Monday, November 15, 2010

10 Things I want to Think

These are 10 things that I like about the half-over NFL season and the newly-begun NBA season

NBA
1. Andrew Bogut's leaping ability. I cannot stress how much I like Andrew Bogut. He may be the hardest working big man in the NBA. As a bonus, he carries an epic chin beard around with him all the time. For an Aussie, the man can really jump like a gazelle.

2. Mike Conley's effort. I know that Mike Conley is not worth the massive contract that he signed this off season, but he is really trying to play like a top flight point guard this season. He is assisting at a higher rate than normal, and that is a direct result of better penetration.

3. Kevin Love's magnet hands. Magnets are the only logical explanation as to why a 6'9", maybe a bit pudgy, white guy can grab 31 rebounds in an NBA game. He has "it" when it comes to rebounding, no arguing with that.

4. Point Guards. There are so many amazing playmakers at the point guard position in the NBA this year. Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Brandon Jennings, John Wall, Rajon Rondo. Don't forget about solid players like Chauncey Billups, Raymond Felton, Tyreke Evans, Steph Curry, Russel Westbrook...etc. There is an exciting point guard on display every night in this league!

5. LA Clippers highlights. The Clippers have, in my opinion, the two hardest dunkers in the NBA. Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan both dunk as hard as possible every night. This team is so young and so fun to watch. Griffin, Eric Gordon, Eric Bledsoe, and Al Farouq Aminu make this an exciting team for years to come.

NFL
1. Enormous Running Backs. I love the physical running of Steven Jackson and Peyton Hillis. They run over and through everyone that they can on every play. These are the kind of people that give football its physicality.

2. Complete players. The downfield blocking of Carolina Panther's Steve Smith impresses me week in and week out. He is on a terrible team, he barely gets the ball, but he gives 100% effort on every play.

3. Parity. I don't know how much I like the parity in the NFL this season, with no teams standing out through the first 10 weeks, but it sure makes things interesting. However, my pick 'em league is definitely suffering.

4. Peyton Manning. I will never get tired of complementing this guy. Who would think that Dallas Clark looks like a trade chip with Tamme playing so good as his fill in? It would never happen, but Manning can make anybody look like a star if they have decent hands and can run a route the same way twice. He carries the Colts like no other QB carries their team.

5. Sports Blogs. I love Peter King's MMQB, Don Banks' Quick Hits, the ESPN NFL Blog, Bill Simmons, I even enjoy Jason Whitlock once in a while (a long while). There are some really really talented writers in this world of sports.

Next time I post, probably after Thanksgiving, I want to look at player salaries in the NBA, NFL, and MLB in 3 consecutive posts. Here's hoping!

Friday, November 5, 2010

FVP (Franchise's MVP)

Franchise Cornerstone

I spent a little time a few weeks ago talking about Franchise players on an NBA team. It is debatable whether a guard or a center is the best choice to anchor your franchise. However, the debate is much less polarizing in the NFL. In the NFL, you cannot win without a good quarterback. You definitely cannot win a Super Bowl without a franchise quality quarterback. Therefore, I think the question of who is the most important cornerstone of a franchise is one that cannot be argued.

It is the quarterback. Some people will argue that a tackle is more important to a franchise than a quarterback, but there is no way that the statistics back up that up. A quarterback touches the ball every single offensive snap of the game (allowing for direct RB snaps and wildcat formation plays). A left tackle is also on the field every offensive play of the game, but they do not have nearly the same amount of responsibilities, or nearly as much effect on the offense. If the Left Tackle is performing poorly, run the ball to the other side of the line, or give him help blocking. If the quarterback is performing poorly, there are not a lot of backup options. He has to throw the ball by himself, nobody can help him throw it.

