Blazing The Trail

The Portland Trail Blazers have once again made a huge splash in the NBA draft. If all of the trades get approved by the league, the Blazers got a steal in Jerryd Bayless and Darrell Arthur. They will also receive Ike Diogu from the Indiana Pacers. They also got what I believe was a huge steal when they drafted Joey Dorsey in the second round. Dorsey should be a great energy player off the bench with his rebounding and defensive intensity. I'm gonna go on the record right now and say that if the Blazers stay relatively healthy this year, Greg Oden and Brandon Roy especially, the Blazers will not only make the playoffs, but be a top three seed in the Western Conference. If Bayless and Arthur can live up to their potential as rookies, this will be a great roster. You could have a line-up with Bayless at point, budding superstar Roy at the two, then either Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, or even Arthur at small forward, then another budding superstar in LeMarcus Aldridge at power forward, with Oden at center. They also have a veteran point gaurd in Steve Blake who they can start if they want to bring Bayless of the bench. What the Blazers have done in the draft the last three years has been nothing short of brilliant. The most impressive thing they have been able to do in my opinion, is surround Oden with enough scorers and playmakers that will allow for Oden to simply focus on defense and rebounding and not have to worry about being an offensive force. Not having to worry about being the "man" can only help him develop into a better player. If Roy and Aldridge continue to show the progress from year to year as they have done, and Bayless, Arthur, and Dorsey can make reasonable contributions as rookies, this will not just be a team of the future, but a team of the present.

Draft Winners:

Portland- Great value picks, met all thier needs

New Jersey- Stole Brook Lopez with the tenth pick, stole Chris Douglas-Roberts in the secound round, also picked up underrated Ryan Anderson out of Cal, who averaged more points than O.J. Mayo and Kevin Love in the PAC 10 this year.

Miami- Picked up a beast in Michael Beasley, two proven winners in Kansas teammates Darnell Jackson and Mario Chalmers. They were able to get a tenacious rebounder and scorer to add to their starting line-up while also improving their bench.

Milwaukee- Was able to add a proven star in Richard Jefferson via a trade with the Nets, got one of the best athletes and hardest workers in Joe Alexander, and maybe the best defender in Luc Richard Mbha a Moute.

Phoenix- They didn't make a huge splash, but did meet some glaring needs by picking Robin Lopez. In Lopez they get a tenacious rebounder and defender that can come off the bench and spell Shaq and add a ton of energy.

Pacers- I f all the trades go through, they were able to get rid of Jermaine O'neal's huge contract and injury riddled body, while getting a steady point gaurd in T.J. Ford. They also get a proven winner in versatile swingman and good defender with Brandon Rush, along with Jarrett Jack, who should be a good back-up to Ford. If they can unload troubled point gaurd Jmaal Tinsley, it may become a great draft.

Boston- I love the trade for Bill Walker. If not for an injury last year he would have been a lottery pick. Got great value and much more athletic.

Minnesota: If the trade is approved, they will have gotten Kevin Love and also picked up Mike Miller from Memphis, giving them an inside and outside combo to go along with young stars in Al Jefferson, Corey Brewer, and Randy Foye, while getting rid of the outrageous contract of Marko Jaric.

Losers:

Cleveland- In my opinion they made a huge mistake by passing on Chris Douglas-Roberts, I don't know how good J.J. Hickson will be, but I can't help but think of the possibilities of LeBron at the three and CDR at the two gaurd with all of their athleticism. LeBron would have finally had a great running mate who can run the floor, play defense, and is a proven winner.

Seattle- What were the Sonics thinking? They made a huge reach with Russell Westbrook at number four overall. They then spent the rest of their picks on foreign players who most likely won't play in the NBA for two or three years. I wonder if they forgot they just had the worst season in franchise history?

Memphis- This is more based on their moves over the last two years. I like the trade for Mayo, but it would have been alot better if they hadn't signed Darko Milicic and traded Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown. Can you imagine a line-up of Mike Conley Jr., O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick, and Pau Gasol? That would have been a young line-up that could have contended right away, like Portland.

