Offseason Movement: The Hawks screwed the pooch when they failed to sign Josh Childress to a long-term deal. They didn’t think he had any leverage since he was a restricted free agent, but he had the cojones to sign a deal with a Greek team instead of signing a one-year tender with the Hawks. Childress is the biggest talent to leave the NBA to play overseas in the prime of the career, and the Hawks will forever be known as the team that let him go. They replaced Childress with…wait for it…Maurice Evans.
Keep Your Eye On: Marvin Williams
Thus far, the former #2 overall pick has been decidedly average – he ranks 29th amongst all small forwards in PER. The good news is that he’s just 22 and entering the final year of his rookie contract. His qualifying offer next year ($7.3 milllion) is big enough that the Hawks could conceivably pass if he doesn’t show substantial improvement this season. The team usually went with Childress at small forward in crunch time, but now those minutes should belong to Williams, and he needs to make he most of them.
The Big Question: Which direction is this team headed?
The Hawks were a surprise playoff team last season and they took the NBA champs to seven games in the first round. But Mike Bibby is a year older (and a year slower) and they lost utility-man Josh Childress. I thought it was a mistake to trade for Bibby, and now he’s in the final year of his contract ($15.2 million), which means he might become a distraction as the season wears on. If they elect to let him play out his deal, the team will have a load of cap room next summer, so it looks like the Hawks could take a step back before taking another step forward.
Outlook: The long-term outlook is bright. The Hawks have Josh Smith (5 years) and Al Horford (4 years) locked up for the foreseeable future. Joe Johnson is under contract for two more years, but the Hawks have enough salary cap flexibility to make a splash in the next year or two for a star free agent. Until then, they’ll have to settle for the chance to fight for a playoff spot in the mediocre East.
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When recently asked whether or not he intends to re-sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers Manny Ramirez said: “I want to see who is the highest bidder.”
That bidding could approach, or exceed, $100 million. If the Dodgers do not win the bidding, or drop out at what might well be a justifiable point, it is not the player with the openly mercenary attitude who would be left in Los Angeles to dodge the criticism.
It would be McCourt, and the Dodgers.
“They’re in a tough spot,” said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute. “That could be a prudent decision based on what’s going on in the marketplace, and yet they’ll still get skewered for allowing him to leave.
“I don’t see any middle ground. If they let him go, it will reinforce the perception they’re not committed to winning. If they sign him, it will materially move the needle in their favor, and the fans will rally around him.”
Normally any player that essentially says that he plays the game for money is fair game to be publicly tarred and feathered. But I almost applaud Manny for being completely 100% honest. He’s destructive in a weird way, but whatever team signs him knows that and knows exactly what they’re getting. (I.e. A fantastic hitter, a phenomenal quote machine and one goofy personality.)
I’ll go ahead and beat all Yankee-haters to the bunch and say that Manny will be in pinstripes next year if he’s waiting to see who the highest bidder will be this offseason.
SPORTSbyBROOKS.com details the story of Nacogdoches High School in Texas and their cheerleaders going a little too far with at recent pep rally.
Seems Nacogdoches High School held a pep rally to hype up the students before a game. As Enrico Morricone’s famous score blared over the loudspeakers, a group of cheerleaders dressed in the colors of rival Center High School “kidnapped” Duke the Dragon, Nacogdoches’ mascot. Then a second group of cheerleaders came and rescued Duke, subdued the CHS cheerleaders, forced them to kneel on the floor, and “executed” them with toy guns. Surprisingly, some people aren’t too pleased. (Zapruder-esque footage after the jump.)
Students at NHS began circulating a petition criticizing the glorification of guns. Imagine that! That goes against every stereotype I’ve been raised to believe about Texas. Then an editorial appeared the the school paper, but not after undergoing some heavy editing from principal Nathan Chaddick, who not only took the piece off the front page, but excised parts he found overkill. The paragraphs he deemed inappropriate?
“We realize it was intended to raise school spirit, but it is inappropriate to allow such a display of excessive violence in a high school. This is not only unacceptable in a school environment, but also from a moral standpoint. This skit did not portray the other team as our opponent in a sports game, but as an enemy.
This skit and all of its implications were approved by an authoritative figure with the power and responsibility to edit the skit.
Such an authority should certainly show more discretion in the future.”
Oh yeah, that’ll foment a revolution in the halls. Chaddick said he censored and moved the editorial because the authors had a personal grudge against the cheerleaders. I’m not sure what twisted, backwoods, “Mean Girls” world he’s living in, and I generally support his pro-cheerleader agenda, but it’s hard to justify what he calls “a little country, cowboy-type skit.”
As for the game? Nacogdoches went on to murder Center, 26-6.
Back in my day (ah crap, I didn’t think I would ever say that), we painted our rivals rock. Now cheerleaders are performing fake executions. Sweet mother of crap…
Offseason Movement: The team elected not to pursue free agent Baron Davis and struck out on the Elton Brand sweepstakes. They did sign Corey Maggette to a big contract and also acquired Marcus Williams from the Nets for a conditional first round draft pick.
Keep Your Eye On: Monta Ellis, G
With Davis gone, this is Ellis’ team now. His reign got off to an inauspicious beginning when he hurt his ankle while riding a moped around Mississippi and then lied to the team about it. He will have to mature quickly, because the Warriors need a leader, but it’s not clear when Ellis will be able to return to action. For their part, the Warriors have suspended him for 30 games for lying about the injury, but he probably won’t be ready to play by the end of the suspension, so it just amounts to a gigantic fine.
The Big Question: Is Don Nelson the right guy to lead a rebuilding project?
Nelson always seems to have one foot out the door, so it’s unclear if he has the commitment or the patience to coach this team for much longer. They lost a great player in Baron Davis, acquired a good player in Corey Maggette, and will miss Monta Ellis for at least part of the regular season, so all else being equal, it’s more likely than not that the Warriors will take a step back this season. I think that the next time Golden State makes the playoffs, there will be a different coach steering the ship.
Outlook: In Maggette, Biedrins, Stephen Jackson, Al Harringon and Brandan Wright, the team does have a number of talented players, but they lack a star to bring everything together. Ellis is supposed to be that guy, but since he’ll be sidelined for a while, the aforementioned players will have to raise their games for the Warriors to be in the playoff hunt in the talented West.
The MLB player’s association says that baseball teams acted in concert against signing Barry Bonds this offseason. In other words, they all got together and made the decision to avoid him like the plague.
Weiner said the section that had been violated was Article XX (e) of the collective bargaining agreement, which states, in part: “Players shall not act in concert with other players and clubs shall not act in concert with other clubs.” Weiner would not say how long the agreement runs to allow the union to file a grievance.
Baseball attorneys repeatedly have denied that teams acted in concert against Bonds. Management lawyer Dan Halem said Thursday that MLB would have no additional comment.
Bonds pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of making false declarations to a federal grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice, and his trial is scheduled to start March 2. Any grievance is likely to follow the trial.
“The timing of the filing of the case is between the players’ union and the commissioner’s office,” Borris said.
After spending a lot of time during the first half of 2008 trying to get Bonds signed, Borris has stopped his efforts.
“I am convinced based on MLB’s actions in 2008 that they will never let him wear a major league uniform ever again,” he said.
While the teams broke a rule to do so, I think the message is loud and clear: no team wanted Bonds in their clubhouse this year. What I don’t get is why all of these teams got together. If nobody wanted him, what’s the harm in telling Borris, “We’re not interested – thank you.” Why get together to conspire against signing him and therefore break a rule?
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