Blog Update

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Hope, no Change

The NBA draft is in the books and I have to write about it given it was the Phoenix Suns at the top spot of the draft for the first time ever. NBA Finals is not the only thing the Suns have never won before. They have never won the draft lottery either. This year, they won the lottery and we sure hope it was a precursor to bigger and better things to come. They got DeAndre Ayton with the first pick as expected and did some maneuvering at 16 to trade with Philly to get Mikal Bridges from them, who had drafted Bridges at 10. I like both players and Bridges is probably ready to contribute right away even more than Ayton. There are some questions about the trade and let's get to that in a bit. Overall, the Suns came out of this draft with a lot of hope for the future and thats all you can ask for on draft night. They also ended up drafting French point guard Elie Okobo at 31, which might end up being a great, under the radar move in the long run. At least thats what I am hoping. I am definitely excited for sure for the Suns' future.

The story of the draft night of course starts with the first pick. Despite hiring Luka Doncic's ex-coach to lead the next generation of the Suns, they never seemed to be interested in drafting Luka or anybody else at one. It was Ayton all the way and I like it. He is bit of a project, especially on the defensive end, and thats not that big a knock on a young one-and-done guy. What I like about him though is that he is a bug guy who merges traditional big-men skills with the new-age requirements. There is a theory that big men are increasingly becoming irrelevant in this 3-and-D era spearheaded by the current Champs Warriors. In the playoffs, there were several games where teams couldn't even play their franchise centers since they couldn't hit threes and they were not switchable on the small guards. Thats where the league is headed in terms of the style of play, but I also think these things go in circles.

There will soon be a need for franchise centers if Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony Towns, and Joel Embid blossom in to serious contenders, which may realistically happen. I want Ayton to be there to defend them if not join them in the pantheon of great big-men in the league. He has the size and strength to be that traditional center while also having the athleticism and shooting touch that teams covet in today's offense. He has a good mid-range shot and will probably expand to 3-point range in the NBA. The concern is defense. Both his shot blocking numbers, which is more representative of traditional center skills, and defending on switches, which is the new norm in the NBA, were suspect in college. There are some stats to show that shot blocking numbers don't usually improve in the NBA all that much for these young guys. I am not too worried about all that and I sure hope the 19 year-old kid only improves on that side of the ball like he should. As a Suns fan, how can you pass up on a stud center? We never could get a good center and I am totally excited we finally had a shot at one, thanks to the draft lottery and some serious tanking last season. On the flip side, I sure hope the Suns center-curse doesn't derail Ayton. That would be a disaster!

The most developed player in the draft of course is Luka Doncic. The Mavs did great to trade up to the third spot to nab him from Atlanta, who seem to have been really impressed with Trae Young. I would have taken Luka myself, but Atlanta's GM Travis Schlenk, who came from the Golden State Warriors, seems to be seeing some Stephen Curry potential in Young. He better be right for Atlanta's sake because I think Luka is going to be good either way. He might win the rookie of the year, though I hope players like Ayton, Young, and Michael Porter Jr. catch up to him in a year or two. Speaking of, the other main story of the draft was MPJ dropping in the draft due to injury concerns. Denver finally got him at 14 - pretty low for the best player coming out of high school last year, but a risky pick due to his back.  Denver, with a near playoff team and a lot of young players, was in a good spot to roll the dice. They could survive his absence even in MPJ has to miss an entire year, which is something most lottery teams can't afford including your Phoenix Suns. Plus, they would be giddy and unstoppable if he indeed turns out to be the next Kevin Durant or Tracy McGrady in 4 years.

Last, but not the least, the trade. The Suns gave up Zhaire Smith and the 2021 unrestricted Miami pick for Mikal Bridges, who is much more of a finished product than Smith. It's always a bit of a red flag when GMs who are under pressure to show results to save their jobs mortgage the future for immediate results. This trade kind of fits that narrative, but Mikal might be worth it. To be fair to Suns GM Ryan McDonough, aren't we all as Suns fans ready for some results and improvement as well? Also, given that Devin Booker is entering his fourth year and contractual discussions sooner than later, it's not a bad idea to show some growth and get him a taste of the playoffs anyways. It's fascinating to trace the movement of these picks from back in 2012 when the Suns traded away Steve Nash and then Goran Dragic a few years later. This Bridges trade puts a bow on both those trades after many years. Folks like ESPN's Zach Lowe think it's bad management of assets, but I think it's OK. I will also be rooting for the Heat to be good in 2020 so that the 2021 pick is not too high for the Sixers. I have to say, it was brutal to see the Sixers trade Bridges away after drafting this local kid to be a co-worker with his mom, who works in the Sixers HR department. What a weird roller-coaster ride for that family.

The bottom-line for the Suns is, they can now develop a core of Booker, Josh Jackson, Ayton, and Bridges. That has some serious potential.  For 2018, they may need to get a point guard via trade or free agency or hope Brandon Knight or Alfred Payton suddenly rediscovers their potential, which is unlikely. Equally unlikely is any dramatic growth from Marquese Chriss. The hope is, the rookies and Dragan Bender step up. We know Booker and JJ will be even better this year. The combination of these developments could put the Suns in the 40-win range, if not the 8th seed of the playoffs. That sounds like both a modest goal as well as a distant pipe- dream at the same time. As the saying goes, hope springs eternal and there is a lot of hope for the Suns and other teams coming out of the draft. One thing there wasn't much of on draft day was a lot of change in scenery for stars like Kawhi Leonard. There were a lot of trades, but none involving current stars. That only means more action in July during free agency, Sounds fun to me.

Gentleman's three-peat.

The Dubs swept the Cavs and were even better than I had expected. They wrapped up their parade today and are all set for the off-season. I expected a gentleman's sweep in 5 like last year. Instead we got a quick sweep for a gentleman's three-peat for the Dubs. After that game 1 debacle, Cavs were mentally done. The Dubs now have 3 of 4 championships for what I call a gentleman's three-peat. They technically have only a back-to-back championship, but then the year before that in 2016, they won a record 73 games and lost the ring by a single shot in game 7 of the NBA finals. They are definitely a dynasty. They have earned the right to be considered for the best ever team along with the giants of the game like the Lakers, Bulls, and the Celtics. Not many teams have had a top-4 talent like this team and they have done exactly what they wanted to do when they got Kervin Durant 2 years back.

I don't know how KD personally feels about all this, but this has to be 2 of his best years in the league. He has now won 2 championships and 2 finals' MVP. He has had 2 signature, dagger three-pointers on the road in the finals to clinch pivotal game 3's both years, which will forever play in a loop in his career highlights. He is a better basketball player and the game is also so much more easier for him in Oakland compared to what it was in Oklahoma City because of all the talent around him here. The Bay loves Curry, but KD still gets his due and the team needs him when all else fails. He is a tremendous offensive weapon and while he was up and down at times during these playoffs with his defensive effort and iso-ball tendencies, you still can't deny his talent and performance nor his Finals MVP. While Curry was the sentimental favorite and even a legitimate candidate for that award, nobody can complain about KD winning it for the second time in a row.

