Draft Heist

The NFL draft is now in the books. It was a major event like every NFL event tends to be these days. They moved it from the weekend to a Thursday kickoff a few years back. I don't know why, but should be for money and prime-time viewership or something like that. I have not really kept up with it that closely ever since it moved to Thursdays - I liked round 1 better on Saturdays. But I did catch some of it this year. The first big news was the Niners swapping their 3rd pick for the Bears 2nd pick plus a bunch of extra assets. The Bears then took North Carolina QB Mitchell Trubisky. The experts say he is a very inexperienced QB and a shaky pick at best. The fact that Bears traded up to get him makes it worse. But the real head-scratcher was them moving up just one spot to get him ahead of the Niners. That makes no sense unless there were other teams trying to trade with the Niners for him and undercut the Bears. Supposedly that was not the case at all and the Bears seem to have successfully bargained and negotiated with and against themselves. If the team right ahead of you is willing to trade that pick, that means they are not interested in the player you want at that spot. If they were, they wouldn't be trading that pick with you and willingly losing that guy to you.

So instead of rolling the dice, calling the Niners bluff, sticking with the 3rd spot, and picking their guy, they gave up a lot of assets to get to 2 from 3. Worst case, you won't get Trubisky and have to settle for another QB at 3. It's not like you are losing out on a consensus number 1 QB like a Peyton Manning or an Andrew Luck. Believe me, if it was Andrew Luck, Niners would have been trading up to 1 instead of dropping down to 3. The irony is, the 2 teams ahead of the Bears were probably the only teams that needed a QB worse than the Bears. Still, neither cared about Trubisky and the Bears went after him like he is Tom Brady and Cam Newton rolled into one. On the flip side, the QB position is the most important one on the field and I guess you go after the one you like at all costs. May be the Bears know something the rest of us don't. They may not deserve credit for being smart with this pick, but kudos to them for being brave. It was a great start to the draft providing folks like me on the couch a nice chuckle. Good luck to Trubisky and the Bears. After all, he can't be much worse than Jay Cutler, another QB the Bears gave a lot to acquire back in the day. I was driving from Chicago to Champaign, Illinois for work around that time and I still remember how excited the Bears faithful sounded on the radio the entire drive about Cutler.

The Niners under the rookie GM John Lynch deserve a lot credit for that Bears heist. He then used some of the assets at his disposal to trade back in to the later stages of the first round to get Alabama's Reuben Foster, who was free-falling due to off-field issues. The fact that Lynch was considering Foster even at 2 or 3 tells you how highly he thought of him. Lynch was supposedly talking trade with every team from pick 12 or 13 once Faster started to slide. Niners finally got him at 31 just as the Saints were calling Foster to inform him that they are going to pick him at 32. Little did they know the Niners stepped in ahead of them to take Foster. Great rookie draft for Lynch and I will give him a high grade overall. The third round QB pick of Iowa's C.J. Beathard was questionable. But you could tell that was coach Kyle Shanahan's choice. You have to trust his offensive instincts and hope Kyle is right for Lynch's sake. The Arizona Cardinals did good with their picks too. I like how they focussed their high value picks on defense. It was a surprise that they did not draft a QB though they can use one and they also hinted all along they would draft one. The consensus grade for them seems to be hovering around a B. I give them A+ for the names they drafted. You can't go wrong with a Budda and a Haason.

