Sunday, February 27, 2011
Best Man Cave Sports: TTM Auto Mailweek 2/27/11
Past couple days of mail has brought some different arrivals needless to say. Had my first smudged autograph and my second swap out autograph. Not as good as I would have hoped for but I am happy none the less, can't go wrong with 4 HOF successes. TTM you ask? Leggggoooo....
Adrian Autry: First of all...Syracuse alumni! Big East All Rookie Team, Big East 3rd Team (Junior Season), Big East 1st Team (Senior Season), Syracuse 18th Leading All-Time Scorer and 5th All-Time in Assists, 11th All-Time in 3 PT made.
Mel Counts: Originally drafted by the Celtics in 1964, 2 X NBA Champion with the Celtics in '65 & '66, was traded for Bailey Howell after the '66 season. Also was traded by the Lakers for Gail Goodrich. He enjoyed being traded obviously.
Lou Carnesseca: Coached St.Johns for 24 season, named Coach of the Year in '83 and '85, known for his sweaters, Hall of Fame Class of '92, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Member
Frank Ramsey: Drafted by the Celtics in 1953, Hall of Fame Class of '82, 7 x NBA Champion (all with the Celtics), know as the first real "Sixth Man" in basketball
Bobby Cremins: 1990 Naismith College Coach of the Year, 3 x ACC Coach of the Year, 3 x Southern Conference Coach of the Year (Appalachian State University)
Nate "Tiny" Archibald: Hall of Fame Class of '91, NBA Champion (1981 with the Celtics), 6 x NBA All-Star, NBA All-Star Game MVP (1981), 5 x All-NBA Team (3 x First, 2 x Second), NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, #1 Retired by the Kings
Harry Gallatin: Hall of Fame Class of '91, Knicks #1 overall pick in 1948, NBA Rebounds Leader in 1954, 7 x NBA All-Star, 2 x All-NBA Team (1 x First, 1 x Second), NBA Coach of the Year (1963 St. Louis Hawks), holds Knicks record for most rebounds in a game (33), cool nickname...."The Horse"
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Best Man Cave Sports TTM Mailweek & IP Syracuse: 2/23
Great mail these past couple days with a lot of hits. Also went to the Villanova vs Syracuse game in Philly with a lot of success. Perhaps the most important part...Syracuse won the game. Jay Wright owns Boeheim? I think not. Onto the TTM hits....
Jimmer Fredette: Nation's leading scorer as of 2/23. Most likely going to be a lottery pick in this years NBA draft. Has a lot more talent then Adam Morrison. And Morrison's stache.
Dave Gambee: Former Syracuse National player, inducted into the Pac-10 Ring of Honor, was on the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers Championship team
Dan Majerle: 3 time All-Star, led NBA 2 straight seasons in 3-Pt Field Goals, 2 x NBA All-Defensive 2nd team (shocker I know)
Rick Barry: HOF Class of 1987, 12 x NBA / ABA All-Star, '65 NBA ROY, '66 NBA All-Star Game MVP, '74 NBA Finals MVP, Led NBA in scoring in '66
Otis Birdsong: 4 x NBA All-Star, 80-81 NBA All-NBA 2nd Team
Dirk Nowitzki: 10 x NBA All-Star (as of 2010), 06-07 NBA MVP, 10 x All-NBA (4 x 1st, 4 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)....funny sidenote, can you believe this guy was traded for Robert Traylor during the 98 draft? The Bucks even threw in Pat Garrity!!
Tony Delk: 95-96 NCAA Final Four MVP (sour taste in mouth inserted here), 1992 McDonald's All-American, and he sure did have a 50 point game while with the Phoenix Suns.
Joe Dumars: NBA HOF Class of '06, 6 x All-Star, 2 x NBA Champion, 88-89 NBA Finals MVP, 4 x All-NBA Defensive 1st team,3 x All-NBA Team (1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
Corey Stokes: 2006 McDonalds All-American
Matt Stover: In the top 10 in EVERY kicking category in the NFL record books, and he was and forever will be a RAVEN....need I say more?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
All-Star Weekend
Few thoughts on the All-Star festivities thus far:
- Serge Ibaka got robbed in the first round of the slam dunk contest...no way JaVale should have gotten better scores. Especially after having to attempt the 2 basketball - 2 ball dunk about a dozen times.
- Blake's jumping over the car hood dunk really was not that impressive, I agree with Charles Barkley there.
