Just saw this on ESPN insider and thought I'd pass it along. Its an article talking about which teams have done well in recent drafts and the Sharks were the first team mentioned.

The Sharks defied the odds by landing on this list because they only had one first-round pick in the two-year period. Scouts I talked to liked one of San Jose's second-rounders in the 2009 draft: Taylor Doherty, a 6-foot-8 defenseman with Kingston of the OHL, who was picked No. 57 overall that year.

One scout said, "I didn't like him much in his draft year but he's going to play. He's a big guy who actually handles the puck pretty well. He'll have to fill out but that's just a matter of time. He doesn't have as much offensive skill as he likes to think sometimes, but that's not such a bad thing. He's confident rather than tentative. If you get someone at 57 and it looks like he has a shot to be a top-four D-man, you've done a real good job."

As good as that pick was, the 2010 draft was even better for the Sharks. Their first-rounder, Charlie Coyle, was on the radar last June, but it was hard to get a read on him in the EJHL. He is squarely on the radar after his play at BU and at the WJC.

One scout said, "I was really impressed with his skating and his skills set. I thought he was outstanding at the U-20s. I see him as a wing more than a center but he's only just starting to tap into his game. If you were to do the draft over, I'm sure he'd pass ten guys on the list at a minimum."

The player who has really come from off the pace, though, is last year's No. 129, Niagara (OHL) center Freddie Hamilton. Hamilton put up 38 goals and 45 assists in 68 regular season games this year.

One scout said, "It kills me to think that he was still around and we passed over him a bunch of times. A hell of a pick -- no worse than No. 50 if you were to do the draft over and he'd be ahead of guys who went in the first round."

Hamilton happens to be the older, but smaller, brother of Niagara defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who's a projected top-10 pick this year.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/blog?name=nhl_draft&id=6296915

First, let it be made perfectly clear that I am aware of Moss's talents. I am aware of what he can do for an offense, by forcing a double team via a deep safety at all times stretches things wide open, especially for the slot receiver. I am also aware that the Rams have only 3 healthy receivers on the current roster. But here's why I say no to Moss.

 

1. If you're not a contender, then you're rebuilding. Now, one might argue that with Randy on board, the Rams would have a decent shot at winning the NFC West. That is true, but the NFC West is shockingly horrible. The winner of this division is a playoff team by default; in other words while the division winner may be a "playoff team", they will most assuredly be annihilated in the first round of the playoffs. It's too early to project final standings, but it looks like the NFC West division winner will have to play one of the following teams for the Wild-Card Game: Saints/Falcons/Giants/Eagles.No way any team in this division can win in January against any of those teams. My point here is that even with Randy Moss, this team isn't going anywhere this year.

 

2. Even if we claim Randy, he's not staying past this year. There is no way Randy is spending the last few years of his career on an up and coming team. He's looking to win a Superbowl. It is likely that there will be no salary cap this off-season (paging Dan Snyder), there will be many legitimate contenders that will be willing to give Moss a shot. In other words: he is a one-year rental.

 

Now I'm getting conflicting reports between NFL Network and ESPN as to the financial situation when Moss is claimed off waivers, but this is what I have gathered: when Randy is claimed off waivers, the team that claims him picks up his current contract. IF Randy clears waivers, then the Vikings are on the hook for his contract, and Randy is free to double dip with the new team. (If this is incorrect, I apologize). Randy's current contract isn't cheap at all. My point is, why shell out a lot of money for a team that isn't a contender regardless, for a player who's going to leave when the season is over.

 

3. For those of you who think Randy's attitude issues are a thing of the past, just read this article.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AofPnMqFhKYfbkKETEFzR_DXScR_?slug=ms-mossbehavior110210

Absolute Garbage. I don't want this ass around the young guys on the team. What really catches my eye in this article is the fact that PLAYERS, not front office/media people, were fed up with his behavior/worried about his influence. The media likes to concoct controversy, but when a player says it you know there's something to it.

This alone should be reason enough.

 

4. I am not an advocate of tanking. I hate it. I really do. But doesn't Randy take us completely out of the A. J. Green sweepstakes? He's not going to make us a contender, but he might increase our win total by a game or two.

 

5. Bill Belichick is possibly the greatest coach of all time. And he dumped Randy. Chilly is putting his job on the line by dumping a guy a month after he got him. Shouldn't we be alarmed? We like to make fun of Chili, but he has to have at least average intelligence, right? He IS an NFL head coach, he must have SOME idea of what he's doing. The fact is two contending teams just got rid of him in the span of a month.