The NBA off-season is now officially in play. LeBron's free agency is the headliner. For the Dubs, it will be about re-stocking the bench with younger talent and coming in with some drive and focus to contend for their 4th championship in 5 years. They do have to sign KD to an extension and see if Klay and/or Draymond will talk contract and take less money now ahead of their eventual free agency. I do expect the challenge for them next season to be external unlike the internal challenges like complacency they seemed to have fought this year. I expect Houston with it's strong core and Lakers with their salary cap space to try and create a super-team that can take down the Dubs. Boston and Philly in the East will organically develop into strong contenders as well, though those teams maybe a year away. I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics take down the Dubs in 2020 finals and they will still be a contender in 2019. The story as always come back to LeBron. I expect him to be in the middle of some super-team formation this July. Paul George, Chris Paul, and Kawhi Leonard are the other big whales in free agency and trade rumors. Lets see how all of this shakes out and who convinces who to play where alongside them.

I will miss this NBA season, especially these playoffs. It's been one fun ride, but bring on Deandre Ayton and the draft for the Phoenix Suns!

NBA is living large

The Finals kicked off yesterday in style. What was supposed to be a boring, one-sided matchup turned into one of the craziest overtime thriller in recent memory. Warriors won, matching most people's expectations including mine, but the game went nothing like I had expected. My pick was and still is Dubs in 5, maybe 6 if they sleep walk through the series, but the way LeBron showed up and hooped yesterday, you almost have to expect a 6 or 7 game series. He dropped a super efficient 51 and made one of the best defenses in the league look absolutely helpless and clueless. Andre Iguodala was not playing, but the defense can't be this soft without him. Like somebody tweeted yesterday, if he makes so much of a difference to this loaded team, we are either over-estimating the big-4 or underestimating Iggy. Good point! I think we are under-estimating Iggy. Plus, LeBron was on fire yesterday. Even Iggy might not have made much of a difference.

Durant spent a lot of time defending LeBron and was largely ineffective. The Dubs seemed to want to fight through screens and stick with the primary defender on LeBron when he tried to switch Curry on to him. This is different from the Houston series and Harden where you just can't give anybody any daylight because of the conscience-free three point shooting. You can afford to switch back on LeBron and give some opening to the other Cavs. I felt like they did that a lot more in the first half, but Durant didn't fight through the screens and gave up easy in the second. Durant is so talented that he ended up with decent numbers at the end, but he played a mediocre game at best. Aside from the zero-impact defense on LeBron, he was also the guy who was pushed aside by J.R.Smth of all people on that rebound on the missed free throw at the end. Durant can't let that happen. He was abused on the boards in game 7 against the Rockets as well. Anyways, Curry was a lot better and Dubs won with a B+ to A- performance. They were not horrible, but they can be better.

The story of the game was really LeBron. He was just amazing and his legend is growing with every game in these playoffs. At age 33, he is doing more to embellish his hall of fame resume than he did at age 28 or 29 when his legs were a lot younger and his resume a lot lighter. He has carried these under-staffed Cavs to the Finals and in game 1, almost got them a 1-0 series lead. At the end of the day he couldn't and the story became the reversed foul call, missed George Hill free throw, and JR's stupidity. These plays have been rehashed non-stop for the last 24 hours and I will spare you the details, but my take in a nutshell is as follows. They got the call reversal right. You can question the motive for the review, but the result of the review was correct as confirmed by the league today as well. The missed FT happens. Durant actually missed 3 of his first 4 FTs in game 7 of WCF. Pressure and stress spares no one and Hill became the latest victim. J.R.Smith is just as much a strength as a liability and I am not surprised he lost track of the score. Also, who knows if JR's put-back or even a hypothetical LeBron James shot goes in if thats how things played out.

At the end of the day, JR Smith became the goat and saved both Hill ad Durant from some embarrassing questions. The Dubs won in OT, but they need to do something about the LeBron James problem, I can't wait for game 2 to see what both sides do - Dubs from a defensive strategy perspective and Cavs from just the mental perspective of recovering from that rough ending in game 1. It's been an interesting playoffs for the Golden State Warriors. They were never threatened in the playoffs last year, but they just came out of a 7-game fist-fight against the Rockets who gave them all they can handle and then some. Chris Paul stole both game 4 and 5 to put the Dubs in a major hole. He then got hurt and many people are convinced that this changed the series and was a lucky break for the Warriors. It probably was and maybe CP3's presence in game 7 would have made sure the Rockets didn't completely implode in the second half. CP3 gave that team a lot of toughness and "clutchenss" in games 4 and 5.

The Dubs were missing Iggy since game 3, but people don't give as much importance to him as CP3 because the Dubs have 4 stars larger than Iggy while CP3 is the second best player for the Rockets and probably their best player in the clutch given Harden's troubles as a closer. So, it is fair to say that if both played, advantage goes to the Rockets in game 7. But, thats only correct for game 7. If both played throughout the series, I totally agree with Kerr that the Warriors win game 4 and/or 5. Both were close games with CP3 playing decent for the Rockets and Iggy would have made enough of a difference in the 4th quarter to win it for the Dubs. The series would probably have wrapped up in 5 or 6 rendering game 7 irrelevant. I would like to sympathize with CP3 and Rockets for that injury, but you almost could see it coming from a mile.

I don't want to blame CP3 for being injury prone, but he just is. I do blame Harden and Mike D'Antoni for sure. Harden did no favors to CP3 by disappearing in most of the 4th quarters. CP3 had to carry a lot of the load in the second half of that game 5 when he pulled up lame and got injured. Of course, D'Dantoni still doesn't play his bench, thus killing both his superstars. So, not sure how much tears we can shed for the Rockets and this injury. We can all however shed collective tears for all of us NBA fans since these injuries reduced the series to a bunch of "what ifs." It was great fun, but the injuries made it a different series for sure. It was a cruel joke by the Basketball gods on both us and CP3. Rockets and CP3 made life difficult for the Dubs while it lasted, but the Dubs looked like they were always going to win the series anyways.

Dubs struggled in two consecutive games - 4 & 5, in crunch time to get baskets. The Rockets' defensive strategy had a lot to do with that. The Dubs defense was good too, but the offense betrayed them at times. It was not humming the entire series, but they especially looked confused in the closing minutes. As great as the Dubs' big 4 are, I started trusting the Rockets' Big 2 and even Eric Gordon more than the Warriors studs if you absolutely had to get a basket or two in the last minute of a game. Their is a simplicity, clarity, and focus to the Rockets' offense. Isolate Harden or Chris Paul or Eric Gordon, let them go to work, and live with their decision - shoot a 3, drive, or kick it out to one of the other shooters. It may be ugly and boring, but is not complex or confusing. And it worked just enough in that series to help them get to 7 games.

