Topic Tuesday #1

So it's Tuesday, and you know what that means (or maybe you don't). That means it is Topic Tuesday. Every Tuesday we will take 5 questions that you guys have sent us either over twitter with the hashtag #topictuesday or to our email beastmodebloggers@hotmail.com

Since this is a new blog and we don't really have consistent traffic at this point it's going to be hard to do Topic Tuesdays. Some Tuesdays we may not have 5 (like this Tuesday), but hopefully we will get to a point where we will actually have more than 5 questions. If that happens we will take those extra questions and save them for next week's version.

So basically what will happen is we will show the question in bold with either the persons twitter handle or name (first name and initials). Below that we will do exactly what we have done in our two previous blogs, we will both give our opinions on the question.

If you have any ideas for other weekly or bi-weekly things we can do please feel free to suggest them to us. We want to make this the most enjoyable read possible and obviously if you guys get involved it just makes it that much better for you!

Here We Go:

What Do You Guys Think Will Happen With The Raptors This Off Season? -@Jeaarr

Chris: I honestly believe not a lot will happen, simply because you really can't judge the overall team performance based on last season. Yes, it was an ugly season to say the least, and I don't like to make excuses, but when you don't have all of your players constantly available, it makes things very difficult. What I would use last year for going into this off season is single player performance. How did players step it up when their names were called upon, for example, Jerryd Bayless. Bayless has a tendency to struggle coming off the bench, he would constantly turn the ball over and make these bizarre plays that had people swearing at the TV. Interesting thing is though he numbers are terrific when he gets the start. I don't remember what they are exactly but his points per game average is in the high teens and his assist per game average is around 8, with the occasional rebound. Other guys however, like Bargnani (which we discuss later) showed us why they aren't meant to be a franchise player, and just how much work this Toronto team has left. In the end, you have to trade value to get value, and other than DeMar DeRozan, or I suppose Andrea Bargnani..the Raptors just don't have many valuable guys.

Ryan: Either a lot will happen, minor moves are made or nothing happens at all. In my opinion I can see Colangelo making minor moves to help build this team properly. One area of importance in the center position. Now Bargnani has been playing that position for several years now, and other than his scoring he has not really provided much on the defensive end or on the boards since he really is a SF in a seven footers body. With guys such as Marc Gasol and Nene entering the free agency market I would expect Colangelo to make hard pushes to get one of those guys. Greg Oden is also on the market and even though he may be a huge risk, I think it could be a risk worth taking. Other areas of importance will be getting some defensive minded players or a defensive minded coach, another player to help out on the wing and possible another PG. These voids aren't all going to be filled this off-season, but I can see Colangelo addressing several of them in the off-season and others either during the season of next off-season.

Will Andrea Bargnani Be Traded & What Can We Possibly Get For Him? -@Jeaarr

Chris: It seems like the odds of Bargnani leaving Toronto just keep going up, so I am going to say yes, he gets traded. It's hard to say exactly what we could get in return for him though. I honestly believe that we will need to trade him to a team that already has guys who are great at rebounding, but is in need of scoring. As big of a "happy moment" that I believe this will be for Raptors fans, i really don't expect it to be a block buster of any sorts, at all. Basically it will be like a trade in a fantasy league. Both guys are of equal status, but one guy has that status from scoring, and the other from rebounding. Obviously the Raptors have a lot of guys who can score, starting with Demar Derozan, but what we don't have is a true center that can rebound. The guy who has probably been mentioned the most in coming to Toronto (in our dreams) would probably be Marc Gasol, but seeing how far the Grizzlies went and can continue to grow, I wouldn't count on it. my best suggestion would be try and trade Andrea Bargnani + Jose Calderon to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love. I know this sounds like it probably could never happen but eh. Considering some of the comments Timberwolves GM David Kahn has made this off season, he seems like an idiot, so you never know until you try right?


Ryan: As much as it pains me to say this he won't be traded, even though I'll probably throw the biggest celebration ever if he does. Knowing Colangelo he would probably look to move Bargnani to the PF spot permanently by going after a legit starting C in the offseason. If he is traded though I'm not sure we can really get much value in return as we would have gotten for Bosh if he was traded to a team that had more than 2 players under contract. Most likely we'll get a few young up and coming guys or just a nice rack of Spaldings, maybe some Primo pasta and sauce as a bonus.



