The Compliment Sandwich : Omega
Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 9:25 am
Word Count: 3,177
And I’m back! Quickly because I figured I might as well practice my second career as a traveling SLOE journalist once I quit my real job after I make it rich off the back of these AMC Theater stocks. Since I had to cut things off early with the last one, I am going to move onto the Omega conference. I am in this conference (again) and after going over the names here, I am very much looking forward to getting into competition with this group. So, let’s dig in!
OMEGA
RANDOLPH DIVISION
New Jersey Nets
Compliment: Ed is willing to invest the time and effort (points) into his young players when he feels that they have something significant to offer. Though he has now traded away Hector and had him on the block several times before then, he took the time to build him up in his weakest spots (particularly his foul rating) to help make him someone worthy of the max contract he received last off-season and tradable for high level assets like he just received in return. We see plenty of GMs who ignore their young players or mostly let them fend for themselves in their growth period, but I think Ed does a good job of trying to build them.
Criticism: Last off-season the Nets took an all-in swing, which seems to be rare for them when looking at the history of the team. Obviously, I have made it known that I appreciate such action. The season was a disappointment for the squad and I feel like part of that is problems with deciding exactly how to build the roster. This is a familiar problem for me because I have certainly had ill-fitting parts before or just put value in a player or position that ended up falling flat. Some touch-up work in this regard could probably help Ed take another step with this team. Look forward to seeing how he builds around Fang and Olney now.
Compliment: He does not seem to budge when he sets a value for a player when he decides to move them. On numerous occasions I’ve had trade talks with Ed, especially concerning Hector, and he was never wiling to be talked down from where he saw that value. You must be protective of your personal standards around here with slime bombs coming from the sky.
Los Angeles Lakers
Compliment: Jon does not hesitate to jump at chances to get himself into high-level contention, especially now that Delmar Lopez has blossomed fully (MVP! MVP! MVP!). Just last night he went and handed out a small amount of points to grab Glen Sabo from Miami and he attacked free agency hard the year he got both Len Bias and Bryce Dejean-Jones. He is always an active member in the trade scene as well, and we’ve came to agreement on more than one deal. Yes, he has eventually regretted deals but that is part of the gig when you decide that you are going to have an aggressive mindset.
Criticism: I have not always agreed with his method of building around Lopez via free agency especially, though I am very intrigued by the possibility of Lopez, Bias and Sabo getting to play together now. A few times he dipped into free agency and gave multi-year deals to run of the mill Green-Green type players. The first year works out okay, but then he’d go into the following season with contracts that are taking up precious cap space to go after higher level players. In this situation he now either had to pay someone to dump those contracts or just ride it out and those players are guys in roles that could have been filled by vet mins in round 3 of UFA.
Compliment: In general, Jon is one of the people who has made my time in this game more enjoyable. We have bounced ideas off each other many times, traded back and forth, and just generally shoot the shit whenever we feel like it. Coming in together, and taking the teams in Los Angeles, it was a pretty easy thing to fall into. We even almost tried our hand at a SLOE-centric podcast and I hate the sound of my own voice, so I had to feel comfortable with who that other person would be to agree.
New Orleans Pelicans
Compliment: Our man Nick seems to have a very firm grasp on where his salary needs to be to go after key players in free agency, who all seem to be very interested in playing in New Orleans since they like passing up similar or better offers to head there. Some sort of voodoo perhaps? Either way, he has built something attractive and he is always selling salary at he right time to take his shot at the big fish, hoping to snag a whale.