 

6. Finally, I say no thank you to the media s***storm that Moss will bring to St. Louis. There are virtually no veterans on this team. They're all young players, and there's really no need to bring the circus to town. Look at Sanchez: he plays in New York and plays for Rex Ryan. That kid gets dissected after every game by the media. I'm sure Bradford can handle scrutiny, but wouldn't it be better to avoid it completely? And what about the other guys?

 

This is a young, growing team. Let this thing grow organically. I say don't just jump at the first chance to win some more games. This is NOT fantasy football. Teamwork, Chemistry, Discipline...these things matter. (How dem Cowboys doing???) We need to build this team the right way, not the quick way.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5567423

heres the link

 

the story says that the contract is a 2 year deal worth $5 mil.

 

So....we always figured Denver couldn't get him because he was asking for too much. Maybe Louis realized he wasn't going to get paid unless he asked for less? Still seems like Denver could have made some moves to get Louis. Or maybe the FO is just focused 100% on Melo right now instead of FA signings.

it's on ESPN insider, so I will post it here so everyone can read it.

 

By Tom Haberstroh

Carmelo Anthony has averaged 20 points per game every season since he arrived in the NBA. This past campaign, he became the third-youngest player ever to reach the 10,000-point plateau, behind only Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. And next summer, he could hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent.

But despite all those gaudy point totals, the three-time All-Star may not even be worth the max deal a team would likely give him in 2011.

At first glance, Anthony seems like a member of the NBA's elite, largely due to his scoring prowess. But a deeper look at the points column and elsewhere in his game reveals a player who lives on an undeserved reputation more than his actual impact on wins.

It's tough to argue with his 28.2 points-per-game average in '09-10, but in the game of basketball, how a shooter gets his points is more meaningful than the raw number itself. To see that, we need to peel back the layers.

Let's first talk about Anthony's shot volume. It's not exactly a secret that 'Melo likes to shoot the rock, but his propensity to launch shots may raise some eyebrows. This past season, no player in the NBA took more shots per minute than Anthony -- not Kobe, not LeBron, not even scoring champ Kevin Durant.

It may seem obvious that a player worthy of 20 shots per game would have a healthy conversion rate. But in Anthony's case, that's far from the truth. Anthony, in reality, had a below-average field goal percentage (.458) this past season -- and his career percentage (.459) is no different. (The league average is .463.)

The sharp readers out there will point out that traditional field goal percentage doesn't reflect Anthony's shooting ability, since he launches a healthy dose of 3-pointers, which obviously count more on the scoreboard. That's true. But if you've been paying attention, you know Anthony is not a good shooter from beyond the arc, so that doesn't help his case. As a career .308 percent 3-point shooter, his shot from downtown ranks far below the norm (the average small forward shot .349 last season; Melo shot .316) and any progress he seemingly made in 2008-09, when he shot a career-high .371, disappeared. Even if we incorporate the added point bonus of a 3-pointer, the Syracuse product's shooting percentages are, at best, average.

It seems that, anyway we slice it, Anthony is a gunner at the core. His exceptional skill on offense is his ability to get his shot off, whether it's attacking the rim or through a patented pull-up jumper on the perimeter. But interestingly enough, Anthony got his shot blocked a whopping 109 times last season, which ranks as the second-highest total in the league, according to Hoopdata.com. Evidently, he doesn't lack perseverance.

Anthony's case illustrates a fundamental problem in conventional basketball analysis: scoring averages don't reflect efficiency. It's true that Anthony scored 28.2 points per game last season, but it's also true that no player missed more shots as often as Anthony did. Feel free to credit his skill but also pay attention his lofty shot volume and playing time.

And that's before we consider the disguise of team pace. Since Anthony entered the league, the Denver Nuggets have averaged 95.9 possessions per game, which places them as the third -fastest squad in the NBA over that period of time (and just a fraction behind the high-octane Phoenix Suns). Over that same span, the Nuggets have squeezed out an extra four possessions per game when compared to the average NBA team. Do the math, and the Nuggets have enjoyed nearly 2,000 extra possessions above the norm since Anthony joined the NBA. That's a ton of extra opportunities that can pad the per-game stats used as measuring sticks.

So after stripping out the inflationary effect of fast pace and boiling down Anthony's numbers to a per possession level, his scoring punch looks even more pedestrian. How pedestrian? Anthony's career offensive rating, an efficiency measure that calculates how many points a player produces per 100 possessions he uses, checks out at 107, which sits right at the league average. For reference, 2003 draft-mates James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have earned 114, 111, and 113 lifetime offensive ratings, respectively.

