Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

How Was Your Week?

Posted: June 25, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

We had some drafting done to end the week and not the fantasy kind. On Thursday the NBA had it’s draft. That was followed up on Friday by the NHL holding it’s annual draft. I’ll start with the NBA draft since I saw more of that.

First the things that drive me crazy. Why does the NBA not allow teams to make trades during the draft so we can actually see where the player is going and not have to hear about it later. It drives me nuts when a player is drafted by a team and he goes up on stage gets the hat and the jersey from the team that picked him and does the picture thing with Commissioner Adam Silver only to find out that he’s not with that team now. There where a couple of occasions when the television announce crew would spend 5 to 10 minutes breaking down a player and how he fit with the team that drafted him only to have to turn around and do it again for the team who had already traded for him. It’s not like all these trades are happening right now and the league can’t keep up with them. How is it possible that the NFL can handle teams making trades while they’re on the clock t draft, but the NBA is lost and can’t find a way to do it. Moving on; streamline the draft coverage. Why was the television coverage so long? For whatever reason ESPN stretched out the actual draft itself to like four hours when it probably could’ve been done in have the time. Would it of been that hard for them to put a draft recap show on or something like that instead of just dragging out the draft and making it unwatchable. I get it they overpaid for their contract to cover the NBA so they’re going to do everything they can to keep them on television, but stretching out the draft coverage like this makes it boring. With the way they handle the coverage they don;t seem to understand that the majority of the fans watching will go away from the channel and the draft after a pick has been made and then come back and pick the coverage up when it gets closer to the next pick being made. Maybe this doesn’t reflect in the ratings; so it doesn’t hurt their numbers. If it did then they’d care about it.

As for the actual draft itself. It went like most experts had predicted it would. Ben Simmons (LSU) went #1 overall to the Philadelphia 76ers. Then Brandon Ingram (Duke) went #2 to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Boston Celtics on the clock at #3 with one of there 8 picks on the night did everything they could according to reports to deal this pick for some veteran help, but couldn’t find a trade partner and ended up selecting Jaylon Brown (California) with the pick. Most experts thought after the first two picks came off the board any of the top players could be picked by any of the teams in the draft lottery and that’s how it went. The first real surprised was when the Milwaukee Bucks selected high schooler Thon Maker with the 10th pick in the 1st round. Maker didn’t attend college or play overseas, but spent last season at the Athlete Institute in Canada and this had some people questioning his eligibility for the NBA draft. There is also some question about his age. Maker is listed as being 19 years old, but there where NBA teams that took him off there draft boards as there are reports that he’s actually between the of 21 and 23. After Milwaukee took Maker the draft kind of settled back in and the story became how far would Skal Labissiere (Kentucky) fall. Most if not every mock draft had Labissiece being selected in the Top 10. Labissece was eventually selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 28th pick, but was traded to the Sacramento Kings in a draft day trade; that we of course didn’t find out about until after the pick was made. In his one season at Kentucky Labissece didn’t produce like it was thought he would, but still entered the NBA draft. The down season along with his performance at the NBA Draft Combine contributed to Labissece fall to #28. Back to the Celtics and all there draft picks. Besides Brown at #3 the Celtics selected Guerschon Yabusele out of France with the 16th pick of the 1st round and then at #23 the Celtics picked Ante Zizic from Croatia. As of no it appears that they’ll be keeping all three of these draft picks. Of course when you pick a player from overseas he might not be eligible to play in the NBA right away depending on what his contract situation is with his current team. The Celtics where able to deal a couple of their 2nd round draft picks #31 and #35 to the Memphis Grizzlies, but still had three 2nd round picks of there own. At #45 they took Demetrius Jackson (Notre Dame), at #51 they took Ben Bentil (Providence) and at # 58 Boston took Abdel Nader (Iowa State) to wrap up it’s draft night. I don;t think that the Celtics and there General Manager Danny Ainge thought they would walk away from the draft having picked six players. I guess will have to wait and see if there are some deals still in the works for the Celtics or if they’re going to open the 2016-17 season with quite a few rookies on their roster.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don;t know much of anything about the players that where drafted by the NHL last night. Auston Matthews get #1 overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs and I’d expect to see him with them in the 2016-17 season. I’m sure we’ll see a few of these 1st round draft picks playing in the NHL next season, but I just don;t know a whole lot about them. What I wanted to venture off into was some of the draft day trades that where made. The Detroit Red Wings traded Pavel Datsyuk; who I thought I heard was either going to retire or play next season in Russia along with the 16th pick in the draft to the Arizona Coyotes for 20th pick, the 53rd pick and Joe Vitale. I was a little surprise to hear that the St. Louis Blues broke up their goaltending tandem, but they did sending Brian Elliott to Calgary Flames for 2016 2nd-round pick (35th overall), 2018 conditional 3rd-round pick. The Chicago Blackhawks also made a move to help with there salary cap issues as they sent Andrew Shaw to Montreal Canadiens for two 2nd round picks #39 and #45. We’ll see if these deals impact any free agent signings or if some of the teams in these deals where so close to the salary cap that they just needed the relief.

The Big Jack Follow me on Twitter!

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us straight to the Podcast App!

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: June 22, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, golf, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Golden State Warriors won 73 regular season games and there was a lot of talk about this was the best team ever. This 73 win team made it to the NBA Finals for the second season in a row. Now the issue becomes is this the best team ever or is this the best regular season team ever since they lost Game 7 and the NBA Championship 93-89 to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. The record Golden State broke belonged to the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, but that Bulls team won the title. The next year the Bulls won 69 games to tie for the second most wins in a season at the time with 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. Both of those 69 win team won the title. I guess the question is; what does a 73 win regular season mean when you don;t win the NBA title. The record is impressive in this NBA day and age where players are always looking to take regular season games off and not to mention staying healthy. Did setting the wins record in the regular season hurt Golden State in the playoffs. To be fair the NBA did everything in it’s power to make sure there was a Game 7. The NBA and the referees did quite a bit to stack the deck against the Warriors in Games 5 and 6, but Game 7 appeared to be on the up and up and they didn’t win. Without the NBA title on their resume where does this Golden State team rank in NBA history. Would they make it into the Top 5 or do they make the Top 10. Is there even a possibility that they’re outside the Top 10 because they didn’t win the title. Even if the Warriors had won the NBA title there where people who thought that the 1995-96 Bulls team led by the greatest player of all time Michael Jordan was still a better team. By not winning the championship Golden State made it easier for anyone and everyone who want to compare these teams to drop them down the list. If you’re making your list; where do you have this Golden State team on it?

