Pitchers and catchers report to training camp today! We’re less than two months away from opening day! Baseball is almost back!
Living in the Bay Area, it’s impossible not to be excited about the rest of this NBA season. Will the Warriors break the Bulls’ record of 72 wins and go undefeated at home? Will the Warriors repeat as NBA champions?
It’s also impossible not to be excited about the upcoming San Francisco Giants season. For starters, it’s an even year, which means they should be planning another parade down Market Street again, right? The Giants also had a pretty impressive offseason, signing Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and Denard Span.
The parallels between the two franchises are numerous. Both are the only two Bay Area franchises to win a title in the past 20 years. Both are lead by a strong ownership group and front office, as the core of both championship teams have been built through the draft.
And both teams are lead by the most humble, egoless stars in the game: Stephen Curry and Madison Bumgarner, who are arguably the two most underpaid players in their respective sports.
During the midst of the Warriors 24-0 record to start this NBA season, many questioned whether or not the 1995-96 Bulls’ record of 72 wins was in danger. I thought it was foolish to even consider 73 wins, as no other team in NBA history has ever had more than 69 wins, achieved twice by the 1971-72 Lakers and the 1996-97 Bulls.
But as the Warriors continued to pile on the wins, the thought of 73 wins got more and more real. The Warriors need to win 25 of their last 30 games to get to 73 wins. That’s a 83.3% win percentage. With a win tonight, they will be at a 92.3% win percentage.So how realistic is it for the Warriors to reach 73 wins? As I looked at the schedule, it’s not as implausible as I once thought.
The past couple weeks, I tried to come up with reasons to put Draymond at the #1 spot, but I just couldn’t justify it. Curry’s the league most unstoppable player, the most explosive offensive player in NBA history. As he goes, the Warriors goes.
Win share/48 of 0.338 – Win share/48 is an advanced stat that determines who much a player contributes to a given win. The NBA record? Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s 0.3399 in the 1971-72 season. Curry is only .0019 behind Kareem’s. This 2015-16 season is better than the best season of Jordan, Lebron, and Wilt.
232 3-pointers in 47 games – If the season ended today, Curry would finish 10th all time in 3 pointers per season. He’s only 7 3-pointers behind Klay’s total from last season. No player has ever made 300 3-points in a season. Curry’s on pace to shatter his own record of 286 and hit 400.
+/- of 15.9 – When Curry is on the floor, the Warriors outscore their opponents by close to 16 points. The highest +/- since 2000? Curry last year at 11.2. Lebron’s best? 10.6 in his 2008-2009 year.
Cam Newton. Colin Kaepernick. Two quarterbacks, who in the past 5 years have been inevitably linked due to their stark similarities and have both been credited to revolutionizing the way football is played at the QB position.
The similarities between the two are numerous. Both are non-traditional, non-white, non-pocket passing QBs who rely equally as much on their mobility and legs as they do their arm. Both have received their share of unfair criticism regarding their touchdown celebrations, from Kaepernick’s “Kaepernicking” to Cam’s “Dabbing”. Both of their character’s have been questioned, having both been called arrogant and bad role models for the younger generation.
Both have had their successes in the NFL, but as we prepare for the buildup to Super Bowl XL, we see that their futures couldn’t be any more opposite.
The San Francisco Giants have gone 6 years without a postseason appearance. Yes, the post-Barry Bonds era has been really tough for the men in orange and black. But for the first time since 2003, the Giants have the National League West title right in their grasp.
At the beginning of September, the Giants were 4 games behind the San Diego Padres. A Padres slump combined with a strong Giants performance resulted in the Giants up by 1/2 game over the Padres with only 9 games left in the season.
It’s going to be a dog fight until the very end of the season, and its highly probable that the NL West will be decided on the very last day of the season. As it stands, the Giants have a 1/2 game lead over the Padres and a 3.5 game lead over the Colorado Rockies.
