4-17-11: Bird Droppings - Draft Watch

Another slow day for a weekend. Mostly links relating to other Arizona teams, but there is a Draft Watch where Von Miller has taken the lead for now as the most likely pick, and a look at Quarterbacks taken by NFC West teams over the last 15 years.

Arizona Cardinals NFL Draft Watch - ArizonaSports.com
As we get ever closer to the NFL draft speculation is running ramped. Will the Arizona Cardinals find their 'quarterback of the future'? Will they address their need at linebacker or will they completely shock the league and take a wide receiver? While we won't know the answers to those questions until draft day, we decided to give you the next best thing, the Arizona Cardinals Draft Watch. We'll round up all the rumors and let you know who we think is most likely to have his name read when the commissioner steps to the podium to announce the No. 5 pick.

Prince Amukamara visits Cardinals - ArizonaSports.com
There's one player the Arizona Cardinals may be interested in drafting who wouldn't have to worry about adjusting to hot summers or playing in Glendale. According to reports from the National Football Post, Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara visited the Cardinals recently.

Adventures in drafting NFL quarterbacks - NFC West Blog - ESPN
Some narration is in order while looking back at every quarterback current NFC West teams have selected over the past 15 NFL drafts.

Phoenix Coyotes' rally comes up short vs. Red Wings in Game 2
They were going nowhere - and then they came out of nowhere. The Phoenix Coyotes sprang to life in Game 2 of the Western Conference playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings. Facing an almost insurmountable challenge, down 4-0 in the second period, they rocked Detroit with three power-play goals. It came down to the last second, but the Coyotes' mad rush fell just a bit short, as the Red Wings hung on to post a 4-3 victory Saturday at Joe Louis Arena to take a 2-0 series lead.

Arizona Diamondbacks drop another to San Francisco Giants
Diamondbacks left-hander Joe Saunders was dodging trouble all night, staying afloat in an ocean of baserunners by finding the pitchers' equivalent of a life buoy, the double-play ball. But when he couldn't get out of the way of a line drive in the seventh inning, it might have been a sign. This time, trouble found him. Saunders couldn't escape the seventh, and the San Francisco Giants came away with a 5-3 victory at Chase Field on Saturday night, sending the Diamondbacks to their third loss in a row and fourth in the past five games.

AFL: Arizona Rattlers pull away from Kansas City Command
The Arizona Rattlers stay undefeated at 5-0 after a 63-49 win against the Kansas City Command on the road.

ASU football regroups after sloppy start to spring scrimmage
The beginning was sloppy. Arizona State's first possession in Saturday's spring football scrimmage included a dropped pass, bad snap and interception. In many ways, it was a continuation of last week's scrimmage, which coach Dennis Erickson called "unacceptable." After two possessions, the Sun Devils finally settled down, showing a small crowd at Sun Devil Stadium flashes of what might be in store next season.

Arizona Wildcats' Jake Fischer suffers knee injury in spring game
As University of Arizona football team huddled at midfield Saturday, Jake Fischer sat in the back of a John Deere cart with an ice pack on his knee and a grimace on his face. It was, instantly, the snapshot of a snakebit spring.

NFL, players to pick up labor talks next week - ESPN
Day 2 of court-ordered talks between the NFL and its locked-out players recessed with the judge giving both sides a significant amount of homework in the form of questions they need to answer upon convening again Tuesday.

Steve Nash needs to speak up about Phoenix Suns' direction
Steve Nash is comfortable in Phoenix. Maybe too comfortable. He ranks among the most popular players in the history of a feel-good franchise, and his comments carry great weight on Planet Orange. What if he spoke up forcefully when we needed him most, when owner Robert Sarver put on the blinders and refused to pay market value for Amar'e Stoudemire? Answer: Maybe the Suns wouldn't be missing the playoffs.

Shane Doan gives Phoenix Coyotes big boost in Game 2
Coyotes coach Dave Tippett calls Shane Doan a bull in a china shop. Make that an angry bull. Doan turned in a superior effort against the Red Wings in a 4-3 Game 2 loss Saturday, likely foreshadowing his play when the first-round playoff series returns to Jobing.com Arena this week for Games 3 and 4.

Is Marcin Gortat the Phoenix Suns' center of the future?
Yes, the Suns have devolved into an NBA-draft-lottery team this year, leaving us with TNT's "40 Games in 40 Nights" and not much else this spring. However, we are not willing to say that the Suns season was a total loss. After all, out of the Planet Orange primordial soup there evolved a legitimate big man who could dominate in the Western Conference if not the Western Hemisphere for many years to come.

NBA draft: Derrick Williams faces uncertainties on road ahead
In less than three months, Derrick Williams could be wearing the wine-and-gold of LeBron's old team. He may be thrown to the Timberwolves. Or exported to Toronto. Then again, maybe he'll become an Anaheim King, joining a possibly relocated franchise in the same Honda Center where he elevated his NBA draft stock even further into the stratosphere with a near-perfect first half against Duke last month. A new home is not the only uncertainty now facing Williams, who announced Wednesday he is forgoing his final two years of eligibility with the Arizona Wildcats to enter the June NBA draft. He also can't be sure when, or how much, he'll be paid because of the NBA's unsettled labor situation.