While we’re talking about the Warriors they made some noise yesterday about who they might target in free agency. NBA free agency officially starts July 1st and there are reports that Golden State’s number one target is Kevin Durant. Now of course teams always need a back up plan and yesterday the Warriors back up plan may have opted out of his contract. While he is 38 wouldn’t Dirk Nowitzki fit nicely into the scheme that Golden State runs.  Nowitzki has spent his entire 18 year NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks, but could he leave Dallas for a shot at another NBA title with Golden State. The Mavericks won the NBA championship in 2010-11 season and Nowitzki was voted finals M.V.P. Nowitzki won the league M.V.P. in 2007; he’s a 13 time All-Star and has been named to the All-NBA team 12 times all with the Mavericks. Nowitzki is the Mavericks all time leading scorer and is 6th in NBA history. Nowitzki is also the Mavericks all-time leader in games,  rebounds, field goals, three-point field goals and free throws. I think it would be tough for Nowitzki to leave Dallas, but is the allure of another championship enough for him to sign with Golden State.

While we’re on free agency Dwight Howard declined the $23.1 million dollar option in his contract and come July 1st will be a free agent. Now guys like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade will opt out of their contracts and sign max deals with their respective teams. With the increase of the salary cap and the influx of money do to the new television agreement there will be a lot of players opting out of there deals on a yearly basis to get bigger and bigger contracts. This move might make sense for a lot of those players, but is it the right move for Howard. Will the Houston Rockets or any other NBA team pay him more than the $23.1 million he just opted out of. Last season Howard’s scoring average (13.7 points per game) reached it’s lowest since his (12.0 points per game) in his rookie season. Howard is still a solid rebounder and shot blocker, but he’s also still a terrible free throw shooter. With the way the NBA game has changed it’s hard to see a team paying Howard upwards of $20 million, but it does only take one team to see something in Howard or have a use for him. Would you want your favorite team to sign Howard with the price tag of over $20 million.

The NBA draft is tomorrow and the Philadelphia 76ers have the 1st pick. Word has leaked out that the 76ers plan on selecting LSU forward Ben Simmons with that 1st pick. There was some talk that Simmons didn’t want to play for Philadelphia and would prefer to be drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 2nd pick. That talk seems to have passed as Simmons had his first workout for an NBA team and it was the 76ers. With Simmons now appearing to be a lock for the #1 pick this leaves the Lakers drafting Duke forward Brandon Ingram. It’s been reported over and over that Simmons and Ingram are clearly the Top 2 players in this draft. The Boston Celtics have the 3rd pick and they’ve dangled it in front of the Chicago Bulls in a deal for Jimmy Butler. Boston is a young team and adding a veteran for this pick would be a good move, but if they hang onto it I’m not sure who they’d draft. Could it be California forward Jaylen Brown, Washington forward Marquese Chriss or possible Croatian forward Dragan Bender. It pretty much seems that after Simmons and Ingram come off the draft board it’s kind of up for grabs on who goes next.

I was wondering if or when we’d start hear Olympians bow out of the Rio de Janeiro games because of the Zika virus. World’s #4 ranked golfer Rory McIlroy has decided not to compete at this summer’s Olympics in Rio due to fears about the Zika virus. McIlroy joins a list including Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Marc Leishman and Vijay Singh having already said they will not travel to Brazil; while world #6 ranked golfer Rickie Fowler has also cast doubt on his participation. The situation is a difficult one for golf as it  returns to the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Concerns about the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects, have cast a shadow over Rio 2016, but the International Olympic Committee, with guidance from the World Health Organisation, has resisted calls for the Games to be moved or postponed.

The Big Jack Follow me on Twitter!

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us straight to the Podcast App!

The 2011 NBA draft

Posted: June 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Believe it or not the NBA Finals are actually over and the draft is this Thursday. Like we like to do we’re looking back to see who the 1st round picks where and if they helped the team that selected them.

#1 Kyrie Irving (Duke) Cleveland Cavaliers. Irving spent just one season in college and he was hurt for most of that. While he’s shown he can be a top player in the NBA the injury bug has continued to follow him as he has missed 101 games due to injuries since being drafted.

#2 Derrick Williams (Arizona) Minnesota Timberwolves. Williams spent two plus seasons with the Timberwolves before being dealt to the Sacramento Kings in 2013-14. Williams spent the remained of the 2013-14 season with the Kings plus one more. He played in 80 games last season for the New York Knicks. For being the 2nd overall pick you could say Williams is a bust.

#3 Enes Kanter (Switzerland) Utah Jazz. Kanter spent three and a half season with Utah and was averaging double figure points for them when he was dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2014-15 season. Kanter has continued to average double figure points for the Thunder. Kanter’s rebounding average has went up since going to Oklahoma City; plus he played in every regular season game last season.

#4 Tristan Thompson (Texas) Cleveland Cavaliers. With their second pick on the Top 5 the Cavaliers took a big body rebounder. Thompson has averaged 8.5 rebounds for his career and has averaged 9 plus rebounds a game during three of his five seasons with Cleveland. Thompson has never been a big time scorer; he averages 9.7 points per game, but he plays. Thompson has played in every regular season game the last four seasons.

#5 Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania) Toronto Raptors. It took a year for Valanciunas to join the Raptors as he was under contract to his European team, but in four seasons his scoring average has continued to climb; reaching a high of 12.8 points a game this season. His rebounding average also reached a career high of 9.1 per game last season. He’ll be looking to play a full season next year as injuries limited him to 60 games last season.

#6 Jan Vesely (Czech Republic) Washington Wizards. As the 6th pick in the draft you can clearly say Vesely was a bust. He spent a little over three season with Washington before being dealt to the Denver Nuggets. He averaged 3.6 points per game in his career along with grabbing an average of 3.5 rebounds per game. Vesely spent just three season in the NBA and played in 162 career games.

#7 Bismack Biyombo (Republic of Congo) Sacramento Kings. While being officially drafted by the Kings Biyombo never played for them as he was dealt on draft day to the Charlotte Bobcats. Biyombo spent four seasons with the Bobcats; who went back to the Hornets name his last season there. In 2015-16 he signed a free agent contract with the Toronto Raptors. Biyombo isn’t a huge scorer averaging 4.6 points per game in his career, but he is a solid rebounder 6.5 career average and can block shots averaging 1.6 per game in his career.

#8 Brandon Knight (Kentucky) Detroit Pistons. Knight has has a solid NBA career so far, but it’s been with three different teams. After two season in Detroit he was dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks. Then after a season plus with Milwaukee he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. Knight averages 15.9 points per game in his career and has averaged 4.6 assists per game. He put up his career high scoring average last season at 19.6 per game.

#9 Kemba Walker (Connecticut) Charlotte Bobcats. The knock on Walker was that he was a shoot first point guard, but he has averaged 5.3 assists per game in his career. Don’t look at that the wrong way though Walker is a shoot first type of player. He averages 17.3 points per game and just put up his career high at 20.9 points per game last season. Walker has spent his entire career with Charlotte and has twice tied for the NBA lead in games played.

#10 Jimmer Fredette (Brigham Young) Milwaukee Bucks. Fredette was another one of those draft day deals. He never played for Milwaukee as he was dealt to the Sacramento Kings on draft day. Fredette was a high volume shooter and scorer in college, but his skills never translated to the NBA. Teams continue to take looks at him though as he’s been with four teams in five NBA seasons. He ended last season playing in two games for the New York Knicks after spending time in the D-League.