The last 9 games of the season are going to be extremely important. The Giants close with 3-game series against the Colorado, Arizona, and San Diego (who have a combined winning percentage of .501). San Diego closes with Cincinnati, Chicago Cubs, and San Francisco (.525 winning %) and Colorado closes with San Francisco, Los Angeles Dodgers, and St Louis (.521 winning %). Every game matters. However, Giants should take comfort in knowing that 1) the Padres have a 3 game series against a strong team in the Cincinnati Reds and 2) Ubaldo Jimenez, the likely CY Young winner for Colorado, wont be pitching against the Giants this weekend.
The Giants pitching. Wow. I always knew that this pitching staff of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner, and Todd Wellemeyer was amazing. Until I did some research, I didnt know how dominant this pitching staff was.
A couple weeks ago, the Golden State Warriors sent out a press release asking for social journalist (bloggers and tweeters) to take part in their Warriors Media Day. the application process involved submitting your website/twitter account as well as a “140 character blurb” explaining why you should be one of the few to interact with the team along with the traditional media journalists (tv/newspaper/etc)
I thought it was an amazing opportunity and I submitted my website along with my blurb: “i’m a blogger & avid user of twitter w/ a deep affinity for bay area sports. i strive to be as interactive w/ fans/sports writer as possible”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the 10 people selected to participate. However, I did receive this following email from the Director of PR from the Warriors.
The 49ers played one hell of a game, and I’m extremely proud of their resolve and their fight until the very end of the game. If there was ever a loss that could propel a team to victory and greater things, this game would be it.
Today, I think we had a glimpse of what this team can be. The defense obviously is a very strong unit behind the leadership of Patrick Willis, and showed its ability to play well, while limiting the Saints offense to only 287 total yards.
The offense on the other hand was a revelation. The drive on the Niners 2nd touchdown was a thing of beauty with Alex Smith, Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, and Vernon Davis all making big plays to set up Anthony Dixon’s 2 yard run. Today was the first time I saw the new Alex Smith. He was confident in the pocket and made great decisions and showed great awareness. Yes he through two interceptions, but the last one for sure wasnt his fault, and was the result of a great play by the defense.
In order for the 49ers to win, they need to cut down on their mental lapses and mistakes.
1) The opening high snap that resulted in a Saints safety
2) Delanie Walker fumbling the ball in the red zone
3) Philip Adams muffing a punt in the 4th quarter that resulted in a Saints field goal
If none of the mistakes had happened, the game would have been a completely different story. The 49ers need to play with discipline to win.
I also had issues with the clock management at the end. Alex Smith lead a very very impressive drive at the end. 8 plays, 82 yards, in 0:53. Too good…but it was too fast. You can not leave 1:19 on the clock for Drew Brees. On at least 4-5 different occasions, the 49ers ran out of bounds to stop the clock, when they should have stayed in bounds and at least tried to milk the clock a little bit. They should have given Brees less time to work with…at least give him some type of pressure.
Are the 49ers screwed? Nope. Luckily for the 49ers, they play in a very very weak NFC West, where the last 4 division champions won no more than 10 games each. With the Seahawks and Cardinals at 1-1 and the Rams and 49ers at 0-2, it is very likely that this trend will continue for a 5th straight year. On paper, the 49ers are still a lot better than the other 3 teams, and they should still win the division this year.
Next weeks game against a surprising 2-0 Kansas City team is a must win game for 49ers.
i know its been a loooong while since I’ve last updated. Life just forced this blog on the back-burner for the past month. anyhow, with the NFL season starting soon, I give you my predictions.
and i promise a real post will follow shortly…
NFC West: San Francisco 49ers
NFC East: Dallas Cowboys
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC Wild Card: Atlanta Falcons
NFC Wild Card: Minnesota Vikings
AFC West: San Diego Chargers
AFC North: Baltimore Ravens
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC Wild Card: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC Wild Card: New York Jets
MVP: Aaron Rodgers
Offensive Player of the Year: Chris Johnson
Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Willis
Coach of the Year: Mike Singletary
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Ryan Matthews
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Ndamukong Suh
Superbowl Champions: Green Bay Packers over the Baltimore Ravens
I’m really not sure what’s left to be said about Jeremy Lin that hasnt been mentioned in the press yet.
