Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

How was your Week?

Posted: March 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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The NFL off-season is running at full speed as teams make moves to try to get themselves under the salary cap and sign free agents. Peyton Manning restructured his deal with the Denver Broncos to give them some salary cap space. Manning knocked $4 million off his 2015 salary, but don’t worry they added a couple of bonus clauses; so he can get that money back. He’ll earn $2 million if the Broncos go to the AFC title game and then another $2 million if Denver wins the Super Bowl. Brandon Marshall was traded for the 3rd time in his career as the Chicago Bears sent him to the New York Jets for a 5th round draft pick. On a side note; Marshall is the 4th player to be traded three times in his career since 1995. The others are Randy Moss, Glyn Milburn and Sage Rosenfels. The Jets would have an interesting trio of wide receivers if they hang on to them with Marshall, Eric Decker and Percy Harvin. Harvin is due a roster bonus soon and reports are the Jets may release him. When the Marshall rumors started I was wondering what his value might be. When the Bears traded for Marshall they the Miami Dolphins two draft picks; a 3rd round pick in 2012 and a 3rd round pick in 2013. Now we have to see who the Jets decide will be throwing the football to these receivers. Marshawn Lynch is staying with the Seattle Seahawks as he signed a two year deal worth a reported $24 million. There have been rumors of holdouts and retirements involving Lynch, but with this deal those rumors should disappear. There was one retirement announced as Maurice Jones-Drew (MJD) is ending his NFL career after 9 seasons; eight with the Jacksonville Jaquars and one injury plagued 2014 season with the Oakland Raiders. Jones-Drew rushed for a career 8167 yards and led the NFL in rushing with 1606 yards in 2011. The Jaquars drafted M.J.D. in the 2nd round of the 2006 draft. He was a three time Pro Bowl selection and was 1st team All-Pro one time. It is also being reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers will release Safety Troy Polamalu if he doesn’t choose to retire. Polamula has spent his entire 12 year career with Pittsburgh. Two other long time veteran players will be looking for new teams after in 2015 as their teams announced they’ll be moving on this week. After 14 seasons and more games played than any other Indianapolis Colts player it was announced that the team won’t try to re-sign wide receiver Reggie Wayne. The New England Patriots declined the contract option on defensive lineman Vince Wilfork after 11 seasons with the team. This may be the first set of moves by NFL teams as they get ready for the draft as well as being able to sign free agents starting March 10th.

Did the Atlanta Hawks make a statement last night? They beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-97 last night in what may have been an Eastern conference finals preview. Atlanta got out to a 17 point lead in the 1st quarter, but they had just a 2 point lead at 81-79 going into the 4th quarter. Atlanta outscored Cleveland 25-18 in the final quarter to seal the victory. Al Horford led Atlanta in scoring with 19 points and rebounds with 9. Mike Scott came off the Hawks bench and hit seven of nine shots scoring 14 points while Dennis Schroder added 15 points off the bench as well as leading the team in assists with 8 . Jeff Teague and Paul Milsap each scored 16 points.  DeMarre Carroll drew the defensive assignment of guarding LeBron James and James struggled. James played a little over 40 minutes going 5-13 from the field including 1-4 from behind the 3-point line. James scored 18 points grabbed 6 rebounds and handed out 8 assists, but committed 9 turnovers in the game. The best part of James game was his free throw shooting was much better as he went 7-8 from the foul line. With James Struggling Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers in scoring with 20 points while Kevin Love had 14 points.  The hawks improved to 49-12 for the season and have actually won 42 of their last 48 games. Cleveland’s record falls to 39-25. Maybe Atlanta drew some extra inspiration from Dominique Wilkins. The Hawks unveiled a statue of Wilkins outside Philips Arena, wore throwback jerseys from the Dominique era, and honored No. 21 at halftime with a painting and a framed jersey autographed by all the current Hawks players. Up next; the Cavaliers: return home to face the Phoenix Suns on Saturday to complete a stretch of four games in five nights. While the Hawks travel to Philadelphia on Saturday to take on the 76ers.

Spring training is up and running and the defending champion San Francisco Giants lost one of their best players Hunter Pence for 6 to 8 weeks with a broken arm. While it’s very early in spring training; so Pence should be back in the line up by late April or early May. I guess if you must have an injury you’d like to have them early and get it out-of-the-way. Pence has played in every game for the Giants the last two seasons and isn’t going to be easy to replace. While the Giants aren’t a home run hitting team Pence was one of only two Giants with 20 or more home runs. Pence hit 20 home runs on the nose while Buster Posey led the team with 22 home runs. Pence was also 2nd on the team in RBI’s with 74. Posey was the team leader in this category as well with 89. Pence was also tied for the team lead in triples with Brandon Crawford; each had 10. Pence was 2nd on the team in doubles with 29. Michael Morse led the team with 32 doubles. Bruce Bochy may be the best manager in baseball at juggling his line up when needed. Look for the Giants to fill Pence’s spot with players like Gregor Blanco, Juan Perez or maybe  Travis Ishikawa. Nori Aoki may move over from left field to fill in for Pence in right field on the defensive side. The Giants also have non-roster invitee Justin Maxwell in camp; so this may be his shot to make the team and fill this role until Pence comes back from injury. This is Maxwell’s 4th team after stops in Washington, Houston and 20 games last season with the Kansas City Royals. Let’s see who Bochy chooses to fill Pence’s spot to start the season.

We covered the National League West on the podcast last night as we had four team previews. No one from the Colorado Rockies wanted to come on and talk to us. Maybe that says something about how their season might go. Tony Fischer started the podcast off talking Arizona Diamondbacks with me. You can find Tony’s Diamondbacks coverage at HeatWaved.com We talked Los Angeles Dodgers next as Scott Andres from LasordsLair.com came on the podcast with me. I wrapped up the night with two of my favorite guest. First Mark O’Neill from www.AroundtheFoghorn.com join me to talk San Francisco Giants baseball and I wrapped up the podcast talking to Billy Brost about the San Diego Padres. While Billy has left the Site FriarsonBase.com that covers the Padres he is staying involved with writing about baseball. Look for Billy’s new venture BaseballMagazine.net starting soon. You can listen to any or all of these interviews in the Sports Time Radio podcast archives. Click on Sports Time Radio and you can pick and choose the podcast you’d like to listen to.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime you can follow the show as well @SportsTimeRadio

