Two franchises that have seen consistent success since the 2004-2005 season have turned the corner, but the turn has lead them out of the playoffs. Although their playoff-less seasons have come in very different ways, there is a stark contrast in how these franchises have positioned themselves for the next 5 years.
PHOENIX SUNS
The Phoenix Suns had a very tough decision to make after last season. Amare Stoudemire was a free agent and they had to pony up another grundle of cash for the superstar with a microfacture surgery and other surgeries for his knee and eye attached to his resume. It’s understandable for the Suns to be reluctant about investing $100M or more into a player with his injury history. Rumor has it that they offered him a partially guaranteed extension. They lost him and lost their chance at staying in the top of the Western Conference. Let’s take a closer look at what the Suns did do.
They got rid of the Steve Kerr, the GM who brought in Shaq, shipped out Marion, and helped get rid of the wildly successful Mike D’Antoni. I’m sure he’s glad he got out before having Amare jetting out of town added to his bad moves during his stay in Phoenix. To the surprise of anyone who follows the NBA closely, the Phoenix Suns battled their way to the Western Conference finals and lost to the eventual champion Lakers last season. What a great season and great ending to the Steve Kerr era with the Suns.
Instead of extending the All-Star Amare Stoudemire and keeping him in Phoenix, the new Suns brass decided to burn million dollar bills in a bonfire that didn’t have any wood, so they just had to keep burning the bills. They gave Josh Childress a whopping $34 million dollars to come back across the pond and play in America again. Did they realize that he is the only player who has worse shooting form than Shawn Marion? Is that why they brought him in? I’m not sure how this played out. You sit around a table with your basketball executives as a team owner and they bring you Josh Childress. I would say this “let’s offer him a 2 year, $5M deal”, they said something like this “Let’s pay him double what anyone else would even think of paying so we can make sure no one else gets him”. These are the types of moves that make many NBA fans (including me) think that they could run an NBA franchise. How could you ever talk yourself into this deal? Please, readers, tell me.
Following suit with the Childress deal, Phoenix got drunk with their richness of not having to pay Amare max money by giving Channing Frye $29 million, Jared Dudley and Hakim Warrick $17 million each. Did you just read that. Instead of giving Amare $100 million, they decided to give Childress, Frye, Dudley, and Warrick right in the ball park of that same figure. I just barfed all over the floor. The funny thing is that Amare wanted to stay and his agent got MRIs on his knees to ensure the team had all medical information they desired. (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/16/1682119/pending-free-agent-amare-stoudemire.html). I mention that because it is so much better than the other free agents who wanted nothing to do with their old clubs (LeBron, Bosh, Boozer).
Look, Steve Nash is awesome. I hated that he won two MVPs because it made no sense relative to historical precedent. But he is a Hall of Fame point guard who is the best shooter of this generation (sorry Ray-Ray). I like how Channing Frye can bust threes. I love the story-book ending to the career of Grant Hill. He’s so healthy and a great player at his old age. (Probably because he had all those years off when Orlando was paying him max money, wink) But not only is it game over in the land of the Suns, the crappy contracts discussed will prohibit them from being good for a while. You should write the owner of your franchise and have him explain how he justified nearly $100 million on the players mentioned. It is lights out for a while for the Phoenix Suns
UTAH JAZZ
Could the Utah Jazz have screwed up more than they did this year? I don’t think they could have but it has nothing to do with the Deron Williams trade. The loss of Jerry Sloan will cost the Jazz more than any win-loss column could measure. Fans feel sick and miss him even if they didn’t like his swearing. I personally have no doubt that he could have helped navigate this team to the playoffs sans Williams. Coach Ty Corbin has been put in a no win situation and doesn’t deserve any blame for this. The Jazz brass acting fantastically in capturing value for their whiny star Deron Williams. They should have done it before he helped push Jerry into retirement. Williams has been blaming teammates for his bad play all year. How do I know? I’ve watched it. I don’t know that many Jazz fans that are really torn up about him being gone. The night he allegedly battled Sloan at halftime was a shining example of him failing as a #1 dog. He was dominated by Derrick Rose and gave away the game in what would be Jerry Sloan’s last game.
