Looking Ahead to the 2010 Draft

Consider that the Thunder owns Phoenix's 2010 1st-round pick, unconditionally. Now consider that both Oklahoma City and the Suns will be high-lottery teams.

So in addition to Durant, Green and Westbrook -- plus the guard of their choice (Rubio, Curry, Evans, Harden) that they grab tonight -- they get what will likely be TWO Top 10 picks in 2010:

John Wall and Ed Davis? Willie Warren and Derrick Favors? Oklahoma City is not only the linchpin of the 2009 Draft, but also the power-players next year, too.

It's good to be Sam Presti.

-- D.S.

Dan Shanoff 2009 NBA Mock Draft

1. Clippers: Blake Griffin
Solid, but -- honestly -- anyone care?
2. Grizzlies: Hasheem Thabeet
Shouldn't have wasted pick on Conley.
3. Thunder: Ricky Rubio
Unless they trade Rubio to the Knicks for David Lee.
4. Kings: Tyreke Evans Jonny Flynn
Terrific new face of the franchise.
5. T'wolves: Stephen Curry
Unique: Safe talent, yet huge cachet.
6. T'wolves: Tyreke Evans
Great pairing with Curry.
7. Warriors: DeMar DeRozan James Harden
Ellis-Harden makes for terrific young backcourt.
8. Knicks: Jonny Flynn Jordan Hill
Size to replace inevitably departing Lee.
9. Raptors: Jordan Hill DeMar DeRozan
High upside to offset inevitable departure of Bosh.
10. Bucks: Brandon Jennings Jrue Holiday
Remade team could use the sizzle.
11. Nets: Terrence Williams Tyler Hansbrough
I don't see it, but college hoops TV analysts will love.
12. Bobcats: James Johnson
Saw him up close at Wake Forest.
13. Pacers: Jrue Holiday Ty Lawson
Lawson over Jennings: Ooh, the symbolism.
14. Suns: Sam Young Terrence Williams
Versatile and athletic.
15. Pistons: BJ Mullens
With Amir Johnson out, a new young big.
16. Bulls: Gerald Henderson DeJuan Blair
Beef to complement skinny Noah and Thomas up front.
17. Sixers: DeJuan Blair Gerald Henderson
Can't resist Philly star, despite overlap with Iguodala.
18. T'wolves: Tyler Hansbrough Sam Young
Sleeper stud of the draft.
19. Hawks: Earl Clark
Another positionless forward? Why not!
20. Jazz: Eric Maynor
Sloan loves the old-school winners.
21. Hornets: Wayne Ellington
CP3 drives...and dishes here for 3.
22. Blazers: Omri Casspi
Per Ziller, stolen from Sacto?
23. Kings: Austin Daye
Needs time to develop; Kings have it.
24. Mavs (from Blazers): Brandon Jennings
Can't believe he dropped this far.
25. Thunder: Nick Calathes
Stats, size, plus he can develop for a year in Europe.
26. Bulls: Jeff Teague
Sort of like a poor man's Hinrich.
27. Grizzlies: Jonas Jerebko
"Wait: We want a Euro, too!"
28. T'wolves: Chase Budinger
No good, but will be fan favorite for hops.
29. Lakers: Darren Collison
Love their PGs from UCLA.
30. Cavs: Taj Gibson
6 more fouls on Dwight Howard

2012 Is The New 2010:Kevin Durant Is New LeBronOklahoma City Is The New Cleveland

Everyone is so focused on the Shaq-Cavs deal -- for good reason: The Cavs have one year left to make a run at the title before LeBron bolts for New York.

(Don't think that the Cavs "investing" in the team through Shaq will keep LeBron around after next season -- like Shaq will be useful after a title run next year?)

Anyway, it strikes me as strange that we started talking about "LeBron 2010" at least 2 years ago. It will peak roughly one year from today.

So doesn't it seem about time to start talking about the next great transcendent Free Agent of the Century move -- Kevin Durant's free agency in 2012? (Sorry, Thunder fans: You're up next.)

As a Wizards fan, I would like to see the team take three cracks at competing for a title over the next three years, then clear the cap room for 2012 to rebuild around Durant, a D.C. native.

What: Too early?

-- D.S.

Thursday 06/25 A.M. Quickie:Draft, Rubio, Shaq, US Soccer, More

My Mock Draft -- which had to be tweaked a few times overnight -- will be up at noon.

It can be a down draft year, but I still think the day of the NBA Draft is one of my favorite sports days of the year. Misdirection, right up 'til the end.

I lead today's SN column with the Top 5 draft storylines:

(1) Where does Rubio go? Oklahoma City: Really? (Or the Knicks, in a sign-n-trade for Lee?)

(2) How far does Brandon Jennings fall -- and how much schadenfreude from the ESPN analysts?

(3) How high does Tyler Hansbrough go? Maybe even to New Jersey at No. 11?

(4) What does Minnesota's new backcourt look like tomorrow: Curry-Harden? Curry-Evans?

(5) Who will win my coveted "Best Dressed" award?

Meanwhile, what does Shaq's trade to the Cavs mean? It means the LeBron marketing juggernaut just got bigger. It means that the Cavs are going for broke next year. It means that the two biggest stars in the league are on one team. But it does NOT mean the Cavs beat the Magic. Dwight Howard will embarrass Shaq, and the Cavs still have no one to stop Lewis.

(Shaq heard about his trade to Cleveland through Twitter. Funny: So did I.)

USA Soccer: Amazing. Seriously, one of the most amazing results for a US national team -- in any sport -- ever. I discount it only slightly because it did not happen in a World Cup. But beating the No. 1 team in the world is no joke.

Congrats to LSU baseball.

Honestly, I am too excited about the draft to post more right now. Check out the complete column here. More later, almost all about the draft.

Probably no live-blog tonight, but certainly running comments on Twitter, which should be exploding tonight during the Draft.

-- D.S.

More on Nick Calathes via Pelton

"Calathes looks like a steal anywhere after the Lottery." -- I'm a huge Kevin Pelton fan, and I know he just reports where the data takes him (an approach I value and appreciate).

But I just don't see Calathes's NBA productivity as he lays it out. And, remember, I'm a huge Florida hoops fan. I would, by nature, usually see their players in the most positive light possible.

(My track record is somewhat spotty: I thought David Lee would be a great pro. I thought Marreese Speights would not. I thought Horford would be great -- Noah and Brewer, too.)

I love these comps, by the way. They certainly have more analytical rigor than the vaguely racist "eyeball" comparison that most fans/media engage in.

-- D.S.

2009 NBA Draft Studs and Busts (and Mehs)

We all watch a lot of college hoops. We are pretty versed in NBA team needs -- plus the situation a rookie would come into (complementing talent, system, etc). And we have all read the scuttlebutt from draft season -- the mocks, the workout gossip, the misdirection. The result?

A completely not-quite-baseless evaluation of which 1st-round-ish NBA Draft prospects will succeed in the NBA, which will bust and which simply don't inspire much of anything, roughly listed in order of their consensus draft placement...

THRIVE
Tyreke Evans: Best combo of "ready now" + "upside"
Stephen Curry: Top 10 NBA shooter, already.
Jonny Flynn: Speedy and athletic, with personality
Brandon Jennings: Best experience in draft of any US player
Terrence Williams: Weird, versatile, valuable
Eric Maynor: This year's Mario Chalmers
Sam Young: THE hot sleeper
DeJuan Blair: Better Paul Millsap
Omri Casspi: Move over, Jordan Farmar
Toney Douglas: Single-handedly burnt UNC; Arenas-lite?
DaJuan Summers: 2nd-round steal

BUST
Hasheem Thabeet: OK, so he blocks shots...and?
James Harden: Shooting guard who can't shoot
Jordan Hill: Still-developing big? Sign me up!
BJ Mullens: Kosta Koufos 2.0
Jeff Teague: Poor man's Mike James. Not a compliment.
Ty Lawson: So NBA-worthy, couldn't make it a year ago.
Chase Budinger: Wasn't good last year, not good now
Austin Daye: Prototype length, but weaker than me
Nick Calathes: Too big to guard 1s, too slow to guard 2s.

MEH
Blake Griffin: Stuck on Clips. Can't shoot. (And can't play D.)
Ricky Rubio: Not strong enough. Can't shoot.
DeMar DeRozan: Gerald Green or T-Mac? Does it matter?
Jrue Holiday: Needs right fit. Can't shoot.
Tyler Hansbrough: But a better NBA career than Lawson!
James Johnson: Lost among higher-profile PFs
Gerald Henderson: Hey, aren't you Wayne Ellington?
Wayne Ellington: Hey, aren't you Gerald Henderson?
Earl Clark: Only one L'ville positionless wonder will thrive.

Add your own prospects you think will Thrive, Bust or Uninspire.

-- D.S.

Wednesday 06/24 A.M. Quickie:T'wolves, Wizards, Favre, Manny, Spain

So I sort of feel like the T'wolves-Wizards trade officially started the NBA Draft. Perhaps that's because the Wizards are my NBA team, so I inflate anything that happens with them.

As a Wiz fan, I have a few thoughts:

(1) Yes, I'm disappointed to give up the 5 pick, because I was excited to have either Stephen Curry or Tyreke Evans -- either better than Randy Foye (and Curry an even better shooter than Mike Miller).

(2) But I am enthusiastic about unloading some bad contracts, including Etan Thomas. A little bummed about losing Songaila, but that guy's back problems made him half a player.