Before we prematurely call Anthony an average player, there is something to be said for the burden of trust. Not every player can still perform while shouldering the heavy scoring responsibility that Anthony has endured. But the Nuggets have probably allowed Anthony to shoot far too often if efficiency -- and winning -- is their goal. In fact, last season Melo was only sixth on his own team in ORtg (110), trailing far behind other legit weapons like Nene (124), Chauncey Billups (120) and Ty Lawson (118).

Aside from scoring, Anthony doesn't have many other bankable weapons as a player. His rebounding (career 6.2 rpg) is only slightly better than what we'd expect from a small forward, and he doesn't create opportunities for his teammates like Paul Pierce, Wade and James can. Furthermore, he hasn't shown the intensity and dedication on the defensive end that you'd want from a max player.

In the end, Anthony's game demonstrates why it's important to strip away the biases that color our perceptions of elite players. In Anthony's case, the excessive shot volume, his team's stat-padding tempo and the lack of a true 3-point game makes his 28.2 ppg seem far less impressive than his sparkling reputation would suggest.

If anything, it's time we moved on from per-game statistics to evaluate our players. Millions of dollars are wasted every year basing player value on the archaic statistics that teams used half a century ago. And someone will surely overpay Anthony and offer him a max contract -- just look at the deals Joe Johnson and Rudy Gay got.

If the New York Knicks, rumored to be the favorites to land Melo if he decides to leave Denver, are expecting salvation from Anthony next summer, they're going to be very disappointed with their investment. It would be a much a wiser move to throw that cash toward the pursuit of Chris Paul, a real max player.

Tom Haberstroh is a frequent contributor to ESPN Insider.

 

 

 

 

Thoughts? My first reaction was to hunt this man down, but there were times when I thought Melo disrupted the offensive flow a little. That being said, I do think he is a top 10 player in the league, and much more deserving of a max contract than Amar'e or Boozer.

I'll post the story here because I'm not sure if people here have ESPN insider:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=harrington-100714

 

Five years, $34 million? For Al Harrington?

OK, it sounds like a lot. Harrington can fill it up, but he's 30 years old and historically some of the worst contracts have been midlevel deals for players in the 28-30 range.

But what if I told you the deal was three years, $26 million? Does that sound so bad? Because that's effectively the deal the Nuggets agreed to with Harrington. I'm told the last two years of the deal are only half guaranteed, which means Denver can walk away having paid for three years at just under $9 million a pop.

And that's actually a decent value, especially in this year's bloated market, because of the No. 1 consideration -- the guy can still play. Harrington's PER has been above the league average for three straight seasons, and while he won't be garnering any All-Defense votes, he's a fairly mobile big man who can move to the 3 in a pinch. He can also fill it up, having averaged better than a point every two minutes for each of the past five seasons.

Harrington is especially crucial for the Nuggets for two other reasons.

First, the market for big men was rapidly drying up on them and the Nuggets were desperate for one with Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin recuperating from knee injuries that could leave them on the shelf when the season starts.

Second, Harrington provides a new dimension for Denver: a big man who can step away from the basket, play pick-and-pop and provide more spacing for Carmelo Anthony to do his thing around the basket. Denver opponents always crowded the paint and the Nuggets lacked an effective answer; Harrington changes that equation entirely.

Folks in Denver should also be giving a wink and a nod to owner Stan Kroenke for pulling the trigger on this deal. The Nuggets are already $3 million over the luxury tax, which means Harrington's deal will effectively cost Kroenke close to $12 million in tax payments this season. The other casualty is Linas Kleiza. Any chance of matching Toronto's four-year, $19 million offer sheet just went out the window, as the Nuggets have both a full roster (they also agreed to terms with vets Anthony Carter and Shelden Williams) and a budget hole.

Nonetheless, it's a strong move for Denver after losing out on Jermaine O'Neal (Celtics) and Udonis Haslem (Heat). In a Western Conference where it's anyone's guess who the second-best team might be, this deal keeps the Nuggets strongly in the running for that honor.

from Marc Stein's twitter

 

"Add Denver to list of teams making STRONG push for Udonis Haslem. Sources say Nuggets also offering deal starting at $5.8M MLE. Link to come"

 

Haslem has always been a surprisingly decent player that never got too much publicity or attention. He plays PF, but he is only 6 foot 8, meaning he is the same size as Carmelo Anthony and basically Kenyon Martin as well. I wouldn't say Haslem is undersized, but he's definitely average in terms of height for the 4.

Thoughts?

