Mr Matt's Sports Blog

So the NBA off-season is pretty much over. The draft, the major trades, and of course Free Agency have all came and went. Some Free Agents such as David Lee, Ray Felton, Allen Iverson, Ramon Sessions, Nate Robinson, Linas Kleiza, and Big Baby Davis are still unsigned. Pretty much all of these players have been rumored to go overseas mainly to Olympiakos, and it looks like Kleiza is really close to signing with the Greek club. Also, two of those players, Lee and Robinson are on the Knicks. The Knicks are said to be interested in Sessions and Felton but both are still Free Agents as of today. So with all of this, I present my 2009 NBA off-season Winners and Losers WINNERS: Los Angeles Lakers -The defending champs were able to re-sign Lamar Odom and get Ron Artest for the Mid-Level Exception. The are clearly my favorites to win the title next year and become the first team to repeat since they won 3 straight titles in 00, 01, 02. the rich get richer and the strong get stronger. Bos...

On Friday the TrailBlazers signed Restricted Free Agent PF Paul Millsap to an offer sheet at 4 years around 36 million. The Jazz have indicated that they plan to match the offer, determining that Millsap is their PF of the future. The Jazz have also told current starting PF Carlos Boozer that he is not part of their future plans and will try to trade him. So now the million dollar question, make that 12.6 million (Boozer's salary next year which is the last year of his contract) dollar question is, where will Boozer be playing basketball in 2009-2010? Many teams, including the Cavs, have a major need at PF. Some other teams include the Nets, Pacers and now the Bucks with Charlie Villanueva going to Detroit. However none of those teams is likely to get Boozer's services. The Cavs just overpaid their starting PF Andy Varejao a six year 48+ million dollar deal. A little bit too much money for a guy who gets 8ppg and 7rpg. The Nets are in a saving spree as they will try to...

Today is the first day that NBA Free Agents can negotiate with teams. However no one can officially sign until July 8th after the NBA releases it's salary cap and luxury tax information. Last year the cap was at $56.68 million with the luxury tax threshold at $71.15 million. Many have predicted that the salary cap will decrease this year due to the economy. If it does indeed decrease, it should only be by a couple of million. Regardless if it increases or decreases, there are only a few teams with ample cap room to sign another team's free agents. Those teams are Memphis, Detroit, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Toronto, and Portland who currently all have payrolls under $50 million on the books for next year. The NBA has a "soft" cap, meaning teams can go over the salary cap using one of many exceptions to sign/re-sign their players. Most of the exceptions are designed to help teams keep their current players. Teams can go over the cap, but if their payroll exceeds t...

With the draft now complete, I examine who did best on Thursday Night. Their was no team that went from bad to contender overnight like in some previous drafts. But several teams especially the Clippers and Thunder took big steps to building a contender in 3-4 years. Here are my Grades: L.A. Clippers- A 1. Blake Griffin-PF-He won't turn around the worst franchise in NBA history overnight. But with Griffin, Eric Gordon, and Al Thorton, the Clippers have a young nucleus to build around. They also have star (when healthy) PG Baron Davis to lead them. I think they should try to trade Zach Randolph, but that will be tough to do. At the very least Griffin can learn some good post up moves from Randolph. Memphis Grizzlies- B+ 2. Hasheem Thabeet-C-Thabeet will be a defensive shutdown center from day one. He will control the paint for many years and should be on the NBA's all-defensive team in a few years. His offense is raw but that's OK. 27. DeMarre Carrol-CF 36. Sam Y...

The 2009-2010 NBA season is going to be crazy. With the blockbuster trades that have gone down before the draft. Shaq to Cleveland and now likely Vince Carter to the Magic. It seems like every team is doing whatever they can to win now in 2010. The funny thing is with all of these moves I still think the two teams to beat will be the defending champion L.A. Lakers (assuming they can re-sign both Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza) and the Boston Celtics with a healthy KG. But 3 of the other 4 top contenders both this year and next year have added stars now to make another championship run. The only other top contender not to make a major move has been the Denver Nuggets. But I am wondering if any of these 3 trades will make the Cavs, Magic, or Spurs that much better. Shaq and Vince have both already played their best basketball. Richard Jefferson is good, but the Spurs still have too many old role players. To me these trades are very interesting and entertaining. Yet they really d...

