A Little Over Two Decades Later

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The Pittsburgh Pirates are no longer the laughing stock of the MLB. For the first time in 22 years the Pirates managed to clinch back to back playoff berths. The turn around of the team is mostly thanks to NL MVP Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen. McCutchen had and obp of .410 and a slg of .542. The question is can the Pirates carry there play into the postseason? 
They will play in the NL Wild Card game versus the San Francisco Giants. The game will be played at PNC Park where the Pirates have played well at the end of the season. Also the fans are going to be excited with there team being in the playoffs for the second straight year. Madison Bumgarner will be the starting pitcher for the Giants. Bumgarner has an ERA of 2.98 and a record of 18-10 for this season. On the mound for the Pirates will be Edinson Volquez. Volquez has an ERA of 3.04 and a record of 13-7 this season. McCutchen has struggled against Bumgarner this season, but his teammates have fared well against him. There will be an update after the game tomorrow night which can be seen on ESPN at 8 o'clock p.m. 

Nets window is open for one more year

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So if by now you couldn't tell, I am a Nets fan. Life isn't easy as a Nets fan. First of all the franchise has never really been a threat in all the years they have been in New Jersey, aside from the Jason Kidd era. I thought that last year was the last chance the Nets had a possibly winning a championship. They had a second round exit against the heat where they played pretty well aside from Williams collapse and the inability to close games. I can't stress how many times the Nets entered the final 5-2 minutes of a game with a comfortable lead and blew. The truth is that if Williams could have scored at least 10 point  per game in the Miami series and they could seal the deal in fourth they could have been up 3-2. That's enough about last season. Let's focus on this upcoming season.

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So the off-season started horribly. Williams had surgery on both ankles, Jason Kidd left for Milwaukee, Shaun Livingston signed with Golden state, and Pierce went to Washington. The loss of Kidd turned out to be a good thing since Lionel Hollins is a much better coach and could probably utilize the roster he has better than Kidd. Then things started to go up hill. Rookies Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson played well in summer league. The Nets finally signed draft pick Bojan Bojdanovic, who is a great three point shooter. Mason Plumlee showed significant improvements in his game in the summer league. Plumlee also got invited to play on the 2014 USA FIBA basketball team, and won a gold medal. Lopez had finally been cleared to resume all basketball activities, and is feeling great. Deron Williams said that this is the best his ankles have felt since he played in Utah. And Garnett is looking to improve from last season.

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With all that said I believe that is now or never for this Nets team and here's why. Cleveland will be good next year, but it is there first year together and the team chemistry isn't there yet. It will most likely develop, but it is uncertain how long it will take. This is a learning season for the Cavs. There's a bunch of new players and a rookie coach. It's not that I don't believe in what Cleveland is trying to do, but as LeBron said "it's a process".
Well many may say if it's not the Cavs this year then it will be the Bulls. I do believe the Bulls are a good team with a great coach. But it all comes down to two things Derrick Rose's health and how quickly Pau Gasol meshes with the starting lineup. I don't think Gasol will be a problem at all, because he will play power forward and last year Carlos Boozer played power forward. Last time I checked Gasol can do virtually everything better than Boozer. So will Rose return to MVP form or will he play like he did with team USA?
As everyone knows by now, the Pacers lost Paul George to a horrific leg injury. The Pacers also lost Lance Stephenson in free agency to the Bobcats. Ultimately the Pacers are a no threat this upcoming season. They might make the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed, but not any higher.

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With all that said I think this could be the Nets window of opportunity. Can the Cavs come together in one year? Can Derrick Rose find his footing after missing basically two seasons of basketball and having two knee surgeries? If you ask me the Window is open for any Eastern Conference team right now. The Nets have to recognize this and make sure they utilize Brook Lopez's post game to there advantage. They also need to make sure they have him and Garnett taking care of the boards because in order to compete with the Bulls and the Cavs they will need to try to contain Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, and Kevin Love. Also with Hollins moving Joe Johnson to small forward, he could start Alan Anderson for defensive purposes or Bogdanovic for offensive purposes. And if the played the Cavs Johnson could slide back to shooting guard and allow Kirilenko start at small forward to cover LeBron. Hollins wants Johnson to start at small forward to spread the floor with 3 point shooting. Anderson and Bogdanovic can both shoot the three well. If Kirilenko started he would severely handicap the Nets on the offensive end.

