Sporting News: C's targeting Griffin, will make major deal soon

[CoachBo]

RealGM is literally in flames right now. Horribly toxic environment there. I hate posting there, it's so negative and so evil, lol.

Side note (for those who believe Smitty): it seems he may stop posting there. Lots of users are attacking him there, and to make it worse, guys like Dan Lifshatz and our own Kevin O'Connor cited him recently and used the quotes that he had obtained  from his sources. I think it's very likely that at the end of all this, he unfortunately loses a few of his contacts. He already lost one earlier this week due to people posting it all over twitter.

Basically, RealGM is in a bad state right now.

Let it burn.  It's about time those fanboys overthrow their fake insiders and clean house.  I'm not sure how they've survived a decade of seeing these trolls post fake information without demanding a better moderation team.

Frankly, anyone who quoted these people in their articles should be ashamed.  It's worse than a tabloid.  It's "Weekly World News" level nonsense.

That said, maybe we trade for Blake tomorrow and these people take credit... despite the fact people like Bill Simmons have been saying for several months that Blake Griffin is the sleeper trade candidate.

You have no idea what you are talking about, as usual. I don't know why you have always been so salty that there are a few people on RealGM that have some legit contacts. Smitty works for RealGM (the actual website, and he's a mod) and went to two summer leagues (Orlando and Vegas). He's easily as legitimate as they come. Are his sources actually good, though? That's a different question all together. Why should anyone be ashamed for quoting a legitimate RealGM employee who attended NBA Summer Leagues as an employee? RealGM is a legitimate basketball website that has seen a couple writers go on to greater websites (see Shams Charania). 

There have been a few that came through and were obviously BS, and they've always been shunned off the board ASAP.

Good post. TP.

The issue with RealGM has always been posters, not people with legitimate information - which makes it no different than any other internet fan board.

RealGM is mainly an aggregate of information from other websites.  They just link to ESPN articles, for instance.  Because of the nature of that website, their forums are a cess pool of wannabe GM's.  For years, fans have pretended to have insider sources.   A lot of folks there are "respected" despite the fact they have repeatedly been proven to be frauds.  The fanboys who breathlessly digest their "info" attack anyone who attempts to discredit their beloved fake insiders. 

It is what it is.

It is what it is, right. And what it is, is not what you think it is. BfB is an actual professional scout, for example. Do you deny that?

Is that true? I didn't know that. Is he an active scout or he did it in the past?

Looks like he's still very active. I know his name, and he is still working and writing and scouting for DraftExpress. I'd rather not divulge his name here in case he prefers to remain low-key, but if you do some googling I'm pretty sure he's identified himself before.

Yeah, I agree. Member over there, but I don't post much. Just scan the boards looking for information from the three sources you've referenced - and one of them is Smitty.

Which, I am certain, will enrage the posters here who refuse to admit anyone could possibly know anything about the Celtics except Danny Ainge.

I believe Smitty, Bfb, and LFB are the actual insiders over there. They're legitimate media members. Smitty, for example, was credentialed and at SL for a week+. It's possible that his sources are wrong, but he does have sources.

It must be me. I don't read any of the three of them with the expectation they're going to be correct 100 percent of the time. In fact, this business doesn't afford anyone that opportunity, even though it apparently thrills the people who want to cry and moan about their failures to be accurate that 100 percent of the time.

[kozlodoev]

It must be me. I don't read any of the three of them with the expectation they're going to be correct 100 percent of the time. In fact, this business doesn't afford anyone that opportunity, even though it apparently thrills the people who want to cry and moan about their failures to be accurate that 100 percent of the time.

I feel like the bar for what is an insider has fallen kind of low these days. I'm sure Smitty can get an accreditation for SL and mingle with whoever is in the stands, and that's something. I am not so sure he can pick up the phone and call people in NBA offices for information.

[LarBrd33]

I'm looking for you to explain what you mean when you say "legitimate". It really isn't a complicated question.

I am looking for you to explain why you need me to do that. I want to know your intentions which you never made clear. It's not that complicated a question.

You could have just said you're not interested in this conversation and you would have saved both of us some bandwidth.

Then you shouldn't have said anything in the first place. Please tell me how the website isn't 'legitimate.'

I've got no idea what a "legitimate website" is, so I'm afraid I can't answer your question. Let's not go through that again.

Larbrd called it a tabloid (i.e. not legitimate). I called it legitimate. It's not that complicated to understand what was being said.

