That's not what I'm saying. Of course you can go from D2 to a D1 BCS school, I've done it myself. Every season I'm eligible for D1 BCS schools with a couple of my different D2 teams, that's not the point. The point is that you have to be SUCCESSFUL to go from a D2 team to a D1 BCS school. It doesn't matter if you coach in D2 for 100 seasons if you're not winning any games. Yes, it's possible to go from D2 to a D1 BCS school in ten years...but that is not ALL it takes. You still have to win Ward, just being there taking up space and stealing oxygen is not enough.

Read this closely.

Posted by CoachWard95 on 7/21/2016 11:08:00 AM (view original):

Posted by emy1013 on 7/20/2016 10:10:00 PM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 7/20/2016 9:48:00 PM (view original):
what did darnocc disappear or did you just keep asking him about a 2-3 all big man lineup?

He ran Darnoc off when Ward told him he was going with a 3-3-3-6 class set up, Darnoc jokingly accused him of cheating (for those that aren't all there tonight, that's 15 players, not 12), and Ward threw a hissy fit about Darnoc calling him a cheater. Cried like a little girl with a skinned knee apparently.

Lol!

This reminds me of a conversation I had with me son after Golden State signed Durant - he said no one will be able to defend them. I said, no problem, just play six guys and double the ball

Posted by mamxet on 7/22/2016 3:44:00 PM (view original):

Posted by CoachWard95 on 7/21/2016 11:08:00 AM (view original):

Posted by emy1013 on 7/20/2016 10:10:00 PM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 7/20/2016 9:48:00 PM (view original):
what did darnocc disappear or did you just keep asking him about a 2-3 all big man lineup?

He ran Darnoc off when Ward told him he was going with a 3-3-3-6 class set up, Darnoc jokingly accused him of cheating (for those that aren't all there tonight, that's 15 players, not 12), and Ward threw a hissy fit about Darnoc calling him a cheater. Cried like a little girl with a skinned knee apparently.

Lol!

This reminds me of a conversation I had with me son after Golden State signed Durant - he said no one will be able to defend them. I said, no problem, just play six guys and double the ball

Man, with that line up that still might not work. I know it's the player's own personal choice but having grown up watching Magic with the Lakers, Bird with the Celtics, Jordan with the Bulls (those seasons with the Wizards never happened. You hear me, NEVER!), it just feels "wrong" for Durant to not try to win with OKC. Him joining the Warriors just feels....dirty. I guess people my age look at the stars of today as "flawed heroes" for selling out and teaming up with their former rivals to make these NBA 2016 Live dream teams, while at the same time forgetting that the generation before ours was saying the exact same things about the "heroes" of our own youths.

With the amounts of money being thrown around I don't blame these players a bit for getting as much as they can. What bothers me is when they take such a huge chunk of the pie (Carmelo Anthony) that there isn't enough left to field a decent team around them (Carmelo Anthony) and they whine and pout about how bad their team is and missing the playoffs (Carmelo Anthony). The players always say it's not about the money when we all know damn well that it's about the money. I wish one guy would just come out and say "Hell yeah, I came here because they were offering the most bread, I'm worried about me and me only and damn anyone else". I'd have more respect for a guy like that then one who gives us the generic "It's not about the money" line. Dude, if it wasn't about the money you'd get the 12 best players available, have them all take pay cuts to 5 million or so, all sign with the same team and go on and win 80 games and the ring. But I don't blame them, if I had that kind of money put in front of me I'd be asking when the next flight to wherever left too.

Posted by emy1013 on 7/22/2016 4:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by mamxet on 7/22/2016 3:44:00 PM (view original):

Posted by CoachWard95 on 7/21/2016 11:08:00 AM (view original):

Posted by emy1013 on 7/20/2016 10:10:00 PM (view original):

Posted by the0nlyis on 7/20/2016 9:48:00 PM (view original):
what did darnocc disappear or did you just keep asking him about a 2-3 all big man lineup?

He ran Darnoc off when Ward told him he was going with a 3-3-3-6 class set up, Darnoc jokingly accused him of cheating (for those that aren't all there tonight, that's 15 players, not 12), and Ward threw a hissy fit about Darnoc calling him a cheater. Cried like a little girl with a skinned knee apparently.