Criticism: I’m sure this is where some people could bring up some his business practices, such as the Dodge trade last season. I didn’t really find that to be overly egregious, though I certainly would have advised the new General Manage to manage that situation better, in general. Oh, I got it … HEY! Don’t agree to a Sign and Trade and then over-sign guys in round 1 of free agency to the point where the deal needs re-worked! Yeah, that’s it! You son of …
Compliment: The Pelicans are consistently built into a good, if not always spectacular, team. It has been almost 20 seasons since they have lost under 30 games and only twice in that same span has it been under 40. There is certainly an argument to be made that this could be a criticism since tanking is sometimes necessary to fully re-tool your assets, but I think it’s also impressive to keep a ship afloat for a long period of time.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Compliment: AB is always trying to learn and adapt the way he plays the game. No idea why, but he occasionally comes to me to get another opinion on things or to just get his ideas out in the open. When I propose other ways to approach things, he is receptive. I enjoy his eagerness to get better and take some chances.
Criticism: Once the Thunder found some major success, peaking when they won 68 games in 2032, I think AB has had a difficult time navigating his path to a rebuild, proven by the fact that he went 4 straight seasons without a playoff berth until last season’s second round exit. Zaire Wade was obviously a great starting point, but perhaps he waited too long to sell off other pieces such as Bulter and was just good enough to negate his not-so-good roster and win too many games to get in position to draft other top-level talents. Wade is close to being ready to make a dent now but figuring out the moves to get the perfect pieces around him has been a challenge. Maker, Oturu, Powell are nice pieces to fill a roster, however he probably still needs to find his 2nd in command behind Wade … or, an Alpha, if he decides Wade is better suited as a 2nd piece. Oh, and no more illegal bids, please.
Compliment: You never have to worry about AB being an active GM, because he is going to put the time and effort into our game that is needed (and then some). Recently we have been in contact even more than previous seasons, so I personally know how much work he is putting in. I certainly do hope his work pays off soon.
Toronto Raptors
Compliment: Since I have joined the league it has seemed like Geoff is constantly finding himself grabbing top talent to bolster his squad. Ironside, RJ Barrett, Chadwick Dangerfield, Norris Turney, Gary Loredo are/were all fantastic players that many of us would kill to have and Geoff has been shrewd enough to swoop in and grab them when it was most beneficial.
Criticism: While Geoff is active when it’s important to be, and I see him a lot in the group chat, he (and admittedly so) doesn’t really put full effort into all of the aspects of the game. This is not a problem at all, because he is a fun member of the collective and is successful at what he does. I do wonder though just how great some of his teams could have been if he had done a bit more to boost them.
Compliment: I have used this as a compliment for others to this point, but I think this really fits Geoff as well, so I am going to state it here as well, and it really goes hand in hand with the first point above. He is fantastic at identifying when it is time to move on from great players to then flip them for other potentially great players. Barrett was used to grab Loredo. Ironside was used to snag Dangerfield who now has been used to take a #1 overall prospect in this past draft and future draft considerations. The Raptors are masters at the art of the swap.
Washington Wizards
Compliment: Where some people can build consistent winners, but not actually compete for championships, X (gonna give it to ya) has built a franchise that continues to be a title contender year in, year out. Since 2028, the Wizards have been at least to the conference finals seven times and to the Finals three times, winning one (his first) championship in 2036. That is one hell of a run and it should very much continue this season with the recent addition of Ben Franklin. With a huge tax bill looming and Kidd aging and hitting free agency soon, a dip in production may be on the horizon, but it’s worth acknowledging such longevity.
Criticism: This will not be news to X since we just recently discussed this privately, but a weakness for him has been his method of allocating his points. The example we discussed was him investing points into Tasmin Mitchell only to flip him around quickly for Franklin when those points could have been used instead on Liberty or Cassel, who have legit long-term futures with the team. Over the seasons, it could have been beneficial to him to narrow his focus on who to train so that he could have really bumped key pieces instead of trying to spread them all out.
Compliment: I think that X is one of the better game planners that I’ve interacted with. He knows what offense/defense he wants to run and doesn’t really attempt much deviation from that. Because of this dedication, he is also very in-tune with the types of players that fit in with his schematic preferences and is great about attacking those needs in trade/free agency.
