Posts Tagged ‘Carmelo Anthony’

How was your week

Posted: February 25, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports
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The NBA trade deadline was Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time and while there where some moves made none of the big name players that where rumored to be traded where. After all the talk and b.s. reporting that went on Carmelo Anthony is still with the New York Knicks. Jimmy Butler is still with the Chicago Bulls and Paul George is still with the Indiana Pacers. As it turned out the only superstar that ended up being traded was DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings swore up and down that they wouldn’t be dealing him.

Now the rumors on Anthony had cooled greatly as the deadline got closer; so it’s no surprise at all he’s still with the Knicks. There are very few places to even try and deal Anthony and with his no-trade clause he doesn’t have to accept any type of deal. Once there was no deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers there was talk about the Los Angeles Clippers and even some rumors of a deal with the Boston Celtics, but in the end none of those happened. Maybe if Kevin Love was healthy there would of been more movement on an Anthony deal. Now I guess we’ll have to listen to the rumors heading into the off season.

Now the Bulls made a deal sending Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Cameron Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, Anthony Morrow and a 2018 2nd round pick, but Butler stayed put. While Butler’s name came up quite a bit the only team he was ever really linked to going with was the Boston Celtics. Maybe this is another deal that heats up when the draft pick the Celtics own that used to belong to the Brooklyn Nets has a draft spot associated with it.

Paul George’s name came up very late in the trade deadline rumors and George came out and said that he wouldn’t re-sign if he was traded; so you have to think that pretty much killed any deal involving him. At first the trade talk was that the Pacers would be looking to add pieces around George, but as the deadline approached the talk started to turn that the Pacers might look to deal George instead of acquire players to put around him. When was all was said and done Indiana did nothing at the deadline.

Now there where a couple of trades made at the deadline just not that blockbuster that was talked about. The Philadelphia 76ers decided to finally deal one of there big men as Nerlens Noel was traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Andrew Bogut, Justin Anderson and a protected 1st round pick. It’s been reported that the 76ers will buy Bogut out; so he’ll be a free agent. The Mavericks also waived Deron Williams. Remember on Valentine’s Day the Toronto Raptors acquired Serge Ibaka from the Orlando Magic for Terrence Ross and a 2017 1st round pick. Well at the trade deadline the Raptors acquired P.J. Tucker from the Phoenix Suns for Jared Sullinger and a 2nd round draft pick in 2017 and 2018. While Tucker isn’t a big time scorer he is a very good defender who could be used to match up in a playoff series with LeBron James if those teams met. In the end the big winners at the trade deadline may end up being the Cavaliers. While the Cavaliers didn’t make a trade at the deadline the reports are that they’ll sign Bogut and Williams as free agents. James complained weeks ago that the Cavaliers needed another playmaker at the point guard position and while he’s not the player he use to be Williams would definitely fit that roll. By adding Bogut they’d be getting a solid big man to come off the bench with championship series experience. How did your favorite team do at the trade deadline?

With the NBA trade deadline past it’s time for the NHL to head towards there trade deadline. The NHL trade deadline is this Monday February 29th. There where a couple of moves made yesterday as teams look towards the deadline.

The Anaheim Ducks acquired Patrick Eaves from the Dallas Stars for a conditional 2nd round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. Eaves is 32 years old and was tied for the Stars lead with 21 goals, including 11 on the power play, which ranked fourth in the NHL. His 37 points in 59 games are an NHL career high. Eaves can become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

The other deal saw the Chicago Blackhawks send a 3rd round pick in the 2017 NHL draft to the Detroit Red Wings for Tomas Jurco. Jurco turned 24 in December and had no points and two penalty minutes in 16 games with the Red Wings this season. He had 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) in 159 NHL games over four seasons with Detroit, including eight goals in 36 games during the  2013-14 season. Jurco has been described as a “project”, but the Blackhawks are hoping that a change of scenery helps Jurco like it did Richard Panik after they picked him up at the trade deadline last season.

