I'm the first to admit that I've never really followed the NBA much. There isn't a team in my hometown of St. Louis so I tended to follow college basketball more than the NBA.
The big talk around here is of course, the Lakers and the Clippers. The Clippers are now suddenly a real threat with the addition of Chris Paul. There's a lot of bandwagoning going on in LA. Suddenly all of these people are Clippers fans even though they probably couldn't tell you the last time they a) watched a Clippers game or b) went to a Clippers game.
The Lakers are having a shaky start to the season. Not sure if it's time to start panicking if you're a Lakers fan, but they are definitely not the same Lakers team that won the championship 2 years ago. They tried to trade for Paul first, but the NBA rejected the trade, which of course has a LOT of people upset because the NBA approved the deal for the Clippers. I guess I see where the NBA is coming from they are trying to prevent teams from being able to hoard all of the top players on one team. They need to do this, to keep the league competitive. If every NBA player wanted to play for the Lakers and all of the good ones went there and the Lakers won the championship by a landslide every year it would be boring, and fans would stop following the league. Except for Lakers fans of course.
So I get it. Paul definitely seems to be helping the Clippers quite a bit. They've started the season 2-0 and beat the Lakers in their preseason opener. Will be interesting to see how this shortened season unfolds.
As the NBA season starts to heat up, the NFL season is coming to an end, which makes me sad. I know I still have a month of playoffs still but I hate when the NFL season ends.
Tim Tebow's storybook season has had a major reality check the past 2 weeks. If anyone really thought the Broncos would beat the Pats, well, they were proven wrong. Because as bad as the Pats defense is, the Pats offense is just too explosive for Tebow and co to try and overcome all of those points. And then this past weekend Buffalo just crushed the Broncos 40-14. Guess the Disney story is over. However, the Broncos can still make the playoffs. They play Kansas City this weekend and they are beatable (though Green Bay may beg to differ). It looks like it'll either be the Broncos or Oakland.
In the "suck for Luck" race, the Colts won another game this past weekend under Dan Orlovsky. The Rams, Vikings and Colts are all tied for that worst in the league title with only 2 wins, however, the Colts are in the lead due to schedule (the Rams and Vikes had much harder schedules, whereas the Colts had many more winnable games).
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. The Rams play the 49'ers this weekend. Sam Bradford won't play. The Rams aren't going to win this game. The 49'ers are fighting for that playoff bye week and I don't think they will have too much trouble winning this game (but I could be wrong, the Rams did beat the Saints).
The Colts play the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are just awful. A very winnable game for the Colts. So if you're Bill Pollian and Jim Isray, do you tell the team to basically kind of throw the game to ensure you keep the #1 pick? If the Colts win, they will lose out on that opportunity and it will go to the Rams (unless the Rams win). The Rams won't draft Luck, they already have a franchise quarterback in Bradford. But they can get a lot for that pick, and the Rams need all of the help they can get.
If the Colts win this weekend they may well indeed pass up an opportunity of a lifetime. We all hope that Peyton is able to play again but there are no guarantees. And even if he does play he probably has 3-4 good years left? I think you have to take the opportunity to get Luck. If Peyton turns out to be healthy and good to go then you deal from there, but the Colts have to look to the future. And that's tough for me to say because I really love Peyton and hope he plays and retires with the Colts but we just don't know if that's going to happen or not.
Pro Bowl players were announced today. Tebow didn't make the list, so sad. Honestly? The Pro Bowl is the biggest joke of a game. MLB, NBA, NHL all seem to make their all star games have some sort of meaning or are at least entertaining. The Pro Bowl is a complete joke. Truly. It means nothing, the players just want the honor because it can be added to their resume, and the game just seems to lack any sort of heart. I've tried to watch it but I usually end up tuning it out and it just becomes background noise.
The playoff picture will be complete after this weekend. Looking forward to the final games of the season and the chance to put the Rams and the Colts horrendous seasons behind them and look forward to next year. How about a Colts-Rams Super Bowl in 2013? Hey, it could happen!
No comments:
Post a Comment