#can we get an actual episode of them at a sixers game

[tani-b-art]

Janine/S2E6 Ava/S2E19

[Muni Long’s “Made For Me” plays]

If we don’t get some sorta 1v1 scrimmage b/w these two! Play H.O.R.S.E, a shooting contest…do the Love & Basketball challenge! SOMETHING!

[invisibletinkerer]

Fic: The Secret Journal of 'Stanford' Pines

Size: ~3000 words AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20864183

Stan Pines keeps a journal of brief daily notes during the summer of 2012.

Note: We all know that the Gravity Falls timeline makes no sense whatsoever. Therefore this is based on a headcanon timeline I made a year or so ago, trying to incorporate as many of the canon dates (in show and published J3) as possible, but ignoring the ones that were contradictory or made no sense. This still means some episodes did not happen in a strictly chronological order.

June 1

Kids are here. I have no idea what to do. Why did I agree to this.

Boy is a grump and girl made macaroni art in the kitchen. Did I even have macaroni?

 June 2 Sunday

I think boy got spooked in the forest. He seems fine, though. Good taste in gold chains.

Girl is now dating some punk kid.

 June 3

Kids looked like they’d been run over by the golf cart when they got back tonight. Not good.

Gave them some free gifts from the shop to cheer em up. Yes I know

Boy got a new hat. Should get him to wear a Mystery Shack shirt next. Girl found a grappling hook that was not in my inventory. Bold choice.

What would they say if they knew about me?

June 4

Fishing Season Opening Day – took the kids fishing.

Of course, they got excited about monster hunting instead. They’re listening to reason about as well as I and Fo did as a kid.

But. They came back to me in the end. We had fun.

I love those kids.

 June 5

Soos found those cursed old wax statues I sealed up some ten years ago. Don’t seem all that cursed now. One had melted.

Mabel’s gonna make a new one for the wax museum. Meaning I’ll have to figure out how to make suckers pay to look at wax statues again.

 June 6

Mabel’s wax creation nearly gave me a heart attack. It looks just like my twin me.

She’s crazy talented.

 June 7

I’d say the wax museum reopening went well. Assuming “well” means “profit”.

Did anyone actually think I’d hand out free pizza?

 June 8

Hanging out with my wax twin Stan, and the moment I turned my back he was murdered.

 June 9 Sunday

Tried to hold a funeral for Wax Stan. Failed to keep it tounge-in-cheek.

Face it, Ford is long gone

 June 10

Guess the wax people were still as cursed as I remembered. Kids killed them with fire – I should have done that long ago.

Dipper crawled in the vents all day looking for a wax head that got away.

If I keep telling him he’s delusional, he’s got to stop looking for trouble eventually, right?

 June 11

Mabel decided I should date Lazy Susan. Couldn’t stop her. Now Susan and her cats keep calling me.

This was a bad idea. (I will never tell Mabel that.)

 June 12

Went on a date with Lazy Susan to shut her up. That ended just as well as expected.

Need to figure out some more specific excuses.

 June 13

The worst thing is, the Portal should work now. It’s functional. I just can’t get it to start.

Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all along

I did fix that old copier. Don’t know if it still makes copies of people, but at least it makes copies of paper again.

Caught Dipper making oogly eyes at Wendy. I smell drama.

 June 14

Did not expect “The Duchess Approves” to be that good.

 June 15

The traditional Mystery Shack party that has nothing to do with any birthdays.

Mabel is a great singer, and that Northwest brat cheated.

Happy birthday, Sixer.

 June 16 Sunday

Gideon Gleeful’s running TV ads again.

Of course my family goes to his show just to spite me.

 June 17

Mabel played with Gideon today. Did not see that one coming.

As long as she’s happy, I guess.

 June 18

I hate Pioneer Day.

Stupid people acting even stupider than normal, nothing works, then someone (me) ends up in the stocks.

 June 19

Gideon and Mabel are dating!?

Seemed like a horrible idea, but Bud Gleeful has a point on the moneymaking opportunities if we play it right.

 June 20

So if Mabel marries Gideon, his business will be incorporated into mine. I sure like the sound of that.

Bud is already making t-shirts.

 June 21

 June 22

OK, no. No deals with the Gleefuls. Not now or ever.

Mabel broke up with the little pest. Good riddance.

Got me a nice painting from Bud’s house, though.

 June 23 Sunday

The Mystery Fair! It may look cheap, but it brings in the money.

Though someone broke all safety protocols and brought a futuristic laser gun to Dunkle the Grunkle. That’s unfair.

Mabel has a pig now.

 June 24

Got roped into the gaming arcade with the kids.

Maybe get one of those games for the Shack?

 June 25

Mabel decided to fix my fear of heights.

I can say this – being on top of a water tower about to fall over was unpleasant. Compared to that, a high but stable ground isn’t so bad.

Dipper got into a fistfight with Wendy’s boyfriend over teenage drama, but good on him for standing up for himself.

 June 26

For some reason Gideon has gotten it into himself that he wants the Mystery Shack now.

Good luck, kid. I’m a better conman than you’ll ever be.

 June 27

Mabel is slightly taller than Dipper. This is funny.

Gideon Gleeful trying to be threatening while throwing a hysterical fit after breaking my new mirror maze – mostly confusing. Wish I knew what went on in that kid’s head.

 June 28

Kids made me wear the golden teeth. Guess they think I’m a dishonest man.

Fortunately, I’m good at bullshitting even when telling the truth. Think I scandalized the poor things. Hilarious.

Could have been disaster, though. Could have easily made them hate me.

 June 29

Spent half the day falling down the Bottomless Pit.

 June 30 Sunday

Summerween, now that’s a respectable local holiday.

Scaring children for fun and profit. Celebrating true evil together with family.

 July 1

Hottest day of the year. Wax Stan was permanently murdered by the weather.

Closed the Shack and went to the municipal pool with the kids.

Gideon stole my perfect pool chair. It’s on.

 July 2

Broke into the pool area at night to get the chair to myself. Which was a good plan, until I wanted to get up later in the day. The pest had coated it with glue.

The kids broke into the pool at night, too. Didn’t ask.

 July 3

Opened the Shack again.

Can’t be too lazy. Tourists to fleece and all that.

 July 4

 July 5

Mabel bet she could run the Shack better than I can. Well. I’m nothing if not a gambler.

So, three days of vacation, in which I will make more money than she will make running the Shack. Winner takes the Shack, loser sings a silly song.

Best case scenario, she learns something about business and stops complaining. Worst case, she actually makes money and then runs the Shack for me the rest of the summer. Not bad.

 July 6

Made it past the line to be a contestant on Cash Wheel, using my Old Man powers and lack of common decency.

Why is it so hard to sleep

 July 7 Sunday

Well. I lost at Cash Wheel.

Guess that means I lost the bet with Mabel, too. Unless I go rob a bank or something in the time I have left. Hm.

 July 8

Turns out Mabel barely broke even when running the Shack. She did win the bet, but she didn’t want my job, no surprise there.

I’m proud of her for learning something.

She still made me sing that song. On video tape. It’s kinda catchy.

 July 9

Mabel’s friends came for a sleepover. They make a lot of noice.

 July 10

Soos managed to uncover the door to Ford’s that old study I sealed thirty years ago the very moment the kids demanded separate bedrooms.

I never wanted to see that room again. His glasses were still there

Guess they didn’t want the room in the end, but now it’s open. Can’t re-seal it.

I think they messed around with the freaky carpet. Took it away at the end of the day just in case.

 July 11

I fucked up, but I fixed it.

I got Mabel’s pig back, even when I had to punch a pterodactyl in the face for it.

She doesn’t hate me.

I love that kid so much.

 July 12

That weird egg I pocketed from the dino-cave hatched. Dipper says it’s a compo-whatnot.

I call him Compy. He’s now my Mystery Pet.

 July 13

Soos’ birthday. The kids tried to throw a party, which is. Bad idea.

Think he appreciated laser tag, though. And the magic pizza they got him. Never seen him so happy on a birthday.

 July 14 Sunday

Turns out Compy is a very tiny dragon. Hoards stuff, mostly cash. In places I can’t reach.

It’s no good. Gonna hand the chicken-lizard over to farmer Sprott first thing in the morning before he bankrupts me.

 July 15

Mabel and her friends went to some boy band concert. Got back late with a large pack of spoils. Probably robbed someone.

Wendy’s boyfriend is charming her with homemade music. Dipper suspects magic. Can’t rule that out.

 July 16

There was a hypnotic message in the music, but telling Wendy about it only made the teenage drama worse.

Went bowling with Dipper afterwards to cheer him up. Should have a chat with Wendy, too.

 July 17

Gideon   I’m   How could

Didn’t know Gideon was that serious.

As if half-lucid dreams about that yellow triangle wasn’t bad enough. (The kids know something. Not asking. I want them to stay away from that stuff.)

We’re staying with Soos as I panic figure out how to fix this.

 July 18

I can’t fix this.

Gideon’s got the whole town eating out of his hand and I’m just a grouchy old man.

Doing the responsible thing. Got bus tickets to send the kids home tomorrow.

Whatever I do next, don’t want them to watch.

 July 19

GIDEON IS A LITTLE SHIT AND I AM AWESOME.

Figured out his trick, proved it in public and now he’s in jail.

Got the Shack back. Got the kids back.

And. Get this. Gideon had one of Ford’s missing journals. I have it now.

 July 20

I can’t believe it. Dipper. Had the third journal all summer.

All three of the dumb books are right here in front of me.

I activated the Portal. Simple as anything.

It’s scanning for Ford right now.

I’m actually bringing him back.

 July 21 Sunday

Grand reopening of the Mystery Shack turned into a zombie-fest.

Kids could’ve died because I was too busy with the Portal to pay attention. That won’t happen again.

Should have talked to them about weirdness sooner. Hope they believed me when I said I have no more secrets.

A little worried that government might have picked up signals from the Portal.

 July 22

Repairing the Shack. Too much undead slime to attract tourists like this.

 July 23

Re-reopened the Shack.

Dipper got himself an old laptop computer from somewhere. Probably stolen. He tried to hide it.

 July 24

Went minigolfing with the kids.

Mabel challenged Pacifica Northwest to a duel at midnight. I’m so proud of her.

Letting kids into minigolf courts at night to take a rich snob down a few pegs – finally putting my skills to good use.

 July 25

I still can’t believe the Portal works.

It keeps scanning.

 July 26

Tried to bring old Goldie back to the gift shop but apparently he’s unhip and scary. Had to throw him away before the parents sued me.

What I do need is a singing animatronic robot badger. That’s what kids like these days.

 July 27

Soos missed work for the first time ever. Seems to be girl trouble, but the kids are handling it.

Would’ve stolen myself a robot badger if it hadn’t tried to kill me. Saved by old Goldie. No way I’m not keeping him now.

 July 28 Sunday

Went for a Vegas vacation because I deserve it.

Not because I’m nervous.

Brought Goldie, might have gotten slightly drunk. And slightly married.

 July 29

Mabel found herself a new obsession with hand puppets.

She’ll throw a big show on Friday. Made me rent Gravity Falls theatre for her. (Can’t believe I did that.)

 July 30

The Shack is full of sock puppets and kids and Mabel keeps singing.

Guess this is my life now.

 July 31

 August 1

Soos went to his cousin’s wedding with his new girlfriend. Good on him.

Mabel’s still obsessing about puppets.

Dipper looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Can’t blame him with all this ruckus.

 August 2

Play was good! Think it paid for the costs, too. Mabel’s got showmanship.

Don’t get the ending, though.

I mean. Children fighting always makes for good footage, but was it necessary to beat Dipper up that bad? I swear Mabel don’t know how strong she is.

A little worried about Dipper. He seemed high as a kite all day. Probably sleep deprivation. At least he’s sleeping now.

 August 3

 August 4 Sunday

Gravity’s going more crazy around the Portal the longer it’s on, but I don’t care.

It hasn’t found Ford yet.

It won’t find him if he’s dead

 August 5

The Portal ate my notebook.

Got a nasty cut on the back of my hand from some debris, too. Could have been worse.

 August 6

Tried to advertise the Mystery Shack for the kids at the Woodstick Festival. Hilarious disaster.

Being feared is worth more than being loved anyway.

 August 7

 August 8

IT FOUND HIM.

He’s alive. There’s a lock on his position.

Fuck I don’t  I have to

I know how it works. It needs to calibrate for a while. It needs to be fueled for the big moment.

I’ll go rob a government facility right now.

(So glad the kids are off at the Northwest party tonight.)

27 hours and then I’ll see him again.

 August 9

Ford is back.

I had to run from the feds and the kids found out everything the wrong way but it worked and he’s back.

But he doesn’t  He still hates me.  

Why would I expect anything else.

Don’t know what I’d do with myself if the kids weren’t here.

It’s fine. I fucked up everything, but. Mabel trusts me. Dipper forgives me. I’m fine.

not crying

 August 10 Sunday

The Shack needs repairs again.

Spent most of the day making Duck-tective finale preparations with Mabel. We had fun.

Told the kids to stay away from Ford.

 August 11

Dipper has predictably decided to be nerd friends with my brother.

Can’t stop him. He looks happy. Both of them do.

Still can’t figure out why Ford would have reality altering dice lying around in his sci-fi pouch.

Anyway. I knew Duck-tective had an evil twin.

 August 12

I hate everything.

Ford will take my his place here soon enough, does he have to undercut me while I’m still here?

I’m running for mayor now.

 August 13

Kids are helping me with a political campaign. Apparently I know nothing about politics and have unpalatable opinions. Bah.

 August 14

The Stump Speech went great! I relax, words happen, people cheer.

Dipper got a lucky tie for me. Think it really works.

 August 15

Should’ve tried being a politician before. Almost feels like people like me.

 August 16

Nope. Politics is not for me. Too much mind control.

Should’ve known it wasn’t me making those speeches.

(The kids shouldn’t get into politics either. Can’t always be there to save them from murder.)

Turns out I’m not mayor material, but I’m a HERO.

Take that, Ford.

 August 17

Rented an RV and took Soos and the kids and Mabel’s friends on a road trip.

Pranking the tourist traps. Good old Mystery Shack tradition for the last time.

Dipper’s practising flirting like a pro.

 August 18 Sunday

Almost got eaten by a spider-woman. That could have gone better.

Have to admit, the kids are heroes too.

Don’t think Ford noticed we were gone.

 August 19

Opened the Mystery Shack for the final stretch.

Two more weeks, then I’m gone for good.

 August 20

Made a good deal on illegal pugs. Still got it.

Ford and Dipper put some magic mojo on the Shack. Not gonna ask.

Might have something to do with how badly Ford is sleeping.

 August 21

Ten days left until the kids’s birthday and the end of summer.

Guess I’m doing a countdown now.

 August 22

Nine days left.

