Free Agency Discussion

NBA Free Agency starts at midnight eastern time tonight, and although the economy is lousy and three-quarters of the league’s cap space is tight, expect some deals to go down as soon as midnight strikes.


Today is also the last day for player’s to exercise their extensions or to opt out of their contracts.


Word out of Utah is that Paul Millsap will be offered a 6 year 65 million dollar contract from Oklahoma City tonight. Because Millsap is a Restricted Free Agent, the Jazz will have seven days to either match the offer, work out a sign and trade (which is unlikely) or let him go.


What’s making this a tough decision for Utah, is that Carlos Boozer has the option to re-up with the Jazz for one more year at 12.7 million dollars, or to opt out of his contract and become an Unrestricted Free Agent who is free to sign anywhere.


Word is he is more likely to re-up for 12.7 million because only three teams have the money to pay him in 13-15 million range. Those teams are Oklahoma City, Memphis and Detroit.


Memphis sucks, and OKC doesn’t want to break the bank for Booz, because they have Durant coming up for an extension soon, Detroit is the only real threat to steal him away. But Detroit looks to have another player on its mind (See Below) and may not want to commit to such a large deal with Boozer.


If Boozer re-ups, then the Jazz will be stuck with him for one more year, and he could leave freely next season. It would also mean that they would be over the salary cap, which would make them pay the Luxury Tax, something that the owner will not want to do.


Memo Okur can also opt out of his contract, giving the Jazz another decision to have to make on a big man.


Because this Jazz team has not been able to win against the elite teams in the playoffs (See against the Spurs in ’07, Lakers in ’08 and ’09) I don’t think they should pay the tax to keep this team together.



Utah is one of the smaller markets in the league, and if you have to pay the luxury tax, you’re not only paying extra money, you are also losing out on the money that you would get from the other teams that are paying the tax.


The player that Detroit seems to want to get is Ben Gordon from Chicago. This would help Detroit in two ways. Not only are you getting one of the best end of the game players, you are also hurting a division rival in Chicago by taking its most clutch player away from their team.


Detroit could conceivably sign both Boozer and Gordon, and I wouldn’t put it past GM Joe Dumars to make a move like that. Especially after the debacle that was last season, when they traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson and got swept in the first round by King James and Cleveland.



I’ve been hearing that Hedo Turkoglu is either going to Portland or Sacramento. I can guarantee he won’t be back with the Magic next season. After the draft day trade that sent Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie to New Jersey for Vince Carter and some white guy that will never play, it made it clear Orlando will not be re-signing the Turkish Assassin who almost broke my TV with his face in the playoffs.













Check out the man hands on horse face, and Hedo is always good for a laugh.





I mean seriously, Turkoglu’s face ranks right up there on the break the tv meter with the lady with the horse’s face on sex in the city, relief pitcher Julian Tavarez, who obviously shaved his face with a fork, and Chris “I look like an alien” Kaman.

The back-bone of the All ugly team.

Keep an eye out for Mike Bibby, because Atlanta traded for Jamal Crawford last week, Bibby may be on the move to a new team.

Big Baby Davis is a restricted free agent; another team may make an offer to him, just to mess up Boston’s cap situation and force them to make a decision.

Raymond Felton is another restricted free agent. If I was a team with cap room, and needed a point guard I’d definitely be offering Felton a deal. He’s a good player, who seems to be coming into his own.

Jason Kidd is an unrestricted free agent, and he is free to sign anywhere. Look for offers from Dallas, The Laker’s, and maybe even New York to come his way.

Allen Iverson is unrestricted. After such a tough year last year, expect a small market for the Answer. Charlotte may be a landing spot, especially with his old coach Larry Brown there.

Rasheed Wallace is unrestricted and could re-sign with Detroit, or leave for another contending team. I’d like him on the Jazz if a combo of Boozer, Millsap or Okur leave. He'd be a nice pair with big Dwight down in Orlando as well.

