Catching Up
Hello Friends! It's been quite some time since I've gotten an update in - busy weeks with traveling, sick babies and much more. So much to dive into so let's get going.
NBA Playoffs:
Lakers/Suns - I'm going to get this frustration off of my chest first - the Lakers are TERRIBLE! I mean, I can't remember the last time I saw a team play defense this bad...and that includes the Mavs over the past 3-4 years. I know Kobe is going to get ridiculed no matter what he does, but the bottom line is this, if he doesn't score 35+ a game, they have no chance to win. Mitch Kupcheck (GM) needs to literally blow this team up after this year and get some real players in there. The needs are literally everywhere. Luke Walton gave fans a small glimpse of what he's capable of last year, but we now know it was a mirage. Smush Parker should be banned from the game he's so bad. Kwame Brown? Pu-lease. I love Lamar Odom, but in the triangle offense, his talents are wasted. Few people ever look close enough to see this, but in 4-5 out of 10 games, Odom is usually 1 or 2 points, assists or boards away from a triple-double. There has to be at least one team out there who looks at him and says if we only had that player we could get over the hump. The Suns are a great team, no doubt, but the Lakers' porous defense makes them look even better. Kobe has to be frustrated - would love to see the Lakers say screw it to the luxury tax and start building a solid team - focus should be on defensive-focused players and a secondary scorer. If they do nothing, don't be shocked to see the "Kobe demands trade" rumors start next year just as we saw with Kevin Garnett a couple of years back.
Mavericks/Warriors - For those of you that never understood or believed it when people talked about the importance of "matchups", this is a perfect example. Golden State matches up VERY well with Dallas. What does that mean? It means one team's strengths play very well into the other team's weaknesses. Golden State has big, physical guards in Jason Richardson and Baron Davis - they are manhandling the Dallas front guys, both on offense and on defense. The beauty and geniuous of the Warriors' game plan is that it's all about fearless abandon. Don Nelson knows his team has nothing to lose (they're an 8 seed for crying out loud) and so they're running full steam and taking chances without the pressure or stress. Brilliant. And now he's got his old team, his old boss and his protege on the ropes. Don't be surprised if Dallas finds a way to come back here (remember last year the Lakers were up 3-1 on the Suns). I personally think the Mavs are done, but I wouldn't be shocked if they found a way to pull this one out - it would certainly show a toughness that's been lacking from the Mavs for...well, ever. Dallas is a better team, they just pulled a tough matchup in the first round.
Bulls/Heat - I picked the Bulls early on to make it to the finals and I'm sticking with it. Although winning a series against a seasoned Detroit team will be tough. This is a very young and very athletic Bulls team. They may not win it all or even make it to the finals this year, but they will be in the hunt for a long time to come - and the Pistons aren't getting any younger. Ben Wallace's defense against Shaq in this series was terrific. Shaq is no spring chicken anymore, but he's still a force in the middle. This Miami team will need to take a long look at their roster going into next year - LOTS of aging players. They've got Wade, but that's about it. Kapono can be counted on as a role player and he's still fairly young, but that's it. Don't be surprised to see Miami regress quite a bit after this year - not unlike those Lakers of mine, especially once Shaq retires.
Spurs/Nuggets - After last night's thriller (Big Shot Rob does it again), I don't think the Nuggets will win another game, that was their shot to tie it up and they couldn't pull through. I picked San Antone to win it all when the season started and I think they are almost a shoe-in out of the west. I think they pull the winner of the Jazz/Rockets series and they match up well against both of those teams. If they play the Jazz I'll give them a clean sweep. I think Houston will put up more of a fight though, but they certainly can't beat the Spurs in a 7-game series.
Cavs/Wizards - Sorry Cavs fans, but sweeping an Arenas-less Wizards team is less than impressive. I look for Cleveland to get man-handled in the second round (against Jersey/Raptors winner I think). They are not unlike the Lakers, only with better role players.
Toronto/New Jersey - I don't know much about the Raptors (although I do like routing for TJ Ford), but I'll tell you I've had fun watching the little bit of this series that I have. I swear Jason Kidd doesn't age. And when he wants to be, Vince Carter is unreal, but it's easy to question his commitment sometimes.
