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There have been rumors of Toronto wanting Wade Redden. I normally don’t address rumors here, because 99% of them never pan out, and 98% of them are fake and written for attention. This one is probably bogus as well, because any person who has ever seen Redden play – besides Glen Sather, that is – wouldn’t want him going anywhere near their team. However, there is hope that Wade Redden and the #19 overall pick could be sent to Toronto for Toronto’s 4th round pick. Cross your fingers!  Vince Carter has joined Amare Stoudemire and Rajon Rondo on the “superstars on the trading block” list. This according to ESPN.com: Vince Carter to the Magic for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, and Tony Battie. Apparently, the talks have gotten so serious that a deal could be done by the end of the day.
“As for the Nets, the move is a cost-cutting measure. Both Alston and Battie are in the last year of their contracts, and trading for them would shave $16.5 million of New Jersey’s roster in the summer of 2010 and put the Nets well below the salary cap.” This trade makes sense for both teams. For the Magic, trading for Vince Carter would allow them to let Hedo Turkoglu walk in the off-season. Carter, despite being two years older, is a much better player than Hedo. Carter averaged 21, 5, and 5 for the Nets last season. Also, I think this move puts the Magic ahead of the Cavaliers who have recently added Shaq. For the Nets, shedding Alston and Battie’s salary will allow them to explore options and be creative in the summer of 2010. Alston can be a capable backup behind Devin Harris this season and Courtney Lee is an above average perimeter defender who had a nice rookie season averaging 8 points.  Tags: Basketball, courtney lee, devin harris, dwight howard, hedo turkoglu, NBA, new jersey nets, orlando magic, trade rumors, vince carter, Categories: NBA Leave a comment I get it David Wright has four home runs. It puts him on pace for 9 which is baffling, to the untrained eye, because he’s hit 30 and 33 the past two years. It’s easy to assume that David Wright isn’t hitting for power. There’s only one problem…he is.
Sure he isn’t knocking the ball over the fence but he’s on pace for 51 doubles and 7 triples (by comparison he hit 42 doubles and 2 triples last year.) His slugging percentage is .510 which isn’t that off his previous marks (over the past three years before the all star break his slugging percentage has been .526) Furthermore his slugging percentage is higher away from Shea er Citi Field (.523) than it is at home (.496) Of course the next criticism Wright has faced this year is that he strikes out too much. While he is striking out more than previous seasons he’s also walking just as much and has a career high (.444) on base percentage at the moment. Also, as if I needed more evidence, Wright is on pace for 44 steals which in a sense artificially inflates his slugging percentage. So can we stop talking about David Wright? He’s having one of the best seasons of his career. It comes from Sherdog’s Blog:
I added the part about him acting just to prove that Roger Huerta is out of his mind. Once considered a top prospect, Huerta has proved that he is one of the more overrated fighters in the UFC. He loves to stand and bang, which makes for exciting fights, but was outclassed by Florian and beat down by an emerging Clay Guida before sinking in a choke in the 3rd. It’s hard to call a guy who is 20-2 overrated, but I am. On the other hand, Maynard is really an intriguing prospect. Known for his stint on The Ultimate Fighter season that Nate Diaz won, Maynard has amassed an impressive 5-0 record since including a couple of nice wins over Jim Miller and Rich Clementi. I love the bulldogish wrestling skills that he uses and with a win over a guy like Huerta, we could be talking about him in the lightweight title picture. If this matchup works out right for the UFC, Graynard will beat Huerta. The Spaniard will disappear and Maynard will emerge as a contender. Tags: action, artist, August, blockquote, blog, bout, bulldogish, center, Clay Guida, com, contender, contract, Convention, couple, cover, Cox, decision, family, fight, fighter, Gray Maynard, Graynard, guy, hand, href, Illustrated, January, Jim Miller, Kenny Florian, loss, matchup, mind, night, Oklahoma City, part, period, picture, prospect, record, renegotiation, Rich Clementi, right, Roger Huerta, scheduling, season, Sept, September, Sherdog, source, Spaniard, Spike, Sports, stint, title, Ultimate, win, Winner, Categories: MMA Leave a comment Real GM is reporting that the Sixers are shopping Elton Brand. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Brand was over the hill when the Sixers signed him, is it shocking their having buyers remorse? The Sixers are locked into a lot of long term contracts. Marreese Speights was a pleasant surprise in limited action last year and according to John Hollinger, his PER (basketball OPS) was actually among the highest in the league. His emergence makes Brand, who has four years and $65 million renaming on his contract, expendable. So what team is going to take on a $65 million commitment to an injury plagued, but very talented player? Enter the Knicks stage right. What if the Knicks traded: Eddy Curry and Jared Jefferies for Elton Brand and the 17th overall pick. While you might immediately scoff at such a trade as “Isiah Thomas-esque” look at the Knicks situation. Curry and Jefferies contracts extend into the 2010, The Summer of LeBron. They account for about 18 million in cap space while Brand would only account for 16 million. Obviously the Knicks are planning for the future, obviously the Knicks are banking on securing LeBron James. But, one question people aren’t asking…why would LeBron come here? If, and that’s a big if, he leaves Cleavland other teams besides the Knicks will have cap space. Miami, Chicago (with some creative management), L.A Clippers (if they can move Kaman) and Sacramento. These are all big market teams whose core players (a.k.a ability to win a championship) will be much much better than the Knicks. Why is LeBron coming here…to play with Wilson Chandler, Danillo Gallanri and whoever they get with the 8th pick? While trading for Brand certainly is a giant risk for the Knicks it’s one worth taking. Tags: according to john, buyers remorse, cap space, clippers, core players, creative management, eddy curry, Elton Brand, emergence, gm, isiah thomas, James, jared jefferies, john hollinger, kaman, L.A Clippers, lebron james, Miami, ops, Per, Sacramento, sixers, stage right, talented player, term contracts, Wilson, wilson chandler, Categories: NBA Leave a comment I’ve been saying for weeks that the Cavs have absolutely no one to blame but themselves for pissing off their franchise player. They got him no help whatsoever over the first few years of his career. They passed up a trade for the Diesel last year because they wanted to hold on the Wally Szerbiack. Really? Now, it appears, after years of being clueless, the Cavs have finally realized that they are running out of chances to get their championship ring. After all, the summer of 2010 is only a year away. So, now with The Big Aristotle and everyone’s favorite Twitter friend on his side, Can LeBron win the title? I think a better question is: Could to the two of them have stopped Hitler’s armies in their tracks in 1939 and prevented all of World War II? Of course, they could win a title. And they probably could have stopped a Panzer tank too. Look at those arms.
Everyone (looking at you, Matt Soldano) who says that there is no way that Shaq can do next year what he did this year are right. However, who out there actually thinks he has to? LeBron led the Cavs to 66 wins surronded by a guy with a mop for hair and a guy who’s only redeeming quality is that his name starts with a Z. With Shaq there to clog the middle and do some rebounding, LeBron will be more free than ever to drive the lane and dunk the ball on dudes heads. As far as I’m concerned, this makes this team the best in the league. Pencil in another Magic-Cavs Semis this year, and you might as well put Lebron and Shaq in the finals now. Game. Shaqtus. Tags: aligncenter, alt, Aristotle, ball, Big, brain, career, cavs, class, clog, course, Diesel, dunk, everyone, Exploded, franchise, friend, game, guy, hair, help, Hitler, img, lane, league, LeBron, Magic, Matt Soldano, name, Panzer, Pencil, player, quality, question, ring, Semis, Shaq, Shaqtus, side, src, style, summer, tank, title, trade, twitter, Wally Szerbiack, War, way, width, world, year, Z. With, Categories: NBA Leave a comment |
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June 25, 2009, at 8:35 pm
