by Nick Brower | Apr 6, 2018 | SPORTS
If you haven’t heard by now, LeBron James can opt out of his contract and test free agency after this season. It has been one of the biggest discussions in the NBA for obvious reasons, James can single-handedly turn the league on its head by making virtually any team an instant Finals contender. He’s still the most dominate player in the league and we saw his raw ability last night when he went into full bully mode on the Wizards, leading his Cavs back from 17 down halfway through the fourth quarter (he finished with 33, 14, and 9). James is the number one free agent on every teams’ board, they’d be stupid not to go after him. And James would be stupid if he didn’t opt out. He will be receiving the max money anywhere he goes, why not make the Cavs pay the premium to try to keep him?
His decisions of late have been very clear, he’s chasing titles and having the contract flexibility to move around keeps him in the best position possible. This desire for flexibility has allowed fan bases all over the country to start recruiting. New York is the latest city to join the race. They followed in the footsteps of Cleveland, Akron, Los Angeles, and Portland and put up a huge billboard aimed at the King. A new billboard went up on 31st and 7th Ave in Knicks blue and orange reading, “King of New York? PROVE IT. #KINGJAMESNYC18”
Now I’m a New Yorker and Knicks fan through and through. I would love to see LeBron come save the Knicks. Put him with Porzingis and get a point guard and they’ll be off and running. And who doesn’t want to play in New York. The Garden will always be the Mecca of basketball. LeBron knows that too well, he averages 28.5 ppg at MSG and has gone off for 50 twice. But realistically, I don’t think the Knicks have enough to offer currently to woe James. They are still a piece or two away from being a respectable supporting cast for the King. I think Los Angeles is probably the front runner currently, but who knows? All we know is that LeBron will go where he damn-well pleases, and that that team will instantly be a favorite to win it all.
by Nick Brower | Apr 5, 2018 | SPORTS
Chuck Nazty is locked into Colorado now for the foreseeable future after agreeing to a six-year extension with the Rockies. The deal is slightly backloaded and heavy on incentives, but could end up paying a max of $116 million when its all said and done. It is also reported that Blackmon will have multiple player options throughout the deal. Blackmon, who is a quiet superstar, tried his best to keep the contract discussion out of the media. He told reporters, “I didn’t want to create distractions,” throughout spring training. Blackmon has been putting up stupid numbers the past couple of seasons and is slotted to be in the MVP conversation again this year. And after a tough offseason for free agents, Blackmon is smart to get his money now. This move speaks to a bigger trend in the MLB. Big time sluggers had a hard time getting big paydays this offseason with a handful still not playing. Next year is slotted to be tough again with many teams planning on spending huge on a few big names like Harper and Machado. With more and more teams adopting the “tanking” strategy and accepting bad seasons, many players find themselves caught in between being can’t miss superstars and veterans that teams can’t justify giving the salary they deserve. It just isn’t worth paying an above average veteran if you are a team that is trying to rebuild. There is no more pride in competing to be .500. It is much more valuable to fully commit to not contending and trying to speed up the rebuild process. Now Blackmon does not find himself in that twilight zone, he’s a bonafide superstar, but you can’t blame him for wanting to sure up his future. And if he can keep up the production we’ve gotten used to seeing from him, those incentives will all pay out and his future will be very bright.
by Nick Brower | Apr 5, 2018 | SPORTS
Yes, you read that headline correctly. Robert Griffin III has agreed to a one-year deal to play for the Baltimore Ravens after not playing at all last season. It might come as a surprise, but it really is a smart move. Baltimore has needed a backup for Flacco for awhile and they needed to get one relatively cheap because of their cap situation. RG3 fits the mold perfectly. He is experienced, more than capable of serving as a backup to an established starter, and will come at a bargain price. He is definitely a more exciting name than the other options at this point (Mark Sanchez, Derek Anderson, and Matt Cassel to name a few). Colin Kapernick is of course still unsigned but not for football reasons. I think Griffin is a good move, even if he doesn’t end up on the regular season roster. The Ravens could still look to the draft for a young quarterback to develop under Flacco. Either way, he comes as cheap insurance. It will also be good to see RG3 get another chance in the league. He has always been an exciting player but has struggled with injury issues. Let’s see what he can make of the opportunity. I hope he can find some success because this will probably be his last shot.
by Nick Brower | Apr 5, 2018 | SPORTS
Mark down the day. For the first time, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez hit homers in the same game. Expect a few more of these kind of days this season. And as a matter of fact, they were all two-run BOMBS. The three home runs added up to almost 1,300 feet of flight. Ronald Torreyes added an RBI single to make it a 7-2 win over the Rays and also made an outstanding catch in shallow right field from second base in his first action of the season. Severino was dominant again, only allowing 5 hits while striking out 7 in 7 1/3 innings. Warren and Chapman came out of the pen to put the game to bed. The offense has been great so far but yesterday showed the true potential. The big three in the middle have the ability to just take over games. Judge has been great in the two spot with an OPS of .920. He’s taking his walks and getting on base without sacrificing his power. Stanton and Sanchez aren’t quite locked in yet but we know the power is going to come. They are both better hitters then they get credit for, expect those averages to go up significantly. I think yesterday will get them rolling. And with Didi Gregorious in mid-season form already too, opposing pitchers won’t be getting much sleep before their starts.
by Nick Brower | Apr 5, 2018 | SPORTS
Boston lost an important game last night in Toronto. The 96-78 loss puts them 3 games behind the Raptors for the one seed, making finishing first almost impossible. That wasn’t the biggest loss of the night though. Word has now surfaced that Kyrie Irving won’t see the court again until next season as he’ll need another surgery on his left knee. Irving is said to be having two screws in his knee taken out, and the recovery is scheduled to take 4-5 months. The Celtics are expected to make an official statement soon. This is the final nail in the coffin for the Celtic’s season. We knew it was going to be tough going from the start when Gordon Hayward went down opening night. The outstanding play of Brown and Tatum gave the Celtics new hope, but without Kyrie this team cannot make it out of the East. The rookies have been amazing, but it won’t be enough to beat either Toronto or Cleveland in a seven game series. Not to mention that backup point guard Marcus Smart isn’t expected to be ready for the start of the playoffs either as he recovers from a thumb injury. While this postseason will still be important in the development of their young talent, the Celtics front office better start looking towards the offseason. We know that Hayward and Irving will be the healthy centerpieces, but what will this roster look like around them? Do they try to leverage some of that young talent to get another All-Star veteran? Or do they try to add in free agency and keep the main pieces in tact? I would try my hardest to keep both Brown and Tatum. They are going to be All-Stars in the very near future and both play the game with great energy on both sides of the ball. The Celtics should turn their focus on upgrading the front court. Al Horford has been great while reinventing his game and stretching out to the three point line, but Boston would really benefit from a legit post threat and rim protector to help all their guard talent. Sorry Boston fans, but you’ll have to wait another year for a championship run.
by Nick Brower | Apr 3, 2018 | SPORTS
News broke late this afternoon that the Rams and Patriots have agreed to a deal revolving around WR Brandin Cooks. Los Angles will receive Cooks and a forth round pick while New England will be receiving the 23rd overall pick in this years draft and a sixth-rounder. Los Angles is continuing a busy offseason and gets a great piece here in Cooks. The Rams recently loss Sammy Watkins to free agency and Cooks will come as an upgrade as a deep threat for Goff. The Rams are clearly in win-now mode and couldn’t care less about a late-first round pick. This means that they are out of the possible OBJ market but I like this move better. Cooks is a great player and doesn’t come with the headache Beckham Jr. brings with him. As for the Patriots, this quiets the rumors of trading Gronkowski. There is no way they ship out Brady’s top two threats in one year, especially with Tom entering his 40s. They are also in great draft position as well and now have two-first rounders and two-second rounders this year. They could leverage that package to move up the board, or could sit on them all. The Patriots and Belichick have always found great value in the draft so it wouldn’t surprise me if they end up keeping all four selections. I think this is a win-win as both sides got what they wanted. It just keeps getting better and better to be a Rams fan.
