Today’s column is a bit longer than most. Why? I don’t know. I did drink a Mountain Dew at 10:30 this morning, so that might have something to do with it. I’m at the point now where it’s just kind of like ‘whatever.’
If I want a Mountain Dew, I’m going to have one. That’s just the way it is. Sorry, dentist.
I really don’t have anything else for this intro, so let’s just get to the column.
Today, we’ll chat about Kevin Love, Jason Richardson, Joel Embiid, Phil Loadholt, wiffle ball and fantasy football.
Enjoy.
Don’t Forget About Love
Last night, I was watching “Winning Time: Miller vs. The Knicks” – part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series – for the 1,287th time.
This time, though, I wasn’t thinking about the Pacers, Cheryl vs. Reggie or even the Knicks for that matter.
Seeing Spike Lee reminded me of something.
When I saw Lee and Miller constantly going back and forth, it brought me back to November of 2013 when Love had some fun with Lee in the fourth quarter of a win.
Watching that highlight led me to watch about 100 more. I went on a little Twitter rant after that.
In six seasons in Minnesota, Love averaged 19.2 points and 12.2 boards per game. In 2013-14, he started in the All-Star game and ended up averaging 26.1 points, 12. 5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
Empty numbers, you may say. Sure, I don’t know. I’m not sure how we can prove whether or not Love’s numbers were empty or not or what empty even means. I just know that he did what he did and most of the time, he did something unbelievable. I mean, there’s a reason why LeBron James wanted Love to join him in Cleveland.
The reaction on Twitter was so-so. Some fans are perhaps still a bit bitter that Love semi-forced his way out of town and I get that. This city has been through a lot when it comes to sports. I still can't say the name Gary Anderjl;kjlkj.jl.
But we can’t ignore how good Love was here. Flip Saunders made it clear that his goal was to sign Love long-term. And it would have been a great move for the franchise. Despite Love’s rough 2014-15 season, he’s still one of the league’s better power forwards and if he plays in last year's NBA Finals, Cleveland probably has a championship.
You don’t need to go buy a Kevin Love jersey. I would certainly hope you don’t pick the Cavs as your team in NBA 2K16. And chances are we are going to look back at that trade and pick the Wolves as winners, depending on how Wiggins develops.
But let’s not forget how exciting it was to watch Love, especially during the 2013-14 season. Three triple-doubles. Sixty-five double-doubles. Six 40-point games.
I wish nothing but the best for Love in his future with Cleveland.
Richardson’s Last Stand?
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It was reported late last week that veteran wing Jason Richardson had signed with the Atlanta Hawks.
This was a reminder to me that Richardson was still in the NBA. The 34-year-old was part of “The Process” in Philadelphia since 2012 and has played just 52 games since then (due to a variety of injuries), averaging 10 points and 3.7 rebounds while shooting a career-low 38.3 percent from the field.
This isn’t meant to criticize Richardson or anything like that.
This is more of an “am I getting old?” moment.
I’ve never really seen a star player’s full career from start to finish yet. Randy Moss is close, but I was eight when he was drafted and to say I remember everything in his first few years would be a stretch. That was around the same age that I was obsessed with Star Wars but never actually saw any of the movies.
Richardson entered the league in 2001 out of Michigan State as a freaking highlight reel. And I remember sitting there as an 11-year-old sports nerd eating cereal in front of the TV waiting for Richardson highlights on ESPN.
(This is when ESPN showed highlights. Kind of like when MTV had music videos. Teenagers probably have no idea what I’m talking about.)
I remember having at least three or four Richardson rookie cards. I didn’t care if he played for the crappy Warriors. I cared because he did stuff like this:
Richardson was more than just a dunker. In his first six seasons with Golden State, he averaged an impressive 18.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while hitting 35 percent of his shots from deep. He never made it into the Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter conversations, but he was still pretty damn good.
And when comparing him to Carter… The numbers are pretty similar.
Carter: 1,214 games, 19.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 44 FG%, 37.4 3P%, 79.9 FT%
Richardson: 857 games, 17.1 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.2 SPG, 43.8 FG%, 37 3P%, 70.7 FT%
Obviously longevity is king, and that benefits Carter, but I hope we don’t forget about Richardson’s career. He was pretty instrumental on that 2009-10 Phoenix Suns squad that advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
His deal with Atlanta is reported to be non-guaranteed, so if he doesn’t make it with the Hawks, his career is likely over. If that’s the case, the NBA was lucky to have a guy like J-Rich for 13 years.
What’s Next For Embiid?
By the sounds of it, center Joel Embiid will probably miss the 2015-16 season after undergoing right foot surgery today.
This sound familiar because the former Kansas star missed all of last season with a foot injury as well.
I’m not going to discuss what this means for Philadelphia because nobody has any idea what Sam Hinkie is up to. But drafting Jahlil Okafor sure makes a lot more sense now… At least he’s a big man that will play in his first season, unlike Embiid and Nerlens Noel.
The biggest thing for Embiid will be to get his mind right. Not many careers start out the way Embiid’s has and that’s a shame, but that doesn’t mean his career is over by any means.
I talked with Philadelphia head coach Brett Brown last season about Embiid’s mindset during his rookie season. And Brown, one of the better quotes in the NBA, didn’t hold back.
