The Basement View

Fresh Start_221: Getting better at this 2nd Round Mock 1.0 With my first round of the first mock draft over and done with. Here is the first two rounds in complete order. Something to understand from all of this is, the way I am formatting this mock draft is by best fit at that pick, not the best players. I think some of these players who are getting picked in the second round are first round picks, but not on that team. Getting further along in this draft, I have realized how talented this draft actually is. The small details that I have put on the look of the spreadsheet will make it easier for you to read the draft order. The “*” are the Compensatory picks that teams are granted from free agents that have left. Let me know what you think of the first two rounds in the comments down in the comment section. Sources:(profootballfocus.com, nfl.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Views from far far away- Getting so close, I can smell it With only 8 games left for some teams, the NBA season is quickly coming to a close. With the regular season fading fast, the 16 teams that are playoff bound, want to tune up and get ready for the hard grind of competing for a championship. The playoff races at the bottom of the totem pole are extremely tight—more so in the Eastern Conference. The current 8 seeds in each Conference are the Indiana Pacers and the Portland Trail Blazers. The Pacers are a game and a half on the Chicago Bulls, and three games up on both the Detroit Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets.  In the Western Conference, the Blazers are battling with the Denver Nuggets who are only one game back with 8 games to go. The Blazers and Nuggets have the same combined opponent winning percentage in their remaining games at 47%. The Bulls have the easiest schedule of any team in the hunt with a combined opponent winning of 32%. The hunt for the 8 th seed should

Fresh Start_220: Calling for Joe Girardi’s job… again With the announcements today that Aaron Judge will be the Opening Day right fielder, Luis Severino will be the 4 th starter in the rotation, and the 5 th spot will be a committee/competition until April 16 th . The Yankees “don’t need” a 5 th starter until then and there will be a competition in the Minors between Jordan Montgomery (he’ll start in Triple A) and Chad Green (who will start in Double A). The Bombers will carry eight relivers until the 16 th , while having Aaron Hicks and Pete Kozma will be the 4 th outfielder and utility infielder respectively. With this news, I cannot help but question Joe Girardi’s decision making as the manager. As I have said before, both Adam Warren and Bryan Mitchell had better springs throwing the ball than Severino. This also isn’t the first time I have my questions and doubts about the Yankee skipper. I have been skeptical of his moves in the past and this isn’t anything different.

In Between the Pinstripes_1: Introduction As the baseball season draws ever closer, just 5 days away. I hinted at this series a couple weeks back and I am here today to outline this series and what you can expect. This series will be about the New York Yankees throughout every day of the 2017 season. The series will be an outline of the game that was just played, the important take away, a focus player of the day, and a preview of the game ahead. I am overjoyed to bring this series, and I will be excited to bring this series to this blog throughout the season. And I cannot wait for the Baseball New Year. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Fresh Start_219:   The NFL’s New Year’s Resolution As the owners’ meetings come to a close, the NFL has pumped out their version of a “New Year’s Resolution” with their annual rule changes. There are some new notable rule changes that can attempt to speed up the game and make it safer for their players. The rule change that is driving this years’ changes is the rule change policy is now “not being able to jump the pile or ‘leap’ over the pile to block an extra point or field goal.” Before this year, it was a penalty to touch the center on your way over the pile, but now it will just result in a penalty. I personally don’t get the rule change because of the NFL’s want to make extra points and field goals “more exciting.” The health of the players could be at risk if the player who leaps over the line hits anyone on the offensive line, but that doesn’t normally happen. The players that leap over the line are most likely the most athletic player on the defense and they have the abi

Fresh Start_218: NBA MVP 2016-17 Russell Westbrook should be the MVP of the NBA. I am not one of those people that will just throw the triple double stat line at you and walk away. Looking at more than just his astonishing 31.4 points per game (1 st in the NBA), 10.5 rebounds (11 th in the NBA), and 10.4 assists (3 rd in NBA), Westbrook is having an incredible season that cannot be taken for granted. With everything that has happened this season from the start when Durant left Westbrook in Oklahoma City, to the impressive play from James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and of course Lebron James, this year has all the odds against Westbrook. But, if you look at the Thunder as a whole, the squad that Billy Donovan is coaching isn’t a group of mid-major collegiate players either. The Thunder have notable players like Victor Oladipo, Steven Adam, Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and Taj Gibson. The Thunder also have above average role players Norris Cole, Andre Roberson, and Domantas Saboni

