NBA draft
I love the draft. You know this.
The NFL draft is, of course, the Jordan of drafts. But back in the day - think mid-1980s - the NBA draft was Jabbar.
It was a ton of fun, but like everything else in the sports world, it has been passed by its NFL counterpart. So it goes.
Still, the transaction has become a drama-filled bug zapper to NBA mosquitos, and the last week-plus has provided a ton of zip.
Here's what we know and what it means heading into tonight's draft (7 p.m.; ESPN):
> Zion will go first. Vegas has even removed this bet from the board, and when that happens, to quote Hawk Harrelson, you can put it on the board. Yes. That means the Pelicans will be a contender for the No. 2 primetime TV option for national games next year.
> Memphis will take Ja Morant No. 2. After dealing Mike Conley to Utah, this is almost as certain as Zion.
> The draft starts with the Knicks at 3. Conventional wisdom points to RJ Barrett, but when was the last time the Knicks were either conventional or wise. They have been kicking the tires of Darius Garland, and if they go with the former five-star point guard who tore up his knee five games into his Vandy career, well
> New Orleans at 4 will get a lot of big-time offers if Barrett is on the board. Even if Barrett is Knicks-bound, the Pelicans - I think they should change the logo for tonight to PelicanZ for Zion; that would be cool - been looking to deal 4 since getting it from L.A. in the Anthony Davis deal.
> Speaking of L.A., because we know they will continue to make news, look for the Lakers to buy back into round two tonight. Without a single pick in tonight's draft and with less than half a roster, the Lakers have to find affordable players. And this year's second round could be a great avenue for that. With a slew of familiar names - Jordan Bone and Admiral Schofield from UT, LSU's Naz Reid and Tremont Waters, Purdue's Carsen Edwards, even Belmont's sharp-shooting Dylan Windler - there is great value in this year's second round. And all of those dudes would have to be tickled to be picked by a Lakers bunch that most likely will have three players - LeBron, AD and Kyle Kozma - on the roster very soon.
Draft best guesses
While we ponder the idea of doing away with the draft - something we have discussed before and something TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer ponders here - there are still a lot of predictions to be offered, no?
(Side note: There is no other industry other than professional sports that flips employment on its head the way professional sports does. While, as Weeds points out, some very smart dudes like Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN believe doing away with the NBA draft would limit if not eliminate tanking, that's not entirely true. Every team that did not have 12-to-1 odds to win it all would have scrubbed their rosters this past winter for as much cap space as possible to make Zion the biggest offer possible in there was not a trade and something akin to an open job market for athletes the way it is for other post-college folks looking for jobs in their field of expertise.)
Here are the three guesses/thoughts about tonight's haul, both in the here and the tomorrow:
> Call it AU bias if you'd like, but Chuma Okeke, when he returns from the knee injury will be the second-round steal of this draft. In the last month of the season, Okeke was the best player on a Final Four team, is long and athletic and can defend 2-through-5. In the game that he wrecked his knee, Okeke was the best player on the floor against a UK team that will have three first-rounders tonight.
> Other than Zion and the AD-PelicanZ fall-out, the Hawks will be the talk of the first hour of the draft tonight. They have picks 8, 10 and 17. Depending on who is left, the Hawks have a chance to add some nice pieces to a better - and younger - foundation than most know. Trae Young (19.1 ppg, 8.1 apg) and John Collins (19.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg) are each under 22. Possibly adding a DeAndre Hunter, a Jaxson Hayes and a Tyler Herro could round a young and bright future. (And those words are not normally connected to anything with the Hawks since circa-1985.)
