Quick Thought

The next post that I am going to work on is an NBA Draft update. Using rankings from DraftExpress.com, and the current NBA standings, I am going to do a mock lottery draft of the 1st 14 picks! Exciting stuff.

Evolution of the NFL Quarterback

Steve Young

Frank Tarkenton

Kordell Stewart

Steve McNair

Donovan McNabb

Michael Vick

Cam Newton

Tim Tebow

*Jake Locker

*Robert Griffin III

*Both of these players are unproven or have yet to play a snap.

What does this list of players all have in common? Is it that they enjoy a good cognac, the love of some healthy animal competition, the smell of pine trees in the winter, or could it be something else?

I would like to propose to you that these players, each in perhaps a different way, have opened the door to the new kind of NFL Quarterback; A QB who can make plays both with his arm and with his legs/feet. I realize that this isn’t a brand new idea, but it is one that I believe could finally be gaining some traction in the NFL.

Michael Vick was the first Quarterback to really be a dual threat in the NFL in the last 8 years. Other players could gain a first down from time to time, if they were flushed from the pocket, but teams actually had to gameplan to keep Vick IN the pocket, where he was only a threat to throw, not to run for 45 yards. (For the 21^st century fan, he was one of a kind. I know that there were amazing running QB’s in the league before my time, but I don’t know them well, and they were still an anomaly.) He revolutionized how fun a quarterback could be, and changed the amount of ways he could change the game.

Currently in the NFL, there are only 4 starting quarterbacks who can consistently run and gain yardage on the ground, and still throw to some degree. Michael Vick, Josh Freeman, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow. (argue if you want, but those are the facts. Freeman is trying to not be athletic, and his team is awful, but he can still rush for 45 plus yards a game if the OC wanted him to.) 3 of these 4 teams should have made the playoffs, although only two of them actually did.

My GM question that I would like to examine is basically tied in with my Indiana bias: Should the Colts take a traditional pocket passing QB who can occasionally make plays with his legs and could be the next Manning (Luck), or a dual threat QB who was 2^nd on his team in rushing and completed 72% of his passes? (Griffin III)?

I don’t have an answer to this question, but let’s look at some numbers to compare the two. I will include Bowl numbers, since both of them played.

Andrew Luck 2011 season stats:

3517 passing yds

71.3 completion percentage,

37 TD, 10 INT

150 rushing yds

Robert Griffin III 2011 season stats:

4293 passing yds

72.4 completion percentage

37 TD, 6 INT

699 rushing yds

So the question is, in the modern NFL, which QB do you think will have the better career? Or, assuming they are both successful NFL QB’s, which one do you think will have the greater overall impact on their team? Looking at Cam Newton, Vick, and Tebow from this year, it appears that the dual threat Quarterback is in vogue, but the NFL has seen traditional throw-only QB’s win the last 296 Superbowls. In my humble opinion, I love when a team can have 2 skill players to get things done instead of one, so Andrew Luck plus a good RB would be my choice, but many people, including Tony Dungy, think that Robert Griffin III has the ability to change a franchise. What do you think?

I will post this on Facebook and Twitter, so please feel free to comment on the blog or on Facebook.

Chicago Bulls v. Orlando Magic Game Notes

Great Start. I had a late dinner and ate too slow so I missed the tip and the first few minutes of the game. Sounds like this experience is going to be a great success. However, despite my tardiness, I am looking forward to seeing some All-Stars take the court!

• Has JJ Redick always had a tattoo on both forearms!? I think not. Lockout addition possibly. This probably needs to be looked into by a more serious journalist than me. His poetic nature appears to be asserting itself in a more physical form. They appear to be text based tats’, not image based.

• Owner Thought: I wonder what the daily cost is of running an arena. Obviously, the Magic are playing in a beautiful, new arena. The cost of daily operations must be staggering. However, ticket and advertising must rake in the dough as well. Which is one of many reasons why teams try to be competitive year after year.

• 1:00 left in the first quarter. I cannot get over how useless I think Hedo Turkoglu has become. He isn’t athletic, doesn’t shoot a high percentage, does not get to the free throw line enough, and I think is an overrated facilitator. What is he bringing daily to the table, other than a very nice goatee?

This is already getting a bit long. I think I may do one post at the end of each quarter with a bit of analysis. D Howard with 14 at the end of this first, Orlando up by 1.

• GM Thought from 2^nd Quarter: Hustle Plays. The Bulls have more players who will make the hustle play, and I think that is what ultimately will separate these two teams. Talent is a must if you want to win championships, but you also must have gutsy players who will do the dirty work. Noah, Asik, Korver, Brewer, these guys will stick their noses into plays, defend, keep balls alive, and make the extra pass. Asik will bang with Dwight Howard all night. Howard may score on him, but Asik is not going to concede and easy bucket.

• GM Though from the 3rd Quarter: The Orlando Magic didn't shoot a free throw in the 2nd quarter. This is a malady for teams who lack athletic wings who can drive to the basket. This is a problem that the Orlando Magic has had for several years. Pretty much since T-Mac and Grant Hill left.

