1. NBA Free Agency and Trades
As mentioned last week, the NBA free agent carousel is in full-swing, and even though the first 48 hours saw the two big fish find new homes, Ben Gordon and Ron Artest to Detroit and Los Angeles, respectively, the past five days have been even more enticing. If you think this free agent period is unpredictable, next year will be off the charts. Here are some of the popular moves this week, a confusing four-team trade, and a list of players still on the board.
The Rundown: Rasheed Wallace signs with the Boston (3 years, roughly 18 million)....Jason Kidd re-signs with Dallas (3 years, 25 million)....Anderson Varejao re-signs with Cleveland (6 years, 50 million)....Antony Parker signs with Cleveland (terms undisclosed).
Confusing but business-like trade...
**Warning: Take a deep breath first before reading
Four-Team Deal: Orlando, Dallas, Toronto, and Memphis
Toronto gets Hedo Turkoglu from the Orlando in a sign and trade deal, Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Dallas.
Orlando gets cash from Toronto and Orlando.
Memphis gets a 2016 second round pick from Toronto, Jerry Stackhouse and cash from Dallas.
Dallas gets Shawn Marion, Kris Humphries, Nathan Jawai and cash from Toronto, and Greg Buckner from Memphis.
Still out there and possible suitors:
Allen Iverson (Memphis, Miami)
Grant Hill (Cleveland, Denver, New York)
David Lee (New York)
Andre Miller (Portland, Philadelphia)
Jarrett Jack (Indiana)
Glen "Big Baby" Davis (Boston, Detroit)
Drew Gooden (Dallas, New York)
2. Big Ten Basketball Recruiting: 2010 Class
Similar to Rivals.com and Scout.com, ESPN recently came out with its own version of high school basketball prospects ratings, and if these ratings give any indication to the future, the Big Ten will reclaim itself as the top conference in the land. There is still time for these programs to add more pieces to the puzzle. As you'll see, Indiana has one committment to date, David Williams, but the Hoosiers have two more scholarships to hand out.
Take a look
Teams to fear in the near future...Ohio State and Illinois.
3. Indiana and Purdue basketball recruiting
I decided to combine these tidbits this week, since neither program signed a new prospect or made any major roster moves. However, both programs did throw our a few new offers to a few rising stars.
IU
According to Mike Pegram of Peegs.com, Indiana offered Vander Blue Monday morning. Blue is a 6-3, 180 pound, point guard out of Madison, Wisconsin. Blue originally committed to Wisconsin back in the winter, but decided to re-open his committment and look for more options. It appears this one will come down to Indiana and Wisconsin. Rivals.com rates Blue as a four-star prospect.
A numbers crunch, that's what Indiana coach Tom Crean faces the next two years. If you do the math, the Hoosiers have a combined five scholarships to hand out for the 2010 and 2011 recruiting cycles, which is pretty standard for any program. However, Crean has offered 32 players in these classes, meaning 27 players with Indiana offers will suit up for opposing teams. First come, first serve.
PU
Matt Weaver of Peegs.com reported Tuesday afternoon that Matt Painter extended an offer to Washington High School big man Cody Zeller. The name might sound familiar, as older brothers Tyler (North Carolina) and Luke (Notre Dame) have already made their way onto the college basketball scene. Cody, a three-star prospect according to Rivals.com, also has offers from Butler, Iowa, and Indiana. North Carolina and Ohio State are other programs showing interest. I expect the youngest Zeller to choose between Indiana, Purdue or North Carolina.
4. NFL Free Agency...who's left?
The NFL season is a couple months away, and a few notable players are still looking for a place to call home. Ironically, a pair of former Colts players top the list, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James. As it may turn out, both will receive the standard veteran contract. Here is a look at these two players and others, and where they may end up.
Marvin Harrison (Minnesota, Philadelphia)
Edgerrin James (New Orleans, Kansas City)
Plaxico Burress (Chicago, New York Jets, Tampa Bay)
Dante Hall (Indianapolis, New York Jets)
Jerry Porter (Baltimore, Oakland)
Willie McGinest (New England, Cleveland)
Derrick Brooks (Indianapolis, New England)
5. Notre Dame football recruiting
As reported earlier this week on this site, Charlies Weis and staff picked up two more commitments in the 2010 class, bringing the total amount of recruits to 13 for the Irish.
If you missed the two committment stories, which are located below, he is a recap....
Justin Utupo, a 6-2, 250 defensive end out of Lakewood, California, surprised Notre Dame fans Morning morning by verbally committing to the Irish after picking up a scholarship offer from Irish coach and recruiting coordinator Brian Polian. Utupo picked Notre Dame over offers from Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Utah, Washington, Washington State, SMU and others. He is listed as a three-star prospect, according to Rivals.com
Scout.com reported Tuesday morning that Lake Forest (IL) quarterback Tommy Rees verbally committed to Notre Dame, joining Cincinnati Elder standout Andrew Hendrix on the 2010 quarterback committment list for the Irish. Rees, a 6-3, 195 pound, pro-style quarterback, picked the Irish over two major offers, Tennessee and Stanford, as well as a host of MAC schools.
Rambling Away...
-I'm happy for Andy Roddick and his runner-up finish at Wimbledon. He played his heart out, and fell to arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer. However, Roddick's window of opportunity for winning another Grand Slam title is slowly closing, as he turns 27 next month. Most tennis pros retire at the age of 32. It's just disappointing that he has only one Grand Slam title in nine years, after receiving the tag as "The Next Great American Tennis Player." Not to knock his career, but I don't see anything great about one title in 33 tries. Federer has obviously dominated the sport in this era, making it tough for Roddick to win. But, I think most tennis and sports fans expected multiple titles by now from Roddick.
-Cubs fans have to be wondering how in the world their team is only 3.5 games out of first place? When you're 14th in team batting average and 15th in both runs scored and hits in the National League, it's hard to think this team still sits in prime position for a playoff run.
-Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you know by now that the social networking service, Twitter, has become a national phenomenon. In response to the fast rise of Twitter, a few big name college basketball coaches have been in a heated race to see who can acclaim the most followers (fans or friends, who keep tabs on person's whereabouts). The first heated race started back in the fall of 2008, between Kentucky coach John Calipari and Indiana head coach Tom Crean. At first, the two coaches had equal amounts, with about 2,000 followers apiece. Since then, Calipari stormed out to a commanding lead. Commanding, as in, Crean might have to throw in the towel. Currently, Crean has a respectable 9,041 followers, while his counterpart has an astounding 381,668 followers. Either Kentucky has a large fanbase, which they do, or almost everyone in the state of Kentucky follows Calipari. I didn't think the state as a whole had that many computers.
But, it's safe to say Calipari has this race won. For now, anyway.
-On Dan Dakich's radio show this past week, he brought up the topic of how Allen Iverson almost suited up for the Hooisers back in the mid-90s. The story goes, Iverson wanted to play for either of these two coaches, John Thompson at Georgetown or Bob Knight at Indiana. During Iverson's recruitment, his recruiting coordinator contacted Dakich, who was an Indiana assistant coach at the time, asking whether or not Iverson could make a visit to Bloomington. Once Dakich got off the phone with the recruiting coordinator, he went to discuss the matter with Knight. While this is paraphrased, after Dakich told Knight of the news, the General gave the young assistant the look of "why did I hire you again?" In others words, Knight did not want Iverson in his program.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
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