Dwyane Wade vs. Pat Riley: No Rift, Just a Debate

What came first? The chicken or the egg?

That’s the type of question facing the Miami Heat and its two most important figures in franchise history: Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley.

Only instead of poultry, the topic is NBA championships.

The question: What do you need to build a championship team first? A commitment from your star player, or a supporting cast in place? Wade says the team should have a supporting cast first, while Pat Riley believes he needs Wade to commit to Miami first.

Let the debate ensue.

Maybe if this was the NFL, I would go the route of building a core of players that can win games on their own, and then worry about acquiring that superstar rookie or free agent that can be the difference-maker on my team.

But in the NBA?

This is a player’s league. If you don’t have a superstar in the NBA, you won’t win anything. It’s that simple. The Detroit Pistons are the only team to have had legitimate championship success without having a Hall of Fame type of player lead them. However, Rasheed Wallace was no joke in his prime, Ben Wallace was a defensive MVP, and Chauncey Billups may have been the best at his position at that time. But no matter how you view them, those Pistons were the exception to the rule.

The fact is, the Miami Heat do need a commitment from Dwyane Wade in order to justify moving forward with the franchise. It is gong to be really hard for a player to commit to the Heat if said player doesn’t know whether or not Wade will be with the organization a year from now.

Just look at what happened with LeBron James last week. In an effort to get Trevor Ariza, to Cleveland, some have reported that LeBron felt the need to let Ariza in on whether or not he planned to resign with the Cavs. That just goes to show you that even a role player like Ariza wanted to know the direction of his team’s personnel moves, nevermind a player of superior status, the type of player Wade is hoping the Heat sign.

When you account for the economy in all of this, you have to understand management’s reasoning for wanting a commitment from Wade before they go all willy-nilly on free agents. Team’s don’t want to commit dozens of millions of dollars to players that, if were left to lead the team by themselves a year from now, might not make the playoffs. But if the team can get a commitment from Wade, knowing that no matter what they do, having Wade will at least assure them basketball relevancy (followed by financial success), then they can commit millions of dollars to secondary players.

But I also understand Wade’s reasoning. He doesn’t want to sign with Miami only to see them get content with making the playoffs instead of going the extra mile to win the NBA title. That’s all fine and dandy. But what he will soon realize, is that once he becomes a free agent, he can’t demand that from anybody.

If Wade decides to leave Miami because they won’t commit to building a championship team before he commits, the team’s hoping to sign him next summer won’t sign other players before they go after Wade. They are going to try to get him first! Maybe once he realizes that, then he will reevaluate whether or not he really wants to stay with the Miami Heat.

Read More......

Phillies Must Acquire Roy Halladay

If the Phillies don’t get the Toronto Blue Jays Roy Halladay, they don’t want to win the World Series.

It’s true, it is human tendency to relax once you get to the top. Hell, if it weren’t for that, society as we know it wouldn’t exist, because the strongest most intelligent of us would always be on top of the world.

The Philadelphia Phillies are no exception. After winning the World Series last year, the organization as a whole seems to be resting on their laurels. The front office hasn’t made any big moves of any substance since winning it all in October. Their “biggest” move was signing Raul Ibanez, which has worked out well, but let’s face it, they got lucky on that one.

The players on the field have let up the most. Jimmy Rollins is having a horrible year, Ryan Howard is slowly falling off the planet, and role players like Jason Werth and Carlos Ruiz aren’t exactly having their typical seasons either.

Yet despite all of this, their talent has allowed them to remain atop a struggling National League East division. But if they want to stay on top, the players are going to have to step it up, and the front office has to go out and get pitching ace Roy Halladay.

Halladay would officially end any hope of any other team in the NL East winning the division. The Mets, who may already be dead, would see the light at the end of the tunnel dissipate. The Florida Marlins who are hanging on strong, would lose the audacity of hope. And the Braves, who are a long shot at best, would officially have to call it quits.

