That surprises me. As a long-suffering fan of the team, I’m actually really proud of the Jets for not caving to Fitzpatrick’s demands. Past Jets regimes would have thrown a massive contract at this 33-year-old journeyman, who had the best season of his career last year and yet was still only basically a league-average…

I don’t necessarily want hack-a removed entirely, I just think that this change is a half-measure, unlikely to please anyone on either side of this argument. If the NBA thinks hacking is a problem, they should eliminate hacking; if they don’t, they shouldn’t. All they’ve done is make the rules more complicated in a…

For the record (because I really didn’t make this clear at all in my initial post) I’m not convinced that this was a problem in need of solving - I do think there’s validity to the argument that hack-a has a valuable place in basketball strategy, not unlike intentional walks in baseball.

That actually sounds kinda awesome. Would watch.

As Tom Ziller pointed out today, the new rule likely doesn’t go far enough. After all, plenty of teams don’t wait until the final two minutes of each quarter to start hacking.

You misspelled donger. Otherwise, I see no flaws in your argument.

This is all fair. I suppose there’s also a difference between being mad at Durant for making the choice (lack of loyalty, front-running, taking the easy route to a championship, etc.) and just being generally mad that the league’s most interesting in-conference rivalry is dead now. I tend to sympathize more with the…

Yeah, that’s true, having a ring already does tend to deflect this criticism, even if you later make moves to get MORE rings.

I know it may sound like splitting hairs but I guess there’s a difference in some folks’ minds between helping to recruit and therefore helping to make your team better, and being the one who physically jumps ship from one team to another.

So, question: What everybody’s mad at Durant for, and what everybody was mad at LeBron for, was opting to join up with their biggest rivals for a better shot at a title, right? For opting to join ‘em, rather than beat ‘em... right?

Oh god.

Oh totally, I’m 100 percent happy for all the dudes who got paid. I’d be after every penny I could get. Nobody’s putting a gun to Jim Buss’ head.

Dwight was my absolute nightmare scenario. I don’t know how the Knicks will go about ruining Porzingis, but bringing in DWIGHT FUCKING HOWARD as his would-be mentor would be a fairly direct route to go.

Never forget

It’s going to be fascinating to look back at some of these deals in a few years. The figures are eye-popping, but this is essentially an unprecedented free agency period, given the massive cap jump this year.

I’ve posted to this effect before, but the fact remains: The Knicks are the only team of which I’ve ever been a fan that is so bad at developing talent and building a competitive roster that I actually feel happy for young players who GTFO before they’re completely broken. Shump was stuck here just a little bit too…

Definitely a regional thing. I moved from New York to Florida when I was young and vividly recall being confused as hell by my teachers telling me to “put [thing] up” when I first got down there.

“Iggy needs to get his nuts checked.”

Is it really? Because that’s not how me and my (for the record: football loving, beer drinking, UFC pay-per-viewing, mid-20s) guy friends talk to each other. So hey, how about you stop laying the blame for your dickishness on our entire gender as opposed to where it belongs: your personal choice of friends and…

You know what would have taken either of these characters in a surprising and meaningful new direction? If one had killed the other.