This is my major crazy no holding back mock draft with some interesting projected trades by me. 1. LAC-Blake Griffin-PF- An absolute no brainer 2. MEM- Hasheem Thabeet-C- I kept thinking and thinking that their would be a trade between the Grizz and the Kings for Ricky Rubio. It would make perfect sense. But it looks highly unlikely that the two teams will be able to work out a trade. Memphis is not likely to make that trade unless they get PF Jason Thompson from the Kings. The Kings don't want to give up their first round pick from last year. 3. OKC- James Harden-SG- With Thabeet gone they get a SG who will start right away with young stars SF-Kevin Durant and PG-Russel Westbrook. I think the Thunder would be idiots to pick PG-Ricky Rubio and then move Russel Westbrook to SG. That would mean all of the growth that Westbrook made last year at the point will have been for nothing. The Thunder would then need a defensive Center. I think they should trade Nick Collison, Earl Watson an...

The Bucks sending Richard Jefferson to the Spurs puts the Spurs back in the title hunt and gives the Bucks more financial freedom to resign PF Charlie Villanueva. The Bucks got 3 over the hill players in Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto. The Bucks today traded Oberto to the Pistons for Amir Johnson. The Pistons will likely release Oberto for cap room. This will happen some more on draft night with many teams looking to cut payroll off their roster for whatever reason, some for more cap room for free agency and some to avoid luxury tax issues. The other big trade saw the Wizards deal the #5 pick along with 3 very minor role players to the TWolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. This trade will have a huge impact on tomorrow's draft as the TWolves now have 4 first round picks including the #5 and #6 picks. The Wizards should be contenders again in the East with a healthy Gilbert Arenas plus Foye and Miller. I don't think the Wizards are done dealing yet. Th...

My top 75 prospects list: 1. Blake Griffin-PF-Oklahoma-So.- (6-10/248) 2. James Harden-SG-Ariz. St.-So.- (6-5/222) 3. Ricky Rubio-PG-Spain-INT.- (6-4/182) 4. Hasheem Thabeet-C-UConn-Jr.- (7-3/267) 5. Tyreke Evans-PG/SG-Memphis-Fr.- (6-5/221) 6. Stephen Curry-PG-Davidson-Jr.- (6-3/181) 7. Jordan Hill-PF-Arizona-Jr.- (6-10/232) 8. Jonny Flynn-PG-Syracuse-So.- (6-1/196) 9. Demar DeRozan-F/G-USC-Fr.- (6-6/211) 10. Gerald Henderson-SG-Duke-Jr.- (6-5/215) 11. Jrue Holiday-PG/SG-UCLA-Fr.- (6-4/199) 12. Dejuan Blair-PF-Pittsburgh-So.- (6-6/277) 13. Terrence Williams-F/G-Louisville-Sr.- (6-6/213) 14. Brandon Jennings-PG-Italy, originally from Los Angeles-INT.- (6-1/170) 15. Ty Lawson-PG-UNC-Jr.- (6-0/197) 16. James Johnson-PF/SF-Wake Forest-So.- (6-8/257) 17. Earl Clark-SF/PF-Louisville-So.- (6-10/228) 18. Jeff Teague-PG/SG-Wake Forest-So.- (6-2/175) 19. Eric Maynor-PG-VCU-Sr.- (6-3/164) 20. B.J. Mullens-C-Ohio St.-Fr.- (7-1/258) 21. Tyler Hansborough-PF-UNC-Sr.- (6-9/234) 22. Darren Collison-P...

Well I picked one game right on the money, Pittsburgh by 5 over Xavier. The UConn game was pretty much what I expected, then the late night games happened and all my predictions went out the window. Memphis ruined one of my brackets. I thought the Villanova-Duke game was going to be a great game that would go right down to the wire. Then Nova just exposed Duke and exposed to the nation that the ACC is not even in the same breath as the Big East. So now all of the ACC's hopes rely on UNC. The ACC might not even be better than the Big 12. Speaking of the Big 12, Mizzou straight put it to Memphis. They out-Memphised Memphis and almost blew them out before Memphis made a decent comeback attempt. I really thought Memphis had a shot to go to the title game again. It's a shame that two of the best winners and most underrated players in college basketball, Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson, saw their careers come to an end. Tyreke Evans might have played his last college game as well....