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 4, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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There are very few blockbuster player for player trades in the NFL; so when the Philadelphia Eagles traded LeShon McCoy one of the top running backs in the NFL to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso it caught me a bit by surprise. McCoy rushed for 1319 yards and 5 touchdowns last season on 312 carries. He also caught 28 passes for 155 yards. Alonso missed the entire 2014 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), but is expected to be ready to go for the 2015 season. 2013 was Alonso rookie season where he had 87 tackles, assisted on 72 other while picking for 4 passes, recovering 2 fumbles and forcing 1 fumble. He also had 2 quarterback sacks. Looking at this trade it may be one of those that turns out to benefit both teams. Philadelphia gets some salary cap room and if they cut linebacker DeMeco Ryans as it’s being reported they will it will open up a little over $14 million dollars in salary cap room for the Eagles. Buffalo has a new head coach in Rex Ryan and with Fred Jackson getting up there in age and C.J. Spiller never really becoming the running back the Bills had hoped he’d be when drafted McCoy gives them the go to running back that Ryan likes to have. I did see some reports out there that say this is the first move in the Eagles going out and getting Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota in the upcoming draft. Mariota won’t be on the board when the Eagles 1st round pick comes up at #20; so if he’s their guy they’re going to have to find a way to move up to get him. There’s a chance the New York Jets might take him with the 6th pick. The St. Louis Rams pick 10th and they might be looking for a quarterback and then there’s always the chance that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take Mariota with the #1 pick in the draft. You’d have to guess it will cost the Eagles Nick Foles that #20 pick and more to move up high enough to get Mariota. Then the question becomes is he worth that? Even though he’s familiar with coach Chip Kelly’s offense. Is he a franchise type of quarterback? The Eagles also seem to have quite a few needs on defense and while they’ll have that extra salary cap money some of it will go to re-signing wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. It looked like the Eagles would address their defenses issues in the draft, but if they make a deal for Mariota how many of those draft picks would be included in that deal. Don’t forget that the Bills may not be sold on E.J. Manuel as their quarterback, but remember the Bills dealt their 1st round pick to the Cleveland Browns; so they could move up and select wide receiver Sammy Watkins in 2014. Free agents can start signing with teams on March 10th; so the NFL off-season is getting ready to roll.

So who are you picking for NBA MVP for this season? I’ve heard a lot of talk about this the last week or so and it seems to have been narrowed down to four players. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder and of course LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry is averaging 23.9 points per game (PPG) is handing out 7.8 assists per game (APG) and leads the NBA. averaging 2.1 steals per game. Curry also leads the N.B.A. in 3-pointers attempted with 454 and 3-pointers made with 187. Don’t forget the Warriors also have the best record in the NBA at 46-12. James Harden is leading the NBA in scoring averaging 27.1 PPG he’s handing out 6.9 APG He leads the NBA in free throws made (492) and free throws attempted (568) and has taken the most shots in the league this season with 1062. The Rockets are in 2nd place at 41-19 a 1 1/2 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies in the Southwest division of the Western conference. Westbrook is averaging 26.5 PPG and handing out 8.1 APG The draw back with Westbrook maybe the fact that he’s missed 15 games so far this season and right now is recovering from surgery to repair facial fractures; so that missed game total may go up. The Thunder are 33-27 and hanging on to the 8th spot in the Western conference. You’d have to think if they don’t make the playoffs Westbrook may drop out of the MVP race. James may be in the same area as Westbrook is as he’s missed 11 games so far this season and you wonder if that total will go up as he takes games off getting ready for the playoff run. James does average 26.2 PPG he is also handing out 7.2 APG he does lead the NBA in field goals made with 479. The Cavaliers are in 2nd place at 38-24 and just a 1/2 behind the Chicago Bulls in the Central division of the Eastern conference. The votes are supposed to be turned in before the playoffs start; so that shouldn’t impact the voting. If I’m picking right now I’ll take Curry as the MVP with Harden 2nd, James 3rd with Westbrook 4th. How do you got?

We’ve been previewing the upcoming baseball season on Sports Time Radio by talking to different bloggers who cover the teams. Yesterday we had Brian Helberg from HaloHangout.com on with us to discuss the Los Angeles Angels 2015 season. On Friday we have a loaded line up of guests to talk baseball. Tony Fischer from HeatWaved.com will joins us at the start of the podcast (9:00 p.m.) to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks 2015 season. At 9:30 p.m. Scott Andres from LasordsLair.com comes back on the podcast to talk about the Los Angeles Dodgers 2015 season. Mark O’Neill from AroundtheFoghorn.com joins us again (10:00 p.m.) to preview the San Francisco Giants 2015 season. Will wrap up the night with Billy Brost from FriarsOnBase.com talking San Diego Padres baseball starting at 10:30 p.m. It will be a full night of baseball on the podcast; so the season must be getting close to starting.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: February 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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It was a bit of a tough week to be a hockey or basketball fan in Chicago. On Tuesday the Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane was crossed checked and fell awkwardly into the boards. He didn’t return to the game and had surgery a couple of days later for what was being reported as a broken clavicle. The NHL doesn’t report what is injured on a player, but here in Chicago they’re reporting broken clavicle and Kane will be out about 12 weeks. The Blackhawks would have to go deep into the playoffs for Kane to return and without him that will be tough for them to do. Kane was being mentioned as a candidate for MVP and was among the top scorers in the NHL Kane has 27 goals and 37 assists for 64 points this season in 61 games for the Blackhawks. The same day Kane’s injury was announced the Chicago Bulls announced that Derrick Rose needed another knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus ligament. Rose had his surgery yesterday (Friday) and at a press conference the Bulls said he’d be out 4 to 6 weeks. I think this is a bit of an accelerated time line for Rose to come back. Russell Westbrook had this same type of surgery and was out 8 weeks. Now most Bulls fans will remember the first time Rose had knee surgery there where reports that he’d be returning and then he wouldn’t. What happens if we get to the Bulls announced 6 week mark and Rose isn’t ready to play. With Rose’s injury history when I heard he was injured again I just figured he was done for the season. If Rose is out the 6 weeks he’ll return with 3 regular season games left. Is that enough time for him to get ready to help the Bulls make a playoff run? Even though both teams have winning records; both teams have been disappointing this season. The Blackhawks are 37-21-5 and in 3rd place in the Central division of the Western conference with 79 points. Even without Kane they should get into the playoffs, but at the beginning of the season this team was considered a Stanley Cup contender and I’m not sure many people think that now.  The Bulls are 37-22 and hold a 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Central Division of the Eastern conference. Even if the Bulls can’t hold off the Cavaliers and win the Central division they’ll still make the playoffs. At the start of the season there was a lot of talk that the Bulls would represent the Eastern conference in the N.B.A. finals and some experts where even picking them to win it all, but right now are they a threat to even get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. I did actually hear a couple of Chicago blaming Tom Thibodeau for Derrick Rose’s injury. Thibodeau appears to be on the hot seat in Chicago as reports have come out that the front office team of Gar Foreman and John Paxson don’t like Thibodeau and his coaching style; so it was looking like he would be fired at the end of the season anyway. If anyone on the Bulls organization is blaming Thibodeau for Rose getting hurt you’d have to figure this is just another nail in his Bulls coaching coffin. Luckily for Chicago fans there’s a lot of hope for the upcoming baseball season. That’s a good thing as I wouldn’t be surprised if both the Bulls and the Blackhawks get knocked out of their respective playoffs very early or even in the 1st round.

