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NFL Mock Draft 2009 Draft of 2009 Lacks Star Power NFL Draft 2009: Getting Started Super Bowl Well Worth Tuning In For
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Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
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Ranting and Raving, Vol. 2: 8/11/08 Brett Favre, Josh Smith, Ron Artest, Team USA, and More! By Ron Jumper It is time for the second installment of “Ranting and Raving” here at SportsOverload. For the time being, with my college football preview going on and all the pre-season football games to keep up with, it is just so much easier to lay out an opinion on all the topics that are of interest to me in this format. So, now that Favre has officially landed with the Jets, I will give my opinion. I held out on giving an opinion until the end because I didn’t want my website to become Favre Overload, as SportsCenter has become FavreCenter. There is also some interesting news in the NBA, college basketball, and college football. Brett Favre: With Brett Favre, I am so glad it is finally over and settled that you really can’t even comprehend. I boycotted Sirius NFL Radio and all the ESPN shows (PTI, Around The Horn, etc.) for the duration and only got my information from the web. That way I only had to take in the information I wanted to, as opposed to my hourly updates consisting of something like: “Brett Favre is breathing in oxygen and had a heck of bowel movement at 7:30 AM, back to you Dick.” I decided to live my life as if there was nothing going on in Green Bay. That it was still the land of happiness and cheese (some might consider those two the same thing, but I digress) and all was right in the world. I’m a big Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, so when I heard Favre was probably going to land there I didn’t know what to think at first. Then I got kind of excited. However, then I came back to my senses and realized that would be an awful move. Is Brett Favre better than Jeff Garcia? Yes, without question. However, there are two much more important issues to consider. First, the Bucs have so much cap room and are in such great shape to be good in the future because of it. Secondly, Garcia fits what they want to do as a football team better than Favre. With Garcia, they can run the ball, play good defense, and win football games because he doesn’t make mistakes (only 4 interceptions). With Favre, he is going to make big plays but he is also going to throw a lot of interceptions along the way. The Bucs are built to play defense and not make mistakes in order to win football games. If they had added Favre, they still don’t have a great amount of weapons to properly utilize him anyway. After Joey Galloway, that is about it when you look at playmakers. Some criticized the Bucs early on for not going out and spending their cap space, but I am glad they didn’t pull a Jets and blow all their cap room on guys that really aren’t that great (not even including Favre). The Jets spent a fortune on Alan Faneca, Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins, Damien Woody, and now Brett Favre but do you even feel comfortable that they will make the playoffs this season? I still don’t see many playmakers, as they have average wide receivers. Don’t forget they lost Jonathon Vilma in free agency. Oh yeah, and they were terrible last year! It is going to take a lot to make the playoffs in the AFC with New England, Indianapolis, San Diego, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Cleveland looking to be competitive once again. As far as jumping up into that category, wouldn’t you think Buffalo and Houston have the same aspirations? Obviously, when doing the math, someone has to be left out of the playoff mix. That being said, I can promise you the smart money is not on the Jets. As for the Bucs, they won their division and had another good draft in my opinion. Aqib Talib will be a good corner in the Bucs Cover 2 scheme. They added no headliners in free agency, but C Jeff Faine, RB Warrick Dunn, DE Marques Douglas, DB Eugene Wilson, and TE Ben Troupe make the Bucs a better football team. The best part of it is that they were able to get better and still have the cap room to do whatever they want next off-season. Meanwhile, the Jets are tapped out for the rest of this decade. Back to Favre, just because he played well last season doesn’t really mean much this season. Remember, the 2005 and 2006 seasons? Favre wasn’t so hot back then. Now, with him changing to a new and less talented offense, you really think he is taking the Jets somewhere other than Mediocrityville? Look no further than that Tom Brady guy that they play twice a year in their division. Personally, I think it is a battle between the Jets and Bills just to see who gets second to the Patriots. Josh Smith: Josh Smith re-signed with the Hawks. No big deal, right? Wrong. The Hawks are very lucky they were able to match such a modest offer from the Grizzlies for Josh Smith. I really expected him to land a big contract because of his upside. The Grizzlies were the only NBA team that had the cap space to lure away Josh Smith from the ATL. However, because of the lack of competition for Smith’s services, they made a pretty modest offer that the Hawks could easily match. This not only helped the Hawks keep Josh Smith but they got him at a bargain price. Consider Luol Deng got a 6-year $72 million deal under similar circumstances, then ask yourself who you would rather have. I’m taking Josh Smith any day of the week. That isn’t the only interesting angle. If he becomes the superstar we all think he can develop into in two years and decides he can’t stand it in Atlanta anymore, teams would be very likely to make a trade work because he doesn’t have such an insane contract. Throw in an expiring contract or two plus draft picks and Smith is your man. Patrick Beverley: The Arkansas Razorbacks will not have Patrick Beverley back for his junior season. ESPN