July Strikes Back
For a month that offers a nice holiday break in its first week, warm weather, and summer vacation, there sure has been a lot of July bashing this year. I've heard some people in the media talk about how boring of a month July is for sports, stemming from the lack of championship basketball, any football, and compelling baseball. Even the high school sports writers in our office complained about the lack of high school sports action.
Well after listening to everyone call it boring for the last 29 days, the month of July served up the biggest news day in sports that I can remember. Kevin Garnett is finally leaving Minnesota, the Braves are getting Mark Teixeira, and one of the most important coaches in sports history passed away.
While it has little impact on the field of play, the passing of Bill Walsh is about as relevant a story as you're going to find in the sports section. There have been coaches who you could argue are better and maybe even more accomplished, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who has had a greater effect on the way the game is coached than Walsh. Outside of designing and being the first coach to implement the West Coast Offense, his legacy will lie in the coaching lineage that started with Walsh at the top. Names like Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, and many more have followed Walsh on the West Coast family tree. There have been a lot of good coaches to come and go, but the only the great ones directly influence the landscape of coaching by changing the way the game is taught, as well which coaches follow him into the ranks. Walsh did just that, and did it better than anyone ever has. It's nice to have some news to keep us entertained, but between Walsh and Wake Forrest Hoops coach Skip Prosser passing last week, I think we can deal with the bordem rather than lose two of the most admirable people in the coaching profession.
As far as the Garnett trade goes, I don't think it's all that consequential other than it makes the Celtics a playoff team. The T'Wolves will get some cap flexibility and some nice young pieces to play with in Al Jefferson and Gerald Green, while the Celts become a team of three all-stars and little else. Rajon Rondo is a pretty good player and if nothing else, he plays defense, but the front court takes a major hit in numbers. If Boston can avoid giving up Ryan Gomes, they'll have enough depth to make it out of the Eastern Conference. I just don't see this team being that much better than the 2003-04 T'Wolves that Garnett took to Game 7 of the Western Finals, even in the best-case scenario.
There may be some more deals to come during Tuesday's Major League trading deadline, but the Teixeira deal was the big one. Most of the juicy rumors that float around during the deadline never come to fruition, but it became pretty clear over the last month that Texas was ready to move on with someone else at first base. I've contented for the last few years that Tex is probably the most overrated player in the American League, so I love the deal from the Rangers perspective.
Even so, Teixeira is a legitimate middle of the order hitter and he's a nice fit for the Braves. Shortstop Elvis Andrus and LHP Matt Harrison (two of the minor leaguers in the deal) are not sure things, but Andrus is 18 year old and already has a major league glove, and Harrison's looked good before running into some arm trouble this year. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is the centerpiece of the deal, and assuming his struggles last year were simply the result of a wrist injury that's behind him, the Rangers may have made out like bandits. A 22-year old power hitting catcher should never be this easy to get, but the Rangers had the chips (or rather the chip) to pull the trigger. Kudos to GM John Daniels. Now about that pitching...
The night is young and the games are just getting under way, including my Mariners hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of the Planet Earth of the Milky Way. July opened up with fireworks and gave us some more in its final 48 hours. With a whole day left, we could still see Barry Bonds break the home run record, A-Rod hit home run number 500, and maybe even a few other trades. If not, July still had a lot to offer.
Beat that August.
Well after listening to everyone call it boring for the last 29 days, the month of July served up the biggest news day in sports that I can remember. Kevin Garnett is finally leaving Minnesota, the Braves are getting Mark Teixeira, and one of the most important coaches in sports history passed away.
While it has little impact on the field of play, the passing of Bill Walsh is about as relevant a story as you're going to find in the sports section. There have been coaches who you could argue are better and maybe even more accomplished, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who has had a greater effect on the way the game is coached than Walsh. Outside of designing and being the first coach to implement the West Coast Offense, his legacy will lie in the coaching lineage that started with Walsh at the top. Names like Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, and many more have followed Walsh on the West Coast family tree. There have been a lot of good coaches to come and go, but the only the great ones directly influence the landscape of coaching by changing the way the game is taught, as well which coaches follow him into the ranks. Walsh did just that, and did it better than anyone ever has. It's nice to have some news to keep us entertained, but between Walsh and Wake Forrest Hoops coach Skip Prosser passing last week, I think we can deal with the bordem rather than lose two of the most admirable people in the coaching profession.
As far as the Garnett trade goes, I don't think it's all that consequential other than it makes the Celtics a playoff team. The T'Wolves will get some cap flexibility and some nice young pieces to play with in Al Jefferson and Gerald Green, while the Celts become a team of three all-stars and little else. Rajon Rondo is a pretty good player and if nothing else, he plays defense, but the front court takes a major hit in numbers. If Boston can avoid giving up Ryan Gomes, they'll have enough depth to make it out of the Eastern Conference. I just don't see this team being that much better than the 2003-04 T'Wolves that Garnett took to Game 7 of the Western Finals, even in the best-case scenario.
There may be some more deals to come during Tuesday's Major League trading deadline, but the Teixeira deal was the big one. Most of the juicy rumors that float around during the deadline never come to fruition, but it became pretty clear over the last month that Texas was ready to move on with someone else at first base. I've contented for the last few years that Tex is probably the most overrated player in the American League, so I love the deal from the Rangers perspective.
Even so, Teixeira is a legitimate middle of the order hitter and he's a nice fit for the Braves. Shortstop Elvis Andrus and LHP Matt Harrison (two of the minor leaguers in the deal) are not sure things, but Andrus is 18 year old and already has a major league glove, and Harrison's looked good before running into some arm trouble this year. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is the centerpiece of the deal, and assuming his struggles last year were simply the result of a wrist injury that's behind him, the Rangers may have made out like bandits. A 22-year old power hitting catcher should never be this easy to get, but the Rangers had the chips (or rather the chip) to pull the trigger. Kudos to GM John Daniels. Now about that pitching...
The night is young and the games are just getting under way, including my Mariners hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of the Planet Earth of the Milky Way. July opened up with fireworks and gave us some more in its final 48 hours. With a whole day left, we could still see Barry Bonds break the home run record, A-Rod hit home run number 500, and maybe even a few other trades. If not, July still had a lot to offer.
Beat that August.
posted by Matt Manley at 3:34 PM
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