Fresh Start_217: My 500 th article Ladies and Gentleman I introduce to you the Las Vegas Raiders. That’s right football fans, one-year after the Rams made the move from St. Louis to Los Angeles, the NFL will have two teams moving. The Chargers from San Diego to Los Angeles and now the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas. However, this isn’t 100% final. As odd as that may sound, the Raiders will move to Las Vegas but not until at least 2019 or 2020. The Raiders got the okay from the league to move, but Raider owner Mark Davis still needs build the stadium. According to multiple reports the Raiders will share a $1.9 Billion stadium with UNLV. The stadium will be a domed stadium that will seat 65,000 fans compare to the 63,132 that the Oakland Coliseum. This is truly remarkable that the Raiders will have the move but stay in Oakland for 3 or more seasons. The message that the Raiders will be sending to their fans over the next 3+ seasons is just a slap in the face. It won’t be

NY 500 #27 As the waning days of March drag on, the Madness of March ending, the smell of baseball and the Masters fresh in our minds, it is an exciting time to be a New York sports fan. The hockey and basketball playoff races are a week older, and have more compelling story lines. The Knicks and Nets are way out of the NBA playoff race, but the Nets have suddenly become an interesting NBA team. With the worst record in the league at 16-57 over the past month the Nets have caught an inkling of fire and made their record more presentable. What they have also done is make a culture in Brooklyn, something that can last for years to come. The Nets are also making the Boston Celtics chances at the number one overall pick this July by winning. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter what happens this season because they won’t have the pick to represent how badly this season truly was. The Nets will get a pick in the mid-late 20’s pick, just so they can be a win or two better

Fresh Start_216: Nailing out the rotation Watching one of the last televised Yankee Spring Training games yesterday afternoon, there was this underlining theme to the broadcast, at that was the Yankees starting rotation. The first 3 pitchers in the rotation are set being: Tanaka, Sabathia, and Pineda in that order. The reasoning for that is because Manager Joe Girardi wanted to go right/lefty/righty for the first 3 in the rotation. The other two spots are in open audition in camp with a multitude of pitchers in the running. The front runners in camp seemed to be Bryan Mitchell, Adam Warren, Jon Niese, Luis Cessa, and Luis Severino. Cessa and Severino were in the rotation at one point in time, with Warren and Mitchell being stop starters. Niese was released earlier today, although he was brought in to try to challenge the other four for the 5 th spot. During camp, Serverino has posted these numbers: in 13.2 innings he has a 3.95 ERA, 16 strikeouts, 5 walks, with a .231 batt

Fresh Start_215: March 24 th 2017 There are very few days a year that the game of basketball starts to play like a well-tuned symphony. With everything that happened last night in the game of basketball, you can truly say that it is the month of March. Starting with the NBA, the professional basketball world revolved around Devin Booker. Booker last night in the Boston Garden scored 70 points. Booker’s 70 points is the most in the NBA since Kobe Bryant dropped 81 in 2006. Booker is also the youngest player to score more than 60 points. Booker is one of the youngest players in the league, being only a couple months older than me. There is a ton of people in and around the league that thought Booker was a good player, but to have a night this, puts the league on Super Star watch. We’ve seen it with guys like Jeremy Lin who had a good couple of weeks than fizzled out into a decent NBA player. Booker is different. Coming out of college, Booker could shoot the ball, and giving him m

Fresh Start_214: Cinderella missed the ball The shoe didn’t fit and it wasn’t meant to be. With their 69-68 loss in the Sweet Sixteen yesterday, the Michigan Wolverines magically run has come to an end. Overall the game was an excellent game from both teams, but the Ducks just out executed when it mattered most. In the final minute, the Wolverines failed to grab two defensive rebounds that gave Oregon an extra chance which both times they were able to cash in on. After a magical run in the Big Ten Tournament, where the team won 4 games in 4 days in Washington D.C. to win the Big Ten title and grab a 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With a narrow one point 92-91 win in the opening round against Oklahoma State, the Wolverines had a tough test in the 2 seed in the Mid-West side of the bracket in Louisville. After a tough game, Michigan would pull away with a 73-69, mostly in part because of Sophomore Forward Moritz Wagner who had 26 points shooting 11-14. Then the Wolverines had

