Did Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors ruin the upcoming NBA season? I’ll be the first to say that I don’t like what Durant did, but in the end it was his choice. I’m not a fan of players chasing a championship and I like to see them earn them where they’re playing at. Now I’ve seen a lot of experts and just other people I know that are saying let’s just skip the NBA season and get right to the finals of Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers. Now the Warriors are coming off the best regular season in the history of the NBA, but a failure to win the title more or less makes the season an asterisk. Now Golden State has added Durant to a line up of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Now Golden State did have to trade Andrew Bogut to get Durant’s contract under the salary cap. This Golden State team could end up being the highest scoring team in NBA history and I actually heard one expert say they wouldn’t lose a regular season game next season and sadly he wasn’t kidding.
What I am wondering now is if the way to beat the Warriors is to beat the Warriors up. Physical play isn’t really something you see in the NBA anymore, but Golden State is going to be a small team and you have to wonder if teams will see that and try to go that route. While Bogut wasn’t any type of offensive force with the way the Warriors play he was a true rim protector on defense. Now Durant is a 7-footer he now that type of a defender. Can Festus Ezeli fill that role of rim protector or will Golden State need to try and resign Marreese Speights or Anderson Varejao to try and do that job. It wouldn’t be a big surprise to see either Speights or Varejao brought back as Ezeli is the only center currently listed on the Warriors roster. There really isn’t a big time center left on the free agent market.It is possible that a veteran like Kendrick Perkins would take a low dollar contract to play with the Warriors and have a chance at another title, but how much help would he be? I’m sure there are NBA head coaches especially in the Western Conference that are already looking at ways to beat Golden State. Would physical play be the answer and would the referees allow a tam to play physical enough against Golden State to beat them. Right now the only thing I’m looking forward to this coming NBA season is to see how a team beats Golden State. Is there anything else to look forward to?
After sitting out the last two NBA seasons there are reports that Ray Allen could be interested in returning to the league. The report said that Allen’s representatives reached out to two teams; the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Allen turns 41 on July 20th and while he’s not absolutely sure he wants to return he is intrigued by the possibility of playing for another championship. While the Warriors and Cavaliers have been contacted to see if they are interested in Allen’s services the report said that Allen would also consider joining the Los Angeles Clippers or San Antonio Spurs. Allen averaged 9.6 points per game for the Miami Heat in 2013-14, his final season. For his career Allen averaged 18.9 points per game and shot 40 percent from the 3-point line. Allen is a 10-time All-Star and won championships with Boston in 2008 and Miami in 2013.
Can the Denver Broncos and Von Miller come to a contract agreement before the July 15th deadline for franchise players to come to terms on long-term deals. Broncos General Manager John Elway reached out to Miller over the 4th of July holiday weekend and the two had a 10-15 minute conversation on the phone. Elway wanted to let his franchise player know that the Broncos still love him and still want to re-sign him, league sources said. Elway told Miller that Denver would reach out to his agents this week in an effort to jump start talks and procure a long-term deal, a source said. Until this weekend, the last time the two sides spoke was June 7. About a month ago Miller stated that he would not play this season under the franchise tag, and all contact between the sides had ceased. The Broncos placed the exclusive franchise tag on Miller March 1st. Unless Miller and Denver can reach agreement on a long term deal by July 15, Miller will make the average of the top-five salaries of his position for this year. And since it’s an exclusive tag, that will prohibit Miller from talking to any other teams. Miller had 11 sacks, 35 tackles and four forced fumbles and was elected to his fourth Pro Bowl selection in 2015. He has 60 career regular-season sacks. Miller was the MVP of the Super Bowl 50 as the Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers. Miller had 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in the Super Bowl. Miller also recorded also had 2.5 sacks and an interception in the Broncos’ win over the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
The Major League Baseball All-Star teams where announced yesterday. As always there where players that belong on the team that didn’t make it, but when you use fan voting like baseball does you’re going to get that. There is still one open spot on each roster and there are five players in each league up for it. In the American League it’s between Ian Kinsler of the Detroit Tigers, Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays, Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox, Michael Saunders of the Toronto Blue Jays and George Springer of the Houston Astros. Over in the National League the five are Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants, Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, Jake Lamb of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies. Who do you got for the last spot in each league?
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