Forever Young

    The biggest trend in the free agency period so far has been the acquisition of veteran poise and dependability by contending teams looking to either get over the hump or temporarily stay on top. 

            The Cleveland Cavaliers traded for a 37-year-old Shaquille O’ Neal. Orlando traded for a 32-year-old Vince Carter to replace a mildly younger Hedo Turkoglu. The Los Angeles Lakers opted to sign Ron Artest, who turns 30 next November, instead of the 24-year-old Trevor Ariza who they let go to a conference rival. And lastly the Boston Celtics just added the 34-year-old Rasheed Wallace to possibly replace Glen Davis who is ten years younger.

            The San Antonio Spurs, still the NBA’s model franchise, on the other hand, have decided to go another route.  They made a move that certainly doesn’t include the grandest name, but deciding to add Richard Jefferson next season should pay dividends come playoff time when a well rested Tim Duncan along with Tony Parker and a healthy Manu Ginobli get back to their brand of winning basketball.

            Spurs General Manager RC Buford made the decision to rid the organization of former defensive stalwart Bruce Bowen along with fellow veterans Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto (a combined 107 years on this earth) in a trade that signified the modification of an era.  Jefferson joins a Spurs team where he will most likely be a third or fourth offensive option, which is really the best position for him to excel.  Along with the former Arizona Wildcast, San Antonio remains loaded with capable outside shooters in Matt Bonner, Roger Mason, Michael Finley and George Hill. 

            Taking a look at their roster that also includes the nearly immovable DaJuan Blair, the best value pick in the 2009 draft, the Spurs should be the top team out of the west in 2010. 

            As they head into next year with no point guard and Ron Artest instead of Trevor Ariza (a system player who was hyped up to be a Scottie Pippen carbon copy by the national media, but actually ended up being Los Angeles’s third most important player in the playoffs) the Lakers are not an obvious choice to repeat. In the past ten years a championship team has never benefited more from opposing team’s health issues than the 2009 Lakers.  Whether indirectly from Kevin Garnett and Manu Ginobli or directly against Yao Ming and Jameer Nelson, who crippled his team by returning to the rotation, Los Angeles is by no means the best team in the NBA and certainly not about to go on a three peat title run like they did ten years ago.

            This leaves the Spurs, a team that’s been overlooked more times than the nutritional facts on a Big Mac box.  It looked as though the Tim Duncan era was quickly and quietly snuffed out by long time rival Dallas in this year’s first round, but in making this trade, San Antonio once again shows why they’re one of the most consistently successful sports franchises in America. Team brass has realized that while their big three gets older, it doesn’t mean the role players around them should too.  The Spurs have the best coach in the NBA, the league’s most dynamic offensive player off the bench, a top six point guard and a tight rotation that orbit themselves around the best basketball player since Jordan.  If you don’t think they’ve got something left in the tank then you haven’t seen them play together. 

            Of course, the Spurs still need a little interior depth but should be able to either add another free agent like Antonio McDyess or get some unexpected immediate contribution from Blair.  Either way the team won’t go into next season without filling all their needs. 

            More is to be said about how better the Spurs will be next year than how disappointing the Ron Artest experiment could turn out, but the bottom line is that the Spurs remain ahead of what everyone else is doing. They plug players they think can fit snuggly into their system and continue to win games.  Signing big name free-agents might be something that excites fans and sells tickets, but as its been shown time and time again, that strategy doesn’t always work out.  San Antonio’s strategy, which is to develop home grown talent that other organizations choose to pass on, does work out more times than not. No team is smarter in basketball right now and no team is better suited to come out of the Western Conference next season.  

             

SHEED

We’re officially in the thick of free agency and the NBA’s off-season is about to get in the swing of things.  There are three ways for a team to improve from year to year in today’s league: the draft, trades and free agency with the latter most being the easiest and most effective route to travel.  

Once draft night comes and goes, Team Owners, Presidents and General Managers begin to place all their focus on the crème de la crème free agents looking to change zip codes. 

            On the eve of the notorious 2010 free agent class, this year’s crop is littered with veterans like Allen Iverson, Andre Miller, Jason Kidd, Lamar Odom, Hedo Turkoglu and Shawn Marion who, if signed by the right team, have the ability to put that franchise over the top come next season’s playoffs. 

            However the most interesting player available isn’t listed above.  He’s as volatile and controversial a person (when on the court) as basketball has ever seen and his game has managed to match his personality with its inimitability.  A mid-range jump shot first, baby hook in the lane second, near seven footer who Charles Barkley once said had all the skills in his repertoire needed to be the best player in the world, Rasheed Wallace is indeed the free agent in question.

