Month: September 2020

Fantasy Golf Power Rankings for the 2020 Tour Championship

Analyzing the best fantasy golf picks for the 2020 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club with power rankings of the 30-man field.

The 2020 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia will mark the end of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season. The FedEx Cup and $15-million first-place prize will be awarded to the winner. Starting strokes are assigned to begin the tournament based on the season-long points race. Leader Dustin Johnson starts the week at 10-under par; BMW Championship winner Jon Rahm starts at minus-8 in second place.

Below, we look at the fantasy golf power rankings for the 30-man field at East Lake Golf Club for the 2020 Tour Championship and FedEx Cup.

The rankings are made independent of the starting strokes and betting odds are without bonus strokes applied to 72-hole scoring.

Also see: 2020 Tour Championship odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets

2020 Tour Championship: Fantasy Golf Top 30

Lanto Griffin tees off on the 16th hole during the third round of the 2020 PGA Championship. (Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo – USA TODAY Sports)

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Odds last updated Tuesday at 8:15 a.m. ET.

30. Lanto Griffin (+10000)

Tied for 10th last week in Illinois. Has one win and four top 10s this season and makes his first appearance in the Tour Championship.

29. Kevin Na (+8000)

One of the most experienced members of the field with 24 professional rounds at East Lake but has lost 0.09 strokes per round on the field, according to Data Golf.

28. Ryan Palmer (+7000)

The oldest member of this year’s field, Palmer sits 23rd in the standings with five top 10s in a strong season.

27. Sebastian Munoz (+7000)

Lost 0.35 strokes per round on the greens last week but tied for eighth while ranking fifth in the field with an average of 1.92 SG: Tee-to-Green.

26. Sungjae Im (+6600)

One of the steadiest performers all season, Im has missed the cut in two of his last four events and finished just T-56 last week in the 69-man field.

Brendon Todd hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the BMW Championship. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)

25. Brendon Todd (+5500)

Snagged his fourth top 10 of the season last week with a  T-8 at the BMW Championship. The two-time winner this season will make just his second appearance in the Tour Championship.

24. Mackenzie Hughes (+8000)

Made a clutch putt on the 72nd hole to move into a tie for 10th and climb from 36th to 28th in the FEC standings. His smooth putting stroke could guide him to a top finish on the highly-touted Bermudagrass greens of East Lake GC.

23. Kevin Kisner (+3500)

Finished T-25 last week after back-to-back top 10s at the Wyndham Championship and The Northern Trust. Ranks fifth in the field with an average of 2.22 strokes gained per round on the average pro across his last 20 rounds.

22. Marc Leishman (+15000)

The five-time PGA Tour champ finished dead last at plus-30 last week. It’s a different tournament and a different course where he has 16 career rounds of experience.

21. Cameron Smith (+10000)

Made his only career appearance in the Tour Championship in 2018 and finished 20th at even par. He also tied for 20th last week while ranking third in the field with 1.02 SG: Around-the-Green per round.

Looking to place a bet on the 2020 Tour Championship? Get some action on it at BetMGM. Bet Now!

20. Harris English (+4000)

One of the more surprising names in the top 10 of the FEC standings, English ranks seventh with six top 10s on the season. He was the distant runner-up to Johnson at The Northern Trust but tied for 40th last week.

19. Joaquin Niemann (+5000)

The winner of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier to begin the season, Niemann fired a final-round minus-3 to tie for third at the difficult Olympia Fields Country Club. He led the field with 2.21 SG: Tee-to-Green per round.

18. Abraham Ancer (+5500)

Lost 1.03 strokes around-the-green last week to finish just T-33 and drop to 22nd in the standings. Finished 21st in his debut in this event last year.

17. Cameron Champ (+8000)

Ranks second on the PGA Tour for the season with an average of .990 SG: Off-the-Tee through 57 measured rounds. It was the only positive aspect of his game last week while finishing T-65 at plus-15.

16. Tyrrell Hatton (+2500)

Has cooled off in his last four events after coming out of the midseason pause red-hot. He’ll make his debut this year after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Viktor Hovland tees off on the 6th during the first round of the 2020 PGA Championship. (Photo Credit: Kyle Terada – USA TODAY Sports)

15. Viktor Hovland (+3300)

Tenth in SG: Approach and 25th in Birdie or Better Percentage this season. Slipped from 24th to 27th in the FEC standings last week while finishing T-40.

