Sport Thoughts

The Phoenix Suns are entering the upcoming 2023-2024 season with a very different looking team compared to the roster of their 2023 NBA Playoffs.  The changes made to the Suns could best be described as a team overhaul. The Suns began their Summer offseason by trading All-Star point guard Chris Paul and shooting guard Landry Shamet to the Washington Wizards for All-Star guard Bradley Beal. The blockbuster trade would be the first domino of many to fall in their roster shake up. The Suns would then trade backup point guard Camron Payne to the San Antonio Spurs as a salary dump. They would let multiple role players walk in free agency including Bizmack Byombo, Jock Landale, Torey Craig, Darius Bazley, TJ Warren and Terrence Ross. The Suns recent decision to trade  starting center Deandre Ayton to the Portland Trail Blazers was the final step to finishing the team’s shake up. As currently constructed, only Superstars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are returning from the previous s...

The Damian Lillard trade saga recently came to a conclusion. The blockbuster trade sending Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks has now transitioned into a Jrue Holiday trade bidding war. Jrue Holiday is coming off of a All-Star 2022-2023 season with the Bucks. His trade demand is at a all time high with several NBA contenders showing trade interest. Contenders such as the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Crltics will need to trade young players, expiring contracts and draft picks to the Portand Trail Blazers. The Miami Heat were the original favorites to land Damian Lillard from the Blazers. Jrue Holiday plays the point guard position just like Diamian Lillard, but he is on a more affordable remaining contract. The Heat would need to include Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson or Kyle Lowry in a Jrue Holiday trade package. The Philadelphia 76ers are in the position to move on from All-Star point guard James Harden. Holiday would be a great replacement for Harden, who is rumored to avoid t...

The long awaited Damian Lillard trade has finally happened after nearly 3 months of waiting. A three team blockbuster trade was the end result, with two fairly shocking teams in the process. The Miami Heat were heavily favorited as the front runners of the trade talks. The Heat were Lillard’s one and only trade destination. That destination would not longer be the case as the Milwaukee Bucks would become  the real trade partner. The Bucks aqcuired Damian Lillard as their game changing trade, while moving on from All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday and backup guard Grayson Allen. The Phoenix Suns would become the surprising third team trade partner. The Suns moved on from disgruntled center Deandre Ayton, sending him to the Portand Trail Blazers for veteran center Jusuf Nurkic. Trail Blazers role players Nassir Little and Keon Johnson would also included with Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen in the blockbuster trade to the Pheonix Suns. In the long haul, the Milwaukee Bucks are the clea...

The 2023 MLB season is less there 2 weeks away from being completed. The New York Mets are out of contention and examining their team options for  2024. The thought process has become a mystery if Buck Showalter will return next year as Mets manager. Showalter has one final year left of his three year contract. Showalter had previously won the Manager of the Year award during his first season as Mets manager. He helped lead the Mets to a 101 win season and their first playoff berth since 2016. His second year as Mets manager sung a different tale. His managing decisions brought negative publicity, including questionable starting lineups and a mismanaged bullpen. The Mets are in the midst of a rebuild since the August 1st tade deadline. Showalter has managed a roster filled with veterans, rookies and tripple A players. He can only manage with what he is given. The New York Mets are not expected to make a big splash in the upcoming offseason. Buck Showalter was suppose to manage a ch...

The final day of the 2023 MLB regular season is one week away from today. The defending champion Houston Astros are at risk of missing the MLB playoffs for the first time since 2016. They enter Monday just half a game ahead of the Settle Mariners for the final Wild Card spot, with 6 games left to play. The Astros will conclude their regular season with three games against the Seattle Mariners and three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Mariners will try to jump the Astros in the Wild Card standings, while the Diamondbacks will try to clinch the second National League Wild Card during the final series. The Houston Astros are coming off a poor 2-5 homestand, losing two of three games to the Baltimore Orioles and three straight losses to the Kansas City Royals. The Seattle Mariners will play the Texas Rangers for three final games after the Houston Astros Series. The Mariners were recently swept by the Texas Rangers, entering their final series against Houston. This week’s three...

Every sport has at least one dark horse contender that goes under the radar of the fans and the media. The Milwaukee Brewers have arguably been the most slept on team of the 2023 MLB season. The Brewers are currently 20 games over .500, leading the NL Central Division by 7 games and are 4 wins away from clinching the National League 3 seed.  They may not be as heavily star studded as the LA Dodgers and Atlanta Braves but the Milwaukee Brewers can pitch and hit at a high level. The Brewers led by former All-Star Christian Yelich and former CY Young winning Pitcher Corbin Burnes are making a big statement by bringing the Brewer back to relevancy after a disappointing 2022 season. The Brewers are on track to win the NL Central Division for the 3rd time since the 2018 season. However, the MLB playoffs have always been a problem for the Milwaukee Brewers. They lost the 2019 Wild Card game and 2020 Wild Card Series to the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals and LA Dodgers...