WILLIAMS DIVISION
Cleveland Cavaliers
Compliment: I’d like to be more thorough in this assessment (and it’ll be the same for the Trailblazers) however we have not seen enough, and I have had no real direct interaction with the team’s new management to know. I do like that they are been proactive in making roster moves and seem to be willing to go out and explore the SLOE world.
Criticism: When you want to trade a player that has some real value, I’d suggest opening up the pool of offers by letting everyone know that you are willing to talk about them. After the Dodge situation, this happened with Harms so it seems things are looking up in this department.
Compliment: The team did a good job in restricted free agency. Sure, it may have been no-brainers, but they went out and offered Boston Jr. what he deserves and got him back immediately (Hey, we’ve seen Ridley take off for less money recently) and matched on Connell. I think it is a positive sign for their decision-making in the future.
Detroit Pistons
Compliment: I had no idea who Scott was when he decided to come back to the game, but boy did he hit the ground running once he did. He was full-go at building a contender. Traded for Luka, Hunter, Haddock, Ernest Long and a handful of depth pieces to go along with Cobb, who was lighting it up as a scorer as Scott took over. He wanted a championship and had a more than capable roster. Recklessly? Almost certainly but scared money don’t make money, as they say. And of course, it led to Tax Jail Scott which he attacked with just as much violent aggression as he did when he built his contender.
Criticism: Disrespecting my favorite movie genre ain’t it, chief! And Se7en is a horror movie. And Hitchcock is a horror director. And I can’t wait to start rooting for the Yankees this season just for your benefit. Wait, what the hell was this supposed to be about again?
Compliment: Scott has been uncompromising in his value system in regard to his players/assets, tax jail be damned. Yes, he has probably traded some assets for a bit less than they may have been worth, but if he did it was not by much and he has constantly been vocal about not coming to him with low ball offers just to take advantage of the fact that he needed the points to get out of jail. And hell, he’s out now and I have no doubt he is going to stay in attack mode in the rebuild phase too.
Indiana Pacers
Compliment: After gaining a notoriety for being frugal and never going into the tax, it was nice to see the team go in for big pieces and go into the red a little bit. It came close to paying off too because Diakite has turned into a damn monster and Morant and Washington were great 2nd and 3rd bananas for him and they had one hell of a season, winning the conference.
Criticism: They put one big ass target on their back this off-season didn’t they? Honestly, this is not a criticism because it has been fun as hell to see the reaction to the division draft approach and the following efforts by the teams involved to get better to prove them wrong. I have no doubt this will be a story all season long.
Compliment: I mentioned him earlier, but man, they saw the talent that Diakite had and went to get him when deciding to flip Fox. I am not looking forward to having to deal with that dude in my division for however long I have to, I know that for sure.
Philadelphia 76ers
Compliment: Patience has been key. Unlike many of the other newbies that come in, K100 has been willing to slow play everything and build his roster gradually. Even with most everyone questioning his methods at times, he stuck to his plan and is constantly working towards it as he is one of the most active in trades. Missing the playoffs his first five seasons could not have been fantastic, but the plan was in place and it really seemed to come to fruition two seasons ago when the team won 64 games.
Criticism: I cannot say that I have always understood some of the moves made. There are a number of instances that I could point to here that left me scratching my head, but the one that I still can’t get my head around is trading away the opportunity to get Dort. Looking back on it, the 76ers have had a number of fantastic players in their hands but moved them such as Sabo, Diakite, Oturu and, yes, could have had Dort. Though things were certainly looking up during that 60+ win season, things dipped back to Earth last season and it will be interesting to see if any of those missteps come back to haunt the Sixers or will they be able to flip some things around and get back up again.
Compliment: Once K100 keys in on the player that he loves, he does a lot to help them reach their potential. Even with Obi Toppin took massive hits in training camp, he re-invested in them to get them back up to the proper level of contribution. Wiseman is a budding superstar and K100’s care and patience with him and the roster is part of that.
