More Draft Thoughts

- Portland Trail Blazers just had a monster of a draft. Look at some of the players they have ended up with after the conclusion of the draft: Rookies Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Josh McRoberts and Taurean Green (all first-round talent), as well as veterans Steve Francis (though likely to be released for cap reasons) and Channing Frye. Now that is one heck of a roster.

- Just when everyone thought that new Seattle Supersonics General Manager Sam Presti had the easiest job on earth (that is, picking either Oden or Kevin Durant whom the Trail Blazers didn't pick), he pulled off something remarkably impressive by trading for Jeff Green, the 5th pick of the draft. While he had to give up All-star veteran Ray Allen, by adding the young and promising Green, Presti has given himself leeway in deciding whether to re-sign Rashard Lewis.

- With the addition of Allen, and Paul Pierce still with the team, will the Boston Celtics become attractive enough for Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves? For a while the Phoenix Suns have been mentioned as the most likely destination for Garnett, who has said that he doesn't want to play for the Celtics. But that was before the addition of Allen. If I were Garnett, I would seriously re-consider my stance as with the line-up of Allen, Garnett and Pierce, the Celtics would have finally become a serious contender for the first time in ages, especially in the weaker Eastern Conference.

- Not surprisingly, the San Antonio Spurs have drafted a foreigner in the first round (hence I have won my bet, though no one betted against me). Tiago Splitter, what a great name for a ball player.

- For the record, an Almond (Morris) and a Strawberry (D.J.) have been drafted. Other draftees include Curry (JamesOn) and a Cook (Daequan).

How to Find a Manager?

Chris Coleman, the former manager of Fulham, is poised to become the new man-in-charge of Spanish side Real Sociedad.

When I first heard the news, I said, "WHAT?"

Coleman himself said that there are so many foreign managers in English soccer, so why don't become a foreign manager himself in Spain? I don't have the updated list with me, but other than Fabio Capello and some other managers from South America, there really aren't many foreign managers in Spanish soccer.

But why Coleman?

Well, you may argue that some of the foreign managers were no-names when they were first hired by the team. But can you name any manager who has achieved literally nothing before being hired by a foreign team, off the top of your head?

But of course, it doesn't hurt being a "prodigy" of legendary Welsh coach John Toshack, who has strong ties with Spanish soccer and has had three spells as the manager of Real Sociedad.

And looking like a Latin guy is definitely an advantage too.

Good luck, Chris.

Day Dreaming for the Draft

It is the office hour and I should have been working, but I just couldn't keep my mind off this year's NBA Draft, which will be held later this evening (US time).

The NBA Draft is relatively easier for the fans to follow as it only lasts for one day and has a user-friendly two rounds in total. But it also means that there are only a couple of impact players in each draft class, and the chances of finding a gem later in the draft is very slim.

It has been confirmed that the Portland Trail Blazers will select Ohio State center Greg Oden with the first pick. And barring any unimaginable incidents, Kevin Durant of Texas will go second to the Seattle Supersonics.

But it is so far not clear at all as to which player will go third. And we are not sure who will pick third either, because of the potential trade of Kevin Garnett that would give the Minnesota Timberwolves the third pick in the draft.

So far, nothing has happened just yet.

Some random thoughts on the draft:

- The Atlanta Hawks are rumoured to be unwilling to part with the afore-mentioned third pick in a three-team deal that would give them Amare Stoudemire. In that trade, the T'wolves would receive picks 3 and 11 from the Hawks, and some cap-friendly players from the Hawks as well as the Phoenix Suns. Garnett going to the Suns is one thing that is more than certain. But if Atlanta is unwilling to be the third team in the trade, how about finding another trading partner, like the Blazers (sending Oden to the T'wolves) or the Seattle Supersonics (sending Durant)?

- Teams in the top half of the draft should seriously consider drafting Chinese center Yi Jianlian. I am not a scout and I have no idea how good he is. But the words are he is a very good player with lots of potential. In terms of talent, Yi will be worthy of a top pick. And in terms of finances, that's simply a no-brainer. The team that drafts him will definitely reap the benefits of drafting a good player from China. Did you know that Yao Ming's jersey is one of the best (if not the best) sellers in NBA in the last couple of years?

- I'll bet you $100 that the San Antonio Spurs will draft someone from Europe. Wanna take that bet?

Trading Garnett

There is a rumour that Kevin Garnett, my favourite NBA player, is going to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, mainly to make Kobe Bryant happy and hope that he would rescind his repeated trade requests.