For this reason, and several others, I consider Peyton Manning to be the most important player in the National Football League. Without him, the Colts would not have a fighting chance in the AFC South. If Curtis Painter, the current Colts backup, was under center for the 2010 season, I have no doubts that Indianapolis would be tied with Buffalo for the worst record in the league. You may argue that the Colts offensive weapons would be enough to coax a few wins out of their personnel. I disagree. Joseph Addai rushes for less than 100 ypg even when he is paired with the most dangerous passing game in the NFL. If the quarterback was not dependable, opponents would expect running in running situations, which they cannot when Manning is under center. I could go on, but I think the evidence is overwhelming. The quarterback position is the most important in football, with no exceptions.

Give me your thoughts and opinions.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Inaugural Power Rankings!

In honor of one of my favorite sports writers, Peter King, let me introduce to you my Fine 15 NBA teams!

1. Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers are one of several teams whose success depends on their health. It is a given that
Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher will do what needs to be done, and that Artest will fluctuate between brilliant and insane. The two catalysts for a third ring in a row are Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. If those two can be healthy come playoff time, Kobe’s sixth ring should be well within his grasp.

2. Miami Heat: Health is also an issue here.
Mike Miller could be out for almost 2 months with a broken hand, and Dwayne Wade is a constant injury risk. However, I think the additions will limit Dwayne’s crazy forays into the paint, where he takes numerous lumps per season. Mark my words, and the words of every sportswriter in the world, a healthy Heat can win the Championship.

3. Boston Celtics: This year, if the Celtics meet the Lakers in the Finals again, the Celtics have plenty of bigs to throw at Gasol and Bynum. If Doc Rivers continues to be conservative with minutes for his aged stars during the regular season, this team will be fine.

4. Orlando Magic: Hakeem the Dream, meet Dwight the Fright. Like every sports enthusiast, I saw the video of
Dwight Howard working with Hakeem Olajuwon during the summer. I hope that pushes his game to another level. I would love to see Dwight Howard put up a pump fake that the defense actually had to react. A jumper would be an amazing sight. Even without the jumper, the Magic will blitz through the regular season again this year.

5. San Antonio Spurs: I think the addition of
Dejuan Blair to the starting lineup is a stroke of…something. I want it to be genius, but I am afraid that the undersized Blair will still require Tim Duncan to play defense on centers for 20-25 minutes a game. That is not good for this team because it is not good for Duncan’s health. However, when Tiago Splitter is ready to go, he will help give Duncan time away from the center position, which will allow Duncan some rest.

6. Oklahoma City Thunder: Best scorer in the league in
Kevin Durant, a rising star in Russell Westbrook, and an intentionally crafted supporting cast of players make the Thunder one of the most exciting young teams in the league. They will challenge for a top 4 playoff seed in the west, and should win at least one series this season. Still a center/power forward away from being an elite team.

7. Dallas Mavericks: I can’t remember the last time the Mavericks were not ranked in the top 10 in a Power Rankings Poll. They, along with the Spurs, seem to be the old faithful of the NBA.
Dirk Nowitski + 12-14 other players = playoff team. That just seems to be the way it works. Of course, all writers are interested to see what Mark Cuban inevitably does in the middle of the season when his team is in 3rd of 4th place in the West. He loves to shake things up.

8. Portland Trailblazers: For as much grief as people give
Greg Oden, he is one of only three players who makes this team watchable, with Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez being the other two. The Blazers are solid at every position, and if healthy, can roll out a platoon of rim-watchers to anchor the defensive end.

9. Utah Jazz: I love
Deron Williams. I think he is the best point guard in the league, and I think that he will carry the Jazz to another 50 win season this year. Al Jefferson should average 20-10 without breaking a sweat in the Jazz offense, and I have high hopes for rookie Gordon Hayward (Indiana bias)

10. Chicago Bulls: As often as I see him play,
Derrick Rose scares me. He scares me because he can penetrate on the entire world at once, but he scares me because I am afraid he is going to stay a scoring point guard his whole career. Nevertheless, the Bulls will be a team that no one wants to face in the playoffs if Carlos Boozer is running on all cylinders, and Kyle Korver has found his place on the perimeter, nailing threes alllllllll day.

