| Wes Goldberg |
| @wcgoldberg |
"We kept (Damian Lillard) under wraps most of the game, and then with about two or three minutes left, we let him come off clean at the top of the key for wide open 3." pic.twitter.com/
| Player | Pos | HT | WT | Team | NBA Draft Status | Nationality |
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| Anthony Slater |
| @anthonyVslate |
The Warriors have the 21st-ranked offense. They are in need of more scoring outside of Steph Curry. They used the #2 overall pick on a scoring center. They need to find a way to get more out of James Wiseman. theathletic.com/
| Warriors on NBCS |
| @NBCSWarriors |
bit.ly/30979Dx pic.twitter.com/
THE MINNESOTA PICK:
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| #TeamLeBron x #TeamDurant Team Captains @KingJames and @KDTrey5 will select from the #NBAAllStar player pool in the NBA All-Star 2021 Draft Show! TONIGHT at 8:00 PM ET on TNT 📺 pic.twitter.com/ | |||||
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| TEAM LEBRON JAMES (QUINN) | TEAM KEVIN DURANT (HERBERT) | |
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Starter | Stephen Curry | Kyrie Irving |
Starter | Luka Doncic | Bradley Beal |
Starter | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Jayson Tatum |
Starter | LeBron James | Kawhi Leonard |
Starter | Joel Embiid | Nikola Jokic |
Reserve | Chris Paul | James Harden |
Reserve | Ben Simmons | Zion Williamson |
Reserve | Damian Lillard | Paul George |
Reserve | Devin Booker | Zach LaVine |
Reserve | Jaylen Brown | Donovan Mitchell |
Reserve | Julius Randle | Rudy Gobert |
Reserve | Nikola Vucevic | Domantas Sabonis |
| Awful Announcing |
| @awfulannounci |
During its long run on TNT, Inside the NBA has evolved beyond a great studio sports show into a cultural phenomenon. Yet it’s still surprising to learn — or be reminded — that the show has been on the air for 30 years.
Turner Sports is commemorating that milestone with The Inside Story, a four-part docuseries chronicling the history of the landmark sports show. TNT will broadcast one episode of the documentary for four consecutive nights during the NBA All-Star break from Thursday, March 4 through Sunday, March 7.
“....The 49ers’ never-ending search for another quarterback continues, even as they have denied their interest at least three times, pledging their support to Jimmy Garoppolo. Everyone in the NFL knows the 49ers have been doing their due diligence on all quarterbacks who might be available, although I highly doubt they called the Panthers about Teddy Bridgewater. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was never a huge Bridgewater fan during his time in Cleveland when Bridgewater was available in the draft. Shanahan is rather specific in what he wants for his offense from the quarterback position, and those qualifications don’t fit with Bridgewater’s game.
The 49ers are interested in adding a quarterback, but not just any quarterback. They likely have their eyes on a select few. When a team needs a position, they get mentioned as a contender for anyone who plays the position in need, even though it makes no sense. Would they have an interest in Jets quarterback Sam Darnold? Yes, for sure. Why? Because Darnold fits the profile that Shanahan loves at the position: athletic, can throw moving to his left or right, and has the arm strength to make the defense defend every blade of grass on the field. The 49ers could acquire him with a second-round pick and then trade Jimmy G. The Jets are seeking a top-10 pick in the second round for Darnold—something the 49ers don’t currently have as their pick in the second round is No. 43 overall. The Jets are currently on the clock as the Jags will select Trevor Lawrence, giving Jets general manager Joe Douglas his pick of the remaining quarterbacks.
The only potential snag in the dominos falling in the quarterback market has more to do with timing than making the deal. Teams don’t want to cash out on one quarterback when perhaps Houston finally decides to trade Deshaun Watson. Would San Francisco want Watson? Yes. Would they want Watson over Darnold? Once again, yes. Would they regret trading for Darnold if two days later they hear Houston is accepting offers for Watson? Another huge yes.
And do I believe 49ers general manager John Lynch when he claims that Garoppolo will be his starter in 2021? Of course not. They are too active, too aggressive to run it back one more year with someone they don’t have complete trust in. Don’t forget that this time last year I wrote a column about how the 49ers might entertain Brady. And if they followed through with their initial instincts, their season might have been slightly different.”
Tier 4: Fringe starters, rotational pieces and wild cards
These are players who could emerge as starters, could fill specialized roles or could be backups.
Jason Verrett, CB, San Francisco 49ers (30)
He was one of the great, under-the-radar stories of the 2020 season. Dogged by injuries his whole career, Verrett was able to stay healthy for most of the season. He started 13 games and played at a high level. Verrett ranked seventh out of 106 corners in yards per snap allowed when playing man coverage. His talent is undeniable. But Verrett has been healthy for just 39 out of a possible 112 games during his career. Because of that, he’ll likely have a hard time finding anything other than a one-year deal. But he probably offers as much upside as any corner that’s going to be available.
Per multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, the Ravens will be proposing a pair of overtime procedures premised on the concept of “spot and choose.”
It works like this: One team picks the spot of the ball to start overtime, and the other team chooses whether to play offense or defense.
If the one team picks, for example, the offense’s own 20 yard line, the opponent would then choose whether to play offense from their own 20 or to play defense, with the other team having the ball on its own 20. This would minimize greatly the impact of the coin toss; under this proposal, the coin toss would be used only to give the team that wins the toss the right to pick the spot of the ball (along with the end zone to be defended) or to choose offense or defense.
Under one of the two proposals to be made by the Ravens, overtime would proceed in sudden-death fashion, with the first score by either team ending the game and up to 10 minutes of extra time. (If the game remains tied at that point, the game’s outcome would be a tie.) Under the other proposal (favored, we’re told, by Patriots coach Bill Belichick), the game would continue for another seven minutes and 30 seconds, without a sudden-death component. Whoever leads after the extra time has ended would be the winner. (Again, if the game remains tied after the extra session, the game’s outcome would be a tie.)