Portland Trailblazers
Compliment: Again, I don’t know them well enough to be too thorough, however I applaud taking a huge swing and taking on De’Aron Fox (and Grinder) to put around Dort. Having Dort already in the bank is a huge lift to the team’s chances and a new Manager’s dream and it seems they seem to understand this. We’ll see how well it actually works but, I am excited to see it unfold.
Criticism: So far? I don’t really have one. Need to see more from them to pick it apart a little bit. Perhaps I’ll edit one in when Ryan lets him screw up on his own the first time … I’m watching!
Compliment: Smart deal in RFA getting Patton back for $12mil per season. Though he is not quite THERE yet, he has the potentials to be a very good big man with crazy athleticism. If nothing else, at such a reasonable salary, it will be very easy to trade him in the future to add real fire power that can help immediately.
Utah Jazz
Compliment: Much like Scott, I had no idea who Chad was when he came back to SLOE. I obviously knew he was a legacy character and I know he has had great success in the past, but that is not anything I could directly speak on. I have had a bit of interaction with him now though, so I at least have something to go off. I certainly am a big fan of his approach this off-season, even if it means my team gets left in the dust. He was so quickly able to grab top young talent that this off-season he was able to go grab Jordan Johnson and Chadwick Dangerfield (one of my favorite players in the league) while still have a couple of top-notch assets to play with in trade or just allow them to grow.
Criticism: Though I have not mentioned this or questioned him about it, I am almost positive that when he came back he hunted down GMs that he did not know to offer them something wild to see if they were dumb enough to accept … and I certainly received one of those offers. CHILL OUT, HOMIE! Ha, really, it’s hard for me to get too much into this yet since, as mentioned, I don’t have a long history with his style in this game.
Compliment: Chad is a Lakers fan, so he has great re-names. Mamba OUT!
Los Angeles Clippers
…..
Nah, you know what I suck at. And if you don’t, I’m not going to help you pinpoint it.
And I’ve hit my needed wordcount.
So.
Uh.
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
And I’m back! Quickly because I figured I might as well practice my second career as a traveling SLOE journalist once I quit my real job after I make it rich off the back of these AMC Theater stocks. Since I had to cut things off early with the last one, I am going to move onto the Omega conference. I am in this conference (again) and after going over the names here, I am very much looking forward to getting into competition with this group. So, let’s dig in!
OMEGA
RANDOLPH DIVISION
New Jersey Nets
Compliment: Ed is willing to invest the time and effort (points) into his young players when he feels that they have something significant to offer. Though he has now traded away Hector and had him on the block several times before then, he took the time to build him up in his weakest spots (particularly his foul rating) to help make him someone worthy of the max contract he received last off-season and tradable for high level assets like he just received in return. We see plenty of GMs who ignore their young players or mostly let them fend for themselves in their growth period, but I think Ed does a good job of trying to build them.
Criticism: Last off-season the Nets took an all-in swing, which seems to be rare for them when looking at the history of the team. Obviously, I have made it known that I appreciate such action. The season was a disappointment for the squad and I feel like part of that is problems with deciding exactly how to build the roster. This is a familiar problem for me because I have certainly had ill-fitting parts before or just put value in a player or position that ended up falling flat. Some touch-up work in this regard could probably help Ed take another step with this team. Look forward to seeing how he builds around Fang and Olney now.
Compliment: He does not seem to budge when he sets a value for a player when he decides to move them. On numerous occasions I’ve had trade talks with Ed, especially concerning Hector, and he was never wiling to be talked down from where he saw that value. You must be protective of your personal standards around here with slime bombs coming from the sky.
Los Angeles Lakers
Compliment: Jon does not hesitate to jump at chances to get himself into high-level contention, especially now that Delmar Lopez has blossomed fully (MVP! MVP! MVP!). Just last night he went and handed out a small amount of points to grab Glen Sabo from Miami and he attacked free agency hard the year he got both Len Bias and Bryce Dejean-Jones. He is always an active member in the trade scene as well, and we’ve came to agreement on more than one deal. Yes, he has eventually regretted deals but that is part of the gig when you decide that you are going to have an aggressive mindset.