Simply The Best

The Boston Celtics have completed the greatest one season turnaround in NBA history with an NBA championship. In one of the most dominating finals clincher in NBA history, the Celtics completely overwhelmed the Lakers from start to finish, winning game six by 39 points. The big three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen was brilliant tonight. All I hear is how Kobe Bryant is the best player in the world. I have never heard Paul Pierce anywhere near that conversation. Yet Pierce dominated Kobe throughout these finals. While Bryant did average a little less than four more points per game in the series, Pierce shot a better percentage from the three point line, foul line, and everywhere else on the court. Pierce did all of this while playing lock down defense on Bryant when called upon to do so. I'm not for a second saying that Paul Pierce is the best baller in the world, for my money I'll take LeBron all day everyday, but the fact of the matter is Kobe Bryant is without a doubt, not the best player in the world. I think people can stop with the Michael Jordan comparisons for good now. No Jordan team would have lost a twenty point lead at home and then gotten beat by 39 points in the series clincher. Don't get me wrong, Kobe is a great player. But the fact of the matter is, the best all around player om the court during the finals was Paul Pierce.
ESPN.com had a piece on the greatest finals perfomances ever last week, ranking D-Wade number one. Personally I believe that piece will need a revision. Pierce deserves the number one spot now. Wade, nor Jordan, ever had to have the added responsibility of gaurding the likes of a Kobe Bryant. What Pierce was able to do against the league MVP was phenominal. Pierce has without a doubt put his name in the history books, as have these Celtics.

Pierce-ing Defense

The Boston Celtics have just completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. Trailing by the largest 1st quarter and half time margin in finals history, the Celtics played one of the most dominating defensive second halves in playoff history. The defense that Paul Pierce played against MVP Kobe Bryant in the second half is the thing that legends are made of.
What should not be lost in this game is the fact that the man with 9 rings and widely regarded as the best coach in NBA history, was badly outcoached by Doc Rivers. Rivers made every right move in the second half while Jackson sat on the bench completely helpless. Everything Rivers did worked to perfection, while Jackson had no answers, despite having the best player in the world on his team.
Let's also not forget about the Celtics bench. James Posey and Eddie House were huge. Posey hit countless big threes in the fourth, and House hit the huge jumper late in the fourth to give Boston its first lead of the game. The decision to play Posey and House in the fourth quarter was as big a part of this win as anything.
The true story of the game though has to be the defense on Kobe. The Celtics were able to hold Bryant to just 17 points on 6 of 19 shooting, 0-2 from three point range. The main reason for this was Paul Pierce. In the first half Kobe strictly focused on distributing the ball and had no field goals, but it didn't matter because the Lakers were up by 18. The second half was a much different story. At half Pierce told Rivers he wanted to gaurd Bryant, and gaurd him he did. Pierce was spectacular in the second half against Bryant. Despite Kobe trying his hardest to impose his will on the game in the second half during the enormous comeback, Pierce would have none of it. Even when Kobe would hit a shot, Pierce would come back down and match him shot for shot. It's only fitting this game took place in L.A. in front of all the stars of Hollywood, because a comeback like this only happens in the movies.

