Sak Sports Blog

The Golden State Warriors are heavy favorites to win the NBA Finals, with home-court advantage and a more talented roster on their side. Before the season began, I ranked the Warriors biggest competitors that stood between them and back-to-back championships. You can read the full list here.  In ascending order, I ranked the Celtics, Thunder, Rockets, Spurs and Cavaliers are the teams with the best chances to dethrone Golden State in the playoffs. There's been some major shakeups to each of these teams, which certainly affects how I view them today. Courtesy of ABC Sports 5. New Orleans Pelicans (formerly: Boston Celtics) 4. Cleveland Cavaliers (formerly: Oklahoma City Thunder) 3. Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly: Houston Rockets) 2. Boston Celtics (formerly: San Antonio Spurs) 1. Houston Rockets (formerly: Cleveland Cavaliers) The Celtics and Rockets were the biggest upward movers since October: even though Boston lost Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for ...

The 2017-2018 NBA playoffs are underway and are already thrilling. The Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in an instant classic, and the Indiana Pacers stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers to take a 1-0 series lead. As exciting as the present landscape is, let's fast forward to June. The weather will finally be warmer (still snowing sporadically here in the Northeast) and the NBA Finals will be upon us. Here are five potential NBA Finals matchups to look out for in 2018. 5. Toronto Raptors Vs. Portland Trailblazers This might seem like an odd matchup because it doesn't feature any of the heavy hitters from either conference, but it's 100% a realistic possibility. The Toronto Raptors boast the East's top seed and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, and the West seems more wide open than ever, which could benefit the 3rd-seeded Portland Trailblazers. Many NBA fans want a change of pace from the annual Cavaliers-Warriors matchup, but th...

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hoping the picture above is just one of many sacks defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul will land on quarterback Cam Newton. The New York Giants agreed to send 29-year-old defensive end to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The teams will also swap positions in the fourth round of the draft, favoring the Buccaneers. Pierre-Paul has been a member of the Giants for his entire eight year career. After 16.5 sacks in a monster sophomore season, which helped the Giants win their 4th Super Bowl, Pierre-Paul seemed poised to be the next Justin Tuck or Lawrence Taylor. While he was still solid for the next six years, he only reached double digit sacks one more time (12.5 in 2014). 2015 saw Pierre-Paul play half a season after his infamous fireworks incident on July 4 that left his hand in a cast for months. Luckily for the Buccaneers, he's returning to form, with 15.5 sacks over the last two seasons. The Bu...

The Green Bay Packers sent their fans through a rollercoaster of emotions of the eve of the official new league year. Just minutes after agreeing to terms with superstar tight end Jimmy Graham, the Packers announced they would be parting ways with longtime wide receiver Jordy Nelson. The 33-year-old pass-catcher has already indicated he wants to keep playing in the NFL, so in this wild era of NFL free agency, he should have no shortage of suitors. After three straight elite seasons of production, in which he caught at least 85 passes, surpassed 1,250 yards and 8 touchdowns each of the three seasons, Nelson had a down year in 2017. In 15 games he caught 53 passes for 482 yards and 6 touchdowns, seeming to have lost just a step at times. Of course, Aaron Rodgers was absent for much of the season as well, but still, teams have to be realistic bout their expectations for Nelson. With that being said, here are some potential suitors for the 2016 NFL Comeback Player of the Yea...

The position of New York Jets starting quarterback has been a wild ride over the last ten years, going everywhere from Brett Favre to Mark Sanchez, and most recently Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh McCown. They have Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg on the roster, but neither has impressed the organization enough to earn a legitimate starting situation. After a promising 3-2 start, the Jets finished last in the AFC East at 5-11 last season. But even with this abysmal record, there were many games the Jets were in until the very end. Towards the middle of the season, New York gained an unfortunate habit of building up a first-half lead and blowing in by the fourth quarter, such as they did against the New England Patriots. The point being, while the roster still needs talent upgrades all around, they still aren't far off, and a consistent, Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback could easily have flipped that 5-11 record into a 9-7 team right in the Wildcard race. But is Kirk...

The Sweet Smell of Baseball…For Some by Sean Kingsepp Contributing Writer Despite much of the United States still worrying about whether snow will be coming in the next few weeks, pitchers and catchers have arrived for all 30 teams at their respective camps in Arizona or Florida. By this time, most teams should be set, give or take the last few roster spots, right? Arguably the biggest story of the offseason has been the “cold stove” of free agency, with many big name free agents either signing very late, or not at all. Although a few high profile free agents have signed in the past two weeks, most notably Todd Frazier, Eric Hosmer, and Yu Darvish. Darvish was considered by multiple experts as the cream of this years’ pitching crop. Darvish signed a 6-year, $126 million deal with the Chicago Cubs earlier this week, signing just before pitchers reported to camp. Hosmer finally got a deal after holding out for an 8-year contract and getting one from the San Diego Pad...