Tag: FTW

The NBA Cup’s schedule loophole directly contradicts what the tournament was trying to prevent

The NBA Cup schedule is ruining its own mission and there’s no real way to fix it.

The biggest reason NBA commissioner Adam Silver wanted to institute the NBA Cup was to inject interest in a long, arduous 82-game season.

The common refrain was that many casual league observers didn’t start paying attention to it until after the All-Star Break in late February. That’s because many NBA teams and stars don’t take the early portions of the season all that seriously themselves. You should compare November to April basketball yourself someday soon when you get the time. The difference is night and day.

So, here’s a tournament like the NBA Cup with fancy, temporary courts and gaudy jerseys designed to add an extra competitive edge to the part of the year when many squads are still clearly easing their way into the action.

Sounds simple and straightforward, right?

As we enter the knockout rounds of the 2024 NBA Cup, Silver and his cronies failed to account for a significant loophole in the proceedings. As it stands, the 22 NBA teams who don’t qualify for the knockout rounds essentially get almost a week off, just about six weeks into the regular season.

In effect, this schedule loophole directly contradicts what the NBA Cup was trying to prevent.

Look at the below schedule. The next non-NBA Cup game isn’t until Thursday, December 12! The overwhelming majority of the league already eliminated from this year’s Cup play is getting three, four, or even five days off right before the holiday season. And because the NBA is trying to center the remaining Cup teams with a bigger spotlight, it can’t meaningfully shift around the schedule to mitigate this gap. It doesn’t want non-Cup teams playing when the quarterfinals are happening.

We cannot underestimate how valuable this is to NBA players who play games every other night, play back-to-backs, and travel cross-country all the time.

None of them were born yesterday because they can see how the schedule shakes out in advance:

This isn’t to say that NBA teams want to deliberately miss their chances at winning the Cup. I’m sure some measure of the cash prize motivates many squads, especially those with younger players who have yet to earn lucrative contracts. They’re not going to stop trying altogether.

But put yourself in the shoes of a head coach or superstar for a second.

If it’s mid-November and your team is nursing some light injuries before an NBA Cup group stage matchup, are you really gonna go all out there when you’re trying to play the long game and compete in the spring for the Larry O’Brien Trophy?

If it’s mid-November and your thin-depth hopeful title contender team (like, say, the Denver Nuggets) is trying to get off to a good start by playing everyone heavy early-season minutes, maybe you look at the NBA Cup schedule and realize you get a built-in break that makes that bold, development plan easier to institute if you miss out on the knockout rounds.

If you’re a reigning champion like the Boston Celtics, why not get more rest now as you plan to play two extra months of basketball later this season? There are bigger fish to fry.

If you’re a veteran team with older stars like the Los Angeles Lakers or Phoenix Suns, wouldn’t you want a week of rest instead? Remember that if you go all the way, you’re also playing an extra 83rd regular-season game, which doesn’t count in the standings, either.

Oof.

Perhaps I’m being too cynical. Maybe NBA players care a lot more about the NBA Cup than I realize. I’m willing to hear arguments to the contrary.

But I’ve seen enough patterns from league organizations already to suggest they understand there aren’t any real consequences for failing to advance to the knockout rounds. (Not that there should be; that would be silly, too.) If anything, they know that if they fall short of the Cup early, they get a massive benefit of rest that is extremely rare within the context of the entire season.

This Cup schedule gap is something the NBA will, unfortunately, never be able to account for. I don’t think players and coaches want the league to figure it out, either.

Draymond Green joyfully taunted Rudy Gobert with a petty ‘night-night’ all the way down the floor

Draymond Green was waiting for this moment for his entire NBA career.

Draymond Green does not like Rudy Gobert. At all. In fact, Green probably hates Gobert (yes, hates) more than any other opposing player in the NBA. No one would reasonably dispute these statements. So, on Sunday night, Green enjoyed a glorious moment over the Minnesota Timberwolves reigning Defensive Player of the Year, for which he’s probably been waiting years.

As the Golden State Warriors tried to close Minnesota out, Green had the ball at the top of the key. Gobert guarded him one-on-one. Green blew by Gobert and took it to the rack for a vicious dunk that essentially locked up the Warriors’ win.

Green could’ve left it there and simply run back on defense. He, of course, did not do that. Not when he had a chance to poke and prod at Gobert. No sir.

