Monday Morning Mehta 3/7/05

Edition # 109
March 7, 2005

www.mondaymorningmehta.blogspot.com

NBA - "NHL" - NFL - MLB - Golf

NBA - Derreck Sura

- The Sixers went 3-1 this past week, winning some very ugly games in the process. A win is a win however, and Philly needs all they can get right about now. I'm sure a lot of the talk this week will center on Chris Webber's play, and his little hissy fit in Atlanta. All I can say is, who didn't expect there would be some growing pains? It's going to take much longer then 5 games for Allen Iverson and C-Web to mesh, not to mention Kyle Korver settling into his role as the 3rd option. I thought overall the team made some progress toward working Webber into the offense, but still has a long way to go. I think it's worth pointing out too, that C-Web has led the Sixers in rebounding in 3 out of his first 5 games. Philly is 29-30, which is good for the 8th seed, and puts them 1 loss behind Boston for the Atlantic Division lead. Since it looks like the Sixers will be competing with those two teams for the final playoff spot in the East for the rest of the season, below is a breakdown of each team's remaining schedule. This week brings Philly: @Miami & Golden State (back to back), Charlotte, @Toronto. 3-1 should be possible, but the Warriors have been playing better since they added Baron Davis, so that game could be a little tougher then expected. The game against the Raptors is a "must win", as all division games will be for the rest of the year.

Sixers - 23 games left. 13 home, 10 road, 6 vs. the West, and 5 division (@Tor, Tor, @Bos, Bos, @NJ). Obviously the 4/3 game in Boston, and the 4/12 tilt against the Celtics in Philly, will be HUGE. The Sixers also play @Indiana on 4/5. The one real nice thing Philly has going for them is that they are 2-0 vs. Boston, and 3-0 vs. the Pacers, so one more win against the C's, and they have the primary tie-breaker over both. The section of the Sixers' remaining schedule that worries me the most is from 3/27-4/1, where they play @LAL & @Sac (BtB), @Phx, Dal. A four game losing streak entering the final month of the season would not be good.

Celtics - 22 games left. 10 home, 12 road, 3 vs. the West, and 7 division (Tor, @NY, Phl, @NJ, @Phl, @Tor, NJ). The two remaining games against the Sixers are absolute MUST wins if they want to bring the second tie-breaker (division record) into play. Boston already lost the season series to Indiana 2-1, so if they end up with the same record as the Pacers, they lose out. The schedule maker was not kind to the Celts, because beginning on 3/14, the C's don't play 2 home games in a row for the rest of the year. Meaning they play 12 of their final 19 games on the road, including two separate 3 game road trips.

Pacers - 23 games left. 12 home, 11 road, and 5 vs. the West. Indiana's toughest remaining stretch is from 3/22-4/5, where they play 6 of 8 games away from Conseco Fieldhouse, with the 2 home games being against San Antonio and Miami. Ouch! The Pacers making the playoffs depends greatly on the status of Jermaine O'Neal's sprained right shoulder. J.O. was placed on the injured list Friday, meaning he'll miss Indy's next 3 games at minimum. Not to be overlooked when assessing the Pacers' chances, is Jamaal Tinsley's bruised left foot. He hurt himself in their 1/31 loss in Philly, and Indy has gone 7-7 since then in games where he's played less then 19 minutes. Tinsley is truly one of the most underrated PG's in the NBA. His numbers (15.4 ppg, 6.4 apg, 4 rpg, 2.03 spg, & 37.2% from three in 32.5 mpg) might not jump off the page at you, but he is solid defender, has improved his outside shooting, and most importantly, he keeps the Pacers' offense running smoothly by making good decisions and keeping everyone involved. If J.O. and Jamaal aren't able to return to 100%, and with Ron Artest not likely to be reinstated, it's going to be tough for Indy to compete minus their 3 best players.

