The deadline for withdrawing from the draft is today, so we get to decide find out if Georgetown will be a final four contender next year, if Georgia Tech will have any hope of winning games, if Cal will threaten the big dogs in the Pac-10, and if Sean Singletary will be first-team All-ACC twice in a row.
Top pitching prospect Yovani Gallardo makes his debut for the Brewers. Scouts are comparing Gallardo to Fransisco Liriano from last year. Reports are he's got a mid-90s fastball and an absolutely devastating curve. More exciting for me is that I've got Gallardo on my strat-o-matic team (for those of you who not familiar with strat-o-matic, I'll probably write a post about my team a little later and explain it), and the faster my elite prospect gets me good starts, the better.
If you haven't seen it yet, go to ESPN.com and check out the video of Prince Fielder's inside the park home run. I don't think I've ever seen a centerfielder misjudge a ball that badly. Fielder, all 260 pounds of him, can't even slow down as he passes home and is still running when he hits the dugout. High comedy.
I'm not a big golf fan, but my friend pointed this out to me today. Tiger Woods is 12 for 12 on majors when he's leading going into the final day. Pretty impressive. However, he's never won one coming from behind on that final day. That's unbelievable to me. For all the hype that Tiger has gotten (deservedly), he's never made a final day comeback at a major.
You know, I thought it was a pretty well-acknowledged point that Tim Duncan is the greatest power forward of all time, but I've been amazed at how many people will vehemently argue that point. I might have to post about this soon.
I love statistics. I'm a basketball statistics nerd, and I've just gotten into it with baseball the last few years. It kills me that no one has come up with a decent defensive statistic in basketball. Blocks and steals are a poor indication of how good a defender somebody is. Hollinger over at ESPN has come up a slightly better statistic (points saved), but even that has huge holes in it. I'd love to see some sort of better defensive statistic. I also wonder why they plus/minus isn't a standard statistic for b-ball, it seems like it would be pretty useful.
Just on a random tangent, I was perusing Chad Ford's top 100 prospect list for the draft, and noticed that Glen Davis has been rising up that list. So, I clicked on Davis to see his profile, and the player similarity they mentioned was Oliver Miller. Now, I'm a big fan of Davis, but how are you a first rounder if your closest comparison is someone I've never heard of? (Just looked him up. Played for 6 different teams and averaged 7 and 5 for his 11 year career. meh)
My blog so far has been all about the NBA, but I promise, that will change. It just happens that there's nothing else exciting to blog about in the sports world right now. Anyway, with the season wrapped up, here are some final thoughts.
Cavs fans - Stop whining about officiating. Stop whining about how the league rigged things for the Spurs to win. You have absolutely no case. Everybody knew going in that you were going to lose, and you did. The only team that has a legitimate beef with the league is Phoenix, who got #### by a stupid rule. Just be happy you got to the finals and that you get to watch Lebron every night for the next 3 years.
Barring injury, the Spurs will be the prohibitive favorite again next year. It doesn't look like Phoenix is going to make a big move to improve since they're looking to cut costs, and the Mavericks are looking for all the world like a broken team in need of a change. The Spurs? They've got their big 3 locked up for 3 more years, and the only significant players they may lose this year are Oberto and Finley if they opt out of their deals (Finley won't, Oberto probably will). Parker and Ginobili continue to get better, Duncan is always brilliant, and they've got a few young players who have a lot of potential (James White, Jackie Butler).
I love the idea of this trade.
Z. Randolph to Chicago
#9 pick, sign&trade P.J. Brown, Chris Duhon to Portland.
Everybody wins here. Randolph immediately makes the Bulls the East favorite, as they add a legit 20-10 guy without giving up any of their talented young core. Ben Wallace is the perfect complement for Randolph becasue he covers his weaknesses, and the Bulls would have an actual low-post scoring threat. They'd be a legit title contender. Portland moves Randolph's huge contract and character problems, gets a pick they can use on a small forward to fill that hole (I love Thornton here) or Conley if he's still there. Brown is a good veteran mentor for Oden & Aldridge and Duhon is a solid backup at the point.
I love the way Portland has built through the draft, they're my team to watch over the offseason. If they made that trade, their young core could look like this.
PG - J. Jack SG - B. Roy SF - A. Thornton PF - L. Aldridge C - Oden Bench - M. Webster, C. Duhon, F. Jones, S. Rodriguez
That's a frighteningly good young core of players, especially on the defensive end. Jack is one of the league's better defenders at PG, Roy is no slouch, Thornton is the second coming of Shawn Marion, and Aldridge and Oden are both exceptional shot blockers. Not only that, but the LaFrentz deal comes off the books before any of those starters are up for resigning, and the Miles deal one year later. They could potentially have the cap room to keep this together for years. So keep an eye on Portland.