In the NBA playoffs, the first round had lesser drama than I expected. Houston dispatched Oklahoma rather easily and only the Clippers-Jazz went to a game 7. Not sure why though. Once Blake Griffin was hurt, Jazz should have run the Clips off the joint. They did not, but they won games 5 and 7 on the road to put the Clippers to bed. The Jazz have to play a lot better against he Warriors if they want to be a legitimate threat. They have some pieces that can cause the dubs some discomfort. But they can't play young like they did against the Clips. It looks like we are headed towards a Rockets-Warriors western conference finals anyways. I doubt if the Spurs can beat the Rockets. The Rockets are the kind of team that the Spurs can totally handle in the past. But this Spurs team is not in the same class anymore. They have the coach, experience, championship respect, and pedigree. But they don't have the same players on the floor. There is only so much Kwahi can do on both ends of the floor and they need to resurrect a versions of LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol from 3 years back to fortify this roster. The Rockets should have enough firepower to beat the Spurs 4 out of 7 times and if the Rockets want to show us that they can threaten the Warriors for real, they have to dispatch the Spurs in 5 or 6 games.  If Houston makes it, the Warriors would have missed the Clippers and the Spurs entirely in the last 3 playoffs.  No big deal and definitely not the dubs' fault, but it is an amazing and a very unlikely coincidence in the West.

The big NBA story this off-season  is going to be about what happens to the Clippers with the pending free agencies of CP3, Blake, and Redick among others. "Blow them up" seems to be the consensus, but I am torn. I am always wary of blowing a good team up when their stars are still young. Sure, this group is not able to get over the hump. Actually, they don't even seem to be able to get to the hump to try and get over it. So may be they have to rebuild. But then again, how easy is it to find players like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin again? Let me tell you that it's real hard. Those kinds of players don't grow on trees. I never understood how blowing up a team with such players who get your team to the top half of the Western Conference every year is going to help. I would tweak it rather than blow it up. Thats what they may do anyways and it does make sense in one respect. Blake seems to be injury-prone and may be you don't want to back up the Brinks truck for him. If you can swap him for some younger assets, may be reloading around CP3 and that younger asset is the way to go. Of course, that may not be ideal for CP3 personally and he may want to go somewhere he can win right away. In that case, may be blowing this up and rebuilding might be a necessary evil and thats probably where the media is coming from in the first place with that take. If I was Clippers owner Steve Balmer, I will try to keep CP3, trade Blake and go from there. Lets see what the crazy maverick does.

Sixteen Chapel

I thought the Warriors-Blazers series was over right after game 1. The Blazers came at the dubs in game 1 at Oakland with everything they got. Their best 2 players, CJ.McCullum and Damian Lillard, were both sensational the entire game and ended up scoring 75 combined points. They outplayed the famed Warriors back-court convincingly, especially in that first half. At the end of the day, the Blazers lost that game by a dozen points. That told me all I needed to know about the ceiling of the 2 teams. The Blazers' ceiling was basically about 15 points behind the Warriors. I can't even say that fourth quarter was the Warriors ceiling, but was definitely Draymond Green's magnum opus. Thats what makes the dubs a true super-team. You would think Draymond is their fourth wheel, but he is actually a superstar who does everything except score for this team. When he takes over a show like he did in game 1 on the defensive end and kills the Blazers independent of what his 3 superstar buddies did on the other end, you know this team is scary good. There is a block of Dame Lillard in that game that I would advise everybody to look up on YouTube. Draymond is guarding somebody on the perimeter on the strong side not far from Dame. Dame drives on his man from the same side and goes to the hoop. Somehow Draymond decides to chase him down and is right there to block his shot at the rim. Dray had no business being even in that TV frame, but he was there waiting for Dame. It captured not just his effort and his deceptive athleticism, but also his high basketball IQ. Long story short, the Blazers had no shot in the series, and when they fell short after their best effort in game 1, I knew they can't win this fight. I thought they may steal 1 in Portland if the Warriors fell asleep, but not so surprisingly, the Warriors put them away even without Durant in a convincing sweep. 