            At 34 years of age, the 12-year-veteran has played in more playoff games in his career than most which when combined with his seemingly unstable persona has turned him into one of the more overlooked players on the market.

            Wallace’s career has more resembled a Six Flags Amusement Park than a single rollercoaster ride. First he skipped out on John Chaney and his hometown Temple Owls to play college ball at the University of North Carolina for Dean Smith.  After being drafted one pick before Kevin Garnett in the 1995 Draft, Wallace went on to become the face of a Portland Trailblazers team that was aptly nicknamed the “Jailblazers”. He found success on the court there, nearly winning a championship at the turn of the decade and making his way onto the All-Star team twice, but his constant accumulation of technical fouls took precedent over the amazing things he did with the basketball. 

            From February 8, 2004 to February 20, 2004, Wallace put on three different jerseys and suited up in three different time zones.  First it was Portland who traded him to the Atlanta Hawks where he played in just one game before being shipped off to Detroit.

            When Sheed joined the Pistons at the trade deadline and proved to be the missing piece in the NBA finals puzzle his reputation started to change for the better.  For the next four years Wallace remained a cornerstone on a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals each season. 

            At this point in his career, the only cities rumored to be courting the talkative Wallace are ones that home contenders.  Orlando, Cleveland, San Antonio, Boston and Los Angeles all would love to have the 6’ 10” Wallace and whichever one can sign him for the Mid-Level Exception could be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy next season. 

            While some team out there is almost guaranteed to overpay for a player like Trevor Ariza who, based on a solid playoff performance, they think will serve as a crucial championship piece, whoever manages to land Sheed will be the smart pick for a 2009 championship.

DANNY GRANGER INTERVIEW

Here's my incredibly interesting interview with Danny Granger where we discuss Michael Jackson and nocturnal omnivores.  

Danny Granger

Meltdown

 What. Just. Happened?

            Granted the situation was wacky due to the 71-minute rain delay, but one of the team’s greatest strengths once again chose to leak oil tonight against a relatively terrible Baltimore lineup. Our bullpen gave up 10 runs in just two innings, all with a nine run lead. Throw in a blown save for the normally reliable Jonathan Papelbon who was asked to get the final five outs and you’ve got yourself a once in a season kind of baseball game. 

            What a game to walk in on.  My entertainment of choice on the evening was an 8:05 showing of Pixar’s “Up” in 3D, a surprisingly morbid film.  I picked things up from the 7^th inning with the score 10-5 and was quickly filled in on Justin Masterson’s continuing struggles (five hits and five earned runs in just two innings).

             The young Ohioan with a rubber arm has really been battling lately with no consistent movement on his slider and a serious issue with getting outs. When Daisuke went on the DL back in April, Masterson was asked to abandon his role as a reliever and fill in on the rotation, well knowing that once the kinks smoothed out in Matsuzaka’s arm he would return to the bullpen. His ERA jumped from 2.70 in March and April to 5.06 in May while switching his responsibility, but Masterson’s clearly one of the more versatile pitchers in baseball and someone who will eventually emerge as a steadily dependable option for the Sox.

            With all that’s been asked from the 24-year-old pitcher it’s tough to get on him, but it does bring up a possible solution Terry Francona might be willing to consider if Masterson can’t get back to his same level of success he showed in the season’s early months.  Maybe send Masterson back to Triple-A for a short stint and make the inevitable call up to Clay Buckholz.  I realize this option has a load of problems clinging to it, but if they stretched the starting rotation to six pitchers and tightened up the bullpen a little bit with a lighter workload thanks to more innings out of the well rested starters, it has a snow ball’s chance in hell of working out.  On the other hand things would be more likely to go terribly wrong, but it’s just an idea. 

            Tomorrow we have a day game that will allow the Sox to move on as quickly as possibly from this ugly loss. Also Josh Beckett, the hottest pitcher in baseball, is pitching and he’s most probably not pleased with what he saw tonight. 

           

           

 

Random Hogwash:

 

            -With the bases loaded and no outs in the 8^th inning, Baltimore’s much-heralded catcher Matt Wieters came through with a nice little base hit into shallow left field.  Even though he’s just batting .247 on the season, with all that’s been said about this kid I expected him to pull something out.  Having him in the AL East for the next seven years could be trouble.  

           

            -John Smoltz pitched tonight but I didn’t catch any of it.  His line was solid, giving up just one run on three hits in four innings before the rain delay.