Ron Artest is unrestricted, but I expect the Rockets to re-sign him to a nice deal. With all the injuries to the main stars in Houston, the Rockets can’t let Ron-Ron get away.

Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom are both unrestricted, but expect L.A. to re-sign both players, or Kobe will have to choke someone if they don’t. And we don’t want Kobe choking people again, not with puppet Kobe tearing it up.

Charlie Villanueava will not sign with the Bucks, and is specualted that he will join up with Lebron and Shaq in Cleveland. If he does, look for the Cavs to not re-sign Anderson Varejao.

Other players to watch are the Knick’s David Lee and Nate Robinson and the Magic’s Marcin Gortat, who are restricted.

Grant Hill, Andre Miller, Channing Frye, and Shawn Marion are all unrestricted and can still contribute in this league.

More NBA

Well Washington did trade their pick, only it wasn’t to Phoenix.

It was with Minnesota, for Mike Miller and Randy Foye coming from the Wolves and the Wizards giving up Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov and the number 5 pick in the draft.

It feels like Washington is giving up a lot for two guys who are decent, but not great.

But in the end, I guess they felt like having a starting lineup of Gilbert Arenas, Mike Miller, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, and Brendan Haywood with Foye coming off the bench as sufficient enough to make a run in the Eastern conference.

It does make the Wizards immediately better, and Arenas, Butler and Jamison are not getting any younger, so it does make sense to go for a move like this.

It was only two summers ago when Boston GM Danny Ainge did a similar thing with the fifth pick.

The Celtics were coming off a horrible season, and hoping to get the first or second pick to grab either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden. They didn’t get the pick, and wound up trading it and Delonte West to Seattle for Ray Allen. They then traded Al Jefferson and some other retreads for Kevin Garnett.

The rest is history as Boston would go on to win the title the very next season.

I do not see the same thing happening with Washington, because K.G. is a crazy dedicated player, who was on a mission to get a ring that year. You don’t see that same fire out of Agent Zero (Arenas’ nickname) or Jamison.

Tough Juice (Butler’s nickname, I’m not making this up) has a little bit of it, but nothing like Garnett’s. We’re talking about level of passion from a guy (Garnett) who made Big Baby Davis cry on the bench during a regular season game this past year, all for making a couple turnovers. Garnett makes DMX look sane and rational by comparison.

The Wolves now own picks at 5, 6, 18 and 28 in the first round. Look for them to offer the fifth and 18th picks for the second pick, to try and select Spain’s Ricky Rubio.


Two more trades have been made in the last 24 hours as well.

San Antonio just got themselves back into the game by acquiring Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee for the poo-poo platter of Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Kurt Thomas, all of which have expiring contracts.

Milwaukee is basically saying we have no shot, let’s just clear some cap space with this deal. The Bucks are one of the most irrelevant teams in the league right now. They are never on national television, and they have no real superstar on their team at all.

Maybe the cap space helps, but what free agent is excited to go to Milwaukee? I mean if you like having man boobs and living in a city known for beer and brats, then yeah you would love it, but there aren’t that many Brian Scalabrine’s and Eddy Curry’s running, oops, I mean half jogging around the NBA right now.





Check out those A-Cups on Scal

So now San Antonio is conceding they only have a year or two left with the group of Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker to get another ring, and that’s what they hope to get out of the Jefferson deal.

I think it makes them the second best team (provided they stay healthy) behind the Lakers in the West at the moment.

In the latest trade, which has yet to be finalized as of this writing, it looks like the Golden State Warriors are shipping Jamal Crawford to Atlanta for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton.

Trading Crawford was a highly expected move all summer for the Warriors, as head Don Nelson was adamant in his dislike of Crawford. Crawford’s long contract also turned off the Warriors, and this trade should help them manage their Salary Cap more efficiently.

For Atlanta, they get a 20 points a game scorer in Crawford, and also protect themselves against the possibility of losing free agent Mike Bibby. Bibby still may re-sign with the Hawks, but the blow that comes if he leaves is for now pacified a tad bit.

