You can see Brunell look down and say, “Did you just wipe…”
Category: External Sports (Page 309 of 821)
While everyone was focusing on the two conference championship games this weekend, there was a report out of Cincinnati on Sunday that quarterback Carson Palmer will demand a trade from the Bengals. But owner Mike Brown has final say in the matter and he told the media on Monday that the team will not trade Palmer.
Brown admitted that Palmer did meet with the Bengals last week about a possible trade, which gives merit to Chris Mortensen’s report that the quarterback wants out of Cincinnati. Mort even said that Palmer is willing to “play the retirement” card if he doesn’t get his wish, although that would mean he would leave $50 million on the table over the next four seasons.
But Brown has no plans to trade Palmer, who probably wouldn’t fetch much in return anyway. He hasn’t been the same player since the knee injury he suffered against Pittsburgh in the ’04 playoffs and his arm strength has been repeatedly questioned. He played well in the final two weeks of the 2010 regular season but that won’t be enough to entice a team to trade draft picks and fork over $50 million in order to acquire him. Even if the Bengals did agree to trade him, he would have to restructure his current deal.
For now, it looks like Palmer is stuck in the ‘Natti for the time being.
Barring some sort of language barrier or misquote, “a senior member of Rubio’s camp” seems to have confirmed to the New York Times what we all pretty much knew — Ricky Rubio does not want to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves continue to push him toward the N.B.A. as soon as possible, contending privately that they have a commitment from him for next season. But Rubio’s camp does not appear to be convinced.
“The bottom line is, why would he want to play in Minnesota?” a senior member of Rubio’s camp said this month. “He’ll continue to say all the diplomatic things, and Minnesota needs to keep his value up for trade purposes, but the family’s preference is to be on the East Coast, specifically New York, Miami or Boston. He wouldn’t be troubled if he has to stay another year.”
But the Timberwolves have leverage. They hold his exclusive draft rights, meaning they are the only N.B.A. team with whom he can negotiate. Their latest strategy in trying to persuade Rubio to sign may center on the possible N.B.A. lockout of players after the collective bargaining agreement expires June 30. The terms of the new agreement will probably be significantly less favorable for rookies.
New York, Miami or Boston…hmmm. Well, Boston is probably out because Rajon Rondo is already there, and he’s one of the best point guards in the NBA. It’s not like Rubio’s recent play has been so awe-inspiring that the C’s would give up on a bird in the hand like Rondo. Some are even wondering if Rubio’s development has stalled.
Miami would be an interesting landing spot from a how-are-they-going-to-make-this-work standpoint, but Rubio is not a good fit. LeBron and Dwyane Wade handle the ball so much that it would be a waste of Rubio’s playmaking talents. LeBron and Wade need to play with a point guard who can space the floor with good three-point shooting, and that’s not Rubio’s game. At all.
The Knicks are a possibility, and Rubio’s freewheeling, pass-first style would be fun to watch in Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo system, but Raymond Felton is averaging 17.5 points and 8.7 assists, and is a better scorer than Rubio at this point. Felton is only under contract for one more season, so if the Knicks see Rubio as a better point guard of the future, they have a few assets that might appeal to the Timberwolves.
The article goes on to discuss how the new CBA might not be as favorable to rookies, and that might encourage Rubio to sign before June 30. But right now it looks like he’s willing to play in Spain for another season and try to force the T-Wolves to trade his rights to an East Coast team.
It’s amazing — T-Wolves GM David Kahn took three point guards (Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Ty Lawson) in what was considered to be a great draft for that position and still doesn’t have his PG of the future. He passed on Brandon Jennings and Stephen Curry to take Rubio and Flynn, and ended up trading Lawson away (for a draft pick that turned into a trade for Martell Webster). Darren Collison was also available when the T-Wolves took Lawson.
Jay Cutler has an MCL tear in his left knee, although the severity of the injury is still unknown. In other words, we still don’t have enough information on whether or not he could have played in the second half against Green Bay.
But unless he’s having his leg amputated later this afternoon, he’ll still have plenty of folks questioning his toughness. People know what they saw on Sunday: A disinterested Cutler not fighting to get back into the biggest game of his life. He just stood or sat there, almost looking bored and/or annoyed that he had to watch the rest of the game from underneath his parka.
Former and current players have taken to Twitter to blast the Chicago QB. Maurice Jones-Drew pointed out that he played on a bad knee all season. Former Buccaneer great Derrick Brooks tweeted that he would have to be crawling and unable to get up to come off the field. Eagles’ corner Asante Samuel wrote that the Bears players should look at Cutler “sideways” from now on.
Fans have been even more demonstrative with their criticism. One group decided to burn his jersey after the game and I’m sure there were many others to curse his name and trash his memorabilia as well. If I were Cutler, I’d be looking up vacation spots right about now. (I hear South Dakota is nice this time of year.)
But is everyone being rational with his or her criticism? After all, he has only missed one start in his career and that came earlier this season when he suffered a concussion. Team trainers did check him out at halftime and he did try to go back into the game in the third quarter. He also has a torn MCL, so clearly he wasn’t faking the injury unless the Bears made up the results of his MRI (which is a stretch, but I also wouldn’t put anything past teams these days).
He still has two weeks to receive treatment but Steelers’ center Maurkice Pouncey may not play in the Super Bowl after suffering a high-ankle sprain against the Jets on Sunday.
Pouncey is having a tremendous rookie season and has been the rock in the middle of Pittsburgh’s offensive line. Doug Legursky came in and played very well in the AFC title game, but Pouncey is one of the main reasons the Steelers’ offense has been clicking over the past month or so.
If Pouncey can’t play, his injury could potentially open things up for Packers’ nose tackle B.J. Raji to have a big game. He’s been a dominant force in the postseason thus far and although his main responsibility is to absorb extra blockers in run defense, he’s shown a great burst as a pass-rusher as well. He also dropped back into coverage on Sunday and took a Caleb Hanie pass back to the house for a pick-six in the fourth quarter against Chicago.
The Steelers need Pouncey in uniform in two weeks and while he says he’s “definitely” playing in the title game, we’ll have to wait and see how his ankle responds to treatment.
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