As streaky as he is, Ben's been able to keep a high FG %. The bigger problem is that he can't seem to stop dribbling the ball off his leg!
Read some comments by Dumars, it seems Ben is cool coming off the bench in Detroit and they signed him as an expensive "super-sub". That makes a little more sense to me, as I've never seen Gordon as a franchise player either. He gets compared to Vinnie Johnson a lot. In some ways Ben reminds me of Nick Van Exel, who could always shoot you in or out of a game but seemed to be at his best when he came off the bench.
I'm not jumping off a bridge or anything over the loss of Gordon in Chicago, I'm just sorry to see him walk away with no compensation for the team when his value is higher than usual. His whole situation seems to be poorly handled by Bulls management the past few years.

The rumor is that the Bulls had an offer on the table for Ben last summer, but they gave him a deadline by which he had to sign. Ben's Agent went to Reinsdorf the morning after the Bulls deadline and apparently said "Ben wants me to go ahead and sign your deal" and Reinsdorf refused, saying the offer was now off the table.
Lame.

I certainly don't think Gordon would have been the savior of the Bulls by a long shot, but he would have been a much better trade chip in the Amare or Bosh sweepstakes than.....well, nothing.

Artest to the Lakers!

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/messages/chrono/15861562


Holy crap....did someone say the rich were getting richer?

I don't see them as getting richer there.

Smells a lot like the '02-'03 Lakers from this angle...

ridiculous.

Artest is a monster player who will make the Lakers better but I do wish the they kept Ariza. We'll see, seems like it's still a lot of rumors at this point.

...assuming he and Kobe can keep their love affair off the court.

dB

Whoa, lots of action. The Celtics are making a big pitch for Rasheed Wallace, whom they would need to take the mid-level exception. Knicks make an offer to Jason Kidd...I guess he'll do if you can't have Ricky Rubio or Jonny Flynn...

...Orlando got Vince, SA got RJ -- DAMN, for the year before the big year, the face of the NBA sure is changing a lot right now.

So... Dumars got Villanueva too. He's one Caron Butler and Emeka Okafor away from an all UCONN starting five.

Sources: Ariza verbally agrees to Rockets deal

Best,

Geoff

Obviously, you need to adjust your angle.

If you're gonna be in L.A. next June maybe you can come join Steve, Ken, Jeff, and me at the Championship Parade. Or the 2011 one. Whichever works best for your schedule.

Do you guys think the Ariza/Artest "swap" balances out for the Lakers? I did not watch each that closely in order to be able to come up with a conclusion for each team.

I mean, how does this not look great, at least on the surface?

1. Derek Fisher
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Ron Artest
4. Lamar Odom
5. Pau Gasol

It looks pretty great. I think Ariza will continue to be great with Houston or wherever, but after finding out we were losing him in any case, I couldn't be happier with his replacement.

I'll miss Ariza too, he was one of my favorites. I think ultimately he will regret not taking the Lakers offer. He's young, went to the finals twice very early in his career and I think he naively believes he'll have many more chances to get back. He won't. Especially not with Houston.

For the next 3 years, absolutely.

Looking back, Ariza will rue the day.

Sad but probably true. And now, like the article mentions, Kobe has Artest like Jordan had Rodman. It's going to be scary (for everyone else).

Lamar Odom isn't a done deal and Artest gives the Lakers additional security. Artest played the 4 for Houston when needed playing the role of swing forward.

Artest rebounds less per minute than Ariza, scores a lot more. Not the perfect compliment to Kobe and in no way resembles Rodman's rebounding ethic. Artest brings a .400 shooting percentage from last year--under .400 for two pointers. Artest doesn't bring any upside to his career and plenty of attitude.


There's some risk here.

Wow you've written Bynum right on to the bench...not that he doesn't belond there.

Phil's coming back

Hedo

Well, thank you Blazers for guaranteeing that you will never beat the Lakers should the two teams meet in the playoffs.

Hi, I am new to the forum but not to the mag. I do like sports but I don't remember sports being talked about at all in the magazine so why are they talked about in the forum? Is'nt there more than enough keyboard stuff for lack of a better word to talk about, or are you so bored with keyboards that sports are what you would rather talk about. I am just curious.
Is the whole forum just given card blanche?

we're way bigger than a freakin' magazine!

Hi, nice first post, pleased to meet you. Note that 99% of the forum is keyboard-related topics. The forum reflects the moderator's tastes, and the fact that good music is often based from not only notes and technology, but also community building.

Again, welcome. Feel free to chip in if you enjoy the topic.

Look at it this way -- when you're gigging with a band, do you always talk about music on the breaks?

Even if you really, really, really, really love music and keyboards, you probably have other interests as well; and you probably like to share those interests with your musician friends.

A lot of us have become friends here over the years, and that's what we like to do as well.

Best,

Geoff

I remember my first post...

Actually, no I don't.

It was probably this one:


Best,

Geoff

LOL!!!!! I knew YOU were going to do that!!!

I had no idea you were this conversant in professional audio! So if my mixer is quiet and my monitors are great, I can hear things better, thereby making it easier to troubleshoot the system, you say? BRILLIANT! And on your first post too.

I am SO me!



Best,

Geoff

Yes, but then I quickly realized that I would be better off focusing on The Lakers.

Why? Do they need a really quiet mixer along with some great monitors?

Best,

Geoff

Am I the only one that thinks that people have jumped on the Ariza bandwagon way too quickly? I mean he had a very good month or so down the stretch, but he's not even close to being a star in this league, at least not from what I've seen. I mean it's one thing to get a few key steals or hit open 3-pointers on a team that has 2-3 all-star caliber players on the court with you, but it will be (I predict) quite different on the team where you are essentially the best player on the court (which he might actually end up being if both Yao and T-Mac are out going into the season) and the opposing team actually gameplans against you.

P.S. I'm a Rockets fan so I sure hope he proves me wrong!