If you’re a Bay area sports fan last night (Friday) was a good night to listen to Sports Time Radio. Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports was on the podcast with us. Nick covered everything San Francisco Giants wise and stuck around with us to talk some Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers football. We didn’t get into the Golden State Warriors, but Mr. Fantasy isn’t the biggest basketball fan; so we stayed away from that team. We  have quite a few interviews on the podcast and it’s not like your normal radio interview where the guests answers 2 or 3 questions and then they’re let go. We keep our guests on with us for almost a full 30 minutes and last night Nick stayed on the podcast with us for an hour to cover all the topics we wanted to discuss with him. We’re doing what we can to get someone from all 30 Major League Baseball teams to get previews for the upcoming season. I typed we’re, but it’s actually Dan the Man who schedules all the interviews for Sports Time Radio. If there’s a guest you’d like us to try to get on the podcast e-mail us SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com and will see if they’re willing to come on and talk to us.

Are the St. Louis Cardinals losing their grip on the NL Central? Adam Wainwright had to miss a few days of spring training already with what was being reported as an abdominal strain. Wainwright was given a few days off and has resumed his spring training workouts, but don’t forget he is also coming off surgery to clean up his throwing elbow.  Wainwright is the ace of the Cardinals pitching staff and they can’t afford to lose him for any long period of time. You do have to wonder if this abdominal injury will linger into the start of the season and cause issues. Yader Molina also missed quite a few regular season games with a thumb injury. While Molina did return for the playoffs, but went 5 for 22 in 6 playoff games. There are other questions with the Cardinals starting rotation besides Wainwright’s health. Lance Lynn is solid as a #2, but what can the Cardinals expect out of Michael Wacha and John Lackey as their 3rd and 4th starters. Then who gets the 5th spot in the rotation? Jaime Garcia, Marco Gonzales or Carlos Martinez. While I do feel that St. Louis is still the best team in the NL Central I think the gap is starting to close. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been there the last couple of seasons, the Chicago Cubs look like an improved team and remember the Milwaukee Brewers where in 1st place in this division for the better part of 2014. Sorry Cincinnati Reds fans; I think you may end up in the cellar of this division.

So how was your week?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: February 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports
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On Thursday at work Greg from our fantasy football challenge asked me who my Top 10 all-time Seattle Seahawks where. It took me a couple of days to compile a list, but here are my Top 10 all-time Seahawks.

#1 Steve Largent, He is the Seahawks leader in career receptions with 819, yards with 13,089 and receiving touchdowns with 100. He played 200 games in a Seahawks uniform over 14 seasons was a 7 time Pro Bowler and was voted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995.

#2 Walter Jones, He was Seattle’s 1st round draft pick in 1997; 6th overall. He played He played in 180 games over 12 seasons starting all of them. Jones was a 9 time Pro Bowl selection and made the All-Pro team on 4 occasions. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

#3 Cortez Kennedy, in 11 seasons with the Seahawks, Kennedy was selected to the Pro Bowl 8 times and made 3 All-Pro teams. In 2012 he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He made 568 tackles, assisted on 100 tackles with 58 sacks and added 3 interceptions.

#4 Jim Zorn, I have to admit that Zorn is my favorite Seattle player and I may have higher on this list than most people would, but it’s my list. In 9 years with Seattle Zorn made 100 starts, playing in 126 games total for Seattle. He’s 3rd all time in passing yards with 20,122 yards, 3rd in passing touchdowns with 107 and 3rd in completions with 1593. He also had 1491 career rushing yards with 17 touchdowns.

#5 Dave Brown, he played defensive back for 11 seasons with Seattle and is the career leader in interceptions with 50 scoring 5 touchdowns. He played in and started 159 games for Seattle. He was voted into the Pro Bowl just 1 time; in 1984 when he had 8 interceptions and returned 2 of them for touchdowns.

#6 Shaun Alexander, he’s the all time leading rusher in Seahawks history with 9429 yards. He scored 100 rushing touchdowns and added 12 receiving touchdowns. He was a 3 time Pro-Bowl selection and made the All-Pro team 1 time. In 2005 he led the National Football League in rushing with 1880 yards and 27 touchdowns. He spent 8 season with Seattle playing in 119 games starting 96 of them. He was Seattle’s 1st round pick in 2000; #19 overall.

#7 Dave Krieg, he’s the all time leader in passing touchdowns with 195. He played 12 seasons with Seattle getting into 129 games making 119 starts. He threw for 26,132 career yards with Seattle. He made the Pro-Bowl 3 times and also rushed for 1090 yards and 10 touchdowns.

#8 Kenny Easley, he was Seattle’s 1st round draft pick in 1981 and 4th overall. He made the Pro Bowl 5 times and 3 All-Pro teams in his 7 year career. Shortened by injury he played 89 career games making 87 starts. He has 32 career interceptions returning 3 for touchdowns and led the league with 10 interceptions in 1984.

#9 Matt Hasselback, he’s the career leader in passing yards with 29,434, completions with 2559 and is 2nd in passing touchdowns with 174. He spent 10 seasons with the Seahawks appearing in 138 games, starting 131. He added 1129 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns with Seattle. On a side note he was still active in 2014 as the Indianapolis Colts back up.

#10 Curt Warner, I know when people hear that name they think of the quarterback, but this Warner is the 3rd leading rusher in Seahawks history with 6705 yards. Chris Warren has 1 more rushing yard than Warner. He made 3 Pro-Bowl teams and put up 4, 1000 yards rushing seasons in 7 years with Seattle. His 55 rushing touchdowns puts him 2nd all time; right now as Marshawn Lynch has 54 rushing touchdowns coming into 2015.

Well there it is and I know there are some current players left out. Lynch was very close to making my list. Players like Russell Wilson and Richard Sherman should have quite a few years left to play and should make this list when they’re done playing. I did leave off the all time leading scorer in Seahawks history; Norm Johnson. Do you think he should be on this list and is there anyone you think I might’ve missed.

