Coming to NY?

The natural hype surrounding the big name free agents to be always include rumors that they are coming to New York. With the Cavs recently being bounced from the playoff picture, the biggest rumor, that hasn't died after 2+ years of hype, is that LeBron is virtually free to come to NY and the Knicks are waiting. Or is it the Nets? Or is anyone crazy enough to think this will actually happen? Naturally, the loud-mouthed mayor of NYC has chimed in here.

With the NBA salary cap, there's only a handful of teams that can currently offer Bron Bron the max, Knicks and Nets among them, but who cares? Cleveland can offer the max + so if money is the motivator, he won't get more anywhere other than Cleveland.

If money is not the motivator, let's consider winning. If the knock on James is that he has not won a title in Cleveland why would you take two-to-three steps back and go to two of the worst teams in the league? Look at super-coach Phil Jackson, when his run in Chicago was done where did he go? And why did he go there? To win. Sure, the public Jackson talks about loving the LA lifestyle and blah blah blah but let's be real, Jackson saw the easiest path to winning. The zen master was recently asked about coaching for Michael Jordan in Charlotte if he does not renew his deal in LA and Phil said, "no." Jackson is known as a winner but he's always positioned himself on teams that can win and going to Charlotte is not the path to doing that. Back to LeBron, Chicago is another rumor du-jour and while that makes some sense, James does not put them over the top. They're a marginal playoff team as it is and bringing in one of the top players will not put them over the top.

If winning is the motivator, do the smart thing. Look at the top NBA teams and go there, e.g. the Lakers, the Celtics, the Magic, the Spurs. If you want to win, don't just win, go out and dominate.

NBA East Preview - Magic vs. Celtics

Last year, everyone declared that the torch had been passed as the Magic dismantled the Celtics and the C's mini-run was now done. Seemingly forgotten during the playoffs of last year, was the fact that KG was out. The critics still say, "he's old" but using that as a crutch only denies the man's ability to alter a game both offensively and more importantly, defensively. To underestimate KG's defensive ability is egregious and he is ready to make a statement this year - as if the series vs. the Cavs was not enough.

Can the Magic win? Sure but I wouldn't bet on it. Can the Celtics win? Sure buy I wouldn't bet on that either. This is going to be a tight series, possibly even pushing 7 games. Ironically, the Cavs got Shaq for the same reason I thought the Celtics should have pursued, need someone to handle Dwight Howard in the battle of Steel vs. Superman.

Magic - they're well rested and ready to roll. All of the natural dents and dings have had some extra time to heal and the team is poised for their next opponent. There were really two factors that led to the Magic advancing last year - the C's had nobody to stop D. Howard and conversely could not stop M. Pietrus. Lewis hit some big shots last year and he's bound to do his usual damage from beyond the arc, minimizing that is the key.

The Magic spent their offseason re-tooling, bringing in Vince Carter to replace Courtney Lee and that works in the favor of Boston. Carter is not the high-octane offensive machine he's been relied upon to be throughout his career and plays no defense - read, Ray Allen and/or Paul Pierce will exploit that and force Pietrus to play more minutes. Pietrus can score so there's not much of a loss there and he fits into the overall offensive scheme better since he can play the role player (3rd-4th option) better than VC. A healthy Jameer Nelson gives the Magic a real, solid PG that can distribute and play defense.

Celtics - minimizing Howard is key here. The weapon to do this is not in the form of KG, Perkins, or Glen Davis but Rasheed Wallace. Nope, 'Sheed is not going to stop Howard but he will be out there to be inside the young man's head. His ferocity will translate to some stupid fouls by Dwight and could keep Howard off kilter. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out early since Howard is averaging nearly 5 fouls per game thus far in the playoffs.

Back to KG though, he will guard Superman in a combo effort with Perkins and/or Davis. He's as tall, as long, and as quick as any forward. Soon to be 34, Garnett has been around the block a few times and is ready for this collision. He needs another title to seal his legacy and will be leaving it all out there to win another ring. If needed, Garnett can back away from Howard and play the wing, keeping Lewis in check since he has a distinct height advantage on the C's perimeter players (the Allens can't work their magic, pardon the pun, here like they did on King James.) Collectively, the trio of Allen, Allen, and Pierce will put a stranglehold on the trio of Carter, Pietrus, and Barnes.

Rondo vs. Nelson will be an interesting match-up considering Nelson's a better defender than Rondo's seen to date in the playoffs. Nelson is broad shouldered and stronger than many PGs in the league so this will be the matchup to watch. Edge is Rondo because of quickness and ball-wizardry because when you're as good as Rondo w/the ball, it's beyond ball-handling.

In the end, my money's on the C's to return to the Finals, taking the Magic out in 6.

The Coach Talks Baseball

We're borrowing this segment from the gang at "Captain and Coach" for the full read, click here. In the meantime, enjoy these baseball nuggets from the coach:

5. Baseball Thoughts
a. I was watching some of the Mets-Giants game Friday Night at the house and the great Gary Cohen said that no Met had hit three home runs at Shea Stadium or Citi Field. How can this be accurate?
b. Thru games of May 5, the Yankees have scored in 37.1% of innings the highest in MLB, while the Astros have scored in 19.2%, the lowest.
c. Here is another 3 home run in a game stat that relates to a New York team. On Saturday, Mark Teixeira became the second Yankees player all-time to hit 3+ HR vs. the Red Sox in a single game (Lou Gehrig - 6/23/1927).As many times as these teams have played each other, I am shocked this has only happened twice.
d. With a win on Saturday over the Marlins, the Nationals are now 10-5 in games decided by 2 runs or less. In 2009, the Nats were 33-46 in such games.
e. Barry Zito needs some credit for the turnaround he has had over the last year and a half. Zito was 31-43 in his first three seasons with San Francisco and even started 0-8 in 2008, when he was sent to the bullpen for a while. This season he is 5-0 with a 1.49 ERA.
f. How similar have the careers of Ozzie Guillen and Terry Francona been? Francona managed his 1,000th game for Boston Wednesday, a day after Guillen managed his 1,000th for Chicago. Francona’s record was 579-421, while Guillen was 523-477. Francona won two pennants and two World Series, Guillen one pennant and one World Series. Francona was the 22d player taken in the 1980 draft. Guillen was signed as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in the summer of 1980.
g. They both have ties to the Atlanta Braves as Ozzie played for the Braves during the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Francona's dad played for the Braves for parts of three seasons in 1967, 1968, and 1969.
h. On Sunday Dallas Braden threw the 19th perfect game in MLB history against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Tampa Bay Rays have now been on the receiving ends of back to back perfect games.
i. How special was Braden's perfect game? Factoring in inflation, the average salary of the last 6 perfect game pitchers before today was $9.43 million. Braden 2010 salary? $420,000. The $420,000 is less than the gamer in Alabama will receive when he threw a perfect game playing XBOX and received $1 million.
j. Braden since start of 2009: 29 GS, 21 quality starts, 17 games 2 ER or fewer, 24 of 3 ER or fewer. 2.41 BB/9, 3.74 ERA, 1.26 WHIP.
k. Through Thursday, in Manny Acta’s last 162 games managing the Nationals and the Indians, his record was 53-109 (.327)
l. More than half of the Brewers runs this season (87) have come in just 6 games-those 6 games of runs are more than the Astros have all season.
m. Cubs rookie Starlin Castro got off to an impressive start in his first game homerung in his first AB, the first Cub player to do so since Jim Bullinger in 1992. Castro's first 4 career hits came in this order: HR, triple, double, single.
n. Adrian Beltre is now batting .533 (8 for 15) on 0 and 2 counts. Beltre entered the game leading the AL in 2-strike hitting with a .347 average, and third in MLB behind Ryan Hanigan of Reds and one Manny Ramirez.
o. More Perfect Game talk...Dallas Braden pitched the third Perfect Game on Mother's Day. The other two Charlie Lea for Montreal in 1981 against the Giants and Hod Eller for the Reds in 1919 against the Cardinals.
p. Even more special for Braden throwing the perfect game on Mother's Day is that his mom died of skin cancer hen Braden was a senior in high school. The embrace he shared with his grandmother was pretty cool.
q. Jerry Crasnick with a good read on the character that is Dallas Braden.
r. Joe Posnanski has an even better read on Braden and the perfect game. He tells this awesome story, there has now been 19 Perfect Games pitched in MLB history and for some reason these always include two thrown in 1880 (five days apart, no less) when it took eight balls to walk somebody, the mound was 50 feet from home plate and pitchers were still supposed to throw underhand.
s. It has been said before and will be said again, no sport cherishes its past like Baseball.
t. One more decent Sunday read is on an Employee who has worked 48 years for the New York Yankees.

Island Hopping

According to the Associated Press, New York Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon has talked to New York Islanders owner Charles Wang about building an arena for the NHL team near Citi Field.

Wilpon told Newsday for its Wednesday editions that he spoke to Wang about trying to develop something "synergistic with Citi Field and a hockey arena." Wilpon says he also talked to Wang about the possibility of buying the team. With the inability of the Islanders to secure a new arena on their own and their frustration with Nassau County for being virtually unresponsive regarding their proposals, Charles Wang seems to be honoring his word when he said he would explore relocation.
Let’s take a look at this. As the majority of baseball fans and Bernie Madoff can both attest, the Wilpons aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer. But compared to Charles Wang (Rick DiPietro-15 years-nuff said), the Wilpons have the sports-business acumen of Dana White. An ownership, or at the very least partnership, with the Mets would be an incredible boost for the Islanders both financially and structurally.

The obvious financial and logistical hurdles aside, at first glance this seems like an absolute no-brainer. A new arena for the team that would keep them in New York, numerous potential partnerships with the Mets (which will instantly increase the strength of their brand), and a move from Long Island to within city limits gives them a little more juice when it comes to press, sponsors and being viewed as a legitimate player in the New York-metropolitan sports landscape. The Nassau Coliseum is the worst arena in America. Fans hate it. Players hate it. It smells. It’s falling apart. It’s not suitable for circuses, concerts, wrestling or job fairs let alone professional sporting events. For the good of everyone associated with the team, a new arena for the Islanders is vital. Without a new building, the team is on borrowed time and is destined to be jettisoned to a city like Hamilton or Winnipeg in the very near future. In regards to the actual relocation of the franchise to approximately 20 miles west and its impact on fans, we’re talking about a minor issue. The majority of Mets fans reside on Long Island as does practically every Islander fan. The drive out to Queens is far from a backbreaker for them and the prospect of a new arena would be enough to convert even the staunchest of non-commuters.

The Islander dynasty of the early 80’s was arguably the greatest hockey team ever assembled. The rich history of this team has been stuffed away in mothballs, up in some attic in Uniondale. Only for a brief period in the early part of the decade and just recently with the adoption of a youth movement has the team or its fan base registered anything higher than a whisper in the sports or hockey world. The big move to Queens along with the partnership (and possible ownership) via the Wilpons is something that will save the franchise and spare the NHL of losing an essential piece of its history. Make the deal work. Fire up the U-Hauls. Let the Wilpons save the Islanders so I and many others can really start hating them again.

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