Mr Matt's Sports Blog

This year's free agency class is incredible. Never in the history of professional sports as their been more attention and excitement for an off-season. The top 11 free agents in my rankings have a combined 55 all-star game appearances. Three of them have won a title while two have led their team to a finals appearance. All but David Lee and Rudy Gay have led their team to the playoffs. King James is the biggest prize and Dwyane Wade is a close second. Both players would love to be playing with Chris Bosh next season who is number 3. This free agent crop is so good that Carlos Boozer is number 7. Here's my list: The Top 10-Nine all-stars and a Gay . All of these stars will get near max money. 1. LeBron James -SF-CLV 6-8/250/Age 25 King James is the key to this years class. He is the reigning back to back MVP. He is the most dominant player in the NBA today. However the King is still searching for a ring. It all comes down to what James is looking for. If he's l...

WASHINGTON WIZARDS: A 1. John Wall-PG 17. Kevin Seraphin-F/C 23. Trevor Booker-PF 56. Hamady Ndiaye-C If Wall isn't one of the five best point guards in the league by 2013, it will be a major let down. That's how much talent the superstar from Kentucky has. Booker is a freak athlete and Seraphin has potential. The only problem now is that with the Kirk Hinrich trade, Washington's 3 best players are all guards and all 6-4 or shorter. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: A 2. Evan Turner-G/F What's not to like about taking the best player in college basketball last year? Wall and Turner were 1a and 1b in ranking as far as I'm concerned. Turner can do it all on the basketball court. They still need a lot of help up front. NEW JERSEY NETS: B+ 3. Derrick Favors-PF 24. Damion James-SF I like these picks. Favors will need time to develop while James is NBA ready. Favors has incredible upside and could become an all-star eventually. James is pretty much what you see is what...

Question #1: Will one of the 3 teams (MIN, MEM, OKC) with 3 first round selections trade up? Oklahoma City made a major move by trading up with New Orleans to get Cole Aldrich at 11. The Thunder hope that he will be their center of the future for this young team with a ton of talent. None of the three teams kept all their first round picks. Minnesota traded both the 16th and 23rd picks while Memphis traded the 25th pick. Question #2: Will the Pacers and/or Hornets trade down? The Hornets saved some cash by trading down with the Thunder while the Pacers were unable to trade down. Question #3: What will be the draft order of these 5 wings, Luke Babbit, Xavier Henry, Paul George, Gordan Hayward, and James Anderson? Hayward went first at 9 to Utah, then George at 10 to Indy, Henry at 12 to Memphis, Babbit at 16 to Minnesta and was then traded to Portland while Anderson went at 20 to San Antonio. Question #4: Will Daniel Orton or Hassan Whiteside slip out of the first round? Orton...

Question #1: Will one of the 3 teams (MIN, MEM, OKC) with 3 first round selections trade up? It appears the Thunder want to trade up to get a center. They could trade to #5 to get DeMarcus Cousins or trade into the top 12 to get Cole Aldrich. It would make a lot of sense for Memphis to move up to get both a power and small forward in the top 15 or trade out of #25 or #28. Minnesota has been trying but it looks like they'll stay at #4 but might trade out of 16 or 23. Question #2: Will the Pacers and/or Hornets trade down? Both want to, but for different reasons. The Hornets are tying to save money, while the Pacers are trying to acquire a starting point guard. If they are unable to trade down expect both to draft a wing player. Question #3: What will be the draft order of these 5 wings, Luke Babbit, Xavier Henry, Paul George, Gordan Hayward, and James Anderson? The difference between these five guys is very minimal. I have them ranked 11-15. However one may sneak in the top ...

First Round: 1. WAS-John Wall-PG-Kentucky No brainer #1. 2. PHL-Evan Turner-G/F-Ohio St. No brainer #2 3. NJ-Derrick Favors-PF-Georgia Tech It appears the Nets will take Favors over Wes Johnson here. I think Johnson is better, however Favors has more upside. The thinking was for the Nets to take Johnson as 4. MIN-Wes Johnson-SF-Syracuse Minnesota gets a good player here without having to trade up. If Nets do in fact throw throw the first curve ball of the draft and take Johnson expect Minnesota to try to trade the pick and take either Favors or Cousins. 5. SAC-DeMarcus Cousins-C-Kentucky COusins should be the pick here. The question is whether someone will make the Kings an offer they can't refuse. Oklahoma City has 3 first rounders and needs a top center. The Pistons and Spurs also have interest in Cousins. Either way it's a solid pick for Sacramento despite all the negative hype Cousins has received. 6. GS-Ekpe Udoh-PF-Baylor In my first mock draft I thought that the W...

