Aug 8, 2022; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Juan Soto (22) runs to the dugout during the middle of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Juan Soto has a message for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Soto was interviewed by TBS’ studio crew ahead of his San Diego Padres’ game against the New York Mets on Tuesday night. The Padres outfielder was asked for his thoughts on the Dodgers, who have been the Padres’ big nemesis in the NL West recently.
Soto’s message was clear: The Dodgers need to worry about the Padres, not the other way around.
“I think we don’t worry about them. They should be worrying about us. We showed up last year. We showed them what we had in the playoff … and beat them. Now we add more players. We have more depth in our lineup. We have one of the best bullpens in the league. I think they should be worried about us. We’re not worried about anybody,” Soto said.
Soto’s message makes plenty of sense.
The Padres conquered their rivals last year in the playoffs, beating the Dodgers 3-1 in the NLDS. The Padres then lost to the Phillies in five games in the NLCS.
San Diego has one of the most stacked teams in baseball. They signed Xander Bogaerts over the offseason. They also will be getting Fernando Tatis Jr. back from a suspension later this month. They’re as well positioned as anyone for a playoff run, so Soto is right to say teams should be worried about them.
Mar 4, 2023; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Louisiana Lafayette wide receiver Michael Jefferson (WO27) participates in drills at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
An NFL draft prospect was injured after being involved in a fatal car crash on Sunday night.
Michael Jefferson, a wide receiver from Louisiana Lafayette, was driving on U.S. 43 in Mobile County, Ala. around 7:55 pm on Sunday night. A 55-year-old man driving a 2014 Dodge Charger collided head-on with Jefferson’s 2019 Chevrolet Impala.
After the initial collision, a 2008 Nissan Maxima also hit the Dodge.
The driver of the Dodge Charger was not wearing a seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jefferson has undergone multiple surgeries since the crash.
The Advocate reports that Jefferson suffered multiple breaks in one of his legs.
Jefferson had 51 catches for 810 yards and 7 touchdowns last season with the Ragin’ Cajuns. He was projected to be a mid-round draft pick.
Despite only being in his second season with the Mets, Adam Ottavino is a New Yorker through and through.
The Mets reliever Ottavino went viral for the celebration he did at the end of Monday’s game. After striking out Ha-Seong Kim to seal the Mets’ 5-0 win over the San Diego Padres, Ottavino tapped three fingers to his head. The celebration was identical to the one that former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony used to do.
Ottavino confirmed in an Instagram post after the game that the celebration was indeed a tribute to Anthony.
The ten-time NBA All-Star Anthony played for the Knicks from 2011-17. He would often do the three-to-the-dome celebration after hitting a three-point shot. There were recently even rumors that Anthony might be returning to the Knicks.
As for Ottavino, he now holds a clean 2.07 ERA over 71 total appearances in his two seasons with the Mets. At least the Me7o-inspired celebration is much more wholesome than the way the Mets have celebrated before.
Mar 13, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (24) walks back up the court during the first quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Dillon Brooks can’t face Draymond Green in the first round of the playoffs this year, so he has his sights set on a different opponent instead.
Speaking with reporters this week, the Memphis Grizzlies swingman Brooks called out LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Brooks said that he “wouldn’t mind” playing them in the first round, adding that he wanted to “knock [James] out right away.
Brooks did, however, credit the Lakers for having some “good pieces” and “good players.”
Here is the clip.
The outspoken Brooks and the No. 2 seed Grizzlies will play either the Lakers or the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round (depending on who wins Tuesday’s 7-8 play-in tournament game). Memphis was 1-2 against the Lakers during the regular season (albeit with no Ja Morant for one of those losses) and 2-2 against the Timberwolves (after eliminating them in the first round of the playoffs last year).
While the Grizzlies were a 51-win team this year, Brooks should careful what he is wishing for. On top of losing the season series to the Lakers, Memphis had a big incident during one of those matchups at Crypto.com Arena.
The Big Ten has hired its next commissioner.
The presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten member schools voted Tuesday to approve Tony Petitti as their new commissioner. The announcement is expected to be made official in the next few days.
Petitti was previously the COO of MLB, CEO of MLB Network, and he has worked as an executive for CBS and ABC. He also served as the president of sports and entertainment of Activision Blizzard.
Petitti will have to oversee any potential expansion by the conference, which is already set to add UCLA and USC in 2024. The conference could look to add more schools from the Pac-12, like Oregon and Washington.
The Big Ten was looking for a new commissioner after Kevin Warren left to become president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
It appears that the Baltimore Orioles are officially fun again.
The Orioles drew attention during Monday’s game against the Oakland Athletics for their creative celebration after a first-inning home run by Ryan Mountcastle. After hitting his dinger, Mountcastle went into the dugout and began drinking out of a funnel that a teammate held up for him.
Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman also homered in the second inning and went straight for the funnel.
After the game, Rutschman commented on the team’s hilarious gimmick and said that it was a great way to stay hydrated.
Based on those videos, the Orioles were only pouring bottled water into the funnel. That means their new celebration is both fun and family-friendly.
Baltimore was pretty rotten from 2018-21, never reaching the 55-win mark in a single season. They beat expectations last year to go 83-79 but still missed the playoffs and ended up just fourth in their division.
This season however, the Orioles, led by the big bats of Mountcastle, Rutschman, Anthony Santander, and Cedric Mullins (all of whom are in their 20s), are finding their swagger. A home run funnel has to be one of the most elite celebrations we have had in baseball since this one from the WBC.