 

 

[Edit - Here's the full story]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5374210

Add the Denver Nuggets to the list of teams making a strong push for Miami's Udonis Haslem.

 

Sources close to the situation said the Nuggets, after being foiled in their pursuit of Jermaine O'Neal, have extended a multiyear offer to Haslem that starts at the $5.8 million mid-level exception.

The Dallas Mavericks have made a similar offer and New Jersey has also shown interest in Haslem, who has been a fixture in Miami for the past seven seasons.

The Nuggets have an even greater need than Dallas for Haslem. Two of Denver's key big men, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen, recently underwent surgical procedures that will rule them out for the start of the season.

ESPNDallas.com reported Sunday night that Haslem is giving Dallas' pitch strong consideration, despite the fact that the Heat are lobbying him hard to stay for less money and play with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Denver, Dallas and New Jersey can all outbid Miami. But it's believed that Haslem's strong ties to south Florida, as well as his close friend Wade, will make it difficult for any team to lure him away from the Heat if the money is at least close. The Heat are trying to divide their remaining salary cap space between Haslem and sharpshooter Mike Miller.

Team president Pat Riley has often said that he wants Haslem to be a Heat lifer, such is the regard for the gritty forward's contributions to Miami's title team in 2006. Haslem, 30, earned $7.1 million last season and has averaged 10 points and 8.1 rebounds for his career.

http://www.nba.com/nuggets/features/andersen_birdman_20100608.html

 

For most of the 2009-10 season, Chris Andersen was Birdman in name alone.

Playing on a sore right knee, the normally high-flying Nuggets forward was flight-restricted. His explosiveness would come and go, inhibiting the consistency in the two biggest strengths of his game – rebounding and shot-blocking.

The pain in his knee was so bad after some games that he used only his left foot to operate the accelerator and brake pedal during the half-hour drive home to Larkspur.

Two weeks removed from surgery to repair a torn patella tendon, Andersen is mentally rejuvenated, and he had a message for anyone wondering about his high-energy, shot-swatting, glass-cleaning alter ego.

“I’m Birdman again,” he said while doing some rehab work in the Nuggets training room Tuesday.

After an inspiring return to the NBA in 2008-09, Andersen averaged 5.9 points, a career-high 6.4 rebounds and 1.88 blocked shots in 2009-10. He missed only six games due to injury but was never 100 percent healthy after exeriencing soreness in his knee during training camp.

“I wasn’t able to do the things that I was wanting to do and to mirror what happened (in 2008-09),” Andersen said. “That’s what I was shooting for, but it’s tough when you have an injury like that. It limits me to how many times I can go try to block a shot and how high I can get. There were a lot of times it was just right on the tip of my fingers and I couldn’t get it.”

Knowing the Nuggets were limited in the frontcourt, Andersen – one of Denver’s most popular players – pushed through the pain.

“I wasn’t obligated just because people were coming out to see me. I was wanting to win,” he said. “My knee hurt, but it didn’t hurt enough for me to want to sit out.”

Andersen’s teammates appreciated the effort.

“You just know that he’s a warrior and he’s going to give you whatever he has,” point guard Chauncey Billups said. “He didn’t have some of his explosiveness and we all knew it was due to injury. It was kind of that way for him all year. He had some flashes, but he was never really able to turn that corner like he usually does.”

Despite tearing his patella tendon in Game 2 of Denver’s first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz, Andersen played each of the final four games. He had surgery on May 25 and already is looking forward to 2010-11.

“I wanted to get it fixed early in the summer so that when it is time to play in November, I can start making my way back and being a threat again,” he said. “I’m going to block some more shots. I want to move up the ladder on that Nuggets all-time block list.”

With 520 blocked shots in a Denver uniform, Andersen is eighth on the franchise list but is within range of passing Raef LaFrentz (556), Antonio McDyess (604), Alex English (622) and Bobby Jones (625) next season.

Before chasing more milestones, Andersen will continue his rehab and his community work. He was a spokesman for the Denver Rescue Mission’s April Food Month campaign that raised more than $28,000 in online donations, and he plans to make appearances at his basketball camp that starts June 21.

“It’s all about community – give back to the people that are in need,” Andersen said.

In that respect, Birdman never really left.

Have you ever sat down and watched a basketball game with a fan of the opposing team?

Every time there is a possible charge/block situation, both you and the opposing fan have conflicting reactions. Both are absolutely positive that it is a charge or a block (depending on which benefits their team).

Are they being complete homers and thinking "Well, it's a charge, but I'm going to pretend it wasn't and complain that it should have been a block"? NO. They legitimately believe that the call should have gone their, as do you.

