Trade Me

Will these players be swapping uni’s soon? 

Do you know what is one of my favorite things to do on the internet (besides looking at porn, obviously…)?  It’s a little thing called the NBA Trade Machine on espn.com.  If you are unfamiliar with the Trade Machine, then you have a void in your life and I will help you fill it.  The Trade Machine is a webpage that you can use to do hypothetical trades with various NBA teams.  Want to trade Lebron for D-Wade?  Well you can do that if the salaries match up (they do) and then ESPN NBA annalist John Hollinger will predict how many wins gained or lost as a result of the trade (for the Lebron D-Wade Trade, Cavs projected wins decrease by 7 and Miami’s increase by 6) and so on. 

I’ve had a lot of fun this this in the past, making the T-Wolves a NBA Juggernaut but it’s time to get serious. Sort of.  Here are few NBA trades that could happen and the reasoning behind such trades in my eyes.

Milwaukee trades Luke Ridnour and Joe Alexander to Golden State for Corey Maggette and CJ Watson (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yfkmy55)

Why: Milwaukee is on the cusp of a playoff birth for the first time in years with an electric, yung point guard and a solid big man that is finally playing up to his potential.  What do they need?  Someone to score the ball.  Corey Maggette has proven that he can do that and it’s not like Golden State has anything to play for.  Golden State gets Ridnour’s expiring contract and Milwaukee picks up another young point guard to back up Brandon.  Easy.

Wins Projections: Milwaukee +4, Golden State –5

Cleveland trades JJ Hickson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Delonte West to the Toronto Raptors for Chris Bosh and Marco Belinelli (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yl4xwbx)

Why: Everyone thinks that Cleveland is going after Amare when they should really be focusing on Chris Bosh.  Bosh may be harder to pry from Toronto because he apparently likes it there but what Toronto needs to realize is that they aren’t going to get out of the first round of the playoffs, no matter who they face (as of right now it would be Boston) so they should save some cash and try and get players for Bosh before he walks and they get nothing.  JJ Hickson and Delonte West are nothing special but they are better then nothing.

Wins Projections: Cleveland +5, Toronto –13

Boston trades Jesus Shuttlesworth and Big Baby (or Uno Uno as he wants to be called) to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire and Jared Dudley (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yjxz8f8)

Why: Boston isn’t getting any younger and while trading for another big man doesn’t make much basketball sense for the Celtics to do, Amare would be a welcomed addition to the lineup with an aging Kevin Garnett being able to take longer rests to be ready for what could be a final playoff run.  Also, can you imagine a lineup with a healthy KG and Amare in it?  Not much D but watch out for the oops raining down on the opponents. Perkins would obviously work his way in somehow to pick up the defensive slack.  Also they would get rid of Jesus’ huge contract while picking up a good shooter in Dudley.  Phoenix turns Amare into Big Baby and cap space.

Wins Projections: Boston +3, Phoenix –5

Houston trades Tracy McGrady to Sacramento for Kevin Martin and Kenny Thomas (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yz82qxe)

Why: Houston has been looking for a team to dump McGrady and his contract on and Sacramento could be that landing spot.  Houston gets a scoring guard to replace McGrady and also Thomas’ expiring contract.  Everybody wins.

Wins Projections: Houston +4, Sacramento –5

San Antonio trades Richard Jefferson to Golden State for Monta Ellis and Devean George (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yg7y4tb)

Why: The Richard Jefferson experiement isn’t working in San Antonio so why not swap him with a young and exciting player that is having his own problems in a system?  Monta may not play any defense or shoot all that well, but he can push the tempo for the Spurs and give them a slasher scorer that they do not have when Tony Parker is hurt (which he is quite often).  Who knows, maybe Monta will even learn how to play D in Popovich’s system and having Tim Duncan there to teach him.  I’m sure we’ll never know either…

Wins Projections: San Antonio +2, Golden State –2

Memphis trades Rudy Gay, Mike Conley, and Sam Young to Portland for Andre Miller and Martell Webster (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ykbr3cr)

Why: There has been a rumor all season that Andre Miller is not happy with his role with the Blazers and that he and coach Nate McMullen have not gotten along.  Memphis wants a point guard as bad as I want this snow to go away and they are getting a good one in Miller but in return they are losing a promising young player in Gay in the process.  Portland gets athletic and adds to their stable of tweeners that they already have on the roster.

