Unlike previous recruiting cycles, the majority of the top recruits for the Class of 2018 have already signed thanks to the early signing period in December — several top recruits already are enrolled on campus. That has taken a chunk of the drama out of an annual rite of passage for high school players, but there’s still some left. MORE: Top 10 uncommitted recruits and where they might land...
MORE: Was Clayton Kershaw tipping his pitches in Game 2? Martinez said he preferred to have reliever Daniel Hudson face Will Smith, despite the potential for disaster. It was a classic “go with your gut,” old-school baseball thought, the kind the analytically inclined tend to hate and baseball purists tend to love. “There was really not much to think about. Muncy hit a ball 400 feet against [Doolittle in the seventh]....
During an interview with The Athletic this week, Washington general manager Mike Rizzo addressed recent reports that indicated the team could consider moving the 34-year-old ace if it did not work its way back into playoff contention. “We’re certainly not thinking about that right now,” Rizzo said. “We control the best pitcher in baseball for 2 1/2 more years — three playoff runs. He’s extremely well-priced. If you look at his contract, he’s extremely, extremely well-priced....
Ronaldo passed up the opportunity to complete his hat-trick as he let Benzema seal Madrid’s 4-0 victory over Alaves in La Liga Saturday. Benzema had only scored three league goals prior to the clash at the Santiago Bernabeu before five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo paved the way for the Frenchman to convert an 89th-minute penalty. “Cristiano’s gesture speaks volumes for the type of team this is and how he is as a person,” goalkeeper Navas said post-match....
The Costa Rica international kept a clean sheet as Madrid recorded a 2-0 win at Malaga on Sunday, capturing the La Liga crown for the first time since 2012. Zidane shows he’s no Di Matteo Navas, 30, arrived to face media with a shaved head and said he wanted to dedicate the title triumph to those battling cancer. “I pray to God for all of them, that they can recover from their illness,” he said....
Nazem Kadri capped off an eventful playoff run on Sunday night by getting to hoist the Stanley Cup, as the Avalanche downed the two-time defending-champion Lightning 2-1 in Game 6. If the headline is the Avalanche winning, then Kadri has been an appropriate sidebar throughout these playoffs. Some have pegged the rough-and-tumble center as a “liability” — words that apparently made it across his eardrums. Kadri took some time to address his supporters and his haters following the win: “I’ve had supporters in my corner, Day 1, never wavered,” Kadri said....
AccuScore has the Spurs as 56.7 percent favorites to win, a number that should warrant a -130 money-line price. We can’t recommend the money-line here though because the Spurs are being offered at a minimum of -345 at the bet window. The average score after 10,000-plus simulations is 101-98. While AccuScore isn’t necessarily making a pick on Denver either, with a score projected to be that close, we wouldn’t be able to fault a roll of the dice on the Nuggets at +310, a price that suggests they have less than a 25 percent chance of winning....
Yet, Levin is not speaking about the league’s promising ratings during the Finals — which have averaged nearly 15 million viewers per game — but rather, he’s referencing the NBA’s chronic counterfeit problem. Currently, the NBA grants almost 300 licenses worldwide for companies to sell merchandise and apparel featuring the league’s logo and name in a legal manner. There are then those entities that do not abide by the law....
Plenty of storylines have emerged from the opening few weeks of NBA action. Among the more surprising developments, the East has seen Brooklyn, Miami, and Philly all start 5-7. Meanwhile, the top two seeds in the West are the Jazz (10-3) and Blazers (9-3), while the Warriors and Lakers are a combined 6-16. That’s some wild early-season stuff, most of which even the most locked-in analysts didn’t see coming (well, I had the Lakers stinking, but that’s an easy one)....
Line: Cavaliers -4.5, Total: 203 (check our odds page for current NBA point spreads and totals) Kyrie Irving returned after a two-game absence and had 18 points, five assists, two rebounds and two steals in Cleveland’s 110-79 win vs. the Celtics last night. The Cavs (38-24 SU, 31-21 ATS) are 19-4 SU and 17-6 ATS over their last 23 games, and two of those losses came recently when they were at less than full strength....