I don't like cliches, but the Dubs offense on the other hand did seem to lack an identity, at least in that series against that D. They almost have a problem of excess. They have 4 of the top 15 players in the league and are often torn between 3 ways to run their offense. They can rely on their basic ball movement and player movement offense, or iso Durant and let him go 1-on-1, or have Curry shoot or dribble-drive. There is no one thing they can hang their hat on and that sometimes causes some identity issues at the end of games. Rockets seemed to make them pick the least preferable of these options all series long. They defended the 3-point line and let Durant ISO to his heart's content. The Dubs had an issue with that as it took others out of the offense. Finally, Kerr had to coach and was able to unleash the Splash brothers just enough in games 6 and 7 to to earn a hard-fought victory. The conference finals were both great and now, lets see if the Finals can measure up to it when it comes to quality and competition.

First Four

And then there were 4. NBA playoffs are fun, but it's probably the most predictable of the 3 major leagues. NFL is all about parity - except for the Patriots in the AFC. You can't usually guess who is going to be a true contender from year to year. MLB is fairly predictable with respect to which teams can and will be good, but once in the playoffs, pitching is going to decide everything and you are at the mercy of those starting pitchers on both sides. That introduces enough variance. NBA with it's 7-game playoff series after a 82-game regular season is the most consistent and predictable. We had penciled in the Warriors and the Cavs to make the conference finals on day 1 - actually even the NBA finals. We expected the Celtics to get to the final-4, but then downgraded them when Gordon Hayward got hurt, upgraded them when the Kyrie-led Celtics kept winning, and downgraded them again when Kyrie got hurt. Celtics made it this far anyways. The Rockets have looked ready for this round since the beginning of the season once they showed us Paul and Harden can ball together and Kwahi decided he is not interested in balling at all this season for the Spurs.

Thus we got our conference finalists after a fun season and a solid playoff through the first 2 rounds.  No real upsets or shockers so far. I guess the Cavs technically upset the Raptors, but who really thought the Raptors were going to beat LeBron James. I thought the Raptors will drag this to 6 or 7, but LeBron is so far into their collective heads that they got swept. Raptors have a real problem if Skip Bayless says they will get swept in his usual, stupid fashion to maximize shock-value and the Raps go out and make Skip Bayless right. He rarely is. To be fair to the Raptors, LeBron hit some crazy game-winners and became more confident and unstoppable as the series went along. Nonetheless they had to change something after this debacle. The easiest move was to fire the coach and they did that. They might have fired the eventual Coach of the Year, but Dwane Casey had to go. He had a good 7-year run in the regular season, but the playoff success eluded him. Hope he gets another shot somewhere else. The Celtics will start against the Cavs tomorrow in Boston instead of the Raps hosting the ECF game 1. Celts dispatched the talented and inexperienced 76'ers in 5 games.

The way LeBron is playing right now, it's just impossible to stop him or pick against him. I expect the Celts and President Stevens to make this a long, interesting series, but the King survives in 6 games for a date in his 8th straight NBA finals. The Cavs are not that good a team, but LeBron makes them great! After 2 rounds of playoffs and multiple lineups, they have found a combination that plays well and are actually very effective the last few games. Only thing better than LeBron is LeBron with some help and he might have that in Korver, Love, and others. Celtics better show up with all their focus and energy if they want to stop the King. The story of this season though has been the Rockets-V-Warriors that we have all been waiting for, We finally get it in the WCF. The Rockets have the better record and home court. They are 50-5 when CP3, Harden, and Clint Capela have all played. That's just amazing! This coupled with the fact that the Dubs have looked less than formidable during stretches of this season makes this a fascinating series. The Warriors do not look vulnerable anymore after the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, but this is expected to be a challenging series anyways.

This may be the toughest series yet for the Dubs during the Kerr era and the world will be watching. They did lose to the Cavs in the Finals in 2016 and had a brutal 7-game WCF against Durant and the OKC Thunder. They would have lost that game 7 without a magical 41-point performance from Klay. With all that said, they did go into both those series as the prohibitive favorites whereas this Rockets series has much more intrigue going in with a confident Rockets team thinking they can beat the Dubs. The conventional wisdom even during the last couple of years was that the Rockets have a punchers chance because they jack up so many threes and a hot day at the office for them can beat anybody. That combined with Capela's development and defense to go with CP3's hot playoff run the last 2 weeks would be my concern if I were a Dubs fan. Also, the Warriors don't have the 3-point depth of yesteryears. They have the big-3 and their top of the World marksmanship from distance, but the depth is missing. Barbosa, Speights, and Clark are not walking through that door anymore. They have quality over quantity and believe it or not, their depth is their 5 centers, not wing shooters.

Contrary to what most fans probably assume, Rockets are not a fast-paced team that Coach D'Antoni is known for and the Warriors are not a three-point shooting juggernaut. The Rockets are actually one of the slowest teams in the league, but they do jack up more threes than anybody else with more than 50% of their shots coming from distance. The Dubs on the other hand have dropped down the three point attempts list this season, but like to play fast-paced. They actually shoot just 2 less 3s per game this season compared to 2015, but the Rockets shoot 12 more 3s per game now than they did in 2015! Thats amazing and has become a trend across the league pushing the Dubs from the most 3-point attempting team in 2015 to 16th most in the league this year. All of this makes this series a very interesting clash of styles given the Warriors' ball-movement offense and the Rockets' isolation based offense. Game 1 is going to be crucial in this one more than your average series. I agree with Chuck that it's important for the Rockets to win and gain more confidence. Dubs can afford to lose on the road, but us fans will learn a lot about this series on Monday either way.

Whats the net-net of it all? I expect a focussed, sharp, playoff-Warriors to show up on both ends of the floor. Thats still the best show and the most formidable force in the NBA. Their defense survives and expect them to take this series in 6.

Playoff fever in the NBA

The NBA playoffs are in full-flow. Round one is in the books. Ironically, the only game remaining in round 1 as I write this is between the Cavs and the Pacers. It obviously features LeBron James, who has almost always breezed through the first round matchups. Not this year, not with this sub-par roster that he is running with. Pacers have given the Cavs all they can handle and would have probably won this thing already if they had home court. But they don't and they have to now go into Cleveland and beat LeBron James. Probably won't happen despite this Cavs team being the worst team LeBron has had since his first stint in Cleveland. He has has great talent around him in Miami and the last 3 years in Cleveland, but now he has to carry them to the second round all by himself. He will get it done tomorrow, but how far can he carry them? He is getting tired late in game and doesn't play great defense consistently or in transition. You can't even blame him. As much as he looks like an alien at times on the basketball court, he is only human and is in his 15th year. It's a mystery he is putting up these amazing numbers, but something's gotta give and this is not sustainable. First things first though for the Cavs. They have to win game 7.