Halladay would be that much of a different maker for the Phillies; maybe more of a difference-maker than he would be on any other team.

Halladay would give the Phillies a #2 pitcher, for which of the top 8 teams in the league, the Phils are probably the lone contender who doesn’t really have that. Also, because of the homerun alley that is Citizen Bank Park, the Phillies need a ground ball pitcher. Halladay is great at generating ground balls, as he produces them at a rate of 56.4% (5th highest in the majors). Lastly, by pairing Halladay with Cole Hamels (last year’s World Series MVP), that would give the Phillies perhaps the best 1-2 punch in the National League, all but assuring them a trip to baseball’s World Series.

So say what you will, but the Phillies would be dumb not to sell their souls for Halladay. As long as they don’t have to give up any short-term pieces, they mine as well trade the future for the Toronto pitcher. Getting Halladay would put them in contention for the next 3-4 years. So what if they are back in the cellar in 2015? If they’ve been to 2 or 3 World Series between now and then, I think it would be safe to say that they made a deal with devil and came out on top.

Read More......

Jordan Crawford Talks About Dunk Over LeBron James

So reportedly, Jordan Crawford dunked all up in LeBron James’ grill a couple of days ago. Jordan Crawford is a transfer basketball player for the Xavier Musketeers (a SportsWatchers Favorite).

As you all have heard, LeBron James had the tape of this dunk confiscated. That’s good and poor judgment on LeBron’s part. I think we can all at least understand reasons as to why LeBron wouldn’t want this tape out. However, I would have the tape released, as least via commercial or something, but hey, this is the same guy who wore an MVP T-shirt days after being eliminated from the NBA playoffs. So it is what it is.

Crawford had this to say about the dunk on an interview with ESPN’s First Take:

I was on the right wing, and I drove donw the middle past Danny Green, and LeBron was waiting under the rim. And I jumped and I don’t really think I was gonna dunk it. So he jumped late and I was already up there and then I dunked it.

For the entire interview, watch this:

Read More......

Mavericks Acquire Shawn Marion via 4-Team Trade

Well, the Mavericks wanted their guy and they got him. Shawn Marion is now a Dallas Maverick and all of their problems are solved!

Or are they?

The Mavericks, along with the Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies, pulled off one of the more complicated trades that the NBA is famous for. It involved a lot of “throw-in players,” some cash payments, 4 teams, and two sign and trades, but at the end of the day, the deal got done.

In the end, the Mavericks got Shawn Marion from the Toronto Raptors, along with Kris Humphries (from Toronto) and Greg Buckner (from Memphis).

The Raptors got Devean George and Antoine Wright, but most importantly, due to this deal, they were able to acquire their prize acquisition of the NBA offseason, Hedo Turkoglu, via a trade instead of just signing him, which allows them the extra ability to sign another player to their roster this offseason.

According to reports, I am to believe that the Orlando Magic only got a trade exception worth around $7 million.

The Memphis Grizzlies got Jerry Stackhouse and the cash needed to buy Stackhouse out, which ultimately just allows them to clear up some cap room.

At the end of the day, Dallas definitely got better in this trade. Their starting lineup for the 2009-2010 NBA season will likely be Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, and Marcin Gortat. Not exactly a devastating lineup, and they have no true shooting guard, but it improves upon last year’s talent.

I guess the real question is will Shawn Marion be a difference-maker?

I’m really trying to be objective here, so let me know if you disagree, but I wouldn’t say that the acquisition of Marion, as well as Gortat, make this team that much better—especially not better than the Denver Nuggets, who just knocked them out of the second round of the NBA playoffs this past season. Then again, if Josh Howard is 100% healthy, maybe that’s enough to push them past the Nuggets talent-wise.

And I will say this. If the Mavericks didn’t do but one things this offseason, they definitely got long. With Gortat in the middle, and with Howard and Marion likely to be sharing a lot of floor time together, this is one of the longest teams in the NBA, which is certainly something you have to be if you want to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the post season.

Read More......

