Page 1612 of 2957

      Pistons come to terms with Gordon, Villanueva

      July 2, 2009 /

      The Detroit Pistons have a ton of cap space heading into 2009 NBA free agency, and they apparently aren’t afraid to use it, agreeing in principle to contracts with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.

      Former Bulls guard Gordon will receive a five-year deal for between $55 million and $60 million, while former Bucks forward Villanueva gets a five-year deal for $40 million, sources told ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard.

      Gordon rejected deals from Chicago in excess of $50 million each of the past two seasons. Milwaukee elected to let the 24-year-old Villanueva become an unrestricted free agent earlier this week, after the Bucks determined that matching any restricted free-agent offers would move the team closer to the luxury tax threshold and limit changing the roster.

      It’s not surprising that the Pistons signed both of these players, but the value of the contracts seem a little high when taking the current economic climate into consideration. It seems like GM Joe Dumars is operating in a 2006 or 2007 mindset when the reality is that the demand for these players probably didn’t justify $11 million per season for Gordon and $8 millon per season for Villanueva.

      There are only eight teams with significant cap space this summer — the Grizzlies, Pistons, Hawks, Thunder, Kings, Raptors, Blazers and Timberwolves — and Memphis, OKC and Minnesota weren’t expected to be big players this offseason. The Bulls were trying to re-sign Gordon, and they probably were in the same neighborhood of the two deals they offered over the last two years that averaged $10 million and $9 million per season, so Detroit may have felt they had to outbid Chicago to pry him away. But I just don’t think he’s worth it, given his defensive liabilities and his lack of size for an off guard.

      As for Villanueva, he was intrigued with the possibility of playing with LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal in Cleveland, but they could only offer him a mid-level deal, which would probably start at around $5.5 million per season. Even though his new contract’s $8 million per season average is the first thing to jump out, we need to focus on the first season. The contract could very well start at $6 million and go up $1 million per season for five years, which would add up to $40 million. They needed to outbid the mid-level deal to convince Villanueva to join a non-contender. Still, that’s a big commitment for a player who has a reputation for being a poor defender and has had his work ethic questioned at time. But at 24, Villanueva is still learning and is already a proven scorer.

      This Gordon signing may indicate that Rip Hamilton will be moved before next February’s trade deadline. Though he’s getting older, he’s still a highly efficient scorer and he’d definitely be able to help a contender. I doubt that it’s Dumars’ plan to have $22 million locked up per season at one position. If Hamilton is moved, then the Pistons would be building around a lineup of Rodney Stuckey, Gordon, Tayshaun Prince and Villanueva.

      NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Fan ready to starve himself until Cubs win five straight

      July 2, 2009 /

      …Okay, so he won’t exactly be starving himself, but he did vow to dramatically cut his calorie intake.

      A Chicago Cubs fan has vowed to eat only 500 calories a day until the team wins five games in a row.

      Daniel Kamen, 53, of Buffalo Grove, Ill., said he plans to start his diet after the All-Star break in mid-July and continue until the Cubs either win five consecutive games or end their season for the year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.

      “I’m going to motivate them,” he said. “I’m going to embarrass them into winning more games. They will see me get skinnier and skinnier, until maybe there’s nothing left of me.”
      Kamen invited portly Cubs manager Lou Piniella to join his diet.

      “It’s an official invitation,” Kamen said. “I’ll show him how to do it.”

      This guy sticking to only 500 calories a day has as much chance as Milton Bradley hitting .300 by the end of the year. I give him two days before he’s hitting up the Wendy’s drive through and ordering a triple burger with fries and a frosty.

      MLB

      Giants, Lincecum haven’t talked new contract

      July 2, 2009 /

      At the beginning of the 2009 MLB season, the Giants and reigning Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum set out to talk long-term contract and keep the ace in San Francisco for years to come. But according to Lincecum’s agent Rick Thurman, the Giants haven’t brought the topic up again since.