#11 Klay Thompson (Washington State) Golden State Warriors. Thompson is a key part to Golden State’s success. his scoring average has improved every season and reached 22.1 per game this past season. Golden State centers it’s offense around 3-point shooting and Thompson had his best career year behind the 3-point line. Thompson made 47% of the 3- point shots he took and for his career he’s shooting 45% from behind the 3- point line. Thompson has made the last two All-Star games and won the NBA title in 2014-15.

#12 Alec Burks (Colorado) Utah Jazz. While spending most of his time coming off the Utah bench Burks has averaged double digit points per game in the last three seasons. He was limited to just 31 games last season because of injury. Burks has gotten his career scoring average above the 10 points per game mark. Injuries have limited him though as he played in just 259 games over his five season with the Jazz.

#13 Markief Morris (Kansas) Phoenix Suns. Morris spent four plus seasons with the Suns before being dealt to the Washington Wizards last season. He’s a solid all around player. He averages 11.5 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game in his career. After being traded to Washington his field goal percentage jump to a career high 52.4%.

#14 Marcus Morris (Kansas) Houston Rockets. Yes that’s right the Morris twins went back to back in this draft. After a season and a half Morris was dealt to the Phoenix Suns where his brother was playing. After an off court incident he was traded to the Detroit Pistons. He averaged career highs with the Pistons in points at 14.1 per game; assists at 2.5 per game and in rebounds at 5.1 per game.

#15 Kawhi Leonard (San Diego State) Indiana Pacers. Here’s another one of those players who was drafted by a team, but never played there. Leonard has spent his entire career with the San Antonio Spurs and has become on of the top players in the NBA. Leonard won the NBA championship with the Spurs in 2014 and was named Finals MVP. He has also won Defensive Player of the Year the last two seasons. His 21.2 points per game average was the highest of his career.

#16  Nikola Vucevic (USC) Philadelphia 76ers. People may not remember that Vucevic was drafted by the 76ers and spent one season with Philadelphia before being traded to the Orlando Magic. Since being traded to Orlando Vucevic has averaged double figures in scoring. In 2014-15 he posted a career high averaging 19.3 points per game and last season he averaged 18.2 points per game. He also averages 9.8 rebounds in his career.

#17 Iman Shumpert (Georgia Tech) New York Knicks. After a little over three seasons with New York Shumpert was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers where he just won the NBA title. Shumpert looked t be stepping into a starting role with the Knicks, but since being traded to the Cavaliers he has been coming off the bench. Shumpert has been looked at as a defensive player. He averages 7.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in his career.

#18 Chris Singleton (Florida State) Washington Wizards. Singleton played in 148 games over three seasons for Washington. He averaged 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds for his career. Since being let go by Washington Singleton has spent time in the D-League, the Chinese Basketball Association and has played professionally in Russia. In the NBA draft at this point it’s tough to call anyone a bust; so what would you describe Singleton as?

#19 Tobias Harris (Tennessee) Milwaukee Bucks. Harris spent a season and a half with Milwaukee before being traded to the Orlando magic where his scoring really improved. He never averaged more than 5.0 points per game with Milwaukee, but once he got to Orlando his average went right into double digits. Then after three plus seasons with Orlando Harris was traded again this time to the Detroit Pistons. Harris has a career scoring average of 13.2 points per game.

#20 Donatas Motiejūnas (Lithuania) Minnesota Timberwolves. Drafted by Minnesota, but traded to Houston on draft night Motiejunas took a year to join the Rockets. He has battled some injury issues as he’s played in 214 games over his four seasons with Houston. He proved when he’s healthy and playing he can score as he averaged a career high 12.0 points per game when he played in a career high 71 games in the 2014-15 season. He appeared in 37 games last season and was healthy enough to play in 5 playoff games for the Rockets.

#21 Nolan Smith (Duke) Portland Trail Blazers. Smith spent just two season in the NBA with the Trail Blazers. He played in 84 games starting 4 of them. His career scoring average is 3.3 points per game. Smith spent time playing in Croatia, Turkey and the D-League before joining the Duke coaching staff as a special assistant in February of this year.

#22 Kenneth Faried (Morehead State) Denver Nuggets. Faried has become a staple along the Nuggets front line since being drafted. He has been a double digit scorer and a tough rebounder since being drafted. Faried averages 12.3 points oer game and 8.7 rebounds per game in his career. Faried was a member of the United States national team that won the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup; Faried was also named to the All-Tournament team. In January 2016, Faried was announced as one of the 30 finalists for United States national team that will compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

#23 Nikola Mirotic (Spain) Houston Rockets. Another player drafted by one team, but sent to another right away as Mirotic is with the Chicago Bulls. Mirotic has played just two NBA seasons for the Bulls. He missed some time last season due to injury, but has averaged double digit points in his first two seasons. It was thought that Mirotic would be a 3-point shooting threat, but he’s shooting 35.5% from behind the 3-point line in his career. His percentage did improve last season; so maybe he’ll end up fitting that role.

#24 Reggie Jackson (Boston College) Oklahoma City Thunder. Jackson was with Oklahoma City for three and a half season, but with Russell Westbrook as the starting point guard it was tough for Jackson to get minutes. Jackson let the Thunder know he was unhappy and ended up being dealt to the Detroit Pistons where he’s found playing time and shown he can score. In his first partial season with Detroit Jackson averaged 17.6 points per game. Last season in 79 games Jackson averaged 18.8 points per game. Did he just need to play?

#25 MarShom Brooks (Providence) Boston Celtics. Brooks right to the New Jersey Nets in a draft day trade. Brooks played in 164 games over three seasons with four teams. He averaged 7.7 points per game in his NBA career. Brooks played with the  Emporio Armani Milano in the Italian League in 2014 and he signed to play in the Chinese Basketball Association with the Jiangsu Dragons in August of 2015. 

#26 Jordan Hamilton (Texas) Dallas Mavericks. Another deal here as Hamilton went to the Denver Nuggets on draft day. Hamilton spent three plus seasons with Denver before being dealt to Houston Rockets. After finishing the 2013-14 season with Houston Hamilton signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. After spending  a few seasons in the D-League Hamilton is now playing for the Bucaneros de La Guaira in the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto in Venezuela.

#27 JaJuan Johnson (Purdue) New Jersey Nets. Another trade here as Johnson went from the Nets to the Boston Celtics in draft day. Johnson played just one season with the Celtics. In 36 games he averaged 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. Johnson spent some time in the D-League before heading overseas to play. He’s spent the last three seasons playing overseas and is currently with Pallacanestro Cantù in the Italian League.

#28 Norris Cole (Cleveland State) Chicago Bulls. Cole was dealt to the Miami Heat on draft day and spent four plus seasons with the Heat. Miami traded Cole to the New Orleans Pelicans. Cole posted his highest per game scoring average of 9.9 with New Orleans. Cole is the Pelicans back up point guard. Cole was part of two NBA championship teams while with the Heat.