14. Patrick Reed (+2800)

Is tied for third in the field with 24 career rounds played here and has averaged just 0.12 total strokes gained per round. Finished T-9 last year with starting strokes but shot plus-1 for the tournament.

13. Scottie Scheffler (+2500)

Tied for 20th last week after back-to-back T-4 finishes. Is gaining 2.37 strokes per round on the average pro across his last 20 rounds.

12. Tony Finau (+1800)

Shot minus-4 last year while gaining 0.65 strokes per round with his putter. Bounced back from a missed cut at The Northern Trust to finish fifth at the BMW Championship.

11. Billy Horschel (+3300)

The 2014 FedExCup champ won this event in 2014 and ranks second in the field with 3.30 strokes gained per round at East Lake.

Hideki Matsuyama hits out of a sand trap on the 18th hole during the BMW Championship. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)

10. Hideki Matsuyama (+2000)

Tied for third last week for his best result of 2020. Hasn’t finished in the top 2 since last fall’s Zozo Championship.

9. Bryson DeChambeau (+1600)

Lost 1.79 strokes per round from tee-to-green to finish 50th last week. Tied for 12th here last year despite losing 0.41 strokes per round around-the-green.

8. Collin Morikawa (+1800)

The 2020 PGA Championship winner will make his debut at East Lake this year. He tied for 20th last week and shot his best round Sunday.

7. Daniel Berger (+1800)

Ranks second to Rahm with 2.48 strokes gained on the average competitor across his last 20 rounds. Has two top 5s in his last four events.

Golfweek: Despite No. 13 ranking, Berger won’t play at Masters

6. Xander Schauffele (+1100)

Leads the field with 3.34 total strokes gained across 12 rounds at East Lake GC. Won this event in 2017 and was the runner-up last year.

Justin Thomas hits his tee shot on the 6th hole during the second round of the BMW Championship. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)

5. Justin Thomas (+900)

The 2017 FedEx Cup champ has never won the Tour Championship despite entering as last year’s leader at 10-under par. He still ranks fourth in the field with 2.52 SG per round.

4. Rory McIlroy (+1000)

The reigning FedEx Cup and Tour Championship winner finished T-12 last week and has averaged 2.98 strokes gained across 24 rounds here. The biggest concern with rostering him is the imminent birth of his child potentially leading to a withdrawal.

Golfweek: Soon-to-be dad McIlroy bounces back at BMW

3. Jon Rahm (+500)

The winner of the Memorial Tournament and BMW Championship will start the week 8-under par and two back of Johnson. He tied for 12th here last year.

Golfweek: Rahm sinks 66-foot putt to win BMW, Johnson claims top for Tour Championship

2. Dustin Johnson (+550)

Has finished T-12, T-2, 1 and 2 in his last four events and lost last week on Rahm’s 66-foot in the playoff. He won his fifth career FedEx Cup playoff event at The Northern Trust but has never won the Tour Championship.

1. Webb Simpson (+1100)

The only player in the field to take last week off in preparation for the season finale and the US Open. A two-time winner with six other top 10s this season, including The Northern Trust and Wyndham Championship. Ranks first on Tour in Birdie or Better Percentage

Get some action on the 2020 Tour Championship by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com. Please gamble responsibly.

Follow @EstenMcLaren on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Chris Paul goes off against his old team, closes out Rockets to force Game 7

Chris Paul scored eight of his team’s last 12 points to take the Rockets-Thunder series to a Game 7.

Chris Paul has been around this league so long that it’s easy to kind of forget how unbelievably good he is. His willingness to be a distributor, and his ignominious exit from the Houston Rockets, have pushed him to the edges of superstardom.

He remains a superstar, though. He reminded us of that again on Monday night, when he willed the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 104-100 Game 6 victory over his former team, the Houston Rockets.

We’re heading to a Game 7, and Chris Paul is a big reason why.

In Game 6, Paul finished with a team-leading 28 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and the team was a preposterous +20 with him on the floor.

But no points were more important than those that Paul scored in the closing minutes of the game. With the Rockets locked down and trying to finish off the series, Paul took over, scoring eight of his team’s 12 final points to earn the Thunder a 4-point win and force a Game 7.

While other point guards in this league may be pure better shooters, or have more speed than the 35-year-old Paul, I’m not sure there’s a guard I’d rather have with the ball in his hands in the final minutes of a game. (Dame Lillard as the possible exception.)

Via ESPN:

Nobody handles close games better than Paul, who led the NBA with 150 points in clutch situations, defined as the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is five or fewer points.