- Last Wednesday the Portland Trail Blazers (22-35) fired head coach Maurice Cheeks, and replaced him with director of player personnel Kevin Pritchard on an interim basis. Cheeks went 162-139 as Blazer coach, and his dismissal came as no surprise to me, because the team had stopped listening to him long ago. I was a little taken aback by the timing of it, but the company line from Portland management has been that they wanted to see what their young players could do over the final 27 games of the season. I'm not sure they needed to fire Cheeks to do that, but I guess there's no use in putting off the inevitable. Mo was on his way out of town 2 years ago, until he helped that young girl sing the National Anthem. This may be hard for non-Oregonian's to believe, but remember that the Blazers are constantly fighting a PR battle in Portland, and generally losing it, so that simple act, and all the good press it brought to the franchise, actually saved Cheeks' neck. I'm not a big fan of Mo's coaching ability, to say the least, but he is a nice guy, and will probably get another chance to be a head coach somewhere down the road (hopefully not with the Sixers).

The Blazers played their best ball last year, which led to a nice late season playoff push, when Darius Miles, Zach Randolph, and Theo Ratliff were the starting front line. A big part of the problem with Cheeks this year was that there was a view amongst the players that management was telling him who to play. Specifically starting Shareef Abdur-Rahim over Miles at the start of the season. D Miles had just signed a 6 year 47 million dollar extension in the off season, and supposedly GM John Nash instructed Mo to "showcase" Reef to increase his trade value around the league. This back fired on a few levels (Reef got injured after Miles already felt alienated, then Miles got injured), and was the beginning of the end for Cheeks. My only hope is that Portland owner Paul Allen does not stop there, and finishes taking out the trash by dumping Nash and team president Steve Patterson too. I covered a lot of this in MMM edition #105, but the Blazers need a bright young GM that's been around success, if they ever expect to right their ship. Indiana assistant GM David Moray, Detroit assistant GM John Hammond (already turned Portland down once, fearing lack of 100% control), or even Denver GM Kiki Vandeweghe (may be available for the right price, paging Mr. Allen....) all fit the bill. As for the Blazers' next coach? All the usual suspects name's have been floated, but taking over this team is a risky proposition for one's career. No way does Phil Jackson consider this mess of a team, and Flip Saunders will have much better offers, so I wouldn't waste my time pursuing either of them. I'd target Memphis assistant Eric Musselman right off the bat, and offer him a long term deal for big money. Basically an offer he can't refuse, that will send a message to the players that he's in charge. E Muss is young enough that may be able to connect with some

Portland's "problem" players. He's also known for rattling a few cages, which is exactly what the
Blazers need. - A disturbing new trend, that I hope is addressed in the new collective bargaining agreement, has surfaced in the NBA. That is, players being traded for, and subsequently released after refusing to show up or working out a buyout of their contract, thus giving them the opportunity to sign with the team of their choosing. The reason this bothers me is because the team that trades for and releases the player gets stuck with their contract, while the player gets to sign another contract, and play where ever they want to. So the player gets two paychecks, and playoff teams get an unfair opportunity to add a missing piece to their rosters.

That said, 6 playoff contenders signed players that will help them to varying degrees this week.

Alonzo Mourning to Miami - For the life of me I can't figure out why Toronto GM Rob Babcock agreed to give Zo between 9 & 10 million dollars to NOT play for the Raptors? It makes even less sense when you consider that you don't have to pay a player that doesn't report after being traded for, AND Zo's contract stays on their cap through '06-07 anyway. (The Vince Carter trade had to be the most lopsided deal in the NBA this year.) Zo will eventually take either Michael Doleac, Christian Laettner, or both of their minutes. This is a solid move for the Heat, and was clearly meant as a way to help Shaquille O'Neal out for a potential playoff meeting with Detroit. Zo will be a good backup for Shaq, and the Heat's defense and rebounding should certainly benefit, but I have my doubts about Miami being effective on offense when they are both on the court at the same time. The reason being that neither of them is even an average high post player, and I don't think there's room for both of them to work on the low block.

