Samuel Dalembert's Misplaced Belief

The Philadelphia 76ers have shipped Samuel Dalembert to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni. In three years since being drafted by the Kings Hawes has not scored as effectively as teams would like for a big man and his rebounding has been lackluster. Over at Sac Town Royalty, they've pointed to some possible reasons for hope for Hawes yet. As for Nocioni, he was once described as perfectly mediocre (I couldn't find the link, but I did look). He's average at all facets of the game. Dalembert is statistically one of the best centers in the league for all things defensively, but for the Kings the success of this trade, minus the financial savings in a year, will be based on his willingness to focus on what he does well.

Contrast the difference in perception of what Dalemebert can bring to a team. King's GM Geoff Petrie's weighed in on the trade:

We’re excited about the acquisition of Samuel Dalembert. He will certainly bring a defensive presence and increase our ability to defend around the basket with his rebounding, shot-blocking and athleticism.

Now this perspective from Stephen A. Smith (yes that one):

For the record, Dalembert's problem is not that he couldn't play. At 6-11, he could run like a gazelle, block shots, rebound, and defend. But there's a reason he averaged 8.1 points and 9.6 rebounds in just 25 minutes per game last season: He isn't that good offensively.

Worse, everyone knows that except Dalembert.

There are far too many guys in the NBA who are better at defense, but continue to want their ego stroked on the offensive end. Perhaps the most visible in the league currently, Atlanta's Josh Smith, made some tremendous strides this season, as he recognized lingering at the 3-point line was the not the most effective use of his skill set. Here in Charlotte, Tyrus Thomas could develop into a rich man's Ben Wallace, but unless he's allowed to take 15-foot baseline jumpers he seems jilted and susceptible to fits of pouting. Even someone like Dwight Howard, would not have endured the chronic foul trouble in the playoffs were it not for his (and his coach's) desire to become a prominent feature in the offense. Some guys like Joakim Noah, Birdman, and Kendrick Perkins are able to accept their roles and make themselves even more effective by not taking bad shots. It will be interesting which Dalembert shows up for the Kings, a talented young team poised to take the next step towards relevance. Will it be the defensive presence Geoff Petrie hopes shows up or the offensive superstar in his own mind that Stephen A. Smith wrote about?

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Mets May Own An Unwanted Trade Record

If you read this blog often or even from time to time you may know that I am a Mets fan. Yes, thank you for your sympathies. While flipping back and forth between Steven Strasburg's debut and the Mets-Padres game last night, I heard Mets' color man Ron Darling mention some of the bad trades the Metropolitans have made in their history. The one he mentioned got me thinking of another and suddenly it hit me that New York may own a bad piece of MLB transactional history.

The trade Darling was referring to was the 1971 trade that sent Nolan Ryan to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi. The Mets also threw in Frank Estrada, Don Rose, Leroy Stanton. Fregosi never panned out for the Mets, while Ryan went on to win 138 games for the Angels and averaged 272 innings per season. Ryan would eventually end up with 324 wins throwing 7 no-hitters and holding the seemingly untouchable strikeout record with 5,714. The Mets cannot be blamed for trading Nolan in his prime, but Ryan had started to come around under the tutelage of Tom Seaver. Whatever the situation was, Ryan was not happy in New York and asked the team to trade him. Now some people say to get rid of player right away when they say something like this, but this was not one of those cases, even though that insight comes from hindsight.

The Mets failure here was the inability to recognize what Ryan was and what he could become. Maybe that was a little on the coaches, or maybe the front office personnel with their hands in player development. Whichever it was, Ryan was dealt and it would not be until years later the error in Mets' foresight was visible.

The other trade was more of black mark on the Mets' history. It was so bad the trade itself has a moniker. "The Midnight Massacre" occurred on June 15, 1977. Seaver was sent to the Reds for the memorable ballplayers known as Pat Zachry, Steve Henderson, Doug Flynn, and Dan Norman. Home run hitter and fan favorite Dave Kingman was also traded the same night. The trade was the culmination of friction between Seaver and chairman M. Donald Grant. After beloved owner Joan Payson passed away her daughter gave more control to Grant and by the late 70s, Grant had basically total authority over the team's roster management. Seaver had been the the ace and the icon of the franchise. He won the Cy Young award 3 times, and lead the team during their 1969 World Series and 1973 NL pennant. From 1968 until the trade he had never struck out less than 200 batters in a season.
Seaver wanted top pitcher money, and why should he have gotten different? Grant refused to budge and the some writers in the press turned on Seaver. Talks between the two parties completely broke down. Seaver went 14-3 for Cincinnati the rest of the season, including a shutout against the Mets. The next season Seaver threw his first career no-hitter. The Mets have still yet to have a no-hitter in their history. He did return to the Mets for the 1983 season but was picked up in the compensation draft by the White Sox denying his 300th win coming as a Met.

These two trades were under different circumstances and were to varying degrees of misjudgment by the Mets front office. The fact that the Mets did not get much if any value for the trades does not help their legacy. Yet the fact remains that the Mets traded away two 300 game winners while both had good,quality baseball years left in their arms. Ryan had yet to reach his potential but he had the greatness in him. Seaver was on the latter side of his prime but still a terrific pitcher not to mention the face of the franchise. There are only 24 pitchers in the 300 club, and the Mets might be the only team to trade 2 of them while not in the twilight of their career. Not a desirable footnote in your team's history.