Dec 6, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma (33) in the first half against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Kyle Kuzma’s season may be over, but he believes that his former team will still be playing for a while longer.
The Washington Wizards forward Kuzma went viral on Tuesday for his bold prediction about the Los Angeles Lakers. He tweeted that he thinks the Lakers can make the NBA Finals.
“My hot take.. (but not really),” Kuzma wrote. “I think the lakeshow can get to the finals..”
Kuzma played for the Lakers from 2017-21 and won a championship with them in 2020. But LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the only players left on the roster that Kuzma played with, and they have a new head coach in Darvin Ham as well. That means Kuzma is essentially spitballing here from an outsider’s perspective.
There are a lot of boxes that the Lakers need to check off first before even thinking about a Finals appearance this year. They are currently in the play-in tournament and have to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Tuesday’s 7-8 game. If the Lakers do that, they will face a young and athletic Memphis Grizzlies team (albeit one missing bigs Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke due to injury) in the first round. Should they advance past the Grizzlies, the Lakers would get one of the defending champion Golden State Warriors and the upstart Sacramento Kings in Round 2. From there, a date with either the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns, or the LA Clippers would likely await in the conference finals.
Needless to say, that is not a very easy path out of the Western Conference. But the Lakers are healthy right now, they won six of their last seven games to end the regular season, and rounded into form as a defensive juggernaut following the trade deadline. Kuzma is also far from the only opponent who thinks the purple and gold could be a handful to deal with in the postseason.
Mar 2, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Memphis Grizzlies forward Kyle Anderson (1) warms up on the court prior to the game against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Timberwolves suspended Rudy Gobert after he threw a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson during Sunday’s game, but Anderson insists there are no hard feelings between the two.
Gobert and Anderson got into a heated altercation during the first half of Minnesota’s 113-108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Anderson said something that Gobert did not appreciate, and the three-time Defensive Player of the Year threw a swing at Anderson’s chest area. You can see the video here.
Anderson spoke with reporters about the incident ahead of Tuesday’s play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Lakers. He downplayed it and said he and Gobert “hashed it out.”
“We definitely hashed it out. That happens all the time in sports. I feel like people are acting like they’ve never seen it before,” Anderson said. “We’re grown men. We’re able to put it behind us. We both want to win. We spoke about it that night and just seeing how everything is playing out is kind of lame, honestly. We’re teammates at the end of the day. I don’t want it to be a Kyle vs. Rudy thing. That’s never the case. I always got my teammates’ back, and we’ve moved on.”
Arguments among teammates happen all the time, but it is far less common to see a player throw a swing at a teammate in the middle of a game. Gobert has since apologized, and one report shed light on why he became so irate with Anderson.
The Timberwolves are the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, so they cannot be eliminated on Tuesday. The winner of their game against the Lakers will earn the No. 7 seed and a spot in the playoffs. The loser will face the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder to determine who gets the final playoff spot.
Jan 18, 2020; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr stands on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Orlando Magic at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
As the Golden State Warriors prepare for their first-round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings, one of their lead assistants is also preparing for an interview with a rival team.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Tuesday that the Houston Rockets have received permission from the Warriors to interview associate head coach Kenny Atkinson. The Rockets are looking for a new head coach after recently letting go of Stephen Silas, who had coached the team for the last three seasons.
Atkinson has been an assistant with the Warriors since 2021, helping them win the NBA title last season. Prior to that, Atkinson served as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets for four seasons, going 118-190 (.383) overall. Granted, Brooklyn was in a rebuild era under Atkinson, and he was able to develop young players such as Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, and D’Angelo Russell en route to a playoff appearance in 2019.
The 55-year-old Atkinson nearly left the Warriors for a different NBA head coaching job last season. While the young Rockets also have some bigger-name candidates in mind, it would not be surprising to see Atkinson get another job offer in due time.
Dec 27, 2022; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) dribbles the ball in the first quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Trae Young has established himself as one of the best players in the NBA over the last four seasons, but the Atlanta Hawks do not sound sold on his ability to help them become a championship contender.
A report on Monday claimed the Hawks’ front office has been given the green light from ownership to make any roster moves they deem necessary. That includes considering potential trades that involve Young.
Shams Charania of The Athletic said Tuesday that Young and first-year Hawks head coach Quin Snyder have a “solid relationship” and “genuine respect” for one another. However, there are some within the organization that wonder about Young’s leadership abilities.
“I’m told the Hawks are continuing to closely monitor Trae Young’s day-to-day commitments and his habits on a day-to-day basis on the floor and off the floor and what Trae Young is willing to do to be a leader,” Charania said. “Clearly, there have been continued question marks around that organization. … There will be conversations between Trae Young’s camp and the Hawks and their ownership.”
You can hear more from Charania below:
The Hawks would almost certainly need a massive haul to pull the trigger on a Young trade. Though, this is not the first we have heard of Young potentially wearing out his welcome in Atlanta.
Atlanta finished 41-41 this season and will need to survive the play-in stage to qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs. That is a step down from last year, when they went 43-39 and lost in the first round of the playoffs (though after also having fallen into the play-in tournament).
The Hawks fired Nate McMillan last year after an apparent falling out with Young. Perhaps some executives in Atlanta think the star player is holding the team back, not the coaching.
