Some quick hits today.
Has anyone else noticed that Mark Hurlbert, the DA in the Kobe Bryant case, looks just like
Woody Harrelson? At least we already know one of the people FOX will cast when they make their horrible Kobe movie.
Watching the Mets game I noticed another pair of lookalikes. Reds pitcher
Danny Graves looks way too much like
Haley Joel Osment. I don't know who that's more an insult to, the 29 year old Graves or the 15 year old Osment.
I really hope you caught a glimpse of Boston pitcher John Burkett Saturday afternoon after David Ortiz' game winning single. Burkett, Saturday's starter, ran out on the field with the rest of his teammates to celebrate. Except he had on John Stockton short-shorts and flip flops. He looked more like a redneck than he did a millionare.
I wonder who the Yankees will send packing first: Benitez or Weaver?
It's good to see Joe Torre not waiver from his 'game plan'. That game plan consisting of not using Mariano Rivera in a tie game on the road. He's cost his team two games now: one in Cleveland when he let Hitchcock meltdown in extra innings and then yesterday in Boston.
The new MSG marketing campaign for the Mets is 'Catch the Young Guns'. I can appreciate that, but what are they gonna call it when Piazza finally hobbles back behind the plate? Maybe 'Try to catch Piazza's throw to second'.
Seriously though, it's good to finally see the Mets stick with a core of young kids game in and game out. But can we please see an end to Joe McEwing and Roger Cedeno as starters?
Does anyone really care about the Tour de France?
Congrats to Gary Carter and Eddie Murray who will enter the Hall of Fame later on today. Both are more than deserving of the invite. I just wish someone could tell me why players like Jim Kaat and Bert Blyleven aren't joining them.
Eric Piatkowski finally made his way onto a real basketball team. Jumping from the Lost Angeles Clippers and signing with the Rockets to play for Jeff Van Gundy. Piatkowskit is Allan Houston minus $100 million. And white.
Another surprise signing: Elden Cambell in Detroit. I've said it before and i'll say it again: Larry Brown is the luckiest man alive.
"He's going to add size to our frontcourt and give us a great deal of versatility" is what Knicks coach Don Chaney had to say after his idiotic GM traded his best player for Keith Van Horn. It's impressive that Chaney could say anything positive after this move. Isn't that the same line Layden gave the press after he traded for Travis Knight a few years ago? Although I'm sure Knight's 1.9 PPG and 1.9 RPG last year really gave the team "versatility".
It's time for KG to put up for shut up now. I don't care about the Lakers. I don't care about the Mavs or even the Spurs. With all the weapons Wolves GM Kevin McHale has given him, Garnett will have no excuse if he can't get his team at least into the Conference championship. A truly great player will find a way to win with the likes of Wally World, Latrell Sprewell, Troy Hudson, Sam Cassell and Michael Olowokandi. Just ask Tim Duncan.
:: Ryan 1:43 AM
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No Kidd? No Problem
Tuesday was the first day of free agency in the NBA and as you’re reading this there are 29 teams trying to figure out where they will spend their money. But before the Rafer Alston’s of the world start signing contracts, Jason Kidd has to make up his mind. Stay with New Jersey and bank nearly $120 million over seven years or jump to the Spurs for six years at just under $100 million. The arguments about why he should go to the Spurs or why he should stay with the Nets have been driven into the ground, but here is a quick run down of the general feelings on the issue:
Why Kidd should sign with the Spurs: They just won the NBA title. They have money to spend. He can play with the league MVP.
Why Kidd should stay with the Nets: They’re the only team to be in the Finals the past two years. They can pay him more than the Spurs. He is revered as a God in New Jersey. Loyalty.
Everyone has a different idea of where they think Kidd should go and why. However, there is one thing that remains constant in everyone’s opinion of his situation: If Jason Kidd leaves the Nets then you can go back to forgetting that New Jersey even has an NBA franchise. I’m here to not only disagree with that statement, but to offer up a thought that isn’t even in the same world. I’d like to precede it by saying: No, I haven’t been drinking and I don’t do drugs.
