In this edition of THE Ultimate Sports Blog Roundtable, Dustin James, Steve Cook, and myself discuss a female NBA head coach, the MLB trade deadline, the 2015 MLB Hall of Fame class, and a potential new NHL team.
Would a female coach succeed in the NBA?
Dustin James: Yes, but under the right circumstances. I don't think a female could come into the NBA and lead a team full of young men and make them successful (then again, there are very few male coaches who can do that as well). Men just don't work that way. It's no secret that males are a very immature and stubborn species. I think young NBA players would have a hard time with a female as a head coach because not only would they not be used to it, but they would also probably view the whole thing as a joke and it would all turn really ugly, really quick.
However, if you were to plant a female head coach on a team like San Antonio....that would more than likely find a way to work itself out. A team that is full of mature veteran guys would probably have no trouble accepting a female as a head coach as long as she came in qualified for the job. There are other circumstances where it could work to. Let's say if someone like LeBron James all of a sudden decided he wanted Becky Hammon as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, I'm betting rest of the team would be fine with it. Like I said earlier, under the right circumstance, you can make it work.
Steve Cook: Right now? I don't think so. It's one thing for Becky Hammon to successfully coach a Spurs summer league team consisting of rookies & young players that'll listen to anybody to keep their spot on the roster, it's another thing for a woman to coach a team with veteran NBA players that have been around the block, think they know it all and barely even listen to their male head coach. Could you imagine Kobe Bryant's reaction if a woman tried to give him advice on his jump shot? I think 5-10 years down the road when more women get into the coaching field & today's veterans get replaced by veterans that are more open-minded to women doing things on the basketball floor instead of off (if ya know what I'm sayin), we might see a woman get a legit shot at a solid head coaching gig in the NBA. I will say that Hammon seems like the right woman for the job & might get this train moving earlier than I predict. We need to see more women like her before it becomes a thing, though.
Jeremy Lambert: Definitely, in the right situation. I think a team full of ambitious young players would work or a team with humble veterans wouldn't be an issue. Every team in between could spell trouble. A team like the 76ers might not mind a female coach because what else do they have going on for them? A team like the Spurs would work because all of those guys have low key personalities who believe in what the organization is doing. Even a team like Oklahoma City might work because the stars believe in the organization. But there's no way a female, or a male for that matter, could succeed with a team like Sacremento and all their personalities or the Lakers with Kobe or the Knicks with that mess.
Give me one likely MLB trade deadline trade.
DJ: Cole Hamels is getting traded to the Cubs. He just became the first guy in 50+ years to no-hit them, so why wouldn't they want him, especially if the Phillies are looking to move on from him? My baseball sources say this one is a "no-brainer" and I tend to agree.
SC: We've already seen Johnny Cueto sent to the Kansas City Royals for three left-handed pitchers. I don't think the Reds are done. I've said this in multiple conversations this week before Cueto got traded & I stand by it...if I'm an American League team the guy I'm looking to add to my roster is Aroldis Chapman. He's got a year left on his contract after this one, and the AL is so tight right now that adding an otherworldy talent like Chapman to pitch the 9th inning is more than enough to push a team over the top. Us Cincy fans have actually become spoiled by his constant 100+ mph pitches, it's always great to see the reaction from AL people at All-Star Games or other people that don't see him on a regular basis. He's a special cat. The Reds are in selling mode. He's going somewhere.
But where? The Washington Nationals keep getting mentioned as a potential landing spot, which is really freaking annoying to me because my fantasy baseball team has two closers: Chapman & the Nationals' Drew Storen. That scares the crap out of me, so I'm ruling them out. I keep hearing rumors that the Yankees might be interested in Chapman & Brandon Phillips, and that sounds fun because BP would be incredible in the NY market. So I'm going with Chappy & BP to the Yanks for some minor league guys. The Reds will be unwatchable for at least the rest of this season & next season. My alcoholism will get worse.
JL: I expect the Reds to trade everyone not named Joey Votto and Todd Frazier. The Padres are also in "sell everyone" mode so it'll be interesting to see what they do. Cole Hamels is definitely getting dealt as well and he's getting dealt to the Yankees. I know the Cubs have been linked to him, but the Yankees are also in the mix and whenever the Yankees set their target on someone, they usually end up with him.
Which city gets an NHL franchise first: Quebec, Seattle, or Las Vegas?