Lol!

This reminds me of a conversation I had with me son after Golden State signed Durant - he said no one will be able to defend them. I said, no problem, just play six guys and double the ball

Man, with that line up that still might not work. I know it's the player's own personal choice but having grown up watching Magic with the Lakers, Bird with the Celtics, Jordan with the Bulls (those seasons with the Wizards never happened. You hear me, NEVER!), it just feels "wrong" for Durant to not try to win with OKC. Him joining the Warriors just feels....dirty. I guess people my age look at the stars of today as "flawed heroes" for selling out and teaming up with their former rivals to make these NBA 2016 Live dream teams, while at the same time forgetting that the generation before ours was saying the exact same things about the "heroes" of our own youths.

With the amounts of money being thrown around I don't blame these players a bit for getting as much as they can. What bothers me is when they take such a huge chunk of the pie (Carmelo Anthony) that there isn't enough left to field a decent team around them (Carmelo Anthony) and they whine and pout about how bad their team is and missing the playoffs (Carmelo Anthony). The players always say it's not about the money when we all know damn well that it's about the money. I wish one guy would just come out and say "Hell yeah, I came here because they were offering the most bread, I'm worried about me and me only and damn anyone else". I'd have more respect for a guy like that then one who gives us the generic "It's not about the money" line. Dude, if it wasn't about the money you'd get the 12 best players available, have them all take pay cuts to 5 million or so, all sign with the same team and go on and win 80 games and the ring. But I don't blame them, if I had that kind of money put in front of me I'd be asking when the next flight to wherever left too.

Couldn't agree more here. I grew up watching the era where a star player was associated with one team(Jordan's Bulls, Olajuwon's Rockets, etc.). Players who never won one in their prime stayed with their team for a long time to try and win one(Gary Payton with the Sonics, John Stockton/Karl Malone with the Jazz, Reggie Miller with the Pacers). I can understand moving on if you're approaching the end of your career and all, but, like emy said, it just feels dirty moving to a stacked team when you still have many productive seasons ahead of you.

Don't forget, Gary Payton and Karl Malone joined Shaq and Kobe on the Lakers very late in their careers and thought they'd ride those coat tails to the promised land. If I remember correctly (too lazy to check right now) the best PF of all-time Tim Duncan and arguably the best coach of all-time Gregg Popovich put that idea to bed.

About Pop, no he doesn't have as many rings as Phil Jackson or Red Auerbach. But Phil Jackson never won **** without having two of the top four or five players in the league on his team. And Red? Those Celtics teams were loaded with Hall of Famers, not to mention that the league was still in it's infancy really. Plus he had perhaps the most dominant defensive player of all-time on his team, Mr. Bill Russell of course. Bob Cousy was one of, if not the, best PG's in the league. Sam Jones was a HOF'er and he came off the bench for goodness sakes.

Nahh, in this era of parity and exploding salary caps, gimme Pop, Dunca, Manu, Tony Parker, an emerging damn force(!) in Kawhi Leonard, and now they've added LaMarcus Aldridge. I was really torn this past season because I wanted to see Golden State win it for the historical part but I was truly pulling for the Spurs because I had a bad feeling that this was Timmy's last season, win, lose, or draw and would have been perfect for him to go out a champion like Peyton Manning did.

I'm a Duke fan and I hated Tim Duncan and Wake Forest while he was there. Mostly because it was Coach K's roughest stretch at Duke since his first couple of years and Wake used to beat them like a drum but partly because I was jealous that they had him and we didn't. I respected the hell out of him when he passed up going pro early in order to come back to try to win a championship with the Demon Deacons. Was never much of a fan of David Robinson but I knew how good he was but when the Spurs won the draft lottery and got to draft Timmy, the Spurs became my favorite NBA team and have been ever since. Maybe because he isn't flashy, he just goes out and does his job. Maybe because he actually seemed a bit shy around the cameras, like the attention actually bothered him. Maybe it's because he didn't "seem" like he was that athletic but he always, always seemed to get the key rebound, or the key defensive stop, or shot block. Maybe it's because that mid-range bank shot off the glass was deadly. Maybe it's because he got into Shaq's head so badly that Shaq nicknamed him the Big Fundamental. I don't know, Timmy always just seemed like a normal guy that you'd like to hang out with, a regular guy. Whatever it was, he's been my favorite player for the last two decades and although I hate to see him retire, it was also painful watching him drag those bad knees up and down the court. Painful to watch him come thisclose blocking Chris Paul's shot in the playoffs last year, only to come up short. I just know the old Tim Duncan would have gotten there in time. I knew he would retire sooner or later but man how I wish he could have gotten that one more ring.

