#in my defense though. this one had a deadline so it got top priority

[altruistic-meme]

when i finally give it to my coworker, then I will post finished photos and progress photos 🫡 but as of right now there is the chance that i may try and get to the finish i wanted it to have if i don't work tonight soyou must wait.

IM DONE IM FINISHED IM AT AN ACCEPTABLE STOPPING POINT

[savage-rhi]

Sky of Atoms: Death Stranding Fanfic Ch. 5

GENE 3.0

“C’mon Dawkins, keep it up!” Gene heard one of her coworkers shout towards her as she began loading more scraps into the incinerator. Bits of cargo and packages that couldn’t be recycled had a first class ride to hell itself at Brisk HARPY. Gene was sweating like she had been trapped in a sauna for hours, minus feeling refreshed and restored after the fact. She stopped briefly, wiping off the sweat that creased into her brow before shoveling another large pile into the open flames. Gene hated it when she got recycling duty. Sure, she could do the work no problem but that didn’t mean she enjoyed it. Not to mention she was getting fed up with her partner Ned for not picking up the pace and leaving most of his part for Gene to take care of while the bastard was on lunch. Unfortunately for Gene, automation wasn’t accessible for this kind of work at Brisk HARPY. 

Gene recalled the UCA making up some sort of excuse, couldn’t risk putting expensive equipment out in the West yet due to the high amount of colonies and drifters who could potentially steal it all. That’s why it was important to keep getting more groups to join the cause, so people would have access to technology that was very much limited to the East Coast.

Gene was beginning to have a groove going on regardless of how much she hated this part of the job. The trap like beat playing above the speakers in the incinerator chambers kept her moving. This genre of music was old, but her ears could stomach it compared to most crud her coworkers insisted on playing. Occasionally she whistled to the song as the lyrics would come soon joined by a small chorus of her coworkers doing the same thing as they piled more heaps of metal into the pits. It wasn’t all that bad when people actually did their job and didn’t throw it onto another.

“Dawkins!” Gene’s head rose up as she adjusted the straps of her tank top, making sure to keep the protective pads secure so the flames wouldn’t melt her clothes off. She looked up at her boss--Stark, and let out a puff.

“Yeah? I’m kind of busy here!” She said as a matter of fact before Stark gestured her for her to get a move on and meet with him in person. Gene took off her gloves, tossing them near the locker units for someone else to deal with before letting an older coworker know she wouldn’t be able to finish the job. Usually when Stark showed up, one of two things would happen: he either had a job for you, or he was about to chew your ass out. In Gene’s case, she wouldn’t be surprised if she got both handed to her.

Brisk HARPY paid good, but management could’ve been better in Gene’s eyes. Sometimes she couldn’t blame Stark for being pissed off most days. The UCA had some unrealistic expectations and deadlines for Brisk HARPY compared to the likes of Bridges and their co-partners Fragile Express. It was enough to turn anyone into an asshole twenty four seven regardless of professionalism.

“Good news Dawkins, your numbers are looking good.” Stark started off as he lead Gene into his office space, taking a seat and gesturing for her to do the same across from his desk.

“What’s the bad news then?” Gene asked, bracing herself as Stark raised a brow at her like she was a petulant idiot.

“Wow, you’re really pessimistic you know that? I don’t always bitch you out.”

“So I’ve been told many times, and yeah, you kinda do.” Gene said matter of fact.

“I didn’t call you to rip your asshole a new one. Not this time at least. I got another delivery job for you, its UCA top priority.” Stark said as he began messing around with his cuff link, going through some paperwork before he sent it over to Gene and then gestured for her to check it out. Gene went through the motions, fingers tapping away as she looked over the details. Occasionally, her eyes widened seeing how much red tape was in this delivery.

“What do you say, you up for it?” Stark asked, snapping Genes attention back to her boss.

“Yeah, it’s damn good pay. Long trip though. I’m gonna need to pack and need any porters heading back west to restock the safe houses to the best of their ability.”

“You know that’s not always a guarantee, but I’ll put the word out.” Stark said which Gene appreciated. Despite him being a callous jerk most times, he did have his moments where he could be understanding. Stark had been part of the porter industry ever since it first got started. Once upon a time, he was running around much like Gene was, trying to make people’s lives easier delivering goods and getting paid handsomely. The years of endurance could visibly be seen on him along with the hardships he endured. Despite being in his late fifties, he was in good shape save for the many scars and old bullet holes that littered his arms and face that told many stories. He had his share with death on the job lord knows how many times. Lost count, if Gene recalled correctly when Stark was pressed to answer one day by another associate. Stark was under the belief that most porters were getting too ‘cozy’ now in terms of their work, being too trusting of folks after the UCA was fully established along with the chiral network. Gene agreed with him to an extent, but he was older and a bit out with the times. Things were getting better in the world since the BTs left. He seemed stuck in the past.

“Not for nothing, but do you know what exactly I’m going to be delivering?” Gene asked curiously as Stark grunted, giving a shrug of his shoulders.

“I have no fucking clue kid,” he said and took out a cigarette, lighting it up with one of his mechanical fingers on his cybernetic right hand, giving a few puffs before continuing. “UCA sends their shit down the grape vine, you poor souls end up with what I got. Make sure you’re well prepped and don’t be getting your foot nearly hacked this time. You saw the paperwork, can’t afford the likes of MULE’s or god knows who to snatch this off of you. It’s literally my ass, whether you make it back alive or not and I’m not in the mood for the UCA to potentially charge me in the courts cause you fucked up.”

“If you don’t have that much faith in me, then why assign me the job?” Gene asked, her tone somewhat defensive as Stark once again grunted after taking a drag from his cigarette. The bitter smoke flew into Gene’s nostrils as she adjusted in the seat to avoid getting hit with the brunt of the smell.

“Because you’re the only competent porter I can think of at Brisk HARPY. Even though you’re late on delivery more so than most dumbshits here, your records a clean slate. I know you wouldn’t meddle with whatever the hell the UCA needs sent to that particular colony. You’re good at long stretches too. I estimate you being out in the field for three weeks at most unless you bump into trouble. I don’t normally say this, but take your damn time and make sure no one or anything gets near the package.” Stark gestured his cigarette at Gene almost as if it were a stick and he’d hit her upside the head if she said anything otherwise. Gene merely nodded and got up from the seat, ready to go back to the grind at the incinerator chambers.

“There anything else I need to know, Stark?” She asked.

“Yeah, on the way to the UCA client you got a couple deliveries. I’ll patch them to you on your cuff link. You should get cleaned up, get some rest and be ready to head out on the double. No lollygagging. Move your ass Dawkins.”

Gene snorted, letting out a small laugh at Stark’s jerk off streak then left the office. The first matter Gene took care of was getting some grub after working recycling for most of the day. Brisk HARPY was connected to a colony-state via underground networks and such. The facility housed up to two thousand people. A quarter working for Brisk HARPY while the others worked with the UCA or general labor. Gene liked how large the communal cafeteria was.

There were over four hundred people currently occupying the space. Some enjoying coffee and fruits grown by the nearby city, and others bullshitting about their jobs and family life. Most people came to Brisk HARPY for work, so it was interesting for Gene to see families actually living here. Many were displaced because of the terrorist acts Homo Demens carried out within the last two years. Brisk HARPY’s facility was one of the safest in the Western part of the UCA in terms of keeping terrible folks out. The place was fortified to the point where launching a bomb wouldn’t do shit to the structure or stability of the establishment. It was no wonder families were beginning to seek residence here, but that meant trying to find some way to incorporate them into the culture. Most folks in the Brisk HARPY sector had no family and had no intentions of creating one. Hell, some of her coworkers purposefully chose to work for Brisk HARPY because they wouldn’t have to be in the presence of kids in particular. Gene lost count how many folks called the children around the place crotch goblins among other unique nicknames. She was indifferent to children, not exactly maternal but understood it wasn’t the kids fault they had to live here and so Gene treated them like any normal person unlike some of her own coworkers.

Gene went through the cafeteria line, settling for some slices of bacon and a huge portion of potatoes. It had been a month since she had either. Slowly as people began to reclaim land and such, growing things like potatoes and having tech to produce genuine bacon was gaining traction. Foods that were thought to be long lost due to the Death Stranding were coming back.

A couple of the older kids living in the facility came by, high fiving Gene and greeting her as she took her tray over to a small table nearby a screen overhead that went off about the weather and the latest sightings of Homo Demen’s and MULEs. Occasionally, there would be some product placement and commercials from other carriers trying to get Brisk HARPY employees to seek greener pastures, but most folks were in it for the long haul. Good luck trying to get a lot of the geezers to quit. Gene thought to herself as she started gorging herself on the mashed potatoes. The aroma made her stomach ache as she consumed the meal. Gene hadn’t eaten in two days, so this was much needed. Sometimes working the incinerator chambers didn’t leave much time to take a break as there was a lot to melt down due to parts not being recyclable.

As another infomercial about Homo Demens came up, Gene’s mind began to wander while she ate. She thought about Higgs. He hadn’t sent word or anything for over three weeks. She was beginning to think maybe he made up the pizza request just to get her to shut up and take off. It seemed in character enough for him, though like she had told Higgs earlier, Gene was beginning to feel guilty for not returning the favor. He saved her twice. She didn’t like needing to be rescued by anyone, but the few times it happened on the job, she always made sure to pay it forward and then some. Gene felt like she cheated Higgs out of something.

“Seriously I shouldn’t give two shits.” Gene said to herself as she began scarfing down the bacon on her tray. Her mind drifting further to what happened weeks ago. Gene’s foot was healed, but her upper left eyebrow was still healing from the various punches David had given her. It still stung from time to time if she moved her eyebrows a lot. Gene was worried she had resting bitch face often due to it.

“How did he know David?” Gene said aloud to herself, recalling the strange interaction Higgs had with the Homo Demens member. Had Higgs been a terrorist before? No, the man was a bit of an ass but Gene didn’t think he had it in him. Higgs seemed to have knowledge of the porter life, so maybe he had done jobs for them. Many porters were well known for dealing under the table, especially if their main employers were not supplying a sufficient income. Some didn’t care who they worked for, so long as they got their money at the end of the day. Gene herself had done similar side gigs when it got difficult to take care of herself, but there were certain lines a porter doesn’t cross. Terrorism being a huge one.

“Hm?” Gene quirked up, seeing her cuff link was buzzing and she quickly opened up the screen. There was a new message in her inbox. She shifted through most of her junk mail, going to the new email.

Chikadee--

That foot of yours fell off yet? Time to pay your savior. Coordinates to my terminal are 30-25-351-201. Bring me nothing but the best. Extra cheesy for old time's sake. 👍🏻

“Speak of the devil,” Gene said as she shook her head, letting out a tired laugh. She wondered how Higgs managed to track her IP on the cuff link. The cuff links could work long distances, but at Brisk HARPY due to MULE’s hacking to track package routes, it was nearly impossible to break the code. Regardless of the uneasiness she felt towards Higgs, a deal was a deal. She was looking forward to getting her debt to him paid off so she could move on. Gene began to input the coordinates, noticing that the way they were encrypted guaranteed that Brisk HARPY couldn’t track it. She furrowed her brows, feeling a slight sting on the cut above her eyebrows. She rubbed it as the healing wound began to itch while trying to make out how far he was. Fortunately enough, Higgs was close enough to her UCA route. Gene could easily make her small deliveries and then pay him a visit before moving on with the top priority package. Piece of cake. Gene felt confident she had this in a bag. Now came the hard part as she shut off her inbox: what in the hell did a guy like Higgs love to drink alcohol wise? Her eyes widened slightly, feeling a bit nervous at this task. He requested alcohol, but never specified the type or brand. Same with the pizza minus the extra cheesy bit he left in the message. Gene searched her memory, recalling he said something along the lines of he would have whatever she was into. She wasn’t sure if it was some sort of power trip thing or if he was legitimately curious as to what she liked. Not to mention ordering pizza through a porter when he could have had something more expensive in exchange for saving her butt caught Gene off guard. Higgs was an odd one.