That's all I've got for the NBA playoffs. I will be watching much more closely than I have been in the second and subsequent rounds - especially Bulls/Pistons matchups. I'll look for Dallas to get a fairly convincing win in Dallas, but I think GS takes it in 6. I just don't think Don Nelson will/can let his guys get soft and comfortable.
NFL Draft:
Fighting off a cold and decompressing after a week-long business trip last week, I watched 99% of the first and second rounds - how sad is that? Here are my observations and thoughts from this year's draft and heading into next year.
- Brady Quinn, what have we learned from this? Keep your mouth shut! This guy did quite a bit of talking leading up to the draft when he probably should have been working more. Am I surprised by his drop? Not really, we all saw the same games over the past 2 years - he can win the games he's supposed to win, but against elite competition he tanks. Period. Not saying he won't be a good NFL quarterback, I imagine he'll be pretty effective, but I don't think he's going to be the end all, be all of QBs. And evidently neither does anyone else. Cleveland played this draft beautifully - don't you know they are still smiling after stealing Quinn at 22 after drafting the best O-lineman this year at #3.
- What in the world is Miami doing taking Ted Ginn Jr. at #9. Are you crazy? I thought for sure that Quinn would be a dolphin - they need a QB in a bad kind of way. What they don't need is an undersized receiver who is STILL not 100%. These guys never saw Ginn workout at 100% leading up to the draft. Unreal. Don't get me wrong, I think he can certainly be an effective player, but a number 9 pick? No way, not with a 100% healthy Brady Quinn staring you in the face. Not sure if you got a chance to see the replay of this, but Coach Cameron did a press conference in Miami after their first pick and Dolphins fans came out to let him know what they thought - it was not pretty. He couldn't even do the press conference over the boos. The one time it got half-way silent you could hear one guy scream, "what a dumb pick" - it's funny because it's true.
- I'm scratching my head at the Titans. They lost every single offensive weapon they had around Vince Young last year and what do they do with their first-round pick? They get a defensive back! WOW! Don't get me wrong, I love Michael Griffin. In fact, I think he'll be a better player than Aaron Ross and possibly even the best of the defensive backs in this draft. They had Robert Meachem of Tennessee available and they passed - I was SHOCKED at that. When it's all said and done, these guys may have had the worst offseason of any team. We all know how good VY is, but in this league, you simply can't do it all yourself. Look for this team to take about 2 or 3 steps backwards this coming year.
- Kudos to Detroit (seriously). These guys defied logic and went with the best player on the board (and in the draft) even though it meant taking a receiver AGAIN - it seems like they've taken one every year for the past decade. I am surprised they chose Stanton over the other QBs in the second round - he seemed to me to be the least polished of them all, although he's a pretty good mobile QB, or at least was in college. Here's betting that Kitna has about 6K yards passing next year. If they wanted to, they could also package up a Mike Williams OR Roy Williams for pretty good value. They definitely could use a franchise running back as I just don't think Kevin Jones is going to hold up. And of course, they need a young QB (we'll see about Drew). We've all heard it 1000 times leading up to the draft, but I'll say it again. Calvin Johnson is a sure thing - he will be a star within the first 10 games of the year.
- If you want a great read, go look at Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column from yesterday - the first 2.5 pages detail the process leading up to Cleveland making the trade to get Quinn at 22. Fascinating. You can find it at cnnsi.com - go to the NFL section. It's a regular column on Mondays and it's one of my top 2-3 favorite columns to read.
- I like Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. I can't believe he lasted that long, but I like it. So close Houston...
- Without question or argument, the Patriots have to be the favorites to win it all next year. They just HAVE to be.
- And speaking of the Patriots, here's why the Randy Moss trade is so brilliant. First off, they don't NEED a top-tier receiver. Second, he's taking a HUGE pay cut to play here. Third, he's signed for a 1-year deal. If Moss is smart (big if) then he will come in, conceded to Brady as the leader, keep his mouth shut and work is ass off, even when he doesn't get thrown to. If he does that, he may have a career year and he will win a ring. If not, they can cut him whenever they want and they've lost nothing for it (a fourth round pick). Even if they never got Moss, I would still be saying that they are the favorites next year.