TP

Battle the negativity on this board.

There are to many "scoffers" on this board sometimes

Battle it all you want.  Bottom line is the Blake Griffin rumor is fake according to every credible writer I've seen waste time on it.   So don't pass out breathlessly waiting for a trade that is almost definitely not happening (at least not until closer to the deadline if it looks like Blake isn't returning).

These fake insiders have nothing to lose by posting about it on twitter.   The credible ones are going to look like fools if the trade goes down despite several days of them saying, "This rumor is fake... nothing is happening... it's made up". 

Also, still waiting for someone to share some proof that any of those oft-mentioned RealGM forum "insiders" have ever been right about anything.  I've personally seen LBF and BfB proven wrong about multiple things. 

[GratefulCs]

I'm looking for you to explain what you mean when you say "legitimate". It really isn't a complicated question.

I am looking for you to explain why you need me to do that. I want to know your intentions which you never made clear. It's not that complicated a question.

You could have just said you're not interested in this conversation and you would have saved both of us some bandwidth.

Then you shouldn't have said anything in the first place. Please tell me how the website isn't 'legitimate.'

I've got no idea what a "legitimate website" is, so I'm afraid I can't answer your question. Let's not go through that again.

Larbrd called it a tabloid (i.e. not legitimate). I called it legitimate. It's not that complicated to understand what was being said.

TP

Battle the negativity on this board.

There are to many "scoffers" on this board sometimes

Battle it all you want.  Bottom line is the Blake Griffin rumor is fake according to every credible writer I've seen waste time on it.   So don't pass out breathlessly waiting for a trade that is almost definitely not happening (at least not until closer to the deadline if it looks like Blake isn't returning).

These fake insiders have nothing to lose by posting about it on twitter.   The credible ones are going to look like fools if the trade goes down despite several days of them saying, "This rumor is fake... nothing is happening... it's made up". 

Also, still waiting for someone to share some proof that any of those oft-mentioned RealGM forum "insiders" have ever been right about anything.  I've personally seen LBF and BfB proven wrong about multiple things.

a healthy amount of skepticism is great to have

I don't believe every rumor i see


I don't think anyone does


There's going to be a lot of rumors swirling about as long as we have these brooklyn pick



Gonna be a wild year

[LarBrd33]

I'm looking for you to explain what you mean when you say "legitimate". It really isn't a complicated question.

I am looking for you to explain why you need me to do that. I want to know your intentions which you never made clear. It's not that complicated a question.

You could have just said you're not interested in this conversation and you would have saved both of us some bandwidth.

Then you shouldn't have said anything in the first place. Please tell me how the website isn't 'legitimate.'

I've got no idea what a "legitimate website" is, so I'm afraid I can't answer your question. Let's not go through that again.

Larbrd called it a tabloid (i.e. not legitimate). I called it legitimate. It's not that complicated to understand what was being said.

TP

Battle the negativity on this board.

There are to many "scoffers" on this board sometimes

Battle it all you want.  Bottom line is the Blake Griffin rumor is fake according to every credible writer I've seen waste time on it.   So don't pass out breathlessly waiting for a trade that is almost definitely not happening (at least not until closer to the deadline if it looks like Blake isn't returning).

These fake insiders have nothing to lose by posting about it on twitter.   The credible ones are going to look like fools if the trade goes down despite several days of them saying, "This rumor is fake... nothing is happening... it's made up". 

Also, still waiting for someone to share some proof that any of those oft-mentioned RealGM forum "insiders" have ever been right about anything.  I've personally seen LBF and BfB proven wrong about multiple things.

a healthy amount of skepticism is great to have.  I don't believe every rumor i see.  I don't think anyone does.  There's going to be a lot of rumors swirling about as long as we have these brooklyn pick.  Gonna be a wild year

Yes, and there's obvious guys who we can assume will be available.   Hayward's name is going to come up.  BLake's name is going to come up.  Westbrook's name is going to come up.  Basically anyone who is heading into free agency will theoretically be a trade candidate.  Cousins will always come up until he's moved.   The Philly bigs will always come up until that situation is resolved.   There's a lot of obvious rumors to guess. 

But the bottom line is that right now, every credible writer who has wasted time on the Blake Griffin rumor has soundly shot it down as being fake.  Multiple credible writers have no said that no discussions are taking place.  The San Diego thing has already been dis-proven as tabloid garbage.  It's a bad precedent to set to allow twitter trolls to create fake rumors that hold the fanbase captive.