Just like with the NBA there will be some big names that will come up in trade rumors. Brian Boyle of the Tampa bay Lighting, Shane Doan of the Arizona Coyotes and New York Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak are some of the names out there. It also appears that the St. Louis Blues would be willing to move defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk as a rent a type player. Shattenkirk’s names recently came up as a possible trade candidate after he turned down a long term deal from St. Louis. Who knows if we’ll see any of these players dealt, but by Monday we’ll have the answer.

On the ice Friday night the Washington Capitals picked up there 13th straight home win by beating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1. Tom Wilson and Justin Williams scored the goals for Washington and Braden Holtby made 30 saves in goal as the Capitals tied their record for consecutive home wins. Washington is headed out for two games on the road; so they won’t be able to break their record for consecutive home wins until March 2nd when they host the New Jersey Devils.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com but you can also find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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How was your week

Posted: January 21, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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The New York Knicks are 19-25 heading into tonight’s game against the Phoenix Suns. The Knicks are currently 11th in the Eastern Conference standings, but they’re just two games out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the conference. Now even if the Knicks did manage to get into that last Eastern Conference playoff spot I’m not sure they’d have much of a chance in a first round match up against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The last few weeks there’s been quite a bit of drama with the Knicks on what Carmelo Anthony’s future with the team should be. There was talk of trying to trade Anthony, but he has a no trade clause in his contract and would have to waive that before any move could be made. Yesterday Anthony said he would consider allowing the Knicks to trade him if that’s what management wanted to do. Any team acquiring Anthony in a deal would be adding quite a bit of money to there salary cap. Anthony is due $24,559,380 this season. In 2017-18 Anthony’s salary is $26,243,760.In the 2018-19 season Anthony has a salary of $27,298,140. While Anthony is still a solid scorer averaging 22.3 points per game. Is he worth the kind of money his contract calls for?

No surprise there are some teams names that continue to come up as trading partners for the Knicks if they decide to deal Anthony. The Los Angeles Clippers name has come up, but it seems as though any time a big name player is talked about in a deal the Clippers name comes up, but no deal ever happens. I can see why the Clippers are always brought up. They’re a bit of a stagnant team in a difficult conference and they don’t appear to be able to get past the Golden State Warriors with the way the team is composed. Of course to get a player the caliber of Anthony the Clippers would have to give up someone like Blake Griffin. Now Griffin has had some injury issues and some off the court problems; so a change of scenery might be a good thing for him. It would be interesting to see how Anthony would do in the higher scoring more uptempo Western Conference. Anthony has been seen as a guy who “pounds ” the ball while waiting to get his shot. Anthony is shooting 36% from behind the 3-point line this season and for his career shoots 34.5% from behind the 3-point line. While this is Anthony’s 14th season I the NBA he’s just 32 years old; so physically he should be in good shape for the Western Conference style. Would you like to see Anthony with the Clippers?

The other team that has been mentioned as of late in the Anthony trade talks are the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are being looked at as the up and coming team in the Eastern Conference and they don’t have a player over 30 years old. Could Anthony be the veteran player a team like the Celtics need to turn them into a title contender? Point guard Isaiah Thomas has broken out this season averaging 28.7 points per game, but is still averaging 6 assists per game; so sharing the basketball shouldn’t be an issue. Now Celtics starting shooting guard Avery Bradley has missed some games as of late with a Achilles issue. Anthony could plug in nicely as a fill in for Bradley as well as picking up minutes at small forward. The trade here could be interesting for the Knicks here. The Celtics own the rights to the Brooklyn Nets 1st round draft pick in the next draft. Brooklyn currently has the worst record in the NBA at 9-33; so not only is that pick going to be a lottery pick it should be in the Top 3 pick and has to be the #1 overall pick in the draft. That draft pick could help the Knicks get back on track, but then who are the players that would come over in an Anthony trade? What do you think about Boston as a landing spot for Anthony?

The Baltimore Orioles brought back baseball home run leader from last season Mark Trumbo on a 3 year deal worth $37.5 million dollars. The deal pays Trumbo $11 million dollars a season. Trumbo will also receive deferred money in the deal. He’ll be paid $1.5 million dollars in 2020,2021 and 2022. Trumbo also get s partial no trade clause. He’ll be able to block deals to seven teams.

