Month: April 2006 (Page 19 of 20)

      Bills trade Moulds to Texans

      April 4, 2006 /

      Disgruntled WR Eric Moulds is on his way to Houston in exchange for what is believed to be a second-day draft choice (either a fourth or fifth round pick in this year’s draft).

      Moulds decided last week that he preferred to go to Houston instead of the Philadelphia Eagles. He worked out a contractual agreement with the Texans and then awaited the trade.

      “I knew Andre Johnson and always wanted to play with him,” Moulds said Tuesday. “He’s an up and coming receiver, and I felt like the team is on a rise. This is a chance to start new, and an opportunity to play close to home where I grew up.”

      The Texans might be one of the most improved teams next season. With the addition of Moulds, they have a formidable WR to play alongside Johnson. Throw in Reggie Bush and Domanick Davis and you have an offense that has lots of talent at the skill positions. The offensive line and the defense have been questionable since the franchise was created, but if they are able to improve both units through the draft and free agency, they have a shot at cracking eight wins next season.

      NFL

      Gone Gator?

      April 4, 2006 /

      On the heels of a tremendous tournament performance, Joakim Noah might be on his way to the pros. ESPN’s Chad Ford discusses the NBA stock of the major players in the Final Four [Insider subscription required].

      He says that Noah, along with Al Horford and Corey Brewer, would be lottery picks, if they declare.

      Noah did a little of everything in the tournament — scored both inside and out, blocked shots at a record pace, crashed the glass on both ends, handled the ball on the break, made passes only point guards are supposed to know how to make.

      Scouts worry about his lack of strength and relatively raw skills on the offensive end. But those concerns pale in comparison to his upside. Noah has been fairly adamant that he’s returning to school. But now that he’s won a championship and is a virtual lock as a top-five pick, our guess is that he’s in the NBA next year.

      Noah had a great tournament, but I worry about his lack of a 15-foot jumper. If he’s going to play power forward in the pros, he’ll need to develop that quickly. Right now, he looks lost when he faces up to shoot from outside the lane.

      Ford goes on to say that, of the three, Horford would benefit the most from another year in school. Brewer is projected to be a late lottery pick to a mid-first round pick, but if Noah and Horford both jet, Brewer might join them.

      NBA

      Florida dominates

      April 3, 2006 /

      Florida rode excellent defense and good shooting to a 73-57 win over the UCLA bruins. Florida’s attack was balanced with four players in double digits along with Adrian Moss’ nine-point contribution off the Gator bench. Florida coach (and maybe the most well-groomed man in the country) Billy Donovan became the second-youngest coach (Bobby Knight, 35) at 40 years of age to win the National Championship.

      The Gators controlled the first half, forcing and capitalizing on eight UCLA turnovers en route to a 36-25 halftime lead. UCLA made the mistake of playing Florida’s game, pushing the ball when they should have been walking it up. Corey Brewer had a big first half, scoring seven points but, more importantly, he shut down UCLA’s leading scorer, Arron Afflalo. Joakim Noah broke the title game record of block shots with five in the first half, a prediction that CBS’ Billy Packer made at the beginning of the game. Packer never misses an opportunity to point out when he’s right, but with Noah coming into the game averaging over four blocks per tournament game, Billy is hardly Nostradamus. Jordan Farmar led all scorers with 12 points in the half, carrying UCLA’s offensive load and keeping the Bruins within striking distance.

      UCLA needed to get off to a good start in the second half, but Florida drained three early shots from behind the arc to give the Gators an 18-point lead that was too deep a hole for the Bruins to dig out of. UCLA cut the lead to 12 with 5:52 to play, but were never able to close the gap further. Brewer continued to harrass Afflalo, who managed just 10 points on 3-10 shooting. But it was Joakim Noah who won the Final Four MVP, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a NCAA Championship record six blocked shots.

      All in all, it was a rather anti-climactic Final Four after the previous weekends were maybe the most exciting of any tournament in history. That had a lot to do with Florida, who proved that they were playing ball at the highest level in the country.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      First round rumors

      April 3, 2006 /

      Over at ESPN.com’s Insider (subscription required), Mel Kiper has some thoughts on the early picks:

      It looks like the Houston Texans will take USC running back Reggie Bush with the No. 1 overall pick. The hottest spot in the draft to make a trade will be with the New Orleans Saints and the second pick. The only team the Saints could make a trade with — and still get defensive end Mario Williams — is the New York Jets. New York could trade up from the fourth overall pick and take USC QB Matt Leinart. Tennessee, which has the third pick, would then take Texas QB Vince Young. From what I have been told, the Titans have a very high opinion of Young.

      This should be a fun draft. Vince Young is the wild card. It will be very interesting to see who takes a chance on him.

      NFL, NFL Draft

      Top 4 seeds in East are set

      April 3, 2006 /

      Sure, New Jersey could catch Miami and take over the #2 seed in the East, but the Heat have a 3.5 game lead with nine games to play, so unless Miami takes a dump, they’ll keep the #2 slot. The Nets and Cavs are both streaking, winning 12 and eight straight, respectively. Cleveland is in a similar position as Dallas in the West, even if they finish third in the conference, they’re still looking at the #4 seed and a potential second round matchup with division rival Detroit.

      Washington and Milwaukee are battling for the fifth seed, with the Bucks trailing the Wizards by just a half game. Washington is 2-1 against the Cavs and 1-2 against New Jersey, so they’d probably rather play Cleveland. The Bucks are 1-2 against the Nets and 1-3 against the Cavs, so there’s no advantage for them to play one team or the other.

      In the end, it’s not just looking like a Detroit/Miami battle in the Conference Finals. With New Jersey and Cleveland playing so well, we should be treated to some really good games in the potential Pistons/Cavs and Heat/Nets matchups.

      NBA

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