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Pierre has way more 'stashe than Podsednik

The White Sox acquired Juan Pierre earlier today in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers will receive two players to be named later, but that’s not important right now. What is important is that the White Sox lineup looks, at least at the current moment, damn near complete. It is hardly going to blow the AL off its feet, trust me, but at the same time even the deepest pessimist can find a glimmer of hope in the unit Kenny Williams has assembled. Lucky for you, I am that pessimist - you just saved yourself a trip to the Sun-Time’s web site.

The White Sox know only one formula for winning. That formula is 2005. Before that they tried hitting a bunch and avoiding pitching, after that they decided bullpens were for pansies. 2005 was a miracle year, a year that can never truly be repeated. But I’ll be shot to Wrigley in a cannon if Kenny Williams hasn’t tried to do just that.

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Could LeBron be wearing this next year?

Is LeBron James gradually making his shift to the Chicago Bulls organization? Recent news makes me believe, yes, LeBron will be a Bull next season. With developing recent events, this summer is shaping to be another great rivalry between the Cavs and Bulls, the Bulls and Knicks.

In the offseason, the Bulls will have roughly $32 million dollars to spend. That would put them over the salary cap, but under the luxury tax threshold. Take $10 million off that number, and that’s what the Bulls can spend on Mr. James. The rest of that money can go to resigning players on the roster. The maximum salary James can be allotted is 30% of the salary cap. This year, that is $17,310,000. Not a problem for the Bulls. The Cavs will be able to sign LeBron using their Larry Bird exception, the same exception that kept Kobe Bryant with the Lakers. The Knicks will have unbelievable amount of money coming off the books (they’ll drop from $85 million to $27 million in the offseason - but will still pay Eddy Curry $11,276,863 in all likelihood) and they could sign LeBron, just like the Bulls. They’ll also have a team of Curry, Jared Jeffries, Danilo Gallinari, Jordan Hill, Wilson Chandler and Toney Douglas. That’s the entire team that would be under contract next year - six players. James recently said that winning was more important than money - I doubt that the Knicks will entice LeBron too much, and there is no way the Knicks can bring in another star player to coerce James that they will not be a losing team.

So it’s down to the Bulls and Cavs. There are several pros and cons for each, and both will be able to sign him to the contract he deserves. Both are winning teams, which is apparently more important than the money.

One could argue that the Bulls have the better squad, and not have delusions. Based on conjecture, it would be easy to see the Bulls squad, with LeBron, doing better than the Cavs with LeBron. While it’s hardly a argument that would hold up in court (sorry for the pun), LeBron will certainly take the supporting cast of each team into consideration. Not having to be defended anymore by Luol Deng? That’s a big positive for LeBron, and I doubt he will fret too much about Delonte West checking him if he moves on. D-Rose? talk about upside, and while Mo Williams is a nice player, he’s not in the same talent stratosphere. Perhaps you lose something at center with Noah v. Shaq and Big Z, but those dudes are old, and Noah has developed into a very underrated player. Tyrus Thomas v. Varajao, that’s a push. But toss in the wild cards, John Salmons and Taj Gibson against the bench of the Cavs and really, the argument that the Bulls are the better team makes sense. Add in LeBron, and the Bulls immediately become the favorites in the Eastern conference.

But if the teams are similar, and winning is most important, why would LeBron leave his hometown team? The answer is simple, marketability. LeBron has said that he wants to be the first billionare athlete, “I say all the time, and I tell my friends and teammates, that you have to go global,” James said in 2006. “In basketball and business.”

While New York and Madison Avenue obviously have the upper hand in appeasing LeBron’s lofty goals, but Madison Street isn’t the worst option. The most famous athlete in the world played in Chicago, the third largest city in the United States and a national and international center of business. Cleveland is not even close to being a center to business, and losing 50 games will do nothing to increase LeBron’s marketability. Chicago is a winning team in a international market - Jordan proved that you can be global in Chicago. LeBron can carry that torch to similar levels.

Barring the Cavs winning the title, LeBron has a tough choice to make, as each city has its own areas that appeal to LeBron’s aspirations. Both Chicago and Cleveland can win the NBA title, but LeBron would sure love to bring the O’Brien trophy back to his hometown. New York is marketing heaven, but Chicago isn’t just another Midwest city. The happy medium is Chicago, and LeBron is far too rational to leave his future and his aspirations to chance.

In poker, the smallest things are sometimes the biggest tell. The same could be said in business. That’s why LeBron’s statement that he will change his number last night might be showing his hand. Lebron said that no player should wear number 23, in honor of Jordan. So, LeBron will change his number to 6 for next season - regardless of team. What does that say?

It says that he has been thinking about the Bulls, perhaps even about his future with the Bulls, because he obviously can’t wear 23 in the Windy City. Sometimes the smallest, most benign things can have larger meanings - like a Dan Brown book. Everyone would like to crawl into LeBron’s brain and know what he’s thinking, but it’s not far fetched to think that the Bulls are on LeBron’s mind.

Huet was solid in net for the streaking Blackhawkshree games, three shootouts: needless to say, when the Avalanche and Blackhawks match up this season you can expect a evenly matched game.

Wednesday night maintained the trend of great hockey games between  two teams that are finally matching success at the same time. In a game that neither team deserved to lose, the Avalanche an the early lead halfway though the first period. That’s when Kyle Cumiskey banked a shot from behind of the net off the number 39 on Cristobal Huet’s jersey and across the goal line. It was a rare lapse of judgement between the posts for Huet, who made 25 saves in the game.

Patrick Kane answered for the Blackhawks to knot the score roughly five minutes later. Working the right-wing halfboards, Kane fired a snap shot under the crossbar and over Colorado goalie and Chicagoland native Craig Anderson, who was crouched to protect against a goal-crease pass.

The second period was dominated by Colorado, and they peppered Huet with 12 shots and constant offensive zone pressure. Wojtek Wolski gave the Avalanche a 2-1 advantage 13:10 into the middle frame. After his initial shot was blocked in front of the net, Wolski picked up the loose puck and beat a confused Huet, who never found the location of the puck after Wolski’s first attempt.

Despite the second period play being decidedly one sided in Colorado’s favor, Huet stood strong and kept the score 2-1 heading into the third. For the second consecutive game, the Blackhawks dominated the final period. On Monday, the Blackhawks outshot the Los Angeles Kings 10-2 in the third period, scoring three goals to win the game 4-1. Wednesday, the Blackhawks outshot the Avalanche 15-3, but were only able to score one goal.

That one goal was scored on a one-man breakout by defenseman Cam Barker. Barker made a pass off the boards to himself in the neutral zone, allowing him to get around his mark, Kyle Quincey. Barker, channeling Bobby Orr, took the puck to the net, brought the puck to his backhand and roofed the shot over Anderson. Like with the goal scored by Kane, Anderson was crouched to prevent a cross-crease pass. The score would remain 2-2 despite several late chances for each team. The most dangerous of those chances came from Colorado rookie Matt Duchene, who panged a shot off the post in the period’s final minute.

Duchene’s bad luck would continue: early in the overtime period, he missed another chance to end the game, despite beating Huet, as he could not beat cold steel with red paint.

In the final minute of the overtime period Colorado winger Wojtek Wolski was called for cross checking on Brent Seabrook. The Blackhawks went to a four on three advantage with half a minute left, but the unit of Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, Jonathan Toews and Barker couldn’t capitalize on their good fortune, as they came up empty on their rushed advantage.

Wolski, the Avalanche’s shootout ace and the NHL’s all-time leader in shootout conversion percentage, started the tie breaking skills competition. Starting out wide left, Wolski cut right, bringing Huet with him. Huet did leave his jock behind, and perhaps that was what caused Wolski’s drag move shot to hit the post. It was the last bit of good fortune the Blackhawks would get, and the last bit they would need.