#29 Cory Joseph (Texas) San Antonio Spurs. Joseph spent four seasons with the Spurs coming off the bench before signing a free agent deal with the Toronto Raptors. Joseph played in a career high 80 games for the Raptors; starting four of them. He also posted his career high in points per game 8.5, assists per game 3,1 and rebounds per game 2.6 with Toronto last season. His deal with Toronto was for four year and $30 million.

#30 Jimmy Butler (Marquette) Chicago Bulls. With the last pick of the 1st round the Bulls found a quality player in Butler. He has battled some injuries as he’s played in all 82 games just once in his career. He had his best season last season posting career highs in scoring average with 20.9 points per game and assists with 4.8 assists per game. Butler received a five year $95 million dollar contract from the Bulls in July of 2015.

There you go! How did your favorite team do in this draft. Did they find a guy they could build around and win a title with? Or is the guy they picked playing in another country right now.

@Burketime

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us straight to the Podcast App!

 

How Was Your Week?

Posted: June 18, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Are the Chicago Cubs the best team in Major League Baseball? In most experts opinions they are. They’ve played 65 games and they’re 45-20 record is the best in baseball. The only other teams with more than 40 wins are the Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants. After making the playoffs as a wild card team last season the Cubs look to be cruising in the National League Central. They have a 10 1/2 game lead over the 2nd place St. Louis Cardinals and a 13 game lead over the 3rd place Pittsburgh Pirates; who they’re playing this weekend. It appears as though the Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer rebuild has worked for the Cubs as they are a viable World Series contender and in a lot of people’s opinion the favorite to win it.

Now even as good as the Cubs have been they have there issues like every other major league team. In the Cubs case it’s the bullpen. To be more specific left handed middle relief. This issue started the rumor a couple of weeks ago that the Cubs would be interested in making a deal for Andrew Miller the New York Yankees left handed set up guy. Now I’m not sure if the Yankees are ready to start dealing players. They’re 33-34 right now and find themselves in 4th place 5 1/2 games behind the American East leading Baltimore Orioles. A deal like sending Miller to the Cubs does make sense for both teams. It fills a weakness for the Cubs and the Yankees could acquire some of the young talent they’re looking for. Then this week everything went a little overboard. There are now a few reports out there that the Cubs not only want to pick up Miller from the Yankees, but also closer  Aroldis Chapman. Now these reports sent Cubs fans over the edge and things got a little carried away. Now what the majority of the Cubs fans who’ve heard about this possible trade don’t seem to understand is that the Yankees aren’t going to just give you Miler and Chapman. It’s not like the Yankees will just take the Cubs two left handed bullpen guys Travis Wood and Clayton Richard straight up in a deal. That sounds like a trade Dan the Man would send me in one of our year long Yahoo fantasy leagues. This is the part that for some reason a majority of Cubs fans just don’t understand, but here goes. 

There are reports out there that the Yankees want injured left hander slugger Kyle Schwarber as part of this deal and that’s just a starting point. While Chapman may just be a rent a player for the Cubs this season, the Yankees gave up 4 good minor league prospects to get him in the off season and they’re going to want some of that back.  Miller is signed through 2018 at in today’s game at a very friendly $9 million a season. A possible hold up in this deal is the fact that te Yankees appear to want young pitching back and the Cubs don’t have that anywhere in their organization. 

Okay Cubs fans here’s what it’s going to come down to. If the Cubs can acquire Miller and Chapman and set themselves up as favorites to win the World Series; which to be fair they might be anyway. Are you willing to give up a combination of Schwarber, Javier Baez, Alberto Almora and Jorge Soler along with probably your two best minor league pitching prospects in this deal? Now everyone knows the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 100 plus years, but the team appears to be set up for long term success. Picking up Miller and Chapman may help them finally get that World Series title but is that one World Series title enough to satisfy long suffering Cubs fans or can you hold pat with the team you’ve built and see if they can come through with more than one. So Cubs fans; are you making this deal?

The New York Knicks are looking for an upgrade at the point guard position. Right now the Kinicks point guards are Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant and Tony Wroten. So to upgrade the position the Knicks have had internal talks about trying to deal for Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose. Both Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek and General Manager Steve Mills have said that the Knicks are interested in upgrading their point guard position in the off-season, but is Rose that upgrade. Remember just last week the Minnesota Timberwolves dangled the #5 pick in the draft at the Bulls to try and get Jimmy Butler. There are reports in Chicago that Butler and Rose can’t play together and I think I most people’s mind Butler would be the player who was traded. Not only is Rose a Chicago native, but with his injury history you wouldn’t think there would be a lot of interest. Now Rose is in the last season of his contract and a lot of teams do like those expiring deals. Rose was solid for the Bulls last season as he  averaged 16.4 points on 42.7 percent shooting and 4.7 assists in 66 games last season. The question would be who would the Knicks be willing to part with in a trade for Rose and remember with the NBA salary cap the players salaries have to match up. Now they don;t have to be exact, but they have to be close. Under Hornacek the Knicks are going to be playing more of an uptempo style with Phil Jackson’s triangle offense mixed in. So if the Knicks are going to run next season would they be willing to trade Center Robin Lopez along with a player like Arron Afflalo to the Bulls for Rose. The salaries match up; so neither tam would have to add players. The Knicks would get Rose and the Bulls would get Lopez who could replace free agent Pau Gasol and Affalo who could add some scoring. Lopez has 3 more years on the contract he signed with the Knicks last off season and make a little over $12 million. Affalo is entering the last year of his contract and makes $8 million. Rose is the Bulls highest paid player and he’s due to make just a little over $20 million in the last year of his contract. Is it possible that Rose starts the 2016-17 season in a Knicks uniform and that Butler might be in a Timberwolves uniform. Would it be a good idea for the Bulls to deal Rose and Butler and start on a rebuild?

@Burketime

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us straight to the Podcast App!

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: June 15, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

Joey Logano picked up the win Sunday in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn Michigan. It was Logano’s first win of the season and it gives him a place in The Chase. Logano is the 10th driver to pick up a win this season and lock up a Chase spot. The other nine drivers are Kyle Busch (3), Jimmie Johnson (2), Carl Edwards (2), Brad Keslowski (2), Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin. There are 16 Chase spots and if there aren’t 16 race winners the rest of the spots are awarded on points. It’s always better to find your way to victory lane than to try and point your way into The Chase.

On the Sunday podcast of Sports Time Radio we had a little difficult with Chris Olmstead the the phone connection, but his picks did very well in Michigan. He had Chase Elliott who finished 2nd, Kyle Larson who finished 3rd and Tony Stewart who finished 7th. Chris joins us on Sports Time Radio every Sunday morning there’s a Sprint Cup race. He previews the race with us and then gives us his three drivers with the best chance to end up in victory lane. You can find Chris’ writing at BeyondtheFlag.com

Now Tony Stewart is an interesting case. He had the injury earlier in the season and missed some races. He was giving a waiver by NASCAR to make The Chase if he wins a race and finishes in the Top 30 in points. Stewart is currently 35th in points. He’s 45 points behind 30th place Brian Scott. Getting into the Top 30 may be the easy part. Winning a race may be the tougher part of the deal. Because of the injury Stewart has run just 7 races this season. He has had an average finish of 19th. Stewart announced his retirement before the start of this season. Can he get that win that will send him out as a Chase driver is the big question.

