I checked out some random basketball team’s site to see the hype over whatever new player(s) they acquire. One thing lead to another….. And next thing you know, I’m checking out every team’s site to see what they’re offering at this juncture of the offseason. Time to depart….
I had to get out of Sacramento, where they’re resorting to an image of Lebron, D-Wade, and Bosh. I was hoping for some more hype about Demarcus Cousins, or maybe even more Tyreke. Instead, they’re trying to get people to sign up and buy the “Lebron Quarter Season” package…..
First stop will be the Golden State Warriors. Naturally, the main billboard is “Warriors Acquire David Lee,” and I’ve got to admit the interview with Lee sort of made me a believer. The trade seemed a little lopsided, but once I remembered they’ll still have Curry, Monta, and Biedrins playing with Lee, I’ll be alright.
I guess it’s better that they take the high road and not even acknowledge it, but the Lakers were the one team I was hoping would have something up about Miami. Something like a big graphic saying “We Still Have Kobe” with five championship trophies behind him. Instead it’s business as usual…. Oh yeah, the Clippers are here too. Ah, seems as though they’ve picked up Ryan Gomes and Randy Foye. *yawn*
Time to head east on the 10 and see how Phoenix is holding up without Amare. They have a nice Thank You on there for him, but it’s okay because We locked up Channing Frye for five years!!!”
Not much going on in San Antonio (as usual), Houston, or New Orleans, so we’ll veer north toward Dallas and Oklahoma City. Dallas is, not surprisingly, all about keeping Dirk. Only problem is, didn’t they already? Someone update the site! Meanwhile, in OKC, there’s an Anti-Lebron being born. Kevin Durant basically proposed to the Thunder franchise and the state of Oklahoma. The honeymoon is in full force….
It’s true. The title Kobe Bryant held for so long has been snatched out from underneath him. Long considered the spoiled brat of the NBA, Kobe may very well be sitting back watching Lebron get ripped by every fan, franchise, and media outlet in the nation, smiling uncontrollably. I know I would be. See, Kobe grew out of the bad boy stage a couple years ago. Somewhere, he realized he didn’t need to be a villain. Moreover, in order to be regarded with the Jordans, Magics, and Birds, he needed to be liked. I’m not saying he changed his personality, but he simply became tolerable. Many still hate him, but not as passionately as they used to. I actually came around a lot earlier than most. I think it was a combination of going to college with his cousin and the Kings fall from contention and no longer having to deal with him in the big moments. What really did it for me was that Kobe simply is THAT GOOD. I was a damn good swimmer all through high school, and somewhere along the line, I realized you had to KNOW you were that good to BE that good. That’s all Kobe was doing. You need your opposition to believe that they can’t beat you. Kobe has mastered this. Up until now, Kobe was the bad guy and Lebron was the good guy.
Not so anymore. Lebron James was a man among boys ever since he was in high school. Grown ass men were looking up to him because he seemed to have the world in the palm of his hands. Thursday night ended up being the biggest heel turn – to put it in WWF terms – the NBA has ever seen. It was almost as if Lebron ripped off his Cavs jersey to reveal an NWO shirt underneath. Now, it’s not like the Heat are a hated franchise or anything. They’re not the Lakers or the Knicks or even the Celtics. Had he gone to the Knicks, which was highly speculated, it would’ve been fine because it would’ve been HIS team. Instead, he goes and joins D-Wade’s team. Even if he wins a championship, it won’t be his. But clearly he doesn’t care about it. I don’t know if I’m going to hate the Heat as much as I’m going to root for the Cavs. Even though Cleveland is widely regarded as one of America’s shitholes…. the Mistake by the Lake, if you will…. I grew up during the Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, Craig Ehlo era. They were a solid franchise when I was young. They’re not really a poor hapless franchise like, say, the Sacramento Kings or Golden State Warriors, in my book. But on one fateful night, the Cavs became the biggest underdogs the NBA has ever seen. Can anyone really root against them? I mean sure, Daniel Gibson could go away and no one would miss him. But Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams deserve better. I was never much of a Dan Gilbert fan, and as much as he may have been going a little overboard, I am now. I avoided “The Decision” at all costs, but I’ll definitely be tuning in for Lebron’s first game back in Cleveland as a flamer. You can take that to the bank.