Personally I don't want to see it happen. I want Garnett to go to the team he desperately wants to go to (the Phoenix Suns) and in return, allow the Minnesota Timberwolves to have some much-needed high draft choices (Boston Celtics' number 5?), great and promising players (the Suns' Amare Stoudemire or the Celtics' Al Jefferson) and lots of cap room (how about $20m?) to sign at least one very good player.

I just don't like Bryant. His selfishness and non-stop complaints are the main reasons why the Lakers have never won anything since he forced out Shaquille O'Neal in 2004. While he is arguably the best player in the NBA right now, his one-man crusade has and will not take his team very far.

Garnett though is the antithesis of Bryant. He has been playing for the T'wolves (in frigid Minnesota of all places) since being drafted out of high school in 1995. Long being hailed for his leadership quality, he seldom complains about his team's inexcusable inability to sign or trade for quality players (they even lost five first-round draft picks in that Joe Smith mess in 2000). He just goes out and plays hard every single night, and to watch him not being able to lead his team far into the post-season is heart-breaking for all true basketball fans.

So we understand why he wants out (though he never says so in public), and we all want to see him go to a good team (the Suns is fun to play and watch). As for Bryant, who cares? His incessant complaints have definitely soured his relationship with team owner Jerry Buss and General Manager Mitch Kupchak. And no one will be surprised to see him leave the Lakers after next season even with Garnett on board.

And would Garnett want to remain a Laker with Bryant gone? No way.

So please, don't trade Garnett to the Lakers. He may be an instant gate attraction for the Lakers, but it is also definitely a disaster in-the-making.

JPM

Juan Pablo Montoya's victory in Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway is the latest addition to his already outstanding list of achievements. A recap:

- Champion of the 1998 F3000 Series (4 wins);
- ­Champion of the 1999 CART FedEx Championship Series (10 victories between 1999 and 2000);
- Winner of the 84th Indianapolis 500 in 2000 (His only appearance in then Indy Racing League Series);
- Winner of 7 Formula One races between 2001 and 2005 (Including victories at Monza, Monte Carlo, Hockenheim and Silverstone; Third in the Championship standings in 2002 and 2003);
- Overall winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2007; and
- Winner of the Busch Series race at Mexico City in 2007, and more to come for sure.

His victory this past Sunday has made him the second driver ever (besides Mario Andretti) to have won in Formula One, the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR series.

Known for his Latin temperament and impatience on the track, his victory at the Infineon Raceway shows that he has finally come of age. With his Dodge low on fuel in the final laps and still chasing Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray, Montoya's deft use of gears and braking allowed him to save enough fuel to catch and overtake both of them, while not having to make a splash-and-dash in the pits. In the process, he has become just the second non-US driver to win a race in the NASCAR series (Canadian Earl Ross was the first when he won the Old Dominion 500 in 1974).

Remember, he started the race in 32nd position.

While he is still prone to crashes and outrageous overtaking moves (witness his clash with teammate Scott Pruett in Mexico City), this is just his first full season in NASCAR nevertheless. He still has lots to learn, but all signs show that he's picking them up quickly.

With a win under his belt, he has now become the odds-on favourite to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup at the Glen on August 12. And don't be surprised to see him come out on top again in this famous road course.

Going for Golf

There is one thing that I can say for sure.

Everyone wants to be a golfer.

Hey, who doesn't want to walk leisurely in the beautiful scenery under fantastic weather, cash in big fat cheques and have someone else carry the truly heavy stuff for you?

Look, golfers are spoiled kids. They have to be born in "rich" families to begin with, which can afford their expensive and specially-designed equipment. They have to be rich to afford their own coaches, but once they have mastered the basic skills, they can become serious contenders for any events they enter into.

That is why the likes of Zach Johnson and Angel Cabrera have become winners of the last two major gold championships (The Masters and the U.S. Open respectively). You just won't expect a middle-age fat guy who is not the best in the world to become a champion in any other sports.

In a way, golf is a fair game. Anyone on top of his game can win on any given day.

While the ultra-consistent Tiger Woods finished tied-second in these two events, crowd favourite and World number-two Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the U.S. Open held at Oakmont this past weekend.

Oakmont, though, is a serious challenge itself. While most regard its 288-yard par-three eighth hole as absurd, its main challenges lie in the undulating putting greens and "diabolical" pin placements. I can't remember who said the word "diabolical", but that pretty much summed it all up. Approach shots had to land within a tiny spot on the green. Otherwise, the ball would simply roll all the way to the edge of the green, making four-putts or even five-putts a common occurrence last weekend.

Cabrera didn't play brilliantly last weekend. But he did play solidly and finished at five over par, which was more than enough. His bogeys in the 16th and 17th holes in the final round reduced his lead over Tiger to just a single shot, but Woods was having his own problems too. His putting was letting him down.

