The past 24 hours have been eventful in terms of player movement for the NBA and MLB.
NBA: Former Clipper, Elton Brand has signed with the Philadelphis 76ers. Also heading East is Warriors Backup Mickael Pietrus, who will be heading to the Orlando Magic.
First thought is that its a bummer the Warriors lost Davis, Pietrus, and are going to not pickup Brand.
Second thought, is that we’re seeing a legitimate power shift in the NBA. 10 years ago Shaq went from the Eastern conference to the Western in the same year the Spurs managed to get the Tim Duncan with the first pick overall. Since thenthe Lakers and Spurs have dominated the NBA. With Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Greg Oden, and Kevin Durant also heading to the West, it looked as if this trend was only going to continue.
However since last year’s draft, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Derek Rose, and Michael Beasley have made their way to the Eastern conference. It will be interesting to see if the East can leverage this influx of power to become the more dominant conference.
MLB: Typically most years, the big trades happen in the week before the trade deadline. However this year we’ve seen two huge trades go down before the All Star Break. The Chicago Cubs picked up Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the A’s while the Brewers snatched up current East Bay resident CC Sabathia.
First reaction as an A’s fan is that we didn’t get enough in this trade. I was a Gaudin fan and speculate that the team felt they owed him a change of scenery after being removed from the rotation. Harden is fantastic when healthy and I just didn’t think the 4 players in return warranted the move. Hopefully the team keeps winning regardless that Bobby Crosby, Frank Thomas, and Eric Chavez are on the DL and that their number one starter has been traded.
Harden and Sabathia’s move west is another interesting trend where NL pitching is surpassing their AL counter parts. With Santana going to the NL, the emergences of Tim Linsecum and Edelsin Volquez, the additions of Harden and Sabathia, to go along with Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb, it seems the NL may no be the premier pitcher’s league.