I wanted to post these yesterday, before Lebron made his decision…. but I guess I didn’t want to make it look like I was rooting for him to go elsewhere. Sure, the thought of a superstar going to a new team is always exciting, but I was hoping Lebron would be one of those One Team guys. Now that he’s one of those kids who transfers to another school district to play for a better program, I might as well revisit the “Hastily Made Tourism Videos” all about Cleveland. Because honestly, I hope they get some good players there. Maybe these videos will help. After all, at least it’s not Detroit! Scratch that…. I’d take Detroit over Cleveland. I guess the only place less enticing would be Oklahoma City.
Well, I just posted about David Lee’s jump to the Warriors, so I may as well dedicate today as Lee day, and talk about the Rangers acquisition of Cliff Lee. The Rangers are already 5 1/2 games up on the competition in the standings, and the Angels continue to slide, losing four in a row, and seven of their last ten without their main man Kendry. The power in the west shifted even more today, as Texas acquired Cliff Lee from Seattle for Justin Smoak (2008 first round pick), and four other minor leaguers. The Cliff Lee sweepstakes took a surprising turn when pretty much everyone had him going to the Yankees earlier today. He instead will be heading to Texas in a deal that had to make Nolan Ryan crack a smile. It’s a good move to do it now, so they can get an extra three or four starts out of him instead of waiting all the way to the trade deadline. As a rabid A’s fan, I’m not completely against making our current division leader better, because if there was a team I wanted to win outside of the A’s, it would be the Rangers. Maybe that’s why I picked them in our predictions at the beginning of the year. Their biggest weakness was pitching, and now they have a true ace of their staff that they’ve been missing for so many years. If they get back Rich Harden from the DL after the all-star break, and he is what he used to be with Oakland, they’d have a very solid top of the rotation with Lee, Harden, and Colby Lewis. They might get rocked here and there in the home run friendly confides of Arlington during the dog days of August, but all of these guys know how to pitch when healthy. Does this make the Rangers a contender to win it all? Most would say no, and I’d agree with that, but the way their offense is set up they can beat good pitching, and now acquired one of the best pitchers in the game that will surely give them a win every fifth night. As long as Ron Washington is there, I’ll be rooting for that club to do well, and with some pitching to back up that great offense this deal couldn’t have worked out better for them. Side note, it also feels good to be a Vlad supporter again after he spent so many years on the Angels.
I wonder if Spike is making a movie of David Lee's free agency experience?!?
Lost in the Lebronapalooza last night was a trade the Warriors made to acquire David Lee. It hasn’t gone through yet, but is supposed to later today. I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t really watched Lee play a whole lot. He was on the Knicks after all, and the Warriors have been more relevant in recent years than them somehow. We gave up Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azabuike, and Ronny Turiaf to get him. I think the Knicks got one hell of a deal on this sign and trade. It might be the first good deal they’ve made in awhile. I have very mixed emotions on the move since the Warriors always trade away their young potential guys, so we have to watch them flourish with their new team. I was VERY sad to see that the prospective new owners weren’t involved at all in this decision. It’s a tough one to swallow since Randolph is only 21, and although he’s turnover prone, gets overly emotional, and disappears at times, he is a fan favorite with limitless potential that anyone who watches him play can see. Plus he was only making $2M, Klenna was making about $3M, and Turiaf was only making about $4M. All are good players to give up that were very cheap to keep, and now we are left with a gaping hole at the 3, since Maggette already was shipped away now we gave up Buike. Are we going to roll with Reggie Williams at the 3? Maybe, and I was pretty high on him last year, but not really in the starting lineup. I was thinking he’d be a solid back up to Buike. It’s probably a fitting way to end the Cohan era, one more guy we lose that will possibly be a mega star in the league given away for a big contract that isn’t coming off the books for awhile that may or may not work out. Most of the players on the Warriors seemed shocked by the trade, but gave us the ol’ quote that “this is a business”. I hope this move wasn’t to try and raise the value of the team, because I don’t see it making the franchise worth more. Since last year was a lost season due to the record number of injuries they suffered, and since they are one of the youngest teams in the league it might have been made hastily. I personally wanted to see this team together for all of next year, and wanted to figure out what this squad had playing with a remotely healthy group for a whole year before we blew them up. We don’t even know what our big guys can and can’t do since they never really played together for an extended period of time, and weren’t healthy for 90% of the season last year. Our PF and C for the last two months were from the D-Leagues, so who even knows if they are good or not the way they were constructed. Continue reading