Criticism: I have not always agreed with his method of building around Lopez via free agency especially, though I am very intrigued by the possibility of Lopez, Bias and Sabo getting to play together now. A few times he dipped into free agency and gave multi-year deals to run of the mill Green-Green type players. The first year works out okay, but then he’d go into the following season with contracts that are taking up precious cap space to go after higher level players. In this situation he now either had to pay someone to dump those contracts or just ride it out and those players are guys in roles that could have been filled by vet mins in round 3 of UFA.
Compliment: In general, Jon is one of the people who has made my time in this game more enjoyable. We have bounced ideas off each other many times, traded back and forth, and just generally shoot the shit whenever we feel like it. Coming in together, and taking the teams in Los Angeles, it was a pretty easy thing to fall into. We even almost tried our hand at a SLOE-centric podcast and I hate the sound of my own voice, so I had to feel comfortable with who that other person would be to agree.
New Orleans Pelicans
Compliment: Our man Nick seems to have a very firm grasp on where his salary needs to be to go after key players in free agency, who all seem to be very interested in playing in New Orleans since they like passing up similar or better offers to head there. Some sort of voodoo perhaps? Either way, he has built something attractive and he is always selling salary at he right time to take his shot at the big fish, hoping to snag a whale.
Criticism: I’m sure this is where some people could bring up some his business practices, such as the Dodge trade last season. I didn’t really find that to be overly egregious, though I certainly would have advised the new General Manage to manage that situation better, in general. Oh, I got it … HEY! Don’t agree to a Sign and Trade and then over-sign guys in round 1 of free agency to the point where the deal needs re-worked! Yeah, that’s it! You son of …
Compliment: The Pelicans are consistently built into a good, if not always spectacular, team. It has been almost 20 seasons since they have lost under 30 games and only twice in that same span has it been under 40. There is certainly an argument to be made that this could be a criticism since tanking is sometimes necessary to fully re-tool your assets, but I think it’s also impressive to keep a ship afloat for a long period of time.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Compliment: AB is always trying to learn and adapt the way he plays the game. No idea why, but he occasionally comes to me to get another opinion on things or to just get his ideas out in the open. When I propose other ways to approach things, he is receptive. I enjoy his eagerness to get better and take some chances.
Criticism: Once the Thunder found some major success, peaking when they won 68 games in 2032, I think AB has had a difficult time navigating his path to a rebuild, proven by the fact that he went 4 straight seasons without a playoff berth until last season’s second round exit. Zaire Wade was obviously a great starting point, but perhaps he waited too long to sell off other pieces such as Bulter and was just good enough to negate his not-so-good roster and win too many games to get in position to draft other top-level talents. Wade is close to being ready to make a dent now but figuring out the moves to get the perfect pieces around him has been a challenge. Maker, Oturu, Powell are nice pieces to fill a roster, however he probably still needs to find his 2nd in command behind Wade … or, an Alpha, if he decides Wade is better suited as a 2nd piece. Oh, and no more illegal bids, please.
Compliment: You never have to worry about AB being an active GM, because he is going to put the time and effort into our game that is needed (and then some). Recently we have been in contact even more than previous seasons, so I personally know how much work he is putting in. I certainly do hope his work pays off soon.
Toronto Raptors
Compliment: Since I have joined the league it has seemed like Geoff is constantly finding himself grabbing top talent to bolster his squad. Ironside, RJ Barrett, Chadwick Dangerfield, Norris Turney, Gary Loredo are/were all fantastic players that many of us would kill to have and Geoff has been shrewd enough to swoop in and grab them when it was most beneficial.