Here’s where the sun shines through. The Jazz have Devin Harris, a serviceable point guard, locked up for the next two years with the right price. Same goes for Millsap and Jefferson. We have the golden nugget in Derrick Favors, the youngest player in the league. I have loved watching him play 20 minutes a game. He could be special. The Jazz system will make him infinitely better and he has some pretty good mentors in Millsap and Jefferson. It’s worth noting that I could see the Jazz moving Millsap this summer to let Favors blossom further. We also received the Nets lottery pick this year and the Warriors pick next year.
The Phoenix Suns fans are asking why I’m not blasting the bad contracts on the Jazz roster. I can’t muster up the energy because I’ve been spraying Diet Coke with Lime all over my office because of how excited I am that Kirilenko’s max deal gets off our books this summer. OK, let’s be fair. The Okur contract is barfarific at a cool $11 million next year. And Raja Bell (huge disappointment this year) has 2 years and almost $7 million on the books.
Look, the Jazz aren’t making the playoffs this year and maybe not next. But we can look forward to Jefferson, Harris, Gordon Heyward (give him another year before you punch your face off), Favors, and our two lottery picks this year and one next year. While the Jazz and Suns end an era, the Jazz have light at the end of the tunnel.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
NBA Free-Agency Predictions
I could run through a bunch of scenarios, what-ifs, and other commentary.....but lets cut the cheese....or whoever you say it-
LeBron James = New Jersey Nets
Chris Bosh= New Jersey Nets
Dwyane Wade= Miami Heat
Amare Stoudemire= New York Knicks
Joe Johnson= New York Knicks
Paul Pierce= Boston Celtics
Carlos Boozer= Miami Heat
David Lee= Utah Jazz (2nd pick: Toronto Raptors)
Rudy Gay= LA Clippers
Ray Allen= Boston Celtics (He will take a serious pay-cut to stay, as he should)
Josh Childress: Miami Heat
Luis Scola: Rockets
The Miami Heat moves which has enabled them to clear space for nearly 3 max players could blow the entire thing up. It would be fun to watch Wade, LeBron, and Bosh......but I just don't think it'll happen.
LeBron James = New Jersey Nets
Chris Bosh= New Jersey Nets
Dwyane Wade= Miami Heat
Amare Stoudemire= New York Knicks
Joe Johnson= New York Knicks
Paul Pierce= Boston Celtics
Carlos Boozer= Miami Heat
David Lee= Utah Jazz (2nd pick: Toronto Raptors)
Rudy Gay= LA Clippers
Ray Allen= Boston Celtics (He will take a serious pay-cut to stay, as he should)
Josh Childress: Miami Heat
Luis Scola: Rockets
The Miami Heat moves which has enabled them to clear space for nearly 3 max players could blow the entire thing up. It would be fun to watch Wade, LeBron, and Bosh......but I just don't think it'll happen.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
NBA Playoffs 2010 Part Uno
The NBA Playoffs are upon us. Heck, they are half over. I wonder what would happen if Commissioner Stern suspended Lakers coach Phil Jackson for the rest of the playoffs. I have this and other crazy thoughts swim through my head as I watch and read about these NBA playoffs. Why not put them in a full-scale article. I’m a writer, right? Maybe I should also rap and they could call me Lil Rod. I don’t yodel or sing, but if I did I think I would be a bass. Off track? You may think so but I’m getting to the juice.
