Thabeet and Thunder agree to two year deal

To say Hasheem Thabeet has had a disappointing start to his NBA career would be generous. He's been an absolute bust, but you don't give up on a seven foot three center who was once the number two pick in the NBA draft.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking a flyer on the former Big East defensive player of the year and have agreed to a two year deal with the University of Connecticut product.




The deal cannot officially be signed until the league's free agent moratorium period is lifted on July 11. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately known, but the contract, which will be fully guaranteed for both seasons, is believed to be a minimal salary, or roughly $880,000 in the first year of the contract.

Thabeet will be playing for his fourth team in four years. He was picked one spot ahead of current Thunder guard James Harden. It is a minimal investment for the Thunder and could turn out to be a bargain if Thabeet realizes his potential. If not, cut him loose and move on. What could work in Thabeet's favor is that he won't be looked upon as a savior and can just play basketball.

“Playing in that environment is positive,” said Thabeet's agent, Bill Duffy. “Sam Presti has done a great job of not only building a winning organization but a culture that's conditioned to developing and nurturing. So we think it's a really good fit. So now the onus is on Hasheem to buy into that and to develop and to reach his potential.”


It would seem to be the perfect landing spot for him, but I'll just wait and see.

Toomer says Romo is better than Eli

Despite winning his second Super Bowl, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning still has his detractors. If you ask some fans, they would call Manning the equivalent of a hot goalie.

Former Giants receiver, Amani Toomer, might have said a few things that might serve as motivation for Manning this upcoming season. On the Sirius XM NFL show, Movin' the Chains, which Toomer co-hosts, he said that he prefers Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, over Manning.        

“Tony Romo is probably, if you look at it statistically, he’s probably the best quarterback in the NFC East,” Toomer said.  “You look at Eli Manning and what he does in the fourth quarter, but you talk about consistency, talking about 31 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions, that guy can play.”


“For me, if I wanted a guy that is going to throw less interceptions, (be) more productive, higher completion percentage, I'm going to go with Tony Romo. At crunch time, he's not as good as Eli, but every other time, he's pretty darn good.”


You can have this debate with quartebacks of years past. Stabler/Fouts, Marino/Montana, Bradshaw/Staubach. I think Manning can put up the same kind of numbers if called upon, but the Giants have always relied on a solid ground game to balance their offense. The Cowboys put more on Romo's shoulders than the Giants do Manning.

Manning is also a better crunch time performer, and that's why he has two Super Bowl rings in four years and Romo is still looking to get a playoff win under his belt. Romo may have the glitzier stats, but Manning has what really matters. The bling.

Vitali Klitschko gets teargassed at a Russian protest

WBC heavyweight champion, Vitali Klitschko, is well known for his skills in the boxing ring. He also has his hat in the political arena in Russia as well. Klitschko is running for mayor of Kiev and is also the head of the UDAR, a Ukranian political party.

Klitschko attended a rally in Kiev Wednesday, staged by Ukranians, to protest a Russian language bill passed by parliament, making Russian, not Ukrainian, the official language in some formal settings in the former Soviet republic.

What was supposed to be a peaceful protest quickly turned violent. Klitschko managed to avoid serious injury as authorities used batons and tear gas to control the crowd. Klitschko suffered a cut on his left hand but he still plans on defending his title on September 8 against Manuel Charr.      

DeMarcus Ware agrees with Jerry Jones about the Cowboys' window of opportunity

With every passing year a team that doesn't win a championship sees their window of opportunity start to slam shut. Back in May, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that the Dallas Cowboys' window is starting to close and said that the team needed to win now.

Count defensive end DeMarcus Ware as one who is on board with Jones' assessment.


“I feel like from my standpoint, we’re a better team than we were last year, and it’s going to show on the field,” Ware said. “Jerry saying that the window’s closing, I’m with Jerry. The window can be closing. It closes every year. It just depends on if you’re going to walk through that door or not. I’m with Jerry on that.”

With the players the Cowboys have on the roster they should have the urgency to win it all now. The problem is that the stars never align right for them and they fall short of the Super Bowl aspirations.

Carlos Lee dealt to the Miami Marlins

Earlier this week Houston Astros first baseman/outfielder, Carlos Lee, nixed a deal to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now according to reports Lee will be traded to the Miami Marlins.

Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle reported that Lee was removed from the Astros' 6-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh inning and his locker was cleared out.

Buster Olney of ESPN says that the deal is done and reports the Marlins are trading Matt Dominguez and pitcher Rob Rasmussen for Carlos Lee.


Dominguez, 22, was the Baseball America’s No. 4 prospect in the Miami organization entering the year. An excellent defensive third baseman who got a brief stint in the majors last year, he’s struggled with the bat for Triple-A New Orleans hitting .234 with a .647 OPS.


Rasmussen, 23, has a 3.90 ERA in 17 starts at high Class A and was rated No. 7 in the organization by Baseball America.


The Astros could potentially make out in the deal, but the downside is that they may have to pay a big chunk of Lee's remaining salary. This probably won't be the end of the Astros' selling of assets before the trade deadline.

Parise and Suter sign with the Minnesota Wild

Minnesota hockey fans will be going wild over the NHL team's reported signings. According to multiple reports, coveted free agents Zach Parise and Gary Suter will be signing with the Minnesota Wild. This will send teams that had Parise and Suter as the top two options on their free agent wish list scrambling for a plan b.

Parise, a forward who is a Minnesota native, and Suter, a defenseman, each received 13-year, $98 million deals according to people familiar with the terms.

In a deal that reminds many of the LeBron/Wade/Bosh signings, this was reported to be a package deal before all of the off-season wheeling and dealing. The signings won't guarantee the Wild a Stanley Cup or being an instant contender, but it will give them some credibility.

Detroit Pistons to sign Ukranian big man Vyacheslav Kravtsov

Outside of Ben Wallace and Greg Monroe, the Detroit Pistons have been devoid of quality big men the past two seasons. Team president Joe Dumars is out to change that. The Pistons are stocked at the guard and small forward positions and want to improve their depth at the center and power forward positions.

While the moves haven't been major and the players are unproven Dumars is set on improving the depth along the front line. With Monroe already on the roster, the Pistons drafted University of Connecticut big man, Andre Drummond with the number 9 pick in the draft. Even though there were questions surrounding Drummond it could prove to be a solid pick. The Pistons were lucky to have what was considered a top five talent fall into their laps for the third straight year.

Looking to add more younger, cheaper talent the Pistons signed Ukranian seven footer Vyacheslav Kravtsov.

Kravtsov, an athletic seven-footer, averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 22 minutes per game last season for BC Donetsk in the Ukrainian league.


Kravtsov, 25, was undrafted in 2009 and played for the Celtics' summer-league team in 2010. He's known as a defensive presence, and the Pistons have been familiar with him for some time. Pistons assistant coach Brian Hill was an assistant on the Ukrainian national team last summer.

His Eurobasket.com scouting report lists him as a "phenomenal shot blocker who likes nothing more than contesting absolutely anything on its way up" and that he's "athletic, strong and can explode in and around the hoop on offense although he's still trying to find consistency with anything from range."

Word is that he did have some dominant games against Jonas Valanciunas and Enes Kanter, both of whom were top five lottery picks in 2011. Any basketball fan knows that doesn't mean a whole lot.

Hopefully this can turn out to be more Mehmet Okur than Darko Milicic.