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      What Ricky Rubio can learn from Juan Carlos Navarro

      September 18, 2009 /

      Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm wrote a nice piece about how Navarro relates to Rubio’s decision to stay in Spain for two more seasons.

      The impression you get from interviews with Navarro is that he just didn’t care that much about the NBA. He loves Spain. It’s his home. And versus the States, where there will be constant questions about his style, his ability, and his talent simply because he hasn’t played in the AAU tournaments or Rucker Park or the NCAA Tournament, in Spain, he’s considered mega-successful. Would you rather be a pauper in heaven or a prince in Hell? What if Hell was actually your home, and instead of the brimstone pits, it was nice beaches, beautiful women, amazing food and way more money than you can make in heaven? The assumption that every great basketball player in the world will always have the competitive fire to be the best no matter the cost is, I’m sorry, a gigantic crock. It’s a fallacy brought upon us by Jordan, Garnett, and Nike.

      Moore goes on to discuss how Navarro’s experience might affect Rubio.

      In an interview a few weeks ago, Navarro was talking about giving Rubio advice. You have to wonder how that’s going to play out for Minnesota. From all accounts, which Wolves fans will happily remind you of every thirty seconds, Rubio wants to play in the NBA more than anything in the world. It’s his dream, whatever that means. That certainly wasn’t the case with Navarro, who was always kind of like, “eh.” So even if Navarro is trying to warn him off of going to a terrible team for less money, he may not listen. Plus, the Wolves are in much better shape than the Grizzlies were in 07-08. But the fact remains that everyone talks about Rubio’s game developing as he gets older. What about his personality? What if he learns to really love his life in Spain as he gets older and gets to enjoy being a young man making millions of dollars in an awesome city?

      I lived in Memphis for three years and visited Barcelona on a whirlwind trip through Europe, and I can say that there is a lot of truth to Moore’s words. The NBA is clearly the best league in the world, but the European leagues have improved and the money is about the same (or in JCN’s case, much more). Why would a Spaniard in his mid-twenties choose to take less money to play for a bad team in Memphis instead if playing ball in beautiful Barcelona?

      Ricky Rubio was faced with a similar decision this year, only it was Minneapolis, not Memphis. And he chose to stay in Spain for a while. Will he ever come over? Probably. As the post states, it has always been Rubio’s dream to play in the NBA. He may not play for the T-Wolves, but I think he will eventually join the league.

      NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Warning signs were there about Crabtree

      September 18, 2009 /

      In an article written by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports, several unnamed NFL front office people said that there were warning signs before the draft that receiver Michael Crabtree was going to be a problem to sign.

      He wasn’t alone in that cynicism. While public and media sentiment have been overwhelmingly against Crabtree and Parker, all seven executives agreed the impasse marks a significant failure by the 49ers, too. While second-guessing is easy in hindsight, it didn’t stop some from suggesting that they saw a nasty impasse coming as soon as Crabtree slipped out of the top five and then had Oakland’s Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes) selected in front of him at No. 7 – particularly considering Crabtree was represented by Parker, who has a history of holdouts with draft picks.

      “[Crabtree] didn’t even work out for teams, and he still had it in his mind that he was the best player in the draft,” the NFC North executive said. “People were in his ear telling him that from jump street. Honestly, I thought it could have been a problem if Seattle would have taken him [at No. 4]. Then they would have been asking for No. 1 money.”

      Added an NFC general manager: “He was represented by Eugene Parker. That was kind of a giveaway right there.”

      There was a report that surfaced before the draft that Eric Mangini of the Browns was so turned off by Crabtree’s attitude during a pre-draft visit that the Cleveland head coach said that he wouldn’t select the Texas Tech product at No. 5. So obviously there’s a lot of truth behind the notion that the 49ers should have known that Crabtree was going to be a problem.

      That said, what where they supposed to do? Nobody is arguing Crabtree’s athletic ability; he was a top 5 talent that slipped to No. 10 and San Fran had a major need for a receiver. Even if they did think he would holdout, I doubt they believed it would go into the season like it has.

      So yeah, there were warning signs. But I still don’t blame the 49ers for taking a shot on a dynamic playmaker that fell into their laps at No. 10. If they can get a deal worked out, then Mike Singletary can get his hands on Crabtree and hopefully straighten out his attitude. Of course, that’s a big “if” in terms of getting him signed.

      NFL

      Fantasy Quick-Hitters: Steelers’ RBBC, LT2, Marshall and more

      September 18, 2009 /

      Steelers to use rotation at RB. Willie Parker will get two series and Rashard Mendenhall one until one player gets a hot hand. Mewelde Moore will be in on third downs and in no huddle situations. It was a little more than a week ago that HC Mike Tomlin said that Willie Parker was his running back. A lot can change in a week.