This is where refs come into the picture.

Referees do not exist in a no-human-contact bubble. They interact with players regularly. Naturally they tend to like some players, and dislike others.

And then when the charge/block situation occurs, THEY BELIEVE 100% THAT THEY ARE MAKING THE CORRECT CALL, even if the call is incorrect. They will swear to you that it has nothing to do with their liking/disliking of the player involved, but it does on a subconscious level.

No referee is crazy enough (except Donaghy) to get involved with the mob and make bad calls on purpose. They might make ONE bad call just to really f*** with one guy who they absolutely hate, but most calls are just pure human (mis)judgement.

Carmelo always yells and bitches to the refs. Notice how he never got to the line after the halfway point of the season? Refs SUBCONSCIOUSLY began to dislike Melo.

Conversely, look at Wade. He's always buddying up to the refs, chatting it up during free throws. And I'm sure you all saw the '06 finals. Those refs weren't thinking "Hey let's go win this one for Dwayne" They were just calling it as they THOUGHT they were seeing it.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/15495/the-killer-plays-the-nuggets-wont-run

 

The Denver Nuggets have a secret arsenal of nearly unstoppable plays. There's only one hitch headed into Game 5:

DENVER -- Acting head coach Adrian Dantley isn't sure he can get his team to run them.

That's because the Nuggets see themselves as a certain kind of basketball team with an anti-system. Mike D'Antoni has 7-seconds-or-less. Phil Jackson has The Triangle. Jerry Sloan has The Flex. And Dantley has inherited from George Karl what he has referred to more than once as "random basketball."

What does "random basketball" mean? That's Dantley's description of how the Nuggets perceive themselves offensively -- a team that flourishes by pounding you with dominant one-on-one play in the half court and with breakneck transition buckets. Dantley isn't the only one to make that general characterization. When asked about the Nuggets' woeful assist total of 13 following Game 4, Chauncey Billups conceded, "We aren't really a high-assist team. That's not how our offense is made."

It's true that Denver runs a more individualistic half court offense than Utah does and, as Carmelo Anthony pointed out today, that plan of attack has served them well for several seasons. In fact, Denver isn't exactly struggling offensively in this series. The Nuggets' offensive efficiency of 110.9 points per 100 possessions is an improvement on their regular season efficiency of 108.7. But after walloping the Jazz in Game 1 of the series, the Nuggets have posted a more modest efficiency rating of 104.7.

A stubborn devotion to "random basketball" is one of the reasons Denver's offense has fallen off since Game 1, and there's something obtuse about the Nuggets' unwillingness to construct coherent possessions in the half court against Utah. When the Nuggets choose to run deliberate sets, they're shredding the Jazz -- particularly on the pick-and-roll.

To illustrate, let's go back to Game 2. The Nuggets are coming off an emphatic 126-113 win. Fesenko has taken over as Utah's starting center after Mehmet Okur was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon in Game 1. The vibe is that the Jazz are done. Denver comes out of the opening jump with three straight Carmelo Anthony-Nene pick-and-rolls, and all of them produce points:

• Anthony gets the ball above the right elbow where he gets a little screen from Nene. It's not a Kendrick Perkins-grade screen, but it buys Anthony space away from C.J. Miles to dribble right and begin his attack. Anthony elevates for a jumper at 17 feet, draws the foul on Miles and drains two free throws.
• This play could've been ripped from the Phoenix Suns playbook. Another screen for Anthony from Nene at precisely the same spot. This time, Anthony puts the ball on the deck, drives right and dishes to Arron Afflalo in the right corner. Afflalo drives right by Wes Matthews into the paint. Fesenko is the last line of defense here. When he commits, Nene cuts behind him. Afflalo hits Nene on the move to the rim for an easy lay-in.
• This possession is just cruel and prompted me to write in my game notes, "UTA can't defend this." Same pick-and-roll with Anthony as the ball-hander at the same spot. This is Nene's best screen of the three and draws the switch the Nuggets are salivating for: Fesenko backpedaling against a driving Anthony in open space. When Anthony, who is driving right, sees that the bulk of the Jazz help defenders are on that side of the floor, he switches left, then finishes untouched at the basket. This is the moment I truly believed the series was over.

According to Synergy Sports, the Nuggets have choreographed a pick-and-roll -- then hit the roll man -- 17 times in this series. The results:

• Nine made baskets
• Six trips to the free throw line
• Two missed shot attempts

That's an 88.2 percent success rate.

