Tag Archives: preview

5 Predictions for the Yankees Upcoming Season

82946283_crop_650x440Today is the day that the greatest sport’s franchise will start another journey to the ultimate goal of a 28th World Series Championship. With more questions that need to be answered for the Yankees at the beginning of a season in more than 20 years. What are the 5 key things that will happen this year to help the Yankees reach baseball nirvana.

1. The Yankees will win less than 95 games this year. Last year they won 95 games and the place where they will likely lose these 2 or three games is within the division. Last year in the AL East the Yankees went 41-31. The team I see them dropping a few games to or the revamped Toronto Blue Jays, with their rebuilt rotation and potent lineup. Look for the Yankees to go 8-10 against the Blue Jays and finish the year with 92 wins.

2. The everyday outfield for the Yankees will not look the same at all. Ichiro Suzuki after signing a two year deal in the offseason will play a huge majority of the games in right field. That move does not comes as much of a surprise after the loss of Nick Swisher to the Indians. Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner will likely switch fields after Gardner has proven to be the best centerfielder in baseball playing left field. This is not a slight on Granderson’s defense at all but with this move the Yankees are assembling one of the fastest and most proficient outfields in all of baseball.

3. Derek Jeter will have a very similar season to last year. After struggling in 2011 Jeter proved all critics wrong by coming out and leading the American League in hits and reinventing his career along the way. Now after coming off a broken ankle it is just another chance for Jeter to prove everyone wrong. Jeter will bat over .315 and pick up over 180 hits.

4. Alex Rodriguez will have litte to no impact on the season at large. ARod the scapegoat for Yankee playoff woes will have the worst offensive season of his career. Woth Youkilis coming off a decent stint with the White Sox hitting 15 HR and driving 46 in 80 games Youk will be the everyday third baseman all year. ARod will not be back until the at least the All Star Break and by then Youk will be solid at the hot corner.

5. Yankees will win the World Series over the Nationals in 6 games.

It should be a great season and the Yankees should come out on top. If they don’t the door may close on an era of greatness for Jeter, Rivera, and Pettitte.

JbSmooth84.com Oklahoma City Thunder 2012-2013 Preview

After reaching the NBA Finals the Thunder knew the summer would bring about the time to make crucial decisions that will affect the team for years to come. The three headed monster of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden posed problems for teams who had slower point guards and a back court that couldn’t match their play making and scoring ability.

However the team not wanting to offer Harden a max contract decided right before the season to trade Harden to the Houston Rockets in return acquiring scorer Kevin Martin and rookie Jeremy Lamb. This trade in the short term will see the Thunder working to develop chemistry with Martin while working him in the system and finding who will provide scoring off the bench. If nothing else they knew they could count on average 15 points minimum from Harden off the bench and rely on him being an additional playmaker alongside Westbrook. With that luxury gone the Thunder do now have a professional scorer, a guy who has averaged 18 ppg his entire career and can shoot with the best of them.

Where the Thunder are going to struggle is the defensive end. Martin isn’t a player known for his defense, and while Kendrick Perkins has slimmed down, he’s not been the force that was expected when he was traded for. Along with their defense struggling in the NBA Finals against the Heat, they got minimal offensive production from their front court of Perkins and Serg Ibaka. If they want to get out of the Western Conference and attain that Larry O’Brien Trophy they’re going to need those two to be some kind of threat so opposing defenses can’t slant their coverage to cutting off driving lanes of Westbrook and Durant. In the San Antonio Spurs series Ibaka had a career scoring outburst, which caused their big men to have to play him honest. As long as teams are playing them honest they can’t cut off driving lanes, or slide double teams easier.

The Thunder will be at the top of the conference when it’s all said and done, but they’re going to need some help from players who have not been high pressure situations. Eric Maynor who’s coming off a reconstructed knee will be looked at to pick up some of the slack the Harden leaves behind. Rookies Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb who won’t be expected to provide much early on, as the season progresses one of them will need to give them something off the bench. It doesn’t have to be something quantified by stats, but a player that keeps the flow of momentum going. Hasheem Thabeet will give them some front court depth, and will allow Perkins and Ibaka to be more aggressive knowing they have Thabeet to come off the bench to hold down the fort.