These playoffs have been great so far. It's been very competitive with many interesting storylines. LeBron's buzzer-beater in game 5 was amazing.  We have also seen a lot of pushing and shoving and mini-skirmishes as you can clearly see how the intensity and hatred increases as the series goes into games 3, 4, and later. Guys see the same guys defending them and they get sick of each other sooner than later. These series starts gently and ramps up in intensity slowly, but surely. Three of the four Eastern conference round 1 series were long ones. That only confirmed what we all knew already that the East is wide-open wth no clear favorites. Philadelphia 76'ers are the trendy pick and rightfully so. They beat the Heat 4-1, the shortest round 1 series in the East. That's pretty impressive considering the Miami Heat are the kind of well-coached, defensive-minded, tough team that can surprise an unsuspecting higher seed and drag them through a long series. The Sixers didn't let that happen and dispatched the Heat early via an intensely contested gentleman's sweep. Now they get to meet the Celtics and they have to be the favorites. Boston has enough talent to win maybe one game and coach Stevens is worth another win.  I'd say the Sixers win this one in 6. The Raptors will face the winner of Cavs-Pacers and they will have their hands full either way. Cavs will beat them in 7 if thats the matchup. If it's the Pacers, Raptors in 7. I did expect the Raptors to go 7 games even against the Wizards, but they wrapped it up in 6  beating my projections by one game much like the Sixers. I did predict correctly that both the Celtics and Cavs series to go seven. I picked the Bucks to get it done, but hedged my bet on that one a bit. So, am not really surprised by a Celtics win. Hoping the Cavs prove me right tomorrow.

In the West, both the Warriors and the Rockets finished their gentleman's sweep. Jazz put the Thunder out of their misery in 6, but lost Rubio to a injury for a few days. That could be costly for them in the next round. I expected the Jazz to be a pain for the Rockets. They have size, a solid home crowd, and Donovan Mitchell to give the Rockets all they can handle. That series might go 7. I pick the Rockets to win and thats only because Rubio is expected to be out for 10 days. I believe the right matchup can derail this Houston team regardless of the round though they did win the first round series a game sooner than I had projected. Both the Jazz and Dubs made me look great by making my projections come true in the first round. The team that made all of us look bad were the Pelicans. I said the Blazers will win in 6, but that series has been the only sweep in these playoffs so far. And, it's the lower seededed Pelican who swept the Blazers out of the playoffs. Great matchup for the pelicans in that one and I immediately thought they won't be able to have that good a time against the Dubs. Matchups are completely different in this one. This was proven today in game 1 as the Dubs kicked off round 2 by kicking the Pelicans rear-end all over Oakland. Dubs should take this series in 6, maybe even 5 if Curry gets cooking soon.

Four-feiture!

Are we ready for a four-peat of the Cavs and Warriors? More importantly, are those teams even ready? Do we even want it?  The third finals between the two was much anticipated last year. I am not sure if we want a 4th edition. But then again, how can you say "no" to LeBron in the Finals? Can he make it to his 8th straight Finals? Can the Warriors turn on the switch? Is there even a switch to turn on, especially with Curry out right now? Are the Rockets really better than the Warriors? Can teams like the Thunder and the Jazz trip up either of these top teams even before the Western Conference Finals? We will find the answers to these and other questions starting tomorrow in the NBA playoffs. It will take us a good 2 months, but we will get there. The NBA playoffs start with a lot of excitement, but then it almost meanders along for a bit as it takes its sweet time to get to the later rounds. It is what it is and we will be watching. Many matchups on deck for round 1 and here are my thoughts.

Timebewolves @ Rockets: I expect Jimmy Butler to give Harden and the Rockets some tense moments in round 1. I pick the Rockets to win 4-2. There will be tougher matchups for the Rockets in these playoffs later, but this one won't be a walk in the park either due to Butler.

Spurs @ Warriors: This is probably the softest starting point for the Dubs. There is typically nothing soft about a Pop coached team, but this team just may not have the talent to compete with even a Curry-less Warriors. Nobody knows whats going on with Kwahi. Without him, this should be a 4-1 series in favor of the Warriors. Dubs have to play with effort, seriousness, and smarts. All of that has been missing for long stretches of this season and they better find that switch they have been waiting to turn on. If they show up, this should be an easy series.

Pelicans @ TrailBlazers: Blazers should win this one 4-2. Anthony Davis can only do so much and one-star teams are easier to manage in a 7-game series than in a regular season game in February. Pelicans do have some supporting talent starting with Jrue Holiday, but Blazers should be able to handle them.

Jazz @ OKC: Not only is this the best first round series in the West, the winner, regardless of who it is, will also make life extremely uncomfortable for the Rockets in the next round. To do that, they have to get out of this round in tact and healthy. I think the Jazz do that with a 4-2 win here. They are the lower seed, but 4-V-5 is never a big upset. Definitely not this year in the west where seeds 3 through 8 are separated by just 2 games.

Wizards @ Raptors: I am one of like 800 millions people who don't entirely trust the Raptors in the playoffs. They will make this interesting, difficult, and finally win it 4-3. Great back-court matchup and will be fun to watch.

Bucks @ Celtics: I have no idea what's going to happen here. An under-manned higher seed going against a under-achieving lower seed. The Bucks will have the best player in the series and the Celtics will have the better coach. I have to say Bucks win 4-3, but I can totally see the president and his system coming through at home in game 7.

Heat @ 76'ers: Another well-coached team here in the Heat, but the Sixers are flying high. Prince Ben Simmons is no joke and he may be offended if he knows I pick them to win this one 4-2. That's how confident him and his team are as they are rolling in to these playoffs with great momentum.

Pacers @ Cavs: Last but not the least, LeBron and the Cavs will have an interesting 4-V-5 series on their hands. Oladipo is no joke and the Cavs defense will give the Pacers a lot of opportunities, but how can I pick against the King? He has been sensational the last couple of months and it's scary to think he will find an even higher gear in these playoffs. He wins this one 4-3.

Call me boring, but if I have to put my money on it, I will still pick the Warriors and Cavs to play in the NBA finals. The East is still weak and may not be able to stop LeBron. Sixers are too young, the Celts are too injured, and the Raptors are well, too Raptors. In the West, there are some serious challengers to the Dubs and they won't go 12-0 through these teams this year. However, I think it is fair for us to tell the Rockets "show me" before making them the favorites over teams like the Warriors and LeBron. Rockets have 3 key assets that have not had big-time playoff success.

Harden and Paul have not had great playoff success and as much as I am pained to say this, Coach D'Antoni has his playoff demons too. So, no need to coronate these Rockets. They have to earn it. Harden has to erase the memory of that horrible final game of last season against the Spurs. CP3 has to let the game come to him in the final minutes of pressure-cooker playoff games and not force bad decisions. Make D'Antoni has to show he can trust and use a bench to take some load of his stars. Oh yeah, even with all that, the Dubs have more talent. So, good luck beating them. Looking forward to seeing how all of this shakes out. Buckle up!

Intriguing Spring

The NCAA tournament is now in the books. We will all miss sister Jean, but won't miss the mediocre Final 4 games on the court. Villanova was too good for the Michigan team in the Finals and even for Kansas in the semis which made the marquee games boring to watch. Sister Jean carried the tournament all by herself though the earlier rounds were pretty interesting including a never-before-seen 16 over 1 upset. The tournament is always fun mostly because of the unknown and the crazy upsets, but at the end of three weeks, it's always the so-called blue bloods that win it all. The only drama is which higher seed will win. For all the hype and love around upsets and Cinderella's, it's Kansas or Duke or North Carolina or Villanova or Kentucky or Michigan State winning it all. Couple of them will lose in the first weekend, couple more in the second weekend and one of them will win it all. What makes it fun I guess is, we just don't know which ones from the list falls in which bucket each year.

