lukewalton7

We Beat LA, now let's beat LA again

2006-07-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

The Phoenix Suns finished off the L.A. Lakers in a commanding fashion last night to end what should have been an "easy" first round series against a lesser foe. I was not able to actually watch the game, but I did get to "watch" some of the play-by-play thanks to ESPN.com's GameCast.

I don't generally use this space to talk sports much, but as a lifelong Suns fan, it was great to see them come out on top in this series.

To top it off, today, Nash officially wins his second M.V.P award in a row. Very cool.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Rumor Rundown: February 19th

2006-07-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Okay this is a little late but Presidents Day, you know. Bloggers need a break too, am I right? And if I'm not, well, people say patience is a virtue.

MLB
Okay, I got a Clemens update for yous guys, as well as a ton of raises flying around.

Roger Clemens has informed Sports Illustrated's Tom Verduci that if he chooses to play next season (his mom favors retirement), he will not be pitching the entire season, only May through July. Now this changes the situation a bit. Last week I said Clemens will probably be pitching for the Rangers because he wants to stay close to home. But now, because he will only be pitching for three months, it opens up the chance of him playing for the Red Sox or Yankees. This week I have no pick for this one, too much has changed and not enough information supporting any of the teams. I'll probably be safe making a prediction by next week so stay tuned.

Many players' contracts end by next year or they currently don't have a contract and this is as good a time as any to get on those players' good side . And the easiest way to do that for big money ballplayers: well, big money. Among players likely to get raises: Miguel Cabrera of the Marlins (who only have 8 players actually signed on their roster) is expected to make about $100,000 more than he did last year ($370,000) which means he is still going to be one of baseball's biggest bargains and Tony Graffinino of the Red Sox, who is looking to get a multi-year deal but he might be traded sometime during camp.

Finally, the Orioles have their eyes on free agent outfielder Richard Hidalgo and Ken Griffey Sr. is among the canidates for the Cincinnati Reds' coaching job. Sr. would join his son, outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. David Wells still wants to go to the Padres, but rumor has it Florida may be in the running, but that's probably not going to happen because Wells wants to play near his crib in Golden State. White Sox may be looking to get rid of Jose Contreras, who declined a contract extention this offseason. Looks pretty fishy to me. Oh yeah, and the Marlins are still interested in Joey Gathright. But don't expect him to sign, if at all, for about another two weeks. Marlins front office has always been slow and steady when dealing with player signings.

NFL
Okay the Pro Bowl has ended, fun and games are over. Let's get down to business.

Huge news on Ty Law (yeah, remember him? Pro Bowler used to be on Patriots, left, and had one of the best seasons of his career but noone noticed because he plays for the Jets?). It is almost indisputable that he will be leaving the Jets so he can play for a "contender." Potential suitors are the Chiefs, Patriots (I have a huge smile on my face), Jaguars, and, just recently, the Dolphins. Last year, Law intended to sign with the Chiefs after being 86ed by the Patriots but Kansas opted instead to sign Patrick Sutain(just fyi). One reason Law might pick Kansas City this year is because Herm Edwards, former coach of Law and the Jets will be the head honcho on the Chiefs' team. However, Law is asking for $10 million in bonus money and KC is already $20 million over cap.
My pick---Miami. Law has been throwing roses in the path of the entire Dolphins team and considers them a real contender for Supur Bowl XLI (yeah scary, already thinking about next year's SB). I think he's just trying to annoy us Patriots fans by signing within the division again. Well guess what Mr.(sniff) Law? We(sniff) ain't(sniff) affected one bit by this (sniff). We could (sniff) care less (cry).