 August 23

Eight days left.

I’m gonna order a ponytail kit.

 August 24

HELL NO I DON’T NEED THIS.

It’s the literal end of the world and the kids are missing.

Suddenly orange skies, goats turning into monsters, the whole shebang. I thought I had enough troubles.

That magic on the Shack seems to be protecting it, but. THE KIDS ARE MISSING. So is Ford.

 ??? 1

Day and night are replaced by eternal glowing orange and every single clock is busted, so no more dates.

Went out looking for the kids, but all I find is other people. Also demons. No sign of Soos or Wendy, either.

Been taking people to the Shack. Safest place on Earth for all I know. I have enough brown meat and elected myself Chief.

The kids are fine. Probably with Ford. That’s the ticket.

 ??? 2

Went out looking again. Found the Northwest girl dressed in nothing but a potato sack. She was crying and I don’t want to know, but she didn’t deserve it.

Been told the head honcho is the yellow triangle. He calls this Weirdmageddon.

Old McGucket showed up more coherent than usual, herding a whole flock of forest creatures into the Shack. Starting to get crowded here.

The kids are fine. Of course they are.

 ??? 3

There’s still people alive out there. I heard cars over at Gleeful’s place.

Didn’t see anyone else.

I’ve lost  I couldn’t even

Mabel and Dipper are definitely still alive. So is Soos and Wendy. And Ford better be.

 ??? 4

They’re alive!

All four of my kids, bursting through the door like cops doing a raid but they’re alive!

Now all I want is for them to stay here and be safe. Why can’t they see that?

I’m done saving my brother’s skin and getting nothing but scorn for it.

Ford made his own bed with that demon. Forget it.

 ??? 5

Did I mention, the plan concocted by five kids, Soos, and a known madman is utterly insane?

They’re rebuilding the Shack. I just had it repaired, too.

It’s my house, but no one’s listening to me.

 ??? 6

I keep having this bad feeling about Ford.

It’s dumb. My brother has made it perfectly clear how he feels about being saved.

 ??? 7

Well then.

Not letting the kids lead an apocalypse rebellion against a demonic triangle without me.

 August 25 Sunday

 August 26

 August 27

 August 28

Huh. I can’t remember writing this, but it does ring a few bells.

It’s like I

I need to talk to Ford.

 August 29

So. The apocalypse is over, and we’re all fine.

We killed the demon by burning my mind out when he was inside, pretty much.

My mind’s still there, but it’s kinda. Well. In need of repair.

Spent a few days reliving good memories.

Turns out there’s more than a few bad ones, too. But.

Everyone is so good to me

I don’t deserve this

 August 30

I remember how Ford looked at me after I brought him back.

Now he acts like  he likes to   he thinks I’m

Now it’s like he’s my brother again.

He said. “Thank you.”

 August 31

The kids have left. I’ll miss them, but I’ll see them again.

Until then, my brother and I are going sailing.

[junker-town]

Clippers rested Kawhi Leonard again, but at what cost?

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

kawhi-leonard-rest-clippers-vs-bucks-score-load-management-gmib

Kawhi Leonard sat in the Clippers’ Wednesday ESPN game against the Bucks, a potential NBA Finals preview. Per usual for highly anticipated games in which stars sit for rest purposes, there was much gnashing of teeth. This technically wasn’t a case of load management: Kawhi is apparently nursing a knee injury, and the Clippers communicated enough medical data with the NBA to get them to pre-clear L.A. to rest Kawhi on account of the knee without sanction.

It’s totally rational for the Clippers to selectively rest their best player, who has a history of serious leg problems, amid back-to-backs. The Raptors did this last season with this very player and won the championship! Isn’t that the goal?

It’s totally rational for fans to be upset when they pay high prices for tickets and the best players are in street clothes more by choice than by necessity. The new movement toward regularized rest for top players may be a factor in flat league attendance. League attendance and falling league T.V. ratings do eventually catch up with everyone as local and eventually national broadcast deals are negotiated and the total revenue from basketball operations goes into figuring future salary caps, which dictate future maximum contracts. It’s a slow domino chain, but it does exist. Fans really do have a say in this, eventually.

It’s totally rational for the league to be concerned about teams resting stars for those reasons. The league previously instituted rest rules around national T.V. games -- that’s why the Clippers reached out beforehand with Wednesday’s affair. It is in the league’s interest to have its marquee players available for its marquee games. That means regulating load management to some degree, and it also means giving teams the freedom to do what’s necessary to improve the odds of those stars being healthy for the playoffs, which are the most marquee of games.

So what’s the solution? Short of shortening the regular season to eliminate back-to-backs, teams should probably focus on sitting stars for road games only. Most back-to-backs include at least road game. Pick that one. This situation happened to be a home back-to-back for the Clippers: Kawhi will play at home Thursday against the Blazers, also on national TV. The NBA did this to themselves, in a way, by giving the Clippers no good options with a home back-to-back on national T.V. both nights.

With road-only rest, the loss of a chance to see a visiting star is balanced by the increased odds of the home team winning -- as a diehard fan, would you feel better after paying $200 for your family to watch Kawhi destroy your team, or for your team to beat the mighty Clippers? Probably the latter. Can the NBA push teams toward using load management only on the road? It’s unclear, but the league should try it. That might leave everyone more satisfied.

Until then, we should probably acknowledge everyone’s feelings and commit to dealing with the consequences of the anger, whenever it may be realized.

Scores

Knicks 102, Pistons 122 Wizards 106, Pacers 121 Bulls 113, Hawks 93 Kings 120, Raptors 124 Warriors 112, Rockets 129 Timberwolves 121, Grizzlies 137 Magic 106, Mavericks 107 Sixers 104, Jazz 106 Bucks 129, Clippers 124

Schedule

All times Eastern. Games on League Pass unless otherwise noted.

Celtics at Hornets, 8, TNT Thunder at Spurs, 8:30 Heat at Suns, 9 Blazers at Clippers, 10:30, TNT

Links

A new episode of UNTITLED, this time investigating how Steve Nash finished his illustrious, victory-ridden career without a championship.

Mike Prada with a deep dive on why the Pelicans’ defense is so sad.

Zach Lowe on Stephen Curry’s TBD legacy.

The Pistons offense *hummed* on Wednesday: 37 assists on 44 made field goals.

Ricky O’Donnell explains the Warriors from a college basketball perspective.

Harry Lyles Jr. gives the world the guide to Alex Caruso, Cult Hero it so desperately needs.

137 points in regulation for the Grizzlies. What a world.

Kevin Pelton on the measurable value of roster continuity.

Trae Young highlight tracker!

LeBron: not washed. Like what’s the opposite of washed? That’s LeBron.

Paul Flannery on friendship on the Appalachian Trail.

A college basketball name NBA fans should learn: Tyrese Maxey.

How Willie Cauley-Stein found new purpose.

And finally: there’s an amazing Japanese port of the 1992 SNES game NCAA Basketball called Super Dunkshot. It dispenses with college team names and slightly tweaks actual NBA team names. So you get the Houston Pockets, the New York Kicks and the Los Angeles Lasers. Just incredible. The Boston Celeries!

Be excellent to each other.

[flauntpage]

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup

Zach Eflin started perfect. But the Phillies floundered against the fish in Miami in a 2-1 loss in 10 innings.

Eflin took a perfect game into the sixth inning before giving up a leadoff double to Miguel Rojas. It later ended with a pinch-hit home run to Justin Bour to tie the game at one. Eflin finished giving up that one run on three hits and four strikeouts in his season debut.

But the Phillies couldn’t get any offense going, save for Rhys Hoskins breaking his slump with an RBI double in the fifth.

Yadiel Rivera recorded the game-winning RBI in the 10th with a walk-off single.

The team also had another scare with Scott Kingery getting hit by a pitch and did not return. Let’s hope for nothing serious from the rookie.

With or without Kingery, the Phils take on Miami to wrap up their three-game series tonight at 7:10 PM. They will look to snap their four-game losing streak and end Miami’s four-game winning streak with Aaron Nola on the mound.

The Roundup:

Want to win tickets to Monday night’s Game 4 against the Celtics? Enter here to do just that.

We’re not see a ton of at-bats with Nick Williams, so could a demotion to Triple-A happen soon?

“I don’t think there’s a point at which that decision has to be made,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I’ll say that the most important thing is that he continues to work a strong process every day, that he continues to focus on his professionalism, and that when he gets his opportunities, he’s ready for them.”

As one player is struggling, another in Clearwater is catching Kapler’s eye.

Mike Schmidt apologized for a statement he made during Sunday’s telecast.

Check out a brand new episode of Crossed Up!

After a bad first game against Boston, the Sixers try to put that in the rearview mirror with Game 2 on the horizon.

It was more of a problem for the team’s defense than offense. In fact, they did pretty decent on offense.

There were also some knee jerk reactions, such as the lack of Markelle Fultz and Robert Kraft cheering for the Celtics.

Brett Brown wanted to let everyone know Fultz could still have a role in this series:

Brett Brown said his decision to give T.J. McConnell the backup point guard minutes over  Fultz, the first overall pick in last year’s draft, “shouldn’t shock anybody, given how we arrived and where we’ve arrived.”

“To say he’s dead and buried, that’s not true,” he said. “But I got a decision to make, and I’ve made a decision,

“That doesn’t mean it’s etched in stone.  It’s always something that you review and I think about. And the care for Markelle Fultz and his future is always on my mind.”

Could Kawhi Leonard to the Sixers actually be possible?

What Popovich did not say at the time, however, was that while Leonard was in New York, he saw Dr. Jonathan Glashow, an orthopedic surgeon and co-chair of Sports Medicine at New York City’s Mount Sinai Medical Center who has professional affiliations with the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers.

Frankel and Robertson arranged the consultation, according to multiple sources, and the Spurs were informed of the decision and the doctor’s recommendations. From this point forward, Glashow and his team have guided the rehabilitation program, sources said. The Spurs have had staffers in New York to observe and assist in Leonard’s work, which has primarily taken place at the NBA Players Association headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

Multiple league sources also told ESPN that the Spurs have grown worried that Leonard’s group has an ulterior motive to fray the relationship and get Leonard traded to a larger market such as Los Angeles (Leonard’s hometown) or New York or Philadelphia (Robertson lives in New Jersey).

One source close to Buford said the longtime executive admitted to him that he’s constantly losing sleep over how and why the relationship with Leonard has disintegrated.

The team’s Gaming Club team unveiled their digital uniforms and court.

Add Timmy Jernigan to the list of players who had offseason surgery. According to Howard Eskin, he had back surgery for a herniated disc.

The Eagles view Sidney Jones as part of their 2018 Draft Class, despite playing in one game last year.

Doug Pederson is writing a memoir.

Excited to announce I’m working with Eagles coach Doug Pederson on his memoir—Fearless, out Aug. 28. pic.twitter.com/i7nYfXbsiz

— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) May 1, 2018

With two picks inside the top 20, could the Flyers be aggressive in this year’s NHL Draft and make a move up?

Temple’s new kicker got some advice from Meek Mill:

Recently, the father and son attended the Owls’ spring game, held on campus in April. And on the way home, they stopped to see a friend who, at the time, was still working on his release from prison.

“We went to visit Meek after the game,” Joe Tacopina the lawyer said, adding that the Philly rapper has already offered to speak to the team at some point before next season. “Meek said to Joe, ‘Listen, you just be careful in this city. With your first name and your last name, since it’s the same [as your dad’s]. You show up late to class, and you’re going to get two to four [years].’ … But [Joe’s] his own person and can stand on his own two feet. I’m very proud of him.”

And if he hits a big field goal for the Owls?

“He won’t be the son of Meek Mill’s lawyer anymore,” he said with a laugh. “I think in short time, I’ll be the father of the Temple kicker, not the other way around.”

Josh Innes is back in some hot water in Houston!

In other sports news, the Cavs completed a big come-from-behind victory to beat the Raptors by one in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But Kendrick Perkins and Drake got involved in some beef:

"I don't think Drake want that one."

KG, @Lakers' @kylekuzma, Rasheed Wallace & @AlabamaMBB head coach, @CoachAvery6 talk @Drake and Kendrick Perkins talking during Game 1

. #KGArea21 pic.twitter.com/0aLxPwW2YG

— KG's Area 21 (@KGArea21) May 2, 2018

Drake and Kendrick Perkins exchanged more words postgame pic.twitter.com/Z0rdXDe1uL

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 2, 2018

This went all the way into the tunnel, with Drake calling Perkins a "f—— p—-" and calling for him to come out. "I'm here in real life," he said. He was mad. https://t.co/3DJ2HBvrWN

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 2, 2018

Kendrick Perkins on the Drake confrontation: “I was f—ing with Serge (Ibaka), my old teammate” Perkins said after the game. “I wasn’t talking to (Drake). He said something slick so I said something back: ‘Sit your ass down and watch the game.’”

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 2, 2018

Steph Curry made his return and scored 28 points to lead the Warriors to a Game 2 victory over the Pelicans.

I love Dirk:

I got inspired by @VicOladipo. I also texted my trainer. Here is his response… @HoopConsultants pic.twitter.com/Wgo1p0dmh1

— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) May 1, 2018

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Washington and Winnipeg each took home wins to take 2-1 series leads.

Tom Wilson: Still an ass.

Tom Wilson LEVELS Pittsburgh's Aston-Reese with a high hit to the shoulder/head area..

Will we see any disciplinary action out of @NHLPlayerSafety? pic.twitter.com/TfWQTBbgJW

— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) May 2, 2018

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger thinks he can play 3-5 more years if he stays healthy.

In the news, Camden Catholic’s head football coach was fired, as he alleged racism as the school’s president wanted him to get more white players.

An Abington Township man is carrying an AR-15 in public, making a political statement for his Second Amendment rights.

Kanye West said 400 years of slavery was a choice and can we just ignore everything he says for now on? Why are we giving this guy and his wife and sisters who are famous for no reason except for Rob Kardashian any attention?

Gibson guitar company has filed for bankruptcy.

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[doubledrivel-blog]

05. Pre-Season Injuries - The Angry Beard - and Joel Embiid Big Payda

Greg: Hello and welcome to another episode of Double Drivel. We are a weekly podcast offering a fan's perspective on the news and issues surrounding the NBA. Thank you for joining us. My name is Greg and I'm joined as always by my co-host JT. You can find us on Twitter @DoubleDrivelers or email us @doubledrivelpodcast@gmail.com. JT what up my friend?

JT: Not too much Greg, just waiting for this season to start. I think we're about eight days away.

Greg: We are eight short days away. You're getting excited. What are you most excited for?

JT:I can't wait to see a couple things. Mister triple-double,

Russell Westbrook who, you know I love. I want to see him all fired up with his big three. I want to see the Jazz dominate the league with their defense and score little-to-no points, and I can't wait to see how terrible the East actually is.