Villanova this year adopted the NBA's three-point revolution and Steph Curry'ed their way to a championship. They killed Kansas in the semis with 18 threes to win it going away. It has been fascinating to watch the spread of the 3-ball in the NBA and looks like the NCAA is following in their footsteps now. The Steph Curry effect on the younger generation is only going to make this better or worse, depending on your perspective, at all levels of basketball. Curry is the ultimate symbol of the 3-ball, though many teams including our 7-seconds or less Suns, the Stan Van Gundy Orlando Magic, and the current era of Daryl Morey Rockets have all accelerated the 3-ball revolution to different levels. But Curry is the singular star who is inspiring a generation of shooters and as different as the game looks today, it's going to look very different in another 10 years. I am curious to see where the 3-ball takes us, especially the college basketball, as I do expect a course correction at some point.

Speaking of Curry, he is currently MIA in the NBA and the Warriors are still inconsistently meandering into the playoffs even as the league is barreling towards what is shaping up as a crazy playoffs. The playoffs, especially in the West, has always been competitive the last few years, but the twist this year is, the teams from 4 to 10 are bunched up and we have no clue what the matchups are going to be even with just a few days left in the regular season. The Rockets are ahead of the Warriors by a bunch of games thanks to all the injuries the Dubs have suffered through the last few weeks. The guys for the Dubs are beginning to come back except for Curry and last week's win at OKC was impressive and as big a regular season statement as you can expect from a 2-time champion. Of course, they followed that up with 2 bad losses against the Pacers and the Pelicans. With all that said, they are still the team to beat. I expect the playoffs to be much tougher and tighter for them this year than last, but they have the talent to get this done.

The Rockets look scary good, but can they do it in the playoffs? Harden, Paul, and even coach D'Antoni are haunted by several playoff demons. It's only fair that the World is telling them "show me before I can trust you". We used to think the style the Rockets play is not a good fit for the playoffs, but those days are long gone. Almost all the teams play that style to some degree today and thats not a concern anymore. However, this cast of characters have to show us they can win the big one. No need to hand them the throne now. They will get enough opportunites with home court on their side to earn it. They may, but they have to go through the Warriors. The story is similar in the East. Cleveland Cavliers look headed to another finals despite all thier flaws and troubles. LeBron seeems energized by the new group around him and he is still the King. With injuries to Boston and Raptors continuing to lose to the Cavs, I wouldn't be shocked to see LeBron make it to his 8th straight finals. The Sixers maybe as big a challenge to them as any of the other teams in the LEast.

Spring also means the start of the baseball season. Giancarlo Stanton kicked off his Yankee career with a couple of majestic home runs, but is already getting booed in the Bronx. I guess thats his welcome to NYC moment. The real story of the season so far Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese Babe Ruth. That dude is legit and a great storyline for MLB to have in it's back-pocket, especially early in the season. At the end of the day, the Houston Astros will be the team to beat, not just this year, but for the foreseeable future. Houston may become the sports capital of the country if the Rockets dethrone the Dubs. The Astros have started the season in style. I don't have big hopes for either the DBacks in the NL or the A's in the AL, but I will be following them closely as there are some positive signs with both teams for the future. Not to be left behind the sports that are in-season, the NFL off-season has been active and interesting as always. It's not even draft day yet, but the league is making it's presence felt.

NFL Teams trade a tad bit more the last couple of years and that adds more juice to the league. The Pats traded away Brandin Cooks recently to the Rams for a first round pick. As always, nobody knows what the Hoodie is up to, but we know he is up to some good. The story this off-season has been the Rams. They are loading up. The new model in the NFL seems to be to load up when you have a stud QB in a cheap contract. When you draft a QB and he turns out good, you have him on the cheap for a few years while he is on his rookie contract. It's smart to go for the kill right then and use that cap room to load up on talent instead of waiting for the QB to mature and get better. Don't wait because, once that QB becomes a free agent, you have to dedicate a huge portion of the cap to him. It becomes harder to build an awesome team around him. Seattle with a cheap Russell Wilson back in the day and Philly last year with a cheap Carson Wentz were both hugely successful examples of that strategy.

Rams are trying the same strategy in 2018 with a decent, but cheap Jared Goff at QB and a playoff caliber team. By adding Ndamikan Suh, Aaquib Talib, Marcus Peters, and Brandin Cooks, Rams are pretty much the early super bowl favorite. It's also smart on their part to set themselves up with bright stars like that for the new stadium in LA, a city where star power matters more than anywhere else. The one big story left now before the draft is Odell Beckham Jr. There are rumors that the Pats will go after OBJ with those draft picks. I doubt that. There are also some rumors that the Niners want OBJ. That is more believable given that they are locked in an amazing arms race with the Rams that the Rams are clearly winning. These two teams are both pretty hyped in the NFC West right now, but the Niners don't have the "cheap QB" advantage that the Rams have. Lets see if the handsomely rich and richly handsome Jimmy Geezus can elevate the niners to a place consistent with the off-season hype. Happy to note that Seattle is probably on the way down and sadly, so are my Arizona Cardinals.

NBA reforms

NBA is in full swing. It's pretty much the only sport in town since the Super Bowl and until baseball starts up. We are past the three-quarters point, though we are barely past the all-star break. The All-star break is only a half way point for the two teams that make it to the NBA finals in June. For the rest of the league, the season is more like three-quarters done by the break, especially with the season starting earlier this year. There has been many interesting storylines in the league including an All-star game which was more competitive and better played than usual. Not sure how and why the new format helped the competitive spirit, but it seemed to have done the trick. I think it's more because of the guys putting in better defensive effort after all the criticism last year and also probably after personal requests from the Commish himself and the league office. It was a better watch than usual for sure.

The major story coming out of the break was about the league being open to playoff reforms including seeding the teams 1-16 across both the conferences. The other big idea is to introduce some sort of single elimination play-in games to lock up the last few playoff seeds. I have heard multiple versions of this with the more official version seems to suggest a play-in among seeds 7-10 in each conference for the final 2 spots. I actually like Bill Simmons' suggestion to have a play-in tournament for all of the bottom 8 teams in both conferences for that last spot. I think this will be the only approach that will curtail tanking, which is the other issue that the league wants to reform. A 7-thru-10 play-in will have zero impact on tanking. Not that a play-in tournament is the only way to fix tanking, but it will definitely be a fun way to fix it and a partial 7-10 play-in won't get it done.

Also, a full-fledged play-in tourney across 16 teams and over a week will be more fun and generate enough hype and attention. A 4-team play-in to me is neither here not there. It will be like the NCAA play-in games on Tues/Wed that nobody watches. I think a 16 team tourney will put butts on the seats. I know I will watch the Suns for sure and maybe most of the other games. The only concern with that is, it devalues the regular season. But the NBA regular season has very little integrity even now with all the tanking, back-to-back etc., I don't think a play-in tourney for all teams will make a huge difference to the regular season. It will however make the post-season more fun and can also help reduce the length of the regular season to 74 games or something like that. The league can eliminate back-to-backs and protect the players' health better with a shorter season. A week long play-in tournament can probably make up some of the lost revenue for the owners.