Didn’t pay much attention to the NBA free agency bonanza over the three day weekend (or sports for that matter), but caught up the last couple days on the rumor mill, and it sounds like all the rumors that were swirling on Friday, sound just about the same as they do today. Maybe there’s a little more of the I think so and so is leaning towards staying/going here, but nobody’s opinion is truly relevant, since nobody knows what factors are in play for these guys in making their final decisions so rumors will continue.There was one big commitment over the weekend with Amare Stoudemire agreeing to a five year $100M contract with the Knicks. I think it’s good for the guy, he wasn’t going to get a max deal in Phoenix, so why not go where someone that is willing to dish out the cash! He might not be exactly what they were hoping for, and as MCeezy said, they still aren’t relevant without another big player, but he is as worthy as anyone for a max offer. He’ll probably hold his fantasy value rejoining the anti-defensive D’antoni coached team. They might actually come out of this free agency period a winner depending on what else they get. I’m not going to say I think this was the greatest signing, but it’s far from a bad one as some would have you believe. If he somehow recruits another superstar, then he would be an all-time Knicks without even stepping on the court. It was much better than signing Joe Johnson or Rudy Gay to the “max” deals. I’m starting to wonder where Boozer will land since there are really no rumors about him. I do like the ring of Boozer’s Vodka if he ends up on the Nets. D-Wade and Chris Bosh are going to team up in Miami, just as I predicted. It’s tough to tell how much of a supporting cast they can have with only four players (Chalmers and Beasley) on the roster, but if they really don’t care about the money that much, maybe they’ll be able to bring in another big name.
I found the rumor of Carmelo waiting it out until next year’s free agency to go join Amare in New York as a laughable scenario. Does Melo even really have a choice on waiting it out with the lockout scheduled for next year? He could’ve been part of this free agent frenzy, but chose to take the extra year and some extra cash instead of opening up his 2010 summer. The Baltimore native has lived the rough life, so I don’t see him passing up any guaranteed money. Could he really pass on an extension that would guarantee him close to $20M per year for the next three? I’ll say no. The way money is flying around this summer is going to get even crazier after Lebron makes his choice tomorrow. You may think it already has with contracts like Amir Johnson (5 years $34M), Darko Milicic (4 years $20M), Drew Gooden (4 years $39M), but this summer there will be even more of those unfathomable numbers for guys that are at best bench players, especially if all these big free agents end up staying put. There’s a lot of teams waaay under the cap that were hoping to lure a Lebron or Wade to their city, but all these potential suitors forgot one thing, what if they don’t want to leave and want the extra $20-30M guaranteed that these guys can have tacked onto the last year of their contract in their current cities. So in essence, some teams will be overpaying for guys this summer that aren’t going to change a franchise into an instant contender. I’m thinking Richard Jefferson, Luis Scola, Raymond Felton, and Ray Allen will all eventually get some ridiculous money thrown their way from teams that are desperate to make a splash. They are good, but should only be additions to an already good team not THE addition that makes them a team. Continue reading
We’re six days into the Free Agent period, and most of the big names have yet to choose their destination for the upcoming season. However, a few guys have made their choices, and here I’ll break down what it means for the teams/players involved….
Amare Stoudamire to the Knicks for 5 years, $100 million: Stoudemire is the biggest name so far to land with a new team. No doubt it shores up the middle for the Knicks, and gives them a new star player, but what will it mean on the court? If they fail to re-sign David Lee, then it’s a wash. Not that Amare isn’t an upgrade over Lee, but his addition alone won’t get the Knicks over the .500 mark, or relevant for that matter.