Greg: Yeah, and I feel the same way about the Lakers. Are they gonna be a giant disappointment? I don't know, but I'm excited to have some actual news to talk about. Maybe some basketball related news. Although I love all this other stuff, all the bullshit news, the injuries, and the infighting that there is across the league. I love it, but we'll have some actual basketball news starting just a little over a week away. Very exciting.

JT: Sounds good but for now we'll deal with the preseason nonsense.

Greg: Yes, but not the actual preseason itself because I know we both don't like to actually talk about or acknowledge the preseason. One thing that has happened in the preseason is a lot of injuries. One in particular is the one that's gonna hurt the Jazz, that who already couldn't score any points. They're gonna lose Dante Exum for the entire year. What happened to Mr. Exum?

JT: Man, Dante Exum was leaped on by a dumb fucking player named TJ Warren, who had no business being anywhere near this play. Dante went for a layup, the ball had already hit the backboard, and this guy comes leaping from about ten feet away. He lands on Dante from behind, Dante Falls, tries to brace himself with his arm, and separates his shoulder with ligament damage. Could miss the whole season.

Greg: one overzealous guy taken out of another guy for the whole year.

JT: It's stupid. Why are you doing this? It's a stupid play. It had no positive outcome. I think the best-case scenario is, you're gonna get called for a foul or rebound, which is dumb. Why are you playing this hard, to the point where you're gonna injure a guy for an entire season? The fact that Dante nearly missed all of last season with an ACL injury makes it more disheartening for Jazz fans, because we've really been waiting

for this guy to pay off. We paid a pretty high cost for him in the 2014 draft. He was big number fifth.

Greg: That's a huge price to pay for a guy who really hasn't played a lot of games. Like you said, he missed the entire last season, and that's not good.

JT: Not the entire last season, but almost.

Greg: Yeah, just enough that he hardly had a season. The guy's got nothing, and now he will not have a season this season. TJ  Warren we're keeping an eye on you. Steph Curry another guy who got injured, he is on the Mavericks, and they need him to score some points. They are not very good either. He's going to be out indefinitely, which is never a good amount of time to be out for anything. Mr. Rajon  Rondo, who is now on the Pelicans, he has a sports hernia. I don't know what a sports hernia is. It must be different than a regular hernia right? They wouldn't have a different name for it if it was the same.

JT: I don't know, I never heard that phrase before, sports hernia.

Greg: Nick Batum on the Hornets is gonna be out six to eight weeks with an elbow injury. That's exactly what the Hornets need also, another guy who is a big scorer for them, not able to play. Things not shaping

up for the Jazz of the Hornets too well, just gonna have to tell you JT. It doesn't seem like things are going well. The Kings, not to be left out of the shit show. One of their great two rookies, Harry Geils, is going to be out through January. That really hurts a team that was putting a lot of hope into the rookies. They're not gonna have one of them half of the year, and that that doesn't ever help anyone.

JT: We had fun at a Kings game once didn't we Greg?

Greg: We did, we had a lot of fun. We saw the Kings and the Jazz and, I think we were the only two Jazz fans. There were a couple Jazz fans around but certainly not more than 10. Was it the Sleep Train Arena at the time, or was it whatever the place was before?

JT: I think it was Sleep Train.

Greg: They wouldn't let us bring our giant heads that we printed in because they're jerks.

JT: Beautiful arena. Friendly people.

Greg: Very friendly. The draft class that Dante Exum was a part of, you mentioned earlier, 20 14, riddled with injuries. The top five picks have all had issues That's not good for a draft class to have that kind of issue. It's not good for the league to have a gap like that, with a year of the top five players drafted to not even really be playing. What do you have to say about Mr. Exum, in the amount of time that he's

had on the floor? Some of the other guys, Mr. Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, this is this is rough for this class.

JT: Yeah this is a cursed class. Andrew Wiggins was selected first in this class Gregg. He has played without injury for the most part, but then you get down the list. Jabari Parker number two, Joel Embiid number three, Aaron Gordon was number four, Dante was number five, Marcus Smart was six, and Julius Randle seven. Five of those seven guys have missed significant game time. You just can't get past how many games they've missed. Joel Embiid has played 31 games great out of a possible 246.

Greg: That's not awful.

JT: Dante has played 148, Randall's played 156, Jabari Parker 152, and that's a lot of games missed for such young players.

Greg: They all had a lot of potential, but they haven't been able to reach it because of all the injuries. The other person you named who wasn't injured, or hasn't been, is Andrew Wiggins. That guy is a contract extension. He is not signing. It is sitting on the table and he is just letting it sit there. That is driving me nuts, because that guy is not good enough to just leave a contract sitting there unsigned. He's got quite a set on him to be leaving that out there like that with the Timberwolves. You should be resigning like our good friend Joel Embiid did. Joel Embiid someone who I am completely tired of. I don't want to talIk about him. This guy is just in your face all the time. He's played 31 games out of 246 potential games. I don't want to hear about this guy. I want to see the next things on the court. I want to see him play. I'm tired of the injuries. I have seen him on the street. All the Instagram videos he's running around Philly. I'm done with it. I don't want any of it, but the people of Philadelphia aren't gonna get away from him for at least another five years. They just gave him a hundred and 148 million dollars. Would you give somebody as weak and delicate as Joel Embiid 148 million dollars?

JT: Of course not. Why the fuck are you giving this guy 140? He doesn't do anything. He can't he do anything. He's a big guy. They value big men, but honestly the most I've seen of this guy the past couple weeks, with the videos, he's like running around Philly in the middle of the night. He's playing tennis or something in the middle of night that people got videos of. 31 games is not a big enough sample size to to write a check for 148 million dollars Greg. That's that's reckless management from the 76ers.

Greg: He made 50 million of that just in self-promotion. It's their money. They've spent it poorly for years now, what's another decision like this? At least this guy has potential right? They've given a lot worse guys money.

JT: While we're on the Sixers Greg, have you seen Marquel Falls shoot a free-throw?

Greg: I have not. I saw a comment or two on Twitter about it, but I didn't actually seek out the video. Is it awful?

JT: It's bad Greg. He launches the ball. His whole setup takes place from his shoulders and above, if you can imagine that. At the beginning of the motion he has the ball kind of by his neck. He just shifts it to one side, and he leaves the guide hand up there. He turns his hand and pushes. This is disgusting free-throw shooting, if you've ever seen it. It's sick. The bad sick too, not the good one.

Greg: Have you watched him play very much otherwise? Have you watched him in interviews? Have you watched anything about this guy? He just doesn't seem like he's all there. He seems a little slow, a little out of it. I don't know how anyone meets with this guy and does interviews, and does all the stuff that they do before they draft him, and decide oh this guy, he's going first. He's the one. He's going big. We have rookies, Donovan Mitchell, on the Jazz-

JT; Oh, be still my heart!

Greg: The guy's playing his ass off. He plays like a monster. If you had that guy in for a practice, and you had Markellel for a practice, there's no way you're picking him. There's no way. You'd be crazy, or you just don't want to pick Mitchell because that's the kind of guy who is gonna play hard for you. He's gonna try. I want to call it, Fultz, he's a bust already. The free throws are enough. It's just disgusting. Unacceptable. You're a high draft pick. You should be able to shoot a free throw. Have some respect for yourself.  

JT: I don't feel good about 76ers. I don't buy into that hype for a fucking second.

Greg: I kind of started to. They have my best friend JJ Redick who, you know is one of my favorite players in the league. I really thought that they were gonna have something this year. I started to get on the train, and now it's bad. I don't want nothing with Fultz or Embiid. I don't want none of it.

JT: I'm with you.

Greg: Somebody else who had a little problem, or two guys that had a problem recently, were Jeremy Lin and Kenyon Martin. Kenya Martin has one of my favorite nicknames. Do you remember what that nickname is?

JT: I do Greg, Kmart.

Greg: Yeah! My man Kmart, who I will refer to him from this point on as,

JT: Affectionately

Greg:  Quite affectionately. One of my favorite nicknames ever. Kmart had some issues with Jeremy Lin's hair. Preceding any of the comments that he made, and I didn't realize it until this all came out because it made it a much bigger deal obviously, but Jeremy Lin had already talked about this. The rag known as The Players Tribune had already come out with an article talking about his hair and  why he has dreadlocks. It was kind of long, and he didn't want to get into all that, but Kenyon Martin took some issue with it. We have the clip here, so I'm gonna go ahead and play the clip of Kenyon Martin. Let him Kmart speak in his own words, "Okay so my last post man, do I need to remind this damn boy to his last name Lynn? Come on man, let's stop this man. These people man.There's no way possible this man would have made it on one of our teams man, with that bullshit going on on his head man. Come on man. Somebody really need to tell him. Alright bro we get it you like you want to be black. Like we get it, but the last name is Lynn."

So there's just so much there. I mean he's spicy. It's very spicy, and it doesn't need to be. It never needed to be made. If you find yourself, whether you're an athlete, or person, or whatever, holding a phone or cam or anything at yourself, and you are talking about someone else's race or anything to do with race, just go ahead and turn the phone around and hit stop. Hit the little trash can to delete, and put your phone down, because nothing good is going to come out of any race based video. Is that a good rule of thumb there JT?

JT: That's a good rule of thumb Greg. Do you think Kmart underestimated that people still paid attention to him or that anyone would pick up on this video?

Greg: Yeah I think that he probably did. People have such a thirst for problems like this, and the controversy. This hits all the notes that everybody loves. There's race, there's two celebrities going back and forth about a hairstyle, there's cultural appropriation, there's all the all the big buzz words that everybody loves right now coming together to make a great story. and Jeremy Lin actually shut down Kenyon Martin pretty hard. Not in any sort of negative way. It was very disarming the way that Jeremy Jeremy Lin replied to Kenyon Martin. He just said that he was a longtime fan. He had his posters on his wall. He has Chinese lettering on his arms. They're sharing culture, and I thought that that was a real good way to do it, because it makes Kenyon Martin a complete hypocrite. Kenyon Martin reacted just the way you would hope. From what I understand he reached out to Jeremy Lin, they're the best of friends now, and all is well with the world. Isn't that great JT?

JT: That's great. I'm glad everyone can return to Kmart.

Greg: Yes, back to Kmart. He can go back to the the big three. He can continue to be the X NBA player that he was at one point.

Alright JT, we have a great story here. It's great because it's a former coach and a former player going at it, James Harden and Kevin McHale. Kevin McHale accused James Harden of not being a good

leader. Do you think the James Harden is a good leader? Is that something you think of when you think of James Harden?

JT: No, not at all. I would agree with with Kevin McHale.

Greg: I would say so. Kevin McHale said that he was a great player and he liked having him on his team. He loves coaching him, but he was not a leader. James Harden took some exception to this, and he called McHale a clown for questioning his leadership. If we're gonna test these men, have their credentials, Kevin McHale's a three-time NBA champion and James Harden, I couldn't even find anything that James Harden has or is. The only thing that I noted, was that James Harden has a beard. He has a nice beard. It's very thick and very fully. I guess you can count that as an achievement, but he's certainly not a

three-time NBA champion. He has a lot of nerve I would say, calling Kevin McHale a clown. What do you think?

JT: It's not the best story, but it's fine. James Harden, he can play. He's got a good handle. He's often an MVP candidate. Kev McHale comes from a different era. How do you see these guys connecting?

Greg: They were both excellent six men at some point. Kevin McHale, that's where he really shined in his career. James Harden was that in Oklahoma City. You'd think that at some level they could have bonded in some sort of way, but I don't think there was a lot of desire on either of their parts. Kevin McHale never seemed like a real enthusiastic coach ,and James Harden never seemed like a really enthusiastic student, so I don't think that was the best of the best combo. But they have Chris Paul there now, and you better be goddamn sure that Chris Paul is gonna take charge. They won't have to worry about someone leading the team because Chris Paul, he's grabbing that shit by the balls, and it's his. Do you you disagree with that at all?

JT: Yeah, a little bit. You don't know what the dynamic is gonna be. You don't know what the rotation is gonna be. Chris Paul can could lead the team, but it's hard to do that right out of the gate with a new group of guys. He's a smart guy Greg, and he knows how to understand the dynamic of a locker room. I think Chris Paul will take lead there needs to be someone to take that position. Perhaps he could lead a second unit, or when Hart's on the bench, but I do think it is Harden's team more so than Chris Paul's.

Greg: I'm just wondering how that's gonna change, or how it'll evolve over time. Chris Paul is not gonna take a back seat. There will be no second team. That was probably half the problem of the Clippers. That's what you always heard, that he was very much about himself, and what he wanted to do. He's a tyrant. We'll see if that was the Clippers culture, or if Chris Paul really was an asshole. One person who has proven not to be an asshole, who I think would may get stereotyped as one, would be JR Smith. JR Smith had the clearest head about the all-star team, and the new picking that they're going to do with the two captains. Jerry Smith actually went out and said that he doesn't think that they should put it on TV, and that it's a hard situation to put guys in. I don't think they're gonna release who gets picked first, and I really don't think that kind of thing should go through. I think that's really mature for JR Smith. What do you think?

JT: Coming for him, I do. I think it's a departure from the shirtless rhetoric we usually hear from from Mr. Smith.

Greg: He's Mr. Good Times?

JT: He is Mr. Good Times. I do think he is a pretty decent guy at heart, but no shit JR Smith, I that's exactly why they're doing this. They know that. The league brass know that, and and that's something they need because all-star weekend's been pretty boring. Yes we agree, and no shit.

Greg: They're inserting some some drama in there. It's gonna do them good they hope, even if it's at least for a year. He gets some ratings, and that's all they care about. We had yesterday, a strange thing to make it into the news. It only made it into the news because something terrible almost happened for Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City almost lost to a team called the Melbourne United. I've thought a lot of things in my life, but I didn't think I would ever be talking about the Melbourne United of the NBL of

Australia. They played in Oklahoma City on Oklahoma City's home court, they went right down to the final play, and Oklahoma City won by a score of 86 to 85. They're stars played. I'm sure didn't take this team seriously. They weren't playing their A-game. Who knows what the rotation was. They still only won by one point. Do you think this is a bad sign for OKC?

JT: I don't want to put too much stock in it. I don't put any stock in preseason. It just feels like this is a team they probably should have beaten much worse than this. It's possible that they should have spanked him a little harder than they did, but again it's preseason. it probably woke them up at least a little bit when they found themselves

trailing in the fourth, but this is why they do preseason, to kind of like get the ring rust off, to make sure everyone's moving the way they should. I wouldn't give it too much thought.

Greg: You don't want to rest on your laurels. These guys flew in from Australia. It's a hell of a flight. They came and ready to ball too.

JT: Obviously a bigger game for the Australian team than the NBA team.

Greg: It was one team's Superbowl and one team's nothing.