In short, a play-in tournament of some sort can add more excitement, reduce tanking, and reduce the length of the regular season. I think it's coming one way or the other. Commissioner Adam Silver is a revolutionary and will give this a shot soon. On the court, the major story is the race between the Rockets and the Warriors. They are pretty close and the Rockets are actually slightly ahead. This will obviously affect home court, but more importantly, the chatter about the Rockets being a true contender and a real challenger to the Warriors is picking steam. There was a lot of talk pre All-star game about how bad the Warriors looked. They have now won 4 straight since the break while the Rockets have won 14 straight. This will be an interesting race all the way to the Western Conference finals.

I can look at the Rockets in two ways. I can say the Rockets deserve all the respect since they have won a lot of these games to be at the top of the standings ahead of even the mighty Warriors. Rockets deserve respect and recognition for this. But, I can also say that a super-hot Rockets team has barely caught up with s supposedly struggling Warriors. So, who is the better team if they are both at 100%, which they will both be come playoff time as long as there are no injuries? The answer obviously are the Warriors since their upside seems to be much higher. Regardless of how people feel about the Rockets, they are finding it hard to pick them to win it all just because of the lack of playoff success of both James Harden and Chris Paul. So, the Rockets have to earn this one. Not many will pick them until they actually beat the Warriors and prove it. It should be one heck of a last 20+ games and the playoffs in the NBA.

Eagles and Goats

I know I am pretty late with this Super Bowl wrap-up, especially in this day and age of live tweets and instant highlights, especially in these days of breaking news, especially in these days of big news every hour in the NBA and other leagues. Life just got busy and I figured it's better late than ever. First off, congrats to the Eagles for convincingly defeating the GOAT QB and the GOAT coach. They showed us that only NFC East teams can beat the Pats in the big game. The thing that stood out from the very first snap of this game is, how the Eagles offense and Nick Foles were fearless! They didn't give a rat's you know what about the enormity of the Super Bowl or the greatness on the other sideline. That kind of attitude had to have percolated down from the coaching staff. And then the QB and the players had to make sure they were not overwhelmed by the situation. Kudos to the entire organization for pulling this off in style.

The crazy trick pass play to Foles in the end zone on 4th and goal was a microcosm of how the Philly approached, coached, and executed in this Super Bowl. Eagles went for it on fourth down again in their own side of the field and converted in the fourth quarter for another pivotal play after they fell behind for the first time in the game. Another gutsy decision when the momentum appeared to be shifting, but Todd Peterson and the Eagles wrested it back with a vengeance. That drive ended in a Zack Ertz TD and bled the clock to a point where Pats ran out of time. By the way, if NFL ever needed proof that it’s catch/no-catch rule is completely messed up, the fact that even Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth were totally clueless on that Ertz TD catch was it. How can that catch even be in doubt after Ertz took like 28 steps with the ball is beyond me. I don’t blame the announcers, but the NFL for letting it get to this point.

We could say the Eagles were aggressive. Or, we could also say this is the only way you can beat the Pats and the Goats. They don't die easy and they never take the foot off the gas. Unless you match that aggression both strategically and execution wise, it's going to be very hard to beat them. And the fact that the Eagles were the underdogs playing with their backup QB made it easy for them to be super aggressive and play like they had nothing to lose because they really didn't. Going in, I thought like many others that the Eagles defense will provide some resistance to the Pats offense and that will be the difference in the game. I actually thought the Eagles had a decent shot. But the Eagles D provided even less resistance than the Pats D, which was horrible. It was Eagles offense that dominated the game. Luckily, the Eagles defense made one play at the end of the game that saved the day for them. Without that strip-sack-fumble on Brady, did any of us have any doubt the Goat was going to drive down and score? 

My only hope for the Eagles when Brady got the ball with more than 2 minutes left on the clock and down by just 5 was that he would leave some time on the clock for the Eagles to win it on offense. Eagles defense didn't do anything to bother Brady the entire second half. However, that fumble clinched it, though I would say the play of the game still was the 4^th and goal trick play. Pats offense deserve a lot of credit for neutralizing a pretty decent Eagles defense, but on the flip side, Pats defense gave themselves no shot against the Eagles with the way they played. Neither did Foles who played a great game and won a deserving trip to Disney World with his MVP hardware. Fans always love it if offense and scoring dominates the game and this Super Bowl was a treat to watch.

The offensive efficiency and some of the offensive numbers in this Super Bowl were ridiculous from the start. My jaw dropped sometime during the game when I saw the stat that there were 9 different players who had plays of 20 yards or more in the game. That’s insane! I also literally jumped out of my comfortable seat to celebrate that crazy trick play by the Eagles for a TD. The ball was just moving up and down the field and the game went rather effortlessly from featuring the most yards in the Super Bowl to most yards in any NFL post-season game to most yards ever in a NFL game in history  as the quarters rolled on. Tom Brady was flawless with 505 yards and lost. The Patriots never punted in this game and still lost! The game went against all expectations and all kinds of conventional wisdom, but was a lot of fun. It was even more fun for guys like me who never mind the Hoodie and Brady losing. 

What makes the Pats defensive futility even more interesting is the one controversy that erupted in this game. Hoodie and the Pats benched Malcolm Butler and didn't even put him in to play defense all game. This guy is no Deion Sanders and hard to say if he would have won it for the Pats, but he did play 98% of their defensive snaps all season! How bad can he be if he is good enough to play 98% of your defensive snaps? He may not be great, but that stat at least proves he is better than his backups who played in the Super Bowl. Even if he is not better, he probably has more familiarity, feel, and chemistry with his defensive buddies on the field. Just on that account, I have to say he would have made a difference. I am convinced this benching decision by Hoodie and the coaching staff was costly. Hoodie will never tell us what Butler did, but in a game that was this close and where Eagles offense was unstoppable, a play here or there by Butler might have made a big difference.

Pats fans and apologists like The Ringer's Bill Simmons are saying Butler is not great and he would not have made a difference because the defensive front 7 didn't put any pressure on Foles. To that I say thats exactly why Butler might have made a difference. When your defense is worthless and doing nothing, why weaken it further by benching a player who played 98% of your plays? Hoodie better have a good reason for it. Unless Butler knocked on Hoodie's hotel room door at 2 AM on Super Bowl Sunday with a stripper in one arm and a bag of cocaine on another, you figure out a way to put Butler in that game. Especially in the second half when it was obvious they had no answer to Foles and the offense. Hope we hear the really story some day. I also wonder if Brady is upset with the Hoodie for costing him the 6th ring with this benching. Overall, great Super Bowl to cap a solid NFL season. Can't wait for next season, though NBA will keep us busy the next 5 months.

GOAT, where art thou?

