Bleacher Report - Articles by Yoni Janis

Why the NFC Is Closing the Gap on the AFC

Yoni Janis — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:50:06 -0400

From 1985 to 1997, the NFC won every Super Bowl, but ever since the conference has won only three of the last 12 titles.

The AFC has been the dominant conference in the new millennium, with stronger teams and bigger stars.

But the "tide" is about to change. The NFC is closing the gap, and in the next season or two it will grab superiority once again.

Besides the Steelers, every elite side in the AFC has big question marks.

Will Tom Brady play at the same level he did before the injury?

The Colts' defense is really bad and they can't run the ball. And, by the way, Reggie Wayne and Anthony Gonzalez don't quite seem to be a combination of the likes of Wayne and Marvin Harrison.

Although Darren Sproles had some great games down the stretch last season, you have to wonder if the San Diego back could play at that level for an entire season. LaDainian Tomlinson also seems to be running "out of gas," barely passing the 1,000-yard mark last season despite starting every game. I can see the Chargers having issues, and they need to be a lot more consistent.

I could go on and on with Ravens and Titans fans claiming to be elite, but the Ravens need to show me they can play some better offense because that defense is mighty scary and the Titans defense suffered a huge loss when Albert Haynesworth took the big check from the Capitol.

The Cardinals lost last year's Super Bowl in the last minute, and most people wouldn't consider them an elite NFC team.

You look at the NFC East and you know you've got the best division in football; you have the Giants, who "seem to be in the quarterback's face when he gets the snap on almost every play" and Osi Umenyiora is back this season. The Giants are living proof that football is won on the offensive and defensive lines.

The Redskins, who ranked fourth in total defense in 2008 almost without a pass rush, will have one this year with the signing of Haynesworth. If Jason Campbell plays like he did in the first half of 2008 for the entire season, expect the Redskins to be really good. But the Redskins do seem to underachieve usually.

The Eagles are a great team and are very different from the Redskins because they always seem to overachieve, in my opinion.

The Cowboys are the worst team in the division this year, mainly because I don't think Wade Phillips is the type of coach to control crisis scenarios, and, believe me, there will be some down in Texas. But they win the award for "best worst team in a division" by a mile.

The NFC North should become a great division. For me, the Vikings are favorites to win the NFC. Brett Favre won't have to throw the ball a lot with the running game the Vikings have, and the defense is great.

The Packers finished 6-10 last season, with their defense having an off-year, but they should be closer in 2009 to their 2007 form, when they finished 11th in total defense in comparison to 20th in 2008. They proved they made the right decision in letting Favre leave because Aaron Rodgers is the real deal. Despite the bad record, the Packers were not that bad—seven of their 10 losses were by five points or fewer.

Oh, the Bears finally have a quarterback! They should be pretty good.

The NFC South is another good division, with the Falcons looking even better with Tony Gonzalez being added to Matt Ryan's weapons.

The Panthers and Saints could go either way.

The NFC West is still the weak link in the NFC, but they still have the conference's defending champions, and the Seahawks should be a lot better.

I still think that the AFC is slightly better, but the NFC is younger and very close to closing the gap. I really think that, in the next season or two, the NFC will become the better conference.

Dead Time in the World of Sports

Yoni Janis — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:40:27 -0400

Wow, I am bored. There is nothing to watch in the sports world right now.

Ever since Wimbledon ended, it seems like it’s a dead time in sports.

Yeah, I know there is some baseball, but try watching a pitch in the middle of the night (I live in Israel) and then waiting until the next pitch and then another pitch without falling asleep.

Yeah, I had a bit of fun watching the U.S. Open in golf, but I suffered from a mixture of English, Japanese, Spanish, and some other languages in “ESPN Israel’s great coverage of the British Open”.

I miss you, European soccer. But what about these great friendly matches? I really am extremely careless about them.

I can’t wait until helmets collide, and even bigger guys collide, and I don’t mean painted guy’s in underwear running inside a ring.

I can't wait until Brett Favre—yeah, I know he hasn’t signed yet, but it's going to happen—goes to throw a pigskin in Green Bay, or for those great NFC East battles.

