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“In the end, the Cavaliers certainly made the right move. They traded an expendable player in Sessions for an essentially certain first round pick in 2012 and a nice draft ability in 2013. They had to take on a bad contract in Walton, but that doesn’t really have any impact on the Cavs cap situation. This was a classic case of both teams getting what they wanted. The Lakers needed Sessions — the Cavs didn’t. Sessions’ absence allows the Cavs to give more minutes to Kyrie while probably losing a few more games and improving their own lottery position. It is now clear that the Cavs front office is not short-sighted in this rebuilding process. They are not gunning for the 8th seed this year, but rather accumulating assets to make this team competitive in the long term. I wholeheartedly support this approach. ” [Kaczmarek/Fear the Sword]
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“Sinkerballer Justin Masterson had his best outing of the spring on Thursday against the White Sox. he logged four no-hit, shutout innings, ending with four strikeouts, one walk and five outs created with grounders. Masterson threw 55 pitches (33 strikes). Masterson noted that he threw “a couple handfuls” of changeups against Chicago. “Usually my quota is like two a year, so I filled it in pretty quick,” he said with a laugh. Masterson threw some in counts he wouldn’t throw them during the regular season. He just wanted to work some with the pitch.” [Bastian/MLB.com]
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If you read Stepien Rules, you know how painful a trade this was for Brendan. You’ll get over it B. “I also thought about the nickname we gave him, the interview we did when I explained the nickname to him and he told me he’d prefer it if I called him that. I thought about the points tracker series that Dave Wooley engineered, and the t-shirts that Fresh Brewed Tees made with his likeness on the front. As the shock subsided, I thought about all the good times we had.
Then I thought about how lucky Los Angeles is for being compensated Skyenga in this package. Not just the Lakers, but the entire city. In a lot of respects, Skyenga was always destined for Hollywood, and now he’s going there. You guys thought Shannon Brown could dunk? In the words of Ozzie Guillen, please. Not even all the smog you have out there can keep this guy down. So appreciate what you got in this deal, LA, make my guy feel at home, and tell Jack to call him Skyenga. We’ll miss you around here buddy.” [Bowers/Stepien Rules]
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In fairness, not everyone liked the trade. John Hollinger gave the Cavaliers a D in his trade deadline grade card- “First, let’s follow the dead money. Walton makes $6.1 million next year with his trade kicker; Eyenga makes $1.1 million; neither of them are likely to play much or do anything of consequence if they do. So Cleveland swallows $5 million in dead 2012-13 salary. For the privilege, they get a first-round pick from L.A. that will likely be in the 20s. The interesting part here is that when teams have done cash-for-late-first-rounder deals, they’ve typically valued the pick in the $3-4 million range. At best, the Cavs slightly overpaid on this part of the equation. And from L.A.’s side the savings double since they’re in the luxury tax; effectively being paid $10 million for a late first-rounder is great business on their part.
But wait … Cleveland also gave up a really good point guard! The Lakers essentially got Sessions for free; it was a fair deal just to give them a first-rounder to take Walton off their hands. The Cavs do effectively move up a few spots in the 2013 draft with this deal. The Cavs get the right to swap Miami’s first-round pick, which they own, with L.A.’s; most likely, that pushes them from 29th or 30th into more like the low-mid 20s.” [Hollinger/ESPN Insider]
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Former WFNY weekend editor, and University of Dayton student Jacob Rosen was one of the students chosen to sit withclose to President Obama, and he wrote about the experience. “After the game, several students joined me for one final photo opportunity with the president on the court. I stood on my toes to be just over Obama’s right shoulder, and plan on framing some of the noteworthy photos from that moment. As he left, I finally had my one shot to say something quick to the leader of the free world. And fortunately, the only thing that mattered at that point was short and sweet: “Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for coming to the University of Dayton.” [Rosen/Flyer News]
