January 20th, 2012
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After franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard requested for a trade, the Orlando Magic have since been the center of attention heading into the start of 2011-12 season. Trade talk has swirled around Dwight Howard as different trade scenarios seemed to change daily. But trade talk has since died down and we may see Howard in a Magic jersey until probably half the season, and then he would likely be traded to the Nets, Lakers or Mavericks. If the Magic come out of the gates and play strong to preserve their identity as contenders, then they may be able to convince Howard to stay. As it stands though, it’s hard to imagine them regaining their momentum after being upset by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs last year.
Stan Van Gundy has his work cut out for him this year, because the team don’t have a lot of talent on their roster to make a deep run in the playoffs again. But Orlando still has a shot as long as they have Howard on the team. During the 2009 season, no one believed they could reach the Finals but Howard proved that he is the special kind of player capable of making his team a contender. It’s going to be very hard to duplicate that level of success this time around though, as the trade of Howard looms in the landscape of Orlando’s future.
Howard averaged 22.9 points and 15.1 rebounds per game last year, but the rest of the team struggled and failed to reach their potential. The Magic traded away Brandon Bass for Glen Davis and Von Wafer, they waived Gilbert Arenas and his atrocious contract and were able to re-sign Jason Richardson and Earl Clark. But the overall team make-up may just not be enough to convince Howard to stay after this season.
Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson is the anchor that can bring Orlando back to the top tier. He has the skill to be an all-star but he needs to stay on the corut. He hasn’t stayed injury free for a full year in seven seasons that he wore a Magic uniform. Last season he put up just 13.1 points/game. For the Magic to be a serious threat he has to be putting up at least 16-18 points a night.
The rest of the starting five leaves a lot to be desired as they contain high-priced, over the hill guy in Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu. Although Turkoglu has done well in Van Gundy’s offense, an upgrade would only have helped at the three spot. Glen Davis is not a better player than Bass but looks to be a better compliment next to Howard, overall the team should have tried to find a better starting lineup if they really wished Howard to stay.
Orlando does have some nice guys off the pine. They have J.J. Redick and Ryan Anderson who are able on offense. Backup point guard Chris Duhon is a nice player that can start if Nelson gets hurt, and they also have Quentin Richardson who can still shoot the rock despite not doing so well last season.
Prediction: 2nd Eastern Conference Southeast Division – Our top NBA handicapper says this prediction is based off the assumption that Howard remains with the Magic this season. Although he could very likely be traded by the deadline, it’s not a foregone conclusion. With Howard, this team can still win a lot of games and fight for the fourth seed against the Knicks in the East. If they do trade Howard, they will obviously be worse off, but they can still sneak in to the playoffs depending on what they get in return.
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Written by Jack Jones on January 20th, 2012 with comments disabled.
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Despite making the Finals last year, the Miami Heat felt a huge disappointment after losing to the Mavericks in six games. After adding LeBron James and Chris Bosh last year, the team guaranteed multiple championships and they almost won one last year. After struggling at the beginning of the season, the Miami Heat ended up having the second best record in the Eastern Conference at 58-24. Miami coasted in the first 3 rounds of the playoffs beating the 76ers, Celtics and Bulls but lost in the Finals.
There is no doubt that the heat is on Miami’s Big Three to step up and bring home the championship this season. Miami let go of free agents Mike Bibby and Jamaal Magloire to free agency and lost Zydrunas Ilgauskas to to retirement. The team did bring in veteran SF Shane Battier, sign Eddy Curry and re-sign Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Juwan Howard. They also took PG Norris Cole with their draft selection.
The Heat’s big three of James, Wade and Bosh totaled almost 71 points of the team’s 102 points per night last season so they really didn’t need to make a lot of additions in the offseason. James and Wade are two of the premiere players in the entire NBA; they are not just superb on offense but they are excellent on defense also. Their skills to make their other teammates better is also what makes this such a great team. James is one of the more well-rounded players in the NBA and he is a triple-double threat everytime he plays a game. He put up 26.7 points, 7.0 assists, and 7.5 boards/game last season. Wade isn’t far behind, as he averaged 25.5 points, 6.4 boards, and 4.6 assists.
After playing as the top option in Toronto for many seasons, Chris Bosh staggered offensively at times after being seen as the third option. Bosh put up a career-high 24 points in his last year in Toronto, and came in having put up at least 22 points over the past five years. In his first season with the Heat he put up just 18.7 points/game. Wade and James have to find a way to keep him more involved in the offense if they want to win it all this season.