(3) I like Foye's ability as a combo guard off the bench, either playing off Arenas or off Miller. Not sure what it means for Crittenton (or Mike James, who will hopefull be unloaded).

(4) Obviously, I am happy to have Mike Miller -- even though his time as a Gator preceded my fandom by two years.

(5) I think Ernie Grunfeld has earned the cred to believe in the benefit of the deal for the Wiz.

(6) I love this deal for the T'wolves, as I lead in today's SN column, who can now parlay the 5/6 picks into either (a) the No. 2 pick (don't do it), or (b) a brand-new backcourt of, say, Curry and Evans, which would be sick.

(And if new GM David Kahn wants to make a splash, he would pick both at the same time, having them come up to the podium together, as the new faces of the franchise.)

It also signals that the heavy trading action that everyone is expecting is likely to continue. (How about that rumor that the Celtics were shopping Rondo for Gay/Conley from Memphis? I think the Celtics realize that Rondo will bolt in 2010, because so many teams will have massive cap room to over-spend on him when they inevitably don't get LeBron/Wade/Bosh.)

Otherwise, it's a pretty packed column today:

*Favre's return confirmed? How many media outlets will follow Florio and PFT's lead? You would think they would be racing to jump on this, but it's almost like they are not, just to spite PFT.

*A triple-jump of MLB PED stories:

(1) Manny cheered in return (once more: fans don't care about PEDs like the sensationalizing media.

(2) Speaking of which, the Chicago BBWAA posse is going to talk about how to handle Steroid Era players -- oh, THAT won't be a clusterf--- or anything. Wonder if they will open the discussion to the public?

(3) Ryne Sandberg doesn't think Sammy Sosa is HOF-worthy. Now, Sandberg is probably my favorite baseball player ever -- he was my favorite player growing up, certainly. I appreciate his POV, but it is ridiculous to try to draw lines here, especially when every modern player in the Hall took enough now-banned amphetamines (or amphetamine-like substances) to make the whole thing way too hazy.

Complete column here, with lots more. More coming later today, including my list of 2009 NBA Draftees who will rule, who will be busts and who simply make me say "meh."

-- D.S.

Tuesday 06/23 A.M. Quickie:Linking Brett Favre to Jon & Kate Plus 8

Jon & Kate Gosselin are like America's royalty. That was painful to consider, let alone write.

Their TV show attracts insane volumes of viewers. Their presence on covers sells magazines like no celebrity out there. Their names dominate Google searches. This is simply the reality.

And, so, with last night's "big announcement" (divorce), there was no way I wasn't going to find a way to link Jon & Kate to sports in today's SN column.

Good thing Brett Favre makes it so easy: Because he is the Jon & Kate of sports -- you loathe them for the media whoredom, yet you can't look away. Non-news becomes news.

And just as the divorce was obvious, so is Favre's return to the NFL with the Vikings.

There you have it: Who's the PV-monger now, Brett/Jon/Kate? This guy.

More in today's column:
*Snooziest. US Open champ. Ever.
*Loving Pitt's Sam Young as NBA Draft gem.
*Ahh, if only anyone actually liked college baseball.
*Yes, Manny Being Minors, but how about the Rox?
*Know the Name: Aaron Shutway.

Complete column here. More later.

-- D.S.

ESPNChicago.com Adds Huffington Post

I think there was talk about this a month or so ago, but ESPN formalized its relationship with Huffington Post for their Chicago coverage. Gives HuffPo some quality sports coverage for their Chicago site, and gives ESPN.com more distribution/awareness for their ESPNChicago.com content. Sounds like HuffPo Chicago will get content on ESPNChicago.com, too. Win-win.

-- D.S.

UPDATE: I was thinking too locally, perhaps. The much bigger announcement is that ESPN got the rights to broadcast The Premiership (in the UK, no less) and La Liga.

Tyler Hansbrough: Top 10 Pick? (Really?)

I have never been particularly high on Tyler Hansbrough's NBA potential. At best, I saw him as an "energy" guy, off the bench. The next coming of Paul Millsap, if he's lucky. That's not a terrible role, by the way -- see Millsap's pending fat new contract. And, if Shane Battier and the new world of statistics in the NBA are any indicator, seemingly weak "glue guys" can be very valuable.

Then you read about this workout he had for the Hawks, which left the Hawks glowing -- or, at least, saying they were glowing. You have to take this with a grain -- if a team that likes Hansbrough is picking behind Atlanta and thinks the Hawks might take him, they might be willing/forced to deal for the ability to get him earlier. I don't think anyone likes Psycho-T THAT much...

More than that, I have really not particularly liked the comparisons between Tyler Hansbrough and Tim Tebow, although -- sigh -- they are kind of appropriate. And if I keep saying that Tim Tebow will have a perfectly fine NFL career based on his absurdly strong work ethic (plus his physical tools), why shouldn't I be willing to say the same thing about Hansbrough?

Again: I think Hansbrough WILL have a fine NBA career -- perhaps not a star, but a decade in the league. He is more Millsap than Madsen, though nowhere near Carlos Boozer.

Worth a Top 10 pick? I guess it depends on your needs. Atlanta has a terrific starting post player in Al Horford -- but what playoff aspirant can't use a little energy and rebounding off the bench?

-- D.S.

Not A Baseless Rumor Yet, But Should Be

I am announcing the launch of my new ongoing feature "Not a Baseless Rumor Yet, But Should Be."

Nothing brings out the misinformation, disinformation and just plain wrong information like draft season.

Here's the thing: What's wrong with rumors? Regardless of where they come from, they are -- wait for it -- fun. Fun for fans. Fodder for sports media.

And, let's not forget, team execs and player agents traffic in rumors as their freaking job -- planting most of what's out there as a way to manipulate things to their advantage.

I loved this piece by the NYT's Howard Beck about the NBA Mock Draft scene -- it features Chad Ford (one of my favorite people in all of sports media) and Jonathan Givony (another great guy, and founder of the top NBA-draft-specific site on the Web).

The best part was the way that the draftniks totally acknowledge that mock drafts are -- wait for it -- for fun. (Imagine any of the NFL mock-drafters acknowledging anything remotely close to that -- and it diminishes the NFL draftnik's credibility to NOT admit mocks are a mockery.)

Ford and Givony's actual news-breaking (and, yes, rumor/information-spreading) is what matters. It is -- and this is not meant pejoratively at all -- fertilizer for a great draft experience for everyone.

But mock drafts are great, even vital. To consider them gospel is insane. But they have their important role in the pre-draft process. And they give us a baseline to talk about the draft.

In the end, to use a single mock draft is insane. And to combine draft positions is totally useless -- it's not a fantasy draft; each team has specific needs that aren't reflected in the uber-mocks.

No, the way to go is to read through all of the information, misinformation and disinformation, then try to tease out what is being said betwen the lines. (It would help if we knew who was feeding the draftniks their info -- is it the GM, the freelance scout, the agent, who?)

Mark Cuban had this ludicrous idea that ESPN should blacklist any blogs that traffic in faulty rumors. First of all, teams and agents do more to undermine the rumor mill than any media outlet. And the blogs are fed by the -- yes -- mainstream media, whose closer ties to the team front-office execs and agents make them more susceptible to print WHATEVER. After all, they got it "on the record." (Even if the source is unnamed.) So bloggers are hardly the problem. And even if a blogger is going to make up a rumor, isn't it the NBA reporter's DAY JOB to understand what is worth pursuing and what isn't? If they're following bad info, that's their own problem -- and their editor's. But no one ever got fired for generating page views following sketchy intel.

Anyway, back to my new feature: Not A Baseless Rumor Yet, But Should Be.

I keep reading how T'wolves GM David Kahn wants to make this big splash in the draft. I even heard he wants to try to grab the Wizards' No. 5 pick and package it with the No. 6 to move up to the Grizzlies' No. 2 spot. Now, nevermind that the 5/6 is probably better for a struggling team than the No. 2 player this year (whoever that might be), but the T'wolves want to do something dramatic. So here's a scenario (and yes, baseless!):

The T'wolves trade Kevin Love to the Wizards for the No. 5 pick -- and whatever salaries need to be moved to make it work. The T'wolves get the 5/6 combo to trade up with the Grizzlies, where they take Hasheem Thabeet. Al Jefferson gets to go back to playing PF, where he was overlapping with Kevin Love anyway. The T'wolves get their "splash."

The Wizards get a player who, among sophomores, is among the most ready to contribute to an NBA playoff contender right now. And the Wizards could use the help in the post. Oh, yeah, and Love throws the best NBA outlet pass since... well, since DC's own Wes Unseld.

With the 5th and 6th pick, the Grizzlies could take Jordan Hill -- a big active PF to pair next to Marc Gasol -- and then their pick of PGs, perhaps even Stephen Curry, who would look fantastic next to OJ Mayo (and even Mike Conley). Or Memphis could continue to trade down with teams obsessed with Hill (Dallas) or Curry (New York).

Again: Not A Baseless Rumor Yet...But Should Be!

How can you NOT love the rumor-mongering, mock-drafting, disinformation-disseminating that goes on this week?

-- D.S.

Monday 06/22 A.M. Quickie:Barnes, Pujols, Favre, NBA Draft, More

MJD on Twitter and me in today's SN column had the same thought: There is something uniquely awesome about the weekday mid-day major sporting event -- NCAA Tournament. World Cup. Today's US Open final round. (Tennis early-rounds don't have the same cachet.)