The Sprint Cup series is taking a week off before going into it’s first road course race of the season on June 26th. The series heads to the Sonoma Speedway for the Toyota-Save Mart 350. The road courses are always fun and interesting to see as it really opens up the field. Stewart is a good road course racer; so maybe this is where he gets his win or possible another under the radar type of driver finds his or her way into the Chase with a win at Sonoma.

As salary caps go the NHL’s is easily the toughest one to deal with out of all the major sports. While the Chicago Blackhawks have managed to win the Stanley Cup three times in this salary cap era’ they’ve also had to deal off some of the fans favorite players. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2015 Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad where both dealt for salary cap reason. The Blackhawks where eliminated by the St. Louis Blues in the 2nd round of this past seasons playoffs. Now even though the Blackhawks didn’t win back to back Stanley Cups they are still dealing with some salary cap issues. To try to free up some salary cap space the Blackhawks have sent Forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell to the Carolina Hurricanes for a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2017 draft. Teravainen, 21, had 13 goals and 35 points in 78 regular-season games and one point and 13 shots on goal in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games. He was selected by the Blackhawks with the 18th pick of the 2012 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut during the 2013-14 season. He had 10 points in 18 playoff games last year to help the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. Bickell, 30, had two assists in 25 games with the Blackhawks this season. He was placed on waivers and sent to Rockford of the American Hockey League twice this season, and had 15 goals and 31 points in 47 AHL games. Selected by the Blackhawks in the second round (No. 41) of the 2014 NHL Draft, he helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. In 384 NHL games he has 65 goals and 135 points in parts of nine seasons, all with the Blackhawks. Bickell will have a salary-cap charge of $4 million next season. It’s the last season of a four-year contract he signed with the Blackhawks on June 30, 2013.

There was finally something that went on during the NBA Finals that caught my interest. It doesn’t have anything to do with what is happening on the basketball court itself, but on the sidelines. Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager will get a chance to work his first NBA Finals, thanks to a unique partnership with ESPN. Sager, a 34-year Turner veteran and popular TNT sideline reporter known for wearing flashy suits, has continued to work as he faces a recurrence of the leukemia he has been battling for the past few years. He has never worked an NBA Finals series but will share sideline reporting duties with Doris Burke for Thursday’s Game 6 in Cleveland between the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.

Andrew Bogut left Game 5 with a sprained left knee. It’s being reported that the knee will not require surgery, but Bogut will miss the remainder of the NBA Finals. It’s been reported that Bogut will be out 6 to 8 weeks with the knee injury. Bogut was injured when he collided with J.R. Smith and Smith hit Bogut’s fully extended left knee. If Golden State decides to start a center either Festus Ezeli or former Cavalier Anderson Varejao would be called upon to fill Bogut’s spot. Golden State could always start a small line up with someone like Draymond Green at the center position and possible someone like Andre Iguodala moving into the starting line up. Will the loss of Bogut allow the Cavaliers to get more aggressive going to the basket or can Ezeli or Anderson be enough of a deterrent in the lane for Golden State.

@Burketime

 

The Podcast  Now on Tunein Radio!  Apple users can download us right in the Podcast App!

How Was Your Week?

Posted: June 11, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Major League Baseball (MLB) held it’s draft this week. Now unlike the drafts in the other major sports it will take three, four or maybe even five years before any of these players make it to the major leagues. There is also a chance that some of the players drafted very high in this draft will never make it to the major leagues. It’s what makes the MLB draft truly different from the other sports as you are really drafting for the future of your team.

Now the Chicago White Sox had the 10th pick in the first round of the draft and they used it to take Zack Collins a catcher from the University of Miami. Collins is a left handed hitter who batted .358 with 15 homers this past season. Collins even walked (71) more times than he struck out (59) in his current season; which is rare in baseball these days. Collins was actually good enough to be drafted right out of high school. The Cincinnati Reds took him in the 27th round of the 2013 draft, but chose to attend Miami instead. Collins has what appears to be good size for a catcher at 6’3 and 230 pounds. His scouting report describes him as a left-handed power hitter with a very patient approach at the plate. I’m sure your wondering by no why I selected the 10th player taken in the draft and decided to write about him. Well after hearing all the positives about Collins from the experts the next thing they would say is that the White Sox would need to find a new position for him because he’s too good of a hitter to catch. Now I’m not sure when this started, but when did baseball teams decide that they didn’t need good hitters at catcher. I would think the fastest way to the major league level would be by being a good hitting catcher. The experts have said that Collins has trouble with his defense especially his foot work behind the plate. Now he’s 21 years old and I would think that the White Sox would have a catching instructor who could work with Collins on this; don’t they. This of course is the way baseball is going now. The Minnesota Twins moved Joe Mauer to 1st base. There’s talk ever season of the San Francisco Giants find a different position for Buster Posey. Even the other Chicago the Cubs looked to have made the decision that Kyle Schwarber was an outfielder before he got hurt early this season. It’s odd that with all the Sabermetrics and Analytics teams use and it seeming that offense is the keys to these stats that teams would sacrifice offense at the catching position. Now I understand that Mauer was moved because of health concerns and that’s why the talk of moving Posey comes up, but when the Cubs where going to develop Schwarber as a catcher we attended one of his minor league games and where did he play in that game; you guessed Designated Hitter (DH); not sure how that helped his catching skills. Now this isn’t the first time this idea has come up. Some of the greatest catchers in baseball where tried at different positions with varying degrees of success. Johnny Bench played 3rd base, 1st base and spent some time in the outfield  Carlton Fisk played a few games at 3rd base, a  few games at 1st base and 41 games in leftfield before the White Sox realized that he was better off behind the plate. Yogi Berra played 260 career games in the outfield. I’m sure there are many more examples of this, but there are three Hall of Fame players who where moved from the catcher position only to end up back there. I ask again; is there a rule against having a catcher who can put up quality offensive numbers? Posey is easily considered the best offensive catcher in baseball, but who’s #2? Do you still like St. Louis’  Yader Molina, but how many more seasons is Molina going to play. He’s 33 right now and in his 13th season. Going to back to back World Series out Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals on a lot of peoples radar. Even if they’re your 1, 2 and 3 could you come up with a good Top 5. Besides Posey is there a catcher in the majors right now that you see as an offensive threat. At the start of the season I thought that Devin Mesoraco of the Cincinnati Reds had a chance to join this small group of offensive catchers, but he’s proven that he can’t stay healthy. Do you have a choice? If so I hope it’s better than mine.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying like I have that a playoff series hasn’t started until the home team losses a game. Well if that’s the case then the NBA Finals started last night. It was another double-digit victory as the Golden State Warriors took a 3 games to 1 lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 108-97 victory in Cleveland Friday night. Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 38 points. Curry was 7 of 13 from behind the 3-point line. Klay Thompson scored 25 points while Harrison Barnes was the other Golden State starter with double digit points scoring 14 points. Barnes made 4 of the 5 3-point shots he took. Andre Iguodala came off the Warriors bench to score 10 points and lead the tam in assists with 7. Draymond Green grabbed a team high 12 rebounds for Golden State. Four of the five Cavaliers starters scored in double figures led by Kyrie Irving’s 34 points. LeBron James added 25 points while leading the team with 13 rebounds as well as assists with 9. Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith each scored 10 points while Kevin Love came off the bench to add 11 points for Cleveland. Love is recovering from a concussion; so Richard Jefferson got the start in his place.

