A year hiatus is long enough don't you think? Having a kid is a great experience I wouldn't trade for the world but priorities certainly shift and time becomes even more of a premium than before. Looking back it appears my last post was about the 2013 NBA Finals, makes sense I should make a comeback during the 2014 NBA Finals. In order to knock the rust off, I'll do a rapid fire potpourri regarding a number of different fun story lines that have recently occurred. I'm happy to back, hope you're happy to have me back.
BASKETBALL
This is a 2 for 1. We get the Heat and Spurs again for our first Finals rematch since Bulls/Jazz in the 90s. I think this was the result we were inexorably traveling towards since about March. It was clear at that point the Pacers were too flawed in some regard (coaching, mental toughness, locker room?) and that the rest of the East wasn't good enough to hold the Heat's collective jock strap. Meanwhile the Spurs were cruising towards the best record in the NBA and even though OKC had swept San Antonio 4-0 in their season series this year, no one in San Antonio was panicking. After all, the playoffs are a whole different ball of wax. We know what happened next: The Heat basically steamrolled through the East. The Spurs had to battle hard to beat one of the greatest 8th seeds the NBA has ever seen, took advantage of a young team that didn't know what they were doing, and took care of business against the Thunder, including beating them twice when they had Ibaka, and winning the series in Oklahoma City, which was basically the Spurs' House of Horrors for the last few seasons. 
For the NBA this was about as good of a series as they could hope for. I wrote about this last year and I'm sticking by it even more, I think the NBA is suffering through more of a talent drain than most experts think. This playoffs you were looking at maybe 4.5 viable championship teams our of a league of 30. The Eastern Conference had 1.5: the Heat and the Pacers. The Heat were obvious, but the Pacers were a contender until they inexplicably self-destructed for no good reason other than Danny Granger got traded? The East was terrible. In the West, even though the teams were much better there were only 3 real contenders: San Antonio, OKC, and the Clippers. Houston is fatally flawed on defense, Portland is fatally flawed on defense and with experience, Golden State was missing their key interior defender, Memphis couldnt score, and Dallas lacked just enough defense to get them over the hump.
Look at where all the best players in the league are: Lebron James, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Paul George. Sure you have some outliers like Steph Curry, Carmelo Anthony, LaMarcus Aldridge, James Harden, and Kevin Love, but most of the All-NBA talent is confined within the 4.5 championship contenders. The league is a long way from parity and guys liek Embiid, Wiggins, and Parker are going to be mired on terrible eastern conference teams and none of them have the ability or pedigree of a Lebron James to simply will their team to the NBA Finals. The NBA is in trouble from a excitement perspective and there is no end in sight.
For posterity's sake I have the Spurs in 6, assuming Tony Parker's health. Thats basically what it was last year when the Heat had home court advantage if not for just small amount of bad luck and poor execution at the end. Now the Spurs have homecourt (if you dont think that matters for such a veteran team I direct you to the OKC series Games 1-5), Manu Ginobili looks much healthier and spry coming into this series and I think San Antonio's bench will run circles around the Heat's bench. All of this is enough to make up the difference from last year and give San Antonio another title.
In a victory for the NBA, they were finally able to justify the ouster of one of the most onerous and team-unfriendly owners in all of professional sports: Donald Sterling. This was long overdue and had he engaged in his housing discrimination during the social media era he would have been out back in the 90s. He was notoriously cheap and enjoyed running a terrible product out there every year. He lucked into Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and Doc Rivers and it gives me a small sense of satisfaction that he wont be around to enjoy actual success. Sure he gets to split 2 billion with his equally onerous "wife," which is more like 1.4 billion after capital gains taxes, but the league and sports world is a better place without him.
And for you First Amendment "scholars" and to Mark Cuban who was equivocating on whether hed vote Sterling out, the First Amendment is a protection from interference by the government. When you are a key member of a business and you hurt not only the business as a whole but the other 29 business partners you pay the price. Sterling couldn't stay. The Clippers would have been an economic drain on the league until he left. So while Adam Silver did the easy thing in immediately canning him, it also doubled as the right thing. Good job NBA, now work on a scenario where more teams are competitive.
SOCCER
World Cup is here!! I don't follow soccer that regularly, though I do follow international things such as WC Qualifying, Gold Cup, etc..and the World Cup is far and away my favorite sporting event, beating out the Summer Olympics (#2) and March Madness (#3). The pageantry, patriotism, and fanaticism in the World Cup far outstrips the Summer Olympics and the talent level and skill far outstrips those competing in March Madness.
In case you've been living under a rock, the U.S National Team drew probably the toughest group of the 8 having to play world ranked #2 Germany and #3 Portugal, as well as a Ghana team that has eliminated them in each of the last two World Cups, though isn't expected to be as good this year. Also, the most iconic American player Landon Donovan was left off the initial World Cup roster. Clearly the general public was disgusted by the idea that he would be left off, but American fans need to place their trust in Manager Jorgen Klinsmann. He has been very successful in every coaching stop including as the US coach with historic wins inside Estadio Azteca in Mexico City and against Italy in Italy. He knows what he's doing. The warm up friendlies thus far have borne this out as the US has won its first 2 of 3 home soil friendlies scheduled in advance of the World Cup including a victory over a Turkey squad which hadn't lost in a year. Unfortunately, I think the defense is bad enough that they won't be able to secure the win against Ghana and draws against Portugal and Germany they'll need to advance. But it won't be because Landon Donovan was left off.