Instead, Green emulated Steph Curry by doing a hilarious “night, night” taunt while following Gobert all the way down the floor.

Goodness, isn’t basketball better with real hate and pettiness like this?

What do you think the over and under is on the number of times Green thought about dunking on Gobert and taunting him before this happened? Could we even count it without a machine? Probably not. And how many times do you think Green has already watched this clip while cackling to himself? That’s also likely off the charts.

The Warriors and Timberwolves will meet up again in just about two weeks, but I really wish that matchup were tomorrow.  I, for one, can’t wait to see what new antics Green has in store for Gobert.

Myles Garrett vowing revenge on disrespectful Steelers fans while stuck on the Browns is so rich

Myles Garrett has no self-awareness.

Someone should probably page Myles Garrett about showing a modicum of self-awareness in defeat. On Sunday, his miserable Cleveland Browns took a double-digit loss on the chin from the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, who look like they’re on track for a deep playoff run in the AFC. Even though they’re “rivals,” there’s clearly a massive gap between these two teams.

I mean, the Browns employ Kadarius Toney. That should say enough in itself.

In the process of the Browns getting embarrassed, there were apparently some “Cleveland sucks” chants from home Steelers fans that irked Garrett.

In his postgame press conference, Garrett was asked about those chants. He promised revenge on them and the Steelers … in 2025. Whoa, big threat there, pal! I’m sure Pittsburgh is shaking in its boots! Gasp!

Check out the sequence starting at about 1:16 below:

Look, Garrett is one of the NFL’s best defenders. He’s the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Shoot, he might even be a future Hall of Famer at his incredible pace. He’s probably some earned measure of being able to talk like this.

Still, none of that changes that he’s on the woeful Browns, who have two winning seasons in his eight-year tenure in Cleveland. More importantly, Garrett’s Browns have just a 5-10-1 record against the Steelers since he joined the team in 2017.

That’s not as lopsided as Browns-Steelers used to be, but it’s still pretty bad. And in a year where Pittsburgh looks like a Super Bowl contender, Garrett would do well to take the gracious approach and let his play (and his team) do the talking come next season.

Because that’s all he can do now: talk trash from afar. That says everything.

Josh Allen playing a historic game against the Rams only to lose is so classic Bills

The Bills let Josh Allen down in one of the best games he’s ever played.

At the moment, there’s really not much to quibble about the Buffalo Bills. They’re in line for a top-two seed in the AFC playoff picture, are a prime Super Bowl contender, and have one of the best football players on the planet. What could you possibly have to complain about a team that’s won five consecutive AFC East division titles?

Mostly, it’s that “best football player on the planet” part.

On Sunday, the Bills fell 44-42 in dramatic fashion to the Los Angeles Rams. (A non-false start from Rams right tackle Rob Havenstein might have helped.) At one point, the Rams went up 38-21 before Buffalo launched a furious comeback behind a perfect performance from Allen, who was marvelous from start to finish. All told, Allen put up 424 yards of offense (342 passing, 82 rushing) while throwing three touchdowns and running three himself.

It’s one of the best games Allen has ever played and is officially the first time ever an NFL player has thrown and rushed for three touchdowns each in a single regular season game.

The fact that the Bills lost anyway because their defense couldn’t reliably get a stop — letting Allen down in the process — is so classic Bills.

It’s been a while since Allen put on a red cape like this for the Bills, only for them to fall short. For what it’s worth, we know everything’s right in the world if the Bills are still unfathomably losing games like this after heroic efforts from their superstar face of the franchise.

Aaron Rodgers deflected about the Jets missing the playoffs again in classic Aaron Rodgers fashion

Aaron Rodgers can’t resist letting everyone know it’s not his fault.

Rest assured, Aaron Rodgers will almost always find a way to tell people it’s not all his fault. (Never mind that the New York Jets quarterback is enjoying one of the worst seasons of his career.) This is especially the case when the moment doesn’t call for that reaction.

With the New York Jets’ 32-26 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Gang Green was officially eliminated from postseason contention. Even with Rodgers in the fold, New York’s playoff drought now extends to 14 consecutive seasons — a veritable and wholesale failure for a team that resides in the biggest American market.

After the game, Rodgers was asked to reflect on the Jets’ playoff-less woes. He obviously wasn’t a part of all of that failure, but it’s not really out of bounds for him to share earnest, insightful thoughts about an organization he’s supposed to be the face and leader of. He shouldn’t be above that, even if it’s outside of his purview.