Or maybe we could finally get a Federer-Nadal final this year at the U.S. Open?

What about Lebron James penetrating with the “hard task of finishing or passing inside to Shaq,” and Jack Nicholson watching his beloved and improved Lakers?

I can’t wait for all the great sports stuff to come back, because life cannot do this to me. I am used to being busy in the summer time, so I have never noticed that mid-July to the beginning of August is absolutely the worst time for sports in the year.

I hope the swimming World Championships will help me survive next week, because I became quite a fan of in the past Olympic Games.

I would really like to fast forward to mid-August and get some soccer in me again, but until then, I guess more nights like this one will have to do: Going to the pub and drinking, drinking, drinking, and then writing something on BleacherReport.

Will the "Top Four" Finally Break?

Yoni Janis — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:44:13 -0400

It may seem longer to most soccer fans, but the “top four” clubs only took the top four places since 2005/06. It might seem longer then that because for a while it seemed as if no one would break into the “top four.”

But last year, right before we went to sleep near the “transfer window” deadline thinking that then Real Madrid star Robinho was going to sign for Chelsea only to wake up the next morning confused about Manchester City signing him.

Then in January after a terrible start leaving City near the bottom of the table, they went on another transfer spree signing quality players such as underrated Irish keeper Shay Given, Dutch international Nigel de Jong, Wayne Bridge, and Craig Bellamy.

Well this year they went wild, on the second day of June while teams were still only starting a transfer plan Aston Villa star Gareth Barry that said he would only leave Villa for a “top four” side to play champions league soccer only to leave for the money and no European soccer at all.

City have also brought in three strikers, which two of them could be called world class in Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor the other being Roque Santa Cruz. However can someone tell me how the club plans to keep the players happy, with no European schedule and such a deep squad because obviously some players are not going to play.

I don’t here of much interest in players that City would like to get rid of but they will still have a signing or two at least before the window closes.

The real reason it seems like the top four might break this season is the lack of spending by the “top four.”

Manchester United seem like they think they have enough to win the title, but I don’t think that’s the case since bringing in Michael Owen instead of Cristiano Ronaldo is a joke. It’s kind of like Brad Pitt ditching a film and bringing Kevin Costner to replace him, it’s so 10 years ago. I also don’t think Nani is even close to the abilities of Ronaldo and I don’t see him ever having those kinds of abilities.

Liverpool well they haven’t changed dramatically but I have concerns about the middle of the defense, Carragher seemed quite shaky at times last season and I think Agger and Skrtel are good but Liverpool could do better. However Glen Johnson was a very good signing.

Well with Chelsea it seems like nothing is going on. City have been trying to sign Terry, on the other end Chelsea signed Yuri Zhirkov who is a good player but after Malouda playing well under Hiddink, I don’t really see the point in signing the Russian.

Arsenal is a subject I could discuss for days, but as a Gunner myself I am of the opinion that Wenger needs to change the way he thinks. In today’s soccer you need to overpay a bit some times to get your needs but that’s something that Wenger doesn’t agree with.

In Arsenal’s good days under the French manager we always had youngsters but we always had veterans to give the right mix of things. From Robert Pires to Emmanuel Petit and from Gilberto Silva to Sol Campbell, Arsenal always had there share of veterans. But Arsenal has a really great structure today but what they really lack is leadership.

I do think however that the “top four” aren’t finished with their squads and before the end of August they will look a lot better as they should look to grab some of Real’s Dutchmen who will be on sale by August.

I do think that the top of the premiership will be a great race this season, and even if Man City don’t make it into the “top four” then surely we will have a “top five.”

Davis Cup Quarter Final Preview

Yoni Janis — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:21:45 -0400

I know that the Davis Cup has become a non-event for even many tennis fans; I find that shame.

I am a tennis fan and a sport fan, and one of the biggest disappointment to me is the lack of national pride in Tennis. Now, it doesn’t mean that there is no national pride, it just means that there isn't much of it.

Other than soccer, no other worldwide Sport has the parity that Tennis has.