Can Tony Stewart recover from his accident?

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On August 9, a tradegy occurred in the NASCAR world. On that night at Canandaigua Motorsports Park a fatal accident unraveled during a caution. The caution was caused when Tony Stewart's car slid up the track into Kevin Ward Jr.'s racing machine. This sent Ward up into the barrier wall. As the caution flew Ward got out of his car and ran down into the track waiting for Stewart's car to come back around. As Stewart's car approached Ward, Ward made a move to get closer to Stewart's car. At that moment Ward was struck by Stewart's racing machine. Unfortunately Ward was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital. 
Everyone would like to know who is at fault for this incident and the truth is no one will ever know what was going through either drivers head when accident occurred. I could speculate all day, but if there's one thing that obviously could have helped avoid the whole situation is if Kevin Ward would have never exited his vehicle. The second he got out of his car he immediately put himself in danger. The only time a driver should get out there car is when it is on fire. Other than that every driver should wait until the paramedics arrive at the car and every driver is aware of the situation. Ward further endangered himself by walking down the track while cars were still going around the track. I mean seriously? I have always been told to stay away from a busy road and in the case Ward ran right into traffic. In the video Ward is lucky he wasn't struck by the driver in front of Stewart. 
Stewart was not charged of the death to Kevin Ward Jr., but the Ward family is looking for a civil suit. It will be hard for the Ward family to win any case because an autopsy revealed that Ward had marijuana in his system at the time of death so his judgment may have been impaired when the accident happened. 

It's about damn time

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Eric Bledsoe is officially on an NBA roster for next season. After a long, long wait and holding Bledsoe finally received an offer he liked. The suprising part of all this news is he will once again wear a Suns uniform. Phoenix offered Bledsoe a five year extension worth $70 million.
I'm not sure if this was smart for Phoenix, but it was great for Bledsoe. Bledsoe now has long term security. For the Suns I like that they were able to put the core players back together that made a run at the playoffs last season. Phoenix was a surprise last year. Many forget that almost every analysis had Phoenix finishing dead last in NBA standings. Also many doubted that a two guard lineup could work. Well the Suns proved everyone wrong and still ended up with a good draft spot in this year's deep draft class. The Suns also went out and signed Isaiah Thomas. I liked this signing because they can always have a two guard lineup on the floor. When Bledsoe or Dragic needs a break Thomas will come in and the offense won't miss a beat. Thomas  has already committed to playing any role needed of him to win games.

I think the Suns are in good shape for the upcoming season and I think this team has a bright future ahead.

What is happening in the NFL?

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Now that the media storm surrounding the NFL has died down I can talk logically about what happened. Well as everyone knows by now the Ray Rice video was released of him beating his wife inside the elevator (Caution: Video is graphic). That stirred up controversy right away and many people wanted him out of the NFL. Since then Rice has been suspended by the league indefinitely. The big question that people across the country keep asking is did the NFL already see this video? And if they didn't why did it take so long for them to see it? 

I find it hard to believe that the NFL never saw the footage that was released by TMZ. NFL is a multi-billion dollar corporation and should have had some way to get there hands on that tape. Also the police were involved in the investigation so between the NFL and the police department someone must have had seen this video. Now with that said many believe at first that Ray Rice's punishment wasn't enough for what he did in the first place. Remember the public only saw what happened outside the elevator and many felt based on the footage alone he should have been suspended about half of the season. Well the NFL took to lightly to the situation only giving Rice a two game suspension. That has come back to bite the NFL in the you know what.

So not long after this Rice video is shown publicly, Adrian Peterson starts popping up all over the news for child abuse. There have been reports of child abuse in the past from Peterson, but all have been brushed away. This time Peterson is caught in the middle of the media fire that Rice started up. There is also picture proof of what Peterson did to his kid and it is by no means okay. Keep in mind his child is only 4 years of age. According to many reports Peterson punishing his kid the way he did comes from a difference in background. What Peterson failed to understand is that he lives in a different generation. Physical punishments are unacceptable by the public which is why this put a bad image on the NFL. 

