Not Buying the Nets

     Farewell New Jersey and all the bad memories they've created since making back to back finals appearances in 2002-03. Erase the memories of a Jason Kidd/Vince Carter duo that was supposed to take the league by storm and failed miserably. Erase the fact they haven't made it to the post season since 2007. New beginnings in Brooklyn, right? Well....

    Most of you and your friends are predicting Jay-Z and Co to go from "Worst to First" by the end of the up coming NBA season, assuming an additional move will be made that will put them over the top. Now to clarify, the Nets were not the "worst" team last season. They were good enough to win one third(22/66) of their games and finish 12th in the Eastern Conference. They did, however, finish last in their Division. They were depleted in a respect without the services of Center Brook Lopez for the majority of the season. Deron Williams' heart was not involved either, and many speculated that the three time all star would not be coming back unless Center Dwight Howard would play alongside him this season. With speculation rising high for Nets fans, the Russian Majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov along with partial owner and Rapper Jay-Z would do everything in their power to make Williams decide to stay with the Club. That being said, Howard would not join forces with the Nets, despite multiple trade attempts with the Orlando Magic, and the Nets focused their attention on resigning Centers Lopez and Kris Humphries. They would also acquire All Star Shooting Guard Joe Johnson in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, who were looking to rebuild with draft picks and expiring contracts. A few other key acquisitions were free agents C.J Watson, Reggie Evans and Mizra Teletovic. 

   Not a bad summer for Brooklyn. Certainly a step in the right direction, which will help this ball club win more than 33% of its games. Possibly enough to reach the postseason. I say possibly, and here is why. Deron Williams did play last season and managed to put up All Star numbers with the Talent around him, but proved that he is more of a scoring Point Guard. Joe Johnson also needs the ball to be effective, an issue two Superstars need to agree upon in order to be successful. The last thing the Nets need is a Kidd/Carter explosion that takes them off the map. Still, it is the 2nd most dangerous backcourt in the NBA (behind Bryant/Nash). The center will be clogged with Lopez and Humphries to start the game, however the best option off the bench for either player is Reggie Evans, who never learned how to score. In the back court there is MarShon Brooks, entering his second NBA season, after a stellar Rookie campaign, he will face the dreaded "Sophomore Slump" entering his second season with the Nets. Jerry Stackhouse, Keith Bogans, Damion James and Sheldon Williams are all Veterans who are well past their primes and will not provide anything for this team, some may be cut before the first game of the season. The wild Cart here is Forward Gerald Wallace. Wallace is one of the most underrated talents of the past decade in the league. During his time with Charlotte he was able to play well enough to make an All Star appearance, and can get it all done on the floor. The issue with Wallace is the same as it is with Williams and Joe Johnson, however. All three players need the ball in their hands to be affective. If Williams is truly the Point Guard we have come to believe that he is then he will find a way to make the others play well without the ball. 

  The final issue for this adversely driven franchise comes from the coaching staff. Third year coach Avery Johnson has had previous success in his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks. They entered two NBA seasons as the team favored in the league to win the Larry O'Brein Trophy. Each year they made it one step closer to the goal; the first year losing in the NBA Finals to the underdog Miami Heat in 2006, followed by a 2007 season where Dirk Nowitzki would be crowned MVP of the league and the Mavericks finished with the number one overall seed, only to lose in the first round to the number eight Golden State Warriors, the first time that ever took place in a 7-game series. Johnson was then fired and after one season hiatus would be named New Jersey Nets head coach. Since joining the Nets in 2010, he has faced many different lineup changes, as the team has been searching for its identity ever since. Of course not one season has been a winning one. Now the pieces are in order for Johnson to be the man to make his stars align and work together. Is he the right man for the job? Or is Johnson a coach like Mike Brown who is put in a position to win and makes poor choices on how to execute his game plan? My money's on the latter. 

   Although last season was a struggle, the Nets have significantly improved. They were unable to land Howard, however kept their pieces in order and added significant role players to make a postseason run. Some experts pick them to go far, far enough perhaps to a showdown with the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Conventional wisdom will tell you otherwise. They will be the most exciting team in the Eastern Conference to watch this coming season, they will win close to double the games they did last season, realistically between 38-44 games, and be strong enough to find themselves somewhere between a 6-8 seed in the Conference. In a very competitive Atlantic Division that features the Boston Celtics who got stronger this offseason,  the New York Knicks who have all the pieces but need to gel, the up and coming Philadelphia 76ers who have the East's most dominant big man in Andrew Bynum, and Dwayne Casey's Toronto Raptors who look to be deeper this season than last, the division looks to be the toughest in all of Basketball. Very seldom do teams go from last in the division to first, and from a more inside look at this team, the hype is there, the talent is in line, the skill will take some time. Don't buy a high seed just yet, Brooklyn fans. Be happy with the progress you made this offseason and don't set the bar too high.

Good Enough to win 70?