> I'll say it now: If I could get $5 for every time one of these ESPN college basketball knuckle-noggins says, "He should have returned to school," well, let's just say I could take the rest of 2019 off. Yes did Jordan Bone or Jared Harper or any other number of dudes declare for the draft because they were dreaming of being a second-rounder or have to go through the D-League? Of course not. But other than those close to those dudes, no one knows what circumstances they face and what demands they need to meet. We as college basketball fans may want them to return, but why should they give two rips about that. And who's to say returning would add to their draft value. (And if you want to talk about a degree in this hollow and flawed system Steh Greenberg, well, shut that noise down now.) I can't help but think back when we had former Auburn running back Peyton Barber on Press Row not long after he declared for the NFL draft. He had no buzz and eventually went undrafted and we asked him why he declared. He said his mom was about to be homeless and they needed the money. (Undrafted or not, Barber is about to enter his third year in the NFL and has rushed for more than 1,500 yards and nine TDs.)
NFL future
This is arguably the sneakiest big story in sports for several reasons.
This is the story about the NFL pondering its future of the Sunday Ticket on DirecTV. It's by the Sports Business Journal, an outfit that does excellent work for what it's worth.
Here are some of the details/background:
The NFL can elect to opt out before the start of this season. If it does it can look for new broadcast partners/platforms as soon as 2020. If it decides to stay with DirecTV, the contract will go through 2022.
The exclusive deal with DirecTV pays the NFL $1.5 billion annually. According to the story, no single digital entity - ESPN+, Amazon, DAZN, et al. - is believed to have that kind of cash. (Truth be told, not sure DirecTV can afford that either, but if DirecTV loses Sunday Ticket it will be bankrupt inside 18 months, in my opinion.)
The changing market also has led the mainstream cable companies such as Charter and Comcast away from a price tag that big.
As for the ripples, well, they are far-reaching in my opinion.
But if the NFL does opt out and parcels the out-of-market games to current or new TV partners as well as non-exclusive digital partners, well, getting back to the $1.5 billion could be doable.
Or does the NFL bet on itself and reserve more games for the actual NFL Network and charge cable companies more for the right to have the NFL Network in their packages.
And know this: The rest of the leagues across all sports are watching very closely.
This and that
- Braves played. Braves won. Man, remember those ol' days of May when we were worrying about this bunch? Yeah, me neither.
- A New Jersey fisherman met the real-life version of Jaws. On the mini-Rushmore of movies that 25-years-or-older and hold-up the best, I'd likely open the bidding on Jaws, Die Hard, Terminator 2 and Silence of the Lambs. Thoughts?
- Baseball needs as much energy as possible, and we're all here for this. Remember the hubbub between Max Muncy and Madison Bumgarner? Muncy took the Giants ace deep, and Bumgarner got his jock in a bunch. After the game Muncy said something that, while intended to be trash talk, really didn't make much sense. Now his "Go get it out of the ocean" zinger is making a hot T-shirt in Dodgertown.
- OK, let me get this straight: ESPN asked LaVar Ball on First Take for an interview after his son was traded from L.A. to New Orleans. Ball, the bloviating gas bag, said something in inappropriate, and now ESPN is planning on not having him back because this time he said something that offended a female host. What Ball said was not appropriate - but, and man it's tough to defend the antics of LaVar Ball, his statement about the incident offers a plausible other side - but it's not like he went way over the top. But at what point should ESPN looking themselves in the mirror on this? He's not the most famous sports dad in our society right now because people expect clever insight and conservative commentary people. If you are going to routinely play with a loaded gun and then it goes off and you shoot a bullet through the TV, is that really the gun's fault at that point?
Today's questions
OK, we'll start here: We are getting details of the rest of the cast of LeBron's Space Jam 2. That's not a question. This is: Does Space Jam 2 have any chance to be a) good or b) embraced by a generation that already worships everything MJ?
It's also national vanilla milkshake day. Does Vanilla even make the Rushmore of milkshakes these days? (Strawberry is better. Chick-Fil-A peach is way, Way, WAY better.)
Believe it or not, Jaws was released on this day in 1975. Excellent movie, even today.
Happy birthday to Nicole Kidman (52) and Lionel Richie (70).
And John Goodman. Rushmore of John Goodman roles. Go, and remember the mailbag.