Domestic violence issues started occurring everywhere as soon as this happened. Greg Hardy has been put on the NFL exempt list until his legal issues are resolved. Ray McDonald, defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers was also brought up on domestic violence charges about a month ago and has not been punished in any way. McDonald has been in the 49ers lineup since the season began. 

Roger Goodell has addressed the media and the fans about the issue. Goodell apologized to the public for the issues surrounding the NFL and he was also sorry for how he handled the Ray Rice case. I'm not sure how many people bought the apology, but I know that one more slip up could cost the NFL big time. 

As of late the NFL has been fairly quiet on the issues that are going on off the field which is good. 

Where will Eric Bledsoe play next season?

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Bledsoe has gone silent this off-season and everyone wants to know where he will play next season. It seems like he may end up agreeing to a one year deal with Phoenix allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent next off-season. So unless the right trade comes along he will wear Suns uniform this season. Let's speculate on where Bledsoe could land next season.

The Phoenix Suns are the most likely landing spot for this athletic freak. He played well for the Suns last year and has a lot of potential to grow in a young star in the NBA. The only thing that is keeping from getting the max contract that he wants is his durability. Bledsoe played 43 games out of the 82 game season last year. Many are questioning if his knees can hold up after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus last year. He is very explosive player and relies on his athleticism. With his style of play it is very much possible that could sustain another injury to his knee which is why Phoenix isn't willing to give him a max contract because he could become a liability. Phoenix also already has a up and coming point guard Gorgan Dragic, who statistically had a better season then Bledsoe. So why is Bledsoe most likely going to end up in Phoenix, well it's simple the team's with the cap space to give him the max see the same risks. Also Phoenix could match any offer sheet he signs. Right now the only option Bledsoe has is to sign a one year deal that would extend his current contract and then he will become a free agent next year. This mean if Bledsoe performs well next season he could get the pay day he was looking for from any team. So Phoenix runs a greater risk of losing Bledsoe if signs his one year exception. 

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This doesn't mean all hope is lost because one team in the news a lot lately is willing to give him the max. That team is the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves have said they would offer Bledsoe a max contract if they had the cap space. This mean Minnesota has to clear cap room by trading players or they will need to do a sign and trade would be more likely to happen. I think that if the Timberwolves are able to attain Bledsoe they might just be able to make a playoff push. The great part for Minnesota is that Bledsoe is another young guy with high potential that can go along with Wiggins and LaVine who also have a lot o  potential. This could very well be the most athletic starting lineup in the league with Bledsoe in the mix. And if the Timberwolves have another bad season they can end up in the lottery an add another young piece to the puzzle. I would really like to see the Timberwolves make this happen. The person the Wolves would part with would most likely be Ricky Rubio, who has really had an up and down career thus far. Rubio horrible by any mean, but he hasn't lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he got drafted. I feel Bledsoe would be an upgrade from Rubio based on talent. The real question is would he fit in with the Timberwolves lineup? I'm not sure about this one because Rubio is a better Distributor then Bledsoe. That being said Bledsoe could possibly become a better passer if he is running the point instead of sharing it. He averaged 5.5 assists playing next to Dragic last year. Bledsoe is hands down a better scorer than Rubio almost doubling Rubio' s points per game.

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I have some other crazy scenarios that could happen, but most likely will not. 76ers give Bledsoe a contract offer. This won't happen because Micheal Carter-Williams is there future point guard. Also Philadelphia doesn't want any long term max contracts on there roster right now. Philadelphia is looking to tank again this season and end up right back in the lottery. That being said Philadelphia would help any team with sign in trades by taking back an expiring contract with a draft pick.
Another dream scenario. Rondo for Bledsoe in a sign in trade. I don't think Boston wants anything to do with Rondo and Phoenix probably don't want Rondo for one season.
I'm a big Nets fan of course I'm going to suggest the Nets do a sign a trade for Bledsoe. I don't think the Suns want Williams terrible contract if they aren't willing to give Bledsoe the max deal.