It will take some time to see ultimately see if the Harden trade was a success or tragedy, but it’s definitely a move that doesn’t send them to druthers of the league.

JbSmooth84.com Utah Jazz 2012-2013 Preview

The Utah Jazz have an interesting bunch a guys on their team, a good mix of young players who if they can develop into bonafide NBA contributors will keep the Jazz in the mix for title contention for years like they were in the 90’s and 00’s.

With young but experienced big man Al Jefferson the Jazz have a low post threat to anchor their offense. He’s surrounded by two young men that have a lot of potential in Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, however they’re going to need to average more than 9 points and 15 rebounds combined if the Jazz are going to be successful ( Kanter 4.0 ppg 5.5 rpg, Favors 5.0 ppg 9.5 rpg). One of those two are going to have to average a double-double if they are to make any kind of significant run in the Western Conference.

Their guard play should see an improvement from last year with the acquisition of Mo Williams and Randy Foye. Gordon Hayward who averaged 12.5ppg and 3.5 rpg last season if he can bump his scoring average closer to the season that will open up the floor more for everyone on the offensive end. They’re definitely going to need Williams to play like he did when he was playing alongside LeBron, where he averaged almost 17 points during their two years together. What will also be needed is Mo’s playmaking ability. In his career he’s averaged close to 5 assist, his best years coming before he played with LeBron where he achieved an average of 6 assists 3 out of his 4 years in Milwaukee. If Mo ever wants to prove he’s a player that didn’t need LeBron, now would be the time to prove it, unless anytime he’s mentioned his name will be forever linked with King James.

The Jazz aren’t a bad team at all, but they will need to get more from their young big men if they want to be a real contender in the West. They made the playoffs last year commandeering the final playoff spot before getting swept by the Spurs, even though that’s nothing to be ashamed of. We will see if the Jazz can stand the test of a full 82 game season, and make it back to the playoffs. If they are to, it will truly be a team effort, but they will need someone to step up and be the guy to lead the team to the promise land.

JbSmooth84.com Minnesota Timberwolves 2012-2013 Preview

The T’Wolves are an interesting team, a nice young core with little experience, but tons of talent. However, they are starting the season facing injuries to major contributors on the team. Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio won’t be back for a while out with a broken hand and recovering from ACL surgery respectively.

They did add Andrei Kirilenko and Chase Bundinger which should be able to handle some of the scoring load for them, and Kirilenko gives them a defensive edge they haven’t had in a while. Surprise addition of the off season was Brandon Roy coming out of retirement after a year away. The biggest question for him is can he endure an 82 game season, will his body hold up and allow him to be a big contributor for this team.

Derrick Williams will need to step in his sophmore season in the NBA. He’ll need to improve upon the 8 points and 7 rebounds a game he averaged in his rookie campaign. For this team to be successful, they don’t need him to become a superstar caliber player, but he needs to be a consistent 15-18 points per game 10 rebounds per game type player. Also he’s going to need to evolve into a starter or sixth man unless he’ll be deemed a bust as the number 2 pick.

The Timberwolves were primed to make a valient run at the 7th or 8th playoff spot in the west before the Love injury, now I don’t see them staying afloat long enough for help to return. It should be an exciting season for them, if they can finish between 35-40 wins this season I’d deem their season is a success.

JbSmooth84.com Toronto Raptors 2012-2013 Preview

The Raptors, what can I say about them…(thinking)….(still thinking)… Well, I don’t believe they’re the worse team in the league. However, they’re darn close. With a young roster, I see the Raptors going through a stretch where they don’t win many games, but improvement with the team will be seen. They added Kyle Lowry, Landry Fields, Linas Kleiza, so they will have an increase in offensive production, however, I don’t see this team being that solid on the defensive end of the floor. The Raptors are a young team that is missing a few pieces before they’ll be a consistent playoff team. Demar Derozan is a nice player who they just signed to an extension, if he continues to develop like he has during his first 3 years, he should be a solid cornerstone piece for the Raptors to build on. If their three rookies Quincy Acy, Terrence Ross, and Jonas Valanciunas can be anything better than average they will have a shot at the playoffs. The Raptors are a pretty young team with the average tenure of the team being 4 years of NBA service. It will be a few years before this team is contending for anything important, what will be key is showing some patience while this team goes through their growing pains