Old Story; New Year

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a long storied tradition dating back to 1887 when they first joined the National League.  They possess a rich history with Hall-of-Famers like Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski and five World Series Titles, their last one coming in 1979.  

However, for many young fans that follow the game today, the Pirates have been somewhat of a joke competitively for most of the past two decades.   

The last time the Pittsburgh Pirates saw playoff action was 19 postseasons ago in the fall of 1992 (no MLB postseason in ’94).  Now for the second straight year at the All-Star break, we are discussing the possibility of the Pirates holding on and ending their postseason drought. 

Pittsburgh sits atop the NL Central at 48-37 with a slight one game lead over a talented Cincinnati Reds club and only two-and-a-half games ahead of the defending World Series Champion, St. Louis Cardinals.

What makes this Pirates story different from last years is that they now have experience leading the division deep into the season.  Plus, they also have a solid crop of emerging talent.  Center fielder Andrew McCutchen is having an MVP caliber season.  He currently leads the NL in batting average at .362 and slugging at .625.  Pair that with 18 homers and an OPS of 1.039 and it’s safe to say that the Pirates have a player they can lean on going forward. 

They won’t have to lean on McCutchen too hard though.  They have a budding star starting pitcher, in right hander James McDonald whose record sits at 9-3 with the third best ERA (2.37) in the NL.  The Pirates also added veteran pitcher, A.J. Burnett from the New York Yankees and catcher Rod Barajas who spent last season with the LA Dodgers.  Don’t forget about their All-Star closer, Joel Hanrahan, who is riding the momentum he built up in 2011 and is now crushing it with 23 saves thus far.

The Pirates have the experience and talent to continue to compete and perhaps win their division.  It won’t be easy though. 

The Reds have strong bats in outfielder Jay Bruce (18 homers), first baseman Joey Votto (.348 batting average), and second baseman Brandon Phillips (48 RBI).  The Reds have a little deeper team all around and probably have the best shot at taking home the NL Central crown when its all said and done. 

Let’s not sleep on the Cardinals either.  St. Louis is coming off of an improbable World Series run and haven’t missed a beat in the absence of Albert Pujols (left for the LA Angels in the offseason).  The team as a whole sits 5th in the NL in slugging, 4th in runs scored and 2nd in both batting average and on base percentage.  The Pirates rank 21^st, 22^nd, 29^th and 15^th is those same categories respectively.  The Reds are 17^th, 20^th, 20^th and 11^th is those statistical categories.  St. Louis has the numbers, but they are coming up short in close games.  If they can find a way to close out in tight games then they could also be starring down yet another NL Central title. 

Probably safe to assume that at least two of these teams will be represented come playoff time.  Though most baseball fans that don’t have a rooting interest in the NL Central, would more than likely love to see the Pirates make it in the postseason as division winners.  The Pirates, who haven’t played October baseball in quite sometime, would probably be happy getting in anyway they can.         

Too Much of a Good Thing

The resurgence of NBA teams accumulating three big stars in order to win championships started back in 2007.  The Boston Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett from Minnesota and Ray Allen from Seattle in an attempt to revamp the Celtics franchise by pairing those two with current All-Star, Paul Pierce.  The formula worked.  The Celtics won an NBA title in 2008, in just their first full season after obtaining Garnett and Allen.

The success of the ’07-’08 Celtics spawned what we now refer to as the “big 3 blueprint.”  This now implies that it takes three super-star caliber players on a given roster in order to secure an NBA Championship.

The Miami Heat followed suit in the offseason of 2010 by dumping almost their entire roster and then signing free agents, Chris Bosh and LeBron James to team-up with Dwyane Wade.  Wade, like Pierce in Boston, was the focal point in which Miami chose to attract top free agents and build a championship squad around.

The Heat had built a “Super Team.”  Unlike in Boston’s case, Miami brought in two of the best players in the game in the prime of their careers.  A championship wasn’t won overnight though.

The Heat failed to achieve greatness in their opening campaign.  They fell short in the 2011 NBA Finals to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks; thus proving that it takes a true team effort to win it all and not just an accumulation of high powered names on the backs of uniforms. 

Nowitzki’s triumph in the 2011 Finals shook the “big 3 blueprint” to its core. 

The Heat would re-tool and not panic.  They continued to learn and grow under their head coach Erik Spoelstra and in time began to play better as a team.  Winning a championship took patience and the Heat would go on to hoist the trophy last month.

The recent successes of the Celtics and Heat have led these teams to wanting more, but history should tell them to be content with what they have. 

While many are salivating over Ray Allen’s departure from Boston to Miami, the ’03-’04 Lakers ring fresh in the minds of some NBA fans.