Wins Projections: Memphis +4, Portland –4 (apparently Hollinger doesn’t like this trade.  I bet Portland would be better off with Gay)

Detroit trades Kwame Brown, Chris Wilcox and Chucky Atkins to New York for Jared Jeffries and Jordan Hill (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ylq4bw6)

Why: Can anyone say cap space?  New York has done everything possible to get Lebron and this is no exception. At this rate, the Knicks will have two players under contract for next year (the immortal Toney Douglas and Danilo Gallinari).  Let the sweepstakes begin.

Wins Projections: No change for either team because both are worthless this season

Bulls trade Kirk Hinrich to Los Angeles for Derek Fisher and Adam Morrison (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yksxnhc)

Why: Derek Fisher isn’t getting any younger and Adam Morrison rots at the end of the bench.  Kirk Hinrich is under contract for a few more years and is basically the same player Fisher is, only younger and better.  Chicago gets about $10 mil in cap space to try and sign D-Wade.

Wins Projections: Chicago –1, LA +1

And finally…

Minnesota trades Mark Blount and Brian Cardinal to Cleveland, Al Jefferson, Ramon Sessions, Sasha Pavlovic and Oleksiy Pecherov to Orlando and Damian Wilkins to New Orleans for Lebron James, Dwight Howard Matt Barnes and Chris Paul, Cleveland sends Boobie Gibson to New Orleans (http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yjnte5a)

Why: Because then I would be a T-Wolves fan again

Wins Projections: Minnesota +17, Cleveland –8 (really?  that’s it? Trading Lebron for Brian Cardinal and Mark Blount and you only are 8 games worse…?), Orlando –11, New Orleans –13

Boom goes the dynamite.

Virginia, how you tricked me…

I haven’t posted anything of real significance recently so I thought that this would be the best time to let everyone know how it’s going with the internship and the new state…

First, the state of Virginia is nice as far as I can tell. I’ve been here for a month now and so far the nicest weather was during my first week here. I was bragging to all of you Sotan’s out there how nice it was here (mid 50’s and topped 60 a few times) and my, how my words have came back to haunt me. It is currently snowing outside. Which is the third such snowstorm since I have been here. And when I say snow storm I’m not talking 2-3 inches (which actually shuts down schools here. Crazy I know), I’m speaking of 8-10 inches of the white stuff that I thought I was avoiding by fleeing south. So you can imagine how “ecstatic” I am about the snow.

Other then winter following me where ever I go the rest of landscape is very beautiful. I’m used to flat prairie land so I like the change of pace with the mountains (or big ass hills as they more resemble) and I’m constantly staring at them whenever I drive, which is probably very safe. Which leads me to the driving in this state; there are three things that bug me more then I ever thought someone driving could pull off. Usually I’m not an angry driver and have had very little experience with road rage but I may lose it in this state. First off, no one uses a turn signal here (which happens to be my #1 pet peeve). I think people here just assume that the drivers behind them know what they are about to do; because that makes sense. Secondly, I swear that everyone here has their own damn personal license plate. It’s almost as if their was a “going out of business” sale at the dmv and everyone jumped at the chance to get one (I was told by a resident that they are only $10 bucks or so. I guess that explains a lot). Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the drivers here ALWAYS go under the speed limit. And in both lanes. During rush hour. When I really want to get home. You can imagine how frustrating that can be and then multiply that by 20. That’s how frustrating it is.

Enough about the state and it’s peeps though, the internship is going very well so far. We just started making sales calls last week (by “we” I mean us interns (me along with Kyle and Peter) and a staffer by the name of Andrew) and they are going well I suppose. It’s hard to make sales when 80% of the people do not pick up their phones and the other 10% have already bought tickets or were planning on doing so later in the year. My favorite call happened last Thursday when I was closing a deal with this old man and he first lost his check book and then lost the phone that he was talking to me on. I sat there for a good seven minutes until he got back on and finished the deal. That was pretty interesting but you gotta love old people.

We haven’t done much baseball related stuff yet because there is fucking snow on the ground. Still. In Virginia. But I’m hoping once the snow goes to hell then we can actually do some stuff outside and the like. I’ve never been so ready for baseball season to start and I’m really excited to be apart of this team because of the prospects that have a chance of being big time guys for the big league club that will hopefully spend some, if not most of their season here. Pitcher Casey Kelly is the 18th rated prospect according to Keith Law and he spent most of the year with Salem last season. He will most likely start the year here before moving up to Portland in double-a. Another prospect that Boston is excited about is outfielder Ryan Westmoreland (32 ranked). Westmorland had surgery a year ago so he started slow in single-a ball but stole 19 bases on 19 attempts. He should start in low-a again with the Lowell Spinners but hopefully he’ll play most of the season with us in Salem.