While it’s not a huge surprise to see the Orioles bring Trumbo back the money came down from where contract talks started out. The original contract talks started at $50 million dollars in a total deal. By bringing Trumbo back the O’s will lose a chance to recoup a draft pick, as he had declined a qualifying offer from the team at the start of the offseason.

The Orioles acquired Trumbo along with left handed pitcher C.J. Riefenhauser from the Seattle Mariners for catcher Steve Clevenger in December of 2015. Trumbo went on to hit .256 with 47 home runs and 108 RBI’s in 159 games last season. Trumbo just turned 31 years old and if he can get close to the numbers he out up last season you have to think the Orioles will be happy with that.

We also had a couple of other pitchers sign this week. Neftali Feliz signed a one year $5.35 million dollar deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. With incentives Feliz’s deal could reach $6.85 million. Feliz pitched in 62 games last season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He went 4-2 with a 3.52 E.R.A. and had 29 holds and 2 saves last season.

The other pitcher to sign was Tyson Ross. Ross got a one year deal from the Texas Rangers for $6 million dollars. The deal also contains $3 million dollars in incentive clauses. Ross made just one start for the San Diego Padres last season and it just so happened to be Opening Day. Ross attempted to rehab his shoulder injury all season without success and  ultimately ended up undergoing surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome. After the Padres non-tendered Ross last month nearly two-third of the league showed some level of interest in him as a free agent, but in recent weeks it’s been reported that the Rangers and Chicago Cubs were his two likeliest landing spots, with the Washington Nationals also floating on the periphery of his market. If Ross is healthy for the start of the 2017 season he should be a good addition to the Rangers rotation.

There was another starting pitcher on the move this week as the Cincinnati Reds traded Dan Straily to the Miami Marlins for three minor leaguers. The Reds acquired two right handed pitcher Luis Castillo and Austin Brice as well as outfielder Isaiah White. Straily pitched in 34 games making 31 starts last season. He was 14-8 with a 3.76 E.R.A. in 191 1/3rd innings. Straily will be put into the mix for a spot in the Marlins starting rotation. Miami has also added Edison Volquez and Jeff Locke to try and strengthen there starting rotation.

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Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

New York Knicks 104 Chicago Bulls 89

Posted: January 13, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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While Dwayne Wade did return to the Chicago Bulls for Thursday nights game against the New York Knicks the Bulls where still very short handed. Leading scorer Jimmy Butler and top bench player or 6th man Nikola Mirotic missed there 2nd game in a row due to illness. Neither Butler or Mirotic is traveling with the team. With a couple of there top players out the Bulls suffered another double digit 104-89 to the Knicks. This was the Bulls 3rd loss in a row and dropped there record to 19-21 on the season. With the win the Knicks ended there three game losing streak and improved there record to 18-22 this season.

The Knicks scored the first eight points of the game; taking an 8-0 lead. The Bulls came back to cut the lead to one point at 13-12, but the Knicks scored the next seven points to push the lead back to seven points at 19-12. The Bulls cut the lead to one point again at 22-21 with 1:02 left in the quarter, but the Knicks scored the last two of the last three points in the quarter to take a 24-22 lead after one quarter.

Cristiano Felicio started the 2nd quarter with a dunk for the Bulls to tie the game at 24 all. The Knicks then went on a 10-2 run to take an eight point lead at 34-26. The short handed Bulls responded and when Paul Zipser made two free throws to complete a 10-0 Bulls run; Chicago had there first lead of the game at 36-34. The game was tied two more times in the quarter at 36 all and 42 all. The teams traded the lead seven times in the final 3:40 of the quarter, but going into the halftime it was the Knicks that took a 54-51 lead headed into the locker room.

With this being the second game of a back to back for New York and Chicago being short handed the teams struggled to score in the 3rd quarter. The Bulls managed just 14 points. While New York didn’t do much better just scoring 22 points in the quarter. Of course by outscoring the Bulls in the quarter the Knicks where able to add to there lead and at the end of three quarters New York was ahead by 12 points 76-65.

The closet the Bulls could get in the 4th quarter was 10 points and they did that five different times. The last time the Bulls cut the lead to 10 points was with 1:36 left in the game. The Knicks outscored the Bulls in the 4th quarter as well 28 to 24. The Knicks scored the final five points of the game capped off by a Mindaugas Kuzminskas 3-pointer with :20 seconds left in the game. That final 3-pointer got the game to it’s 104-89 final score.