JT: These guys probably went back to Australian and the people were waiting at the airport for them. They had a parade or something.

Greg: Oh yeah, they were marching up and down the line that their their league had arrived. They only lost by one point. A one point loss was the best thing that ever happened to their league. They were in a preseason game, just an exhibition game, it mattered dick, but congratulations Melbourne United.

JT: Congratulations Melbourne. Hats off.

Greg: We had a another little bit of Oklahoma City news. This one involving Carmelo Anthony. It was just a great quote out of him. Anytime a person is going to speak in

the third person, or refer to themselves in the third person, or anything like that, we love that. We're gonna talk about that at every opportunity we get. This was the quote from Carmello, "this is just me. This is Mello having fun again. This is Mello being motivated again. This is Mello having pieces around him who he can play off of, and who they can play off." That's just an insane comment for someone to make about themselves. Do you feel that way?

JT: Mello is so hot right now Greg. This guy, he's just filling our thin pre NBA season roster app so nicely. Bless your heart Mello, we can't wait to watch you fucking be a disaster, a hot mess in in the making, with this team. You're amazing.

Greg: He's feeling himself with the hoodie though right?

JT: Now he's wearing a hoodie any chance he can. Wouldn't be surprised if he tries to pull it off during a game. Mellow, wow, no wonder everyone in New York hated

you.

Greg: Congratulations Carmelo. Keep the positive attitude. Oklahoma City needs it. They'll need you to play at your best and most positive. Keep up Hoodie Mellow if

that's what keeps you happy.

it is time for predictions. Our prediction topic today is going to be, who is going to be the MVP this year? JT after you I'm gonna choose one of my favorite players.

JT: Greg, he is known as the claw, and sometimes known as the Kawhi Bot. A gentleman I love very much, Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs

Greg: Wow, yeah, not who I'm gonna pick. I'm gonna say that LeBron is going to go for it again this year. I don't think he's tried in the the regular season the past couple of years to the degree that he did in his MVP years, but he might have something to prove this year. Had a big-time teammate leave, and all sorts of other things go down. I think he's really gonna bring it this year. I'm taking the easy bet, I think it's gonna be our man LeBron.

JT: Really not putting yourself out there with that pick Greg.

Greg: No, but I really think that's who it's gonna be. If I had to pick somebody else a little more outside the box, I would say that it's going to be James Harden. I think he is gonna go after it. I think that he won't have to have the point guard duties. I think he'll frame-up to shoot a little more. I think he could even have better scoring numbers than he did last year. He had an incredible season last year, but the Rockets are gonna score like a bunch of bastards this year, so I think that maybe he has a chance. There isn't a big three, and as we know, without a third it's easier to score when it's just a big two. The third wheel always gets deflated when it's a big three.

JT: So you're picking Lebron, but if you had balls you'd pick Harden?

Greg: Yes, exactly, but if I proved to be right then it doesn't matter if I balls or not. It's not like LeBron gets it often. He hasn't got in a couple years now. I don't think it's that balless of a pick.

JT: Disagree.

Greg: Do you really think Kawhi could possibly win an MVP?

JT: I do you shit, I do.

Greg: Who is actually gonna vote for Kawhi Leonard as the MVP? It's always a good thought. He's really really fundamentally strong. He's got a good shot, a good defense, but who's picking that? They're picking flash, and he is the most unflashy on Earth.

JT: Time will tell my friend.

Greg: That guy's a bricklayer. He's about as glamorous as the guy who made my chimney on my house. He's a great player, I love watching him, but I don't think MVP when I look at that guy. That's why we call it predictions don't we?

JT: That's exactly right.

Greg: We had a lot of fun today We didn't think we had anything to talk about. We were worried about content, but here we got through the whole episode. We had plenty of stuff to talk about.

JT: Yeah, nice steaming pile of conversation.

Greg: We'll be we'll be in basketball territory before you know it. That's where you feel more comfortable, and that's what you like better. I'll I'll be happy for you when we're talking about basketball and not just the garbage.

JT: Sounds good.

Greg: We'll be back next week with another episode. In the meantime you can follow us on Twitter @doubledrivelers, or you can email us at doubledrivelpodcast@gmail.com. Subscribe to the show on iTunes pod bean or Google Play. Thanks for listening, and until next week see you on the Internet.

[junker-town]

An NBA Finals game for the ages (burn all recordings of it, please)

We have that and more in Tuesday’s NBA newsletter.

How does one describe Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals for posterity? In the history books, it will primarily be remembered as the game in which Kevin Durant came back from a long injury layoff, perhaps under some pressure from various directions, and apparently tore his Achilles in the second quarter, a heartbreaking end to his season.

In terms of the short-term ramifications, the Warriors won anyways after the Raptors stormed back to take a late lead only to completely collapse in the closing minutes. The Durant injury put a pall on the whole game -- especially as some Raptors fans seemed to immediately cheer the injury before Raptors players and the PA announcer shut them up -- and it really never felt like a gym where the home team was on the precipice of winning its first ever NBA title. It didn’t feel right. It wouldn’t have felt right.

Klay Thompson had a heroic performance, Stephen Curry was great, and the Warriors are just about out of cards to play. Two more chances for the Raptors to end it. Two more wins for the Warriors’ most amazing achievement yet. The Warriors never need extra motivation. But they have now as they try to ensure Durant’s sacrifice wasn’t made in vain.

Under Pressure

Bob Myers, when announcing that the Durant injury was to the Achilles in an emotional statement at the end of the game, both said there’s no one to blame in this situation but that he would accept it as the leader of basketball operations.

Someone in the organization was prompting questions about why Durant wasn’t playing. Myers is covering for that person or those people.

One positive consequence from this horrific episode could be that we stop questioning players’ toughness when they are injured, period. Don’t make it conditional. Don’t make it relative. Don’t give a bullhorn and cover to people in the organization trying to pressure the player to get on the court. The benefit to the public of a behind-the-scenes look isn’t equal to the cost. If a player says they are injured, if a player is not comfortable playing, don’t talk s--t and don’t question their motives, their commitment, or their toughness. Just don’t.

Let’s assume that the humans dedicating their lives to becoming the best pro athletes they can be actually do want to play their sports in the most critical moments. That seems like a safe bet most of the time.

You know what? DeMarcus Cousins, per usual, said it more succinctly than I did.

Links

Sigh.

Paul Flannery’s Monday Shootaround on the power of Kawhi Leonard, who almost won the title for the Raptors in a 2-minute stretch before everything went to hell.

Raptors HQ notes how weird Game 5 was all the way around.

Can any other team give Kawhi 22 games off in the regular season and still get home court in the Finals?

Tony Parker retires from basketball after 18 seasons in the NBA. Parker was truly one of the most recognizable basketball stars in the world for like a 2-year stretch when the Spurs were winning championships every other year and his then-wife Eva Longoria had a hit T.V. show. His wedding in Paris made international news! BoBo Diaw looked dapper!

Katie Baker has graced basketball with her voice again, this time about the most important franchise of the NBA offseason: the New York Knicks.

Dan Devine on the end of Game 5.

The Spurs lost Ime Udoka to the Sixers last week and now Ettore Messina has agreed to coach Olimpia Milano, a job Emmet Ryan calls the Harrenhal of Europle. Seems fun! Meanwhile, Becky Hammon might end up as Gregg Popovich’s associate head coach this season.

How Board Man Gets Rebounds. Also from Chris Herring: yes, the Raptors’ shots have been getting friendlier bounces at home than other teams, and no, that’s not an indication of anything amiss.

This isn’t goodbye to The Starters, just see you later.

Shams Charania reports in The Athletic that Anthony Davis is focused on the Knicks and Lakers for his long-term future. In fairness to him, he’s built a certain comfort with missing the playoffs most seasons, so that’s a pretty good fit either way. Meanwhile, David Griffin is forming the foundation of what he wants any Davis deal to look like. It kind of looks like the Lakers are in the driver’s seat.

Marc Gasol has turned Memphis into a stateside Jurassic Park. P.S. GET WELL, BONGO LADY.

Be excellent to each other.

[junker-town]

Calling all waaaaaahmbulance units, report to Warriors vs. Rockets IMMEDIATELY

We have that and more in Monday’s NBA newsletter.

Game 1 of the hotly anticipated Warriors vs. Rockets series ended Sunday afternoon in a narrow Golden State win. The unofficial Game 2 began in earnest immediately afterward, with that unofficial Game 2 being not basketball but a strong attempt to work the referees and the league before the actual Game 2.

James Harden declared in his post-game interview that he just wants to be called fairly. (Hilarious.) The Warriors were mad that Stephen Curry picked up five fouls playing the same kind of defense the Rockets do. (Oh, really?) Andre Iguodala’s brother, a referee working his way up the ladder, says Curry gets fouled on 80 percent of his possessions. (Is that right?)

Here’s the problem with the core officiating concern regarding leg kick-outs and close-outs on three-pointers: there is no real solution because the rule, as explained by head ref Joe Borgia after the game, is totally subjective. Refs have to call it based on whether there would be contact in a normal circumstance -- i.e. a circumstance in which the shooter didn’t kick his legs out, i.e. a circumstance that is actually abnormal now. There no longer is any normal circumstance, definitely not in this series with these shooters looking for free throws. So calling it strictly (you can’t close out on shooters, basically) is as subjective as calling it lightly (defenders can careen into shooters, basically). It’s a mess!

And it’ll happen every time given the stakes and the incentive to bend the rules to advantage one team or the other. It’s just a part of sport now, at every level and on every field. On this one, the world just happens to be watching and the protagonists have armies of fans behind them, ready to wave their flags for them.

On my unofficial scorebard, the Rockets have taken the lead in Game 2 thanks to highlighting a couple of egregious examples. They risk overplaying their hand, though. Harden talking about officiating fairness after molding his game to benefit specifically from his ability to draw whistles -- we’re tracking off toward the theatre of the absurd, mate. Careful now.

Scores

Celtics 112, Bucks 90 Boston leads series 1-0

Rockets 100, Warriors 104 Golden State leads series 1-0

Schedule

Sixers at Raptors, 8 ET, TNT Toronto leads series 1-0

Blazers at Nuggets, 10:30 ET, TNT Series tied 0-0

Links

The night is dark is full of spoilers. But there will be no Game of Thrones spoilers here in GMIB, even though there is lots of good NBA-adjacent reaction to the latest episode. You’re safe here.

The Celtics obliterated the Bucks in Game 1 of that series, with Al Horford looking something like Giannis Antetokounmpo’s kryptonite. Milwaukee had multiple problems, really: no answer for Boston’s Kyrie-Horford pick-and-pop, an apparent lack of a gameplan to spring Giannis free of his captor, much other non-Giannis action, a defense that looked a touch slow to keep up with a smart passing team. Milwaukee was incredible this season and should bounce back. But that Game 1 was alarming on multiple levels.

In related news, some very good photos of a very good Jaylen Brown dunk on Giannis.

In appreciation of Warriors-Rockets. How the end of Game 1 is a perfect microcosm for the rivalry.

Six reasons the Spurs didn’t foul at the end of Game 7.

Sam Amick in The Athletic on the Rockets ... getting the full-48 officiating reports from last spring’s playoff series from someone inside the Warriors or someone inside the league office?!?! And that report showing the refs favored the Warriors in that series, but the Rockets not posting that thing to Scribd or something?! This is such a dopamine hit.

Seerat Sohi on the case Kawhi Leonard is the best player in the world.

And finally: LeBron apparently trusts the process in L.A. Good luck, pal.

Be excellent to each other.

[flauntpage]

Your Friday Morning Roundup

Just one more point. That’s all the Flyers need to make the playoffs.

Thanks to a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Flyers need to either beat the Rangers on Saturday or have Florida lose one of their two games this weekend.

Brian Elliott was a little shaky in his first start in nearly two months, stopping 19 of 22 shots. But thanks to goals from Michael Raffl, Ivan Provorov, Claude Giroux, and Jake Voracek, they got the job done.

It doesn’t surprise me that this will come down to the last weekend of the season to decide whether the Flyers make the playoffs or not. So Flyersy. And it comes against the Rangers as well. And we know what happened the last time the Flyers needed to make the playoffs on the last day of the regular season against the Rangers:

Game’s at 3 PM on NBC. Florida hosts Buffalo on Saturday and then visits Boston Sunday night. They defeated the Bruins last night in Sunrise.

Prior to the game, the Flyers gave out their season awards, headlined by Giroux winning the Bobby Clarke Trophy as team MVP.

Make sure you also listen to the latest episode of Snow the Goalie.

The Roundup:

With all the negativity surrounding the Phillies this past week, at least they shutout the Miami Marlins 5-0 in their home opener yesterday afternoon! Maikel Franco was a double short of the cycle in what was a big game for him and his hitting, knocking in four runs on the day. On the opposite side of the spectrum, J.P. Crawford isn’t doing so hot.

It all started with the question of whether or not Gabe Kapler would get booed. Well, he did. Also credit Dan Baker for swiftly moving to announce the starting lineup in the midst of the boos. Kapler would also get booed when he pulled Nick Pivetta after 97 pitches in 5 2/3s innings.

It didn’t stop there. Prior to the game we learned of an anonymous player wanting Kapler to “get out of the way.” Oh? And after the game, a disgruntled Nick Williams was disappointed over the lack of player time he gets. Okay, he should be and that’s not good. But he also admitted that since Kapler notifies him of his schedule ahead of time, he plays video games late at night without feeling guilty about it. OH?!

To add to that, the locker room after a win is similar to…a rave?

It's a whole new Phillies clubhouse. Victories now include fog machine, lasers and strobe lights. "It's not just a business, it's a game," J.P. Crawford said. "You've got to win and when you win you've got to have fun," Tommy Hunter said.

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) April 5, 2018

I feel like this is gonna be a real-life version of Major League.

There was also a beautiful tribute to Roy Halladay, where Eagles head coach Doug Pederson threw out the first pitch (a strike) in Halladay’s actual jersey. Maybe Pederson’s popularity can be something Kapler can learn from.

The Phils are off today, but resume their series with Miami on Saturday. Vince Velasquez looks to go more than three innings on the mound, while Jake Arrieta will make his team debut Sunday afternoon.

If the Phils lose these next two days, try to forget about the games and remember the hilarious video applications for the team’s left-handed batting practice pitcher, including Greg Gonet.

The Sixers have a huge game tonight at home against Cleveland at 7 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. It should feel like a playoff game. The Cavs somehow came back to beat the Wizards last night to give them a half-game lead on the Sixers for third place.

JJ Redick likes his chances this time around after making the NBA Finals in his first year with Orlando and countless disappointments with the Clippers:

Nobody, including the Sixers, the front office, the fans, and Redick thought that the team would be where it is now — tied for third in the Eastern Conference, with a home-court advantage in a playoff series potentially around the corner, and growing expectations.

