NBA- I considered making a D-League column for the Cavaliers but decided against it based solely on the fact that I’m not sure they would win games in the D-League either, so for the time being they remain in the NBA portion of this column until I can gauge what league to actually assign the Cavaliers to. On to the real news of the week, the Cavaliers did break (unfortunately) their twenty-six game losing streak by defeating the Clippers in overtime. I along with millions of other NBA fans was depressed to hear about this victory due to the fact I wanted the streak to continue until Sunday so Cleveland’s inability to win would face off with the Wizards inability to win on the road. The Clippers, always known for their losing ways, of course decided that they had had enough of the Cavaliers stealing the losing headlines and decided to drop the game in overtime. Following this monumental victory there was talk that the Cavaliers might be heading for a two game win streak but this talk was put out after the Wizards left Cleveland with their first road victory of the year. In probably the last Cleveland sports news for a very long, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert apparently text messaged Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo “to hang in there” in the midst of Michigan States recent basketball troubles. Why exactly is Dan Gilbert telling Izzo to hang in there? Did he not realize that the sports franchise that he owns was well on its way to tying the record for futility across all four major sports? Seems like a nice gesture and yes the Spartans have been struggling lately, but as of last glance ESPN still has the Spartans making the NCAA tournament so its not as if Izzo’s squad was doing something unthinkable such as losing twenty-six games. Now back to talking about teams that people actually care about. Not sure how many people actually care about the Jazz but their legendary coach Jerry Sloan retired. I had commented about two weeks ago about Deron Williams and his attitude after watching recent Jazz games and it appears that this was one of the factors that led to Sloan’s abrupt departure. Not blaming the whole thing on Williams but from all reports regarding the Jazz, it is clear that Williams and Sloan weren’t on the same page anymore. It really is sad to see one of the great coaches in the NBA retire in such fashion but I applaud Sloan for retiring when he thought that he felt he could no longer do his job. Not that this mattered at all to Sloan, but he departs basketball twenty-three wins shy of the all time record. The Jazz started off the season on a tear and looked like Western Conference contenders but recently have really been struggling, at this moment they are in the midst of a battle for one of the last slots in the West. Of course it wouldn’t be basketball without Carmelo Anthony trade talk and in this weeks edition a new team was added into the mix. The possibility of Melo playing for the Los Angeles Lakers was the hot talk of the week and the Lakers could be real contenders for his service if they wish to pursue this angle. The deal would be centered around Lakers big man Andrew Bynum heading to Denver in return for Melo heading to Los Angeles. My opinion on this trade has changed as the week has gone on and as of now I think that the Lakers should go for it. Anthony is a dynamic scorer and pairing him with Kobe Bryant would be a nightmare for opposing coaches. I don’t think Kobe, at this point in his career, can handle the wear and tear of being the primary scorer throughout the whole season and in recent games it has been made clear that he needs help in the scoring department. Pau Gasol should really just be given a ten game break so he can regain some his early season form. Side not Gasol might be my least favorite player to watch based on the fact that whenever there is a chance that there might be physical contact he yells. I half expect him to yell when he goes up for a wide-open jump shot but unfortunately this hasn’t happened yet. Anthony can obviously provide scoring help but it remains unclear if he would sign the extension that the Lakers would want him to sign upon getting traded. Andrew Bynum is great young player but if I’m the Lakers I’m willing to sacrifice him in this deal for a couple of reasons. The first reason is his injury history. While it doesn’t come close to matching the Frail Blazers Greg Oden’s injury history, Bynum isn’t known as the most durable player in the league. Second there’s the fact that Ron Artest is the Lakers starting three man right now. I have pondered what has happened to Artest in recent columns but still have no clue what has caused him to be in this funk (my moneys still on a new rap album) but as of right now he is killing the Lakers offensively. Watching the Lakers play the Magic on Sunday was brutal offensively for the Lakers and it didn’t help that they were playing four on five offensively due to Artest. Of course Artest still prevents value through his defense, but with him playing like he has been recently I’m not quite sure if this justifies his putrid offense. Then again the thought of Kevin Durant dropping fifty-five on Carmelo Anthony in a Laker jersey during the playoffs probably isn’t that exciting of a prospect for the Lakers. Lastly the Lakers window to compete for titles is closing pretty quickly and at best I would give them three more title contending years. You wouldn’t believe it because Kobe’s still putting up the stats but he’s up getting up there in years (32 to be exact). Kobe needs someone else to carry