ESPN First Take: We're Back!

[PrepP]

We should have had one during the deadline. Works been getting hectic though.
Concerning the trade
@HRSkipBayless: Good trade for clippers in Nash/mcgrady deal. Have to wonder why bulls traded their own 23 year old guard for 27 year old guard to rebuild. Should have been jay Williams not Nash.

Looking back at it I agree. But I am a sucker for young talent. A couple reasons why I decided to keep williams instead was that Nash's defense was lower than williams', I would have had to send back more salary if the trade included williams which meant possibly sending Larry hughes also who I will need in the playoffs, and I liked williams youth with his longer, cheaper contract. What I really wish I would have given up is the Sonics 03 instead of the Pacers. I think right before that the Sonics had got pierce but I didn't see that before we agreed to the trade.

[Make It Rain]

We should have had one during the deadline. Works been getting hectic though.
Concerning the trade
@HRSkipBayless: Good trade for clippers in Nash/mcgrady deal. Have to wonder why bulls traded their own 23 year old guard for 27 year old guard to rebuild. Should have been jay Williams not Nash.

Bc I got Nash and a top 5 pick in this years draft?...

[Make It Rain]

I tried to get Williams. Didn't work salary wise and he was willing to give up pacers 03 with nash

[Conroy]

I didn't realize how dominant the Hornets have been in the second half until I looked it up. Was shocked they beat u 3xs. I'm sure you'd prefer anyone else in the wcf.

I really try not to have a preference because as soon as you want 1 team that's the one that beats you. All of my Hornets losses have been weird. I've never played them when I was at full strength, my only win came without Marshall, then I played them without Jones once, Ostertag once, and without Marshall again. You would just automatically assume it's because KG can match or overmatch Webber but in one of the losses KG only played 15 mins or so and fouled out. We'll just have to see I only hope nobody (not just me no team in the playoffs) has to deal with injuries it sucks...

[AD23]

We should have had one during the deadline. Works been getting hectic though.
Concerning the trade
@HRSkipBayless: Good trade for clippers in Nash/mcgrady deal. Have to wonder why bulls traded their own 23 year old guard for 27 year old guard to rebuild. Should have been jay Williams not Nash.

@HRSpikeLee My inside source tells me the Knicks came very close to dealing Yao for T-Mac and Chris Mihm. Word is the Knicks GM loves T-Mac and thought he wouldve been a great fit, but did not want to lose one of the few potentially great Cs in the league. Instead he hopes to keep Yao and sign a superstar SG

[BallSoHard]

@HRSpikeLee My inside source tells me the Knicks came very close to dealing Yao for T-Mac and Chris Mihm. Word is the Knicks GM loves T-Mac and thought he wouldve been a great fit, but did not want to lose one of the few potentially great Cs in the league. Instead he hopes to keep Yao and sign a superstar SG

@HRSkipBayless: Insider information. Love it.

[Soundwave]

I want the Celtics!

[Soundwave]

Great Job guys.

I really wish there was a way for more inside info on trade prospects could come out. I think GM's should be called out more. I'm surprised it took so long to call out the Mavs.

[hornetstime247]

Warriors Kings is going to be an interesting series. I think it will go to 7 games and hopefully my HC advantage will put me on top.

Bob Sura has been ballin lately putting up a triple double and filling up the stat sheet but Courtney Alexander has disappered down the stretch and Glen Robinson has been mediocre.

I think if my team gets back on track I will pull it out.

[hornetstime247]

Also, to the Bucks GM, as the Skip said, there is nothing wrong with what I did. We were negotiating a deal in private, were still not settled on the exact details (but overall had the framework agreed to) then the next 2 sims Alexander started rounding into form and my team started winning so I went in another direction.

That happens all the time in the NBA. Nothing was sent in, nothing fully agreed to.

[Pelicans78]

It sucks not being able to fill out a depth chart.

[Conroy]

I want the Celtics!

Bring it! I do too that means it's the Eastern Conference Finals

[Trell]

It's kind of drifting towards more personal beef, which should be done in the league chat thread. I really like to see you guys break down trades and playoff matchups. Could use some more facts, (like they use them in real life anyway though ).

I liked it, those are just my suggestions.

Ha got that right, it was pretty funny. Mainly how it's suppose to be to be Skip and Stephen not GM and GM. Anyways good read tho.

[ItsPaulyP]

I think there should be more interviews so when things like tanking and trades are brought up at least a GM has a chance to explain himself, makes for a less biased view on things.

[Soundwave]

Bring it! I do too that means it's the Eastern Conference Finals

I'm glad someone caught on to that because I am in no way overlooking anybody.

[IamQuailman]

Ha got that right, it was pretty funny. Mainly how it's suppose to be to be Skip and Stephen not GM and GM. Anyways good read tho.