“Asian American Bay Area kid who led his high school to defeat Mater Dei in one of the biggest upsets in California basketball history, who then went on to have a standout college career at Harvard. Despite not being drafted in the 2010 NBA Draft, he impressed numerous general managers and executives with his play at the NBA Summer League with the Dallas Mavericks including a sensational performance against John Wall, which caught the eyes of the Lakers and the Warriors, who eventually sign him to a contract.”
Jeremy Lin’s road to the NBA has been an inspirational one to many people. Ive had the pleasure of following his career from Palo Alto all the way to Harvard to the Dallas Mavericks, and it’s been a joy to see him grow as a player. He attends a sister church of mine and has been a youth counselor at our joint summer retreats. At these retreats, I’ve the opportunity to play against him on a couple occasions, and I have to say I’ve never felt better after being taken to school so badly…
Anyways, the one thing I’ve noticed about Jeremy is that he’s taken advantage of every opportunity that he’s given to impress. While playing in the Ivy League, Jeremy never really had the opportunity to impress on a national level, since most people dont really follow the Ivys. However, during Jeremy’s junior and senior years, Harvard schedule 4 games against Big East and ACC opponents, Georgetown, Uconn, and Boston College twice. During Jeremy’s junior year, Harvard played Boston College, who was coming off a win over the #1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. In this game, he lead Harvard to a huge upset over BC where we saw Jeremy drop 27 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 blocks. The next year, he lead Harvard to another victory over Boston College, and hard losses to Uconn and Georgetown.
In these 4 games against these top teams, he averaged 24.25 points, 4.75 assists, 4.75 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1.25 blocks. His season averages were 16.4 points, 4.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks. These 4 games put Jeremy on the map, and made his name known to the entire sporting world.
After the Uconn game, coach Jim Calhoun (who’s won 2 national titles and is one of the top 5 college coaches in the game said this about Jeremy: “He’s a terrific basketball player. What I really like about him is he’s athletic, more than you think so. He controls his temperament to a really nice tempo. He knows how to play. He’s one of the better kids, including BIG EAST guards, who have come in here in quite some time…I really love his composure. There are a lot of teams that come through here… I can’t think of a team that he wouldn’t play for. (Jeremy Lin) really has great, great composure on the court; he’s got change-of-pace dribbles; he’s really, really good.”
After graduating from Harvard, he made a successful showing at the Portsmouth Invitational, which showcases some of the best college players who are not sure draft picks.
Because of his play, the Dallas Mavericks signed him to their Summer League team, where he went on to impress many many people, clearly showing everyone that he belongs and deserves a chance to play in the NBA.
After this performance, the rest is history. This past week he signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors.
This signing is a win-win situation for both parties.
For Jeremy, getting this contract is the culmination of many years of dedication and hard work, and to get a contract with the team that he grew up loving has to be one of the best feelings in the world. Compared to other teams that were interested in him, the Warriors have a very very thin back court. After Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, the Warriors dont have much depth. Depending on how he plays in training camp and improves overall, Jeremy has a very real chance of getting decent playing time come the regular season. Had he gone to the Lakers he would have been stuck on the bench behind Derek Fisher and Steve Blake. Had he gone to the Mavericks, he would have been stuck behind Jason Kidd and Rodrigue Beaubois. Yes he probably would have learned tremendously from Fisher and Kidd, but he would not get any playing time come game time. By going to the Warriors, he has his best chance of playing at Oracle Arena…and plus…he’s playing for the Warriors. What an opportunity!!
For the Warriors, this is very very smart low risk, high reward investment. Financially, they are committing very little to Jeremy Lin. Reports have the contract at two years, including a $500k salary with half of it guaranteed and the rest incentives based. The 2nd year is a team option meaning that they would have the say in whether to bring him back for a 2nd year or not. However if you look at this from a marketing point of view, the Warriors will probably make this money back by the tickets they sell. Using a very conservative estimate, assume that the Warriors sell an extra 100 seats/game because of this signing. That’s 41 games x 100 seats x $50/game. That’s already $200,000. Throw in jersey sales (Im definitely buying one), and this signing can mean a ton of revenue for the Warriors.