11. Denver Nuggets: Denver has no chance at all of winning a championship at this point. On paper (when healthy) this team is awesome. A facilitating point guard with range in
Chauncey Billups, a defending 2-guard with developing range in Arron Afflolo, the smoothest scorer in the game in Carmelo Anthony, a brute of a power forward who is a great post defender in Kenyon Martin, and an athletic center with a decent jump shot in Nene. However, paper doesn’t factor in that Nene is a softie who doesn’t block enough shots, or that Anthony takes waaaaay too many contested jumpers, or that the bench is a 50-50 bet to go insane (JR Smith) every night. This team just has too many unreliable factors to win a championship.

12. Phoenix Suns: Never bet against
Steve Nash leading his team to the playoffs. He will find a way. I also love Hakeem Warrick in the pick and pop with Nash. Just don’t expect them to score any, literally any, points in the paint.

13. Houston Rockets: To me, the Rockets should be the deepest team in the league. They have a very good starting lineup, and then bring in players who can impact a game like
Kyle Lowery, Chase Buddinger, Chuck Hayes, Jordan Hill, Courtney Lee, and Patrick Patterson. However, as we all know, the success of this team is going to be gained one half at a time. Mostly during the half per game that Yao is allowed to play. As a coach, how do you manage Yao Ming’s 24 allowed minutes per game? Do you play him the 1st and 3rd quarters? 6 minutes per quarter? It is going to be an interesting situation on a very good Rockets team.

14. New Orleans Hornets: I will be the first to admit that I loved when the NBA best point guard debate shifted
Chris Paul to 2nd place behind Deron Williams. I have had a grudge against Paul ever since I saw him hit Julius Hodge in the groin during the 2005 ACC MBB tournament. I thought it was a low blow, and I never recovered. However, he is a dang good point guard, and he should be able to carry a team with plenty of outside shooting to at least the 7th seed in the West.

15. Milwaukee Bucks: I am a huge
Andrew Bogut fan. He was playing the best basketball of his career when he broke his arm last season. If he can continue to play at the level of his 2009-2010 season, then that coupled with the natural progression of his younger teammates should push this team into position to win at least a series in the playoffs. Corey Maggette and Chris Douglas-Roberts should provide this team with two factors they didn’t have last year: dynamic scorers, and possible locker room cancers.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Big vs. Little

There has been a lot of talk in the basketball blogosphere the last few days about whether it is better to start a team with a center or a guard. Good question. If you are starting a franchise, do you want a dominating center, or an electrifying guard? To me, the question is: why are you starting a team?

It seems, if you are getting involved in the business to win an NBA championship, you need a dominating center. The last 12 years go Lakers, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Heat, Spurs, Pistons, Spurs, Lakers, Lakers, Lakers, Spurs. Of those 12 teams, It can be argued that the best, or most important players on each team were enormous, or at least really big:
  • For the first Laker's dynasty and Miami's single dip, Shaq.
  • For the Spurs three championships, Tim Duncan was the common factor.
  • For the most recent three of Lakers and Celtics, Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett were (arguably) the most important players on those teams.
  • Even the Pistons got over the hump by the mid-season pickup of Rasheed Wallace.
On the other side of the page, if you want to make money in the NBA, I would argue that a flashy and mesmerizing guard is your best bet. Think of the most exciting players in the NBA today. My top 1- most likely to make you shake your head in disbelief players: Bryant, James, Wade, Durant, Paul, Howard, Williams, Wall (give me a break. Child is fast), Rose, Westbrook. Only one of these players is a center. As a GM, I would have to think a lot about the potential of drawing more fans over 41 games in my arena versus the potential of winning more playoff games over a six to ten year period.