So May 2nd 2015 is the date that it will finally happen. Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will finally meet in the ring. It’s being reported that the fight may make upwards of $400 million and will cost fans $90 to watch on pay per view. Now if they could’ve agreed on this fight two or three years ago I’d be a lot more excited about it. I’m convinced that Mayweather only agreed to the fight because he’s now convinced that he’ll win. Mayweather is 47-0 and staying undefeated is important to him; he’ll also turn 38 in 3 days while Pacquiao will be 36 when the fight happens. Pacquiao is 57-5-2 coming into this fight. In November of 2014 Pacquiao beat  Chris Algieri by unanimous decision. Mayweather’s last fight was also a unanimous decision victory over  Marcos Maidana in September of 2014. I’m sure this fight will make a ton of money for everyone involved, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a disappointment when we finally get to see these two in the ring together.

So the NBA trade deadline was Thursday and 11 teams dealt 37 players between them. Did your favorite team make a move to improve themselves for the playoffs or are the headed into the draft lottery. I thought that the Miami Heat had made a good move getting what was considered the top player who would be traded in Goran Dragic. it was actually a three team deal with the New Orleans Pelicans involved; here’s what it officially was. Miami got Goran Dragic and Zoran Dragic from Phoenix for Justin Hamilton, Danny Granger and first-round draft picks in 2017 and 2021. Traded Norris Cole, Shawne Williams and Justin Hamilton to New Orleans for John Salmons. Now that it’s being reported that Chris Bosh may miss the rest of the season because of a medical issue you wonder if the Heat would’ve made this trade had they known. The Suns also dealt one of their other point guards as Isaiah Thomas went to the Boston Celtics for a 2016 1st round pick and Marcus Thornton. I’ve heard a lot of experts say that they like what the Oklahoma City Thunder did at the deadline. The Thunder added D.J. Augustin, Enes Kanter, Kyle Singler and Steve Novak. I was a little surprised to see Kevin Garnett being dealt back to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Thaddeus Young. Garnett does bring veteran leadership and an expiring contract, but he doesn’t seem to have a whole lot left on the basketball court. I thought that maybe this was his farewell tour, but it’s being reported that Garnett would like to continue to play next season. Now we have to wait and see how these players affect their new teams and if they’ll be able to contribute in the playoffs.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: February 18, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports
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2/18/15

Since the NBA is on its extended LeBron James All-Star break let’s take a peak at what might be. Each team has under 30 games left and as the playoff match ups get clearer imagine a #1 seeded Golden State Warriors taking on a #8 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the 1st round. How would the Warriors season be looked at if the lost in the 1st round of the playoffs even if it was to a team with the talent level of Oklahoma City. It could be a potentially great series with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson leading the way for the Warriors against Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for the Thunder. Now Oklahoma City still has some work to do though as the Phoenix Suns are the #8 seed in the Western conference right now. Phoenix is 29-25 while Oklahoma City is 28-25; so that #8 seed may come down to the wire. There are a couple of other possible Western conference playoff match ups that we could see. How about the #2 seeded Memphis Grizzlies against the #7 seeded and defending champion San Antonio Spurs. You have to figure the veteran Spurs team isn’t worried about their seeding and just want to be in the playoffs. Memphis would be a tough match up for any team in the Western conference, but this would be another great 1st round match up. We could also see the #3 seeded Portland Trailblazers against the #6 seeded Los Angeles Clippers. LaMarcus Aldridge has put off thumb surgery until the end of the season and it doesn’t seem to be affecting him too much. The Clippers of course are the “Lob City” team in the NBA. Just another great match up we could get in the 1st round. In the Eastern conference how interesting would it be to see the #5 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers go against the #4 seed Washington Wizards. It seems like the Cavaliers have worked out a lot of their issues, but Washington matches up well against anyone in the Eastern conference. The Chicago Bulls would be the #3 seed and they would face the upstart #6 seed Milwaukee Bucks. Now the Bulls are playoff tested and Derrick Rose looks healthy, but the Bucks are young and haven’t been in the playoffs in a few seasons; so they might be loose and ready to play. Could you imagine a scenario where we see the #!, #2 and #3 seeds go out in the 1st round of the Western conference playoffs. How about in the Eastern conference where the Bulls could go out in round 1 along with LeBron  James and the Cavaliers. These type of scenarios should make the end of the season interesting to see who gets what seed and who’s on the outside looking into the playoffs.

Now the Atlanta Hawks are 43-11 at the All-Star break and have the best record in the Eastern conference by 7 games over the Toronto Raptors, but even with a #1 seed ill they be the favorites to go to the NBA Finals. Interestingly the Raptors play in Atlanta the first game out of the break this Friday, February 20th. Could this be an Eastern conference finals preview? After Friday’s game the Hawks will face to more potential playoff teams. They’ll play the Milwaukee Bucks on February 22nd and then the Dallas Mavericks on February 25th. There still seems to be quite a few talking heads on the television who aren’t sold on the Hawks. In a way I can see this as no one had the Hawks playing like this at the start of the season and they’ll need to prove they belong with the elite clubs come playoff time. Jeff Teague is the Hawks leader in scoring with 17 Points Per Game (PPG) and 7.5 Assists Per Game (APG), but is he considered a superstar in the NBA. The Hawks reflect a team concept that I’m not sure a lot of fans are used to in the NBA where most teams are refered to by one or two top players on that team. How would the NBA handle the Hawks in the NBA finals against the Spurs. We’d get to see Mike Budenholzer coach against his mentor Gregg Popovich, but lets not get to far ahead of ourselves.

The NBA trade deadline is tomorrow February 19th. Goran Dragic has been the hot name rumored to be dealt, but where will he end up. Dragic will be a free agent at the end of the season; so he’s looking like a rent a player type of pick up. There have been a lot of playoff teams associated with Dragic’s name, but one non-playoff team that has come up is the Boston Celtics. While I don’t understand why the Celtics would be interested in Dragic or if he would consider stay with Boston after this season their name has come up. With  Amar’e Stoudemire being bought out by the New York Knicks and signing with the Dallas Mavericks you have to wonder if any other big men will be changing teams. Could someone like the Los Angeles Lakers Jordan Hill help a playoff contender. I heard a couple of interesting names pop up in trade talk; David Lee of the Warriors and Jamal Crawford of the Clippers, but I’d be very, very surprised if either of those players were traded.

Jeff Gordon started off his final full-time season in NASCAR by winning the pole for this Sunday’s Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway. The Budweiser Duel races will be run tomorrow (Thursday) to set the rest of the field. The Duel races are two 60 lap, 150 mile races. Jimmie Johnson qualified 2nd for the 500 and will start next to his teammate Gordon on Sunday. The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s biggest race of the season and it always seems a little odd that it’s the first race of the year, but it works for them. NASCAR didn’t make any changes to their Chase format; so they must’ve liked it. We’ll see if we get the same excitement we got last season where winners automatically move into the Chase and the rest of the field is filled in by the drivers with the highest point totals for the season. Gordon will lead the field for Sunday’s race and maybe in his last full-time season he leaves as the Sprint Cup champion.

