Top Sports Things To Be Excited About In 2015
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – 2014 may not have been the best year for sports in South Florida, but it could've been a lot worse. The Heat made a fourth straight appearance in the NBA Finals, the Marlins had a surprisingly good team that contended for a playoff spot most of the season, the Panthers are looking more and more like a team that is going to be very competitive for years to come and the Dolphins and Canes each showed a good amount of promise before ending their seasons in the usual disappointing fashion.
There are always things that can be improved on but being that the region has a team in all four major professional sports, as well as several Division I college teams, there is no shortage of squads to follow and root for. Fans in the Miami area are truly lucky to have all the major sports covered. As the calendar flips over to a brand new year there are plenty of things for South Florida sports fans to be excited about.
Starting with the Miami Dolphins, the reasons for optimism surrounding the team always seem to show up in bunches but don't always come to fruition. The biggest thing currently is the progress of quarterback Ryan Tannehill. He had his best season as a pro in 2014 and is starting to look more and more like he can be the Dolphins quarterback for years to come.
There are plenty of very talented players in Miami. Their young core guys started to show some promise last season, especially draft picks Ja'Wuan James and Jarvis Landry. The defense has Miami's only two Pro Bowl players, Brent Grimes and Cameron Wake, but the amount of skilled players leaves Dol-fans scratching their heads as to why the unit struggled so much a season ago.
Miami made a big front office move during the first week of 2015, adding former New York Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum to run all football operations. Tannenbaum had some very successful years in New York and could help bring some stabilization to the Dolphins front office.
Moving on to baseball, there could very well be more excitement surrounding the Miami Marlins than any of the other South Florida sports teams. After signing franchise player Giancarlo Stanton to a record $325 million contract extension, the Marlins brass went to work surrounding the 25-year-old with more talent at several positions.
All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon, top level starting pitcher Mat Latos and slugger Michael Morse are just a few of the new players that Miami has added to their very strong young core group of players.
Combine the new guys with the maturation of youngsters like Christian Yelich, Adeiny Hechavarria, Marcell Ozuna and Henderson Alvarez and suddenly the Marlins look like a team that can contend for a coveted playoff spot for years to come.
Moving on to the Florida Panthers, South Florida's often forgotten hockey franchise has been slowly building a strong core of young stars that are beginning to show why many hockey experts are paying more and more attention to the Panthers.
Florida has one of the best goaltenders in the NHL in Roberto Luongo and the veteran netminder has been playing just as good in his mid-30's as he did in his mid-20's. In front of Luongo, the Panthers young foundation has gotten better and better as the season has progressed. First overall draft pick Aaron Ekblad is turning heads around the league and the general consensus is that the Panthers have struck gold with the 18-year-old defenseman.
General Manager Dale Tallon signed forward Nick Bjugstad to a 6-year deal that will keep him in Florida for a long time. Bjugstad led the Panthers in points last season and is leading the team in both goals and points again so far this year. The list of young stars like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Dmitri Kulikov, Vincent Trocheck, Erik Gudbranson and Rocco Grimaldi should keep the Panthers on the upswing for the foreseeable future.
Things with the Miami Hurricanes and Miami Heat aren't as positive, but there are still reasons to be optimistic. The Canes are sticking with head coach Al Golden for at least one more year but for the first time in a long time have a young quarterback that may actually pan out into a strong collegiate football player. In years past Miami has had QB's that were very highly touted but never lived up to the hype. With freshman Brad Kaaya, it appears that the Hurricanes may finally have found their guy.
As for the Heat, Pat Riley is once again setting his team up for a big free agent drive. Similar to the summer of 2010 when Riley helped bring LeBron James and Chris Bosh to Miami, the summer of 2016 is going to have another plethora of unrestricted star player free agents.
In the meantime, the Heat are suffering through injuries and a lack of team chemistry. One bright side is the emergence of youngsters James Ennis and Hassan Whiteside. Both are still extremely raw and in need of playing time, but they have shown flashes of greatness that may or may not be achieved.
Overall there are plenty of reasons to be excited about South Florida's local sports teams, though some more than others. Either way, 2015 has the potential to be an extremely fun and exciting year for sports fans in the region. The key…keeping the faith. Don't stop believing, Miami.
Follow David on Twitter (@DavidDwork)
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