| Madison Prep Academy senior forward Jarell Martin, number 14 ranked basketball player in the ESPN 100 for the class of 2013, chose to attend Louisiana State University in his hometown of Baton Rouge today. Below is a video of an interview with Martin and several media members following his announcement at a school assembly. |
Showing posts with label LSU Basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LSU Basketball. Show all posts
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Jarell Martin of Madison Prep Academy Chooses LSU
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Conversations with Trent Johnson and Bob Cantu
Every now and then at the Hat Trick, I have to get my homer on. After LSU’s basketball team upset #10 Marquette and gave them a whoopin' they won’t soon forget last night, I thought today would be as good a time as any to inject some local flavor.
Some of you who know me personally know that I perform basketball play-by-play duties for a Baton Rouge area high school, Madison Prepatory Academy on its Internet radio station. On Tuesday, December 13, Class B Madison Prep played Class AAA power Glen Oaks. Both schools are ranked in their respective classes; Glen Oaks won by 13. In attendance were LSU Head Men’s Basketball Coach Trent Johnson and USC Associate Men’s Basketball Coach Bob Cantu. I thought some of you may be interested in what they had to say.
LSU Head Basketball Coach Trent Johnson
The Daily Hat Trick (TDHT): We have a very special guest in attendance tonight, LSU Head Basketball Coach Trent Johnson. Coach, what did you think of what you saw tonight?
Trent Johnson: Well, it was a good high school basketball game. Obviously the kids played very hard. For me it’s always nice to be able to get out and get an opportunity to watch some of the young talent.
TDHT: You guys took on a Boise State team (beaten by LSU on December 10) that was averaging in the 80s (for points per game) and you kept them in the 40s on Saturday. You had to be pleased with the overall effort from your team. They looked really put together and consistent.
Coach Johnson: Well, considering the fact that we had our two best perimeter defenders not playing in Andre Stringer and John Isaac, I think our guys did a good job of stepping up.
TDHT: What is your outlook as SEC play approaches in the coming new year? What do you think some of the biggest challenges are and what do you think your team’s prospects are in the (SEC) West?
Coach Johnson: For us, it’s really too early. We’ve got a lot of basketball to be played in the remainder of December. We’ve got a home stand here where we’re playing Cal Irvine on Thursday. Then we play Marquette on Monday. Then we go to North Texas to play and then we’ve got Virginia. So it’s really early. Our league, from top to bottom, is extremely talented. It’s guard heavy. Things that we need to work on are going to make a consistent statement, defending, rebounding, and taking care of the ball.
TDHT: That Marquette game is going to be a big one….
Coach Johnson: ….We play Irvine on Thursday.
THDT: Coach, I know you’ve got to run. Thank you for your time; I appreciate it.
Note how Coach Johnson went into “coach’s answer mode” when I asked him about the big game against Marquette how he gave the company line of, “We’re focused on the next opponent.”
 |
| Trent Johnson 1 |
USC Assistant Bob Cantu
I also caught up with Bob Cantu, in from California to check out the local talent.
TDHT: I am here with another special guest in attendance tonight; University of Southern California Associate Head Basketball Coach Bob Cantu came all the way from the West Coast to check out Glen Oaks and Madison Prep. Coach, what did you think of this environment here tonight?
Coach Cantu: It was great. Actually, to be honest with you I am familiar with the environment because we recruited a kid, (the late) Ryan Francis, who played here, back in ’05. He played for us for one year at USC. So I was very familiar with the environment (Francis was murdered while visiting Baton Rouge, following his freshman year at USC).
TDHT: Would you say that the level of basketball that you observed was at a very high level for high school basketball?
Coach Cantu: The intensity, the kids out this way play so much harder and more aggressive and I think the officials let them play through calls where maybe on the West Coast a lot more fouls are called. The games are a lot longer. The other difference I know is that there’s no shot clock (in Louisiana high school basketball). So you can hold on to the ball a lot longer, where the games in California are sped up because of the shot clock. There’s more possessions.
TDHT: Tell me a little bit about the Trojans this year, what your prospects are in the Pac-12 this year. How are things looking out west?
Coach Cantu: You know, this is a rebuilding year for us. We got caught in a year where our best player got drafted by the Sixers, 16th pick, Nikola Vucevic, and our best returning player, Jio Fontan, tore his ACL on our Brazil trip. So we only have one player on the team who played last year. So it’s a completely rebuilding year. We’re 4-6. We beat South Carolina; that was a good win. We play Georgia this weekend. We’ve got TCU and Kansas coming up. So we’ve got some big games.
