Two big things happening this week... the NBA play-offs and the upcoming NFL draft, and I don’t which one I want to rant about more. So I may delve into both. And here’s a fair warning: I will probably go into more detail on both next week.
Let me start with the NBA playoffs. I usually do a preview article with the paper’s editor Andy, but with deadline and how it played out, we didn’t do one this year.
Now that the first games are out of the way for much of the teams I think it will just run chalk. In the West I see the Thunder, Nuggets and Spurs getting out of the first round without too many problems. The Clippers/Grizzles series is an interesting one to me. I think the Grizzlies could maybe steal game five from the Clippers and win the series in six. I don’t however believe the Grizzlies will win the series if it goes seven games. Not that it really matters, because I have either team losing to the Thunder in the next round. That leaves San Antonio against Denver in my scenario. Denver is one of the toughest team to play at home, but I don’t think that will make a difference and the Spurs will win in either five or seven games. That would have the Western Finals with the Spurs and the Thunder once again, similar to last year.
In the East I think the upset could come via the Celtics/Knicks series. If the Celtics can knock off the Knicks, that would leave them playing the Pacers in the next round most likely. I like the Pacers team this year and have them beating the Celtics and going to the Eastern Conference finals. On the other side of the bracket, I don’t know who will win between the Nets and the Bulls, but much like in the West the winner gets to face the number one seeded team, the Miami Heat. So it doesn’t really matter who wins, because I think either team will lose in the next round to the Heat.
Now that was a quick break down of how I see the NBA playoffs going, but staying with the NBA theme I wanted to go into the Kobe Bryant tweeting issue. For those that haven’t heard Kobe tweeted some things during the first game between Spurs and the Lakers. Kobe tweeting things along the line of get the ball inside and called the Lakers defense a matador’s defense when it came to guarding Tony Parker. I don’t have any problem with what he tweeted during the game, nor do I have a problem with D’Antoni calling him a fan after the game. I think Kobe is a fan, and was just rooting for his team. Now D’Antoni rolled his eyes after finding out what Kobe tweeted. I don’t like it if he was rolling them at what Kobe tweeted, but I don’t have a problem if he rolled them at the reporter asking the question in a manner of almost tattling on Bryant. This probably should have never been as big a deal as it is, but Kobe isn’t going to tweet during games anymore so as not to offend the sensitive.
I am not going to spend much time on the NFL draft, because I rambled so much about the NBA, but I am really looking forward to this year’s draft. People are saying it is a weak year for skill positions, but I am ok with that. I am not looking for a quarterback for my team, nor a number one or two receivers. I want to see some help in the trenches, maybe a running back or receiver in the fifth round or later, unless it is someone they just can’t pass up. I wouldn’t mind seeing a safety drafted either. I don’t think the Cowboys are desperately lacking in skill players, so that gets me excited with how it looks like the draft might shape out. I have been ok with the Cowboys drafts since 2010, but was not real happy before then. Hopefully they can draft as well or better than they have the last couple of years.
Next week I will go into more detail on the draft and the ramifications it had on some teams as well as break down the NFL schedules that were released. And see what the schedule has in store for certain teams.

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