      Vikings intent on involving Bernard Berrian more. Berrian should be a nice play this week against the Lions, but he and Brett Favre haven’t had a lot of time to work together and it showed in Week 1 against the Browns.

      Knowshon Moreno says he feels 100 percent. He also says that he ran tentatively against the Broncos, but should be ready to go against the Browns, who gave up a ton of yards to Adrian Peterson last week.

      Matt Cassel is feeling much better. The Chiefs haven’t committed to announcing him as the starter, but most of the signs point to that being the case. The Raiders are actually pretty tough against the pass, so if you can hold off on starting Cassel, do so.

      LaDainian Tomlinson sits out again.       Given the horrible matchup against the Ravens, it would be wise to avoid using LT2 this week. If he doesn’t play and you have Darren Sproles, he could be used as a flex or as a RB2 if you’re in a PPR league.

      Brandon Marshall refuses to answer the media’s questions. This could be a sign that Marshall’s attitude isn’t as good as it has seemed over the past couple of weeks and that he’s headed for a meltdown. It could also be a sign that he blames the media for all the problems he’s having in Denver and he’s going to punish them for it. Marshall has too much talent to ignore.

      T.O. wants his QB to go deep.       “…Trent has to better assess what he’s seeing out there and take some shots down the field. We’re going to do that, and by no means was that the reason that we lost the game.” That’s not quite the controversial Owens that we saw in Philly and Dallas, but we’ll see if it develops. The Bills should have some opportunities to go deep against the Bucs, who were torched by T.O.’s old team last week.

      Fantasy Football

      Randy Shannon, Jacory Harris have made Miami relevant again

      September 18, 2009 /

      The last time the Miami Hurricanes started a season 2-0, they finished 9-3 and thumped Florida in the Peach Bowl.

      Thanks to a head coach who has brought swagger back to the program and a playmaker at quarterback, Miami has started 2-0 for the first time since 2004. With their 33-17 win over Georgia Tech on Thursday night, the Hurricanes have started their ’09 season by beating two ranked opponents. (The first was Florida State, whom Miami beat 38-34 on September 7.)

      Randy Shannon has made his mark on a Hurricane team that is playing more inspired and focused than in years past. And it’s clear that with Jacory Harris under center, Miami finally has a quarterback that can make plays in the passing game and keep the chains moving.

      In the victory over Tech last night, Harris completed 20 of his 25 pass attempts for 270 yards and three touchdowns. He’s just a sophomore, but he shows a calm, cool demeanor in the pocket and doesn’t appear to get rattled when a play breaks down. As long as he continues to mature as a passer, he’s going to be a Heisman candidate in the near future.

      Continue reading »

      NFL

      Junior Seau chats with The Scores Report

      September 18, 2009 /

      What more can you say about Junior Seau that you can’t by listing his accomplishments? In his 19-year career, Seau was a seven-time first-team All-Pro, a 12-time Pro Bowler, the 1992 NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and the 1992 UPI AFC Defensive Player of the Year. He’s amassed 1,826 tackles, 56.5 sacks and 18 interceptions over his career. He was also part of two Super Bowls, including the 16-0 New England Patriots squad.

      Recently, Junior teamed up with Combos to help them roll out their “Tackle Life” contest, which encourages people to finish projects that they’ve put on the backburner throughout the years. Head to www.COMBOS.com and in 10-100 words, describe a project you have always wanted to do and how $5,000 will help you do it. The contest is running from September 14 to October 31 and the grand prize is the $5,000 to help you cross that project off your to-do list.

      We were fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with Junior to talk about the contest, how he got involved and what project he’s currently had on the backburner. We also couldn’t let him get off the phone without answering some football related questions, which he was more than happy to do. He filled us in on which running back was the toughest to tackle, what current player he would pay the price of admission to watch play every week and what its like to play in Bill Belichick’s defensive scheme.

      Junior Seau: Anthony!

      The Scores Report: Hey Junior, how are you, man?

      JS: What’s happening, brother?

      TSR: We really appreciate your sitting down and talking with us today – it’s an honor.

      JS: No worries, no worries – let’s do it.

      TSR: Talk to me about this Combos “Tackle Life” contest that you’re partaking in.

      JS: Yeah, we’re pairing up with Combos’ “Tackle Life” contest and what we’re doing is trying to encourage everyone to get all of those daily duties out of the way. Pick one, visit Combos.com and submit 10 to 100 words on this dream project, which could be anything. It could be building a deck, or painting your house, or building a shed. Whatever it may be that you’ve been putting on the backburner, we’re asking you to write about it and you have a chance to win $5,000 through this program “Tackle Life.”

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      Interviews, NFL

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