“If you had told anybody in the organization that we’ll get the eighth seed, at 42-40, five months ago, they would have taken that,” Redick said.

It’s that surprise factor and untapped potential of this Sixers team that has Redick thinking this could be another year in which a championship is within reach. Even being the realist that he is, Redick thinks the Sixers could make a run at a championship this year.

“I don’t want to put a ceiling on our team this year,” he said.  “I think this group has the potential to win the Eastern Conference. Whether that’s this year or three years from now, having guys like Ben [Simmons] and Jo [Embiid], you have a chance. Those guys are that good.”

Kevin recaps Wednesday night’s win over Detroit and thanks Stan Van Gundy for being wrong and an idiot.

Sixers will also host Dallas Sunday afternoon.

Villanova had their parade yesterday, and head coach Jay Wright had yet another classy speech.

Would you make a sign like this? How many words is too much for a sign? 610…

Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery says he should be ready for the regular season after getting offseason shoulder surgery.

How “mesh” carried the Eagles from Chip Kelly to the Eagles’ Super Bowl win:

“We ended up calling it like four or five times in the game, but that was actually a play that Sam Bradford brought to us that he ran in Chip Kelly’s offense,” Pederson said. “So that is where the play came from. We ran a version of it, but I liked that version better. Sam brought it to my attention. We put it in our first year, probably didn’t call it as much. Our quarterbacks really like the play. It is not a play that is in every week because of the structure of the defense, but we just so happened to have several of them in for the Super Bowl.”

Kelly brought it to Bradford. Bradford brought it to Pederson. Pederson brought it to Foles, who had already previously run it with Kelly.

And so goes the time-honored football tradition of recycling great ideas.

“If you and I go in the backyard, we’d probably come up with something that looks like the mesh pretty quickly just trying to get open against man coverage,” Brown said. “I run by you, you run by me going in opposite directions, and make the defenders run around us. One of us will pop open. So a version of that has been around a long time. And then, the thing that’s gone on the last however many years is what apparatus you build around it.”

In other sports news, Kyrie Irving’s done for the season. Eastern Conference finals anyone?

Jordan Spieth leads the first round of The Masters at -6, two shots in front of Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar. Tiger Woods is +1. Defending champion Sergio Garcia is +9 after shooting 13 on the Par 5 15. He hit five straight shots into the water:

With his 10th shot of the 15th hole, Sergio Garcia delivered his fifth consecutive ball into the water. #themasters https://t.co/Nj020wsUeB pic.twitter.com/kWA0XBSlUK

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 5, 2018

He had some fun with it earlier today:

What happened on 15 @TheMasters yesterday was unfortunate for me and it hurt but I tried to handle it like a Masters Champion should. That same hole gave me that green jacket last year so we might end up naming our next kid Firethorn after all, funny man!

https://t.co/vMIDTMGhrf

— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) April 6, 2018

Conor McGregor went on a rampage yesterday at UFC 223’s media day.

Conor McGregor. Picks up guard rail. Attempts to throw it at bus. ABSOLUTE CHAOS IN NEW YORK. #UFC223 (Via Felice Herrig's IG story) pic.twitter.com/JYQZD7jtKP

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) April 5, 2018

@TheNotoriousMMA is about that life pic.twitter.com/kLRbMVzSzk

— joshua. (@jrsvx) April 5, 2018

yoooooo… first time seeing this one. Conor has legit lost his mind. pic.twitter.com/XcLFd2FIMo

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) April 5, 2018

Three fights are cancelled, two fighters were hurt, and one angry Irish man is in jail for three counts of misdemeanor assault and a felony count of criminal mischief.

Dana White spoke about it this morning:

"Conor and I talked through text yesterday. Obviously the worst conversation we've ever had. But we talked yesterday before he turned himself in." — @DanaWhite pic.twitter.com/xz1QjB299u

— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) April 6, 2018

Stipe Miocic took a shot at McGregor as well.

pic.twitter.com/AHjyf7plgO

— Stipe Miocic (@stipemiocic) April 6, 2018

What an end of an era for Henrik and Daniel Sedin:

The Sedins walk off their own era in Vancouver with a Daniel overtime winner on a dominant cycle powerplay. What a comeback. What a perfect ending. pic.twitter.com/Z9LyjBZYOQ

— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) April 6, 2018

A bald eagle landed on Mariners pitcher James Paxton:

BALD EAGLE ATTACK

Outstanding reaction from the @Mariners' James Paxton, though. Just stay calm. (via @fsnorth) pic.twitter.com/pWer9G1L5L

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) April 5, 2018

In the news, a woman was killed as a car crashed into her home in Montco.

The U.S. added 103,000 jobs, way less than expected.

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California.

Your Friday Morning Roundup published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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Your Wednesday Morning Roundup

This stick figure video pretty much sums up my interest in the Phillies right now.

It’s not good at all. They played two against the Nationals yesterday and lost both. The first game was a 3-1 defeat and featured Spencer Kieboom losing a tooth and hitting his first career home run:

It appears Spencer Kieboom spit out a tooth before hitting his first MLB homer. This is incredibly strange. pic.twitter.com/wtPObNPnBs

— Gabriel Baumgaertner (@gbaumgaertner) September 11, 2018

You probably saw it on TV or social media during the game or after. If you saw it live at Citizens Bank Park, congrats? You’re part of a really exclusive club:

First pitch of Phillies-Nationals. There are more blowtorches than fans. pic.twitter.com/rgNuUTyWKa

— Matt Breen (@matt_breen) September 11, 2018

That’s god damn bad.

They played the second game shortly after, and it looked like it would result in a win. The Phils scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth, four of them coming with two outs. A Jose Bautista homer in the eighth made it a 6-3 lead. Nothing wrong could happen, right?!

The Nationals scored twice in the ninth before Luis Garcia walked Trea Turner with the bases loaded and two outs to tie the game. In the following inning, Juan Soto hit a solo dinger to give the Nats the lead and eventually the win.

Don’t look now but the team is 74-70 and is dangerously approaching under .500 territory. They’ll wrap up the Nats series tonight at 7:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Aaron Nola is on the mound, thank God, against Stephen Strasburg. Get yourselves ready (for the end) with the latest episode of Crossed Up.

The Roundup:

The good news with the Phillies falling off a cliff is that the Eagles are 1-0! They play Tampa Bay this Sunday, who could be without DeSean Jackson and Vernon Hargreaves.

The team worked out a handful of players, including quarterback Paxton Lynch and wide receivers Breshad Perriman and Kamar Aiken. The team ended up re-signing Aiken, per his agent. That’ll help a ‘meh’ wide receiver group as Alshon Jeffery and Mack Hollins are still hurt. They also made a change in their practice squad.

It was time for both coordinators to talk to the media. Jim Schwartz said Fletcher Cox played a ton to limit Bruce Hector before the team gives him a bigger role, while Mike Groh answered questions about the team’s offensive struggles and mentioned that Doug Pederson might name the starter at QB later today.

If Mike Garafolo is correct, we won’t see Carson Wentz out there for Week 2. Or maybe even Week 3:

Well, define “anytime soon.” Before the end of the season? Sure, I would say. Nick Foles played OK. There’s still some things they’re getting going down there. I spent the entire down there [in Philadelphia], I covered the game down there, I still get the sense that it could be a couple of more weeks for Carson Wentz. And then you look — he’s doing great, by the way, it’s not a question of his recovery. It’s just a question of ‘Are we really going to rush this when we can win games with Nick Foles’ Foles is playing well.

I will say, from everything I have been told, it starts from the top down. That Jeffrey Lurie understands if we affect this year to save the next 10 years, and again, it’s not a great effect when you’ve got Nick Foles there, he’s OK with that. And when you get that from the top down, then you can really have patience all the way through your organization.

Here’s the only thing I know for a fact: there’s no hard and fast plan right now as, ‘OK, we’re aiming for Week 3 or Week 5 or Week [unintelligible].’

And once you start to get a little bit further into the schedule, it gets a little tricky because they have a Thursday game, so do you really want to bring him in on a short week? They have a trip to London […] and then they have the bye after that. If he doesn’t play until Week 6, it wouldn’t surprise me. Or, I think that’s a short week. Week 5. If he doesn’t play until after the bye that wouldn’t surprise. He’s doing great. They’re having patience. And once again, it starts from the top down.

Finally, the broadcast team is… less than ideal.

Robert Covington is a top 50 NBA player, according to Sports Illustrated. And people don’t like him.

The Sixers will also hold their Blue x White scrimmage at the Palestra once again on Tuesday, September 25 at 7 PM.

The team’s Gaming Club re-signed their head coach. This is actual news.

Morgan Frost and Carter Hart are some of the young guns that would like to be on the Flyers, but are realistic in their chances:

When camp opens, the Flyers will have an open competition for the third- and fourth-line center spots.

“Hopefully there’s a chance for me to make it, and I’m just going to work my hardest and try to win one of those spots,” said Frost, who has been noticeably faster than the other players in rookie camp.

Frost, who had 112 points and a plus-70 rating for Sault Ste. Marie in the Ontario Hockey League last season, is in his second camp with the Flyers after being selected in the first round (27th overall) of the 2017 draft.

“I think there’s a different comfortability level,” he said. “It’s nice to know most of the guys and know the staff and just be comfortable on the ice. It’s a little nicer coming back and kind of knowing what’s going on.”

Training camp starts Friday but the team’s rookie game against the Islanders is today.

In other sports news, Detroit Lions players already don’t like Matt Patricia.

Martavis Bryant is a Raider again.

Penn State landed Joey Porter’s son.

In the news, Hurricane Florence is still a Category 4 storm but has shifted south.

Sportsradio 94 WIP and the other Entercom stations (KYW, WPHT, WOGL) are moving to a new location.

You can get paid to participate in a cheesesteak focus group. That’s a real sentence.

The post Your Wednesday Morning Roundup appeared first on Crossing Broad.

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Your Thursday Morning Roundup

Vince Velasquez’s return to the mound was a strong one, but it wasn’t enough.

The right-hander gave up only two hits and a walk in six innings to go along with three strikeouts. But the Phillies’ offense couldn’t figure out Jacob deGrom, who pitched eight innings and gave up five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.

Just like the first game in the series on Monday afternoon, the Mets got a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th thanks to Brandon Nimmo to take home the 3-0 win.

Cesar Hernandez was the only Phillie to record two hits out of the team’s six total hits, while the Mets mustered only four. But their final hit proved to be the deciding one.

Surprisingly, the first sign of actual action came when a fan ran onto the field:

Fan on the field at Citi Field. Peep the stutter step. pic.twitter.com/WPATZrrhkO

— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) July 12, 2018

Scott Kingery tried to trip him. He missed. He’ll learn. Let’s hope he also learns how to be better on offense.

It’ll be a busy couple of days for the Phils in terms of traveling. They’re in Baltimore today for a date with the Orioles in a makeup game from May 15 at 6:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Nick Pivetta’s on the mound. They’ll see Manny Machado again, but they’ll also see Zach Britton. He might be the Oriole that becomes a Phillie by the end of the month.

After this game tonight, they’ll travel to Miami for a weekend series with the Marlins before the All-Star break.

Along with Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins will be in D.C. for the Home Run Derby as the #8 seed:

Down on the farm, last year’s first overall pick Adam Haseley has been promoted to Double-A Reading.

The Roundup:

The Sixers have their first round Summer League playoff game tonight against the Phoenix Suns. Tip off is at 6:30 PM on ESPN2. It’ll be the Mikal Bridges-Zhaire Smith game. Winner of the game will win the trade.

Cam Oliver has been one of the more impressive Summer Sixers.

Sixers assistant coach Kevin Young, who is heading the summer league team, believes Oliver has the tool to play in the NBA.

“He has an NBA body,” Young said.  “I haven’t seen every [summer league] game. But I watched a lot of them.

“He has to be one of the most athletic guys here, but with his body. He’s like a man, and he’s big and strong with that athleticism. He’s got a bright upside.”

Did LeBron James make the wrong choice in picking LA over Cherry Hill? I don’t think LA has a friendly Nissan giant, so I think he’ll regret his decision.

If Kawhi Leonard comes to Philadelphia, Pau Gasol might be in that package. What are his thoughts about possibly living in Cherry Hill?

The Sixers still don’t have a GM. It feels like a long time, but it could be a good thing.

Yes, the opportunity to take over a team with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons plus a lot more in tow should not be taken lightly. What also shouldn’t be taken lightly, however, is an ownership group with an unprecedented opportunity staring down a near limitless field of candidates and putting up artificial barriers. Regardless of the field you’re in, a job is often only as good (or bad!) as the people above you allow it to be.

Combine that with the bird’s eye view on the situation, knowing what happened with Sam Hinkie as it pertains to the league itself getting involved, and suddenly there are more red flags than you’d think were there on first glance.

Maybe that’s an overly pessimistic view on things, but that’s the sort of sober view these decision makers have to take every single day on the job. Running a professional sports franchise is all about determining what the range of outcomes is and deciding how much theoretical risk you’re willing to assume to chase a payoff. When you’re asking people to potentially leave front offices like those in San Antonio, Houston, or Boston — which are the sort of places Philadelphia should be hunting — you’re going to draw more natural skepticism than you would from people working for mediocre-to-bad franchises.

Wilson Chandler thinks he can fit on the Sixers in multiple ways.

Josh Harris gave $1 million to Penn wrestling.

Dates for Training Camp have been announced, including two public practices.

Despite dropping a pass in Super Bowl LII, Tom Brady’s catch rating in Madden NFL 19 is better than Nick Foles’ rating. Unlike Brady, Foles caught a touchdown pass and won the Super Bowl as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

We have a brand new offseason episode of Snow the Goalie to discuss the JVR signing and more.

The Union earned a 4-3 win over the Chicago Fire last night. David Accam scored the game-winner in added time after Ilsinho got hurt, while Corey Burke started over CJ Sapong and scored twice. They’ll take on Eintracht Frankfurt in a friendly match Saturday in Chester.

In the FIFA World Cup, Mario Mandzukic scored in the 109th minute for Croatia in a 2-1 win over England. They’ll play France Sunday in the World Cup final, while England will take on Belgium again in the third place game on Saturday.

In other sports news, Manny Machado to the…Yankees?

sources: yankees have made a strong offer for manny machado. haven't heard they are the favorite, but they are clearly a player at this point. @Ken_Rosenthal said there was "increased" interest from NYY a couple days ago.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 11, 2018

Online sportsbooks went live in New Jersey.

Taryn Hatcher signed off from her Hawaii TV station. She’ll be working for NBC Sports Philadelphia.

The Cavs could have traded up to #3 with Atlanta to get Luka Doncic. But they’d also get Kent Bazemore.

In the news, a man fled police after a traffic stop and died after he drowned in the Wissahickon Creek.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter resigned as a Louisville trustee.

