The 2010 NHL draft will take place between June 25 and June 26. With Boston winning the #2 pick in the 2010 NHL draft lottery (from Toronto) . Here is a breakdown of the top 3 prospects:
#1 Taylor Hall LW
Taylor Hall was the 2008 OHL and CHL rookie of the year. In the 2009-10 season. He scored 40 goals and had 66 assists for a total of 106 points. In the 2010 playoffs he scored 17 goals and had 18 assists for a total of 35 points in only 17 games. He was instrumental in Spitfires' 2010 J. Ross Robertson Cup championship. He has explosive speed and has a knack for slowing the game down. He's versatile as well, and can play some center if need be. He can change directions with ease, and breaks down a defense effortlessly. He might leave himself open to some big hits, but overall an offensive powerhouse. Taylor wears #4 in tribute to Bobby Orr.
#2 Tyler Seguin C
In the 2009-10 season, Tyler Seguin played 63 games for the Whalers. Seguin scored 48 goals and had 58 assists for 106 points, tying him for the first overall in OHL points with Taylor Hall. In 9 playoff games, Seguin scored 5 goals and added 5 assists for 10 points. He can maneuver easily through defenses, and has exceptional puck handling abilities. He has an accurate shot and tends to get most of them on goal. After having a slow start in the 2009-2010 OHL season he came alive and was able to showcase his skills with ease. He might end up being the most realistic choice for the Bruins pick in 2010.
Cam Fowler D
In 2009-10, his OHL rookie season, Fowler played in 55 games for the Windsor Spitfires. He scored 8 goals and added 47 assists for 55 points while posting a +38 rating for the season. In 19 playoff games, Fowler scored 3 goals and added 11 assists for 14 points as the Spitfires won the OHL championship for the second consecutive year. He has all of the makeup of a top tier NHL defenseman. Agile, focused, light footed and has uncanny offensive potential. He has an enormous Hockey I.Q, and is adept at distributing the puck. He doesn't always play the man before the puck though, which might lead to some lost one-on-one battles.
So we know The Bruins have the second pick overall. We know who the top 3 prospects are. The only question is: which one of these very talented prospects are the Bruins going to pick and why? It seems Seguin might be the best player left if Edmonton takes Hall with the first pick. Either way the Bruins could find a spot on their porous roster for any of these guys. Stat Junky will have a more in-depth breakdown of whoever it is the Bruins end up with after round #1 of the draft.
What a dominant defensive performance tonight. The Celtic Defense held the Magic to just 36.9% shooting in the 94-71 Game 3 victory. They out rebounded the Magic 43 to 36, and stole the ball a total of 12 times. Despite having Dwight Howard the Celtics limited the Magic to just 22 points in the paint. They let the Magic score just 12 points in the first quarter, and just 13 in the second quarter and at one point had a 32 point lead. All of this points to one definitive fact about this game and the whole series to this point: The Celtics just want it more. This is easily one of the most memorable moments in recent Boston Celtic Basketball:
After the game, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo sat at the podium and took questions from the press. Here's a snippet from that press conference:
The Future is scary for Rajon Rondo as he continues to develop as a player, a leader, and a teammate.
Having the big three of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce has its perks. They have the wisdom, the talent, the basketball IQ and the experience to make it through any game situation you can throw at them. You throw Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo into the mix, and you have at least one NBA championship team... for now.
Rajon Rondo is the most fascinating point guard to watch in the NBA, and one of the most exciting players you will ever see on the court. He has a style all his own, and the most dynamic and multi-faceted player the NBA has seen in a long time. Here is some background info on him from Wikipedia:
"Date of birth February 22, 1986 (1986-02-22) (age 24) Place of birth Louisville, Kentucky
Listed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight 171 lb (78 kg)
NBA Draft 2006 / Round: 1 / Pick: 21
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Pro career 2006–present
Career highlights and awards:
NBA Champion (2008)
NBA All-Star (2010)
All-Defensive First Team (2010)
All-Defensive Second Team (2009)
NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2007)
2004 McDonald's All American
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Rondo attended Eastern High School and Oak Hill Academy for his high-school basketball career, before receiving a scholarship from the University of Kentucky. He played for two years at Kentucky before declaring for the 2006 NBA Draft, represented by agent Bill Duffy.