Today was a shocking day for the Boston Red Sox front office. The organization parted ways with respected top executive Chaim Bloom. Bloom joined the Boston Red Sox front office following the 2019 MLB season. Bloom took over the front office just one year after the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series. He made several major changes to the Red Sox organization during his 4-year tenure. Bloom will perhaps be most known as the executive who traded away future hall of fame outfielder Mookie Betts for outfielder Alex Verdugo and catcher Connor Wong. In terms of free agent signings, Bloom signed shortstop Trevor Story, third baseman Justin Turner, closer Kenley Janson, outfielders Adam Duvall and Masataka Yoshida during the 2021 and 2022 offseasons. On the postive side of moves, Bloom improved the Red Sox farm system and extended home grown supstar third baseman Rafael Devers. His previous offseason moves were decent but none of the moves improved the team towards contending. Bloom had little t...

The NBA Board of Governors recently passed a new policy regarding load mangement. Load management is a resting process where All-Star players are given games off in order to avoid playing in every game of the NBA Season. This process has negativily impacted nationally televised regular season games. Fans go to NBA games to see their favorite All-Star players compete. They don’t want to see their favorite players resting on the bench. This new policy will limit the number of All-Stars sitting out per game. NBA teams will no longer be able to punt regular season games via load management. This new policy will strongly affect teams with 2 or more All-Stars including the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves. They will be forced to play at least one or two All-Stars per game, if they are not injured. Teams who lack two or more All-Stars like the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors could struggle th...

With the FIBA World Cup concluded, it is time to think about the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Men’s USA Basketball team must be more star studded compared to it’s FIBA 2023 roster. It is heavily rumored that several mega stars including Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry are interested in joining the Men’s USA Basketball team. Additional super stars including Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Kyrie Irving and Damien Lillard are also rumored to be on Team USA’s radar. Team USA is going to need to inprove the Center position if they want better results compared to their failed results in the FIBA World Cup. Joell Embiid, Bam Adabayo and Jarrett Allen would provide a huge upgrade at the Center position. There could also be an inclusion of rising star players from Team USA’s FIBA roster. Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson are names to watch as possible returning candidates. A more star studded Team USA could have easily won a FIBA gold medal. It is a known fact that NBA stars ...

Today marks the end of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Germany are the gold medal champions. Serbia finished in second place and Canada finished with a third place bronze medal. Team USA entered the FIBA World Cup as favorites to win gold medals. They featured a combination of young NBA All-Stars and rising stars in Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Brandon Ingram and Jarren Jackson JR. Their second unit off the bench consisted of up and coming stars in Austin Reeves, Paolo Banchero, Walker Kessler and Tyrese Haliburton. The US was perfect through exhibition games and showed alot of promise heading into the tournament. The team showed the ability to score the ball well and play defense at a high level. The problem for the team was lack in size while rebounding the ball. US Coach Steve Kerr would be forced to play Bancharo as a small ball Center whenever Jackson Jr got himself into foul trouble. The weakness in the Center position was very noticable when Bobby Portis and Walker Ke...

The New York Yankees 2022 offseason was defined by multple big name free agent signings. They brought back former All-Star first baseman Athony Rizzo and resigning All-Star MVP Aaron Judge. They lastly signed former All-Star starting pitcher Carlos Rodon. Rodon was expected to be the number 2 starting pitcher in the Yankees pitching rotation. He was considered to be a co-ace behind Cy-Young canidate Gerrit Cole. Carlos Rodon has done everything but pitch like an ace caliber pitcher. He missed the first 3 months of the 2023 MLB season due to a forearm injury in Spring Training. He returned in late July, pitching like a shell of his former self. Rodon made 31 starts last season and finished with an ERA under 3. He has made nust 10 starts in 2023 and has pitched to an ERA well over 6. He gave up 12 total home runs last season in 178 innings of work. He has given up the same number of homers this year but in 46.1 innings. The numbers don’t lie, Carlos Rodon has underachieved in Yankee pins...

There are long shots in every sport. A long shot is a team who is not mathematically eliminated from contention and has a slim chance of hope towards making the playoffs. With 25 games or less to play, there are quite a few playoff long shots. In terms of being a Wild Card, the first two wild cards in both leagues are nearly settled. The first American League Wild Card will either be the Tampa Bay Rays or the Baltimore Orioles. The second Wild Card could either be the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers or Houston Astros. The Toronto Blue Jays are half a game behind the Texas Rangers for the last Wild Card. The long shots in the American League are the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The Red Sox and New York Yankees are 4.5 and 8 games behind of the Rangers. The Cleveland Guardians could also be considered a long shot of winning the AL Central Division. They are 6 games behind the Minnesota Twins. The New York Yankees have a easier remaining schedule compared to the Boston Red Sox rem...

The New York Mets have a core of players which goes back to 2019. A three-man core of outfielder Brandon Nimmo, first baseman Pete Alonso and utilityman Jeff McNeil. Shortstop Francisco Lindor would join this core in 2021. This Mets core has not accomplished anything. A deep dive look at this failed core could ignite a breakup. The New York Mets fell short of reaching the playoffs by 3 games in 2019. A disappointing ending but a sign of optism for the next season. They missed the expanded 16-team playoffs in 2020. A failed follow up season that would lead to the addition of Francisco Lindoe. The Mets missed the playoffs yet again after a post All-Star break collapse in 2021. An offseason full of changes would impact the next season. The Mets would finally make the playoffs in 2022. It would however be a quick first round exit after winning 101 regular season games. Fast forward to present day, the New York Mets are on track to miss the playoffs and finish with a losing record for the t...