Carr Crash

Mike Singletary announced in the wee hours of the West Coast morning that Troy Smith will start at QB this Sunday against the Broncos. It took a whole 13 passes and less than two quarters for Singletary to realize that Carr was not the answer. Fans piled on Alex Smith for inaccuracy and chanted for Carr. They got what they wanted and then they saw that his beyond repair throwing motion makes Alex look like Peyton Manning.

Carr was a McCloughan signing (I am starting to see why the Niners fired him). Which makes me wonder why is he still on the roster? Troy Smith was new to the team and obviously the coaches are not as enamored with Nate Davis as fans are, but it sounds like they are even less so with Carr. Why keep him?

Now Troy Smith gets the start. He has some things going for him and against him. It can't get any worse right? Everyone raves about his intangibles. He did win a Heisman so he has skills. Although Heisman winning QB's don't exactly have a great track record in the NFL. Especially six foot, two hundred pound ones (Hello Eric Crouch). He also hasn't taken a game snap in two years.

One thing has been abundantly clear this year for the 49ers. It doesn't matter who is playing QB if the coaches continue to hamstring them.

Fall (asleep) Classic

Fox has to be pissed. Rangers vs. Giants. Really?

There is not a compelling story anywhere.

Rangers first World Series. Big Whoop.
Giants first on the West Coast. Who cares.
Josh Hamilton. Been there, heard about it.
Tim Lincecum. Yeah, he throws funny.

I can't stand Joe Buck anyways, but I am really not looking forward to him and Tim McCarver trying to fill a four hour game.

I thought the Rays/Phillies series a few years ago was about as bad as it could get but this is easily worse.

Here I Go Again

No this isn't a tribute to Winger. It's another, probably fruitless, attempt at keeping this blog going.

Couple things have happened in the last couple months since I last posted. You know, the NFL and NBA draft, NBA Finals, the World Cup. You know, just a few things.

I liked what the Niners did with their draft. Davis and Iupati are beasts and fit perfectly into what Singletary wants to do with his team. Mays is a high risk/reward guy, but to get arguably the best athlete in the draft in the second round, can't beat that.

The NBA playoffs were a let down, again! Lakers/Celtics? Really? It ended up being a much better series than I would have thought, but still totally uninteresting.

The Kings draft was good. I love the Cousins pick. Again high risk/reward, but he was arguably the best player in the draft and will only get better. I think New Jersey and Minnesota did the Kings a favor just like Oklahoma City and Memphis did last year. Think the Grizzlies and Thunder wish they had Tyreke now? I look at Whiteside as insurance. The Kings didn't need to go big again, but he's a defensive stud and if Cousins does go all Derek Coleman, they at least got one big out of the draft (assuming Whiteside doesn't go all Patrick O'Bryant).

I would love to see the Kings pursue JJ Reddick or Anthony Morrow in free agency. Add a Steve Blake to run the show from the bench and they have the makings of a good core.

So, some random short thoughts for now. Hopefully I'll be back soon for the ZERO people that follow my blog.

I Keep Saying This...

I really need to be better about posting here. I find myself thinking random sports thoughts through out the day and yet they never make it here or even to my Twitter. Not that it matters cause it doesn't look like anyone reads this anyways.

I could go back and review what in the sports world has caught my eye since November (yes it's been that long), but why live in the past.

With the 13th (and 17th) pick in the NFL draft...
The Niners two first round picks has got me following the draft even more than I would normally. My wish list is still Trent Williams and Joe Haden. I don't care that Haden was slow at the combine, cause his form was horrible. Last time I checked NFL players don't line up in starting blocks, so I could care less that he ran a slow 40. Put on the game film, he has not problems keeping up with the faster WR's in the SEC. Williams is a monster. I'd also be OK with Anthony Davis. One OT I am not sold on is Bulaga. I also am not a huge fan of all the CJ Spiller talk. Maybe in round 2, but you cannot use a first rounder on a guy to return kicks and back up Gore.

Attention K-Mart Shoppers!
K-Mart is gone. Can't say I'm surprise. Nocioni is not. I am a little surprised. I thought for sure a playoff team would have come calling for his bench toughness. I don't know what happened to Martin this season. I do know the guy was not going to earn his $10 million and this has clearly become Tyreke's team. It was time for him to go. I'll try and post another item later on the rest of the team post trade.

Are you ready for some football?
Sacramento once again has a pro football team. The UFL is brining the California Redwoods (easily the worst name EVER!) to Sacramento. I love it. Sacramento has always filled that niche football market. From the Surge to the Gold Miners it has worked. Sac State's stadium improvements will help the fan experience. Any you can't beat the price (most tickets are under $20). Now all they need are a name. My suggestions are the Sacramento Rush (until I found out there is some womans football league team that uses it) or the Sacramento Strike (as in gold, not whiney union employees).

Take me out to the ball game
Spring training has started. I am not a huge follower of the local big clubs. I am Braves fan for reasons that will take too long to explain here. I do follow enough to stay in the loop. The Giants seem to have the same problems they have had for the last five years. They can pitch, but who's going to score runs. I think far too much being placed on Pablo Sandoval. He had one decent year (not great, decent) and Giants fan's think he is the second coming of Barry.... oh, wait, I'm not going there. I think Giants fans are getting the hopes up.

