One Busy Thursday

By Eric Y

Lots and lots and LOTS of action happened in the sports world today. Starting with another Confederation Cup semifinal this afternoon and continuing into the night, there has been so much activity in sports today that its hard to keep up with. Well, I'm going to try to keep you up to dat e on most everything that went down today and what I thought about it.

-Confederation Cup: seeing as I was stranded on the beltway during the match, I couldn't watch. But from what I've read, it was a bad overall game by Brazil, who were saved by a late goal by Daniel Alves. They will need to play well to beat an American team that has a ton of momentum coming off their monumental victory over Spain. If the U.S. plays well, there could be an upset brewing; however, Brazil's star-studded lineup could be too much for them. In the least unpatriotic way possible, I think the Americans will come up just short, with Brazil pulling off a 2-1 victory. The Americans' run should earn them some respect in the soccer world.

- Da Shaq trade: This morning, Phoenix traded future hall of famer Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, and a 2010 second-round draft pick. Overall, I think Cleveland got the better deal. Shaq won't be a Cav for long, but he should make a good impact while he's there (barring injury). I think he and uber-superstar LeBron James will play well together, and Shaq will be a more formidable low-post option than Zydrundas Ilgauskas (much love Big Z). I think this wasn't a good  trade for Phoenix. They got a decent shooting guard in Pavlovic, but an over-the-hill forward in Ben Wallace. I think that the Suns should have tried to get someone better, maybe Wally Szczerbiak.

- Timberwolves: If you didn't already know, the T-Wolves had an absurd four first-round draft picks. They picked point guard Ricky Rubio, point guard Jonny Flynn, point guard Ty Lawson and shooting guard Wayne Ellington. Now what on earth is Minny going to do with three new point guards? Trade them, of course. ESPN has already reported that Lawson has been traded to Denver, and I expect one more of them to be traded. I was suprised that Lawson was the player they traded first; out of those four, I would rather have Lawson. Plus, you could have Lawson and Ellington, who have played together for two years on North Carolina, on the same team. I think Rubio will be the next one they trade, and Minnesota will stick with Flynn and Ellington.

- Jamal Crawford trade:  The Hawks and Warriors have finalized their trade, sending Jamal Crawford to Atlanta and Acie Law and Speedy Claxton to Golden State. I think this was a solid trade for both teams. Law didn't get a lot of playing time in Atlanta, and I expect him to do well with the Warriors.

- Vinsanity heads to Orlando: Yet another big NBA trade. The Nets have now traded Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson to Orlando for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie. I'm not sure about this one yet. I think New Jersey made a good trade, getting another good, young guard in Lee who should pair well with point guard Devin Harris. But Orlando gave up two of their key role players who helped them throughout the playoffs for Carter. Of course, Carter is still a good player who can score over 20 every night and draw fans to the arena, but is it worth giving up a good young player in Lee?

That's about all I have for right now. Other tidbits include: New York trades Quentin Richardson to Memphis for Darko Milcic; Mavs trade B.J. Mullens to Oklahoma City for Rodrigue Beaubois. However, its still not even 11 o'clock here on the east coast, and there's bound to be more trading before the day is done. Stay tuned.

(image h/t: 4.bp.blogspot.com)