There have been lots of players flashier than him since he's been in the league. Lots that were more athletic. Tons that were more me-first players. But you can't fill a handful of fingers of players who were better team players. Hell, better players period. Enjoy it Timmy, you definitely earned it!

emy, you do realize that the NBA has a player salary limit, and that Durant could have made more money to stay in OKC, not less? I would think you would know those things. But your "all about the money" rhetoric at least ostensibly in reference to Durant, and insistence that Carmelo is somehow making so much money the Knicks couldn't afford to build a team around him, when in reality there are dozens of max contract players in the NBA and many of them are on very competitive teams, suggest you have no idea how the NBA salary structure works...

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/22/2016 8:46:00 PM (view original):
emy, you do realize that the NBA has a player salary limit, and that Durant could have made more money to stay in OKC, not less? I would think you would know those things. But your "all about the money" rhetoric at least ostensibly in reference to Durant, and insistence that Carmelo is somehow making so much money the Knicks couldn't afford to build a team around him, when in reality there are dozens of max contract players in the NBA and many of them are on very competitive teams, suggest you have no idea how the NBA salary structure works...

Of course he could have made more money in OKC. Everyone knows that the team he's on can offer a five year deal while other teams can only offer four. Duh, an extra year, more money, thanks Einstein. The salary cap has also just gone through the roof which is why there are so many more max contracts (which I think you would know). I can't count the number of writers on two hands that said that "before" the cap went through the roof Carmelo's contract had hamstrung the Knicks in regards to player acquisition, specifically because they had to pay him so much and give up so many players for him when they could have waited until the offseason and gotten him as a free agent AND kept all those players they had to send to Denver as part of the deal that HE forced (which I would have thought you'd have known). So yes, grasshopper, the Knicks suck specifically because of Carmelo Anthony's demand to be traded when he was and for the contract that he had to have then and there. Why do you think he wants out of New York so badly? Because HE dicked up the team and HE knows it. In fact, YOU seem to be the only one who DOESN'T get it. Thanks for playing though chief, drive on through and be safe on the way home.......you can try again later if you like. I'll be out of pocket for a minute....takes me a minute to get my energy back after making amateurs look like fools. Give me a minute young jedi.

Oh, and when they say it's not about the money, it's still about the money, whether you want to believe it or not. Perhaps when you get a taste of the real world you'll begin to realize that.

Yeh but think of all the 48 cent jerseys he can buy now that he is in Golden State, if he stayed in OKC his jersey would still be the same price and expensive. Now he can afford to buy all the jerseys and then in a few seasons return to OKC and sell his jersey back to everyone that burned his.

#longcon

Durant is one of the many reasons why I do not enjoy the NBA as much anymore. I think some of the players are mercenaries, and do not have enough willpower to fight on their own... I hope Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook learn from the huge mistake Durant made... Cause it will not only affect his purse (he won't be as marketable as he was in OKC, he will play second fiddle to Curry), but it will affect his legacy. He will have a horrible end of career.

Posted by emy1013 on 7/22/2016 9:16:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/22/2016 8:46:00 PM (view original):
emy, you do realize that the NBA has a player salary limit, and that Durant could have made more money to stay in OKC, not less? I would think you would know those things. But your "all about the money" rhetoric at least ostensibly in reference to Durant, and insistence that Carmelo is somehow making so much money the Knicks couldn't afford to build a team around him, when in reality there are dozens of max contract players in the NBA and many of them are on very competitive teams, suggest you have no idea how the NBA salary structure works...