Projected Salary Cap for 2010 Dooms LeBron's Exodus to NYC

I know all of the talk this morning concerning LeBron James is focused on why he decided to confiscate a tape of him getting dunked on by a collegiate basketball player. However, can we go back to thinking big picture here?

Let’s start with the fact that news this morning suggesting that the NBA salary cap may be as low as $50 million next year, puts a big cramp in the LeBron James sweepstakes of 2010.

As you all know, the New York Knicks are truly hoping that LeBron James ends up in blue and orange for the 2010-2011 NBA season. However, with the likelihood of a salary cap as much as $10 million less than what the Knicks were expecting 15 months ago, the Knicks, and other teams, may have to change their plans for the 2010 NBA off-season.

In April of 2008, the projected salary cap for the 2010-2011 season was about $63 million. This morning it was reported that the salary cap for that year could be at best $53 million and as low as $50 million. Should that be the case, the $10-$13 million that the Knicks would no longer have available to them would eliminate their ability to sign another player to a maximum contract. And because the Knicks don’t have much of a roster, one would have to assume that LeBron would be hesitant to come to the Knicks without another marquee player coming to the Garden with him.

Of course, this not only affects the Knicks. Some teams won’t be able to afford LeBron James by himself. A drop in cap space of $13 million could certainly eliminate those who were just at, or even above, the salary cap space amount they needed to have in order to sign a player to a max deal in 2010.

The elimination of cap space thought to be available now dims the light on the summer of LeBron. Of course, it brings sunshine to Cleveland, where it seems all the more likely LeBron James will stay if other teams (ehemm, the Knicks) can’t bring in the players they need to surround LeBron with due to a lack of salary cap space.

Read More......

Manny Getting Screwed?

What you saw happen to Manny Ramirez in last night’s Dodgers-Mets game might be something you want to get used to.

The Dodgers beat the falling Mets by a score of 8-0 last night. However, like throughout most of Manny Ramirez’s career, this was yet another night where the final score took a backseat to Ramirez’s antics.

Manny was thrown out in the 5th inning after the umpire ruled Manny out on a pitch that, to many, was clearly outside of the strike zone. Manny then walked off and tossed his batting armor in the direction of the umpire and was tossed from the game. Afterwards, Manny said that the umpire simply got the call wrong.

But I’m not here to talk about whether or not that was a strike (and it wasn’t), I’m here to speculate as to whether or not Ramirez’s apparent expanded strike zone was the result of an umpire self-rectifying yet another player done in by steroids.

Yes, that’s right. I’ll throw it out there! Maybe the umpire was a little more lenient with the strike zone when Manny was up, because he, like many fans, are tired of the Manny act—especially after he got dinged for 50 games for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

But that’s just one umpire on one night, right?

Maybe. Then again, maybe it’s not. Maybe this is something that Manny might be facing for the remainder of the season. Afterall, many players have been known to go entire careers, decades, seasons and series facing expanded strike zones because of their size, stance or lack of plate discipline. However, is an expanded strike zone as a means of continued punitive punishment fair at to Manny?

In my opinion, the answer is both yes and no.

On the no side, you have the obvious. Here you have a baseball player that has paid his suggested debt to the game by sitting out for a third of the season, and thus there’s no reason to continue punishing him by treating him differently from every other batter that steps into the batting box. It’s just unfair and shouldn’t be done.

However, on the side of the argument that says it’s okay to have this exact type of retribution against Manny, there is one good point. That point being that Manny has probably seen a relatively smaller strike zone than most, as his eye for pitches and their location has been the best in the league for quite some time now, and certainly, other umpires have come to respect that and have probably given Manny the benefit of the doubt on hundreds of occasions. Thus, if you’re an umpire today, and you or other umps you know have given Manny smaller strike zones for 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 15, 17 seasons, then perhaps you think it’s time he start earning back the respect he was granted when no one thought he was cheating.

