Too Many Bricks: Lakers Lose to Hawks

Ed Davis is the Lakers' top performer with 7 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 assists in the loss to the Atlanta Hawks 91-86. Am I seeing that right? Only three players scored in double figures Sunday night as Jordan Clarkson racked up 10 points and almost grabbed a near triple-double, grabbing 8 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists, but shooting 4-13 from the field. Carlos Boozer added 13 points off the bench as well as Ryan Kelly, tallying up the same point total as Boozer. Everybody else has not racked up double-figures due to poor shooting. (That escalated quickly).

Final Score: vs. Atlanta 91-86 [L]
Full article: http://www.nba.com/games/20150315/ATLLAL/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

Highlights:

Next Game: @ Golden State (Tonight 7:30 PM Pacific Time) <= No Q-by-Q, Halftime, or Full Recap posts

Darren McFadden Departs For Dallas

The Darren McFadden era in Oakland has finally come to an end. After staying for one more year last season, Darren McFadden has found a new home down in Texas. McFadden and the Dallas Cowboys have come to an agreement for a 2 year $5.85 million deal. With the departure of DeMarco Murray to Philly, the Cowboys had to fill in their running back void.

A part of us here within the Raider Nation is probably celebrating right now that he's finally left the team. It's understandable, considering he just couldn't stay healthy for a full 16 game season. Ironically, the year he finally stood healthy is last season, his last season with the Silver and Black, but he didn't contribute too much with the eventual emergence of Latavius Murray. He only had a 1000+ yard season under Hue Jackson and the next year with Hue as the head coach, he looked like he was on pace another great year till he got hit with a Linsfranc injury and the rest was history for McFadden's tenure. We may be glad that he's out considering the amount of times his injuries cost the Raiders promising seasons during his breakout years, but you can't deny his loyalty to the Raiders. He could've walked out last offseason when he was a free agent, could've taken Adrian Peterson-like money to play for another team, but he wanted to stay, take less money, and play with a chip on his shoulder to give something long overdue to the Raiders. It just wasn't meant to be.

Now with McFadden going to Dallas, those two years on the contract are definitely going to be pivotal. The Cowboys have a stout O-line, the paved a lot of holes for DeMarco Murray to run in. Basically, McFadden is going to get what he hasn't had in his 6-7 year tenure with the Raiders, a stout O-line that can open up big running lanes. The verdict is still out there whether McFadden failed to be the star running back the Raiders expected him to be because of an awful O-line he had to play with or is it because of the injuries that have derailed his growth into one of the league's premiere running back. Only the next season will tell and it will definitely give us a big picture on McFadden's NFL career. Can he benefit from the same O-line that made DeMarco Murray last season's leading rusher? Only next season will tell. But overall, I wish McFadden good luck on his new team and hopefully a change of scenery will rejuvenate his career.

Lakers Swept by Knicks in Regular Season Series

I guess TNT didn't want to broadcast this game anymore in their prime time double header considering how awful both teams are. With the Lakers losing twice to the Knicks, I guess it's safe to say that the Lakers are worse than the Knicks despite having a better record than them. Jordan Hill was the Lakers' top performer this game with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds on 8-14 shooting, but that couldn't lift the Lakers to victory as the Knicks beat the Lakers 101-94. Tarik Black saw some playing time, recording a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. The backcourt of Wayne Ellington and Jordan Clarkson failed to deliver an efficient game as Ellington scored 11 points on 4-13 shooting and Clarkson also scored 11 points, but on 4-12 shooting. Jeremy Lin was the top scorer off the bench with 14 points and Carlos Boozer added 11 points to round out the bench.

Final Score: vs. New York 101-94 [L]
Full Article: http://www.nba.com/games/20150312/NYKLAL/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

Highlights:

Next Game: vs. Atlanta (03/15)

Rodney Hudson to Raiders Official

Though both parties came into agreement the day before free agency, the official Raiders website has confirmed that Kansas City Chiefs center, Rodney Hudson, has signed his contract with the team. Referring back to the details, Hudson's contract is up to 5 years worth $44.5 million, making him the highest paid centers in the NFL. Hudson didn't become the full time starting center until after his 2nd year after recovering from injury and has remained on the field ever since.