Who Do You Think The Raptors Should/Will Draft With Their 5th Overall Pick? -@Jeaarr


Chris: I'll be honest i don't know a whole lot about this draft class, but then again who really does? It's a risky draft class in my opinion. Enes Kanter didn't play this year, and he is who we are projected to pick. There honestly isn't a lot of depth so i have to say draft the best guy there. Whether that is a PG, PF, wherever, just draft him. You want to have the best players on your team and if you do, you can work around that. I will go with Enes Kanter though.

Ryan: If either Enes Kanter or Brandon Knight are still available when it's the Raptors time to select I draft one of them as they can help with the teams issues at the PG and C positions. Several mock drafts have them selecting Jonas Valančiūnas, who is a PF from Lithuania who is most likely gonna be a prospect and thus take a few years to develop. Given that he is a PF and the team already have Davis and Amir, I'm not sure how that'll work out, but he seems like a decent player who can play in the post, after checking out a few highlight reels on YouTube.

What Are Your NHL Finals Predictions? -@Bobswan14
Chris: Canucks in 7 (but i want the Bruins to win)

Ryan: Bruins in 6

2011 French Open

 To say that there were a lot of stories lines going into Roland Garros would be understatement of the year. To say that just over halfway through the tournament there have already been a lot of story lines, would be a close runner-up.

On the men's side the biggest story line going into the tournament was Novak Djokovic. Djokovic entered the tournament with a 36-0 record in 2011, 38-0 stretching back to 2010. He has dominated on all fronts this year, including (to many peoples surprise) clay. Many thought his streak would end sooner than later, once he faced Nadal on clay, especially in Nadal's own country of Spain for the Mutua Madrid Open. Another story going into the french open was Rafa Nadal. He has without a doubt been playing some great tennis this year, but has just continued to run into Djokovic. But people are really beginning to wonder, is Rafa playing his best? Maybe he is, but just can't match up to Novak. One smaller story is that of Roger Federer. Who, ever since the 2010 US Open, has really not been in the spot light as much. He has easily breezed through to the quarter final, without having even lost a set. He now just has to wait to face either David Ferrer or Gael Monfils, either of which should be another easy match for the man highly considered to be the best of all time.

On the Women's side things have been much more open. To start things off, lets remember there are no William's sisters in it. You wouldn't think this would make that big of an impact, but considering how just about every other top seed is out, their absence plays a huge part in how many under dogs have moved on. Obviously you can thank Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniaki and Vera Zvonareva for that, but you have to look at the big picture. If Venus and Serena were in here, that would extremely limit how many how these higher seeds (or unseeded players) move on. You have to wonder just how different the draw would look. That's how it goes though, things are the way they are, and for many players trying to make a name for themselves, now is the time. It seems like none of the female tennis superstars can consistently make the later rounds, so if you want a chance to get in the spot light and win some tournaments, there's no better time.

Who Is Going To Win The French Open?

Men's

Chris: Rafael Nadal. Despite continuously losing to Djokovic and being "mentally tired", Roland Garros is still Nadal's playground. The win will not come easy for Nadal, no matter who he faces. I'm also going to predict he will be against Federer for the final. Obviously Djokovic has had no problem with Federer either but gut feeling tells me Federer wants to win bad, but Nadal wants to win even more.

Women's

Chris: Maria Sharapova. The farthest she has ever gone at Roland Garros is the Semi-Final, but i believe that can and will change. She has played great so far and she has the career grand slam in her sights


Key To Winning The French Open:

Chris: For Nadal i think the key will be to play along the baseline and control the tempo. It's been a while since he has faced Federer so it's hard to say what he needs to do there. If he faced Djokovic though he can't let him control the rally every time. Novak has such a dominating Forehand and Backhand along the base and cross court. Rafa needs to Make him work for his points, don't give into him.
As for Sharapova she needs to have her forehand working. She is known to get out of sorts with her forehand and hit it into the net or hit it long. This can't happen. It doesn't matter what level you are at, the person with the most unforced errors tends to lose the match. That's just the way tennis goes.


Predictions:

Chris: Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer in 4 sets.
           Maria Sharapova d. Francesca Schiavone in 2 sets


Ryan: Novak Djokovic wins the men's
            Victoria Azarenka wins the women's




*Reminder* Send us an email with your question for "Topic Tuesdays" to beastmodebloggers@hotmail.com, or if you follow us on twitter send us a question with the hashtag #topictuesdays.

