Also I'm touring the new Saints/Pelicans combined practice facility on Thursday, which is the day after all these new trades become official. I doubt I'll see any of the new Canz wandering around, but you never know. I'll take some pics.

Noze posting HARD in the PAINT

man i just disagree. there's definitely a bunch of awesome/insightful things he knows about playing the game that no one else does. it would be amazing to hear him describe what he saw when he had the ball in his hands and what made him decide to do x and y what he saw in a defense. there's just so much going on it would be cool to have it spelled out. not to turn this into a lbj vs jordan debate but i think having lebron talk about stuff like that would be even more interesting. just bc his game is a lot more about passing and he really is like a QB out there directing the offense sending people to the other side of the court and stuff, ive heard tidbits from him about wat he sees in the defense that makes him do certain things but there's obviously so much that goes into each play. man basketball is awesome.

I'm not talking about being bffs or having media access or any of that. I'm talking about the same thing you guys are: discussions about basketball related to building a winning franchise.

ETA: what Geoff just said.
I've been lucky enough to talk to all sorts of NBA people of varying levels below MJ in all-time GOATness, and I've learned something from almost every single one, despite how much I might ultimately disagree with them.

yeah that's a fair point geoff. would be helpful to interact w/ a bunch of players to get on their level wrt decision making. if i were an opposing GM i'd love to pick his brain about the al jefferson signing so i could predict how to hustle him in future trades.

thing is, most of the things like "what he saw" or stuff like that, probably would still be bad advice for anyone other than Jordan

could learn a lot more from lebron most likely, and he also prob wouldnt be the woat executive

The dismissive tone in response to Kbfc's post is an example why I've been one of those who laughed at the idea of a single TZ poster becoming a GM.

kbfc's post was way more dismissive than any of the responses

I think it rightfully got dismissed because it's not really saying anything. Obviously every single one of us would rather a conversation with Michael Jordan than Ray Horton or epipem.

Doesn't change that most of us would be lol'ing at him on the inside for saying mostly stupid and wrong ****.

Raptors interested in Brandan Wright as per some random RealGM thread.

I think he would be a good fit. I didn't realize we at at the 70mil mark. lol BC, good riddance.

pretty huge difference between becoming a GM and succeeding as one. there is no way in a million years that i'd get hired as GM but i'd prob be top 3 if i somehow did.

kbfc's point would prob receive greater consideration if he articulated the ways in which jordan's experience may be valuable. possible that he sees value in it where others are blind, but if we're left to guess we prob won't pinpoint it which leaves DISMISSAL as the only option.

agree w/ this

My serious lack of self awareness and my unwillingness to learn anything makes it really hard to accept truth bombs

Yeah I guess my whole gripe was that there is just too much we don't know about why some people do or don't do things when there are hundreds of millions on the line and plenty of people to advise them to make any assumption of their knowledge or cognitive abilities.

There's just been so many people who have a dumb persona in the public eye but then an interview reveals them to be brilliant that I usually give them the benefit of the doubt when there's huge money on the line. I remember reading Paris Hilton was actually pretty smart (who knows), so I'd have to assume a couple of suits with mountains of data and analyst geeks would know quite a bit.

But yeah this subject has turned to aids so feel free to ignore !

I would love to talk to players mostly about the personal side of GMs trading people, guys getting big contracts that aren't really respected, how chemistry/leadership translates to wins, etc. All of that would absolutely be cool and informative and would be an invaluable piece of info re: why GMs may offer contracts that are absurd, but you just don't get much of that via the outlets we have. I don't think anyone is as dumb (except Michael Wilbon) as they come across when they only have a couple seconds to make a point on TV that is usually far more nuanced, but I think you can usually glean a fair amount.

Is Dean1 the Untouchable or Epipeen reborn? Because the guy is full of himself for someone who doesn't understand basketball that well!

yeah i'm their adopted child and they cumulatively taught me everything i know about the nba. that's how i became wicked smart.

Why would you think you would be top 3 in a billion dollar industry? The sheer amount of money involved implies there's a lot of ultra smart people vying for the job, and their analytics, confidence, deal making abilities, etc are absolutely top notch. It's not like they suddenly turn to idiots once they get the job.

This isn't even remotely true. One of the worst posts in TZ history perhaps.

And Clark nobody is dismissing what he's said. He didn't really say that conversations with players improved his stats database, or offered a hypothetical example of how someone's thoughts may have altered how a front office viewed a player or anything like that, or how a team may overpay because Player X is the godfather of Player Y's son and Player Y is the franchise cornerstone.

He simply said he learned a lot from talking to players, which I don't think anyone would ever doubt, and that we shouldn't assume players are as dumb as they might appear. I have no doubt that there are players who embrace stats analysis in a healthy way and can balance it with their real world experience in the league to have an informed opinion. I would absolutely love to read or hear things those guys have to say, but you don't really get access to that kind of stuff.

He's essentially asking us to trust him without showing anything concrete in the same way that many players want us to trust their opinions because they used to play despite reams of evidence to the contrary of players having some innate ability at evaluating others.

Like Bill Barnwell said, for every Ozzie Newsome there is a Matt Millen. For every Dell Demps there is a Michael Jordan.

there are smart people vying for the job who mostly either don't get hired or ignored. lotta stupid people in a position of power

bearzzzzz

the people doing the hiring didn't make their money knowing sports; they made it in other business related ventures for the most part

it's not a typical multi-billion $ industry where the people who rose in the ranks actually had to know something about growing the business in which they are not tasked with making decisions directly related to

these people, then, are not in a position to typically hire the best people to run said business.

part of his point, or an implied part, is that you can learn something from people even if they don't do this, which i tend to agree with. i also agree w/the idea that people in here feel themselves way too much at times

Yeah, a lot of smart people vying, a lot of much less smart people with connections as well vying.