*NBA
The season is just entering the homestretch...It's time for teams to gear up and I got the lowdown:

All-Star weekend is a utopia for the growth and prosperity of trade rumors and sometimes the rumors turn out to be more exciting than the actual trades. The hottest name this week: Steve Francis, who might be heading back to Houston, the city where he was ordained "Steve Franchise." But guys, I don't see this happening at all. I know that the Rockets would move their team to Mexico (no offense of course) way before they give up Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady. Now if you look at the Houston roster and you factor in that the players traded would have to just about add up to the $14 million Francis makes, I mean, guys, be realistic. Sorry, anything the Rockets could come up with would be shot down immediately by Orlando (residence of Francis at the moment), who can always sign guys with the same potential as any of Houston's player at a much cheaper price. I usually like to feel optimistic about trade opportunities, but I won't lie to you. Francis could also be heading to Denver, New York (I will metion a possible three way deal a little later) or the LA Lakers.
In other news (don't I sound like one of them CNN reporters or something? This is pretty cool), Allen "the Answer" Iverson says he wants to stay put in Philidelphia. The Knicks, Nuggets, and Magic; whom I metioned earlier are looking for a trade; might be talking together about a trade centering around Kenyon "K-Mart" Martin, Francis, and Jamal Crawford. The three way deal would send K-Mart to the Knicks, Penny Hardaway and Franchise to the Nuggets, and Jamal Crawford to the Magic. There would be some other players in the deal, but those are the major ones. Not much else has materialized yet.

*due to the Thursday trade deadline, I will no longer be including the NBA in my rumor rundown until after the playoffs or until some coaches get fired. You can, however expect me to recap the trades that go down between now and the deadline.

That's all for this week. See ya and stay Charming!

Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley Air Out Their Differences

2006-07-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Our long national nightmare is over. TNT's Charles Barkley blasted Kobe Bryant for being "selfish" for only shooting three times in game seven versus Phoenix and received numerous heated text messages from Bryant in response. Tonight, Bryant made a guest appearance on TNT's studio show and offered his rebuttal of Barkley's comments. He explained that in game four, which his L.A. Lakers eventually won, he also took few second half shots, sticking with the game plan of pounding the ball inside to L.A.'s post players. Bryant said that to beat Phoenix you have to get stops and that the other Lakers become more energized on defense when they are touching the ball on offense; Bryant added that he had previously put up big scoring numbers against the Suns but that this never demoralized Phoenix because the Suns would just answer back by scoring. Bryant said that some teams can be demoralized by him scoring a lot of points (hello, Toronto) but that Phoenix is not one of them.

Barkley took the blame for publicly mentioning Bryant's private text messages to him, but said that he wanted to make it clear that he has nothing personal against Bryant and that he is willing to listen to responses to his comments. Barkley did not retract his original statement and suggested that at some point a superstar must say that the game plan is not working and he must take over. Bryant insisted that the game plan was good enough to win three games and that if he had tried to score a lot of points that it would not have helped the Lakers win the game.

The exchange between Barkley and Bryant was amicable but I would have liked to hear Barkley retract the "selfish" label that he slapped on Bryant because both Bryant and Lakers Coach Phil Jackson have clearly explained exactly what happened. Wasn't it Barkley who kept insisting throughout the series that the Lakers could not beat Phoenix with Bryant scoring 40-plus points? Then he criticized Bryant for doing exactly what he had been saying Bryant should do.

The sad thing is that for many casual fans the idea that "Kobe is selfish" because of his game seven performance is going to become conventional wisdom, just like many people still insist that Kobe "drove off Shaq" even though Jerry Buss, Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson have all acknowledged that this was not the case. Shaq wanted max dollars for max years, the Lakers offered max dollars for a shorter term and traded him to Miami, the only team that was willing to give Shaq max dollars for max years. We'll see if that decision buys the Heat an NBA title or not.

LA Lakers

2006-05-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Lakers never lost a Game 7 like this — their worst Game 7 defeat had been a 113-99 loss to New York in the 1970 NBA Finals — and the Suns became only the eighth team in league history to win a series after trailing, 3-1.

Los Angeles Lakers

2006-02-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Lakers began in 1947 when Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen bought the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League for $15,000 and relocated it to Minneapolis. As the Gems had by far the worst record in the NBL, the Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 Profesisonal Basketball League of America dispersal draft, which they used to select George Mikan, later to become the greatest center of his time. With Mikan, new coach John Kundla and an infusion of former University of Minnesota players, the Lakers won the NBL championship in their first season.