NBA Finals Preview

So the NBA Finals are upon us once again and it'll be the Dallas Mavericks taking on the Miami Heat in a rematch of the 2006 Finals in which the Mavs lost after leading the series 2-0. Since that time both teams have had their own relative struggles, especially the Heat who were reduced to a lottery team and endured a 15 win season. The Mavs on the other hand have had great regular season success, but have had several early playoff exists despite always remaining amongst the elite in the West. It almost seems fitting that when these two teams did return to the Finals they would be facing each other once more.

Also different from that last meeting a few years ago is the makeups of the teams. The Mavs now have Jason Kidd running the point, and have added Tyson Chandler who has become their defensive anchor, Peja Stojakovic who has shown flashes of his Sacramento days and several others. They also have Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry who have remained key pieces for this team and were also members on the 2006 Finals team. The Heat as we all know have gone through a major change and have added two other all-stars in Lebron James and Chris Bosh to the team. Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem are the only two members remaining from the 2006 championship team. Though their bench is nowhere close to being a strong as the Mavs bench, the recent emergence of Mike Miller, Haslem, who has missed most of the season, and Mario Chalmers could prove to be quite beneficial to the Heats success.

The Mavs have beaten the Heat in both match-ups this season, but as the Heat have shown regular season records don't mean a thing in the playoffs as they went on to beat the Celtics and the Bulls who had won the regular season series against the Heat as well. In their long quest to reach the Finals we have seen just spectacular performances from the teams' stars. Dirk Nowitzki has been just amazing averaging 28.4 points in the playoffs, while shooting the lights out from the floor (51.7% from the field, 51.6% from three and 92.9% from the FT line), Jason Kidd has been as efficient as he always has been and Chandler, Barea and Terry have played astonishingly. On the Heat's side of things, Lebron has been playing out of his mind in the clutch, Bosh has stepped up to silence his critics and Wade continues to be tough for opposing defenses even if he did struggle in that series against the Bulls. So in this colossal matchup of the all-stars which team will emerge victorious?

Key to the Series:

Ryan: Defense. Both these teams got to this position because of their focus on defense, and in the end the team with the best defensive efficiency will emerge as the 2011 NBA Champs. If the Heat can somehow find a way to shutdown Dirk and the Mavs perimeter players, this series will most likely do their way. For the Mavs they will have to prevent the Big 3 from taking over and getting open look. The Heat's bench isn't that deep so if they can keep the Big 3 in check they may be able to win the franchise's 1st championship.

Chris: Neither offense or defense will be the key to the series, but who controls the floor. Both of these teams have very different styles of play. The Heat for example like to run and play a fast paced game, they also like to mix in the 3 point shot. Where as the Mavs play a slower paced game, where they can control the flow and tempo of each possession and take their time to get the shot they want. Due to the extreme difference in play styles this will come down to strategy. Who can force their opponent to exit their comfort zone and play the other teams style. I believe the team that does this best will end up being crowned the Champions.

Key Player:

Ryan: Dwyane Wade. Wade didn't quiet look like himself offensively in the last series against the Bulls, and it has been said that he's fighting through an injury. If the Heat plan to win their 2nd title in franchise history they would need Wade to be more efficient offensively.

Chris: For the Heat: Chris Bosh - Despite a huge post season so far Lebron James and Dwayne Wade are still considered the front runners to get the ball, if Bosh can be on his game this could throw the Mavericks off and put more pressure on the defense.
           For the Mavs: Dirk Nowitzki - This seems like the obvious choice right? Well it is. Dirk has arguably been the playoff MVP so far and if he continues to be able to shoot over defenders, there is very little the South Beach Heat will be able to do. He can also be a strong presence inside and force the Heat to make more shots and play some clutch offense.

Prediction:

Ryan: Heat in 6.

Chris: Mavs in 6

Both teams have fought extremely hard to get to this position and they won't go down without a fight and that alone guarantees that this will be a great Finals matchup. The Mavs will also be motivated to not lose in the Finals to the same team twice while the Heat will be looking to show their haters that at the end of the day, three superstars can co-exist and win a championship together. So what would we see in a few weeks, will Dirk and Kidd finally get their 1st ring or will there be another celebration in South Beach?