But at least they are not A's fans, who can't afford to even have hopes. Their biggest signing, Ben Sheets, probably won't be on the team in July. The A's will get a bunch of prospects for him, which they will develop into high caliber players, who they will trade for more prospects... This leaves me asking two questions. Why are Oakland sports teams management so terrible? Why aren't the A's renovating Raley Field as we speak?

Have to throw in some Braves thoughts here. Jason Heyward and Tommy Hanson are going to be a studs. Hope the team can at least get Bobby Cox back to the playoffs in his final year. The farm system is pretty stacked, so whoever takes over should be able to make some noise in the years to come.

Ok, that's enough for now. I promise if people read this, I will do my best to update more...

Start Spreading the...

Ball all over the field. It's pretty evident that that is what the Niners need to start doing to be productive on offense. Their first half effort against Green Bay was horrible. Then, like someone flipped a switch, they came out in the second half pitching the ball all over and scoring at will.

I swear we've seen this before... Oh, that's right. Just a few weeks ago in Houston. Sure the Texans and Packers D probably let up a little in the second half with huge leads. I'm sure that pressure returned once the Niners cut it a two score game. Yet, in both cases the Niners were able to make it a one score game.

One of the biggest gripes fans had about Mike Nolan was his unwillingness to change. He was going to do it his way and everyone else be darned. I am starting to get the same feeling from Singletary and Jimmy Raye. The Niners have gone to a spread look in both games and scored 21 points in a half. So, explain to me why you would not want to run this more often.

Two of the biggest draft picks in your recent history, Smith and Crabtree, came from the spread system. Vernon Davis has caught most, if not all, his touchdowns from the formation. Frank Gore is great receiver out of the backfield and I would argue one of the best pass blocking RBs in the game. You have Morgan, Hill and Walker chomping at the bit to get on the field. Your O-Line has shown it cannot maintain blocks or move the line of scrimmage. With all those factors telling them otherwise, Raye and Singletary spent an entire half yesterday running into a brick wall. I am starting to see a definition of insanity reference coming on here.

I am not saying that the spread offense is a panacea. This team has issues. The entire team looked like it forgot to get on the plane in the first half. The D could not stop the run game nor get pressure through the supposedly porous Packers O-Line. The Niners line continues to struggle and now is dealing with further injuries. These three things all need to be addressed. But most of them will have to wait til the off-season. The Niners can change their offensive philosophy now. The coaches would have us believe otherwise and that it makes the team one dimensional. The play on the field doesn't support that. The scoring numbers are higher and Gore's rushing numbers are just as good out of the spread and single-back as they are from the I-formation.

This is about a philosophical change. One that if not made soon, could result in some other changes...

Kings Need a Shooter

I never thought I would say this, but the Kings need a shooter. Last night's game against the Bulls was an indication that, with Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia out, the Kings are lacking a consistent shooter.

Like the Kings, the Bulls were playing scrappy. They were clogging the lane, daring the Kings to shoot from the outside and there was no one to answer the call. It was a far cry from recent Kings teams where as soon as the ball crossed mid-court there was a good chance it would be shot by whoever touched it first.

I am glad shots were not going up from all over the gym, but someone has to be able to shoot from the outside to keep teams honest. It is clear that without K-Mart and Cisco, and to a lesser degree Nocioni, this is a weak spot for this team.

At one point Tyreke had a wide open three. He double clutched it and tried to force a pass inside. Turnover. The confidence in his shot was gone. Donte Greene, who last season would jack three's with no hesitation, was willing to shoot, but his shot is still the weakest part of his game. Sergio Rodriguez was zipping beautiful passes all over the place, but you can tell he believes he has no jumper. Beno was the only one with a consistent stroke and yet Sergio was playing well enough that he couldn't get off the bench.

Don't get me wrong, if this is the biggest problem the Kings have in the short term, I'll take it. Nocioni should be back soon. K-Mart and Cisco, soon enough. In the grand scheme of things, it's actually quite encouraging that this team is only losing when their outside shots aren't falling. That's a far cry from teams of the recent past.

The Okafor Discussion

After reading the recent Bee article about a discussion between the Kings and Hornets that would send Kenny Thomas to New Orleans for Emeka Okafor.

In name value this sounds like a big win for the Kings. In contract and overall value this is a horrible deal for the Kings. Okafor has huge money, 5 years, $62.5 million, left on his deal. This would give the Kings two near max contract deals and a bunch of young talent that will quickly be running out of team options. In other words, they'd be right back in salary cap hell.

Let's not also forget that Okafor has a history of back problems. These have not been there since turning pro, but last time I checked back problems don't get better as you get older.

Petrie holds a really large bargaining chip with Thomas' expiring contract. The kind of piece you use to pick up a couple young promising players with team options and draft picks, not one high (some might say over) priced player. Petrie should think Artest trade, not Webber trade. Think Trailblazers, not Knicks.

The Kings are building and shouldn't forget that. They have had a small amount of success early this season, but this is not the time to get punch drunk and thinking this is a playoff team. There is no need to make quick fixes. Stick to the plan. Clear payroll. Build a core through the draft. Then, add pieces through trade and free agency.

The dividends are starting to show. No reason to change the strategy now.