I know it's been said a lot already, but it's time for Detroit to rebuild. They're not going to win any more titles with that crew, and at best they're probably the 3rd best team in the conference next year. Don't prolong it Joe D., the early you start rebuilding, the faster you'll be cometitive again.
A team I like to surprise people next year is Milwaukee. They got hit hard with injuries last year, but there's a lot of talent on that team, certainly enough to contend in the East.
I know it won't happen, but how awesome would it be if Seattle resigned Lewis and just built the team as a run and gun, high-scoring offense revolving around Allen, Lewis, and Durant. I would love to see that team play, they'd be absolutely unguardable.
If Cleveland can't find a shooter this offseason to play with Lebron, it will be an absolute travesty.
If K.C. Jones is in the Hall of Fame, Robert Horry has to get in.
I think Duncan and Lebron battle it out as the frontrunners for the MVP trophy next year.
I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated in 2001 that was all about the new generation of players that was changing the face of the playoffs. The group of Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Tracy Mcgrady, Baron Davis, Kevin Garnett and the rest were entering the peak of their career and promising to give us compelling matchups for the rest of the decade. This was the dynamic group of players who would fill the void left by the Jordan generation, who were all either retired or soon to retire (Barkley, Stockton, Malone, Hardaway, Reggie, Pippen). Fast forward to now. We're on the other side of most of these players' prime years, and between injuries, dissappointing performances, and managerial incompetence, that generation has left us mostly dissappointed. The decade has been dominated by Shaq, the Pistons' team-oriented style, and the one star of this generation who has lived up to his billing, Tim Duncan. As the torch seems to be passing to the next wave of stars (Lebron, Wade, Melo, Parker, Bosh), its time to take a look at where there players stand in the grand scheme of things. What is the historical legacy of this group, which popularized jumping to the pros after 1 year or just straight out of high school.
In 1996, the NBA came out with a list of the 50 greatest players in its history. That was when most of these guys were just starting their careers. Of those 50, only Shaq is still an active player. So, the question is, who from this generation of players deserves a spot on that list? Keep in mind, we're not just talking about who's going to be in the Hall of Fame. We're talking about the best of the best, the guys who you're going to look back on in 20 years and be proud to tell your kids/grandkids, "yeah, I saw him play". The guys we choose have to be good enough to knock one of the guys on that list off. How will this generation be remembered? Who deserves to be called "the greatest"?
There should be absolutely no doubt about this one. He'll go down in history as the best power forward ever, and he's one of the two most dominant players of the decade. He's unarguably one of the top 50, and you can certainly make a case for him being top 10.
Along with Duncan, I think he's the only unarguable inclusion on this list. When taking into account the era that Wilt played in, Kobe might be the greatest pure scorer of all time. Whether you love him or hate him (there seems to be no middle ground), you have to be in awe of his brilliance. The most talented player in the league, bar none.
He will always be remembered for breaking open the HS to pro floodgates and for his landmark contract with the Wolves. The verdict is still out as to whether he will always be remembered as the guy who couldn't quite get it done. Regardless of whether or not Garnett ever does get his ring, he's still proven to be a remarkable basketball player. I'm willing to overlook his playoff struggles in light of his being the most versatile player ever to play the game. He's been stuck on a bad team for the past few years, but it wasn't long ago that we were debating whether he or Duncan was the better player.
I went back and forth on this one because I find it very hard to look at AI's career objectively. He's one of the most prolific scorers of all time, but he's certainly not the most efficient scorer ever to play. He's been criticized for his attitude towards practice and he's been criticized for the amount of shots he takes. However, he's one of the most competitive players in the game and plays completely without fear. To watch Iverson is to watch heart triumph over stature. At the end of the day, his amazing ability to score at a mere 6 feet tall and his playoff run where he nearly single-handedly carried the Sixers to the finals are enough for him to make the list.
On the Brink (likely Hall of Famers, but not top 50)
Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Steve Nash
Dirk Nowitzki
Nowitzki deserves a special note because I think that more than anyone, he has the potential to jump up this list. He's really just entered his prime as a player and has hit a turning point in his career after the first round loss to the Warriors this year. His place in history will be determined by how he responds to the accusations that he's a weak player.