When Tiger isn't a factor in a golf major, it really takes some special circumstances to make folks care. A weekday mid-day finish helps. So does a guy in the lead who has assumed the persona of "Hipster Golfer" -- Ricky Barnes.

Why to follow today? To see if Barnes completes his ooh-sooo-close finish. No, not to see where David Duval ends up. That guy remains unlikeable, even a decade after he last mattered.

It's a packed column today:

*Favre has ALREADY signed with the Vikings? Intriguing, if true. But does it matter, one way or the other? Everyone knows he's going to sign with them. I could "break" that story now (or next week, or last week, or last month) -- it's just a question of when I would be right.

*Albert Pujols is just so freaking spectacular. I long claimed that Manny was the best hitter of this generation, but given that he's a decade older than Pujols, maybe we need to separate them -- because if we put them head-to-head, I'll take Albert. So now it's a question of figuring out who the last player to be a better hitter than Pujols was... I'm hard-pressed to think of somone in the "modern" (post-ESPN) era. You could say A-Rod, but A-Rod juiced and -- for now -- there is no evidence that Pujols has done anything but be naturally awesome. (Oh, and don't try to wring me with that "for now" comment; that's the world we live in.)

*NBA Draft: With or without a bum shoulder, Hasheem Thabeet is at the top of my list of overrated NBA draftees. On the plus side, he has at least one NBA-valuable skill -- shot-blocking. But I'm so underwhelmed by the rest of his game. DeJuan Blair owned him, and Blair is like 6-foot-5 with an NBA-quality rump. I wouldn't make him the No. 2 pick, and I certainly wouldn't trade up to get him, no matter what my team needs were. (The bum shoulder is only a very scary sub-plot.) I guess the T'wolves could use shot-blocking, but this seems like a mistake.

By the way, it sounds like everyone is quickly getting very high on Tyreke Evans. Yesterday in my "moment-of-clarity" mock, I had him rising into the Top 5 and going to the Wizards. Now, I think he could go higher than that. Maybe No. 3 to the Thunder or No. 4 to the Kings. The Clippers won't take him and the Grizzlies don't need him. Everyone after that could use him. I might even make him my No. 1 prospect on the board, even higher than Griffin. Plus: Barack Obama loves him. How could Evans go wrong? (And I say that as someone who used to think Evans had "classic bust" written all over him. I hate the former AAU uber-stars.)

Complete column here. More later.

-- D.S.

Sunday 06/21 (Father's Day) Quickie

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

More rain in New York today for the U.S. Open? Go figure!

Ricky Barnes: Like a parting gift on a game show, they can't take away your 36-hold Open record no matter how you finish -- presumably, he won't finish as sizzling as his start.

Kevin O'Neill to coach USC: Northwestern fans know -- O'Neill is a tireless recruiter, but sort of a Bizarro Pete Carroll -- all cursing and dourness. Get ready for defense-first basketball, too.

MLB: Weaver-vs-Weaver? Dud... I would like to nominate Ben Zobrist for the AL All-Star Team (he has been my fantasy FA pick-up of the year)... Reconstructed shoulder and all, is Josh Johnson the best pitcher in the NL this season? Maybe not better than Johan, but Top 3... If you want to see a circus, follow "Manny Being Minors"... Break up the Rockies!

NBA Draft: It came to me in a vision last night -- (1) Griffin to Clippers; (2) Rubio to Kings (via trade with Memphis); (3) Curry to Thunder; (4) Thabeet to Grizzlies (via Sacto); (5) Evans to Wizards.

(Read a rumor about the T'wolves trying to get the Wiz's 5th pick to go with Minnesota's 6th pick, so they can trade up with Memphis to No. 2. Sorry: Neither Rubio nor Thabeet are so good that they wouldn't be better than what you could get at No. 5 and No. 6 combined.)

-- D.S.

Happy Father's Day To the Dads

In case you're not stopping by later today or this weekend, happy father's day to all the dads out there -- certainly to mine.

This will be my first Father's Day with TWO kids to celebrate with -- it's more than twice as awesome as last year (although more than twice the hard work, too).

Personally, I think that Father's Day should be a celebration of how much work the MOMS do. I would be a dramatically worse dad if my kids' mom wasn't heroically carrying all three of us.

-- D.S.

Breakout Star of the U.S. Open: Dan Jenkins

UPDATE: Sally Jenkins filed a column for the Washington Post on her dad's Twitter presence.

Was going to publish this elsewhere -- yes, somewhere more "mainstream," which is why this reads for an audience with little knowledge of Twitter -- but opted for here:

The breakout star of the 2009 U.S. Open?

@danjenkinsgd

That is the Twitter handle of legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins, who covers golf for Golf Digest (a bit of an understatement: this is Jenkins' 200th major) but has been something of an unlikely phenomenon on Twitter, going from a handful of followers at the start of the week to more than 1,500 by mid-day Friday.

Jenkins, who will turn 80 in December, signed on to Twitter on June 3rd with a simple tweet at 2:50 pm: "I'll have this Twitter thing figured out by the US Open, so check back as we get closer to Bethpage."

Since the 15th, he has been putting out a steady stream of tweets ranging from observations on:

*Thursday's weather conditions ("If you want to get a swing tip today, try the aquarium. It's still cold, windy and rainy--beach weather at the British Open.")

*To the hilarious ("Bulletin: Tiger Woods just made his second double bogey of the first round. Golf is dead.")

*To the bawdy ("The portable toilet outside the media center has signs with tips on putting and hitting drives, irons and sand shots. Nothing on the grip.")

*To the sublime ("My life on deadline: As my first boss, Blackie Sherrod, enjoyed saying, 'Stop feelin’ up that story, and get the damn thing in here.'")

Perhaps most enlightening the age of comments with time-stamps of "Less than one minute ago" is Jenkins' pitter-patter history lesson:

*10:30 a.m. Friday: "I haven't seen players throw darts at the greens like this since Johnny Miller and Lanny Wadkins on the final day at Oakmont in '73."

*1:00 p.m. Thursday: "Guys who were good wet-weather mudders: 1. Middlecoff, 2. Watson, 3. Nicklaus, 4. Ballesteros, 5. Player. But they ain’t here."

*10:58 a.m. Thursday: "The worst-weather Opens include ’72 and ’92 (the final day) at Pebble, but this is the worst first day. Could be the most miserable week."

*7:48 a.m. Wednesday: "Arrived yesterday; out to the course this morning. After you've seen 199 majors, one practice round is plenty."

It feels like an unlikely union of sportswriting's Texas-grizzled legend and technology's hottest new platform. But he is making it work for him. His daughter, the sportswriter Sally Jenkins, is covering the Open, too, and has her own Twitter feed (@sallyjenx): "Talking to Pops, who has designs on Britney Spears' audience. He also just did a podcast. He is a renaissance man! A Medici." (2:30 p.m. Wednesday)

Beyond his legion of followers, he is earning "re-tweets" (or "RT," in Twitter shorthand), a combination of copied versions of his tweets, along with side commentary expressing astonishment and enthusiasm for Jenkins' embrace of the platform. Today, he is a popular choice for "#FF" treatment -- "Follow Friday" is the day of the week when folks on Twitter traditionally recommend their favorite follows to others in their network.

Perhaps his most telling tweet came at 1:38 pm Wednesday:

"Another writer just dropped by and said, 'I never thought I'd see the day: Dan Jenkins on Twitter.' I told him, "Bob, it's a new world.'"

-- D.S.

More NBA Draft PG Talk: Calathes? Really?

Honestly, experts: Nick Calathes as the 3rd-best PG in the draft? John Hollinger rates Nick Calathes as the 6th-best player in the draft, overall. (Behind a pay wall: Boo!)

I'm a huge Florida hoops fan, and I just don't see it. (Then again, Hollinger was very high on Marreese Speights a year ago, and I thought Speights would be a terrible pro. So there you are.)

In addition to Calathes, the stats support Ty Lawson as having massive NBA potential -- maybe he IS the next Jameer Nelson (consider Nelson was underrated by draftniks, too). But maybe Lawson is just the next Raymond Felton. Put Flynn, Jennings, Rubio, Evans, Holiday or Maynor at the point for UNC and the Tar Heels still win the national title -- with one of those guys winning MOP. I'm not particularly high on Lawson -- most NBA execs seem to agree with me.

I will say this about Calathes: Because he's going to Greece next season, a team can use a 1st-round pick on him but not have to deal with his salary, but still retain his rights. (And, presumably, a year in Europe would make him more pro-ready than another year in college.)

But when a player's top skill is "He'll save you money!" that's not saying much. But the stat experts seem to argue otherwise -- that he has serious pro potential. I actually really hesitate to dispute or dismiss sound statistical reasoning. But...really?

If I had to take a flier on one of those PGs, I'd draft Evans, who isn't a true PG but can play a PG role alongside another combo guard, and in some kind of best-case scenario world, he is sort of like a poor man's Dwyane Wade. If I was playing it safe, I'd take Maynor. I'm not down on Jennings like many, but he can't shoot. Rubio? Ehh. Sizzle. Experience. But can he shoot?

-- D.S.

Friday 06/19 A.M. Quickie:NBA Draft, US Open, Stallworth, Dads

Perhaps because the US Open was rained out yesterday -- or perhaps because I love the NBA Draft and don't really care all that much about golf -- I led today's SN column with a we're-a-week-out Draft update.