Those 17 possessions in sequence is an impressive reel of video. Ball-handlers/passers include Billups, Anthony, Ty Lawson and J.R. Smith. All the Nuggets bigs are represented among the roll men. Whatever the scenario, the Nuggets score on 15 of the 17 opportunities, which leaves you with one question:

Why are the Nuggets running this action only four times per game?

One explanation might be that Jazz defenders are effectively trapping the ball-handler, making a pass through the double-team treacherous. But that's clearly not the Jazz's strategy when defending the pick-and-roll, even when Anthony is the ball-handler -- which brings us to another interesting bit of data:

Anthony has been the ball-handler on nine pick-and-roll sets. On those nine possessions, he's 7-for-7 from the field, with two turnovers.

Overall, only four teams this postseason are doing better work off the pick-and-roll, but with the exception of the Lakers and Utah (the two most orthodox systems in the bracket), no team is running them less frequently than the Nuggets. Instead, Denver is relying on isolations, post-ups and spot-ups, where they're generating ho-hum results -- less than one point per possession.

Today, I asked Dantley about the success Denver had running the pick-and-roll and why the team wasn't deploying them more readily.

"We looked over our offensive stats and we definitely score more on our pick-and-rolls," Dantley said.

Then why doesn't he call for them more often over the course of the game?

"That's the way we play," Dantley said. "We've had more success right now with the pick-and-roll, more than 'random,' but our basketball team is known as a 'random' basketball team."

At some point, doesn't a team have to recognize what works? And whatever the identity of the team might be, shouldn't the team conform to what's working?

"That's what we've told them," Dantley said. "Whether they do it every time, that's a different story. Statistically, we tell them every game, 'Hey, run the pick-and-roll. Run drags. We've had success with that more than "random" basketball.'"

Given that success, will that be the plan Wednesday night in Game 5?

"I'm agreeing with you," Dantley said. "Statistically, we've had success on pick-on-rolls. We've told them that. We want them to do that tomorrow. Hopefully they do it. But, the last five years, we do more 'random' than we do pick-and-roll."

Dantley's comments suggest that there's a serious disconnect between acting head coach and the team's on-court personnel. It's not unusual for a team to fail its coach as a sin of omission. Both Jerry Sloan and Dantley are certain to tell their players to crash the boards tomorrow night, but one of their two teams will do a subpar job. That coach will be disappointed and very possibly angry. But that's much different than a coach laying out a very specific set of strategic imperatives, and the players on the floor not heeding those instructions. If you take Dantley's remarks at face value, he's implying this is what's been happening with the Nuggets, and he has no assurances that dynamic won't continue in Game 5.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5051607

 

On a night when the Denver Nuggets should have been celebrating a much-needed victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, the franchise continued to struggle with off-the-court issues when an April Fools' Day joke sparked anything but laughter.

During Denver's 109-92 victory, a former Nuggets ball boy, Laquan Johnson, got into the club's locker room, took Kenyon Martin's car keys and filled the player's Range Rover with buttered popcorn. The car had a white interior.

<!--INLINE MUG-->

Martin discovered the damage as he was about to exit Denver's Pepsi Center. At the time, had no idea who had pulled the prank. Angered, he went back to the locker room spewing profanities and threats at teammates and other members of the organization.

"That ain't no [expletive] joke," Martin said. "I'm going to find out who did it ... put my [expletive] hands on one of y'all. I'm going to put my hands on whoever did it. You better believe that. It's [expletive] personal. You better believe it."

Martin, who has missed 15 games with a torn patella tendon in his left knee, threatened to boycott the postseason if he did not find out who was responsible.

"How 'bout if I don't play in the playoffs until somebody tells me who did it," Martin said more than once.

Martin stormed in and out of the locker room several times, and a person close to him said his anger was not over the prank, but over the fact that someone could go into his pocket and take his keys during a game. Realizing the culprit had to have access to the private code for the team's gated parking lot, he assumed members of the organization either pulled the stunt or assisted in it.

"The fact that no one saw it or had anything to say about it -- not security, not the equipment manager," a person close to Martin said, explaining the player's anger. "Somebody had to see it. He was wondering how the organization let something like that happen. What if the kid had really wanted to do something evil?"

Later, Martin found out Johnson, the former ball boy who is now the driver for teammate J.R. Smith, was responsible. Johnson apologized to Martin and agreed to pay for the damage to his car.

"It was just an April Fools joke that went horribly wrong," said a member of the Nuggets organization who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The kid thought it would be funny and it wasn't. Kenyon was back at practice today and everything was fine between him and his teammates."

The episode was the latest in a string of distractions Denver has had to deal with lately. Once regarded as the Western Conference's top challenger to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Nuggets have all but fallen apart down the stretch.