I think the Nets would survive losing Jason Kidd. There, I said it. Okay, now I hope you’re sitting down, because I would like to go a step further. It might be best for New Jersey if they LET him go. That’s right, why are the Nets being seen as having to hope and pray that Jason ‘picks’ them. Obviously you cannot dispute that in his two years in the Garden State Jason Kidd completely turned around this franchise. On the other hand, he wasn’t nearly this big of a star before his time with the Nets. He was a great point guard that never got it done in the big game. Ask the people in Phoenix how many big games Jason Kidd won in a Suns uniform. The number is right around zero. He was a great point guard who was still trying to shake a highly publicized domestic violence incident from his reputation. To the NBA Jason Kidd wasn’t a winner before he came to New Jersey. After that first season with the Nets – and ever since – every GM beams about how they need a ‘Jason Kidd type’ if they want to win. Where were these GMs two years ago? They could have had the real thing.
Let me get back to the present. Don’t get me wrong, I realize Jason Kidd IS an elite player in this league. And that the Nets will be a better team the next couple of years if they have Kidd running the point. It’s the years after these next few that I’m curious about. Jason Kidd is 30 years old and would be signed through his 37th birthday if the Nets gave him the maximum seven-year deal that will be needed for him to stay in Jersey. Most players have their ‘peak’ years between 27 and 30. While Kidd certainly isn’t going into the twilight of his career, he isn’t going into his prime either. How are the Nets going to feel about paying a 37 year old Jason Kidd upwards of 20 million dollars a year? More importantly, will they be able to sign anyone else to play around him?
If Kidd bolts, will the Nets win 50 games next year? No, not likely. But will they take a nose-dive the way they did when Dr. J left town? Absolutely not. The Nets of the ABA didn’t have two budding superstars the likes of Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson to help carry the load when their leader left. Without Kidd next year the Nets would still be sending four starters back on the court – Kittles, Jefferson, Martin and Mutombo – to play with a new point. Another major difference between the Nets’ situation now and back in the ABA days is they can get a reasonable replacement for Kidd. Dr. J was the best player in the game. Kidd is elite, but not the best in the league.
This is the year of the point guard, so a legitimate replacement can most definitely be had. Gilbert Arenas and Andre Miller are younger, cheaper, top of the line models who would give the Nets much more financial versatility down the road in the way of free agency. If Nets feel the need to go even cheaper they could go the way of Speedy Claxton, who managed to outplay Kidd in the Finals just a few weeks ago. Another option is to let their first round draft pick, Zoran Planinic, come in and run the point. He’s 6-6 and would give the Nets a huge starting five of 6-6, 6-6, 6-7, 6-9 and 7-3. The defending Eastern Conference champions are very unlikely to hand their offense over to a rookie, but it’s an option. All of the players I’ve mentioned are options. No one in the NBA wants to recognize that the Nets actually have options other than Jason Kidd. All would come at a much cheaper price and are all younger. The 27 year old Miller and 25 year old Claxton are the ‘older’ models. While the 21 year old Arenas and the 19 year old Planinic are the babies of the group.
A Kidd-less Nets would win less games than they have the past two seasons. But in the perpetually weak Eastern Conference they would still easily make the playoffs and make a run at the Finals. In four years they might be a better team without Kidd than they would be with him. For example: a veteran 25 year old Arenas could be more effective than a 34 year old Kidd. He would certainly be much less prone to injury than the older Kidd. There would also be much more cap room every year from now until then to spend on free agents to make the team better.
In the end I believe Jason Kidd will choose to stay in New Jersey for the $120 million or so they will pay him. His wife likes it in Jersey, little TJ goes to school there and there is little pressure on Kidd playing in the Meadowlands. But if I’m Rod Thorn and at the end of the day Kidd decides to put on his spurs and give the West a chance, I don’t step towards the ledge, but instead I step all the way back. He can then breathe a sigh of relief knowing he’ll be able to be a player for the Nets in the free agent market virtually every year until 2010.
Is all this crazy? Possibly. Is it realistic? Absolutely.
:: Ryan 4:28 AM
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