Month: March 2010 (Page 53 of 59)

      Evans on pace for 20-5-5 season

      March 3, 2010 /

      In his NBA Awards Watch, ESPN’s Maurice Brooks notes that Tyreke Evans is on pace to join LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson as the only first-year players to average 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in a season. (Note: Evans is actually averaging 20.5-4.9-5.4, but he averaged 5.8 rebounds in February, so if he keeps that up, he shouldn’t have any problem averaging five boards a game.)

      Unfortunately, this fine play has not translated to wins. The Kings have lost 25 of their last 32 games, and are now just 20-40 on the season.

      Still, it makes me wonder how a 2009 NBA Draft Re-Do would go. The last one I saw still had Blake Griffin going #1 with Evans going #2. Would the Clippers really pass on a player like Evans — who really could have been named to the All-Star Game in his rookie season — for Griffin, knowing that the former Sooner was going to miss his first year with a knee injury? Griffin still projects to be a star, but Evans is the proverbial “bird in the hand” at this point, isn’t he?

      In his ROY race, Brooks ranks Stephen Curry second (22-5-7 in Feb) and Darren Collison third (22-4-8 in Feb). Brandon Jennings (11-4-6, 31% shooting in Feb) has lost his touch and is ranked fourth. DeJuan Blair (11-5, 60% shooting in Feb) comes in fifth, but if Antonio McDyess misses any time with a sore knee, Blair should get some extra minutes.

      In my Top 10 Head Scratchers of the 2009 NBA Offseason, I wrote the following about Blair:

      10. Six teams pass on DeJuan Blair IN THE SECOND ROUND!
      When I first heard that there were concerns about Blair’s knees, I thought he might fall into the bottom third of the first round. Even if the guy is missing ligaments in his knees, he was still one of the best rebounders in all of college basketball last season and he ate up #2 pick Hasheem Thabeet in Connecticut. When Blair fell into the second round I was stunned as the Kings, Wizards, Blazers, Nuggets, Pistons and Grizzlies all passed on Blair. A second round pick doesn’t require the same kind of financial commitment as a first round pick, so there’s very little downside if the guy doesn’t pan out. Blair fell and fell, right into the inviting arms of the Spurs, who will be lucky to have him on the roster for the foreseeable future.

      Teams just could get their heads around the fact that Blair has no ACLs in his knees. While I sort of understand not wanting to commit first round money, it doesn’t make any sense for the aforementioned teams to pass on him in the second round, where there is very little financial investment. This goes double for the two “contenders” on that list — I’m looking at you Portland and Denver — who should be worried about the short term and not the long term impact of their second round picks. Blair would give the Nuggets some much needed toughness, and he’d sure help in Portland, where half the front line is out for the season with injury.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft

      China wants to know — will Yao Ming’s child be an American?

      March 3, 2010 /

      Can we expect Baby Yao to play for Team USA in 2032?

      The Houston Rockets center recently returned to the United States with wife Ye Li. That prompted speculation among his followers that the baby girl due this summer could be born in America.

      Chinese fans online have said that would be a betrayal of China — in part because it could deny the country a future star for the national team. Ye is also a basketball player, and stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall — still well short of Yao’s 7-6.

      I expect the parents will arrange for the baby to have Chinese citizenship, but that’s pure speculation. This is obviously a very big deal in China.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NBA

      Jury convicts Becker in murder of Iowa HS football coach Ed Thomas

      March 3, 2010 /

      A jury found Mark Becker guilty of murder in the shooting of Ed Thomas, who was a well-known high school football coach in Iowa.

      From ESPN.com:

      Becker, 24, had explained to psychiatrists that after months of torment, he shot Thomas at least six times in the makeshift high school weight room, then kicked his body before walking away.

      Jurors deliberated more than 24 hours over five days before convicting Becker of first-degree murder, rejecting his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The guilty verdict carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

      Defense psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, of Cleveland, said Becker believed Satan had possessed Thomas and that he was doing the community a favor — and freeing Parkersburg’s children — by killing the coach.

      Resnick and others who interviewed Becker about his mental status said Becker suffered from such intense delusions that he incorrectly believed Thomas and the members of Becker’s old football team were sexually assaulting him, and that Thomas was trying to make Becker into a “sex slave.”

      Maryland-based psychiatrist Michael Spodak, testifying for the prosecution, agreed Becker suffered from severe mental problems, including paranoid schizophrenia, but said he still understood right and wrong.

      Spodak said Becker took rational measures to avoid detection on the morning of the shooting: He hid his gun while he was driving, told passersby that he was searching for Thomas in order to volunteer for the city’s tornado relief efforts, and made it a point to avoid shooting the teenagers in the weight room.

      Although I have my own take on this subject, I’ll leave psychological evaluations to the professionals. Draw your own conclusions as to whether or not you think this conviction was right.

      I will note, however, that Todd Thomas, the son of Ed Thomas, said it best after the trial when he stated that there are no winners here. One man lost his life, while the other will watch the rest of his go by from a prison cell. It’s a sad, unfortunate situation.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      General Sports, High School Sports, News

      Adrian Gonzalez wants Mark Teixeira money

      March 3, 2010 /

      Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Adrian Gonzalez is looking for a contract similar to the one Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees last offseason.

      “This is a premium ballplayer,” said John Boggs, Gonzalez’s agent. “If you think you can get it done, he’s obviously somebody who’s moveable …

      “I never try to dissolve the possibility (of a deal with the Padres), but I don’t see any signs.”

      Boggs said his preliminary discussion with Padres General Manager Jed Hoyer was so superficial that “you couldn’t characterize it as a negotiation.” Boggs said Hoyer inquired as to Gonzalez’s expectations; that Boggs cited the eight-year, $180 million deal of New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira, and that that comment effectively ended Hoyer’s exploration.

      Gonzalez still has two years remaining on the four-year, $9.5 million contract he signed in April of 2007. He’s owed $4.75 million this year and there’s a $5.5 million club option for 2011.

      If the report is true and Gonzo is looking for Teixeira-type money, then he won’t get it from the Padres. The more likely scenario is San Diego acquiring a package similar to the one the Rangers got from the Braves when they traded Teixeira to Atlanta in July of 2007.

      It’s likely that the Padres would look to trade Gonzo by the deadline this year, so they’re not on the hook for any of the $5.5 million in 2011. After all, if they know they can’t pay him then there’s no sense in delaying the process another year, unless they think they can get more in return if they wait until 2011.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      MLB

      Bears to make a play for Peppers and Marshall?

      March 3, 2010 /

      According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears met with the player rep for free agent Julius Peppers last weekend. While this might be music to fans’ ears, if this is true then the meeting could be constituted as tampering.

      Teams like to meet with player reps before free agency kicks off in order to establish a relationship with the rep’s client. Technically, teams can’t start negotiating with free agents until March 5, but deals always happen at midnight the day of, so clearly teams are in communication with reps and agents before then. The problem arises when the team gets caught negotiating before that time, so chances are the Bears will deny the Tribune’s report, whether it’s true or not.

      On a related note, Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that at least one NFL source believes that Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall will end up a Bear in 2010. Hayes didn’t go into much detail outside of noting that the NFL source wagered a “steak dinner” on Marshall landing in Chicago.

      Marshall is a fit for the Bears just based on the relationship he has with quarterback Jay Cutler. Plus, Mike Martz would certainly love to reunite the pair in his offense.

      But the problem is that the Bears don’t have a first or second round pick in this year’s draft. So unless Denver is willing to take a third rounder and a package of air fresheners in exchange for Marshall, Chicago would either have to sweeten the pot with a player or two, or hand over a pick in the 2011 draft.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

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