Of course every round of the playoffs become increasingly difficult and it's not uncommon for us fans and media to fall in love with a team after round 1 only to see the team struggle in the next round and lose in the round after. Even within a series, fortunes can swing big time. Ask the Warriors about the finals when they lost after leading 3-1 or Durant about his Thunder team losing after dominating the Warriors to a 3-1 advantage in last year's Western conference finals. So lets not get carried away and award the finals to the Warriors and the Cavs after their respective first round sweeps and hand the ring over to the Warriors yet. With all that said, the Warriors are the best team and the prohibitive favorites to win it all this year. There are several ways to look at this team and explain how it is one of the most historic collection of talent in one roster. I am not a basketball historian, but I can't think of another team where 4 of the top 20, may be even top 15, players in the entire league playing for the same team in their early or peak primes of their careers. Thats the other scary part. Klay and Draymond are probably still getting better. But the clear proof that the dubs are a scary good super-team has been in display the last several weeks and in this Portland series. Kevin Durant is a top 3 talent in the league today and is arguably the Warriors' best player. And they are a true contender without Durant suiting up. That blows my mind. If Durant sits out the rest of the playoffs, their odds will drop, but they will still be the favorites in Vegas to win it all this year. Thats like the Cavs being the favorites even without LeBron or the Rockets without Harden. Those teams sure don't have the talent or depth to pull that off. 

All of this brings us to the key question. Can the Warriors go 16-0 in these playoffs? This may sound presumptuous, but this questions is definitely making the rounds in the Bay Area and elsewhere and rightfully so. I have to say the dubs won't go 16-0 because it's hard to do. Also, the history says no as no team has done it before - only the 2001 Lakers came real close with a 15-1 run. Plus this dubs team could have a bad shooting night and lose one on the road. They do have a shot if Draymond makes it his mission to get to 16-0 like he wanted the 73-win season last year. If they make a commitment and go after it, we might see it, but I wouldn't bet on it. And the main reason they may not make it is the sad story of coach Steve Kerr's health. Kerr has had some major ups and downs in his life, but his health complications from the botched back surgery is really a depressing story. He has a team of a lifetime in his hands and is seriously staring at a legendary run that would rival the Phil Jacksons and Gregg Popovichs of the world if everything breaks the way we expect it to over the next few years. This is hard to walk away from and he might have to. Given his situation, his continued health and wellbeing is way more important than what happens with his coaching career. I wish him the best and would love to have him back, but if he can't coach again, I sure hope and pray that he can at least live a normal, healthy, functional life. But Kerr's potential absence might be the biggest challenge to the dubs going 16-0. The dubs are a well-oiled machine and I like coach Mike Brown, but I am not a big fan of Mike Brown's X's and O's capabilities. Not having Kerr on the sidelines is going to cost the dubs a game or 2. Thats usually a big deal in the playoffs, but when we are talking about a tram going 16-0, losing a game is not the end of the world. But this does mean I don't expect the dubs to go 16-0. With a healthy Kerr and Durant, it will still be a tough deal, but they may make it interesting and get real close. If they do, it's going to be another cherry on top of this amazing playoffs. This year's playoffs has been very entertaining and hoping the stories only get better. We don't need any more of these Blake Griffin injury, and Steve Kerr's ailment, and Isiah Thomas's sister's passing. But bring on the sweet sixteen!

NBA for real

After one of the most riveting regular seasons in recent NBA history, the playoffs, A.K.A the real season, kicks off this weekend. This year's playoff version looks even more appetizing than before. Dame Lillard and the Blazers gave us a couple of great games against the Warriors last year. They play the dubs in round 1 this year. Dubs, the presumptive favorites, are even better this year and should win this series, but the Lillard-Curry matchup is always fun to watch. The best matchup of round 1 is of course Thunder V Rockets. The 2 MVP candidates and former teammates in Westbrook and Harden will go at each other. I expect this series to go 7 and won't be surprised one bit if the Thunder win it in a upset. Not to digress, but speaking of the Thunder, I can't even imagine how their fans feel about their one-time core of Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, which is now completely dismantled with all of them  playing at MVP level in different cities. All OKC has left is the mercurial Westbrook, but at least they got him and he went nuclear this year. He gave us a season for the ages just like Curry did last year.