Alan Henderson to Dallas - Milwaukee never had any intention of keeping Henderson, and only acquired him because his salary came off the books after the season. Alan was the only Maverick to appear in every game before he was traded, so coach Don Nelson must like something about him. Henderson will continue to give Dallas some defense, rebounding, and hustle off the bench.

Wesley Person to Denver - Person was single handedly responsible for holding up Zo's return to Miami by battling over the amount of his buyout. Wes eventually had to cave a little, because for a player to eligible for the post season, they must be released by 3/1. Person gives the Nuggets the 3 point shooter they've needed since Voshon Lenard was lost for the season in the first game of the year. While Wes is certainly a defensive liability, he can still knock down an open three (41.7% from 3 in Miami), and should be effective at keeping the opposition's defense honest for 20-25 minutes a night.

Gary Payton to Boston - As unpopular as this next statement might be, I think this signing makes the Celtics the odds on favorite to win the Atlantic Division. Whether this was pre-arranged or not, Boston GM Danny Ainge got Antoine Walker for a first round pick (which he recouped in the Jiri Welsch trade) and two guys (Tom Gugliotta & Michael Stewart) on the team's injured list. Two very savvy moves. GP should help smooth out any differences that arise between Toine, Paul Pierce, and Ricky Davis fighting over touches. That may sound crazy, but remember that GP is playing for a new contract, and wants to show that he can contribute on a winning team. Suddenly the C's bench is very solid with Delonte West/Marcus Banks, Ricky Davis, Al Jefferson, and Mark Blount.

Elden Campbell to Detroit - I have to wonder about New Jersey GM Rod Thorn using a portion of a valuable trade exception to claim Elden off waivers, supposedly so the Pistons couldn't resign him, only to release him 31 days later, and have him sign with Detroit anyway? I like this move for the Pistons because it gives them another big body to throw at Shaq in the playoffs. Although they did not come close to stopping him, the Pistons did a very nice job bothering Shaq in the Finals last season. Adding Campbell to Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, and Antonio McDyess probably gives coach Larry Brown the same type of options he had last year to defend the Diesel.

Dale Davis to Indiana - Dale's signing happened in the nick of time, as Jermaine O'Neal just went down with an injury. Unfortunately for the Pacers, DD has next to nothing left in his tank. Remember, Davis is a guy who was struggling to get minutes in Golden State for most of the season (3.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, .9 bpg, 41.3% FG, & 57.9% FT in 16 mpg), and now he's supposed to step right into the starting lineup and produce for a team battling for a playoff spot? Wishful thinking on Indy's part. I almost think they'd be better off giving rookie David Harrison more playing time, and using DD in a more reserve type role.

- Around the league a few key players have made their return's from injury to teams in the playoff hunt. Peja Stojakovic to Sacramento - With Chris Webber's departure, Peja is now the Kings' undisputed #1 option on offense. Even though his shooting is a little rusty, he has played pretty well in his first few games back, and more importantly, he seems to have a little more pep in his step. I saw him smiling on the court for probably the first time all year against Orlando. Peja actually enjoying the game again is a very positive sign for Sacto. Now if Brad Miller and Cuttino Mobley could get 100% healthy, we can see what the post-Webber Kings really look like.

Larry Hughes to Washington - There's not a doubt in my mind that the Wizards are a MUCH better defensive team when Hughes plays. They didn't even look like the same squad defensively in his first game back against Houston. His mere presence on the court seemed to make everybody take it up a notch defensively, much in the same way Andrei Kirilenko does for Utah. While his shooting has been off, just 39.3% from the field, the rest of his numbers have been there in his first three games back(25.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.3 apg, & 3 spg in 39.7 mpg). Larry's return to D.C. could not have come at a better time, because Antawn Jamison has been struggling with a sore right knee, and has been averaging only 7.8 ppg over the Wiz' last four games.