- And speaking of the Patriots and Moss. The one thing I will say is that New England can no longer claim to be all about character guys. They want to win just like everyone else. Not knocking them for it, but I'm certainly not praising them as the haven for character guys anymore.
- I really hope Brian Robison makes it in the NFL, he's a hard worker and a mad man on the field. If he can get the right coaching and stay healthy I think we may look back in 3-4 years and say that Minnesota got an absolute steal with him in the 5th round.
24 Update:
So last night I watched 2 back-to-back episodes (which is always fun) as I was out of town last Monday night. You guys know how big of a fan I am of this show, I don't think there's a more exciting and addicting show on television nor has there been one like this in years. BUT, the producers have spent WAAAY too much time on the following things: Chloe and Morris' relationship, Nadia's and Milo's relationship, the new found respect for Mike from Nadia and the Vice President's creepy facial expressions.
Here's the point, the producers/writers for this show are losing steam here and seem to be grasping at straws. There is more filler here than I recall in past episodes. Will be interesting to see how they sew things up in this one, and where they go next year, but I'm a bit worried. I'm hoping that next year they can get a bit more creative.
For the record, I'm starting to LOVE Mike Doyle (Rick Schroeder) - I hope to see him come back in subsequent seasons if he doesn't take a bullet before this one ends. Also, I gotta think we haven't heard the last of Bill Buchanan.
All I know is I can't wait to see how Jack handles Cheng when all of this unfolds.
Second best quote of the series thus far: Secretary Helling telling Jack to say away from his daughter (Audrey), "You're cursed Jack, everything you touch somehow ends up dead."
Foreshadowing perhaps????
American Idol:
Can't tell you how excited I am that Sanjaya is no longer on this show. Man that was getting SOOOO old. I was actually started to really dislike that punk. When Simon tore into him after his last performance, it was great.
NBA Playoffs:
Lakers/Suns - I'm going to get this frustration off of my chest first - the Lakers are TERRIBLE! I mean, I can't remember the last time I saw a team play defense this bad...and that includes the Mavs over the past 3-4 years. I know Kobe is going to get ridiculed no matter what he does, but the bottom line is this, if he doesn't score 35+ a game, they have no chance to win. Mitch Kupcheck (GM) needs to literally blow this team up after this year and get some real players in there. The needs are literally everywhere. Luke Walton gave fans a small glimpse of what he's capable of last year, but we now know it was a mirage. Smush Parker should be banned from the game he's so bad. Kwame Brown? Pu-lease. I love Lamar Odom, but in the triangle offense, his talents are wasted. Few people ever look close enough to see this, but in 4-5 out of 10 games, Odom is usually 1 or 2 points, assists or boards away from a triple-double. There has to be at least one team out there who looks at him and says if we only had that player we could get over the hump. The Suns are a great team, no doubt, but the Lakers' porous defense makes them look even better. Kobe has to be frustrated - would love to see the Lakers say screw it to the luxury tax and start building a solid team - focus should be on defensive-focused players and a secondary scorer. If they do nothing, don't be shocked to see the "Kobe demands trade" rumors start next year just as we saw with Kevin Garnett a couple of years back.
Mavericks/Warriors - For those of you that never understood or believed it when people talked about the importance of "matchups", this is a perfect example. Golden State matches up VERY well with Dallas. What does that mean? It means one team's strengths play very well into the other team's weaknesses. Golden State has big, physical guards in Jason Richardson and Baron Davis - they are manhandling the Dallas front guys, both on offense and on defense. The beauty and geniuous of the Warriors' game plan is that it's all about fearless abandon. Don Nelson knows his team has nothing to lose (they're an 8 seed for crying out loud) and so they're running full steam and taking chances without the pressure or stress. Brilliant. And now he's got his old team, his old boss and his protege on the ropes. Don't be surprised if Dallas finds a way to come back here (remember last year the Lakers were up 3-1 on the Suns). I personally think the Mavs are done, but I wouldn't be shocked if they found a way to pull this one out - it would certainly show a toughness that's been lacking from the Mavs for...well, ever. Dallas is a better team, they just pulled a tough matchup in the first round.