the scoring load with him and Gasol because right now there’s not really another consistent scoring threat for the Lakers. Bynum has shown flashes of this in recent weeks and I have no doubt that he’s going to be an All-Star center soon if he stays healthy, but I don’t think you can count on him as a reliable scoring option at this moment. He was pretty good against the Magic on Sunday, his length will always be a weapon for him on both ends of the court, but I would still give a Melo for Bynum trade the green light from the Lakers end. From the Nuggets end it’s a little tougher, but I’m not really to sure who they can get that would be better for Bynum right now. The Knicks keep trying to go ahead with a Danillo Gallinari package but that sounds about as exciting as watching the Cavaliers, and the Nets don’t appear to be that serious about this trade anymore. Of course Anthony had to make the situation even more confusing from the Nuggets side by stating that if he’s not traded he would be willing to entertain the notion of signing an extension in Denver. I’m not completely sure, but I believe this news was caused because Melo thought SportsCenter wasn’t giving him enough coverage in recent days. I still think there’s little chance that Melo signs the extension in Denver but you just never know so I could see the Nuggets trying to convince him to stay. I think this is a bad idea because Melo seems to desire playing on a bigger stage than Denver and if they don’t trade him they run the risk of winding up like the Raptors post Bosh and the Cavaliers post James (twenty-six games truly remarkable). Bynum is a promising prospect but as has been stated his injury history is worrisome, but if Bynum does stay healthy the Nuggets would have an interesting roster in a couple years. They have young talent at the guard positions; Afflalo, Lawson, and Smith, and adding a healthy Bynum would give them a legitimate post player as well. The only problem about this trade is I’m not exactly sure what else the Nuggets would be getting from the Lakers that could help them out. It’s not like the Lakers are going to provide you with a lottery pick in the first round and besides Bynum and Shannon Brown they don’t really have any exciting young talent. Still if it comes down to the deadline I would have to say that if I’m the Nuggets, the Laker deal is the best one currently on the table. In actual basketball news the Celtics beat the Heat for the third time on the year but unfortunately Paul Pierce didn’t issue any LeBron humorous tweets post game. This might be due to the fact that Pierce was a ghost out there tallying only one point on a zero for ten shooting display. I’m shocked at how the Celtics won this game due to the injury list that they were sporting and also the Garnett, Pierce, and Allen trio only racked up only thirty-three points. Rajon Rondo once again was the difference maker in logging a triple double while providing solid defense on LeBron throughout the game. The Celtics continue to show week in and week out that in my eyes they are the Eastern Conference favorites. They are facing some serious depth concerns with the number of injuries they have sustained but they keep on getting the W’s and if they can stay healthy heading into the postseason I like their chances to make it out of the Eastern Conference. Brief side note did anyone see that screen Wade had on Big Baby Davis during the final play? That was a legitimate NFL safety hit and I am baffled as to how this wasn’t a foul call. The Spurs continued to quietly roll through their schedule and the Blazers are on a nice streak thanks largely to schedule makers putting together a very soft February schedule.
NFL- The NFL finally entered the offseason and there really isn’t much to talk about except for the fact that a new labor agreement hasn’t been reached and it appears that there hasn’t really been too much progress made between both sides. NFL draft hype continues to build and Panther fans still are wondering how exactly Andrew Luck turned down the chance to be their quarterback. The Panther roster as currently constructed would also make me return to school for another year. I will get more in depth in the NFL draft coverage as we get closer but as of right now I’ll let Mel Kiper Jr. handle the draft duties. Parting shot to Jake Locker and his smart investment on returning to school this past year. From top ten pick to a possible third round draft choice is always a good investment no matter how you look at it.
NCAA Basketball- This isn’t really related to this season but I found it pretty interesting that the McDonalds All-American Game (highest regarded high-school all star game) for the second straight year won’t be taking any players from the state of California. I’m not quite too sure how this happens but these are the kind of things that make people believe in the East Coast bias. Of course if you are from California and commit to either Duke North Carolina or another Big East school you are automatically entered into the game. I don’t think they even watch tape of the players anymore they just fill the roster with players heading to big name colleges and hope the players can live up to the hype. Kyle Wiltjer from Jesuit High School in Oregon helps prove this and I’m sure the biggest reason that he made this game is due to his Kentucky commitment. I’ve seen Wiltjer play a couple of times in person and while he's a nice player I don’t think he's one of the top twenty five players in the country. Plus no one really wants to see a face up four playing in the game do they?
