Supporting Cast

Andrew Bogut was back in the states this week, getting his cast removed and partying with his supporting cast known as "Squad 6." Bogut, who earned third team all-NBA honors this season, has been spending the off-season in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. He's healing, but not in time to lead the Boomers at the FIBA World Championship in August.

Luke Nevill is also in Melbourne, playing for the Melbourne Tigers of the NBL. Nevill was a member of the Boomers squad in 2009 but does not appear to be on the roster for the World Championship.

Savage on the Move

Josh Savage has played for a number of teams in his career: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, and Florida Tuskers. Add to that list the Omaha Nighthawks, which selected him in the recent UFL expansion draft.

Omaha also took a pair of defensive tackles from the Las Vegas Locomotives, which could spell more playing time for Lauvale Sape and Gabe Long. The Locos protected Jesse Boone and Sape (who is currently playing with the Utah Blaze of the AFL) from the expansion draft. Long is a free agent following his workout with the Detroit Lions in December.

Tight end John Madsen also had a workout with the Lions last week, but was released on Friday and remains a free agent.

I'm a few seasons behind, but I finally got my #95 Josh Savage Titans jersey!

Home Run Homer

Chris Shelton was right at home in Spring Mobile Ballpark yesterday, hitting his first home run out of the park since he played there in college. The Round Rock Express beat the Salt Lake Bees for the second time, with two games remaining in the home stand. The Express have struggled on the road, but this is a homecoming of sorts for Shelton, who leads the team in HR (5) and RBI (20).

Plenty to Prove

Enough talk about how far quarterbacks Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy fell in the draft. Let's talk about something that really matters: what it means to Brett Ratliff. The third-string Browns qb is the only holdover from the purge that sent Brady Quinn and his hair to the Shadow of Tebow in Denver and Derek Anderson to Arizona, where he will compete with another pretty boy, Matt Leinart. The Rat abides. But will he play? In his career as an undrafted free agent he hasn't taken a snap in the regular season, but he had a nice preseason for the Jets, prompting Coach Mangini to bring him over to Cleveland in the trade for Braylon Edwards. Clearly this is a guy the coach wants in his locker room, but not necessarily on the field. Cleveland brought in Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace presumably as the #1 and #2 qbs, then drafted Colt McCoy. Free agent Graham Harrell has been getting some reps in camp as well. According to The Chronicle-Telegram Ratliff could remain with the team as the fourth-string quarterback. So he goes from last man standing to last on the list? Here's hoping McCoy continues to fall.

Another player who seems to have fallen out of favor is Paul Soliai in Miami. As high as the Dolphins are on Koa Misi (see Peter King's recent Monday Morning Quarterback), Soliai's name hasn't even come up as Miami looks to revamp their defense. Jason Ferguson has been suspended for 8 games, apparently opening a double-wide door for Soliai to step in as a starter for at least half the season, but the only names coming out of camp are Randy Starks and rookie Jared Odrick. The Palm Beach Post spoke with Soliai's new agent, who said Paul is ready to prove he can play. Let's see if the ProUte of Week 8 can play at that level every week!

Firebrand on Khoury

Came across a solid evaluation of Ryan Khoury on the AL Firebrand page.

Misi to Miami

Koa Misi was the first ProUte selected in the 2010 NFL Draft, followed five picks later by Zane Beadles. Both players were taken in the second round of the new three day draft format, making this the second consecutive year Utah has had two players drafted in the second round. Misi went to Miami at #40, and the Broncos picked Beadles at #45. Misi becomes the third ProUte on Miami's defense, joining last year's second round pick Sean Smith and Paul Soliai. If only they would bring back Steve Fifita! Like Paul Kruger, Misi will transition from defensive end to outside linebacker in the NFL. Unlike Kruger, Misi will be expected to contribute immediately according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. Three more Utes were drafted in the fifth round on Saturday. Robert Johnson will carry on the proud tradition of ProUtes playing for the Titans, David Reed goes to the Ravens (the team that cut free agent Bradon Godfrey last year), and Stevenson Sylvester's a Steeler!

Here's the complete list from this year's draft:

#40, Miami Dolphins, Koa Misi, de/lb
#45, Denver Broncos, Zane Beadles, ol
#148, Tennessee Titans, Robert Johnson, s
#156, Baltimore Ravens, David Reed, wr
#166, Pittsburgh Steelers, Stevenson Sylvester, lb
#223, Carolina Panthers, R.J. Stanford, cb

With Stanford's selection in the seventh round Utah set a new school record of six players drafted! By way of comparison that's the same number that traditional powerhouse Texas had drafted this year - only four schools had more.

NBA Playoffs

Andre Miller tied his playoff career high of 31 points to lead Portland to a 105-100 upset win over Phoenix. Portland, a 6 seed, pulled off the only win by a visiting team in game 1 thanks to Andre's 31 points and 8 assists.

The Blazers managed to win without star Brandon Roy, but the Bucks didn't fare so well minus Andrew Bogut. They fell behind by a wide margin and lost to the Hawks 102-92.

In the D League Luke Nevill and the Utah Flash had their season come to an end in the first round of the playoffs. They took the first game against the Iowa Energy but lost the best-of-three series. Nevill averaged 11.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in his first year in the developmental league.