During the draft, Rondo was selected 21st overall by the Phoenix Suns, and was subsequently traded to the Boston Celtics, where he made his NBA debut as a rookie during the 2006–07 season. He played a supporting role before he established himself as the starting point guard for the Celtics during the 2007–08 season. That season, Rondo earned his first NBA Championship, playing alongside All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.(Wikipedia)"
So Rajon's game developed pretty early in life when he started out among all things as a quarterback. His mom wanted him to play Basketball, because it would be a little easier on his "skinny frame" (I guess that explains where he got speed). During his junior year at Eastern High School, he averaged 27.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists which earned him a spot on the All-State team and was named the 7th Region Player of the Year. He transferred to Virginia's Oak Hill Academy for his senior year where he averaged 21.0 points per game, 3.0 rebounds per game and 12.0 assists per game and finished the 2003-04 season with a 38-0 record. He holds the single-game assists school record of 31, merely four away from the all-time national record. He also had a 55 point game in high school, second highest all-time in Oak Hill Academy. Not bad for a "skinny kid."
His pick in the draft has an interesting timeline itself:
August 6, 2004: Traded by the Los Angeles Lakers (as a 2006 1st round draft pick) with Rick Fox and Gary Payton to the Boston Celtics for Chucky Atkins, Jumaine Jones and Chris Mihm.
February 24, 2005: Traded by the Boston Celtics (as a 2006 1st round draft pick) with Tom Gugliotta, Gary Payton and Michael Stewart to the Atlanta Hawks for Antoine Walker.
August 19, 2005: Traded by the Atlanta Hawks (as a 2006 1st round draft pick) with Boris Diaw and a 2008 1st round draft pick (Robin Lopez) to the Phoenix Suns for Joe Johnson.
June 28, 2006: Drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 1st round (21st pick) of the 2006 NBA Draft.
June 28, 2006: Traded by the Phoenix Suns with Brian Grant to the Boston Celtics for a 2007 1st round draft pick (Rudy Fernandez).
I guess the Celtics were destined to end up with him somehow. Rajon played a big role for the C's in the 2008 Championship averaging 10.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists. In the 2009 playoffs, he averaged almost a triple double, as he was good for 16.9 points 9.7 rebounds and 9.8 assists. He is first team 2009-10 NBA All-Defensive. He was an all-star for the first time in his career too, averaging 9.8 assists, 2.3 steals and 4.4 rebounds, warranting the Celtics to sign him to a 5 year $55 million contract in November of 2009. During the 2010 playoffs so far, he is averaging 17.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 10.6 assists, all while at the helm of the star-studded Boston Celtic offense. Here is something I found on youtube.com from his epic game four of the Eastern Conference semifinal performance of 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists:
Rondo hasn't been known to be a shooter, although his mid range jump shot has shown significant improvement. He has developed an elbow jumper that he relies on heavily if he doesn't have an immediate passing option. His close range floater has shown some improvement this year and is his weapon of choice after some dribble penetration. 82games.com has a breakdown that says that most of his shots this year have been jump shots (53%) followed closely by the close range floaters and layups (45%).
He also holds some all-time records in the historic Boston Celtics franchise with the most assists in a single-season with 794 (2009-10 1st in NBA) and the most steals in a single-season with 189 (2009-10 1st in the NBA in steals /game) and we at Stat Junky think he'll continue to build on that legacy and stay on the path of developing his game and becoming the premier point guard in the NBA for quite some time.
