Slammin' Sam on Sports Media Links

Hello Free Keon and Slammin’ Sam on Sports Media Readers!

Similar to last week, plenty of hoops news to read on day one of free agency.

We start at the current center of the basketball universe in Cleveland where Brian Windhorst writes that the first domino to fall is the Cavs hiring of coach Byron Scott. What bearing will that have on LeBron?

What about the man executing the moves in Chicago?

The New York Times, meanwhile features a piece about interesting efforts to lure King James.

On that note, you have to check out Kenny Mayne’s latest video.

New to the fray is the possibility of the Nuggets trading Carmelo Anthony?? Anything’s possible these days, and it looks like Denver is in disarray.

Rumor has it LeBron is shooting to make a decision as soon as Monday. Now those would be some fireworks! Have a great holiday weekend.

Sam Miller/Free Keon

Slammin' Sam on Sports Media Links

In a nod to Carmen DeFalco, Jurko and Harry on Chicago’s ESPN Radio 1000, we’ll call this edition of Slammin’ Sam on Sports Media Links “The Afternoon Saloon.”

First, the continued fallout commentary from yesterday’s ejections of Mark Buehrle and Ozzie Guillen. Everybody likes to hear from the White Sox skipper, right?

Staying in Chicago, Dwyane Wade isn’t so sure that the Bulls organization is one he wants to be associated with, according to this report.

One thing is certain. Wade, LeBron and Joe Johnson are doing a lot of consorting and consulting this summer.

Finally, the two grandest stories of the weekend have to be the Indy 500 and college football’s hall of fame announcements.

Read about Badgers coach Barry Alvarez' election, as well as that of former Wolverine Desmond Howard.

Here is a different angle on the Indy 500 celeb crowd.

Thanks for stopping by! I’ll see you Tuesday.

Sam Miller/Free Keon

Slammin' Sam on Sports Media Links

Good day, Free Keon and Slammin’ Sam readers!

Plenty of news to keep us chatting today. Let’s start with arguably the No. 1 story in sports right now. The Bulls are once again near the forefront of the sports nation’s consciousness. While the team sewed up the eighth seed last night in Charlotte, the down-to-the-wired drama is only one part of an equation that has Bulls fans seeing red.

Brandon Marshall expressed his irritation about the situation in Denver. Now (finally) he moves on to Miami.

Who knows what got Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stirred up. Maybe that’s his business, not ours.

Tim Tebow’s draft stock may be in question. But for another pro prospect, Butler basketball’s Gordon Hayward, his stock appears to be rising after the Bulldogs star introduced himself in grand fashion.

Finally, we come full circle. Jordan’s Bobcats may have lost last night, but the owner and the city of Charlotte have plenty of reasons to keep an eye on the promising squad.

Thanks for reading today's links!

Sam Miller/Free Keon

Slammin' Sam on Sports Media Links

Happy Thursday, Everyone. Thanks for not giving Slammin’ Sam on Sports Media and Free Keon up for Lent. Today’s links are a little more locally focused for a change. In between, there’s plenty of national sports stories to talk about.

We start with the Olympics, of course.

Speed skater Shani Davis’ path toward gold began in Evanston where club founder Saunders “Sam” Hicks helped Davis ply his trade on the way to Davis’ defeat of Stephen Colbert.

From Shani Davis and Lindsey Vonn, the focus now shifts to a figure skating duel tonight.

On to topic No. 2. With pitchers and catchers reporting to warm baseball locales, White Sox mouthpiece A.J. Pierzynski says the South Siders did everything they could to lure Johnny Damon. Now the baseball’s in Damon’s glove.

While one player may be moving to the Windy City, another appears to be on his way out by this afternoon's NBA trade deadline.

Finally, I couldn’t get away, even if that meant a longer blog than usual, without saying RIP with an update on star recruit Rajaan Bennett. How sad.

Sam Miller/Free Keon

The Bulls lack fight, among other things

In their 32-point home loss to the Raptors on Saturday, the Bulls allowed Toronto guard Jarett Jack to tie his shoes near half court during the run of play in the third quarter.  Not one member of the Bulls thought it would be prudent to go up to Jack and steal the ball instead of honoring his playground time-out.

Early Thoughts on Da Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are currently sitting at 6-9 and looking at the 8 seed if the season were to end today.  In the Free Keon NBA prediction post, I picked the Bulls to end up with the 3 seed in the Eastern Conferance.  This was clearly a leap of faith, as my predictions are mostly based off what I would like to see happen.  Upon further review, the Bulls are much more pedestrian, and appear to be headed for a low playoff seed and another early playoff exit.

Any Bulls analysis starts at the top with their wunderkind point guard, the player that seems destined to bring the Bulls to the promised land with his tremendous athletisim, ability to break down a defense, and his D-Will-esque passing ability.  ... Kirk Hinrich.

Slammin' Sam on Sports Media Thursday Edition

Today, Slammin’ Sam on Sports Media brings you a variety of links. Hockey even makes an appearance! Speaking of hockey’s rare appearance, if you have suggestions as far as sites where I can brush up on my slap shot knowledge, or if you have any other suggestions as far as what you would like to see on Free Keon, please leave us a comment below. Thanks for reading!