Fresh Start_213: Becoming an “expert” 2017 NFL Mock Draft 1.0 1st round With the NFL Draft just about 3 weeks away, I thought it would be the perfect time to dish out my very first mock draft. I have always loved this time of year with all the “experts” opinions on who will be going where and why—I also have always wanted to give my opinion. For years I have fell in love with players coming out of college, for example, one year I loved Darren McFadden and wanted the Jets to draft him. As you may know, the Jets didn’t draft him, in fact he went a spot before the Jets to the Oakland Raiders and the drafted Vernon Gholston. Gholston ended up being a bust, and well you know what McFadden has done. I am so excited to release my first mock draft. The way I will be doing it is by releasing one round at a time. Today I am releasing my first round, in about a week I will be doing my second round, and about 2 weeks from now my third round. I will also be putting out my top 50 prospects in t

Fresh Start_212: Hiding in plain site Does anyone have any faith in Bryce Petty? The word on the street according to the New York sports media is that Josh Mccown was signed just to help Christan Hackenberg, possibly challenging him for the starting spot come Week 1 one the 2017 season. Petty who had surgery on his nonthrowing shoulder back in December should start throwing in April, so why would the Jets not give him a chance. Some sources close to the Jets said that Hackenberg couldn’t “Hit an ocean with his passes.” Petty in 2016 started 5 games where he recorded 809 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, but completed 60% of his passes. If I remember correctly, Mike Maccagan drafted Petty in the 4 th round of the 2015 draft and wanted to groom him into the next franchise quarterback sitting behind Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith. Wasting a valuable 4 th round pick on a quarterback that has all the arm talent in the world. When Petty truly looked like a rookie wa

Fresh Start_211: Mr. Beastmode? Stay retired Marshawn. If you haven’t heard, ex-Seahawk running back want to suit up again, but only for his hometown Oakland Raiders. I get the want and desire to want to play for your hometown and what that could possibly mean for a player. We as sports fans have seen it with Lebron James and look at what that has become. Dwyane Wade has done the same thing after watching his good friend Lebron doing it just a year before. What I don’t understand is making a comeback to play for such a limited amount of time. Lynch is 30 years old and would only have about 2 years left in his career, before he would be looked at like a dinosaur. If Lynch wants to make an impact in his hometown of Oakland, he would set up a scenario where he could potential buy the Raiders. Lynch obviously has a love for his hometown, and it seems like he wants to play for them while they are in Oakland, so why wouldn’t he put his money where he could help the franchise and the c

Fresh Start_210: No option on this flight Deshaun Watson should not be the next quarterback of the New York Jets. The way the Jets quarterback situation has been over the past few season, especially when they were successful at the end of the past decade, the quarterback was not an option quarterback. Mark Sanchez was a pocket passer that had a well-tuned running game. Geno Smith was a little different type of quarterback that would stand in the pocket and every now and then if the play broke down, would run the ball himself for some yardage. Ryan Fitzpatrick was the same way, and I think Bryce Petty is the same type of quarterback. Look at the situations that happen when the Jets signed option quarterbacks in recent history. All Jets fans know what happened with Tim Tebow. The Michael Vick experiment was a decent show for some games, but was an overall bust if you look at it. Watson is the type of quarterback like that, so why would the Jets take a chance like that. It would be

NY 500 #26 After a week off and yet another battle of the bureau’s in basketball. The Nets won again, which is getting their win total 13.  The Nets will still have the worst record in the NBA and still give the first overall pick in this year’s draft. The Knicks are still in the same rut that they were in the before the trade deadline. Knick fans are still upset, as they should be with the product that is being displayed on the floor. The hockey scene in New York is getting interesting. The Islanders are in the heat of a playoff battle between them and the Maple Leafs. Toronto is currently in the 8 th East by only one point. The Islanders have 78 points with 11 games left. The Rangers are in the 4 th spot in the East with 93 points. The Blue Shirts are 6 points behind Pittsburgh and are most likely going to sit in the 4 th spot in the Eastern Conference come playoff time. I am excited for playoff hockey with the Rangers with the team that the Rangers have this season. The Is

