Archive for February 19th, 2008

620 Sportsline: The Suddenly Wheelin’ and Dealin’ NBA

Published on February 19, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

* What a difference one year makes. Last year the biggest February NBA trades were:

Thu,
Feb 22

Atlanta acquires Anthony Johnson from Dallas for a 2007 second-round draft pick.

Portland acquires Fred Jones from Toronto for Juan Dixon.

Utah acquires Alan Henderson from Philadelphia for the rights to exchange second round draft picks in the 2007 NBA Draft.

Tue,
Feb 13

Memphis acquires Scott Padgett from Houston for Jake Tsakalidis.

San Antonio acquires Melvin Ely from Charlotte for Eric Williams.

Contrast that with this February:

Tue,
Feb. 19

 Dallas signs Keith Van Horn and trades Van Horn, Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, DeSagana Diop, first-round draft choices in 2008 and 2010, and cash considerations to New Jersey for Jason Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright; waives Nick Fazekas.

Sat,
Feb. 16

 Atlanta acquires Mike Bibby from Sacramento in exchange for Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue and a 2008 second round draft pick.

Wed,
Feb. 6

 Phoenix acquires Shaquille O’Neal from Miami in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

Fri,
Feb. 1

 L.A. Lakers acquire Pau Gasol and a 2010 second-round draft pick from Memphis in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol and first round picks in 2008 and 2010; Lakers sign D.J. Mbenga to second 10-day contract.

* Burnsy wonders if the NBA is encouraging this sort of free-dealing. It certainly looks that way given the questionable inclusions of semi-retired players like Aaron McKie and Keith Van Horn. Not saying it’s a conspiracy, but the NBA must like the sort of exposure that so many big trades bring. Not to mention the new jersey sales.

* Another bad analogy has surfaced in the Arizona media. Dan Haren and Brandon Webb are not the 08’ version of Johnson and Schilling anymore than trading for an aging Shaq is akin to the Suns getting Charles Barkley in his prime, back in ‘93. What’s further fetched? Burnsy says Webb-Haren vs Johnson-Schilling. I agree.

* With Shaq’s debut on the horizon, Suns GM Steve Kerr joined Burnsy. Without even stepping on the court, Kerr said the magnetism of Shaq has already won over many of the skeptical Suns fans, which Kerr says “shows you the power of Shaq’s personality.” Kerr got a first-person look at Shaq at Suns practice yesterday, and said he has made “dramatic” strides in one week, and “made several gorgeous passes” in the workout. As for his minutes on Wednesday, Kerr said “20 sounds about right,” adding that he didn’t think Shaq would play “anymore than half the game.” Kerr also spoke about the Kidd to Dallas deal in its early inception, He said they knew Jerry Stackhouse’s declaration that he would return to Dallas after 30 days was “illegal,” but he wasn’t surprised by those methods since “everybody’s looking for a loophole.” Kerr wasn’t as ecstatic about the Kidd trade as some pundits, saying that they’ll definitely miss Devin Harris and DeSagana Diop. And Kerr really didn’t like the Atlanta trade, but for a much different reason. “Obviously we root hard for the Hawks to lose every night,” Kerr jokingly stated, adding that Bibby wasn’t going to aid the losing effort too much.

* The final 30 minutes of the show were D-Backs heavy: Brandon Lyon joined Burnsy to talk about stepping into the closer’s role. D-Backs third baseman Mark Reynolds talked about potentially stepping the role of cleanup hitter for AZ.

620 Sportsline: Early Retirement

Published on February 19, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Now that Fidel Castro has finally stepped down, the 620 Sportsline was thinking of a few other people who should consider retirement:

1. Luis Gonzalez, the friggin’ Marlins?

2. George Lucas, did you see the Star Wars prequels, and now an Indiana Jones CGI fest

3. John Madden, nothing to talk about if Favre retires

4. Barry Bonds, 3,000 hits still won’t get you into the Hall

 


5. Rambo, nuff said

6. Curt Schilling, yeah we know you play hurt- enough already

7. Bill Parcells, because he doesn’t know how to

8. Brett Favre, he’s still good, but he’s such a drama queen when it comes to the retirement stuff

9. Al Pacino, he plays the same guy in every movie

10. Indiana Jones, he’s too old and people don’t fight with whips anymore. Wait, I’m not sure they ever did.

11. Bryant Gumbel, blind people listening to the NFL Network still don’t know what the hell happened to Brett Favre in the Dallas game.

12. Tiger Woods, so someone else can win

13. The NHL, because who would notice (besides Gambo and Ash)

14. Hulk Hogan, because he uses “brother” in way too many sentences, but then again so does Henry Lopez.

15. Henry Lopez

16. Lute Olsen, because Tucson would turn upside down



17. Dick Vitale, because Burnsy hates him



18. Bill Belichick, because I hate him

19. Julio Franco, because no one should be able to play baseball in their 60’s

20. Joe Paterno, because no one should be able to coach football in their 100’s

21. David Stern, because he’s running out of cities that he can retire in (Phoenix, Seattle definitely out)

22. Isiah Thomas, because nobody should be as bad at what they do and still get paid

23. Doug Franz, OK maybe Isiah isn’t that bad

24. Russ Ortiz, because the D-Backs are already picking up the check on his grocery bill. (Wait, maybe he shouldn’t retire yet).

25. The brainiac behind that god-awful ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption.” (Wait he should probably die).

26. Dancing with the Stars, because the last time Steve Guttenberg was a “star” I was in elementary school. (What VH1 couldn’t find him a spot in-between the 1980’s has-been block of programming featuring Flavor Flav, the guy from Poison, and Scott Baio?)