- The 3 Point contest was pretty abysmal. Plus I am kind of bitter that a Heat player beat out 2 Celtics in the final round.
- Please bring back HORSE!!!
- Was it just me or did rookies Gary Neal and Wesley Johnson have the strongest scoring game during the rookie/sophomore challenge. They both were actually hitting outside shots and not scoring all their points by strictly dunking...DeMarcus Cousins style that is.
- Last but not least, very good mail day past couple days....looking forward to sharing my new gems!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Best Man Cave Sports Mailweek: TTM Autos
Very nice mailweek. No cards this week, except for some base to be sent out to get signed. But 4 different success stories with TTM Autographs. My favorite this week has to be the Terrell Brandon 91-92 Upper Deck Rookie, just because of the old school photo shoot. Very throwback and once again 91-92 Upper Deck was one of my favorite sets growing up.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Destination Carmelo
Carmelo Anthony, perhaps the most pure scorer in the league. Young and successful. And no I'm not saying this because he brought my Syracuse Orange a national championship in '03. This is a franchise player up for grabs. He wants out of Denver, and Denver has made it clear he is available (albeit at a hefty price). Waking up every morning I'm just waiting for news to break of a trade. To the Knicks? Nets? Lakers?! Teams just getting tossed into the mix like croutons. I tend to believe there are 2 teams that would be perfect for Melo and perfect for both franchises as well. Denver has shown it wants draft picks and young players. So here are my underdog teams for trades:
A) Los Angeles....
Clippers:
Yes I know, Sterling is still the owner of the Clippers and has always been cheap. We all know this. But think about this....here is an opportunity to bring in a face of the franchise type player. To bring even more hype to the Clips or as I call them....The Blake Show. Trading for Melo would make the Clips an instant contender.
My Proposed Trade:
Clippers receive: SF Carmelo Anthony & PF Kenyon Martion
Nuggets receive: C Chris Kaman, PG Baron Davis, SF Al-Farouq Aminu, (2) 1st Round Picks
Why it would work:
Nuggets would receive Chris Kaman to play C and be able to move Nene to PF. Talk about a very tough post tandem. They also would receive Aminu who is young and has shown flashes of becoming a very capable scorer in the league and he can defend. Taking on Baron would be a drawback but would allow them to move Billups in a seperate trade. This way allowing them to keep Ty Lawson coming off the bench where he best utilized.
Clippers would lose their starting PG but Bledsoe and Foye are both capable of handling the PG duties. Think about this line-up. Bledsoe/Foye...Eric Gordon...Melo...Blake...DeAndre Jordan. Very very solid line-up that would compete every night. Throw in K-mart coming off the bench when he's healthy. This is K-mart's last year in his current contract which pays him $16 mill...so taking that off the books allows Clippers to save money to re-up Blake ASAP.
B) Minnesota Timberwolves
Ok so the Timerwolves were being thrown around as a 3rd wheel team in the Knicks/Nuggets talks. Ok Carmelo probably wouldn't want to play there anyways. It is Kahn we are talking about, it is Minnesota we are talking about, it is Lala we are talking about. But this deal makes a whole lot of sense. Plus it gives me butterflies thinking about how many former Syracuse players I can fit onto one team.
My Proposed Trade:
Timberwolves receive: SF Carmelo Anthony
Nuggets receive: SF Corey Brewer, PF Michael Beasley, rights to PG Ricky Rubio
Why it would work:
Mmmmm...Flynn....Melo...Wes Johnson. The Timberwolves get their first stud since KG. Rubio will probably never suit up for the Wolves so why not just move him? Let him become the Nugget's problem. Timberwolves have Flynn and Ridnour/Bassy to handle PG, Wesley Johnson is versatile enough to move him to the 2 spot where they also have Ellington. Melo would fit right in at the 3 where he would be backed up by Martell Webster. Kevin Love is an all-star 4 who can stretch defenses allowing Melo to post up undersized 3s and keeping the paint clean. All the Wolves would need is a viable center...Darko is not the answer Kahn, ask Chris Webber....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G848nahXCec
The Nuggets on the other hand receive their PG of the future in Rubio, IF they can get him over here. Billups has one more year on his contract after this season so he becomes a nice trade chip for a team looking to clear some space next year. They replace some of Melo's scoring with Beasley and obtain a nice little bench addition with Brewer (in the last year of his contract).