The days came and went, and Gene got done with her small deliveries save for the UCA package and Higgs’s odd request. The parcels of medicine that needed to be distributed to a nearby settlement was easy enough. Only thing that bugged Gene about that experience was the guy that worked for another small porter company trying to recruit her. The guy was like a pop up add in human form, wouldn’t shut up.

Gene had to scale a tall mountain pass to get to Higg’s base. She cursed him for it a few times, nearly falling more than she could count. Gene pat herself on the back for bringing extra security for the packages. At this point, if she hadn’t done it, the pizza Higgs wanted would be as good as gone, tumbling down some cliff and into a crevice by now with how much she lost her grip. Upon reaching the summit, Gene found herself having to climb down a ways, getting back to flat earth and about one hundred and twenty yards away, she could see the signature terminal and entry point into a facility up ahead.

When Gene arrived, she paused to get a good look at the place. It looked abandoned. There were scraps of metal and other mechanical bits scattered around. Some weird looking eyes and scarabs made from various broken parts of machinery decorated the outer part of the building, giving the ruined facility a persona of its own.

“Didn’t take the asshole for being an artist.” Gene said aloud, finding some of the weird sculptures Higgs seemingly made to be cool in their own right. He had a lot of time on his hands given how intricate and detailed some of the pieces were. She even bent down to check out one small sculpture that looked like an ankh. Gene wasn’t familiar with Egyptology, but knew enough to know what it was. She was beginning to wonder if maybe Higgs was a cultist. The few she met seemed to latch onto ancient cultures, Chinese, Egyptian, or what have you and latched onto their beliefs like it was a holy scripture.

“God I hope he’s not really like that.” Gene muttered under her breath, recalling the last time she made a delivery run for a cultist that it ended poorly. She was given a low score to Brisk HARPY because she didn’t want to hear for three hours why some spaghetti monster was going to descend from the heavens and save everybody. Stark chewed her out for it. Apparently spaghetti monster man, as Gene liked to call him, was a top paying client and he threatened to cut ties with Brisk HARPY and move to Fragile Express.  Humans were fruitcakes, the lot of them in Gene’s opinion, but said fruitcakes paid the bills.

Finally going to the terminal to deliver the goods, Gene was a little perplexed at the machinery. The tech was a little outdated, but once she figured out how to insert her key card into the system, it began to boot up. She put the pizza and the canister carrying the alcohol on a conveyor belt watching as the machinery took it behind the walls of the bunker. Gene waited patiently for Higgs to pop up and say something through the hologram projector. Nothing came of it. She raised a brow, scanning where Higgs should have been up and down. Suddenly a ringing pierced her ears, causing Gene to nearly screech as she covered them and a weird chipper voice began to speak.

“H-hey this is Peter Englert. Who is this speaking?”

What the actual fuck? Gene thought to herself as she put her hands down and looked around. Wondering if this was some kind of joke.

“You still there?” The nervous light heart voice asked once more.

“Higgs? It’s me, Gene. Your pizza and the alcohol you wanted is here. Nothing damaged.”

There was no response. No response for three minutes straight. Gene was beginning to feel odd and slowly began to walk backwards, intending on making a beeline out of the terminal area and back up the mountain and over the pass. She stopped when suddenly the door behind the terminal opened and Higgs stepped out. He was dressed casually, looking like he just stepped out of a shower given how his hair was slicked back and the scruffy beard he once had was trimmed down to almost nothing save for some little bits here and there.

Maybe I was too rough with the neanderthal comments. Gene thought then raised a brow as Higgs smiled at her. There was no malice in it, for once.

“Took a little longer than I expected. Figures with rookies.” Higgs said with a laugh as Gene tried to restrain herself from rushing up and slam dunking his face into the ground for the comment.

“You have any idea what I had to do to make sure this delivery was off the books?” Gene spat, earning an amused chuckle from Higgs.

“I’m sure it cost you an arm and a leg maybe even a foot,” he said, tone teetering on the edge of teasing as Gene realized it was an offhand comment about her foot injury from before given the sarcasm that dripped from his tongue.

“Har, har. Look I gotta run. We’re square now, so will you leave me a review, and pay my employer so I can get this show on the road?”

“Gee let me think,” Higgs rubbed his chin, looking as if he were trying to solve some great puzzle before his gaze fell back onto Gene, lips curving into a signature smirk. “No.” He said playfully.

This was going to be a hell of a night. Gene thought to herself, wondering exactly what Higgs had in store.

Tagging:  @kusooi​

[tkmedia]

Bradley Beal discusses Wizards' future, playing for Team USA and being called 'thick' by Gregg Popovich

Getty Images Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal won't get much of a break from basketball this offseason. Just a few weeks after his Wizards were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, Beal had to report to Las Vegas for training camp with Team USA ahead of the Olympics in Tokyo. The Olympics run through early August, and at that point, Beal will have just a few more weeks before training camp for the 2020-21 NBA season gets underway. That's not much down time, but luckily Beal loves to ball. Despite his busy offseason schedule, the three-time All-Star found a few minutes to speak with CBS Sports about what it means to play for Team USA, what the Wizards need to do to take a step forward next season and several other topics ... including his new protein shake. Check out the full interview below.  Please check the opt-in box to acknowledge that you would like to subscribe. Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. Sorry! There was an error processing your subscription. CBS Sports: I wanted to start off by asking you about your partnership with Rockin' Protein. How did that come about and why did you feel like it was a good fit for you personally? Bradley Beal: My team at Priority Sports brought the opportunity to me. Rockin' Protein has been a fabulous company to work with athletes. I'm always big on researching the brands and making sure that they're the right fit, because there's so many of them out there that, you know, it's very hard to choose from. I was very thrilled that they were interested in me. And it was a genuine partnership. And more than anything, their product -- they stand behind it, and I do, too. They don't just make up words. It's truly very tasteful, and it's high quality protein. Plus, it's made with real milk. Not a lot of products are made with real milk. So, I value that what we put into our bodies. As athletes, it's important. I take my training seriously, and recovery is very important. CBS: What's your go-to flavor?Beal: My go-to is the protein builder, vanilla flavor. They have vanilla, chocolate, and I think strawberry. I'm a big fan of it.CBS: Sounds good, I'll have to check it out. In the meantime, I want to switch over to the court for a few minutes. You're in the middle of training camp in Las Vegas with Team USA. What has that experience been like for you so far? And what does it mean to you to represent the United States on the world stage? Beal: To represent the country, it's a blessing. It's an honor. It's something that you don't take for granted. Not a lot of guys in the league get this opportunity. We all know that. So, you embrace it. You understand that the U.S. wants you to win, and everyone else wants you to lose. We didn't live up to what we wanted to a few years ago , and so now we have an opportunity to get back what's rightfully ours.  For me, when the opportunity came and presented itself, and Jerry Colangelo called me, I was thrilled. I was shocked in a lot of ways. I was just happy. I got the blessing for my family to go ahead and go and represent everybody, so it's amazing to be here in Vegas, get acclimated with the guys. The training has been crazy intense, every single day. So, it's been real. The reason why we are going as hard as we are, man, we're trying to get that gold . CBS: Was it an easy decision for you when the time came to play in the Olympics, or was it something you had to think about a bit? Other players had some understandable reservations with the short offseason and the condensed season. After all, your season with the Wizards just ended a few weeks ago.Beal: Yes and no. Like I said earlier, I'm very meticulous about my training. It's always been the same the past few offseasons. I usually take like a month, or two, off and really rest my body because I'm playing a lot of minutes during the year. So that did weigh into the decision, but, ultimately, this has always been my dream.  I've always been a part of USA basketball, and I didn't get to go to the World Cup in 2019 because of the birth of my son. And then now this decision wasn't easy either because I actually missed one of my older brother's weddings. So, I actually had to make sure I got his blessing or permission to make sure it was cool, because I wouldn't have gone if he said no. So, I'm happy about my sister-in-law and him really blessing me. My wife and my kids, also, because they can't go. So, for everybody to kind of sign off on it was the ultimate icing on the cake. In the back of my head I always knew that this was what I wanted to do. CBS: Luka Doncic recently said that winning a gold medal for Slovenia would mean more to him than winning an NBA title. Do you feel similarly about that?Beal: In his shoes, 100 percent. This is Slovenia's first time in the Olympics, right? So, that's huge. He's representing his whole country. Dallas is a city. People are fans of the city, but he's repping his whole country. He's putting them on his back. At the same time, hell, I'm gonna feel the same way because I haven't won anything. So for me, this is big ... This is the big boys. This is the big brother. So I embrace this stage and our goal is to win a gold medal. So, I want to have some hardware to say I'm proud of, too.  CBS: Let's shift over to the NBA. From a player's perspective, how nice is it going to be to go into a relatively normal season with a full training camp and fans after two straight seasons that were anything but normal?  Beal: I think it will be great. It'll be really good. We'll get back onto our regular track with scheduling and the season. Hopefully we still have fans in the arenas like we did at the end of the year. So, I'm definitely excited about it. We have a few moves we have to make in the offseason before we get to that point, but I'm excited about the year, man. Guys will be back healthy. Around the league everybody's going to come back ready to go, because I'm sure everybody wasn't satisfied with how their seasons ended. Everybody probably didn't expect Phoenix to do what they did and look at them. So, that's amazing in itself. So everybody's going to come back hungry next season.CBS: The Wizards were hit hard with injury and COVID issues early in the season, and as a result the team got off to a slow start. But, you were able to turn it around and make it to the postseason. Looking back on the season, is it disappointing because you weren't able to advance further, or is it a situation where you can be proud of all that you overcame as a team? Beal: It's tough because I'm a harsh critic. I like to look at it from the point of view of we could have been better, and we should have been way better than we were. And we know that. Everybody knows that. So it's like, yeah we can be proud of what we did, but we know we kind of dug ourselves a hole at the beginning of the year, granted COVID hit our team very hard. But at the same time we still could have been better than what we were. Then something clicked for us and we figured it out at the end of the year and we showed our hunger. We showed that we can compete. We showed that we were a playoff team. But we only won one game , so we have to be better. We still got a lot of room to grow and improve and be better. Understanding that it's hard to win in this league, and once you get to the playoffs it's even that much tougher. So, it's just motivational, obviously, to come back better and stronger. CBS: Speaking of that, what do you think you guys need to do moving forward to take that next step that you just alluded to? Obviously you need to name a new head coach. Other than that, is it just a matter of health?  Beal: Obviously we need a coach, we have to find the right guy for the job and go from there. Build the team up through the draft, free agency, everything moving forward. We need better shooting. I have to shoot better. I think we got the size. We acquired Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline and he's been a tremendous help for us. We get Thomas Bryant back next season, Rui is going to continue to improve. Deni 's rehab has been going great, and he'll continue to get better and improve his game, too. So the pieces are there. Obviously we still need to plug in some defensive guys, some athletic wings, guys who can shoot the 3, and I think we'll be better. I think we'll be better. CBS: You guys lost to the top-seeded 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. After playing against them, were you surprised to see how they struggled and ultimately lost to the Hawks, or did you sense that maybe they were vulnerable?Beal: Obviously when Joel got hurt, that was the game that we ended up winning. And we felt like we should have won the next game, but they just wanted it a little bit more than we did. And Joel didn't even play that game. But at the same time we kind of exposed the move of fouling Ben , putting him on the line a few times. Granted, I think in our series he actually made a few. So, we had to go away from that instead of just giving away free points. But they were two totally different series, two totally different teams. Ben was more or less aggressive in our series, the first couple games, and then it kind of died down and trickled down from there. Atlanta was a good team, too. They played hard. They have a lot of young pieces over there who are really versatile. They're not just a one-dimensional team. It was very tough. Joel had to do a lot.  CBS: We saved the most important question for last. What did it feel like to get called "thick" by Gregg Popovich?Beal: Oh, man. The world has been whopping my ass about that. It's cool, though, I understand what he meant by it. I didn't take it the wrong way. It was a funny moment for sure.  Read the full article

[bongaboi]

Tampa Bay Lightning: 2020 Stanley Cup Champions

After last season's shocking first round sweep and playoff exit, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois knew some changes had to made in order to have a better result the next time his team qualified for the postseason.