Guess what: Blake Griffin is an afterthought. It's all about the point guards. By my count, you could have 6 PGs in the Top 10, with another two in the Top 15 or 20. Is it because the PG crop is that good? (The big men crop that bad?) Daryl Morey thinks the NBA is turning into a PG-driven league AND it's a particularly deep class.

(Interesting, as the Rockets have as their PGs... Aaron Brooks? Kyle Lowry? And the Lakers have no real PG. And the Cavs have no traditional PG -- don't need one, obviously, although Mo Williams IS a PG. And the Magic had Rafer Alston, not exactly a Lottery pick. And even the Celtics have Rondo, a freak and scouted before the draft as a dud.)

Anyway, the draft is a week away. Can't help but be excited.

There's a lot more in the column today -- actually, it was one of those days where I was WAY out in front on most mainstream media outlets on stuff like Dirk's interest in sole custody of his love-child (or hate-child) and I hadn't seen much on Mark Jackson to the T'wolves, beyond smaller sites. (Although it's leading HoopsHype, so there you go.)

Read the whole thing here. More later.

-- D.S.

Joe Posnanski, You're Killing Me

So Joe updated his "True To Your School" challenge with an entry for Florida, which I wrote about here yesterday with my own suggestions for Florida:

Joakim Noah? Check.
Al Rosen? Check.
Andy North (rather than my pick, Dara Torres)? Fine.

Emmitt Smith? Over my pick, Tim Tebow? ACK.

Yes, Emmitt had a Hall of Fame NFL career with multiple Super Bowls. But for college careers, Emmitt cannot compare to Tebow. OK: Maybe the point was to consider everything that player had done in their entire careers, college and pro. (See Rosen, North, Torres, etc.)

Yes, Emmitt is one of the greatest NFL players of all time -- certainly a top-5 all-time RB, but Tebow is one of the greatest college football players of all time. Ah well. I guess I see Joe's point. (BTW, Mrs. Quickie's favorite Florida football player all-time? Emmitt.)

-- D.S.

UFL Draft Tonight? OK, One More Time...

The UFL isn't really even having a draft. Sounds like the four coaches are going to sit in a room and try to spread out the talent. Or "talent."

I feel the need to keep saying this until someone from the UFL finally explains why this won't work: Their "talent" should be players the NFL won't let in because of something as silly as age.

Let's use my working definition: You have to have at least one year of college football experience to play in the UFL.

With that in mind -- and taking out the rising seniors and redshirt juniors who voluntarily opted to put off the NFL until next year -- who would be the UFL's first picks?

Julio Jones? Eric Berry? Dez Bryant? Gerald McCoy?

We'll never know. Instead the league is divvying up...JP Losman.

-- D.S.

HOF-Worthy: The Guy Who Outed McGwire?

I appreciate what this reporter did. But when I read this column, all it makes me think is how mainstream baseball media failed fans, the game and their profession so thoroughly, for years.

-- D.S.

UPDATE: Craggs nails it.

Thursday 06/18 A.M. Quickie:Tiger, Open, Zack, Al For Amare, More

Finally: A golf major with more subplots than, simply, "How is Tiger doing?" There is the whole "Sympathy for Mickelson" angle, but the one I love (and led today's SN column with) was that there is no gallery in golf like the Bethpage gallery, which was THE highlight of the '02 Open.

Did you see that Slate-produced video yesterday? (I posted a tweet linking to it, but you may have seen it elsewhere: It overlaid Gus Johnson, Dick Vitale and other boisterous college hoops announcers over golf video.) Bethpage is as close as we'll get to that.

It is SO good for golf -- not to mention great TV -- that you wonder why golf doesn't promote more rowdiness in the gallery (at least between shots).

Meanwhile, two things worth noting this morning (among others):

(1) Amare for Al Jefferson? Straight up, I might consider that deal, although Amare could bolt next summer and, as long as his knee is healed, Al Jefferson is the better player, both now and into the future. But the rumor includes that the T'wolves would throw in the No. 6 pick. WHA?!

(2) Zack Greinke is struggling. Another up-and-down outing last night. It sort of proves how dominant his start to the season was that even though he hasn't been pitching well in his last few starts, he is still the best pitcher in the AL, statistically. I would question whether he has lost his lock on the AL All-Star SP spot to Roy Halladay, but Halladay just went on the DL.

I'm looking out my window right now and the weather couldn't be worse -- I suspect the Open's start will be delayed for a while.

Complete SN column here. More later.

-- D.S.

Pittsburgh: Best Pro Sports Year Ever?

You KNOW I love a good superlative. "Best Year Ever For a Pro Sports City" is a pretty good one, and Carl Bialik makes a pretty good case for Pittsburgh 2009 (Steelers, Penguins) in the WSJ.

I will say this: If you expand it beyond pro sports to include college cities, I think you could make a case that Gainesville, Florida 2006 was better: College basketball champ AND college football champ in the same year, the first time that has ever happened in college history.

-- D.S.

PS: And if you want to quibble and say that the hoops title was sorta/kinda technically the 2005-2006 season and the football title was the 2006 (ending in 2007) season, then let's just count Gainesville's SECOND NCAA hoops title, which bookended the football title in 2007.

Joe Posnanski's "How About This" Challenge

Joe Posnanski -- whose blog is a must-read, even if you couldn't care less about the Kansas City Royals or the Big Red Machine -- launched an interesting "How About This?" challenge:

Take any college and name its best football, basketball and baseball player ever, plus one wild-card from any other sport. Which college has the best foursome?

It started here (halfway down the post), with Joe using Ohio State as an example. He ran a bunch of others submitted by his readers -- I couldn't believe that Florida wasn't repped yet.

So here's my ballot, which I sent to Joe. Maybe it'll make the cut:

Football: Tim Tebow (2-time national champ, Heisman winner, Heisman 3rd-place, may finish career as best college QB -- or player -- ever.) Runners-up: Emmitt Smith or Danny Wuerffel.

Basketball: Joakim Noah (2-time national champ, 2006 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player -- widely ranked as one of the Top 10 Tournament MOP 6-game performances in history).

Baseball: Al Rosen (1953 AL MVP - unanimously, 5-time All-Star, probably the 3rd best Jewish baseball player of all time, behind Greenberg and Koufax.)

Wild Card: Dara Torres (Medalist in 5 Olympics)

Not bad. Not the best in the country, but not bad.

-- D.S.

Dan Jenkins Is On Twitter @danjenkinsgd

Dan Jenkins -- one of the Top 10 sportswriters of all time* -- is on Twitter: @danjenkinsgd

And he's kind of awesome already. Like this: "My life on deadline: As my first boss, Blackie Sherrod, enjoyed saying, “Stop feelin’ up that story, and get the damn thing in here." (h/t: Craggs)

But Gregg Doyel, please keep hating. You know way more about sportswriting than Dan Jenkins. (The Twittering folks in Iran would chime in, too, but they're a little occupied right now...)

-- D.S.

* - Surprising: I'm not ready to call Jenkins "best. ever." But he's way way way up there.

UPDATE: Jenkins himself just posted a tweet from the Open: "Another writer just dropped by and said, 'I never thought I’d see the day: Dan Jenkins on Twitter.'"

Why, because he's old and Twitter is "for the kids?" Great reporters value reaching audience. Great reporters value brevity. Great reporters value immediacy.

Wednesday 06/17 A.M. Quickie:Sosa, Rays, Marshall, Jennings, Epiphanny

In today's SN column, I lead with a review of a valuable lesson in journalism -- or any sort of reporting/commentary/opinion-spouting/punditry:

If you imply or question that a particular person might be using PEDs -- say, Raul Ibanez -- you are going to get crushed for it.

If you announce outright that "everyone" was using PEDs -- say, in 2003 (when we all know that everyone was using steroids) -- you are perfectly safe in your generalization.

Because the fact is this: Back in 2003? Everyone WAS cheating with PEDs. Maybe not all were using steroids. But all WERE using amphetamines -- now banned for being... ta-da... PEDs.

That's just a little context as you consider why the reaction to "Sammy Sosa tested positive for PEDs back in 2003!!!!!!!!!" just doesn't move the needle.

(1) We already figured he was using them.
(2) 2003? Cripes: Who WASN'T using PEDs?

That's two straight days of non-story: Yesterday, the Lange-Buck fake drama. Today, the Sosa unshocker.

Can't we focus on more interesting things? Like:

*Here come the Rays...
*Epiphanny Prince tells the WNBA/NCAA restraint-of-trade to eff off.
*Who will end up trading for Brandon Marshall?
*Kevin Love breaking news on Twitter

It's all in today's SN column. Check it out here. More later. If you were tracking yesterday, you see I'm ramping it up a bit.

-- D.S.

Top 10 Moments in Sports Blog History

I helped the Real Clear Sports folks with some ideas for this clever list of the Top 10 Moments in Sports Blog History. (Though it was late-breaking, I would have fit PFT/NBC into the Top 10 and not relegated it to Honorable Mention, if only for the $$$ consideration involved.)

And, no, the creation of DanShanoff.com on the final day of the Daily Quickie didn't make the cut, even though it was perhaps the first example of a mainstream media columnist to migrate to blogging.

The irony of the Bissinger-Leitch event -- which clocked in at No. 1 -- is that it effectively ended the sturm und drang over "MSM-vs.-Bloggers." (The Ibanez thing last week was a hysterical overreaction that is best defined as an outlier from current conditions.)