Our office just got back from a weekend trip to Massanutten resort in northern Virginia last weekend which was a blast. The thing I like most about this group of people in the office is that I don’t feel like an outsider. Most of this group has been together for three years at least and it feels like us interns have been there the entire time which is cool. Getting drunk with co-workers is also a very good ice breaker and you get to know people more as they also get to know you. So far it’s been a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to more of the same.

This is the view as I am leaving my apartment complex

The mountains I stare at everyday

Salem Memorial Ballpark – Where stars come to play…or something like that

The 2nd Annual Hot Stove Banquet at the Salem Civic Center

Proof

Table for seven

Giles and Erin making sure no one steals anything

Oh yeah, Jim Rice was there too

Salem Manager Kevin Boles, Hall of Famer Jim Rice and Salem General Manager Todd Stevenson talk some baseball

When Jim Rice speaks, people listen

For those of you old enough to remember (I wasn’t alive yet) but this is the little boy that Jim Rice saved when he was hit in the head by a foul ball at Fenway. The boy is all grown up now, obviously

Jim Rice telling on of his many stories. Very entertaining night though.

Shirley = Pariah? Hardly

Their has been a lot of up roar in response to one of my favorite writers recent blog post on Haiti. Most people view him as a heartless bastard that should be locked away. He has just recently lost his job as a contributer to ESPN.com and probably will never be viewed in a likable way in the public eye. But why? Because he said what he felt? Because he didn't agree with everyone else's unquestioned support for a country most know nothing about? (if you haven't read the post, which I hadn't until 10 minutes ago, here is the link for it. It's worth the read.)

I follow him in the minority when it comes to this issue. Did I donate to Haiti? No. Will I donate to Haiti? No, I won't. Does this make me a bad person? Not even close. I agree with Paul on most of his statements that he makes. Shirley compared this to donating to a homeless man on the street and how most of the time, the money doesn't go to a good cause. Where is all of this money going that everyone is donating to? Does anyone know? But yet millions upon millions donate (rightfully so) with no idea who it goes to or what good it is doing.

In a nation founded by free speech, one writer lost his job because of his views on a country that no one talked about until tragedy struck. It's sad really and I wish him the best.

UPDATE: Paul has written a reaction to all of the media scrutiny. You can read it here.

Fucking Brett Favre

I'm sure that this phrase came out of the mouths of many Vikings fans after last nights crushing NFC Championship Game loss to the Saints. Perhaps it was deserved. Maybe it was fucking Brett Favre that lost the Vikings a chance of playing in Miami with that gunsling with his team in potential field goal range. Maybe it was fucking Brett Favre that caused so much pain for another fan base. But if it wasn't for fucking Brett Favre the Vikings would never have gotten this far. Without fucking Brett Favre the Vikings would have been done in the first round, if they made the playoffs at all.

I was going to write something on the Vikings last night but decided against it, mostly because I wanted to watch the rest of season one of Dexter (more on this later) but also because I wanted the loss to sink in a bit. I wanted to sleep on this one and see if my thoughts were any different a day later. To see if my feelings towards the game have been skewed by sleep and lots of blood (again, there will be lots of Dexter references in this one. I guess I might as well get it out of the way now that we are on the topic. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it is a show that is on Showtime and is about a serial killer that kills other serial killers. The show is awesome, I recommend it to all of you as I finished one season this weekend.)

Morning came and I was still feeling the same. It wasn't broken heartness (yes, I made that up) because the Vikings lost. It wasn't anger because Brett Favre threw a classic gunsling. It wasn't even stupidity as I believed Brett Favre turned over a new leaf this year only to be reminded of how he really plays. I felt a sadness. Not for me. Not even for any of the Vikings players. I was sad because one of the last text's I got last night from my father after the game was "I hope I see the Vikings in the Super Bowl before I die".