For posterity's sake, I think the final four standing will be Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Uruguay (sorry Spain) with a Brazil/Argentina final and Argentina walking away with the golden trophy. The world's best player (Lionel Messi) in his prime on one of the world's best teams (Argentina) with a near home field advantage will be enough to overcome a powerful Brazil side that does have home field advantage. Those semi final games will be fantastic, especially the Brazil/Germany one I predict will happen. Either way there are some great teams, great players, and great excitement ahead in what is the best sporting competition out there. Sit back and enjoy!
FOOTBALL
The NFL Draft, the most "exciting" event in the offseason, came and went last month. While I enjoy seeing where some of my favorite-to-watch college football players go, as well as what idiotic things the Cowboys will do this year, actually watching even the 1st round of the draft is horrible. I just cannot stand the cadence by which Mel Kiper talks, I cannot stand Chris Berman stumbling over his words or awkwardly trying to fill in random gaps of silence, and I cannot stand Jon Gruden creaming his pants over every QB. The only entertaining part was the unintentional comedy of Ray Lewis offering "analysis" on draft picks. "This guy's is a player," or "this guy can flat out player," or "this guy is a difference maker." Why is Ray Lewis even there? I dont really know how to make something better when it simply consists of waiting in 10 minute increments for Roger Goodell to announce a name while a few drunk football fans in Radio Music City Hall boo or cheer. Meh. You can do better NFL, I trust you.
As for the draft itself, I absolutely think the Texans made the right decision taking Clowney. He was unfairly panned his junior year for what was obviously a half-assed effort because he didn't want to tear an ACL a la Aaron Murray or Zach Mettenberger (who i think would've been a 2nd round QB if not for that tear after all was said and done.) Also he had very little help from his defensive teammates. As Gruden correctly pointed out, when someone made the mistake of not double teaming him he caused havoc. The Texans offense wasn't an issue last year, it was the defense. To pair him with an equally talented DL who causes havoc by himself will be a great asset.
If Jacksonville wasn't intent on starting their rookie QB why take him #3 overall when hes not a fantastic prospect. I dont have an opinion one way or another on Bortles other than he was obviously very good in college for a mediocre team. But for a team in need of a million playmakers and one that has stated they will not start Bortles if they can help it why not choose someone else like Khalil Mack and then get a 2nd round QB? Didn't make a lot of sense to me. Jacksonville will be in London or LA before we know it.
Johnny Football. First, thank god he didn't get drafted by the Cowboys. That would've been too much and obviously a waste of a pick. I watched a lot of Johnny Football being a Florida and SEC fan (yay SEC Network!!!) and he's not an NFL QB. I'm sorry. People make claims like well he did eviscerate Alabama twice, to which I said, so did Tebow, and Alabama, especially this year was not their usual great defensive team. He can prove people wrong but he has a lot of things going against him: his size (this isn't thick ass Russell Wilson we're talking about), his mechanics (lousy), and his football IQ (non-existent, Texas A&M didn't have a playbook!) Jaworski was actually right on about something, he was not a first round talent, he was better suited to the 3rd or 4th where there wouldn't be the pressure to get him in right away.
The rest of the first round: I really liked what New Orleans did basically replacing Sproles with Brandin Cook. Be true to yourself, New Orleans makes the playoffs every year with its offense, you don't know how long you'll have Brees so take advantage. San Francisco made a great pick, notwithstanding whatever might happen with Aldon Smith, and Navarro Bowman's injury, San Francisco needed to improve that secondary. As i said to one of my many 49er fan friends you gotta love a safety/nickel corner that lead his team in tackles. He's a tough nosed player that will fit right in immediately. While I imagine a lot of Raiders fans would've loved to see Watkins in silver and black I loved the Mack pick. Oakland is quietly building a decent team especially on defense. Urban Meyer, Ohio State coach, said the best defensive player he played against was Khalil Mack, who played for a small school. Meyer picked him over every other decent Big 10 defensive player he saw that year. Good job Oakland, you are slowly reinventing yourself for the best.
I obviously didn't like Cleveland's taking Johnny Football, but I didn't like their first pick of Gilbert either. You are already sitting on Joe Haden, you need front 7 help and Aaron Donald out of Pitt is still sitting there to anchor your D line. Future still looks bleak in Cleveland. Buffalo sold the farm for Sammy Watkins, a fantastic player to watch at Clemson, one of my favorite, but he's the type of luxury you sell the farm for if he makes you a contender. Buffalo had more warts that another multifunction Clemson weapon like CJ Spiller wont be able to fix. Good job Dallas you took the safe pick and not Manziel. I'm so proud.
Well it is nice to be back, here's hoping it's not another year before my next post! As always feel free to comment below or make suggestions for story lines you want to get The
Profssor's treatment.
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