Carmelo Anthony was the Knicks and the games high scorer with 23 points. Anthony also handed out a team high 6 assists. Mindaugas Kuzminskas came of the New York bench to score 19 points while Derrick Rose had 17 points against his former team. Kyle O’Quinn (off the bench) and another former Bull Joakim Noah each scored 12 points while Noah grabbed a game high 15 rebounds while O’Quinn grabbed 11 rebounds.

Dwayne Wade was the Bulls leading scorer with 22 points. Jerian Grant had 14 points off the Bulls bench while Cristiano Felicio also hit double digits off the Bulls bench with 13 points. Taj Gibson had 12 points and a team high 9 rebounds while Robin Lopez added 10 points. Rajon Rondo was the games leader in assists with 8.

The Bulls return home to try and break there three game losing streak Saturday afternoon against the 16-24 New Orleans Pelicans. Anthony Davis missed Thursday nights Pelicans game with a hip injury. Davis’s status for Saturday’s game is still unknown. After back to back games the Knicks get a couple of days off. They head to Toronto on Sunday afternoon to face the Atlantic leading 25-13 Raptors.

How was your Week?

Posted: June 27, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey
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On Thursday Jon Lester pitched for the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lester only lasted 4 innings, but this isn’t about if he’s worth the money the Cubs are paying him. It’s about how the home plate umpire acted during the game. In the 2nd inning A.J. Ellis was at the plate for the Dodgers with a 2 and 2 count. Lester’s next pitch appeared to be right down the middle of the plate. Ellis took what looked like strike 3, but home plate umpire Andy Fletcher called it a ball. When Cubs catcher David Ross threw the ball back to Lester he caught it in disgust and yelled towards home plate. Lester’s next pitch was close, but clearly a ball and Ellis drew a walk. It’s not uncommon to see a pitcher get into a fight with an umpire during a game. It is uncommon to see an umpire charge the pitcher’s mound during one of those arguments, but that’s exactly what Fletcher did. Ross pretty much had to physically restrain Fletcher as he was trying to get to Lester who was o the pitching mound.  Ross did a good enough job distracting Fletcher; to allow Cubs manager Joe Maddon to make his way out to the field. Maddon was able to take Fletcher’s attention away from Lester, and the two retreated to home plate to argue. Amazingly, no member of the Cubs was ejected during the argument. Lester explained the situation after the game this way. “I didn’t say anything directly to him,” Lester said. “I don’t know why he was so upset. I had my head down when I was yelling. Nothing was directed at him … and I don’t know what was going on. It had nothing to do with the umpire’s strike zone. I have to execute better.”  Ross also added “Andy wanted to make sure [Lester’s reaction] wasn’t directed toward him,” Ross said. “I was making sure [Fletcher] would talk to me and not Jon.” To me Fletcher’s reaction was improper and he needs to be disciplined. Players should be allowed to show that they’re upset with a call an umpire makes and as long as the player has his reaction and gets back to baseball it should be over. Too many times in games today, umpires go way over the line to continue these arguments which of course then lead to players or managers being ejected. This is the first time that I remember a home plate umpire charging the mound like he had been hit by a pitch. Ross had to put his hands on Fletcher to stop him from getting to the mound and Lester. I’ve heard this said quite a few times and I’m going to repeat it. I’m not at the game to see the umpire. 

After his near perfect game in his last start. It was Max Scherzer’s turn in the rotation for the Washington nationals as they were playing the Philadelphia Phillies. Scherezer added another 5 1/3rd perfect innings last night retiring the first 16 Phillies he faced until Freddy Galvis doubled on a 1-1 to the right field wall. While Scherezer  couldn’t match Johnny Vander Meer, who threw two straight no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds in June 1938, Scherezer has taken a no-hitter into the sixth inning in three straight starts. On a side note; the deepest a pitcher has taken a no-hitter after throwing one in the start before was Nolan Ryan in 1973, when he allowed a hit with no outs in the eighth. Scherezer picked up the vicyory in the Nationals 5-2 win to improve his record to 9-5 on the season. Scherezer pitched 8 innings allowing 5 hits, 2 earned runs while striking out 7 hitters. Scherezer even got a base hit and scored one of the Nationals 5 runs.

