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      An in-depth look at the top free agent bigs

      May 6, 2010 /

      Normally, I’d wait for the playoffs to conclude before really digging into this summer’s free agency. But the free agent class of 2010 is so good, and the face of the league could change so much, I think an early look is warranted.

      A few months ago, I updated my list of the Top 10 NBA Free Agents of 2010, and not a whole lot has changed in terms of the overall rankings of these players.

      I thought it would be interesting to look at the five best free agent big men — Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer and David Lee — and compare them using a variety of statistics. Here is what I found:

      (As always, click on the table to see a bigger version.)

      All of the stats in Table 1 should be familiar to most NBA fans. % GP represents the number of games in which a particular player has appeared, so the lower the number, the more games the player has missed due to injury or other reasons. I’m not 100% clear on Lee’s rookie year — I don’t know if he missed time with injury or just did not play because the coach didn’t put him in. He has been very durable the last three years, appearing in 81 games each season. Stoudemire and Boozer are clearly the biggest injury concerns of the bunch, but both players have stayed healthy this season. Stoudemire’s FG% (55.7%) is very impressive, while Bosh brings a bit of three-point shooting to the table.

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      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Raiders officially release massive bust Russell

      May 6, 2010 /

      Al Davis has finally decided to cut the cord on JaMarcus Russell, who is currently competing with Ryan Leaf for biggest draft bust in NFL history. The 24-year-old quarterback was officially released on Thursday, just three seasons after he was selected as the top pick in the 2007 draft.

      Somewhere, Lane Kiffin is laughing. He was the one that urged Davis not to draft Russell in ’07, but against his head coach’s wishes, Al selected the LSU product anyway. Russell finishes his career in Oakland with a 7-18 record, a 52.1 completion percentage, an 18:33 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 65.2 passer rating. Comparing the numbers, I think Craig Krenzel may have produced better numbers.

      At this point, there won’t be many teams (if any) lining up to sign the former first overall pick. Even a quarterback-hungry team like the Bills will likely stick with what they currently have on their roster, despite the fact that Russell can throw the ball the length of 87 football fields while sitting down. Everyone outside of Al Davis realizes that if a quarterback isn’t accurate, doesn’t want to work hard and takes half a season to get into shape, then it doesn’t matter how far he can throw.

      It seems as if Russell just wants to take his big payday from the NFL and walk off into the distance with it. And maybe that’s exactly what he should do.

      External Sports, NFL

      Second man arrested in Lawrence Taylor rape case

      May 6, 2010 /

      ESPN.com reports that a second man, Rasheed Davis, has been arrested in connection with the Lawrence Taylor rape case. According to the report, Davis brought the 16-year-old girl to Taylor’s hotel room in Ramapo, New York.

      A second man was arrested in the case, New York City police said. Rasheed Davis, a 36-year-old parolee, was arrested on charges of unlawful imprisonment, assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

      Police said Davis drove the girl, who had been staying with him in the Bronx for a few weeks, to the Holiday Inn and told her she had to have sex with Taylor. She said she refused, Taylor sexually assaulted her, then he paid her $300, which she gave to Davis, police said.

      Davis “struck the young girl with his fist, kicked her and brought her to the Holiday Inn against her will,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

      On the way back from Suffern, the girl sent text messages to her uncle spelling out what had happened, Browne said. The uncle then went to the NYPD, he said.

      New York City police alerted Ramapo authorities to what happened. Police then went to Taylor’s hotel room and arrested him.

      Sex with a 16-year-old cannot be consensual in New York state and if convicted, Taylor could spend up to four years in prison. It’s important to note that LT has not been charged with anything, but it appears as though that could change as more details from this story emerge.

      External Sports, NFL

      Lance Berkman willing to waive no-trade clause?

      May 6, 2010 /

      Long-time Astros first baseman Lance Berkman told the Houston Chronicle that he would be open to waiving his no-trade clause.

      “As a player, if they came to me and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a deal to go to a contender,’ I’d take it. Heck, it’s only a three- or four-month deal. It’s not like I’m signing on for 10 years with another team.”

      “I would say yeah,” Berkman said. “I think it would benefit the organization, and in the end, it would be a benefit for whoever it is — whether it’s me, or Roy (Oswalt) or Carlos. I’m not saying we’re at the point where they should start pulling the plug on us, but they need to start thinking forward. If this thing keeps going like this, they’ve gotta do something.

      “If you’re running a team, you don’t want to get caught in baseball purgatory — where you’re not really getting young and you’re not really (competing). Where you’re in this deal where every year you’re signing a marginal veteran and you just never get in the mix.”

      Berkman is in the final year of his contract, but the Astros hold a $15 million option for 2011. He has stated that he wants to retire a Stro, but you can’t fault him for wanting to have a shot to contend elsewhere. He’s at the end of his career and while his numbers are declining, he’s still a productive player – one that would benefit from being surrounded by better talent around him.

      I wonder if a team like the Rangers would be a good fit. Justin Smoak isn’t even hitting his own weight right now, while Ryan Garko isn’t hitting Calista Flockhart’s weight. I won’t even begin to speculate what kind of a package Texas could put together in a trade for Berkman, but again, it would appear to be a nice fit for both parties.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

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