What a wild week in sport. The NBA free agency period has given us more gossip, heroes and villains than Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After that we have Origin III to deal with and the eternal drama of UFC200.
So let’s have a look at this week’s sport, from the outer.
NBA free agency goes ballistic
The NBA community has gone into meltdown after one of the most psychotic and frenzied free agency periods in recent memory.
There is a general feeling of fear and loathing that the Golden State Warriors have bought the 2016/17 Championship already with the signing of Kevin Durant. Sure the Warriors had to cut Andrew Bogut, but he was always injured when it came to the crunch anyway. They have created the next uber-team and it has chilled their competitors to the core. Will they be content with a Championship though?
This year LeBron James proved he is good enough to beat a semi-injured and lethargic Steph Curry, but how will he fare against Curry and Durant? Is LeBron that good? The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their unhinged firebrand Matthew Dellavedova, so who will leave their opposition flustered now?
The Chicago Bulls appear to have unloaded their entire team to secure Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo. But how can a two-man team – even a respectable pair like Wade and Rondo – compete against an uber-squad like GSW?
Then you have next year’s potential cellar dwellers like the Oklahoma City Thunder, who just had to keep Durant happy and convince him to stay, but obviously failed miserably on both fronts.
Sportsbet.com.au has a full list of futures available for the 2016/17 NBA Championship. Here are the top six contenders in the early betting:
Golden State Warriors – $1.80
Cleveland Cavaliers – $4.50
San Antonio Spurs – $8.50
LA Clippers – $19
Boston Celtics – $23
Toronto Raptors – $23
State of Origin III: not quite the decider
The New South Wales coach, Laurie Daley, partially caved to the growing pressure of eliminating certain elements from his eternally losing Blues squad. Dylan Walker, Greg Bird and Matt Moylan were initially dropped like sacks of potatoes.
In their stead James Tedesco finally got the call up the rugby league fandom has been screaming for all year. Wade Graham also secured his debut for the Blues and Josh Dugan is back.
However, the Blues grand scheme has already had a spanner thrown in the works with halfback Adam Reynolds succumbing to a shoulder injury. So Daley, in his infinite wisdom, has recalled dumped fullback Moylan to join James Maloney in the halves. This is a puzzling move considering Moylan has barely played any of his NRL career in the halves. This will either prove to be a masterstroke by Daley, or the straw that broke the camel’s back leading to his termination as coach.
Miraculously, Paul Gallen has been retained to assure an Origin send off.
The Maroons, on the other hand, are blooding a single debutante in gritty Cowboys second rower Gavin Cooper. Nate “The Forehead” Myles has been recalled to the squad now that he is fit.
Queensland have easily stood over the Blues this Origin series, going two-nil in the series so far. Despite this, WilliamHill.com.au has NSW ($1.84) as the slightest of favourites against the Maroons juggernaut ($1.98). The bookie also has a string of Blues as Man of the Match favourites:
James Tedesco – $8
James Maloney – $8
Paul Gallen – $8
Johnathan Thurston – $8
UFC200 doesn’t disappoint
The shocks just keep coming with UFC200.
First Conor McGregor was dropped from the event for refusing to do interviews. Then Jon Jones was dropped from the event for returning a questionable sample to the USADA. Anderson Silva popped up like a meerkat to fill the spot left vacant by Jones. Then Miesha Tate had to strip down, butt naked, to make the weigh in. Everything was underlined by Mark Hunt’s constant slurs against Brock Lesnar about his checkered history with drugs.
All this was before a single punch was even thrown. Then we got to the octagon and the drama continued.
Cain Velasquez announced his arrival back on the UFC scene with a dominant win over Ronda Rousey’s bae, Travis Browne.
Jose Aldo got a win over Frankie Edgar and then caught a glimpse of Conor McGregor in the crowd and called him out.
There were also two shocks. Brock Lesnar came good after his six-year UFC hiatus with a hard-fought win over Mark “Super Samoan” Hunt, while Amanda Nunes stole the women’s UFC bantamweight belt from Miesha Tate.
UFC200 delivered everything we expected and more given the dramatic, twisted and often convoluted lead up to the event. Surely UFC202 will be an even bigger spectacle.
CrownBet.com.au has McGregor ($1.80) as the slight favourite over Nate Diaz ($2) in the top card at UFC202, which is scheduled for August 20, 2016.