Of course he could have made more money in OKC. Everyone knows that the team he's on can offer a five year deal while other teams can only offer four. Duh, an extra year, more money, thanks Einstein. The salary cap has also just gone through the roof which is why there are so many more max contracts (which I think you would know). I can't count the number of writers on two hands that said that "before" the cap went through the roof Carmelo's contract had hamstrung the Knicks in regards to player acquisition, specifically because they had to pay him so much and give up so many players for him when they could have waited until the offseason and gotten him as a free agent AND kept all those players they had to send to Denver as part of the deal that HE forced (which I would have thought you'd have known). So yes, grasshopper, the Knicks suck specifically because of Carmelo Anthony's demand to be traded when he was and for the contract that he had to have then and there. Why do you think he wants out of New York so badly? Because HE dicked up the team and HE knows it. In fact, YOU seem to be the only one who DOESN'T get it. Thanks for playing though chief, drive on through and be safe on the way home.......you can try again later if you like. I'll be out of pocket for a minute....takes me a minute to get my energy back after making amateurs look like fools. Give me a minute young jedi.

Oh, and when they say it's not about the money, it's still about the money, whether you want to believe it or not. Perhaps when you get a taste of the real world you'll begin to realize that.

I have a lot of rational points I wanted to make, but as you kept being more and more of a condescending jackass I decided not to waste my time. You can be a miserable ******* if you want, I'm not gonna get dragged down that rabbit hole.

The one thing that absolutely has to be pointed out is that Carmelo has been in New York for 5 1/2 seasons. In that time the Heat managed to win 2 titles with 3 guys at or near max contracts and not a ton of home-grown talent. The reason the Knicks are bad now is that their front office has been terrible. The Carmelo deal was a symptom of that, not the cause. He tried to force Denver to trade him, and he had some sway there, but he in no way forced New York to trade for him. That was their decision. They've spent a ton of money since without acquiring a lot of talent. Again, not Carmelo's fault. Just bad decision making from the whole front office team. I'm not a big fan of Carmelo. But you have to have some perspective.

Yes, I fully agree, no need to pick that scab again but I would like to add a point before we put this topic to bed.

Yes, I understand perspective, very well actually. But from your statements it seems like you might not realize just how much power the players have in this league. Do you honestly think that since Carmelo Anthony has been in New York that his input and opinion hasn't been asked when thinking of acquiring "any" player of even reasonable talent? Of course it has. He's the "franchise" player and the last thing NBA owners want to do is **** off the franchise guy. Now his opinions may not have been the way the Knicks ultimately went but to think that the front office made all those moves in the last 5 1/2 years and didn't run them by Carmelo to get his tacit approval is just being naive. It's the same reason LeBron doesn't tend to get a pass from people when talking about the 2007 Finals when the Spurs swept them. The consensus opinion, whether true or not and I personally believe it to be true, is that the Cavs front office (in the short version here) gave LeBron a list of players that were available and LeBron basically handpicked who he wanted on that roster. If that's the case (and again, I think there is a lot of truth to it), why would Carmelo Anthony's role in New York be any different?

We may just have to agree to disagree on this one, I don't know, but I do know that as a free agent, Lebron had a chance to go to New York and in that market would have been an even bigger world wide star than he already is. But he didn't and there has to be a reason why. Maybe it has to do with Carmelo, maybe it doesn't, we'll probably never know for sure. But what we do know is that he has stated numerous times that he wanted to become a billionaire and what we also know is that, love it or hate it, there is no BIGGER market than the Big Apple. With Carmelo already there, plus LeBron, don't you think they would have had enough influence to bring in that third superstar? I sure do. Perhaps it just because players don't want to play with Carmelo Anthony. He's a black hole, ball stopper on offense, lazy at best on defense (although he looks like a stopper when you compare him with, say, James Harden), and a baby off the court when things don't go just how he likes it.

Anyway, agree to disagree and move on I guess. Good luck with your team(s). You staying after this update rolls out?

No, I'm gone. Didn't enjoy the beta, and my problems were too fundamental for the updates to solve.

I totally agree that I think players don't want to play with Carmelo. I don't think he's really a superstar quality player. He can score, but as you said, the offense doesn't flow when he's on it, he doesn't play defense, he generally doesn't rebound, tons of holes in his game. When he puts in full effort, he's a LeBron/Durant caliber scorer, but without the passing and team play aspects that make those guys elite players.