I think our league is wide open. A lot of people lost a lot of players to the next level or seniors and I think it’s wide open and I think we’ll have a chance to compete. I probably think we’re about a year away from really being able to make a run, but the guys that we have are just so new to the system that it’s going to take them a little bit of time to adjust. But we’re definitely playing hard and our defense it phenomenal right now. We’re giving up 55 points per game, 37% from the field. We’re just having a tough time scoring, but we’ve been in every game.
TDHT: Who are the heavy swingers in the Pac-12? I remember, last year, Arizona was extremely good. UCLA was as solid as they always were. And Washington is always a competent team. Who are going to give you guys some of your biggest headaches this year?
Coach Cantu: I think Stanford and Cal, they’re probably the two better teams to this point, record wise. They both have veteran teams. In our league, or any league really, once you get juniors and seniors that play together, you obviously have an advantage.
Aside from them, too, I’d say Arizona and Washington because they just have a lot of good, young talent. Oregon State actually has made a lot of improvement as well. And there’s always a surprise team like someone like maybe Oregon that might come out of nowhere and make a push. It think we were picked somewhere in the middle, I think 6th or 7th. So really, anything can happen. As you know, in basketball anybody can beat anybody at anytime. You’ve got to protect your home court and try to steal one on the road and see what happens.
TDHT: I’ve noticed that USC has some connections to the Louisiana and the South. (Former USC Coach) Tim Floyd was (Head Coach) at UNO (University of New Orleans), Head Coach of the Hornets, an assistant with the Hornets…there have definitely been some degrees of separation, very few, between USC and Louisiana. Is the South kind of a hotbed or an area of focus for you guys, Louisiana in particular?
Coach Cantu: We had Dwight Lewis for four years, who was a great player. We had Leonard Washington, we had Marcus Simmons, all from Louisiana, in addition to Ryan (Francis). So we had four players. I think sometimes kids that grow up out here want an option maybe to go west and USC is a great option because it is in a big city, a major media market. You’ve got great weather. And I think kids are obviously interested.
The fact that Coach Floyd kind of opened that door, from being here in Louisiana, and people have seen our guys have success…there’s interest. And we’re fortunate enough to have had a national name, built through the years, where we can attract players from all over the country and all over the world. So if there’s a talented player our there we have got to be able to know who they are and try to get ‘em!
TDHT: Coach, thank you very much for your time.
 |
| Bob Cantu 2 |
There is an awful lot of athletic talent in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge. When people like Trent Johnson take the evening to watch the local action…when people like Bob Cantu come from across the country to see the action, it speaks volumes to the level of high school basketball talent in this state. I hope you enjoyed the local flavor today. Tomorrow, we’ll be back to the whole world of sports!
Don't forget to vote in the fan polls!
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1) Image from http://www.tigerrag.com/
2) Image from http://usc.scout.com/
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Louisiana Sports, to Boot
The Daily Hat Trick is determined to deliver all manner of sports to you. Every now and then, I try to share my vast knowledge to the greatest degree possible. The best way to do this is to talk about what I know best. What I know best, being a Louisiana man, is Louisiana sports. So, asking for the pardon of loyal Hat Trick readers in Denver, Charlotte, Indiana, Detroit, Dallas, and around the world, I would like to launch into an all Louisiana edition of The Daily Hat Trick today.
LSU Sports
LSU Baseball
Baseball season is back at the new Alex Box Stadium. Louisiana State University, a traditional power, began the season ranked #15 by USA Today. The first series is often an opportunity of the Tigers to knock off rust and tune up without risking its standing in the Southeastern Conference. The loss of an enormous number of senior players and Major League Baseball draftees has given LSU a much younger look in 2011.
One series does not a season make. However, if the Tigers’ complete throttling and dismantling of Wake Forest, in a three game sweep, this past weekend is any indicator, LSU Head Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri may have a team whose baseball IQ is advanced beyond its years. Some of these talented young players will, inevitably, be siphoned off into the pros in two years, but LSU has a foundation that will keep them very competitive in the long term if the newer players perform as they did over the weekend.
LSU started senior pitcher Ben Alsup on Friday night, freshman pitcher Kevin Gausman on Saturday, and freshman pitcher Kurt McCune on Sunday, the SEC Pitcher of the week. This youth movement is in stark contrast to what Tiger fans have seen in the past. Typically, the more experienced pitchers, particularly at the start of a season, take the mound in the three games of the weekend series. If there is a freshman taking the mound, it typically happens during a midweek game against an inferior, out of conference opponent.
LSU’s pitchers held their ground, allowing a total of 8 runs over all three games. More impressive was junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who crushed four homeruns and six RBIs over the weekend. Mahtook reached a career high for homeruns, with 14, in 2010 and is more than a quarter of the way there after one series.
