Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: T200 on Today at 03:44:17 PMI get where you're coming from. 

I'd be more concerned if it was from a player who has yet to prove anything on the field. Okereke can back up his talk.

This was my thought as well. While I see MadBadger's point and have sympathy for it, I do think these types of proclamations are different when they come from a guy who played at a high level last year (Bobby O) versus from a guy who did little to nothing last year (Hyatt).

With that said, I'm not going to knock guys too much for being positive in spring/summer. What bothers me much more is when players act blase or accepting of losing during the season. I want to see players visibly bothered after losses. Frankly, I have not seen enough of this on this team in recent years. Way too many times I see players effectively shrug their shoulders after loss. That should not happen. Losing should be crushing and devastating, whether it is by one point or 50.

Based on what I know/believe today:


Best moves:

1. Signing Okereke
2. The Leo trade
3. The Burns trade


Worst moves:

1. The Jones contract (should have tagged him)
2. Getting nothing for either Barkley or McKinney
3. The complete lack of progress in the O line to this point despite investing major resources in it.

Strands #99
"Print edition"
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Connections
Puzzle #365
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩

Quote from: Ed Vette on June 09, 2024, 04:22:35 PMHe officially retired.

Yup.

https://x.com/RapSheet/status/1799889071294030180

https://x.com/JordanRaanan/status/1799900754007748743

While I know the 2024 offseason technically isn't over, I think it's fair to say the key portions of it (draft, premium free agency, key contract decisions, coaching changes, etc) are behind us.

So for all intents and purposes, Joe Schoen has now gotten through the bulk of three offseasons as Giants' GM.

While I appreciate that many of Schoen's decisions cannot yet be conclusively judged, but one can still have opinions.

So in your opinion, what have been Schoen's three best moves so far as Giants' GM? What have been his three worst?

If you cannot think of three, feel free to just list one or two.

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 12:38:55 PMIts extremely concerning to hear this new DC likes to rush only 4

Against a top rated QB we will be shredded.  Not only that, dropping 7 back leaves us open to a team running it down our throats

Who picked this guy anyway

We beat the Pats in the SB (both times) rushing just four. It's not necessarily a bad think if you have the right personnel.

I think Bowen could be a great DC, he could be a terrible DC, or (more likely) he could be somewhere in between. I'm not going to criticize him or praise him until I see the product on the field over at least several games if not most or all of this season.

Quote from: Doc16LT56 on June 09, 2024, 11:56:51 AMDiana Taurasi is the women's version of Jordan/Kobe. Arguably the greatest woman basketball player ever. I'm biased as a UConn fan, but I'd rather watch Taurasi in her final Olympics appearance than Clark who is more hype and potential at this point. If you want to beat the champ, you have to knock out the champ. Don't depend on winning a close decision. Clark has more work to do to establish herself as one of the greats in my opinion. I'm confident she will be one of the best players on the next Olympics team in 4 years but she's not there yet.

I will admit right now I don't watch WNBA games or follow the players that closely. I have watched some though, and I have watched Clark play (both in college and the WNBA), and I have come away impressed pretty much every time.

If you follow the league closely I will readily defer to your knowledge. I do not. FWIW, I do follow the NBA closely and used to follow men's college basketball closely, plus I played in my younger days, so I have a reasonable understanding of the game in general including the various performance metrics (ie stats). Looking at what Clark has done so far versus her peers, it seems to me she is among the top echelon of WNBA players, and she hasn't even played a full rookie season yet, so she is likely to only keep improving, even in the very near term.

If this decision was based entirely on merit and it's able to be backed up by hard facts, then that is of course fine. There are plenty of knowledgeable people out there about women's basketball, including Lisa Leslie (as one example), who do not agree with that stance though. At the bare minimum it seems it's up for fair debate.