Having Crawford in a lineup with Joe Johnson, Al Horford, and Marvin Williams should mean that the Hawks will stay in the playoffs and score a lot of points. It remains to be seen if this makes them any better though, because Jamal Crawford plays absolutely no defense, and is known to be a ball hog at times.

2009 NBA Draft

With the 2009 NBA draft coming up Thursday night on ESPN, I thought it would be a perfect time to preview and speculate on what may happen at the draft and in the future.

But first I want to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart. Every year there is a draft, and you really cannot underestimate the comedy factor of some of the player’s suits. Some guys go classy, and keep it G, while others look like they are the backup dancers to one of the Puffy and Mase video’s from back in the day.

Who can forget Joakim Noah’s sweet bow tie? You stay classy Joakim!

Or what about Jalen Rose’s delightful red number; Hey Jalen this red suit defined your career, a lot of flash but ultimately not that great.

But the greatest Draft day suit is hands down the Mailman’s unbelievable suit from the 1985 draft. Karl Malone, wow, I mean just where in the world do you find a suit like that? From the Waterboy’s Closet?

Look at the awesome skinny half-tie. Check out the Miami Vice style white pants. Dark Blue Jacket over a light blue shirt. And look at the Machismo that is just dripping off Malone. It does not get any better than this.

This magnificent suit will never be topped, especially in this day and age, so just sit back and marvel at the Greatest Draft Day Suit Ever.

Anyways, back to the draft.

This year’s draft is headlined by Blake Griffin, who may or may not be the first African-American Ginger. Griffin is a stud despite maybe not having a soul (I keed, I keed), and should make the Clippers who have the first pick, jump from a 15 win team to a 25 win team, which means the Clips will still suck.

Too bad Griffin is going to NBA hell, because he is a really talented player, who has a very quick first step for a man of his size. Think of him as a cross between Kenyon Martin and Karl Malone. Look for him to leave the Clippers in 4 years once his rookie contract expires, just like Lamar Odom did.

Memphis has the number two pick and most people are speculating that they will take the 7’3” giant from UCONN, Hasheem Thabeet.

Thabeet is a stellar shot blocker, who can block a shot with either hand, (which is a rarity) and really take over a game with his defensive presence.

The downside with Thabeet , is that he has little to no offensive game at all, which is not a good thing if you are picking him at number two.

The hope is that because Thabeet is so raw, (He came to America from Africa when he was still in his teens) that maybe his offensive game grows as he matures.

Oklahoma City has the next pick at 3, and they could go in a number of different ways. If Thabeet falls to three I would expect them to grab him, because they do need a center. If Memphis takes Thabeet, then OKC could go for a shooting guard like James Harden from Arizona St. or for 18 year old Ricky Rubio from Spain.

This draft has been hailed as an underwhelming group to pick from by draft experts, but I disagree. I think the very top of the draft is what is weak this year. There really is no Lebron, or Kobe or D-Wade or even Derrick Rose in this draft and that’s why people may be down on the draft this year.

But I believe there are many solid players in this draft, who will be in most teams 8 man rotations for years to come.

A player like Brandon Jennings, who left high school last year and went to play for a pro team in Italy, will be a very good player. You cannot underestimate how much playing against older professionals will help this kid’s game in the long run.

I also like Gerald Henderson of Duke. This is a guy who’s father played in the NBA, which means he has had the best training, food, coaching and whatever else available, because his father had the means and knowledge of what it takes to make it to the Association.

Henderson has a killer jump shot, can drive and get to the hole pretty well, and has played in a ton of big games while at Duke. Look for him to be a leading candidate for rookie of the year next year.

Another guy that I think will do well is Jonny Flynn from Syracuse. Flynn, who is a point guard, has a lighting quick first step, and is a great floor leader.

Also keep an eye out for point guards, Stephon Curry who can flat out shoot the rock, Jrue Holliday who is an uber athelete, Ty Lawson who is a very talented player, but who is injury prone, and Tony Douglas from FSU, who is a great defender and a player who can get really hot, really quick on the offensive side of the game.