Golden State will look to end the series at home on Monday night. Golden State is looking to become back to back champions with a series win. If they don;t close out the series Monday night the teams would return to Cleveland for Game 6 on Thursday night. So do you have the series coming back to “The Land”? Or do the Warriors close it out in 5?

 

 

@Burketime

 

The Podcast  Now on Tunein Radio!  Apple users can download us right in the Podcast App!

Let’s call it Wednesday 

Posted: June 8, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

It had to be a bit of a surprise when the Los Angeles Dodgers designated outfielder Carl Crawford for assignment. Crawford has about a year and a half left on the 7 year $142 million dollar deal he signed with the Boston Red Sox back in 2010. Los Angeles will be on the hook for about $35 million left on Crawford’s contract. The Dodgers do have a lot of outfielders and with Andre Either working his way back from injury and the fact that Howie Kendrick has been able to move to the outfield there just weren’t enough at bats to go around. The Dodgers have quite a few young outfielders as well. Enrique (Kiki) Hernandez and Joc Pedersen are 24, Yasiel Puig (who is out injured right now) and Trayce Thompson are both 25 and Scott Van Slkye is 29. While it’s fair to say that Crawford got caught in a numbers game he wasn’t really producing when he was playing. Crawford appeared in 30 games and was hitting .185. Injuries really took away the speed part of Crawford’s game. While he still was a double digit a year steals player with the Dodgers, he was nowhere close to the 60 steals a year player he was with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009. You have to think that once Crawford clears waivers and a team can bring him in for the league minimum there will be a team or two that will be willing to take a look at him and see what he has left.

Jhonny Peralta has returned to the St. Louis Cardinals after fracturing his left thumb in spring training. Now to make room on the roster for Peralta the Cardinals sent 2nd baseman Kolten Wong to Triple-A Memphis. Wong finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2014 and last season hit .262 while playing in 150 games. With Wong hitting just .222 in 49 games this season and the good play of shortstop Aledmys Diaz it was Wong headed to the minors. Peralta will be asked to play 3rd base and Matt Carpenter will be moved to 2nd base. The Cardinals are 30-28 and find themselves 10 1/2 games out of 1st place.  Will Peralta’s return give the Cardinals a little bit of a jump start or are they going to be looking to make a trade to try and improve there team.

Has Jurickson Profar finally arrived? Believe it or not Profar is just 23 years old, but it seems like baseball people have been talking about him for 10 years already. The Texas Rangers signed him as an amateur free agent in 2009 and looked to be on the fast track to the majors. Profar had a brief 9 game stop at the major league level in 2012 before appearing in 85 games in 2013. As it was looking like Profar would be an everyday player for the Rangers, he lost the entire 2014 season to injury. The injury was so bad that Profar player just 12 games during the 2015 season. Finally healthy Profar started the 2016 at AAA-Round Rock and was brought up by the Rangers when Roughned Odor was suspended 8 games. Profar has appeared in 11 games for the Rangers this season and is hitting .380. Even with Odor back from suspension the Rangers found a spot for Profar in the line up by playing him at 1st base. It might make it easier for the Rangers to keep Profar at the major league level because he is a true utility player. In his short major league career Profar has played 1st base, 2nd base, Shortstop, 3rd base as well as leftfield. Texas of course is an American League team and while he wouldn’t be the prototypical guy for it Profar could be used as a DH at times. We’ll have to wait and see how the Rangers handle him.

Tonight we get Game 3 of the NBA Finals and if you’ve been listening to The Podcast, you know I just don’t care. Anyway, the Golden State Warriors won the first two games on their home court and they’ll look to take Game 3 tonight in Cleveland. Kevin  Love was hit in the back of the head during Game 2 and did not practice with the Cavaliers on Tuesday. Love is in the NBA’s concussion protocol and while no decision has been made on his availability for Game 3 the term that’s being thrown around is that the Cavaliers are “optimistic” Love will play. The Cavaliers officially listed Love as questionable for Game 3. Before Love can return to action there are several steps that the NBA requires a concussed player to complete before he returns to the court, including tests of physical exertion, agility work and non-contact team drills. Love got his concussion when Golden State’s Harrison Barnes collided with him as the two went for an offensive rebound with five minutes remaining in the second quarter Sunday. No foul was called on the play.

Is Game 3 a must win for Cleveland? Golden State is coming in on a 5 game winning streak since being down 3 games to 1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Golden State cruised to easy wins in the first two finals games and a lot of that had to do with the fact that the Cavaliers shot just 35.6% in those games. A return to their home court should help the Cavaliers shooting, but will that be enough to get the Cavaliers a win. Cleveland is undefeated at home in the 2016 playoffs. Don’t forget that Golden State won Game 6 in Cleveland to win the title last season. Who else from the Cavaliers needs to step up and help LeBron James out for the Cavaliers to get a win at home in Game 3. Is a healthy Kevin Love a key or do they need Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson or J.R. Smith to step up tonight. Can the Cavaliers find a way to hold down the outside shooting of Golden State. What seemed to be the downfall of Oklahoma City in there series against Golden State was they seemed to trade two-pointers for three-pointers.  Can the Cavaliers stop that from happening to them in Game 3 and get their first win in the NBA Finals?

@Burketime

The Podcast Now on Tunein Radio!

Let’s Call it Wednesday!

Posted: June 1, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Even though the Golden State Warriors came back from being down 3 games to 1 in the Western Conference Finals and advanced with the chance to win the NBA title for the second straight season. It seemed that the talk turned pretty quickly to where Kevin Durant will be playing next season. Durant is entering free agency for the first time in his career and has played his entire career for the Oklahoma City Thunder. You have to figure that just about every team in the NBA will contact Durnat’s agent to see if there’s a chance he’d be willing to come t there team. Don’t forget the Washington Wizards hired Durant’s former head coach Scott Brooks hoping that might give them an inside track. Even the top Western Conference teams have been mentioned as a posssible landing spot for Durant. Golden State has been mentioned as being interested as well as the San Antonio Spurs would be interested in Durant’s services. There’s also been mention of the Boston Celtics who have a ton of draft picks and could build the team around Durant. Then there was some talk of Durant going to Los Angeles, but not to play for the Lakers, but for the Clippers. Of course I believe that might have to be a sign and trade with a player like Blake Griffin heading to Oklahoma City, but it could be possible. Not I’m sure between now and when NBA free agency kicks off in about a month there will be even more teams added to the Kevin Durant derby. Now if I had to put my money down on something happened I’d go with him staying wit the Thunder. I’m guessing he’ll sign a short term Max deal with an opt out like LeBron James has done with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Durant could get just under $26 million a season from the Thunder; so maybe he signs a 2-year deal with an opt out after the first year and then he could get even more money as the NBA salary cap continues to go up. Don’t forget that Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka are both under contract with Oklahoma City for one more season. Wouldn’t it make sense for Durant to return to the Thunder for one more run at the NBA title; especially after as close as they where to knocking Golden State out of the playoffs this season. It could be quite a situation for Oklahoma City if Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka all hit free agency at the same time after the 2016-17 season. Would it be worth it if they won the NBA title next season and then those three players headed into free agency?

