March 4, 2017
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
There are just some things that cannot be explained. Why can’t Cleveland draft a good quarterback? How do the Sixers manage to draft a player that is going to be hurt their rookie season every year? Closer to home, how to the Pelicans manage to acquire players and get them hurt at such an amazing rate? Check out these facts.
Eric Gordon averaged playing 65 games a year for the Clippers. He came to New Orleans and played 44 games per year. This year, for Houston, he has missed only 3 out of 61 games.
Ryan Anderson broke on the scene his last year at Orlando and New Orleans signed him to a free agent contract. In 4 years, he averaged playing 58 games a year. He has already played in 58 games for the Rockets.
Jrue Holiday averaged 75 games a year before coming to New Orleans. He has averaged playing in 46 games a year since.
Last week, the Pelicans pulled off the blockbuster trade of the NBA trade season. The Pels acquired two players, Cousins and Omri Casspi. In the first game after the trade, against the Rockets of all teams, Casspi (while having a very good shooting game) broke his thumb. How do the Pelicans do it?
Maybe they take a note from the Saints. My favorite football team has spent the last two years trying to help the defense. 9 of the 13 picks have been on defense. 4 of those 9 picks have spent some time on injured reserve. Swann, Williams, Kikaha, and Rankins have missed half of their short careers or more due to injury. How do the Saints do it?
Of course injuries happen and they are a part of sports. Those questions are easy compared to this one. What were the Pelicans thinking when they waived Terrence Jones after acquiring Cousins? Why dump a productive player?
The Pelicans said it was because it was the fair thing to do for Jones. What???!!!! Are they saying he wouldn’t play? With Davis’ injury history, Cousins history with technical fouls, and the lack of frontcourt depth on the roster Jones wouldn’t play?! Somehow the Spurs, Warriors, and Cavs find ways to play talented players off the bench that would start for other teams. The Pelicans don’t want depth?
Maybe you think the Pelicans were trying to save money. Jones salary was 1.5 million this year, which is a drop in the bucket by current NBA contracts. Again, another question that has no explanation, apparently.
Then there is the question of perimeter shooting. As I stated last week, Davis, Cousins, and Holiday will draw enough attention for the other perimeter players to be in position to catch, shoot, and hopefully make open shots. Those players don’t need to create. In their career and on the season those player shoot between 33 and 39 percent from three point range. The first two games after the trade, those players combined to make 4 out of 27 three point attempts. How do the Pelicans find ways to underperform? I don’t know, but it may have something to do with the roster turnover every other year, lack of depth, and constant changes in lineup sue to injury.
Let’s move on to a more fun unanswerable question. How did Jared Poche go the first 15 innings of the season without giving up a hit? Usually pitchers that have accomplishments like that are strikeout pitchers. Odds are that some of the balls that have been put in play with find holes soon. Still, Poche has added one more pitch to his repertoire, and that has made all the difference.
To this point, outside of injuries, this LSU team is exactly what we all hoped for and expected. The starting pitching is great. The bullpen is good with a change to be great.
The top of the lineup is exactly what you would create if you could start a lineup from scratch. The rest of the lineup has great talent and potential. Even better, there is enough depth to pinch hit with a quality hitter or adjust the lineup as necessary.
Opponents will try different tactics to slow down this lineup. They may pitch around Deichmann which might force Mainieri to switch him and Robertson in the order. The good news is that LSU is showing the ability to generate offense in a variety of ways. The Tigers can steal bases, hit and run, and hit the ball in the gaps.
All of which is good news because this weekend and in the SEC, LSU will face great pitching that will require LSU to be a great offensive team instead of just a great hitting team. If that happens and the bullpen holds up, LSU’s opponents will be asking the question without an answer, “How do you beat these Tigers?”
HEY REF
Forget the rumors that the NFL has declining TV ratings. And of course if that were true those number crunchers in the accounting divisions league wide would be raising red flags and then would come the dire reports of lost revenues. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Yesterday the NFL Players Association released the good news, well, as far as the players and owners are concerned. Seems once again the salary cap is on the way up in 2017 to the tune of a mere $10 million. Each team will then try its best to survive by paying its players at least $167 million!
This is the fourth consecutive year with an increase, up from $155 million for 2016. But you might notice as “Hey Ref” did that the newest cap is actually a $12 million dollar increase over last year. When you’re tossing around millions then billions of greenbacks what’s a couple million here or there, huh? This extra bounty of dollars comes just four years after the owners stated they were losing money and needed help from the players and convinced them to cut the rate of pay for most rookies and older players. Teams will now have a few extra dollars to spend in free agency since the vast number of those guys take to the “FREE” route hoping to put a slightly bigger bulge in their wallets.
If we go way back and compare the cap from 2012 to the one just released it shows an increase of some $47 million. The first year that the owners and players agreed upon a salary cap was 1994 and the number was an unbelievable $34.5 million. To see an increase of $47 million in just 4 years has some players questioning the agreed upon CBA which forced wages to be held low to incoming players and many retirees. Add in a few extra BILLION dollars here and there to pay the settlement on the lawsuit players filed questioning the league’s actions when the subject turned to concussions and brain injuries many are wondering if H & R Block has been doing the books at NFL Central.
There is no way any ordinary person can conceive what the exact numbers are with so many pieces (players) that can and will be moved before the start of training camp. We all see that this guy is being cut to get more room under the cap. You’ll read about renegotiated contracts, etc., etc. I just find it too complicated to understand and maybe that’s what the NFL wants as many hope to keep the dreaded IRS and audit possibilities to a minimum. So, as a service to all those out there in fantasy land here is a team by team breakdown to where each team stands as of this printing March 2, 2017.
Here is how the NFL explains the cap and the increase in available monies; The salary cap is a function of NFL revenues: If revenues increase, the money available to players increases. The salary cap is officially set at $167 million per club. In addition to this budget per club for salaries, there is an additional $37 million in benefits allocated to players, setting player’s total compensation package at more than $200 million per club.
Teams must get “under” the cap and the AFC teams with the most to cut are; Cincinnati @ $174 million, Cleveland @ $217 million, Tennessee @ $192 million. Denver, Kansas City and Oakland are close but still a little heavy around $174 million each. The NFC looks just as confusing with Washington sitting at $182 million, Carolina @ $180 million and topping out the 49ers sit at over $205 million. The Saints are sitting pretty good with a total in salaries right now at just over $172 million.
All this comes from a league in just a few short years removed that its owners screamed they were going bankrupt and were demanding its players to take drastic cuts in pay or else. To the fans that buy tickets and memorabilia be prepared to pay even more this year and years down the road. You’d think that as a non-fan I wouldn’t have to worry about all the rising costs but I’d be wrong.
So are all those unsuspecting individuals that have never set foot in a stadium or watch a single play. You see most of the money generated right now comes from television contracts. Or better put, the cost of commercials aired during those televised games. Companies have to raise the costs on everyday items like razor blades, energy drinks, beer, cloths and in many cases trucks and cars since they take up the most allotted air time during games all season long. Let me put it this way, when a company airs a spot for a $2.00 razor consumers must think of the number of razor that company must sell to get enough profit in order to run that commercial.
So whether you’re a fan or not (like me) we indirectly pay the salaries of all concerned in the sporting world simply because this country runs on what’s going on in the football, basketball and baseball world! It is what it is and all my complaining won’t matter because there are way more people wanting to pay those skyrocketing costs. As a way of my own personal protest I try to buy products not advertised during any game. I know it won’t matter to Wall Street but I can at least sleep just a bit better knowing I’m not donating to spoiled millionaire and billionaires!
Till next week…
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