Criticism: While Geoff is active when it’s important to be, and I see him a lot in the group chat, he (and admittedly so) doesn’t really put full effort into all of the aspects of the game. This is not a problem at all, because he is a fun member of the collective and is successful at what he does. I do wonder though just how great some of his teams could have been if he had done a bit more to boost them.
Compliment: I have used this as a compliment for others to this point, but I think this really fits Geoff as well, so I am going to state it here as well, and it really goes hand in hand with the first point above. He is fantastic at identifying when it is time to move on from great players to then flip them for other potentially great players. Barrett was used to grab Loredo. Ironside was used to snag Dangerfield who now has been used to take a #1 overall prospect in this past draft and future draft considerations. The Raptors are masters at the art of the swap.
Washington Wizards
Compliment: Where some people can build consistent winners, but not actually compete for championships, X (gonna give it to ya) has built a franchise that continues to be a title contender year in, year out. Since 2028, the Wizards have been at least to the conference finals seven times and to the Finals three times, winning one (his first) championship in 2036. That is one hell of a run and it should very much continue this season with the recent addition of Ben Franklin. With a huge tax bill looming and Kidd aging and hitting free agency soon, a dip in production may be on the horizon, but it’s worth acknowledging such longevity.
Criticism: This will not be news to X since we just recently discussed this privately, but a weakness for him has been his method of allocating his points. The example we discussed was him investing points into Tasmin Mitchell only to flip him around quickly for Franklin when those points could have been used instead on Liberty or Cassel, who have legit long-term futures with the team. Over the seasons, it could have been beneficial to him to narrow his focus on who to train so that he could have really bumped key pieces instead of trying to spread them all out.
Compliment: I think that X is one of the better game planners that I’ve interacted with. He knows what offense/defense he wants to run and doesn’t really attempt much deviation from that. Because of this dedication, he is also very in-tune with the types of players that fit in with his schematic preferences and is great about attacking those needs in trade/free agency.
WILLIAMS DIVISION
Cleveland Cavaliers
Compliment: I’d like to be more thorough in this assessment (and it’ll be the same for the Trailblazers) however we have not seen enough, and I have had no real direct interaction with the team’s new management to know. I do like that they are been proactive in making roster moves and seem to be willing to go out and explore the SLOE world.
Criticism: When you want to trade a player that has some real value, I’d suggest opening up the pool of offers by letting everyone know that you are willing to talk about them. After the Dodge situation, this happened with Harms so it seems things are looking up in this department.
Compliment: The team did a good job in restricted free agency. Sure, it may have been no-brainers, but they went out and offered Boston Jr. what he deserves and got him back immediately (Hey, we’ve seen Ridley take off for less money recently) and matched on Connell. I think it is a positive sign for their decision-making in the future.
Detroit Pistons
Compliment: I had no idea who Scott was when he decided to come back to the game, but boy did he hit the ground running once he did. He was full-go at building a contender. Traded for Luka, Hunter, Haddock, Ernest Long and a handful of depth pieces to go along with Cobb, who was lighting it up as a scorer as Scott took over. He wanted a championship and had a more than capable roster. Recklessly? Almost certainly but scared money don’t make money, as they say. And of course, it led to Tax Jail Scott which he attacked with just as much violent aggression as he did when he built his contender.
Criticism: Disrespecting my favorite movie genre ain’t it, chief! And Se7en is a horror movie. And Hitchcock is a horror director. And I can’t wait to start rooting for the Yankees this season just for your benefit. Wait, what the hell was this supposed to be about again?
Compliment: Scott has been uncompromising in his value system in regard to his players/assets, tax jail be damned. Yes, he has probably traded some assets for a bit less than they may have been worth, but if he did it was not by much and he has constantly been vocal about not coming to him with low ball offers just to take advantage of the fact that he needed the points to get out of jail. And hell, he’s out now and I have no doubt he is going to stay in attack mode in the rebuild phase too.