Minnesota fans are notorius for expecting the worst and getting the worst. It's in our blood. Bill Simmons summed it up best with this Conference Championship Preview, "Jets/Bills/Vikes/Browns fans expect to get punched, contort their faces into a giant wince, wait for a punch that never comes, say to themselves, "Cool, I'm not gonna get punched, it's gonna be OK!" ... and then they get clocked." It happened in '98 and it happened again last night (the '98 season was the last time that I genuinely cared about the Vikings as my NFL team. They set records for points in a season and blew everyone away until the somehow lost to the Falcons in the championship game and I cried as a very sad 10 year old. I haven't shed a tear for the Vikings since because I learned to get out while I still could. To distance myself from the looming heartbreak that is always around the corner for Vikings fans.) So when Chester Taylor had a 14 yard run down to the Saints 33-yard line I couldn't help but start to worry.

My initial thought was that the Vikings were going to go the the first Super Bowl in my lifetime but I should have known better. I should have known that Championship Game Favre was going to show his ugly head eventually. I should have known that the football Gods don't let road teams win while turning the ball over four times (road teams really don't win turning the ball over five times, which would happen moments later). I was being too naive. I fell back into fandom for that split moment and I was let down. Again. In heartbreak fashion. Again.

You all saw how the rest of the game played out. The Saints drove down and kicked the game winning field goal sending Nawlins' into a frenzy and deservingly so. They were a good team but if anyone says that the Saints beat the Vikings were obviously not watching the same game I was. While the Saints did make plays on defense, fumbling the ball as much as the Vikings did is inexcusable and I had never seen anything like it before in a game. It was like the Vikings (namely one Adrian Peterson) were playing hot potato with the ball and the kicker was that they could have had more then the five turnovers they ended up with. The Vikes turned the ball over twice inside of their own redzone (easy points) and Favre threw both of his picks while in Saints territory (likely points). The Vikings beat themselves and choked in another big game. There's nothing else to say.

Which brings me back to Brett Favre. Was the interception in the 4th quarter with 10 seconds to go really stupid? (yes) Was it his fault that after a time out there were 12 guys in the huddle causing Brett to pull a Chris Webber of sorts? (no) Brett was doing what he always did and that is try and make plays with his arm and eventually throw some gunslings. Packer fans warned us the entire year but we were too enamored to listen (or we didn't want to listen because "this year is different"). Brett had his best statistical year of his Hall of Fame career because he didn't do the things he did last night. At the same time it would be very hard for me to trust my running backs when they had put the ball on the ground so often in the game (Percy, really. You had to fumble on back to back plays? Really) so I would try and make plays myself if I was old #4. And the toughness and courage that he showed throughout the game is stuff of legends. He got hit more then I'd ever seen a QB get hit and every time he winced like he had popped a rib out of place. It was inspiring to see a man battle through that much pain just to win a game. We all knew that Brett had heart but just in case you had never seen him play before, it was like he had to prove it to you.

That will be my lasting memory of Brett Favre. Not the last int he ever threw as a Packer. Not the wasted year in New York. Not the last int he ever threw as a Viking (maybe). It will be his toughness. His will. His desire. All for the game of football. People will point the finger at Brett but not this guy. You can't point the finger at a guy that left it all out there, which is what Brett did. And Vikings fans, there is always next year...

ATOTW: Week 3

I know this is a few days late but it is for good reason...

I have basically lost all free (or stolen, however you view it) internet at my apartment so my blogging time will have to be regulated to when I'm at work (for now at least). But the good news is, because I waited for awhile to get this post up I found the perfect Athlete Tweet of the Week for ya.

It comes from former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher kicker Rhys Lloyd and was tweeted on Monday, January 18th at 10:04 PM.

"Gone through 5 bottles of red wine tonight. For no reason. Yeah biatch"

It's good to know that kickers can party too. Oh, and did ya'll know that he was married to this lovely LGPA member? Yeah, kickers huh...

Hibachi Gets Grilled

Oh Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert. What do we do with you now. You had it all, a fat guaranteed contract (the Wizards owe over $80 million to Gilbert over the next 4 years), you played in the most cushy of professional sport leagues and you were the star of a team only two years removed from the playoffs (mainly missing the playoffs because Gilbert was hurt). How do you mess this up?

Well let's start from the beginning shall we? Our story starts on the Washington Wizard's plane back on December 21st, 2009. There was a friendly card game going on in the back of the plane that included various Wizards players, namely Gilbert Arenas and injured guard Javaris Crittenton. Apparently Gilbert and Javaris had a little disagreement over which player owed the other one money, or something like that. NBA players arguing over money, very surprising...