Joe Johnson Re-Signs with the Hawks for 6 years, $119 million: No one really expected JJ to jump ship, although I predicted he’d be lured away by the bright lights of NYC. But Johnson’s staying put keeps Atlanta’s nucleus intact for years to come. They still need to add some inside presence, but the Hawks won’t need to transition into all out rebuilding mode. With the Celtics getting nothing but older, Atlanta can now dedicate itself to competing for the Eastern Conference title for the duration of Johnson’s contract.
I’ve had numerous friends over the past month or so ask me about the Warriors sale, and what I thought their plans were going to be for the upcoming free agent bonanza that started today. The answer keeps being “not a whole lot” for both questions. I wanted to get up a post on something related to the sale for awhile now, and haven’t had anything really worthy of reporting to our awesome readers. Unfortunately, the sale process has been about as fast moving as the whole Cohan era, and nothing is going to happen sooner than expected. We originally thought there was a chance that we’d have a new owner in place by July, but now it sounds like we are going to have to wait at least until mid to late August to find out who will try to bring us out of our 15 year misery. As far as the free agency thing goes, we are pretty much going to avoid any possible moves that would make the team better in an effort to end the Cohan era in rightfully disappointing fashion. I guess I didn’t really expect them to do much since most of their money is tied up, but they do have a nice bargaining chip in Monta Ellis to obtain a player that wants to play alongside Curry. I actually don’t care what they do until they have a new owner that WILL clean house. I prey that new owner doesn’t trade away my mancrush, Curry. My dream scenario that I doubt would ever happen, but may as well throw it out there is; Ellis, Biendris (throw in a first round pick) for Gasol and Gay (if Gay goes for the sign and trade since he’s a restricted free agent). This will never happen, and at this point the fans are the only true asset to this franchise, and if possible, Cohan would’ve traded us for cash to the Lakers long ago.
Now, to the sale of the team. From what I’ve read, the nonbinding bid round is over. I wasn’t a fan of this non-binding bid thing, I mean, if I wanted to write $400M on a piece of paper with my name on it, and had sent it to them, that would’ve counted as a bid, which is why I think they had twenty or so bids during that first round. Now that we’ve passed the opening stages, the Warriors have opened up their books for the top four potential owners to look at, and evaluate. I believe all the groups have actually visited Roaracle and taken a tour the facilities. Now that the bidders have seen the books and facilities, they are now submitting binding bids. If there are two close to eachother, I’m sure Cohan will allow those two to punch it out, so he can get his top $ for the team. Here are the top four bidders in the mix, and I have to say I’m heavily rooting for the first two over the last two. Continue reading
By now I’m sure you’ve heard about Tiger’s record divorce settlement that rewarded his now ex-wife Elin, around $750 million, and is the largest ever dolled out by any athlete. I have to say I think Tiger should’ve listened to Eddie. I don’t know a friend or college student that hasn’t watched Eddie Murphy’s bid at one of the best all time standup routines ever in Raw. His breakdown of marriage and divorce for celebrities is something every celebrity and superstar should learn from. Maybe Tiger was hitting the books too hard at Stanford to have time to watch something that would make him smile. Apparently that was his big loss. He was married in 2004 well after the Tiger slam, and he was on top of the world rolling in money and endorsements. Why wouldn’t he have gotten a prenup knowing his thirst for women was so strong?!? Oh well, live and learn I guess… I’m sure he’ll return to billionaire form before you know it. Now that he’s got a clear mind and conscious, maybe he will start dominating again on the course, and show us FU mode once again. One thing I’d like to see is D-Wade and Tiger throw a big singles party somewhere in Florida. Maybe even at that $80 million Jupiter house that Tiger refused to give to Elin in the settlement!
Baltimore, MD – Adam Jones is having another solid night, and Coco Crisp continued his hot hitting by jacking a go ahead three-run homer, but the Stat of the Night goes to Mark Ellis. The A’s 2B stole fourth base tonight, according to Yahoo…. (Perhaps it’s been referred to as fourth base since the dawn of baseball and I’ve missed it this whole time
Base Running
SB – M Ellis (3, 4th base off K Millwood/M Wieters).
