The Goat Pen

more information out - Dakari Johnson reclassified with the understanding he was coming to UK for a 1 year gig.

So I'm guessing he is pretty much gone. Word is Randle and he are agent shopping.

Young and the Twins are still up in the air.

LOL

so someone complained to US Airways on twitter and someone at the US Airways account sent this twitter with photo back

Not Safe For Work

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/ima ... qvobji.jpg

below is a link of twitter responses of people who have seen it

http://mashable.com/2014/04/14/us-airways-best-tweets/

hedge wrote:" I see Randle as a perennial 20/10 guy for the next decade, but he won't be the cornerstone player...which is not a dig."

I said I could see him as an Elton Brand type of player during his senior year in high school...

Brand's still playing 15 years after leaving Duke. with the Hawks now but he's never really been a star in the NBA by any stretch of the imagination, playing in 2 all-star games and making the playoffs three times. That's not really what you would want from the No. 1 pick in the draft.

He was a perennial 20/10 guy (or very close to it) for the first 10 years (at least) of his career. That was the parameter cited and it is also the one I had in mind when I came to the same conclusion a year ago. Why are you commenting, anyway? You've all but boasted that you never watch any kind of sports nor even care about them. Please let those who of us who care and who know what we're talking about discuss these issues unimpeded by your peanut gallery observations...

I agree that Brand was never going to be a guy who could carry a team or lead them to playoff glory. He got stuck on shitty teams (perhaps they were shitty precisely b/c they thought Brand was the type of player who could lead them to greatness), but put up impressive individual stats. Guy could play in his prime. He's the kind of guy you'd love to have on your team, as long as he's not the go to guy. Granted, that may not be an exciting pitch to a team with a top pick in the draft, but it's certainly better than many of them end up getting.

I'm not even saying Randle is going to be that kind of guy, either, but I can definitely see it. I do not see him being any kind of NBA super stud who leads a team deep in the playoffs, unless he develops something he hasn't shown so far. And it seems like the chances of that are slim. But I do think he will have a long and profitable career in the league...

Yep. Zach Randolph more than Elton Brand, personally. But, the more I think about it Elton is not a bad comp, either.

Just glancing at the stats, it appears that Randolph has had a slightly better career than Brand, but neither of them were ever in the truly upper echelons of NBA greatness (like, say, Mike Dunleavy or Tayshun Prince). Still, it would be hard to categorize either of them as disappointments, even as high draft picks. Obviously Randolph was the better value as a late first round pick, but I'd say either of them are slightly above average even as a top 5 pick. There obviously have been plenty of players better than them taken in the top 5, but I'd say there are probably a few more taken in the top 5 that have had worse careers. Often far worse...

Seeing a couple of lists that rank both Brand's and Randolph's draft classes as top 10 ever or at least top 10 in the last 25 years...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7857 ... ory/page/2

http://www.playersvoice.com/NBA/top-10- ... years.html

Bleacher Report ranks Brand as the 24th best #1 draft pick ever (out of 44), ahead of such notables as Ralph Sampson, Danny Manning and Larry Johnson. Middle of the pack, yeah, but hardly a bust. Not that anybody would argue that Brand was a bust, but I think some people tend to think if you're not as good as such notable #1 picks like LeBron or Michael Jordan, you didn't have a good career or weren't a very valuable player in the league...

Stolen from PNN:

O'REILLY: DO you dislike blacks as much as I do?

CALIPARI: Uh, I thought we were going to talk about my book?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... rticles%29

BRM will love the Cal bashing in that article...

that O'Reilly interview was uncomfortable to watch

Cal is smart enough not to say anything though and just let everyone else do the talking for him.

He's on Morning Joe this morning and Stephen Colbert on the 23rd.

Nobody would suggest that a guy who has played 15 seasons in the NBA is a bust. But anyone who has a No. 1 draft pick is hoping for a franchise player and Brand was never that guy. He's way better than Michael Olowankandi for sure but, in his NBA career, he has never matched the dominance he displayed in 2 seasons at Duke.

And he's making $18M a year so he's done well for himself.

hedge wrote:Bleacher Report ranks Brand as the 24th best #1 draft pick ever (out of 44), ahead of such notables as Ralph Sampson, Danny Manning and Larry Johnson. Middle of the pack, yeah, but hardly a bust. Not that anybody would argue that Brand was a bust, but I think some people tend to think if you're not as good as such notable #1 picks like LeBron or Michael Jordan, you didn't have a good career or weren't a very valuable player in the league...

Sampson and LJ are ranked lower because of shorter careers. LJ because of injury and Sampson because he ended up just being a huge pussy. But both of them had far better "better" seasons than Brand, who was neither great nor shitty but has been a steady guy for 15 years. For the 3-4 seasons that LJ was healthy, he was a pretty dynamic player for the Hornets and one of the upper level players in the NBA. Ditto Sampson with the Rockets for a couple of seasons, although Olajuwon was their true star.

Every team with the #1 pick hopes they're getting the next LeBron or Dwight Howard or whoever is currently the top player in the NBA at his position. But hardly anybody ever does...

Look at somebody like Carmelo. One of the undisputed top players in the league for his whole career, but his teams rarely make it past the first round of the playoffs. Has he ever even played on a team that made it to the Finals? And it's not like he hasn't had at least some decent talent around him. So what does that say about his career? I don't know, I'm not making an argument, just axing the question...

hedge wrote:Look at somebody like Carmelo. One of the undisputed top players in the league for his whole career, but his teams rarely make it past the first round of the playoffs. Has he ever even played on a team that made it to the Finals? And it's not like he hasn't had at least some decent talent around him. So what does that say about his career? I don't know, I'm not making an argument, just axing the question...

right now it says his contract is so high they have to blow up the team to get him.

What if Elton Brand had fallen into this scenario? I could see his career panning out like this in similar circumstances...

"In 1980, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded their number one pick in 1982 to the Lakers for Don Ford and a first round pick in 1980 that turned into Chad Kinch. Before the 1982 draft would occur, both Ford and Kinch would be out of the league, and that pick Cleveland traded wound up being the top pick in the draft. The Lakers, coming off an NBA title in 1982, were then able to add James Worthy to their team the following season. Worthy would occupy the power forward position in LA for his entire 12 year career, and help the Lakers win three titles and reach the Finals in eight of his first 10 seasons. Worthy blended his game perfectly in LA with the Lakers others stars. He was a seven-time All-Star and twice he was selected third-team All-NBA. When LA finished off back-to-back championships in 1988, Worthy was Finals MVP. For his career, he averaged 17.6 points and 5.1 rebounds, finishing with 16,320 points. The model of consistency, Worthy averaged between 19 and 21 points from 1986 through 1992. He raised his scoring to 21.2 points per game in the playoffs over 143 games. Another "what if" is what if Worthy as the top pick had wound up on a different team, a typical bad team with the first selection, instead of getting to play with Magic and the Lakers? How would his career be remembered? My belief is Worthy obviously benefited from playing with Magic, but he also sacrificed a great deal of his own game for the good of the team. On another team, in another situation, maybe he doesn't win nearly as much, but his numbers would certainly have been higher. I'd assume Worthy would take playing with the Lakers for his career over the chance at a few more points somewhere else. Worthy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Other notable picks: Terry Cummings (2), Dominque Wilkins (3), Ricky Pierce (18)"

They ranked Worthy as the 11th best #1 pick...

Jordan is easily the best ever overall #1 pick. No debate