LeBron James disappearing for Game 5 was one of the most talked about games that I can ever remember in my personal love affair with the game of basketball. He looked passive, didn’t attack the basket, and didn’t bark in timeouts. What’s the deal? Let’s stop being nice, the Cavaliers offense is one of the most pathetic things we could ever watch. Look, every team is great when they push the tempo and capitalize with dunks, easy buckets, and open rotation threes. So don’t tell me that it isn’t because of coach Mike Brown. If I was the coach of the Cavs and we pushed the ball and LeBron dunked, of course that is good offense. Really? Yeah, it is. That has nothing to do with what a lot of people seem to be frustrated with. The half court offense of the Cleveland Cavaliers is slow, often motionless, boring, and most importantly under-utilizes the entire cast of characters. Why does LeBron always get the ball in the high post, nearly at the three point line? Why don’t they shove him down on the block against Paul Pierce and have him go to town. Celtics will double and then it’s layup time for Side-Show Varejao (I told you I could rap and rhyme…..S-how Varaj-how). Why isn’t there set plays being run for Jamison? Why? Why isn’t Boobie Gibson getting some run to spark up that offense? Listen, I’m no coach (well, that isn’t completely true) but let’s call a turd a turd. The half-court offense of the Cavs is terrible. The Charles Barkley kind of terrible. LeBron doesn’t need a new team. He needs a new coach and he also might want to explain what happened in Game 5. And I don’t want to hear about the Celtics good defense. That game was just weird. I’d like to hear him tell us what happened.
I know you’re dying to hear about the Jazz. All the national readers in my network are chomping for more Jazz info. So the home opener, I was there this year. The new Miller in charge stood on the court and told us something like- I have allocated unprecedented resources to bring this city an NBA championship. BlahBlahBlah. What he meant to say is that he’s totally caught in a bind. He’s still living with his father’s decision to sign Andrei Kirilenko to a max deal, he didn’t think Boozer would exercise his more than 12 million dollar player option for this season, and he is going to have to figure out a way to get them out of a bloated team salary situation. There is a basic economic issue with the Jazz being named in the top 3 of total player salaries. The math just doesn’t seem to work. We are in a smaller market relative to the NBA landscape and the truth of the matter is that we had to dump a great rookie in Eric Maynor and trade away Ronnie Brewer, who is the only player on our roster equipped to play with Carmelo, Kobe, Durant, Manu, and Caron Butler. Listen, I love Matthews. I really do. His best is yet to come, but he is a 6’3” rookie. I don’t agree with our Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor when he said something to the effect that we have a lot of players that are similar. Right, except for a long 6’6” defender who can defend the opponents best perimeter player every night and finish around the rim in fantastic fashion. So, Mr. Miller, spare me the speech about how you’ve committed resources. That’s total cat nip. You got caught in a tough spot and gave away Brewer (unless that draft pick we got for him pans out to be something like this Knicks pick) and you gave away Maynor for a one-year rental on Boozer. Now to Boozer. He’s going to Miami. Any more questions? Jazz fans can look forward to one thing. AK47’s 17 million dollar contract coming off the books at the end of next season. Then we can be contenders. We have some hope. We will find out what draft pick we get in the lottery within 24 hours of me writing this sentence. We can draft a good young big man. His name is Greg Monroe. He played at Georgetown. If we draft a white guy, I’m really not going to be happy about it. There, I said it.