Paul has built a career on being a pure point guard early in games — facilitating, getting teammates their points, then taking over games when it matters. He did it in New Orleans, he did it in LA, he sometimes did it in Houston (Harden had some issues with that), but in OKC he gets to play that way.

He facilitated early, and got Danilo Gallinari going (25 points), but then come crunch time, he did what he does. Two step-back jumpers, a three-pointer, and a charging drive that earned him two free-throws were what his team needed, and he got them. Now we’ve got a Game 7.

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Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights odds, picks and best bets

NHL betting analysis around Tuesday’s Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights Game 5 matchup, with NHL betting odds, picks and best bets.

The Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights face each other in Game 5 of their Western Conference Second-Round best-of-seven series Tuesday at 9:45 p.m. ET at Rogers Place in Edmonton (on NBCSN). We analyze the Canucks-Golden Knights NHL betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.

Canucks vs. Golden Knights: Projected starting goalies

Jacob Markstrom vs. Robin Lehner

Markstrom wasn’t as sharp as he has been in this postseason, and he picked a terrible time for his worst game since the restart. He allowed five goals on 33 shots in the 5-3 loss in Game 4, as the Golden Knights pushed the upstart Canucks to the brink of elimination. Markstrom also allowed five goals in Game 1, but the Game 4 result was more his fault. And he had offensive support, unlike the series opener when the offense was squelched.

Marc-Andre Fleury made his triumphant return to the crease, and like DJ Khaled, all he does is win. Fleury allowed three goals on 31 shots in the 5-3 victory, and it was his third win in as many starts since the restart, yet head coach Peter DeBoer had been leaning upon Lehner way more. To be fair, Lehner had been standing on his head, posting two shutouts in three starts in this series. He needed a breather, and Fleury was there to provide a break.

Place a legal NHL bet on this game or others in CO, IN, NJ and WV at BetMGM. Bet now!

Canucks vs. Golden Knights: Odds, picks and betting tips

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Tuesday at 8 a.m. ET.

Prediction

Golden Knights 4, Canucks 2

Moneyline (ML)

The Golden Knights (-223) are heavy favorites, and if anything, playing the underdog Canucks (+185) would be the way to go on the moneyline. You can nearly double up if they pull the upset and force a Game 6.

AVOID. If you really like Vegas, play the Golden Knights (-143) on the 3-way line, but know they must win in regulation for this ticket to cash. A win in overtime is still a losing bet.

New to sports betting? A winning $10 bet on the Golden Knights fetches a profit of just $4.50, while a $10 bet on the Canucks returns a profit of $18.50 if they pull the upset.

Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)

The GOLDEN KNIGHTS -1.5 (+115) is a tempting play. I mean, all four victories in this series so far have been by two or more goals, so if you like VGK, you have to like the puck line, too, right?

Over/Under (O/U)

The O/U of 6 (Over: -115, Under: -106) is a tough play. I think the total is going to be right on the number, actually, and it’s not worth it to buy a half-goal or full goal one way or the other. Yes, the winning team has scored five goals in three of the four games, but the Over/Under has split 2-2 in the first four. Save your money for a surer thing. AVOID.

Want some action in this one? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @JoeWilliamsVI on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Latest betting odds have Patriots landing Leonard Fournette

The Patriots has been given the best odds to land the former Jaguars running back.

The Jacksonville Jaguars released running back Leonard Fournette on Monday, and the New England Patriots are betting favorites to land him.

According to BetOnline, the Patriots and Chicago Bears are the top two favorites to land him. Following the Bears and Patriots, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the next-best odds at 7/2.

In three seasons, Fournette has recorded 2,631 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. His best season came in 2019. He recorded 1,152 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

Currently, the New England Patriots running back room includes the likes of Sony Michel, Rex Burkhead, Damien Harris, and James White. Newest acquisition Lamar Miller looks to make an impact as well. Fournette would join a room full of veterans, and would give New England another solid option to choose from.

It will be interesting to see if these odds have any merit and if New England takes a chance on him. If there’s one thing Patriots fans have learned over the years, it’s to never count out Bill Belichick, and to always expect the unexpected.

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2020 Tour Championship odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets

Here are golf betting odds for the PGA Tour’s season finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

The winner of the 2019-20 FedEx Cup will be decided with this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

Starting strokes are assigned based on the season-long FEC standings; Dustin Johnson begins the tournament at 10-under par and holds an opening two-shot lead over BMW Championship winner Jon Rahm. As such, they’re commanding betting favorites for the outright win.