That is not what Rodgers did. Instead, he clarified that he’s only been part of the Jets missing the playoffs for one year while exclusively sharing his thoughts on that one season.

Because of course he did:

Again, we should never doubt Rodgers will almost always decline a chance at leadership and harmless diplomacy. That’s who he is — someone almost entirely sold on his self-interest alone.

Kadarius Toney ruined the Browns’ effort against the Steelers despite barely playing

Kadarius Toney is the funniest player in the NFL.

These days, any hope the mistake-prone Kadarius Toney has at salvaging his NFL career feels more imaginary than feasible. In his latest reclamation opportunity with the Cleveland Browns, Toney showed the entire league why he’s still a player who can’t be trusted during a matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

As the Browns tried to mount a futile comeback against their AFC North rivals, they gave Toney two whole snaps in the fourth quarter, both on special teams. He proceeded to get a taunting penalty after a fair catch on a punt (c’mon, man). Later, he muffed a punt that effectively ended the game in a 27-14 Steelers win. (C’MON, MAN.)

That’s an incredible hit rate on comical mistakes in a game where you barely played:

If there is a funnier player in the NFL than Toney, I’m not aware of them. Toney is somehow still getting opportunities at the highest level of football, and he’s just wasting them.

Xavier Legette heartbreakingly dropped a late Bryce Young TD pass that would’ve upset the Eagles

Xavier Legette ruined the best game of Bryce Young’s career.

At this point, all the woeful Carolina Panthers have to play for is getting Bryce Young valuable experience. And for the most part, they’re accomplishing that mission. After getting benched in the early season, Young has started to play really well lately, as evidenced by a solid afternoon on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles.

In fact, we should probably say it was more than solid, as Young’s impeccable playmaking on the Panthers’ final drive gave Carolina a real chance at upsetting the NFC’s current second-best team.

Unfortunately, for as good as Young was in probably the finest game of his young career, Panthers receiver Xavier Legette wasn’t up to the task in the clutch. When Young uncorked a beautiful downfield dime to Legette in the final minute — which would’ve given the Panthers the lead and likely upset — the rookie playmaker couldn’t finish the process of the catch.

Oof. What a brutal turn of events:

Again, the Panthers don’t have anything to play for, so losing here doesn’t mean anything for NFC playoff implications. Still, it hurts to see Legette drop a touchdown on the biggest play of the game and prevent Young from putting a feather in his cap.

Justin Jefferson scored the easiest TD after the Falcons’ Dee Alford completely panicked and fell

Panicking when seeing an open Justin Jefferson is the worst-case scenario.

Justin Jefferson is a perennial First-Team All-Pro receiver. He’s arguably the best downfield threat in the NFL since Randy Moss. So it’s easier said than done to keep your cool when covering a dynamic playmaker like him.

Nonetheless, the Atlanta Falcons’ Dee Alford learned an important lesson on Sunday.

With the Minnesota Vikings trying to extend a 14-13 lead in the late third quarter, Jefferson found himself beyond wide open on a broken coverage. It came to the point where he was raising his hand, calling for the ball while running roughly 30 yards downfield.

In most cases, if Sam Darnold is able to get enough time, Jefferson will probably score a touchdown in these kinds of sequences. That’s just the reality of how the superstar receiver he is. Still, Alford had the worst possible reaction to the broken coverage. That’s because as he saw Jefferson streak open, Alford didn’t do everything in his power to stop him.

Instead, Alford panicked and turned around to cover a phantom receiver, and he fell over and took himself out of the play as Jefferson literally waited for the ball to arrive with no pressure. In terms of “easy” touchdowns, this might be one of the biggest lay-ups in Jefferson’s already illustrious career:

A note to all defensive backs covering Jefferson in the future: if he’s open, he’s getting the ball. You need not worry about other receivers who aren’t even in the vicinity.

Nikola Jokic suggested benching, pay cuts for Nuggets teammates after brutal loss to Wizards

Nikola Jokic is so frustrated with the lackluster Nuggets right now.

Through just about a fourth of this NBA season, Nikola Jokic has had another remarkable MVP-caliber campaign. The reigning MVP has been absolutely dominant from start to finish, perhaps better than ever. You could not say the same for his middling (and weirdly disjointed) Denver Nuggets, who have lost seven of their last 11 games at the time of this writing.