Toews led off for the Blackhawks and crossed up Anderson, who was beaten by Toews’ five-hole wristshot. Marek Svatos was stoned by Huet and Kane attempted, and failed, to recreate Toews’ goal. Darcy Tucker was unable to keep possession of the puck on his turn for Colorado, leaving the snakebitten Patrick Sharp with a chance to win the game.

If Sharp, who has hit everything but the net in his recent games, needed a confidence booster, beating one of the strongest goalkeepers in the NHL one-on-one, for a win might be that confidence booster. Sharp, skating directly at Anderson, quickly brought the puck to his backhand, but made a head deke when bringing the puck back to his forehand. Anderson fell for the fake, and Sharp calmly deposited the puck over the sprawling goaltender.

The win was the Blackhawks’ fifth straight at the United Center. The Blackhawks also regained first place in the Central division, as Columbus lost 9-1 to Detroit effectively losing two points in the standings in the process. The Blackhawks will take on Original Six foes Toronto Friday night in Chicago.

Feathers in the Headdress:
Third Star: Patrick Kane
Working with Andrew Ebbett on center, the Avalanche were always able to match up against Kane with size. That didn’t matter much. Kane’s skill with the puck was on full display on Wednesday, no more so than with his first period goal and the four on three advantage the Blackhawks held late in overtime. Give Kane space to work, and he will burn you. Kudos to the Avalanche for not allowing Kane to go gangbusters, as 88 certainly had on his fancy pants tonight. But even a contained Kane is a dangerous Kane. He was the third star tonight, but against a lesser opponent, there is little doubt he would have won the game singlehandedly.

Second Star: Cristobal Huet
Huet wasn’t outstanding tonight, but he was tested with very dangerous shots and proved his recent play is not a standing-on-his-head bender Huet is prone to have each year. This is the real deal, and his big saves are made with a quiet confidence that Blackhawks fans should be very happy about.

First Star: Duncan Keith
Keith had no points, but he was always the best player on the ice. Keith led the Blackhawks in icetime, with 26+ minutes, blocked a shot, had a hit and was a force the Avalanche could not account for. It’s remarkable he was not rewarded with a point in this game, because he was as good offensively Wednesday as he was defensively - and he was defensively flawless. The hockey gods will reward him with a fluke point or two down the road, and everyone will know those points came because of Keith’s performance on Wednesday night.

The Chicago Blackhawks wasted no time in filling the holes on their depth chart. With Samuel Pahlsson and Martin Havlat not resigning with the Blackhawks, GM Dale Tallon went out and signed Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky to twelve and two year deals respectively.

Hossa was widely considered to be the best free agent available in this year’s class, which was allowed to sign contracts at 12pm eastern time today. The 12 year deal means that, barring trade, Hossa will be a Blackhawk for the rest of his career. The contract is valued at 62.8 million dollars, bringing the salary cap hit to 5.2 million dollars a year. Reports are surfacing that the contract is extremely front loaded, with Hossa receiving $59.8 million in over the first eight years. When that period passes, Hossa, who will be 31 in January and is set to be 42 years old when his contract expires, will earn an average of $0.8 million each of the last 4 years of his contract.

It is to be fully expected that Hossa would contemplate retirement after year seven of his contract, and at the point Hossa retires, the Blackhawks will not be penalized against their salary cap. If the Blackhawks decide to buy out his contract after seven years, they would feel little repercussion as well, though it seems unlikely that scenario would ever occur.

In the end, this Hossa contract changes the balance of power in the Western Conference, but makes it difficult for Dale Tallon to sign the big three in 2010, but not insanely difficult. A 40 goal scorer for a cap hit of $5 million is almost unheard of, and while Blackhawks fans will mourn the loss of Martin Havlat, the Chicago Blachawks will be a better team next year because they will have a better player in Havlat’s place, and for less money, and less of an injury risk. Down the road, questions might be asked, but there are few players in the NHL better than Marian Hossa.