Below, we look at the betting odds to win the 2020 Tour Championship and FedEx Cup and make our PGA Tour picks and best bets.

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2020 Tour Championship Betting Picks – Tier 1

Webb Simpson is presented with the trophy and the sport coat after winning the RBC Heritage. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Tournament winner (bonus strokes not applied): Webb Simpson (+1100)

Simpson is the only member of the field who sat out last week’s BMW Championship, citing rest for the Tour Championship and 2020 US Open in two weeks. He remains fourth in the FedEx Cup Standings and will start Thursday’s round at 6-under par.

A two-time winner this season with eight top 10s, he can certainly make up a four-shot deficit. He’s first on Tour this season in Birdie or Better Percentage and second in Stroke Differential Field Average.

His odds drop to +1000 with starting strokes factored in, so get the added value while he’s trailing Johnson at the outset.

Looking to place a bet on the 2020 Tour Championship? Get some action on it at BetMGM. Bet Now!

2020 Tour Championship Betting Picks – Tier 2

Daniel Berger hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the BMW Championship. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)

Winner: Daniel Berger (+2800)

One of the best players since the Tour returned to play, Berger has moved up to fifth in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings and sits sixth in the FEC standings. He’ll begin the tournament 4-under par but is fully capable of making up the six-stroke deficit.

His T-25 finish last week was his second-worst result in seven events. He has a win and three other top 10s in that span. He has gained an average of 1.51 strokes per round across 12 career rounds at East Lake, according to Data Golf.

2020 Tour Championship Betting Picks – Long shots

Marc Leishman lines up a putt on the green of the 6th hole during the first round of the 2020 PGA Championship. (Photo Credit: Kyle Terada – USA TODAY Sports)

Winner (bonus strokes not applied): Marc Leishman (+15000)

Leishman had a week to forget last week in Illinois, finishing dead last at plus-30. The worst part of his game for the week was his putter, as he lost 2.67 strokes per round on the greens.

He’s still a five-time PGA Tour winner, including this year’s Farmers Insurance Open and has played 16 career rounds at East Lake. Take a shot on the longest bet on the board in the 30-man field.

Get some action on the 2020 Tour Championship by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com. Please gamble responsibly.

Follow @EstenMcLaren on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

Ravens land at No. 3 in TD Wire’s preseason power rankings

The Baltimore Ravens are projected to once again be among the NFL’s elite teams based on Football Outsiders DVOA projections

The Baltimore Ravens are among the elite teams in the NFL heading into the 2020 season after Football Outsiders’ DVOA Projections listed them as the third-best team in the league.

For those in need of a reminder, or in some cases a comprehensive answer as to just what DVOA is, it’s best the answer to come straight from the horse’s mouth.

DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value over Average) is a method of evaluating teams, units, or players. takes every single play during the NFL season and compares each one to a league-average baseline based on situation. DVOA measures not just yardage, but yardage towards a first down: Five yards on third-and-4 are worth more than five yards on first-and-10 and much more than five yards on third-and-12. Red zone plays are worth more than other plays. Performance is also adjusted for the quality of the opponent. DVOA is a percentage, so a team with a DVOA of 10.0% is 10 percent better than the average team, and a quarterback with a DVOA of -20.0% is 20 percent worse than the average quarterback. Because DVOA measures scoring, defenses are better when they are negative.

In his breakdown explaining the Ravens rank, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar is quick to point out that (Football Outsiders) projection of a 16.4% overall DVOA and 10.0 “Average Wins” for the Ravens came before the team decided to release safety Earl Thomas, but this group is loaded enough on both sides of the ball to overcome that.

The 2019 Ravens squad was one of the best teams in the entire DVOA era, with data compiling beginning in 1985. The Ravens finished with a whopping 41.8% a year ago. As per Farrar, “this third-place finish in overall DVOA for 2020 estimates a massive regression.”

But being projected to not finish top of the heap is not something to be taken as a sign of imminent failure. As Farrar closes by saying, “If Lamar Jackson continues to take positive steps as a pure quarterback, the Ravens might finish first in DVOA again — and perhaps there’s a Super Bowl in their near future.”

For those interested in learning more about DVOA, you can find a far more detailed explanation here.

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Matt Nagy says Bears will name starting QB next week

The Bears are running out of time to name their starting quarterback, and Matt Nagy says the starter will be announced during game week.

