Tag: Boston

The NBA Offseason is the Offseason We Deserve

The NBA Offseason is a goddamn rollercoaster of emotions and its the only thing keeping me entertained until football starts up again. We got Chris Paul to the Rockets, Paul George and Gordon Hayward possibly to the Celtics, Carmelo Anthony trying to get a buyout from the Knicks, the Porzingis trade rumors, the Celtics trading the No. 1 overall pick, the Lavar Big Baller Brand bullshit, and not to mention Phil Jackson getting shitcanned by the Knicks.

The NBA offseason is literally overflowing with storylines and gives us the juice we need. It beats the hell out of every other sport’s offseason where big moves are few and far between.

I don’t really care to get into every team in the NBA’s salary cap situation because that is a goddamn rabbit hole. So I know half these teams either don’t have the cap space or the assets to bring in max guys, but now we got teams like the Rockets reportedly trying to bring in Paul George. Ya know, the same Paul George that the Celtics are trying to trade for and pair with Hayward, IT, and Horford.

Basically all the reports are saying that the Celtics need to wait until the start of free agency to sign Gordon Hayward before they can (or would even want to) trade for George. So I guess I’ll just sit here with my dick in my hand until July 1st.

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Red Sox Win, Moreland Homers Again and Farrell Takes a Dig at Hanley

After topping the Angels with Chris Sale picking up win No. 10, Craig Kimbrel going 1-2-3 in the 9th for the save and Mitch Moreland homering in his 3rd straight game, John Farrell praised his guys for persevering. But mostly he took a pretty subtle (read: blatant) dig at guys like Hanley Ramirez for being soft.

Last night Hanley sat out because he had a sore knee. Before that he had a sore shoulder. Then of course there’s the whole debacle of Hanley not being able (read: willing) to play first base because all the throwing hurts his shoulder. Meanwhile Mitch Moreland is balling out, hitting bombs and playing the field with a broken fucking toe. So it would seem like Farrell’s over it. Especially with bums like Pablo Sandoval in and out of the lineup, its time to start cutting the dead weight.

I like this new Farrell. Blowing up on umpires and calling out guys for being assholes. Lets get more of this Farrell and less of the robot Farrell.

If the Red Sox want to go anywhere come October they’re gonna need guys like Hanley and David Price to get their sit together. Otherwise this is gonna be a reaaally expensive team to get knocked out in the first round. Not to mention, the more the team struggles the more Dave Dombrowski’s collar gets a little tighter. This guy has traded just about all of the Red Sox top prospects in a concerted effort to win now. Except most of the guys he’s traded for have either gotten hurt (Tyler Thornburg, Carson Smith) or just straight up sucked (David Price). Obviously guys like Kimbrel and Sale have been lights out this year, but that was another half dozen prospects to acquire those two. So if this team doesn’t pick it up soon then thats another wasted year for a veteran team with a more narrow win-now mindset.

Lets Officially Clear Up What Makes a Super Team in the NBA

I am tired of everyone pointing out the other Super Teams around the NBA just to make LeBron feel better. They had multiple great players, see they’re a Super Team too. LeBron “I’ve never been on a Super Team” James can cut the shit.

People pointing to the 2008 Celtics as an example of one is what really drives me nuts. Listen, in my mind a Super Team is a team created when the AAU super friends get together, whether its at the Olympics, offseason events, or riding banana boats together with your besties, and decide hey lets all work together to put ourselves on the same team. Which is exactly what LeBron, D Wade and Bosh did with the Heat. They constructed that shit themselves intentionally.

You ever play Madden with a Fantasy Draft team and just ROLL through the league? Yea while it sounds fun going 19-0 with some fake team, you don’t really feel the same accomplishment than when you scrap by as a Wild Card team and win the SB on All-Madden with your auto-generated backup QB because Tom Brady broke his fucking wrist in Week 4.

The 08 Celtics were a team put together by the GM through trades. Danny was shaking hands and kissing babies to put together that team.

Sure they had 3 Hall of Famers on the same team, but one of them didn’t even want to come here in KG. Thats a great, championship winning team built through trades and the draft (who do you think Danny traded to get Ray and KG?).

Rather than 3 assholes sitting on a boat saying you know what forget this team and this city, lets all join up and play together! And as much as I’ll always be like a disappointed parent in Durant going to the Warriors, even that team was built primarily through the draft. Super Team is the new buzzword of the NBA, but however you define it LeBron you sure as shit were on a few of them. End rant.