With all respect to basketball, it's popularity or quality of play is negligible outside of the US. Golf has some worldwide players, but the majority of top players are either American or British.

The problem with the tennis player, and usually the top players, is that they would rather rest when no money is involved. In addition, they sometimes prefer regular ATP Tour events rather then playing for their country.

Until the Beijing Olympics, most of the top players would skip the Olympic tournament and they only really went to China because the ATP points were added to the tournament.

For all the credit and love that Roger Federer gets, I don’t think he gets enough criticism for not playing for the Swiss Davis Cup team.

When he started to play well, he got a pass, since Switzerland didn’t have another top 100 player in the World, but today the Swiss have Stanislas Wawrinka and together they would make it deep in the tournament every year.

Regardless, tomorrow eight countries will face off to try and reach the Davis cup semi finals and some high quality tennis will be played in some of the stadiums, even though the top four players in the World won’t be in action.

Czech Republic—Argentina

Cez Arena, Ostrava

Stadium Capacity: 7500 (including 300 temporary seats)

Surface: Hard (indoors)

Team Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych (20), Radek Stepanek (21), Ivo Minar (64), Lukas Dlouhy (236).

Team Argentina: Juan Martin Del Potro (5), Jose Acasuso (36), Leonardo Mayer (61), Juan Monaco (62).

With the Czechs having home court advantage and Argentina looking weak this time other then Juan Martin Del Potro, I have to give the Czechs the advantage. However, it seems like Stepanek has been pulled from the match against Del Potro to play in the doubles and I think he matches up better then Berdych against Del Potro; after all, Stepanek beat Del Potro in Memphis this year.

Prediction: Czech Republic—Argentina 3-2.

Croatia—United States

Sportska Dvorana "Zatika", Porec Stadium Capacity: 4000 seats

Surface: Clay (indoors).

Team Croatia: Marin Cilic (15), Ivo Karlovic (27), Roko Karanusic (112), Lovro Zovko (No singles ranking, 68 doubles ranking).

Team USA: Mardy Fish (23), James Blake (17), Mike Bryan (1 doubles ranking), Bob Bryan (1 doubles ranking).

Croatia having the home court advantage is big, but with Karlovic on their team, I would advise them to build a grass court. Except Cilic among single players, as clay courts aren’t the favorite surface of the players, even if Blake won a tournament on clay this season.

However, Blake is 2-0 against Cilic in his career, which will seem to be the decider to me, since I think Fish will lose twice; the Bryans will win the doubles and Blake will beat Karlovic on clay. With the crowd in Croatia and Cilic in better form, I will give him the edge.

Prediction: Croatia—United States 3-2.

Israel—Russia

Sport Palaces Ltd (Nokia), Tel Aviv

Stadium Capacity: 11000

Surface: Hard (indoors)

Team Israel: Dudi Sela (33), Harel Levy (210), Jonathan Erlich (91 doubles ranking), Andy Ram (11 doubles ranking).

Team Russia: Marat Safin (60), Igor Andreev (24), Mikhail Youzhny (69), Igor Kunitsyn (35).

Israel moved its match to Tel Aviv’s big Basketball arena, and the atmosphere is going to be extremely noisy. Both teams have a player who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon. Dudi Sela might be one of Men’s Tennis fastest climbers up the ranking right now and, although ATP success is new to him, he has always been a great Davis Cup player.

You never know what to expect from Marat Safin anymore. He will play the doubles and the decider if needed, but Youzhny will play Sela on the first day.

Doubles could be tricky; Ram and Erlich have been one of the best doubles in the World til Erlich’s long injury. Since his return, they havn’t played much and suddenly Israel’s free point isn’t such a certain.

I think for Israel they will need Sela to win both matches plus the doubles.

Prediction: Israel - Russia 3-2.

Spain—Germany

Plaza de Toros de Puerto Banus, Marbella

Stadium Capacity: 11000

Surface: Clay (outdoors).

Team Spain: Fernando Verdasco (9), Tommy Robredo (14), Feliciano Lopez (40), Juan Carlos Ferrero (37).