While one dominating out of conference series will hardly catapult the Tigers into the top 10 or shift the College World Series odds in Vegas, and while there are fewer weaker major conference opponents, outside the SEC, than Wake Forest, LSU’s dominance in the field and with the stick is worth noting. This is an LSU team that, during Mainieri’s tenure, in spite of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, two College World Series appearances and a CWS championship in 2009, has fallen into the trap of playing down to the level of inferior out of conference opponents.
Last season, the Tigers made an ugly habit out of either losing to or being TOO competitive for too long with midweek opponents such as the University of New Orleans (whom the Tigers face tonight at Alex Box), the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane University, Southern University, Nicholls State University, and Alcorn State. Many fans, myself included, thought that LSU should not have to rally from any deficit against any of these teams, let alone lose the games. Watching the Tigers completely dismantle Wake Forest is an about face from that pattern from 2010. The next test is against a historically respectable, and probably motivated, UNO team, which has given LSU its fair share of headaches in the past. A similar shellacking of this opponent would be a very welcome sign of things to come in 2011.
LSU Men's Basketball
Stick a fork in them for 2011; they’re done! This season for LSU hoops has been one to forget. While the Tigers (10-17 overall, 2-10 SEC) season has not been good, by any measure, it may not be fair to describe this season as entirely disappointing or underachieving.
LSU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Trent Johnson is in his third season at LSU. In his first season, in which LSU advanced to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, he inherited a group of talented seniors who simply were not putting it together under former coach John Brady. For all of the criticism Brady has received over the years from LSU fans, his ability to bring in talented players was rarely questioned. His ability to coach and develop those players has been called into question and ultimately led to his demise after 12 seasons at LSU.
However, Brady was fired and Johnson was brought on after the 2009 recruiting season, and many of Brady’s recruits de-committed after Brady was fired. This left a giant vacuum for the team in which LSU had several seniors leave and no top flight recruits entering the program. Combine this with another exodus of upperclassmen after 2010 and the Tigers’ hole becomes a crater. The Tigers have only begun to fill that crater in this season, with a recruiting class ranked 19th by ESPN.
LSU has also received a commitment from power forward Johnny O’Bryant from Mississippi, a McDonald’s All-American. The program is taking baby steps and their younger players will have a year of hard knocks under their belts. The 2011-2012 season could be a make-or-break year for Coach Johnson. Given his circumstances, which have never been particularly favorable, I think Johnson has made the most he could of the Tigers’ situation. You cannot make chicken salad from chicken droppings. But I think the rubber will hit the road in the eyes of the Tiger faithful in 2012.
LSU Football
The LSU football team announced its signees for the 2011 season. This year’s recruiting class was ranked #6 in the country by Rivals.com. Les Miles has, again, delivered with a top flight recruiting class. The headliners of this recruiting class were offensive tackle La’el Collins and defensive tackle Anthony Johnson. According to LSUSports.net, Johnson was ranked the nation’s #2 overall prospect (at any position) and Collins was the #3 ranked defensive lineman by Sporting News.
What does this all mean? This means that, once again, Les Miles will have an ample base of talent upon which to build his program. It means that LSU, again, is placing itself into position to have superior depth on its roster. It means that all of the pieces are in place to make a run at an SEC, and possibly, a national championship.
LSU continues to have a giant question mark at the quarterback position. Candidly, I think that neither Jordan Jefferson nor Jarrett Lee have what it takes to lead LSU to an SEC Championship. I think that what the offense gains by playing one QB, it loses by sitting the other and vice-versa. Miles appears to be more comfortable with Jefferson, so I expect to see more of Jefferson than Lee. HOWEVER, LSU’s signees included a highly ranked (#17 overall) junior college transfer in Zach Mettenberger, who achived impressive success at the JUCO level. LSU also picked up a QB prospect in 6’7” Stephen Rivers, brother of San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers.
Miles needs to get Mettenberger and Rivers up to speed as quickly as possible. First of all, 100% of the experienced LSU quarterbacking resides with Jefferson and Lee. They will both be gone after 2011. Second, if Mettenberger, with experience at the JUCO level, can be competitive quickly in the LSU system, perhaps Coach Miles will have a viable alternative to the two guys he has now, who have often produced less than desirable outcomes for the Tigers.
We shall see. The next installment of Baton Rouge’s favorite year-round story is the Spring Game, on April 9th. GEAUX TIGERS!
New Orleans Saints
If you are a Saints fan, like I am, and bleed black-and-gold, like I do, it is possible that, like an ostrich, you have deliberately tried to bury your head in the sand to all things Saints since the shocking and embarrassing first round playoff loss by the then defending Super Bowl champs at Seattle. Well, Who Dats, the Super Bowl has passed and “last year” is history. Time to wake up and smell the 2011 season, if there is one….
