial don’t they?

Beto is the biggest clown of all time. Would bang tulsi

I should have been more clear... with the cast that the lakers are RUMORED to assembling, BOTH Davis AND Lebron need to be healthy to win in the regular season. Meaning, I don't think Lebron and the bums are going to win games. I don't think AD and the bums are going to win games. Only both AD and Lebron with the bums will have a chance to win games. A lot of teams have won a lot of games with 1 of their top two guys out because of reasonably good players around them, but I don't think the lakers will be able to do that, with even always having 1 of the top 5 players in the league able to suit up. Bottom line, the Lakers need to stop worrying about Kawhi/other big names and do what you said and spread that money around to QUALITY (read: not Melo or JR) role players. But they're the lakers so they'll probably sign JR and Melo first and use up 75% of their cap space in doing so.

My main issue in previous hate on the lakers is that they are betting a lot on AD and lebron not going down. I get that you always have to bet on health but JR doesn't help that function either. He's played more than 56% of the season twice in the last 6 seasons. 3 times he missed 50% or more of the season. I was looking up his defense and since he only played 11 games last year he didn't even qualify to be in the listings for defensive win shares. But hte prior year when he played 80 games he ranked 58th among guards. He was 76th in defensive rating among guards. His shooting will probably bounce back to 35-37% after being down last year, but I doubt he is going to be mentally sharp as he seemed to check out on thinking years ago. I get that he could be a good 4-8mpg guy, but do you really think that is going to happen? DO you really think that Melo is going to be the 8th man on a team? That is pure delusion on melo. On smith, the fact that he is even talked about means that this is a lebron move and not a smart/seasoned GM move. Lebron's boys always get taken care of, just ask the cavs. JR isn't going to be the last man in the rotation. JR is going to be on the court a lot because Lebron takes care of his boys, just ask Tristan Thompson. In the end, I just think it is funny that this is exactly what people were saying was going to happen once the AD trade got fucked up and now the rumor is that it will actually happen. So the narrative has gone from "No that won't happen" to "It isn't that bad, these guys can still play." The lakers are going to end up only being able to win if BOTH Ad and Lebron are healthy. And I'm not talking about the post season either.... The won't win shit in the regular season without both on the floor.

No one has done well with melo regardless of his contract size. He was in Houston playing for free as the 3rd wheel and he couldn’t be happy. Everyone always says it’s different this time and it hasn’t ever been different since he left denver. That take is more on melo than it is on the lakers. But I do think JR is a dumb add but those adds are necessary because of the mismanagement of the AD trade.

Lakers doing exactly what lebron was always going to force them into in picking up over the hill guys and then likely overpaying them. JR should be out of the league but his career was just extended 3 years by lebron saying “we could bring in my friend JR”. Melo is being talked about. That’s how you know the lakers know they are straight fucked. Have to question butler in Houston. Are they trying to get rid of Paul by having jimmy put a hit on him?

Haha. It isn't just texas fans. The media has gone on a tirade against KU football because we have sucked for so long. One writer even called for us to shut down the football program... oddly, that same writer is ALWAYS trashing KU basketball. Weird coincidence. Bottom line, anyone who doesn't think KU can get better under Les Miles is an idiot. We could trot out one of mangino's shit towels and we would get better than we are today. Keep in mind, the only reason Beaty had 6 wins is because he got 3 of them in one season. He is statistically the worst coach in the history off college football with 3 or more years at head coach. That's hard to fucking be in 120 years and thousands of coaches of history. We can't get worse and the talent we have is already better than what we had.

Do you think Kansas can't get better than what we are right now? We're literally the worst team in all of D1 ball. We technically aren't even hitting the attendance numbers to stay in D1 as mandated by the NCAA. Les has already made us better just by selling tickets. Further, we currently have the #22 ranked recruiting class for next year, which is literally higher than we've ever been ranked at any time since Rivals started tracking. We are going to get better just by having roster management be better (remember we have like 50 guys on the roster now). No one at KU is asking to go to the orange bowl again. We're trying to get to a bowl game every few years. Winning 4 games this year is about the highest I have heard from an expectation level. I know the national media and the rest of the conference likes to kick KU football because it is down and because our basketball program is annoyingly good, but you seriously make yourself look like a complete moron when you say les fuckin miles isn't going to turn kansas around. He literally already has compared to the direction that Gill, weis, and beaty had the program going. In November of last year we had 1 recruit committed by the previous coach. ONE. 14 months before the beginning of the 2020 season we now have 19 commits. That is the very definition of turning it around. Also, OSU was dogshit when Miles took over, winning 44 games in the previous 11 years under pat jones and bob simmons. Less won 4, then 8, then 9, then 7 games while there. I'd say he turned that program around and even Gundy has said that his success is largely due to the work Miles put in. Are you suggesting that the highest the program can go is where Gill, Weis, Beaty took us? Because that is demonstrability false given where Mangino took us AND none of those guys are sniffing head coaching jobs at a level higher than Liberty University. You're an idiot.

At least you always know what Bolton's intentions are. He's a known quantity with good knowledge. That doesn't mean you have to take his recommendations. EVERY PRESIDENT SHOULD BE RELUCTANT TO GO TO WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST BECAUSE THEY WILL FAIL AS, OR MORE, SPECTACULARLY THAN BUSH. The only country that has successfully fought a war against a muslim based country is Israel and that war didn't last very long.

Wait wait wait... So you put no effort in your response as shown by you talking about department of education and department of energy instead of addressing the topic, but when I address your comments it is me showing no effort? And regarding HUD, you couldn't be more wrong about HUD and Carson's aptitude for that job. I specifically work in affordable housing development and the dude has cleaned it up like crazy. It isn't the glory days of yesteryear where you could do jack shit and pay no penalty for your property falling out of compliance. I just sat through a class for 24 hours last week on new regulations that are definitely going to end the HUD abuse by developers in the space. Why is Saudi Arabia brought into the conversation? Seems like another complete bullshit side argument that you are trying to draw equivalency on with iran. SA having child soldiers has nothing to do with Iran or this thread but you use it as an attack on Trump and then use it as a reason why iran is fucked. In your arguments you've done everything but address Iran, the topic at hand. Why should everyone else have to argue only about Iran and you get to use a million other topics to describe why iran is fucked?