Archive for July 2nd, 2012

WATERCOOLER CHAT: SPAIN DOMINATES WORLD CUP, LIN’S A FREE AGENT, NETS WANT WILLIAMS

SOCCER

This weekend, the major story was out of the soccer world.  It was the final game of the 2012 Euro Cup.  This is essentially like the World Cup, except exclusively for Europe — so bragging rights were on the line.  This year saw a final between Italy and Spain.  Spain won the 2010 World Cup, and is making a case to be the best team of all time.  They are purely dominant right now, winning the last Euro Cup and the World Cup.  Winning this would empirically pronounce them a dynasty and one of the best teams ever.  Even with emerging superstar Mario Balotelli, Italy simply couldn’t get a goal on Spain.  Meanwhile, Spain had no problem scoring on Italy.  They got two early goals from David Silva and Jordi Alba, and in the end with just 10 minutes left, they added two more goals from Fernando Torres (happy because he got his goal) and Juan Mata.  A dominating win for Spain — a team with its eyes on winning two straight World Cups in 2014.  Spain 4, Italy 0.

BASKETBALL

In the NBA, free agency is kicking off on Monday.  One of the most interesting free agents in this year’s crop is Jeremy Lin.  He was sports media’s darling for about 2 weeks given his sudden emergence and Asian marketability.  He got injured towards the end of the season, and everyone expected he would obviously return to the Knicks — a major market for him to thrive.  However, if another team offers him a HUGE deal, the Knicks might not be so quick to offer given that they are already kind of set in the back court.  Plus, there are a lot of rumors that the Knicks will chase Steve Nash to put him with Carmelo and reunite him with Amare.  Nash would give that team some leadership and make them even more of a cohesive unit.  So overspending on Lin, a player that is good, but not necessarily a star, might not be the best financial move.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Finally, in the other lead story in the NBA is where superstar point-guard Deron Williams will land.  The two teams courting him the hardest are the Dallas Mavericks, who would love to make him a long-term plan over the next 5 or 6 seasons, and his current team:  The Brooklyn Nets.  The Nets want him because they believe he would play a big factor in helping court superstar Dwight Howard to Brooklyn.  If the Nets can secure both stars, they would immediately become relevant in the East, and even a legitimate contender.  Plus, that would likely lure other free agents to the Nets — after all it is New York.  So, as of right now, Deron Williams has a lot of power and a ton of leverage. Expect him to see a very big, lucrative deal in the coming weeks.

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