I know, I know. The Celtics are so special. BlahBlahBlah. OK, I really want them to beat the Lakers in the finals. They have the makings for it. I know they are a good defensive team and that KG is looking good. They are so old though. But I want to talk about their opponent in the NBA Finals if they get there. The LA Lakers. OK, really, I want to talk about the Pau Gasol trade. This is one of the biggest trades in the history of basketball. The LA Lakers pillaged the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol. They gave up some crappy draft picks, Marc Gasol, and Kwame MJ Brown. Get real. This is one of the saddest moves a franchise has ever made. Pau Gasol is the best big man in basketball today and will be for the next three years. I said it then, and I’ll say it again, the MVP trophy that Kobe got the year of the Gasol trade should have been cut in half. He should have given half to Gasol. Kobe Bryant has one of the best supporting casts in the history of the NBA. Did Magic have more with Worthy, Kareem, Coop, and the gang? I don’t think so. But I’m sure it’s debatable. This trade positioned the Lakers for the 5-6 year window that have had and will have. Without that pillage of a trade, the Lakers would be hard pressed to get one title in that span. Did Jerry West have an influence on the Grizzlies to do this deal? Seriously, did he? He was the GM of the Lakers. Left to work for Memphis in the same GM capacity. Left Memphis and consulted with the Lakers. What was his role as far as convincing Memphis this was the right deal? Someone please tell me. The Grizzlies argued it was a money issue. Believable until they picked up Zach Randolph’s disgusting contract of 2 years and over 33 million dollars. That trade never made sense and it never will. It change the landscape of NBA basketball more significantly than any other trade in the last 25 years in basketball. Here’s what I’m saying. Kobe rode Shaq’s train to 3 titles and now he is riding the best supporting cast to championships. I said this about Shaq’s Lakers title teams- Kobe was replacable. You could have stuck Pierce (much younger then), Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, and a bunch of other players along side Shaq and they quite probably would have won those three titles. I feel the same way today to somewhat of a lesser extent. You could plug in D-Wade, LeBron, Kevin Durant, and a few others into his place……and I really think they would have won the championship. I don’t know if you can say that about D-Wade’s title year. Could anyone else have done that? Could anyone else but Duncan have manned those first three title years? Except maybe Shaq? Before you get mad at me for Kobe-hating, just think about it for a bit. Anyways, shame on the Grizzlies for ruining the Western Conference of the NBA for the rest of us. That trade is horrible and that franchise should be retracted for it. OK, maybe not, but maybe. Part 2 NBA Playoffs coming soon.
LeBron James disappearing for Game 5 was one of the most talked about games that I can ever remember in my personal love affair with the game of basketball. He looked passive, didn’t attack the basket, and didn’t bark in timeouts. What’s the deal? Let’s stop being nice, the Cavaliers offense is one of the most pathetic things we could ever watch. Look, every team is great when they push the tempo and capitalize with dunks, easy buckets, and open rotation threes. So don’t tell me that it isn’t because of coach Mike Brown. If I was the coach of the Cavs and we pushed the ball and LeBron dunked, of course that is good offense. Really? Yeah, it is. That has nothing to do with what a lot of people seem to be frustrated with. The half court offense of the Cleveland Cavaliers is slow, often motionless, boring, and most importantly under-utilizes the entire cast of characters. Why does LeBron always get the ball in the high post, nearly at the three point line? Why don’t they shove him down on the block against Paul Pierce and have him go to town. Celtics will double and then it’s layup time for Side-Show Varejao (I told you I could rap and rhyme…..S-how Varaj-how). Why isn’t there set plays being run for Jamison? Why? Why isn’t Boobie Gibson getting some run to spark up that offense? Listen, I’m no coach (well, that isn’t completely true) but let’s call a turd a turd. The half-court offense of the Cavs is terrible. The Charles Barkley kind of terrible. LeBron doesn’t need a new team. He needs a new coach and he also might want to explain what happened in Game 5. And I don’t want to hear about the Celtics good defense. That game was just weird. I’d like to hear him tell us what happened.
I know you’re dying to hear about the Jazz. All the national readers in my network are chomping for more Jazz info. So the home opener, I was there this year. The new Miller in charge stood on the court and told us something like- I have allocated unprecedented resources to bring this city an NBA championship. BlahBlahBlah. What he meant to say is that he’s totally caught in a bind. He’s still living with his father’s decision to sign Andrei Kirilenko to a max deal, he didn’t think Boozer would exercise his more than 12 million dollar player option for this season, and he is going to have to figure out a way to get them out of a bloated team salary situation. There is a basic economic issue with the Jazz being named in the top 3 of total player salaries. The math just doesn’t seem to work. We are in a smaller market relative to the NBA landscape and the truth of the matter is that we had to dump a great rookie in Eric Maynor and trade away Ronnie Brewer, who is the only player on our roster equipped to play with Carmelo, Kobe, Durant, Manu, and Caron Butler. Listen, I love Matthews. I really do. His best is yet to come, but he is a 6’3” rookie. I don’t agree with our Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor when he said something to the effect that we have a lot of players that are similar. Right, except for a long 6’6” defender who can defend the opponents best perimeter player every night and finish around the rim in fantastic fashion. So, Mr. Miller, spare me the speech about how you’ve committed resources. That’s total cat nip. You got caught in a tough spot and gave away Brewer (unless that draft pick we got for him pans out to be something like this Knicks pick) and you gave away Maynor for a one-year rental on Boozer. Now to Boozer. He’s going to Miami. Any more questions? Jazz fans can look forward to one thing. AK47’s 17 million dollar contract coming off the books at the end of next season. Then we can be contenders. We have some hope. We will find out what draft pick we get in the lottery within 24 hours of me writing this sentence. We can draft a good young big man. His name is Greg Monroe. He played at Georgetown. If we draft a white guy, I’m really not going to be happy about it. There, I said it.