With Martin out and coach George Karl missing games while getting treatment for throat cancer, Denver had lost five of six games before defeating Portland. That stretch dropped them from the second seed to the fifth seed in the West.

Martin, who cannot guarantee he'll be healthy for the playoffs, said before Thursday's game that he hopes to return for the last regular season game or two.

Funny thing is, while I was reading the article, I was like "I bet JR is responsible somehow".

AS OF APRIL 10, SATURDAY

Current Standings:

2. Dallas                       (53-27)

3. Denver                      (52-28)

4. Utah                          (52-28)

5. Phoenix                    (51-28)

6. OKC                          (49-30)

7. San Antonio            (49-31)

8. Portland                   (48-31)

 

 

 

Schedules:

#2 - DALLAS (53-27):
April 3: vs. OKC                                      (W)      L 121-116

April 7: vs. Memphis                             (W)      W 110 - 84

April 9: @Portland                                 (L)       W 83 - 77

April 10: @Sacramento (B2B)            (W)      W

April 12: @Clippers                              (W)

April 14: vs. Spurs                                (W)

  

 #3 - Denver: (52-28)

April 3: vs. Clippers                                             (W)      W 98-90

April 7: @OKC [B2B for OKC]                            (W)      W 98-94

April 8: vs. Lakers (B2B)                                     (L)       W 98-96

April 10: vs. Spurs [B2B for Spurs]                   (W)      L 85 - 104

April 12: vs. Memphis                                         (W)

April 13: @Suns (B2B)                                       (W) 

 

 #4- UTAH (52-28):

April 2nd: @ Lakers                        (L)                    L 106-92

April 6th:  vs. OKC                           (W)                   W 140-139

April 7th: @ Houston (B2B)           (L)                    L 96 - 113

April 9th: @New Orleans               (W)                   W 114 - 103

April 13th: @Golden State             (W)

April 14th: vs. Phoenix                    (W) 

  

#5 - Phoenix: (51-28)

April 2: @Detroit                               (W)        W 109-94

Aprill 3: @Bucks (B2B)                   (W)        L 107-98

April 7: vs. Spurs                              (W)        W 112-101

April 9: @OKC                                   (L)        L 91 - 96

April 11: vs. Houston                       (W)

April 13: vs. Denver                          (L)

April 14: @Utah (B2B)                     (L)

 

#6- OKC: (49-30)

April 3: @ Dallas                                            (L)       W 121-116

April 4: vs. Minnesota (B2B)                         (W)     W 116-108

April 6: @ Utah                                                (L)      L 139-140

April 7: vs. Denver (B2B)                               (L)      L 94-98

April 9: vs. Phoenix                                        (W)     W 96-91

April 11: @Golden State                               (W)

April 12: @Portland (B2B)                            (L) 

April 14: vs. Memphis                                    (W)

 

#7- San Antonio: (49-31)

April 2: vs. Orlando                                      (L)             W 112-100

April 4: @Lakers                                           (L)           W 100-81

April 6: @ Kings                                           (W)           W 95-86

April 7: @Phoenix                                        (L)            L 101 - 112

April 9: vs. Memphis                                    (W)          L 99 - 107

April 10: @ Denver (B2B)                           (L)           W 104 - 85 

April 12: vs. Minnesota                               (W)

April 14: @Dallas                                        (L)

 

#8 - Portland: (48-31)

April 3: @ Kings                                          (W)     W 98-87

April 7: @ Clippers                                     (W)      W 93-85

April 9: vs. Dallas                                        (W)      L 77 - 83

April 11: @Lakers                                       (L)

April 12: vs. OKC                                        (W)

April 14: vs. Golden State                         (W)

 

 

 

 

  

 

Best Case Scenario final standings:

2. Dallas (55-27)

3. Denver (54-28)

4. Utah (54-28)

5. Phoenix (53-29)

6. Portland (51-31)

7. OKC (50-32)

8. San Antonio (49-33)

I gave Denver the W for that last game of the season at Phoenix, which may be a stretch. Keep in mind that the Denver game in OKC is the second of a B2B for OKC, and the home game against the Spurs is a B2B for the Spurs, which is why I gave Denver the W for both of those tough games.

Am I being too positive?

Nuggets get a huge break this week.

 

After the game in Houston on Monday Night:

 

Tuesday Night: against the Wizards in Denver. Wizards coming off a Monday night game in Utah.

 

Thursday Night: home against the Hornets. Hornets coming off a (late) wednesday night game in Golden State

 

Saturday Night: Home against Milwaukee. Bucks coming off a Friday night game in Sacramento.