BriseBois didn't want to blow up the core of the team that had been in place for a number of seasons. And changes to the coaching staff didn't make sense either.

Instead, BriseBois identified three areas his team would have to get better in order to achieve their ultimate goal of lifting the Stanley Cup.

The Lightning needed to reduce the number of quality chances against. That meant, protecting the slot more robustly and reducing the number of minor penalties the team took.

They needed to battle harder and be more physical, whether by having more of a net-front presence or winning more puck battles.

And, finally, they needed to manage the game better.

"And we did that," BriseBois said. "And because we did, we were a better team."

The Lightning made additions during the offseason to achieve their goals. They brought in Curtis McElhinney to be the backup goaltender even though they had a backup goalie on the roster in Louis Domingue because McElhinney gave them cost certainty at the position for two seasons with a salary cap crunch looming. They added Luke Schenn and Kevin Shattenkirk to their blueline. Schenn provided a veteran, physical presence that proved particularly effective in playoff series against Boston and the New York Islanders. Shattenkirk fell into the Lightning's lap after his contract was bought out by the New York Rangers. He partnered well with Mikhail Sergachev and aided in the youngster's development as a standout on the blueline. He also gave the Lightning some scoring punch and was invaluable in the locker room.

And at forward, the Lightning brought in Pat Maroon, who won a Stanley Cup the previous season with his hometown St. Louis Blues and knew what it took to manage the ups and downs of an extended playoff run.

"Both Kevin and Pat Maroon we signed with them bringing some leadership to our group in mind," BriseBois said. "They still both managed to exceed my expectations in terms of how much they brought to our locker room, how much they brought to our team both on and off the ice. Not that my expectations were low, they still found a way to manage to exceed my expectations. They were key contributors to our team, and they may have been exactly what we needed. It's nice when things work out."

The 2019-20 regular season certainly didn't go off without a hitch. The Lightning slogged their way through the first two months of the season. By mid-December, they were well out of a playoff spot and sixth in the Atlantic Division behind teams like Florida, Montreal and Buffalo.

But from December 23 through February 17, when the team capped a franchise record 11-game win streak with a 4-3 overtime victory in Colorado, the Lightning went 23-2-1, moved to within a point of the Boston Bruins for first place overall in the NHL and firmly established themselves as a playoff team and a top contender for the Stanley Cup.

More than that, however, the aspects of their game BriseBois laid out at the beginning of the season the Lightning would need to be successful come playoff time came to fruition. Over a stretch from the beginning of the 2020 calendar year to that win in Denver, the Lightning didn't allow more than three goals in a single contest and became one of the League's best teams defensively and in managing the puck, their 1.77 goals against average over that stretch tops in the League.

"All in all, we had a good team, and the numbers kind of support that," BriseBois said.

At the trade deadline, BriseBois had an opportunity to upgrade his already dangerous team. He identified a need for a couple of forwards that could fit into their top nine. And he needed another right-shot defenseman, especially with long-term injuries to Jan Rutta and Ryan McDonagh.

"I thought we could really benefit from adding two forwards that were going to be hard to play against, bring some size, bring some snarl, some sandpaper," BriseBois said. "And we were really good defensively. We're trying to improve our team defensively at that point and be harder to play against."

The Lightning traded for Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow to augment the forward group. The price to acquire them was steep - collectively, the Lightning gave up two first round draft picks in 2020 and prized prospect Nolan Foote - but BriseBois said he couldn't pass up the opportunity to add two players who could step into the lineup immediately and make an impact at the expense of future assets that might or might not pan out on the NHL level.

"My mindset at that point was to be very aggressive in the pursuit of the pieces that I believed could give us a strong push forward," BriseBois said. "It wasn't just about adding depth to our team, it was about making our team better, all the while keeping an eye on next season and trying to make sure that we remain a competitive team year in and year out. We were also looking at players that we could potentially add to our group that had good contracts going forward and that made adding Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow all the more attractive to us."

And with Bogosian, the Lightning were looking to bring in a right-shot defenseman anyway, and when the veteran defenseman in his 12th season in the league became available after having his contract terminated by Buffalo, he became the best option.

Plus, as a free agent, he didn't require the forfeiture of any assets to get him, and the Lightning had enough room under the cap to sign him.

"Picking up Zach Bogosian certainly ended up being a key decision I think in our success because he was an important player for us on the ice," BriseBois said.

Once the new additions joined the team, the Lightning's play dipped a bit as they worked to integrate the pieces into their puzzle. But that's where the four-month pause might have benefited the Lightning more than any other team because they were able to assimilate the new players into the group during the down time and then they were basically able to have a training camp with the team during the two-week camp before the team left for the bubble in Toronto.

"I have to give credit to our players, their commitment to winning this season, it never waned," BriseBois said. "I was continually in touch with them (during the pause). They were continuously in touch with our director of sport performance Mark Lambert, and they stayed on top of their conditioning. They also did a great job staying at home and eliminating their risk of getting the COVID virus."

Once in the playoffs, the Lightning quickly established themselves as the tournament's most dominant team. The five overtime win in Game 1 of the First Round versus Columbus was a breakthrough for the team, giving them confidence after what happened against the same team the year prior. And then the Bolts got better and better as the playoffs moved along, overcoming injuries and bad bounces to lift the Cup at the end following a six-game series against the Dallas Stars in the Cup Final, the culmination of over two months inside the bubble in what could arguably be considered the most difficult Stanley Cup Playoffs ever contested.

"I am in awe of what our guys accomplished. I am in awe of how deep they had to dig physically and mentally in order for us to fly back to Tampa with the Cup," BriseBois said. "It was, being able to witness it up close, it was awesome, it was awe-inspiring, it was just so incredible what they did. I'm going to get my name engraved on the Stanley Cup and I was honored to be nominated for GM of the year, but that has a lot more to do with the work of our players, the work and the sacrifices of our players and our staff and our coaches then it does with me. I am truly appreciative and grateful for everything that they've done. It is not lost on me that I am the beneficiary of all their hard work and sacrifices. And now as (Lightning head coach Jon Cooper) says, we get to walk together forever as the 2020 Stanley Cup champions."

Now that the season is over, the reality is the team the Lightning put on the ice in Game 6 against Dallas will be different from the one that begins the 2020-21 regular season, whenever that is. A flat salary cap and a number of players either beginning new contracts next season or coming off entry-level contracts and due a raise means that some key members of the team's core will probably have to move on this offseason.

"Even though I would like to bring this whole group back together so we could try to defend our championship and that would be my preference if I got to choose what I would want to do is bring everyone back as is and we try to defend our title, the reality is I can't do that," BriseBois said. "The cap just doesn't allow that to happen. It never does for any team. There's always some turnover, and this year the turnover is going to require that some of our players that have been here for a while and just helped us win a championship aren't going to be returning."

BriseBois said signing Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak to new contracts is a priority. All three of those players are coming off their entry-level deals.

"(They) haven't really entered their prime yet, and they're going to allow us to continue to be a good team going forward for many years," BriseBois said.

BriseBois said he doesn't expect to have to buy out anyone's contract. And he has an ongoing dialogue with players to keep them in the loop about what or when decisions will be made.

"I think it's important for everyone to get a chance to properly celebrate this championship as a team with their teammates," BriseBois said. "I wish I didn't have to have the types of conversations I'm going to have to have as soon as I will. But it's just the reality of our business. Ultimately, it's in their best interest too. The sooner they know, the better for them as well."

As for Steven Stamkos, the Lightning captain played just one game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that coming in Game 3 of the Cup Final when he scored a goal on his third shift of the game and first shot but wasn't able to continue after 2:47 of ice time, forever immortalizing himself in Cup lore for his effort in an abbreviated appearance.

BriseBois said Stamkos had sports hernia surgery on March 2 and was progressing well through Phase 2 of the team's return to play but suffered a new injury where his body was overcompensating for the sports hernia, which is why he wasn't able to play until so late in the playoffs and then for only such a short amount of time.

But BriseBois reiterated Stamkos is not expected to miss the start of next season's training camp and should be fully recovered once that starts.

"The whole pandemic certainly didn't help his cause because it was hard to, you couldn't send him anywhere to go see specialists," BriseBois said. "If he goes out of the bubble, now he's got to quarantine again. What's the trade off? He wants to be around the team. We want him around the team. It certainly complicated matters, and I will know more next week (when Stamkos sees a specialist)…But we're talking about weeks of rehab and not months of rehab, and we fully expect him to be ready for the start of training camp whenever that will be."

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 44 - STL - Boring Hockey

5-1 Loss

For fear of plagiarizing the great Chad DeDominicis I’m going to start out by prefacing this with go read that article. I’m referring to Chad’s recent article on DieByTheBlade: “Boring Hockey may be the Sabres temporary path to success”. In it Sabres Twitter’s Tom Hanks lays out how the injuries of Jeff Skinner and Victor Olofsson among others puts us in a place where we’ll have to hunker down and just get results in some ugly ones if the Buffalo Sabres hope to remain in the playoff race. I won’t be going into greater depth on Chad’s piece, go read it. The thing boring, defensive hockey can get us is hope for a Buffalo Sabres roster that has been somewhat neglected, perhaps for the purposes of summer aspirations that will not help right now. They’re one hot streak away at the moment. Well the formerly nearby Atlantic Division spots are now 9 points off at the closest, the wildcard spots have gotten closer. The Sabres are six points back today from the second wildcard. That spot was six points further off than the last Atlantic Division slot this time last month. The playoff ship hasn’t sailed yet and Buffalo can still catch it. Roast me all you want; I’m not going to declare this team dead until it’s truly eliminated. I want to have fun watching my sports. The St. Louis Blues are not the best test case for the kind of boring, defensive hockey the Sabres need to play. The two opportunities on the man advantage Buffalo got didn’t land in the third period when the clap-back Sabres arrived only down 4-1. Admittedly the 4-1 Steen goal kinda put it away for me too but resurrecting the powerplay will be something that needs to happen if there will be any meaningful games in February or March. Speaking of special teams a decent penalty kill allowed David Perron to score in the middle of the second, taking away the hope the Eichel goal had provided. Time to reclaim the top 5 penalty kill this team once had. This is starting to sound like a lot of stuff that needs to come together… hmm… I think I see the pessimists point… well anyone let’s get into the game itself.

The Blues immediately had the edge in the first hemming the visitors in their own zone for minutes on end. When Robert Thomas broke the donuts it was not just because Zemgus Girgensons hardly played defense, it was because the Sabres hadn’t really come alive yet. Jack Eichel got a shot off that hit the goal post a couple minutes later, and it began to look like they had come alive. This was Michael Frolik’s first game as a Sabre and although I’d be lying if I said I noticed him all that much in this game another first-time player I did notice. Lawrence Pilut was finally called up and got his first start of the season last night in… *checks notes*… game 44 of the season. If only, oh if only our GM’s fetish for defensive depth had been alleviated earlier, say before the season! Well Pilut got a good shot off all his own and this game looked tight, if just not enough for the Sabres in the first period. Brandon Montour will be criticized for losing an edge at the blueline and allowing a Blues breakaway but even after Tyler Bozak made it 2-0 the Sabres looked alive and kicking. Then the second period gave us another one for the Eichel-Tower. Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Dahlin are listed as assists in this goal but watch the highlight and you can tell this was all Captain Jack. He took the puck all the way around the Blues net back around into the slot and ripped off a snapshot. The puck went in high short side and for a moment it felt like the comeback was on.