Perhaps the Saints had a Super Bowl hangover. Perhaps they had too many injuries in too many key positions. Perhaps they had some unexpected unlucky breaks at the worst times. Perhaps the rival Atlanta Falcons caught all of the breaks at the best times for them.
I think the Saints 11-5 regular season, fifth seeded playoff berth, and early exit from the playoffs was a result of some combination of the above. The question is: can the Saints be serious contenders in 2011 and how do they do so?
I think that as long as Drew Brees is healthy, the Saints will be in contention. Conventional wisdom, last season, was that the Saints would steamroll through the first round which would have resulted in facing the Chicago Bears for a chance to host the NFC Championship Game against the (eventual super Bowl Champion) Green Bay Packers. Games are not played on paper, but expectations are built on past performances. So the Saints were not that far away from defending their title last season.
The Saints may have to make some difficult decisions regarding their offensive backfield. Based on reports in the local media, I am under the impression that Pierre Thomas is not satisfied with any offers the Saints have made to retain him, long-term. His contract expires on March 4th. Reggie Bush would be due nearly $12 million in 2011, should the Saints not renegotiate his deal. Bush is valuable to Head Coach Sean Payton’s offensive blueprint, but his production cannot justify a $12 million salary. Bush knows this.
On the other hand, the Saints risk going from having one of the deeper backfields in the NFL (albeit one that was riddled with injuries last season) to having all of its eggs in one (powerful) basket in running back Chris Ivory. Just looking in from the outside, I think that Bush is more valuable to the Saints than he would be to any of the other 31 teams and I think that the Saints will offer him more money than any other team. So I think Bush stays.
Pierrre Thomas, on the other hand, may be more valuable to a team with less RB talent than the Saints. There has been apparent tension between Thomas and Payton and Thomas has been offered much less money that he has been seeking for the second consecutive offseason. I think we may have seen the last of Thomas in a Saints uniform.
Next stop: probably the 2011 draft…hopefully a completed collective bargaining agreement (one can hope).
New Orleans Hornets
The Hornets are much improved over last season. They are in sixth place in a very tight Western Conference playoff race and will probably make the playoffs in 2011. Yay Bees!
Unfortunately, the team’s improved on-the-court performance is not the most pressing story about the Hornets. The NBA recently purchased the Hornets after a proposed sale from majority owner George Shinn to minority owner Gary Chouset fell through. In light of the NBA’s pending collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players and talk of contraction of up to four NBA teams, the Hornets’ future in New Orleans is shadowed in uncertainty.
In addition, the sports world watched as yet another big star, Carmelo Anthony, left the team that drafted him, the Denver Nuggets, for greener pastures in the large New York market with the Knicks. New Orleans has a strong possibility of being the victim of this trend in the NBA, as star point guard Chris Paul’s contract expires after 2012. What appears to be a good situation in the Hive on gameday for the Bees is anything but when Hornets Fan looks into the Creole Blue crystal ball at the club’s future.
There are so many unknowns, variables, and moving parts in this saga that I do not have a strong gut feeling on any of the outcomes related to the Hornets. The following are my best guesses.
I think that no professional sports league wants any relocation or any contraction of any kind…ever. Talking heads and larger market owners (likely eager to cannibalize the assets of a potentially contracted team) can talk a big game about streamlining and smaller, better products, but the league as a whole needs to thrive. Contraction and relocation are last resorts for the league and its teams. To contract or relocate demonstrates instability, loss of goodwill, permanent loss viewers in television markets (albeit small and medium markets), devaluing of the league brand, and a loss of long term value of the league and its franchises due to the uncertainty.
If those steps are absolutely necessary, then they will be taken, but I do not see the popularity of the league and attendance of the teams in question (New Orleans, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and Indiana Pacers, among other teams) necessitating such a drastic move. But in any business, there is a lot the public does not know and anything can happen.
Chris Paul’s potential free agency defection after 2012, n the other hand, is a very real possibility. Paul is one of the league’s best players and I could understand his (alleged) desire to experience the bright lights, glamour, and marketing/branding exposure of a big city like New York or Miami. The Hornets have two things in its favor. The first is that, assuming a somewhat similarly structured CBA is in place, the Hornets will be able to offer Paul about $20 million more in guaranteed money than any other team. That did not stop LeBron James from leaving to go to Miami, but Paul, while popular ant talented, has nowhere near the endorsement cash cows in place that James had when he left Cleveland.
