NBA Lottery

  Every sport has their draft. In 3 of the 4 major North American sports, the team with the worst record gets the first overall pick in the following years draft. Makes sense to me. Worst team gets best young players, best teams get "worst" young players(they aren't really bad players). The only sport that does not do this is basketball. They have what we know is the draft lottery. The worst14 teams are put in a lottery ball machine and they pick the order of the draft. The team with the 8th worst record can have the number 1 overall pick. I am going to tell why this is genius ONLY for the sport of basketball.
   When it comes to the major sports, teams have time to develop their young plays no matter how they draft. Baseball has minor league systems to develop the players. There are 3 levels of minor leagues and they help to develop the players. Football has the biggest roster of any of the sports with a 53 man roster. Aaron Rodgers stood behind Brett Favre for 3 years before becoming a starter. Look how that turned out. These sports have time to develop players and it may take 3-5 years to start winning(look at the New York Giants). Basketball is different.
  Yes, there is a D-League for basketball but there's not much of an impact on on of the teams. The basketball draft has the biggest impact on the right now for the respective teams. Look at Lebron being drafted by the Cavs, Michael Jordan on the Bulls or Larry Bird on the Celtics. They all became instant contenders and winners. This year there is no LeBron, MJ or Larry Bird, but there is a plethora of above average ball players. Will they have an impact on the team that drafts them, posisbly. Will they be draft busts(Deangelo Russell), possibly. We don't know yet. Why would a team like the 76ers tanks for all those years and draft Noel Norleans, Joel Embiid and Jahillil Okafor, who all play the same position. Look how that turned out for them. They traded Noel,  Okafor has been a bust, and Embiid is showing promise. They tanked to try and get the number 1 pick for a while and they only had it once. These teams should be trying to put together the best team they can with where they draft. This is where the draft lottery comes in.
   The lottery ensures that the teams that try and tank do not necessarily try and get number 1 pick. In baseball and football its very hard to tank, most teams just try and win and develop who is on their roster. The lottery is a punishment to those teams. A team like the Nets may not have tanked, but they do have some talent that could have placed them better than their record showed. The lottery is based on luck for all non-playoff teams. Let's hope they don't change this any time soon. Good luck to those teams.

Number 2, Derek Jeter

 

 

 

When you think of Derek Jeter, what's first thought? Number 2? The Flip Play? Mr. November? Derek Jeter has a lot of positive attributes when it comes to his professional baseball career. He's top 10 in almost every Yankees offensive category, even top 6 on the all-time hits list. Derek Jeter was the face of baseball for his 20 year career, some may even say he still is the face of baseball. He may be the last captain the Yankees have for quite some time. If you think about it, he's the last captain George Steinbrenner appointed before he passed away.

  Can you imagine if you #2 was with a team like the Reds or Astros, things would be so much different. In Cincinnati, he would have replaced a legend in Barry Larkin. In Houston, who knows who he would have replaced. Gene Michaels knew what he was doing and so did Tony Fernandez. You may be thinking, "Well that's just rude as well." Think of it this way, Tony Fernandez, already an All-Star shortstop, goes down with an injury. He was set to become a free agent after the season anyways. He gets injured, he gets paid anyways and Jeter comes up. He knew he wasn't with the Yankees past the 96 season anyways. Jeter was pushing his way through the minors. Jeter shows he is made for the Bronx.
  His first big moment as a Yankee came in the ALCS against Baltimore in 1996. Most people know it as the "Jeffery Maier Home Run", to be honest with you it was not guaranteed that Tony Tarassco was catching that ball in the first place. He hits the home run, the Yankees win the game and eventually the pennant. 1996 was just a magical season in itself. Derek Jeter came up at the right time and never looked back. He not only captivated his team, but the whole city of New York(my dad even said he's the last great Yankee and he watched Mantle play).

  We all know that throughout his 20 year career, he had so many moments I could write a whole book on them. The real reason I am writing this post is to say Thank You to Derek Jeter. His number is being retired this Sunday night. He deserves this and to be the first unanimous Hall of Famer. Derek always showed his poise on and off the field. His teammates raved about his leadership. He never even had off the field drama(at least from what we know about). He recently said in an interview that we should not be afraid of failure. He is right and that's why he succeeded. Thank you for playing he sport of baseball. Thank you for being a Yankee. Thank you for showing up in everyone's lives!!