Chalmers and Joel Anthony will round out the starting five. Chalmers really seemed to find his groove in the playoffs, as he enjoyed a string of strong performances down the stretch to prove his worth in Miami. Anthony gives the team a solid inside defender and rebounder, who will be asked to do even more with the departures of Ilgauskas and Magloire.
The rest of the team is made up of a bunch of capable role players. Battier gives them a solid defender and a guy who can hit the open corner three, Mike Miller is a deadly outside shooter, and Udonis Haslem does whatever the team needs of him on both sides of the ball, Two players that can also shoot the ball and provide a lift offensively off the Miami bench is James Jones and Eddie House.
Rookie point guard Norris Cole is an underrated pickup who can take minutes away from Chalmers with his defensive ability and poise. Eddy Curry, who was once seen as one of the best potential post men in the league, could be used as another inside guy in the rotation.
Pick: 1st in the East’s Southeast Division – The Miami Heat is certainly the top team in the East at the moment, and looking to the NBA Finals odds they are even the top team in the entire NBA. After last season’s disappointing defeat in the Championship, this team will approach the new year even more hungry to take what they think is rightfully theirs. Their sole issue going forward is their late game play. It was an area they found difficulty with all year, as they didn’t seem to know who should take the final shot. If they can get that figured out, they should be back in the Finals.
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Written by Jack Jones on January 20th, 2012 with comments disabled.
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The Atlanta Hawks earned the fifth seed in the East after ending the season with a 44-38 mark last year. The Hawks took down an unimpressive Orlando Magic in the opening round but were beaten by Chicago in the next. While they managed an upset over Orlando, it has been obvious that Atlanta is trying to make the jump to becoming a top tier squad. After winning 53 times in 2009-10, Atlanta struggled and ended up with nine less wins in 2010-11.
The Atlanta Hawks will showcase a couple of modifications to their roster. After losing Jamal Crawford to free agency, they brought on veterans Tracy Mcgrady and Vladimir Radmanovic. Although Mcgrady is obviously not the player he was back in his heyday, he can still be efficient in limited time. Radmanovic is a 6’10 small forward with solid shooting ability and his numbers will rely on how much playing time he can get.
Atlanta will have one of the top starting lineups in the NBA. Third year point guard Jeff Teague came on in the postseason last season and will be given the keys as the starter this 2012 year. He will be surrounded with a team that includes Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Al Horford. Johnson, Smith and Horford are all able scorers that can without a doubt put up over 20 points, but more times than not, they settle for difficult jump shots instead of driving to the basket. If head coach Larry Drew can get Horford and Smith to play more near the basket, the Hawks have the ability to be one of the top offensive squads in the entire league.
Losing super sixth man Jamal Crawford will obviously hurt the Hawks’ bench this season. Mcgrady and Radmanovic will join Kirk Hinrich, Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collins among others as key reserves, but none of these players have Crawford’s offensive skill set. It is likely that this team will employ a much more shared approach instead of relying on Crawford’s scoring ability off the bench. The benches’ play this year will determine where the Hawks will land by the end of the season.
Pick: 3rd East’s Southeast Division – Our NBA handicappers think the Hawks have the skill and the pieces to compete for a top 4 seed but they can’t seem to put it all together. It seems as though the guys do not have the motivation or drive to be champions and are just happy in reaching the postseason every year. Many times in the course of the long NBA year, Atlanta does not seem to have the mental toughness and motivation to do anything more than what they’ve done in previous seasons. Jeff Teague’s play will determine where this team is going, but the Hawks also need a dynamic scorer of the bench if they want to contend in the east. This team will be very up and down and will make the playoffs as no higher than a 5th seed. They may win the opening round again, but it will be very unlikely for them to move past the second round.
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Written by Jack Jones on January 20th, 2012 with comments disabled.
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The Milwaukee Bucks disappointed everybody when they churned in a losing record last year after going 46-36 in the previous season. They were primed to make a big push in the Eastern Conference but lost all their momentum when injuries hampered their star center in Andrew Bogut. They played excellent defense last year, but simply didn’t have the scoring punch needed to consistently win games.
The Bucks were able to sign Stephen Jackson and Beno Udrih while giving up Corey Maggette and John Salmons, they also brought on Mike Dunleavy in free agency. With the additions of these guys, the plan in Milwaukee is that they will have enough talent on offense to finally get back to the postseason.
