This week on the show we’re talking about the NHL trying “non-binding mediation” to end the lockout & what’s next, the latest news on the Phoenix Coyotes ownership situation and a major punishment handed down to the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. As well, we look at concussions in the NFL, the NBA fining a team for its lineup & a prominent female skier who wants to race against men.
In the GABBYs: Ronda Rousey, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kevin Love, Christine Sinclair, Mosaic Stadium & the Phoenix Suns. The Punchline this week is Dwight Howard of the LA Lakers!
The 2012-13 NBA season starts Tuesday. Yes, I know the Los Angeles Lakers now have Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, the Miami Heat have Ray Allen and the Toronto Raptors have Kyle Lowry and Landry Fields, but I think it is time to look at other significant off-season moves in the offseason.
The Dallas Mavericks have changed their roster significantly, and got younger in the process. In are German center Chris Kaman (from New Orleans), shooting guard O.J. Mayo (from Memphis) and point guard Darren Collison (from Indiana). All three averaged in double digits in scoring. Out meanwhile are Jason Kidd (New York) and Jason Terry (Boston).
Another team that has a completely different look are the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are gambling on Russian forward Andrei Kirilenko from Utah (11.7 ppg) and Brandon Roy from Portland who is coming out of retirement at the age of 28.
The greatest Canadian basketball player ever, and one of Canada’s greatest athletes ever is joining one of the most successful franchises in basketball history.
It was confirmed tonight that the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns for four draft picks–two first round picks and two second round picks over the next three years. They then signed Nash to a three year deal worth $25 million).
Nash is still one of the best point guards in basketball today and now can pass the ball frequently to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Oh yeah, and he still had a free throw percentage of .894.
The biggest losers in today’s decision by Nash was clearly the Toronto Raptors who acquired restricted free agent Landry Fields this week in an attempt to block a possible trade between the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns. The move backfired because at the end of the day I think Nash realized the Raptors weren’t that much in a better position than the Suns, and at his age, he clearly has a small window of time to win a Championship.
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
The NBA Trade Deadline came and went yesterday. My initial reaction was simple.
Steve Nash, Canada’s greatest basketball ever, is still a Phoenix Sun and his chances of winning a championship are dwindling. He’s 38 years old, passes the ball with absolute ease, but at this stage off his career is stuck as a Sun on a team that needs a couple of years at least to rebuild in order to be a contender for a Championship.
Sure, they beat the Clippers last night without him, but last night’s performance by the Suns simply doesn’t happen often.
I’m not saying Steve Nash should be another Ray Bourque and be a professional athlete that asked to be traded to win a Championship before he retires, but that the Suns should have looked into it. Nash deserves a chance. The likelihood of Nash being a Sun next season is 50/50, and the Suns missed a great chance to get something for him.
Sure, there were trades yesterday. The Portland Trail Blazers traded Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams and a first round pick. The Milwaukee Bucks traded Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden State Warriors for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown, and then the Warriors traded Jackson to San Antonio for Richard Jefferson.
We also saw Washington acquire Nene Hilario from Denver, Houston acquire Derek Fisher from the Los Angeles Lakers and Marcus Camby from Portland, Indiana acquire Leandro Barbosa from Toronto, and two coaches leave–Mike D’Antoni in New York and Nate McMillan in Portland.
But with all of the movement, Steve Nash, the greatest point guard in the game remains playing under the sun in Phoenix. Are you as disappointed as I am?
Ok. I’m not a poet. But the headline sounded good and rhythmical.
This is a very special time in Canadian sports history. Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash is one of the greatest Canadian athletes of all-time and the guy is simply continuing to play at such an elite level, it is truly remarkable.
This week, Nash was named to his eighth NBA All-Star team. Not bad. But if you take a deeper look at the numbers, only three other players in NBA history have been named an all-star at 38 or older– Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
And Nash isn’t just an average all-star. One could argue he is still one of the best players in the game today. He currently leads the NBA with 10.1 assists per game. The statistic is amazing because the Suns don’t have a lot of talent around Nash and are 3.5 games back of Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland for a playoff spot.
The greatest Canadian basketball player ever had another magical game last night as he scored 30 points and 10 assists in Phoenix’s 120-103 win over the New Orleans Hornets.
At age 37, Nash became the oldest player in NBA history to record a 30/10 double double. Nash also became the Suns all-time leader in assists with 6,522. Kevin Johnson had the old record with 6,518.
If you combine Nash’s 6522 assists with Phoenix and his 2889 career assists with the Dallas Mavericks from 1998-2004, Nash has a career total of 9441 assists. Nash is sixth all-time behind John Stockton of the Utah Jazz, Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Jackson of the New York Knicks, Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers and Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals.