     Any Lakers fan will tell you how disappointing the last two season have been for the Purple and Gold. In 2011, the Lakers were good enough to three-peat, just fell short to an extremely streaky Dallas Mavericks who went on to win the trophy. The following season, the series against the Thunder marked the first time since the 2007 First Round Playoffs against the Phoenix Suns the Lakers entered a Playoff match as an underdog, and went ahead and lost. This past NBA shortened season, too, for every Lakers fan was the most difficult to watch since that team in 2007 that featured Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmonivic, Chris Mihm, Smush Parker, and of course, Kwame Brown won 42 games and made that first round exit as a 7-seed.

       Last season's team did of course fall victim of circumstance. It all began the day before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was to be signed by all other 29 NBA owners (minus the New Orleans Hornets, of course, at the were owned by the NBA). The Lakers had agreed to trade for Point Guard Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets in a three team trade that would have sent Pau Gasol to Houston and former Lakers Forward Lamar Odom to the Hornets. The NBA quickly vetoed this trade, and minutes before CP3 boarded a plane headed to Los Angeles, was told to return to Hornets training camp. Shortly after this, Lamar demanded to be shipped off to play somewhere else, and Pau Gasol never recovered from the constant looking over his shoulder and wondering when the day would come if he was going to be reassigned. The additions the team did make were very Laker-less deals, picking up old contracts and former B-Talent in the likes of Troy Murphy, Jason Kapono and Josh McRoberts. They also had an adjustment to make in the coaching staff. Hall of Fame Coach Phil Jackson and his Triangle Offense had retired the season before, and the Lakers hired Mike Brown to be the new guy in charge, who has a defensive mentality, a system that isn't common for most of the core that still remained in Lakerland. Throughout the season, few changes were made. Lakers Point Guard Derek Fisher was shipped off to be replaced by youth, and the Lakers put their trust in Point Guard Ramon Sessions. They would also make a small trade to pick up PF/C Jordan Hill and SG Christian Eyenga. Needless to say, the Lakers put it all out on the floor and finished with 41 wins, well enough to obtain the 6th best record in the NBA, 3rd best among the Western Conference. Then after a tough first round match-up against George Karl's Denver Nuggets lasted 7 games, the Lakers would face the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder who would finish them off in 5 games.

    Every Lakers fan will tell you that two of those games could have gone either way, and LA could have potentially won the series, but they are ignoring the game one beat down of 30 points, and the escape they had to make just to win game 3. In a best-of-seven series, the better team wins every time. Most Lakers fan entered the summer mad and confused. The first place to point the finger was at first year coach Mike Brown. Next they had to decide which player of the big men would ultimately need to be shipped out of town, Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, or both. Fingers were then aimed towards management, again questioning weather or not Jim Buss was making good moves for this team. The Lakers started off Free agency making a splash, signing Antwon Jamison and Trading for Steve Nash. About a month later, the questions were finally answered. It would be bye bye Bynum, and hello Superman! Dwight Howard's four months of drama would finally come to an end as a four team deal would send him to Los Angeles and have Andrew Bynum sent off to play for the Philadelphia 76ers. The next day the Lakers would add Jodie Meeks to the roster.

    Four additions that made a lot of noise in the NBA already this off season. It took a team that was in distress over a 3-seed, which many NBA franchises may never accomplish, into a legitimate Championship contender. Many writers are still giving the edge to the Thunder. Here's why that doesn't work. The Lakers have the most dominate back court on the planet, and arguably ever. Two time Most Valuable Player Steve Nash and 2008 MVP Kobe Bryant are two different leaders who have decided to mesh their talents into one dynamic force for the best of the team. The Front court was already tops in the league last season, despite losing former 6th Man Lamar Odom to  Dallas in December. This summer, they resigned Jordan Hill, who did nothing other than come out of his shell last season when traded to Los Angeles and put up very Lamar-like numbers in the late season, post season run for the Lakers. Pau Gasol still remains on the team, and it will be up to the coaching staff to incorporate his game into the offense this season, as last season he had a drop off in his career averages, despite not losing much talent wise. They upgraded from the second best Center in the League to the Best, most dominate Center the League has seen since someone else named Superman wore Purple and Gold from 1996-2004. Jamison will also come off the bench and provide star bigs with proper rest to allow everyone to play at the top of their games all season long. Many teams worry that Steve Nash cannot guard the "premier" Point Guards the league has to offer, and perhaps they are right. Nash is a Chemist Offensively, and has never been stellar on Defense. Even if star players such as Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, Stephan Curry or Chris Paul blow past him on the ball, they have to meet Superman and Gasol under the basket and hope their ball won't end up 6 rows in the crowd after they are rejected.

   It will be nearly impossible to create a full four quarters of offense in the paint against this team, which will cause most teams to rely on hitting jumpers every night. The Lakers also hired Assistant Coach Bernie Bickerstaff  who will incorporate the "Princeton Offense" to this Lakers team which consists of getting the ball up the floor and taking their shot within the first 8 seconds of the shot clock, forcing teams to run. With an aging Nash and Bryant, the Lakers now have some help back court with Chris Duhon who can come in for Nash for 10 minutes a game, as well as Jodie Meeks, who will have lots of room to shoot the long ball when Nash finds him open in the corner. Some younger Lakers such as Andrew Goutelock, Darrius Morris and Devin Ebanks have a year more experience under their belts.

