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Monday Morning Thoughts

March 23rd, 2009

1. Gilbert Arenas: Returning before the end of this season?

I heard over the weekend that Gilbert Arenas is toying with the idea of re-joining the Washington Wizards for the final five games of the season. The sharp-shooting guard, who has been practicing with his teammates since Feb. 16th, hasn’t played in a game all year. And he should keep it that way.

Arenas came back at the end of last year and tried to help Washington at season’s end and in the playoffs. He needed another operation on his knee this offseason and hasn’t played since signing a six-year, $111-million contract this offseason. Did he not learn his lesson last year? Forget about 2009. Don’t worry about playing in five trivial games at the end of the season.

Arenas’ target date for a return should be game-one of next year, when the Wizards are opening up a new season with a top-pick (Blake Griffin would look good in one of those ugly Wizards road uni’s) and a clean slate.

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2. Yao Ming: Throw your body around, would ya?

Yao Ming finished with 13-points and eight-rebounds last night. I was watching ESPN last night and I saw Tim Legler (who I think is a phenomenal studio analyst, by the way) verbally making out with the Houston Rockets’ starting center. Legler was talking about what a stretch Ming has had with Tracy McGrady out. He also said that Ming has been taking games over.

Am I the only person who finds the fact that Ming only grabbed eight rebounds appalling? The guys is 7-6. He’s as close to being eight-feet tall as he is to being seven-feet tall! And he’s only grabbing eight-rebounds. Those numbers don’t describe the output of somebody who is dominating or taking a game over. They resemble what somebody like Michael Ruffin can contribute on a good night, just by out-working the people he’s banging in the block with.

Ming should be the most dominant player on the floor during every game. From what I see when I watch him, he rarely is. Don’t get me wrong, Ming is a fine player. But he should be better, and he should certainly be much more active and physical around the rim. Oh, and speaking of the rim - as tall as the guy is, he should also never have a problem flushing. But he does.

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3. USA: Bounced in ‘WBC’ Semifinal

Team USA couldn’t hold on to it’s early lead on Sunday night, losing to Japan in the semifinal round of the second-ever World Baseball Classic. America didn’t have enough pitching to match up with Japan, who gave Daisuke Matsuzaka the kind of support that the main character of an episode of ‘Intervention’ gets on the hit show on A&E. Matsuzaka is now 6-0 in six stars in the tournament in it’s first two installments.

There was a lot to like about this year’s tournament. The Netherlands beating the Dominican Republic twice is a baseball story for the ages. The individual successes against international competition of three veterans (Pudge Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, and Sidney Ponson) who entered the month without contracts, will net each of the three one-time jobless castoffs deals with big league clubs in the past week-plus.

Team USA had it’s moments as well. Multiple injuries forced players to play out of position, but the club kept on competing. Mark DeRosa played at first base - where he’s spend just 13 games in 11 seasons in the majors - on Sunday night. America’s effort wasn’t enough, though. Japan, the defending champions of the 16-team event, proved to strong yet again.

Japan will play Korea tonight for the title. First pitch is set for 9pm eastern at Dodgers Stadium. Korea, you may remember, won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics this past August.

I like the fundamentally sound Japanese club to defend it’s championship, though.

Posted by Grant Paulsen Filed in General, MLB, NBA, Washington Wizards

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Monday Morning Thoughts

March 23rd, 2009

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