-- D.S.

Fanarchy: What a Train Wreck

Maybe you thought Artie Lange on "Joe Buck Live" was a train-wreck. That had nothing on "Fanarchy," a new TV show on Versus last night that was originally announced with the terrific premise that fans can be just as good at sports punditry as the so-called "pros."

Or, as it turned out, just as awful.

There was so much potential there (I liked that they had partnered with Yardbarker) -- but, oh god, the show was a trainwreck from the first minute.

I feel compelled to admit that I could only take about 3 or 4 minutes of it before I had to turn it off; I had seen enough. It was unwatchable, with every terrible stereotype of the "avid fan" -- Painted Face Guy, Loud New Yorker, Guy in Basketball Jersey, Hottie.

Incorporating the fan perspective into sports TV is a great idea -- and I'm not just talking about the patronizing "BlogBuzz" segment/ghetto on the morning SportsCenter. As I have mentioned before, I have incredibly high hopes for ESPN2's upcoming "SportsNation."

The devil is in the details. Or, in the case of "Fanarchy," hell was on my TV screen.

-- D.S.

Blogs With Balls Conference Recap

In a room of 300 Blogs With Balls sports-blog conference participants, I was the only one wearing khakis, not jeans.

That alone qualified me as the biggest tool in the room. And it would have been my biggest regret, except I ended up trading moderator slots with Dan "On the DL" Levy, who moderated a raucous, day-ending panel (sort of) about MSM vs. bloggers -- I loved the panel I moderated (CEOs of content networks); I wanted to do both!

But I'm getting ahead of myself, as I wanted to report back from Saturday's first-ever sports-blog conference, held in NYC, known as "Blogs With Balls" (or BWB).

Huge kudos to the organizers: They thought they'd get 150 attendees. They got 300. They found a space to accommodate everyone -- the basement of a bar, complete with spill-over rooms that were wired with HD TVs and sound, so you could follow the conference even if you weren't sitting right up in front of the stage. The HHR Media guys got half a dozen sponsors -- in this economy? (exactly) -- and attracted a wide variety of panelists and conference-goers.

That was probably my favorite part: Walking around the room, my eyes locked down at everyone's shoulder-level, where I could see their name-tag and -- naturally -- what blog they were affiliated with. I met folks who I have gotten emails from (or emailed with) or who I have read with great enjoyment (or even read with less than enjoyment). It was a "Oh, YOU'RE so-and-so.com...great to finally meet you in person!"

This wasn't your typical business conference (and most are sadly typical) -- replacing your standard executives were folks who were the proprietors of their own blogs. Some are making money. Some are just in it for the love. Some are in networks like Yardbarker or SB Nation. Some are "indie." Some were big. Some were small. Some use T&A. Some use stats analysis. Some spam email, looking for links. Some thrive with a more modest approach. Some cover specific teams. Some cover sports. Some cover everything.

Regardless of whether or not folks were veteran conference-goers, you come to something like this for a couple reasons:

(1) To "network" (whether for business or, like many here, for fun). On the plus side, there were plenty of folks to network with. I found myself in conversation after conversation with folks with whom a better relationship will either (a) help me in some way in my professional and/or blogging career, or (b) simply earn me a new colleague in the space, which I value incredibly highly. We are all only as strong as our networks. To a point others have made, more dedicated time for networking in an otherwise packed panel schedule would have been welcome -- a consistent theme was asking folks NOT watching the panels to keep their voices down so the audience could hear the panelists.

As the only sports blogger with a Harvard MBA (and perhaps the only one with an MBA, more generally -- holler if you're with me...in debt!), it was really important to me that I get a chance to sit down and talk with some of the folks who own and operate the most successful businesses in the online sports media universe; it's a big reason I switched with Levy to moderate the panel about content networks -- the opportunity to dig into the topic with guys like SB Nation's Jim Bankoff, Yardbarker's Pete Vlastelica, Bleacher Report's Dan Kelly, Uproxx's Jarret Myer -- plus other business owners like FSV's Chris Russo, Octagon's Jim DeLorenzo, SMC's Kathleen Hessert and Real Clear Sports' Jeff Pyatt were really important to me. Online sports media has been my passion -- and my professional life -- across my entire 15-year career; this was a great chance to talk with some folks at the leading edge of where things are going (or should be going).

(Don't get the wrong idea: I already knew I was going to bounce around the room meeting bloggers I know -- or "know," virtually -- or just plain respect, which made the event the most energizing day I have had in a long time. I hesitate to name names, because I will leave out 95 percent of the folks I really enjoyed meeting. I will say that Spencer Hall stood out for his natty, Tom Wolfe-ish white suit and his typical raconteur flair.)

(2) To get some tactical advice. Now, I don't want to overemphasize this -- you go to any conference, and panelists are MUCH more tight-lipped than the folks here with success tactics. One thing I found was that panelists seemed very free with providing tactics and advice. More would have always been helpful. I think something to consider was that the audience -- most of the audience -- was VERY experienced bloggers; a greater emphasis on tactical insights -- even small-group info-sharing groups -- will make v2.0 even better.

(3) To hear from a wide variety of panelists on a wide variety of topics. Some would have liked to see more, but here were the interest groups represented: Huge marketing firms like Octagon, social media marketing firms (Sports Media Challenge), podcasters, successful individual bloggers, mainstream media reps, CEOs (a couple of them), indie entrepreneurs. Panels covered "Big Picture"; social media; earned media; how I made it (I was on it, and I'll agree it needed work, despite our best intentions); how to work with content networks; making blogging your full-time job; advertising; and the obligatory MSM-vs-Blogger panel. Oh, and Gary Vaynerchuk.

So the disciplines covered were mostly on point, particularly for v1.0 of this event. Room for improvement: I'm with Brian Cook (whose critical analysis of the event is worth reading), who pointed out that we really needed either a dedicated panel or representation on every panel of the "team-specific blogger" perspective, which makes up a huge portion of the sports-blog universe. I'm sure that will be added in for v2.0.

I also think that, aside from the CEO panel and "industry overview" panels, you're talking about panelists with an uneven level of experience of being on a panel -- the ability to talk in short sound bites and put an emphasis on clear and actionable takeaways, keep the flow going, question and press each other. Additionally, a strong moderator can usually have an outsized impact on the quality of a panel. As a moderator myself, I think I could have done more.

(If nothing else, Gary Vaynerchuk was a total pick-me-up at the end of the long day. Actually, I was somewhat obsessed with watching him on the TV screen, because he actually sort of looks like me, physically. And we both are sort of high-talkers. But he has a LOT more energy than I have, which may be the understatement of the year. He is VERY high energy, and -- like him or not -- you can totally understand why he has been successful. But to his own point: If being salesy isn't in your DNA, being as successful as him -- in that self-starter, entrepreneurial way -- will be very difficult. I think half the folks in the room had that drive and the other half would love a salaried gig with a mainstream sports site to just blog.)

(4) To get some media attention. This is sort of optional, but you'd like your conference to generate some earned media about the topics you are covering, particularly important for sports bloggers looking to mainstream media to push the ball forward on the credibility of the platform. (I'm talking about beyond coverage from attendees themselves.) Now, we did see ESPN cameras covering it for Outside the Lines. And a bunch of ESPN folks were there -- and welcome. And I think I saw Newsday's Neil Best wandering around. And I know SI's Richard Deitsch, who is as obsessed with sports blogs as anyone in MSM, had a prior commitment.

But putting 300 bloggers in a room together is a pretty big event -- not sure why more sports media didn't pick up on covering it. I think that the USA Today sports-media folks like to think of themselves as the biggest sports-media outlet there is; did they not know this was happening or just choose not to show up? (There was even a lot of free food, free Guinness, etc., catnip for sports media reporters.)

If I had known it would make a difference, I would have carpooled with Richard Sandomir myself, because I think he's an example of an influential sports-media critic who doesn't quite understand new media as well as he understands traditional media, and this would have been a good place for him to talk with some folks about it. So, another takeaway for v2.0: Expanded media outreach.

(As it stands, On The DL's Dan Levy had a great podcast analysis yesterday. Worth your time. And even folks who didn't attend, like Smart Football's Chris Brown, were inspired to write about the state of the industry.)

I think it's opaque -- not to mention rude -- not to talk about (and sincerely thank) the sponsors that, frankly, made the event possible: Yardbarker, SI.com, NESN, SB Nation, Lijit, Bleacher Report, Real Clear Sports, Diageo (for the complimentary Guinness and a bottle of Crown Royal for me to take home) and an incredibly fun afterparty sponsored by GQ. They show a terrific commitment to events like this that help bring sports bloggers together to meet each other, talk, hang out and otherwise see what a vibrant community it has been.

There were a lot of PR folks at the event -- as there should have been, if they want to create contacts within the industry -- and we need more conversation, not less, about how to work together in a way that is transparent for the audience and authentic to the writer. The brand wants it that way -- or should (or soon will). And it is critical for the bloggers. (Actually, for future events, I would love to see a panel talking about standards and best practices for working with both PR firms and advertisers who come directly to bloggers.)

But the biggest thanks goes to the organizers from HHR: Chris and Don and Kyle -- guys, who am I missing? They pulled off something that I think has been at least 5 years in the making, and the result is something that can happen annually (if not more frequently, with v2.0 coming in October in Las Vegas).