On the big guys, I like Tyler Hansbrough, even though most draft experts do not. I think if you can average a 20 and 10 for 4 years in the ACC, then you can be a quality player in the NBA. I also like Dajuan Blair from Pitt. I think he will be a Paul Millsap type of player who can get you rebounds and blocks, and a guy who has a sneaky offensive game.

Lastly make sure to keep an eye on what Washington does with their pick at number 5. They have been trying to shop it around, and there are rumors that Phoenix could trade Amare Stoudemire for the number 5 pick and maybe Antwan Jamison.

The Knicks are also looking to move up from the number 8 pick, and they too may make a run for Washington’s spot.

Nadal or Federer?

If you were asked who do you think is better at this very moment, what would your answer be?


Would you go with the cool veteran in Roger Federer, who never seems to change his expression on the court, and who plays with such an effortlessness that is utterly remarkable?


Or do you go with the young gun in Rafa Nadal, a player who has set the tennis world on fire in the past two years with his gutty play and never back down attitude?


The answer is a tough one.


Federer has dominated this decade, winning 14 Grand Slam titles, and just recently completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. Federer has reached the semifinals or better of the last 20 Grand Slam tournaments. He also has a gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Games. (Albeit a double titles, but still gold nonetheless)


He won five straight Wimbledon titles from 2003-07. He is currently on a five year winning streak at the U.S. Open and will look to make it six later this summer in New York. He is one Grand Slam win away from passing Pete Sampras for the all-time lead.



His numbers are staggering when looked at and can almost make your head hurt after a while. When all is said and done, he will probably have the most Grand Slam titles in tennis history for a while and could go down as the greatest player of all time.



Unless a certain Spaniard passes him up.



Rafael Nadal who just turned 23 may be the one guy to catch Federer in the all-time Grand Slam department. Granted it will not be easy, but in the past year we have seen Nadal snap Federer’s dominance at Wimbledon, in one of Tennis’s greatest matches ever.



Nadal beat Federer in a thrilling 5 set victory that lasted over 6 hours because of rain delays. Nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak. Federer reached the Wimbledon final without losing a set.


In their previous two Wimbledon finals in ‘06 and in ‘07 Federer won, with ’07 being a tough 5 set victory.


In ‘08 they played the longest final in Wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, Nadal won the fifth set 9–7 in near-darkness. It was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever seen. The shot making and general game play was amazing. One guy would get the momentum, two plays later, the other snatched it back.

In the words of Vince McMahon, these guys had "grapefruits" down there. Neither was backing down, and it took every last bit of Nadal’s strength, both physical and mental to put down Federer.

Tanaka shows that he has some "grapefruits" as well.




The match was widely lauded as the greatest Wimbledon final ever, with some tennis critics even calling it the greatest match in tennis history.


Later that summer, Nadal won the gold medal in singles play at the Beijing Olympics, fully entrenching himself as the number one player in the world.




He has six grand slam victories, with four coming in successive years at the French Open from 2005-08. If he wins a two grand slams a year for the next four years, he would be tied with Federer at fourteen.



At 27, Federer’s career is winding down. Yes 27 is very young, but in the tennis world, 27 is equivalent to 36 in Baseball, 32 in Basketball, (which is about the time most baller’s knees go) and 31 in Football.


The only tennis player that I can think of that was still playing at high level in their 30’s would be the immortal Andre Agassi.



So the question that remains is will Nadal’s body hold up as well as Federer’s has so far. Nadal has had problems with his knees in the past two years, which be a cause for concern.



Knee and shoulder injuries are the two worst possible injuries to any athlete. The reason being is that knees and shoulders are very complicated in their set up, and it can be hard to get back to what you once were if a serious injury happens. The list of guys who could not come back from knee and shoulder injuries is a long and depressing one.


But with all that considered, Nadal has the chance to be one of the game’s all-time greats. And at this moment in time, I would have to slightly lean towards Nadal.