Hey bro, get at me when you want to get that deal done. I'm still waiting.

As I said, we can only talk about things that happen in PM (like trades) that we are aware of. Although, I do know that both Balls and myself arent the only 2 GMs that have gone through the tooth-pulling process of trade talks. In the future, I will try to deter from making mention of things involving my own team if that will make you happy, bruh.

[Trell]

Hey bro, get at me when you want to get that deal done. I'm still waiting.

As I said, we can only talk about things that happen in PM (like trades) that we are aware of. Although, I do know that both Balls and myself arent the only 2 GMs that have gone through the tooth-pulling process of trade talks. In the future, I will try to deter from making mention of things involving my own team if that will make you happy, bruh.

You don't have to make me happy, you don't even have to attempt to do so. As long as the other guys are interested in it I'm good.

[bojangles837]

very nice guys.. sixers got a lot of love in this one

[janjanjanjan3]

I think there should be more interviews so when things like tanking and trades are brought up at least a GM has a chance to explain himself, makes for a less biased view on things.

I like this idea, how about a media room thread for every team? where anyone can ask the GM anything about his team.

[AD23forMVP]

I've seen that done before, we'd need another forum for it though.

[PrepP]

I like this idea, how about a media room thread for every team? where anyone can ask the GM anything about his team.

cool idea. It might spin off more "First Take" style episodic articles too.

[cwilder]

Well wasn’t expecting that kinda heat (Im the Mavs GM) but like ESPN you have to have strong opinions to draw in the audience.. so I get it. I can’t change your opinion but I lost a top 5 player in the league (Malone retired), missed free agency because I was moving, and played my best lineup for half of the season before I traded away Pierce. Pierce has a high greed score (96, will get overpaid when his contract runs up), low loyalty score, and low play for winner score. I gave him a chance to be the “man” and win and he didn’t (no way I was getting close to the playoffs). I shopped him for a few weeks and got the best offer I could find for the situation I was in (expiring, picks, and young talent). If I really was tanking I would have traded him and Magloire (got plenty of bad offers) away before the season started and really stunk it up. Funny how people are blaming other GM’s for tanking (no disrespect I get it) but will turn around and give you terrible offers for your solid players to help facilitate this tanking… So you take advantage of one side but still blame the Gm’s for the other. Look this is a problem in real life so I am not going to get too involved in a sim league (funny how you run into the same problems with the real NBA)but I just wanted to give my 2 cents so people wouldn’t think I just went completely MIA on the sim or my team.

[cwilder]

Oh and good luck to all in the playoffs and lotto!

[Trell]

Mouth zipped!

[BallSoHard]

Well wasn’t expecting that kinda heat (Im the Mavs GM) but like ESPN you have to have strong opinions to draw in the audience.. so I get it. I can’t change your opinion but I lost a top 5 player in the league (Malone retired), missed free agency because I was moving, and played my best lineup for half of the season before I traded away Pierce. Pierce has a high greed score (96, will get overpaid when his contract runs up), low loyalty score, and low play for winner score. I gave him a chance to be the “man” and win and he didn’t (no way I was getting close to the playoffs). I shopped him for a few weeks and got the best offer I could find for the situation I was in (expiring, picks, and young talent). If I really was tanking I would have traded him and Magloire (got plenty of bad offers) away before the season started and really stunk it up. Funny how people are blaming other GM’s for tanking (no disrespect I get it) but will turn around and give you terrible offers for your solid players to help facilitate this tanking… So you take advantage of one side but still blame the Gm’s for the other. Look this is a problem in real life so I am not going to get too involved in a sim league (funny how you run into the same problems with the real NBA)but I just wanted to give my 2 cents so people wouldn’t think I just went completely MIA on the sim or my team.

Yeah, this is why i disagree'd with the personal beef things. I did think we had a bit more of a personal tone that usual and we'll work on that, but we tore into a lot of teams, including yours. We sometimes say inflamatory things on the show for the drama more than anything, but we do try to say everything with truth in it. We understand every side has a story and we invite people on to share that side. The key to first take is to please not take it personal.

Trell, I saw your comment last night and i'd like to state I didn't really take any personal shots at you besides talking about a bad trade that almost went down, which was reporting on a trade. I did mention something about Oneal being traded like 8xs but it was all part of a message to all of the GMs to get their stuff together and check the trade checker and rules before submitting the trades. I have personally fell into the category of not reading over the rules as carefully as i should have (11 points and not 10 in our trade), but since then I don't think any of my trades have 'failed'. I think it was a calling for all of us to get better, and to be honest, these failed trades are usually when the drama starts. If you (anyone in the league) PM someone who you think might know.