I know, I know. The Celtics are so special. BlahBlahBlah. OK, I really want them to beat the Lakers in the finals. They have the makings for it. I know they are a good defensive team and that KG is looking good. They are so old though. But I want to talk about their opponent in the NBA Finals if they get there. The LA Lakers. OK, really, I want to talk about the Pau Gasol trade. This is one of the biggest trades in the history of basketball. The LA Lakers pillaged the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol. They gave up some crappy draft picks, Marc Gasol, and Kwame MJ Brown. Get real. This is one of the saddest moves a franchise has ever made. Pau Gasol is the best big man in basketball today and will be for the next three years. I said it then, and I’ll say it again, the MVP trophy that Kobe got the year of the Gasol trade should have been cut in half. He should have given half to Gasol. Kobe Bryant has one of the best supporting casts in the history of the NBA. Did Magic have more with Worthy, Kareem, Coop, and the gang? I don’t think so. But I’m sure it’s debatable. This trade positioned the Lakers for the 5-6 year window that have had and will have. Without that pillage of a trade, the Lakers would be hard pressed to get one title in that span. Did Jerry West have an influence on the Grizzlies to do this deal? Seriously, did he? He was the GM of the Lakers. Left to work for Memphis in the same GM capacity. Left Memphis and consulted with the Lakers. What was his role as far as convincing Memphis this was the right deal? Someone please tell me. The Grizzlies argued it was a money issue. Believable until they picked up Zach Randolph’s disgusting contract of 2 years and over 33 million dollars. That trade never made sense and it never will. It change the landscape of NBA basketball more significantly than any other trade in the last 25 years in basketball. Here’s what I’m saying. Kobe rode Shaq’s train to 3 titles and now he is riding the best supporting cast to championships. I said this about Shaq’s Lakers title teams- Kobe was replacable. You could have stuck Pierce (much younger then), Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, and a bunch of other players along side Shaq and they quite probably would have won those three titles. I feel the same way today to somewhat of a lesser extent. You could plug in D-Wade, LeBron, Kevin Durant, and a few others into his place……and I really think they would have won the championship. I don’t know if you can say that about D-Wade’s title year. Could anyone else have done that? Could anyone else but Duncan have manned those first three title years? Except maybe Shaq? Before you get mad at me for Kobe-hating, just think about it for a bit. Anyways, shame on the Grizzlies for ruining the Western Conference of the NBA for the rest of us. That trade is horrible and that franchise should be retracted for it. OK, maybe not, but maybe. Part 2 NBA Playoffs coming soon.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I'm an Author and a Writer, Not a Blogger
Get real people. Do you really think I'm going to be a blogger? I don't think so. I have a knack for writing. I'm an author, practically. Anyways. One time I started writing a book when I was like 10 years old. I need to go find that transcript. Probably solid gold material. Yeah. Anyways. Basically, yeah. So I'm starting this blog to advertise for www.roddogsports.com. Which is a sweet website. Well, it's going to be a sweet website. It'll probably only be like $20 per month for a membership fee to read my articles. But for now, you can get some freebie sneak peeks at my sports writing. Yep, read the sentence....sports WRITING. I'm not a blogger. First article comes out tomorrow.
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