“So much of that balance is just keeping him not sad, you know? Keeping him up and engaged and education and talking to him and showing him,” Brown said. “Watching him sitting here watching coach go through shell drills (is) probably not that exciting. It’s on us, it’s on me, to create an environment that’s upbeat, that’s loose, that’s learning, it’s sharp, it’s streamlined. It’s relative to his future… He’s doing okay. It’s just a real challenge to keep him motivated and engaged, as it would be for anybody.”
Brown said this before reports came out that Embiid had put on weight, so there are concerns here. Step one, of course, will be for Embiid to get healthy and get back on the court. A three-headed monster of Noel, Okafor and the Embiid we saw at Kansas is pretty scary. But that’s kind of the thing… We haven’t seen Embiid since Kansas.
Step two will be to make sure Embiid is fine mentally. Maybe it will help him that he’s been through this before. I’m not sure.
At least he has a friend through this process.
Vikings Lose Loadholt
If you’re a Vikings fan, then you probably already know what happened during Saturday night’s preseason game against Brad Johnson’s former squad, the Tampa Bay Bucs.
The Vikings lost starting right tackle Phil Loadholt to a torn Achilles.
Now, how good is Loadholt? I don’t really have an idea. I’m a normal 25-year-old, Madden-playing football fan.
I don’t pay attention to offensive lineman. They are slow (compared to the other athletes on the field), boring and I don’t understand blocking concepts at all. But I am smart enough to know that the offensive line is what makes the offense go.
According to overthecap.com, Loadholt is the fourth-highest paid right tackle in the NFL, which tells you that the Vikings think highly of him.
He’ll probably be replaced by rookie T.J. Clemmings out of Pittsburgh, who just started playing on the offensive side of the ball two years ago and even though he played right tackle in college, he’s probably better off playing guard in the NFL. So yeah, this might not end well.
The Vikings will have to then replace Clemmings, who was slotted in to start at right guard. The candidates? A bunch of guys I haven’t heard of.
I know the Vikings will probably be patient, and that’s probably the right play, but 33-year-old guard Evan Mathis is still available after the Mad Hatter released him. He’s been a Pro Bowler for the last two seasons. He’s asking for big money and the Dolphins are reportedly interested, but it’s at least worth a call, right?
Building A Wiffle Ball Dynasty
You might have missed this on the bottom line of ESPN over the weekend, so let me inform you on some big news…
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ wiffle ball team has advanced in the Sport Ngin Wiffle Ball Classic benefitting the Positive Coaching Alliance of Minnesota.
It’s the second time that I’ve been fortunate to take part in this tournament, thanks to Timberwolves Vice President of Fan Experience, Jeff Munneke.
Last season, we advanced all the way to the third-place game, which was played at Target Field.
(And we beat the Wild, proving that basketball is better than hockey. Or something like that.)
Seriously, an unbelievably awesome experience. Will I be rich ever? Probably not. Am I good looking? Not particularly. Will my kids brag about me to their friends? Not a chance.
But I played wiffle ball at Target Field and you’ll never take that away from me.
The tournament this season switched to a 35 miles-per-hour max pitch to generate some more offense. This was a positive thing because I felt like Tsuyoshi Nishioka going up against Randy Johnson last year.
Our team went 2-1 in this year’s tournament, earning the top wild card spot. The only team that beat us was made up of two 13-year-old kids and a man who looked like he was trying out for “Cast Away.”
Give them the trophy already.
Some fantasy stats for you folks: In the first game a certain batter (me) hit two grand slams in one inning.
Might as well call me Fernando Tatis.
Big props to Jared, Kelly, Andrew, Zach and John for playing a great tournament. And most importantly, thanks to Sports Ngin and the Positive Coaching Alliance for having us. We’re looking forward to our return to Target Field.
Please Grade My Fantasy Football Team Before The Season Has Even Started
I had my first fantasy football draft a few weeks back.
Some background on the league: Dynasty league. You can keep as many players as you want. There is restricted free agency, you can franchise tag one player and there is a rookie draft. Auction draft. $200 limit. 12 teams. You don’t need a tight end.
I’ve been in the league for four years and have yet to make the playoffs. I’m not in a great place right now.
Here’s my team, by position:
QB – Ben Roethlisberger (Keeper)
QB – Matt Ryan (Drafted)
RB – LeSean McCoy (Drafted)
RB – Ameer Abdullah (Rookie Draft – 8th overall)
RB – Darren McFadden (Drafted… Unfortunately)
RB – Knile David (Drafted)
RB – Joique Bell (Drafted)
RB –Jonas Gray (Drafted)
WR – Julio Jones (Franchise Tag)
WR – DeAndre Hopkins (Keeper)
WR – Sammy Watkins (Restricted Free Agency)
WR – Jarvis Landry (Drafted)
WR – Marquess Wilson (Drafted)
TE – Martellus Bennett (Drafted)
K – None (I’ll Pick One Up)
D /ST – Rams
What are my thoughts on the team? I’m really happy with my quarterbacks and wide receivers. My running backs? Eh. I really need Abdullah to turn into Barry Sanders. But I’ll settle for Kevin Jones. My biggest fear is that I don’t have another starting running back besides McCoy on my roster… The hope here is that Roethlisberger, Ryan or Landry can turn into trade bait for a running back.
Nothing like overacting to a fantasy football draft in mid-August…
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week. As always, thanks for reading.