Tag: draft

Jameis Winston is closing in on a Peyton Manning record, which isn’t a good thing

If you follow the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s not shocking news to report on a Jameis Winston turnover. Following his fifth pick-six this season, Winston is close to finding himself in good company. Future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning …

If you follow the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it’s not shocking news to report on a Jameis Winston turnover. Following his fifth pick-six this season, Winston is close to finding himself in good company. Future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning currently hold the NFL record for the number of pick-sixes in one season with six, set in 2001.

The only real difference in the stat between Winston and Manning is that Winston is in his fifth year, while Manning was in his fourth. When it comes to the Bucs quarterback, there is no middle ground for fans. You either love him or hate him. I’ve often said that Winston could get you 30 points per week in fantasy football, and still throw three interceptions in each game because he generates such large passing numbers in yardage and scoring. If you’re looking for a glimmer of hope for Winston, Manning improved significantly every season after setting that very same record. No, I am not saying that Winston will go down next to Manning’s name in the all-time greats. This comparison is for informational purposes and should be taken as such.

In the latest mock draft by USA Today’s Draft Wire, the Bucs are projected with the 13th pick, and looking to add to their defensive line. Obviously, those are projections, and the order will most likely change as the season comes to a close and teams move up and down.

Aside from Winston becoming a free agent, other quarterbacks slated to join the open market after the season are Dak Prescott, Philip Rivers and Marcus Mariota. What this means for Bucs fans is they should get ready for at least one more season of Jameis Winston taking snaps under center.

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Kevin Love available?

As NBA trade possibilities expand beginning Dec. 15, the Cleveland Cavaliers are expressing a willingness to listen to trade offers for All-Star forward Kevin Love, league sources told ESPN. Cleveland is open to the idea of moving Love before the Feb. 7 trade deadline should the Cavaliers find a requisite package of young assets and/or future draft picks, league sources said.

Matt Babcock, owner of Babcock Hoops …

Matt Babcock, owner of Babcock Hoops and a former NBA agent, told The Commercial Appeal that Wiseman having to sit out one-third of Memphis’ regular season isn’t all that significant from an NBA draft standpoint. “It’s not like he’s a guy that just has a lot of upside with a lot of polishing to do. He’s ready to play in the NBA right now,” Babcock said. “Not that he doesn’t have room for growth. He does. (But) I think it’s more of just he’s being robbed of the experience.” Babcock believes Wiseman (who is tied with North Carolina’s Cole Anthony as FanDuel Sportsbook’s odds-on favorite to be picked first) is worthy of No. 1-pick status. But the games he will miss could also cost him the opportunity to cement himself as such.

But a year from now, things could …

But a year from now, things could drastically change and that has the rest of the NBA in a panic according to NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh. “The people I talk to around the league are really worried they are going to trade that first-round pick, the 2020 pick, because if they load up with an All-Star-type player with that pick, they are terrified,” Haberstroh said during the Warriors-Hornets telecast on NBC Sports Bay Area on Wednesday. “Or if they land a Luka Doncic in the draft, they’re terrified. So that 2020 pick, adding to the group they have established here with [Eric] Paschall stepping in right away, man, I think every team is going to try to do a gap year.”

So, does LaMelo Ball believe he should …

So, does LaMelo Ball believe he should be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft? “Most definitely. I believe in myself and I’ve worked hard to get here,” Ball told Yahoo Sports. “The other guys at the top of the draft, James [Wiseman] and Anthony [Edwards], are very talented too. But just in the way I believe in myself, I think I’m the top pick.”

A few NBA scouts made the trip to New …

A few NBA scouts made the trip to New Zealand to see Ball play against potential first-round draft pick RJ Hampton and were impressed with what they saw. “This is LaMelo’s first real competition in his career,” an NBA scout told Yahoo Sports. “The fact that he’s putting up numbers like this in a league full of former NBA players is forcing every team to look at him as a potential No. 1 pick.”

An area in which there are still many …

An area in which there are still many questions, though, comes off the court. While the attachment to his father, LaVar, will always hang over him, it’s not the only area scouts and general managers have hesitations. In a piece on Sunday in which DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz discussed which prospect should top the 2020 NBA Draft big board, Givony talked about NBA teams being uncertain about whether they can trust Ball to lead the franchise. However, I believe that if the draft were held today, (Ball) probably would not be the No. 1 pick. Of course, that will heavily depend on the team that ends up winning the May lottery. But both Schmitz and I have just received a significant amount of blowback from NBA teams who say that they simply don’t trust Ball enough to hand him the keys to their franchise. They worry about what all the attention around him will do to their team culture, how strong his work ethic is and whether his father, LaVar, could become a distraction.