Monday, March 24, 2014

Who to Believe...

It came out on Sunday that the Detroit Tigers offered reigning Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer a long term contract (rumored to be in the 144 million dollar range) yet Scherzer or his agent turned down the offer. Yet word from Scherzer's agent, Scott Boras, says that it was Scherzer who made the Tigers an offer and they (the Tigers) turned it down. Who do you believe? Can you imagine a player who's 29, who's going to be a free agent at the end of the year, and is offered a 144M extension and they turn it down? One thing I can see is Scott Boras telling his agent "Don't accept that, you'll get more than that when you're on the market." but if (according to Boras' statement) Scherzer is so happy to play in Detroit and alongside the teammates he has then why not let him sign for the 144?

Personally, I don't think Scherzer is going to have the same kind of season he's had in recent years, and if that's the case passing on the 144 just might've been a mistake. Now whether he wants to accept it or not there's more pressure on Scherzer to perform well because if he (or his agent) thinks that he's worth more than the 144 that was offered then having less than stellar numbers is going to be unacceptable. Scherzer and his representation maybe betting on himself a bit more than the Tigers are, but still 144 Million dollars is nothing to sneeze at.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

22 and Counting

The Philadelphia 76ers have lost 22 games in a row. Last night losing to the Bulls 102 - 94 and with the suddenly hot New York Knicks coming to town it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Sixers can set the league record with at least 27 in a row. The current record is 26 which was set by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010. Can the Sixers really be this bad? The simple answer is yes. The Sixers moved the only real talent to Indiana in a trade of Evan Turner for scraps. When the season started everyone knew that the Sixers were going to be a bad team because tanking has become a strategy for bad teams to building a hopeful contender. With the Sixers losing those 22 games it's a surprise that they don't have the worst record in the league that honor belongs to Milwaukee Bucks who have won a paltry 13 games this season.

Tanking is not a viable way to build a team just ask Dan Gilbert, the big mouth owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who has been tanking for the best shot at the number 1 overall pick in the draft every season since LeBron took his talents to South Beach. The reason I say "best shot" is because unlike other leagues the NBA uses a lottery for it's worse teams to decide who is going to win the number 1 pick. That's what the Sixers are trying to do, trying to get the most ping pong balls with their name on it and hope they get that 1st pick. I feel bad for the fans in Philly considering that the Sixers have had a rich history when it comes to basketball and now they're just counting how many more loses the Sixers can rack up in a row. 22 and counting.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

And Imagine if they Had Melo...

The Chicago Bulls beat the Miami Heat on Sunday in overtime with Joakim Noah leading the way with his energetic play and his 20 points 12 rebounds 7assists and 5 blocks helped propel his name into the MVP conversation (even though he doesn't want that kind of attention). If only the Bulls had a legit scorer that wasn't hurt and was able to take and make his own shots and average 30 - 35 points per game. Oh wait, there's a player in New York who's wasting 40 point games on a team that's so desperate for either positive attention or grasping at straws by hiring Phil Jackson to be a part of their front office. Said player is Carmelo Anthony who is averaging 28 points per game and is the type of player that the Bulls can use to become an even more legit contender for the NBA title.

The reason Carmelo would work in Chicago is because the Bulls have a real coach that runs a tight ship. In Chicago, Melo wouldn't have to be the Man because he would just be a cog in the machine and not the whole machine as he is in New York and with a player like Rose who (when healthy) is an offensive force in his own right and with Noah in the paint who plays defense, grabs rebounds, and is just a pain in the back side to opposing players in the paint they can team up and forge a new "big three" to contend for NBA titles for a long time and that's what Melo should be interested in because eventually the seat he's sitting on should get as hot as LeBron James' seat was before he got his titles.