Former 2nd Pick Leaving NBA

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Darko Milicic was the 2nd overall pick in the 2003 draft. The Detroit Pistons selected him from Yugoslavia. Darko was predicted to be the next great big man. He is seven foot tall and weighs 275. Coming into the draft they said he had everything needed. The experts said he had the down low moves to dominate and the shot to go along with it. They also said he had the instincts needed and the agility to go along with all of that. The experts predicted he was a sure thing coming into the NBA but he has not lived up to all the hype around him. Many other players drafted after him have accomplished much more then he has so far. Even Though Darko is only 24 years old people are saying he will never be any good in the NBA. At the age of 24 some players are only second or third year players usually. No one says those things about players that fresh to the NBA. At 24 years old it is possible Darko will get the hang of things but it is not looking very bright for him.

Darko has gone from team to team since being drafted and he has not played much. Darko is contemplating going back to Europe were he came from and playing there. He thinks he will be much happier there and will actually play. He has recently been traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and they have stated that he will play. They have also said they hope he decides to stay in the NBA rather than go to Europe. Darko is going to get another chance during the rest of this season to show he belongs. If teams believe he is a good NBA player he will get the chance to play somewhere and maybe not be forced to go back to Europe. This will also remove the label of being a bust if he can become a serviceable player. The Timberwolves plan on playing him so he will be able to showcase his skills and maybe even have a little fun playing the game he loves. If he plays and has fun he might decide to stay in the NBA rather than go play in Europe. At the end of the year when his contract is up we will discover his decision on the matter of staying in the NBA or going to Europe.

MSU And The Title

The Michigan State basketball team started the year off very well. They were undefeated in the big 10 and it looked as if they were well on their way to winning it. They were 9-0 in the big 10 and it didn’t look as if anyone was going to come close to doing better. It appeared as though they had the big 10 wrapped up. They had beat one of their top rivals Michigan and also top ranked Wisconsin. They also had quality out of conference game experience against teams. Michigan State had everything going for them beating almost every team in the big 10 once before things started to go bad. Coming off a huge win against their interstate rival Michigan by one point they had to play North Western. They easily beat North Western but then right after that they had to play top ranked Wisconsin.

Things did not work very well against Wisconsin for Michigan State. Michigan State lost to Wisconsin and it started a stretch that had them losing three in a row. After their loss to Wisconsin they had to play Illinois and they were outmatched and out shot in this game. That made it two big 10 losses in a row after they had won their first 9 big 10 games. Things were starting to look bad for state because now they had to play top 5 ranked Purdue. Number 5 ranked Purdue was able to beat Michigan state and that game them 3 big 10 losses in a row. They then had to play Penn State and Indiana where they earned hard fought victories. This helped give them their chance to win the big 10 still even though they were tied with a few teams now. One of the teams they were tied with was Purdue and the other one was Ohio State. Michigan State had to play Ohio State today and the outcome was not good for Michigan State. They were unable to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes. This gave Ohio State the lead over Michigan State in the big 10. Also on top of that the other team they were tied with, Purdue got a win over Illinois. This means Michigan State dropped to 3rd place in the big 10. This is a huge fall for the Spartans after it appeared they would easily win the big 10 in the beginning of the year. They still have a chance of winning the big 10 and the winner will only be known at the end of the year.

Trade not so good

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The Cleveland Cavaliers were in first place in the NBA before they made a trade. They had just got comfortable playing with their newly acquired center Shaquille O’Neal from the offseason. They were playing very well and gelling nicely. Then the Cavaliers then went and made a trade for a very good power forward from the Washington Wizards. Antawn Jamison was a former all-star and was having a very nice year for the Wizards. It looked like this might make the Cavaliers unstoppable and take them right to a championship. That is not the way the trade has been so far though. The Cavaliers have not won a game since the trade has gone down. They have lost two and won zero games since acquiring Jamison from the Wizards. Jamison has not played very well himself in the first game he went 0-12 shooting. He did do better in his second game but it is clear that the Cavaliers have a lot of work to do. This trade was supposed to make them unstoppable but instead it is making things harder for them. Once they gel as a team again maybe it will all work out for the Cavaliers. They had their struggles at the beginning of the year also when they were trying to incorporate Shaquille O’Neal into their game. That could be the very thing that is going on this time also. This might just be a growing period for the Cavaliers but once they are gelled and form chemistry they might be better than ever. If the Cleveland Cavaliers can do this and create some chemistry between themselves they will be the best team in the NBA. The trade will have worked and it will insure that they will become NBA champions.

Damons a Tiger

As long as the 36 year old outfielder can pass his physical he will be a Detroit Tiger. Jonny Damon spent the last few years with the New York Yankees. Last year he won a World Series championship with the Yankees. He batted .282 and had 24 homeruns on the season for the Yankees last season. He battled through many injuries last season but managed to stay on the field for most of it. In the playoffs last year he batted .281 and had 18 hits. This not a spectacular post season but considered he was battling injuries during it that makes it an average post season. He did just enough to stay in the lineup and help the Yankees win the World Series. The reason they did not resign him is because he is getting older and they did not want to pay him as much as he wanted. The Yankees would have gladly signed him back based on production. Since his age and money demands were a problem he left and was signed by the Detroit Tigers.

