Posts Tagged ‘basketball’

Under the Fedora: Mysterious Ways, Mea Culpa (but not maximum), Cost Benefit, Rotate, Rotate Rotate, Too Little Too Late (at least for me)

Posted: November 4, 2023 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, gaming, nba, nfl, nhl, online gaming, Sports, under the fedora
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I apologize, I had previously stated that I’d give you the lyrics of my parody song “Don’t Mess With God” (sung to the tune of “Don’t Bring Me Down”) if the Catholic Hating Dodgers got bounced from the playoffs quickly but I think the time has passed.

I will however note that the Texas Rangers who won their first ever world series against a gritty Arizona Diamondbacks team four games to one were not just the only MLB team not to have a “Pride Night” (meaning gay pride) in their stadium, but did not lose a game in the playoffs in any MLB park that hosted one.

The only sad thing, the great Frank Howard didn’t live to see them win.

You might recall I hit the Celtics hard for their trade of Marcus Smart noting that on a team devoid of balls he had the most.

Well the Celtics who got rid of Smart and both Williams and Brogdon and replaced them with Kristaps Porzingas and Jrue Holiday have yet to lose a game in four tries while the teams involved in these trades are a combined 4-13 with the Memphis Grizzlies who got Smart yet to win one in six tries.

So I guess a mea culpa is in order but I’ll hold off the mea maxima culpa for now because Porzingas has a long history of injuries and we’re just under 5% into the season.

If he plays in 95% of the games then we’ll go to the max.

The Patriots made no moves at the trade deadline and while that doesn’t sit well with a lot of the Boston media I’m fine with it for a few reasons:

  1. There was not going to be a lot of interest in middling players beyond a 7th rounder at best
  2. There is no point in trading people who are good enough to build around for draft picks that may or may not produce an NFL player. The cost benefit just isn’t there.
  3. While everyone is drooling over the chance to get the top pick in the draft in the end since a full 20% of super bowls were won by QB’s taken in the first round it’s also true that a full 20% of Superbowls have been won by players picked at 199 (Tom Brady) or later (Bart Starr pick 200) (Brad Johnson 227)

The bottom line is that while a stud is a grand thing to have you still have to develop a QB. I think it’s better to get a team to win some games, even against bad competition than to tank for a first round pick. After all most teams who play the tank game are still losing big.

Instead of insisting on the return of the Brady era which isn’t happening lets remember and celebrate that we had that abnormal time to win and let Bill develop players as best he can.

The Boston Bruins have yet to lose in their first 10 games this season and seem even better than last year (19 out of a possible 20 points so far) despite the two major retirements in the off season. The difference seems to be the defense that has allowed only a single power play goal against them and of course the excellent goaltending of their pair of Ullmark and Swayman.

Many have suggested they should have traded one I disagree. Having both of them is the best insurance policy that a team can have against a single injury derailing a season as both are #1 goalies on any team in the league.

I would however suggest that whatever rotation you are using in the regular season be applied to the playoffs. The failure to do so last year after a record breaking regular season in my opinion contributed to their 1st round playoff defeat.

Finally in my two primary Dynasty Leagues the disappointment continues. While I was able to play spoiler to the White Sox playoff hopes in the final series of the year I tanked against Florida finishing 2 games out in a league that has no wild cards.

Meanwhile in the 1971 league my team that has traded off most of it’s stars for draft picks and prospects have won 5 of their last 6 but with only 35 games to go 9 games is just too much to make up in the race for the final wild card, even if I didn’t have two teams ahead of me to pass.

However there is movement in the NL as the Phillies who had a ten game lead for the final wildcard spot have gone 1-9 in their last ten letting the Cards pick up 4 games while playing .500 ball at the same time.

St. Louis is now only 6 games out with nobody to pass and still has three games against the Phillies coming up before the end.

On the down side the Cardinals next 12 games are against teams with winning percentages of .654, ,604 .535 and .708.

If they are going to come back they’ll have to earn it.

The Celtics Trade Away The Thing They Need Most

Posted: June 22, 2023 by datechguy in nba
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Is there is one thing that Celtics fans and the talk radio crowd agreed on is that the thing that the Celtics needed the most and didn’t have during the playoffs was heart and balls.