Part of this boring hockey thing I mentioned earlier is going to be weathering the storm. That is the Sabres are going to be outshot. Chances are you’re pretty used to it. These games where their outshot they need to keep from getting out of hand. Up until the halfway point of this game I don’t think the Sabres let it get out of hand even though they were being outshot 17-8. Then Perron gets the 3-1 powerplay goal after Rasmus Asplund got called for high sticking and the game starts to sour. They weathered the storm for half the game but like it’s been so clear with this club since October: more help is needed in the top six. The moves that brought Frolik here feel like a step in the right direction but whether this club makes any moves before the trade deadline will have a lot to say about what they’re doing come April. If Frolik is all we’re getting before the deadline I’d feel comfortable saying its over for a playoff spot this year but remember this team got a ten-game winning streak with mostly the same roster in 2018. Don’t count the clap-back Sabres out until the ineffable weight of supporting a club that goes out of its way to not cater to you becomes too much. Okay… the pessimism is definitely getting to me. Back to business: there was a 4-1 goal overturned late in the second but 5:36 into the third Linus Ullmark allowed the roughest one out of him I’ve seen all season. The defense couldn’t stop rapid puck movement and Linus dove out to stop one allowing for a wide-open net. I’m an Ullmark diehard but that was not good goaltending no matter how much the defense botched it. And so this game slipped away, you could sense that concession was a demoralizing one and I think twitter showed as much. This ended 5-1 after Steen put in another one in the last five minutes.

Now a moderately promising two game winning home stand to start the new calendar year has evaporated. The sparks of optimism in that was scant anyway, weighed down by our collective disappointment in a whacky Buffalo Bills playoff loss. I’m not saying Vancouver and Detroit are automatic wins, you can ask Montreal how that worked out for them, but two wins and another trade could probably generate some real optimism. When the team sucks in January it can be very demoralizing considering the post-Christmas blues. Now we also have a good football team that lost so we have to figure out how to deal with those feelings as well. To look back on the playoff hunt for a moment the teams around us are winning while we conceded this one to the Blues; however it’s a gap of points that can be overcome with a little hot streak. Remembering this is the lightest month of Sabres hockey all season its also important to remember the gap will be large as Buffalo will accumulate games in hand during their bye-week later this month. February is full of challenge but loaded with stretches of opportunity as well, particularly if you’re a team cashing in games in hand. I know I’ve taken on the role of annoying optimist but there is just no reason to pronounce this club dead to rights just yet. It feels easy and emotionally safe but we’re still months from the better Spring/Summer sports firing up. I can only entertain myself trading soccer scarves so much before I need some live hockey. Why not ride this optimism ride if all the pessimism one is good for is pouting?

This is the thing about boring hockey. The Sabres are going to be good and when they aren’t in the meantime its tough to continue to put up with games like these. What was that? You’re surprised at the statement the Sabres are going to be good? Well there is something there: in spite of a GM whose signaled heavily making the playoffs this year was never a top priority, an ownership that you could easily make a strong case is indifferent, and a new Head Coach forced to really stretch his motivational muscles and strategic acumen to make what the GM gave him kinda work, this club will be good. We can know that because while they may not being doing what we want right this moment, all the folks I just mentioned have yielded a ton of evidence they are going to do what needs to be done. For example: while we sighed at an ultimately underwhelming Frolik trade over the weekend Insider Trading confirmed Jason Botterill has been aggressively shopping Evan Rodrigues and the other players who want out. There maybe no timetable on that but these trades mean something when they do finally come through. Frolik was rumored for months and now that it finally happened its sent Marco Scandella out of town allowing for Lawrence Pilut to come up and start rehabilitating Rasmus Ristolainen’s image for the trade market. That series of events I believe are fundamentally interconnected and designed to have such an effect. I’m not asking you to have faith: this is sports and ultimately even the teams that win are in a crapshoot, particularly in this league. But when we say Let’s Go Buffalo, let’s say it with some actual belief they will in fact… well… Go! Go and win at some point. I think they will. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Stop saying we’re wasting Jack Eichel’s prime. Yes, we’re wasting Jack Eichel but to say we’re in the midst of his prime is a little much considering he’s 23 and on pace for only his first near-or-above 100-point season. I know this club can be a drag but don’t be a black hole of negativity.

[hatkarate2-blog]

Lukewarm Stove: Yankees Cooling on Machado/Harper? Greinke, Goldschmidt, Gomes, Astros, Cubs Pen, More

Although I’m very sad to hear about Adrian Beltre’s retirement from baseball – seriously, that guy was one of the best *and* most fun to watch players in the game and is a sure-fire Hall of Famer – I am tickled pink by this:

I hope Bartolo Colon – who is six years *older* than Beltre – plays forever and ever and ever. Now let’s talk about some rumors, while keeping tabs on the Cubs possibly picking up an arm from the Padres.

If you didn’t catch the rumor connecting the Cardinals to Paul Goldschmidt this morning, you’ll want to check that post out here. In short, thanks to some expiring contracts and the versatility of Matt Carpenter, the Cardinals might see 2019 as a good time to go all in and Goldschmidt, who’s firmly available, can be a huge part of that.

But they’re obviously not the only team interested, as Ken Rosenthal notes the Astros are also interested. And Jon Heyman recently jumped in suggesting that they might actually be the most logical fit. He also mentions the Red Sox, Phillies, and Brewers, but admits that each team’s existing plans for first base (Mitch Moreland, Rhys Hoskins, and Jesus Aguilar) are likely to stay put. Heyman also suggests that the Cardinals would prefer a left-handed hitter, but, like, I think Goldschmidt is good enough to neuter any lefty/right preferences. Heyman also writes that Zack Greinke is available, but $105M and a 15-team no-trade clause could make things tricky.

In case you missed it last night, the Mariners and Yankees got together on a deal sending starter James Paxton to New York centered around the Yankees top prospect, Justus Sheffield. But they weren’t the only teams interested down to the wire:

For comparison’s sake, Forrest Whitley is also a top pitching prospect, like Sheffield, but was ranked 8th overall according to MLB Pipeline (the top pitching prospect in the game) compared to 31st for Sheffield. That is a very, very big difference. Perhaps the Astros will turn their attention to Greinke, now, with the D-Backs willing to eat some of the money, or maybe they’ll just dip into free agency and try to retain Dallas Keuchel or go after someone like Patrick Corbin or Nathan Eovaldi.

More on this deal from Jon Morosi:

There’s a lot to unpack here, but one thing to note is that if the Cubs wind up in the market for a middle infielder, Segura could become available.

Also, on the Yankees: clearly, they are looking for middle infield help while Didi Gregorius heals up from Tommy John surgery, and Manny Machado is not the only option. Before the offseason began, Machado seemed destined to wind up in the the Bronx, but after some comments from Hal Steinbrenner on the hustle stuff and some other recent rumors, it sure seems like they’re cooling on him – or want it out there that they’re cool on him.

If the Yankees do back off of Machado, it’s impossible not to wonder if they’ll jump back in on Bryce Harper. According to MLB.com, the Yankees did have “internal discussions since the offseason began about the possibility of signing Harper to play first base, but one source described that scenario as ‘unrealistic’ – at least, for now.” And for what it’s worth, Morosi has heard that adding a big bat like Machado or Harper is less of a focus/priority then further augmenting the rotation. To that end, remember: the Yankees said they wanted two starters this winter. They just got one good one via trade, so I’d expect the next to come from free agency – Patrick Corbin or J.A. Happ are your best bets. Of course, it’s not like the Yankees can only afford to add one more big free agent …

At the New York Post, Joel Sherman discusses what it might take to pry Noah Syndergaard away from the Mets, whose owner recently implied that they’d only deal the talented starter if the deal was lopsided in their favor. Moreover, Sherman heard from scouts that many immediately competitive teams might shy away from the acquisition cost, given Syndergaard’s injury history. HOWEVER, he does say the Reds could be a willing partner and a deal around closer Raisel Iglesias and top prospect Nick Senzel could get the ball rolling. Senzel has his flaws, but is MLB Pipeline’s 6th best prospect overall and Iglesias is one of the better relievers in baseball (and has three more years of team control, same as Syndergaard). Perhaps if the Reds were closer to competing and had a replacement for Iglesias this would make sense, but giving up present talent *and* future talent for present talent when you’re not competitive … I just don’t see it.

That said, Sherman also mentions the Padres and that’s where I can see things happening. The Padres handed out a big deal to Eric Hosmer last season and have the best farm system in baseball. Their corner-turning didn’t quite go as expected, but I’m betting they’ll want to add very soon while Hosmer is in his prime. Sherman guesses that Fernando Tatis, the Padres’ top prospect, will be off the table in any such deal for Syndergaard, but correctly points out that they’d still have more than enough pieces to get something done. I’d keep an eye out for this, because it could make sense for both sides.

Rosenthal’s hearing stuff, as usual:

Gomes played in 112 games last season with just barely above average offensive contributions and fantastic defensive metrics (as he’s always had). Gomes was also one of the top pitch framers in baseball last season, so I suspect the Indians will have many suitors. I think it would be quite a stretch to say Gomes makes sense as a back-up for the Cubs, especially because of how much he’ll cost to acquire and in salary (but also because playing him behind Willson Contreras just doesn’t feel like maximizing anyone’s potential), but he is very much the mold of someone the Cubs would want to target. I’m guessing someone in need of a starting catcher would be willing to pay more than the Cubs, in the end.

Also: what in the world are the Indians doing? Why are they trying to trade all of their best players – including Corey Kluber – when they’re still clearly the class of the AL Central. Go for it at least one more year before you start this nonsense to save money, my word.

At The Athletic, Patrick Mooney uses discusses the potential changes to the Cubs’ bullpen over the winter and hits on the oft-rumored Andrew Miller and Zach Britton, each of whom make plenty of sense, and each of whom we’ve discussed previously at those links. But in addition to those two, Mooney has heard from an AL scout that the Cubs could try to sign someone like Cody Allen to a one-year deal loaded with performance bonuses (the former Indians closer is coming off a very down year), though he admits that a lot of teams would be open to that. Allen didn’t have his best season in 2019, but he strikes me as someone worth checking in on. In addition to those three free agents, Mooney writes that there is still mutual interest in retaining Jesse Chavez, but that it could be complicated by just how good Chavez was last year. A robust discussion on the state of the bullpen here at The Athletic.

Don’t forget that today’s roster deadline could mean even more movement in trades around the league.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2018/11/20/lukewarm-stove-yankees-cooling-on-machado-harper-greinke-goldschmidt-gomes-astros-cubs-pen-more/

[niccongo0-blog]

Way-too-early 2019-20 MLB free-agent rankings

This offseason's free-agent class didn't end up as glamorous as projected a couple of years ago. Yes, we have Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, but Harper isn't coming off a great season. Clayton Kershaw decided to stay with the Dodgers rather than opt out. Andrew McCutchen is no longer an MVP candidate. Josh Donaldson and Andrew Miller are coming off injury-plagued seasons.

Donaldson was the first big signing of the offseason, and as we wait to see what else unfolds, it's always important to note next year's free agents because that can influence what a team does now and how it spends its money. Players in their final year also are potential trade bait -- either in the offseason or during the season.

So keep this in your back pocket -- my top-30 free agents for the 2019-20 offseason (the player's seasonal age for 2020 is included in parentheses):

1. Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies (29)

2018 stats: .297/.374/.561, 38 HR, 5.6 WAR

The Rockies would obviously love to extend their franchise player, a six-time Gold Glove winner who has finished eighth, fifth, fourth and third in the MVP balloting the past four seasons. If the season begins with Arenado unsigned, the odds are he hits free agency -- and once that happens, the player almost always signs with a new team. Arenado, however, probably will want to wait to see what Harper and Machado get in free agency before he talks extension. The Rockies aren't going to trade him, but his situation complicates their offseason: Do they try to improve the team for one last run with Arenado without knowing whether he'll be on the roster beyond 2019?