Unfortunately though at 8-13 it is unlikely the Suns will make the postseason this year, meaning Nash will need to play elsewhere to have a chance at winning his first Championship.
The Toronto Raptors may not look back at the 2012 NBA season with fond memories. They are currently 6-13, and the likelihood of them making a run at contending for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference is small.
But over the last two nights, they have shown some great signs of greatness, resiliency and maturity for a young team learning how to win. For the first time in 14 games they won in Phoenix and then, for the first time in 14 games, they won in Utah.
On Tuesday night, Andrea Bargnani scored 36 points as the Raptors came back from a 14 point deficit to beat the Suns 99-96. The Raptors snapped an eight game losing streak and Bargnani returned for the first time in seven games after injuring his calf.
On Wednesday night, the Raptors beat the Jazz in double overtime by a score of 111-106. Linas Kleiza scored 25 points and Jose Calderon came up huge with two key three-pointers. But with the win, came a huge blow as it appeared that Bargnani reinjured his calf.
Toronto continues their western road trip Friday in Denver.
We are down to eight teams left now in the National Football League.
In the AFC, the New England Patriots (13-3) will host the Denver Broncos (8-8) this evening (CBS, 6pm) in the most anticipated game of the weekend.
Tebownmania is larger now than it ever has, and possibly ever will be. But the bottom line is how many championships in the NFL has Tim Tebow won? The answer is zero and he will be up against a quarterback that has won three Super Bowls, is a two-time MVP and is a seven-time Pro Bowler in Tom Brady. And oh yes, the Patriots hammered the Broncos 41-23 in Denver on December 18, as Brady threw for 320 yards, including 129 yards to underrated tight end Aaron Hernandez. I’m picking New England in a rout.
Wildcard weekend takes place this weekend as the NFL Playoffs commence.
The game that has the most intrigue will be Sunday afternoon when the Denver Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers (CBS, 2:30pm).
On paper, all of the signs lead to Pittsburgh. The Steelers, at 12-4, had a for and against ratio of +98, compared to Denver’s for and against ratio of -81.
But the Steelers have significant injury woes. Running back Rashard Mendenhall is out with a torn ACL. Safety Ryan Clark is sitting out this week due to a health precaution. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be playing injured with a bad ankle, and Big Ben has not looked great in the pocket since getting hurt against the Cleveland Browns on December 8.
The Broncos meanwhile, aren’t playing great football, but at 8-8 won the AFC West. It has been a very interesting season for Tim Tebow, and I don’t think Tebowmania is over just yet. But a major reason why Denver won the AFC West was because of their strong team defense. In half their games, they held their opposition to under 20 points. The Broncos just might have what it takes to pull off the upset, in a very low scoring game.
For the second time today, a National Hockey League franchise named a head coach with no prior coaching experience in the NHL.
The Dallas Stars named Glen Gulutzan their 21st head coach in franchise history on Friday. Earlier in the day, the Minnesota Wild named Mike Yeo as the third head coach in their franchise.
Gulutzan, coached the Las Vegas Wranglers in the East Coast Hockey League from 2003-09, and the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League from 2009-11.
Like Yeo, Gulutzan has coached a team to the Calder Cup Final.
In 2010, the Texas Stars lost to the Hershey Bears 4-2 in the Calder Cup Final, with Gulutzan being behind the bench.
One of the greatest basketball players in NBA history has decided to call it a career.
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most remarkable basketball players I have seen. I would place him second on the list of the best basketball players to have played in the NBA since I first started watching in 1986, just behind Michael Jordan.
During his career, O’Neal won four NBA Championships, three consecutive titles with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-2002, and another with the Miami Heat in 2006.
A product of Louisiana State, O’Neal was 7’1″, 325 pounds, and during his prime one of the most intimidating centers the game has ever seen.
A first overall pick of the Orlando Magic, O’Neal singlehandedly led the Magic to their first three series wins and an Eastern Conference Championship in 1995 before being swept by the Houston Rockets.
It was an interesting night in the National Basketball Association last night with three game sixes won by the Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks.
I saw the majority of the Hawks/Magic game six matchup in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, won by Atlanta 84-81. This was a very significant series victory for the Hawks and one I didn’t see coming because they were absolutely hammered by the Magic in last year’s Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
I came away from watching this game with two key points:
A) Kirk Hinrich is a very underrated defensive player in the NBA. Traded at the February deadline from Washington for Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans and a first round pick, Hinrich had three key steals Thursday night and led the Hawks’ defense collectively in shutting down Dwight Howard, who recorded a terrible six turnovers.
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