Southeast Sports Fan Blog

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Even as a 76ers fan, I cannot help but try to figure out what the Charlotte Bobcats are doing. Look at the progression the Bobcats have made in the past few years. Now look at the progression the Thunder have made in the past few years. It is light and day, and the reasoning behind it is the fact that Oklahoma City has a plan, and the Bobcats do not. When they became and NBA franchise, they attempted to build around Emeka Okafor. Years later, all they have to show for it is a watered-down Tyson Chandler. At least they were able to replace him with Brook Lopez…actually never mind, they drafted D.J. Augustin instead.

A real gem was drafting Brandon Wright, only to trade him for Jason Richardson. Then Richardson was traded for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell. Bell is no longer with the team. Other acquisitions such as Tyrus Thomas haven’t really done anything for this team. This team has reached its ceiling, and that ceiling is an exit in the first round of the playoffs. Instead of drafting North Carolina natives and drafting players to trade them for veterans, actually having a plan to build towards success would be a good idea for this team. Michael Jordan’s days as a team manager so far looks to be like Sam Bowie’s days on the court, if you get the reference.

by David at the Sports Fan Blog Network

The Carolina Panthers should have options aplenty tonight as they join the NFL draft after sitting out Round 1.
They held onto their 2011 first-round pick and are expected to do so again today, which would end a two-year stretch of trading away a future first-rounder.

Carolina’s long wait is now over as they’ll be closely watching tonight as the picks ahead of them come off the board.

The Panthers are situated at the midpoint of the second round, No. 48 overall, and would prefer to land a defensive lineman or wide receiver, but also could opt for a cornerback.

Based on pre-draft projections, nothing much happened in the first round to detract from players who were expected to be available when the draft resumes tonight.

There continues to be a good chance Carolina can come away with a defensive lineman, especially a tackle, or a wide receiver since those are perhaps the two deepest positions in the draft.


Click here to read the full article – By Charles Chandler of http://www.heraldonline.com

The Nashville Predators have their first 2-1 lead ever in an opening-round series. It’s only fitting the first player they ever drafted played a key role.

David Legwand was the No. 2 overall pick in 1998 when the franchise was getting started. Best known as a two-way player, he scored the go-ahead goal and had two assists as the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Tuesday night and made some history.

The Predators have never won more than two games in any of their first four playoff appearances.

Game 4 is in Nashville on Thursday night, but Predators forward Steve Sullivan said they aren’t worried about stats and history.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

The Charlotte Bobcats say an MRI on Stephen Jackson’s hyperextended left knee shows a small bone bruise but no structural damage.

The Bobcats swingman said Monday he felt “way sorer” but expects to start in Game 2 against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. He sat out practice and had an ice wrap around the knee.

Jackson was injured when teammate Gerald Wallace dove for a loose ball and collided with him just before the first half of Game 1 ended Sunday. The Bobcats lost 98-89.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

With the dissolution of Pride and much of the big-ticket Japanese scene, the UFC has experienced virtually no major defections of talent in the past five years. Tito Ortiz threatened, but eventually relented; Fedor Emelianenko, the highest-profile missing person, was never theirs to begin with.

What is remarkable about Saturday’s Strikeforce card (their second for CBS) is that it will feature the first Zuffa-endorsed, highly visible, highly competitive athlete to walk away from that promotion voluntarily.

Dan Henderson, while not nearly the draw of major UFC stars like Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre, has still benefited enormously from the UFC’s promotional pull. His appearance against Michael Bisping at July’s UFC 100 was seen by a record 1.5 million pay-per-view households; The Wrestling Observer estimates 16 million people in total watched that event. He also notched a free-TV title merger (a loss) with Quinton Jackson in 2007. The only thing he missed was “The Ultimate Fighter” coaching position. To some minds, that’s probably a good thing.

Click here to read the full article – By Jake Rossen/Sherdog.com of ESPN.com

Tonight’s game between the New Orleans Hornets and Houston Rockets, two also-rans from the NBA’s once-potent Southwest Division, is all about endings.

It’s the end of the season for players on both teams, the opportunity for one last attempt at heading into the offseason on a positive note.
Yet for Jeff Bower, it could be the end of his term as the Hornets’ head coach, a job he assumed Nov. 12 when the franchise fired Byron Scott with the team off to a 3-6 start.
Saddled with injuries from the start — All-Star guard Chris Paul went down with a badly sprained left ankle in Bower’s first game as coach Nov. 13 — Bower and his staff struggled to turn things around for the Hornets. Their record is a respectable 33-39, although Paul missed 37 games with ankle, knee and finger injuries. Only one player, center Emeka Okafor, played the entire season injury free.

Click here to read the full article – By Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune

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If the Grizzlies already have an idea of what Zach Randolph is worth in the future, they aren’t saying.

So team owner Michael Heisley had no reaction to Randolph’s recent assertion that he’s worthy of a contract extension similar to the three-year, $57 million deal that former Griz Pau Gasol signed with the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this season.

However, Heisley agreed with his All-Star forward on at least one point: Randolph should remain in a Grizzlies uniform beyond the 2010-11 season when his current deal expires.

“I have every intention of talking to him,” Heisley said. “Whether or not we get something done I can’t say. I think he has found a home. He’s perfect for Memphis. And Memphis is perfect for him. I hope we can work something out.”

Randolph told AOL Fanhouse on Monday that a starting point for potential contract negotiations should be in line with what Gasol received.

Click here to read the full article – By Ronald Tillery of http://www.commercialappeal.com

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Bernie Bickerstaff’s estimation of the Charlotte Bobcats has a familiar tone.

“The only thing I know about them is, they compete,” said Bickerstaff, an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls, the Bobcats’ opponent tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena in both teams’ NBA regular-season finale. “They play hard every night.”

Bickerstaff was reminded that’s how the Bobcats were often described in the three seasons he was their head coach, beginning in their expansion year of 2004 through 2007. Night in, night out, Bickerstaff’s Bobcats played hard, played with intensity – and usually lost.

“Well, yes, that’s the way it was then,” he said, laughing. “But the (Bobcats’) talent level has been upgraded since I was there.”

Click here to read the full article – By David Scott of http://www.charlotteobserver.com

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East Carolina has turned to former Auburn Tigers coach Jeff Lebo to lead its long-struggling men’s basketball program.

The school announced Monday it had hired Lebo to replace Mack McCarthy, who spent three seasons on the sideline for the Pirates before stepping down to take a fundraising job in the school’s athletics department. Lebo had spent the past six seasons at Auburn, going 96-93 overall before he was fired earlier this month.

The 43-year-old coach played at North Carolina under Dean Smith in the late 1980s and had coached at Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga previously.

The school has scheduled a news conference for Lebo on Tuesday.

Lebo inherits a difficult job at East Carolina, a Conference USA school located in the shadows of instate Atlantic Coast Conference programs Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State. The program hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since making a surprise run to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament in 1993 and hasn’t had a winning record since the 1996-97 season.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com