ROUGHING THE PASSER REPLAY? NO IT’S A JUDGEMENT CALL...(WOULD BE WORSE THAN PI REVIEW)
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Teams attempted 67 onside kicks in 2020. They recovered three, according to thefootballdatabase.com. That was fewer than in 2019 when eight of 63 were recovered.
The Eagles proposed an onside kick alternative that didn’t go very far last year. They are proposing it again this year, Mark Maske of The Washington Postreports.
The alternative would allow teams the chance to maintain possession after a score with a fourth-and-15 play from their own 25-yard line.
The Competition Committee has discussed the idea for several years. The proposal gained support but not enough for 24 owners to approve the rule change, so it was tabled last May.
PFT reported that two concerns surfaced about the onside kick alternative last year:
First, if the kicking team recovers an onside kick, it cannot advance it beyond the spot of the recovery. The fourth-and-15 alternative, as a scrimmage play, would not be limited to the line to gain or the spot of the catch or anything other than where the play ends — up to and including a touchdown.
Second, the fourth-and-15 play puts extra pressure on officials to throw a flag for defensive holding, illegal contact or pass interference. Whether officials call those fouls like they would on a normal play or take a “push the flag deeper in the pocket” approach, the situation will result in much more scrutiny being applied to the officials on those plays.
Owners meet virtually March 30-31
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| Baker Mayfield and wife Emily Wilkinson 'almost 100%' saw a UFO trib.al/vljfdOa pic.twitter.com/ | |||
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| Bob Nightengale |
| @BNightengale |
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An expanded postseason and a universal designated hitter for the 2021 season are both dead issues with no recent movement or planned further discussion, multiple people with knowledge of the communications between Major League Baseball and the Players Association said this week. While reversals never can be totally ruled out, both sides are proceeding as though there will not be any last-minute addition of the DH in the National League, or additional playoff teams from the current field of 10, for 2021.
Last year, an expanded postseason was agreed to at the last minute in July, right as the truncated 2020 season was beginning. The universal DH had already been ratified as a health and safety measure, to help pitchers avoid injuries from hitting or base running. But the circumstances that led to both developments in 2020 are different now, and it makes a similar last-minute scramble to reprise either element highly unlikely.
The players are concerned an expanded postseason harms competition, disincentivizing teams from adding talent they would otherwise pursue for a chance to crack a smaller field. The league believes the effect would be the opposite, that the format would encourage teams to upgrade in an effort to claim additional spots. At this point in the year, the potential impact on the free-agent market is ostensibly less than it would have been had an expanded postseason been agreed to in, say, December, because most players have been signed.
The economic arguments go beyond the free-agent market, however. Major League Baseball would have received a $100 million credit from ESPN for the expanded postseason, a source said, because MLB didn’t play enough games in 2020 to fulfill the package of games ESPN paid for. Naturally, owners wanted that influx of money. But the players felt the incentives were not there. Last year, players, like owners, were losing a large chunk of money simply because fewer games were played. In addition, the players’ postseason earnings are predicated on fan attendance, which they knew last year would be minimal at best. But this year, players feel more comfortable that come playoff time, fans will be in the stands and they’ll receive a substantial haul from the gate; the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines allows for optimism.
MLB offered the players a guarantee of more than $80 million for the entire postseason if the players agreed to the expanded format, equivalent to the bonus pool that was distributed in 2019 (when the playoff field was a standard 10 teams). But the players did not feel the guarantee represented significant gain, if any. (The CBA promises a relatively small guarantee for players in the event that gate receipts are not up to certain thresholds: a minimum $4.6 million, for example, is to be distributed to the players on a World Series-winning team, and more than $3 million to each of the losing team in the World Series and the other two teams that lost in the Championship Series rounds, and lesser amounts for the other postseason teams.)
As for the DH, MLB sees a question of fairness in instituting it the NL at this point, with spring training already underway. Some NL general managers might be thrilled by the addition, depending on their roster construction, others not as much. “I don’t buy that argument,” an NL GM said. “We had a DH last year so some NL teams were prepared for that again.”
“I know we would love the DH,” one NL talent evaluator said Wednesday. “Hard to imagine any team wanting the pitchers to hit these days.” Adding the universal DH was a late move last year, but was considered necessary as the league and the players did everything they could to get a season in.
The DH in both leagues has long been of interest to the union, because it means an additional talent set that teams would pay for and pursue. The players, too, would prefer a DH this year from a health and safety standpoint. Last year, the league felt more urgency on the health front: spring training was shortened, and no one knew whether even a 60-game season could be played and how debilitating COVID-19 would be to rosters. This year, making the jump from 60 games to a target of 162 could bring its own physical issues for pitchers because of an increased workload. But overall, teams and players alike are more confident about navigating this season because of the experience of playing last year, and owners are not compelled to agree to the universal DH as a one-off on a health basis alone.
In talks with the union in the offseason, MLB sought a package deal: expanded playoffs and the universal DH tied together. The union never wanted the issues linked, however. The league and owners were more than annoyed that the union did not make any official counter proposals to its offers (one of which included a delay to the start of the 2021 season, which the players did not want.) The union, however, had no legal obligation to make counteroffers because a CBA is in place.
Both the universal DH and an expanded postseason are expected to be topics during collective bargaining, which has no start date as of yet. Both sides have begun preparing for what will be at least a somewhat compressed bargaining schedule compared to normal years. The sessions may be conducted mostly over video chats, rather than the standard in-person sessions. The current CBA expires on Dec. 1,
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