Stormy Daniels was arrested at an Ohio strip club.

The post Your Thursday Morning Roundup appeared first on Crossing Broad.

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Your Friday Morning Roundup

The Sixers’ motto for the 2018-19 season: Run it Back?

With a few personnel changes, the overall look of the Sixers remains the same from their playoff exit against the Celtics back in May. The starting five is back, which was a very strong unit. Amir Johnson, T.J. McConnell, and Richaun Holmes are also coming back.

The only free agent casualties have been Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova, who have since been replaced with Wilson Chandler and now Nemanja Bjelica. If you ask me, both of them are upgrades.

There are still some questions for the team outside of the obvious one of a new general manager. How will Zhaire Smith and Landry Shamet be slotted into the rotation? Will Jerryd Bayless’ contract be bought out? Could at least one of Justin Anderson, Richaun Holmes, or Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot be cut or traded? I think Anderson can give you some valuable small minutes, while Holmes can do the same but could probably be safer to move in a trade. TLC has potential, but I think he might be the one the Sixers say goodbye to.

The Summer League season begins tonight as the Sixers take on the Celtics in Las Vegas at 7:30 PM on ESPN. Here’s the schedule thus far for the team:

Tonight vs. Boston (7:30 PM, ESPN)

Saturday vs. LA Lakers (11:30 PM, ESPN)

Monday vs. Washington (5:30 PM, NBA TV)

If you’re up at 11:30 and watching Summer League action on a Saturday night, I salute you. I probably will at some bar.

Anyway, here’s the Summer Sixers’ roster, which includes Jonah Bolden, who aims to be on the Sixers actual roster this season:

Your 2017-18 Summer Sixers pic.twitter.com/2LH8NdmtbN

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) July 5, 2018

One final note: Jessica Camerato is out at NBC Sports Philadelphia as the turnover continues for the station.

The Roundup:

The Phillies start a three-game series in Pittsburgh tonight at 7:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Nick Pivetta is on the mound.

But with the team above .500 for the first time in seven years and looking like a club that might make the playoffs, do fans really care? If they don’t, what’s missing?

Maybe Manny Machado is the missing piece for the city to be on the Phillies wagon again. If that happens, don’t expect Zach Eflin to be part of a trade.

After an awful start and being criticized of some of his decisions, Gabe Kapler’s looking like a potential Manager of the Year candidate:

As a first-year manager, Kapler doesn’t have much history upon which to draw. But he’s clearly using his experiences from the last three months to inform his decisions. And of all the reasons that the Phillies, at 47-37, are 10 games over .500 for the first time since September 2011 — a string of ace-caliber starts from Aaron Nola, a knack for grinding at-bats, the maturation of the majors’ youngest roster — Kapler’s influence and leadership loom as large as any.

“If we just look at this past weekend’s games against the Nationals, we don’t win those games without our bullpen coming through, we don’t win those games without some big hits in some key at-bats, we don’t win [Sunday’s] game without Andrew Knapp’s home run,” general manager Matt Klentak said. “But I also don’t think we win those games without Gabe Kapler as our manager. He was a real difference-maker in those games.”

The Flyers made their second move in free agency by signing right-handed defenseman Christian Folin to a one-year deal. He’ll probably be the team’s sixth or seventh defenseman.

Forward Taylor Leier and goalie Alex Lyon filed for salary arbitration. The team and the players can still make a deal before arbitration hearings between July 20 and August 4, where an independent arbitrator would settle on a salary for both parties.

Could we see Morgan Frost with the Flyers next season?

With the Flyers opting against signing a third-line center, at least for now, Frost’s odds of making the opening night roster in 2018-19 have significantly increased if only because there is now a clear path for the 2017 first-round draft pick.

“I think my opinion is different than other people,” Frost said last Thursday at development camp in Voorhees, New Jersey. “I want to make the team. If I work my hardest, it’s realistic.”

That was before free agency opened and before Hextall conceded that the market dictated the Flyers’ best course of action for a third-line center comes internally. It’s certainly realistic now.

Once Hextall sifted through the “we’ll see” on Frost, the Flyers’ GM put the ball in the 19-year-old’s court. Hextall said Frost has to get “a lot stronger” and has “work to do,” which Frost knows. Frost came into development camp considerably stronger than he was last season at 184 pounds, a 12-pound increase from where he was at this point last summer. Frost finished the 2017-18 season at 175 pounds and said he hopes to play above 180 pounds in 2018-19.

Shouldn’t be a surprise, but Nick Foles’ book is already a New York Times best seller.

Which Jalen Mills will we see next year?

In the FIFA World Cup, the quarterfinals get underway today with France-Uruguay at 10 AM and Belgium-Brazil at 2 PM on FS1. Tomorrow’s games are England-Sweden at 10 AM and Russia-Croatia at 2 PM on Fox.

We have a new episode of Crossing Broad FC to get your ready for this weekend’s quarterfinal action.

In other sports news, Grayson Allen is back doing Grayson Allen things:

Grayson Allen got into a scuffle with Trae Young in Summer League. pic.twitter.com/VWuoLisnRN

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 6, 2018

If you snitch on another player in the NFL, you’ll get rewarded with a reduced penalty the next time you get suspended.

UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has been pulled from the UFC 226 card.

In the news, a Septa bus crashed into a Northeast Philadelphia home, killing one person.

Looks like we’re now in a trade war with China!

Chris Brown has been arrested for felony assault.

The post Your Friday Morning Roundup appeared first on Crossing Broad.

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63 Down, 19 to Go: How Close Were Our Predictions?

This afternoon, I came across this awe-inspiring, hype-creating tweet:

When you average the projected wins from Basketball Reference, FiveThirtyEight and ESPN, this is the outlook for the 2018 NBA playoffs.

Spoiler alert: the West is ridiculously tight… pic.twitter.com/eD3zyuHaqZ

— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) March 7, 2018

The Philadelphia 76ers are currently 6th in the Eastern Conference at 35-28. Basketball-Reference and ESPN BPI both have the Sixers projected to win 47 games, while FiveThirtyEight projected a 49-win season. All three models had the Sixers finishing in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference.

After some heated in-game debates in our Slack channel, I figured it was time to review the predictions the writing staff and podcast crew made prior to the season.

Predictions after the jump:

First, the Crossing Broadcast predictions from the post-Sixers/Celtics trade episode “Culmination and Compromise” (6/19/17):

Kyle: “I feel like if Embiid’s healthy and plays let’s call it 55 to 60+ games… you potentially have a rookie of the year on your roster. Embiid should be an All-Star level talent. Like just with Embiid last year there were points in the season where the Sixers were absolutely an above average team for small stretches, and it’s not like rattling off five or six wins in a row like we’ve seen the Phillies have done once…”

Adam: “What is your realistic expectation? You just said fourth. That’s a 49-win season and that’s not what the word realistic means.”

Kyle: “I will say they’re somewhere between a 5 or a 6 seed.”

Adam: “That’s a 42/43-win season.”

Kyle: “Yeah, they’re about a .500 club. Slightly better. Look at small stretches last year, they were an above-average team playing against some quality opponents and beating and competing with them. And it was just with Embiid for small stretches, so unlike – and I know you can say it’s a small sample size, it was five and six games here and there – this isn’t like baseball. Like, that happens in baseball–  where bad teams will run off wins. That doesn’t happen like that in basketball. There’s going to be growing pains with these guys, no doubt about it, but besides just Fultz and Simmons, Embiid has enough experience, other than turnovers he wasn’t really making rookie mistakes. And it’s actually a fairly workable roster around all these guys, so I don’t think 5 or 6 is is out of the question by any stretch. Let alone, we’ll talk about this in a minute, if they add a somewhat decent or plus plus free agent over the off-season.”

Russ: It’s not much of a stretch to think that they couldn’t at least get up to like 6, because if Chicago ends up trading Jimmy Butler as part of, like, a massive package from from Boston – the future home of Jayson Tatum apparently – and Indiana trades Paul George… Paul George put Indiana in the worst possible predicament. While his his intentions were just in telling them that, like, “Hey, you guys are going to have to plan without me.” I don’t know what Indiana’s supposed to get for a one-year Paul George rental, but assuming that he goes as well, then there go your 7th and 8th seeds from last year. I don’t think like Miami hasn’t gotten any better, Detroit is a middling franchise, the Hornets, the Knicks, the Magic, and like you can easily get past those teams. And so then you’re nipping at the heels of like: the Bucks, the Hawks, if Kyle Lowry leaves the Raptors I have to assume they’re going to fall from number 3. So this really is contingent on can you get a guy like JJ Redick to come in? And if you can and you can get like a Gerald Henderson to stay on it on a team-friendly deal to provide depth and veteran leadership, there’s no reason they couldn’t get up to I would say sixth.”

Adam: “Yeah I think that’s the high-end. I think, to me, the low end is like the 36 to 38 wins, which would put you in like the 12th seed, which would be at 10-win improvement, which I think is pretty good. I think the hard question for me is the word “realistic”, because we have no idea how they’re going to be. And we’re not going to get the Summer League as a preview either. So it’s really hard to predict whether these guys are going to stay healthy. We don’t even know about Simmons or Fultz. The team could put them on minutes restrictions this season. You guys have always talked these last few weeks about the big name free agent this year. Unless you can get a guy like a JJ for like a 3 year deal or something like that. I don’t understand bringing a free agent into the unknown right now, where I would personally say let’s see this team for a year and then when we know what Simmons is actually going to do and what Fultz is actually going to do, and we can show the league how good they are, then you bring in a free agent to build alongside of that, because I don’t think they’ll make a run to the title this year, guys. They’re not going to the Eastern Conference finals, like I don’t even know what Simmons is. No one does. And I don’t think Redick is leaving L.A.”

Predictions:

Kyle: 43-39, 5th or 6th in the East

Russ: At least 6th in the East

Adam: 36-46, 12th in the East OR 38-44, 10th in the East

Analysis:

There’s plenty to unpack here. With the Sixers currently in 6th place in the East, both Kyle and I are on-track to be deadly accurate. Adam, however, needs the Sixers to go 1-18 or 3-16 to fulfill his prophecy, though it’s still conceivable that rudderless, inept franchises like the Hawks, Nets, Magic, Bulls and the Kristaps-less Knicks could finish behind that worst-case scenario.

Now to the writers.

Kevin Kinkead wrote a post on October 18th in which he did a full breakdown of the Sixers’ first 15 games and final 15 games. Kevin predicted a 41-41 finish (8th in the East), including a 5-10 start to the season, and a season-ending 10-5 run.

That leads us to the predictions from the rest of the crew:

Kyle: The Sixers have the potential to be GOOD when Embiid is healthy and if Fultz is a solid contributor. But there are also a lot of new faces, some with no NBA experience, and there are going to be some rough spots. Overall, figuring a mostly healthy Embiid and Fultz not needing surgery on his shoulder, the Sixers are pretty good and get into the playoffs with 42 wins.

Phil: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. 40-42.

Russ: At the end of the season, with the Sixers 5th in the East at 46-36, Joel stands over the broken bodies of those who stood in his way. He pours out two Shirley Temples, smashes them together, throws them back and states to the masses, “Embiid 3:16 says I just whooped your ***.” Or should that be Process 3:16… Or Hinkie 3:16?

Coggin:What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.” 76ers 42-40.

Bob: So what if Markelle Fultz looks broken? Embiid stays relatively healthy, Simmons is ROY, and the Sixers go 43-39. They get the 7th seed and then they get wiped away by the Celtics in the first round. Basketball in Philly is back, BABY!

Chris: Joel’s minutes go up and he stays healthy. Markelle’s shot is still meh, but Ben wins Rookie of the Year. Sixers go 42-40 and get the 7th seed.

Investor Mike: Reverse psychology absolutely in play here, but the Sixers miss the 8th seed by way of a heartbreaking home loss to the Bucks on fan appreciation night. 40-42

Investor Jeff: Embiid plays 61 games, Sixers 36-25 when he plays. 7-14 when he sits. 43 wins, good for the 6th seed where they give Washington all they can handle in the first round before losing in 7.

Predictions:

Kyle: 42-40, make the playoffs

Phil: 40-42

Russ: 46-36, 5th in the East

Coggin: 42-40

Bob: 43-39, 7th in the East

Chris: 42-40, 7th in the East

Mike: 40-42, 9th in the East

Jeff: 43-39, 6th in the East

Analysis:

For a group that started that started with a win differential spread of six games, it’s incredible to see how our once-harmonious Slack channel devolved into the polarized, debate-filled house of representatives it is on game days. In a worst-case scenario, the Sixers win only five of their 19 remaining games and miss the playoffs. In the best-case scenario, they go 11-8, which is quite doable, and challenge for a top-five seed in the Eastern Conference. Not bad for a young team that someone once trashed in favor of their neighbors in the north.

I'm ready to Trust The Process. The Knicks' process. Inducing young talent to lose year after year isn't a process, it's negligence. #76ers

— Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) November 22, 2015

About that…

63 Down, 19 to Go: How Close Were Our Predictions? published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[flauntpage]

Flyers win. No, really. Five Takeaways from Flyers 5, Flames 2

Maybe I’ve been watching too many episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix, but for the past 36 hours I feel like I’m in the “Upside Down.”

The Eagles looked bad for the first time all season (although I was the only member of the CB team to see that coming).

The Sixers got beat on their home court by a woeful Phoenix Suns team.

And… the Flyers won a game.

Seriously. They won. The 10-game losing streak is over.

http://pic.twitter.com/KdqqAHI19J

— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) December 5, 2017

Not only that – the Flyers scored five goals and all of them were scored by forwards not known for their ginger hair or beards (when they haven’t shaved them off).

Funny what happens when you have secondary scoring, eh?

The Flyers had more than that though – they had great goaltending from Brian Elliott – which was the real difference in the game. They had some good fortune and had some bounces finally going their way and they did something they haven’t been doing at all for much of the season – they got to the net. Four of their five goals were the result of getting into the dirty area of the ice and cleaning up the trash.

Those are all positives and the right way to finally end a 10-game losing streak.

But there are still a bunch of things to worry about because this team isn’t out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

To the takeaways:

1. A breakup, albeit maybe only temporary

It’s been more than a couple weeks now since I first suggested breaking up the top line. While Dave Hakstol wasn’t keen on the idea then, he needed to lose 10 straight games before he realized his roster was too top-heavy.

So, he finally made the change last night in Calgary.

Now, he didn’t break it up in the same way that I would have – I still think there is a way to spread out the talent even more than he did – but what he tried last night worked, so kudos there.

I’m not sure it’s sustainable, because the Flyers, despite winning by three goals, were dominated by Calgary (more on that later), but enough guys did enough good things to produce the win.

Jake Voracek, the team’s leading scorer mind you, was removed from the top line and replaced by Wayne Simmonds.