MLB- Baseball season starts in a couple days with pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. This is newsworthy just for the fact that the MLB will be a solid staple of these columns from now until baseball season ends, whenever that is. Then in surprising news I have determined that the Mariners will still suck besides Felix Hernandez. Seriously when the big news of the offseason is the signing of Jack Cust and Adam Kennedy why should I be at all excited especially when you managed to become the first team in modern history to lose more than one hundred games with a payroll of greater than one hundred million?
In news that relatively few of you care about the Wet Bandits were once again victorious. For those that didn’t watch the Wet Bandits (49) beat PhiPsiUno (42), you didn’t miss any posterizing dunks by me but you did miss your chance to watch us clinch a playoff berth. We won another ugly game based on one of two things, lockdown defense or the other teams inability to shoot (one or the other, I’m leaning towards the latter). Last week I theorized that PhiPsiUno was either a frat team or a math club and unfortunately or fortunately, really depends on how you look at it, they turned out to be neither and I am still left wondering if there is a team out there with a name that makes sense. Yours truly racked up nine points on a dazzling display that featured a three pointer along with a couple drives to the hoop. It’s rather safe to say after this performance that I will never be confused with Ray Allen again after giving a poor effort at the free throw line (2 for 5). Regardless we won in a game that I’m almost sure featured us shooting more air balls than makes from the three-point line.
In news that by my count no one cares about, my brother’s city league team was able to pull off a shocking one-point victory in the first round of the playoffs. I say that this is shocking news because apparently they actually had a fan show up to the game. This only made the column due to a brother request and once the story gets out I’m sure the fans will think more highly of me for this charity. My brother for those that were wondering tallied by his counts three points, like twenty five rebounds, and a couple blocks. For those not up to date with his lingo this translates to; three points on a three pointer that he probably banked in without meaning to, a hugely inflated five rebounds, and “blocks” that consisted of the other team losing the ball out of bounds.
The Week moving forward
NBA- All-Star weekend is this upcoming weekend and the big question is why is Blake Griffin in the dunk contest. A really shocking inclusion into the dunk contest based on the fact that he has no noteworthy dunks so far on the year. All-star weekend isn’t really that exciting and I don’t think I’ve watched the game in since Rasheed Wallace made it (Blazer pride) but the skills competition and dunk contest are always worth a look. I don’t think anyone expects Blake Griffin not to win the Dunk contest but I expect Demar Derozan (for the many that have never heard this name he plays for the Raptors) to throw down some crazy dunks as well. Also this week in the NBA the trade chatter will begin to reach deafening levels as the trade deadline draws closer and closer (2/24). What this really means is that there will be breaking news stating that major deals are in the works but somehow at the last second the deals fall through leaving everybody back at the beginning once again.
NFL- The owners and players will still disagree on just about everything that can be debated in their quest for a new CBA. Exciting times for sure.
MLB- Albert Pujols deadline on a contract extension expires this week and if the Cardinals fail to sign him to an extension he will test the free agent market next year. It is believed that Pujols is trying to get a contract that would pay him somewhere in the ballpark of thirty million annually. Pujols is the best hitter in the game right now but is anyone in the MLB really worth thirty million annually? This is the Cardinals were talking about, not the Yankees, thirty million is so much to spend on one player that I’m not sure the Cardinals can do this. In baseball you need at least ten solid field players (eight starters and two backups) and eight solid pitchers (five starters, two relievers, closer) to have a balanced squad. Obviously to be a competitive team you need star players mixed in but pledging thirty million to one player is an awful lot especially when you need money to spend on at least seventeen other “solid” players. I ultimately think that the Cardinals will figure out a contract for Mr. Pujols but I think it’s going to be tough to find good pieces that will fit around him. I’m really hoping that he signs just so I can go without an MLB season clouded with talk of where Pujols will end up.
Wet Bandits (-8) over The Tropics- In our final regular season game of the year (don’t worry there is no senior day seeing as we have no seniors) we take on the one win and three loss Tropics. Once again there is no tape available on the Tropics so I’m forced to make another blind guess at the point spread. There has been talk of the starters resting, due to the fact that we are already playoff bound, but for those that haven’t bought your tickets yet I think you can expect at least one half in which the starters, including me, play the majority of the minutes. Autograph session this week has been moved to Thursday.
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