Jackson has the chance to be the top scorer in this mostly defensive minded squad. He put up 18.5 points/game with Charlotte last year and has every chance to put up 20 a night this season. Udrih put up a career high 13 points/game last season with the Kings, while veteran forward Dunleavy averaged 11 points/game with Indiana.
We should see a starting lineup of C Andrew Bogut, PF Drew Gooden in the post, SF Stephen Jackson on the wings and Mike Dunleavy and Brandon Jennings at the two guard positions. Andrew Bogut is coming off another injury-riddled year while Jennings hit the Sophomore slump after starting strong in his rookie season with 15.5 points during the 2009-10 league year. Milwaukee needs the steady play of Bogut and Jennings if they want to get back in the postseason in the Eastern Conference.
Veteran Drew Gooden is the who plans to start at power forward, but at this stage in his career Gooden is really better off as a bench player than a starter. Gooden put up 11.3 and 6.8 boards last season, well below his 2009-10 figures of 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds.
Depth is one of the biggest issues for Milwaukee at this stage. While they dealt for Livingston in the Charlotte deal, their only other available choices at the guard spots are Carlos Delfino and Beno Udrih. Ersan Ilyasova, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and rookie Tobias Harris will plan to see a lot of minutes behind Gooden, but they lack depth at both center and small forward. In order to take advantage of the talents of Dunleavy, the Bucks need to go out and add another option at the shooting guard position, so that he can take the small forward role on the second unit.
Prediction – 3rd in the East’s Central Division: Milwaukee will continue to go with coach Skiles defensive mindset, but their top issue is scoring on offense. Both Jackson and Jennings are capable scorers but they have the inclinations to take terrible shots. The focus for Milwaukee to bet back to their winning record is with the play of Bogut on the inside. If the elbow issues continue to hurt him on offense, then Milwaukee will have a tough time getting back to the postseason. They have almost no chance to take on Chicago for the top ranking in the Central Division and they are likely a step behind the Pacers too. That is one reason NBA handicappers will be shying away from them this season. The Bucks may shock people like they did a few years ago, but a lot of things have to go right for that to happen.
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Written by Jack Jones on January 20th, 2012 with comments disabled.
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It appears, when it comes to golf, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I love to call it “shafts golf”, and it is applicable to that elite group of players whose results can really be influenced by the golf-club shafts shaft with which they play.
Back in the days of Hickory Golf, when wooden golf clubs were the sole option, a player’s game was led by the features of those golf-club shafts. As an example, the torque of a wooden shaft would be much larger than that of today’s graphite golf shafts and steel shafts. This clobber dynamic guided the Hickory Golf player into a smoother swing, aimed at getting rid of jerkiness or too much speed in the swing. The swing plane which produces the highest success with a wooden shaft (Hickory) is much flatter than the swing plane used to maximise the effects of modern golf club shafts. So , those players who concentrated on “shafts golf” during the Hickory Golf age learned very quickly to swing slow and swing low.Hickory Golf Clubs, as a consequence, have become the hottest area of antique golf club collecting.
The concept of “shafts golf” carries thru to today and will into the future as shaft design develops and the player evolves with it. Whereby that wooden shafted golfer had to get rid of his jerky swing to compensate for the shaft, the modern player can simply increase the flex till it maximizes the outcomes of his swing. Your natural distance or how far you hit the ball, is also regularly used to help define the appropriate golf shaft for a specific player. The rough rule is that as your natural “distance” increases, so does the stiffness of your ideal shaft.
The wooden golfing club shaft had, and still does, a distance limiting aspect which needed players to play shorter than modern players, concentrating very much on effective course management. My opinion is that there are many who are constantly looking for the latest and best golfing club technology that would disagree strongly that advanced technology has in some ways, become a crutch to improvement in one’s core golfing game. For those that need the latest and the best, there are definitely new and better clubs being revealed all the time.
We find that we are today with a couple of premier golfing shaft manufacturers who continue to introduce new golf club shafts with technologies that offer more distance and more accuracy, even for the casual player. We have experience with one specifically who have a PGA Major to their credit, yet have kept their prices very reasonable to the weekend golfer.
Andrew Shea has been concerned in Antique Golf, both on a private level, and in a pro capacity for a few years. If you have a question or have an interest in vintage golf clubs typically, you are often welcome at his site.
Written by Andrew Shea on January 20th, 2012 with comments disabled.
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