Looking back at this, as mentioned, Hudson was ranked #3 overall in Pro Football Focus's best centers in the league rankings while Stefen Wisniewski couldn't crack at the top 10 at best. Like I said when this deal was disclosed, it provides a huge upgrade at that center position and bolsters that O-line. Evaluating Wiz's play at center, I gotta admit, it was mediocre at best, whether Carson Palmer, Terelle Pryor, Matt Flynn, Matt McGloin, or Derek Carr was under center. Bad communication, bad snaps, committed too many holding penalties when the running game had a good gain up the middle. With a O-line consisting of Penn, Jackson, Hudson, and Austin Howard, who's moving to his natural position at right tackle, that's a pretty decent O-line to give Carr protection and potentially open up big holes for the running game.

Raiders Add LB Curtis Lofton (NO) and DT Dan Williams (ARZ)

Now these are some of the free agency signings I was going to make separate posts about. The Raiders brought these two players in for a visit yesterday and then early morning today, both Curtis Lofton and Dan Williams agreed to sign with the Raiders. Lofton is going into his 7th season and he's racked up over 800 tackles in his stints with the Falcons and the Saints and he's signed to an 3 year $18 million deal. As for Williams, he's spent 5 years with the Cardinals, racking up over 100 tackles and the terms of his deal is undisclosed, but he's scheduled to make $6 million per year with $15 million guaranteed.

These may not be big time splashes that we were expecting from Reggie McKenzie, but they provide the Raiders with some depth and fill some holes on positions that needed to be address. With the Lofton signing, I thought with signing Malcolm Smith, he would be the Raiders' starting linebacker, but they were contempt on bringing in a much proven linebacker who can be that defensive play caller. Lofton racks up a lot of tackles and I mean a lot of tackles and he's a great. A perfect replacement for Roach. Obviously, Lofton is penciled in to be the "Mike" with Moore and Mack on the outside, but since Moore is on a timetable after receiving hip surgery, the Raiders could place Malcolm Smith on the weakside for the time being since he can play all three positions. The signing of Lofton overall provides depth at the linebacker spot the Raiders have been lacking last season with multiple injuries.

As for Dan Williams, during his draft year, he was like the top-tier defensive linemen next to Ndamukong Suh. He didn't make too much of an impact until last season and this guy is just a pure run stopper. Look at the Cowboys game last season, Williams had the best game in containing Dallas' run game and their star running back, DeMarco Murray. Now, one game doesn't tell the whole career of a player, but I can see him as a primary run stopper and it makes sense considering the Raiders were horrible stopping the run, especially since teams were running up the middle all game long. You pair him with Justin Ellis in the middle, that is a brick wall running back are running into. Now this signing also signals that the Raiders are officially out of the Terrance Knighton sweepstakes. It would've been nice to add Knighton, but he wanted a lucrative offer and his play is below that. I guess that's what you expect for a player who banked on the Broncos winning the Super Bowl last season. Nonetheless, Williams is a far cry from Knighton, but he's still a good player and has a lot of years on him to develop his full potential as a 1st round pick.

Lakers Top Pistons

In a game where both teams needed a win to snap their losing skid, the Lakers were the ones to come out on top. Ed Davis was the Lakers' top performer this game, scoring 13 points and 6 rebounds on 6-8 shooting to help the Lakers beat the Pistons 85-93. Jeremy Lin was the only Laker off the bench to join Davis in double figures with 12 points. Though Lin just chipped in one field goal, he got most of his points from the charity stripe. All Laker starters were in double figures this game as Wesley Johnson added 13 points, Tarik Black added 10 points and 8 rebounds, Wayne Ellington racked up 11 points, and Jordan Clarkson chipped in 10 points and 8 assists. Jordan Hill was the leading scorer of the starting five with 16 points.

Final Score: vs. Detroit 85-93 [W]
Full article: http://www.nba.com/games/20150310/DETLAL/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

Highlights:

Next Game: vs. New York (03/12) <= Q-by-Q, Halftime, and Full Recap Posts (Cancelled, not nationally televised)

Raiders 2015 Free Agency Outlook

The day before the New Year of the NFL Season. You know what that means. The NFL offseason is finally taking place! But that's tomorrow though. So good afternoon Raider Nation, welcome to the annual Raiders Free Agency Outlook as told by my personal insight, using a little research too. So let's get right into it.