Who says money buys you championships!?! Oh yeah, the Yankees, well, there’s two teams that I never would’ve thought would be in first at any point this season let alone in there at the end of June. The Padres and Reds are both in the bottom third of payrolls, and have been pleasant surprises. I doubt anyone outside of their own fan bases would’ve thought either team would be in the hunt when the season started. Okay, maybe a couple people picked the Reds, but were they really confident about those picks? I actually didn’t even expect either of them to be above .500 outside of April, which is why I’ve been so intrigued with their rises out of seemingly nowhere. Every year we have at least one team making the playoffs that didn’t make it the previous year. The way we are heading right now we could see five or six teams make it in that weren’t in the playoffs last year. I feel like we are all waiting for them to fade, and just like Tampa Bay in 2008 we will wait and assume that collapse is coming. Can they prove us all wrong? Maybe. Although I’m not an NL guy, I’ve come to appreciate these two teams for showing me that there are multiple ways to get it done without spending like a billionaire. They both have executed their respective game plans to perfection playing within their means, and sticking to what they are good at to get to the top of their divisions. Sadly only one of these teams will be able to improve at the trade deadline, and I’m preying that the other one doesn’t sell off their stock just to lower the amount going to the ex-wife. Continue reading
It’s been reported once again by ESPN that the free agent summit was in full effect. This time it reportedly has taken place over the past weekend with Lebron, D-Wade, and Bosh all connecting in Miami (to read the whole groundbreaking article click here). I guess this is news. I’m sure they got a lot accomplished. I mean, do these guys really even know what teams will offer them? They probably generally know about what each team can offer them, but won’t know officially until they go and visit the teams on or after July 1st. I find it funny that this whole meeting is being covered so heavily, it must be really slow in the sports world. I like what Chris Broussard and Marc Stein came up with as their conclusions in this article. They reported that Lebron is interested in joining Miami, and so is Chris Bosh, shocking I know. They also reported that Bosh and Lebron could go to Chicago… you don’t say, I haven’t even heard that scenario! Oh wait a minute, they also said that Lebron could stay in Cleveland. Wholly crap this is groundbreaking stuff guys! They also said that Wade has meeting scheduled with the Nets and Knicks, wholly crap, I think all the top free agents have meeting with those two teams! It sounds like they accomplished a lot over the weekend having this trio of stars meet up in Miami. I mean seriously, what could they have talked about. Hey guys, who wants to take less money so all three of us can play together? Nobody, okay, so which two of us get to play together? Oh, I guess we can’t really make that decision either without knowing what contracts these teams want to give us… Good talk guys hopefully one of you picks the same team as me! Honestly, why did they even need to meet up? Why not just jump on a conference call or skype it? This whole summit idea grinds my gears! Maybe not so much that the players met, but the fact that it has to dominate the newswires today.
We already made a list of the top free agents of 2010, and now we give you the predictions on where we think some of the best players in the NBA will end up. Even though none of the players even know where they are going, we will still try to predict where we think they will go in the super hyped July free agent frenzy.
LeBron James
Cali4Dre: NY Knicks, where the lights shine brightest and the team has been prostituting itself to him for 5 years now
Chappy: NJ Nets, He decides to learn from the self made billionaire how to become a billionaire himself. He gets his global icon status without winning a championship and has some premium Russian vodka named after him.
By: Oddly enough, I believe the two biggest names will stay put. The Cavs are most certainly going to deal Desperado West, and all will be well in Cleveland once again.
MCeezy: Nowhere. I think Lebron’s full of shit. He’s just gonna milk the Cavs for all they’re worth, but he’s gonna have one last fling (or six or seven) visiting other teams – just to see what they would give him. I think the whole “play your whole career for one team” will prove too much for the King to leave his castle. (That one team is also his home town to boot) Cavs season ticket reps can breathe easy.
Dwyane Wade
Cali4Dre: Chicago, home sweet home for “fall down once, get up twice”
Chappy: Miami, he seems to really like south beach, and from what I can tell, he’s the only one that really wants to stay and bring in a new buddy.