The Bruin's playoffs were a wild ride which ended in a crash and burn that went down in the history books. The Bruins fell to the Philadelphia Flyers who became only the fourth team in North American major-league sports history to overcome an 0-3 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series. The previous 3 were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders and, of course we all remember the 2004 Boston Red Sox who won four strait after being down 3-0 against The Yankees and then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.
The Bruins hovered around the bottom of the league in almost every offensive category scoring 196 goals, 31st (dead last) in the NHL, 117 goals behind the #1 Washington Capitals. They were 23rd in power play percentage with 16.6%, and 30th in assists with 348, 175 behind the Caps. Goaltending was a bright spot with Tuukka Rask getting allot of ice time. Bruins were 2nd in the NHL with a Goals against avg of 2.28, and tied for 1st with the Buffalo Sabres in save %.
This team needs some soul searching offensively and hopefully with the addition of our #2 pick in the 2010 NHL draft along with some much needed off season changes we can get just that. Stat Junky and management agrees, there are changes to be made:
Rajon Rondo continues to turn heads. He dished out eight assists and scored 25 points as his leadership continued to develope in game 2. He's scoring 17.2 PPG in the 2010 playoffs with 6.10 RPG and 10.8 APG. Paul Pierce got knocked down and got right back up and scored 28 points. The Magic went on a 13-4 run to cut Boston’s lead to 85-83 with about six minutes left. Vince Carter’s jumper with 4:05 left in the game gave Orlando a 90-89 lead. But Doc and the Celtics dug deep and made it happen.
Another Junky Stat: This is the first time the Celtics have gone up 2-0 in a playoff series on the road. Any time they do go up 2-0 in the playoffs they are 32-0. Maybe thats why Paul tweeted this after the game (this since has been deemed the workings of a hacker)
We might be seeing just how bad (video) we miss Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron every time someone else that's playing in their absence makes a fool of themselves in the outfield. This has happened all season, but last night was the icing on the cake. It makes you wonder how different things would have been if we had Ellsbury, who Stat Junky has 1st in the AL in fielding % in 2008 (1.000) and Cameron, the 3 time Gold Glover in our outfield.
In the 12 games David Ortiz has played so far this May, he is hitting .348 with 6 home runs and 14 RBI. It could be too early to tell but a comeback from Big Papi is just what us at Stat Junky and Red Sox Nation needs.
Though the Boston Red Sox have been hovering around the middle of the pack in the AL defensively (7th in Field %, 6th in errors, 6th in double plays) Their pitching has not been what everyone, including management, expected going into the 2010 regular season. Stat Junky has Boston's overall pitching ranks 13th (1 away from dead last) in the AL in ERA with a 4.83. With opponents batting average at .258 (Josh Beckett's is at .311) it seems that hitting the ball off of these pitchers comes a little easier than everyone expected. This pitching staff ranks 11th in hits with 343 total. They have given up the most amount of runs in the AL with 201 with 41 of those coming by way of the long ball. Is it chemistry issues? Is the almost "catcher by committee" status too confusing for them or is it just too early in the season? Nobody knows but with Daisuke back and a healthier rotation, now there are no excuses.
Stat Junky was created as a sports blog to publish stats and stories that have an impact on certain games/scenarios/trends in sports. As of right now, Stat Junky is used primarily for Boston Sports. This blog will cover some stats that will hopefully stimulate your brain cells and have you thinking of the reasons why some trends occur in sports and what stats factor into certain game situations. Some stats will be obscure, some will be mundane and simple and others will be mind blowing. I hope you enjoy this blog and I hope it opens your eyes as to why certain things happen in sports and forces you to question things as well. If you have any questions/concerns or question the validity of the information you can email me KeithSchiavoni@gmail.com. Also, if you would like to make contributions to the blog you are welcomed to do so by emailing me. All information in your contributions must be accurate, and is subject to review by myself and my team of stat junkies. All of our information comes from stat websites and informational resources such as Baseball-reference.com and 82games.com and is a result of their research. So don't be mad at me if some information is incorrect. Enjoy! :)
