Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APGetting Garnett will not make the Lakers a much-improved defensive team. He’ll help — he was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive second team last season — but they need so much more, especially when it comes to guarding other teams’ point guards.
The tandem of Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett will be attractive mainly to many season-ticket holders. Of those who pony up huge sums of money to see the Lakers play, many are knowledgeable basketball fans who understand the game’s nuances and dynamics. But many others are bozos who are easily seduced by star quality. They could sit through a lousy game as long as they spot Cameron Diaz or Jeremy Piven. These are the people who threatened to cancel their season tickets if Bryant’s demand to be traded was granted, and these are the people who will salivate over the Garnett deal.
It is ironic that all this is happening so soon after the San Antonio Spurs, with a modicum of star power (Tim Duncan is a great, great player, but hardly a Hollywood personality), demonstrated to the world that championships are won with defense and teamwork. It’s as if nobody involved has learned anything, least of all Kobe Bryant and the people striving so furiously to please him.
Assuming the Lakers do nothing else but acquire Garnett for Odom and Bynum — they’re hamstrung for the most part by the salary cap — they have a chance to go from being the seventh-best team in the West to the fifth-best team in the West, if they’re lucky. The Spurs, Suns and Mavs all will still be better than them for the next two to three years, and the Jazz, Rockets, Warriors and possibly the Clippers, Nuggets and Trail Blazers all have better nucleuses of talent. The Lakers will spin their wheels, but with their attractive new Band-Aid, they’ll look better doing it.
If Garnett is smart, he’ll nix the deal to L.A. and hold out for a trade to a team with more championship potential.
The wiser course of action for the Lakers would have been to continue to follow a patient plan, keeping Odom and Bynum and building with young talent. And if that meant trading Bryant to acquire two or three promising and gifted kids who might help the Lakers develop into the L.A. version of upcoming teams like the Jazz or Bulls, then so be it.
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But that would never happen in Los Angeles, because people there don’t want to see the Spurs. They want to see the Showtime Lakers of the ‘80s. Two points here: The Showtime Lakers are old and grey now, and also, they were a much, much better defensive team than people give them credit for. It’s all about defense. Even the Cavaliers, as shoddy a showing as they submitted in this year’s Finals, didn’t get that far just because of LeBron, they got there because they ranked among the top five in the NBA in points allowed.
Kevin Garnett is an exciting player, and there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing him get rescued from the Minnesota Timberwolves and placed in a city where he wants to be. He’s earned it.
It’ll be fun watching him play. It just won’t be fun watching him lose.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