There was a streak in major league baseball that came to an end this week and I’m not sure many people even noticed.  Atlanta Braves right fielder Nick Markakis saw his record streak of 398 consecutive games without an error end in the first inning of Thursday’s game against the Washington Nationals. Denard Span singled to right field leading off and Markakis bobbled the ball, allowing Span to take second. Markakis, who signed with Atlanta in the offseason, established the all-time MLB record for consecutive errorless games by a non-pitcher on June 18th; breaking the previous mark of 392, set by Darren Lewis from 1990-94. Markakis had not made an error since on Aug. 10, 2012, while with the Baltimore Orioles.

The NBA Draft was held on Thursday with Karl-Anthony Towns being the 1st player selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Los Angeles Lakers took D’Angelo Russell with the 2nd pick and the Philadelphia 76ers took Jahlil Okafor with the 3rd pick. Now most if not all experts had these 3 players being the first 3 players off the draft board in some order. The New York Knicks had the 4th pick in the draft and took Kristaps Porzingis. Now it was reported that Carmelo Anthony didn’t like this pick and was upset with the Knicks and Phil Jackson There was a report that Anthony was telling a close friend “are we supposed to wait two or three years for this guy?”  A Knicks source claims that Anthony called Tim Hardaway Jr. after Hardaway was traded to Atlanta for the draft rights to Jerian Grant to express his displeasure with Jackson’s moves. Stephen A. Smith said on SiriusXM radio that Anthony feels “betrayed” by Jackson, who last summer signed him to a 5-year, $124 million contract. If I could ask Anthony a question I’d love to know who or what he thought the Knicks could do that would make them contenders. Anthony, who turned 31 on May 29, had season ending knee surgery in February and will be ready by the start of training camp.

The NHL Draft started last night, but I’d have to lie to you to tell you anything about the players who were picked last night. As expected Connor McDavid was the 1st overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers and Jack Eichel was taken 2nd by the Buffalo Sabres as expected. For the first time in NHL history and I believe draft history a team had 3 consecutive 1st round picks. The Boston Bruins ended up having the 13th. 14th and 15th pick in the first round. Boston ended up taking defenseman Jakub Zboril, left winger Jake DeBrusk and right winger Zachary Senyshyn. I’m not sure if we’ll see any of these players in the NHL at the start of next season, but it will give you something to keep an eye on. Just so you know when to start looking for these players the NHL season starts October 7th with 4 games on the schedule.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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How was Your Week

Posted: December 6, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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12/06/14

While the NBA season is only about 20 games old for most teams there are some questions out their this early in the season. If you’re a fan of the New York Knicks are you asking yourself if the triangle offense is the right fit for your favorite team. The Knicks are off to a 4-17 start to the season after a last second loss last night to the Charlotte Bobcats 103-102. Carmelo Anthony is averaging 23.2 points per game, but Amar’e Stoudemire is the only other Knicks player averaging in double figures per game at 12.8. Stroudemire also leads the team in rebounds per game with 7.8. At 3.9 assists per game Jose Calderon is leading the Knicks in that category. While those might be solid individual stats for players it’s the team stats that show where the Knicks are suffering. The Knicks average 93.5 points per game and this is good for 26th place out of 30 teams. They are 13th in opponents scoring giving up 98.9 points per game for a difference of -5.4 points a game. As a team the Knicks are shooting .448 % from the field which puts them in 19th out of 30 NBA teams. Knicks opponents are shooting just a little better per game at .450 % from the field which ranks at 13th out of 30 teams. New York is one of the better 3 point shooting teams in the NBA. The Knicks make .371 % of the 3’s they take which is tied for 7th in the league. In return though opponents shoot a better percentage from behind the 3-point line. Knicks opponents make .379 % of the 3’s they take which is 25 out of the 30 NBA teams. New York is middle of the pack with turnovers per game at 14 this ranks tied for 14th in the NBA. There opponents are committing 13.9 turnovers per game which ranks 15th out of 30 teams. Before the season started the experts said it would take the Knicks some time to adjust to playing the triangle offense. How long is too long? To use the old if the playoffs started right now line; yeah the Knicks wouldn’t be close. The Knicks are 5 1/2 game behind what would be the 8th seeded Brooklyn Nets. I heard someone say just yesterday that resigning Anthony in the off-season was a mistake, but without him who’s scoring for this team. The triangle offense can and has worked with one top scorer in it. It’s the pieces around that player that have to really fit the system. Anthony doesn’t quite fit the triangle like Michael Jordan did for the Chicago Bulls or Kobe Bryant did for the Los Angeles Lakers, but there’s no doubt he can score. You have to wonder how Knicks fans will react if this team misses the playoffs for the second straight season in a row in the Eastern conference.