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The Chicago Bears are running out of time to name their starting quarterback between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. And it certainly hasn’t helped the neither has separated himself from the other in the training camp competition.

On Saturday, Nagy told reporters that he wasn’t going to name the starter until the Week 1 opener against the Detroit Lions. But Nagy insists that he won’t be waiting until game day to make the announcement.

The Bears will announce their starter during game week, which is just under a week from now. Nagy isn’t trying to hide anything. He’s just trying to utilize every available rep that comes with what’s shaping up to be the defining week in this competition.

“What I meant, to keep it real simple, is that there was not going to be a quarterback named this week that we’re in right now,” Nagy told reporters. “There will be no waiting until the middle of the week or the end of the week for that to happen. That wouldn’t be fair to our team and it wouldn’t be fair to the quarterbacks.”

Nagy was then asked if he planned on naming the starter on Monday or Wednesday of game week, to which he played coy.

“Honestly,” he said, “that’s completely (uncertain). Right now, we don’t know that. But it would be in that time frame there somewhere.

“You will know by the time most teams usually know. We’re not hiding anything. What we’re going through for us is this whole process. And we don’t even know that yet, to be quite honest. We’re talking through those situations and what’s best and how to go about it. We’re just really honestly not there yet.”

Given there’s been no preseason reps, Nagy and his coaches have had to get creative in their evaluation. They’re looking at every play — every snap, every throw, every decision. And while we don’t know for certain where Trubisky and Foles stand after two weeks of padded practices, it doesn’t sound reassuring given the reports out of camp practices from media in attendance.

The Bears are waiting for someone to separate himself in the competition. And there’s a good possibility that this thing could end in a draw. But Nagy insists he already has a plan in place should that happen.

One thing is certain: There’s not a lot of confidence surrounding the Bears’ quarterback situation. And it’s even more likely that both Trubisky and Foles see some time this season should things go south.

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Leonard Fournette will need to do more if he wants to ‘matter’ in the NFL

If now-free agent running back Leonard Fournette is to succeed in the NFL, he’ll have to expand his skill set in the right system.

When people say that “running backs don’t matter,” the point is not, of course, that teams can win without running backs or running games altogether. The Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahwaks, with their run-led offenses and 41 combined wins in the 2019 season could tell you that. The actual point of the “running backs don’t matter” meme has more to do with the thought that, with exceedingly rare exceptions, the skill set required to excel at the position is common enough, and scheme-dependent enough, to render running backs ill-advised players when it comes to high draft picks and lucrative contract extensions.

In 2017, the Jacksonville Jaguars ignored this philosophy and selected LSU running back Leonard Fournette with the fourth overall pick. In doing so, the team held fast with the idea of Blake Bortles at quarterback, and banked on Fournette becoming the epicenter of an offense that would lead with old-school power, and remain mistake-proof enough to let the Jaguars’ top-flight defense be the real story. And with that commitment to Bortles, the very definition of a replacement-level player, Jacksonville made a quarterback-level commitment to the fungible player, and revealed a remarkable misunderstanding of the importance of the quarterback position in the modern NFL. The Jaguars left Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson on the board because they didn’t want to be wrong about Bortles, and they’ve paid the price for that ever since they came within a few plays of beating the Patriots in the 2017 AFC Championship game.

With the Monday news that the Jaguars released Fournette, the 2017 draft pick seems even more erroneous in retrospect. Because Fournette never lived up to his billing as a power back who could define an offense. Among running backs with at least 300 total attempts from 2017 through 2019, Fournette ranks fifth with 666 attempts, seventh with 2,631 yards, tied for 10th with 17 rushing touchdown, and 33rd in the NFL with a ghastly 3.95 yards per attempt. Green Bay’s Aaron Jones, who the Packers took in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, leads the NFL over that period of time with 5.02 yards per carry, and Jones’ 2019 total of 16 rushing touchdowns is one less than Fournette’s career total.

But wait. as they say, there’s more!

For an alleged power back, Fournette doesn’t do as much as you’d expect to create additional yards in power situations. Per Pro Football Focus, he ranked fifth in the NFL last season with 886 yards after contact, but that played out to just 3.34 yards after contact per carry, which ranked 11th. And his 42 missed tackles on rushing attempts was far below the league-leading 69 put up by Josh Jacobs of the Raiders. Fournette is not a predominant factor in the passing game, he’s not a top-flight blocker, and it’s going to be hard for him to rise above the idea that he’s an 1980s running back in the new millennium. Guys like this aren’t the foundation of their offenses — they’re rotational entities at best.