In that respect, I can understand an umpire’s position. Now, no such umpire should come out and admit to that, but I have no problem with an umpire who feels as if Manny has to earn a normal strike zone, nevermind the one he probably used to enjoy when everyone thought he was steroids-free.

That’s just what I like to call a little social vengeance. And as long as it’s justified as suggested, I’m really not going to complain about it.

Read More......

Detroit Pistons Fans, Be Weary of BG and CV Bankrupting Your Basketball Team

I hate to say this about a town that has gone through so much over the past year and a half. However, the city of Detroit had better hope that Matthew Stafford can turn around their football team, because their basketball team is doomed for years to come.

When the 76ers signed Elton Brand last summer, everyone thought that the upstart team that had just fought tooth and nail with the Pistons in the 2008 playoffs would turn the corner on the basis of that signing. What they failed to recognize was that Elton did not fit the 76ers scheme, their players’ styles, nor their players’ youth. He was the complete opposite of everything the 76ers had going for them, and even though he himself is an all-star, you can’t throw his “square” skills into a “round” basketball team and expect success. You just can’t. And now the 76ers are stuck with big contracts on Brand and Andre Iguodala, and they probably aren’t going to be relevant for a very long time.

Unfortunately, I think that is exactly what is going on in Detroit with their new acquisitions of Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon. Two good players in their own right, but do they really fit what’s going on in Detroit?

First, Detroit already has a 2-guard in Rip Hamilton. So it appears to me that Ben Gordon, their now $11 million/year man, is going to be one of the highest paid 6th men in the history of the NBA. And money aside, why they would want a guy who fires it up early in the shot clock, can be quite streaky, and isn’t exactly the best defensive player at the guard position, is beyond me. None of those qualities fit well into slow-tempo, screening, systematic offensive and defensive philosophies of the Pistons. Call me crazy, but the Pistons lineup isn’t suited for shooting a bunch of 3’s and long-range twos as much as they are about mid-range game and getting the ball in the paint. So I’m not sure how Gordon (once again, coming off the bench!) can really help them there.

Secondly, Villanueva, is more or less an unproven entity, isn’t he? The man averaged 16 points last season, certainly not bad, but let’s face it, it wasn’t the norm for him either. He had averaged 12.25 ppg for his career up until last year, making last season a 32% aberration. Sure, last year could have been the springboard for a career’s worth of 20-point for Villanueva, but nothing he did last year assures me of that. And does he really replace Rasheed Wallace? The man lacks defensive promise, and he grabbed only 6.7 rebounds per game last year. To Villanueva’s credit, he averaged 8.9 rebounds per 36 minutes. However, he ranks 27th in rebound rate amongst power forwards alone. I mean the guy is a worst defensive rebounder than Yi Jianlian, so I certainly don’t thing he’ll be dominating the boards for the Pistons anytime soon.

Lastly, I have to go back to the money thing, because it’s important when you’re building a franchise. Combined, Villanueva and Gordon will take up roughly $19-$20 million in cap space per season over the next 5 years. With Hamilton on board, that leaves the Pistons with very little money to acquire any other impact players over the next half decade, outside of signing someone to the midlevel exception. That puts this team in a 76ers-esque position, where if this combination of players doesn’t work out, the team is doomed.

Can the Pistons as constructed make the playoffs? Sure they can. But last year’s team, a team that despite being completely heartless may have been slightly better talent-wise, made the playoffs last season, and we saw what happened to them.

Read More......

Mavericks, Cuban, Standing Pat

It must be hard to be a fan of the Dallas Mavericks right now. After, a postseason in which they escaped the 1st round probably due to injury, and they were quickly ousted in the 2nd round, it appears as if the long-time contending Mavericks are conceding yet another year without an NBA Championship.

Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, has no problem spending money. He will spend money like it grows off trees—and I’m not convinced that his money doesn’t grow off trees! However, that spending hasn’t added up to much lately. Since the team reached the NBA Finals in 2006, the Mavericks have only made it out of the first round once. Their star player, Dirk Nowitzki, has played well, but his supporting cast comes and goes with the tide.

