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Thomas, Gay headed to the pros

April 17, 2006 / John Paulsen

LSU freshman Tyrus Thomas and UConn sophomore Rudy Gay will declare for the NBA draft. ESPN has Thomas as the #2 overall pick (behind Joakim Noah) in their latest mock draft, while Gay, who was once considered a candidate to be the top overall pick, has slipped to #8. Gay’s performance in the tournament was unremarkable, and questions linger about his heart and his ability to take over games.

Thomas, on the other hand, showed a lot in LSU’s Elite Eight game against Texas. Matching up with LaMarcus Aldridge, he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while holding Aldridge to just four points on 2 of 14 shooting. Otherwise, his tournament was unremarkable, as he averaged only 7.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in the other tournament games. In his defense, he only put up 4.3 shots in those four games.

Meanwhile, Joakim Noah appears to be the favorite to be the #1 overall pick. Only he’s staying in school. Overall, I like his game. He is a fierce competitor, a great shotblocker and is effective in the post. However, his jumper currently looks like that of a middle school girl and I’m not too sure how quickly this will improve. He really looks lost on the perimeter. Since he’ll probably play power forward early in his career, he’s going to need a face up jumper. Another year in school will help, but his stock isn’t going to be any higher than it is right now.

NBA

Couch Potato Alert

April 17, 2006 / John Paulsen

The NBA season winds down this week, and while the playoff teams are set, the matchups are not. For example, you can expect the Bucks to put forth a maximum effort against the Pistons as a win tonight makes it less likely that they’ll be facing Detroit in the first round. Unfortunately, TNT doesn’t have any games until the playoffs and ESPN’s doubleheader on Wednesday features two pretty meaningless games. (All times ET.)

NBA
Mon, 8pm: Detroit @ Milwaukee – local
Tues, 7pm: Milwaukee @ Washington – local
Tues, 8pm: LA Clippers @ Memphis – local
Wed, 7:30pm: Washington @ Detroit – local
Wed, 8pm: LA Clippers @ Dallas – local

MLB
Mon, 7:10pm: Atlanta @ NY Mets – ESPN (HD)
Wed, 12:37pm: NY Yankees @ Toronto – ESPN (HD)
Wed, 7:05pm: Cleveland @ Baltimore – ESPN2 (HD)
Thurs, 7:05pm: Tampa Bay @ Boston – ESPN2 (HD)

NHL
Mon, 7pm: Dallas @ Detroit – OLN
Tues, 7pm: Buffalo @ Carolina – local
Tues, 7pm: Ottawa @ NY Rangers – local
Tues, 8pm: Detroit @ Nashville – local

MLB, NBA, NHL, Television

Bonds needs to sit already

April 14, 2006 / Bob

Barry Bonds should be suspended from baseball until every allegation and charge against him is cleared up. I pick up the paper everyday and see a new story about Bonds and his “possible” wrongdoings. There is no way Barry can be innocent of every charge that is out there. I find it hard to believe that all of the accusers have a personal agenda against Bonds and they are just “picking on him”. I truly believe baseball is making a bad name for itself by allowing Bonds to chase and set new records with the all of the “possible” charges.
This is a great opportunity for the owners and league to take a stand against a very strong and selfish union in baseball and force Bonds to sit. As a fan, I really don’t want young kids to believe that the way to make the paper is by doing the “wrong thing”.

MLB

Bill Simmons argues for Kobe Bryant to win MVP

April 14, 2006 / Gerardo Orlando

I think LeBron James should win it, but Bill Simmons makes a case for Kobe (he has LeBron at #2). Along the way he covers all the possible candidates and has some fun with the question:

In a weird way, Kobe ended up getting what he always wanted: The Lakers completely revolve around him. He gets to shoot 25-30 times per game. He gets to take every big shot at crunch-time. He gets all the credit. Nobody else on the team dares to challenge him. And even better, because he lucked out with the only possible coach who could make this cockamamie situation work, his supporting cast kills itself to make him look good.
Basically, he’s Elvis and everyone else is Joe Esposito. And it’s working! That’s the crazy thing.

He might be Elvis, but LeBron is the King! I’m sticking with King James.

NBA