And even given the proposition that Fournette would be better-served in a rotation, his success will be far from automatic. Fournette is a running back who generally needs open space to make things happen — he’s not going to work his way out of difficult situations on a consistent enough basis for that to be a hallmark of his style.

Let’s go to the tape.

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Philadelphia 76ers 2019-20 season in review: Joel Embiid

We take a look back at the season had by Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid.

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Most teams in the league are lucky to have one All-Star on their team. The Philadelphia 76ers are fortunate enough to say they have two of them and one of them is one of–if not the best–centers the game has to offer.

Joel Embiid may not have been his usual jolly self in the 2019-20 season, but that does not mean that he wasn’t dominant. The big fella was named a starter for the All-Star game for the third straight season as he was terrific on the floor and he was productive.

2019-20 season averages

23.0 points

11.6 rebounds

3.0 assists

1.3 blocks

47.7% overall percentage

33.1% from deep

Embiid’s scoring average dropped from 27.5 down to the 23 this season, but that was mostly due to the fact that he had to change his game in order to adapt to playing with Al Horford as well as trying to grow with Ben Simmons. There were plenty of stretches where Embiid looked like he did not care and that he was somewhat going through the motions. He’s the leader of this team and he sets the tone. The team then follows suit so that is something that needs to be addressed.

“Even in the playoffs, our intensity level at times wanes,” acknowledged general manager Elton Brand. “A few offensive rebounds that Boston got that I’m just befuddled how you can get that easy in the playoffs or missed assignments for a switch, a small-small switch, just little things that I thought, regular season, on the road, we’ll fix those in the playoffs we’ll be able to turn it on.”

Then, there were games where Embiid would actually show up and take over just like when he scored a career-high 49 points in a win over the Atlanta Hawks. It is that inconsistent effort that continues to be brought up when discussing the big fella. However, there is no question that he is one of the top talents the game has to offer.

In the playoffs, Embiid had to throw the Sixers on his back on multiple occasions as he had to carry a heavy load on offense with Simmons out. He averaged 30 points and 12.3 rebounds in the series, but Philadelphia was swept. The good thing is, he showed that he cannot be stopped when the time calls for it. The Celtics truly did not have an answer for him.

For the 2020-21 season, Embiid needs to be ready from the jump. He can no longer just go through the motions and then flip the switch when the time calls for it. He is too talented to just accept that. He needs to keep up the intensity night in and night out and really set an example for his teammates. [lawrence-related id=37318,37315,37308]

Where do Dolphins draft picks land in Football Outsiders’ forecast?

Where do Dolphins draft picks land in Football Outsiders’ forecast?

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The intrigue of the Miami Dolphins’ rebuilding project doesn’t end just because the team has made their slew of draft selections in the 2020 NFL Draft. Yes, Miami added a bunch of talent and was able to double down on that influx with a good deal of spending in free agency as well. But this rebuild is only just now getting started — because the Dolphins are scheduled to make two selections in three of the first four rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft as well.

The Dolphins own the Houston Texans’ 1st- and 2nd-round picks courtesy of the Laremy Tunsil deal from last August — and the team will also hold two 4th-round selections courtesy of the recent swap with the Las Vegas Raiders. There’s a lot to look forward to next spring with the upcoming NFL Draft and there’s also sure to be plenty of drama as the upcoming NFL Draft order plays out. Where will the Dolphins pick?

According to the most recent Football Outsiders’ DVOA rankings, the Miami Dolphins won’t have to wait long to make their picks. The DVOA forecasts for the Dolphins to be the third worst team in football, resulting in the team forecasting to pick 3rd overall. That’s quite the pessimistic outcome for the Dolphins, but it is also half the story — as Miami has a very serious interest in rooting against the Houston Texans. Houston, according to Football Outsiders, forecasts as the 23rd best team in football; meaning the Dolphins would own two top-10 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. Not only that, the team would own four picks in the first 42 selections.

So while Football Outsiders’ forecast of the Dolphins’ 2020 outlook isn’t great, there’s at least a silver lining to how Miami’s season is modeled. And, at the end of the day, they play the games on the field for a reason — the Dolphins will have every opportunity to once again outplay their expectations. Should it happen two seasons in a row, it might be time for everyone to readjust their scope of how Miami’s coaching and intangibles can impact their ability on the field.