Voracek has certainly had his defensive struggles, but he’s the best playmaker on the team, so putting him with some other guys you would hope would score more is not a bad idea. And it worked – as Voracek assisted on three of the Flyers’ five goals.

Actually, his new second line, centered by Valtteri Filppula and with Michael Raffl on the left wing, was really good last night. It wasn’t the best line for the Flyers – although it did produce the most points. Combined, they posted a pair of goals and five assists. That’s a productive night.

Even better though was the new third line of Taylor Leier, Scott Laughton, and Jordan Weal. This trio was flying all night and creating chances. Laughton had a pair of goals to end a 21-game drought and Leier and Weal each added an assist on his second goal.

Now, there was no Flyer with a positive Corsi figure in the game (Laughton was their best player with a CF% of 47.06) But the third line’s CF%Rel was easily the best on the team with Laughton (18.85) and Leier (14.64) No. 1 and No. 2 on the team and Weal (11.69) fourth-best.

Simmonds scored off a nice kick pass from Sean Couturier, but that was a power play goal and, frankly, at 5-on-5, that line didn’t generate much.

This was primarily because Simmonds doesn’t control the puck as well as Voracek does and isn’t a playmaker, meaning others have to drive the play – and they couldn’t against a mediocre Calgary team.

Instead, they were severely outshot by the Flames when they were on the ice. That might be something Hakstol would consider tinkering with.

As for the fourth line of Dale Weise, Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny, they were simply dreadful. Their CF% as a trio on the ice was 10.53%. That means that the Flames had almost 90% of the shots in the seven minutes or less that trio was on the ice.

Not good.

2. Go to the net and good things happen

Let’s look at four Flyers goals here, in order. First, Filppula:

Good news! The Flyers scored! Raffl gets credited but it might go to Filppula. http://pic.twitter.com/LohOQBgeHo

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) December 5, 2017

Filppula ultimately did get credit, but the important thing here is, look where both Raffl and Filppula are. That’s right, right around the crease to put in a rebound or deflect a shot, or to screen the goalie. This is good positioning.

Next, Laughton’s first goal:

That'll be Ghost's tally, and a 2-1 Flyers lead. http://pic.twitter.com/yALd3DM3rU

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) December 5, 2017

Sure looked like Ghost at first, but on super slow mo replay from another angle not available here, Laughton actually tips the puck in front of goalie Mike Smith before slam dunking it behind him (even though the puck was already across the line).

Laughton, who for my money was the best skater in the game, does so much well here. He gets in front of the goalie, makes the deflection and then stays in the crease area to assure the puck goes in the net.

Again – the Flyers need more plays like this every game.

Next, Simmonds goal:

4-1 LEAD http://pic.twitter.com/rEj0EM9Nks

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) December 5, 2017

This actually capped off a wild barrage of three goals in 1:11 for the Flyers – and it came on a lucky power play after Couturier was clipped by a high stick belonging to his teammate Andrew MacDonald that the refs inexplicably whistled on Calgary’s Michael Frolik.

Regardless, the Flyers took advantage with two guys who, to be fair, have been going to the net all season (and in Simmonds case, his entire career).

Couturier gets into good scoring position and kicks the puck to Simmonds who is in his office and scores easily.

This 1:11 stretch, which also included this beauty of a goal by Raffl –

3-1 lead! We can't blow this, can we? http://pic.twitter.com/FEN8aOvrQN

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) December 5, 2017

– was the difference in the game, for sure. Because, aside from this 1:11, the Flyers were pretty much outplayed.

However, they did get one more goal in the third period from Laughton that did secure the win:

Back to a three-goal lead. Def Laughton this time. http://pic.twitter.com/XbARBhpbYP

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) December 5, 2017

Again, crashing the net. These videos should be on repeat in the Flyers meeting rooms. Just show them over and over until it is ingrained in these players that that’s how they have to score.

Because if not, they can’t win. Plain and simple. Unless…

3. Brian Elliott steals one

You knew this game was going to have some meaning for Elliott. He played for the Flames last year and it was his first game back in Calgary.

He had already lost a heartbreaker in overtime to the Flames a couple weeks ago at the Wells Fargo Center, but it’s always different against a former team in the old barn.

Elliott, who has been really good for the Flyers despite the awful run, was excellent again.

He was under constant duress in this game and kept the Flyers in it from the jump. Calgary’s first goal was a bad rebound by Elliott, but aside from that he stopped almost everything. The Flames fired 80 shots. (80!) Of those, 45 were on net and Elliott stopped 43 (a .956 save percentage).

That’s good. Really good. So good, in fact, that it snapped the losing streak pretty much all by itself.

The TV crew correctly named Elliott the star of the game.

And he wasn’t flashy. Not in the least. But he was sound. He was positionally on point. He was calm, cool and collected.

He was Moose:

MOOSE http://pic.twitter.com/rqVoozLQ3L

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) December 5, 2017

The problem is, he’s going to have to be that a lot more often because…

4. The Flyers were outmatched… again

I keep harping on the fact that this has to be systemic. It has to. These Flyers players can’t be so dumb to constantly be caught in the same mistakes time after time.

And it’s not just mistakes that lead to goals, but mistakes that lead to odd-man rushes. Constant odd-man rushes. Calgary had a bunch last night. It’s unreal.

Sure, sometimes it’s the result of a bad pass, or an inability to get a puck in deep, but other times it’s simply positioning, and if the Flyers aren’t positioned properly, most of the time it’s because that’s how they are being coached to play.

And the fact that it keeps happening is indicative that other teams see it on film and look to exploit it.

Look at the game flow:

That’s all Calgary. From the opening faceoff to the final whistle.

The Flyers can’t play this way and expect to win with any consistency. Instead, this is a formula for losing more often than not. This outcome is definitely an exception to the rule.

A look at the heat map may explain why:

You see the Flyers didn’t get many chances, but the ones they did were from in close, as we pointed out already. Meanwhile, Calgary was shooting from everywhere. However, to the Flyers credit, they didn’t let the Flames get to the front of the net all that much.

They took most of their shots from the right circle but couldn’t generate much from Elliott’s kitchen.

That was a benefit to the Flyers, and likely why this game didn’t turn into a track meet.

5. Loose Pucks

Dale Weise playing less than seven minutes doesn’t concern me, but Patrick and Konecny do. I know neither have earned much with their play of late, but these are two of the most important pieces of this Flyers rebuild. Please recognize this as a rebuild and get the young kids more time.

I have to think, as well as Elliott is playing, that Michal Neuvirth will get one of the next two starts either in Edmonton or in Vancouver. Edmonton is really struggling, so, maybe he gets the nod there and Elliott goes in Vancouver before the Flyers get a four-day break.

This hit on Weise earned Travis Hamonic a match penalty. I think that’s borderline for a match penalty and I don’t expect a suspension:

Travis Hamonic is done for the game after this "hit" on Dale Weise. http://pic.twitter.com/JOATWlaeDd

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) December 5, 2017

Flyers win. No, really. Five Takeaways from Flyers 5, Flames 2 published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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Bird Droppings: Coming Out Hot

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOW SWEET IT IS… to watch a meaningful Philly sports game. By my count, it has been since January since we’ve seen one. Sure, the Phillies played almost a whole season and the Flyers did… whatever it is they did last season… but not since the Sixers’ mini-January run has it felt like we’ve had a worthy sporting event over which to get excited. Imagine trying to run a local sports blog during that stretch. Imagine blogging Maikel Franco. Just imagine that. So, to be honest, I was just happy that there was a game yesterday. For it to be a win, on the road, against a division rival, with a post-game Gatorade bath? That’s just the icing on the Doug. There’s a lot to discuss, some bad, mostly good, as we head into a Week 2 showdown with Doug Pederson’s maker, The Fat Man.

To the Droppings!

Opening play

Russ pointed this out on the podcast today, but the opening play action bomb to Torrey Smith – which was underthrown by Carson Wentz and could have been a touchdown – felt like such an Andy Reid play. Russ thinks it happened every year. I’m not so sure about that– it might just be that the preseason T.O. pass stands out so much in our minds that we think Reid did this every year. It doesn’t matter. I liked the play call and it almost worked. The Eagles probably weren’t expecting Josh Norman to be on Smith, but I can admire the gonadotropins Wentz had to try it anyway, because Lord knows, he’s likely not using them in other ways.

  Score bar

I LOVE IT. For years FOX’s graphics felt like they were designed by a foreman from a midwestern steel plant who was delusional about robots coming to take over his job. Even George Lucas during the filming of Episode II thought they went too heavy on the animated robots with overly-mixed mechanical sounds.

There’s a practical reason for the shift to a bottom line over the score bug. Perhaps two of them. When broadcasts shifted to HD 10-12 years ago, networks still had to compensate for those who had standard definition TVs, where the score bug lived in a corner of the screen. Those TVs didn’t show the wide-angle view, so, if you were watching in HD, you’d be left with a score bug near the middle of the screen. In fact, it was one of the immediate ways to tell you were watching HD — if the score bug was curiously in the middle of things. Now, even standard def broadcasts get the wide screen view (with black bars) and putting the score bug in the corner would make it needlessly far to the side. The bottom bar makes more sense. Also, as Adam pointed out on the podcast, it allows networks to place other scores, stats and, most importantly, ads in that area.

  Carson Wentz

The first touchdown to Agholor was absolutely fantastic and showed off the best of what Carson Wentz has to offer. There is no better way to sum it up and put it in context than by laying it next to Donovan McNabb’s famous pass against the Cowboys, as Philly Voice’s Matt Mullin did:

Alshon Jeffery (and many others) compared Wentz to Aaron Rodgers on this play.

But it immediately reminded me of this @donovanjmcnabb play: http://pic.twitter.com/HpcluKNNgR

— Matt Mullin (@matt_mullin) September 10, 2017

The two plays match each other almost beat for beat (fine, he sped it up), except only one features a touchdown (the other features an asshole putting on a fake wrestling belt).

I thought Wentz played well overall. He completed 26-of-39 passes for 302 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. That’s hard to argue with. However, he still overthrows receivers. Those passes usually come on “touch” throws. I thought at times he still looked a little raw – more than I was expecting heading into his second season – and didn’t work through his progressions as well as he should. Here’s an example from a play fake to Smallwood:

He wound up throwing it backhand out of bounds.

He’s at his best when he’s out of the pocket or forced to make athletic plays, not unlike Donovan McNabb or even current quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. This is a strength, to be sure, but he still needs to work on making the quick read and his touch passes. Those touch passes, specifically, are troublesome. Like a pitcher throwing to first, Wentz struggles to change his mechanics for the soft throw and is wildly unpredictable in those circumstances. Look no further than the horrible screen pass to Agholor.

Part of the blame, I think, goes to Doug Pederson, WHO I PROMISE NOT TO BASH TODAY. He calls plays like I do playing Madden— predictable run, screen, screen, BOMB, fake screen, gadget bubble, try to outsmart the opponent on fourth down and wind up blowing a timeout. Wentz is at his best throwing the 10-15 bullet on out routes and hook patterns. He seems to excel here. The distance is far enough to allow him to LET LOOSE the python which hangs from his shoulder, while at the same time not being so deep as to make it a difficult pass. Ertz is the beneficiary of many of these, but it seems like the Eagles could get the wide receivers more involved, or even utilize Sproles on cut and option routes here. But Pederson takes Wentz out of his rhythm way too often with his chode offense and forced deep balls.

  Playcalling

I’ll start with the bad and then end with the good.

There were two highly questionable series in my view: The first actually resulted in an Eagles touchdown… thanks to a punt fumble recovery by the Eagles. It was their third drive of the game from their own 13. Here’s the sequence:

First and 10: Handoff to LeGarrette Blount for 4 yards.

Second and 6: Handoff to Blount for 5 yards.

Third and 1: Ineligible receiver penalty and handoff to Blount (from the shotgun!) for -2 yards. Penalty is declined and the Eagles kick.

By the third play, everyone in the stadium knew the run was coming, even if Doug tried to outsmart them by lining up in the shotgun.

The Eagles luckily recovered a Redskins fumble on the return and scored their second touchdown on the drive.

The second also involves Blount.

You can argue the Eagles got him SPECIFICALLY to chew up clock late in the fourth quarter. When they got the ball at their own 15 with 12:21 to go following a Jalen Mills interception. Here’s what they decided to do:

One touch for Blount (no gain), following a run out of the shotgun (!) and two passes. Four of the first six plays of the drive were passes, and the Eagles chewed only a little more than five minutes of clock and wound up punting from their own territory. This is a nitpick, to be sure, but if you are going to use Blount, this is the situation to do it in. Rather, we have Darren Sproles and Wendell Smallwood running out of the shotgun.

Come on.

That said, I did like Doug’s playcalling at the end of the first drive mentioned here, when the Eagles got inside the 10 at the start of the second quarter. The bubble screen-whatever to Agholor was an excellent play-call but a bad throw by Wentz which Agholor, improbably, saved. And while some on Twitter seemed upset at the strategy behind him running Blount OUT OF THE SHOTGUN and then passing to Celek and Blount (TOUCHDOWN!) from the 3-yard line, I think this is where Doug’s gadget-y offense excels. There was some degree of “trickeration,” and indeed throwing to Blount, who put on a shifty move at the one, worked. These play-calls have their place, but Doug uses them too frequently at mid-field and zaps the life out of drives.

The drive to end the first half that resulted in a field goal was also excellent:

  The dumb screen

This is why Torrey Smith’s NFL stock is so low. He was awful on this play. He missed a block…

… and then didn’t even attempt to get the ball while Carson Wentz was diving into the pile:

    Ronald Darby

The good news is that it’s just dislocated.

BUT COME ON:

It’s bad http://pic.twitter.com/QODlMMIuZE

— Kyle Scott (@CrossingBroad) September 10, 2017

  The replacements

Jalen Mills and Patrick Robinson did an excellent job in replacing Darby and covering Terrelle Pryor, who was held in check for most of the game. I don’t know if I’d count on that kind of reliability for the rest of the year, but for one game they stepped up big time.

  Missed tackles

The Redskins’ second touchdown when Chris Thompson evaded 11 EAGLES TACKLERS was embarrassing and easy to ridicule. But other than that the defense played excellent. Kirk Cousins was under pressure all day and though he never reached full Eli Manning, he was never able to get comfortable in the pocket. I actually thought he played well given the circumstances. He’s a gamer, and he used his legs late in the game to keep the Redskins in it. But all the credit in the world goes to the outstanding defensive line, which got pressure on almost every play. And when Jim Schwartz did decide to Blitz, linebackers and secondary players got in the backfield almost at will. So while we’ll remember the play with the missed tackles, it’s worth noting that it was a rare miscue from an otherwise excellent defensive effort, capped off by Fletcher Cox recovering an incomplete pass and running into the end zone like a fat duck.