I know that they are particularly obsessed with constructively building off this inaugural event -- the good and the "needs improvement" -- to make the next version even better. I encourage attendees (and even non-attendees, but perhaps future attendees) to take Brian Cook's lead and think about what types of panels or discussions would create the most value.

I will say this: For all the value of walking out of a conference with new tactical tips and a couple free pints, it was a success for me personally because I got to meet and talk with so many great people, conversations that started before the conference, continued through the conference and will hopefully extend far beyond the conference.

We had fun. We ate chicken fingers and pigs-in-a-blanket (or, at least, I did...so many...) Folks enjoyed some good beer and what was hopefully some quality conversations, both on the stage and in the wings. I enjoyed myself, hopefully others enjoyed themselves, and that's about all you can ask for.

Except for my Dockerrific outfit. Next time: Jeans. Definitely.

-- D.S.

(PS: If you think I missed any big points -- I didn't want to necessarily build or comment on every single critique that Brian made -- please let me know. But I think that everyone can agree: The HHR guys deserve huge kudos, simply for pulling this off with the professionalism and enthusiasm that they did.)

Tuesday 06/16 A.M. Quickie:Joe Buck, Artie Lange, Brett Favre, More

Be careful what you wish for, Joe Buck. That lesson leads today's SN column.

You want to be the next Costas -- or the next sportscaster who can transcend into "entertainment?" Buck had already gone down that road with his endorsements for Budweiser and National Car Rental. Then he gets his own live irregularly broadcast HBO show.

The date picked was ideal: Nothing else going on in sports yesterday (or today). Brett Favre was the guest. He confirmed most of what we suspected about him. (That he's a media whore! No, kidding: That he is coming back, to the Vikings, at some point.)

Then Buck had to get cutesy with the comedy -- so he invited on Artie Lange... not exactly the gentle comedy of "Family Circus," which is where Buck had positioned himself (especially with his career-defining -- and utterly ridiculous -- call-out of Randy Moss a few years ago).

And Lange went blue -- of course he did: The scorpion and the frog, remember? Buck wanted to be "edgy." And Lange tries to be edgy. Buck knew exactly what he was getting into.

For all the "Golly! I guess that's the end of my talk-show career!" from Buck, you know he was happy about it. Why? Same reason Costas was happy a year ago: Buzz. Not Bissinger, just buzz -- people are talking about the Joe Buck Show this morning, just as they were tweeting about it last night.

The show itself was not particularly good -- and the laughs felt forced. The final segment -- Buck's version of "I think I think..." was cringe-worthy. Also, what's the good of a TV talk-show that pops up in June, then doesn't show up again until September? I want THAT gig.

But the harangue from folks like the sports-media guys at USA Today is exactly what Buck wanted -- even if it completely confuses his current, Midwestern gentle-comedy brand. Folks are talking about Joe Buck. Just like Joe Buck wanted.

More in the column today:
*Luke Harangody: The next Tyler Hansbrough.
*Rossi: The US Soccer star who got away.
*Brandon Marshall: Get him to Chicago!
*Pablo Sandoval: Another reason I'm going from perennial worst in my fantasy league to Top 5.

Complete column here. More later, including my Blogs With Balls recap/analysis.

-- D.S.

Jodie Meeks Turning Pro: UK Still No. 1?

Jodie Meeks is kind of an idiot. He's not good enough for the NBA -- he may not even get drafted. (That said, there's no evidence that another year of college would get him any more prepared for the NBA... at least not as prepared as a year in the D-League.)

So he's not an idiot for turning pro early. He's an idiot for turning down the chance to be part of a national-title team, presuming he has very little pro future ahead for himself, at least in the NBA. I'm not saying money doesn't matter; I'm saying I'd swap a D-League salary for a ring, at least for one year. If Meeks wasn't poised to win a title, it would be a different story.

But, at the very least, Meeks could have won himself a national title at UK. Now he'll have to watch from the D-League as they win one without him -- but I say: Meeks would have only taken shots away from John Wall. And who wants that? (Is UK still my pick to win it all? Yes, even without Meeks.)

-- D.S.

BTW: Per the earlier post on Twitter -- um, didn't John Calipari break Jodie Meeks turning pro on Twitter today?

Thought for the Day: Adam Morrison Wins

Adam Morrison has more rings than Charles Barkley.

-- D.S.

Originally in my SN column this morning, but annually my favorite post-NBA Finals accounting. I love the idea of Barkley mocking Morrison for, y'know, sucking as a pro and having AdMo wave his fingers in Barkley's face as the unbeatable retort.

As usual, let me remind: Do NOT feel bad for Barkley. In fact, have anything but sympathy for him. If he really cared about winning a championship -- say, more than money -- he would have played for the league minimum to play alongside Michael Jordan.

Bryce Harper: Doing The Right Thing

So first there was Kevin Garnett, skipping college for the NBA. Last year there was Brandon Jennings, who skipped college to play pro in Europe the mandatory enforced one-year exile from the NBA before he was draft eligible.

A few weeks ago, Jeremy Tyler did that one better, skipping his final season of high school to play pro not only for what would have been his senior season, but also that mandatory one-year-out ban from the NBA.

And now here's Bryce Harper, most recently of the cover of Sports Illustrated as baseball's LeBron. Having just finished his high school sophomore year, he would not have been eligible for the MLB Draft until 2011. But instead, he's going to junior college and will be eligible for the 2010 MLB Draft... where he will be the No. 1 overall pick and make roughly $30 million dollars in his first deal. So let's not talk about "readiness."

Of course, because it's baseball -- or, perhaps, because baseball lacks the overreaching (and implicitly discriminatory) paternalism of the NBA -- we will get a "Oh, wow, isn't that wild!" and "What a smart kid, to work the system like that!" He will be lauded even more as we countdown to the 2010 draft, in which he will be the No. 1 overall pick and make millions instantly.

Compare that to Greg Oden, who similarly would have been the No. 1 overall pick of the NBA Draft after his junior -- perhaps even sophomore -- year of high school. But he had to go to high school for that senior year. Then he was forced to go to college for a year. Thanks to those two years, he developed injuries that have dramatically slowed or altered his NBA potential, not to mention restrained him from the financial reward that the market would have been ready to show him.

Good for Bryce Harper. And it is one more example of the ridiculous hypocrisy that exists between MLB and the NBA. And, with the launch of the iHoops initiative and the NBA Draft just two weeks away, let's spend some time talking about how to fix the NBA development pipeline.

Oh, by the way, Brandon Jennings is doing just fine: He is a lock for the Top 10 of the draft and spent his weekend trash-talking Ricky Rubio and schooling Johnny Flynn -- who was, by the end of last season, the best point guard in college basketball.

-- D.S.

Gregg Doyel: Another Fine Career Moment

Going on CNN on Sunday morning to bash Twitter... just as Twitter is out-performing the news-negligent CNN in coverage of the insanity in Iran.

Well played, Doyel -- your keen insight into the media and consumers is staggering. Keep up the stand-out work!

-- D.S.

UPDATE: My talented, media-analyzing friend Rachel Sklar -- who knew nothing of Doyel's life as a sports columnist, only his appearance on Reliable Sources -- has a more insightful takedown.

(Great point she makes about Shaq's Tweets and Doyel's oblivious take that they "make no sense": As you've seen in my SN columns, they have recently provided the essence of the story at hand. FWIW: Shaq's tweet was the lead headline of NBCSports.com today.)

ProFootballTalk Partners With NBC Sports

Yes, it is a big deal. A very big deal. Certainly as important in the 15-year history of online sports -- and the 5-year history of sports blogs -- as ESPN acquiring TrueHoop a few years ago.*

NBC Sports has such a massive investment in the NFL that it makes sense to partner with the leading NFL blog to combine with their reach through MSNBC.com. They shouldn't stop there.

* -- Let's all review the lesson here: Be the very best in your sports category -- covering it nationally, not at the team level (for which there is certainly a place, but a necessarily smaller footprint) -- and you put yourself in a position to do a deal with a larger media company.

Now: There is at least one sport with a clearly-the-best blog of national scope -- Every Day Should Be Saturday. Any media company with a big investment in college football should be sprinting with an open wallet to partner with Orson Swindle (who also writes under his real name for SportingNews.com).

While ESPN.com and CBSSports.com both have massive investments in college football, ESPN.com already has a much more robust blog network of in-house correspondents, plus a ton of columnists. Let's be honest: They're loaded.

On the other hand, CBS Sports has their expensive tie-in with the SEC, which is EDSBS native country, plus the good sense to sponsor the BlogPoll. Verne Lundquist loves his site, for crying out loud! But CBSSports.com has few high-end editorial resources, certainly none as good as (or with the reputation of) EDSBS (he owned the sports-blog conference on Saturday).

CBSSports.com has shown recently that they "get it" as it relates to diversifying their product line. At the sports-blog conference this past weekend, I moderated a panel featuring Dan Kelly, CEO of Bleacher Report, which recently signed a win-win deal to provide CBSSports.com with full-time "citizen/fan-journalism" correspondents for every NFL team. There are plenty of aggressive, interesting, value-creating moves left to be made.

Anyway, congrats to Florio and the PFT team on a very good deal -- and congrats to NBC Sports for understanding the landscape in such a way as to do the deal.

-- D.S.

UPDATE: AJ's got a good take at Deadspin. Point I want to build on from his analysis:

The way Florio covered the NFL -- very bloggy, to be sure, but also in his technique of tone, style, frequency of updates and...yes...level of scoopage via tipsters -- directly correlates to his success and, presumably, NBC's interest in his type of coverage.

