Bad news for W’s fans–Elton Brand will probably be a Clipper when teams can sign free agents on Wednesday. Even more disturbing is the fact that the Warriors are interested in Corey Maggette and Josh Smith, according to the article. I don’t like either. I am conservative with cap room so I would wait until you could get a star to build around or several good complementary pieces to the Wright, Biedrins, Ellis core.
The Sharks also took a risk and traded for Dan Boyle. To do so, they ultimately had to part with Craig Rivet (for cap reasons), Matt Carle, Ty Wisehart and a first round pick. That’s A LOT to give up. That said, Boyle is probably more talented that the outgoing Brian Campbell, has won a Stanley Cup and is signed to a long-term deal. Wisehart is good, but the Sharks young blueline has Marc Edward Vlasic and upcoming Nick Petricki. Carle has a chance to be excellent and giving up a kid with such high upside scares me. That said, he looked lost out there last year so maybe expectations were overrated. Regardless, you need veterans to win the cup. Detroit underwent a similar trend about 10 years ago as they started heading for the cup. They traded Keith Primeau for Brendan Shanahan and Ray Sheppard for Igor Larionov. They also made key trades for the aging Larry Murphy and Chris Chelios. All in all, San Jose looks to have a nice 5 year window as a cup contender with a core of Thornton, Marleau, Boyle, Michalek, Cheechoo and Nabokov. Right now, they have some nice veterans in Rob Blake, Jeremy Roenick and Mike Grier and some rising young players in Vlasic, Devin Setoguchi (watch out for him), Joe Pavelski, Thomas Plihal, Lukas Kaspar and Torrey Mitchell.
One great political feature: an indepth look at the Hillary Clinton campaign, profiling its rise and ultimate fall.
Some cool videos (quantum of solace trailer and an acapella version of barack obama’s “yes we can”)
