- Publish date:
Who's Hot / Who's Not
Who's Hot
NL West
Not a loser to befound. Every team was over .500 through Sunday. The D-Backs were hot (they'dwon seven of nine), the Dodgers-and 5-1 Brad Penny (above)-were hotter (eightof 10), and that Giants slugger was making some noise* too.
Devin Harris
Devin, our man!SI PLAYERS' 2004-05 NBA rookie diarist is now a playoff hero. He was averaging14.6 points-including a 30-pointer versus Phoenix-since getting into the Mavs'starting lineup on May 9. Suns coach Mike D'Antoni: "He'sdangerous."
Rem Murray
The center isn'tEdmonton's biggest star but its most unlikely contributor. After beingsidelined nearly two years with a neurological disorder, the veteran is in hisfirst Stanley Cup finals. He's so happy to be an Oiler, he's paying to beone-returning a $1 million insurance payout he got when his career seemedover.
Jered Weaver
Jeff's littlebrother, 23, threw seven shutout innings in his big league debut and may havesnagged a spot in the Angels' rotation.
Who's Not
AL West
Hardly a winnerto be found. Only Texas (26-24) was over .500. The A's were cold (they'd losteight of nine), the Mariners-and .219-hitting Adrian Beltre (right)-were colder(four straight), and there's nary a West pitcher in the league's top 10 inwins.
GilbertArenas
Three weeks afterSI PLAYERS' cover guy (April 24) got booted from the playoffs, he got arrestedfor disobeying police who were citing Wizards teammate Awvee Storey forblocking traffic. Arenas (left) reportedly said, "You can't arrest me. I'ma basketball player."
BelmontStakes
Kentucky Derbywinner Barbaro is recovering from his awful break, and Preakness winnerBernardini will skip the June 10 Belmont. The track will be lucky to draw halfthe record 120,139 it got in 2004. Race announcer Tom Durkin on calling thisyear's Stakes: "The list of superlatives I can use will beshortened."
Jeff Weaver
Jered's bigbrother, 29, had gone 2-7 with a team-worst 6.99 ERA among starters and couldsoon be headed out of the Angels' rotation.
SI PLAYERS NBA POLL
Which NBA team, other than your own, would you mostlike to play for?
Spurs ...13%
Heat ...11%
Suns ...10%
Lakers ...10%
[ Based on a survey of 248 NBA players ] • For anexpanded version of the poll, go to SI.com/players.
FAST FACTS Poll completed in January.... Then MaverickDerek Harper refused a trade to the Jazz in 1997, famously saying, "You golive in Utah."...The Knicks came in fifth as both the most desirable team(9%) and the least desirable (5%).... While 13.7% of Eastern Conference voterssaid they'd most like to play for the Lakers, only 5.6% of Western Conferencerespondents said the same.
Least like to play for?
Jazz ...27%
Raptors ...16%
Hawks ...10%
Bucks ...6%
EIGHT PHOTOS
BRIAN BAHR/GETTY IMAGES (PENNY); RON LEBLANC/WIREIMAGE.COM (BELTRE); JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (HARRIS); JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES (ARENAS);CHRIS PIZELLO/AP (JERED WEAVER); JEFF LEWIS/AP (JEFF WEAVER); GREG NELSON (SPURS' DUNCAN); DOUGLAS C. PIZAC/AP (JAZZ' OSTERTAG)