The top 40 draft prospects can be put into 6 different tiers. I named them: The Studs, The Bigs. Solid Slashers/Shooters, Young Project Bigs, Point/Combo Guards NOT named John Wall, and Good Experienced Forwards. Here are my rankings by tier. I have the players overall ranking next to their name. The Studs (3): 1. John Wall -PG-Kentucky-Fr.-19 years old 6-4 (height)/196 (weight)/8-6 (standing reach) NBA Comparison: Russell Westbrook/Jason Kidd in 1994 Career Role: Star point guard with superstar potential 2. Evan Turner -G/F-Ohio St.-Jr. 6-7/214/8-8 NBA Comparison: Brandon Roy/Grant Hill Career Role: Star wing/perennial all-star 3. Wes Johnson -SF-Syracuse-Jr. 6-7/206/8-10 NBA Comparison: Josh Howard in prime Career Role: Starting SF, great #2 option The Bigs (7): 4. DeMarcus Cousins -C-Kentucky-Fr. 6-11/292/9-5 NBA Comparison: A better Erick Dampier Career Role: Starting center, boom/bust prospect 5. Derrick Favors -PF-Georgia Tech-Fr. 6-10/245/9-2 NBA Comparison: Antonio McDye...

First Round with comments: 1. WAS-John Wall-PG-Kentucky Easy choice, Wall is the present and future in Washington. He'll try to have the same rookie success in the capital city as Stephen Strasburg is having in baseball with the Washington Nationals. 2. PHL-Evan Turner-G/F-Ohio St. The best player in college last year will give Philly a new dimension to their offense. He can score, rebound and run an offense all from the small forward spot. 3. NJ-Derrick Favors-PF-Georgia Tech Favors will take some time to develop, but he will be the perfect compliment to Brook Lopez 4. MIN-Wesley Johnson-SF-Syracuse Johnson isn't quite Turner, but he's a pretty nice consolation prize. He should come in a start at small forward from day one. 5. DET (Trade A)-DeMarcus Cousins-C-Kentucky The Pistons will do EVERYTHING in their power to move up to get Cousins. He is the perfect player for their system. Detroit needs a center to help get back in the playoffs and Cousins is the best center ...

MILWAUKEE BUCKS: Needs: Wing depth, PF Picks: 15, 37, 47 Core: C-Andrew Bogut, PG-Brandon Jennings, G/F-John Salmons, SF-Carlos Delfino, SG-Michael Redd, F-Luc Mbah a Moute, PG-Luke Ridnour, F-Ersan Ilyasova Key Free Agents: Salmons (PO), Ridnour, G/F-Jerry Stackhouse Options: At 15-Xavier Henry, Gordon Hayward, Luke Babbit, Ekpe Udoh At 37 and 47-Lazar Hayward, Trevor Booker, Jordan Crawford, Luke Harangody, Latavious Williams Synopsis: The Bucks are set for now and the future at two of the most important positions in the game. They have a top center in Bogut and a good young point in Jennings. They surprised a lot of people in cluding myself, by making the playoffs. The biggest need is a shooter on the wing. Salmons could become a free agent and Redd is always injured. They should have plenty of options at #15. CHICAGO BULLS: Needs: A lights out shooter on the wing, frontcourt depth Pick: 17 Core: PG-Derrick Rose, C/F-Joakim Noah, SF-Loul Deng, G-Kirk Hinrich, PF-Taj Gi...

WASHINGTON WIZARDS: Needs: True PG and new face of franchise, Depth up front, shooters on the wings to help John Wall . Picks: 1, 30, 35 Core: SG-Gilbert Arenas, PF-Andray Blatche, C/F-JaVale McGhee, G/F-Nick Young, F/G-Mike Miller Key Free Agents: Miller, PG-Randy Foye (Restricted) Options : At 1-John Wall At 30 and 35-Devin Ebanks, Trevor Booker, Jarvis Varnado, Quincy Poindexter, Jordan Crawford Synopsis: Many expected the Wizards to be a playoff team going into the season. As soon as it became apparent that they weren't heading to the playoffs, they unloaded two of their best players and biggest salaries in Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. Now they're a young team in complete rebuilding mode. What better way to rebuild than with the #1 pick? John Wall is a pretty easy choice there. The Wizards will hope that Gilbert Arenas can put his ego and drama aside to pair with the talented point guard to form one of the best backcourts in the NBA. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS...