1984Echoes

PS: As for M&A as the only topic: Again, it depends on judgement. A lot of companies benefit hugely from M&A and it's a great benefit for all concerned. Both companies, stockholders, even the public. Usually there will be some employee losses; but that's my last concern because I'm of the mind of "be adaptable/ roll with the punches." And I say that with regard to myself as well... it's not an anti-employee stance. But I am pro-business entity efficiency proponent. Other company's... not so much. And that may go to your anti-M&A stance...

Well, you're talking about some of the "vulture financing" that exists... I don't know if that's good or bad... some companies are outmoded and dragging along each year and losing out to more modernized companies so... stripping them for value doesn't bother me too much. I mean... that sucks for the workers. But what bothers me even moreso, is when finance guys don't really have any idea what they've created (derivatives) and demand more supply for their monster so everyone says "Well **** the rules, and common sense"... With the Fed government just looking the other way. And then we have the Great Recession of 2008. "COCKY" and Finance do NOT go together very well.

I vote for using the offseason cap room on a "poison pill" offer to an RFA. My recommendation: Offer a $35Mill 2024 salary to Tyrese Maxey. With a lower salary thereafter. Can that be done in the NBA?

I can get on board with this.

I haven't seen anything that equates to hatred. More of a "It's time to move on" stream of messages, rather than abject hatred. I'm taking that video above as... comedy. And it is pretty funny. As long as Matt & Kelly are not subjected to anyone at the game who is a true A-Hole but rather just people who "rib" them good-naturedly... would be my preference. I expect us to win. But if we lose, I could get behind another Stafford/ Rams Super Bowl run... Or maybe the 49'ers? I could get behind a "Underdog Mr. Irrelevant Purdy" run too... Undecided. But I still love Matthew Stafford and have no ill feeling towards him. But, again, my QB/ Team today is Jared Goff/ Lions... not Stafford.

Rebuttal: A) Having terrible finance guys can destroy a company (Enron, Arthur Anderson, etc...); or at the very least can lose sight of the long-term deleterious effects of misunderstanding Costs versus Profit (the Big 3 automakers, who lost out to the UAW, and to pension funding expenses, in lieu of absolutely required Manufacturing/ Engineering flexibility and Cash Flow & Expense Containment/ Cost/ Funding in (wildly) general. B) There are Finance guys who have become CEO's and been just as successful as any: Engineer/ Sales/ Marketing/ etc. guy. C) On the bolded part... It's the Stock Market, not the Federal government's fault, that the bottom line can often override good business decisions. Whether that's Engineering or an investment in Sales/ Marketing or Capital Expenditures... etc. D) After reading Romad... Yeah... Engineers "Want" to do something is not necessarily smart either. In fact, it can often be quite dumb when it is simply a waste of money that doesn't help the company in any way. BTW: That's what "outside" R&D is for: Universities or nuclear research facilities or what not. But... I've had my engineering teams get "stars in their eyes" sometimes and sorry... but my response will end up being: "sorry dudes... that just costs too much." Read: Try getting a Research Grant for that instead... I absolutely take exception to what we do not being useful to the larger society. Incorrect. But what you've described, or what you've taken exception to: is actually BAD finance rather than smart finance. I take exception to BAD finance as well. If the bottom line (or extraction profit in your parlance) overrides productive capacity or ANYTHING else that weakens a business... Then it's bad business decision-making, no matter where that comes from.

I resemble that description. Thank you very much.

This trade is not about Gallinari and Muscala. It's not about winning the trade. It's certainly not about defense. Or a bright future (for the guys we traded for). It's not even about dumping Bagley's contract. And maybe they (Danilo and Muscala) can find a little extra gas and hit some 3's at better rates than they have this season... or maybe not. I'm not wishful thinking at all about this. This trade is SOLELY... about developing Cade-Ivey-Duren-etc. Maybe Danilo doesn't do any better than Livers. And Muscala doesn't do any better than Bagley. But on a WAG: I think it helps those guys and the other kids a WHOLE lot better than Bagley & Livers. I think it will help floor spacing (I obviously think the two will start shooting better... with more floor time) which will help the kids. And maybe it even gets an extra couple wins... So I'm certainly not saying WOW! I'm not. I just think it helps the kids more, and maybe gets a couple wins for the team instead of another 20-something losing streak. Muscala is the bench Center, BTW. Wiseman is now garbage-time Center. Only. IMO.

So: "Winning the red zone... Wins the game." ? I think I like that better than my turnovers bit... Which could still be a part of winning the red zone to your point... PS: And that covers BOTH the Offense and the Defense...

PS: Ausar instead of Harris if it's defense over offense. PPS: I still want Sasser as the starting PG because I think he fits best with Cade IMO, even though he's a rookie... PPPS: Starting Sasser would drop Killian to garbage (Wiseman) or defense-only minutes (Ausar) like these other two...

Cade-Bojan-Danilo-Duren are starters: plug in whatever PG fits... Ivey-Burks-Harris-Stew-Muscala main guys off the bench. Should drop Wiseman to garbage minutes. Isn't this trade a win?

Winning the turnover battle. Wins the game.

I'm not certain about that Wiseman thing... Gallinari will start at PF with Duren & Cade because he can space the floor between him and Bojan... And Muscala looks like the 1st center off the bench with Stew at PF... I guess Wiseman could get a little time at Center with any of Danilo, Stew, or Muscala at PF... but I would guess that's garbage minutes only...

I wouldn't call that "salvage". It would still be only 1 guy. And I get it... they discovered two guys that were above average ML'ers in Suarez and Adames. And it's not the scouts fault that we didn't benefit from that. But more than anything... I'd like to turn the page and forget about all that history and hope, beyond hope - since I don't see anything being done in the past 6-ish years that looks any different than the previous 54-ish years - that the Org could actually sign and develop a couple top line International guys. Can we ever sign a top-5 international guy? Or we're just not allowed, or not interested in top 5 guys? Or we don't have scouts that can get those kinds of relationships that yield top 5 guys? Maybe rankings are garbage since they're all 16-17 year olds anyways... But where are our monster signings? Other teams seem to get them... but not us? I know Avila spent a bit more money on their top signee each year than anyone the Org signed previously, $1-2MM plus guys instead of their usual low-budget signees... including Roberto Campos, Cristian Santana, Jose De La Cruz, Adinso Reyes, Javier Osorio... But the highest I think was one of them ranked 10th and the rest much lower. And none that have taken the minor leagues by storm yet... to even indicate that we might have a top guy coming up through the ranks...

They need to double that, at least, before we can meaningfully consider a playoffs attempt...

Just settle before it gets to arbitration. It doesn't even matter if it's the teams number or the player's number or split the difference... at $25K, I'd settle a deal with him within the week ("Heck, we ended up only $25K apart Casey... wanna split the diff?"). Then... the two sides do NOT go through "the process" which, yes, sometimes can get ugly...

Penei also has another uber-athletic OT cousin coming out in the draft this year: Kingsley Suamataia, 6'6" 325.

Puka Nacua is Penei Sewell's cousin? I didn't know that. And he ended Sewell's HS with 3 TD's against his team. Penei told him that tomorrow is his revenge game...

That list is the saddest testament ever to over 60 years of International signings with DAMN NEAR nothing to show for it. Damn near nothing. The two best players they signed: Eugenio Suarez at 20 career WAR and Willy Adames at 18+ career WAR... they dumped before they did anything with Detroit. Damn close to a big fat 0 with ALL of our international signings. So sad.

I'm going to make the assumption that the two Juan Hernandez signed in 1983 is actually one player in which two different birthdates were discovered...?

That could make for an interesting trade deadline (meaning an acquisition or two...) for the first time in quite some while...

I'm thinking that would be better (defensively and matchups) for the #1 line than having DeBrincat & Kane on the 1st line... They're fun and all (Kane & Cat); but I'd rather have them on the #2 line as a scoring line. With Copp maybe...

Except... They're losing just as bad as Russia (Hamas close to being wiped out as a viable entity and they've at the very least lost Gaza; Hezbollah won't escalate above a few missiles sent into northern Israel, just to keep 'em honest; and the Houthi's had missiles rained down upon them last night... I don't expect much more than whimpering from the Houthi's or Iran at this point...). Russia is obviously larger, more powerful, and able to withstand more... and 99.9% of what they've lost is in Ukraine, not in Russia proper. Although that does include a massive amount of lost military prestige, equipment and personnel... Who has lost more in these two wars? Probably Russia. And Hamas (not Iran).

That's all Trump wanted anyways... is a Show. He thinks he can win this case (in which he is already GUILTY as already noted...), with... A Show.

No... the real reason is much simpler: "All my family lives in Alabammy; can't move/live anywhere else."