very stupid question but, can you do that about other things as well…ie….other players…i guess it only works with the new blog system right, the key word feature?

about Peter Vecsey’s assertion that Skiles really quit and wasn’t fired from the Bulls. It’s stuff like that that makes it harder to stomach reports of the money owed to Skiles.

That and the fact that the man has another job.

on the part about Skiles’ money should actually count towards this past season’s “budget” if there ever was such a thing. And if it really is of concern to the Bulls for next season and D’Antoni is the guy they really want then work his contract like they’ve done with players. backload it to offset the cost. A 4 year/$18mil deal would pay him as much as he’s making in PHX and you could have it pay out in a 2/6/5/5 manner and make next year’s total “coaching” output a combined $6mil.

Latest report:

NBA coaching sources told ESPN.com on Wednesday that the Knicks continue to regard D’Antoni as their No. 1 target to replace Isiah Thomas and are preparing a “staggering” financial offer they hope will prove too steep for Chicago to compete with, thus convincing D’Antoni to spurn the Bulls.

1. Click on your UserID at the top of the screen to access settings.
2. Click on “Edit Settings” towards the top right.
3. Go to the Default Comment Format that probably says “expanded”
4. Change it to “closed”
5. Click “Update” at the bottom of the menu to save your changes.

This way, when you open up a thread that has new comments, only the Subject and the “by-line” show up. To get the rest of the comment, you simply click on the bolded subject. (Note: you may click on the subject and sometimes nothing happens-this is because the user only typed something in the subject and not in the text box.)

This has significantly reduced loading time. For me, the 400+ comments in the last thread took about 1min30 sec the old way, but only around 15 secs. this way. Hope it helps.

nice…though top-10 on this subject is not something i’m proud of. I won’t have too much more to say until this thing is over with

will be next up on First Take to talk about the latest in the coach searches.

in hscs’ performance, he used to be a prolific poster, not to mention an acerbic wit. And where is chgobr? Not on the list? That’s unacceptable, he needs to step up, too. ;-)

If there is one thing this offseason demands, it’s more batshit craziness! Let’s freak out, people!!!

1. better team
2. brighter future
3. D’Antoni’s first choice

there is no reason we should lose this “war” with the putrid Knicks.

the only thing that scares me is if Walsh starts telling him, “You know you wanna be here buddy. This is the place where LBJ will be playing” after next season (even though we all know he will be in Brooklyn with his mentor HOVA). If he chooses the Knicks because of the money, then, well, maybe we don’t want him in the first place.

49 comments of pure speculation!

has a different take on Avery Johnson:

Things were quiet Wednesday in the Bulls’ coaching search as it appears general manager John Paxson plans to meet with former Dallas coach Avery Johnson before making any move. Sources with the Bulls, however, say no meeting has been confirmed.

(via RealGM)

Vince(Ca): You’re an idiot

SportsNation Chad Ford: (1:48 PM ET ) Thanks

:D

In the real world, people get paid for performance. How about a salary structure which looks like: 120K per win, plus some incentive bonus for reaching the ECF and/or the NBA Finals. 500K bonus if he produces an All-star player. Anything under 41 wins and he gives back 50K for each loss after loss # 41. He has a clear path to 7-9 mil per season.

Says that the ‘philosophical’ concerns have more-or-less eased, despite conventional wisdom of Paxson (like Kerr) wanting defense. They’re excited about teaming him with the roster of young skilled guys. Some of the players are already excited. The money seems to be the big sticking point.

MP3 link. (there’s a bit more, but that part was the actual ‘reporting’.

If he’s an options trader, which I believe he is, my guess is that very much of what he does is based on models derived from various measures of standard deviation.

Let’s say that at 1SD you put the trade on, but at 2.5SD you blow it out, because you know there’s something unforeseen in the works, something crazy going on.

The common understanding of price movement is that there are bands of rationality around a price…and generally beyond 2.5 standard deviations the movement is no longer rational.

How shall we define D’Antoni? If we make the criteria too restrictive we run the risk of taking the sample size down to a membership of one, or even zero. How about this for starters? Active, and Winning % over .600. This yields:

Adelman (6.9 mil), D’Antoni (4.5 mil), Phil Jackson (10.33 mil), Avery Johnson (4 mil), Popovich (8.5 mil), Sloan (5.5 mil), SVG (4 mil).

The arithmetic mean is $6.25 million. One standard deviation is roughly $2.25 million.

This means that any salary between $4 million and $8.5 million is within one standard deviation of the norm for active coaches with career winning percentage over .600.

By this measure, the Knicks supposed offer of $6million doesn’t look at all unreasonable.

According to the Post report, LeGarie told the paper that D’Antoni favors Walsh over Bulls management and that his client also prefers the Knicks’ superior financial resources.

“He likes that Donnie is a veteran GM with a track record,” LeGarie told the paper. “(Former Sun general manager) Bryan Colangelo was the gold mint, and (D’Antoni) would like to go back to that kind of situation.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/TheWireStory.asp?id=11981

Listen...to him.

No such luck! I wonder if this will go on through the weekend without an offer.

worst ‘why D’Antoni should go to the Knicks’ suggestions yet:

Press. Yes, D’Antoni is sensitive to criticism and the New York tabloids can be brutal. But Chicago isn’t much better. If I’m going to have either Peter Vescey or Jay Marriotti lobbing grenades at me anyway, I’m getting my $6 million a year.

http://rimshots.freedomblogging.com/

I’ve never read this guy before…but his “reasons” are pretty terrible

Is Rotoworld.com just miss-information, old wrong news or true

Reports late on Wednesday indicate Mike D’Antoni has received a job offer from a team other than the Bulls. His agent is meeting with Knicks GM Donnie Walsh on Thursday, increasing speculation that the Knicks are making a push to sign him.

There were reports Thursday that Walsh was prepared to make a “staggering” contract offer, as ESPN.com described it, to D’Antoni and another that said D’Antoni’s agent, Warren LeGarie, was expecting to meet with Walsh in New York. Both proved to be fiction, which has been a byproduct of the rampant speculation that has dominated the search since Avery Johnson was fired by Dallas and D’Antoni was given permission by Phoenix to talk to other teams.

Walsh did not meet with LeGarie, who flew from Greece to San Francisco through New York, and there were no contract offers made or negotiated.

The Chicago Bulls, who were believed to be the best scenario for D’Antoni, have apparently hit the brakes on discussions to hire him and executive John Paxson is believed to be turning his focus on Boston associate coach Tom Thibodeau, who may not be available for an interview until after the Celtics are eliminated from the playoffs.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spknix0509,0,1747933.story

So is everyone getting cold feet now?

Chris Paul is pretty spectacular.

“Mike D’Antoni wants to leave, and he don’t have the (guts) to resign,” TNT analyst Charles Barkley said on Dan Patrick’s national radio show. “He wants them to fire him. He wants to get paid and get another job. He wants to get his cake and eat it, too. He’s trying to hold them hostage. He knows he’s going to get another job. He wants the Suns to fire him so he can get that $9 million they owe him. If he had any (guts) whatsoever, he’d say, ‘You know what? I don’t want to be here.’”

from Jay Mariotti’s Column

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/940308,mariotti050908.article

D’Antoni is so eager to leave Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire for Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas?

The New York Knicks on Thursday outlined the lucrative parameters of a five-year deal they’re prepared to give new No. 1 coaching target Mike D’Antoni, according to NBA coaching sources.

A rival proposal from the Chicago Bulls - the team many still favor to land D’Antoni - is expected by Sunday at the latest, sources said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3387873