Trade bait? Unlikely, unless the Rockies fall out of the race in July.

2. Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros (29)

2018 stats: 15-5, 2.88 ERA, 200.1 IP, 276 SO, 5.3 WAR

Cole went to the Astros, started throwing his four-seam fastball up in the zone more often and had the season everyone dreamed he could put together after the Pirates drafted him No. 1 overall in 2011. He fanned 34.5 percent of the batters he faced -- the eighth-highest single-season rate for a starter in major league history -- and if he does that again, he could be looking at a $200 million-plus deal.

Trade bait? No.

3. Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox (31)

2018 stats: 12-4, 2.11 ERA, 158 IP, 237 SO, 6.9 WAR

I rate Cole ahead of Sale because he's two years younger and Sale's shoulder problems that sidelined him much of the final two months of 2018 are a concern heading into 2019. The Red Sox would love to extend Sale, but they also need to find out if he's healthy before making a large commitment, so he probably heads into the 2019-20 offseason as a free agent.

Trade bait? No.

4. Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox (27)

2018 stats: .288/.360/.522, 23 HR, 3.8 WAR

The Red Sox could have four impact free agents after the 2019 season if J.D. Martinez opts out, and you could argue that re-signing Bogaerts should be the top priority. No, he's not in the Francisco Lindor or Carlos Correa class, but he'll be reaching free agency at 27, is coming off a 135 OPS+ season and has averaged 3.6 WAR the past four years. His defense took a hit in 2018 (minus-19 defensive runs saved), so the only red flag is that he might have to move off shortstop in a few years.

Trade bait? No.

5. Anthony Rendon, Washington Nationals (30)

2018 stats: .308/.374/.535, 24 HR, 4.2 WAR

Always Late with Katie Nolan is a late-night sports comedy show covering the big (and small) stories of the week. Watch on ESPN+

FanGraphs liked Rendon's season even more than Baseball-Reference did, crediting him with 6.3 WAR, second to Christian Yelich among National League position players. Baseball-Reference WAR totals since 2014, Rendon's first full season with the Nationals:

Rendon: 21.1 Harper: 18.6

Rendon holds a similar edge in FanGraphs WAR. He won't get $300 million because of his age, but he has been the Nationals' best player the past five seasons, not Harper.

Trade bait? Only if the Nationals fall out of the race.

6. J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox (32)

2018 stats: .330/.402/.629, 43 HR, 6.4 WAR

If Martinez has another monster season, he'll almost certainly exercise his opt-out clause and forgo the remaining three years and $62.5 million on his contract. Edwin Encarnacion got three years and $60 million from the Indians for his age-34-to-36 seasons, and Martinez is better.

Trade bait? No.

7. Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks (32)

2018 stats: .290/.389/.533, 33 HR, 5.4 WAR

He hasn't been as good the past three seasons (138 OPS+, 15.9 WAR) as during his 2013-15 peak (162 OPS+, 20.4 WAR), but he was still good enough to finish third and sixth in the MVP balloting the past two seasons. There are some small red flags here: His strikeout rate this year was his highest since his rookie season, and he has gone from 32 steals in 2016 to seven in 2018. He has hit just as well on the road as at home in his career, so changing parks shouldn't be an issue.

Trade bait? Yes, maybe the most likely guy on this list to be dealt (the Cardinals and Astros are possible landing spots).

8. Justin Verlander, Houston Astros (37)

2018 stats: 16-9, 2.52 ERA, 214 IP, 290 SO, 6.2 WAR

If you didn't know his age, you'd be willing to give Verlander a long-term deal at a mega-millions amount. He has finished second, fifth and second in the past three Cy Young votes and just recorded a career-high 290 strikeouts. He'll be 37 in 2020, but he has posted 30 starts and 200 innings every season of his career except 2015.

Trade bait? No.

9. Josh Donaldson, Atlanta Braves (34)

2018 stats: .246/.352/.449, 8 HR, 1.2 WAR

He has already signed a one-year deal with the Braves for $23 million. If he's healthy and productive, he'll get a longer-term deal next offseason even though he'll be 34.

Trade bait? No.

10. Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants (30)

2018 stats: 6-7, 3.26 ERA, 129.1 IP, 109 SO, 2.4 WAR

He could rise much higher or fall even further on this list based on his 2019 performance. He still had a solid ERA in 2018, but his strikeout rate was the lowest since his rookie season, and his swing-and-miss rate is down more than 5 percent from 2015, suggesting an overall decline in stuff.

Trade bait? It might seem anathema to trade Bumgarner, but new GM Farhan Zaidi doesn't have the emotional ties to the franchise. A trade is possible, although the return might not be enough to warrant one.

11. Didi Gregorius, New York Yankees (30)

2018 stats: .268/.335/.494, 27 HR, 4.2 WAR

Bryce Harper and Manny Machado clearly are at the head of the class, but there are plenty of big names available beyond the star duo.

He couldn't cut it at Yankee Stadium. But insiders believe the Bombers will find a decent deal for the right-hander this winter.

From the free agents set to cash in to the big-name stars sure to come up in trade rumors all winter long, keep up with all of the latest action.

2 Related

He'll miss at least the first half of 2019 after Tommy John surgery. He has topped 20 home runs three seasons in a row, and he's a better defensive shortstop than Bogaerts. He has been helped by Yankee Stadium -- 42 of his 72 home runs the past three seasons have come at home -- and he'll hit free agency at an age when many shortstops start to lose their range.

Trade bait? Not while he's injured. He's expected to earn about $12.4 million in arbitration (via MLB Trade Rumors), and there's a chance the Yankees decide to nontender him. (The deadline to offer players a 2019 contract is Friday.)

12. Zack Wheeler, New York Mets (30)

2018 stats: 12-7, 3.31 ERA, 182.1 IP, 179 SO, 3.9 WAR

After missing two full seasons and struggling with a 5.21 ERA in 2017, Wheeler finished strong in 2018 with a 1.68 ERA over his final 11 starts. He always has had premium stuff and averaged 96.5 mph with his fastball, but he threw more strikes than ever in that stretch. If he does it again, he'll get a handsome reward.

Trade bait? The rumors are swirling around Noah Syndergaard, but those might be media-created fetishes more than anything. Wheeler certainly becomes trade bait at the July deadline if the Mets haven't signed him and they're out of the race.

13. Marcell Ozuna, St. Louis Cardinals (29)

2018 stats: .280/.325/.433, 23 HR, 2.9 WAR

Who is the real Ozuna? He had a monster first half in 2016 but struggled in the second half. He had a huge 2017, hitting .312/.376/.548 with 37 home runs. Traded to the Cardinals, his slugging percentage fell off 125 points in 2018 as he had only 40 extra-base hits in 582 at-bats. A nagging shoulder injury certainly might have affected his production -- he finally received a cortisone injection in late August, and had a short stint on the DL. His 2019 season will determine what type of long-term offers he'll get, but he'll be an interesting gamble regardless. While he's a good defensive left fielder right now, he's not particularly fast, he doesn't walk much (career .329 OBP) and he's topped 23 home runs only once.

Trade bait? No. The Cardinals are looking to add, not subtract.

14. Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox (31)

2018 stats: 17-7, 4.28 ERA, 191.1 IP, 190 SO, 3.1 WAR

He has been extremely durable, and he's no longer just the groundball specialist he was with the Tigers. Nothing too fancy here, but he projects as a dependable mid-rotation starter.

Trade bait? No.

15. Aaron Hicks, New York Yankees (30)

2018 stats: .248/.366/.467, 27 HR, 4.7 WAR

The former first-round pick has blossomed with the Yankees after failing to break through with the Twins, and I could be underrating him here, given his power numbers and walk rate (90 walks). His defensive metrics were outstanding in 2017 but less so in 2018 (minus-3 DRS), and he's kind of a thick-bodied guy, so I'm thinking he moves to right field in his early 30s.

Trade bait? No.

16. Miles Mikolas, St. Louis Cardinals (31)

2018 stats: 18-4, 2.83 ERA, 200.2 IP, 146 SO, 4.1 WAR

The command specialist who discovered himself in Japan signed with the Cardinals and led the NL with 18 wins and a sub-3.00 ERA. Like all pitchers who don't throw hard, he'll have to prove he can do it again, and the low strikeout rate suggests he'll be hard-pressed to match that 2.83 ERA.

Trade bait? No.

17. Scooter Gennett, Cincinnati Reds (30)

2018 stats: .310/.357/.490, 23 HR, 4.2 WAR

That's two good seasons in a row at the plate, and he hit better on the road in 2018, so the home run numbers aren't all park-inflated. He doesn't walk much, and he's limited to second base on defense, where he's not exactly a Gold Glove candidate, so all his value resides in his ability to keep hitting.

Trade bait? Yes. The Reds have prospect Nick Senzel on the cusp of the majors. The trouble is Gennett's trade value is limited because there is a glut of second basemen in free agency (Jed Lowrie, Daniel Murphy, DJ LeMahieu, Brian Dozier, Ian Kinsler, Josh Harrison, Asdrubal Cabrera). With Gregorius injured, the Yankees could be interested, with Gleyber Torres sliding over to shortstop.

18. Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers (29)

2018 stats: .267/.327/.494, 23 HR, 2.7 WAR

More flash than substance, Puig was better at 22 and 23 (9.8 WAR) than he has been at 26 and 27 (6.4 WAR). He's very good in right field, but for whatever reason has struggled two years in a row against lefties (.197/.292/.320).

Trade bait? Yes. Trade Puig to clear room for Harper?

19. Khris Davis, Oakland Athletics (32)

2018 stats: .247/.326/.549, 48 HR, 2.9 WAR

Davis is a one-dimensional slugger who is limited to DH, but at least he's really good at it, with three straight 40-homer seasons and an MLB-best 48 in 2018. He also has hit exactly .247 four straight seasons, which is maybe the greatest baseball oddity of all time. How about a two-year contract for $24.7 million? (He'll get a lot more than that if he hits 40 again.)

Trade bait? No, unless the A's are struggling at the July deadline.

20. Francisco Cervelli, Pittsburgh Pirates (34)

2018 stats: .259/.378/.431, 12 HR, 2.6 WAR

He has a .368 OBP in his four seasons with the Pirates and even added a little power for the first time. He even had his best season throwing out runners (39 percent vs. a career rate of 23 percent). Nothing about him blows you away, but about 25 teams could use him behind the plate.

Trade bait? Not yet. But the Pirates have one of the best backups in the league in Elias Diaz, so Cervelli could be available in July.

21. Dellin Betances, New York Yankees (32)

2018 stats: 4-6, 2.70 ERA, 66.2 IP, 115 SO, 1.7 WAR

He's older than you might think since it took him so long to reach the majors, but the four-time All-Star is still one of the most intimidating relievers in the majors with his size, fastball and occasional pitch that gets away (he has hit 16 batters the past two seasons). The control problems that plagued him down the stretch in 2017 weren't an issue in 2018, however, and he dominated with 15.5 K's per nine. Even given his age, he seems to be a safe bet to remain productive on a multiyear contract.

Trade bait? No.

22. Cole Hamels, Chicago Cubs (36)

2018 stats: 9-12, 3.78 ERA, 190.2 IP, 188 SO, 3.7 WAR

He'll be on the wrong side of 35 when he hits free agency, but he has made 30 starts every season since 2008, except 2017, when he had only 24 because of an oblique injury. His strikeout rate jumped back up in 2018 after a big dip in 2017 (maybe related to the injury), and he was extremely homer-prone with the Rangers before posting a 2.36 ERA with the Cubs (he also hit 19 batters). Still, he's the type of veteran presence clubs love to have, and while he's on the downturn, he hasn't had a bad season yet.