Jerry Stackhouse and Marquis Daniels to Dallas - Michael Finley goes down? No problem, because here comes his short and long term replacement's back from injury. Stack and Keith Van Horn give the Mavericks a very potent scoring tandem to bring in off the bench. Daniels, on the other hand, does a little bit of everything. His season has been marred by a variety of injuries, but his return gives Dallas another young swing player (Josh Howard) that can not only score, but play some defense too. While Howard is the better defender and rebounder, Marquis is the superior playmaker, and probably looks for his own offense a little more. When Erick Dampier comes back, and assuming everyone else on their roster is still healthy, the Mavs will have as good a shot as anyone at beating San Antonio in the playoffs.

Pau Gasol to Memphis - Pau's return to the Grizzlies is very much up in the air at this point. Gasol has a hairline fracture in his left foot, and the plan has been to rest it, and hope it heals on it's own, thus avoiding season ending surgery. This week "Spanish Fly" was cleared to put on his basketball shoes, stand on the court, and shoot. No jumping, no running, and certainly no practice. His status was upgraded from "out indefinitely" to "week to week". Not very encouraging. Even less encouraging was Gasol's response when asked if he'll play again this season, "I would think that there is a chance. I just thought that I'd be able to play a lot sooner. Now, everything is very much undecided, so I really don't know what to expect anymore. I try to be as positive as I can. Hopefully, everything heals, but I don't see that happening anytime soon." With Stromile Swift (severely sprained right ankle) and Bonzi Wells (herniated disc) also on the injured list, and considering their insanely tough final 8 games (Mia, Cha, @Dal, @Hou, @Den, @SA, SA, Dal), if Pau is unable to return this year, Memphis may have a tough time hanging on to their playoff spot in the West.

- This week LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas took it upon themselves to campaign for more "respect" from the referees. Bron said, "I feel like I've been more aggressive in the last three games, then I have been in my whole career, and I'm still not getting the respect that I think I deserve. It has been going on for so long, it's frustrating." Gil said, "I don't understand it sometimes. I probably drive the lane as strong as anybody in the league, and I don't get the same calls anybody gets, like an Iverson, who can shoot 26 free throws a night." Whoa! Hold up there a minute fellas. While both of you rising stars in the league, how is it that either of you DESERVE calls? Last I checked, both of you have YET TO EVEN MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. Much less WON A SINGLE PLAYOFF GAME. Much less LED YOUR TEAM TO THE SECOND ROUND. Arenas thinking he deserves the same type of "respect" that AI does is an absolute JOKE! Gil, in case you missed it, AI has led his team to the NBA Finals, is a former league MVP, 3 time scoring & steal champ, 1st team All-NBA twice, 2nd team All-NBA thrice, 6 time All-Star, and 2 time All-Star MVP. That's the kind of resume that gets you "respect" from the refs. Memo to Bron & Gil: Here's how it works. First you make the playoffs. Then you win a playoff game. Then you win a series in the playoffs. Repeat that process for another year (to make sure the first time around wasn't a fluke). Then you will start to get the "respect" you are pining for, but not before.

Top 10

1. San Antonio (1)
2. Phoenix (2)
3. Miami (5)
4. Seattle (6)
5. Detroit (4)
6. Dallas (3)
7. Memphis (10)
8. Houston (9)
9. Sacramento (7)
10. Washington (-)

NHL Week in Review By: Ed Wasser

- In the most meaningless, 'let's just try and grab some headlines', non-story of the week some outfit called Bain Capital offered $3.5 billion to buy the entire NHL. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because this thing doesn't deserve it. In short...the offer was conservatively believed to be $1.8 billion short. That's $1,800,000,000.00 short. There is absolutely no reason for teams like the Rangers, Flyers, Leafs, and about 7 other franchises to do this and in order for it to fly the vote would have to unanimous. And then there's the competitive aspect. Why on Earth would Bain Capital want teams like the Lightning and Flames to play for the Cup? They wouldn't. So what would prevent them from rigging the system so that big market teams always played for the Cup? It wouldn't even be illegal because they'd own all the teams. So congratulations to Bain Capital, they wanted to make some headlines and get publicity and they accomplished it.

