When you start getting into all these “one off” ethnic names, frankly I’m both lost and I really could care less, even if it’s a player on one of my teams. “Joakim” is to me a weird name, but if that’s what he parents wanted to name him, it’s none of my concern… I just wouldn’t do that to my own kids.

So if I sound dumb to you, you’re totally ignoring the substance of my posts and frankly should go find another forum to post on… like a national spelling bee forum.

I realize that Mark Gasol was part of the Paul Gasol trade, but at the time there were no guarantees that he’d even come to the NBA and the Lakers (as I recall), took him in the 2nd round of the draft with no real intention of signing him. They used him as trade bait, so no matter how good he becomes, he was irrelevant at the time of the deal.

Admittedly I know nothing about (another weird first name), Vasquez, nor do I much care either. What matters is that Stern greased the skids in order to keep Kobe happy in LA and basically handed LA two championships to appease the networks with the Lakers “give back” being willing to go into luxury tax land. It sucks, but that’s the reality of it too.

How do you think an All Star like Pao Gasol wound up on the Lakers mainly in a deal for joke Kwame Brown? It was because the Lakers were the most marketable tv property the NBA had at the time and Kobe was grousing about wanting to be traded. The “greased” trade (if you want to call it that), that brought Gasol (and 2 NBA championships), to LA wasn’t by accident.

This year is no different. Stern is said to be deeply concerned over the NBA’s damaged image that resulted from the La Bum free agent announcement, and the best way to try and get all of the resulting furor (and much earned hate towards La Bum), was to have Cleveland get the overall #1 pick in the draft this year. Of course, that now has come to pass!

Don’t lament too much about the T-Wolves because there are 2-3 guys all bunched up at the top according to leading draftniks, and someone’s going to get burned and someone’s going to wind up lucking out. Doesn’t matter if the T-Wolves draft 1, 2 or 3, because this years draft is truly a crap shoot.

I told all of you earlier today that Cleveland would wind up with the overall #1 pick in this years draft because Stern is trying to quite down the controversy over the La Bum James controversy and take some of the sting out of the royal screw job La Bum put on the Cavaliers, and now it’s official!

To your comment: “it’s more likely that you’re one of those people who has no clue what they’re talking about yet feels the need to make their opinion known.”, go screw yourself! I know what I am talking about and who I am talking about, but just frankly don’t give one happy damn about how jocks spell their names. Obviously you knew who I was referring to, and that’s all that matters.

My post on the point guard from Duke was SARCASM, but that was obviously lost on you. You see, this kid is such a potential “franchise” player that outside of North Carolina, he’s a virtual unknown. (Duh-uh!). And trust me, if I didn’t know his name, I wouldn’t have wasted my time to look it up because it simply isn’t important. Again, you obviously knew who I was referring to and that’s all that matters.

As for spelling errors? Professor, you may care, but I doubt that most of the other posters here do. I just don’t have the time to proofread everything that I post on a blog. The one flaw in the NBC forums is that you aren’t given the chance to preview your post before posting it and that leads to a lot of such egregious errors.

Finally, if you know anything about Purdue, it’s a very tough academic institution; last I checked my transcripts, I never took a class on either bowling or how to correctly spell jocks names.

You sound like one of those Fox News birthers…

First of all, if you don’t know off the top of your head that the “PG from Duke” is named Kyrie Irving, I dont care to hear your thoughts on his candidacy for the #1 pick.

Secondly, you called Greg Oden “Greg Odom” and Russell Westbrook “Kevin Westbrook”…Granted, it’s possible you simply got confused…but it’s more likely that you’re one of those people who has no clue what they’re talking about yet feels the need to make their opinion known.

In the future, do us all a favor and make sure you know what you’re talking about before you comment.

By the way – Genius is not spelled with an O…that squiggly red line under the word? It meant you spelled it incorrectly.

You’re not doing Purdue any favors…

The Bulls offered Gordon almost the same contract he signed with the Pistons (and thank God he did!), but hothead Ben wanted only to be a starter, even though the closest thing he’ll ever know to defense is de-fense in his front yard! (ROFLMAO!).

Sure, the Bulls could have used ballhog Ben this year in the role the Kyle Korver currently holds, but he’s too short and defensively challenged to have ever paired him with Rose. In addition, he’s worth only about half of what the Pistons are paying him, and that only if he’s coming off the bench.

That aside, the “lottery” is a joke, because it shouldn’t be the current what? 14 teams?, but instead should only be limited to the worst 8 (even though it would have cost my Bulls Rose the year the Bulls lucked into the first pick of the draft).

That way if the Cavs pass on taking him and he turns out to be the real deal down the road, Stern can wash his hands and say: “Hey, the league has done all that they can for the Cavs; it’s not the leagues fault that their management team screwed up!”

Bottom line? I’m sure that Cleveland is on Stern’s desired contraction list, right there with Memphis, the Clippers, Sacramento, Memphis and New Orleans. With the exception of the irrelevant Clippers, all of these cities are near the bottom of the media market totem pole. Stern would rather contract these teams, then expand internationally down the road starting with big European cities.

It was puppet master Stern pulling the strings in order to shut up Kobe from demanding a trade, as at that time the Lakers were basically hands down the most marketable NBA property. Chris Paul though is targeted for the Knicks; Rubio is simply too much of a gamble, but I sure wouldn’t put it past Stern to find some loophole that would allow Rubio to suddenly become a Laker, with the T-Wolves holding a bag of shit again in return.

I don’t though see Stern having any interest in the T-Wolves getting the first overall pick this year; keep in mind that Stern has said on numerous occasions that the T-Wolves are on his most wanted to contract list. No, if anything the Cavs are at the top of the list this year in an effort to try and cause the La Bum fiasco to die down a bit. JOMO.

There are now 69 collegiate players declared for the NBA draft (very few of whom are seniors), and another 23-24 Euro’s who have also declared (primarily due to the looming labor stoppage, as that allows those guys to theoretically play one more year in Europe if they choose to do so, for those of course selected in the first round who are eligible for fully guaranteed 3 year contracts). There are only 60 picks in the draft, so the draft while devoid of “name” players, is deep.

I still laugh at Miami the year that Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley came out. Greaser Pat Riley started dumping veterans before the trading deadline to improve his chances at getting the overall #1 pick, and increased his odds by having the leagues worst record to 25%. But the Bulls with only a 1.7% shot at the #1 pick took Rose and Greaser Riley then took Beasley.

It gets even funnier though when you consider that Greaser Riley by-passed taking Kevin Westbrook (who went #4 overall), and Kevin Love (who went #5 overall). Bwahahahahaha! So much for Greaser Riley being any kind of a “genious”; any idiot would look good signing La Bum James as a free agent you know.