His game and his demeanor are so cocky and confident, that you would be a fool to bet against him. Yes Federer has a lead on him, but Federer is also going to be gone from the game in about 3 or 4 years tops, and I don’t see a challenger to Nadal out there right now once Roger retires.



But what do you guys think? Would you pick Fed or Rafa?

Welcome to Freak Out Sports

Welcome to Freakoutsports.blogspot.com. We are going to cover a plethora of different topics, but they will all boil down to sports. Everything from the actual games, to offseason news and happenings to general day to day events, will be covered, discussed and debated right here. Sports do not take a break, and neither do we, so expect hard hitting content year round.


Right now, football is in the midst of its off-season. Teams from the NFL, to College, down all the way to high school and Pop Warner are getting in their first practices together, and finding out what they have on their rosters for the upcoming season.

This is the time of year for younger players or player’s who sat the bench last season to show the improvement they have made and let the coaches know that they can be counted on when it means the most; In the game.

It’s also a part of the year when coaches put in their new wrinkles and packages to their game plan. Championships cannot be lost right now, but the first foundation to a winning season starts in off-season workouts and conditioning, and you can best believe coaches are harping that point to their players.

In Basketball, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant just won the World Championship over Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic, and the next stop for the NBA is its rookie draft next week. The top draft picks at the moment are shaping up to be Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet, Jordan Hill, and Stephon Curry.

Because of the economy, and because three-fourths of the teams in the league are near the salary cap, do not expect a busy off-season after the draft.

The top free agents this year are Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, and Ron Artest.


The second tier of free agents would be Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Memo Okur and Paul Millsap.


Because most teams are saving their money for next year’s free agent class of 2010, expect a small market, with short contracts for most of these players.

The market will seem even smaller when compared to 2010's free agent class which is headlined by, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Manu Ginobili, Steve Nash, Shaq, Amare Stoudemire, Tracy McGrady, and Ray Allen.








Shifting gears, Major League Baseball is in the heart of its schedule, and some of the top storylines are the Yankees and its stacked lineup, the Red Sox and their usual (past decade) dominance, the upstart Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers making charges to win their respective divisions for the first time in many years, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, and more steroid talk which is always a bummer.



Honestly, I don’t care anymore about steroids. I do not want to talk about them and I especially do not want to talk about test results from five seasons ago. If testing is as stringent as Commissioner Bud Selig claims it is, then there is no reason for us to waste time on the topics of Performance Enhancing Drugs.


Let’s focus on the ball players out on the field, and on what they are doing right now.



MMA is always in season and they have a huge show coming up on July 11 at UFC 100. The main event for the night is a World Heavyweight title unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. Lesnar is an absolute monster and is a former NCAA wrestling champion. Mir is one of the top technical fighters in the game right now, and has a submission victory over Lesnar under his belt from a fight two years ago.

Also at UFC 100, the best pound for pound fighter in the world Georges St. Pierre is putting his Welterweight Championship on the line against the always dangerous Thiago Alves. This may be the most exciting fight of the night, because both of these athletes go at it at breakneck speeds, so don’t blink or you may miss a K.O.


Boxing is also a year round event and they have a big fight coming up in July as well, as the undefeated Floyd “Money” Mayweather comes out of retirement to face off against Juan Manuel Marquez. The winner of the fight will presumably face off against Manny Pacquio, who is considered the top boxer in the sport at the moment.

Pacquio knocked out former champ Ricky Hatton in the second round a couple months ago. If it does indeed lead to a Mayweather-Pacqiuo matchup, it will be the biggest fight of this decade so far.


In soccer or futbol, the World Cup is exactly one year from this date, away. Many nations are competing in qualifying matches presently, for the right to go to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Expect the usual suspects of world powerhouses to make a run at the title in 2010 like Argentina, Brazil, England, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, and Spain.

Well that’s it for now. Feel free to comment and discuss topics where you see fit. As time goes by, we will go more in-depth on subjects in the world of sports. This particular posting was more of an introduction to get things rolling.