Indiana Pacers
Compliment: After gaining a notoriety for being frugal and never going into the tax, it was nice to see the team go in for big pieces and go into the red a little bit. It came close to paying off too because Diakite has turned into a damn monster and Morant and Washington were great 2nd and 3rd bananas for him and they had one hell of a season, winning the conference.
Criticism: They put one big ass target on their back this off-season didn’t they? Honestly, this is not a criticism because it has been fun as hell to see the reaction to the division draft approach and the following efforts by the teams involved to get better to prove them wrong. I have no doubt this will be a story all season long.
Compliment: I mentioned him earlier, but man, they saw the talent that Diakite had and went to get him when deciding to flip Fox. I am not looking forward to having to deal with that dude in my division for however long I have to, I know that for sure.
Philadelphia 76ers
Compliment: Patience has been key. Unlike many of the other newbies that come in, K100 has been willing to slow play everything and build his roster gradually. Even with most everyone questioning his methods at times, he stuck to his plan and is constantly working towards it as he is one of the most active in trades. Missing the playoffs his first five seasons could not have been fantastic, but the plan was in place and it really seemed to come to fruition two seasons ago when the team won 64 games.
Criticism: I cannot say that I have always understood some of the moves made. There are a number of instances that I could point to here that left me scratching my head, but the one that I still can’t get my head around is trading away the opportunity to get Dort. Looking back on it, the 76ers have had a number of fantastic players in their hands but moved them such as Sabo, Diakite, Oturu and, yes, could have had Dort. Though things were certainly looking up during that 60+ win season, things dipped back to Earth last season and it will be interesting to see if any of those missteps come back to haunt the Sixers or will they be able to flip some things around and get back up again.
Compliment: Once K100 keys in on the player that he loves, he does a lot to help them reach their potential. Even with Obi Toppin took massive hits in training camp, he re-invested in them to get them back up to the proper level of contribution. Wiseman is a budding superstar and K100’s care and patience with him and the roster is part of that.
Portland Trailblazers
Compliment: Again, I don’t know them well enough to be too thorough, however I applaud taking a huge swing and taking on De’Aron Fox (and Grinder) to put around Dort. Having Dort already in the bank is a huge lift to the team’s chances and a new Manager’s dream and it seems they seem to understand this. We’ll see how well it actually works but, I am excited to see it unfold.
Criticism: So far? I don’t really have one. Need to see more from them to pick it apart a little bit. Perhaps I’ll edit one in when Ryan lets him screw up on his own the first time … I’m watching!
Compliment: Smart deal in RFA getting Patton back for $12mil per season. Though he is not quite THERE yet, he has the potentials to be a very good big man with crazy athleticism. If nothing else, at such a reasonable salary, it will be very easy to trade him in the future to add real fire power that can help immediately.
Utah Jazz
Compliment: Much like Scott, I had no idea who Chad was when he came back to SLOE. I obviously knew he was a legacy character and I know he has had great success in the past, but that is not anything I could directly speak on. I have had a bit of interaction with him now though, so I at least have something to go off. I certainly am a big fan of his approach this off-season, even if it means my team gets left in the dust. He was so quickly able to grab top young talent that this off-season he was able to go grab Jordan Johnson and Chadwick Dangerfield (one of my favorite players in the league) while still have a couple of top-notch assets to play with in trade or just allow them to grow.
Criticism: Though I have not mentioned this or questioned him about it, I am almost positive that when he came back he hunted down GMs that he did not know to offer them something wild to see if they were dumb enough to accept … and I certainly received one of those offers. CHILL OUT, HOMIE! Ha, really, it’s hard for me to get too much into this yet since, as mentioned, I don’t have a long history with his style in this game.
Compliment: Chad is a Lakers fan, so he has great re-names. Mamba OUT!
Los Angeles Clippers
…..
Nah, you know what I suck at. And if you don’t, I’m not going to help you pinpoint it.
And I’ve hit my needed wordcount.
So.
Uh.
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.