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Into The Belly Of The Beast

This coming Saturday our friend and faithful reader of the blog(!) K-Man is getting married. Yes, we all tried to talk him out of it, but it turns out he has found the right one. Therefore, at the asscrack of dawn Catfish and I will embark on a journey to a place I never thought I would venture: Ohio. Now it is not a mystery how I feel about the state university of Ohio, but I am not going in angry. I do not assume that every single person in the state is an annoying Buckeye fan, but I'm certain most of them are. However, to keep the occasion joyous I will refrain from entering any arguments, especially ones about the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. Of course, you never if you can keep a promise like that if you are provoked. Who knows what dastardly plans Catfish has for an alum of the U in such a place. Hopefully such an incident will not occur and I can focus on the open bar.

We do plan on stopping by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on our way home Sunday. I will give a rundown of our trip there on the blog next week. As we mentioned before, things may be changing around these parts but that is still yet to be determined. Luckily we have been able to keep up somewhat with the blog and we plan to continue that until our new course of action is taken.

Before we sign off for the weekend, a few stories. And for those of you wondering, yes there will be a "It's Friday" posted tomorrow.

The NBA Draft is tonight and the excitement is palpable. If you have any interest in this already I cannot tell you anything you do not already know about who might be picking whom. But perhaps you did not know this: UConn center Hasheem Thabeet's name roughly translates to "Carlton Banks" in English. [HHR]

I do not know if they used Winston Wolfe like I imagined, but the Cavs have acquired Shaq in a trade with Phoenix. They probably didn't use the Wolf because they had to give up a second -round pick in addition to Shasha and Big Ben. [Ball Don't Lie]

Finally, a word on number 90. Julius Peppers finally signed his franchise tag tender and plans on reporting to camp from here on out with the Carolina Panthers. Interesting language going on from both sides on this issue. Peppers says he is ready to play ball for the Panthros and GM Marty Hurney expects the all out effort from him. Maybe it's just me but am I missing something here? Pep also said he is interested in a long-term deal now? Something smells in the QC my friends.[CBSSports]

Well, it is time to hit the road. Who knows what adverntures lie ahead for the ASD in Ohio, perhaps we will run into these guys.


Until next week, stay thirsty my friends.

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The Deal That Had to Be Done

I have a friend named Tom. He is one of the most natural people at picking up video games I have ever seen. When we were chaps in high school, we often used to break out the Playstation or the good old Nintendo 64. With merely a skim through the instruction booklet, Tom could lay waste to anyone in his path. I like to think I could keep up with him in Goldeneye, but Tom did things that other could not, and he did it effortlessly. As we grew older we began playing online games together as we did not live in the same part of the country anymore. Again, Tom mastered the competition and created a following from those that knew him in the games. All this being said Tom is very much his own person. He comes and goes as he pleases and is under no obligation to let you know when you will hear from him again. He goes on vacation without a word and returns weeks later without skipping a beat. I will always remember one night we were going to hang out in high school and Tom merely told us over the phone that he had to buy a gas grill. When pressed about the subject on that night and on nights following he would merely say he just needed a gas grill. That’s Tom. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he merely saw it as an obstacle that had to be dealt with accordingly, and he did. Tom is very much his own person and in the video game sense of things, he is someone everyone wants on their team, but recognizes that he will do what he does in the manner he sees fit. Its Tom being Tom. I believe Manny is the same way when it comes to his baseball, but he crossed that thin line he always walked in recent weeks.

A day after the Manny deal that sent the Red Sox leftfielder to L.A., two prospects in Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to the Pirates, and Jason Bay to Boston, many people are buzzing on who got the bad end of the deal. Many say it is a win for all three. Others say the Red Sox were the losers. Regardless of whom people think came out worse, the BoSox had to pull the trigger.

Manny is a hall-of-famer no doubt, and before he hangs up the cleats he will be one of the most prolific hitters of all time. His antics have been well chronicled and often celebrated for their light-heartedness. He was seen going into the monster for a bathroom break or a phone call, wearing an mp3 player on his sun glasses in leftfield, the high five after making a running outfield grab and then sending it in for a double play(my favorite) and the pose with jazz hands after he clobbered a home run. But there was also a less mirthful side of Manny being Manny. Actions that made you shake your head with a grimace, not a smile, on your face. The cut-off of Johnny Damon’s throw years back (although I have to admit that makes me laugh), the many instances of lack of effort on the basepaths, and the shoving to the ground of a Red Sox official who was letting Manny know he could not secure a hoard of tickets right before a game. These were the bad things that Manny brought to the table, not to mention his constant talks of being traded or released from the Red Sox.

The World Series rings allayed concerns over his antics. Manager Terry Francona, whom I do not envy for having to manage said Manny, went from being seen as Ramirez’s enabler to a master at containing the wild spirit. It was clear that Manny had a mind of his own and despite the questions about his desire, the Red Sox won and he pounded out the hits. Behind the love affair between Boston and Manny something continued to fester. As Red Sox nation became more powerful they became more tolerant of Manny’s idiosyncrasies. Manny always had the constitution to do what he wanted, but now he felt nothing could prevent him from free dominion over the Red Sox and how they ran the ballclub. Events were certainly headed for a collision course. Manny began to complain of a knee injury and took himself out of the lineup, he failed to put in even a medium amount of effort in his baserunning as pointed out by Baseball Tonight, and the final straw in my opinion was his conversation with the media. He had said trade me before, but now he was adding onto it. The line “they don’t deserve me” was the one that rings in my head.

Theo Epstein has never been afraid to deal his players if he feels the need. He shipped Nomar out in 2004 which had many up in arms until the Red Sox swept the Cardinals. Once Manny made those comments Epstein, if he had not already, decided it was time to act. The Red Sox are worse by the numbers with Bay. Jason Bay is no Manny Ramirez but it’s the best they could have hoped for and although the Boston clubhouse may be missing some flare, it should have less of a shadow hanging over it and fewer unanswerable questions about its superstar to answer. That’s Joe Torre’s responsibility now. By the way I would never part ways with Tom, he’s just too damn good at video games.

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