The NBA Finals tip off tomorrow and it’s rematch of last season with the Golden State Warriors defending their title against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The biggest difference between this season and last is that the Cavaliers will be healthy than last years finals. Both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are 100% this time the two teams meet for the title. Even with the Cavaliers being in better health it appears as though Golden State is still the trendy pick. On the Sports Time radio podcast Ben Beeken from DunkinWithWolves.com has the Warriors winning the series in 6 games. Even though Dan the Man didn’t give a number of games for the series he also has Golden State repeating as champions. I didn’t make a pick on the podcast yesterday, but I believe that Golden State will will the series in five games. It seems that everyone I’ve heard predict the series has Golden State winning in five or six games. Who do you have winning the NBA title?

Here’s an odd stat for you and maybe you can win a bar bet or two with it. Anderson Varejao is the first player to play for the teams meeting in the NBA finals in the same season. Varejao started the season with the Cavaliers where he played 31 games. After being realeased by Cleveland he signed on with the Warriors where played in 22 regular season games. and 11 playoff games so far.

The Stanley Cup Finals dropped the puck on Monday night as the San Jose Sharks where in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the 1st period on goals by Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary.The Penguins really looked like the better team throughout the 1st period. Pittsburgh had 15 shots on goal in the 1st period while San Jose could only muster 4 shots on goal. In the 2nd period it appeared as though the teams switched roles. Goals by Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau even the game at 2-2 after 2 periods of action. The game stayed at 2-2, but the Penguins where getting quite a few shots on goal and you had to wonder if soponer or later if the puck would find it’s way into the back of the net. At 17:27 of the 3rd period Nick Bonino beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones and give Pittsburgh the 3-2 lead and as it turned out the game winning goal. The Penguins doubled up the Sharks shot totals in the 3rd period as Pitttsburgh had 18 shots on goal to San Jose’s 9. The Penguins did go 0 for 3 on the power play while the Sharks went 1 for 2. So Pittsburgh won Game 1 at home and tonight the Penguins look to win Game 2 at home before the series shifts to San Jose.

While the St. Louis Blues didn’t quite make there goal of winning the Stanley Cup the team did well enough for them to want to bring back head coach Ken Hitchcock for next season. During his press conference;  Hitchcock announced that the 2016-17 season will be his final season coaching in the NHL.Hitchcock guided the Blues to the Western Conference finals this year following a regular season in which St. Louis finished with 107 points, the fourth-highest total in franchise history. Four of the top five regular-season finishes in St. Louis franchise history have come with Hitchcock behind the bench. Next season will be Hitchcock’s 20th as an NHL head coach. He won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999 and has a career record of 757-453-194. He ranks fourth all-time in regular season wins and is likely headed to the Hall of Fame when he’s done.

You can listen to The Podcast by clicking the link and you can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week?

Posted: May 28, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team to lock down a spot in the NBA Finals with a 113-87 victory over the Toronto Raptors. This was the first time in  the series that a home tam had lost a game. The Cavaliers won Game 1, 2 and 4 in Cleveland while Toronto had surprisingly held serve winning Games 3 and 4 in Toronto. The Cavaliers built a 6-point lead 31-25 after the 1st quarter and just continued to add to it. They extended the lead to 55-41 going into halftime and that was pretty much the end of it for Toronto. The Raptors where able to cut into the Cavaliers lead in the 3rd quarter, but the 2 points they knocked off the lead wasn’t enough to get them back in the game. The Raptors outscored the Cavaliers 33-31 in the 3rd quarter, but that cut the Cleveland lead to 12 points at 86-74. The Cavaliers where able to pull away in the 4th quarter as they outscored the Raptors 27-13 to get the game to it’s final score of 113-87.

LeBron James led the way with 33 points for the Cavaliers. Kyrie Irving scored 30 points and had a team high 9 assists while Kevin Love scored 20 points and grabbed a team high 12 rebounds. J.R. Smith also scored in double figures adding 15 points as four of the five Cavaliers starters scored in double figures. The Cavaliers where an impressive 17 of 31 (54.8%) from behind the 3-point line in the game.

It seems for the raptors when Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan play well they win those game. Well both Lowry and DeRozan shot 50% from the floor. Lowry had 35 points while DeRozan added 20 points. Lowry shoot 11 of 22 from the field and was 6 of 12 from behind the 3-point line and 7 for 7 from the free throw line. DeRozan was 9 of 18 from the floor and made both free throws he shot; he did miss his only 3-point attempt of the game. Lowry and DeRozan also tied for the team lead in assists with 3 apiece while Bismack Biyombo grabbed a team high 9 rebounds.

This is the second straight season that Cleveland will represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals, but this is the 6th consecutive trip to the NBA Finals for LeBron James. He went four seasons in a row with the Miami Heat and then of course these last two seasons with the Cavaliers. The other seven players to accomplish this feat where all members of the 1950’s and 1960’s Boston Celtics dynasties. Those seven other players are Bill Russell, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Satch Sanders, Tommy Heinsohn, Frank Ramsey, and Bob Cousy.

The last year James did not play in an NBA Finals was 2010 – which marked Kobe Bryant’s last title with the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron played in another Finals in 2007 with Cleveland, and sports a record of 2-4 so far – both titles coming with the Heat.

In the 6th round of the NFL draft the Baltimore Ravens took Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds. The Ravens will look to use Reynolds as a return man and wide receiver. Of course the issue when you draft any player from a service academy is they have a commitment to that branch of the service. Of Friday at his graduation speech at the Naval Academy  Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Reynolds can defer his military service to play in the NFL. This was considered the final step in allowing Reynolds to play for the Ravens.  It was two weeks ago when Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus submitted a request where he “strongly recommended” that Reynolds be cleared to join the NFL after a standout college career. Mabus recently said he couldn’t think of “a better ambassador for the United States Navy or for the United States military than Keenan Reynolds.” Reynolds finished his college career as the FBS’ all-time leader in total touchdowns (88), rushing yards by a quarterback (4,559) and points scored (530).

