Archive for March 3rd, 2014

WATERCOOLER CHAT: FREDETTE NEW TEBOW, SILVER TO CHANGE PLAYOFFS, FRICTION IN SF

BASKETBALL

If the NBA had their own version of Tim Tebow, it would be Jimmer Fredette.  The religious BYU grad was a sharp shooter in college and touted to be a relatively good player in the pros. But, more importantly, he has the kind of religious fan base that Tim Tebow does.  The Sacramento Kings traded up to draft him, but most people thought it was more for the crowds and ratings it would bring in, as opposed to his actual basketball skills.  The Kings, under new ownership, released Fredette.  And now it looks like he will be getting a brand new second chance with the Chicago Bulls.  They have signed him for the remainder of the year, hoping that he can provide a 3-point scoring threat like they had with Kyle Korver last year.  Currently, they are #5 in the playoff standings, and hoping to still make a run, even without their star Derrick Rose.

Elsewhere in the NBA, new commissioner Adam Silver is quickly taking the bull by the horns.  He is a rather liberal leader, and is open to a lot of change.  One of which may be a change to the playoff systems.  The reason:  To Avoid ‘Tanking’.  Once teams see they can’t legitimately make the playoffs, they start losing games on purpose.  Well, not completely on purpose, but they certainly stop trying to field the best teams or create the most competitive line-ups.  They realize that losses can actually help them with the odds of securing a top pick in the draft — possibly their only shot to turn their season around.  Now, it’s being proposed that the final #8 seed playoff spot in each conference will be up for grabs — with any team eligible to get it.  This would give a team that got hot late a chance to actually do some damage in the post-season.  Could be interesting.

FOOTBALL

Finally, in the NFL, it looks like things are getting even worse between Jim Harbaugh and 49ers management.  It’s been denied, but apparently there actually was a potential deal in place to trade Harbaugh to the Browns as a head coach.  Right now, it’s hard to argue with Harbaugh’s success.  He has led them to the NFC Championship in all of his 3 coaching seasons.  But, if this riff continues, and they start to lose for any reason, Harbaugh will likely instantly take the blame.  Basically, he better win this year or he might be shipped out of town.

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