It was brought to my attention that I forgot to add Greg and Mr. Fantasy’s sleeper picks for Week 13. So here are there picks; so we’ll be all caught up. Greg went with Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. Cotchery was targeted 5 times; he caught 2 of those targets for 20 yards and 3.50 points for the week. Cotchery was 95th among scoring for wide receivers in Week 13. Mr. Fantasy picked Indianapolis Colts running back Dan “Boom Boom” Herron. Herron carried the football 8 times for 88 yards and a touchdown. He was also targeted twice in the passing game catching both passes for eight yards. Herron did lose a fumble, but totaled 18.35 points in Week 13 was 12th highest scoring running back for the week. Now we’re all caught up and we’ll see who Greg and Mr. Fantasy like in Week 14.

Did your fantasy football playoffs start this Thursday when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Chicago Bears 41-28? The better question might be; did you make the fantasy football playoffs? For your leagues Week 14 is the last week of the regular season and I find myself on the outside looking in, but I am in position to sneak into the playoffs. In our Next Year is Here league I am in 9th place and 8 teams make the playoffs; so I need a win and then a loss by the team ahead of me. In the Sports Time Radio league which is our auction draft league I sit in 10th place, but record wise just 1 game out of 8th place. I did have a couple of players go in the Thursday night game, but my guys didn’t put up great numbers. Our Next Year is Here league is the one you always hear us joke about that we start two tight ends a week. I have Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboy as one of my starting tight ends. Witten caught 2 passes for 26 yards and put up 4.10 points in our scoring system. Witten was projected to score 11.71 points in Week 14; so that team is in the whole to start. I the Sports Time Radio league I had two players going in Thursday’s game; both wide receivers. Brandon Marshall of the Chicago Bears and Terrence Williams of the Cowboys. Marshall looked like he was on his way to putting up good numbers for me, but a rib and lung injury ended his game and what appears to be his season. Marshall had 4 targets catching 3 of them for 61 yards. Marshall was projected to score 14.90 points in Week 14, but ended up scoring 8.35 points. Williams on the other hand had 0 targets which of course means 0 catches and 0 yards for a total of 0 points. While Williams wasn’t expected to put up huge numbers; he was projected to score 8.20 points in Week 14, but it’s tough to come back from a starter getting a big old 0 in points for your team. Here’s hoping your Week 14 started off better than mine did. That is unless you’re playing against my team.

The New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers have officially announced a three-team trade sending shortstop Didi Gregorius from the Diamondbacks to the Yankees, right-hander Shane Greene from the Yankees to the Tigers, and left-hander Robbie Ray and infield prospect Domingo Leyba to the Diamondbacks. Is Gregorius the long-term answer for the Yankees at shortstop or is he going to just be a gap filler until a bigger name comes along. In two seasons with Arizona Gregorius played in 183 games. He is a career .241 hitter with 25 doubles, 8 triples and 13 home runs. They Yankees also announced the signing of Andrew Miller to a four-year contract. Miller, a client of Frontline Athlete Management, will reportedly receive a $36 million dollars guarantee, but the contract does not include a no-trade clause. The 29-year-old Miller (30 next May) broke out in a huge way in 2014, pitching to a 2.02 ERA with an eye-popping 14.9 K/9 (an AL record) in 62 1/2 innings for the Red Sox and Orioles. He went on to throw another 7 1/3 shutout innings with an 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in the postseason as well. Miller will pair with Dellin Betances; an electric breakout story himself at the back of the Yankee bullpen, giving manager Joe Girardi a pair of dominant late-inning options. Does signing Miller mean that David Robertson is no longer in the Yankees plan. Will the Yankees still add a starting pitcher; which a lot of experts think they need. There’s still a lot of off-season left for teams to sign or trade for players; so we’ll see who ends up where before the 2015 season starts.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday 6/18/04

