Actual Sports Related Material!

I figured I should talk about some sports on my sports blog. Its the slowest time of the year, but I thought I'd chime in on some of what's going on in the sports world recently:

The NBA Draft

As any NBA fan knows, this year's freshman class is particularly strong. At the end of the day, many All Stars and multiple championship winners are probably going to emerge from the deepest draft class since 2003 (the one that gave us LeBron, Melo, Bosh, D-Wade, and of course, this summer's most sought after free agent *sic*, Darko...thank you for that Dumars). My take on the field:

Winners:

Greg Oden- Last night's 10 foul, 6 point display aside, I fully expect Greg Oden to develop into the NBA beast in four or five years. If Portland doesn't win multiple championships with the core of Oden, Aldridge, and Roy, I would be shocked.

Kevin Durant- He's one of the best scorers college ball ever saw. I honestly think he's going to disappoint on some level on the NBA level, but only because expectations are at Jordanesque levels. The problem with Durant is he's a scorer and a scorer only...and there are plenty of people who can score in the NBA. Durant could be the next Jordan, true, but I think its far more likely he follows in the less prestigious footsteps of Carter, McGrady, Arenas, etc...great scorers who can't finish the job in the playoffs.

Mike Conley- He's fast and he makes good decisions. Its easier to make good decisions when Oden is on your team, true, but I think Memphis got a gem in Conley.

Al Horford- He'll be an All Star for years to come.

Losers:

Brandon Wright- He fell far enough for the pick to be worth it, but its never a good sign when you were essentially the 3rd fiddle on your college team, and neither of the guys ahead of you are in the draft.

Spencer Hawes- The tall white guy in the NBA went out of style with the Bird Celtics.

Jury's Out:

Noah- I think he's a lynchpin style player in a championship team. But he could as easily bust out entirely.

Brewer and Green- Two players with the right mindset, but do they have the skill set to survive in the NBA? That I'm not quite sold on yet. Neither does one thing particularly well, and jacks of all trades tend to flounder in the NBA.

Yi Jianlian- He supposedly can play, but will Milwaukee even be able to sign him?

NHL Free Agency

I'm still trying to sort the flurry of activity out in my mind. Amid the chaos of the first day of free agency, the most significant news may have been that Scott Niedermayer is considering retirement. I'll devote a whole post to this later once the dust settles a bit.

NFL

As far as I can tell, there's nothing of real critical note happening in the NFL right now, but you could never tell by watching ESPN. (my favorite NFL offseason story had to be when Jaworski announced that the suspense was over about the Jets starting QB for 2007!......in February).

One thing that is going on in the NFL is the ongoing Michael Vick dog fighting investigation. A disgusting story all around, and I only hope (though doubt) that Vick recieves a fair trial in this mess...because a fair trial would put him in jail.

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for more comments on the NBA and NHL free agency extraganza!