Captain Hi-Top

Fran says hello.

Just a heads up, I'm going to move this to the Off-Topic section once the season starts.

You were also playing up hill, both ways, in the snow, don't leave that part out! lol

Ditto that.

Thanks! It was a milestone.

Say what?

The RIAA made a big push last decade to get the ball rolling, though they later backed off. They went after several thousand individual users. Some of the results were not pretty at all. Most were settled out of court. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/ That was all downloading. Streaming, to date, has made little noise, mostly due to the fact that it's a misdemeanor, not a felony, but when/if that happens, I would expect that to change significantly. UFC already declared its intent to go after users when they got a site shut down for illegally streaming their PPVs, though with limited options for punishment under the law, I think that was more bark than bite at this point. Not to mention, the point that chances may be low that you get caught and/or get prosecuted, that doesn't change the fact that it's not a legal activity.

I am not!

All the right people have, apparently, pointed you in the wrong direction. Any streaming that infringes on a copyright is illegal. I'm not here to admonish you, or call you out, only to set the record straight so that others who take interest in this activity are fully aware of what they are getting into, because "so and so on an internet forum told me it was legal" won't be a valid defense when/if they get charged. Currently, downloading illegally is a felony, while streaming illegal content is only a misdemeanor. However, that is set to change in the very near future with a strong push in the works to make streaming illegal content a felony as well.

Do not like.

I'm sure they do, but how much more does it cost overall? What's the ratings per dollar spent? I'd hazard a guess to say it falls into the "not worth it" range, or else we'd be watching preseason games on SUN. Unless, of course, there's some contractual reason they aren't aired.

You asked who cares if Cleveland was lucky or unlucky, I answered. There are several types of people who care about the how and why these things transpire in comparison to one another. Only one of the examples I gave mentioned the GM. I'm not defending anything, I'm answering the question you asked for the sake of discussion.

Anyone who wants more than a yes or no answer cares. Anyone who wants to know why or how would absolutely care. Anyone who wants to compare one trade to the other and apply their analysis to a judgement of ability on the part of our GM should care.

Nothing minor about that.

I don't see his game translating into the NBA.

Florida native here, born in Daytona Beach, FL. Grew up watching basketball, boxing and baseball with my dad. Watching some of the great teams from the 80's was a fantastic way to get interested in basketball, but I never had a favorite team, I never felt connected to any of those teams. When the Magic started up, all of that changed and we were excited to have a home team. He split season tickets with a guy from his office. Upper deck, front row, half court. Not bad seats at all. Heck, at that point I would have been thrilled to be up against the back wall. Joined the Marines in '94, after a brief stint in college. Wrapped up my tour in the beginning of '99, went back to school (helping to win the state diving championship by performing the legendary Triple Lindy) and graduated from Stetson. That kicked off my career in the tech world, mostly database/system design and admin and now branched out into risk analysis as well. I've traveled around, lived on both sides of the Country (as well as Okinawa for a year), but always stayed true to the boys in blue. I may root for other teams from time to time, like the Kings when they were battling things out with the Lakers (and really anyone the Lakers, Boston and most recently the Heat face in the playoffs), but never ever been tempted to jump ship from the Magic.

That's probably a perfect fit for him. His biggest strength was always his relationships with the players.

I think I still have a spreadsheet at work that I put together to analyse the past draft pics. I can send it to you next week if you want it. It's got things like "years spend in the league", and PER taken into account. However, I think I put it together in 2009, so it needs to be updated.

Like I said, we've made some bad ones for sure, but overall, we're about average.

We never had much of a scouting department until recently, but we haven't been completely terrible drafting. We've been about average when looking outside of top 5 pics in the past 10 years or so. We've made some bad ones, for sure, but also had some decent pics as well, like Nelson, JJ, Zaza and C. Lee. I'd toss in O'Quinn and Nicholson but those were made under the new regime. Some of the biggest boneheaded picks though were bad enough to definitely leave a nasty taste in your mouth for sure.

Didn't want to start a new thread just to appropriately place this gem from Pelton...

I think they should pay the mods.

I'm pretty sure you don't need to explain anything. Everyone here seems to be keenly aware of what your "problem" is this time around. Also, this is kind of funny of you read it in your best Captain Kirk voice. :panicworker:

It's the summer, not much going on.

Just for you, Junkie. Enjoy. Offseason Improvements, Declines: A Love Story By Kevin Pelton (Link) That's not taking into account the drafted players. Now, I know you felt the need to start an entirely new thread to determine if we got better or worse, and it rightfully got closed, but I figured your buddy Pelton here could just tell you what to think.