Despite the glaring reality that Dirk doesn’t even have a #2 guy that starts the game with him (as Jason Terry comes of the bench), the Mavs seem hesitant to bring in a top guy to pair alongside their superstar?

But why?

Like I said, it’s definitely not because of money. If Cuban was concerned about the cost of things, he certainly wouldn’t be running an NBA Franchise in Cowboy territory. The Mavs quest for a #2 guy certainly isn’t hampered by a lack of opportunities. From Loul Deng to Kevin Garnett, the options have been there for the Mavs over the past 3 years, they just haven’t been able to pull the trigger on a worthwhile deal.

So why haven’t they made the move?

I honestly think, that they don’t think that they need to.

Boy, was that confusing or what?

If the Mavs really thought they needed a #2 guy to go along with Dirk Nowitzki, they would have let Josh Howard go and they would have had bigger interests than Jason Kidd and Marcin Gortat. Instead, they went after two mid-level players who will have a marginal effect on the Mavs ability to win a championship in 2010.

This tells me that the Mavs front office doesn’t know what it’s doing. Much like their pro football counterparts, the Mavs owner is a businessman. Cuban knows business—he knows what equals success and what breeds it. But he doesn’t know about is winning.

I know what you’re saying, but Cuban is winning at life—he’s a billionaire!

This may be true, but you don’t have to be a winner in order to be rich. I think Chris Rock put it best when he gave a detailed description of his neighborhood in New Jersey. He pointed out that he had to be a winner in comedy to afford the house he lives in, while the overwhelming majority of people in his neighborhood are just regular people who happen to be rich.

Not to say that Cuban is regular, because he certainly isn’t. But just because he practically invented high-definition television and is a product of the dotcom era, doesn’t mean he knows how to be a competitive winner. In business, there are a lot of winners, and rarely is one company or one individual the one that takes home all the money. Business isn’t like sports. There is no playoff. There is no championship game. There is no Best of 7. There is no “Winner Takes All.”

But perhaps that’s not something the Mavericks understand. While the Celtics are fitting Rasheed Wallace for his green jersey, the Lakers are signing Artest, and while the Cavs ship Shaq’s custom-fitted mattress to downtown Cleveland, the Mavs are virtually standing pat, while resigning an aging point guard and perhaps acquiring their second vastly overrated center of the decade.

Maybe in business, that kind of approach in this NBA market would work—you know, while everyone is investing in risky moves with pricey and/or older players, the Mavs are playing it safe—kind of like what Goldman Sachs did during the sub-prime mortgage run. But even Goldman Sachs ended up taking money from the government when it was all said and done.

Sure, as an NBA team you’d like to avoid being too risky, but you still have to make big moves. Because if you don’t make moves, it’s virtually impossible to have the best team. And unlike in business, in the NBA, championship trophies determine a team’s value, and at the end of every season, only one team makes a profit.

Read More......

Rumors Have AI in the MIA

Is Allen Iverson going to Miami?

I don’t know, but after a week of wondering exactly where he might fit in, I think the rumor mill may be on to something.

Reports circling about are linking Allen Iverson and the Miami Heat as the next potential big-name marriage in what has already been a very interesting NBA Free Agent period.

While Iverson’s days as a number one option seem to be behind him, many have wondered if a guy who takes more shots than a New York City co-ed on St. Patrick’s day can be an impact player if he’s not “the guy” on the team.

Iverson certainly proved he didn’t serve well in a supporting role with Carmelo Anthony. That experiment failed miserably, with both Iverson and Anthony suffering the effects, along with their 0% playoff series winning percentage. And we all know how things went down in Detroit, where Iverson was adverse to coming off the bench behind Richard Hamilton at the shooting guard position.

Yet despite that history, I still think a possible pairing with Dwyane Wade in Miami can work. I know it seems like a stretch, but really, it all makes sense.