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How was your Valentine’s Day?

Posted: February 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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2/14/15

If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or caught some of the blogs here you know I’m not a fan of All-Star games. I do however enjoy some of the events that the NBA has during its All-Star weekend. Last night (Friday) they had two games that I didn’t have a lot of interest in. The Celebrity game kicks off the weekend followed by the Rising Stars Challenge. This year they had the World vs. USA with the World winning 122-112. Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves playing for the World team was the MVP of the game scoring 22 for the World team. There are four events held today (Saturday) starting with the Shooting Challenge. Then it’s the Skills Challenge followed by the 3-point Shooting Contest and ending with the Slam Dunk Contest. The Shooting Challenge features four teams of three players. The teams are; Team Bosh with Captain Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Dominique Wilkins is the team Legend and Swim Cash of the New York Liberty is their WNBA player. Team Curry; with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry as the team captain, his father Dell Curry is their Legend and Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm is their WNBA player. Team Westbrook captained by Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as their Legend and Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever as their WNBA player. Team Milsap is captained by Paul Milsap of the Atlanta Hawks. Milsap is replacing the injured Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans. Milsap’s teammates are Legend Scottie Pippen and W.N.B.A. player  Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky. I’ll take Team Curry to win this event. The Skills Challenge features eight NBA players who compete in a bracket-style tournament for the first time. The format calls for two players to compete simultaneously on an identical course with the fastest finisher reaching the next round.  The players will be tested in an obstacle-course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and shooting skills. Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz is back to defend last year title and he is joined by Brandon Knight of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors. Isiah Thomas of the Phoenix Suns, Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks and his teammate Dennis Schroder who is replacing Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls. Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic is taking the place of Michael Carter-Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers and Patrick Beverly of the Houston Rockets is taking the place of Washington Wizards guard John Wall. I’ll take Teague to win this competition. A lot of experts think that this will be the best 3-point shooting challenge ever. The eight guys in the 3-point shooting Contest are defending champion  Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks, Wesley Matthews of the Portland Trailblazers, J.J. Reddick of the Los Angeles Clippers and teammates Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. It seems like most experts think that one of the Golden State players either Thompson or Curry will win this contest, but I’m taking Wesley Matthews to win. The Dunk Contest has lost most of its luster from when it was a must see event, but this season they are returning to their classic format. That means it will be a two-round event in which the four participants can perform any dunk they choose without time limits. The players will have a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. Five judges will score every dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30. The four players in the Dunk Contest are Mason Plumlee of the Brooklyn Nets, Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic, Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m taking LaVine to win the Dunk Contest. To me these events at least feature players skills while the All-Star game itself is just players watching other players score. Will you watch?

The first interview on the podcast last night had Scott Andes from LasordasLair.com to talk Los Angeles Dodgers baseball we followed that interview with Billy Brost from FriarsonBase,com for some San Diego Padres talk. On the field the Dodgers and Padres are rivals and both play in the NL West. While the Dodgers have had the better of this rivalry for years now the Padres have made a ton of moves this off-season to try to close that gap. There are questions on both sides as teams get ready for spring training to start. The Dodgers will be brand new up the middle with Yasmani Grandal catching, Howie Kendrick at 2nd base, Jimmy Rollins at shortstop and rookie Joc Pederson in centerfield. The Padres will have a new starting outfield with Matt Kemp in rightfield, Will Myers in centerfield and Justin Upton in leftfield as well as Derek Norris catching. Both teams still have some questions though. While Kenley Jansen is a solid major league closer posting 44 saves in 49 chances. The question is who gets the ball to him? Is the biggest question I think the Dodgers have to address. In San Diego the Padres have to decide if Yonder Alonso is the right player at 1st base? The Padres also have a glut of outfielders with  Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and Will Venable on the 40 man roster. Are the Padres done dealing? With the addition of James Shields the extra outfielders and Philadelphia Phillies General manager Ruben Amaro Jr’s interest in Andrew Cashner could Cole Hamles be on the radar. One of the best things was listening to Scott and Billy’s take on each others team.

The NHL trade deadline is March 2nd; so which players may be switching teams. Will the Ottawa Senators trade Chris Neil? Will the New York Rangers try to deal J.T. Miller and clear some salary cap space? Will the  New Jersey Devils trade Jaromir Jagr? Since the Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been able to reach extensions with forwards Jiri Tlusty and Jay McClement, will they be dealt before the trade deadline? There’s a couple of names that might move before March 2nd for you. Which Stanley Cup contenders need to add what to win it all? We should get some of these answers soon.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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0

2/11/15

The big story right now is that the little league team from Jackie Robinson West out of  Chicago used players from outside their boundaries and were stripped of their U.S. Little League World Series championship. I spent about 10 years coaching Little League baseball in the town I grew up in and while I didn’t coach at this level I can tell you first hand that this happens all of the time. I coached at what was called at the time the Senior league level which is players 13 to 15 years old. The level this is happened at is called the Major league level which has players from 10 to 12 years old. Now not only did I coach in my time in Little League, but I was also Vice President of the league and had to be acting President on a few occasions when needed. Does it make it right that they did this, no it doesn’t, but the kids themselves probably didn’t have much to do with this. I’m sure if you played Little League there was a kid you knew who used his Aunt’s address so he could play with his friends. When I was in elementary school my parents used the neighbors address so I could go to the school closest to our house. With every Little League World Series game on television now coaches are going to do whatever they can to win. Remember Danny Almonte; he was the pitcher who turned out to be 14 or 15 years old when he pitched in the Little League World Series. That turned out to be his father’s idea. There has always been an issue with either Japan or Korea and the ages of their players. I’m sure this has happened before and the team or teams just got away with it, but you wonder if the reason this is happening is because this team won. It’s too bad for the kids, but I’m sure some of them knew where certain players lived and that they should’ve been on different teams. I’m not sure if there’s a way to fix this now that it’s a featured television event, but remember that its Little League and it’s suppose to be for the kids.

So Alex Rodriquez had a meeting with the New York Yankees to apologize for his disastrous 2013 effort to escape a Biogenesis doping ban, even as team brass told Rodriguez that they did not intend to pay him the millions in marketing bonuses for any home run milestones he might reach in the future. As pitchers and catchers are getting ready to report you have to wonder where does Rodriquez fit in the Yankees plans for the 2015 season. Chase Headley was resigned in the off-season and will play 3rd base. If he’s healthy you have to figure Mark Teixeira will be at 1st base. There’s also the fact that Rodriquez has never played 1st base.  Chris Young finished the season strong for the Yankees and Garrett Jones was signed in the off-season; so even the Designated Hitter role is crowded. The meeting took place at Yankee Stadium and it’s being reported that it lasted about 90 minutes. Rodriquez  did not say whether he would challenge the Yankees on the bonuses, according to the person present. The execs told him they do not consider any records he might set as milestones and will not pay them, and that he was free to challenge them, according to the source. It will be interesting to see what kind of media circus follows Rodriquez around at spring training. On a side note Rodriquez will be the first player I nominate in our fantasy auction draft this season just to see how high the bidding might go.