By: Wade being the other of the two “big-big names” – I believe he stays in South Beach. Miami will deliver on their commitment to pairing him up with another All-Star.
MCeezy: Chicago. I think this is more what I’d like to see than what will happen though. I’m sure Wade would love to go back home and the run the show in Chicago, but I just can’t see him running with Derrick Rose. I think in the end, Miami will just have more to offer.
Chris Bosh
Cali4Dre: Chicago, already sounds sold and getting to know Oprah is at the bottom of his list
Chappy: Miami, Wade talks Bosh into moving to Florida, and is super pumped about the new Predators movie coming out…
By: Some say Miami, some say Chicago, one thing is for sure – goodbye Canada! Bosh has been reported saying he doesn’t want to become someone’s second fiddle, so Chicago with Joe Johnson looks good right now. I’d really like to see Bosh in a Warriors jersey though … wishful thinking.
MCeezy: Miami. For some reason, I can already see him in a Heat jersey. I think the front office sells D-Wade on bringing in another star, and Bosh seems to fit the bill.
Watching your team over the course of a weekend against a team whose lost 17 in a row on the road can certainly give one a false sense of excitement. The Athletics still remain double digit games back of the Texas Rangers, who’ve surged of late. But, the good news is with the All-Star break just around the corner, we know the A’s will have a representative. I’m not always a fan of the every team gets an All-Star, but more often than not it gets guys in that deserved it, but would’ve flown under the radar since their team was out of the pennant race. Very seldom do you see a guy make the All-Star team with underwhelming stats – Gil Meche from KC comes to mind. Today, though, I started thinking about who should get the All-Star nod from Oakland. Three guys come to mind…
Andrew Bailey, Closer – Bailey came out of nowhere last year and made the All-Star team, before finishing the year out as the AL Rookie of the Year. Now that Bailey’s on the map, he won’t get any gifts when it comes to All-Star selections. But he does have the numbers to back it up. His Saves aren’t mind-blowing, due in large part to playing for a losing team, but he’s one of only two AL pitchers with 30+ IP and a sub-2.00 ERA. (Jose Valverde is the other)
Kurt Suzuki, Catcher – Suzuki seems to garner a little All-Star attention each year now, but never really reaches the ranks of catchers like Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez. Although Martinez’s broken thumb this afternoon might affect some things. His numbers are modest: .264 avg, 10 HR, 32 RBI, but anyone who follows the A’s knows he deserves the honor. Though he wasn’t behind the plate for Dallas Braden’s perfect game, he’s managed the A’s pitching staff for the last three season, and I’d be willing to bet any of those pitchers would credit Suzuki for some of their success. He also has been the one to come up with all the clutch hits for the team lately; his 8th inning solo HR today gave the A’s a 3-2 win over the Pirates. I don’t see him getting the nod at catcher, simply because any manager would probably think Posada before Suzuki. Perhaps if he didn’t miss upwards of 20 games this season his power numbers would stand out a little more.
Trevor Cahill, Pitcher – After Saturday night’s 7.2 inning, 2 hit shutout performance, Cahill is definitely my pick right now. He’ll have another start, I think, before the votes are cast, and if he can get to 8-2, despite missing the first month of the season, his numbers should get him noticed. He currently ranks 8th among AL pitchers in ERA with a solid 1.88. His 1.08 WHIP and .213 BAA aren’t too shabby either. Those are good for 5th and 3rd in the AL, respectively. It’s too bad he was hurt to start the year, it’d be nice to see where he’d be at with four more starts. It’s too bad also that Brett Anderson’s been hurt this whole time, or we might be talking about him here as well.
It’s still Saturday night in my world, but anybody checkin out the blog right now is on Sunday morning mode in some fashion. What better excuse to throw up a little Lionel? I’d call myself a huge closet Lionel Richie fan, but it’s no secret. Let’s just hope I don’t regret passing up his concert on Thursday. I wanna be high…….sooooo high…….
I checked out some random basketball team’s site to see the hype over whatever new player(s) they acquire. One thing lead to another….. And next thing you know, I’m checking out every team’s site to see what they’re offering at this juncture of the offseason. Time to depart….
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 