In the summer of 2003, the Lakers brought in forward Karl Malone and point guard Gary Payton to join forces with Shaq and Kobe, who had already won three titles together.  The Lakers weren’t happy with falling short of winning a fourth straight championship in 2003 and decided to build the decades first “super team.”  With Malone and Payton in the fold, the Lakers seemed poised to break the ’95-’96 Bulls winning mark of 72 games and had fans everywhere ready to witness true dominance. 

It didn’t happen.  The Lakers won 56 games in ’03-’04, a good season, but they looked dysfunctional night in and night out.  Not even the great Phil Jackson could harness all of that talent.

The Lakers would go onto appear in the ’04 Finals, but got rocked in five games by the Detroit Pistons.  The “super team” had fallen well short of expectations. 

The Miami Heat have now added an aging All-Star to its already high octane roster and has teams like the Brooklyn Nets trying to keep up by putting super-star pieces together, that might not fit.

The ’03-’04 Lakers, proved that an overloaded roster doesn’t necessarily guarantee a title.  Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks showed that just having one super-star in his prime, could still win it all.  

However, it is tempting to continue to load-up because teams like the Heat don’t want to risk ever giving up their championship swagger.  Loading up though, could mean breaking down sooner rather than later.   

Aces Wild

Major League Baseball’s halftime has arrived.  The Home Run Derby is set to kick off tonight in Kansas City and the All-Star Game will follow on Tuesday night.  After all of the All-Star festivities subside, we are in store for one of the most exciting second half’s in recent baseball memory.

This past November, Major League Baseball decided to implement a second wild card team in each league into the new CBA going forward. 

The past postseason format, which contained only one wild card team from each league, was implemented in 1994 and was first officially put into playoff action during the 1995 postseason.  Originally, the wild card team made it so each league would have an even number of four teams in the postseason.  The wild card of course, being awarded to the team in each league with the best record of the non-division winners, (3 divisions in a league plus the wild card meant a four team playoff in each league).

This decision to expand the postseason to a non-division winning team back in 1994 had baseball purist in an up-roar and rightfully so.  Yes, the wild card provides more excitement for fans at the end of a season (just use September, 2011 as a reference).  However, purist felt that it took away the value of winning the division.  In a way it did, but fast forward to now. 

It seems obvious that die hard baseball fans would be outraged by the decision in the new CBA, to allow yet another wild card team into the playoff mix.  Now a total of five teams from each league will have a shot at winning the World Series come October.  It’s obvious these writers and fans would be ready to torch MLB headquarters, right? Wrong.

The addition of a second wild card team has put even more emphasis on winning the division. 

How so? 

Let’s call this new single elimination “Wild Card Showdown” what it really is…a PLAY-IN game. 

If a team fails to win its division, but still has the best record amongst non-division winners, instead of automatically qualifying for baseball’s coveted postseason, that team will have to battle it out with the team that has the second best record of non-division winners. 

This newly formed play-in game makes it so a team doesn’t want to settle on winning the wild card race, because it will put them at a huge competitive disadvantage, even for the team that wins the play-in game. 

When a 162 game season is coming to a close, starting pitchers are at a premium for those teams in playoff mode.  The extra game for wild card teams means that both teams’ aces might have to start in the single elimination contest.  This suggests that a team’s ace could miss the entire best 3 out of 5 Division Series, not to mention the ware of a play-in game on a team’s bullpen. 

Managers may perhaps manage to avoid this, but with tight finishes on the horizon in both leagues, that scenario is unlikely. 

All we can do now is sit back and enjoy Major League Baseball’s second half.  With the importance put back on winning the division, it will surely afford fans with even more excitement by the time September rolls around.    

The Time is Now

The time has come for the Orlando Magic to trade their super-star center, Dwight Howard.  In fact they should have dealt him a long time ago.  The Magic should have moved Howard prior to the 2012 trade deadline this past season.  Instead they pushed for Howard to sign-on for one more year and now, all hell has broken loose.  

Stan Van Gundy has since been fired as well as their respected general manager Otis Smith.  It seemed as if Howard had gotten what he wanted with these firings.  

Reports had surfaced during this past season, that Howard and Van Gundy didn’t get along and Howard was tired of playing for his head coach.  

Then there was the awkward interview with Van Gundy telling reporters that he knew for certain that Howard had requested he be terminated.  Seconds later, the “big man” himself put his arm around his coach, having no clue of the accusations he had just told the media.  

The Magic could have avoided all of the drama if they would have just taken a page out of Denver’s playbook.  In February 2011, the Denver Nuggets fulfilled the wishes of their super-star forward, by trading Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks.  Denver received valuable role players in return; Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler have panned out nicely in a Nugget uniform since the deal went down. 

