Monday
Jon and Kate announce divorce
Greenville native Lucas Glover wins US Open
Chris Brown pleads guilty to assault on ex-girlfriend Rihanna
Perez Hilton and Will.I.am have Twitter feud
Ed McMahon, wing man to Johnny Carson, dies
Tuesday
SC Gov Mark Sanford announces affair with Argentinian woman
Wednesday
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters
Thursday
Farrah Fawcett dies at 62 after long battle with cancer
Michael Jackson dies at 50 after going into cardiac arrest
NBA Draft
Friday and Saturday
Surprisingly quiet, thought maybe things had died down
Sunday
Billy Mays found dead in his home at the age of 50
(Note: This is purely the sports portion of the blog, if you're looking for Entertainment click the link to the right that says "Wow What a Week! Entertainment Edition Parts 1 and 2")
Aaaah! It's good to be home. I knocked out the entertainment side of things first but here I am back where I belong in the world of sports. And what a week it was here too. The tournament that was never going to end finally did Monday and none other than Lucas Glover was the winner. Yes, Lucas Glover is your U.S. Open Champion. Now where did Lucas Glover come from you might ask? Well as I sit here in my house in Greenville, SC the correct answer would be approximately 10 minutes away. As a matter of fact I drove by his high school yesterday. And this of course means only one thing: there was good news coming out of SC this week! And it was all good till our stupid governor went to freakin Argentina because he couldn't keep it in his pants. Oh sorry. What's that you ask? No it doesn't eat at me at all. Not at all.
Anyway there were far more important things than Lucas Glover this week in sports but he came first geographically and chronologically so I figured I'd knock his story out first. But now let's get to the fun stuff: the NBA Draft. The first pick was no surprise in Blake Griffin and the second pick really wasn't either in Hasheem Thabeet. 7'3" guys simply don't come around that often and although I have more of a post game than he does, the Grizzlies actually have guys who can fill it in OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay, and a guy like Thabeet who can rebound and make up for their lack of defensive skill is a good fit. The third pick wasn't a shock but at the same time it wasn't what we expected either. Everyone expected OKC to pick Ricky Rubio, but I actually like the pick of James Harden here instead. Rubio is a point guard as is Russel Westbrook, the Thunder's first pick from last year. Although they are two totally different players they do play the same position and you were gonna have a hard time playing them together as I'll explain with what Minnesota idiotically did in a minute. Instead you now have three legitimate scoring threats at PG, SG, and SF in Westbrook, Harden, and Kevin Durant, and while OKC will still be a lottery team next year they definitely have a solid young core to build around. With the 4th pick Sacramento took Tyreke Evans who was great in the NCAA tournament showing he's clutch and he's a tough guy, something Sacramento has lacked since Doug Christie (and his wife) left town.
And now we have come to the fun picks. It is no secret. I LOVE Jonny Flynn. I am a Syracuse fan because my dad went there as did my granddad and in all reality if I had gone to school with the major I have now I would be there too. I also like Ricky Rubio. He's a pass first player with instinct that you can't teach. He's also exciting and you can't underestimate the power of putting fans in the seats. That being said, playing them together is the dumbest idea I've heard in a long long time. Both are Point Guards. I don't want to hear Flynn can play the 2 because he can score. The man is 6'0". Yes, that second number is a zero. As in he is 6' even. The T-Wolves play in the Western Conference. Would you like me to name you the starting 2 guards in the Western Conference? Kobe Bryant, Brandon Roy, Tracy McGrady, and so on and so forth. I love Jonny Flynn but at his size he has no shot against any of those guys and will even have trouble with some bigger point guards. "Well on defense you can switch and have Rubio play the 2." You mean the guy with no lateral foot speed? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Having two point guards is a very good thing. Having two young point guards isn't. There was a reason Jason Kidd was on Team USA last summer. There was a reason that Derek Fisher was on the Lakers this year. There is no doubt that the players behind each older guy (Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Jordan Farmar, and Shannon Brown) were better overall then the older starter but there is something to be said about the calming influence of a veteran point guard.
With all that being said, if the Wolves trade Rubio, who was one of the hottest commodities in the draft, I absolutely love the pick. They get a good PG in Flynn and get whoever they get in return. However if they decide to keep Rubio whether he stays with them or decides to return to Europe (which would make them look even worse than they already do), the GM should seriously be looked at and fans should have a right to be upset. I don't have a problem with one or the other. But to say that you couldn't trade a top 6 pick is ridiculous and simply inexcusable.