That's the funny thing about being a twitter troll.  They show up out of nowhere with no backing or following.  The bar is set extremely low so literally anyone (including a 16 year old high schooler) can post "inside info" and the desperate fanbase will eat it up and give them 100s/1000s of twitter followers.   If they are proven wrong, everyone forgets about it in a week.  If they have a lucky guess, they get 100s/1000s more twitter followers.    Whereas, the "credible" writers who actually speak to NBA executives have their credibility on the line when they come out and back a rumor or say it's fake.  That's how you get memes like Broussard's "Sauces"... people don't take kindly to legitimate writers spreading nonsense.   This Blake Griffin trade would be a huge story if they were actually in the process of shopping him.  You'd think someone with credibility would be backing it and getting the page views - yet nobody is. 

[LarBrd33]

FYI, just heard Bill Simmons talk about the Blake Griffin rumor on his latest podcast from July 15th.  I'll save everyone the time.  Here's the discussion from the 21:36 mark:

Bill's Dad:  "All sorts of rumors up here in Boston about Blake Griff-"

Bill:  "--Naaaahh... it's all fake.  Don't believe any of that stuff"

Bill's Dad:  "It's all fake?  Ok"

Bill:  "Yeaaah... They're not - nothing's happening.  Nothing's happening"

Bill's Dad:  "Alright"

Bill:  "You'll be the first to know if that changes." 

[heyvik]

FYI, just heard Bill Simmons talk about the Blake Griffin rumor on his latest podcast from July 15th.  I'll save everyone the time.  Here's the discussion from the 21:36 mark:

Bill's Dad:  "All sorts of rumors up here in Boston about Blake Griff-"

Bill:  "--Naaaahh... it's all fake.  Don't believe any of that stuff"

Bill's Dad:  "It's all fake?  Ok"

Bill:  "Yeaaah... There not - nothing's happening.  Nothing's happening"

Bill's Dad:  "Alright"

Bill:  "You'll be the first to know if that changes."

TP...thank you..

[Ilikesports17]

FYI, just heard Bill Simmons talk about the Blake Griffin rumor on his latest podcast from July 15th.  I'll save everyone the time.  Here's the discussion from the 21:36 mark:

Bill's Dad:  "All sorts of rumors up here in Boston about Blake Griff-"

Bill:  "--Naaaahh... it's all fake.  Don't believe any of that stuff"

Bill's Dad:  "It's all fake?  Ok"

Bill:  "Yeaaah... They're not - nothing's happening.  Nothing's happening"

Bill's Dad:  "Alright"

Bill:  "You'll be the first to know if that changes."

As far as Im aware Bill Simmons is not an insider either.

[max215]

FYI, just heard Bill Simmons talk about the Blake Griffin rumor on his latest podcast from July 15th.  I'll save everyone the time.  Here's the discussion from the 21:36 mark:

Bill's Dad:  "All sorts of rumors up here in Boston about Blake Griff-"

Bill:  "--Naaaahh... it's all fake.  Don't believe any of that stuff"

Bill's Dad:  "It's all fake?  Ok"

Bill:  "Yeaaah... They're not - nothing's happening.  Nothing's happening"

Bill's Dad:  "Alright"

Bill:  "You'll be the first to know if that changes."

As far as Im aware Bill Simmons is not an insider either.

He's not a reporter, but he's connected and hears things.

[LarBrd33]

FYI, just heard Bill Simmons talk about the Blake Griffin rumor on his latest podcast from July 15th.  I'll save everyone the time.  Here's the discussion from the 21:36 mark:

Bill's Dad:  "All sorts of rumors up here in Boston about Blake Griff-"

Bill:  "--Naaaahh... it's all fake.  Don't believe any of that stuff"

Bill's Dad:  "It's all fake?  Ok"

Bill:  "Yeaaah... They're not - nothing's happening.  Nothing's happening"

Bill's Dad:  "Alright"

Bill:  "You'll be the first to know if that changes."

As far as Im aware Bill Simmons is not an insider either.

He's not a reporter, but he's connected and hears things.

Simmons is about as connected as it comes.  He knows everyone.  He's friends with all the major reporters.  He has owners on his podcast.  He knows tons of players.  He has friends within multiple organizations.  You could argue he's more of an "insider" than any single credible writer. 