The tigers will be using Damon as an outfielder, Designated Hitter, and most important of all a leadoff hitter. The tigers did not have a solid leadoff hitter going into the season before they signed Jonny Damon. They traded away their leadoff hitter they had last year. Jonny Damon will most certainly help out the most being a leadoff hitter for the Detroit Tigers. Jonny Damon is also a left-handed batter. That is important because the Detroit Tigers do not have many left handed batters on their team right now. This is a big deal because having left handed batters allows you to play to the match up of the pitcher. Some pitchers have a harder time pitching to left handed batters then they do to right handed batters and vice versa. Adding another left handed batter that can hit should help the Tigers out tremendously this season. With Jonny Damon on the Detroit Tigers they might have a chance to make some noise this season.

Tracy McGrady Back To Form

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Tracy Mcgrady has played in less than ten games this year. With the Houston Rockets he was getting under 8 minutes per game. He was not given the chance to shine or even play with the Rockets. They never planned on playing him more than about 8 minutes per game so Tracy Mcgrady said he would rather not play for them and just go train. So all year he has been training so when he got his chance to play he would be back to form. He figured he might has well work on his game with a trainer then play 8 minutes per game. It appears as though that way of thinking may have worked out for him. Tracy Mcgrady got traded from the Houston Rockets to the New York Knicks just this last week. Last night Mcgrady played his first game with the Knicks. He even started for them. He went from not playing to starting and played 30 plus minutes.

Tracy Mcgrady did very well in the game. He scored 26 points had 4 rebounds 5 assist and a steal. This was one of the better performances for the Knicks on the night. I consider that to be very good since he has hardly played all year. In Tracy Mcgrady first chance of the year to show what he has he did very well and did enough to help the Knicks win. The Knicks didn’t win but that was not Tracy Mcgrady fault by any means. Also Tracy Mcgrady did this against one of the best players in the league. He was matched up against Kevin Durant one of the best scorers in the game today. This was defiantly a very good start to re energize Tracy Mcgrady’s career. This could be the start to him getting back to his old all star form. Only time will tell if this trade to the Knicks saves Tracy Mcgrady’s career or not.

Tiger Woods Says Sorry

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Tiger Woods came out and said he was very sorry for the incident that has kept him out of golf. He said he cheated on his wife and has been in rehab since it originally came out on thanksgiving. He has not golfed yet this year and he does not know if he will golf again this year. He says he will golf again but he does not know when it will be. Tiger Woods is considered one of the best golfers of our time and maybe one of the best ever. This has not stopped a sports scandal from happening to him. This just shows that all athletes are just human. They are no better or no worse than anyone else. We hold them to higher standards but in reality they are just like us with more skill in their sport. Tiger Woods made a mistake in his personal life just like many other people have who are famous and not famous. He is trying to work his way through his mistake and is working with other to get help. I am sure rehab is helping him in many ways and it is changing his life for the better. Tiger Woods is just human and should not be held to any higher standards than anyone else. He is trying to right his wrongs and make up for what he did. He wants to be a better person and get back to golfing.

NBA Trades

The NBA trade deadline is today and there have been a few trades around the league and potentially for more to come. One of the major trades was a three team trade between Cleveland Cavaliers the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Cavaliers received Antawn Jamison and Sebastian Telfair. The Wizards received Zydrunas Ilgauskas a first round draft pick from the Cavaliers and Al Thornton. The Clippers get Drew Gooden from the Wizards. In my opinion the Cavaliers came out on top of this three team trade. The received an all star power forward to go along with their former all star center and all star small forward. Antawn Jamison will solidify the Cavaliers and will probably put them over the top for a championship. The next winner in this trade appears to be the wizards. They received a first round draft pick that will probably be later in the round since its from the Cavaliers. They also got a very solid big man that has an expiring contract for them to go after a player they really want with his 11 million dollar contract. In my opinion the Clippers really didn’t accomplish much with this trade. They received a player that has not done much this year. He does have plenty of potential to do well. If Drew Gooden lives up to his potential they might get the best value in this trade. Considering they really didn’t give up to much as far as talent to get him. As of now the winner of this trade is the Cavaliers but only time will tell if they really are.

Some other trades that have occurred around the league are not as high profile. There are some rumors that are predicted to happen that involve some big name players. Nate Robinson from the New York Knicks is being talked about in trades to the Boston Celtics. If Boston is able to land Robinson for what is rumored they will be back in contention for an NBA championship. Also involving the New York Knicks is a trade that would send former all star Tracy McGrady from the Houston Rockets to the Knicks. The Rockets want two picks for Mcgrady plus players and the Knicks think that is a high asking price at this time. That is the one thing that is holding up this trade from occurring. Trades can still happen and if they help or hurt the team we will not know until later in the future.