The other potential saving grace for the Bees is that the NBA’s new CBA may include a franchise tag option. Should that happen, like NFL teams, an NBA team would be able to protect its most cherished asset in exchange for a very lucrative guaranteed payday for that player. I think that if the NBA has the franchise tag option after 2012, Paul stays. If there is none, I think he leaves New Orleans, likely to the Knicks.
Don’t forget to vote in the fan polls!
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1,2,3, 6, 7) Images from LSUSports.net
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LSU Sports
LSU Baseball
Baseball season is back at the new Alex Box Stadium. Louisiana State University, a traditional power, began the season ranked #15 by USA Today. The first series is often an opportunity of the Tigers to knock off rust and tune up without risking its standing in the Southeastern Conference. The loss of an enormous number of senior players and Major League Baseball draftees has given LSU a much younger look in 2011.
One series does not a season make. However, if the Tigers’ complete throttling and dismantling of Wake Forest, in a three game sweep, this past weekend is any indicator, LSU Head Baseball Coach Paul Mainieri may have a team whose baseball IQ is advanced beyond its years. Some of these talented young players will, inevitably, be siphoned off into the pros in two years, but LSU has a foundation that will keep them very competitive in the long term if the newer players perform as they did over the weekend.
 |
| Senior pitcher Ben Alsup started for LSU on Opening Night vs Wake Forest. 3 |
LSU’s pitchers held their ground, allowing a total of 8 runs over all three games. More impressive was junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who crushed four homeruns and six RBIs over the weekend. Mahtook reached a career high for homeruns, with 14, in 2010 and is more than a quarter of the way there after one series.
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| LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook goes yard on Opening Night. Mahtook would hit four HRs during the three game weekend series. 1 |
Last season, the Tigers made an ugly habit out of either losing to or being TOO competitive for too long with midweek opponents such as the University of New Orleans (whom the Tigers face tonight at Alex Box), the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane University, Southern University, Nicholls State University, and Alcorn State. Many fans, myself included, thought that LSU should not have to rally from any deficit against any of these teams, let alone lose the games. Watching the Tigers completely dismantle Wake Forest is an about face from that pattern from 2010. The next test is against a historically respectable, and probably motivated, UNO team, which has given LSU its fair share of headaches in the past. A similar shellacking of this opponent would be a very welcome sign of things to come in 2011.
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| LSU catcher Micah Gibbs slaps a tag on UNO's Jerad Comarta in a 7-4 loss to the Privateers last season at Alex Box. Tiger fans want a different result tonight. 2 |
LSU Men's Basketball
Stick a fork in them for 2011; they’re done! This season for LSU hoops has been one to forget. While the Tigers (10-17 overall, 2-10 SEC) season has not been good, by any measure, it may not be fair to describe this season as entirely disappointing or underachieving.
| LSU Basketball is on the receiving end. 4 |
However, Brady was fired and Johnson was brought on after the 2009 recruiting season, and many of Brady’s recruits de-committed after Brady was fired. This left a giant vacuum for the team in which LSU had several seniors leave and no top flight recruits entering the program. Combine this with another exodus of upperclassmen after 2010 and the Tigers’ hole becomes a crater. The Tigers have only begun to fill that crater in this season, with a recruiting class ranked 19th by ESPN.
LSU has also received a commitment from power forward Johnny O’Bryant from Mississippi, a McDonald’s All-American. The program is taking baby steps and their younger players will have a year of hard knocks under their belts. The 2011-2012 season could be a make-or-break year for Coach Johnson. Given his circumstances, which have never been particularly favorable, I think Johnson has made the most he could of the Tigers’ situation. You cannot make chicken salad from chicken droppings. But I think the rubber will hit the road in the eyes of the Tiger faithful in 2012.
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| The key is to get IN FRONT of the opposing player BEFORE he drives to your basket! There is only one direction LSU can go: up! 5 |
LSU Football
The LSU football team announced its signees for the 2011 season. This year’s recruiting class was ranked #6 in the country by Rivals.com. Les Miles has, again, delivered with a top flight recruiting class. The headliners of this recruiting class were offensive tackle La’el Collins and defensive tackle Anthony Johnson. According to LSUSports.net, Johnson was ranked the nation’s #2 overall prospect (at any position) and Collins was the #3 ranked defensive lineman by Sporting News.
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| Miles in a suit? I wonder if Kathy dressed him that morning. 6 |
LSU continues to have a giant question mark at the quarterback position. Candidly, I think that neither Jordan Jefferson nor Jarrett Lee have what it takes to lead LSU to an SEC Championship. I think that what the offense gains by playing one QB, it loses by sitting the other and vice-versa. Miles appears to be more comfortable with Jefferson, so I expect to see more of Jefferson than Lee. HOWEVER, LSU’s signees included a highly ranked (#17 overall) junior college transfer in Zach Mettenberger, who achived impressive success at the JUCO level. LSU also picked up a QB prospect in 6’7” Stephen Rivers, brother of San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers.
