Presenting the Facts of the News with a little Opinion

July 3, 2014Volume: 1

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1 Reeltalkmedia.com .July 3, 2014

CASE FOR CARMELO

By: Bobby Schwarz

The free agency frenzy of 2014 is turning into the drama filled summer of 2010 that yielded “the decision.” There are mnay similarities between this year and 2010 including LeBron James opting for free agency. The player overshadowing this year’s free agent class is not James, but Carmelo Anthony in what seems like “the decision” 2.0.

Maybe it is too early in free agency get tired of hearing the speculation and the rumors of where ‘Melo will end up playing next season, but I am more intrigued this summer than I was in 2010.

Now, through all of this speculation there are only a few serious spots where ‘Melo could land. The Knicks, Bulls, Rockets and Mav-ericks. Of course there are rumor of teaming LeBron up with ‘Melo in Miami or Phoenix or even in Atlanta, but to be real it is extremely unlikely the two will team up in the near future.

The Bulls offer to ‘Melo is the best team and the best chances to win now. Playing in Chicago, the Bulls already have a solid roster with Derrick Rose who is coming off a knee injury and is expected to be 100% and still play at a high level. Rose will benefit the most from playing with ‘Melo, and the same goes for ‘Melo playing with Rose. The Bulls have the defending Defensive Player of the Year in Jokim Noah, a budding star in Taj Gibson and their first-round selction in the 2014 draft in Doug McDermott. McDermott’s game will translate well to the NBA for an immediate impact playing the 2 or 3. The Bulls can also give ‘Melo something that cannot be over-looked and that is an easier road to the Finals playing in the weaker Eastern conference.

There is still a chance of the Knicks persuading ‘Melo to re-sign in New York if the price is right. Phil Jackson’s presence has

already been heavily felt as the new President of the Knicks, and who wouldn’t want to be involved with perhaps the greatest coach ever who’s knowledge seems to translate well into the front office. But for Carmelo, New York will be a much tougher road. It would be at least two years away from being considered any sort of contender, the Knicks do not have the cap space to add any significant pieces.

The Rockets would be an interesting fit for Carmelo. Sources say that Dwight Howard “badly” wants ‘Melo in Houston (according to Twitter), and who would argue with that. If I am a big in the NBA who would not want to play with ‘Melo and vice-versa, if I am Carmelo I have never had a chance to play with an elite big man. The Rockets have a very young exciting team that is absolutely on the up swing. However, it could be difficult for ‘Melo and James Harden to play along side each other since each player averages about 25 shots per game. The Rockets would also have to find a suitor to take on Jeremy Lin’s salary to clear enough space for ‘Melo.

The Mavericks are a very captivating situation. Dallas has won a championship in the past three years and an owner in Mark Cuban who treats his players right. The Mavs have the cap space to re-sign Dirk and give ‘Melo close to a max contract. Dallas just completed a trade with the Knicks to re-acquire Tyson Chandler, who was recently ‘Melo’s teammate in New York, and also the anchor of the Mavericks Championship team. However, like Harden in Houston it could be tough for ‘Melo and Monta Ellis to play along side another in Dallas.

After all of the speculation the best fit for Carmelo would be Chicago. It would be the best situation for both parties and the best route to a championship. Conversely, I think the Mavs would be a very attractive fit and it would be the best front court in the NBA along with Dirk and Chandler.

- Kanas Freshman Andrew Wiggins selected 1st overall by the Cleve-land Cavaliers in the 2014 NBA draft

-Aaron Ekblad was selected 1st overall by the Florida Panthers in the 2014 NHL draft

- The Brooklyn Nets trade Coach Jason Kidd to the Milwaukee Bucks for two 2nd round picks

- Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James opt of of their contracts to become unrestricted free agents

- Derek Jeter passes Lou Gehirg to become the New York Yankees all-time doubles leader (534)

- United States Men National Soccer team gets knocked out of the World Cup after a 2-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16

- Arbitrator rules that Jimmy Graham’s position is tight end for franchise tag. Ruling will cost Graham about $5 million

2 Reeltalkmedia.com .July 3, 2014

IMAGINE WESTBROOK IN THE NFL

By: Bobby Schwarz

Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook has all the physical tools to be an effective NBA player because he is one of the premier players in the league. Westbrook’s measurables compare to one of the great cornerbacks in the NFL, Richard Sherman. This begs the question what if Westbrook chose football over basketball?

The point guard position that Westbrook plays is the equivalent to the quarterback in football. Westbrook mans the offense, calls the plays and executes. However, the quarterback position is not filled with the most athletic guys. That is why Westbrook would be an elite defensive back in the NFL. Now this is simply my opinion and Westbrook never played collegiate football. Just for fun, what if Westbrook was in Sherman’s shoes? He has the size, strength, athleticism and ability but it is two totally different sports and games. Westbrook plays with such intensity the entire time. Pic-ture him reaching for the pass down field to make an athletic play on the ball?

The 25-year-old Westbrook measures 6 foot 3 inches, 200 lbs. and a wingspan of 6 foot 7.75 inches and 36.5 inch vertical leap.

