NBA Free Agency Starts, Warriors Quiet

The NBA free agency period is starting to materialize, and some of the top free agents in the league are setting meetings with different teams, and this year their is no shortage of premiere-level free agents.

The 2010 free-agent class is quite possibly the best one to date. The two big dogs of the bunch, Dwayne Wade and Lebron James are both set to visit New Jersey and Chicago, and apparently have mutual interest in trying to land at the same destination. Wade is also apparently keeping a close eye on what happens with Chris Bosh, one of the premiere big men on the market this summer. Among the other free-agents available right now are Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, David Lee, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. That list also included Rudy Gay up until this afternoon, but the 24 year-old swingman signed a 5-year, $82 million deal to stay in Memphis. I think Nowitzki will end back up in Dallas, and it looks like Joe Johnson is headed back to Atlanta as they're trying to do all they can to bring back their leader. Other than those guys though, things look wide open right now for the rest of the bunch.

Although there are a handful of guys available that could come right in and help the Golden State Warriors, It doesn't appear as if Larry Reilly and Co. are ready to go down that road. The last time they dipped into free agency with big dollars, they ended up with Corey Maggette, and I think that may have scared them away from spending big in free agency. It's just that this year, there is are a couple of guys that could really help steer this franchise in the right direction, much like Baron Davis did for them after coming over in 2006. Those two guys are Carlos Boozer and/or Amare Stoudemire. I personally would like to have Stoudemire, as he's a 27 year-old. just entering his prime, with monster talent and the size/strength that this team needs. I think a bold move like that would not only put them back in the playoff hunt, but make them a factor in the Western Conference. It's definitely worth keeping an eye on at the very least, as I hope Nelson and Reilly are doing the same.

Warriors Take Ekpe Udoh at 6

The 2010 NBA draft has completed it's first round, and with their first round pick (number 6 overall) the Warriors selected a guy who likely enters the 2010-11 season as a third-string power forward.

Needless to say, there weren't a whole lot of people too ecstatic with Larry Reilly's choice or Ekpe Udoh with 6th overall pick, granted, this draft class isn't exactly a loaded with A-list talent. After John Wall, Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins and Evan Turner, there aren't a lot of guys in this class who I see coming in and making immediate impacts for their team. Still though, I just don't get why the Warriors would go after another slender-sized power forward when they have two young guys on their roster who need to be getting playing time. One option that comes to mind regarding the new log-jam at the power forward spot would be the Warriors possibly dealing one of the three in a package for help in another area. Let's just say for example that the Warriors are looking to trade Monta Ellis; if they could put together a Brandon Wright/Monta Ellis package, that is going to bring them something in return. There has been whispers of Monta Ellis' interest in playing for his hometown Grizzlies and I'm sure an Ellis/Wright combo may land the W's a Rudy Gay. I like O.J. Mayo as well, but I think Ellis is just as valuable if not more valuable of a player than Mayo. An addition of Gay would leave the Warriors with a lineup looking something like this:

Starters-

PG Stephen Curry

SG Anthony Morrow

SF Rudy Gay

PF Anthony Randolph

C Andris Biedrins

Reserves-

G Kellana Azubuike

F/C Ronny Turiaf

G/F Reggie Williams

F Anhtony Tollivers

G Charlie Bell
G C.J. Watson

Now, the chances of them actually dealing Ellis for Gay aren't very high, but I see it making sense for both parties. Ellis is a highly-efficient scoring guard who would probably team up well with O.J. Mayo and Zach Randolph. Gay would give the Warriors a fundamentally sound player who can score and defend and would help bring some stability to their starting lineup. I like Monta and would like to see him and Curry figure out how to feed off of each other, but it just seems like Ellis doesn't want that. Whether it's a blockbuster deal like a Monta Ellis trade, or just a deal to clear up roster/cap space, like the Correy Maggette to Milwaukee deal, they have to do something with their logjam up front.

Giants Get Revenge on A's

Last month, the A's embarrassed the Giants over at the Colosseum by sweeping them and doing it in convincing fashion. However, the Giants got their revenge over the weekend at AT&T Park by taking sweeping the A's and making it look relatively easy.

It really shouldn't come as much of a surprise for A's fans though. The A's are nowhere near the team that faced the Giants in Oakland a month ago. They have fallen below .500 for the first time all season and are now in 3rd place in the AL East. At first, it was mainly an offensive issue with the A's, but now they aren't getting consistent performances out of their starting rotation either. They're badly missing Brett Anderson and Justin Duchscherer, but they still have enough quality in their rotation that they should be able to weather the storm. Trevor Cahill continues to deal, and Gio Gonzalez has gotten a lot better, but Dallas Braden and Ben Sheets keep getting hit around pretty good. For the most part though, if the A's were getting more consistent clutch hits and playing more fundamentally sound offensively, the rotation wouldn't be so bad. However, if you give up 4-5 runs per start like Braden and Sheets have been, this team is pretty much dead in the water. They just don't have a team that can climb back from big deficits. Still though, the A's are just 4 games out of first right now and it's hardely time to throw in the towel. I'd just like to see some kind of move made to help jump start the offense. Not necessarily a trade, but maybe a promotion of Chris Carter or maybe even Michael Taylor (solid last few games) even though he's not having a great year in Sacramento. I also think it's time Jemile Weeks gets his promotion up to AAA Sac as he shouldn't be too far away either.