Other highlights of the draft to me include the Knicks, who get a scoring PG in Toney Douglas at 29 from the Lakers for $3 million which seems ridiculous, but in NBA money really isn't, and Jordan Hill who serves as David Lee insurance. I'm also a huge fan of what Utah did in adding Eric Maynor. I'm a Duke fan and thus I know what Maynor can do. He's a mature PG who can run a team and score when he needs to. In fact, according to many scouts, he was the most NBA ready of any of the PG's out there and he now has a great PG to learn from in Deron Williams. When Atlanta traded Acie Law I was kinda curious as to why, however they redeemed themselves to me in drafting Jeff Teague. Teague is gonna be a solid NBA point guard and when Mike Bibby decides to step aside he will be more than ready to take over. All that being said, the winner in the draft was undoubtedly the San Antonio Spurs. On top of their trade to get Richard Jefferson which I love for them and hate for me as a Lakers fan, they picked up a legitimate top 15 talent in DeJuan Blair with the 37th pick! He's a defense and rebounding guy which is fine for the Spurs because they have 4 guys who drop 20 a night in Parker, Ginobili, Duncan, and RJ which leaves Blair to do the dirty work. The one problem for the Spurs though is Blair's size. As has been stated (and proven!) before, the NBA is all about matchups, and if you think DeJuan Blair can do what he did to Hasheem Thabeet to Pau Gasol you are out of your everliving mind. That makes me sleep a little easier as a Lakers fan but kudos once again to the Spurs.
I talked about the Hawks earlier and I would be shorting them if I didn't mention who they got in the Acie Law trade and that is Jamal Crawford. Crawford is the only man in NBA history who has dropped 50 pts for 3 different teams. Simply put, he can score with the best of em and that gives Atlanta another option and a solid backup for Joe Johnson. Does this push them into the upper eschelon of teams in the East? No. Does it push them closer? Definitely.
One of the biggest trades took place between the New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic. It basically sent Vince Carter to the Magic for Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee. I'm incredibly torn on this from the Magic's perspective and here's why. Getting Carter is a plus. He's still capable of big scoring nights, loves the up and down game, can shoot the 3, and get to the rim. I also like getting Rafer Alston out of town because although he played well for them, Jameer Nelson is not only younger but he is better than Alston and Alston wasn't going to sit quietly. However giving up Courtney Lee to me was not a good move at all. Lee has the makings of a star and I think in the future he and Dwight Howard could have won a championship if not multiple crowns which is why the Nets coveted him. That being said the Magic get a better player for now and still have J.J. Redick who showed signs of his college form late in the Finals, as well as Mikael Pietrus, who has shown flashes throughout his career. That being said, the Magic building to win now as opposed to later just because they got a taste of the finals doesn't exactly sit well if I'm a Magic fan with me considering their best player is still developing, and they are a young team as a whole.
With all that being said for Orlando, the exact opposite is true in Cleveland where win now is not only a slogan but a battle cry. They have one year to keep Lebron at home and it's all or nothing. The Big Shaqtus is no more and we now have LeShaq in Cleveland. Last year the Cavs built themselves to beat Boston and this summer its time to Magic proof and adding Shaq is a step in the right direction. Shaq can guard Dwight Howard really as well as anyone because he, like Andrew Bynum was in the finals, is one of a few guys as big as Howard in the league. Cleveland is still without a 4 that can guard Rashard Lewis but if the Cavs don't have to worry about a 6'10" Hedo Turkoglu in Orlando that's not nearly as big of a deal as they can play small with Lebron at the 4 while letting Vince Carter jack it up from 3 over Delonte West. More importantly it shows Lebron that the Cavs are willing to wheel and deal to put a winning team on the floor and that's what is going to above all else keep Lebron in Cleveland. Don't underestimate the winning pedigree Shaq adds either with his 4 championship rings.
Wow. What a week. 11 major events and we almost had a 12th with US Soccer almost beating Brazil in the Confederations Cup final. Big ups to the boys in red white and blue on a well played final and a brilliant match vs Spain. If they had won I'm pretty sure my head would have exploded. It could've been a little messy, but for that, I wouldn't have minded.
