NBA Playoff, NFL Draft Thoughts
April 27, 2009 by dwil
How do you not foul John Salmons and allow him to pass to “The Commissioner”?….
“We wanted it more. Before the second overtime I said, ‘let’s stop playin’ and win this thing,’” Gordon said after the game.
Gordon’s hyperbolic statement aside, how could you not foul Salmons at the end of the first overtime? And then, how you could you not be pissed off watching Gordon grab his junk and run down the court after the shot? And how could World Champion Celtics like Paul Pierce miss so many free throws at key moments?
I thought Pierce was the self-described, “best player in the game?”
Kobe would not have missed one of two when two win the game; LeBron might miss, but not Kobe Bryant, the best player in the game.
This makes me wonder about the legitimacy of the Celtics Larry O’Brien Trophy run last season. It is as if Boston ran through the playoffs without having to play any very good, experienced teams that could truly test the Cees mettle.
And Sunday the Celtics lost to a jump shooter – Gordon – who took a cortisone shot in his thigh so he could play through a torn left hamstring muscle and a 20-year old rookie in Derrick Rose.
The most important facet of all this?
The “best player in the league” is not the best player on his own team; that would be Kevin Garnett.
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And speaking of Kobe – and the Lakers – I do believe their response to the Utah Jazz Game 3 win was “champion-ish.” See, Kobe’s reaction was as a champion’s should be, while the rest of the team’s reaction was championship team-like because, well, none of them have won a chip and we do not know their reaction if Kobe had not dragged them kicking and screaming into a position of confidence in Game 4.
Now we get to see how the young, but experienced LA Lakers handle an important close out game at home.
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Wow Dwyane Wade handled the Atlanta Hawks, huh? Or. Wow, the Hawks sure have reacted poorly to playing a less talented team that is playing really hard.
And.
Have the Hawks run a play in a half court set yet this series?
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Besides the Boston-Chicago series, the Orlando-Philadelphia matchup is a battle. This series features a Sixers team trying to establish itself and find its way through the harsh glare of the playoffs playing against a Stan Van Gundy team winning without its point guard who stabilizes his teammates when the head coach cannot (despite the protestations of the Miami Herald‘s Israel Gutierrez who, on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters had the gall to blame the players for being directed into positions where failure is more an option than success down the stretch of tight games; sometimes I wonder what some of these cats who get paid well to watch games actually see…. or do they at all, through their preconceived notions of the games and all of the games’ participants).
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How ’bout that Houston-Portland series? The Rockets, the team no one wants to play versus the Trail Blazers, the team no one wants to play. But they sure are playing the hell out of this first round matchup.
It’s the Blazers group of impressive young bigs versus Yao and it’s the group of stellar Rockets perimeter defenders versus Brandon Roy. So far, Roy has produced consistently better than has Yao.
However. This series will come down to this: when Yao plays well, Houston wins, period and the same cannot be said for Roy. If Rick Adelman gets Yao the looks he needs throughout the game, the Rockets will win Game 5 and the series. If not, well, seven games here we come.
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Yes, the Spurs are done.
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Why on earth is no one making a huge stink over the New York Jets management offer of nothing -the 17th and 52nd picks – which Cleveland took, so the Browns could allegedly avoid drafting number six in the first round? No one finds it odd that all the Cleveland print press is discussing is the “intelligence” of the Browns’ draft picks? No one finds it odd that the very likeable Sanchez just happened to land in a city with a huge Hispanic population?
We know Washington was offering more than did the Browns and sure Sanchez was nothing more to Daniel Snyder than “eye candy” as the Washington Post‘s Michael Wilbon aptly termed Sanchez. This is not to say that Sanchez is not going to become an excellent NFL quarterback (which Wilbon also pointed out) but the Redskins had more pressing needs, which they met when they drafted Texas Longhorns defensive end Brian Arakpo.
I mean, Eric Mangini did do his former team, the Jets, a favor, right? Mangini did take one for “the shield” and put the limelight of the 2009 NFL Draft squarely in the league’s most noted city, New York, right?
NFL Grand Poobah Roger Goodell could have approached the podium and said, “The Cleveland Browns are trading their number six pick to the New York Jets for the betterment of the league’s bottom line and for it they will draft Joe Nobody and Johnny Do Nothing, and like it.”
The Browns used the picks to trade the 17th pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so they could draft quarterback Josh Freeman, who is said to have more potential than either Matthew Stafford or Mark Sanchez, and pick draft David Veikune, a defensive end from Hawaii with number 52. “Mangenius” used the Traded picks to also snag Mohamed Massaquoi the big wideout from Georgia and, in the sixth round, cornerback Coyle Francis of San Jose State, who is said to be as good as his teammate, Christopher Owens, who was drafted in the third round.