Fresh Start_209: Super Soaking into the Sweet Sixteen Amongst my excitement when the final buzzer went off and Michigan beat #2 Louisville, at the same time I was a little upset because I had Louisville winning it all in my bracket. I love that Michigan won and is going to the Sweet Sixteen. But, the feeling of your bracket being busted stings. I will gladly play the fight song until Thursday and hope for the best against an impressive Oregon team that was just pushed to the limit tonight against Rhode Island. Oregon is banged up, but the play of Dylan Brooks and Tyler Dorsey just to get passed Rhode Island. The 11 th ranked Rhode Island team played a good game, but the wheels fell off at the end—with Brooks and Dorsey just being too much for the young inexperienced team. It should be a good game on Thursday between the Ducks and Wolverines. Michigan matches up well against Oregon, so I am hoping for an Elite 8 bid for the Wolverines. When I was picking my bracket, I was t

Fresh Start_208: Maybe you need this Today is just one those days… What I mean by that is the type of day where at the end of it all you want to do is just lay in bed and hibernate for 7 years. Crawling into bed today is the easiest thing I’ve done all day. Today was fun, yet challenging. I won’t bore you with the details, well because everyone has those days, that’s just life. I could have wrote about the upset of Villanova, or the Rangers win, or my concerns about the Yankees hot start in Spring Training. But, I didn’t. I’ve decided to put his piece up, not for pity or for anyone to comment or tweet “Are you okay?” I wrote this not to tell myself, but for someone who needs it, it’ll be alright. Maybe not today, but down the road. In days of hardship and sadness, the light will be there just find it. Trust me on that... 

Fresh Start_207: Small home improvements Yesterday the New York Jets made their first attempt to fix their secondary. The Jets have reportedly sign former Cowboy corner Morris Claiborne. There are no contract details, but this is defiantly a signing to combat the release of Darrelle Revis. Claiborne is the cheaper and younger version of Revis. Claiborne is the 12 th ranked corner on ProFootballFocus, and he did play most of the snaps when he was playing this season. Only playing 7 games this season, Claiborne had 24 total tackles, an interception, and 7 pass breakups. Claiborne is only 27 and he played his best football in the NFL last year in minimal action. Rather than hold onto an older Revis who will give you the same production in 16 games. Revis is ranked as the 66 th corner in the game per ProFootballFocus. The single interception and 5 pass breakups and highest completion percentage of any corner that Revis put up in 2016 is something the Jets will be happy to replace

Views from far far away- Out-shadowed by the Tournament   March is among us and what that means is that the college game will dominate headlines with the madness that is happening in the tournament. What basketball people don’t necessarily pay attention to this time of year is the pro game and the battles that are happening for playoff positions. Everyone who is a fan of the game is concerned about the MVP race and “who deserves it,” when Denver and Utah are in a heated double overtime game that could be the deciding factor on whether or not the Nuggets are playing meaningful basketball in the end of May into the early weeks of June. Currently, the Nuggets are two games up on Portland in the West, and Detroit and Miami are tied for the 8 th spot in the East, with Chicago lingering just one game behind. Speaking of Chicago, bad news came out of Bulls camp today with the news that Dwyane Wade will be missing the rest of the season with a fracture in his elbow. Jimmy Butler is no

Fresh Start_206: Quitters? Reading articles in several places today, it is clear that the New York sports media do not like the way that the Jets have conducted their offseason so far. I have some disagreements with what Mike Maccagan has done, but for the most part I have come to terms with the rebuild process. I saw the word “quitters” a lot in each article that I read, and that is simply not true. You can’t try to do what the Yankees did and sign a few older players and try to rebuild at the same time, it doesn’t work that way. Maccagan is doing what he is being ask from Woody Johnson and that is to rebuild this team. Maccagan is trying to trade for more picks, not spend that much money—so they have to spend next offseason, and he is getting rid of big aging contracts. Maccagan is doing everything he is being told and he is getting slaughtered for doing his job. I understand that rebuilding is the sexiest thing to do, especially in New York. Brian Cashman last year was being