This past season the Nuggets were a competitive playoff contender, while Melo and the Knicks struggled and got a coach fired.  Denver was a respected opponent and the Knicks were kind of a joke for most of the ’11-’12 season.  The mega trade of 2011 appears to have worked out in Denver’s favor; at least early on it has. 

Denver is a similar market to Orlando.  The Nuggets have proven that life in a smaller market goes on without a diva super-star on the roster.  Denver didn’t allow Melo to walk away in free agency, but instead pulled the trigger on a blockbuster trade that gave them key assets in return.  Orlando should have done the same and in fact they still can. 

The Magic need to move Howard sooner rather then later, but if they do trade him they better be smart about it.  A Howard deal should be loaded with future draft picks and solid role players in return.  If Orlando can swing a deal like Denver did in 2011, then they will have a much brighter future without Howard, then with him.   

We're Dealing: Nets Reportedly Trade for Johnson

The new-look Brooklyn Nets have been by far the most intriguing team to follow during the early stages of free agency.   

According to a report from ESPN's Chris Broussard and Marc Stein, the Brooklyn Nets are on the verge of dealing for Atlanta Hawks guard, Joe Johnson.  The report also states that this trade hinges on the highly anticipated decision from free agent guard, Deron Williams.  Bottom line is this; if Williams decides not to re-sign with the Nets then the trade with the Hawks for Joe Johnson will not go down. 

The Nets would be giving up quite a lot in order to receive Joe Johnson’s services.  Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar, Jordan Williams, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson and a 2013 first round pick (lottery protected) from the Houston Rockets, would all be packaged up and sent to Atlanta for Johnson.

The Nets needed this news to surface.  Deron Williams reportedly began to meet with teams earlier today.  The two front runners are the Dallas Mavericks and his current team, the Brooklyn Nets. 

This news today also gives Brooklyn continued momentum from the Gerald Wallace commitment on Sunday.  Wallace apparently told the Nets that he would sign his deal on July 11^th, which is reportedly worth 40 million dollars over four years. 

All of these reports only help the cause for the Nets, who are going to be opening up in a new city and new arena come October.  However, this news is only good if their All-Star, Deron Williams, decides to join the team going forward. 

The possibility of bringing in Joe Johnson helps.  Johnson is a scorer and a big guard, weighing in at 6’7”/240.  He averaged just under 19 points per game last season with the Hawks, but his ability to spread the floor and help create opportunities for Williams and Wallace will be his biggest contribution to the Nets.

This is all speculation because the deal rest in Williams’ hands.  The backcourt of Williams, Johnson, and Wallace sounds pretty dynamic, but let’s not sit back and assume that this deal will go through though. 

In 2008 a similar situation arose with the LA Clippers.  The Clippers brought in guard, Baron Davis, to team up with good friend and All-Star, Elton Brand.  LA thought this would sure up Brand’s decision to re-sign with the team, but it didn’t.  Brand left for more money and joined the Philadelphia 76ers that same offseason.

If Brooklyn does end up with both Johnson and Williams next season, it surely makes them a playoff contender.  If Orlando Magic center, Dwight Howard, gets dealt there next season then it makes them a championship contender.   

Decision Time for Nash

The NBA free agency frenzy begins on July 1^st.  Veteran point guard and two time league MVP, Steve Nash, is the most intriguing name that could possibly be on the move.  

As a free agent during the summer of 2004, Nash wasted no time in departing from the Dallas Mavericks to the Phoenix Suns.  Nash has spent the last eight seasons with the Suns. He enjoyed three Western Conference Finals appearances and two 60 plus game winning seasons.  However, despite all of the success in Phoenix, Nash and the Suns fell short of winning a championship. 

At age 38, Nash averaged 10.7 assist per game last season; finishing only second behind Boston Celtics point guard, Rajon Rondo.  He has stated that he wants to play at least three more years and after his performance this past season, he has earned that right.

Here is where it gets interesting with Nash.  Will he select a team solely based on the opportunity to win a championship or will he go to a club that has young talented players and can offer him a lot more money over the next three seasons?

The championship contenders that have shown interest in Nash’s services at point guard are the Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, and the New York Knicks.  The Mavericks and Heat are legit title contenders heading into the 2012-2013 season.  The Knicks have work to do, but the addition of Nash could vault them up to becoming a championship challenger.

The possibility of winning a championship won’t be the only thing Nash considers when choosing his next team.  In a recent interview with ESPN's, Marc Stein, Nash seems to be approaching this situation with transparency; "It's just a different free agency for me and I have to be open-minded to everything." 

It appears that money will be a major factor in Nash’s decision going forward; as it was in 2004.