The Celtics were too full of themselves and because of that they needed strong efforts to beat teams they should have rolled over and we’re unable to beat a team that while inferior by every measurable standard had the two things that the Celtics lacked during their playoff run.

Heart and balls.

So what apparently was the solution? To trade away the player who had the most heart and balls on the team for a tall guy with a big contract and two 1st round picks.

On a team that didn’t have leaders Marcus Smart was a leader. Over and over he stepped up. There were times when he could not carry them over the hill because his talent alone wasn’t enough but he always stepped up, always played hard and never laid down.

Now that player is gone and Memphis will benefit greatly from his presence there.

As for the Celtics? I think they followed the following line of logic:

  1. Something must be done
  2. This is something
  3. Therefore we must do it

Well I say this. Unless you can somehow trade those two 1st round draft picks for a set of balls for Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown you are going nowhere.

Now I’m not a basketball GM and I don’t do this for a living. It might be possible that the Celtics will turn those two draft picks into gold or will draft two players who turn into gold or that their new tall man from the wizards will turn out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread so if I turn out to be wrong and they come home with a ring this year or next I will be happy to eat these words.

But absent evidence to the contrary, this was idiocy.

Sports: Old Times Back in Foxborough, The Dutch vs the Sox, The Unintimidating Celtics, the very intimidating Bruins and Seattle to Milwaukee finally.

Posted: March 9, 2023 by datechguy in baseball, Dynasty, dynasty baseball, gaming, nba, nfl, nhl, online gaming, Sports
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If you are a person 35 our younger all of your memories of the New England Patriots are likely memories of victory and Dominance thanks to the greatest sixth round draft pick ever made and the most important hit in the history of the NFL which combined gave you 20 years of Tom Brady. So given the potential of Aaron Rogers going to the Jets the shock of the Patriots being the worst team in their division is hitting many fans hard.

However if you are 60ish or older you remember a time when the Patriots were the worst team in New England (including the Whalers) so all of this brings us back to the days of our youth.

Given the state of the country these days perhaps it will be cathartic for us to have something to complain about.

The RedSox who used to rule the roots in New England but the last few years have seen their star fade as their stars leave.

One of the those starts Xander Bogarts is currently playing in the World Baseball Classic for the Dutch and has led their team to upset victories against both Panama and Cuba, CUBA

If only Boston could get players like that.

The Boston Celtics broke a 3 game losing streak yesterday they currently sit in 2nd place in the East right behind Milwaukee. The Celtics are still the favorite to go to the finals but while they are clearly the most talented team in the East there are at least four teams in the East capable of winning a seven game series against them.

Most importantly not a one of those teams are afraid of them.

I’ve never seen so powerful a team produce so little shock and awe among their rivals.

While the Celtics are not scaring anybody the Boston Bruins are riding roughshod over the entire NHL with an insane .831 winning percentage losing only 8 game out of 62 played.

While there still a long ways away from the record of 132 points set by the 76-77 Canadians who only lost 8 games the entire season they have exceeded every expectation that anybody had for this team at the start of the season.

If they roll though the playoffs at anywhere near the rate they will become the top dog in town really fast, particularly if the Celtics stumble.

Finally our face to face Dynasty Baseball league is winding down and my magic number for the final playoff spot is 1 with six games to go.

Just a few months ago I ruled the roost but a 10 game losing streak dropped me to the bottom of the standings.

In our 1957 League my Brooklyn dodgers are chasing the Braves and the Cardinals and we’re gearing up for the expansion draft with two teams (Cubs and Twins) joining for our 1971 league we’re just waiting for Dynasty to finalize the release online.

My team seems to be pitching heavy this season so to take advantage of that situation I am finally making the move to Milwaukee that I held off on for 1970 while my Pilots tried to repeat.

Given the teams in the league I likely don’t have a chance but it will still be a fun season.

You wouldn’t know by my shape…

Posted: February 22, 2011 by datechguy in oddities, Sports
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…but I prefer to play basketball rather than watch it. That being said These multi player trades always struck me as odd.

The Post, citing a league source, said the Knicks would send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick to the Nuggets, who would get additional picks and cash.

Along with Anthony, New York would acquire Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman, according to the Post.

A Basketball team’s roster is what 13 players. And these teams are trading 4 guys each? That would be like the Red Sox sending 7-8 players with the Cubs. If you’re going to do that why not just switch teams and be done with it.

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