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| Zach Mettenberger: he might be the future face of the program, but I sincerely hope that Beiber-tastic haircut is NOT! 7 |
We shall see. The next installment of Baton Rouge’s favorite year-round story is the Spring Game, on April 9th. GEAUX TIGERS!
New Orleans Saints
If you are a Saints fan, like I am, and bleed black-and-gold, like I do, it is possible that, like an ostrich, you have deliberately tried to bury your head in the sand to all things Saints since the shocking and embarrassing first round playoff loss by the then defending Super Bowl champs at Seattle. Well, Who Dats, the Super Bowl has passed and “last year” is history. Time to wake up and smell the 2011 season, if there is one….
 |
| Saints fans on January 8, 2011 8 |
I think the Saints 11-5 regular season, fifth seeded playoff berth, and early exit from the playoffs was a result of some combination of the above. The question is: can the Saints be serious contenders in 2011 and how do they do so?
I think that as long as Drew Brees is healthy, the Saints will be in contention. Conventional wisdom, last season, was that the Saints would steamroll through the first round which would have resulted in facing the Chicago Bears for a chance to host the NFC Championship Game against the (eventual super Bowl Champion) Green Bay Packers. Games are not played on paper, but expectations are built on past performances. So the Saints were not that far away from defending their title last season.
The Saints may have to make some difficult decisions regarding their offensive backfield. Based on reports in the local media, I am under the impression that Pierre Thomas is not satisfied with any offers the Saints have made to retain him, long-term. His contract expires on March 4th. Reggie Bush would be due nearly $12 million in 2011, should the Saints not renegotiate his deal. Bush is valuable to Head Coach Sean Payton’s offensive blueprint, but his production cannot justify a $12 million salary. Bush knows this.
On the other hand, the Saints risk going from having one of the deeper backfields in the NFL (albeit one that was riddled with injuries last season) to having all of its eggs in one (powerful) basket in running back Chris Ivory. Just looking in from the outside, I think that Bush is more valuable to the Saints than he would be to any of the other 31 teams and I think that the Saints will offer him more money than any other team. So I think Bush stays.
Pierrre Thomas, on the other hand, may be more valuable to a team with less RB talent than the Saints. There has been apparent tension between Thomas and Payton and Thomas has been offered much less money that he has been seeking for the second consecutive offseason. I think we may have seen the last of Thomas in a Saints uniform.
Next stop: probably the 2011 draft…hopefully a completed collective bargaining agreement (one can hope).
 |
| I have a bad feeling that Thomas may be chucking up an additional finger to the Saints in a few months. As in "throwing up the deuce". ("PEACE!") 9 |
New Orleans Hornets
The Hornets are much improved over last season. They are in sixth place in a very tight Western Conference playoff race and will probably make the playoffs in 2011. Yay Bees!
Unfortunately, the team’s improved on-the-court performance is not the most pressing story about the Hornets. The NBA recently purchased the Hornets after a proposed sale from majority owner George Shinn to minority owner Gary Chouset fell through. In light of the NBA’s pending collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players and talk of contraction of up to four NBA teams, the Hornets’ future in New Orleans is shadowed in uncertainty.
In addition, the sports world watched as yet another big star, Carmelo Anthony, left the team that drafted him, the Denver Nuggets, for greener pastures in the large New York market with the Knicks. New Orleans has a strong possibility of being the victim of this trend in the NBA, as star point guard Chris Paul’s contract expires after 2012. What appears to be a good situation in the Hive on gameday for the Bees is anything but when Hornets Fan looks into the Creole Blue crystal ball at the club’s future.
 |
| The Hornets have cause for concern. 11 |
I think that no professional sports league wants any relocation or any contraction of any kind…ever. Talking heads and larger market owners (likely eager to cannibalize the assets of a potentially contracted team) can talk a big game about streamlining and smaller, better products, but the league as a whole needs to thrive. Contraction and relocation are last resorts for the league and its teams. To contract or relocate demonstrates instability, loss of goodwill, permanent loss viewers in television markets (albeit small and medium markets), devaluing of the league brand, and a loss of long term value of the league and its franchises due to the uncertainty.
 |
| The Hive in 2012??? 12 |
Chris Paul’s potential free agency defection after 2012, n the other hand, is a very real possibility. Paul is one of the league’s best players and I could understand his (alleged) desire to experience the bright lights, glamour, and marketing/branding exposure of a big city like New York or Miami. The Hornets have two things in its favor. The first is that, assuming a somewhat similarly structured CBA is in place, the Hornets will be able to offer Paul about $20 million more in guaranteed money than any other team. That did not stop LeBron James from leaving to go to Miami, but Paul, while popular ant talented, has nowhere near the endorsement cash cows in place that James had when he left Cleveland.
