True, that crowd always wants tons of draft picks and young players and all that...but in the real world, I’m honestly not sure there’s such a market out there for DeRozan.

Well, if they were unquestionably healthy but just refused to play, the teams could stop paying them for the refusal to report and argue that it doesn’t count as an accumulated season ‘played’ since the player is intentionally boycotting. I’m pretty sure there’s some language in the CBA about that, because otherwise…

Part of me thinks that Toronto would still view it as a good trade even if Kawhi sprints out of town on July 1st next year. Basically, the theory would be that DeRozan is a good player but not great, so being able to get out from under that contract is a benefit in and of itself.

Agreed. The Sabathia trade is a perfect example:

Denver was forced to also send a top-12 protected first-round pick in the 2019 draft, as well as a future second-round pick.

I always have the hangers pointing away from me because it’s easiest to put it in and take it out that way because the curved part can just catch on the rack and you’re done. Having them pointing the other way seems like way more effort/energy.

Interesting note: That entire 2000 word article describes in detail why they got Rondo and Lance, but included exactly zero explanation of why they’re paying KCP $18 million.

I can remember playing pick up hockey with guys who were goons in the NHL (Tony Twist, Basil McRae, anyone?) and their skill level was better than any D1 player we knew.

Not true. The NBA CBA specifically guarantees the players an exact percentage of basketball-related income. If the players do not get exactly 51% of BRI, the league cuts every single player a check to make up the difference. On the flip side, if the league goes on a massive spending spree and overpays, then they…

Should be very easy. The only clear potential roadblocks I can see:

I mean, it’s true that dumb owners are going to be dumb...but the cap spike is directly the cause of the Warriors getting KD and going from “outstanding but beatable” into “murderous”. Let’s compare:

If you want to see genuine competition, you should watch the middle of the Western conference. Every team except Phoenix, Dallas, and Sacramento thinks they’re absolutely a 45+ win serious playoff contender. Of course, that’s mathematically impossible since there are only 8 playoff spots. So a lot of those games are…

It depends on whether you view basketball as solely a run to a championship or enjoy the regular season.

The trick is that it lets him re-enter free agency next year, probably after having a better year in Dallas than he would in LA.

True, though the way out would be if the Democrats could win the Senate in 2018 or 2020 and then just pull a McConnell and refuse to fill any vacant seats nominated by Trump. RBG resigned in January 2019? Guess we’re going to see plenty of 4-4 decisions in the next 22 months. 

I think the general rationale is this:

I disagree. Paul George is a 3&D wing player. A really, really good one. I don’t honestly believe he’s a Top-5 player that some people were talking him up as in Indiana, but he’s definitely in the top-15.

Most people would probably be surprised at how many published authors have day jobs because their writing doesn’t support them full time.

One fact jumped out at me - their ages. Let’s look at the ages of the justices on the Supreme Court:

One other option I’ve unintentionally taken is to be a sick flier. I can’t necessarily recommend this option because being sick on a plane is miserable, but if you already are sick, you might as well take the minor advantages.