Team Germany: Phillip Kohlschreiber (29), Nicolas Kiefer (38), Mischa Zverev (47), Andreas Beck (51).

It's quite a shame for Germany that they can’t play Tommy Haas, but he probably wouldn’t of helped in this matchup. Even without Rafael Nadal, this would seem like a sweep or, at worst case, 4-1. Kohlschreiber can play well when on form, but this would be one of the biggest surprise’s in Tennis history if Germany win this meeting.

Prediction: Spain—Germany 5-0

It would be great if this weekend will create some surprise’s, but even without them, we'll see some good tennis. Just maybe next year Federer will play in the Davis Cup and maybe more people will care.

How To Fix the NFL's Overtime Rules

Yoni Janis — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:47:12 -0400

I like the NFL more then college football. I have to say that because the NFL usually gets things right as opposed to college football, but college has it right when it comes to overtime.

In the NCAA, they at least give each team an equal chance when overtime occurs, or at the very least, you don’t lose because you lost a coin toss.

I have found out that since the year 2000, 60 percent of teams who win coin tosses before overtime end up winning it. Now, according to that stat, the problem isn’t that bad.

My problem is more with the sudden death rule. I am not a fan of it in any sport. After all, someone needs to start the overtime.

In soccer, FIFA introduced the “Golden Goal” in 1993 and it took nine years for them to decide that it wasn’t fair and by the end of Euro 2004, sudden death was taken out of the soccer rulebook.

The NFL means a lot to people in America and there is nothing more annoying then losing the coin toss, and having a tired defense getting run over by the opposition’s offense and not having your team’s offense even have a chance to do anything.

I mean, imagine in soccer someone winning the toss up before the penalty shootout and if they score the shot they win the game. I would think that you need to at least give an equal chance to each team.

Now, I also think that the college system of starting on the 25 cannot work in the NFL, due to the reason that a 42-yard field goal is the automatic kick in the NFL unless it’s Pittsburgh or Buffalo or Giants stadium in December.

I would suggest that you would use college rules but starting at midfield instead of the 25 yard line.

To save time, I would give no time outs, unless you choose to kick a field goal, so your kicking team can go on the field.

One of the biggest reasons they like the sudden death is because of the time and the league doesn’t want the games to go deep into the second game's time (talking about 1 p.m. games on Sunday mainly).

I do not think that it would take much longer then sudden death and if it does at least you would be watching a classic game instead of 15 minutes of 0-0 football that makes you miss the first quarter and more of the 4 p.m. games.

I think that it’s time for Roger Goodell to stop adding punishment on court decisions and start changing things that could make the game better, because after all, this rule doesn’t change just a single play in the game, this one could mean a win or a loss.

The Sacramento Kings' Other First-Round Pick

Yoni Janis — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:42:42 -0400

The Sacramento Kings were the worst team in the NBA this season (and probably will be at the bottom in the upcoming season), but they had a really good draft this season.

First, they selected Tyreke Evans with the fourth overall pick. We all know about Tyreke, but the Kings had another pick in the first round, which most people know nothing about. But in my opinion, he will turn out to be a really good player.

As David Stern emerged out of the back room to announce the 23rd pick in the NBA Draft, with a big smile on his face, I knew right at that moment (since he is a Jew) as a basketball fan in Israel that the moment I have waited for a long time was about to happen.

David Stern said the words, "With the 23rd pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings select Omri Casspi from Rehovot Israel."

For me, it was one of the biggest sporting events of my life. By the way, David got the wrong town since Casspi is not from Rehovot, but never mind.

As a Basketball fan in Israel that loves the NBA, I'm used to waking up at odd hours to watch the best basketball in the world, but coming back from a friends party that night a bit wasted, I decided to pass watching the Draft live.

However, I woke up at four in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. So, I decided to turn on ESPN. It was around the 17th pick in the draft, and turning the channels between ESPN and the sports channel in Israel (which had live feed from Casspi’s house) the tension was great until the moment Stern came out of the back room.

Israel is the probably the best basketball nation in the world yet to have a player play in the NBA. Israel is always in the top 10 countries in Europe, and one of the best clubs in the history of European basketball.