History Vs. History

The French Open on Sunday is going to be history making no matter what happens. If Federer wins he will complete the career grand slam and be crowned once and for all the greatest of all time. If Nadal wins he will be crowned the greatest clay court player of all time.
In my opinion both of those statements are true no matter the outcome on Sunday. Nadal won a record 81 cosecutive matches on clay, until Federer finally beat him. Nadal is unbeaten at the French, 27-0. If he wins Sunday he will tie Borg by winning his 4th straight French Open title. The difference is Nadal will have done it with an overall undefeated record, and will have beaten Federer 4 times in doing so, 3 times in the finals.
Federer on the other hand is already the greatest in my mind. He has 12 major championships, second all time. He has won 5 straight Wimbledon titles, 4 straight U.S. Opens, and has set a record for being ranked #1 227 weeks in a row. Even though he has yet to win the French Open, his all time greatness should not be taken for granted. He is in his third straight French final, and made it to the semis the previous time. The only player he has been unable to beat is Nadal, who is the best ever on Clay. Yet he has been able to defeat Nadal in every other major they have played, all while setting a record for consecutive semi-finals and finals played in majors. Even though his record against Nadal is a losing one, the majority of those have come on clay. The thing that gets lost in this rivalry and hurts Federer is that Nadal has only made it to the finals in two of the four majors, were as of today they are 2-2 against each other, each winning on their favorite surface, clay and grass. But Federer has made it to the finals and won the Australian and U.S. Open, while Nadal has not made it to the finals in either. Federer is a master of all courts while Nadal is a master of only one.
It's funny to me how just a year ago there was a debate among people as to whom was the greatest athlete in the world, Tiger or Federer. Last year Tiger won only one major while Federer won three. Now to start this year, Tiger was awesome, and Federer was perseived to have been a failure because he lost in the semis of the first slam of the year and has since struggled, due in part from recovering from mono. Yet Tiger also didn't win his first major of the year, but because of knee surgery that followed that event he is looked upon as courageous and that most have been the reason he lost, while everyone says Federer is through and past his prime. I hear the arguements all the time about golf versus tennis and which is harder to win. I never hear an arguement for tennis. They say it is harder to win against the field in golf. But I strongly disagree. If Federer or Nadal have one bad day they are most likely done and gone from the tourney. Tiger on the other hand can essentially have the sixth best score on all four days of a tournament and still win it. Tiger also doesn't have to deal with multiple surfaces and players who are specialists on those surfaces.
So, I guess the point of this is to say that if Tiger Woods can be widely regarded as the best golfer ever, even though he doesn't have the most majors or the most Masters, then why can't Federer be the best tennis player and Nadal the best clay court player without having the most majors or French opens?

The Wing Dynasty

For the fourth time in eleven years the Detroit Red Wings are hoisting the Stanley Cup. Over those eleven years the Wings have been the model of consistency in the NHL. During that span the Red Wings have finished in first place eight times and second place in their conference the other three times. Going back even further, they haven't finished worse than second place since the 1990-1991 season, when they finished third. Detroit has been the best sports franchise over this span. No other sports team has more championships or been as dominant. Only the Spurs and Yankees can match them with four titles during this period. Some people might argue the Patriots wining 3 Super Bowls in 4 years and nearly completing a perfect season is the most dominant, but I strongly disagree due to the fact that the year they didn't win, they missed the playoffs altogether, which in my mind takes them out of the discussion of a true dynasty. Not to mention they have admitted to cheating during those seasons.
What seperates the Wings and the Yankees to me is their lack of recent playoff success since their last championship. They have lost the last two World Series they were in and also let the Red Sox come back from down 3-0 in the American League Championship to beat them. They have gone away from what made them great in the late ninties and tried to buy championships with the largest payroll in sports, instead of building within, which is what lead them to greatness during their run. The Wings on the other hand have kept a great nucleus together while also building through the draft and bringing players along slowly. While they don't always have great playoff success, the Wings have been able to win championships more consistently over time instead of just one quick flurry. Their three best youg players, including playoff MVP Henrik Zetterberg, were all late round steals in the draft.
The Spurs are the next best franchise in my opion. The two teams are nearly carbon copies of each other in the way they are run. The Spurs have even won four trophies in nine years as appossed to eleven. But, when you look at it as a whole, the Wings have been doing it longer, and set the standard of excellence first and are poised for many more runs, while the Spurs look to be fading, and fading fast. It's a shame that the Red Wings franchise will never truly get the respect that it deserves. They have been so great for so long that even the hockey fans take them for granted. In sports today everything is questioned when a team or a player acheives greatness because of all the scandals in the sports world. Congress even holds hearings on steroids and other cheating in sports these days. Yet, no hockey player has ever been called. They say that sports are tainted. That they are doing it for the kids. Well , here's an idea, take your kids to a Red Wings game next year,then they will learn what true sports greatness really is.