Teams that have young talent and can offer Nash plenty of money are the Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers.  Out of these two teams, the Blazers make the most sense; a.) they could use a proven point guard to help mentor their newest draft pick, Damian Lillard, b.) They have the cap space to make him an enticing offer, c.) Portland is the closest city in the league to his hometown of Vancouver and d.) with the addition of Nash, the Blazers could become a legit championship contender in the next two years.

The Raptors can offer money as well and bring Nash home to his home country of Canada, but they will be competing for playoff spots and not a championship over his three year contract there.

Staying in Phoenix is another possible scenario, but very unlikely to happen.  Nash has made it clear that if the Suns don’t add star pieces around him, then he will be gone come July.  Plus, Nash just isn’t feeling the love from the Suns anymore.  He told ESPN’s, Marc Stein, in the same interview, "I don't necessarily feel like they're determined to keep me. I think there's a lot of factors. So, one, I'm not sure they're determined to keep me, (and) two, there's other opportunities that are exciting.”  Nash did go on to say that he wants to play somewhere where he can be happy.  Clearly, Phoenix might not be that place anymore for him.

Look for Nash to make a quick decision early in free agency.  No matter what he decides to do, the choice he makes will be what he feels is the most right for him.   

Highlights From the Lottery

The 2012 NBA Draft is a wrap.  Who won and who dropped the ball?  Well, it’s way too early to know exactly how each team did last night and we won’t know until these guys start playing real games.  What we do know, is that no major trades went down the entire night. 

Dwight Howard didn’t end up in Houston and the Bobcats stood firm at No. 2.  The Wizards got who they wanted in Florida guard, Bradley Beal, and can start right away alongside point guard John Wall. The Cavaliers did the same by drafting Syracuse guard, Dion Waiters, who some feel was the most “NBA ready” player in last night’s draft. 

No surprise at NO. 1.  The Hornets selected Anthony Davis who was followed by Kentucky teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the Bobcats nabbed with the second pick. 

The Sacramento Kings got exactly who they wanted at NO. 5.  The Kings had reportedly been in trade talks, trying desperately to move up, in hopes to potentially land Kansas “big man,” Thomas Robinson.  They didn’t have to move an inch however.  Robinson was there, waiting to be taken with the fifth pick.  The 6’9”/237lb Robinson will be a force playing in the post with Kings center, DeMarcus Cousins.

Last season, as a junior at Kansas, Robinson averaged 17.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game.  He racked up 42 steals total, showing he has a knack for forcing turnovers.  His numbers indicate that he’s not a shot blocker, but his size and defensive mindset demonstrate that he has the talent to improve that skill at the next level. The numbers that do stand out however, are his ability to score and rebound.

Robinson’s most telling stats came against Big 12 power-houses; Baylor, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. He averaged 21.1 points and 12 rebounds per game in nine meetings against those conference foes.  This is telling because he put up his best numbers against teams that are most familiar with him.

In his first match-up against Anthony Davis and Kentucky in Hawaii, Robinson dropped in 11 points and pulled in 12 rebounds, a double-double none-the-less, but he later proved to be a more polished player come national championship time.  Robinson stepped up with 18 points and 17 rebounds against Kentucky on college basketball’s biggest stage.  Despite the loss in the championship, Robinson led Kansas to a 32-7 record and indeed led his squad in scoring and rebounds through 39 games.

The Portland Trail Blazers filled huge voids in the draft.  They got a solid point guard in Damian Lillard out of

Weber St.

and a guy that will fit in nicely in Rip City.  Portland also helped out their lack of depth in the post by adding Illinois center, Meyers Leonard.  Leonard weighs in at 7’1”/250 and will be a major asset for All-Star forward, LeMarcus Aldridge. 

The Golden State Warriors got another scorer and a really good small forward in Harrison Barnes from UNC.  Barnes solidifies that line-up and can be a starter right away for Golden State.

Barnes was rated as the third best player in most mock drafts and the Warriors got him at 7.  He averaged 16.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in two full seasons at UNC.  People around the league are saying that Barnes could be a better pro than college player.  A scary thought, considering his ability to grow as a scorer. 

Let's not forget who the Hornet's took at 10.  The Hornets got a very talented player in Duke guard, Austin Rivers.  Many believe that Rivers can play in the backcourt with guard Eric Gordon (if he resigns) as a true point guard.  Comparisons to Nets point guard Deron Williams have been made.  Williams, like Rivers, was not considered to be a true point coming out of college.  His size and ability to score has made Williams an All-Star point guard in the NBA.  Rivers has a lot of those same attributes.  He's 6'5" can score and handle the ball.  Look for the Rivers/Gordon combo to be ruthless next season.

That completes the highlights from the lottery portion of the 2012 NBA Draft.