From a business point of view, this is a very smart move. But this would be a total insult to Jeremy if you were to say that this signing was purely done for marketing. The Warriors definitely saw enough talent and potential in Jeremy to be a solid role player off the bench behind Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis that they wanted to bring him in and try to develop him. This is an investment. I truly believe that Jeremy can make it in the NBA, but then again, he might not be able to cut it. It was a chance that the Warriors were willing to take. If he makes it, its great for everybody. If he doesnt, they didnt invest that much financially in him that they would get hurt by the move. Like I said, low risk, high reward.
I’m truly happy for Jeremy Lin and what he’s been able to accomplish so far. I definitely will be heading out to more Warrior games this season to cheer him on. However, it makes me happier to see his faith in God shine throughout everything. I leave you with a recent interview conducted with ESPN.
How important is the [Asian-American] identity stuff?
You know, it’s important but not as important as my being a Christian. That’s first and foremost the most important thing to me when it comes to my identity.
Is it more important to your folks?
No. We believe in the same thing. That’s how our house is and how I was raised. We’ve always taken our Christianity and our walks with God as our first priority.
After Lebron James announced that he was joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami last week, many people pointed out that you can’t win a championship with only 3 players, and that you need solid role players and bench players to round out the team. When Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen came together in Boston in 2008, they had strong supporting talent around them in Leon Powe, Eddie House, Tony Allen, Sam Cassell, etc.
Pat Riley bringing Bosh, James, and Wade together on one team was one thing. How he would fill out the remaining roster with a very little money remaining is another. However, everyone knew that if there was only one person that could pull this off, it’d be Riley.
and after only a couple days, the Heat are shaping up to be one scary looking team come the Fall.
In a span of a couple days, Pat Riley has retained Udonis Haslem, and brought in Mike Miller and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Miller brings outside shooting that every team needs, Haslem brings in hustle and rebounding, and Ilgauskas brings size off the bench to compete with the likes of Boston and Orlando in the East, and LA from the West.
Rumors have it that there’s interest to join the Heat by Jamaal Magloire, James Jones, Juwan Howard, and Carlos Arroyo. These aren’t stars, but they’re solid, decent role players who could contribute well off the bench.
How did this all happen? How is Pat Riley able to pull this off with very little cap room after signing Wade, Bosh, and James?
Two things: Friendship and a commitment to winning.
Lebron, Bosh, and Wade have grown to be close friends ever since they entered the league together and won a gold medal in Beijing together. They are very close to each other, and throughout the entire process, they have consistently said that this was never about the money…it was the opportunity to do something special. This was evident when they took a pay cut and signed less than max contracts so that Riley could have money left over to fill out the roster.
This mentality has stuck with the team and their recruiting of other players.
1) Udonis Haslem has been with the Heat for 7 years, and he’s grown to become a very close friend of Dwayne Wade in their time in Miami.
2) Mike Miller is a close friend of Lebron James, and Miller’s son, Maverick, is even named after Lebron’s closest friend, Maverick Carter. Miller is a close friend of Haslem as they were teammates at the University of Florida in 2000.
3) Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been probably the closest friend to James on the Cleveland Cavs for the past 7 years. James personally recruited the Big Z to come join him in Miami.
In all three cases, Haslem, Miller, and Ilgauskas took significant pay cuts as well for the opportunity to be part of something special. It’s scary to think about how good this team can be.
The Lakers are still the team to beat. They brought back Fisher and have the rest of their core intact. Yes they lost Jordan Farmer, but definitely improved by signing Steve Blake. Rumors have it that Raja Bell and Tracy McGrady are interested in signing with LA as well. Based on current rosters, I think the Lakers still have the edge over this current Miami team. Wade/Bryant is a push, Pau Gasol will destroy Bosh, Ron Artest can still effectively guard Lebron, and when healthy, Andrew Bynum will dominate Ilgauskas. I will also give the Laker’s role players a slight edge over Miami’s.
However, you are naive if you think this Miami team doesnt have the possibility of being dangerous. Chemistry wont be an issue, as I truly believe everyone will check their ego at the door. And if Riley brings in another veteran center and point guard, this team will be very strong.
A couple more smart moves, and we might just be seeing our next basketball dynasty.
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