After the Nuggets fell to the league-worst Washington Wizards on Saturday night — in a game where Jokic put on a masterclass with 56 points, 16 rebounds, and eight assists — the big man was clearly tired of everyone else’s lackadaisical efforts.

When asked about what he wants to see from his Denver teammates after the embarrassing Wizards loss, Jokic, in a very Serbian way, suggested that the other Nuggets get pay cuts for not doing their jobs properly. He expanded on that by saying that perhaps a benching or two for underperforming Nuggets players would also have an effective message moving forward.

Hoo boy. It’s not often that Jokic is this direct and openly frustrated.

How can you blame him?

And here’s a video of Jokic’s biting comments:

It’s not hard to see why Jokic would finally be this critical of the other Nuggets. At times this season, it has felt like Jokic has had to defeat other teams by himself, at least production-wise. Denver is literally the NBA’s best team when he’s on the floor on a statistical basis, and it’s the worst team, by far, when he’s off. Jokic is so great that he can elevate the Nuggets to wins by himself sometimes, but that’s not sustainable. He can’t do it every night.

Denver’s problems also all seem to stack on top of each other.

After signing a max contract, Jamal Murray has not pulled his weight. At all. Despite a push to be more versatile, Michael Porter Jr. still kinda looks like a one-dimensional scoring forward. Thanks to general manager Calvin Booth, the Denver bench, for the umpteenth straight year, is a disaster. Part of that blame also lies on head coach Michael Malone, who hasn’t figured out an adequate non-Jokic lineup in a long time, but there’s only so much a coach can do when they only have 7-8 viable every-night rotation players.

What’s even worse is it’s not readily apparent that these Nuggets like playing with each other anymore. They look like a team with internal tension in the organization that is letting that bleed over to the court. Jokic aside, they have been making the same careless mistakes on both ends of the floor for six weeks now.

That is no longer an anomaly. It is a trend. It just might be who these Nuggets are. They look like a team ready for a big change in the form of a shake-up trade or someone getting fired. Or both.

It’s not Jokic’s style to call everyone out like this. In fact, while completely justified, I’d be shocked if he ever even demanded a trade out of Denver. He’d sooner retire after his current contract expires before making a big public scene. Rocking the boat is just not who he is.

So, it speaks volumes that Jokic is now deciding to speak out because he’s breaking character. He’s fed up because he wants to win, and he wants more help doing so. The other Nuggets — players, coaches, and front office included — had better start listening.

Thomas Brown said he lost 20+ pounds because of Bears promotion stress

Thomas Brown’s stress levels after his Bears promotions seem VERY unhealthy.

After unlocking some of Caleb Williams’ potential over the last few weeks, rising Chicago Bears offensive mind Thomas Brown is getting a trial run as the franchise’s interim head coach to close the 2024 NFL season. But while the 38-year-old Brown is a respected young coach around league circles — many people believe he is destined to run his own team on a full-time basis sooner rather than later — jumping up a few notches on an organization’s ladder in less than a month is quite taxing on an emotional and mental health basis.

Brown’s recent journey is a classic case study about the dangerous effects of unfiltered stress (and having way too much to do) on the human body.

So it’s no wonder that on Wednesday, Brown revealed he’d lost 22 pounds (from a body weight of 225 to 203) partly because of the sheer stress he’s been exposed to since getting promoted as the Bears’ offensive coordinator on November 12.

As Brown said, “If you increase tasks in your day, you forget about food.”

Hoo, buddy, ain’t that the truth:

Brown was just the Bears’ passing game coordinator approximately three weeks ago. That job in itself carries a lot of duties and weight. Now, in basically no time at all within the context of an arduous NFL season, he’s responsible for the welfare of 53 grown men who also have to respect his leadership for him to succeed … on top of still running and calling plays for the Bears offense.

Oh, and all the Bears’ remaining coaches now answer to Brown. Plus, his direct boss is Chicago’s general manager, Ryan Poles.

That’s a HUGE leap to make in such a short time, dearest readers!

None of this kind of workload is unprecedented for a bog-standard NFL head coach. The profession has been known to produce relentless workaholics who had to learn to eventually dial it back for their own sake. Brown is still in the early stages of his professional coaching career in this capacity. He’ll learn about that balance one day, too.

For now, a young and hungry (for coaching, specifically) Brown is trying to stay above water while coaching a generational quarterback prospect and 52 other guys.

You’ll forgive him if he forgets about lunch now and then.