   The formula is set. After a few weeks together in training camp and a few games together, the Nucleus should come together. Even with the uncertainty of when Howard will join the team, the rest of the team should be able to keep things together. This team can contend without Howard, but will be very fortunate when he returns. In 1996, the Chicago Bulls won 72 games and are known as the best basketball team to ever play the game. Former Coach Phil Jackson has said that he would never work a team that hard again, and a large part of the success that year was due to being located in the Midwest, where they would not have to travel on long flights to go from city to city. The talent on this team is up their with those of MJ, Pippen, Rodman and Co. Don't expect 73, Laker fans. It won't happen yet. 70 is possible, but don't count on it. The prize is not in the total amount of wins come April, but rather the hardware that comes in June.

Chad Herscovici

LA Can reclaim Sports Capital title of the US with World Series Win

Lakers did what they needed to, its time for one or both LA teams left in the MLB to cash in and make it to the World Series. Can we be seeing an all LA showdown? That would be maddenss in the city of Angels. Lets make it a reality!

Saying goodbye to a legend

For the past 8 seasons, the city of Toronto has been building baseball teams filled with exciting talent. Players with the potential to lead the league in many different catergories with amazing amounts of talent. All of the moves over the years were in direct result of this man, Jon Paul (J.P.) Ricciardi.

J.P. Ricciardi’s demise wasn’t surprising, however. Sports commentators all over the MLB and espically those of the Toronto Sun have been perdicting this for months now. Throughout the last two season the Jays fans have seen talented players such as AJ Burnett, BJ Ryan, Alex Rios, Troy Glaus and several others leave to play for other contenders, most within the American League, and the best of them going directly to the rivals in the East. Managers like John Gibbons could not keep their control of the club house, and Gaston today continues to do so. Declines of players with large, long term contracts such as Vernon Wells have not produced, and up and coming stars such as Dustin McGowan have been plagued with injury. This season alone tells the story of this franchise, with the hot start as the best team in the league with the highest expectations and buzzes throughout the AL, to a 9 game skid to completely drop them down and build a hole that was impossible to climb out of. Only 2 years ago this same club finished with the 2nd best record in the AL East, just missing the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. But bad luck has been the story of Ricciardi's leagacy in Toronto. In all 8 seasons in front office, he failed to land the Blue Jays in a single Playoff berth. The future is uncertain for this ball club, as they have lost many players in the past, and their hall of fame ace Roy Halladay is getting knocks from just about every other ball club in the league.

Exciting stuff, Dontcha know?!

The Twins are shocking the MLB! Now only 1/2 a game behind the Tigers to go to the Postseason with 1 game remaining, 2 for Detroit who plays at home Versus Chicago tonight. Tomorrow marks the last regular season game ever at Hurbert H. Humphery Metrodome, a building in which the twins last carried the crown in 1987. Can they make sparks fly one last time and keep the season rolling into the postseason?

In order for that to happen it'll take a losing effort from these guys, the highly overrated Detroit Tigers. Look, as exciting as this race may be, were looking at the AL Central, the only division in the league that 86 wins will be enough to land a Postseason crown. And what a race. Simply put, congrats to whichever team wants the right to be swept out come next Saturday by the Yankees.

I smell a 4th Jackson 3peat

Call me crazy, but if this man repeats, does anybody on earth think he won't return one last season for a shot at a 4th 3peat!?! No coach would fall short of the hall of fame with one, which is almost impossible. Just look at the numbers
Number of Championships
Phil Jackson Basketball 10 Red Auerbach Basketball 9 Scotty Bowman Hockey 8* Toe Blake Hockey 8 Joe McCarthy Baseball 7 Casey Stengel Baseball 7 Vince Lombardi Football 5

I hate to break it to you Mark Cuban, but the best line-up in all of Sports today is definately going to repeat, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the Zen Master will go for gold again next season, healthy hip or not

OCTOBER IS HERE!!!

Yes, the most magnificent month of the year. No, not because the weather begins to decline. Not even for the fact that we engulf ourselves with candy at the end of the month. October is the only month of the year that all 4 major sports are all taking place at the same time. NHL Hockey season is just underway(Oct.1), NBA preseason starts next week (Oct. 7), NFL football is approaching its 4th week of excitement, and, best of all (in my opinion) a new MLB baseball season begins and ends all in one month. It's an opportunity for 8 teams that worked hard all season to duel it out till the bitter end. Despite how hard these 8 teams (LA Angels, Detroit Tigers or Minnesota Twins, NY Yankees, Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia Phillie's, and St. Louis Cardinals) played this season, the only thing that matters is who plays the hottest this month. Every game is an epidemic, one that means everything to each team involved, and after one day of mayhem it starts all over again tomorrow until there's only 1 team left. The action gets underway Tuesday, stay tuned!