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      What’s next for Campbell and Clausen now that McNabb deal is done?

      April 5, 2010 /

      Donovan McNabb wasn’t the only quarterback affected by Easter Sunday’s trade between the Eagles and Redskins, as Jason Campbell has now lost his starting job and Notre Dame prospect Jimmy Clausen could freefall in this month’s draft.

      There’s no doubt that the Redskins will look to move Campbell this offseason, but the question is whether or not they’d be willing to take a mid-round pick for him. Obviously teams know that with McNabb now on board, Campbell is expendable. The Redskins would be fooling themselves if they believed they could recoup the second round pick they gave to Philadelphia and should be willing to take a mid-rounder (a third, fourth or even a fifth round selection) just to get something in return for an unhappy Campbell.

      What teams would be interested in Campbell? The Rams, Raiders and Bills all need quarterbacks and depending on whether or not Mike Holmgren believes Campbell could be a long-term fit in Cleveland, the Browns might be interested as well. Campbell spent the last couple seasons in the West Coast Offense, so the Browns make sense (even though they added Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace this offseason), but again, only if Holmgren sees him as a long-term solution and as of right now, there’s nothing to suggest that he does. And with the Rams presumably set to take Sam Bradford at No. 1, which leaves the Raiders and Bills as the most likely trade suitors when it comes to Campbell.

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      NFL

      How the West was won

      April 5, 2010 /

      As the NBA takes goes on hiatus for one night in honor of the NCAA championship game, it’s a good time to take a deep breath and look at the Western Conference playoff picture. Henry Abbott of TrueHoop wrote an excellent post on the topic.

      The conference’s top three teams, after all the tie-breakers, are the Lakers, Mavericks and Nuggets, and they’re doing their best to keep things interesting. Over their last 10 games, they have combined to create a tepid 16-14 record. (And even the Lakers, who are a cinch for first in the West with 22 losses, are still fighting for homecourt advantage in the Finals against Orlando, which has 23 losses. Every team is still trying.)

      Meanwhile the five lower-seeded Western playoff teams — the Jazz, Suns, Thunder, Spurs and Blazers — have combined to create a 38-12 record over their last 10 games. And five of those 12 losses came from within that group of five.

      The point being: If momentum matters, there’s a lot it in the West’s seeds four through eight, who are bunched up very tightly behind the teams ahead of them.

      Here’s a look ahead at the schedule in the West for the next week:

      Tuesday: OKC @ UTA
      Wednesday: DEN @ OKC, SA @ PHX
      Thursday: LAL @ DEN
      Friday: PHX @ OKC, DAL @ POR
      Saturday: SA @ DEN
      Sunday: POR @ LAL
      Monday: OKC @ POR


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, News

      Duke/Butler Preview

      April 5, 2010 /

      Immediately after the games on Saturday, I wrote the following about tonight’s matchup between Duke and Butler:

      Monday night’s matchup will be touted as a David versus Goliath affair, but Duke and Butler are pretty similar in the way they play. Both teams hang their hats on good man-to-man half court defense and efficient, ball-control offense. It should be a low-scoring, tight game. I expect that Duke will be favored by five or six, but Butler is fully capable of pulling the upset. I’m sure the crowd will be pulling for the Bulldogs.

      The line started at Duke -7, but has grown to -7.5 with the news that Butler center Matt Howard is questionable to play after suffering the “mildest of mild concussions” (per the Butler trainer). The Bulldogs will need Howard to pull the upset, because Duke is very big down low. Luckily, it looks like Shelvin Mack will play despite missing a good part of the second half against Michigan State with pain in his legs.

      Jeff Sagarin pegs Duke as an almost 9-point favorite, so there still is some value with taking the Blue Devils even with the sizable line. Ken Pomeroy gives Duke an 81% chance to win, which is the biggest advantage of any favorite in the tournament since the Wisconsin/Cornell game (and we all know how that turned out).

      I’m reluctant to recommend laying the points because Butler has a way of keeping games close. Both teams play at a slow pace, but I have a feeling that Duke will look to push the ball and try to avoid facing the Bulldogs’ excellent man-to-man defense in the half-court. Against West Virginia, Duke won the rebounding battle (+3) and, more importantly, destroyed the Mountaineers from long range (13-25 from 3PT). In fact, they shot almost 53% from the field for the entire game.

      To pull the upset, Butler needs to hold its own on the glass and force the Blue Devils to shoot a poor percentage from long range. This is going to be tough to do, especially if Howard is limited or doesn’t play.

      These two teams pride themselves on tough defense and good execution on offense. Duke is just a little better at it. Butler should have the crowd on its side, but it’s tough to create much atmosphere at the Final Four and Duke has plenty of experience playing in front of hostile crowds. I see a close game where Duke’s lead oscillates between 3-5 points most of the way and then the Blue Devils may be able to stretch things out if Butler is forced to foul.

      As usual, I’ll be tweeting during the game tonight, so be sure to check back at tip-off.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Did the Redskins offer Eagles Haynesworth in McNabb deal?

      April 5, 2010 /

      Via Adam Caplan of Scout.com, Sheil Kapadia of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Redskins offered defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to the Eagles as part of the Donovan McNabb deal, but Philadelphia didn’t want him.

      “The Redskins actually offered – I’m told by two league sources – Albert Haynesworth, the outstanding defensive tackle, but Albert Haynesworth has an enormous contract,” Caplan said, adding that Haynesworth was a pain to the Redskins’ previous coaching staff.

      Haynesworth, who will turn 29 in June, signed a $100M contract last offseason with the Redskins, which included $41M in guaranteed money. He received – get this – a $21M roster bonus on April 1. His 2010 and 2011 salaries of $3.6M and $5.4M are guaranteed, according to contract details.

      As the article notes, the Eagles already have two good defensive tackles in Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley, but neither of them play at the same level Haynesworth does. (Or at least, neither of them play at the same level Haynesworth did before he received that huge contract from Washington last year.)

      It’s not surprising that the Haynesworth deal is already blowing up in Daniel Snyder’s face. Shoot first and ask questions later has always been Snyder’s plan of attack and I’m sure it never crossed his mind that Haynesworth wouldn’t be a good long-term fit in Washington. He just knew that the massive DT was the best free agent available, so he had to have him. Now Snyder has to deal with Haynesworth finding out that he was temporarily on the trade block. (I would love to be a fly on the wall for that convo.)

      What I would be interested in finding out is what the Redskins would have given up if they parted with Haynesworth. Because obviously they wouldn’t have given up Haynesworth and two draft picks. Would it have been a straight up deal? Or would the Redskins have to pay part of Haynesworth’s salary? Would they have given up a late round pick as well as Haynesworth? I guess the world will never know.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      Red Sox, Yankees open 2010 season with a bang

      April 5, 2010 /

      There’s really no other way to open up a baseball season then to pit the Yankees and Red Sox against each other on national TV, which the MLB did last night.

      The BoSox’s Dustin Pedroia had a two-run homer and an RBI single to power Boston past New York 9-7 in a wild opener. The Red Sox overcame an early 5-1 deficit thanks to timely hitting by Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and newcomer Adrian Beltre. The biggest hit came off Pedroia’s bat when he took a Chan Ho Park pitch over the Green Monster in the seventh inning, giving him dingers on consecutive Opening Days now.

      As usual for this time of year, the starting pitching was spotty. CC Sabathia went 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out four. Josh Beckett only went 4.2 innings while giving up five runs on eight hits and allowing two home runs. He struck out only two batters.

      Game 2 of this three-game series will be played on Tuesday.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      MLB

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