Rest assured wherever Melo lands, he will help not only in the win column, but help change the culture of the team.
A) Los Angeles....
Clippers:
Yes I know, Sterling is still the owner of the Clippers and has always been cheap. We all know this. But think about this....here is an opportunity to bring in a face of the franchise type player. To bring even more hype to the Clips or as I call them....The Blake Show. Trading for Melo would make the Clips an instant contender.
My Proposed Trade:
Clippers receive: SF Carmelo Anthony & PF Kenyon Martion
Nuggets receive: C Chris Kaman, PG Baron Davis, SF Al-Farouq Aminu, (2) 1st Round Picks
Why it would work:
Nuggets would receive Chris Kaman to play C and be able to move Nene to PF. Talk about a very tough post tandem. They also would receive Aminu who is young and has shown flashes of becoming a very capable scorer in the league and he can defend. Taking on Baron would be a drawback but would allow them to move Billups in a seperate trade. This way allowing them to keep Ty Lawson coming off the bench where he best utilized.
Clippers would lose their starting PG but Bledsoe and Foye are both capable of handling the PG duties. Think about this line-up. Bledsoe/Foye...Eric Gordon...Melo...Blake...DeAndre Jordan. Very very solid line-up that would compete every night. Throw in K-mart coming off the bench when he's healthy. This is K-mart's last year in his current contract which pays him $16 mill...so taking that off the books allows Clippers to save money to re-up Blake ASAP.
B) Minnesota Timberwolves
Ok so the Timerwolves were being thrown around as a 3rd wheel team in the Knicks/Nuggets talks. Ok Carmelo probably wouldn't want to play there anyways. It is Kahn we are talking about, it is Minnesota we are talking about, it is Lala we are talking about. But this deal makes a whole lot of sense. Plus it gives me butterflies thinking about how many former Syracuse players I can fit onto one team.
My Proposed Trade:
Timberwolves receive: SF Carmelo Anthony
Nuggets receive: SF Corey Brewer, PF Michael Beasley, rights to PG Ricky Rubio
Why it would work:
Mmmmm...Flynn....Melo...Wes Johnson. The Timberwolves get their first stud since KG. Rubio will probably never suit up for the Wolves so why not just move him? Let him become the Nugget's problem. Timberwolves have Flynn and Ridnour/Bassy to handle PG, Wesley Johnson is versatile enough to move him to the 2 spot where they also have Ellington. Melo would fit right in at the 3 where he would be backed up by Martell Webster. Kevin Love is an all-star 4 who can stretch defenses allowing Melo to post up undersized 3s and keeping the paint clean. All the Wolves would need is a viable center...Darko is not the answer Kahn, ask Chris Webber....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G848nahXCec
The Nuggets on the other hand receive their PG of the future in Rubio, IF they can get him over here. Billups has one more year on his contract after this season so he becomes a nice trade chip for a team looking to clear some space next year. They replace some of Melo's scoring with Beasley and obtain a nice little bench addition with Brewer (in the last year of his contract).
Rest assured wherever Melo lands, he will help not only in the win column, but help change the culture of the team.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Best Sports Man Cave Mailweek: 2/6/11
Solid mailweek this week. Received some nice looking cards along with the Coach K TTM auto.
From everyone else's experience, and now mine, no matter what card you send Coach K, he sends you back this 8x10 Auto. Pretty nice looking and I'm pleased with it. I'll frame it and have it posted up somewhere in my man cave. So only one TTM auto this week, but it's a HOF one...I'll take it.
The John "Hondo" Havlicek cards came in as well, but not nearly in the condition I would have liked. But when you pay $5 for all 3, guess you can't complain too much. He's a Celtic legend playing 16 season and winning 8 titles...not too shabby. Hondo also was the subject of perhaps the best play by play call ever when he stole Hal Greer's inbound pass in the 1965 NBA Finals against the Sixers (shown in following post).
The Kevin Garnett SP RC is a nice alternative to the pricier, more sought after Finest RC. It's a PSA 9 so not bad for $5 delivered. I really like the look of those SP rookies. I'm one step closer and one year closer to my Dave Bing RC with his second year card coming in. A PSA 7 on a tall boy is a fairly good grade. Then as a kicker picked up the 09-10 Prestige Bonus Shots numbered 08/10. Only set me back $4 delivered. Couldn't pass it up. Go Mayor Bing.
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