Bulls/Heat - I picked the Bulls early on to make it to the finals and I'm sticking with it. Although winning a series against a seasoned Detroit team will be tough. This is a very young and very athletic Bulls team. They may not win it all or even make it to the finals this year, but they will be in the hunt for a long time to come - and the Pistons aren't getting any younger. Ben Wallace's defense against Shaq in this series was terrific. Shaq is no spring chicken anymore, but he's still a force in the middle. This Miami team will need to take a long look at their roster going into next year - LOTS of aging players. They've got Wade, but that's about it. Kapono can be counted on as a role player and he's still fairly young, but that's it. Don't be surprised to see Miami regress quite a bit after this year - not unlike those Lakers of mine, especially once Shaq retires.
Spurs/Nuggets - After last night's thriller (Big Shot Rob does it again), I don't think the Nuggets will win another game, that was their shot to tie it up and they couldn't pull through. I picked San Antone to win it all when the season started and I think they are almost a shoe-in out of the west. I think they pull the winner of the Jazz/Rockets series and they match up well against both of those teams. If they play the Jazz I'll give them a clean sweep. I think Houston will put up more of a fight though, but they certainly can't beat the Spurs in a 7-game series.
Cavs/Wizards - Sorry Cavs fans, but sweeping an Arenas-less Wizards team is less than impressive. I look for Cleveland to get man-handled in the second round (against Jersey/Raptors winner I think). They are not unlike the Lakers, only with better role players.
Toronto/New Jersey - I don't know much about the Raptors (although I do like routing for TJ Ford), but I'll tell you I've had fun watching the little bit of this series that I have. I swear Jason Kidd doesn't age. And when he wants to be, Vince Carter is unreal, but it's easy to question his commitment sometimes.
That's all I've got for the NBA playoffs. I will be watching much more closely than I have been in the second and subsequent rounds - especially Bulls/Pistons matchups. I'll look for Dallas to get a fairly convincing win in Dallas, but I think GS takes it in 6. I just don't think Don Nelson will/can let his guys get soft and comfortable.
NFL Draft:
Fighting off a cold and decompressing after a week-long business trip last week, I watched 99% of the first and second rounds - how sad is that? Here are my observations and thoughts from this year's draft and heading into next year.
- Brady Quinn, what have we learned from this? Keep your mouth shut! This guy did quite a bit of talking leading up to the draft when he probably should have been working more. Am I surprised by his drop? Not really, we all saw the same games over the past 2 years - he can win the games he's supposed to win, but against elite competition he tanks. Period. Not saying he won't be a good NFL quarterback, I imagine he'll be pretty effective, but I don't think he's going to be the end all, be all of QBs. And evidently neither does anyone else. Cleveland played this draft beautifully - don't you know they are still smiling after stealing Quinn at 22 after drafting the best O-lineman this year at #3.
- What in the world is Miami doing taking Ted Ginn Jr. at #9. Are you crazy? I thought for sure that Quinn would be a dolphin - they need a QB in a bad kind of way. What they don't need is an undersized receiver who is STILL not 100%. These guys never saw Ginn workout at 100% leading up to the draft. Unreal. Don't get me wrong, I think he can certainly be an effective player, but a number 9 pick? No way, not with a 100% healthy Brady Quinn staring you in the face. Not sure if you got a chance to see the replay of this, but Coach Cameron did a press conference in Miami after their first pick and Dolphins fans came out to let him know what they thought - it was not pretty. He couldn't even do the press conference over the boos. The one time it got half-way silent you could hear one guy scream, "what a dumb pick" - it's funny because it's true.