First, the Heat are one of the worst potential #4 seeds in the history of the NBA. Last year they were the 5th, and if they get Iverson, perhaps they can move up to that now inconsequential 4th slot in the Eastern Conference. How they ever managed to get the 5th seed in the East with really nobody but Wade to turn to absolutely is amazing. Thus, if you ask me, subbing Iverson in at the 2-guard position whenever Wade needs a breather has to be a step up over whatever they were doing last year when Wade was sitting out. Iverson is an instant scoring machine, and if the Heat give him opportunities throughout games to do just that, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to excel in that role while in Miami.

Secondly, Iverson can play the point. I know we all consider Iverson a very selfish player who gets himself going first, and himself going second, but the man does have the potential to play point guard, especially if you tell him it’s the only way he’s ever going to contend for a championship in this league. Naturally, he would be your prototypical score-first point guard, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Derek Fisher is a score-first guy, Mo Williams is a score first guy, and Jameer Nelson is a score-first guy. Having a score-first guy doesn’t mean you’re not a reputable team, it just means your point guard has to exercise judgment in when to make plays for himself and when to run the offense.

Allen Iverson averaged 7.9 and 7.4 assists per game in two consecutive seasons while averaging 30+ points per game for the 76ers. The man can pass the ball. And that was just 3 years ago! And in 2008, he averaged 7.1 APG while averaging 26.4 points per game. So don’t tell me that man can’t play the role of scorer and distributor at the same time. If anyone in the NBA is capable of it, it’s A.I., even at his advanced age.

Lastly, don’t you think Iverson is hungry?

Don’t you think that he knows there are no more big NBA contracts, no more huge shoe deals, and no more fame and notoriety coming his way ever again?

This is it for him. This may be his last shot at a title, and to pair him up with Dwyane Wade, in a hotly contested Eastern Conference, amongst an arms race for conference supremacy, could be just the kick in the but this volatile star needs. Knowing that, you can rest assure that Iverson will be on his best behavior, and he’ll accept whatever role is asked of him—even if it means playing second fiddle to a man who once idolized him as a kid.

Read More......

Is Roger Federer the Best Tennis Player Ever?

Is Roger Federer the best tennis player ever?

I’m no historian of the game, but a quick observation of one reoccurring thought causes me to believe that he isn’t.

Call me skeptical, or just a natural contrarian, but I’m not so sure that Roger Federer is the best to have ever done it.

Don’t get me wrong, Federer is nice…very nice! But in my opinion, when you have to keep asking the question, especially when the man is surpassing milestone after milestone, then it stands to reason that perhaps that guy isn’t the best afterall.

In 1998, was anybody really questioning whether Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever? Sure, you had your dissenters, especially in a sport like basketball, but the overwhelming opinion is that Jordan is the best player to ever pick up a basketball.

In 1993, did you find yourself asking whether or not Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player of all time? No, it was a no-brainer, and no one thought twice about it, unless you were in the Bobby Orr camp—which by the way, was a very small camp, even then.

Or how about during entire 21st century? Was there really any debate as to whether or not Babe Ruth was the most remarkable baseball player to have ever laced them up on the diamond?

Those athletes were unquestionably the best at what they did, along with others like Michael Phelps, Muhammad Ali, Pele and Mia Hamm. Yet, we continue to ask this same question of Roger Federer, from match to match, tournament to tournament, grand slam to grand slam.

When will it stop?

When will we realize that the second the question has to be asked, is the same second in which we should realize we already know the answer?

Those who are truly the best ever in their sports do not have that issue raised. It just happens. People just accept it. It’s not a debate, nor is it even a dilemma. It’s a realization people come to like babies realize they have to breathe when they come out of the womb.

Now, I’m not saying that Federer can’t ever reach that point of “unquestionability,” but clearly he isn’t there yet. He’s only 27, and he can still put a few more grand slams in his pocket to end the argument. And once the argument is over, then and only then, can we answer the question, is Roger Federer the best tennis player ever?

Read More......