• GM Thought from the 4th Quarter: My Streaming did not go well, as I was switching computers. However, as an effort evaluator, the Bulls gave it and the Magic simply did not give enough of it.

It was fun to try and do a post during an actual basketball game, but it is also super difficult to write and watch and listen at the same time! I will have to give this another try sometime. More GM thoughts later in life.

Next Up

Tonight, I am going to (attempt) to watch an NBA game on watchespn.com and jot my thoughts down during. I will probably watch the Bulls v Magic game at 8, and keep a running journal of thoughts as we go along, @BillSimmons style.

The Value of Being in a Box

As a fan of the three major American sports (football, basketball, baseball) I find that I sincerely enjoy reading blogs and personal opinion about those sports. Whether I agree or disagree with the opinions that are presented within those pieces of writing, it always provides me with some entertainment and something to consider. For instance, on the Truehoop Network (ESPN.com site) they had an article about how bad the Lakers are in crunch time. Namely, how bad Kobe Bryant is during the ending moments of a game. It was a very interesting read, and something that I am sure will be debated around the internets.

My question is, should a GM be reading all of these things? Let’s take the Washington Wizards for instance. They have a very talented young man on their team named Andray Blatche. He is 6’10”, can shoot and pass, can run the floor, basically has all of the makings of a very good power forward. He does seem to have a bit of a reputation for underwhelming everyone who watches him play. He is constantly ridiculed on Twitter and various sporting blogs for being a knucklehead/player who will never make a good teammate or live up to his potential. (For example: last week, Andray Blatche tweeted ((paraphrase)) that his team didn’t win because he was not posting up/getting the ball in the post enough. The internet thoroughly ridiculed him, and he tried to smooth it over the next day)

If I was the GM of the Washington Wizards, should I be on the internet trolling for these things? Would I want to know that everyone thinks the player that I paid so much money for is a goofball? Would this adversely affect the way I interacted with this player and treated him? I am no sure. The GM will obviously get reports from coaches and other people within the organization about players, but those could be rose-colored as well, giving a different kind of false or biased opinion.

Personally, as an educator, I can definitely get pre-conceived notions about a student because of the stories I hear from other teachers. I do not let that student show their character to me, I think that I already know their character. In my experience, I am way nicer than a lot of other teachers, so I don’t think kids are as bad) An opinion that is formed from an outside perspective is almost never totally right, and it can have a bad effect on the classroom, or in our case, the locker room.

I suppose that is the questions for you readers: As a person in a position of power, should you read outside perspectives on your employees, or should you form your own opinions based on what you hear from people inside the company?

THe Colt's Conundrum

As many of you know, both Bill Polian and his son Chris, the GM and VP of Operations for the Colts, were fired by Jim Irsay this week. They have been with the team for over a decade, and their firing came as a shock to the sporting world.

As a lifelong Colts fan, I was immediately surprised and a little upset. The Polians have been a big part of making the Indianapolis Colts one of the most successful franchises in the NFL over the last 10 years. They have drafted good players (until very recently, but that post is for another time), retained key veterans, and kept Peyton Manning happy and throwing. As a fan, my response was that Jim Irsay, the Colt’s owner, reacted too strongly and harshly to his first losing season in this century.

However, lets look at this from Irsay’s perspective. Peyton Manning has been a long time friend of Jim Irsay’s, and so we can assume that he would try to at least consider Peyton’s feelings when making personnel decisions. The Polians have gone on record as saying they want to draft Andrew Luck with the 1^st overall pick in the 2012 draft. That would obviously put 2 quarterbacks on the roster, one who is coming off of an enormously long recovery to a neck injury/surgery(and may never fully recover), and one who is touted to be the next Peyton Manning.

This puts Jim Irsay in a tight spot. Does he keep his aging quarterback who has suddenly turned from incredibly durable to an injury risk, or does he put him out to pasture? Does he let the quarterbacks battle in training camp and see who wins the job? Does he try to trade the #1 pick for an enormous package of players and picks and try to rebuild the team that way?

If I were Jim Irsay, here is what I would do. Just like the Packers did with Aaron Rogers and Brett Favre, I would draft the next generation quarterback while still keeping my proven veteran on the team. Irsay has said that the Colts could afford to keep both players because of the rookie salary scale under the new CBA. Andrew Luck would get the benefit of learning under the most cerebral and intelligent quarterback of all time(One of the least arguable but controversial things I have ever said), and the Colts suddenly have a backup if Peyton gets hurt again. The Colts would still have the first pick in the 2^nd round of the draft, and could work on filling some of the other holes on their roster, like a new DE, or some depth in the secondary and O-line.

Whatever the Colts do, it will automatically be a franchise changing decision, and one that I will talk about in the future!

Daily Thought (MLB)

Does it strike anyone else as odd that Albert Pujols was snatched up by the end of the winter meetings, but Prince Fielder is still without a contract or a team? Perhaps this is just how these things work, and perhaps it is because of his agent, but I would have thought that Fielder would have been on fast and furiously, and then snatched up. Just an interesting thought.