SB Nation User Blog: Devin47

ESPN: Del Negro the front runner of the three Finalists

Devin47 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:07:42 -0000

According to a report from espn.com, the interview Pax had with Vinny Del Negro went very well and it might appear that he is the current front runner for the job. Del Negro is currently Steve Kerr's right hand man in Phoenix and has no prior coaching stints on his resume. He did interview for the Suns job also though.

But just as juicy a scoop as the Del Negro front runner status report is the mention that the long and winding road to replace Boylan might soon end as Paxson has three finalist. Other than Del Negro they are the usual suspects in this search of Former Timberwolves headman D'Wayne Casey and Kings assistant Chuck Person.

Of the 3 reported finalist the one that I would hire is Person. With Del Negro what scares me is the fact is that I cannot think of any coach in pro sports without any kind of coaching expirence that jumps straight to a head coach job and becomes successful. With Casey it is the fact that his tenure in Minnesota was so bad that despite all the postive stuff that people around the Association have of him, I would like to see if a guy who has not had a chance could do better. Person would be a coach who if his teams play in a similar fashion as the Kings did last year, will not be afraid to run as they were 7th in pace in the NBA last year at 97.2 possesions a game. Another area where Person might be able to help out is in true Shooting percentage, which measures shooting percentage if it were to include free throws and 3-pointers. Last year the Kings were 7th in this stat (55.6), while the Bulls were second to last at 51.5. If anyone could get this team to be a more accurate 3-point shooting team it would be person. Finally, Person was a very media saavy player and with a team of low-key personalities this team needs a sane version of Ozzie Guillen to fill the media's notebooks and tape recorders

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3430388&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

Poll

Of D'Wayne Casey, Vinny Del Negro, and Chuck Person who do you want to be the next Bulls Coach?

Ford thinks Rose will be the pick (and other draft tips)

Devin47 — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:29:53 -0000

[From the Fanposts. I inferred the same things Ford did from that podcast -ed.]

One of the stops on the Paxson Media Tour after winning the lottery was a podcast sitdown with Chad Ford. After hearing the usual Pax speak about wanting a leader, Ford has done a 180 (its a free preview insider article) and thinks Rose will be the pick and the the conventinal wisdom around the Association is that Rose will be the guy unless Rose does something dumb or Beasley does something great.

If the rumors about Beasley being 6'7'' or 6'8'' are correct than this is the way we should go. They are both great players, but if Beasley is a tweener he really adds nothing new to the mix as we are crowded with guys that are tweeners in the front court. Meanwhile Rose can give us a up tempo pass-first PG who lets us be able to run with anybody.

As for other draft rumblings:

* The 2nd player on Miami's board might be OJ Mayo. It looks like Riley thinks his style of play is a very good match for Wade and that Miami will try to flip picks with Minnesota or Seattle and try to add another piece to the team.

* D'Andre Jordan will almost for sure be a top 10 pick.

Beekman and Okwo in the fold

Devin47 — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:43:13 -0000

The Bears look like for the second year in a row that they will be the first team to sign all their draft picks. Today they locked up Third rounder Michael Okwo and Fourth Rounder Josh Beekman for the next four years. Okwo, from Stanford, will probably be the main competition for Jamar Williams as they battle for the WLB spot. The Boston College product Beekman will most likely be the 3rd offensive guard and given the likelihood of injury to Brown or Garza it is very possible he will start a game or two this season.

The Link:
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=3476

Another day, another 7th rounder signed

Devin47 — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:05:05 -0000

The Bears other 7th rounder Aaron Brant, an Offensive Lineman from Iowa State, signed his contract today. He was a four year starter with the Cyclones who was mostly a Right Tackle, but did play some guard as a Freshman. He has real good size at 6'7'' and the NFL.com prospect profile describes him as being "athletic" for his size. Seems like a steal for a seventh rounder and cannot be any worse than Metcalf if Tait goes down.