Blake Bortels, Nick Foles, Case Keenum, and Brian Hoyer. Thats not exactly a murderer's row of star quarterbacks. Thanks to the mysterious hand injury to Tom Brady (aren't all Patriots injuries mysterious by the way?), this may be the QB lineup nobody expected but everybody get to watch on Championship Sunday. The question confronting Washington DC and our country's current political climate is now applicable for the NFL's final 4 as well- how did we even get here? We all know that QBs get a little too much credit and defenses and o-lines get way less credit than they deserve. But still, you rarely see 3 out of 4 teams in the championship round led by such no-name QBs.

Granted, the Eagles are Carson Wentz's team and they probably don't make it this deep in the playoffs without him. Too bad we are deprived of enjoying his game this weekend. Though Wentz is not a Rodgers or a Brees yet, by all accounts, he is going to be one of the big QB stars of the future and he would have been an exciting name in these playoffs and fun to watch. If Brady also sits out because of this injury, the league office will literally start crying. NFL is still the king on television, but their ratings have been slumping all season. Even the nail-biting, miraculous endings last weekend didn't translate into a ratings bonanza for the league. So, they need their star QBs more than ever and they are going to get them less than ever this weekend. Bad timing indeed.

This is unusual coming from a Pats non-fan like me, but we need Brady and need him to do real well this Sunday. We want the Super Bowl to be semi-watchable. Plus, the talking heads and blogs need something to talk about for 2 weeks! We need the GOAT and the Pats to win this AFC championship game and give us a reason to watch the Super bowl. At that point, I will be more than happy to go back to rooting against him and the Pats as always. A Blake Bortels-V-Case Keenum Super Bowl is only slightly more inspiring than a Blake Bortels-V-Nick Foles matchup and neither is good news for the NFL or us the fans. I should have prefaced these pronunciations with a token "no disrespect to these QBs" rider, but then again, I am indeed disrespecting them whether I intend to or not.

The main reason for these match-ups are Mike Tomlin's head-scratching coaching and Marcus Williams suddenly deciding that tackling is for losers last weekend. If those 2 had not over-thought their jobs and just kept it basic, we would have had Big Ben and Drew Brees joining Brady this weekend. That would have rivaled the Brady-Ben-Rodgers-Ryan lineup last year. In any case, let's hope for good games this Sunday. Actually, I do think the games will be close and tight. Star appeal may be the only thing missing. As for the games themselves, I expect the Vikings and the Patriots to make it to the next round. At some point, the home team is going to make it to the Super Bowl and we might as well root for and enjoy that oddity this year. Go get 'em Case Keenum.

The Patriots Maze.

The Pats will play a playoff game this weekend and win. They will then face a little stiffer competition next week, probably the Steelers, and even stiffer competition in the Super Bowl, probably the Falcons or the Saints. But they are going to win it all and cement their legacy even further. Thats how things seem to be stacking up right now. The latest controversial article on ESPN about the drama surrounding them will only enable Hoodie to whip up more "us versus them" hysteria in the locker room and push them even further. Thats just the reality of the NFL this season since I don't see a legitimate contender to the Patriots. The most drama we may have the rest of the way is this ESPN article detailing a rift between Kraft, Hoodie, and Brady over Brady's future among other things. It's an interesting read on the palace intrigue affecting the Patriots, who have in the past been nothing but a silent, peaceful, paradise led by the secretive coach and a superstar QB, who consistently took less money and allowed himself to be coached hard. Nothing was ever out of tune.

This article talks about a rift primarily in the context of the now famous Jimmy Garoppolo trade. First off, I don't believe a reputed publication like ESPN will completely cook-up a story like this. There are some insinuations to that affect primarily because Seth Wickersham's article quotes only unnamed sources. Secondly, the whole trigger for this story seems to be the trade, especially since Jimmy Geezus has looked good in a Niners uniform. I like him and want him to do well. But let's hit the brakes a little bit on this Geezus hype. Just because Hoodie is rumored to have believed he is good enough to be a franchise QB and just because he has won half a dozen games against questionable competition, there seems to be this rush to put him in the pro football hall of fame already! What he did for the Niners in limited duty this year is impressive given he took a 1-10 team to 6-10 and thats no accident. But his trade and his subsequent success is what is providing the main backdrop for this supposed Patriots rift narrative.

A lot of the narrative makes sense. I am OK with the Hoodie being portrayed as this ultimate football genius, a no-nonsense professional who has no sentimentality or emotion towards anybody or anything and is not afraid to make any decision purely based on it's football merits. I am also OK with the narrative that Robert Kraft being this old, rich guy with an emotional attachment to Brady and wants Brady to stay as long as he wants to and retire as a Patriot.  But I still find it hard to believe that Hoodie wanted to keep Jimmy G. Keep him and do what? He is going to be a free agent and wants to start. Both are problems for the Patriots. Jimmy G is widely regarded and will demand 20 million+. As good as Hoodie and Brady are, the Patriots are not winning Super Bowls with so much money tied up in one position, even if that position is QB, and even if one of the QB is the GOAT. Thats even assuming Jimmy would have agreed to stay as a backup and forego a chance to start somewhere else.

So, the other option was, Hoodie keeps Jimmy and trades or cuts Brady if he doesn't retire at the end of this season or maybe next if Hoodie could convince Jimmy to be a backup one more year. I just don't see that happening, though most football minds will tell you thats probably the right decision. It maybe logical and rational to say let the 40 year-old guy go in favor of the 26 year-old talent, but life ain't always rational or logical. I just do not see the Pats letting go of Brady coming off of possibly 2 Super Bowls and possibly 2 Super Bowl MVP awards as well. If anybody can do that, it's probably Hoodie and he has the pedigree and the goodwill to pull it off, but it's still unfathomable to me. Far easier said than done. People immediately compare this scenario to what the Niners did with Joe Montana or the Packers with Brett Favre. Both those scenarios are significantly different from what the Pats are dealing here with Brady.

First of all, Favre retired and un-retired causing a lot of confusion for Packers and Aaron Rodgers. It was relatively easy for the Packers to say "no" to Favre when he un-retired because Favre initiated all of this confusion by retiring in the first place. Brady's situation is much different and is closer to Joe Montana's actually. But even Joe was coming off of 2 lost years where he barely played due to injuries. As great as Joe was, he was not coming off of a Super Bowl MVP performance or 2 when the Niners kicked him out.  Secondly. both Montana and Favre were succeeded by Steve Young and Aaron Rodgers who then went onto win Super Bowls and carve out a place in the Hall of Fame themselves. Rodgers is still going strong. History would not have been too kind to these decisions if the successors were not hall-of-fame good. This goes back to my first point that there is this assumption that Jimmy Garoppolo's greatness is a foregone conclusion. It's not.

I hope Jimmy Geezus is indeed great. I have my own vested interest in him succeeding. But he could also fail due to a variety of reasons. Do note that by fail here I don't mean Tim Couch or JaMarcus Russell level of bustage. Jimmy G could end up being a Matt Stafford or Andy Dalton and still be considered a bust when he is tasked to replace the great Tom Brady. Just to be clear, Stafford and Dalton are some of the highest paid starting QBs in the league today and even that level of performance won't be sufficient for the Patriot faithful who are clamoring for Jimmy today. So, I do not see a lot of practical options for Hoodie other than to have traded Jimmy G. Maybe he could have gotten more in return, but he had to trade him. I don't blame Kraft for asking to keep Brady either. Show at least some loyalty, especially for a legend who has taken less money than most to play for your team. Trading Jimmy was not just the right thing to do, but practically the only thing to do.

