5-at-10: Friday mailbag with Rushmores, MLB All-Star discoveries, NBA reaction, Postseason losers

Jay Greeson
Jay Greeson

From a lot of you

NBA Finals thoughts? Whatcha got? (Also, those of you heckling my Warriors-in-6 pick, well, that's fair, but who had any idea that KD would get 12 minutes in the series and Klay would put 30 on the board before leaving with a knee injury in Game 6?)

Gang.

So much from last night, and this title to digest. Let's do this as quickly and tightly as possible.

Forget the injuries for a moment, in 288 minutes, the Raptors were the better team in the vast majority of them. And if not for a six-minute slump to start the second half of Game 2, this would have been a sweep. But that's sports, because those six minutes led us to a place that the greatest shooter from distance in NBA history had an open look from the right wing to force a Game 7.

I love Steph Curry. Have enjoyed his work since his SoCon days. But in a lot of ways he was exposed in this series as, at best, the third-best Warriors player. He's an average defender, and if the Warriors cannot space the floor with comparable shooters around him, the Raptors' box-and-one was surprisingly successful in locking him down. Curry's line in the fourth quarter last night - 1-of-6, bagel-for-4 from 3 - was dreadful.

How important is perspective and history when we review? Yes, that's vague, but consider this: The national sports media landscape has been dominated the last three days discussing who's to blame for KD's injury. Should he have played? If he was cleared to play and didn't how much holy crud would he have received? The "tough-it-out" narrative. Well, the MVP of this series and the dude who has ascended to the rank of the best player on the planet sat out and put more importance on the name on the back of his jersey rather than the name on the front. It was just last year that Kawhi Leonard told the Spurs to stick it. Now he's the king of the basketball world, and even if Kawhi leaves after one season, dude is the most beloved player in Raptors history.

Who knew that rule about free throws when Klay hurt his knee? Seriously. I'm pretty sure I never knew that.

Side question: How much holy heck would you get if you had broken out the ski goggles for celebrations in, say, the 1970s Big Red Machine locker room or the 1980s Raiders or MJ's Bulls?

The future has been completely turned upside down. This was going to be a monster summer of the transaction - and it's still going to be very interesting.

But KD's Achilles' means he's out for a year. Klay tore his ACL last night, which means he's likely out for most of next season.

And that's two of the monster names that so many teams have moved so much money to court in free agency.

Certainly both of those dudes will still get max offers. (If you are the Warriors, moving into a new building next year, do you sign both of those dudes to the max, rest Curry on the road, tank 2019-20 and roll the dice in the lottery for a 2020-21 starting five that could include Steph, Klay, KD and a lottery pick?) So those guys are going to get paid to rehab, but the fan bases banking on quick fixes with talent infusions next season are left still wondering.

Where does Kawhi go? I think he is going to L.A., but to the Clippers. As for the Lakers, I think the big push for LeLakers is Anthony Davis, but I also think they were going to be a big-time player in the Klay Thompson sweepstakes. And Klay fits on a roster with LeBron way better than Kawhi in terms of fit. And still, if the West is overhauled and the Warriors spend a third of a billion dollars on two dudes who could very well score as many points as I will in the NBA next year, a Lakers team with LeBron, AD, one or two of the young players not shipped for AD, and a couple of other mid-level free agent scorers/shooters (would love to see the Lakers make a push for JJ Reddick) are as good as anyone.

Final thought: Did you ever think we'd say "NBA champion Toronto Raptors," which leads to the question, what is the strangest thought as a world champion in their sport? Is it Super Bowl champ Detroit Lions? World Series champ San Diego Padres? Whatcha got?

From Matt

Biggest loser from this crazy end of the NBA season? I vote Boston, because we had the best team.

Thanks, and I read the 5-at-10 everyday.

Matt -

Sorry, Boston does not get to be in the "biggest loser" category for anything for quite a while. Deal? Deal.

My top 3 for biggest losers here:

1-DeMarr DeRozan. Dude was an all-timer in terms of being a Toronto fav and one of the best players in franchise history right there with Vince Carter. And he got dealt for Kawhi and had to watch his former team do the unthinkable and win it all without him.

2-The Knicks. Before the lottery drawing, the Knicks had real hopes of signing a healthy KD, who was crushing it before the injury, Kyrie and either drafting Zion or moving that pick to New Orleans for AD. Now the Knicks have pick No. 3, KD is on the shelf for a year and Kyrie seems to be damaged goods. (And if the Knicks only add Kyrie and, say, RJ Barrett, well that's going to feel like a monster disappointment.)