- MMM subscriber Joe Zalewski submitted to me a website called www.freestanley.com <http://www.freestanley.com/>. The basic premise of this website is that the Stanley Cup should be awarded the way it was awarded in the 1920's which was have a tournament for a bunch of low level Canadian teams, both minor league and college, and hand the Cup.......you know what, it doesn't matter. The only reason the Stanley Cup is the Stanley Cup is because of the NHL. Without the NHL the Stanley Cup would just be another trophy; in one of the few things the NHL has actually done right they created a mystique around the Stanley Cup complete with a very long list of unwritten rules which has lead to sense of reverence from fans and the guys that compete for the trophy. It's bad enough that we almost had the words Anaheim Mighty Ducks written on the Cup, how about having Cape Breton Screaming Eagles written on the Cup? Ain't never gonna happen.

- Did you hear that if we find out that Donavan McNabb was hurt during the Super Bowl the score will be reversed and the championship will be awarded to the Eagles!! That's the way it works isn't it? I mean why the hell else would the Philadelphia media keep bringing it up, a month after the fact, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again?

- Look, I know most of the people who read this column wonder if I was stumped by finger painting or was I caught eating too much paste or did I actually graduate from kindergarten. In other words I'm never going to blow anyone away with my education. That said will someone PLEASE tell the Philadelphia sports media, especially those on the radio, what the meaning of the word 'literally' is. Please tell the people on WIP that if you're mad at something your head will never "LITERALLY" explode. And I doubt anybody will "LITERALLY" jump off a bridge because of the John Chaney mess. While I'm at it when did the car Jaguar (pronounced Jag-Wire) become Jaguar (pronounced Jag-U-are)? Did I miss a meeting? From here on out I want people to call my car a Pacer (pronounced Pace-U-are).

- Well it took long enough but John Chaney has finally suspended himself for the Atlantic 10 tournament. Please don't take this the wrong way because I literally mean this to be true...Atlantic 10 director Linda Bruno and Temple University president David Adamany should give a lecture in a public relations class called 'Anatomy of a Public Relations Debacle'. Actually debacle isn't even the word I really want to use....I'll just say the word I want to use starts with 'cluster'. And from department of 'My God I Hope This Is True!!" word on the street is that the parents of John Bryant spoke to John Chaney and weren't too happy with his explanation and evidentially did not accept his apology. I just think of the end of 'The Bad News Bears' when the Yankees give the second place trophy to the Bears and say 'you guys have guts...yada, yada, yada' and Tanner says "hey Yankees! Take your apology and your trophy and shove it straight up your ass!!" And then he throws the trophy at the Yankees. I would love to hear that something like that happened to John Chaney when he met with Mr. and Mrs. Bryant.

- Clemente is running on Tuesday in the 10th race. Goes off around 4:15. David Mello will be in the irons. He's starting from the 8th position in a 12 horse field. Clemente opened up the morning line at 12/1. I'll have a review of the race in next week's MMM.

NFL - Monday Morning Mehta

Free Agency is underway, all kinds of rumors are flying as to the next set of moves. There are a couple of quick hitters I have:

Great job by the Eagles and Jeremiah Trotter to get a deal done. Trotter's knees have been a huge concern around the league. The Eagles locked him up at a very cheap price ($4 million signing bonus). It's obvious Trotter fits the Eagles system and it's a win for both sides.