  Special teams

The penetration on the kick coverage is outstanding.

Penetration.

  LeGarrette Blount

I actually thought he played well. He didn’t break off any big runs, but he ran downhill on several occasions and was able to pick up healthy gains when he broke through the line. He looks like he still has something left in the tank and runs with some level of effort, which is good to see. I actually could’ve used more of him yesterday, like on that late fourth quarter drive where the Eagles needed to chew up clock.

  Wentz to Ertz

Shades of the Sproles play from a year ago:

Underrated play from Wentz. Avoids a sack, throws perfect pass to Ertz for a big 3rd down conversion in a 2-point game #Eagles http://pic.twitter.com/00Xy4jev0W

— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) September 11, 2017

  Zach Ertz

I’m pretty sure we broke this down plenty leading up to the game, but there’s no reason Ertz shouldn’t be a top tight end this season. This is exactly what was expected of him yesterday. The touchdown balls will come, and then presumably go right to Mike Trout.

  Decisions

While everyone feels good about the win today, and it’s useless piling on Doug after what was a rough week that quite honestly he probably didn’t deserve (even if there was some truth to the stories about him), it’s worth mentioning the sometimes maddening decisions he makes.

Sending the offense back out there on fourth and 1, up 2, was silly. Even though it was simply to try to draw the Redskins offside and get a first down, the game still very much hung in the balance at that point and wasting at timeout seemed foolish. Just kick the field goal to go up five and keep all three of the timeouts in case you need them. Don’t get cute. I’m not sure what it was, but Duce Staley didn’t like something about the play:

The two-point conversion came likely because Caleb Sturgis hurt his hip and had already missed a PAT earlier in the game, so I’ll give Doug the benefit of the doubt here. But since “math” was such a big topic last week, mentioned both in Jeffery Lurie’s and Pederson’s press conferences, it’s worth pointing out that this was probably the wrong decision. Kicking the PAT would’ve put the Eagles up 12 and meant the Redskins had to score two touchdowns. Had the Eagles not converted the two-point conversion, then the Redskins would’ve only need a touchdown with two-point conversion and field goal to tie. So, mathematically speaking, this is not a situation to go for it.

  Gatorade bath

Contrary to what most might expect, I actually didn’t hate the Gatorade bath. Sure, it was hokey, but Pederson was coming off a rough week and the Eagles have struggled against the Redskins. I actually thought it was a cool show of support for the coach.

Zach Ertz on Gatorade bath for Doug

"There was a lotta hoopla with the article (@PhillyInquirer) that came out the day before the game…" http://pic.twitter.com/27Pg4TQTF3

— John Clark CSN/NBC (@JClarkCSN) September 10, 2017

Jason Peters on Gatorade bath, articles ripping Doug

"Thats Philly" "Pressure's on him"

"We had to get this win for Doug"#Eagles🦅 http://pic.twitter.com/P4l2SxnSsO

— John Clark CSN/NBC (@JClarkCSN) September 10, 2017

  They like each other!

Not pictured here is Jim Schwartz’s other hand stabbing Doug Pederson in the back.

  Snaps

Here is the playing time distribution from Sunday's win over Washington: http://pic.twitter.com/5mceeEHbWu

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) September 11, 2017

For everyone saying Mack Hollins was going to take Jordan Matthews’ role… he got five snaps. Interestingly, Nelson Agholor got only 42 and still had 6 catches for 86 yards.

  Think fast

According to @profootballfocus.com #Eagles O line gave up 17 QB pressures (2 sacks, 3 QB hits, 12 hurries), tying Arizona for 2nd most.

— Ed Kracz (@kracze) September 11, 2017

Wentz was blitzed on a career high 47 percent of his dropbacks, per ESPN Stats & Info. Unfazed, he went 11-of-18 for 119 yards and a TD.

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) September 11, 2017

Not bad.

Next week, the Chiefs. Thumbtack.

Bird Droppings: Coming Out Hot published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[junker-town]

NBA mock draft 2017: The lottery gods smile upon the Lakers

We used ESPN’s lottery machine to randomize the order for this mock draft. Of course the Lakers took No. 1.

The Los Angeles Lakers have every incentive to lose right now. Instead, Luke Walton’s team keeps winning with blatant disregard for their lottery chances.

The Lakers won their fourth straight game on Sunday night when D’Angelo Russell beat the Minnesota Timberwolves at the buzzer. This recent streak dropped their odds of winning the lottery from a 19.9 percent to 15.6 percent. LA’s pick goes to the Philadelphia 76ers if it lands outside the top-3. If that happens, the Lakers also owe their 2019 first rounder to the Orlando Magic.

If the Lakers do land in the top-3, they get to keep both picks.

The future of the league’s premier franchise is directly tied to the whim of ping-pong balls. We know the NBA hates tanking, and the Lakers haven’t done it in spite of their best interests. Will they be rewarded for their competitive spirit?

In this mock draft, they are. The order here was determined by ESPN’s lottery machine, and it landed the Lakers at No. 1 on the first spin. Just for fun, I replayed it a second time, and the Hornets got the top pick with just a 0.7 percent chance. The Lakers, meanwhile, lost both picks by finishing No. 5.

1. Los Angeles Lakers - Markelle Fultz, PG, Washington

The dream scenario for the Lakers would set up a fascinating decision at No. 1: consensus pick Markelle Fultz vs. hometown hero Lonzo Ball. ESPN actually has the Lakers taking Ball in this scenario. The smart money is still on the allure of Fultz being too much to pass on.

Fultz has no apparent weaknesses in his game. He has great size, shoots well from the outside, thrives in the pick-and-roll and is capable of making game-changing plays on defense. Just check out our compilation of his best chase-down blocks from earlier this year:

2. Boston Celtics - Lonzo Ball, PG, UCLA

The Celtics don’t have a guard on the roster with Ball’s combination of size, shooting and elite basketball IQ. He would be able to play with Isaiah Thomas or run the show when Thomas is on the bench.?

Josh Jackson wouldn’t be a bad option, either. Boston hit on Jaylen Brown a year ago, and Jackson would let them go all-in on athletic, two-way wings. Ball’s shooting ability gives him the tie-breaker.

3. Philadelphia 76ers - Josh Jackson, SF, Philadelphia

Yes, the Sixers need shooters if Ben Simmons is going to be their primary creator. Yes, shooting is still the biggest hole in Jackson’s skill set even after a hot stretch to close the year boosted his three-point percentage to a respectable 37.8 percent. Jackson simply brings too much else to the table at a position of need for Philly to pass on him.

The Sixers’ defense improved from No. 25 to No. 15 this season, and adding Jackson would be another step towards becoming an elite defensive team. He has the athleticism to get out in transition and run with Simmons. His passing ability will help him play with two other stars, too. NBA teams will have to investigate a troubling episode where he allegedly attacked a teammate’s ex-girlfriend’s car.

4. Phoenix Suns - Jayson Tatum, SF, Duke

Tatum was just starting to hit a groove when Duke was upset by South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament. He was the best player in the ACC tournament — scoring 19 or more in every game during the Blue Devils’ title run. As a former top-recruit, NBA scouts have been tracking him for years. For the most part, he lived up to the hype as a college freshman.

5. Orlando Magic - Dennis Smith Jr., PG, NC State

The Magic have lacked an identity since trading Dwight Howard in 2013. Smith could change that. At his best, Smith is the type of lead guard who looks like he’s shot out of a cannon. Strong, fast and explosive around the rim, he could give Orlando the jolt it’s been seeking for years.

6. New York Knicks - De’Aaron Fox, PG, Kentucky

Throw the Triangle in the trash and let De’Aaron Fox run wild. The Kentucky point guard is the fastest player in this draft. He has the potential to be one of the best defenders and playmakers, too. His three-point shot is an obvious flaw, but he proved capable of putting up big numbers without one. His dominance of Lonzo Ball in the Sweet 16 was arguably the most impressive individual performance of the season.

7. Sacramento Kings - Jonathan Isaac, SF, Florida State

If the Kings kept DeMarcus Cousins, there was a good chance their first rounder would have went to the Chicago Bulls as a pick falling outside the top-10. Instead, Sacramento will have two top-10 picks it badly needs to nail to rejuvenate the franchise post-Boogie.

Isaac would be a great start. The 6’11 wing has quick feet and a developing three-point stroke. He projects as a super role player with the potential to grow into something even more.

8. Minnesota Timberwolves - Lauri Markkanen, PF, Arizona

The Wolves have a lottery pick at point guard (two, actually), shooting guard, small forward and center. All they’re missing is a power forward. Markkanen is a 7-footer who doubles as one of the draft’s best shooters. He could provide necessary driving lanes for Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine while Karl-Anthony Towns helps him out on the defensive end.

9. Dallas Mavericks - Malik Monk, G, Kentucky

Monk runs hot and cold, but when he’s on he’s arguably the most electric scorer in this class. His 47-point performance against North Carolina — aided by eight three-pointers — stands out as one of the highlights of the college season. Dallas has plenty of minutes available in the backcourt and could even start to groom Monk as a point guard for down the road.

10. Sacramento Kings - Frank Ntilikina, PG, France

The Kings go to France for an 18-year-old point guard who looks like he could project as a 3-&-D prospect in the vein of George Hill or Patrick Beverley. Pairing him with Isaac in the top-10 would give the Kings length and athleticism at two positions of need.

11. Charlotte Hornets - Miles Bridges, F, Michigan

What is Miles Bridges in the NBA? Is he reliable enough on both ends to be a 3-&-D wing? At 6’6, is he big enough to be a small ball four? Some team in the lottery will look at his elite athleticism and bet he can figure it out either way. Bridges should be one of the best dunkers in the league the minute he enters it.

12. Detroit Pistons - Zach Collins, C, Gonzaga

Collins was thought to be on the fence about returning to school before Gonzaga’s run to the championship game. Now he’s a likely lottery pick if he decides to come out. His six blocks against South Carolina in the Final Four showed his defensive potential. On offense, he’s a developing shooter and capable post scorer.

13. Denver Nuggets - OG Anunoby, SF, Indiana

It’s going to take a leap of faith for someone to draft OG Anunoby after his ACL tear in January. The Nuggets are in prime position to make it. Denver drafted a pair of scoring guards last year in Jamal Murray and Malik Beasley. They have a superstar at center in Nikola Jokic. What Denver needs now is a versatile athlete who can defend multiple positions and cover up mistakes. Anunoby could be that type of player.

14. Miami Heat - Harry Giles, C, Duke

The Heat’s training staff is one of the best in the league. That could make them willing to roll the dice on Giles, the former top recruit who was slowed down by repeated knee injuries in his one year at Duke. If Giles can stay healthy, he could be a major steal at this point in the draft.

15. Chicago Bulls - Justin Jackson, SF, North Carolina

Jackson fits the mold of the type of player the Bulls like. He’s a college veteran who grew as a shooter in his junior year and was the catalyst for North Carolina’s run to the national championship. He’ll need to prove his three-point shot is for real and that he can defend stronger, more athletic wings at the next level.

16. Portland Trail Blazers - Kostja Mushidi, SG, Belgium

Mushidi looked great at the Nike Hoop Summit last week, lighting it up from three-point range and showing an ability to create off the dribble. It seems like there’s a top pick from Mega Leks every year and he gets the honor in this draft.

17. Indiana Pacers - Terrance Ferguson, SG, Adelaide (NBL)

Ferguson had a rough year playing professionally in Australia, but he’ll get drafted somewhere around here because of his athleticism and shooting ability. T-Ferg hit 7-of-11 threes in last year’s Nike Hoop Summit and can also windmill from the free throw line. Here’s proof:

18. Milwaukee Bucks - D.J. Wilson, PF/C, Michigan

No one has Wilson rated this highly, but that didn’t stop the Bucks from drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo and Thon Maker. At 6’10, 240 pounds, Wilson hit 41 threes (at 37.5 percent) and blocked 51 shots for Michigan as a junior. If Milwaukee is looking for an insurance policy for Jabari Parker, Wilson might be worth a shot.

19. Atlanta Hawks - Jarrett Allen, C, Texas

The Hawks are in prime position to develop a young center with Dwight Howard having two years left on his contract. Jarrett Allen gets the edge here over Creighton’s Justin Patton and Wake Forest’s John Collins because he projects as the best two-way player of the three. Allen is raw, but it’s hard to find a young big man with his combination of quickness and length.

20. Portland Trail Blazers - Isaiah Hartenstein, PF/C, Germany

NBA scouts got a good look at Hartenstein at last week’s Nike Hoop Summit, where he finished with 10 points in the game. He’s a big body with a developing face-up game.

21. Oklahoma City Thunder - John Collins, PF/C, Wake Forest

Collins is a super efficient scorer around the rim who could give the Thunder a cheaper alternative to Enes Kanter.

22. Brooklyn Nets - Ivan Rabb, PF, Cal

Rabb was supposed to be one of the best players in the country as a sophomore. Instead, his numbers barely rose from his freshman year while his shooting percentage tanked. It’s hard to know what to make of him in this draft, but a spot in the 20s feels fair.

23. Utah Jazz - Donovan Mitchell, SG, Louisville

Mitchell has one of the most difficult stay-or-go decisions in this draft. If he comes back, Louisville could be the preseason No. 1 with championship aspirations. NBA teams might fall in love with his athleticism at the draft combine, too. This is one to monitor.

24. Toronto Raptors - Rodions Kurucs, SG, Barcelona II

A draft-and-stash option who could potentially turn into a 6’8 wing shooter.

25. Orlando Magic - Luke Kennard, SG, Duke

When everyone expected Grayson Allen to be the best player in America, he wasn’t even the best shooting guard on his team. Kennard is an assassin scorer who will find a role in the league as a shooter.

26. Brooklyn Nets - Monte Morris, PG, Iowa State

The Assist-to-Turnover Ratio Gawd was a beloved figure in college basketball. Nets fans should like him, too.

27. Portland Trail Blazers - T.J. Leaf, PF, UCLA

Lonzo Ball got all of the attention for UCLA this year, but Leaf quietly led the Bruins in scoring. Portland could use a front court shooter.

28. Los Angeles Lakers - Tyler Lydon, PF, Syracuse

Lydon can really shoot the ball and he’s also a feisty rebounder. The sophomore would be a good value in this spot.

29. San Antonio Spurs - Justin Patton, C, Creighton

Patton is late blooming center who turned into a potential first rounder after a redshirt season. He moves well for a big man and should make defense his calling-card.

30. Utah Jazz - Bonzie Colson, PF, Notre Dame

Colson makes up for his lack of height (6’5) with a 7-foot wingspan and 43 percent shooting from deep. He’s a high IQ player who dominated the ACC this year. It wouldn’t surprise anyone who watched him at Notre Dame if he carved out a role in the league.