Trade bait? No.

23. Jonathan Schoop, Milwaukee Brewers (28)

2018 stats: .233/.266/.416, 21 HR, 1.4 WAR

As the offseason gets rolling, we're taking a look at the biggest question facing every team. AL East | NL East | AL West NL West | AL Central | NL Central

So far, it has been one big season (5.2 WAR in 2017) and a whole lot of meh. He's solid at second base but not good enough that he's helping much with a .266 OBP. As a free agent, he'll be young enough to attract some interest if he bounces back, but the 2017 season looks more like a fluke to me.

Trade bait: Not much trade value after his poor season, although it will be interesting to see if the Brewers nontender him and find a more reliable second baseman via trade (how about Gennett?) or free agency.

24. Jhoulys Chacin, Milwaukee Brewers (32)

2018 stats: 15-8, 3.50 ERA, 192.1 IP, 156 SO, 2.0 WAR

He has had two solid years in a row, and while the peripheral numbers aren't exciting (the walks are a little high, the strikeouts a little low), his slider has become a big weapon. He projects as a solid back-end starter for a few more years if he stays healthy.

Trade bait? Not with the Brewers looking to defend their NL Central title.

25. Nicholas Castellanos, Detroit Tigers (28)

2018 stats: .298/.354/.500, 23 HR, 2.9 WAR

He was a bad third baseman and now is a bad right fielder, so all his value is with the bat. He won't be an old free agent, however, so there should interest from AL teams who want to use him primarily as a DH. The strikeout-to-walk ratio (151 to 49) is a little disconcerting. I'd be wary about a heavy investment here.

Trade bait: Yes. The Tigers aren't going anywhere in 2018, and Miguel Cabrera needs to move to DH, so I don't see a long-term home for Castellanos in Detroit.

26. Sonny Gray, New York Yankees (30)

2018 stats: 11-9, 4.90 ERA, 130.1 IP, 123 SO, 0.6 WAR

Gray was good on the road (3.17 ERA) but lousy at Yankee Stadium (6.98 ERA), and Buster Olney wrote the other day that the Yankees believe he's one of those guys who just couldn't handle New York. His fastball velocity was the same as always, although as Olney pointed out, he threw it a lot less (35 percent) than he has in the past. He needs a change of scenery, and if he bounces back, he'll move up this list.

Trade bait: Yes. Pretty much a sure thing the Yankees find a taker for him (Reds or A's are good bets).

27. Starlin Castro, Miami Marlins (30)

2018 stats: .278/.329/.400, 12 HR, 3.3 WAR

I can't imagine the Marlins picking up his $16 million option for 2019. No, he has never lived up to that Sports Illustrated cover hype, but he has rebounded from a couple of sub-.300 OBP seasons earlier in his career to hit .288/.333/.423 the past two seasons. The 3.3 WAR was his best since 2012, and he'll still be only 30 when he hits free agency.

Trade bait: Yes. As with Gennett, however, there might not be much of a trade market for second basemen.

28. Corey Dickerson, Pittsburgh Pirates (31)

2018 stats: .300/.330/.474, 13 HR, 3.8 WAR

He was a totally different player with the Pirates, sacrificing power for a higher average by cutting down his strikeouts and suddenly transforming from a below-average left fielder to a Gold Glove winner. Still, he never walks, and I'm not sure I'm buying the defense.

Trade bait: Like Cervelli, he'll be available if the Pirates are floundering in July.

29. Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox (33)

2018 stats: .265/.325/.473, 22 HR, 1.7 WAR

The White Sox probably should have traded him after a strong 2017, but they kept him in part because of his status as a mentor to Yoan Moncada. Unfortunately, he just produced the C.J. Cron starter kit, and that got Cron designated for assignment (and claimed on waivers by the Twins).

Trade bait: In theory, yes, but there isn't a lot of demand for the 2018 version of Abreu.

30. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers (33)

2018 stats: 7-3, 1.97 ERA, 82.1 IP, 89 SO, 2.2 WAR

The 1.97 ERA was a stone-cold fluke, but he did have a 3.00 FIP and a career-high strikeout rate. He has had a sizable reverse platoon split over his career, which I always like from a lefty, and owns a 3.20 career ERA. Health and conditioning make him a risk, but he has been a good pitcher.

Trade bait: No. The Dodgers were probably a little surprised he accepted their qualifying offer.

Players with team options for 2020 that probably would be exercised: Matt Carpenter, Anthony Rizzo, Jose Quintana, Starling Marte, Chris Archer, Carlos Carrasco, Corey Kluber, Adam Eaton, Sean Doolittle

Players unlikely to exercise opt-out clauses: Elvis Andrus, Jason Heyward, Stephen Strasburg, Kenley Jansen

Source: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25401129/way-too-early-2019-20-mlb-free-agent-rankings

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The Outlet Pass: Trae Young is Master of the Impossible Pass

Trae Young's Passing is...

Trae Young’s notorious three-point shot has yet to come around—he takes some exceptionally difficult shots and has made fewer than 30 percent of them—but he might already be one of the best passers in the NBA, top ten in every category worth mentioning with an undeniably positive impact on teammates. Atlanta’s assist rate is 66 percent with Young on the floor and 56.8 percent—a team low—when he’s not. (That disparity equals the gap between being third and 19th in the league right now.)

As Hawks GM Travis Schlenk recently told The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears: “He got a lot of notoriety for his deep shooting in college, which is obviously great. But his court vision at his age, 19 years old, to be able to see the floor like he does, and ability to pass left hand, right hand, off the bounce, hitting the guys down the floor, that is what really stood out.”

Young doesn’t pound the ball or even have to penetrate in order to draw help and find an open man. Guys simply run the floor faster and cut into space harder, knowing he’ll hit them on the money if/when they get open. His kick aheads alone deserve to be nominated by the MacArthur Fellows Program. This brings us to a pair of his passes that, so far, are probably my two favorite of the entire season.

The first came a few days ago against Miami. Young was trapped high on the right wing and appeared to have his whole line of sight blocked, but a quick up-fake lifted Bam Adebayo off his feet and out of position. Young then pivoted middle and, using his left arm, fired a blind cannon at Omari Spellman who was standing in the weak-side corner. The ball must've traveled at least 35 feet before it arrived in Spellman's shot pocket a split second before the defense’s rotation.

Words don’t do this pass justice. It’s something only a prodigy would think of, and immediately makes you fantasize about the realms of Young’s potential that have yet to be realized. He’ll never shoot as well as Steph Curry, but he already has the same range. Mix that with an unselfishly inventive approach to commanding Atlanta’s offense and it’s not insane to think he can lead the league in assists and scoring some day—the former is a borderline guarantee.

The next pass came during a nationally televised game against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. (For the record, even before Atlanta uses the future pick Dallas gave them to move up on draft night, it appears both teams won that trade!). Young rebounds a missed three, takes two dribbles, then whips a one-handed line drive at Taurean Prince as he streaks up the left sideline. A corner three is essentially created out of thin air!

Film Session: Milwaukee’s Defense May Need to Change

The Milwaukee Bucks have a top-three defense and, whether Giannis Antetokounmpo is on the floor or not, are brick-walling opponents with a game-plan that couldn't be more different from the blitz-happy aggression encouraged by Jason Kidd over the past few seasons. Once upon a time, Milwaukee’s goal was to sew the game with chaos. They'd trap, recover, and scramble all over the court. It was compelling, controversial, and, given Milwaukee’s unprecedented length, theoretically a good fit. The Bucks forced a ton of turnovers and occasionally made Kidd look like he knew what he was doing, but they were inevitably done in by poor communication, missed rotations, and untenable execution. Pure talent and questionable shot selection aside, it was their defensive issues—Milwaukee surrendered a ton of corner threes and layups—that weighed them down.

Milwaukee isn’t playing like that anymore, which is ironic because their new head coach, Mike Budenholzer, enforced a similar strategy in Atlanta. Instead, they’ve adopted a conservative base defense—right now they rank 27th in opposing turnover percentage—that was en vogue half a decade ago but has since been swallowed whole by the three-point revolution.

The approach plays out as such: When offensive bigs run up to set ball and flair screens, Milwaukee’s defenders will drop back and stay in the paint. They want ball handlers to either meet their length at the rim or submit via a mid-range pull up. So far, so good! Only four teams are forcing more long twos; after they finished dead last in opponent shot frequency at the rim in 2017-18 and 2015-16, the Bucks currently rank first.

For the regular season, it’s a low-risk, medium-reward tactic that fits their personnel and maintains order. Switching is mostly frowned upon, which simplifies defensive rebounding (long an issue for the Bucks) and reduces the negative side effects that long rotations tend to have, which is evident when you look at how often they foul shooters relative to the past four years.

It feels unfair to attack something that’s obviously working, but this scheme can only do so much against the best offenses in the league. This is something I touched on in greater detail earlier this week in a column about Joel Embiid’s individual defense, but the same principles apply: Against the league’s most potent offenses, any plan that doesn’t account for pull-up threes is antiquated and futile. And guess what: Milwaukee is allowing a higher three-point rate above-the-break than any team in the league!

In the Bucks' season opener, the Charlotte Hornets went 16-for-38 from deep. The Kawhi Leonard-less Toronto Raptors went 9-for-45 (Kyle Lowry took nine threes and missed them all). Milwaukee's first loss came against a Boston Celtics team that jacked up 55 triples (more than ever before in franchise history) and tied a league-record by making 24 of them. The Sacramento Kings finished 14-for-36 and, in Milwaukee’s second loss, the Portland Trail Blazers drilled 17 of their 43 tries.

None of this is a coincidence. The Bucks want teams to take floaters and tough mid-range jump shots, but in doing so they’re conceding a ton of pull-up threes. Even though the Golden State Warriors don’t like running a bunch of high pick-and-rolls with Steph Curry, Fiserv Forum would spontaneously combust if they did.

Five years ago, guards and wings (and some forwards!) didn’t have the freedom to jack threes up off the bounce. During the 2013-14 NBA season, only four teams launched more than six pull-up threes per game. Today, two-thirds of the league eclipse that volume. What Milwaukee wants/needs is for the ball-handler's man to earn his money at the point of attack. Either fight over a screen and take away the shot by pressuring from behind, or duck underneath and either allow a poor shooter to shoot his shot or recover in time to take it away.

This is where Milwaukee’s length and tenacity comes into play. Khris Middleton, Giannis, Malcolm Brogdon, Eric Bledsoe, and Donte DiVincenzo are not terrible at navigating on-ball screens. But against just about anyone, it’s still extremely difficult work.

But pull ups aren’t the only threat. The league has never had more big men who can and will stab you from beyond the arc. And when their man is deep in the paint, trying to stop penetration, a kick back pass usually results in an open look.

Bledsoe has no interest in switching onto Al Horford, knowing it would let Kyrie Irving surgically remove Brook Lopez’s ankles from his body. But it’s unclear if leaving Horford wide open is a better strategy.

It makes sense to drop Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova because rim protection is good and neither guy is particularly mobile in space. But to have them do so while seemingly ignoring specific matchups is not the wisest move. Watch how the Celtics take advantage by having Horford set a flare screen for Irving. Ilyasova might as well take a nap.

And the strategy applies across the board! Why don’t Giannis and Malcolm Brogdon make life easier for everyone involved by switching this? Instead they give up an open three to a good three-point shooter.

This brings us to the future, and how Milwaukee will solve a problem that doesn’t currently exist. They may not feel this way, but adding an athletic big who’s more comfortable switching and scurrying on the perimeter—while still providing offensive substance—should be a priority before the trade deadline.