Tonight the Red Sox Will Retire #34 for David Ortiz

David Ortiz will be the last Red Sox player to ever wear #34 as it will go up on the right field deck tonight. It’s a weird feeling seeing the players you grew up with, the players who won titles for your favorite team, the guys who became legends in front of your eyes, its a weird feeling seeing their number get retired.

The first one was obviously Pedro Martinez as he got his #45 retired by the Sox in 2015. Now Pedro had one of the greatest runs a pitcher has ever had in the history of the game, but he was only on the team from 98-04 and won one title with the Sox. Even then he was the c0-ace on the team behind Schilling. But, Ortiz was on the Sox for 14 fucking years and was THE guy on 3 World Series winning teams. Walkoff hits became so routine with him that people legit expected it when he stepped to the plate.

Of all the huge home runs David Ortiz hit, the one I’ll never forget was his grand slam against the Tigers in the 2013 ALCS.

The Sox were down 1-0 in the series, were getting smoked in Game 2 and staring down the barrel at Detroit’s daunting starting rotation. It seemed like a Game 2 loss probably would have killed any chance at winning the series. In steps Ortiz, who hits a motherfucking grand slam to tie the game. I was sitting in the bleachers that game and I’ve never heard Fenway louder than it was right then. And it of course made a goddamn celebrity out of bullpen cop Steve Horgan for his famous celebration.

Obviously the Sox went on to win the World Series where David Ortiz batted .688. The guy hit just under fucking .700 in the World Series. That is unbelievable. That is legendary.

2013 was an emotional season after the Boston Marathon bombing in April so that whole season and especially that playoff run was something the city needed. David Ortiz wasn’t just an iconic player, he was the face of the franchise, a folk hero and someone people genuinely liked. So it was particularly fitting when he took the mic on April 20th, 2013 and gave the entire city a rallying cry that will forever be synonymous with Ortiz.

David Ortiz will likely be the first DH to go into the Hall of Fame and rightfully so. He’s already got a bridge and a street named after him. One day the guy will have a statue outside of Fenway and we can tell our kids how we saw him become the most feared hitter in the game, how he became the biggest star in the toughest market in all of sports, how he became Big Papi.

Rapid Reaction to the Celtics Draft Night: #WycFireworks Postponed (Again)

So after all the hype, the rumors, and the Woj Bombs I think a lot of people were expecting the Celtics to make a trade Thursday night, but ultimately they stood pat and drafted their guy Jayson Tatum at No. 3. Again.

Look I fully admit I’m not a college basketball expert so I wasn’t going nuts over who they should draft. It sounds like Tatum will be a good fit, a guy who can get to the basket and create offense on his own, which is exactly what the Celtics need.

But, now we’re hearing rumors about the Celtics STILL being in on a potential Paul George trade.

All I’m saying is, the last 3 years have been full of trade speculation and Wyc shouting from the rooftops to expect fireworks.

Well, I don’t know how much more of the “Celtics are in on player X” I can take. First it was Jimmy Butler (who got traded to Minny last night), then it was Paul George, then it was Kristaps Porzingis. In years past it was Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony. Now everyone’s already got Gordon Hayward penciled into the starting 5 next season, despite the fact that he’d have to eat like $30-$40 million dollars to leave Utah. Its a merry go round and I’ve been on it way too long. I’ll keep my Woj notifications on, but I refuse to get hyped for anything until Woj tells me its happening. Anthony Davis is not walking through that door.

The 300s Drive Time

Don’t have time for a full podcast? Then we’ve got some bite size content for you in the first episode of Drive Time. Are the Knicks really gonna trade Porzingis? Is Danny gonna sell the farm or trade *down* again? Why is the entire NBA losing its collective mind right now? Tune in, its good for you.

We Are On Porzingis Watch High Alert!

Whether its early onset dementia or Phil Jackson just hates Kristaps Porzingis with a fiery fucking passion for blowing off his end of season meeting with the Zen Master, either way Phil just went nuclear.

There is absolutely no good reason for a GM to go on TV and trash his fucking franchise player unless he’s already decided Porzingis is gone.