The other potential saving grace for the Bees is that the NBA’s new CBA may include a franchise tag option. Should that happen, like NFL teams, an NBA team would be able to protect its most cherished asset in exchange for a very lucrative guaranteed payday for that player. I think that if the NBA has the franchise tag option after 2012, Paul stays. If there is none, I think he leaves New Orleans, likely to the Knicks.
 |
| If CP3 really wants to play Santa Claus next year, he can bring Hornets fans his signature on a long term contract extension. David West's John Hancock wouldn't be a bad stocking stuffer, either. 10 |
Don’t forget to vote in the fan polls!
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1,2,3, 6, 7) Images from LSUSports.net
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5) Image from olemisssports.com
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Friday, November 19, 2010
Weekend Observations
A few quick notes and observations in the sports world, heading into the week leading up to Turkey Day.
LSU Basketball
Hey, it is my blog. I can be a homer every now and then! LSU laid an egg so large that, upon first glance, scientists could hold out hope that the dinosaur is not extinct. The Tigers dropped one to Nicholls State University by 9 points at home in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night. REALLY?
1
LSU had not lost a home game to an in-state opponent in the PMAC since 1988. Ronald Reagan was president and gasoline was less than a dollar. The Cosby Show was usually the highest rated show on television. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and the Lakers were en route to repeating as NBA Champions and Danny Manning led the Kansas Jayhawks to an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament title. If you are not old enough to remember any of that, the clarity of your memory of the aforementioned occurrences matches the level of acceptability of the performance of Coach Trent Johnson's 2010-2011 LSU team. LSU should not be a powerhouse, but they have talent and Trent Johnson is too good of a coach to tolerate the folly that was LSU basketball earlier this week.
I mean...Nicholls? REALLY?
The New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas is not a $6 million man. But, given his role, prior productivity and the market rate for starters one would expect his market value to be in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 million for 2-3 years. He is currently earning $1.7 million in 2010, far below comparable starting running backs, even those who do not run the ball 20 times per game. 2 Even backup quarterbacks, who almost could potentially never play a down in an entire season, earn just south of $2 million per season.
Thomas is (or was) the starting RB. In my opinion, the Saints hardballed him because of his restricted free agent status, meaning the Saints controlled his rights exclusively at the time of the contract negotiations this past summer. That does not build good will between the Saints and Thomas. Thomas earned the league minimum of $435,000 in the Saints Super Bowl championship season of 2009, in spite of leading the team in rushing for the second consecutive season. Thomas delivered far above what would be expected of a league minimum salary player and if I were Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, I would have taken the past production at the discounted cost into account.
The National Football League IS a business, but failing to take care of those who have taken care of you while you expect, in the future, those same people to take care of you is not smart business. In general the Saints have made smart, tough personnel decisions and not allowed emotions to cloud good business judgment. The club released Saints all-time greats like Joe Horn, Deuce McAllister, and John Carney when the productivity had dropped to a point that could not justify those players taking up a precious roster spot. However, the Pierre Thomas negotiations became F.U.B.A.R. and the Saints are in real danger of losing a valuable asset in the 2011 offseason. That is not good business and it is a shame.
3
The San Antonio Spurs
Tony Parker is getting divorced from Eva Longoria. The first thought that popped into my head was, "WHAT IN THE WORLD was he thinking!?!?!?" Many of the celebrity gossip sites like TMZ are reporting that Tony Parker hid text messages with and contact information of Erin Barry (former Spur Brent Barry's ex wife) and suggested that Parker and Barry were having an affair. I thought, "Was a dumb way to lose one of the most smoking hot independently wealthy women on the planet!" Then I looked up a picture of Ms. Barry. Now it makes sense.
The Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Vick's performance at the quarterback position has been jaw dropping in 2010 and is, far and away, the most interesting football related story of any NFL player this season. You you may have heard of the expression "touchdown vultures", especially in fantasy football? An example is when former Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott, true to his trademark, would ram it in from 3 yards out after a long pass or run by a teammate. It seems to me that the Philadelphia Eagles have won the "production vulture" lottery.
The Atlanta Falcons used the first pick in the 2001 NFL draft to acquire Vick and paid him a fortune (in the neighborhood of $40 to $50 million, by my estimates) during his 6 seasons in Atlanta. Granted, the Falcons won some games and made the playoffs a few times (including an NFC Championship Game appearance in the 2004 season), but Vick was a super athlete with limits as a passer. Now he is Superman. This is what Atlanta thought they were getting and paying for. And it cost the Eagles what? Six or seven million over two seasons? How can Philadelphia Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman sleep at night? Quite well, I would imagine....