Creating a successful culture is a high-wire act in today’s NBA with the game changing at a rapid rate and players holding more control than ever before. It doesn’t take much for a star to force a franchise into a me-or-him situation, and history shows the coach isn’t winning that battle. MORE: Ranking NBA’s most overpaid players In simplified terms, there is no perfect formula. Coaches must balance a number of important factors, so we’ll try to do the same here with Sporting News’ 2018-19 NBA coach rankings....
The Celtics are rumored to be working hard to move out of the No. 3 spot , and the 76ers are interested . They’d likely take a guard — Providence’s Kris Dunn, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield or Kentucky’s Jamal Murray — with that pick. Boston has a whole host of picks and needs to move some of them to avoid some difficult decisions in the coming days. TV coverage of the NBA Draft will begin at 7 p....
But who should be officially included in these rankings and mocks? We’re keeping track of all the top prospects who have declared for the NBA Draft with the early-entry list below. You can see the full early-entry list here. The 2017 NBA Draft class is one of the deepest in recent memory. Washington guard Markelle Fultz is the popular choice for the No. 1 overall selection, but there’s plenty of talent behind him for NBA franchises in rebuild mode....
The trick is trying to figure out who that someone will be. Drafting is already a complicated process, and things don’t get easier as the pick number gets higher. But, if you’re an NBA team, your draft board can’t end at pick No. 30, so you’ve got to take a shot. MOCK DRAFT: Luka Doncic leads way in first-round projection Below, we’ll take a shot at finding some of those sleepers....
National champions Kyle Guy, De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome of Virginia are also expected to be in attendance. The full list was announced Wednesday, along with the television schedule (3-7 p.m. ET May 16 and 17 on ESPN2). The combine will be the first step in the draft process for the players and will feature five-on-five games along with shooting and strength and agility drills. The two-day event will be held at Quest Multisport in Chicago....
Diallo, who came to the U.S. almost four years ago from Mali and became a student at Our Savior New American, a private high school in Centereach, N.Y., was ruled ineligible to play for Kansas at the beginning of the year after a clumsy NCAA eligibility investigation, which the organization essentially dropped five games into the season. MORE: Latest NBA Mock Draft | Who would each lottery team draft first?...
The projected first-round pick broke the ring finger of his non-shooting hand during a workout with the Nuggets on Monday. The good news is the fracture is a clean break, so it won’t require surgery. The bad news is Payne will sit out for three weeks as a precaution. MORE: Pangos hopes to join Canada’s NBA revolution | Latest NBA Mock Draft “Cam continued to work out even after suffering the injury in Denver, and he could probably play in a meaningful game tomorrow if he needed to,” his agent Travis King told DraftExpress....
Oladipo, the second overall pick by Orlando in the 2013 NBA Draft, is averaging 17 points per game in his first three regular season outings after being traded this summer. MORE: NBA season predictions: Warriors’ path to championship Here are some others who have signed: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz: The Utah big man is reportedly getting a four-year, $102 million deal, according to The Undefeated.Steven Adams, Oklahoma City Thunder: Oladipo’s teammate is reportedly getting a four-year, $100 million extension, according to The Vertical....
But with Heat down three games to one in the NBA Finals against the Spurs, the criticism toward James was coming in hot and heavy. MORE: Live scoreboard | NBA Finals photos | Chalmers benched | Bosh confident It didn't him very long in Game 5 to show the masses why he is, in fact, the best player on the planet and why he can single-handedly carry the Heat to a third consecutive NBA championship....
We’ll grab ahold of explanation as to how we got there and what comes next. Hours before Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday, pockets of midges, the bugs that once chewed up Joba Chamberlain’s neck in the 2007 ALDS, hovered in the alley leading into Quicken Loans Arena. The Kardashians showed up before tipoff. You could even point to Dwyane Wade’s getup. Anything could be an omen, but we’re back in a familiar place....
