Combine Notes 2/27/11

THOUGHTS ON NBA TRADE DEADLINE

Melo-Drama's Over

Just a few days ago I had told you that even thought the Nuggets and Nets had a preliminary agreement in place, that all of the power belonged to Carmelo Anthony. Well last night around 10:30 pm Eastern Time the Denver Post reported that Anthony had been traded to the Knicks, I was on twitter at the time and was waiting for a bigger Media outlet to confirm it, it didn't get confirmed until well after 11 pm. Anthony and Billups were the headliners in the multi-player deal for the Nuggets, the Knicks gave up Gallinari, Chandler, Felton, Mozgov and draft picks. The Knicks also traded Randoph and Curry to the Timberwolves for Brewer. Last night a lot of people were saying that the Knicks gave up too much. are you serious you gave up a bunch of players who haven't really carved their niche out in this league for arguably one of the NBA's best scorers!! Carmelo Anthony might not be the complete players that Kobe, Wade, or Lebon are but he is very good at something that matters in the League....PUTTING THE BALL IN THE BASKET!! What impressed me about this trade is that the Knicks were able to hold on to Landry Fields, as a Knicks fan that is the only player I didn't want to part with. The Knicks now have 2 big time scorers on their team in Amare and Carmelo, they were able to land a very good floor leader in Billups and someone who's just fine doing the little things in Corey Brewer. I don't expect much this year, maybe making the playoffs. If they do end up in the playoffs they will be one of the toughest outs as a lower seed in the Eastern Conference. There's not many great small fowards in the East outside of LeBron and Paul Pierce, Carmelo is going to do what he wants on a nightly basis. The question is whether or not D'Antoni can get this team to play defense, if he can't hopefully Chauncey Billups can. I was reading today that the Clippers are offerring a 1st Round pick to the Nuggets to acquire Gallinari. I'd also like to note that Wilson Chandler is an unrestricted Free Agent when this season is over, so there is a possibility he doesn't return to Denver although we'll find out shortly because he and Gallinari play the same position. So who do you think made out better, the Knicks or Nuggets??

Now that the trade is complete, big game Sunday night: Knicks-Heat at 8pm!!

Ovechkin Ends Drought, Caps Beat Pens

Alex Ovechkin hasn't exactly been lighting the lamp on a regular basis against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he hadn't scored in the last 4 Caps-Pens games. Not only did he score last night, but it was the ONLY goal scored in the game as the Caps beat the Pens 1-0! Even more impressive then Ovechkin breaking out of this slump against the Pens, was the incredible play of Michal Neuvirth. Neuvirth did had a stellar game between the pipes for the Caps, he stopped 39 shots en route to a shut out!! This was Neuvirth's 3rd shutout THIS season, this was the 7th straight road win against the Pens for the Capitals. In this year's season series, the Caps have won 3 of the 4 games with the 4th resulting in a draw. Now I don't want to paint only half of this picture, the Pens were much more agressive then the Caps on offense out-shooting them 39-24. Pens goalie Marc Andre Fleury had a very good game other than Ovechkin's top shelf rocket in the 2nd period. The Pens are in something of a drought against the Caps, they haven't scored in 157:47 with the last goal being in the Winter Classic where they got blasted 3-1. Last night's win has the Caps at 32-19-10, that means 2nd place in their division. The great news for the Caps is that they are only 1 POINT behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, will the Caps continue their recent dominance over the Pens?? Will the Pens be able to snap out of their current slide, they are in 4th place in the Conference at the moment and only 3 points ahead of the Caps. I usually don't cover hockey until it's the stretch run close to the playoffs, but due to a request from my good friend Josh I will try to make an attempt to comment on it more.

Uconn Great Cleared

Diana Taurasi was suspended from play in a Turkish Basketball League, this was Taurasi's first time playing in this League. Supposedly she had tested positive for both her A and B samples during a drug test, Taurasi was banned and has been in the States for some time now. Once this story broke, she vehemently denied these allegations and swore that she has been clean her entire career. She was not the only top flight athlete that was cleared this week, Top Cyclist Alberto Contrador was cleared as well. I have been very leery of these tiny labs that are responsible for the testing in Europe for a while now, almost every year we get news that an athlete has been doping and they then get vilified. Than some time passes and they are cleared, when they are cleared it happens very quietly unlike when their results are leaked to the public when they test positive. They need to make sure all of these tiny labs are up to par and are all consistent, the only reason this was a big story is because of who Taurasi is. If it was a lesser known player it might of been news, but not nearly on the same level as this was. It happened several months ago, yet ESPN didn't put it on blast until a couple of weeks ago. She is officially cleared, that news is not nearly as important as when she was accused of testing positive. It's not fair to the truly clean athletes who get affected by poorly run labs in Europe, the Anti Doping Agency needs to get this right!! This cost Tauraisi a lot of negative attention for nothing, not to mention the time off the court due to the suspension. What do you think should be done to a lab when they are wrong, if anything??

Nets-Nuggets Agree, But....

So there's a tentative agreement in place, the Nuggets would be receive their King's Ransom for Carmelo Anthony. Except there's a problem, Carmelo Anthony hasn't signed that extension. Remember that 3 year $65 million dollar extension that the Nuggets offered Mr. Anthony at the start of the season? Well the Nets aren't as foolish as they seem, they're willing to give all of their assets up as long as they are assured Melo's services for the next 4 years. The Nets are offering FOUR 1ST ROUND PICKS in addition to Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and a couple lesser known players. So the 2 teams are in total agreement, now we get to find out if Melo just wants out of Denver or really wants to be a New York Knick. The clocks ticking... What do you think Melo's going to do??