The Giants had the same issue as the A's did with their offense all the way up until a few weeks ago. Now all the sudden the Giants have an offense that's putting up runs night in and night out and they're looking pretty darn good in the process. The addition of Pat Burrell has done wonders, as has the promotion of Buster Posey. Also, Juan Uribe is having an all star type year. The Giants are doing all this without two of their more clutch hitters, Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval, doing a whole lot. Sandoval, who hit .330 with 25 homers and drove in 90 runs in 2009 has just 4 homers and 24 RBI to go with a .283 average halfway through June and it's starting to cause some concern. Sandoval has even been dropped down to as low as 8th in the batting order recently to try and jump start him. He'll have a good 3-hit game, then he'll go 1-9 over his next two. I think he's going to find his rhythm, I just hope it's while the Giants are getting this output from guys like Burrell, Posey, Uribe, Torres and Sanchez. For much more Giants talk, check out our affiliate, The Giants Baseball Blog

Warriors Could Trade Ellis

Their season just ended a little over a month ago, and it looks like big changes could be on the horrizon for the Golden State Warriors.

It's no secret that the team is currently for sale and should have new ownership by the end of the summer. Everybody's hoping the wealthy and business savy Larry Ellison get's hold of this organization. It's the general consensus that Ellison will put his magic touch on the team and turn around a franchise that has generally been one of the worst in the NBA over the last 15 years. Only one playoff appearance in that span will do that to a fanbase though. Whover the new owner is, he's going to be coming into a rocky situation. The Warriors have a lot of talent on their roster (when they have everyone healthy), and should be in a better situation then they are right now. They have turmoil going on with the coaching staff, where many feel Don Nelson is just sleepwalking through this last phase of his career and doing it mainly for his hefty paycheck. The Warriors have a lot of questions to answer this summer, and have some things to figure out before they get ready to head into the draft next month.

The big personnel decision they are tampering with right now is whether or not they're going to move forward with Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry in the same back-court. Everybody thinks those two should be fine together except for Ellis. Monta is unhappy sharing the rock with Curry and wants out, and there has been a lot of speculation over the last few months about him possibly returning home and playing for the Grizzlies. Apparently Ellis recently bought some property and a house in Memphis. After that, rumors started to fly about how Don Nelson, a guy who's been a huge supporter of Ellis over the years, said he would have been thrilled to obtain a package of Hasheem Thabeet and O.J. Mayo in exchange for Ellis, a deal that was supposedly discussed at the trade deadline in February, and re-started after the season. I think it's pretty clear that Ellis wants out, and just like they did with Steven Jackson, the Warriors are going to have to grant him his wish if they want to keep this core together. We saw how disruptive it was for Jackson playing out his games in a Warriors uni earlier in the season, and we don't need a repeat of that in 2010-11. The W's need to decide this summer if they're going to go forward with the Ellis/Curry guard combo, or they need to begin 2010 without it and not drag it on any further.

Also, we will be mentioning the 2010 summer olympic games here at the BASJ, especially the Soccer World Cup. We also encourage you to check out our partners over at Docs Sports for World Cup brackets, World Cup betting odds and World Cup soccer picks!

Giants, A's Struggling to Score Runs

I'd like to welcome readers back to the Bay Area Sports Journal. We've been on a very inconsistent and in-frequent posting schedule over the last few weeks due to computer issues, but we're back on track and ready for our regular 2-3 post per week output, so stay tuned.

In the Bay Area sports world right now, most of the focus is on the Giants and A's, and their lack of offense. Both teams have gotten terrific starting pitching throughout the season's first 2 months. The A's have been getting solid performances out of Ben Sheets, Dallas Braden, Trevor Cahill and Co., but they just haven't been scoring enough runs to consistently win ballgames. The A's got a gift last weekend when they got to host the Giants for 3 though, cause they've been even worse off than Oakland at the plate lately. Most of the Giants jargan can be seen over at The Giants Baseball Blog, but there main problem has been not being able to play fundamental baseball and do simple things like move runners over and get runners in from third base with less than 2 outs. The A's are more so having a problem because there lineup just doens't have many guys who drive in runs. Their lack of power and run production has caused them to once again go back to Jack Cust as their main source of power. Since they have very little pop, they need to hit for average, but their lineup is hitting around .250. Everyone knew the A's offense was going to be an issue coming into the year, much like with the Giants, so it shouldn't be a surprise.