Spring Schedule 2017 This will be the schedule moving forward until at the end of June. With the college basketball season hitting the tournament—a once a week article covering the week will not be adequate. I will be introducing a new series of articles called “In Between the Pinstripes” that will dive in depth about the New York Yankees. I will outline that series closer to Opening Day, but it will be every day just like the Fresh Start series. Views will end when the Finals begin. I hope you all enjoy the new changes to the schedule and hope show the new series love! Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Fresh Start_205: All charges dropped With the charges against Darrelle Revis being dropped this afternoon, the career of Revis Island is over. Being 30 years old, the Revis is aging beyond his years, he has lost about 2 or 3 steps, and will have to move to safety even when he can’t tackle. Being a 30-year-old corner going on 42, Revis has limited options on where he will go in free agency. There is no doubt that Revis will want to go to a contender for more money than he is worth because Revis only cares about money. Throughout Darrelle Revis’ career, he has collected boat loads of cash, and why would that change now that he is once again a free agent. With that, there are a select few teams that could offer him a $8-10 Million contract. If he ends up on any NFL team in 2017, I could see Revis ending up on Pittsburgh or Houston. It would be an $8 Million guaranteed contact for maybe a season and by the end of the year he would move to safety. Again, being 30, coming off a s

Fresh Start_204: An under the table signing First off, I would like to apologize for my lack luster of articles and podcast over the past two weeks. It won’t happen for that much longer if at all for the upcoming weeks. My schedule for articles will be coming out later today. Getting, into today’s Fresh Start, I would like to discuss the Seattle Seahawks attempt at getting another bruising running back. The Seahawks have signed former Green Bay Packer back Eddie Lacy. Lacy hasn’t been the same player since his sophomore season where he rushed for 1,139 yards and 9 touchdowns. After 2014, Lacy has suffered two separate injuries that has derailed his career. Having two different concussions in 2013 and 2014 (however he only missed minimal time), he has had a groin and ankle injuries that cost him a total of 11 games. Seattle, like Green Bay had a difficult time finding a number one running back in 2016-17. The Seahawks had two different backs that both got injured in Thomas Ra

Fresh Start_203: Time for the Madness Below are my picks for the 2017 NCAA Tournament. You can look them over and decide for yourself what you of my picks. I personally feel strong about it. I know I won’t have a perfect bracket but the teams that I have in the Elite 8 and Final Four are the hottest teams in the country and I think will show that on the floor. If you would like to challenge me, thinking you might have a better bracket then me, you can. Go to espn.com, create an account, go to tournament challenge, and search the group “ pbpnation ”. You can only enter one bracket in so make it count. Hope you all enjoy the madness and good luck to you if you challenge me! Sources:(espn.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out! Top Half of the bracket Bottom Half of the bracket Final Four

Fresh Start_202: Big Ten Champs=Big Dance Today is a great day to be a Michigan Wolverine fan. I am not going to sit here and claim that this season was one for the record books, in fact this season up until the Big Ten Tournament was not the greatest. This was a season of rebuilding and building a program again. After last year, most of the starting five and team for a whole for that matter either graduated or transferred. The team that had a good run with Burke, Hardaway Jr, and Robinson III, wasn’t the same in 2015, but had the experience that this 2016 doesn’t have. Yes, the team returned about half of their team, and four out of the five starters that played in the Big Title game returned, but it is still a young team. The Wolverines have four red-shirts of the team and only four seniors on the team. What that means is, coach John Beilein had his work cut out at the beginning of the season to build a culture to make this team go anywhere. Being 24-11 and 10-8 in conference

Fresh Start_201: The Power of the Dark Side The power that Bill Belichick has in the NFL is something that is unprecedented. Coming off a Super Bowl victory, the defending champs find themselves with a treasure chest of riches, since they are top 10 in cap room this offseason. New England has the ability to splurge this offseason and so far, they have done just that. On Thursday, the Patriots were linked to former Bills corner Stephon Gilmore. With Logan Ryan being an unrestricted free agent and Malcolm Butler being a restricted free agent, corner has a subject that needed to be addressed. Getting arguably one of the top 10 corners in the league at the moment, and signing him to a 5-year $65 Million ($40 Million guaranteed) contract is one way to address the need. Not only that, but being rumored in trade talks with the New Orleans Saints about wide receiver Brandin Cooks is game changing news. Belichick would ultimately pull the trigger, with news coming late last night of the