He's also a diehard Celtic fan with Clippers season tickets and undoubtedly knows people within both orgs.  You'd think if anything is happening between those two teams, he'd have heard about it by now. 

[TwinTower14]

FYI, just heard Bill Simmons talk about the Blake Griffin rumor on his latest podcast from July 15th.  I'll save everyone the time.  Here's the discussion from the 21:36 mark:

Bill's Dad:  "All sorts of rumors up here in Boston about Blake Griff-"

Bill:  "--Naaaahh... it's all fake.  Don't believe any of that stuff"

Bill's Dad:  "It's all fake?  Ok"

Bill:  "Yeaaah... They're not - nothing's happening.  Nothing's happening"

Bill's Dad:  "Alright"

Bill:  "You'll be the first to know if that changes."

As far as Im aware Bill Simmons is not an insider either.

He's not a reporter, but he's connected and hears things.

Simmons is about as connected as it comes.  He knows everyone.  He's friends with all the major reporters.  He has owners on his podcast.  He knows tons of players.  He has friends within multiple organizations.  You could argue he's more of an "insider" than any single credible writer. 

He's also a diehard Celtic fan with Clippers season tickets.  You'd think if anything is happening between those two teams, he'd have heard about it by now.

Not as much as a cars salesman or a phone jockey....

[PaulP34]

Ignore every single rumor unless it comes from the Celtics brass. Don't get excited about a trade unless it happens. If ur gonna sit there n follow every single rumor on twitter then complain about who's a liable source and who's not, well, don't go looking for it. I have Yahoo Sports app n I don't get excited until the app pops up n says Celtics acquired _____! Stay away from rumors n only believe what Danny Ainge comes out n says. Save urself some aggravation.

[walker834]

I don't trust or believe any of these guys.   EVeryone has an agenda nowadays and not as much integrity as you think.  It's a shame if Ainge gets caught up in that.  Simmons is an idiot.  They all are.

[Dino Pitino]

It must be me. I don't read any of the three of them with the expectation they're going to be correct 100 percent of the time. In fact, this business doesn't afford anyone that opportunity, even though it apparently thrills the people who want to cry and moan about their failures to be accurate that 100 percent of the time.

I feel like the bar for what is an insider has fallen kind of low these days. I'm sure Smitty can get an accreditation for SL and mingle with whoever is in the stands, and that's something. I am not so sure he can pick up the phone and call people in NBA offices for information.

That's a fair guess. But the mingling seems to entail one-on-one conversations that are far less bull****y than anything a mere mingler in a crowd might hear. Maybe he can get people to open up a little more than most out of respect for his breadth and depth of knowledge. Again, I direct people to that epic cornucopia of tidbits I linked to above. It was like a one-man Hoops Rumors data dump. With verbatim quotes whose swears signal frankness. I defy anyone to impeach that. I dare anyone here to claim they know half as much about the league.

[Dino Pitino]

I'm looking for you to explain what you mean when you say "legitimate". It really isn't a complicated question.

I am looking for you to explain why you need me to do that. I want to know your intentions which you never made clear. It's not that complicated a question.

You could have just said you're not interested in this conversation and you would have saved both of us some bandwidth.

Then you shouldn't have said anything in the first place. Please tell me how the website isn't 'legitimate.'

I've got no idea what a "legitimate website" is, so I'm afraid I can't answer your question. Let's not go through that again.

Larbrd called it a tabloid (i.e. not legitimate). I called it legitimate. It's not that complicated to understand what was being said.

TP

Battle the negativity on this board.

There are to many "scoffers" on this board sometimes

Battle it all you want.  Bottom line is the Blake Griffin rumor is fake according to every credible writer I've seen waste time on it.   So don't pass out breathlessly waiting for a trade that is almost definitely not happening (at least not until closer to the deadline if it looks like Blake isn't returning).

These fake insiders have nothing to lose by posting about it on twitter.   The credible ones are going to look like fools if the trade goes down despite several days of them saying, "This rumor is fake... nothing is happening... it's made up". 

Also, still waiting for someone to share some proof that any of those oft-mentioned RealGM forum "insiders" have ever been right about anything.  I've personally seen LBF and BfB proven wrong about multiple things.

Falsification test:

Which NBA insiders have you seen not be proven wrong about multiple things?

p.s. As for Simmons, I can easily imagine there being a standing "No Leaks Are to Ever Make Their Way to Bill Simmons" order within both front offices, out of precaution for secrecy or out of resentment for him personally.