      Not that they would, but the Giants can’t play games here. Lincecum is clearly the future of their staff and while clubs are always hesitant on giving young pitcher’s hefty contracts, Lincecum is without a doubt worth the risk. He’s essentially a freak of nature given his unique skills (he barely has to warm up, he has never had to ice after an outing and pitch counts mean very little for this young man) and he’ll probably be worth every penny he makes.

      The Giants have a little bit of time since Lincecum’s arbitration years aren’t until 2011-2013. If they don’t mind paying him truckloads of money for one-year deals, they could go year-to-year (which Lincecum and his agent don’t mind because they’re not worried about him getting hurt) with his contract. But again, why mess around? He’s the face of the franchise and one of those rare players that a team just can’t let go.

      The Giants are little more cautious these days with long-term contracts after blowing the Barry Zito deal. But again, Lincecum is going to be worth it and it would be shocking if the G-Men don’t enter long-term talks with him again after the season.

      MLB

      Wimbledon: men’s semis are set

      July 1, 2009 /

      haas

      Each of the men’s quarterfinals match-ups took place today, and when it was all said and done, Roger Federer, Tommy Haas, Andy Roddick, and Andy Murray had advanced to the next round.

      Federer, closing in on his sixth Wimbledon title, reached his 21st consecutive semifinal at a Grand Slam tournament and extended his winning streak to 17 matches with another vintage performance on his favorite Centre Court.

      It was Federer’s ninth win in 10 matches against Karlovic, who was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

      Federer’s next opponent will be Germany’s Haas, who upset fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to his first Wimbledon semifinal. The 31-year-old Haas was the oldest player in the quarters, while the 22-year-old Djokovic was the youngest.

      The third-seeded Murray swept Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal and keep up his bid to become the first British player to win the men’s title since Fred Perry in 1936.

      Murray will face the sixth-seeded Roddick, who served 43 aces and outlasted 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 in the day’s most competitive match. Hewitt battled back from two sets to one down, before Roddick broke for 5-4 in the fifth and then served out the match — which ended after 3 hours, 50 minutes when the Australian popped up a forehand half-volley past the baseline.

      Haas led Federer two sets to love in the fourth round of the French Open, only to lose in five. He said he hopes to make amends on Friday.

      “That would be nice,” he said. “I’ll give it my best shot. There’s not much he (Federer) can’t do. He’s obviously the favorite to win the title. I’m going to go out there and try to annoy him a little bit and see what happens.”

      With Nadal out of the tournament, I assumed the final four would look something like Federer, Murray, Roddick, and Djokovic or Federer, Murray, Roddick, and Gonzalez. I don’t think anyone predicted 34th-ranked Tommy Haas to make it this far, let alone beat the fourth-ranked Djokovic in professional tennis’ most popular tournament. At 31, Haas is the oldest player out of the remaining four. He’s never made it to a Grand Slam final in his career and he unfortunately has to defeat Roger Federer if he wants to break that streak. However, he’s played well against Federer in the past, nearly taking the Swiss at the French Open before being outmatched.

      You can catch the women’s semifinals tomorrow at 12 PM on NBC. The men’s semis will then take place on Friday at the same time and station.

      Tennis

      Eric Maynor lands two-year deal with Jazz

      July 1, 2009 /

      maynor

      The Jazz have reportedly signed first-round draft pick Eric Maynor to a two-year deal.

      Maynor signed the two year deal on Wednesday as the Jazz summer league team began a minicamp in Florida. The Jazz will play in Orlando starting July 6.

      As the 20th overall pick in the draft, Maynor gets $1.3 million his rookie season.

      The Jazz plan to use Maynor to back up starting point guard Deron Williams.

      Maynor was the two-time Colonial Athletic Association player of the year at Virginia Commonwealth and led the league in assists per game his last three seasons.

      Congratulations to Maynor, who, at 22 years of age, has a guaranteed job for the next couple years. He’ll get those nice summer months of vacation, make at least a million dollars during the season, meets countless women and professional athletes, and have his life changed forever. This is exactly how my life was at 22, only I’m lying.

      College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