Posted: June 18, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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Since the followers to this blog seem to be increasing I figured I’d try to start writing a 2nd blog during the week and Wednesday seemed a good a day as any to do it. The plan is to get a blog up every Wednesday along with the Saturday blog and we’ll see how this goes.

While I wasn’t surprised to see the San Antonio Spurs beat the Miami Heat to win the NBA championship it was the way they beat them that surprised me. Game 1 was a 15 point win 110-95. Game 2 of course was the only game Miami won during the series. A 2 point Heat win 98-96. Game 3 of course went to San Antonio 111-92. Game 4 saw San Antonio win 107-86. San Antonio won the championship with a Game 5 victory 104-87. While I never made a prediction in this series; I just said I’d like to see the Spurs win. The majority of the experts I heard predicted the Heat to win this series; actually come to think of it I didn’t hear anyone pick the Spurs to win the series. While the experts thought the Spurs would keep the series close and some even said it would go seven games none of them thought San Antonio would win it let alone win it in the fashion they did. No one had Miami winning only one game in this series and no one had them being beaten the way they where. Going into the series I thought Miami was the better team, but San Antonio dominated Miami in winning the championship. Kawhi Leonard was the Spurs player who broke out in the finals. He averaged 17.8 points per game for the series, but in the final three games he went for 29 points in Game 3. 20 points in Game 4 and 22 points in Game 5. Leonard actually posted double-doubles in Games 4 and 5. He grabbed 14 rebounds in Game 4 and then 10 rebounds in Game 5. For his play Leonard was named NBA finals MVP. While Leonard was the breakout star San Antonio’s big three did their part to win this championship. Tim Duncan had double-doubles in three games; Game 1, Game 2 and Game 4. Tony Parker made a case for himself being the best point guard in the NBA. Parker averaged 18.0 points and 4.6 assists during the finals. Manu Ginobili averaged 14.4 points and 4.4 assists during the finals. When Danny Green struggled shooting the ball in Game 5 it was Ginobili who stepped up and went 3 for 6 from behind the three-point line. Green was held scoreless in Game 5 and the Spurs needed Ginobili to come up big like he did. Will this be the Spurs last title with this big three no one can be sure. Duncan is 38 years old, Ginobili is 36 and Parker is 32. Head coach Greg Popovich has said he plans on coaching next season after some rumors came out that he might retire if the Spurs won the title. There was also that same rumor floated out there about Duncan, but nothing has been confirmed. Ginobili as well may retire from the NBA and return to Argentina and play for their team. Will have to wait and see what these Spurs do, but they’ll do it as champions.

Let the NBA off-season rumor mill start. Will LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh all stay in Miami? Where will Carmelo Anthony be playing next season? The Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls are the reported front-runners if Carmelo does opt out of his deal and become a free agent. All reports have indicated that he will opt out, but remember the New York Knicks can pay him more than any other team out there. How would interest in Carmelo change if LeBron opted out of his deal in Miami and became a free agent? Could a team Like the Los Angeles Clippers who are on the verge of winning a title make the moves they’d need to make to bring in a player like Carmelo. The Clippers are a team that could be a dark horse for a guy like Anthony. Can Kevin Love force the Minnesota Timberwolves to trade him? and where would he end up. Love has mentioned the Bulls as well as the Golden State Warriors as two places he’d like to go. Could Carmelo be a sign and trade player for the Knicks? Could LeBron end up playing in Cleveland next season? Is there a team that’s willing to pay the price Minnesota would want for Love? Plus the NBA Draft is right around the corner; Thursday June 26th. All this and more will be answered in the NBA off-season.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