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 11:23:09 AMI cannot find that article but tcheck this out-

It's also hard to imagine her slow start to the WNBA season didn't impact the decision. Though Clark has experienced some highs — on Friday night, for instance, she became the first player in WNBA history with 200 points and 75 assists through her first 12 games — she also leads the WNBA with 67 turnovers — 29 more than any other player. Her 32.7 percent 3-point shooting clip is also lower than many expected. Still, in leaving Clark off the roster, the Olympic committee appears to be accepting lower television ratings than if Clark was on the team. — Ben Pickman

Yeah - her WNBA numbers so far have not been quite what her college numbers were, which were the best college numbers of all time (best scoring numbers for either gender). That doesn't mean she's not deserving of being on this team. Why is the 42 year old Taurisi a better pick for this team? Hell, is Brittany Greiner having a better WNBA year than Clark?

Quote from: MightyGiants on June 09, 2024, 10:30:47 AMThis is what it comes down to.  Do you select players who will raise the profile of woman's basketball or do you create the best possible team?

Are you sure they have done the latter?

One of the women who made it over Clark (Dana Taurasi) turns 42 on Tuesday and is behind/materially behind Clark in most statistical metrics. How is picking her over Clark creating the best possible team?

In my opinion, the decision to exclude Clark was the opposite of going with the best possible team. They're aware that Clark has caused envy and resentment among other players in the WNBA, and they want to placate those players rather than bringing in one of the best female players in the world who will both help the team win and spur major new interest in the sport.

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 09:20:45 AMshe is apparently struggling as a rookie in a women's league

As a 22 year old rookie, she's 13th in scoring per game, 4th in assists per game, 5th in rebounds per game among guards, and 16th in steals per game. Does that sound like a struggling player to you?

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 09:20:45 AMrank 134 out of 136 in Defense

By what metric? Please provide a source/link that states and explains this.

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 09:20:45 AMand only hitting 20 odd percent of her 3 pointers

This is simply a false statement. She is shooting 32.7% from three point range.

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 09:20:45 AMRight now she suffers from the from the Evan Neal syndrome
Great in College struggling in the Pros.

With due respect, this is a completely insane comparison. Clark has played well so far in the WNBA (see the above evidence I have posted). Neal has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster as a pro. Not to mention nobody cares about Neal outside of the Giants community. Clark is a national if not global phenom.

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 09:20:45 AMTo make matters worse she is being harassed

So you want to torment her further by unjustifiably excluding her from the Olympic team even though she deserves to be there on merit?

Quote from: BluesCruz on June 09, 2024, 09:20:45 AMRight now I saw she was ranked 7th out of all new players in the WNBA

Source/link please?

It feels like a colossal mistake to me.

For a while now, women have been unhappy with the lack of attention and coverage the WNBA (and women's basketball more broadly) has received which, they believe, has contributed directly to - if not outright caused - its clear lack of success as a league to this point. The league's abject lack of success is the singular reason for the low pay these players have received.

Now here comes along a game-changing, iconic figure who has ignited explosive, borderline obsessive national interest in this sport and puts thousands of extra fans in seats every night and has added millions of TV viewers. Like it or not, people flat out want to watch this young woman play. That is not even remotely up for debate.

Clark has received a lot of resentment from veteran players who feel that the degree of hype and attention she gets is not commensurate with her accomplishments as a professional to this point. There is clearly a racial component to that resentment, which I am not going to get into in this post due to the board's rules about political commentary.

In short, I can understand to a degree the frustration some of these players feel, but at the same time, you have a chance here to have your sport become way more in the spotlight, leading to you personally potentially making a lot more money. And yet after all the complaining about how the sport doesn't get enough attention, your response is to suppress this chance rather than run with it? I'm sorry, but that comes off as petty and frankly just foolish to me.

And by the way, I'm not suggesting putting a player on the Olympic team who is not worthy. The number one goal should be to win the gold, not boost ratings, and I am not suggesting otherwise. But it's not like Clark is just some novelty act who isn't deserving. She's in the top 15 in the WNBA scoring, top five in assists, and 16th in the league in steals as a brand new 22 year old rookie. She can clearly play. She should be there.

Huge missed opportunity in my opinion. I think they're making a major mistake.

Strands #98
"Way to grow!"
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🟡🔵💡🔵
🔵

Gotta like the confidence:


https://giantswire.usatoday.com/2024/06/09/bobby-okereke-says-new-york-giants-defense-is-just-going-to-take-over/?taid=6665832528268c000167fa4f&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

Connections
Puzzle #364
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