Well, his putting wasn't THAT bad actually. But to witness him miss putts by mere inches hole after hole during his brilliant third round is quite heart-stopping even for me, who rarely pay attention to golf. Had any one of those missed putts gone in, he would have at least been tied for the lead, and could literally live for another day as the 18-hole playoff would have been held on Monday.

There is a silver lining though. Had he been tied for the lead and been asked to play on Monday, he would have missed the birth of his first child, Sam Alexis, the very same day.

I don't know about Woods though. If I were him, my mind would have been on my child and I would love to leave the golf club as soon as possible.

But I would have left under very different circumstances. I would have missed the cut, while Tiger once again was able to pick up a big cheque, a small change compared to his massive fortune.

Justin Well Served

Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers threw the second no-hitter in the Major League Baseball this year, when he threw a 12-strikeout and four-walk gem and faced only three batters above the minimum 27 against the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday (the first was Chicago White Sox's Mark Buehrle against Texas Rangers on April 18). The 24-year-old being one of the best young pitchers is not a surprise in itself, as witnessed by him leading to the Tigers' first World Series since 1984. The amazing thing is, his fastball still clocked an unbelievable 102mph in the ninth inning.

Last time a Tiger threw a no-hitter was in 1984, when the great Jack Morris did it against the White Sox. Incidentally, that was also the year when the Tigers last won the World Series. Being an eternal underdog-lover, I hope it is an ominous sign for them to win it all this year.

Craziness in Canada Too

On only his sixth attempt, Lewis Hamilton has become a race winner in Formula One when he won the incident-packed Canadian Grand Prix.

Having finished on the podium in the first five races of his career, Hamilton went one step further in Montreal, and in the process became the first ever black driver to win a Formula One race. He now enjoys an eight-point lead over his teammate, two-time defending Champion Fernando Alonso, in the Championship standings.

Like so many races this season, the very first corner was an eventful one. This time Alonso was the culprit as he out-braked himself into the tight left-right combination and went through the infield grass. As per race rules, he wasn't allowed to gain any advantage while cutting across the track, and so he backed off a little. But BMW's Nick Heidfeld sneaked through in the skirmish, and Alonso oh-so nearly lost another position to Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

With Heidfeld holding up the field, Hamilton was able to build a healthy lead over the rest of the field. While everyone thought that Hamilton would win by minutes, the presence of four, yes that's right, FOUR safety car periods changed the complexion of the race.

Being a temporary circuit, the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve is surrounded by walls which aren't forgiving to those who have made a tiny mistake. But Robert Kubica's horrendous crash was definitely not a fault of his own.

Having been overtaken at the pitlane exit by Jarno Trulli during the first safety car period (for stopping but not restarting in time at the red light), BMW's Kubica was soon able to latch on to the back of the Toyota and when the two approached the hairpin section, Kubica's left front wheel made contact with the right side of Trulli's car, and the BMW was launched into the air, and slammed head-on into the infield retaining wall, just missing the parked Toro Rosso of Scott Speed. The disintegrated car then ricocheted back to the track and rolled a couple of times, and the TV cameras caught a glimpse of the cockpit which showed Kubica's left arm thrown up the air during the collision and fell back to his body when the car mercifully stopped at the other side of the track. And to the horror of TV audience, Kubica seemed to have lost his consciousness as his head was leaning to one side.

While I was expecting to witness Hamilton's first win, my thoughts were on Kubica as reports first said that he had suffered a broken leg. But fortunately it turned out that he only had a sprained ankle and concussion, and otherwise he's completely fine.

With everyone slowed by the four safety car periods, cars on a one-pitstop strategy were the biggest beneficiaries. Austrian Alex Wurz, in a Williams, promptly found himself on the third step of the podium, ten years to the week when he made his debut in Formula One.

Interestingly, the top-four finishers of this race (Hamilton, Heidfeld, Wurz and Heikki Kovalainen) had never won in Formula One before this race. The last time a similar thing happened was last year's Hungarian Grand Prix, when the top-three finishers (Jenson Button, Heidfeld and Pedro De La Rosa) combined for zero previous victories. And even the disappointing Ralf Schumacher finished in the points too, in eighth position.

And to add an extra sense of surrealism to the race, Takuma Sato in a Super Aguri was able to catch and overtake Alonso two laps from home for sixth position.

So pals, the time has finally come. The Super Aguris are now more than capable of fighting with the McLarens and Ferraris for glory.

Craziness in Catalunya

Even if you were not a motor-racing fan, you would have found yesterday's Catalunya Motorcycle Grand Prix an absolute stunner.