Ronaldo Retires

Due to my absence this past week, I didn't get a chance to share with you how deeply saddened I was by the retirement of one of my all time favorite soccer players. Ronaldo...not Cristiano, but the original Ronaldo one of the greatest forwards to ever play the game of futbol!! He gave us 18 years of Beautiful Fubol, any time he touched the ball you thought it was going to the back of the net!! I still think he had the greatest "turn" of any striker ever, he was unstoppable once he had position!! He scored over 400 goals in his career and still holds the World Cup Record for scoring 15 goals during just 1 World Cup!! Ronaldo scored 62 goals in 97 appearences (Caps) for Brazil, he officially retired on Valentines Day. Thank you R9 for the 18 years of brilliant creativity you provided us with, do you think Ronaldo is the one of the best strikers ever??

NFL News

I apologize for the last week, been a little busy and I'm ready to get back on track!! Crazy things are going on in the NFL right now, Franchise Tags are getting thrown around everywhere. Mike Vick and Peyton Manning are the only two players to have recieved the "exclusive" tag, that's where the 1st and 3rd round picks to acquire the player that's tagged don't apply. The Steelers are expected to tag Lamarr Woodley if they haven't already, the Chargers tagged WR Vincent Jackson, and the Ravens have tagged Haloti Ngatta. The Chiefs tagged OLB Tamba Hali, of all the Jets players that are free agents they only tagged MLB David Harris, and today the Colts just released Bob Sanders! The Collective Bargaining Agreement expires March 4th at 12:01 am, the talks between the players and owners haven't really gone well. Just yesterday both sides agreed to have a mediator in place for their meetings to come to try and help this get resolved quicker. Many people are saying that it doesn't look good right now, I just don't think the NFL is going to risk loosing money as well as diminishing their brand. It's not worth it, the NFL Combine is next week and I will be all over that. When the Combine is complete, I will start working on my Mock Draft so keep your eyes open for that!!

Newton's Media Workout..

Yesterday was a big day for Cam Newton, as for how much of a big day we will see come draft time. Cam Newton held a media workout yesterday to show everyone what he's been working on since Auburn won the National Title in January. Newton has been working out daily with the same guy that worked with Big Ben during his 4 game suspension to start the year, George Whitfield Jr. Whitfield isn't the only man helping Cam become a better player, Warren Moon is said to be Cam's mentor. Moon says he doesn't do a lot of teaching, but if he sees something that could help he doesn't hesitate to provide Cam with that information. I've been enamored with Cam Newton's ability early last season, before is rise to the top of the Heisman Race. In Newton I saw a lot of Big Ben, except he's much more athletic. Many detractors had been saying all year that Newton needs work, and he's an unfinished product, but what college player isn't?? Playing QB in the NFL isn't an easy transition, but those that have "it" do end up succeeding. Trust me when I say that Cam definitely has the "it" factor, what impressed me last season was Cam's calm demeanor no matter what the situation. That is the sign of a good leader, the other thing that jumped out at me was his natural tools. The Kid has a HUGE arm, quick feet, a fluid throwing motion, and he's extremely hard to tackle. Another thing that jumped off the screen when watching Cam during last season, he's very accurate for a player with that arm power and has a deft touch. I watched as much of the video from yesterday's workout that's out there and I couldn't help thinking that this kid's tape is light years ahead of Tebow's tape last year when he changed his throwing motion. Obviously he still needs to get accustomed to taking snaps from center, but his footwork is very crisp during his drop back and going through his progressions. After watching his workout yesterday, I CAN'T WAIT to watch him perform at the combine!!

Here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3peFT53pI0&feature=player_embedded

Melo Sweepstakes Start to Heat Up!!

I have said all along that things were going to get crazy come All-Star Break and the Trade Deadline, well it just happened!! The Denver Nuggets have been shopping Carmelo Anthony since Pre-Season, he left a 3 year $65 million dollar extension on the table!! The only person who does that is the type of person that wants OUT!! This charades has lasted far too long, the Nuggets need to stop asking for so much and take the best offer. Since the beginning we knew that the Knicks were Melo's desired destination, the Nets jumped into the fray for much of the first part of the year trying to get Melo. Denver has balked at every NJ offer so the Nets pulled their names out of the competition, at least that's what they've said. The Lakers dropped a bomb today by initiating talks with the Nuggets focused on Andrew Bynum, if I were the Nuggets I take that and Devin Ebanks and run. Many Laker fans have been on twitter and message boards all day long saying Kobe plus Melo equals a championship, have we learned nothing people?? One of the main reasons the Lakers even repeated is because Boston was without their best big, not KG but Perkins. Perkins is the force in the paint, he's the enforcer much like Bynum is LA's. Remember when Bynum was hurt in the championship against Boston in '08, yup they LOST because Gasol like KG isn't the force that Bynum and Perk provide. The kid's 23 years old, why GIVE him away?? I have faith that Bynum could be a 20-10 guy easily if he wasn't on Kobe Bryant's team!! Secondly, do you think it's even possible for Melo and Bryant to co-exist?? It's a little different than Bron and Wade, Bron is more than happy to defer to Wade. Do you see Kobe deferring to anybody?? Do you see Melo deferring to a teammate willingly, at the end of a game?? They are far too similar in terms of their mentalities for it to work, maybe I'm wrong but I still wouldn't give away a 7-1 285 pound 23 year old center. I don't care for what it is, big men are big men and in today's game there's not many of them. Would you trade Bynum if you were LA? If so, does that make LA better than Denver?? If you ask me, I think Denver wins if this trade were to happen. The 2 most important positions on a basketball team are the 1 and the 5, LA already is lacking in the PG department why loose out on a good center? Denver would than have young Ty Lawson and young Andrew Bynum to build around or do you think the pairing of Kobe and Melo dwarfs that?? Let me know either by commenting below or on twitter: @willietspeaks

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