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So I don’t know why he’s doing it, but as everyone has said every offseason for 3 years – the Celtics have enough assets to make any trade they want as long as a player is available. Anthony Davis ain’t available so we’re not gonna pretend we’ll trade 7 first round picks to New Orleans like its 2K. Porzingis is available though, so make it happen. Don’t sell the farm, but get it done.

There’s so much smoke and disinformation out there that nobody knows what the hell is gonna happen. But I am on full alert.

If Peter Chiarelli Wins GM of the Year Tonight I Might Just Kill Myself

NHL – David Poile of the Nashville Predators, Pierre Dorion of the Ottawa Senators and Peter Chiarelli of the Edmonton Oilers were named finalists for the NHL General Manager of the Year Award on Tuesday. Voting was conducted among general managers, a panel of League executives, and print and broadcast media following the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The winner will be announced at the 2017 NHL Awards at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 21 (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN).

You all remember Peter Chiarelli. The guy who did a nice job building up a 2011 Stanley Cup champion in 2011. He was responsible for signing Chara, trading Kessel and lucking into Tyler Seguin with said draft picks. Bruins were on the up, won the President’s Trophy, but then lost in the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals. And then he systematically destroyed the team.

Seriously this team went from a couple of wins short of winning the Stanley Cup in 2013 to missing the playoffs entirely in 18 months. Not to mention gutting the team along the way and trading away our best young player in Tyler Seguin for a bag of pucks.

That guy finally got shitcanned last year and then waltzed into one of the best situations in the league in Edmonton, who had the No. 1 overall pick. Using that they drafted Connor McDavid who had 48 points in 45 games in his Rookie season. McDavid (along with Auston Matthews) is potentially the best young forward since Gretzky. Seriously, the guy scored 30 goals, 70 assists, and had 100 points in his first full season in the NHL. I give Chiarelli ZERO credit for that.

Now this guy is up for GM of the Year? The guy who completely fucked up the Bruins with terrible trades and signings. The guy who gave away a perennial 30+ goal scorer in Seguin. The guy who traded Johnny Boychuk to the Islanders in a salary dump and left the Bruins D-core gutted. The guy who dismantled a young, Stanley Cup caliber team and turned them into a non-playoff team in less than two years. Fuck outta here.

The NBA Offseason is the Best in Sports and its Not Even Close

The amount of juice the NBA has provided since the season ended last week is just insane. Its been more entertaining than the NBA playoffs and even more so than the Finals. The NBA offseason is hands down the best in sports as GM’s continue to look around the league, see teams like Golden State, and just say fuck it lets reload.

In the immortal words of Ricky Bobby: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

I think that needs to be the new slogan of the NBA. If you’re not Golden State then your franchise might as well punt on the next 3-5 years. It sounds like a joke, BUT THATS WHAT TEAMS ARE DOING. Sure, there are teams like the Celtics who are technically within striking distance so I applaud Trader Danny’s efforts to improve this team as long as it does so without mortgaging the future. But even LeBron and the Cavs, the team thats been to the NBA Finals the last 3 years IN A ROW, seem to be panicking. Cleveland has been in talks for all the big names like Paul George and Jimmy Butler all sandwiched around kicking their own GM to the bricks.

As much as it sucks there is a goddamn Super Team standing between the Celtics and a title, I’m glad it at least gives the rest of the league the motivation to either completely blow things up and rebuild or just stockpile as many assets and big name players as possible.

It’s like the Elite Four at the end of Victory Road in Pokemon. An absolute nightmare to deal with so don’t even both walking down the road if you’re not ready. Level up, get your shit together and then go after the top dogs.

So yesterday we had Woj Bomb after Woj Bomb. Paul George told the Pacers after next season he’s out so now they’re looking to get whatever they can for PG-13. The Knicks are listening to offers for 21-year old stud Kristaps Porzingis and the Celtics are one of the teams in talks with NY. Jimmy Butler saying he’d rather not play in Cleveland so the C’s are still in on that rumor too. Dwight Howard got traded, minutes after dropping some fire jokes about NBA trades on his own Twitter account.

Then we got the Lakers trading D’Angelo Russell, the Clippers looking to deal DeAndre Jordan, all while we still have the NBA fucking Draft on Thursday night. God knows how many more trades there will be and how much more hot, hot heat Woj is going to be dropping on Twitter.

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The only one drooling more than me right now is probably Ainge. No sleep til Brooklyn.