(1) That type of coverage had already started to become a big part of MSM sports coverage; will that accelerate? (2) Even if Florio writes exactly the same, there is suddenly a void under "indie NFL blog" -- anyone going to try to claim it?

Monday 06/15 A.M. Quickie:Lakers, Penguins, Lee, Jrue, Bryce, More

Absolutely loaded SN column this morning, starting with this:

It's not just that Phil Jackson is the greatest coach of NBA history -- I'd argue he was that before last night, but Title No. 10 helps to provide a little oomph.

It is that his 10th title in the past 19 years means that it is Phil Jackson -- not Michael Jordan, not Hakeem, not Shaq, not Kobe, not Duncan -- whose "dynasty" reigns supreme in NBA history.

When we look back at the post-Bird/Magic Era of the NBA, which I would argue started in 1989 with the Pistons first title, if one person defines it, it is Phil Jackson.

Jackson transcended the Jordan Era through the Shaq Era through the Kobe Era (sorry, LeBron: Obviously not yet) -- the one consistent thing: Phil Jackson winning championships.

We can argue about what classifies as a dynasty, either historically or in this era of instant-history. But what seems inarguable is Phil Jackson's place in history.

Meanwhile:
Shaq's tweet to Kobe was amazing.
Joey Buss came off as a buffoon.
NBA Finals 2010: Lakers over Magic.

It might not be too high on the radar, but Bryce Harper skipping his final two years of high school to go to juco and, subsequently, be eligible for the MLB Draft next season is a HUGE deal. (So much so that I'll have a stand-alone post about it later today.)

I believe I was pretty early on the "Stephen Curry will go really really high in the draft" bandwagon. I think I cautiously started the bidding at "no less than 10th." Last week, I lowered that forecast to "no less than 5th." Now he's in the mix for No. 3?

Tons of MLB in today's column, too: Red Sox come out of interleague weekend as the favorites to win the World Series, taking 2 of 3 from the defending champs in Philly... Billingsley has emerged as one of the Top 3 pitchers in the NL this season... Hey, welcome back, Cliff Lee!... June '09 Rockies = September '07 Rockies... and More. (Ronny Paulino!)

Pleasepleaseplease don't let Brett Favre announce his return to the NFL on the Joe Buck Show premiere tonight...

I am not looking forward to the anti-BCS hysteria this week. Look: I'm with everyone else -- a playoff would be nice. I continue to insist that any playoff formats that are being discussed (say, anything less than one involving a minimum of 16 teams) will not stop the griping. (God, when will the SEC and Big 12 finally take my advice to secede and create a self-contained playoff to play each other for "best team in the country," if not "national champion.")

Tons more here, plus a ton of bonus posts today, including -- hopefully -- my wrap-up of the big sports-blog conference this past weekend in NYC. Drop by throughout the day.

-- D.S.

Saturday 06/13 (Very) Quickie

Getting ready for a day of discussion at the sports-blog conference in NYC. You should be able to follow it on Twitter at #blogswithballs.

Meanwhile, how about those Penguins? Go into Detroit and shock the Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup title. Totally unexpected -- and the best possible outcome for the sport.

Falcons release Mike Vick: I said this yesterday -- I'll set the over/under on 12 NFL teams that either publicly or privately look into signing him. He won't lack for offers.

Trent Green retires: Will probably be best known for getting injured in 1999, thus giving Kurt Warner his shot.

MLB Friday Stud: Tim Lincecum.

And, yes, that Yankees win over the Mets was one of the most improbable endings to a baseball game anyone has probably seen in a long time. Walk-off easy pop-up? Come on.

More later.

-- D.S.

Twitter and Sports Marketing

If Twitter can sell $3 million worth of Dell product, why wouldn't sports teams try to leverage the platform for something a lot less big-ticket, like ticket sales?

Simmons On His New Basketball Book

This is a very interesting Q&A in the New Yorker. Here's the money quote, about the new book:

I spent three years writing it and it turned out exactly the way I wanted it to turn out. It’s the best book I will ever write and it’s kind of sad to say that, because I’m not even forty yet, but I already came to grips with the fact that, yes, this is the best book I will ever write. I know more about this subject than anything else, I’m more passionate about this subject than anything else, and that’s that. So it’s all downhill from here.

You can understand -- and appreciate -- why the book clocked in at 700 words pages. And, given his passion and understanding of the subject, why shouldn't it have?

-- D.S.

Friday 06/12 A.M. Quickie:Lakers, Red Sox, Alabama, NHL Game 7

So, yes, I have a spotty history with "calling" playoff series, Election Night-style. That doesn't stop me from doing it in the lead of today's SN column.

But I don't think there will be many disagreements that it is safe to say the Lakers wrapped up the NBA Finals in 4 games. Oh, sure, the Magic should win Game 5, but it seems impossible that they can win two games in L.A. -- and three straight overall.

And so the NBA Finals are, basically, over. Which is too bad, because if the Magic had won -- and maybe won Game 5 -- this series would have been amazing. Now, I wonder if folks will bother to pay attention, if they feel like it's a done-deal.

More you'll find in the column:
*Derek Fisher is so freaking money.
*Dwight Howard as Nick Anderson 2.0?
*NHL Stanley Cup Game 7: Nuff said.
*Alabama: That's no punishment.
*Donovan McNabb vs. Rex Grossman

There's a lot more. Full column here. For now, I'm preparing for tomorrow's first/only sports-blog conference, happening in NYC. I will put my MBA to good use (what's that? you say "finally?") by moderating a panel featuring some of the top leaders in content networks where bloggers and writers are making money and finding larger audiences: SB Nation, Yardbarker, Bleacher Report, Uproxx, Fansided. Should be a lot of fun. If you're going, looking forward to seeing you there. Otherwise, I'll try to provide updates via Twitter, found on the right or by following me @danshanoff, if you're on Twitter yourself.

-- D.S.

Raul Ibanez, Jerod Morris And Cynicism

I liked Joe Posnanski's take on this Raul Ibanez story. As usual, Joe is thoughtful and measured and earnest (even owning up to a bit of a bias for Ibanez).

Jerod Morris has also been somewhat unfairly turned into something bigger than the situation; aside from the statistical issues that Joe points out Jerod missed, Morris did a fair job.

What's ironic is that it is obvious that Jerod wasn't just trying to get exposure for himself or his blog -- compare this to Rick Reilly showily demanding that Sammy Sosa pee in a cup.

The larger story isn't Ibanez's justifiably strong reaction. Or the tired mainstream-vs-blogger thing.

The larger story is skepticism -- or, more accurately, cynicism -- that pervades baseball these days, from media to fans.

There is good reason for the skepticism -- or even the cynicism, as unfortunate as that is. It feels like "Hmph: Must be juicing" is attached to any player having a decent season.

It isn't limited to bloggers opining -- it happens in traditional media all the time. I am actually surprised that it doesn't happen more regularly.

The fact that people feel like it's a necessary point is pretty sad. Although I see it as a defense mechanism: Who wants to take performances at face value now and feel like a rube later?

Being cynical is easier. Pre-emptively protecting yourself from being hurt, as a fan, is easier. It is hard to know when this era will end.

But cynicism from fans and media alike is, by far, the most damaging byproduct of baseball's Steroid Era.

-- D.S.

UPDATE: Let's give AJ the final word.

No, wait: I liked Rob Neyer's take, too.

Cristiano Ronaldo: US$131 Million Transfer

Cristiano Ronaldo's record $131 million transfer fee from Man U to Real Madrid will not be covered enough in the U.S. (and I'm the last to talk about soccer, knowledgeably), but it's huge.

Thursday 06/11 A.M. Quickie:Magic, Ibanez, Red Sox, Economy, More

I originally led today's SN column with a flip-flop:

For the last few years, I had been arguing that the NBA was no longer a "Big" (as in "Big Four") sport. That it had joined the NHL as being a "niche" sport -- albeit a large one. But still, very little mass/casual appeal -- it had avid followers, but few casual ones.

TV ratings were on my side. I also argued that rejecting my theory was a result of perception: When the country's most well-read sports columnist -- Bill Simmons -- is a die-hard fan of the NBA and makes it a huge part of his columns, it can feel like everyone loves the NBA, too. When the country's most influential sports-TV program -- PTI -- involves die-hard fans of the NBA (particularly Wilbon) and make it a huge part of their program rundown, it can make it feel like everyone loves the NBA, too. I felt like these things skewed perception a bit.

But I'm nothing if not willing to change my mind (often too quickly!) in the face of new evidence. And all evidence points to the NBA ascending back to its "Big" status, alongside the NFL, college football and MLB. People are watching; the games are compelling.

I am particularly optimistic about the idea that the Finals don't have to be Lakers-Celtics (or Kobe-LeBron) for fans to find them worth watching. As I said last year, Lakers-Celtics was a best-case scenario for the NBA; Lakers-Magic perhaps wasn't, and yet the ratings from game to game are virtually the same. In an era of increasing consumer fragmentation, this represents a huge positive step forward.

Between the way the league has dominated the last two months with its playoffs and this newly launched initiative to short up basketball player development -- which will hopefully mean increased professionalization of that development -- the NBA is in ascent, with a huge pivot point tonight's Game 4: If the Magic win, it's on. If the Lakers win -- ensuring the Finals are virtually over -- will that progress slow down?

That WAS what I led with, but I swapped in something new, hubbed off of something Kareem said about Dwight Howard, basically pointing out that Howard isn't very good...yet.