DJ: The correct answer is "Portland", but out of all of those cities, I'm going with Quebec. I don't know why Las Vegas or Seattle would be interested in the NHL, because those cities really don't make sense as "hockey cities"....much like Glendale, Arizona. Seattle should be more focused on getting the NBA back. Everyone misses the Sonics and I still consider it one of the biggest crimes of the century that the NBA moved from the Sonics from the "Emerald City" to "Cowpie City".
Las Vegas doesn't need hockey either. Why? Because no one would go to any games. The attendance level at those game would be the NHL players themselves, the officials, the television crews, and the guy who drives the Zamboni. I've been to Las Vegas four times and not once have I thought to myself "Man, I would love to leave this sunny poolside beach chair and trade it in for some HOCKEY!". If the NHL goes to Vegas, they will regret that decision. The correct answer is Quebec because everyone knows how much Canadians love hockey. There's nothing to do in Canada but snowboard and play hockey. Give the Quebecers their own NHL team.
SC: Quebec City & Las Vegas were the teams that applied for expansion franchises, so I think they would have the advantage over Seattle. Considering that professional leagues tend to expand in twos to keep scheduling somewhat sane, I think we can assume that Quebec City & Las Vegas would get their teams at the same time. The real question here is why the NHL needs more teams. Isn't 30 teams enough anymore? Just a couple of years ago they were owning the Coyotes so that franchise could stay alive. If I were the NHL and I really felt like I had to expand for some reason, I'd take Seattle & Vegas because they'd be new markets, even out the Eastern & Western Conferences, and put more teams in America. But Canada just has to ruin everything...
JL: Quebec is the obvious choice here. The NHL always wants more franchises in Canada because there's a guaranteed attendance and media coverage built in. I think the Seattle/Portland area would do well with a hockey team, but whether or not they could sustain that fanbase over the course of 10-20 years is a bit of a question mark. Las Vegas definitely doesn't need an NHL franchise or any sports franchise for that matter.
However, I don't think expansion is the answer. The NHL already has 30 teams and the conferences are actually imbalanced with the East having 16 and the West having 14. I guess you could add two more teams to the West, giving the league a total of 32, but then you worry about the talent pool becoming too thin and the bad teams being really bad, thus hurting their fanbases even more. Relocation is definitely possible though. The Coyotes will remain in Arizona for the time being, but in two years I wouldn't be shocked if they end up in Canada.
Favorite player of this year's MLB Hall of Fame class: Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, Graig Biggio, or Pedro Martinez?
DJ: I'm tempted to go with Pedro Martinez because of his feud with the Yankees (WHO'S YOUR DADDY?), but Randy Johnson was one of the best baseball players I ever watched play the game so I have to go with him. The guy was paper thin and stood at somewhere around ten feet tall. He didn't look like an athlete at all, and actually looked more like a logger. He was also reportedly kind of a jerk, but if I was a hitter in Major League Baseball, I would have been deathly afraid to step into the batter's box and face "The Big Unit". Johnson threw some serious heat in his day and if you don't believe me....just ask the bird he obliterated with a pitch during a game. Plus, he started out playing in MLB for the Seattle Mariners so I saw a lot of his games growing up and quickly learned to appreciate him. I'm not much of a baseball fan anymore, but I'll always consider myself a Randy Johnson fan.
SC: I was a big Randy Johnson mark growing up. Dude was 6'10, played on the same team as Ken Griffey Jr. for about a decade & just made people look silly in his prime. And for awhile after his prime, he was the oldest pitcher to throw a perfect game. Dude brought the heat like nobody else. Plus you had all the double entendres with the Big Unit nickname, the fact his name would be a fantastic porn name, and an immortal sign from the 2001 World Series that said "It Takes More Than 9 Yanks To Beat Our Johnson". Biggio & Smoltz were great, but as a Reds fan I could never really get into either of them due to dislike towards the Astros & Braves during their time sharing divisions with the Reds. Pedro was great but I didn't like him either because he was part of the endless Yanks/Sawx coverage ESPN grew infatuated with. Love him nowadays on studio shows though.
JL: It's a toss up between Johnson and Martinez for me. I love dominant pitchers. When playing MLB The Show, I always create a pitcher and often times I'll model my player after the greats like Johnson and Martinez. I give a slight edge to Johnson though, since I love fastball pitchers. There's just something great about a guy who can throw nearly 100 MPH, making the batter look stupid. Everyone knows the fastball is coming and yet the hitter can't get his bat around in time to make any type of contact. It's one thing to fool a hitter with an offspeed pitch, it's another thing to just blow the ball right by them.