is reporting he was academically ineligible. Some rumors had floated around about him taking money from agents and there were ongoing paternity issues. Whatever the case, Arkansas basketball will be just fine if you ask me. I’m going to say what I’ve always said about Pelphrey and that is we won’t be able to fairly assess him until year 3. In his first season, he had a senior laden group that any coach in America could have gotten 18-20 wins out of (he won 23). Now, in his second season, not even John Wooden in his prime could win the SEC with this group of youngsters. However, Pelphrey has a wonderful recruiting class coming in and seems to be doing things the right way. In year 3, when the team will be virtually all players recruited by Pelphrey (outside of Stefan Welsh and Michael Washington), it will be a much better assessment of how good Pelphrey really is. If he can land another class similar to this first one(ranked as one of the best by virtually all accounts), the Hogs will be rocking and rollin’ in Bud Walton. Mitch Mustain: Opportunity knocks for the once highly touted recruit from Springdale, AR. With Mark Sanchez nursing a dislocated kneecap for the next month or so, Mustain can jump in and take over the starting QB position. Personally, I think Mustain has all the tools to be a big time QB for USC. Sanchez has more experience and has been in the program longer, but Mustain would allow them to be more explosive once he got a few starts under his belt. Simply, I am not a Mustain fan at all but he has all the tools to be a great quarterback once he gets on the field enough to be acclimated to his new surroundings. If Mustain can ultimately win the job, this will turn into a blessing in disguise for USC. Ron Artest: I haven’t had a chance to talk about Artest yet, so I am going to now. This trade will ultimately be a beneficial trade for both sides for a number of reasons. First, Artest makes the Rockets so much tougher on the defensive end of the floor. Second, this kills any chance of the Rockets trading T-Mac to Detroit. Third, the Kings now have a very good trio of Kevin Martin, Donte Greene, and Jason Thompson to build the franchise around. I’m not a big fan of Spencer Hawes, but you can throw him in to if you’d like. When looking at Houston, they can now make a push towards a playoff run. A starting lineup of Rafer Alston, Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, Ron Artest, and Yao Ming looks very good to me right now. So much so, they are clearly the best team in Texas in terms of talent. You can never count out the Spurs, but they are starting to get old and need a new influx of talent. Dallas has just lost that edge to them, as they seem to be unraveling. Looking at their division, New Orleans needs another scorer. If they can steal away Ben Gordon from the Bulls (which looks very doable), then the Hornets remain my top team in the Southwest. However, until then, I’m loving the Houston Rockets right now. The Kings weren’t going to be good anyway, so why pay Artest all that this season and him bolt next year anyway? Getting Greene, Bobby Jackson’s expiring contract, and an additional first round pick is not bad value. All they need to do is grab a shot blocker and a promising young point guard, then let the young guns develop. It really isn’t a bad nucleus when you look at Greene, Thompson, Martin, Hawes, Francisco Garcia, Beno Udrih, Brad Miller, Shelden Williams, Quincy Douby, and possibly Sean Singletary or Patrick Ewing Jr. if they can make the roster. Team USA: I love how everyone thinks that all our problems against international competition are going to magically disappear because we finally give a flying flip about the Olympics again for the first time in a couple of decades. We still have 2 key problems: a lack of great shooting and lack of depth inside. Can we win gold? Obviously, yes. Will we cruise by everyone? Not a chance in hell. Now, yes, the roster has guys like Michael Redd and Deron Williams who can light it up but, in crunch time when it counts, the guys on the floor will be some mix of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul or Jason Kidd at the point, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard or Chris Bosh inside. Of that group, I’m only feeling comfortable with Kobe taking outside shots. With the ball likely going to be in Kobe’s hands in an isolation situation when we need a big bucket, who is going to take the shot when the defense collapses on Kobe and he has to kick it out? The answer to that could be the difference in Gold or Silver. Getting back to the lack of depth inside, I truly believe Dwight Howard is the guy that separates us from the rest of the world. Name an international player that can come close to his size and athleticism inside? However, after Howard, it gets pretty plain. I’m not loving having to depend on Chris Bosh or Carlos Boozer to block shots and grab big rebounds. If Howard is in foul trouble or injured, this could be a tough obstacle to overcome. After taking it all into account, here is my final prediction: Team USA will drop a game in pool play and a tie-breaker will determine who wins Group B. After that, we will spank whoever we play in the first elimination round from Group A then meet some combination of Argentina, Greece, and Spain for the remaining games. Whoever we face, the games will be intense and come down to the wire. Ultimately, I love the addition of Kobe and he will help tremendously, but the guy who will make the biggest difference (and answer the question from above) will be Carmelo Anthony. Huh? Yes, Anthony will make the difference and bring home the Gold Medal to where it belongs. August 11, 2008 |
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Be Careful What You Wish For
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| NCAA Basketball | |
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Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
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