But for a team that had a big wide receiver named Braylon Edwards and needed blocking and defenders, the Browns did little to solve their deficiencies.
Perhaps, for his largesse to the NFL, in general and to the Jets, Mangini, unlike any other head coach in the league, will be graded on a curve.
And nobody found they needed Iowa running back Shonn Grene, who the Jets “found” in the third round? Greene was, arguably, the most NFL-ready running back in the Draft. He is not a flashy as Knowshon Moreno but Greene ran every down at Iowa like an NFL back – hard. He is Curtis Martin, but younger. Greene, 5’11″, 227 pounds, was the 2008 Big 10 Player of the Year and the Doak Walker Award winner given to the nations best college running back. Last year at Iowa Greene rushed for a school record 1850 yards on 307 carries and scored 20 touchdowns. At 24 Greene is also more mature than many of the other, younger players in the Draft.
So, no team needed a mature, “good character” guy who is a tough yard, “December runner?” Nobody?
Just like the Browns needed a wideout they already had and a 257-pound defensive end who better turn out to be a 10-sack “hybrid” defensive – now.
I was wondering the same thing about not fouling Salmons at the end of the first OT. That was definitely poor execution. Also, did it seem like in the 4th quarter through both OT’s, that Paul Pierce was getting consistently burnt by Gordon and Salmons?
Slight correction, D. Derek Fisher has 3 rings from his first go-around with the Lakers. I know the guy isn’t the most demonstrative in the world when it comes to W’s and L’s, which is probably why most folks forget that he’s back on the team.
Houston-Portland is easily the most entertaining series out West (if you forget the first game). It’s a shame that the next game is going to be on NBA TV, where most of the country won’t be able to see it!
There’s already been talk of the Jets marketing themselves more to the Latino community with the drafting of Sanchez. You can’t tell me that the NFL doesn’t love it.
Shonn Greene isn’t really a breakaway running guy. In the end that shouldn’t matter, because he got all the yards you could ask for (as well as the sixes), including the tough ones, but NFL teams seem to leave those runners until the second or third round now.
Also, the guy had academic issues but worked his way back into the Hawkeye program. To me, that would say “redemption” and “hard worker”, but what do I know?
DWil
They had to beat Cleveland and Detroit last year. They got tested.
They are without their best defensive player and best rebounder. They lost their second best defender in free agency. Pierce and Allen are playing crazy minutes. And they lost one reserve for the playoffs and another one is barely playing because of concusions. I think it would be better to question last year if this Celtics team was anything like that team. It’s not.
I’m kind of surprised the Bulls are hanging this tough with the C’s seeing that they are missing Lual Deng, but these young guns are playing without fear. Seriously, the only thing that is hampering them is their coach in my opinion. Ben Gordan may only be a scorer but dayumn he was making some crazy shots to keep his team in it. Great series.
Your thoughts on Sanchez…no doubt.
I had the same thought about Crabtree going to San Francisco.
The draft was mighty fishy.
I hate to be nitpicky but it was actually the 5th pick that the Browns traded.
Sanchez will need a primer on his Latino outreach though. His message (in talking to Sal Pal after the pick) was directed to the Mexican community. While the numbers have increased, Mark will have to look at the bigger picture and go Pan-Latino to include those Spanish-speakers of Caribbean heritage as well.
I’m sure someone is working on that as we speak. Maybe the Jets will play the Cowboys in Mexico City in 2010. Oh yeah!
That Veikune kid has a very interested bio page at NFL.com. I think if Mangini knows how to do anything it should be how to draft a linebacker. I mean, if he can’t do that, given his pedigree, he needs to get on the first plane to Mexico City and order up a plate of infectious vittles. I suspect that pick will turn out to be just fine.
As for Robiskie — it seems to me that the rumors about moving Braylon are probably substantive. He may very well become a NY Giant. If I’m Cleveland, I can’t justify drafting another heartthrob without an NFL track record. The Jets got some love — but Sanchez in Cleveland doesn’t work — not this season.
Mangini is a weasel with no loyalty to any of his ex-teams. He proved to be disloyal to Belichick and the Patriots who gave him his big break, and rewarded them by jumping to their division rival-a city that New Englanders love to hate, and then did one better by outing the Patriots videotaping habits. So then why would Mangini do his other ex-team, the one that fired him, any favors? The Browns already have Brady Quinn waiting in the wings, so why would they need Sanchez (though I believe he’ll be the better pro)? Washington already has Jason Campbell. As for Crabtree falling to the 49ers, I’m happy. No, there was no conspiracy involving Al Davis–he’s just senile and has always privileged WRs with speed over hands. If there was any conspiracy, it was probably the usual rumormongering by teams with lower pick in hopes that the teams who pick earlier pass on the player that the former covet. That could be the case with Crabtree-a top 5 talent who fell to #10.
