Wildcard Wednesday || Fireworks in NBA Free Agency

Greetings everyone and thanks for stopping by for another edition of Wildcard Wednesday! Fans of the major sports like myself are currently in limbo...unless you're a die-hard baseball fan. No offense to you all who are fans of America's pastime sport, but it's just not my cup of tea. This past week was newsworthy just from the NBA, but we can't forget what the United States Women's National Soccer Team did by avenging their 2011 World Cup loss and putting on a clinic against Japan within the first 15 minutes of play. Oh my!

I don't know what it is about NBA Free Agency, but it's always exciting to hear rumors and people arguing if it's true. Stories are made up as players fly around to meet with GM's and see their presentations. I'll be honest. As a Lakers fan, I almost thought that Mitch was going to get it done and sign Lamarcus Aldridge after getting a second shot at it. Then when he (Aldridge) tweeted on July 4th that he was going to San Antonio, I was like...

But you know what? It wasn't the end of the world, because I believe in Mitch. The Lakers didn't need the homer right off the bat. Additions of Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams, and Brandon Bass provide some size and bench play. Are they automatically in playoff contention? Probably not, but it's a start. The problem with our sports society is that we set our expectations high so early. We put grades on drafts before players even set foot on the field or on the court. Players move in and out and we put in the books the next champion before training camps even begin. Whatever happened to setting a foundation and waiting 3-4 years? Rebuilding requires patience!

Big contracts for Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Kevin Love, Dwyane Wade, Paul Millsap, Brook Lopez, Draymond Green, Goran Dragic, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler all signing with their current teams on huge deals are kind of boring. It's nice, but we always look forward to those big free agents signing with other teams and making big splashes like Lamarcus Aldridge and David West going to the Spurs and DeAndre Jordan to the Mavericks DeAndre Jordan changing his mind after his buddies convince him to stay in LA....WOW. I wouldn't say that Paul Pierce reuniting with his former Celtics head coach as a Clipper is a huge splash just because he is old. But hey, he made it work playing with the young tandem of John Wall and Bradley Beal in Washington. In my opinion, the loss of DeAndre in the middle will severely hurt the Clippers. Apparently there has been chemistry issues with DJ and CP3, hence the move to Dallas. So we'll see if Griffin and Paul can carry the Clippers on their shoulders without DeAndrre clogging the paint and grabbing 15+ rebounds per game. I still can't believe that CP3 and Blake Griffin just begged their almost ex-teammate to come back to LA. I'm just wow...I was going to publish this post earlier in the morning, but then I heard the news that something was happening between the Clippers teammates. I didn't think it was true. I thought it was some kind of joke. Some story to attract media attention, but ultimately DJ would end up still signing with the Mavericks despite their antics. Geez...I'm just amazed...

My early playoff predictions?

Western Conference:

1. Spurs
2. Warriors
3. Thunder
4. Mavericks Clippers
5. Grizzlies
6. Rockets
7. Pelicans
8. Suns/Lakers

Eastern Conference:

1. Cavaliers
2. Bulls
3. Hawks
4. Raptors
5. Heat
6. Wizards
7. 76ers
8. Timberwolves

With Portland losing a lot of its key players outside of Lillard, I see them falling out of playoff contention and probably opening that last spot for either the Suns or the Lakers. As for the East, after the first top 6 teams it's any team's opportunity who can win at least 40 games to get those last 2 spots. Draft additions from the 76er's and Timberwolves make them young and give them a good enough foundation to get into the playoffs. I'm not going to predict who will get into the Finals, because that's just dumb. You can't predict who will win when you don't know about injuries. We all saw how injuries played a huge role from this past NBA season.

That will be it for this edition of Wildcard Wednesday! NBA Free Agency is a moving stream. With the big names off the board, role-players will continue to get calls from teams throughout the off-season. Let's just remember that whatever we see on paper at the beginning of this new season will not always be what we see at the beginning of May in 2016. Injuries and trades can and will happen. I'm hoping Kobe and the Lakers can make an impact in this competitive Western Conference. As they always say, time will tell!

Catch ya later!