- While Kobe Bryant is in London helping the U.S. beat down on the rest of the world, his G.M. is putting his NBA team in a position to crush teams all of next season. Months after acquiring one of the best floor leaders in NBA history (Steve Nash), the Lakers orchestrated a massive, blockbuster 4 team trade with the Magic, Nuggets and 76ers to acquire Dwight Howard, easily the most dominant interior defender and rebounder in the NBA.
- Here's a breakdown of who ends up with what:
Lakers: Dwight Howard. Enough said. Howard will team with Bryant, Nash and Pau Gasol to be the odds on favorite to win the Western Conference, if not the NBA Title.
Nuggets: Andrew Iguodala. Sneakily good pickup, Iguodala isn't a household name, but is probably the best perimeter defender in the NBA and fits in perfectly with what the Nuggets like to do, namely score quickly and then play lockdown defense on the other end.
76ers: Andrew Bynum, Jason Richardson. The 76ers essentially dealt Iguodala for Bynum, which makes their team significantly better. Not that Iguodala isn't a quality player, but the 76ers had a plethora of talent at his position, while their play at center left plenty to be desired. Now they have a top 3 NBA center to go with young perimeter talent. And even though Bynum has seemingly been around forever, he's still only 24.
Magic: Aaron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, 1st round pick from all 3 teams. The Magic are starting over with a clean slate, and will have tons of draft picks from other teams as well as a very high one of their own (as they'll be close your eyes awful this coming season). No worries though Magic fans, you still get to play the Bobcats four times this year!
U.S. Women's Soccer takes home gold
- The U.S. Women avenged last summer's crushing defeat at the hands of Japan in the World Cup, beating the same squad 2-1 to win their 3rd straight gold medal and 4th in the last 5 Olympics.
- The game, which was played before 80,203 fans at Wembley Stadium (a record for a women's soccer game) was action packed and featured tons of near goals on both sides. The U.S. took a 2-0 lead on two goals by midfielder Carli Lloyd and Japan was unable to come back.
- Canada, who lost to the U.S. in the semis despite a hat trick by their star, Christine Sinclair, took home the bronze medal by defeating France 1-0 after a late goal.
Overall Olympics update
- The top 3 medal winners are as follows: Host nation Great Britain is a close 4th with 52 total medals.
| 39 | Gold 25 Silver | 26 Bronze = | 90 total | ||||
| 37 | Gold 24 Silver | 19 Bronze = | 80 total | ||||
| 12 | Gold 21 Silver | 23 Bronze = | 56 total |
Look for an special Olympic review on Monday's Sportico with some of the best stories from this year's Olympics.
No comments:
Post a Comment