It's time that we have a player in the NBA.

Casspi himself brings a lot of energy to the table and would be a great fit for a team like the Knicks because he plays his best ball when on the fast break. Experts are claiming that he is a lot like Andres Nocioni, and there are lots of similarities.

Casspi is not as good of a defender as Andres, but is probably a better offensive player.

The upside is that he has length, and is young, so he should probably be able to improve his defense.

Casspi has lots of emotion. One of the greatest moments was last year in the European championship qualifications against Great Britain. Britain were leading by around 25 points with a great performance by Luol Deng, when out of desperation the coach put Casspi in the game towards the end of the third quarter.

Casspi brought lots of emotion in a situation where there was nothing to be emotional about and nearly single-handedly won the game for Israel.

Another advantage he has, which not a lot of players have when they come over to the NBA—he played at one of the better clubs in Europe, which will help him adjust to the game in the NBA better.

I think Casspi will become a very useful player in the NBA, and will always be remembered as the first Israeli player in the NBA.

Wimbledon Predictions, All the Way to the Final

Yoni Janis — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:04:22 -0400

Wimbledon starts tomorrow and I am excited. Ever since the NBA finals finished I have barely watched any sports except a little of Queens and the Confederations cup. But tomorrow the excitement returns. I have decided to fill in my bracket and explain my road to the 2009 Wimbledon final. Excuse me for not creating 127 slideshows and starting from the fourth round, if you want to argue my participants in the fourth round fill free to leave a comment. In a Wimbledon without Nadal it might be wide open, or might bring back the Federer days of domination. But for sure the road will be full of classic’s, so enjoy.

Begin Slideshow

Roger Goodell, Would You Please Stop Playing The Judge !

Yoni Janis — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:49:35 -0400

I am sick and tired of Roger Goodell thinking that he his above the law.

Although he as been right in most cases, Adam “Pacman” Jones, Michael Vick, and others had to be dealt with, because of the intent and number of faults that they have made.

Donte Stallworth committed a terrible crime, but a court of law decided a suitable punishment and he has paid the family (not that it could ever take the pain away), and he has done everything that was asked of him.

Now lets get the facts right, Donte left a bar (where he admitted to drinking, but was never accused of being drunk), a guy runs out of nowhere into the street, and Donte hits him.

Donte never left the scene and took full responsibility from day one.

Hasn’t he been punished enough: no license for life, 10 years of probation, and above all he will live for the rest of his life knowing he killed a human being.

He has been full of remorse from day one, took full responsibility and never tried to make excuses, and never left the bar with intent to kill.

Time for us to have remorse since the court has dealt with the offense that he committed with no doubt. We should not be the judge.

This was a terrible accident, and if he was found with high levels of alcohol then even I would say he must never wear an NFL jersey, but instead it is time for Roger Goodell to stop playing the judge and maybe use the NFL as healing for a man who committed a tragedy, but also faced tragedy himself.

Who Says There Is No Heart In the NBA?

Yoni Janis — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:04:57 -0400

Every time I hear that sentence I stick my tongue out and make a noise that otherwise is made by your rear end. "I love college-ball because of the emotion", "because they play with their hearts".

Stop crying and kidding yourself. You probably are from a college area or went to one. You can't compare the two.

Everyone in the NBA plays with their heart. You simply cannott play with a full tank of gas for 82 games without it.

If a player didn't play with passion, the coach would bench him.

Of course you have the odd man out, but don't mistake higher quality of basketball with less emotion.

Did you see the playoffs?

So much emotion and high quality of play. Just pure joy for a basketball fan.

People think players play only for the money in the NBA. While that can be true, they need to play well in order to get that desired amount of money.

In college, players don't care about their teams. Why would they leave after a year if they did? All they want is to play with the best of the best and prove themselves.

For all you college fans; the level of play is dropping every season and you might want to check the pros to get better entertainment.

Now look I love the NCAA tournament, but don't forget it's only a step stool for those who want to have a pro career.