Links:
http://www.nfl.com/draft/profiles/2007/brant_aaron
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=3467

McBride signs

Devin47 — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:13:30 -0000

The Bears have signed 7th rounder Trumaine McBride. McBride is a corner from Mississippi. He seems to be the prototypical cover 2 corner who is not that fast, but is a solid tackler from the scouting reports I have read about him. Of the 5 players signed from the draft, four of them are Bears. Angelo and Gabriel are really doing a good job getting these guys signed. I wonder if this will have any impact in the Olsen negations.

The link:
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=3461

Friday Minicamp report

Devin47 — Sat, 19 May 2007 23:53:11 -0000

In the Sun-times today Brad Briggs had some notes from mini camp yesterday. Here are some highlights:

Jamar Williams played WLB with the 1st team.
Bauzin, Okowo, Olsen and Wolfe are not in minicamp this week. Bauzin because of a sore foot, Okowo because Stanford is still holding classes, and the latter two because the NFL is requiring them to be at photoshoot for rookie cards.
Director of College Scouting Greg Gabriel will stay with the team after losing out on the same postion with the Giants.

The link:
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/392667,CST-SPT-bearnt19.article

Brown out?

Devin47 — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:39:19 -0000

Alex Brown has requested a trade. Though he is not going the Briggs route here and seems to imply he willing to stay. I think they will try to get a few day 2 picks for Wale or cut him before they move Brown. Brown did have 7 sacks last year compared to Wale's 3 and is the superior run defender. Brown also makes near the mininum and Wale's a top paid player at the postion.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2872981

Could Farve be traded?

Devin47 — Sun, 13 May 2007 18:31:49 -0000

When the Moss to the Pats deal went down, my first reaction was if this would lead to Farve to retire citing concerns he just could not put all his efforts into football or some other BS. When I was on ProFootballTalk.com this morning they had some juicy tidbits.

First, Farve sat down with a scribe employed by his local paper in Biolxi, MS took his GM to task for not getting Moss. There has also been some rumors in Green Bay that Favre has asked to be traded. The site administer of the Favre fan website, who claims to be a friend of Favre's, could not deny the reports, but doubted he would ask or be traded.

If the Packers are considering trading Favre I think the Angelo needs to anything resonable to get him. (BTW, I am probably the most pro-Grossman Bears fan). Favre would give this offense a proven vetern Quarterback who makes us head and shoulders above the rest of the NFC. As for the trade, I am thinking of a 3 way the Redskins were WAS gets Briggs, GB gets Washington's 1st round pick in 08, Grossman, and one of our 3rd rounders and a 5th round next year from both us and Was and we get Favre.

The links to the interview and Favre fan site are:

http://www.sunherald.com/228/story/52533.html

http://www.officialbrettfavre.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10511&start=0
Update [2007-5-13 17:46:13 by Devin47]: Jay Glazer is now reporting that Favre asked for a trade after the draft, but has "cooled down" since then. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6805790?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=5

Briggs trade talks on

Devin47 — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:51:25 -0000

According to the WAPO The Briggs talks are back on the terms havent seemed to change from a few months, though according to a source the chances of a deal are 50/50. This leads me to believe that Angelo feels this is the only good deal he could find or the WAPO writter needed to fill lines with something a found a Redskins guy to blovate on the trade possibility. Also according to John Clayton we will probably know by 2 p.m (Chicago time) if this deal is happening because Briggs has to 1.) Sign his tender with the Bears and 2.) pass a physical with the Skins. I hope Angelo does this deal and grabs Okoye.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602711.html?nav=hcmodule

Hester breaks speed barrier

Devin47 — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 04:20:08 -0000

According to espn.com Devin Hester will be the 1st person to ever get a "100" rating ever in Madden when Madden 08 comes out with his speed rating. Hopefully this means finally means someone can actually outrun the horrible blocking on a punt return. The link is here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/news/story?id=2826180