With their pitching though, they aren't that far off, especially when they get Brett Anderson back. Anderson, in my mind is the most talented pitcher on that staff right now and one of the AL's brightest young arms. Just like the Giants' GM Brian Sabean has had to do with his young pitching core of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, A's GM Billy Beane is going to have to figure out whether or not he's going to break up the A's pitching core in order to get some offense into Oakland. They are hoping top prospect Michael Taylor will be up eventually to help out, but he had a horrendus spring, and hasn't been too hot so far this year in the minors.

49ers Locking Up Their Core

A week after they looked up the central figure of their defense, star linebacker Patrick Willis, the Niners are looking to do the same with arguably their most talented offensive player.

The 49ers and Pro-Bowl linebacker Vernon Davis are apparently discussing a contract extension that would keep him in San Francisco for another 5 seasons after this one, and pay him upwards of $40 million, $25 million of which would be guaranteed. Davis is coming off a breakout season in which he caught 78 passes, 13 of which found paydirt, which earned him his first trip to the Pro-Bowl. A lot of people are a little skeptical of shelling out the big dough to Davis after just one big season, but you can tell if you've watched him throughout his career in San Francisco that he was improving each year and is a good candidate to stay productive throughout the course of that contract. Going forward, the Niners passing attack looks like it will be centered around Davis and Michael Crabtree, and those are two young up and coming players that will be in San Francisco for the next 4-5 years. Crabtree already signed his big deal, as I'm sure most people remember, as it cost him a handful of regular season games in order to get the deal done. I just hope they can hammer this thing out before training camp opens up in July, as I'd hate to see any kind of situation that would have to do with Davis holding out.

The Niners have really been busy this offseason as they feel they're on the verge of becoming a playoff team, and a good offseason this year could vault them onto that level. Their most recent addition was cornerback William James, who the Niners signed to a one year deal on Wednesday. James will likely fill the role that Dre Bly had last year after the Niners let him walk earlier in the offseason. The Niners haven't really signed any big-time starting players who will come in and impact the team single-handily, although Ted Ginn could come in and play heavily into the passing game, but they are adding small pieces here and there that are filling holes. I never got much of a chance to talk about Ted Ginn Jr. as he was added while we were really focused on the draft, but he's been the biggest add of the offseason thus far for the Niners, not including draft picks of course. Ginn looked like he was ready to take flight after a solid sophomore year in 2008 in which he caught 56 balls for 780 yards, but then took a step backwards last season. He'll enter the year as the favorite for the slot spot for the Niners, or essentially the 3rd receiver spot behind Crabtree and Josh Morgan, but could overtake Morgan's spot as a starter if he gets it going. Remember, it wasn't too long ago when he was taken at the top of the first round by Miami. At worst, he'll be a big help in the Niners return game where they were subject to using tight-end Delanie Walker there on occasion last year.

Raiders Report

I've been primarily focused on the 49ers and their draft over the last couple of weeks, and I haven't had much of a chance to really look at what's going on with the Raiders. Today, I wanted to take a look at the Raiders draft and give my 2 cents on the JaMarcus Russell situation.

First off, the Raiders draft was one the the better ones that they've put together in recent memory. Instead of drafting on potential, the Raiders actually drafted guys who are polished football players. Their first round pick, Rolando McClain, was picked to go towards the middle of the first round, but the Alabama stud was far and away the best linebacker in the draft. He's big, quick and has tremendous power in the open field. Scouts even compare him to Patrick Willis, and the Raiders are going to hope to get that type of production. No matter what though, he's going to help the Raiders, much more than their first rounders over the last 3 years have, that's for sure. In the second round, the Raiders grabbed Texas defensive tackle, Lamarr Houston, who will have a shot to win a starting spot on the Raiders defensive line in training camp. Houston is another guy who is a powerful inside player who is known for his ability to stop the run. The biggest wild card in the Raider draft though came in the 4th round when they added physical specimen Bruce Campbell. The 6'7", 300 pounder has a lot to learn, but is one of the most athletic big men to play the tackle position ever. If he gets the technique down and can learn to play at the NFL level, he's going to be a stud. He's about as quick as a linebacker and is built like a big offensive tackle.

One position the Raiders didn't address during the draft was the quarterback, but they will have a new QB under center when the 2010 season kicks-off. That will be former Redskin Jason Campbell. Most thought the addition of Campbell signaled the end of JaMarcus Russell's career in Oakland, but there has yet to be any move made with Russell. The Raiders even added another quarterback in addition to Campbell, former Raven and Ram Kyle Boller. It looks as if Russell is now third on the depth chart and at 10+ million dollars per year, he's an expensive third stringer to say the least. There are some that want to give Russell some more time, but I don't see this guy ever figuring it out in Oakland. I think his confidence here is shot, and he's never going to get the full support and trust of the fans. He needs a change of scenery. I'm sure the Raiders are trying to find a situation where they don't need to just release and maybe can get something for him, even if it is just a late round draft pick. Whether he's in the Silver and Black in 2010 or not though, as long as Campbell's around, Russell's never going to be "the man" again in Oakland.