However for some it his their prime and they show passion and heart, and although that is admirable don't make the mistake that it means more to them.

In the end the dream for all is the NBA and it is very hard to reach the dream.

2009 Wimbledon: Top Five Contenders Not Named Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer

Yoni Janis — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:17:46 -0400

Many people think tennis is all about Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but a lot of that is because Federer's best days were when the ATP tour field was relatively weak—not to take away from Federer's accomplishments (he is the best player of all time).

But the tour is quite deep today, and when you look at the quality of the matches, you feel that you are about to be in one of the great eras in the history of tennis.

Everyone thinks Wimbledon is going to go to Federer or Nadal; however, the field this year is looking good. This will be a look at the five players from the field that are most likely to surprise us at the grass court major.

5. James Blake

A good grass player, Blake made it to the finals at the Queen's Club Tournament and played a good game against Murray.

He generally plays well on big occasions (except, like every American, he suffers at the French Open), but he often loses against a higher-ranked player in the fourth round or quarterfinals.

4. Andy Roddick

Roddick is a great grass player, even better than on hard courts. It all lays out on his serve, and if he has a career day on the serve, he can beat anyone.

His biggest enemy is himself, of course, and when things go south, he tends to sink. Although, to be honest, he has become a better mental player since his time with Jimmy Connors.

3. Juan Martin Del Potro

Although grass doesn't seem to be his preferred surface, I would say Del Potro has the tools to become a legend on grass. He played absolutely great at the French Open this year and has been to three straight Grand Slam quarterfinals.

2. Andy Murray

Murray has been looking great, and grass is his best surface by far. But the real question is whether or not he can deal with the pressure of playing at home.

The pressure is enormous—no British player has won Wimbledon since 1936—and the expectations for him are even greater than those mounted on England native Tim Henman at his prime.

I really think Murray will be the guy to break the curse, and it may very well be this year. After all, Nadal is hurt, and to be honest, Federer is clearly past his prime.

1. Novak Djokovic

We all know his talent, yet we tend to ignore him. When we do, he does good, like at the 2008 Australian Open and the Tennis Masters.

He should come into Wimbledon quite fresh since he lost in the third round at the French. He made the finals at last week's Halle Open, a grass court tournament in Germany.

My gut is telling me Djokovic will win Wimbledon, and last time that happened to me was after the US Open—I was asked who would win the Masters, and I was spot on.

Others worth mentioning are Robin Soderling, the 2009 French Open finalist, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who made the finals at the 2008 Australian Open.

In golf, the question is always "Tiger or the field?" In tennis, it used to be "Roger or Roger?" Then it was "Federer or Nadal?"

Today, the question has become "Federer, Nadal, or the field?"—and the more I think about this Wimbledon, I might just pick the field.

Five NBA Players That Upgraded Their Value the Most During the Playoffs

Yoni Janis — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:36:15 -0400

Every postseason has players who upgrade their value like "Booby Gibson" did a couple of years ago and Leon Powe did last season.

This postseason seemed to create even more names, and I decided to create a list of the top five upgrades in the 2009 playoffs.

Now some of these guys are able to resume that form and others aren't as lucky. However, those who are at the end of their current contracts are in for a nice paycheck.

The one player who was very close to the list was "Big Baby" Davis who played great on a shorthanded Celtics team. And now to the list.

5. J.R. Smith

The Denver Nuggets talented swingman has always seemed to have attitude problems that kept him from more minutes. Smith almost added five ppg to his previous four seasons' average. He averaged 14.9 points per game in the playoffs and always seemed to be able to pick it up when Carmelo wasn't playing well.

Smith will probably stay with the Nuggets as they try to improve on their successful season.

4. John Salmons

A career 6.8 ppg scorer before this season, Salmons' seventh NBA season started in Sacramento, where he elevated his game to 18.3 ppg.

After being traded to the Bulls, the small forward scored 18.1 ppg in a seven-game series with the Celtics in the first round, a series that averaged an overtime per game.

Salmons also seemed to be the Bulls' go-to guy in the clutch. Next summer he can ETO (exercise the Early Termination Option in) his contract, so it would seem that he will play with the Bulls in '09-10.