How was your Week? 6/14/14

Posted: June 14, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Did you stay up to watch the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Rangers in double overtime to win the Stanley Cup? I can say that I did. While I didn’t watch the entire game; I go back and forth between the hockey game and the different baseball games o that where on. Once overtime started I was locked on as the Kings where one goal away from winning the Stanley Cup and the Rangers where one goal away from going to Game 6. Schaumburg Stu had this series right on; he had the Kings in five games while I thought the Kings would win the series in six games. Alec Martinez scored the Stanley Cup winning goal for the Kings in the 2nd overtime. Martinez scored 14:43 into the second overtime on a rebound off of Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s pads. It’s the second Stanley Cup win for the Kings in three seasons; they won in 2012 as well. This is also three Stanley Cup wins in a row for the Western conference and four out of the last five as well.

With the NHL season over there is only one playoff series left. The San Antonio Spurs lead the Miami Heat, 3 games to 1 in their NBA finals series. After a win on the road by Miami, San Antonio bounced back and won both games in Miami this week and I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted that. We talked on the show about San Antonio being able to go into Miami and split games, but I didn’t think they would win both games. The Spurs have their 1st chance to close out the series tomorrow (Sunday) in San Antonio. Kawhi Leonard has been the breakout star for the Spurs especially the last two games. Leonard has drawn the defensive assignment of guarding LeBron James and has done a solid job. Let’s face it no one player is going to shut down James and Leonard has done a better than average job. James is also guarding Leonard and part of the reason for Leonard’s success on defense is he’s making James work to cover him. Leonard has put up 29 points on Game 3 and then 20 points and 14 rebounds in Game 4 both Spurs wins. Do you think the Spurs close out the series tomorrow night?

Besides the NBA finals there’s a lot of talk about where a couple of players will be playing next season. Carmelo Anthony has been saying for a while now that he’ll opt out of his contract and enter free agency and Kevin Love has told the Minnesota Timberwolves that he won’t sign an extension and will enter free agency after next season. It seems like Anthony has been linked to every NBA team since he announced he’d opt out. There;s been a lot of Carmelo to the Chicago Bulls talk, a little Carmelo to the Los Angeles Lakers talk, but the new one if Carmelo to the Miami Heat. This talk started when the Heat got into trouble in their series. This could be done in Miami, but it would take some doing. I believe LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh would have to opt out of their deals and then agree to resign at lower salaries than they have right now. Carmelo would also have to agree to a much lower salary than he could get from another team. This is the main reason I don’t see this happening, but if some how Carmelo ends up with Miami it will kill the NBA for me. Now in Love’s case he has a contract for next season and the only way he’s going anywhere is if Minnesota agrees to trade him. Love has mentioned the Bulls and the Golden State Warriors as two (2) teams he’d like to play for. It would be a blockbuster trade if Love is moved, but would a team take him without an agreement on a new contract. Love would be a great fit for either the Bulls or the Warriors, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll end up with either of those teams. Minnesota hasn’t mentioned anything at all concerning Love, but it’s very early and as we get closer to the draft and then the season things should pick up.

If you’ve been listening to the show; Sports Time Radio
you know that Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy with help from Schaumburg Stu every now and then have been predicting games not well, but they’ve been predicting games. It started as just selecting winners in the playoff games, but as the playoffs got smaller other picks have been added. They’ve had a bad week and going into today (Saturday) they are 32-41 overall. Mr. Fantasy made the picks for today and he went with Uruguay to beat Costa Rica in Group D of the FIFA World Cup. He has Shelby Miller pitching more innings today than Steven Strasburg; they’re pitching against each other today. His 3rd pick was Robinson Cano to get an extra base hit in the Seattle Mariners game tonight. You can tune in tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:00 a.m. and hear us discuss they struggles they’ve had or just follow along with their picks.

I woke up this morning to find out that former Pittsburgh Steelers coach and Hall of Famer Chuck Noll passed away. Noll went 209-156-1, including the postseason. He also led the Steelers to four Super Bowl titles. Noll was the Steelers head coach when their defense had the “Steel Curtain” nickname. Noll is seventh on the NFL’s all-time list for regular-season wins by a coach, and in 23 seasons he went 193-148-1 during the regular season. Noll was 82.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?