If you want real overtaking actions and close fights among the top guns, that was THE RACE for you.

And if you want to listen to commentators becoming hysteric and having their voice gone hoarse during a live broadcast, that was also THE RACE for you.

The record book will only tell you that Championship leader Casey Stoner extended his lead on Valentino Rossi to 14 points after his fourth win of the season, but won't tell you how amazing the race was.

Stoner's Ducati had an absolute horsepower advantage over Rossi's Yamaha and local hero Dani Pedrosa's Honda. And you would have expected Stoner to be the runaway winner given the track's long main straight.

While Stoner did indeed extend his lead over his two main rivals in the main straight, Rossi showed us why he has been crowned World Champion seven times.

In the twisty and more technical part of the track, he was able to get close to Stoner, while Pedrosa was also able to latch on to the back of the queue.

Rossi's aim was obvious. He had to overtake Stoner anywhere except the main straight and tried as hard as possible to maintain his advantage.

And despite the disadvantage in horsepower, Rossi pulled out a half dozen stunning overtaking maneuvres, and each time he did it in different parts of the track, including an amazing overtaking job at the extremely quick final corner before the main straight. And when Stoner once again regained the lead in the main straight for the umpteenth time, Rossi for once was able to out-brake Stoner to take back the lead going into the first corner. Talk about giving Stoner an awakening call.

While the two were constantly swapping positions, Pedrosa was ready to pounce on any mistakes. And when Rossi did run wide in a botched overtaking attempt, Pedrosa saw daylight and went for it. Yet Rossi simply slammed the door shut and Pedrosa just had to back off.

In the end, less than 0.4 seconds separated the top three and Stoner was finally able to take the top step of the podium in Europe. His emergence after joining the Ducati team this year has been compared to Lewis Hamilton's rise to stardom at McLaren ...

Riding with his Heart

You just have to love Valentino Rossi.

He's a fun guy, and he's probably the most talented motorcycle racer ever. And his fashion (i.e., helmet) sense is just impeccable.

Like all other motorcycle racers, Rossi has had at least dozens of helmet designs, and they are mostly based on his favourite colour, yellow.

And every year in his home race at Mugello, he would put on a brand new design. This year he literally rode with his heart by having a big red heart on top of his helmet.

Sure enough, he fought back from 8th position early on and won the Italian Grand Prix for the sixth year in succession.

I don't have an exhaustive list for his helmet designs. But this is a very good one.

Celtic Pity

Speaking of Tim Duncan and the 2007 NBA Draft lottery:

You just can't help but feel sorry for the Boston Celtics, once the most prestigious franchise in NBA. They had the second-worst regular season record this year, but the ping-pong balls bounced them out of the top three and way down to fifth. Instead of drafting a franchise-changing superstar like Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, they now have to come to terms with drafting a player from China, Yi Jianlian, whom many ranked as the third-best player but is also the biggest unknown in this draft class.

Speaking of drafting a franchise-changing superstar, the last time the Celtics had such a good shot to draft one was in 1997, when they had a staggering one-third of a chance to land the top pick, which would turn out to be Duncan. Alas, the ping-pong balls teased them big time and they ended up with the third and sixth selections. Instead of having a cornerstone for the franchise, they had to draft two backcourt players (Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer) who were once dubbed by then coach Rick Pitino as their "backcourt for a decade". While they are two solid players, they somehow only excelled after leaving the Celtics.

Back to the days when big envelopes and placards instead of ping-pong balls were used, there was one time when the Celtics thought that they had lady luck at their side. In 1986, the year they had won their 16th (and so far the last) NBA title, they had landed the second pick in the draft, thanks to their trade to shooting guard Gerald Henderson to the Seattle Supersonics (Imagine the frightening picture of San Antonio Spurs or Detroit Pistons drafting Oden or Durant) two years before. They selected Len Bias from the University of Maryland who, alongside a guy named Michael Jordan, were regarded by legendary coaches like Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski as the two best players ever to have played for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Alas, just two days after his selection, Bias was found dead in his campus dormitory, due to suspected cocaine overdose. While many criticised the Celtics for hanging onto their ageing superstars (Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson, etc.) for too long and not trading any of them while they still had values, the loss of Bias was universally regarded as the fatal blow to their demise.

When will the Celtics' luck change? Perhaps if they can find more Paul Pierce, who slid down the draft board in 1998 and was snapped up by the Celtics at number 10. And there are certainly plenty of good players available at number 5. Remember Dwyane Wade? The Marquette star was drafted at number 5 by the Miami Heat in 2003.

So there is hope, albeit a glimmering one.