March 29, 2024

Get It Over With Already

This has become a very busy July in sports especially more so than in any previous years I can remember. Usually after the NBA Finals it’s a bit quiet with just baseball to watch which is only in the middle of their season. So with the most boring time of year approaching, MLB All-Star week, we are actually glued to what is happening in the NBA and there is also a little something going on called the World Cup.

The whole NBA free agency period has been riveting and great water cooler talk for the last few weeks, but in last few days it has become quite ridiculous. We now have an ESPN one-hour show for LeBron James to inform everyone where he is going? Not to mention he is going to sign a multi-million dollar deal with a team of his choice while many people in the country can’t even get a job. If LeBron leaves Cleveland a town hit hard by this economy and does it on national TV than he is complete and total douchebag. I like LeBron James, but going on TV to leave the area who has supported you since birth would be devastating for the city and surrounding area. The only good thing that would come out of the event is James will be providing thousands of dollars of ad revenue from the event to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

I believe a three-star team if he actually does go to the Miami Heat will be a force, until something goes wrong. I mean the 80’s Lakers and Celtics were three-star team as were the Pistons, but that was many moons ago. How about the Lakers of 2004 that had Shaq, Kobe, the Mailman and Gary Payton, it failed miserably! If Miami is going to win a championship they need to get bigger and right now they have Bosh and Beasley.  They also need to fill a lot of other roster spots with basically no more cash under the cap. This could work, but a lot of things point to it not working.

In the end I just want this free agency period over so I can go enjoy the rest of my summer.

4, 3, 2, 1, Happy Free Agent Day!!!

As the NBA gets closer to the hour that we have been waiting for, for over 2 years, the 2010 free agent signing period is here and I want to throw out some ideas on what will happen in this free agency extravaganza.

Let’s start with back-to-back NBA Champs the Los Angeles Lakers. Everyone will be trying to stock up in order to dethrone them. No matter what other teams do a healthy Andrew Bynum along with Kobe, Pau, D-Fish and Ron Ron still are still the team to beat. The Lakers will have to deal with the possibility of losing back up PG’s Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown along with end of the bench big men in Powell and Mbenga. Look for the Lakers to add a scorer like SF John Salmons to fill in for Artest and a PG like JJ Redick or Nate Robinson. Don’t be surprised if there are overtures for Ray Allen or Brad Miller.

The Celtics are happy to hear that Coach Doc Rivers is staying, but are worried that Paul Pierce is testing free agency. If Pierce he leaves then expect Ray Allen to bolt as well. Rasheed is gone and KG is aging before our eyes so look for Boston to look at Brandon Haywood, Luis Scola and Dirk Nowitzki. Each of these players would fit the system especially a stud like Nowitzki.

The Cavs absolutely have to keep LeBron and without that they might have to pick up Craig Ehlo, Mark Price and Larry Nance to garner any attention. If King James does stay in Cleveland then look for Joe Johnson to join him and the other cast of characters plus either Byron Scott or Brian Shaw will become the head coach.

Dallas will be the darlings of the free agency period. Aside from one fine that was merely pocket change to Cuban he has been keeping his mouth shut on the possible signing of LeBron James. Cuban knows Dampier, Matt Carroll and Shawn Marion are not the guys to bring a championship to Dallas. If the Mavs are to win it all this very well could be the year. Dallas is looking for a big free agency season which will need to start with trying to re-sign Dirk. Jason Kidd, DeShawn Stevenson and Caron Butler are not a bad nucleus so if they can land Amare or Rudy Gay along with a scorer like Ray Allen they could really do something next year.

The long shots of the free agency period are the LA Clippers. Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon and incoming rookies Al-Farouq Aminu and Eric Bledsoe provide an incredible opportunity for the right free agent to come in and take advantage of all this talent. But who will be the coach? Looks like Vinnie Del Negro is topping the list at this time. He is a players coach and might not have to deal with the upper level management issues he encountered in Chi-town. Why not bring on So Cal natives like Shaq to spell Kaman, Paul Pierce (Inglewood native) for the guard scoring punch or Matt Barnes for his lock down defense.

The losers will be the NY Knicks. The Knicks won’t sign anyone of real value because they put all their focus on signing LeBron who won’t be signing and David Lee is leaving town. Tracy McGrady, Jonathon Bender, Al Harrington, Danillo Gallinari, and Eddie House could be your starting five. Ouch! Also on the losing end will be the NJ Nets. Jay-Z and the new Russian billionaire owner will not sign the big names that have been rumored.

These are my predictions and they are based on nothing except my gut which of course has been wrong for several years. I once said while watching LeBron play live in high school that he would be a bust like Kwame Brown. There ya go!