Dwil – Hell, if things keep going like this, I think there’s a solid argument to be made that neither Pierce or Allen are even second best on this team. Rondo has shown a lot this series.
Ummm, did Kornheiser really say that Jason Campbell was pouting over Washington taking a QB on PTI today? I mean, really, the guy has played good soldier but all of a sudden he’s a pouter because he got tired of being disrespected by Snyder and the FO chasing after any other QB with a pretty spiral? Really?
I noticed Gutierrez’s support of Van Gundy yesterday but while he was lionizing the Ron Jeremy look-a-like he didn’t acknowledge that many coaches like Stan Van and his brother will get wins out of a team but their micro-managing in crucial situations along with all the browbeating will not allow them to close the deal. If Philly closes the Magic out, the summer’s going to be pretty hot for SVG.
Please, please, please tell me someone saw Bennett Salvatore and crew helping Miami knock 15 points off Atlanta’s lead with the help of two generous 4-point plays.
S2N, I saw it, but am still amazed he made both! Pretty incredible to see B2B 4-pointers. The second one wasn’t easy…
So, who was reffing that Larry Johnson phantom 4-pointer which turned that Knicks-pacers series?
umm… why does it matter who offered what for the #5 pick in the draft?
As Kevin McHale proved, you don’t have to take the best offer in order to make a trade. Another thing… the Browns received a pretty good DB and 2 other players to add depth to a team that is lacking depth in order to changeover defensive schemes in the offseason.
It’s typical Bill Belichick draft procedure. Trade your picks to get more picks. Mangini learned the hard way with high draft picks after picking a bust in Vernon Gholston.
I hope Freeman does end up being as good as advertised, I’m tired of hearing about how the Bucs need a quarterback. I don’t believe he’ll be better than Sanchez and Stafford, but then again we are talking about the Lions.
I was watching 2 S2N. The first was suspect but the 2nd was legit. What is up with D-Wade???? His vibe is so non-chalant! No fire through 3:27 in the 4th quarter. I think that is the biggest difference between Bird, Magic, MJ, Kareem, etc. and the guys like Lebron, Kobe and Wade. In fairness to Lebron he has been coming with the funk in the playoffs but during the regular season they don’t seem to have that hunger all game every game. They come out with the “I can get mine at anytime” kind of game. The older guys came out with fire from the rip. If there is a way to see a replay of game 4 vs the Hawks watch Wade’s vibe. How he brings the ball up court and the whole 9 but with them down he tries to turn it on. Man they won’t work in a 7 game series. They may have blow their chance to take the Hawks out by letting them off the hook tonight.
The draft used to excite me but I gotta admit I got a little tired of the over analysis and boycotted. Has any starting quarterback not named Michael Vick ever been disrespected as much as Jason Campbell???? This kid has done everything the organization has asked of him and its like they are saying “we want anybody but you and until we get somebody you keep smiling and saying all the right things.” Sadly, I think we are seeing the demise of the African-American quarterback in the NFL. Once Donovan is gone who else is on the horizon? The Vikings gave Tavaris Jackson, what, 6 games to prove himself? Troy Smith never got a shot! David Garrard is on the clock. Vince Young is all but done in Tennessee.
If you want to see something really interesting go to NFL.com and compare Jason Campbell’s stats to Joe Flacco’s. Campbell has better numbers and is deemed expendable but Flacco is a rising star. The Ravens were 4th in the NFL in rushing and the Redskins were 8th. They also had more rushing touchdowns than the ‘skins. But we all know the biggest reason Flacco is considered a rising star and Campbell expendable is the Ravens defense. Thats the same reason Trent Dilfer is a Super Bowl winning quarterback. You can put Dilfer’s incompetent ass back there now and the Ravens will make the playoffs. I’m just saying there is always a reason to give the golden boys opportunity after opportunity but in the words of James Harris all brothers playing quarterback get is a “nigger chance”.
s2N – I saw that. I agree with mactown. Maybe the second one, but the first was suspect.
Mactown
Wade was hurt in the fourth, which is the bigger issue with him. His body is already giving out on him.
Big Man,
Thats what me and my friends have been screaming. Great player-spends too much time on his ass
Big Man – I have been thinking the same thing. So much of his game is going strong to the hoop. I’m not a big fan, but I would hate to see his career go out because of injuries.