Stan Van Gundy Has...Handles?

Can The Eagle Win It All This Season?

Over the past week, the Philadelphia Eagles have been stirring up a lot of talk after making a few major signings in free agency. After Michael Vick sparked much talk last season with his phenomenal on the field play after much controversy with his dog fighting scandal, the Philadelphia Eagles became a team of intrigue. Now with the signings of Nnamdi Asomugha, Vince Young, Ronnie Brown, Cullen Jenkins, Jason Babin, and pulling in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie through the trade of Kevin Kolb; the Philadelphia Eagles have pulled them into the front running as Superbowl favorites. But that begs the question....what could potentially stop them? I think there are 3 potential roadblocks:

1. Michael Vick getting injured

Since Michael Vick plays the game as a running quarterback, he is more susceptible to injury. However, this last season he showed HUGE improvement on playing in the pocket and avoiding injury in the fight for a few extra yards.

Let's also add that Vince Young has been a more than formidable QB in the NFL. Vince Young is 30-17 as an NFL starter. He had a 99 Passer Rating last season as well. Completing 60 percent of his passes and only throwing 3 interceptions. He also went 8-2 to finish the 2009-2010 season to save Jeff Fisher's job that season. Yes, Chris Johnson was also a big part of that, but a running back alone does not win 30 games. So if you think Vince Young can't help lead this team if called to the duty for a few games or more with as many offensive weapons as the Philadelphia Eagles have and THAT strong of an offensive scheme, then you are being unreasonable.


2. Poor RB play

Many people question Lesean McCoy because he doesn't score many touchdowns and he fumbles a lot, and Ronnie Brown has a history of injuries and hasn't had a 1,000 yard rushing season since 2006 (The only one of his career). But let's look at this deeper....

Lesean McCoy rushed for over a 1,000 yards and had 600 yards receiving in only his second season in the league last season and first full year as the starter. With the Eagles passing game being the 9th best in the league last year and having 3rd highest scoring total in Mike Vick's first year there, their passing game will only go upward in his second year as the starter with the same weapons around him and more chemistry. Therefore it will open more doors for Lesean McCoy running the ball and not to add he'll have a full year as a starter under his belt.

Ronnie Brown has pretty much split carries with Ricky Williams over the last few years and has still put up respectable numbers yards wise (734, 648, 916). Coming from a system where he's split carries, it won't be uncomfortable for him to do this with Lesean McCoy. Not too add, the system he came from in Miami ran a lot of Wild Cat (and ran it pretty dang good), which the Eagles like to pull out every once and awhile with speedsters like Michael Vick, Jeremy Maclin, Desean Jackson, and Lesean McCoy.

3. Themselves

This one is by far the biggest threat. It's football folks. So no matter how great your team is on paper, you've got to go out and win the games still. Not too add with all this media hype, does it interfere with the teams play? Can Asante Samuel adjust to being the #3 corner Cromartie and Asomugha? Does Desean Jackson end his holdout? Will Vince Young start acting like....well....Vince Young? These are all internal questions that no one can answer or even begin to ponder until the season plays itself out.


So looking at all of this, I think the only very serious threat that could stop the Eagles from winning the Superbowl is themselves. They have to be a TEAM and they have to go out there and win the games. The future is in their hands.

Goalkeeper Drop Kicks A Player In The Back Of The Head

Is Chris Bosh Really The Heat's Problem?

Today I came across a quote from Shaquille O'neal during a telecast with NBA TV. He said The Heat only have a Big 2 (leaving out Chris Bosh).

This got me thinking....is Chris Bosh even the problem in Miami? My answer is...not at all.

From a team aspect, Chris Bosh isn't the problem. If I were to trade anyone in the Big 3, Bosh would be the untouchable one UNLESS you got an even better big man in return.

I would trade Lebron or Wade, not both, but one of them. Yes, Chris Bosh is the least talented of the three, but he's still a very good big man.

Having a very good big man and a deadly two guard is a VERY hard combination to beat. (Kobe/Shaq is a prime example of that)

The problem with the heat is, you throw ANOTHER superstar 2 guard/SF into the equation (Lebron or Wade) and your big man isn't getting the ball enough. Not too add, your back-court is fighting for the ball constantly because they need the ball in their hands.

Chris Bosh isn't the Heat's problem. Figuring out how to play Lebron and Wade together is the issue, and unless one of them commits to playing heavily off the ball, then that problem isn't getting solved without trading one of them.

