Not Breaking News: Steelers’ Harrison Doesn’t Understand the Rules
December 9, 2011On Ramon Sessions and the Cavaliers backcourt if Baron Davis is Amnestied
December 10, 2011While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Previewing #2 OSU / #13 Kansas later today down at Phog Allen Fieldhouse: “After an early loss to #1 Kentucky in New York, Kansas rebounded to make it to the Maui Invitational final. But sloppy defense late and an improbable 3-pointer led to another loss against #6 Duke. Since then, the Jayhawks have won 3 straight against inferior competition in preparation for OSU. It usually takes a couple of weeks to recover from the Maui trip, and in addition to that the team battled “the crud” for a bit before shaking it off.
Helping to make up for the loss of so much fire-power, and especially the loss of the Morris twins, is junior forward Thomas Robinson. Robinson has been a beast on the front-court, at one point recording six straight double-doubles. Robinson racked up a career high 26 points in KU’s victory against Long Beach State on Tuesday and also grabbed 11 boards. He is not as large as Sullinger, but he cleans the glass pretty well, averaging 12 rebounds per game.
Another key player for Kansas is senior point guard Tyshawn Taylor. Taylor is a distributor, but he’s also a serious scoring threat from the one. He’s shooting nearly 46% from the field this season, including a sizzling 57% from downtown. Reserve guard Conner Teahan is another dead-eye shooter from distance, hitting 45% of his threes. He helped the Jayhawks break the game open against Long Beach, hitting 4 triples and scoring a career high 14 points.” [Joe Beale / Eleven Warriors]
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On Indians trading to point of mediocrity: “I have had an incipient feeling of dread regarding the Tribe’s offseason. The reason, I believe, is a fear that the Indians might be entering into a cycle of mediocrity that is hard to escape. Think Toronto, which has sat between 75-87 wins every season except 2004 (67 wins) since 1998.
Certain teams just seem to get stuck in the 75-86 win range – not terrible, but not really viable contenders – year in and year out, uncertain whether they are contending or rebuilding, but really just sputtering in the unproductive middle ground. There are a variety of paths that can lead to the mediocrity vortex, but for the Indians the path seems to have begun with the Ubaldo trade, leveraging the long-term future (i.e. Alex White, Drew Pomeranz) for the near-term future (Ubaldo 2011-2013).That move was a gamble, and one that you can mount a strong defense of.
But the risk is that Ubaldo is not enough, the core around him is not enough, and that all the trade really did was put the Indians in the “close, but not quite” range of contention. And that would be fine if the Indians had resources to continue to push forward, but do they? We obviously aren’t making major payroll additions, which eliminates free agency for us. After trading White and Pomeranz, and with injuries to the team’s core veterans (Sizemore, Choo, Hafner), the team can’t really afford to leverage much more in the way of young talent.” [APV / Let’s Go Tribe]
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Former OSU Buckeye Greg Oden suffers another injury setback: “So this really can’t be good. Portland Trail Blazers’ Greg Oden has reportedly suffered a set back from knee surgery recovery. The set back is unknown but whatever it is, it was discovered during a physical.
“Following Greg’s most recent physical examination and evaluation, we’ve determined that he has suffered a setback,” team president Larry Miller said in a statement. “We’re hopeful, but are less confident that he will return to the court this season. We’ve stood by Greg from the day he was drafted and we continue to do so with this agreement.”
This has to be utterly frustrating for all Blazers fans and management.” [Jeff Garcia / Crossover Chronicles]
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Chris Paul trade talks back on: “The New Orleans Hornets, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers are pushing toward completing the reconstructed framework of a trade that could make Chris Paul the Lakers point guard this weekend, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
After the NBA office furnished New Orleans general manager Dell Demps with fresh directives on the kind of deal it would take to get approval from the league, Demps re-engaged the Lakers and Rockets in talks early Friday afternoon that carried deep into the evening, sources said. The three teams agreed to reconvene Saturday morning and believed they were within striking distance of a deal Demps could take to the league for its blessing.
Several of the key deal elements remain the same of the version that Stern nixed Thursday, including Pau Gasol going to the Rockets and Lamar Odom to the Hornets. The NBA wants the Hornets to receive more young players and draft picks.” [Adrian Wojnarowski / Yahoo! Sports]
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Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson practice after signing rookie deals yesterday. Baron Davis at Cavaliers facility for practice but held out due to back strain; says he loves Cleveland, loves the fans. [Stepien Rules]
4 Comments
The difference between the tribe and Toronto is that mediocrity will actually compete in the central. Not so much in the east.
Yea it’ll compete for 3/4 of the season until either Detroit and Chicago acquire talent at the trade deadline.
And Baron Davis already is injured…amnesty him already. The people who think he’ll contribute obviously don’t know his medical history. Besides that he’s not exactly the mentor I’d like for Irving. Let the young guys play, learn and lose then use draft picks and $$$ to get free agents after the season.
C’s in pursuit of Xavier’s own David West – nice.
Sorry forgot to add Arizona traded for Trevor Cahill from Oakland. Kevin Towers is quietly one of the best GMs in baseball.