Of course the other upset result could come in the Jazz against the clippers matchup. As great as the Clippers have looked recently, they may have their hands full with the Jazz. There isn't a lot of intrigue in the East in round 1, but it's coming. A potential Washington-Boston second round matchup and a Cleveland-Boston Eastern Conference Finals are both very welcome. Eventually, I expect a Cavaliers-Boston tussle in the East and LeBron will make it to the finals again despite Boston having home court. When it's all said and done, may be we will be staring at the rubber match in the Warriors-Cavs finals trilogy. But the Cavs can't take anything for granted. Time for them to wake up from their slumber and turn on all the proverbial switches. We need a good finals to cap off this brilliant season. The season itself was great for several reasons, but the defining story of the year was of course Russell Westbrook averaging a triple-double and beating the record for total number of triple-doubles in a season. I never thought I would live to see somebody do it. He is unquestionably my MVP. Harden has been great and has more wins, but if a man averages a triple-double, just give him the MVP.

There are even some murmurs against the very basis and hype surrounding the concept of a  triple double. I personally love the stat. I think it's a simple and effective indicator of versatility and well-roundedness in a player. While we are in the topic of awards, I would also give Mike D'Antoni, the coach of the year award for what he has done with Harden and the Houston Rockets. Speaking of D'Anoni, Phoenix Suns, the team he coached during it's most recent heydays, missed the playoffs again. Despite that, this is one of the most exciting times in the recent Suns history. The team is loaded with real young talent. Devin Booker dropped 70 on Boston and that put him on the map nationally. He is only the 6th player in the history of league to score 70. He is in the most improved player conversation for this year. He may be a MVP candidate soon before we realize it. And the rest of the Suns roster looks very promising too. Plus, they should get a top 5 pick this year and that should help keep the momentum going. Booker will represent the team at the lottery for the second year in a row. I can't wait for the BBC show - Booker, Bender, and Chriss, to take off. May be it will be BBCC show if they also get Lonzo Ball in this year's draft. The possibilities are endless for this young team.

First things first though. Bring on this year's playoffs for us to enjoy.

Shameless!

The Oakland Raiders decided to move out of Oakland to Las Vegas last week. It was a sad day in the Bay Area. It was a day the locals were hoping will never come though it always seemed imminent. The Oakland stadium issue and the relocation threat, especially the LA story, has been hanging over the Raiders’ head for years, maybe even a decade. But it still feels like this relocation came quick and fast in somewhat of an unexpected way. That’s because the Raiders didn’t seem to have the money or the clout with the NFL to make a move happen. Cities like LA couldn’t muster any realistic plan for years and the NFL didn’t seem to want the Raiders back in LA anyways. As bad as the stadium and the financial realities were at Oakland, the fans were still hoping the Raiders are stuck there by default. And when Las Vegas came calling, it looked like an unrealistic negotiation trick at first if not a circus act since sports leagues have religiously avoided Vegas. And then the Vegas plan hit a couple of snags as well. But they eventually came up with the money and the requisite NFL vote to move them happened fairly quickly after that. Oakland is understandably shocked and upset.

The real culprit here might be the NHL. They seem to have opened the flood gates as far as putting a pro franchise in Vegas goes and they made it infinitely easier for the NFL to follow suit. I do think the holier than thou, pretentious snobs in the NFL might have hesitated to go to Vegas if they were the first sports franchise moving there. Of course, everything has a price and when Vegas came up with $750 million, NFL owner’s jaws and probably their draws dropped and they sold their soul in a minute. The Raider are expected to still play in Oakland for 2 or 3 more years since this thing came so quick and there is no landing spot for them in Vegas until the new stadium gets built. Unlike the Rams or the Chargers, the Raiders get to play in the same old city for better or for worse until the new behemoth gets built in Vegas.