Another Throwback Clip: Michael Jordan vs. Reggie Miller 1993 Fight

Cuttino Mobley Trying For A Comeback

MyFoxHouston is reporting that former Houston Rockets guard Cuttino Mobley is attempting to make a comeback to the NBA:

HOUSTON - Former NBA guard Cuttino Mobley, who retired in 2008 because of a heart ailment, would like another shot at playing in the NBA.

Mobley played for 11 years with four NBA teams, but was forced to leave the game after he was traded by the L.A. Clippers to the New York Knicks.

After a routine physical following the trade, Mobley was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

It is the same condition that led to the deaths of basketball players Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis.

"It's a lot of different variations of HCM," Mobley said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports. "Me playing 40 minutes a game for 11 years straight at a very high level. Mine is not serious at all. As you can see 11 years of playing and still playing three years later after they said you shouldn't play. You shouldn't run. You shouldn't do this. You shouldn't play that. A lot of different things they said you shouldn't do."

This week Mobley was back on the court in Houston taking part in pick up games with NBA players like Washington Wizards forward Rashard Lewis, Indiana Pacers guard T.J. Ford and Houston Rockets guard Kyle Lowry.

However, Mobley wants more than that.

He wants to play with and against those guys again when the games matter and he said he and his agent, Andy Miller, have made the NBA aware of his situation.

"I've been trying to do that," Mobley said. "You have to get doctor's evaluations and all this other stuff, but you got to understand too what the Knicks put out there, the notion, nobody wants to take that chance now. I've been playing with it for so many years. You ask yourself was it genuine or did you do it for a reason?

"I'm not done. It depends on what the league says when the time comes. It's been a difficult process."

"What the Knicks did kind of putting a stomp in it and giving people that fear about me, something I was born with."

Mobley said he is not happy with the way the Knicks handled his situation in 2008.
"At first I was cool with it because I didn't do research on it, but then doing research and getting different opinions, then I became upset because the corporation, the big company trying to get as much money as they can and do different things like that, for me I don't think that was right," Mobley said.
"You either waive me, you don't take me in, you let me go somewhere else, let me create my own destiny like I did in 1999 when I came to the Rockets. Let me create my own decisions. Don't make the decisions for me, clogging my heads with different things.

"I'm not upset now because I know it's a business and that's how they treat it as a business, but it's two and a half, three years I haven't played. It's been a waste."
Mobley, who was drafted in the second round by the Houston Rockets in 1999, also played for the Orlando Magic and the Sacramento Kings.

He got a chance to get some work in with the Boston Celtics last September.
"(Celtics president of basketball operations) Danny Ainge is unbelievable," Mobley said. "Great dude."

"The Celtics, I went in and played with Paul (Pierce) and Ray (Allen) and those guys. It was a three-day thing. I signed a waiver.

"I went up there not to get picked. I went up there just to let them know I'm fine. I can still play and this was just last September. So hopefully things will change and somebody will give me a shot and let me play or just help out. It'd be fun. If not, it's fine. It's all good."

Mobley's agent, Andy Miller, was able to find two jobs for him last year.

Mobley turned down an opportunity to play for a team in Poland.

He also had a shot to play for a team in the NBA Development League, but the two sides were not able to make it happen.

"They gave a laundry list of things that we needed to do, protocol, of things that needed to be done to put him in a position that they would be willing to offer him a contract and the list and the demand within the list, they were too cumbersome," Miller said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports.

"It had to do more with I think the league trying to protect themselves with regard to exposure, if God forbid something should ever happen to Cat."
Miller didn't want to identify the NBA D-League team that expressed an interest in Mobley.

"There is a herd-like mentality in our business that when a player has been labeled under a certain category, there is a tendency for that to be the label regardless of change of scenery," Miller said.

Miller has continued to check out every possibility for his client.

"Last time I spoke with every team in the (NBA) league," Miller said. "I treated him as a free agent in the hopes of finding him a job regardless of the economic package that would have been put together.

"I looked for jobs across the board and came up with the one with the Euro-League team in Poland and we are looking for opportunities. That hasn't changed at all.
Mobley understands his dream of returning to the NBA may end up being just that.
"Three years not playing, maybe it is a pipe dream, but it's just fun to play

.......

It's great to hear that he's healthy, but let's be real here. He hasn't played in 3 years, and he already has 11 seasons of mileage on him. Add the potential season ending lockout to that, and he hasn't played in 4 years. For him to think that a comeback is legit at this point is foolish.

If I'm an owner and I know that potentially cap room could be a lot smaller after all this lockout foolishness is over with, I'm not dropping a dime on an old 2 guard with a medical condition who hasn't played at the NBA Level in 3-4 years.

Best of luck to Cuttino however.

Throwback Clip: Shaq Dunks on Bynum and Bynum Returns The Favor