A hamstring injury will sideline Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy for 4-6 weeks. The Brewers did not specify how Lucroy was hurt. Lucroy should be able to play by the time the Brewers open the regular season on April 6 against the Rockies at Miller Park. But he will miss the bulk of Spring Training, and those lost at-bats could be troublesome.  The Brewers have a quality backup catcher in defensive-minded Martin Maldonado, who signed a two-year contract last month. The other catcher on the 40-man roster is Juan Centeno, who briefly appeared in the big leagues with the New York Mets in 2013 and 2014.  Brewers pitchers and catchers are expected to report to camp on February  20th. The first full-squad workout is scheduled to be held on February 26th.

On the podcast today (Wednesday) we have Tim Kelly from Section215.com scheduled to talk some Philadelphia sports and I’m wondering how he feels about the Philadelphia Flyers playoff chances. The Flyers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, picking up points in seven straight games after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday gave them a 5-0-2 record since January  20th, when they beat the rival Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 at home. The Flyers are eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. For the second season in a row the Flyers got off to a poor start. Last season they were 4-10-1 after 15 games and went 38-20-9 the rest of the way to reach the playoffs. This season the Flyers were 8-13-3 after 24 games but have gone 15-9-6 since to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Having overcome a poor start last season gives the Flyers belief they can do it again, but this is most definitely doing things the hard way. The Flyers announced starting goaltender Steve Mason would be out 2-3 weeks with a lower-body injury. I did see a report yesterday (Tuesday) that Mason will have knee surgery. That was hardly the type of news you want to hear in the middle of a late-season push toward the playoffs, especially considering the difficulties backup Ray Emery has had this season. Emery entered the game against Montreal with a 9-9-1 record, a 3.34 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. But Emery made 39 saves against the Canadiens, withstanding a bombardment over the second half of the game to get his team into overtime and earn the Flyers a point in the standings, one that could have easily been lost were it not for his stellar play.

The national basketball Association is heading towards its All-Star break and I saw that one of the All-Star game activities this season is a fashion show. Yes, you read that right a fashion show. Apparently there will be three different looks per player. At least I think it’s the players who are modeling, but I don’t know for sure. I understand that the dunk contest got boring and not everyone likes three point shooting or skills competition, but a fashion show really. I also believe I heard that LeBron James is a producer or something to that effect on this. All I know is this is one All-Star event I have zero interest in.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week

Posted: February 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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1

2/7/15

For the first time last night (Friday) we started the podcast with an interview. Eric Huysman from Climbing Tals Hill came back on Sports Time Radio to discuss some Houston Astros baseball, but mostly to talk about the MLB Networks Top 10 2nd baseman rankings. On Eric’s first visit to the podcast he learned what big fans of Jose Altuve we where and tweeted out that MLB Network had him 6th on their Top 10 list. You have to look at the source of the list and try hard to not take fantasy baseball into consideration when making a list like this. That can make it tough and I try not to be to fantasy bias, but I think 6th is quite low. I’m sure the list had a lot of Sabermetics involved in it and there is some East coast bias. Then add in the fact that the Astros have been bad for a few seasons now and I’m sure those are some of the reasons they held Altuve down. Here’s the MLB Network list:

#1 Robinson Cano Seattle Mariners

#2 Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox

#3 Ben Zobrist Oakland A’s

#4 Neil Walker Pittsburgh Pirates

#5 Ian Kinsler Detroit Tigers

#6 Jose Altuve Houston Astros

#7 Howie Kendrick Los Angeles Dodgers

#8 Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies

#9 Brian Dozier Minnesota Twins

#10 Scooter Gennett Milwaukee Brewers

Besides the error in ranking Altuve; where is Dee Gordon? I have no issues at all with Cano at #1 and I don’t think even Astros fans would argue that ranking. I would’ve had Altuve as the #2 2nd baseman. I like Zobrist at #3 and Gordon would be #4 for me. Give me Kinsler at #5, Walker at #6  with Utley at #7 with Pedroia at #8. Kendrick would be solid at #9 and I would have Jason Kipnis at #10. Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals would’ve been on this list, but he’s playing 3rd base this season.  Am I a little bias towards Altuve; yeah I’m sure I am. If you follow this blog you know that I believe he was the MVP in the American League last season. While Houston was 70-92 in 2014 I think you could make a case that Altuve is just as important to the Astros as Mike Trout is to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Where would the Astros of ended up last season had they not had Altuve. Not only did he win a batting title; which with Sabermetrics doesn’t mean a whole lot, but he also hit clean up at times for the Astros. While Trout is the best player in Major League Baseball, Altuve hung with him stat wise in 2014. Trout scored more runs 115-85, had more triples 9-3, more home runs 36-7, more RBI’s 111-59 and walks 83-36. Altuve led in hits 225-173, doubles 47-39, strikeouts 53-184, stolen bases 56-16 and batting average .341-.287. You can just pick the stats that you like best and run with them. Now if Altuve’s numbers can compare with the best player in baseball and last seasons MVP award winner; how is just the 6th ranked 2nd baseman in M.L.B. for the 2015 season.

We where hoping to have some breaking news on the podcast last night, but it never happened as James Shields is still unsigned. Shields camp was saying that he’d sign with a team by the end of the week. Now depending on what the end of the week is to you maybe he has until tomorrow (Sunday) to sign with a team. Now that Shields contract terms appear to have changed the Chicago Cubs have shown some interest in him according to reports. I found it funny that on Chicago sports radio fans where calling in and complaining about this signing if it happened because Shields has a bad post season record. Did I miss the Cubs repeated trips to the post season and all those World Series titles that they’ve been winning. I guess since the Cubs are the trendy pick this season and in the coming seasons I guess their fans think they can be picky. I would think as a Cubs fan that you’d be excited to add a pitcher of Shields quality. Shields takes the ball every five days as he’s made 31 or more starts every year since 2007. Now at 33 years old I can understand that a team wouldn’t want to go four or five years on a contract with Shields, but you could go three years with him and maybe an option for a 4th depending on how he pitches. I guess we’re still waiting for the “end of the week” to find out where Shields pitches in 2015.