Well you can take the plans of signing Ndamukong Suh and Randall Cobb and burn them. Even though free agency hasn't started yet, the past weekend was the time for the unrestricted FAs and their agents to negotiate with teams on a deal to stay with their designated team or leave for another team. Suh and Cobb were definitely top targets for the Raiders and it would've provided much help for Khalil Mack and Derek Carr. Unfortunately, Cobb agreed to re-sign with the Packers to a 4 year $40 million deal, the Raiders would've offered him much more than that, but clearly Cobb wanted to be Green Bay. As for Suh, he agreed to sign with the Miami Dolphins to a 6 year $114 million deal, making him the highest paid player at his position. Not signing Suh, I could understand that the Raiders still have to many holes to fill on this roster and though signing Suh would've been a big help to the D-line, it's just not worth it where it will cost Reggie to address the team with depth at all positions. The Randall Cobb deal was the probably that hurts more considering that he was the best receiver in the free agency class aside from Jeremy Maclin, who agreed to sign with the division rival Chiefs. However, that leaves the option to draft either Kevin White or Amari Cooper in the first round open.

Luckily today, it was reported that the Raiders have agreed to deal with Chiefs center, Rodney Hudson. According to the contract details, Hudson's deal is going to be worth $44.5 million for 5 years. A good upgrade at the position as Hudson was ranked the 3rd best center in the league according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). This signing also indicates that Stefen Wisniewski could be on his way out of Oakland. The deal's not official until tomorrow, but at least the Raiders managed to get one of their top 5 free agent priorities along with Knighton, Julius Thomas/Maclin, Cobb, and Suh.

So where do the Raiders stand right now in free agency? They have $60 million in the salary cap again plus the contractions of Tyvon Branch, Maurice Jones-Drew, and LaMarr Woodley, that puts the Raiders at like $69-70 million and they have to overpay some free agents to be on the cap floor according to the NFL collective bargaining agreement. Agreeing to sign the 3rd best center in the league for a huge amount of money is a start. I'd like the Raiders to keep addressing both the offensive line and defensive line. They're not always bright pick ups, but everything is won in the trenches. With Hudson out of the way, the next priorities for the Raiders are Terrance Knighton and Mike Iupati. Signing Iupati would solidify that O-line for a couple of years and with Knighton, imagine Pot Roast and Jelly in the middle, nobody should be running up the middle and stopping the run has been a problem for the Raiders. Pass rush is important too, but I look for the Raiders to address that in the draft if they choose not to use that 4th pick on either White or Cooper. Other notable free agents to note, Jermaine Gresham has been on the Raiders' radar. Considering that Julius Thomas could be on his way to Jacksonville, Gresham wouldn't be that bad, also Jordan Cameron is another option. Mychal Rivera is decent, but the Raiders need a tight end who can block and catch at the same time. The David Ausberry experiment was a failure and Carr needs that security blanket, especially since under Bill Musgrave, they'll be incorporating some of the Chip Kelly no-huddle offense.

This Reggie Mckenzie's redux with a lot of money to spend in the offseason again. Last year, he took an over the hill veteran approach to provide leadership in that locker room. Tuck, Penn, James Jones, they were worthy of staying. Antonio Smith, he played decent down the stretch at the DT position, but he's better off at his natural position at defensive end and being a backup. Everybody else like Tarell Brown, Rogers, MJD, Schaub, Woodley, they had no business being on the team. Hopefully with a mix of veteran and young players to add in the free agency, this long rebuilding process speeds up and adds on to the core that's being built, this time under the guise of proven head coach Jack Del Rio. Be sure to check out the blog tomorrow for signings because it will be updated constantly. I'll have a different approach in analyzing the FA period as I will have separate posts on the big signings whether it's signing a notable free agent or signing an FA to a huge contract. It's going to be an exciting time tomorrow Raider Nation. I'll see you guys then.