- I'm scratching my head at the Titans. They lost every single offensive weapon they had around Vince Young last year and what do they do with their first-round pick? They get a defensive back! WOW! Don't get me wrong, I love Michael Griffin. In fact, I think he'll be a better player than Aaron Ross and possibly even the best of the defensive backs in this draft. They had Robert Meachem of Tennessee available and they passed - I was SHOCKED at that. When it's all said and done, these guys may have had the worst offseason of any team. We all know how good VY is, but in this league, you simply can't do it all yourself. Look for this team to take about 2 or 3 steps backwards this coming year.
- Kudos to Detroit (seriously). These guys defied logic and went with the best player on the board (and in the draft) even though it meant taking a receiver AGAIN - it seems like they've taken one every year for the past decade. I am surprised they chose Stanton over the other QBs in the second round - he seemed to me to be the least polished of them all, although he's a pretty good mobile QB, or at least was in college. Here's betting that Kitna has about 6K yards passing next year. If they wanted to, they could also package up a Mike Williams OR Roy Williams for pretty good value. They definitely could use a franchise running back as I just don't think Kevin Jones is going to hold up. And of course, they need a young QB (we'll see about Drew). We've all heard it 1000 times leading up to the draft, but I'll say it again. Calvin Johnson is a sure thing - he will be a star within the first 10 games of the year.
- If you want a great read, go look at Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column from yesterday - the first 2.5 pages detail the process leading up to Cleveland making the trade to get Quinn at 22. Fascinating. You can find it at cnnsi.com - go to the NFL section. It's a regular column on Mondays and it's one of my top 2-3 favorite columns to read.
- I like Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. I can't believe he lasted that long, but I like it. So close Houston...
- Without question or argument, the Patriots have to be the favorites to win it all next year. They just HAVE to be.
- And speaking of the Patriots, here's why the Randy Moss trade is so brilliant. First off, they don't NEED a top-tier receiver. Second, he's taking a HUGE pay cut to play here. Third, he's signed for a 1-year deal. If Moss is smart (big if) then he will come in, conceded to Brady as the leader, keep his mouth shut and work is ass off, even when he doesn't get thrown to. If he does that, he may have a career year and he will win a ring. If not, they can cut him whenever they want and they've lost nothing for it (a fourth round pick). Even if they never got Moss, I would still be saying that they are the favorites next year.
- And speaking of the Patriots and Moss. The one thing I will say is that New England can no longer claim to be all about character guys. They want to win just like everyone else. Not knocking them for it, but I'm certainly not praising them as the haven for character guys anymore.
- I really hope Brian Robison makes it in the NFL, he's a hard worker and a mad man on the field. If he can get the right coaching and stay healthy I think we may look back in 3-4 years and say that Minnesota got an absolute steal with him in the 5th round.
24 Update:
So last night I watched 2 back-to-back episodes (which is always fun) as I was out of town last Monday night. You guys know how big of a fan I am of this show, I don't think there's a more exciting and addicting show on television nor has there been one like this in years. BUT, the producers have spent WAAAY too much time on the following things: Chloe and Morris' relationship, Nadia's and Milo's relationship, the new found respect for Mike from Nadia and the Vice President's creepy facial expressions.
Here's the point, the producers/writers for this show are losing steam here and seem to be grasping at straws. There is more filler here than I recall in past episodes. Will be interesting to see how they sew things up in this one, and where they go next year, but I'm a bit worried. I'm hoping that next year they can get a bit more creative.
For the record, I'm starting to LOVE Mike Doyle (Rick Schroeder) - I hope to see him come back in subsequent seasons if he doesn't take a bullet before this one ends. Also, I gotta think we haven't heard the last of Bill Buchanan.
All I know is I can't wait to see how Jack handles Cheng when all of this unfolds.
Second best quote of the series thus far: Secretary Helling telling Jack to say away from his daughter (Audrey), "You're cursed Jack, everything you touch somehow ends up dead."
Foreshadowing perhaps????
American Idol:
Can't tell you how excited I am that Sanjaya is no longer on this show. Man that was getting SOOOO old. I was actually started to really dislike that punk. When Simon tore into him after his last performance, it was great.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 9:45 AM
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