While the Ravens got some good news with Reynolds they also had an issue this week as the NFL forced Baltimore to cancel one week of organized team activities and fined both the team and coach John Harbaugh on Thursday for violating off season rules. The Ravens acknowledged the punishment by releasing a statement on Thursday. It’s being reported that the Ravens were fined $343,057 and Harbaugh was fined $137,223. Apparently the rule that was broken was when the Ravens put rookies and first-year players in pads for a five-minute period at a recent rookie mini-camp. This is the second time in six years that the NFL has punished the Ravens for violating off-season rules. In 2010, Baltimore had to cancel the final week of OTA’s, after six players complained to the players’ union about late meetings and two others reported being held too long on the field after practice. I honestly didn’t know that either of these things would be a violation. I thought that it was just part of your job as an NFL player, but what do I know. This punishment was similar to what the Seattle Seahawks  received in 2014. The team was fined $200,000 and Carroll was hit with a $100,000 fine. The Seahawks also lost two days of mandatory mini-camp for violating non-contact rules in the off-season.

It seems like there’s been talk of Julio Urias being brought up to the major for quite a while now. Well last night it finally happened as Urias made his major league debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Urias started against the New York Mets and it was quite the debut performance a lot of people expected. The Dodgers had announced that they would keep Urias to 85 pitches in this start and he did get close to that total, but it was in just 2 2/3rd innings. Urias gave up 5 hits, 3 runs (all earned) while walking 4 and striking out 3. Urias pitch count reached 81 in his short outing. Urias wasn’t involved in the decision; a 6-5 win for the Mets.

Dick Calmus was the last teenager to start a game for the Dodgers back in 1963 and he didn’t get out of the 1st inning. I’m sure there are a lot of people out thinking that it was Fernando Valenzuela. While Valenzuela did pitch for the Dodgers as a teenager it was out of the bullpen; he actually didn’t start a game for Los Angeles until he was 20 years old. Felix Hernandez was the last teenager to make a start in the majors. Hernandez started for the Seattle Maruners on August 4th 2005 against the Detroit Tigers. Hernandez pitched 5 innings gave up 1 run, 3 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. With the way starting pitchers are handled now they may be a big gap between Julio Urias and the next teenage starter.

 

You can listen to The Podcast by clicking the link and you can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 25, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Pittsburgh Penguins evened up there Eastern Conference finals series with the Tampa Bay Lighting at 3 game apiece with a 5-2 win in Game 6 last night. It looked as tough Pittsburgh was headed for an easy victory. Phil Kessel scored the only goal of the 1st period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Then in the 2nd period a goal by Kris Letang and then another by Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead and it seems as the game was pretty much settled. Then in the 3rd period Brian Boyle scored unassisted for Tampa bay t make it 3-1. Then a second goal by Boyle cut the Penguins lead to just one goal at 3-2. That was as close as the Lighting would get as Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino added 3rd period goals for the Penguins to make the final score 5-3 and send the series to a Game 7 Thursday night in Pittsburgh. The Penguins went back to Matt Murray on goal and he stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced in Game 6. You have to figure he’ll get the call in net for Game 7. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been solid in goal for the Lighting, but you have to wonder if we’ll see Ben Bishop in Game 7 if he’s close to being ready to go.

Over in the Western Conference the San Jose Sharks took a 3 games to 2 lead in there series against the St. Louis Blues with a 6-3 win in St. Louis. San Jose will have a chance to close out the series tonight as they host the Blues in Game 6. With there season on the line tonight the Blues announced that Brian Elliott will be the starting goalie for Game 6 in San Jose. Jake Allen started the previous two games against San Jose. Elliott is undefeated this postseason in elimination games, winning a pair of Game 7’s against the Blackhawks and Stars. Overall, Elliott is 9-8 with a .925 save percentage this postseason. San Jose will stick with Martin Jones in goal. Jones is 11-6 with a goals against average of 2.13 and a save percentage of .918.  Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture are leading San Jose in points this post season with 21 apiece while the Blues are led by Robby Fabbri who has 15 points. If St. Louis wins tonight and forces a Game 7 it will be played back at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Friday night.

Are the Golden State Warriors in trouble? Last night the Oklahoma City Thunder took a 3 games to 1 lead in the Western Conference finals over the Warriors with an easy 118-94 victory. This is the second game in a row that Oklahoma City has won the game by 20 plus points. While it was a 24 point margin of victory last night in Game 4 in Game 3 they won by 28 points 133-105. Oklahoma City got out to a double digit lead early, but by the end of the 1st quarter Golden State had cut the lead to just 4 at 30-26. The 2nd quarter is where the game really swung Oklahoma City’s way as they outscored Golden State 42-27 in the quarter and took a 72-53 lead into the locker room at halftime. Golden State did manage to knock 7 points off the lead by outscoring Oklahoma City 29-22 in the 3rd quarter, but it was already to little too late. With a 94-82 going int the 4th quarter Oklahoma City actually added to there lead outscoring Golden State 24-12 in the final quarter.

All five of the Thunder’s starters scored in double figures led by Russell Westbrook’s 36 points. Those 36 points where part of Westbrook’s triple-double as he added a team high 11 assists and 11 rebounds. Kevin Durant had 26 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Serge Ibaka and Andre Roberson each scored 17 points while Roberson grabbed a team high 12 rebounds. Steve Adams chipped in 11 points for Oklahoma City while Dion Waiters scored 10 points off the Thunder bench.

Golden State was led by Klay Thompson with 26 points. Stephen Curry scored 19 points, but was just 2 of 10 from behind the 3-point line. Curry did hand out a team high 5 assists. Harrison Barnes was the only other Golden State player to reach double figures had 11 points. Draymond Green who let’s face it shouldn’t even of been playing in this game led the Warriors in rebounds with 11. Golden State shot 9 of 30 (30.0%) from behind the 3-point line in the game. Golden State does head home for Game 5 facing elimination, but as we know they’re very good at home.

In the Eastern Conference finals; who had the Toronto Raptors winning both of there games at home and evening the series at 2 games apiece. There where people who thought that the Raptors wouldn’t win a game in this series and now they’ve won two. Are they a real threat to win this series? Game 5 is tonight in Cleveland and it’s going to be tough for the Raptors to win there as the Cavaliers get a large disparity in fouls called. I did get a chuckle out of the huge flop LeBron James took when he git hit in the face in I think Game 3. The referees being incredibly stupid called a technical foul on one of the three Toronto players standing there when as it turned out it was LeBron’s own teammate Tristan Thompson who hit him in the face. Does the NBA still fine players for flopping? and would there dare try and fine LeBron for his terrible flop?

The NFL handed out the Super Bowl for the 2019, 2020 and the 2021 seasons. For 2017 the game will be held in Houston’s NRG Stadium. The other Super Bowl that was already on the books was 2018 and that will be played in the Minnesota Vikings new U.S. Bank stadium. For 2019 the Super Bowl goes to Atlanta and will be played at the Mercedes-Benz stadium. The 2020 game will be at the New Miami stadium, Miami Gardens home of the Dolphins. I’m not sure why, but for some reason the NFL listed this game as being played in South Florida with no details of which city it would be in. Then finally the 2021 Super Bowl will be played at the home of the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, California as long as the stadium is ready; which hopefully it will be by 2021.

 

 

You can listen to The Podcast by clicking the link and you can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Older Entries
Newer Entries