Sport Chit Chat

The Oklahoma city yet-to-be-nameds (to be referred to as sonics for this articles’ purposes), Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Milwaukee Bucks came together in a six player, three team (duh) trade. Truth be told? This trade sucks for the most part with only Oklahoma getting a good deal, and heres why.

The Cavaliers are still going to be team Lebron. Sure Mo Williams can score, but he is a below average defender at best, on a team that wins with defence. Zydranus Ilglauskus isn’t that young nimble 7-footer he once was, and the poor perimeter defence Williams brings will show that. Another reason is that Mo Williams isn’t all that good. Players playing for bad teams often have inflated statistics, and Williams is no exception. Milwaukee was a shot-happy, couldn’t play defence to save their lives team. That pretty much fits Mo Williams to a tee. He’s not a traditional point guard, and the six assists will probably go down in Cleveland with the only other scorer being a create his own shot guy (Lebron). I think all this trade does that can be considered beneficial for Cleveland is getting rid of the useless and constantly pouting Damon Jones. I do like Joe Smith, and I think when Lebrons fed up with all of the lack of defence his team plays, he’ll miss the solid veteran presence of Smith. I smell Lebron becoming a Net when he finally can.

Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Milwaukee. What a tease, just when you think they’ve got the chance to be good, they go and have a season like last year. This trade got them a point guard whos never been above average and isn’t a scorer, but has potential as a distributor (aka a white Ramon Sessions, which is useless because they already have the real Ramon Sessions) who will fight for playing time with players like Tyron Lue and Damon Jomes. They also recieved Adrian Griffen, who will quite nicely keep the pine warm, and the ever pouting aforementioned Damon Jones. Basically they traded Mo Williams for three spare parts. Probably could have got more value for him, but they do get props for moving that godawful contract.

Lastly we come to the Sonics. I like this move for them for four reasons. One, Desmond Mason has that rare, bring you to your feet athleticisim that can garner some fans for a new team. Two, after drafting Russel Westbrook and keeping Earl Watson, they should be able to give Westbrook time to develop into the solid floor general he should become, without having to worry about finding time for a third, marginally good, sometimes slightly above average pointguard. Reason number three is the solid veteran presence Joe Smith brings to the court and the locker room. A young team like the Sonics needs to feed off of that and learn how to approach and respect the game, and Joe Smith is a guy who can lead by example. The final reason is the cap room that the Sonics get. In this day and age cap room is valuable, and even if they don’t spend the 26.4 million they have in free money (Chris Wilcox + Donyell Marshall + Desmond Mason + Joe Smith + Robert Swifts expiring contracts = 26.4 million) this year, who knows maybe they could make a serious run at someone like Lebron, Wade or Carmelo (any of those three with Durant would be a ridiculous team).

Anyways, thats my opinion on the situation. Peace out Sports fans.
-Zackdaddy

Greetings All. As the MLB has taken over much of the sports news these days I thought this would be a good time to look back at the tumultuous NBA off season and pick out some losing teams and some winning teams. Here goes…

Winners:

Houston Rockets: I think the Rocket’s have been smart this off season. They were at a point where it was apparent that Yao Ming and T-Mac arenot enough to win in the NBA. With both of their injury issues, and their inability to get out of the first round of the playoffs it was clear that the Rockets were still a piece or two away from competing in the difficult West. (Yes, they went on a 20+ winning streak last season, but that still gave them a first round playoff exit at the hands of the Utah Jazz). John Hollinger of ESPN agrees that this move was well worth the risk and I’d have to agree. Artest finally give the Rockets a big 3 and with Scola a year improved and Battier a shut down defender, the Rockets have a team that can make waves in the West. Yes, maybe they wont win the title, but the Rocket’s franchise needed to prove to it’s fans that they were dedicated to winning. The Rocket’s time is now, and the play for Artest shows their franchise, their fans and the city that the Rocket’s want to win, and now.

Philadelphia 76ers: Clearly the 76ers have had the most successful off season out of any franchise in the NBA. The 76ers went from pretenders in the East to legitimate contenders (assuming they hold onto Igoudala). Adding Brand to their roster gives the 76ers a strong front court and very scary starting five (Miller, Igou, Young, Brand, Dalembert) who match up great against all other East contenders. Additionally, by re-signing young guard Louis Williams and adding bench depth in Royal Ivey and Kareem Rush, the 76ers have set themselves up to have a very prosperous 08-09 season. Expect the 76ers to challenge for home court advantage in the playoffs. I don’t know if they are good enough to topple Boston in the Atlantic Division, but thye have made the road much more difficult for anyone in the East.

Utah Jazz: Now I am aware that the Jazz have not made many big off season moves and to me that is what makes them winners. They were able to stay as legitimate Western threats and all they had to do was nothing. “My Utah Jazz” suggests that the Jazz need to make a move but I disagree. All their young talent is going to be better, they added some PG depth in Brevin Knight, and they still have the same core that has helped them compete the last 3 seasons. Congrats to the Jazz for a successful off season of non moves. This proves that sometimes the best way to make your team better is by staying put.

The City Of Oklahoma: I understand that to this point a majority of the story lines regarding the move of the Sonics have been about the poor city of Seattle and I understand. If someone ever uprooted the Raptors I would go nuts and be very upset with the situation. But on the plus side, one must think of all the happy fans in Oklahoma City. To have over 16,000 season ticket buyers ready, and already to have purchased the minor league Tulsa 66ers, the city of Oklahoma is doing quite well for itself. They come into the league with one of the best young talent in Kevin Durant and from there anything is possible. Rumored to be called the Oklahoma City Thunder the city is a definite winner as they have been brought the magic that is the NBA. Congrats Oklahoma City & welcome to the NBA!

…Check back soon for my list of NBA off season 2008 losers…

-Maxmillien

My apologies for the graphic title but I have a really strong opinion on this particular topic. However after protests by the city of Seattle and its fans, the city of Seattle struck a deal to release the franchise of the Seattle Supersonics for $75 million with owner Clay Bennett.

Everything is done and settled with but there’s just one problem I have with is that after 41 years, the fans of the Supersonics (and bloggers) too were screwed again.

The Lease with KeyArena and the franchise lasted until 2010 where I’m sure fans just wanted to hang on just for a little bit longer….but like most politicians accepting a few million dollars usually sways their opinions. Sure the city has every right to accept a financial settlement but did the city not forget that the reason litigation was pursued in the first place was because the fans wanted their beloved basketball team just a little while longer.

Which fans are going to see any of that $75 million that city accepted? Likely none and they were slapped in the face by their own city.

I feel sorry for the Washington State area and all the Canadians who rooted for the Sonics after the Grizzlies left Vancouver.

Anyway here are a few links around the blogosphere:

SupersonicSoul - An emotional write-up growing up as a Supersonics fan.
A long road to get the NBA back - Seattle PI discusses the reality of not getting a team back in Seattle for a long time (if at all).