 

That's three consecutive home games against three teams coming off back to backs on the road, TRAVELING EAST. I don't see how the Nuggets lose any of these games.

I wasn't able to watch the game on Wednesday night against the Thunder. But I have league pass broadband, so no problem right? Well the game won't work. Just specifically that game. I can watch all games going back to November, but the Thunder game just won't work. It shows about 10 seconds of Hastings talking before the game, and then it just says the game is over. I tried the League Pass online help section, but it's either a really smart computer that can somewhat mimic a human being, or its an actual person who has down syndrome, because they just simply couldn't understand what i was trying to ask.

 

SO my point is, anyone who has league pass broadband, could you see if you can watch the Thunder game from wednesday night? Thanks.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/9861/nfc-west-draft-watch-quarterbacks#more

Here is the link for the full article. It is a good read. I'll post a quick sample of the article. It is an interview with Steve Muench of Scouts Inc.

 

Mike Sando: The Rams are running a fairly pure version of the West Coast offense, with an emphasis on the ground game. Which of these quarterbacks would fit that type of system?

Steve Muench: All of our top three and McCoy could fit. I would go in order of Locker, Bradford, McCoy and then Clausen. Clausen could do it, but McCoy has better mobility. In that system, you need a little bit more of a mobile quarterback.

Steve Muench: Talent-wise, there is no one with Locker's talent in the draft. He is remarkable. Very mobile, very strong arm. He made some strides under Steve Sarkisian. I personally believe he would benefit as a football player from going back to Washington for another year, but that probably will not happen. They are talking about redoing the early picks and the pay grade. I think you will see a lot of kids come out. This will be a heavy junior class this year. This is a kid who could go really high, top-five pick, maybe. Potential-wise, I see it. He will develop into reading defenses and those things. He’s not in the same category as Bradford in terms of reading defenses, his ability to adjust and see what they are doing and get the ball to the open man. Locker has a stronger arm than Bradford. Sometimes he puts a little too much faith in it. He will learn to temper it a little bit.

from espn.com

ST. LOUIS -- Rams quarterback Marc Bulger might not play against the Seahawks in Week 12 after suffering multiple injuries against the Cardinals.

Bulger suffered a strain to what coach Steve Spagnuolo called his "groin-hamstring" area. Bulger also sustained a blow to the head. He will undergo tests for potential concussion Tuesday. Bulger also awoke Monday with swelling in his knee. He will under go an MRI exam on the knee this afternoon.

Also on the injury front, fullback Mike Karney is undergoing an MRI for a potential neck injury. Defensive end Leonard Little is undergoing an X-ray on his lower back. Right tackle Jason Smith is undergoing tests after suffering a potential concussion. Running back Steven Jackson has soreness in his lower back (a "muscle strain" was what Spagnuolo called it).

Bulger's injuries were most serious. Spagnuolo did not sound concerned about Jackson's ability to play in Week 12.

A little early to be getting too in depth about the draft, I know. I just wanted to throw this out there and see what you guys think. I know most of you believe Suh is the clear choice, but I'm not so sure. I have some concerns with Suh.

 

I think he relies a little too much on his size/athleticism. This might work in college, but it will not in the NFL. He's only 300 pounds, which in NFL DT terms doesn't exactly make him a behemoth. (For example, I think Clifton Ryan is 320 pounds). I don't know that he'll be able to just lean on the O-Line and bat down passes as easily in the NFL. If you watch him play (I'm talking entire games, not highlight reels), he doesn't really have a lot of technique/pass rushing skills. Too many college players rely too much on athleticism/motor and they really pay for a lack of technique when they enter the NFL. (Just ask Chris Long. Remember his senior year at Virginia? Absolute monster)

Also, when you watch entire games, you begin to notice that Suh doesn't exactly get great leverage. Surprisingly, there are a lot of plays where Suh just gets pushed/lifted back. I know he can't have a sack on every play, but it was surprising to see that happen a lot more than I expected.

 

Gerald McCoy is a viable option IMO. He's very athletic, and more importantly, has a nice set of pass rushing skills. Technique always translates much better than pure size/strength. McCoy would be great at the 3-technique for the Rams. I think he could really upgrade the pass rush, although he might lack a bit against the run, seeing as how hes under 300 pounds.

I guess it just depends on what the Rams want from the DT position. If they're aiming to upgrade the run D, I guess Suh would be the better pick, McCoy for the pass rush. Not saying one is better than the other, just wanted to see what you guys think.