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Haynesworth: “I have always planned to attend training camp and honor my contract.”

Albert Haynesworth is going to honor his contract and show up to training camp.

Apparently he was always planning on doing that.

Seriously – his words.

“Despite my current differences with the Redskins, I have always planned to attend training camp and honor my contract,”

This was the same man that has skipped all of the Redskins’ OTAs (mandatory or otherwise) this offseason, demanded a trade via his agent, and who has been lambasted by the media and his own teammates for being selfish. But he was always planning on attending training camp and honoring his contract. Really, you don’t say? Had me fooled.

All this man cares about is money and anyone who tries to convince me otherwise is drunk. I wouldn’t be shocked if someone finally got to him and made him realize that he stood to lose a lot of money if he didn’t report to camp.

“Hey Al, got a minute? It’s your No. 1 agent, Chad Speck! Listen, I’m going to need you to get your big, beautiful ass to training camp so you don’t get fined any more than you have. I would hate to see the Redskins go after that $21 million bonus check, too. I’ve got a Porsche in the driveway and that ain’t cheap to fill up, my man! Haha, you feel me? Yeah………so just honor your damn contract.”

Daniel Snyder should have never paid this mope $100 million and Haynesworth should have honored his contract from the beginning by showing up to at least the mandatory camps this offseason. Seeing as how he alienated himself by being selfish, who knows how his teammates will react once he finally arrives. Either way, both parties have to sleep in the beds they’ve made.

Of course, all his teammates will care about in the end is if he helps them win. This situation will blow over rather quickly if Haynesworth shows some class and puts in a little hard work. Not that he knows what either of those things mean.

Report: Marlins fire manager Fredi Gonzalez

In a rather surprising development, the Marlins have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez according to the Palm Beach Post.

Here is part of owner Jeffrey Loria’s statement regarding the firing:

It is never easy to make a change in managers. Fredi has been with our Club for four years. We have become close, and I am extremely fond of Fredi. I, along with all our fans, am grateful for Fredi’s contributions. At the same time, we can’t let personal feelings get in the way of taking steps that we believe are necessary to improve our ballclub.

Decisions on individual personnel cannot supercede our overall goal, which is to win. We believe we can do better and be better. We owe it to our fans to put this team in the best possible position to win. Everyone knows how I feel about winning. That’s the reason we’re making this change.

We still have a very long season in front of us, and plenty of time to turn things around. Everyone – our fans, our team, our organization, and myself – wants us to win. That continues to be, and will always be, the goal.

Along with Gonzalez, bench coach Carlos Tosca and hitting coach Jim Presley were both let go as well. Triple-A New Orleans skipper Edwin Rodriguez was named interim manager, while Brandon Hyde was named interim bench coach and John Mallee was named interim hitting coach.

I couldn’t even begin to speculate why Gonzalez was fired (the Marlins are only two games under .500, although are 7.5 games back in the NL East), but I can assure you that we don’t know the full story yet. He was named The Sporting News Manager of the Year in 2008 and with a win over the Cardinals earlier this year, he won more games than any other skipper in Marlins history. Something doesn’t add up here.

One club that could be interested in Gonzalez’s services is the Braves, with whom he spent a couple of years with before being named manager of the Marlins in 2006. Bobby Cox is retiring at the end of the season and Gonzalez might be the perfect fit.

Either way, Gonzalez will have suitors. He earned a lot of respect for the way he handled an incident with Hanley Ramirez earlier in the season and I’m sure he’ll be back on someone’s bench next season.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Maggette traded to Bucks

The Golden State Warriors have traded Corey Maggette to the Bucks for Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell.

Seeking a scoring threat and willing to take on a significant contract, the Milwaukee Bucks acquired forward Corey Maggette in a trade with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

The Bucks also got a second-round draft pick from the Warriors, giving up guard Charlie Bell and center Dan Gadzuric in return.

Maggette has three years and $30.8 million remaining on his contract, but this trade will actually save the Bucks $1.5 million next season because they are now rid of the contracts of Gadzuric (one year, $7.2 million) and Charlie Bell (two years, $7.9 million). The deal will eat up $6.2 million in cap space next summer, leaving the Bucks with a payroll of about $31 million heading into the 2011-12 season.

So, from a salary cap standpoint, it’s not quite as bad as it might seem. Maggette is a career 17-5-2 player and is one of the best in the league at getting to the line. He has averaged at least 7.9 free throw attempts in each of the last seven seasons.

The two strikes against Maggette is his injury history and his commitment (or lack thereof) on the defensive end. The Bucks can’t do anything about the first one, but Scott Skiles will demand that he play defense, or he won’t get minutes.

From a defensive mindset, I can’t imagine going from Don Nelson to Scott Skiles. That’s like night and day. Maggette is in for a wake up call on the defensive end.

The Bucks also acquired Chris Douglas-Roberts from the New Jersey Nets.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

2010 NBA Consensus Mock Draft (6/23)

The mock drafts are coming fast and furious now, so I thought I’d update our consensus mock draft to reflect the latest and greatest predictions from pundits around the web.

As always, click on the table for a larger version.


A few random thoughts:

– There seems to be more stability now at #2, as the leaked image from the Sixers’ website would seem to indicate that Evan Turner is on his way to Philadelphia. There has been some movement at #3-#4, however, as it appears that Derrick Favors isn’t a shoe-in to go #3 to the Nets. Apparently, New Jersey is thinking that they can get a very good power forward in free agency (Bosh, Stoudemire, Boozer, Lee?) and Wes Johnson can help them immediately at small forward.

– Given his production and size, I’d be surprised if DeMarcus Cousins slips past the Kings at #5. If he can get his head on straight, he and Tyreke Evans would be a formidable inside/outside punch.

– Gordon Hayward is supposedly moving up draft boards, but he only appears in the first 14 picks in four of the six mock drafts that I selected. He could go as early as #8 to the Clippers, who need a small forward, and is also a threat to go #9 to the Jazz, #10 to the Pacers and #11 to the Hornets. Really, depending on Rudy Gay and Hedo Turkoglu, Hayward could go anywhere from #8 to #13.

– The Hornets pick #11 and could use a wing who can shoot. It appears that they might be choosing amongst Babbitt, Hayward, Henry and George. George can shoot it and scouts think he has the most upside of this group.

When Stern/Kobe haters drink

YouTube contributor “JayBizzzle” posted this video after Game 7 of the Finals.

Warning — there is some seriously coarse language ahead. Definitely rated “R”.

He’s obviously taking some heat in the comments section, but to his credit, he fires back a few times as well. I particularly liked his first comment:

“im veeeeeeery drunk in this video”

However, I do agree with one of his points. The officials did call it a lot tighter in the fourth quarter, and that ultimately benefited the Lakers who basically won the game at the free throw line. I don’t mind a tightly called game, but the refs have to stay consistent throughout the entire game — not change things up at the start of the final quarter.

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