Vikings get top picks in this weekend’s NFL Draft

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 4/26/2006

 

Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush of USC is expected to become the first running back in nearly a decade to be drafted No. 1 overall this weekend in the NFL Draft. The Vikings have three of the top 55 picks this weekend, including the 17th overall of the first round. This will be new Head Coach Brad Childress’s first Vikings draft. The Vikings this week will also display their new uniforms.

 

 NBA MVP race too close to call

 

This year’s MVP race is tight. Nash won it last year when Phoenix led the NBA in wins (62) during the regular season with a healthy Amare Stoudemire. Last year Stoudemire averaged 26.0 points a game, but he missed most of this season with knee microsurgery, strengthening the argument that Nash deserves it again.

 

However, Kobe Bryant, leading the Lakers back to the playoffs, will get many votes, leading the league in scoring 35.4 points a game. Bryant has scored 50 points in five games plus an NBA-high 81 points against Toronto — the highest point total by any player in NBA history since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962 when he scored 100.

 

Chauncey Billups of Detroit, Mr. Big Shot, is the glue that holds the Pistons together. He led the Pistons to the league’s best record this season, winning a franchise-best 64 games.

 

LeBron James, the NBA All-Star Game MVP, led Cleveland to the playoffs for the first time this decade and a 50-win season, while averaging 31 points a game and becoming only the fourth player in NBA history (after Oscar Roberson, Michael Jordan and Jerry West) to average 31 points, six rebounds and six assists a game.

 

Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett won his second consecutive NBA rebounding crown, averaging 12.7 per game. Steve Nash of Phoenix, last year’s MVP, is among the favorites to win it again; he led the Suns to 54 wins and the Pacific Division Crown while leading the league in assists again with 10.5 per game and in free throw percentage (.921).

 

It took 25 years, but for the first time since the 1981-82 NBA season, three players averaged scoring 30 points or more during a single season. George Gervin, Moses Malone, and Adrian Dantley accomplished this feat two-and-a-half decades ago. This past season, Kobe Bryant of Los Angeles (35.4 points), Alan Iverson of Philadelphia (33.0) and LeBron James of Cleveland (31.4) all averaged 30 or more points a game.

 

Defending NBA Champion San Antonio has the NBA’s longest current winning season streak of nine in a row. The St. Louis Blues missed the Stanley Cup NHL playoffs for the first time after 25 straight years. Both the Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild have missed the playoffs two years in a row — in the Wild’s case, since last season was wiped out because of the lockout, it’s three years.

 Twins starting with a bad road record

 

The Twins are off to a slow start after being swept in Chicago over the weekend by the defending World Champion White Sox. The Twins are now 1-8 on the road. And their starting pitching was expected to be the strength of the team.

 

It’s just April, but the staff ERA is over six runs a game, and pitching ace Yohan Santana is 0-3. If the Twins can’t win in their division, they will not overtake Chicago, Cleveland, and the improved Detroit team. So far, the Twins are 0-6 against Chicago and Cleveland — the two teams that finished ahead of them in the American League Central last year.

 

New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez is regarded by many as baseball’s best player; he is the highest paid player in baseball and currently is in the fourth year of a $250 million contract. Rodriguez also is the only player in major league history to win the league MVP award with two different teams at two different positions. He won the honor with Texas four years ago when he played shortstop, and two years ago he earned the honor again with the Yankees playing third base.