Yeah, they may be one of my new favorite "young" teams to watch. They just made a trade for a 6'7" kid from switzerland playing in the Italian league who can sky, dunk and play defense. Adding this kid and the Tyrunasaurus to the line up that almost knocked out the Heat? Scary...
Hallelujah! David Stern just announced the Lamarcus for Thomas trade between Chicago and Portland. Tyrus leaves crazy-ville for a contender. :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. BRADY MOLDS TALENT. Lucas. Jordan. Thomas. Washington. Monroe. and other future recruits. Pay attention... PLAY IN THE PMAC.
theyre not happy about the portland moves over here. none of them were big on TT though. they all wanted morrison and thought that was the reason for the move up to 2. aldridge may end up being better than TT (certainly has more O skills), but there was no reason to give up khryapa (a player mcmillan loves) to make the move. aldridge would have been at 4. some have speculated that they took aldridge because they need a 5 (a stretch for him), because they got rid of ratliff and pryzbilla is a FA. the blazers havent made good moves in forever. im glad im moving to a college sports town.
In the long run, it is probably best for TT that he got drafted by the Bulls. It's the next contract where he will make alot of money compared to the locked rookie scale contract. The Bulls are a playoff contender and should get better as their core of young players (Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich , Chirs Duhon and even Tyson Chandler) gel together. If he went to the Trailblazers or say the Bobcats, those team would expect him to produce right away and probably stunt his offensive development.
Probably about the same as Duke. They get a bad rap about not putting out enough NBA talent, but they've had quite a few high picks. Elton Brand was #1. Danny Ferrey was #1 or 2. Jay Williams was #2. Grant Hill was at the top. Laettener was near the top. This year Sheldon Williams went #5. I'm sure Bobby Hurley, Johnny Dawkins, Carlos Boozer and a few others were near the top. So, on second thought, not quite in Duke's neighborhood, but not too far off. I think programs like UNC, UCLA, Kansas, UCONN, etc have put out more top of the draft players than us. However, 5 is nothing to sneeze at. If someone were to do the research, I'd bet we'd be in or near the top 10.
No way anyone can question Thomas' decision now. A lottery pick to a playoff team. Amazing how it worked out for him!
Congrats to Tyrus, but that trade cost him about $1.2 mil (using last year's figures) in guaranteed money. But hey, hard to feel sorry for a guy about to make millions and be on a playoff team. I bet Tyrus don't mind giving that money up to avoid going to Portland. The Bulls are building a pretty solid team...
Considering what happened with Bass' decision to leave early, I'd say that giving up a mil while still making millions with a good team isn't such a bad thing! And my guess is Tyrus knows that too.
More random hoops musings... Yes, although, I questioned Bass's decision from the start and still do, I was sad but not questioning of Tyrus' decision after getting the facts. Clearly, in the past year, the LSU players have wised up... it's just sad it took Bass's story to wise them up. It was the right decision for Tyrus to come out and the right decision for Big Baby to stay home. Tyrus would not only have to deal with a year of uncertainty on the team given a more mature Rolle and Lazare and more guards to spread the offense around to, but he would have probably come out with bigger, better big men (Hansborough, Oden, etc.) to contend with in next year's draft. He probably could have slipped a few spots in next year's draft. Overall, it's an amazing story for Tyrus. Not only is he a lottery pick, but when you consider that I would gather that of the lottery picks, most were highly regarded HS players or international players (who are probably as scouted as HS players these days) with a lot of notoriety or at "premier" basketball schools. I think Tyrus is a wonderful story of a kid who's athletic, talented, but picked a good system for him and worked his ass off. It's a great story and it also should be a kudos to the LSU basketball program, Brady, Pierre, Treloar and Johnson. When I look at the schools producing NBA draft picks this year you see: Connecticut, 5 draft picks (4 in the first round and 1 in the second), ranked top 3 most of the year, but falls to cinderella G. Mason in the round of 8. Texas, 3 draft picks (1 lottery, 2 second rounders), ranked in the top 5 for most of the year, but falls to LSU in round of 8. Michigan State, 3 draft picks (2 first rounders, 1 second rounder), falling in the first round. Duke, 2 draft picks (2 lottery), ranked top 2 most of the year but falls to us in round of 16. Villanova, 2 draft picks (2 first rounders), ranked top 5 or 6 most of the year, falls to Florida in round of 8. Memphis, 2 draft picks (2 first rounders), ranked in top 5 most of the year, falls to UCLA in round of 8. Washington, 2 draft picks (1 lottery, 1 second rounder), falls to Uconn in the round of 16. It's not rocket science that talented teams do better, and the key to success in hoops is recruit talented players. But, this should also give you all an appreciation of what LSU did this year and the job the coaching staff did this year. LSU gets there with one lottery pick playing as the second or third option on this year's team (and I know, Big Baby might have been a second rounder). Florida might be a little skewed b/c Noah would have been a lottery pick and potentially Horton and Green and Brewer would have gotten serious looks as draft picks. UCLA does it with one first rounder and one second rounder. George Mason? None. Care to debate my grades for coaching this year? Larranga: A+ Billy D: A+ Howland: A Brady: A- Wright: B+ Calipari: B+ Romar: B Kryzewski: B Barnes: B Calhoun: C+ Izzo: D I also have to add, for sake of recruiting and SEC talk, when you look at the above, can we really debate that Brady should be considered in the breadth of Billy D and Tubby (who's falling IMO)? And, where is Gottfried and Pearl in this discussion (no drafted players)? Here's a note to potential recruits of the southeast, southwest and midwest. LSU is for real. We produce pros, we win championships, and we go to the final four. If you want a SEC school (and you don't want to be a Gator), you should be a Tiger. :geauxtige :bball: :champs: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. PACK THE PMAC!