3. Mickael Pietrus

After a good first month Pietrus fell to an injury, which led the way for a great rookie season for Courtney Lee. Other than being a great swingman stopper on defence, Mickael found his stroke from downtown and gave a spark off the bench for the Magic. Mickael is under contract and will probably stay with the Magic.

2. Hedo Turkoglu

I cannot put him in first place, since anyone who's followed the Magic over the last two seasons knows that Hedo has been playing at an All-Star level, so he has not upgraded his value enormously. However, the big surprise was his ability to create shots for his teammates, and it seems that he is the real leader of the team.

Alert: Hedo has a ETCO and the Magic really need to sign him. I think the Magic will keep him because he is 30 and I am not sure anyone his gonna break the checkbook on him.

1. Trevor Ariza

Everyone knew that Ariza was a great defender, but Trevor elevated his shooting game enormously and averaged 2.5 more ppg in the playoffs. Ariza used to be a terrible outside shooter, but now he has added a long shot to his game.

Ariza is a free agent and will probably not be a Laker next season, because I think someone will open the checkbook for him, since he has also added great defence to his good shooting.

All in all these playoffs have been great, and hopefully it will create a great season in '09-10.

Magic Find Their Point Guard, but Not Who You Think

Yoni Janis — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:49:44 -0400

What a great Game 2 after a horrid Game 1, but one thing didn't change and that is that none of the Magic point guards arrived in the building.

In Jameer Nelson's case, he gets a pass since he has been out since February.

But Rafer Alston has been terrible in the finals, and the worst thing about it is his attitude.

He is the starting point guard in the NBA Finals, so he needs to take it easy. Alston was traded to replace a top 10 point guard in the league and yet he is offended by Nelson getting lots of minutes and attention.

Isn't the Finals where you give it your all, no matter your position in the lineup? I mean, it might be your last chance at a ring. And after the season, you can always leave the team.

But Orlando got lucky. Where Stan van Gundy dosn't get credit, I will give it.

Van Gundy got fed up with the bad play at the point guard position and played J.J. Redick while asking Hedo Turkoglu to play point. He was rewarded with his best matchup against the Lakers.

I expect Van Gundy to play that lineup more in Game 3, and it would be nice to see him play Nelson 25 minutes, Anthony Johnson five minutes, and the tall matchup the rest of the way, because it present the greatest threat to the Lakers.

And as for Alston, his attitude is inexcusable and the team would be better off without him.

All in all, I believe that if Van Gundy plays this tall lineup for 20 minutes a game, he might be able to make a series out of this.

World Football: Sick and Tired of Getting It Wrong

Yoni Janis — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:01:13 -0400

It is time to start taking the game away from the officials.

It is unfair on the officials to take the blame because they call the game has they see it.

All we want is to know that the score is right.

When I tell most soccer fans that I want Instant Replay in the game they laugh at me, some say, "You can't because it would destroy the flow of the game," or "It is because you you like American Football," or simply that "It could not work." Anyways, I tell them that they are wrong and lack imagination.

I have heard recently (don't know if this is accurate) that the new Europa Cup (UEFA Cup) will have two officials behind the goals to see if the ball will past the line, and I claim that is a waste. Also, I hear people saying we should have a flag system like in American Football, which is a complete waste of time and not the right system for soccer.

Ladies and gentleman, the solution is easier then we think. All that is needed is to give the fourth official a TV and instead of being busy with managers being a inch closer to their bench. He could have an important effect on the game, and before players finish arguing with the officials, the fourth official can alert the ref if he is right or not. And also before we know it, the game will be even faster then it is today, because players will realise that the fourth official has seen what really happened.

And for all of those who think that it is unfair for smaller teams where there is no TV crew, then they will have to live with a ref, and they are not alone. For instance, in Tennis in the early rounds of Grand Slams on the outside courts, there is no replay system and they live with the ref's decisions, and that is even in the same tournament.

In conclusion, we know we cannot get it right everywhere, but let's get it right where we can, because at the end of the day we are sick and tired of getting it wrong.