I doubt if Kraft or Brady requested that Hoodie trade Jimmy G just so that Brady feels safe. If that's true, I have to say, Brady' level of insecurity is even more legendary than his game. Kraft's diktat is supposedly why Hoodie wants to walk away now because he will never tolerate interference in football decisions from the ownership. And there is also this counter-narrative from Pats fans and well-wishers like Bill Simmons of The Ringer that this ESPN article and the storyline is all wrong because Kraft has never interfered in football operations in 18 long seasons and he is not going to start now. I disagree on both these points because, if Kraft says lets keep Brady, that is not interference in my book. Brady is only the most important Pats player in the history of the franchise. He is darn near a civic institution and I would have called him a regional monument if he was an immovable object. The Pats owner stepping in and saying let's keep Brady and make sure he retires a Patriot is not interfering in football operations at all and Hoodie having to listen to him on this point is no end of the world.

Heck, if he wants to trade Brady, Hoodie probably should run it by not just Kraft but also the Mayor of Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts! If Hoodie is upset by that, it's on him. He is missing the point. A Brady trade is not just a football decision. It's way more strategic and higher-level than that. Even in Kraft's own version of the Jimmy G trade story he mentions how Hoodie called him to inform and get consent and he called back and said OK. My point being, even a Jimmy G trade requires and deserves Kraft's consent and a courtesy call. Hoodie works for Kraft after all and it only makes sense to get Kraft's approval on semi-major decisions. And Kraft has every right to say "No" on rare occasions and Brady's future with the team is the rarest of rare occasions. If Kraft steps into the draft war room and says pick that QB in the 4th round over that line-backer, thats interfering in football operations. Kraft saying keep Brady doesn't even come close to that. It's an entirely different conversation. Again, I am saying all this knowing fully well that replacing the 40 year-old Brady with a 26 year-old Jimmy G is probably the rational football move here.

Sometimes, there are bigger forces in play than just football and I am glad the Pats did the right thing here. And I am not even a Pats fan. Brady has slipped a bit, but he is still good. If Hoodie is the genius we all say he is, and I agree he is all that, then just go draft the next young QB in 2018, develop him, and turn the franchise over to him in 2 or 3 years when Brady steps away. Jimmy G is not the only worthy successor to a legendary QB that college football will ever graduate. So, go to plan B with all your football acumen. It's as simple as that. Believe me, finding the next Jimmy G is not nearly as hard as finding the next Tom Brady. I started of saying I trust the ESPN article. So, whats the bottom-line here? The net-net is, Hoodie and Brady are probably upset at a lot of things and grievances might have piled up over 18 years. They may be ready to move on from each other. But to me, the Jimmy G trade just feels like a convenient and sexy event to build this whole story around. Jimmy G sure has been a fun sub-plot to the entire second half of this NFL season, but the way I see it, he was going to be traded one way or the other. Hoodie wanting to quit may have nothing to with it.

As for us in the rest of the league waiting for the Pats to crash and burn, lets just enjoy the drama and if it evolves into something more and maybe even a real divorce, let's enjoy that even more!

Fond memories

All memories don't have to be amazingly memorable. As an Arizona Cardinals fan, I consider the Arians-Palmer era as a decent and fun one though they didn't win a championship or even make it to the Super Bowl. Cards are not quite the New England Patriots and given their checkered past, living through this era felt a lot better to me than it actually was. Cards have been to just 5 playoffs in 20 years and 6 in around 35 years. Arians-Palmer took us to 2 of those playoffs in the last 5 and had a losing season only once. So, we might as well call this era a dynasty of epic proportions and compare them to Hoodie and Brady. Life is all about context and perspective and this is practically a dynasty for the Cards fans. Both Arians and Palmer retired this week and that puts a nice wrap on this stretch. They also started together in the desert in 2013.

The high point of their combined run was obviously the 2015 season with a 13-3 regular season, a first round playoff bye, and a NFC championship game appearance. The highlight of that season and probably a top-5 moment in the history of the AZ Cardinals was the OT win against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in a classic playoff game. That Cards' season ended in Carolina in an embarrassing fashion for Palmer. You never know which Palmer showed up and the one in Carolina was definitely not the good one. They missed the playoffs the next 2 years. 2014 had a lot of potential too until Palmer got injured. Between his injuries and inconsistency, Palmer left a lot to be desired. Arians was up and down too with his coaching. But I will still miss them both. It was a mostly positive experience with these two at the helm and I thank them for the memories.

As for the here and now, the NFL playoffs are kicking off this weekend. Parity rules in the NFL and there is always a healthy dose of churn and surprises in the list of playoff teams every year. This year's entrants are no different and even more fascinating! Some real long playoff droughts are being terminated this weekend. The Bills are in the playoffs after a staggering 18-year break. I can't believe they have not made it since their loss in the music city miracle back in the day. Their last playoff appearance pre-dates iPhones and HD TVs. Even the QB they lost to in that game, Steve McNair, is unfortunately dead already. The bad news for the Bills is, they didn't really make it to the playoffs this year either. They pulled the ultimate back-door maneuver to sneak in. Of course the Bills' fans don't care and it's not their problem that the Baltimore Ravens collapsed and lost to let Buffalo in.

And here's the even worse news for the Bills. They probably have no shot against the Jaguars, who are ending a 10-year playoff drought. Thats saying something given that they will be playing against a Blake Bortels led Jaguars team. Of course, nobody will be surprised if the Bills do win and thats saying something about Blake himself. This is not going to be a made-for-TV matchup with a lot of excitement and star power. Hope it stays close so people have something to watch in this game. The other not-so-sexy matchup sends Titans to Kansas City. The Titans are ending a 9-year playoff drought. Come Monday, they will be ready to start another drought after the loss to the Chiefs. The NFC match-ups are a lot more interesting. The Saints-Panthers is the headliner. I like the Saints in this one, though Cam and the Panthers are no joke. The Falcons @ Rams will be a good one and probably the closest contest of the weekend.

The Rams are ending a long 13-year playoff drought themselves, but it feels much shorter because they are new to LA. So, LA doesn't care about the drought nor about the Rams in general for that matter, but there will be enough bandwagon fans to join this playoff spectacle anyways. I give the Falcons a slight edge to pull off the upset here due to their playoff experience, but if they can't contain Gurley, they will be done. As always, the Falcons may win the first 2.5 quarters and then mail it in at the most inappropriate moment. We shall see. In the larger picture, all of these teams seem like nothing more than a nice bait for the Patriots. There is an explosive ESPN piece today on the palace intrigue and politics between the Hoodie, Brady, and Kraft. For most teams, this would be a major detraction. Of course for the Patriots this is probably the best thing ever. Hoodie will craft this into motivational fodder and the Pats may have just clinched their Super Bowl, though that seemed like an eventuality this season anyways.