The two best teams in the NBA played last night as the Atlanta Hawks (42-9) defeated the Golden State Warriors (39-9) 124-116 in Atlanta last night. Jeff Teague led the Hawks in scoring with 23 points, but seven Hawks where in double figures. Paul Milsap had 21 points, Kyle Korver and Mike Scott had 17 points, DeMarre Carroll and Al Horford had 12 points while Kent Bazemore added 11 points. Scott and Bazemore came off the bench for the Hawks last night to add scoring. Horford grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the team while Korver had 7 boards. Dennis Schroder tied Teague for the team lead in assists with 7 while Horford also handed out 6 assists. Korver was 5 for 9 from behind the 3-point line while Bazemore and Scott both went 3 for 3 from behind the 3-point arc.  Atlanta shot 55.6% from behind the 3-point line last night going 15 for 27 in the game. Klay Thompson led the warriors in scoring with 29 points, Stephen Curry added 26 points and Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green add 12 points for Golden State. Green also had 20 rebounds and handed out 6 assists as Curry led the Warriors in assists with 9. Thompson was 4 for 8 and Curry was 4 for 9 from behind the 3-point line, but the Warriors shot just 36.4% from behind the arc. The game was tied at 52 all at halftime. The Hawks where able to get a 4 point lead after 3 quarters and outscored the Warriors 35-31 in the 4th quarter for the win. Did we get an NBA finals preview last night; it’s still to early to tell, but we did get a good game. With the win Atlanta now has the best record in the NBA Golden State is in the midst of playing four games in five nights and take on the New York Knicks tonight in New York. The Hawks get a day off before visiting the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

If you’re in a fantasy hockey league like Dan the Man and I are it was a good night to play all of your Columbus Blue Jackets and a bad night to start the St. Louis Blues Brian Elliott in-goal. Elliott gave up four of the seven Blue Jackets goals and was pulled for Jake Allen; who gave up the final three Columbus goals. Nick Foligno was the only Blue Jackets player with multiple goals scoring two to bring his season total to 20. Cam Atkinson, Ryan Johansen, Corey Tropp, Matt Calvert and Scott Hartnell where the other Blue Jackets who put the puck in the back of the net last night. Brandon Dubinsky and Johansen also picked up two assists for Columbus. Paul Stastny was the only Blues player to score a goal. Curtis McElhinney got the win on goal for Columbus stopping 33 of 34 St. Louis shots. The Blue Jackets turn right around and play the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa tonight while St. Louis has a rivalry game with an early Sunday start (11:30 a.m.) against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

How was your Week?

Posted: January 31, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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0

1/31/15

All the talk is just about over and tomorrow (Sunday) the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will meet in the Super Bowl. It looks like neither team will lose any players to injury for the start of the game, but there are some key players listed on the teams injury reports. For New England the biggest injury listed is to center Brian Stork who’s been dealing with a knee injury and has been limited in practice. The Seahawks have three of their four starting defensive backs on the injury report. Safety Earl Thomas is playing with a shoulder injury. Everyone saw Richard Sherman play the end of the NFC championship game with one arm. Sherman injured his elbow against the Green Bay Packers, but the bigger question with Sherman is what will he do if his girlfriend goes into labor before the game. The breaking injury news that came out yesterday was on Seattle safety Kam Chancellor. It’s being reported that  the last play of practice yesterday (Friday) Chancellor injured his knee and left the field with a wrapped left knee. Will the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady be able to take advantage of a banged up Seattle secondary which is considered the best in the league? Finally it won’t be long until we find out on the field instead of just talking about it.

Besides just my predictions on the game I went out and had everyone from Sports Time Radio send me their final score and who they think will win the MVP award. Here’s what we’ve picked for the Super Bowl.

Schaumburg Stu has it New England 30 Seattle 17 with Tom Brady winning the MVP.
Dan the Man has it New England 42 Seattle 34 with Brady as his MVP as well.
Mr. Fantasy has it New England 27 Seattle 17 and he went with Brady as his MVP also.
I have Seattle 27 New England 21 with Kam Chancellor as the MVP.
Greg from our fantasy challenge has it New England 31 Seattle 20 and get also likes Brady as MVP.
I also asked Phil Watson from http://www.DairylandExpress.com for a prediction and he went with Seattle 24 New England 23 with Marshawn Lynch as his MVP.
If you’d like to hear who Dylan Smith from Chowder and Champions James Silberman from Emerald City Swagger and Tony Fischer from Detroit Jock City picked to win and who they liked as MVP. Go into Blog Talk Radio and listen to the Friday edition of Sports Time Radio. Mr. Fantasy and I had them all make picks at the end of their interviews last night.

The Chicago Bulls are 30-19 and a 1 1/2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers for 1st place in the Central division of the Eastern conference, but with the Bulls up and down play this season there are people wondering what’s wrong with this team. As with any team that has reported issues the first person everyone looks at is the head coach. In the Bulls case that’s Tom Thibodeau that the spotlight is on right now. there are reports out of Chicago that the relationship between Thibodeau and the Bulls front office; General Manager Gar Foreman and team President John Paxson is “beyond repair”. It seems to be Thibodeau’s intense style of coaching that is causing the issues between him and the front office. This may actually go back to November of 2013 when a report surfaced that the Bulls team executives where telling Thibodeau how to dispense minutes to the players. With Thibodeau’s coaching style the Bulls top players log major minutes, but this season the starting unit of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah have played together in 15 of Chicago’s 49 games this season. This of course doesn’t count the last two seasons that Rose lost to injuries. ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, for whom Thibodeau was an assistant when Van Gundy was head coach of the Knicks and Rockets, blasted Chicago’s front office (and the journalists that cover the Bulls) during last Friday’s Chicago Bulls-Dallas Mavericks game. The Bulls are 4-6 in their last 10 games and dropped their 2nd game in a row last night 99-93 to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns loss follows a tough double overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers 123-118 on Thursday. These two  losses come after a big victory in Golden State against the Warriors 113-111. This is the kind of up and down play that has people questioning if Thibodeau had lost the Bulls locker room and if his style was too much for a long-term coach. Thibodeau has two years remaining on his contract and you’d hope before Foreman and Paxson would make a coaching change they’s ask themselves if they could find someone better. To make a change for changes sake would be stupid on the front offices part, but if the relationship between the head coach and the front office is that bad there may be a change coning. The Bulls have six more games before the NBA All-Star break and with all of these reports it looks like the break will be much appreciated.