Going back to Durant, I think some people are holding him to an unfair standard. Zorzii suggested he "doesn't have the willpower to fight on alone." I don't think it's about willpower. It's about realism. Aside from the Spurs, nobody has won a title in the last 6 or 8 years without 3 guys who are basically max contract players or will be when they hit free agency. I guess the Spurs prove that a really well-coached team of guys playing hard and very good at playing together can win. But most of the time, it's loaded teams with high-end mercenary free agents. At that point it's not about willpower. You have almost no chance whatsoever "fighting on alone." It's just pragmatic to recognize that. Even LeBron couldn't win "on his own" the first time in Cleveland, and that version of LeBron was the best player of the past 20 years or so at least. The deck is stacked against a lone superstar. If KC had managed to hold onto Ibaka, then maybe it would be worth staying and trying to make it work with that team. But Durant + Westbrook doesn't feel like enough, and the talent they got back for Ibaka is good, but not superstar quality.

I understand from Durant's perspective why he wanted to come play with a great team in Golden State. These days, that's just how you win. I don't understand from the Warriors perspective why they wanted Durant. I don't think he makes them that much better when they already have 2 elite shooters. It's sort of the same diminishing returns you get in HD with elite offensive players. Most of his shots are going to be taken from Curry and Thompson. The offense probably gets more efficient, but only marginally so. Nobody's saying that Durant's not a much better player than Harrison Barnes. But on this team? The difference is marginalized by the team needs. On the other hand, the fact that they had to let Bogut walk to pay for Durant could hurt a lot. As effective as the "Death Lineup" was late in quarters and games against tired defenses, there's a reason they didn't start games with that lineup. I live in the Bay Area. A lot of fans didn't understand why they didn't start in that small lineup. But the smart ones did. You get beat up trying to go up against a fresh lineup of NBA-sized players when your biggest guy on the court is 6'7" 230. It's a great change of pace lineup. But once Bogut got hurt in the Finals I think we got a pretty good preview of what happens when you try to go with that lineup for a full game. I don't think it's a coincidence that when Bogut went down the Warriors were up 3-1 in the series and after the injury they managed to become the first team in NBA history to blow that lead in the Finals. Now they're gonna try to replace Bogut with Zaza Pachulia? The Warriors needed the big physical interior presence. Not necessarily Bogut, who is always hurt. But they could have tried to convince Horford to come team up with their great shooters instead of Durant. Not as good of a player. But for me, he'd be a better fit for this team. Even Dwight Howard to just rebound and defend. Or Joakim Noah. Any interior defender/rebounder who could help balance the team. I don't understand why more people don't seem to be talking about this deal from the Golden State perspective....

Life makes so much more sense now. Got into a big argument on group chat with him this season. I was confused at how someone could seem like such a doucher when in my expierence everybody here is really cool and helpful. Ward you are one of a kind.

Something that always gets lost in these discussions is that, for Durant, this is his job. Ultimately he made a decision that he'd rather work for Golden State, rather than OKC. If you received a job offer from an organization that was closer to the pinnacle of your field, had management that was more innovative and willing to expend resources to retain elite employees, allowed you to move to a great area of the country, and (perhaps) had a group of coworkers you liked better than your current group, would you take it? If you did would you be weak willed?

I don't understand the problem people have with Durant and truly think for most people, not all, most, it's just plain jealously. If your team was the Warriors would you still have a problem with it? Yeah, don't think so. Over and over Durant said his main goal was just to have fun playing basketball, and by all accounts coming out playing with Westbrook wasn't the kind of basketball he found fun. So he moved to a different team after 9 years of giving everything he had to a city to which he has no responsibilities to other than the fact that they were lucky enough to draft him. I have no problem with Durant whatsoever. It's not his problem that other people want to lock him into certain expectations.

But to a point mentioned earlier... the real problem is that TRUE max contract guys are not taking up too much of the pie, they are actually dramatically underpaid. If the NBA used a hard cap and did away with the max contract/mid level stuff, what do you think LeBron James would actually command? Kevin Durant? In that world, the Tyler Johnson's wouldn't be making 13 million a year because the money would be assigned to the guys who are actually worth it. And in that world, GS never would have had room to sign a Kevin Durant. This could have only happened by a stroke of luck (the NBA cap rising sharply instead of in smaller increments) and by an off the wall salary structure that underpays superstars.

For what it's worth, in my made up world I would have loved for him to go to Minnesota.