Even the holiday spirit couldn't cool off these two as they got into it again during their next practice a few days later. After all of this jolly cheer happened, it was back to normal for the players and the team. That is until Gilbert decided to take this up a notch and play a little joke on Crittenton.

We all know what happened next, Gilbert took out three of his guns that he decided to take into the Verizon Center (obviously not paying attention to these signs) and told Crittenton to "pick one". I'm not sure which one Crittenton picked but I'm sure he picked the smallest one, that's what I would do. Gilbert eventually got into a bit of trouble and then joked it off like it was nothing. Perhaps it was a joke and personally, I don't think it's thaaaat big of a deal that he joked with guns. It's not like they were loaded and he planned on shooting Crittenton, he is a NBA player but he's not that dumb (the same can't be said about Crittenton I guess).

So as we stand, Gilbert has plead guilty to the felony charge of carrying a pistol without a license and is suspended indefinitely for now and probably will be suspended for the entire season. Where does this place the Wizards? Well they were pretty shitty before this incident and they continue to be shitty after the incident. They will most likely overhaul the roster starting with forward Antawan Jamison (Cavs?) and the buttload of expiring contracts that they also possess (Mike Miller, Mike James, Brendan Heywood). And last but not least we have Gilbert. The Wizards (along with Adidas) have basically erased every trace of him from the Verizon Center starting with a large mural that used to be on the front of the arena and ending with removing all merchandise from their team stores.

Eventually (you'd have to think anyway) that the Wizards will void Arenas big contract and start fresh. The team most definitely has a good reason to void the contract and can at anytime if they view the player has failed to live up to their code as a player of the league. Usually a felony falls under the guidelines of termination.

What does Gilbert do from here? Well, he has a few options. First, he has to shut up and do whatever is asked of him from now until he gets out of jail (assuming he goes to jail). Second, once he gets back into the NBA he has to check his ego at the door when it comes to signing with a team. He won't be getting any offers for the max contract, something he had with the Wizards, and probably will only get a minimal year contract from a team that has nothing to lose because let's face it, Gilbert isn't the most popular guy in the NBA (I heard a story on ESPN about how once Gilbert took the tired off of a players car as a joke because the player rubbed him the wrong way).

Who could use Gilbert? There are plenty of teams out there that can use a guard that can score and play the point...

1) Milwaukee Bucks - They have Michael Redd (when his ACL and MCL are attached to his leg) but he has a player option for the 2010/2011 season for $18 million. Of course anyone would love to have an option to receive $18 million dollars in their pocket but my guess is that Redd will not be a Buck much longer. The question that remains here is if Gilbert and Brandon Jennings can play on the court at the same time since they are both point guards. Can Gilbert play the 2? Who knows.

2)New Jersey Nets - They need a lot of help everywhere and Gilbert is an improvement on whoever they will have on their roster next year. Could we see Gilbert and Lebron on the same team?

3) New York Knicks - Again, the Knicks need help at a lot of positions and adding Gilbert to run the point could be perfect for Dantoni's seven seconds or less offense. Can you imagine Gilbert running up and down the court, putting up 25 shots per game? Can he average 30 per game? Wouldn't that be something

4) Golden State Warriors - Perhaps a bit too far fetched as Gilbert played his first two years in San Fran and the relationship ended quickly. He would be perfect along side of Monta though.

5) Los Angeles Lakers - Dream situation for him and me personally. Derek Fisher isn't getting any younger and Jordan Farmar looks like a career backup. How stacked would the Lake Show be with a starting lineup of Gilbert, Kobe, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum with Lamar Odom as the 6th man? I've anyone can contain Gilbert I'd think it would be Phil Jackson and Kobe.

I could keep going but you get the idea. Gilbert will have options next year if he is wise but from what we have learned from him so far, he will probably demand a huge contract and eventually sign for a team that is not a good fit. I'm pulling for ya Hibachi.

ATOTW: Athlete Tweet of the Week

Yes, boys and girls, it's that time again. This week's tweet comes from Vikings Left Tackle Bryant McKinnie and was send on Wednesday, January 6th...

"Was looking 4 my charger all day finally found it!"

Do we really care that you just found your charger? Does it effect us in anyway? No, no it doesn't "Big Mac". Please don't let DeMarcus Ware kill Brett Favre this weekend because you lost your charger again and you are to busy looking for it to watch game tape or I don't know, practice to become better.