Sherman, 26, measures in at 6 foot 3 inches and 195 lbs. with a 6 foot 5 inch wingspn and 38 inch vertical leap. So what make Sherman so effective and such a great defender?

Sherman, a former wide receiver at Stanford University, made the transtion to defensive back after a kneeinjury four games into his junior season via Bleacher report. Sherman is not the quickest DB in the league because of his size but his excellent ball skills and great technique more than makes up for it.

Now what is it that makes Westbrook so effective? Westbrook is unbelievably athletic, fearless, fast and aggressive. He can jump, has very good size for his position, court vision and great body control.

One of the most import elements to his game is that he plays for the moment. West-brook doesn’t think about the

play that happened before or what is about to happen. Westbook plays for the now.

Basketball is a much more difficult sport to professionally pursue than football. There are only 12-15 spots on a basketball roster compared to the NFL’s 53-man roster, and players alsohave to be more developed and have skill that overlap other in the NBA.

This leads one to believe that if a player has the combination of physical tools and athleticism that they could become an NFL player before an NBA player.

All of the skills that Westbrook poises would translate to the NFL game. Youcan teach technique and if you have the smarts and study enough film then you can teach a player what to do in certain situations.

There is one thing that you can’t teach and that is the physical tools and athleticsim.

There is no doubt that Westbrook has the lethal combination of size, speed, strenghth, smarts and not to mention the personality, which is why he would be an effective defensive back in the NFL. Everything that Sherman does, Westbrook has the skills to do and then some.

This is not the first time we have heard of basketball players tossing the idea of playing in the NFL. We see many college basketball players make the transition to become very effective tight ends in the NFL such as Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham. Most people have also heard the “what if” and the “how good” LeBron James woudl be if he was an NFL tight end.

Then there is Nate Robinson.

Robinson a one-year football player at University of Washington chose to purse basketball over football. He still believes he would be an effective NFL conerback. He measure in at 5 foot 9 inches which is now being undersized, but like Westbrook has the athleticism to play the DB position at a high level.

A glimps of Westbrook playing DB

3 Reeltalkmedia.com .July 3, 2014

Editor: Bobby SchwarzPublished Weekly Volume: 1 Issue: 1

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- Kyle Lowry (TOR): 4-years, $48 million

- Marcin Gortat (WASH): 5-years, $62 million

- Shaun Livingston (GS): 3-years, $16 million

- Avery Bradley (BOS): 4-years, $32 million

- Patty Mills (SA): 3-years, $12 million

- Darren Collison (SAC): 3-year, $16 million

- C.J. Miles (IND): 4-years, $18 million

- Jodie Meeks (DET): 3-years, $19 million

- Cartier Martin (DET): 1 year, undisclosed

Free Agent Tracker*As of July 3

2014 Free Agent Frenzy

By: Bobby Schwarz

The 2014 NBA free agency period began just two short days ago at 12:00 am on July 1, and already it is shaping up to be a thrilling period.

The 2014 frenzy promises to be asexciting as 2010 when we had “the decision” where LeBron James and Chris Bosh decided, “they would take their talents to South Beach” to play along with Dwayne Wade. The “Big Three” promised to win six championships in Miami, but they had to settle for two rings and now all three have opted out of their contracts.

Thus far it has been a slow start to free agency. We have seen Kyrie Irving sign a five-year, $90 million contract extention to stay with the Cavaliers. This will make Irving a free agent again when he is 28 years old and in the prime of his career. We have also seen Kyle Lowry (who was highly coveted by Miami to lure LeBron back) ink a four-year, $48 million deal to stay with the rapidly improving Raptors.

The real question that remains is where are LeBron and ‘Melo going to end up?

Carmelo has already met with the Bulls and Knicks, and is scheduled to meet with the Lakers, Rockets and Mavericks. There are no strong indications where ‘Melo could land but the Bulls and Rockets could emerge as the frontrunners.

LeBron seems to be taking his time to weight his options. Miami seems to be the favorite to bring LeBron back so he can win the other four championships that he promised in 2010. On the other hand there are better temas out there that have the

ability to build a better team around LeBron. Since Wade and Bosh also used their ETO’s one would think that they would be willing to take less money to help build the Heat with quality players to contend for a championship and lure LeBron back.

LeBron James has never been the highest paid players on a team that he has played on. This is a crazy stat considering he is one of the best players in the world and there is no doubt that he deserves the max

contract that he is seeking.

The Celtics have locked up Avery Bradely to a four-year, $32 million deal. This begs the question, will the Celtics trade

Rajon Rondo this summer? The Kings have made it known that they are very interested in acquiring Rondo. However, the Kings have just signed Darren Collison to a three-year deal, but Collison is simply a short term answer, where Rondo is long term.

As we saw in 2010, this is shaping up to be a slow process for free agents, at least until LeBron or ‘Melo sign somewhere. Teams will continue to clear cap space in hopes to sign one fo these top two players, but we will see where the chips fall when the top names sign on the dotted line.

Some of the other top free agents availible include: Chris Bost, Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Bledsoe, Greg Monroe, Chandler Parsons, Lance Stephenson, Luol Deng and Pau Gasol.

Questions on LeBron and ‘Melo’s future