Obviously, your team is going to make a lot of money if you win an NBA championship. However, what are the chances that you win an O'Brien trophy if you are drafting a potential star? At least in the short term, not good. So does it make more sense to make money with an exciting young athlete while you try to build your team? These are the kinds of questions that haunt me as a wannabe GM. I think the most important lesson has to be: as a General Manager, it's never all about the basketball, as much as you may like it to be.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Colt's Roster

It has come to my attention, as a longtime Colts fan and native of Indiana, that the Colts roster has been absolutely decimated by injury through 5 weeks. Let me list the important ones:
  • Bob Sanders (out forever and ever)
  • Anthony Gonzales (valuable part of passing game, but replaceable)
  • Donald Brown (good at picking up rushers)
  • Joseph Addai (Questionable for week 6)
  • Pierre Garcon (Should be good to go, not 100%)
  • Antione Bethea (Also running at about 85%)
  • Melvin Bullit (Out for the forseeable future)
You can see that the majority of those issues are on the offensive side of the ball, but they are not the injuries that I am worried about. I am very concerned with the injuries at safety. If you look around the National Football League, you can see that dynamic safeties make a big difference for any defense. Troy Polamalu, Laron Landry, Ed Reed, Bernard Pollard, Antoine Bethea, Louis Delmas (in a few years along with Jairus Bird) just to name a few.

As a GM, I don't see any feasible way that Bill Polian can address this issue during the regular season. The Colt's D, already suspect in so many ways, now may become suspect against the deep ball, and be even worse against the run with the potential loss of Bethea. As the leader of this team, I suppose the best a GM can do is hope for health and a stout front 7, which Indianapolis kind of has and kind of doesn't.

This coming off season, depth is definitely something that needs to be addressed in the secondary, both through the draft and through free agency, although free agents is not the Colts way. Here's hoping for another playoff year!

Monday, August 2, 2010

New GM thought

Here is a GM thought for the NBA 2011 offseason.

If I were Donnie Walsh, and I were GM-ing the Knicks, of course my #1 priority in the next offseason is going to be luring Carmelo Anthony to New York. I think it is something that could be done, and I think Anthony will definitely consider it in the light of the DwaLeBosh. However, I think another fantastic option for that roster would be signing Nene, another Denver Nugget. Amare Stoudamire and Nene are both jump shooters who love to dunk. Both of them have a power post game, and both of them work wonderfully in the pick and roll. I think, especially with their ability to run the floor, that Amare and Nene could coexist and allow Stoudamire to beat the living daylights out of opposing power forwards.

But what do I know.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Cap Space (If I were a GM)

Bill Simmons, the sports satirist and comedy/informational writer for ESPN often tells his readers the things that he would do if he were an NBA GM. Well, tonight it is my turn. Just for the sake of being one, lets say that I get to pick any of the top 50 free agents to join my team. I am limited by money, so I obviously cannot get Dwade or LeKing, so I need to start by looking down the list a little bit.

Lets say I have three team needs. I need a shot blocking/rebounding big man, a forward who can shoot the ball, and a guard to spell my starting point guard. I am going to skip the whole money thing, as this is just a casual post. For my big man, I am looking at Hakim Warrick from Chicago. He is a pogo stick who likes to cast mid-range jumpers, but he challenges shots and at least tries to defend in the post.

For my shooting forward, I am getting almost the same player, but with range. Travis Outlaw, most recently of the LA Clippers, has range on his jumper, is long and athletic, and can provide some size to my lineup.

Finally, for my floor-pusher, I want Shannon Brown. I think Shannon was limited a little bit by the triangle offense in Los Angeles. However, he has developed his jumper and dribbling skills while there, so he makes a valuable backup guard who can play the 1 or the 2.

Those are some players that could be added to any team without breaking the bank. They are all solid locker-room guys, and I appreciate their dedication to a league where they will never be stars.

Gabriel

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Muppets

I think that the creative genius of Jim Henson and his Muppets cannot be talked about enough. I love to spend an hour on Youtube looking at his memorable characters and their starring roles in television and film. Even now, in the last year, Muppets have begun to make viral videos and carve out their own comedic niche in the online market.

One of my recent favorites, which has yet to fail to make me laugh is Danny Boy. This video shows off the vocal skills of the Chef, Meeker (?), and Animal.

Pure Genius, and it makes me laugh every time.

Just a quick update, Dionne and I are heading to IN next week for the duration of the "summer" (July). Pray that we have a safe and productive visit to the Davis side of the family. Thank you.