1) Image from statesman.com
2) Source: www.pierrethomas23.com
3) Image from nola.com
4) Image from adannews.com
LSU Basketball
Hey, it is my blog. I can be a homer every now and then! LSU laid an egg so large that, upon first glance, scientists could hold out hope that the dinosaur is not extinct. The Tigers dropped one to Nicholls State University by 9 points at home in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night. REALLY?
 |
| REALLY? |
LSU had not lost a home game to an in-state opponent in the PMAC since 1988. Ronald Reagan was president and gasoline was less than a dollar. The Cosby Show was usually the highest rated show on television. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and the Lakers were en route to repeating as NBA Champions and Danny Manning led the Kansas Jayhawks to an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament title. If you are not old enough to remember any of that, the clarity of your memory of the aforementioned occurrences matches the level of acceptability of the performance of Coach Trent Johnson's 2010-2011 LSU team. LSU should not be a powerhouse, but they have talent and Trent Johnson is too good of a coach to tolerate the folly that was LSU basketball earlier this week.
I mean...Nicholls? REALLY?
The New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas is not a $6 million man. But, given his role, prior productivity and the market rate for starters one would expect his market value to be in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 million for 2-3 years. He is currently earning $1.7 million in 2010, far below comparable starting running backs, even those who do not run the ball 20 times per game. 2 Even backup quarterbacks, who almost could potentially never play a down in an entire season, earn just south of $2 million per season.
Thomas is (or was) the starting RB. In my opinion, the Saints hardballed him because of his restricted free agent status, meaning the Saints controlled his rights exclusively at the time of the contract negotiations this past summer. That does not build good will between the Saints and Thomas. Thomas earned the league minimum of $435,000 in the Saints Super Bowl championship season of 2009, in spite of leading the team in rushing for the second consecutive season. Thomas delivered far above what would be expected of a league minimum salary player and if I were Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, I would have taken the past production at the discounted cost into account.
The National Football League IS a business, but failing to take care of those who have taken care of you while you expect, in the future, those same people to take care of you is not smart business. In general the Saints have made smart, tough personnel decisions and not allowed emotions to cloud good business judgment. The club released Saints all-time greats like Joe Horn, Deuce McAllister, and John Carney when the productivity had dropped to a point that could not justify those players taking up a precious roster spot. However, the Pierre Thomas negotiations became F.U.B.A.R. and the Saints are in real danger of losing a valuable asset in the 2011 offseason. That is not good business and it is a shame.
 |
| Do you really want to lose THIS guy? |
The San Antonio Spurs
Tony Parker is getting divorced from Eva Longoria. The first thought that popped into my head was, "WHAT IN THE WORLD was he thinking!?!?!?" Many of the celebrity gossip sites like TMZ are reporting that Tony Parker hid text messages with and contact information of Erin Barry (former Spur Brent Barry's ex wife) and suggested that Parker and Barry were having an affair. I thought, "Was a dumb way to lose one of the most smoking hot independently wealthy women on the planet!" Then I looked up a picture of Ms. Barry. Now it makes sense.
 | ||
| In the words of the hip-hop poet, Hurricane Chris, "Erin Bar-ryyyy! Erin Barry!!!" 4 |
Right now, there are men mentioning @tp9network on Twitter (Parker's ID) saying, "Teach me, bro! Teach ME!!!"
The Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Vick's performance at the quarterback position has been jaw dropping in 2010 and is, far and away, the most interesting football related story of any NFL player this season. You you may have heard of the expression "touchdown vultures", especially in fantasy football? An example is when former Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott, true to his trademark, would ram it in from 3 yards out after a long pass or run by a teammate. It seems to me that the Philadelphia Eagles have won the "production vulture" lottery.
The Atlanta Falcons used the first pick in the 2001 NFL draft to acquire Vick and paid him a fortune (in the neighborhood of $40 to $50 million, by my estimates) during his 6 seasons in Atlanta. Granted, the Falcons won some games and made the playoffs a few times (including an NFC Championship Game appearance in the 2004 season), but Vick was a super athlete with limits as a passer. Now he is Superman. This is what Atlanta thought they were getting and paying for. And it cost the Eagles what? Six or seven million over two seasons? How can Philadelphia Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman sleep at night? Quite well, I would imagine....
 |
| All he is missing is the cape with the letter "S" on it. |
1) Image from statesman.com
2) Source: www.pierrethomas23.com
3) Image from nola.com
4) Image from adannews.com
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