Look for the Eagles to possibly sign a backup tight end (Itula Mili?), figure out what to do with Keith Adams and Ike Reese, and address the WR situation in the next couple of weeks. (see offseason guide sponsored by AOL for more details)

Speaking of signing bonuses, this years crop of free agency bonuses are completely out of control. You can really see what teams value around the league by seeing how much players get in terms of signing bonuses. Left Tackles are probably the next most coveted position in football, after the QB position. Some left tackle, offensive lineman and cornerback signing bonuses this year (just compare it to the $4 Trotter got):

Chris Samuels (LT): $17 million signing bonus
Jonas Jennings (LT): $12 million signing bonus
Gary Baxter (CB): $15 million signing bonus
Kareem McKenzie (RT): $12.5 million signing bonus
Anthony Henry (CB): $12 million signing bonus
Ken Lucas (CB): $13 million signing bonus
Marco Rivera (OG): $9 million signing bonus
Mike Wahle (OG converted to OT): $10 million signing bonus
Jermayne Mayberry (OG, yes, our starting guard from last year): A reported $6 million signing bonus ($2 mill more than Trotter); ask yourself if Trotter or Mayberry was more important to the Eagles?

Fred Smoot, Charles Woodson and Ty Law, probably three of the best available CB's, aren't even signed yet.

Expect the Eagles to draft another Offensive Lineman early in this years draft. No way do the Eagles want to get caught having to give that kind of money to a slightly above average OLman.
Randy Moss and Lamont Jordan joining the Raiders will make them exciting on offense, but they still won't be consistent enough to compete with the big boys in the AFC. Kerry Collins turns the ball over way too much.

Baseball

Spring Training is underway as teams prepare for the season. I've watched baseball for way too long to take anything except individual efforts from these exhibition games. What I look for is watching how the starters perform early in the games. Gavin Floyd (looked terrific), Jon Lieber, and Randy Wolf did not give up a run in their 3 starts, a great sign for Phils fans. Corey Lidle and Brett Myers were lit up like a Christmas tree. As far as the offense goes, nobody has hit yet all spring. The Phils went through a 22 inning scoreless streak. Pathetic. Phils are 0-4 but the Marlins and the Yanks don't have any wins either. And the Brewers are 4-0. A few things I'll be watching this spring:

1. Brett Myers. Will he be in the rotation or not? He better not be, but my gut says he will be.
2. Gavin Floyd. Are the Phillies prepared to give him a shot? My gut says no.
3. Vicente Padilla. His health is a major concern. Padilla is a solid # 3 pitcher that is capable of winning 13-15 games and eating a lot of innings. A must in our ballpark.
4. Pat Burrell. Of course. Ever since MMM reporter Ed Wasser's meeting with Burrell two years ago at spring training, Burrell's been a disaster.

I'm holding off judgment and an official Phillies win total until then (NL Preview April 4th)

Golf --- He's baaaaaccckk....

As the PGA tour swings to Florida and the East coast, we were given a sneak preview of what could be in store for the majors this year. The "Blue Monster" was brought to its knees by the two hottest golfers on the planet, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson. Tiger Woods is back. He's gotten rid of the hook on his drives and is just pounding the ball. More importantly, he's not missing anything under 5 feet again. Tiger Woods round of 9 under 63 on Saturday was one of the greatest rounds I've ever seen, and to follow that up with a 6 under 66 is absolutely awesome. As for Lefty, he played well, but not getting a birdie on #10 or # 12, both par 5's and in particular # 12, which Tiger eagled (one of the best 2nd shots I've ever seen) killed Lefty. I hate to say it, because Phil played decent, but the fact remains he didn't get it done on Sunday once again. He shot the worst round of his week by far, on Sunday. Leading a tournament by two strokes going into the final round means it's yours to win. The Phil/Tiger battle can only be one for the ages if Phil actually starts beating Tiger.

BTW, as much as I like Mickleson I find myself rooting for Tiger every single time...
Every tournament this year has been won by a player in the World top 20 rankings (lowest being Justin Leonard at 19).

Ernie Els is doing his thing on the European tour, don't worry, when a tradition unlike any other, the Masters on CBS (available in HD) starts, you'll see his name right there on the first page of the leaderboard.

Vijay Singh really looks like he is close to being as hot as Tiger and Phil. Unfortunately, who knows what's going on with his putting. One day he putts like the best golfer on tour, the next he putts like me.

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