I asked if he's good enough to get his team to the Finals, how good will he be when he finally learns how to play the game. Someone made the point to me: How good would he have been if he actually went to college?

And that's where I had my usual allergic reaction. Going to college would not have helped Dwight Howard's development as much as these past 5 years of strictly professional development.

It couldn't be more clear: College coaches are not concerned with developing their players for the NBA; they are concerned with winning (ie, their job security). NBA coaches, on the other hand, are entirely concerned with developing their players into NBA-ready talents -- their jobs hinge on it.

Whether a player spends time with NBA coaches or in the D-League (or even Europe), they are getting better preparation for a pro career than if they play college basketball -- it works for both kinds of players, too: The one-and-done star clearly doesn't need college basketball; this forced year of unpaid internship is unnecessary... and probably stunts growth more than accelerates it. The four-year college player with NBA aspirations also would be better served to spend four years developing under pro tutelage than a college coach; of course, if a four-year player was any good, they would have left college for the NBA two or more years earlier.

Make no mistake: If Tyler Hansbrough would have been a Top 10 lock after his freshman or sophomore years at UNC, he would have left school early. It makes too much ecomonic sense, but strictly from a developmental perspective, it also is in his best interests to get coached to maximize his role in the NBA, not to maximize his role for UNC -- again: If his ultimate goal is to play in the NBA.

(This is related to my argument about the UFL letting in college players before the NFL would have them: How much better prepared would future NFL QBs be if, instead of playing an additional 30 games in a spread offense, they spent two years being trained to be an NFL QB, by coaches who are expert in developing NFL QBs.)

Anyway, my point is: Dwight Howard was/is way better off -- basketball skills-wise and financially -- for having skipped college and gone straight into his pro career.

More you'll find in today's column:
*Raul Ibanez: Why was it OK when Rick Reilly did the same thing?
*Jersey sponsorships: What would the Texans do for a buck?
*Knicks love Stephen Curry: Too bad the Wizards are going to yoink him.
*The Red Sox still own the Yankees.

Complete column here. More later.

-- D.S.

Wednesday 06/10 A.M. Quickie:Magic, Floyd, Strasburg, Red Sox, More

I am surely overrating (no!), but it seems like a pretty big moment in the short history of Twitter's impact on sports media that Shaq's tweet immediately after last night's game framed the story:

"By george I think we have a series."

This may seem self-serving from someone whose career hinged on the notion that you could fill a column with 30-word blurbs on lots of topics, rather than 750-word (or 2,500-word) columns on a specific topic, but columnists in Orlando and LA and online will churn out tens of thousands of words about last night's game -- but Shaq did more to make sense with his 8 words than all those other words combined. (And he did it faster.)

That said, Game 3 led today's SN column: Wow, the Magic shot the lights out. Wow, they locked down on Kobe after his 1st quarter promised a crazy epic performance from him. Wow, they seemed like a totally different -- entirely confident -- team playing at home (and the Lakers have lost 7 straight Finals games on the road). I don't think the Magic leaving Orlando up 3-2 is a crazy notion.

*Meanwhile, let's get real: Who didn't see Tim Floyd's resignation coming? Frankly, the guy probably should have been fired years ago. But beyond that, the whole "recruitment" of OJ Mayo was so sketchy -- right from its odd start! -- that you knew things were going to go badly for Floyd. That USC coaching job is toxic -- although I'm sure the NCAA won't do anything to the program...certainly now that Floyd is out.

*Don't be fooled: The Vikings "dropping" interest in Favre is complete b.s. He could show up in late July saying "I'm here," and they'd drop whatever plan they had in place to make it work.

*The Nationals finally have some cachet: Stephen Strasburg. Now, they just have to get him signed, up to the big leagues and pitching -- ideally at home, where they could use the attendance boost -- ASAP.

Lots more in today's column. See the whole thing here. More later.

-- D.S.

NBA, NCAA Join Forces to Launch iHoops.com

Here is the mission of the new NBA-NCAA partnership to save amateur basketball: (1) Put the fetid AAU industry out of business. (2) Ummm... call me when you've completed (1).

-- D.S.

Memo to New UFL GM Rick Mueller

Rick Mueller: You're in charge of scouting and acquisitions for the entire UFL. Here is a very simple strategy that ensures the best chance of success for the league:

Convince the league to undercut the NFL age minimum by 2 years, allowing entry for players -- not just prospects, but future NFL stars -- with a little as just a single season of college experience. You will be hailed as a visionary.

Wouldn't it be more fun to "scout" and "acquire" Julio Jones than troll the NFL rejection bin for washed-up "names" or, worse, NFL-unworthy players no one has even heard of?

-- D.S.

Tuesday 06/09 A.M. Quickie:Strasburg, Magic, Cox, Curry, More

The MLB Draft lacks the heft of the NFL Draft -- which has become one of the top 5 sports events of the year -- and the cachet of the NBA Draft -- arguably the NBA's single-best day of the year.

This season, it does not lack for star wattage at the top: Stephen Strasburg, presumably headed to the Nationals with the No. pick -- and a record-breaking deal soon afterward.

Let's assume that he will be overpaid. That's a given. Let's even assume that he could end up being a bust, or merely even mediocre, or merely even great but not "best ever."

All that said, I think the Nationals -- a team of which I am a fan, if only nominally (but more than any other MLB team at this point) -- should spend whatever to get him.

Why? Relevance. Buzz. Cachet. Strasburg's early career will be in a spotlight that the otherwise irrelevant Nats simply don't have otherwise.

They may have a "Plan." They may be contenders in 5 or 10 years. In the meantime, they can at least have an attraction every 5 days that fans will pay attention to. That makes him worth it.

More you'll find in today's SN column:

*The Magic are just immature enough not to be too fazed by justmissingout on stunning the Lakers in LA in Game 2. Three games from now, they could be up 3-2. No, seriously...

*Stephen Curry is the most intriguing name in the NBA Draft. He has the most NBA-ready skill-set of any draftee: Even if it's a single dimension. Teams seem to covet him.

He will go no further than No. 5, to the Wizards. As a Wiz fan, I love this: Pair him with Arenas, and you have two combo guards who can handle/distribute the ball if necessary but also shoot the lights out. But the Wiz could also deal him to any number of teams that are going to be very keen on having him: The Knicks? The Bobcats? Just take a couple bad contracts from the Wiz.

The Knicks are taking a look at Curry today, even though they have the No. 8 pick -- he won't last until then -- and there are rumors that they are trying to shop David Lee and that they are trying to acquire Sergio Rodriguez from the Blazers (which may or may not be tied together). Maybe the Knicks are trying to trade up with the Wiz -- NY can eat DC's cap issues.

*Let's be clear: Brett Favre is coming back. To the Vikings. Maybe 6 weeks from now, but eventually. A deadline of this week seems ludicrous on its face. Throw in the circumstantial evidence that Favre's family bought a block of hotel rooms in Green Bay for the week the Packers play the Vikings. But can we please stop talking about the "if" stuff? It's "when."

*Surprise MLB player of the year and/or fantasy MVP of the year? How about Toronto's Adam Lind? 2 HR yesterday, continuing a torrid start to the season that should have him on the All-Star team as a reserve. (Speaking of All-Star voting, you know I'm a huge fan of the fan vote. But, come on, people: Jimmy Rollins over Hanley Ramirez?)

Complete SN column here. More later.

-- D.S.

Monday 06/08 A.M. Quickie:Lakers, Federer, Tiger, Halladay, More

Roger Federer may have been the best tennis player ever before he won the French Open yesterday. But in completing the Career Grand Slam AND tying Sampras with 14 major titles, it feels more official now.

But what I was struck by in thinking about Federer -- enough to lead today's SN column with it -- was that we are living through what could be an unprecedented era of Best Players Ever.

Consider:
Federer: Best tennis player ever.
Tiger: Best golfer ever.

These are (mostly) confirmed.

Then there is Peyton Manning, who is already among the Top 10 NFL QBs ever; shows no sign of slowing down; and, when it's all done, will probably own every single NFL QB record that matters -- that may qualify him as "greatest NFL player ever."

Say what you want about Tim Tebow, but if he wins another national title, it would be hard not to call him the greatest college QB -- perhaps the greatest college football player -- ever.

LeBron is not the greatest NBA player ever -- yet. But he is already the most talented, and has been the best player in the league for a few years now...arguably since he turned 20. So while he might not be the best ever at the exact moment Federer is, they will overlap.

I'm even willing to broach baseball -- which is brutal on instant historians (as it should be). But no player has ever started (and sustained) a career quite like Albert Pujols, who is doing it in an era of scrutiny so much more intense than any "legend" ever did. I think we will look back and recognize that Pujols is not just the greatest hitter of this generation, but will wind up as one of the Top 10 players of all time. For baseball, that's pretty insane.

UPDATE: Then there is Michael Phelps -- the greatest Olympic athlete ever, for whom 2012 is for pure pleasure, after doing what no one else has ever done in 2008.

Is it a clean argument? Hardly. LeBron is -- absurdly -- still on the way up. Peyton is still mid-career. We have no idea yet just how far Tiger and Roger will go. Pujols could get injured and drop off next season.

But I do think that in 20 years we'll look back and this moment will register as a confluence of superlative athletes setting standards that players in the future will have a hard time topping.

Complete SN column here. Lots more to be found there. More later.

-- D.S.