If they run into an opponent who plays Lopez off the floor, the rangier Thon Maker isn’t good enough to fill those minutes. The Bucks struggled mightily with Giannis at the five last season, too. (That doesn’t mean it can’t work—they have more two-way players this year—but assuming Budenholzer doesn’t venture too far from a formula that’s yielding terrific results throughout the regular season, how hard will it be for the Bucks to adjust after a sharp left turn in the playoffs?)

It’s a fascinating conundrum and one worth keeping an eye on as the season goes on. Milwaukee’s legitimacy as a true title contender may hinge on it.

Josh Jackson is Drowning

It feels like yesterday, right around the 2017 NBA draft, when it became clear that Josh Jackson did not want to get drafted by the Boston Celtics, a winning organization that couldn’t offer the same opportunistic environment (in terms of shots and playing time) lottery picks of his stature normally step into. He cancelled a workout that was to be held in Sacramento while Danny Ainge, Mike Zarren, and Brad Stevens were literally in the air flying to it, which probably made the decision to take Jayson Tatum that much easier.

As the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for. Jackson was instead picked by a dysfunctional organization that also has quite a bit of young talent. So much, in fact, that Phoenix’s coaching staff can’t find time for Jackson to contribute. His PER is 2.1, and his minutes are drying up.

Before the Suns even trade for a starting point guard—assuming that day comes this season—they already have so many mouths to feed at Jackson’s general position. (And that’s also before you mention Deandre Ayton, the first overall pick who needs reps and touches.) Devin Booker, Trevor Ariza, T.J. Warren, and Mikal Bridges are all better than Jackson right now. He can’t shoot from literally anywhere and has a comically abysmal turnover rate that’s a couple mistakes from becoming the league’s worst, per Cleaning The Glass.

Jackson’s trade value has never been lower, and the long-term consequences of his current struggle loom over an organization that might’ve squandered three top-five picks in the past six drafts. That’s not a great way to rebuild! If Jackson can’t be much more than Tony Allen (in an era where Tony Allen couldn’t even be Tony Allen), it’d be a significant blow.

Jaren Jackson, Jr. Wants to Make Post-Ups Great Again

It’s downright strange to watch Jaren Jackson, Jr. operate in the post and believe that he recently turned 19. The strength, stoicism, patience, determination, and technical skill has been unreal, and by letting him do work down low instead of placing him on the outside as a full-time spacer, the Memphis Grizzlies deserve credit for believing what their eyes (and early statistical returns) have told them.

The first time I watched him play in an NBA game, he sprinted up the floor, sealed 255-pound Derrick Favors just outside the restricted area, caught Marc Gasol’s entry pass, and immediately scored with a lefty jump hook.

Jackson Jr. already has a reservoir of post moves, and he executes them with admirable composure. He doesn’t get flustered or worry if his shot is contested, and can get to either hand whenever he wants. (Apologies to Favors.)

A first-class ass whooping at the hands of Golden State’s swarming defense on Monday night notwithstanding, Jackson Jr. is a migraine down low. He’s fluid, strong, and packs a delightful spin move that bigs around the league have yet to figure out. It’s a breath of fresh air watching someone that young enter the league with skills that are A) still valuable, B) inevitably unguardable one-on-one, and C) ostensibly extinct in the way he’s using them. According to Synergy Sports, Jackson ranks in the 73rd percentile on post-up possessions, and they account for 27.4 percent of his offense (the eighth-highest proportion in the league right now).

He’s still a rookie, and obviously needs to round out other areas of his game—Jackson Jr. is 1-for-14 from behind the three-point line since Memphis’s second game—but all that will eventually take care of itself. (He made 40 percent of his threes in college, was 5-for-9 in the preseason, and 14-for-28 during summer league.)

It’s just cool to see him contribute in a way that complements his veteran teammates while adding wrinkles to an offense that wants to be slow. Jackson Jr. is going to be so freaking good, and his advanced post game is a notable reason why.

The Buddy Hield Bandwagon is Ready to Roll

Buddy Hield’s hot start can be explained by absurd shooting numbers. Compared to last year, he’s up 11 percent at the rim, 10 percent from the mid-range, and 6 percent from deep (he made 43.1 percent of his threes in 2018, so, yeah, this dude currently exists as an inferno).

These numbers should come back to Earth—he's averaging 20 points, six boards, and three assists per game—but they're also a sign of his natural progression towards becoming an extremely valuable player type. Hield can shoot on the move, standing still, and pulling up in transition. He can escape-dribble his way into a cringeworthy albeit accurate long two or attack a closeout and then finish strong at the rim.

Even if Hield doesn't sustain his shooting splits (doing so would be super human), players who spend the entirety of a game racing around the court to leverage their gravity in myriad ways are a luxury. Chasing him off the ball for 32 minutes would be my idea of hell on Earth. Last year he averaged 1.95 miles per game, which was about the same as Rockets center Clint Capela. This year he’s at 2.62, trailing only three players in the entire league. Even more wild is Hield’s average speed. He’s one of the 15 fastest players in the league, but everybody who ranks higher doesn’t even cover half as many miles per game as he does.

Defense is a big issue; Hield was repeatedly obliterated by Eric Bledsoe over the weekend. But he’s still only 24 years old, with the stamina and shooting chops to potentially become a more dynamic version of J.J. Redick. This comparison is an absolute best-case scenario but also within the realm of possibility. It should make fans of the New Orleans Pelicans cry themselves to sleep, and fans of the Sacramento Kings feel great knowing their team's backcourt of the future is outscoring opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions when on the floor.

Hield isn't a star, but he doesn't need the ball to have a similar effect. That matters.

Watching Dante Exum Figure It Out is Pure Joy

One of the more fascinating contracts offered last summer was a three-year, $33 million deal awarded to Dante Exum by the Utah Jazz. I say “awarded” because the 23-year-old’s first four years in the NBA were mostly a collective dud. Facing obstacles that mostly weren’t his fault, Exum wasn’t able to write a resume that rationalized Utah’s decision.

He tore his ACL in 2015 while playing for the Australian national team, and two years later had a shoulder surgery that sidelined him for four months. When healthy enough to play, he shot miserably from deep and struggled to command Utah’s offense. Turnovers were high. Assists were low.

Exum’s defense flashed peaks that made playing him worthwhile, but the blurry end-to-end zip he displayed before his knee injury was but a flicker; much of his offensive play this season remains a concern (Exum still isn’t making threes or finishing at the rim), but there’s an aggression and confidence that weren’t there before. As the Jazz clearly believed when they offered that contract: It's not about what you've done, it's what you can do.

Just from watching him play, there are certain aspects of Exum’s game that make it impossible not to want to see how high his ceiling will be. He cuts hard, gifts soft lobs to Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert, relentlessly attacks the paint like someone who’s never felt pain, and draws fouls by bringing the ball low and tempting defenders to swipe at it, a la James Harden.

Exum also has an individualistic flair that allows him to stand out in a system that sometimes makes Donovan Mitchell look like Beyonce right before she left Destiny’s Child. Take the layup seen below as a prime example. It’s awesome. Exum darts to the basket and then, with time of the essence, seamlessly pushes off the wrong foot to kiss his layup off the glass before Karl-Anthony Towns can block it.

Plays like this only yield two points, but—speaking as someone whose bank account is completely unaffected regardless—they’re graceful enough to justify the investment Utah has made in Exum, and part of the reason why their offense averages a whopping 6.3 more points per 100 possessions when he’s in the game.

TL;DR: It’s Not a Bad Time to be a Hornets fan!

Most of the attention in Charlotte should be directed towards the good (a top-five offense and the league's sixth-best point differential!) and somewhat infuriating (the league’s worst win differential...again!) aspects of their surprising start. Beyond that, something unexpectedly attractive is happening to a franchise that once felt rudderless: The Hornets have an intriguing/good young core that makes their future much less bleak than it appeared to be 20 months ago.

Charlotte looks like a playoff team. They’re disciplined, explosive, led by the best point guard in the Eastern Conference, and their new reasons to be optimistic about the future double as explanations for their current success. The Miles Bridges, Malik Monk, Tony Parker, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Willy Hernangomez all-bench squad is crushing people by 22.1 points per 100 possessions (they’re +19 in 43 minutes). That’ll come down as opposing three-point shooters regress to the mean, but the group is still so watchable and quietly boasts a thrilling pair of 20-year-olds who play basketball without a seatbelt.

Bridges is experiencing natural growing pains but already looks like a positionless gem; James Borrego trusts him enough to play in crunch time and guard the opponent’s first option—as he did for a recent stretch against Russell Westbrook.

(This is kind of a random observation, but in comparing Bridges to Aaron Gordon, you can’t help but notice the benefits of falling in line on a team that already has accountability, direction, and a distinct pecking order. Bridges’s role is clear. He knows how to help and feed off his teammates. Meanwhile, in Orlando, Gordon’s “what should this dude be?” limitlessness was initially thrown against a wall just to see what would stick. Again, that was random, but something that went in my notebook last week while I was watching a Hornets game.)

Monk has been inefficient, but Tony Parker’s rejuvenated play lets him work off the ball instead of backing Kemba up at the point. Ask him to worry about others and Monk tends to overthink the game. Tell him to score and Charlotte’s offense makes a lot more sense. The most important thing about him and Bridges looking this good is the effect it’ll have on Walker’s unrestricted free agency. No matter what, locking him into a five-year max contract would not end well. But an expensive sub-max agreement that covers the next four or five seasons is much easier to swallow with Monk and Bridges providing a youthful push. With those two inevitably finding their way into Charlotte’s starting lineup, the Hornets can rebuild on the fly around their franchise point guard.

That’s easier said than done, pending how much Walker’s next contract is actually worth. Nicolas Batum’s current deal erases any path to cap space, while Bismack Biyombo, Marvin Williams, and Kidd-Gilchrist have $45 million worth of player options they’re likely to pick up. The following summer, with Walker paid (and Frank Kaminsky renounced), Cody Zeller, Bridges, Monk, and Batum’s player option are all that’s left on the books. Walker will be 31 then, but an opportunity to reshape their image around their intriguing young studs will present itself.

This Has Nothing to do With Basketball But…

Whenever a jump ball takes place during an NBA game, the world's two kinds of people reveal themselves: Those who want to hear "Jump" and/or "Pass the Courvoisier" get blasted over the PA system, and everybody else.

The Outlet Pass: Trae Young is Master of the Impossible Pass published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[fmlfpl]

Down the Rabbit Hole with Scott

Team of Shadows

Episode 10 - GW 38 Wrap-up, the “Conventional Wisdom 1, Scott 0” edition

And so it ends…

The ten-week span between prematurely playing my second half wildcard in GW29 and the final day of the season.  A span during which I also ran a parallel Shadow Team on paper, in which the pre-wildcard team soldiered on patiently, patching here and there with their eyes on a plan of wildcarding in GW36 to optimize the squad for a bench boost in GW37.  A span during which I thought my real team was going to steal a march on those conservative, patient Shadows, racking up points because I got all of the “good guys” into my squad early.  I had loaded up that early wildcard with players who were going to have DGW in GW34 and in GW36, as well as in GW37.  These players were going to be rising in price and I’d have ALL of them already by the time the Shadows played their wildcard, but because they waited, they weren’t going to be able afford all of them.  At least that was the theory…  

Hmm, it didn't quite work out that way.

For a full-blown explanation of WTF is going on here, go back to Episode 1.

The Moves

Just one move for each of the teams in the final week.  They both decided to roll the dice on Daniel Sturridge to deliver some ass-whuppin’ on a Middlesbrough team that was on the road and on the way back down to the Championship.  A team that had been defensively fairly stable at home at least, especially back when Victor Valdes was between the sticks.  But now they had Brad Guzan back there.  Yes the Brad Guzan of #PrayForGuzan infamy.  The one who had allowed a hat trick of goals through his five-hole against Chelsea in GW36.  That Brad Guzan.  Both teams dropped Jamie Vardy, because Kane and Jesus were both never going anywhere and because Vardy was the only other option to sell.  There was some consideration of going with Coutinho instead, but as with so many 50:50 calls this year, that one went a bit sideways.  The real team would have had to ditch Ozil to fit Coutinho, and Ozil had been delivering.  The Shadows would have had to ditch either Ozil or Alli, and with Alli facing also-relegation-bound Hull City, that wasn’t looking great either.  Seemed more reasonable to ditch Vardy than either of those two.