Kopecky, a fellow Detroit Red Wing with Hossa last season, was signed to be a checking line center. Kopecky is a solid two way center, but was delegated to lower lines on the talent laden Red Wings. Kopecky has eerily similar numbers to Sami Pahlsson’s stats in Anaheim, numbers that became stronger when Pahlsson went to Chicago. Kopecky is set to make $1.2 million a year for two seasons. Pahlsson, after a fantastic Stanley Cup Playoff run, has been asking for more than $2 million a year.

To counteract the salary cap hit of Hossa, the Blackhawks have been reportedly in negotiations to trade Cristobal Huet to Edmonton, and are in contract negotiations with Nikolai Khabibulin for a short term deal that would bring him back to Chicago to start over Antti Niemi. Check back for more details, as the Blackhawks looked poised to make more moves on this Canada Day.

It’s been a while, but rest assured, Needs More Ditka is not gone. I’m sure my mom will be enthralled. Behind the scenes at NMD headquarters, I have been hiring some of the best writters I know to work their craft for the mustache machine that is this here site. This Independence Day, I will be introducing them to you all, until then, there shall be music and dancing, waiting for coverage of the Bulls, Bears, Cubs, Irish, Blackhawks and White Sox to carry us all to a Valhalla of sports.

The Stanley Cup and NBA Playoffs will collapse on the west side of Chicago, cuing a floor changing dance that will likely move the stagehand union to the brink of exhaustion. Let’s look at how far both teams can take this trip, and how much joy they can bring to the fans of the black and red, no matter what sport is being played.

Black Ice

The Hawks took game one in Chicago versus the Flames (for more analysis see herecomethehawks.net) and look to be in the driver’s seat after showing a considerable amount of jitters for the first two periods. They’re dominance of the Flames in the regular season, and tearing their heart out in game one can bode nothing but good things for the young Hawks. If they can take care of business in game two, putting together a dominating 60 minutes, the second round will be halfway achieved.

With the Ducks and Sharks poised to go the distance, those two rivals will decide who the Blackhawks play in the second round. If the Sharks can recover from a game one loss and win the series, The Blackhawks will likely be heading to San Jose, though the NHL playoff seeing system leaves everything up in the air. Come the conference semifinals and finals, everything is up in the air, though the Blackhawks will need some help to defeat the top two seeds in the conference, San Jose and Detroit. Alas, the Hawks are only one game in, and need 15 more victories to reach the promised land. Even after an amazing win, such as Thursday’s, the Hawks cannot get too ahead of themselves.

Seeing Red

The Bulls chances of winning in round one of the NBA playoffs went up exponentially before even playing a game. Kevin Garnett, Chicagoan, will be out for the entire season, and possibly the entire NBA playoffs. The Bulls are hoping to make the end of the playoffs come early for the Celtics. They aren’t one for having teams wonder. Rondo and Rose should be a hell of a matchup, but Rose has shown the propensity for being a big game player, if college is any sort of indicator. But new kid on the block Johnny Salmons will need to match Pierce or Allen’s points with Gordon showing up every night as well. If the inconsitent can stay level, the Bulls will have a chance. If Tyrus Thomas can have a big series on both sides of the court, the Bulls will have a great chance to win. Can the deep, but highly overrated Celtics bench make the Bulls youth negatable? Can Ty Thomas be a gamechanging player? Can Joakim Noah be any uglier, or rebound effecively? All these questions will be answered in this series, and if they can be answered in the Bulls’ favor, the stagehands will be cursing their names for a long time.

As the Tribune’s Mark Gonzales reports, the Ozzie Guillen has set up his template for the 2009 season’s batting order, and the top of the lineup should pose an interesting story line as the season continues.

That’s because AAAA extrodinares Brian Anderson and Dewayne Wise will be leading off, every day. Gonzales states in his report that this will maximize the White Sox offensive potential. To retort, the only way those two players could maximize the Whtie Sox offensive potential would be if they sat on the bench and let any other player lead off.

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