White View
Shaq trade? Do you remember as a kid playing with that toy where you put round shapes into round holes and square shapes into square holes? Every once in a while you would mess up and try to fit a square shape into a round hole, and no matter how hard you tried, it never fit. Well, that’s how I view the Shaq trade. Shaq is a round shape trying to fit into a square hole. He just doesn’t fit the Suns’ style of play. When has Shaq ever been known to run the court? Even in his younger, more mobile days, he never ran the court. How do the Suns expect him to do that now? Unless the Suns are planning on revamping their style of play, this trade will not work.
Mid-season MVP? Despite my love for D-Will and Boozer, I have to go with somebody else for the mid-season MVP. Lebron James, despite playing in the weak Eastern Conference, is putting up Michael Jordan-like numbers. Take a look at his stat line: 30.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.2 assist and 2.1 steals per game. Simply put, amazing. The all-around aspect to his game is astonishing. Throw in the fact that he makes the players around him much better, and he is a lock for the MVP. Four guys are scoring in double figures for the Cavaliers, and that would not be possible if it was not for James.
Mid-season Rookie of the Year?It took a little while to remember any of the rookies from this year’s class before I finally remembered Seattle forward Kevin Durrant. And, since I can’t remember any others, I guess I will choose Durrant as the the rookie of the year. But seriously, although he is playing for a ridiculously awful team, he is putting up good numbers. Scoring 19 points and grabbing a few rebounds is significantly better than any of the alternatives. Before the season, the race was going to be between two guys, Durrant and the injured Greg Oden. And with Oden missing the entire season, hands down the award goes to Durrant.
Mid-season coach of the Year? I thought of choosing Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy, but couldn’t bring myself to choosing someone from the awful Eastern Conference. Instead I go with the homer pick and choose Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz are sitting in first place in their division, but more impressive to me is how Sloan has dealt with other issues. The first of which was Andrei Kirilenko. All we heard about in the offseason was how AK-47 wanted out of Utah. Sloan recognized the importance of Kirilenko to the Jazz and has made some adjustments to accommodate the man they call the Russian rifle. He has also let Deron Williams play. I guess you could say Williams earned that ability from Sloan, but Sloan is letting D-Will run the team, and it is working.
Baseball Hearings Am I the only one who is getting tired of all of this ‘he said’ business in baseball? Ever since Jose Canseco released his first book, all we hear about in baseball is one person ratting out another, or two people squabbling back and forth to each other about what they did or did not do for one another. That is exactly what is happening between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee. By the time you read this, player and his former trainer will already be in court duking it out to see which one is telling the truth. My bet is that Clemens will pull a McGwire or a Sosa and somehow weasel his way out of answering the tough questions.
Rant Why is it that as bad as Utah State’s football program is, they keep putting successful players into the NFL? The reason I bring this up is because former Utah State tight end Chris Cooley caught a touchdown in Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl. Which brings up another question. Does anyone even care about the Pro Bowl? I picked up the paper on Sunday afternoon and noticed the Pro Bowl was listed in the TV listings. I didn’t even think twice as I brushed the thought of actually watching the game aside and moved onto checking out the comics section. I guess Vikings running back Adrian Peterson somehow won a car for being named the MVP of the game. I guess that means there is at least one person who was happy the game was played.