With the big signing of Max Scherzer the Washington nationals look to have the best starting rotation in the MLB but after they dealt Tyler Clippard to the Oakland A’s I had some questions about their bullpen. The Nationals made a move to address the bullpen by signing free-agent reliever Casey Janssen, to a one year with mutual option, $5 million guaranteed including option buyout. Janssen appeared in 50 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014 saving 25 games. His ERA was 3.94 which was up from 2013 when it was 2.56 and from 2012 when it was 2.54. While the Nationals aren’t looking for Janssen to close; they have Drew Storen set to take that role, but if needed Janssen could fill in as closer if needed. The bullpen will get a boost from Tanner Roark who should move into the bullpen after the Scherzer signing. Will Janssen, Roark, Craig Stammen, Jerry Blevins and Matt Thornton be the bullpen combination that leads the Nationals to the season they’re predicted to have in 2015.

MLB Network built a show around the top prospects in baseball; here are the top 5 prospects. Byron Buxton outfielder Minnesota Twins, Kris Bryant 3rd baseman Chicago Cubs, Carlos Correa shortstop Houston Astros, Francisco Lindor shortstop Cleveland Indians and Addison Russell shortstop Chicago Cubs. Will we see any or all of these player in the major leagues this season who knows. This is the second year in a row that Buxton has been the #1 prospect in MLB so you have to wonder how much longer it will be before the Twins need to bring him up and take a look at him. If you’ve listened to the podcast at ll you know how I feel about Bryant. He should’ve been with the Cubs last season and there;s no reason he shouldn’t be on the major league team at the start of the 2015 season, but the Cubs are trying to hold on to him as long as they can and I’m betting he starts the season in the minor leagues. It’s a huge joke on the Cubs part, but they have control of Bryant and can do that. Most of the reports I’ve read have said that Correa is a season or so away from being the Astros everyday shortstop; so I’d be surprised to see him in the majors this season. Lindor is the next Indians shortstop, but they want to make sure that he’ll play that position everyday when he’s brought up to the majors. Russell is another player who is probably a year away from the big leagues, but if he’s going to be there with the Cubs he might have to switch positions. Russell played some 2nd base in the Arizona Fall League for a short period of time and barring a trade of Starling Castro 2nd base may be Russell’s position at the big league level.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: January 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports
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0

1/28/15

Sadly it looks like it’s time to ask the question is Kobe Bryant’s career over? Bryant is scheduled to have season ending rotator cuff surgery today. Bryant’s 19th NBA season will end with him playing in 35 games. This is coming off a 2013-2014 season where he played in just six games. Bryant almost played the entire season in 2012-2013 appearing in 78 games, but the season before 2011-2012 he was limited to 52 games. The injuries are starting to pile up and you have to wonder if it’s too much for Bryant to over come. He’s bounced back from an Achilles and a knee injury; now we add the rotator cuff to that list.Bryant was averaging 22.3 points per game this season, but that’s down from 27.3 in the 2012-2013 season and he averaged 27.9 in 2011-2012. His field goal percentage this season is .373 down from .463 in 2012-2013 season and his shooting percentage was .430 in the 2011-2012 season. Bryant is also shooting .293 from behind the three point line this season. The Los Angeles Lakers have managed to cut Bryant’s minutes a little this season to 34.5 per game, but is the wear and tear of a long NBA career catching up with him. Bryant has appeared in 16 All-Star games winning the MVP award four times. He won the league MVP award following the 2007-2008 season and also won back to back finals MVP awards in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Bryant is 3rd among players in career points scored with 32,482. Bryant has proven people wrong before coming back from injury and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him playing next season. What I don’t want to see is Bryant come back next season and not be in a Lakers uniform. While Bryant has been able to live up to the Michael Jordan comparisons I don’t want to see him follow in Jordan’s footsteps and end up finishing his career playing somewhere he shouldn’t be. Bryant turns 37 years old in August and would he come back for a farewell type of tour in 2015-2016. With every team in the NBA playing more than half of their regular season games to this point let’s look at the lower seeded playoff teams and who might get left out. In the Western conference this should be interesting as right now the Oklahoma City Thunder are on the outside looking into the playoffs. The Thunder are 10th right now in the West; three games behind the 8th seeded Phoenix Suns. Phoenix finds itself two games ahead of the 9th seeded New Orleans Pelicans, but just three games behind the 7th seeded and defending champion San Antonio Spurs. The Dallas Mavericks would be seeded 6th, but they are only four games ahead of the Suns and just 1 game ahead of the Spurs. This should make the second half of the season interesting as five teams will try to fit into three playoff spots. Could you imagine the 1st round of the Western conference playoffs without San Antonio, Dallas or Oklahoma City. The bottom seeds in the Eastern conference may shake out the same way just with worse records. The Charlotte Hornets are holding onto the 8th seed, but they are just one game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets and three games ahead of the Boston Celtics. Charlotte also finds itself just one game behind the Miami Heat who are the 7th seed right now. Charlotte is also just four games behind the 6th seeded Milwaukee Bucks. Can Charlotte hold onto a playoff spot with Kemba Walker being out possible for the rest of the season? Walker had surgery on a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee and may be back in six weeks. Walker had been Charlotte’s best player this year, and during the month of January was averaging 23.6 points per game, better than his 18.8 average for the season. So holding onto the 8th seed or even a playoff spot with Walker out might be tough for Charlotte to do. The NHL had its All-Star game on Saturday night where Team Toews beat Team Foligno 17-12; yes that’s right there where 29 combined goals scored. The game didn’t look anything at all like an actual NHL game. There where eight goals scored combined in the 1st period alone. Only two out of the 11 games played last night had eight or more goals scored total. If you’re an NHL goaltender why would you go to the All-Star game if you made the team. It’s not like anyone if going to play any defense in front of you and each team might as well just skate six players a side and leave the goals empty. I didn’t really watch much of the game and just flipped by it a couple of times. These type of All-Star games don’t interest me. The game was played in Columbus and Ryan Johansen of the home town Blue Jackets was the games MVP Johansen did have a good weekend; not only was he the #1 pick in the All-Star fantasy draft he also was in the Breakaway competition during All-Star Saturday night. In the Breakaway Challenge Johansen on his first attempt donned an Ohio State football jersey in honor of the national championship won by the Buckeyes on January 12th. On his next try he brought out 7-year-old Cole Vogt, the son of Blue Jackets trainer Mike Vogt, to score a goal and wrapped up his set with a “Flying V” formation from the Mighty Ducks movies with the help of his teammates. The fantasy draft I enjoy and I thought it was an innovative idea for a league that is considered 4th of the big four sports. The Skills Challenge is fun and interesting to see the players do the different events, but the game itself it terrible. I’m not sure if it’s as bad as the NBA All-Star game or the NFL Pro Bowl, but it’s right up there with them. Sadly there’s no way to change this type of game as star player aren’t going to check and bang with the chance of getting hurt and costing their actual team a chance to win the Stanley Cup. I wonder if moving the game to the end of the season would make it different, but with the NHL season as long as it is that’s not really an answer either. For me though I can’t watch these types of games; can you?

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