FKIM01

Reading this makes me LOL at the sparkling summer performances put up by the highly touted Smellermaker senior class. Don't see James having any chance of sticking even in the G league at this point. Rojo spending another year at IU helps his chances. Thomas looking like he has a solid chance and OG, Yogi and even Troy look like they'll stick around for awhile.

At that point, the NBA is literally trying to legislate against stupidity. When players want to win so badly, they literally sign contracts that are not in their personal best interest, I don't know what you can call it.

Could the Lakers pay him a max contract?

That is a surprise. He's really no better off that he was with the Pacers. You think he wins anything with the Thunder? I don't.

Surprise, surprise...Paul George not opting in with OKC.

...but all he has to do to match Hardin defensively is stand on the floor and wave his arms in the general direction of the opposing player closest to him.

Lance was the Pacers' Will Sheehey. I never laughed any harder then when he blew in LeBron's ear and literally got in his head... I get that Lance could be a polarizing figure, but I read some interviews he did this last year and it really seemed like he'd grown up quite a bit. At one point, he showed a lot of poise when a reporter tried to bait him on a controversial subject. Lance deferred, even though I know it was tempting to wade in and I respected him a lot for that. I'll say it again, I understand the dollars and cents part of the business but I'm sorry to see Lance go.

I'm sorry to see Lance go. Pacers seem to get a lot more out of him than anyone else and he seemed to like it here.

Dwight Howard rumored traded by the Hornets. Good news for Cody's outlook?

I think it is and so does the American Lung Association: http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/smoking-facts/marijuana-and-lung-health.html

I guarantee Crean will get mileage out of Vic as he should...he's the one who found and developed him. I understand Vic was an incredibly hard worker, but I give Crean props for bringing him to Indiana and having some huge success with him. ...but Vic better not be wearing Georgia stuff if he wants to run for Indiana governor...

You're being kind...Lue is the Little Ricky of the NBA...without the skilled but sleazy father. ...and yes...that's all on LeBron. I don't know how good Blatt was as a coach, but he's surely better than Tyron Lue.

Your memory is likely better than mine in that regard. I remember Schilling saying something that got him in trouble and I knew he had a tendency to get political at times. I'll have to Google and refresh my memory. I've possibly crossed him with someone else. Edit: appears Schilling was fired for sharing a meme on the North Carolina bathroom law: http://www.businessinsider.com/curt-schilling-fired-by-espn-2016-4 That appears at least politically-related which was why my memory went there. Regardless of how you classify it, I disagree with him doing it even though it goes to freedom of expression.

I get the freedom of expression thing and I'm sure LeBron is wealthy enough and has enough fans that he likely doesn't care. My freedom of expression is that I dislike mixing sports/entertainment with politics. I don't see that as a non-progressive ideal. I see it as an apolitical personal preference. Curt Schilling got fired for the same thing. Not only did he mix sports and politics, he was foolish enough to do it publicly when his bosses disagreed with his views.

He gets a lot for being very vocal about politics as well. Sure. some people love his stance, but guess what...when you go public like he did, the law of averages says you'll alienate about half the people who actually care about politics. Not gonna lie...I liked him less after his rants. I'd rather not know the politics of sports and entertainment folks, but it seems they are determined to tell me anyway. I see that as a personal matter that distracts from the game/entertainment. ...and understanding the rules about politics, I'll leave it at that. Just trying to be factual. I keep my politics to myself when dealing with clients...simply because I don't want to lose half of them over something that has nothing to do with the client relationship. Too many high-profile people either don't grasp that or don't care.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I'd also say that Vic being younger makes the trade a little unbalanced...without the little Domantis Sabonis thing...

Kinda funny seeing Vic on the 3rd team with PG.

I never thought it was a bad trade for the Pacers considering they were only giving up one year of services from a player that didn't want to be in Indianapolis. I knew Oladipo would give 110% and be much happier as a Pacer than George was. That alone was enough for me to call it a pretty good trade considering the hand they were dealt. The rest of it (Sabonis being better than advertised and Oladipo morphing into an all star) was just gravy.

Can't say this enough. Love seeing all of the national "experts" (and frankly, quite a few knowledgeable posters in this forum) have a lot of egg on their face for calling this a great trade for OKC. I can't think of a more lopsided trade from last season, frankly. If you all have one, I'd love to hear what it was.

This. Chalk that one up to experience and lost opportunity. OG would have to really drop performance-wise for a sustained period or have a serious injury to become affordable. At that point, do the Pacers really want to take a chance? We just need to acknowledge the missed opportunity and move on...ain't happening.

Way more than they are paying him, that's for sure.

Wow...on the surface, that looks like a strange decision. I get the disappointment of getting swept by Cleveland, but wow...

Absolutely. It's the same trajectory conversation we've had about Vic and PG.

Would love to but I'm guessing OG's next contract is gonna be pricey if he maintains his trajectory.