The net-net of this is, 3 NFL teams have moved geographies in about a year or so. What kind of a league is this? The sad part is, NFL is neither apologetic nor ashamed about any of this. Sports teams are civic entities. A huge part of their customers and supporters are spending money on them because they belong to Oakland or Boston or Phoenix in their eyes. It’s not just another business along the lines of a Google or a Pepsi. People don’t search on Google because it is based out of Mountain View and I don’t even know where Pepsi is headquartered. Whereas everybody associate the Raiders with Oakland, Cowboys with Dallas etc. This is why billionaire owners of these teams shamelessly go to the city asking for money in the first place. Google and Pepsi are not asking for public funding for building their cubicles and conference rooms. Sure, cities do lure the corporations sometimes with tax breaks, cheap land, etc. for the jobs, but it’s only sports team that ask for straight cash (as Randy Moss would put it) from their host governments to run their core business. 

So, what are you, NFL? Are you a civic entity or a business? You have no right to ask for money from Vegas or Oakland or anybody else if you are a pure business. If you have the gall to ask for hundreds of millions of dollars from a city, have some decency and morality and show some concern for the local fan-base, your primary paying customer who have supported you for decades! You can’t have it both ways. And don’t even try to turn the argument around and say if the teams are a civic entity, cities like Oakland must pay public money. They don’t have to because the city will and can still will go over and above and help its sports team, the civic entity, in many ways. They can give you some land, invest in some infrastructure, and public transportation around the stadium etc. The idea of public funding to the tune of 100’s of millions of dollars for a sport stadium is a big no-no and such an outdated idea. Out of the many things you have to love about California, the fact that it’s the hardest state to get public money for sports stadiums is a true badge of honor. Even a sleepy suburb like Santa Clara barely voted to fund the stadium for the Niners, an incredibly beloved and popular team in the area. And look how that’s working out. There are all kinds of challenges and controversies in the city as they are still figuring out some of the financial details many years since the shovel hit the ground.

Asking for public funding and black-mailing the hometown is pure greed on the part of these billionaire businesses. And of course, who is going to stop now if cities like Vegas are stupid enough to line up and scratch a 750 mill check. Vegas has so many tourists and hotels that they can generate a lot of money by charging us tourists for this stadium grant. At the end of the day, we are going to be paying for it when we travel to Vegas. The whole thing is a racket and it made a little more sense when mom and pop were running the sports team in a prosperous America and didn’t have much money to refurbish an old, dilapidated home stadium. It doesn’t make any sense in today’s economic climate in our country to donate tax dollars to a 10+ billion dollar sports league just so that they could build better and newer stadiums every 3 months to generate more millions for themselves.

The fact that our richest and also the greediest sports league, the NFL, has uprooted 3 teams in a year from their hometowns and treated their paying customers like garbage tells you all you need to know about the National Football League. They should be ashamed of themselves if they have even a shred of integrity, which of course they don’t. Only the Dolphins owner seems to get it as he was the lone dissenting vote against the Raiders’ move. The other leagues are no saints, but at least the NBA made sure the New Orleans franchise didn’t ditch that town after hurricane Katrina. Maybe NFL was a little nice to New Orleans too, but NBA I thought was also very dignified and decent in the way it handed the Sacramento Kings. At one point, they were all but gone to Seattle, but the stakeholders worked some magic to pull it back.

NFL is apparently not into such feel-good stories. The only story they feel good about is going to the bank and cashing the checks. I like Draymond Green’s idea suggesting the fans should boycott the Raiders in Oakland. I total agree, but like my cousin pointed out, it’s just April and we are all already waiting for the first NFL Sunday. He says nobody is boycotting anything and I agree with that take too. NFL is king right now, but not for long if they continue in this arc. NBA is coming hard and fast! All of this reckless greed will catchup to the NFL sooner or later. But sports today, unfortunately, is the last surviving legal monopoly in our economy. They can and often do get away with murder and the Oakland Raiders are the latest casualty. On the bright side, at least the Oakland Athletics seem serious about staying in Oakland and there is new momentum on their stadium front since the Raiders news broke. The city might even pitch in. At least baseball gives the city 81 dates of jobs and beer sales as opposed to the measly 8 dates that the NFL brings to a 2 billion-dollar stadium.