The Teams

The Early Wildcard team is in the table below, as is the Shadow Team that has been teaching me a lesson.  The prices are at the deadline going into GW38 after the moves were made.  Points in parentheses were those that ended up on the bench after subs.

The Verdict

Sturridge popped up with an assist as the new boy in each of the teams, but the departed Vardy netted a goal, and outscored Sturridge 9-5.  Meanwhile, Phil scored and bagged a couple bonus, for ten points, and would have been a good swap for Bug Eyes, who only delivered five points.  Sigh.  Hindsight.  The Shadows ended up playing four defenders when Josh King sat out the match, but the two teams ended with nearly identical scores, 84 and 86, which wasn't surprising given the similarity between the squads.

Before I started this experiment, my overall rank was 19,971

Early WC team:  84 points, overall points 2275, overall final rank 19,052

Late WC Shadow team:  86 points, overall points 2333, overall final rank 5,396

Both teams took tiny little steps backwards from GW37.

I didn't anticipate there would be that much of a difference over the stretch of this experiment, and cocky as I was, I figured I'd be talking about the ways that my departure from conventional wisdom was going to have led me to glory.  

As it turns out, there were probably a few more hits than anticipated for my real team, due to WC players changing form and due to the evolving season and priorities of the EPL teams.  There were definitely players in the squad who had a DGW34/DGW36/DGW37, but who wouldn't have been the first choices by the time a GW36 WC would have been played.  I'm talking about you, Manchester United.  But by that time, the early WC team wasn't willing to burn four points just to swap them out for someone else who might end up getting rotated as well.  Nine of the players from that early WC team didn't end up lasting to the end of the season, but one of them (Alexis) sure as shit should have.  Ah well, in the end, he had departed for reasons that made sense at the time.  He had sputtered, I was chasing, and it looked like City players were on fire.  In aggregate, the new players may have balanced out against Alexis over the run-out, if you just looked at points scored, but none of them provided the captaincy power punch that Princess Alexis did, and I suffered because of it.  

So that's what went wrong with the real team.  What went right for the Shadow Team?  With limited early moves, they were forced to sit tight with Coutinho, and as a result, benefitted from a top-quality player bouncing back from a dip in form.  They ended up making a single shift at the critical start of this experiment, moving from injured Kane to new focal point Alli, instead of throwing out the whole squad.  Alli came through and delivered critical points during that window.

It wasn't all bad for the real team, though.  They got their defense sorted out more comprehensively for the first part of this experiment, but those gains didn't outweigh the benefit that the Shadows reaped, with their late WC being able to capitalize on the current situation at hand.  The Shadows torched me in 36 and 37 and ended up 58 points, and almost 14K ahead of me at the end.  

Coming Up

Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Except for beers by the pool, summer break, and a respite from agonizing over which crap defender to add to my squad as a makeweight for the next shiny new midfielder.  And maybe some U20 World Cup matches streaming on Fox in the middle of the night.  Enjoy the month and a half (or less) until the 2017-18 season, which they announced is set to go live on July 10!  Who knows which corner of the Rabbit Hole I may stumble into next season, but if it's interesting, I'll let you know.

Scott (@tempebug)

[sportswithsarah]

64 Things I Hate About You

I’M DANCING, BITCHES.

This is my first year entering a March Madness bracket, mostly because I was too afraid of crushing everyone. For those of you new to March Madness, let me clarify that this is a tournament for NCAA college basketball. It’s an easy mistake to make - we’ve all done it - so don’t beat yourself over it, but just wanted to clarify for new sports fans.

Fortunately for you all this year, you finally get my expert insight into who will be cha-cha-cha’ing all the way to the basketball final. Unfortunately for you, I posted this after the deadline (and edited, it turns out, after the second round), so looks like you’re SOL in terms of remedying your own brackets based on my tried-and-true criteria.

Criteria: First round defaults to cat mascots. Remaining match-ups decided as follows. Now, join me in cracking open an ice cold Bud Light Platinum and conversing about our predictions, whether or not we had the same picks, and how we think that might affect the outcome of our bracket: 

EAST (or whatever other arbitrary category we want to assign to this bracket since apparently the NCAA is living in the Upside Down with these geographic divisions. I’m going to go with cereals. This division is Frosted Flakes)

Villanova (1) vs. Mt. St. Mary’s (16) – Villanova (Cat Rule)

Wisconsin (8) vs. Virginia Tech (9) – VA Tech: home state allegiance

Virginia (5) vs. UNCW (12) – UNCW: UVA has an unhealthy obsession with Jefferson and tbh I don’t want to hear about it in the filler reel if they move on. Also, I drove through UNCW’s campus once and it seemed like a chill beach town and I want to see chill beach kids thrive.

Florida (4) vs. ETSU (13) – Florida: It’s ridiculous that ETSU’s mascot is the Buccaneers even though they’re land locked. Why? 

SMU (6) vs. USC (11) – SMU: Their Wikipedia article is so dramatic that I can’t not reward it.

Baylor (3) vs. New Mexico State (14) - Baylor: Honestly, I just don’t have time to google “[team name] + rape OR assault” for every school, so I’m going with Baylor on the working assumption that every other school is just as rapey but just hasn’t gotten caught yet.

South Carolina (7) vs. Marquette (10) – SC: Gamecocks never gets old because I am 11

Duke (2) vs. Troy (15) – Duke: I’m not an idiot

WEST/REESE’S PUFFS

Gonzaga (1) vs South Dakota State (16) – Gonzaga: I wanted to go with SDS because the only person I know from SD is this really sweet kid who tried to hook up with me when he was at a bachelor party in Austin and I responded “hey sorry just saw this, what’s up” literally eight months after his text because I am the worst.

(Let me be clear: “today” was JANUARY 17 OF THE FOLLOWING YEAR.) 

In the end, though, I couldn’t go against top seed. Sorry, Tim, and thanks for all the Wild Turkey and Adderall. I’ll Venmo you. Take it easy, and stay consensual.

Northwestern (8) vs. Vanderbilt (9) – Northwestern (Cat Rule)

Notre Dame (5) vs. Princeton (12) – Princeton (Cat Rule)

West Virginia (4) vs. Bucknell (13) – Bucknell: “What did the parent bison say to the baby bison?” “BYE, SON”

This is my favorite pun and I will find any excuse to use it in excess.

Maryland (6) vs. Xavier (11) – Maryland: I know that teams have to follow their respective school’s mascots, but still, I love that an athletic organization is named after a turtle. AN EDIBLE TURTLE. It doesn’t make a lick of sense and I fully support it and want to see these turtles crawl their way to Championship Beach.

Florida State (3) vs. FGCU (14) – FGCU: WHEN YOU GOOGLE FGCU BASKETBALL THIS IS THE FIRST RESULT. #DUNKCITYFL. WHY. HOW. I LOVE IT.

This is going to fuck my bracket and I do not care. Worth it.

St Mary’s (7) vs. VCU (10) – VCU: Home state allegiance, and also ffs we don’t need a St. Mary’s and a Mt. St. Mary’s.

Arizona (2) vs. North Dakota (15) – Arizona (Cat Rule)

MIDWEST/CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

Kansas (1) vs. UC Davis (16) – Kansas: UC Davis once rejected me from their sustainable agriculture grad program. BOY, BYE.

Miami (Fla.) (8) [ed’s note: oh yeah, as opposed to the other Miami) vs. Michigan State - Michigan State: see Michigan vs. Oklahoma State

Iowa (5) vs. Nevada (12) – Nevada: Guy Fieri went to Nevada and he is mayor of FLAVOR TOWN, people. Easiest pick in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch division.

Vermont (13) vs. Purdue (4) – Vermont: Cat Rule, but not just any cats. CATAMOUNTS. Also, this Cat Rule is really going to bite me in the ass, isn’t?

Creighton (6) vs. Rhode Island (11) – Rhode Island because we’re both ~Aries~

Oregon (3) vs. Iona (14) – Oregon: Oregon also rejected me from their environmental studies graduate program but honestly my bracket is so boned due to cat-based picks that I need to salvage it somewhere. Also, I thought Iona was just a typo for Iowa so it gets docked for Wallflower points.

Michigan (7) vs. Oklahoma State (10) – Wait, didn’t we already go through Michigan? GD it that was Michigan State. Okay, so revising bracket: Michigan State against Miami FLO RIDA NOT MIAMI NORTH DAKOTA because I really like their colors. Also, Michigan, because thanks to a quick Wikipedia search, wolverines are now included in the “Animals that are real but I didn’t think existed once their respective mythical stories were debunked because I have a difficult time separating fantasy and reality” category, along with reindeer and storks.

Guys, am I…dumb?

Louisville (2) vs. Jacksonville State (15) – Louisville: More than one Gamecock team? I can only pick one, sorry, Jax State. Also, definitely making this “one gamecock per capita rule” conveniently to salvage my bracket.

SOUTH/CORN POPS

North Carolina (1)  vs. Texas So. (16): North Carolina: call me a bird feeder because it’s all about the seeeeeeed

I’m a ghost goodnight.

Arkansas (8) vs. Seton Hall (9) – Arkansas: HRC forever <3333

Minnesota (5) vs. Middle Tennessee (12) – Minnesota: I grew up in a Minnesota sports household, so at least if they lose, I’ll be emotionally prepared for the crushing disappointment.

Butler (4) vs. Winthrop (13) – Butler: Their head coach is a Scorpio and I never met a Scorpio I didn’t like.

Kansas State (11) vs. Cincinnati (6) – Kansas State (Cat Rule) and also I will never forgive Ohio for not turning out in 2016

UCLA (3) vs. Kent State (14) – UCLA: Bears have a shockingly high probability of winning over weather/elemental mascots 

Dayton (7) vs. Wichita State (10) – Wichita State: Sandwichita State

Kentucky (2) vs. Northern Kentucky (15) – Kentucky (Cat Rule)

I don’t have an in-depth analysis of other round because, at this point, I start playing fast and loose, flimsy flamsy with my picks. It’s been more than an hour since I’ve started. Teams start blending together. Kansas becomes Kentucky becomes North Kentucky becomes Middle Tennessee becomes West Virginia becomes the Timberwolves, the name of the high school team in Air Bud. XAVIER, I HARDLY KNEW HER. I am not, as they say, going hard in the paint. Picks made my seed priority or angry clicking unless otherwise noted:

Villanova vs. Virginia Tech – Villanova: They call Tech the Chokies for a reason

Villanova vs. Florida - Florida: Oh, what, like a cat is going to beat a gator? Come on grow up.

SMU vs. Baylor – I got it in my head that SMU stands for “shaking my uterus” and I can’t stop cracking up about it. Considering going back for another degree just to buy SMU merch including but not limited to an SMU Diva Cup. Looking forward to my Diva Cup sponsorship when I am a successful and winningest sports player. Or the Mirena. THE BEST DEFENSE IS AN IUDEFENSE.

Midwest/Cinnamon Toast Crunch semifinals – WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BIRDS, IDK A BIRD TEAM WINS WHO CARES AT THIS POINT, IT’S BEEN 84 YEARS I DON’T KNOW WHERE THE HOPE DIAMOND IS

Finals: Believe it or not, accidentally, I have both wildcat teams in the finals. Go figure. I have to go with Kentucky because their student section is called the eRUPPtion zone and I feel like that kind of wordplay will take them far.

So, there you have it, folks, my winning March Madness bracket. Best of luck with your picks, and see you back here for round recaps!