3-The NBA Awards process. The dragging this thing out and having an awards show after the finals devalues the regular season awards. Because no matter the arguments you make - and justifiable as they may be - for James Harden winning the MVP, after what we just watched Kawhi do, it is going to feel completely hollow.

From Joe Don

JG:

MLB All-star voting is now open. Vote Early. Vote Often. Vote sensibly please.


My common-sense votes:


American League: 1B: C.J. Cron, Twins; 2B: Tommy La Stella, Angels; 3B: Hunter Dozier, Royals; SS: Jorge Polanco, Twins C: Gary Sanchez, Yankees; OF: Joey Gallo, Rangers; Austin Meadows, Devil Rays; George Springer, Astros; DH: Avisail Garcia, Devil Rays

National League: 1B: Freddie! Freddie! Freddie! (see below for Josh Bell); 2B: Ozzie Albies, Braves; 3B: Noland Arenado, Rockies; SS: Javier Baez, Cubs (ever-so slight edge over Dansby); C: Yasmani Grandal, Brewers; OF: Christian Yelich, Brewers; Cody Bellinger, Dodgers; Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves; DH: Josh Bell, Pirates

Whatcha got?

Joe Don -

Thanks for submitting this. (It was actually done last week but I forgot it, so if there are any changes, well, that's on me.)

Before I get to my ballot, I must admit the thing that struck me here is how much my baseball knowledge has completely swooned off a cliff. When I was growing up - with baseball cards in hand - I could rattle off the starting lineups for every NL team and emulate almost all of their batting styles. (Thanks whiffle ball, and if you were not going Davy Lopes, Bill Russell, choked up on that bat, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, and switch-hitting Reggie Smith, then you were doing whiffle ball wrong. This is not open for discussion.)

Into the 1980s, video games kept that baseball knowledge current. Fantasy baseball entered my life in the 1990s. Then came a profession in sports, which also generated some wide-reaching details and knowledge, even it was more Braves focused than across baseball.

Now? I know more about the 7-8 Dixie Youth all-stars than the AL West.

I thought Tommy LaStella - yes, the former Braves draft pick - was a joke until I looked him up. Dude is hitting .304 with 15 jacks. (Yes, 15 homers. Someone please get Mr. LaStella a clean cup for a urine sample.)

The next thing that jumped out to me was that I would like to have a fraction of the career earnings for Joe Don's NL outfield picks. Those guys have a billion dollars in contracts coming, no?

I am going to need to get back to you for a more complete ballot, JD, but I can assure you that Mike Trout is going to be on mine because I want to watch him play. Period.


From Chad

Who is your favorite follow on Twitter? Thanks and I love the show.

Chad -

Tough question.

I enjoy the LeBatard Show, and a lot of the folks on that show are entertaining. They are not hard to find.

I enjoy @richarddeitsch, who covers sports media very well for The Athletic.

I love following my man Wes Rucker, who covers the Vols but Tweets like a World War II soldier pulled the trigger on a machine gun. (He's at @wesrucker.)

Super 70s Sports is awesome and often hilarious.

Anyone else have some suggestions?

From Chas

What's the Rushmore of Harrison Ford movies? What would be the Rushmore of mean Trump-given nicknames?

Chas -

Excellent questions and an excellent way to finish the mailbag.

As for Harrison Ford, well, we may have to do a Rushmore of Harrison Ford characters, no. Otherwise there's a big tug of war on several Star Wars films.

So we will go Han Solo, Dr. Indiana Jones, Dr. Richard Kimble and I will go off the board with Rusty Sabich from "Presumed Innocent." (Yes, that's excluding Jack Ryan and Harrison was great in "Working Girl," "Morning Glory" - underrated by the way - and several others.)

As for Trump, well, there are a lot of them, but the far left has to be "Crooked Hillary" if for no other reason than for how much it helped him get elected. Mr. Magoo for Jeff Sessions was strong, too. Pocahontas needs to be there. And maybe Crazy Bernie (although Nutty Professor is every bit as good).

This week's Rushmores

Rushmore of Stadiums and songs: "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway; John Denver's "Country Roads" at West Virginia;

Rushmore of 1980s action movies that still hold up today: "Die Hard" (far, far left), "Red Dawn," "Mad Max," "Terminator." Wow this one is really tough.

Rushmore of Hollywood nicknames: The Duke, World's Greatest Entertainer (Al Jolson), The Queen of Scream (Fay Wray), America's Sweetheart

Best college coaches without a title: Mike Martin, Frank Beamer, Mark Few, Mark Richt maybe?

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.

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