Joel Embiid looked sharp in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal, but that doesn’t mean the Philadelphia 76ers center is in the clear for the remainder of the playoffs.
76ers coach Doc Rivers cautioned Monday that even though Embiid played well Sunday and felt good Monday, the team had to manage his meniscus issue carefully and he would still be considered day-to-day for some time.
Rivers says the Sixers “are not out of the woods” with regards to Embiid even after good game yesterday and good response today. Day to day designation is going to stick around for a while as they manage his symptoms and put him through treatment
Embiid delivered 39 points and nine rebounds Sunday against the Hawks in a losing effort. That said, he’d been rested for several days. It remains to be seen how well Embiid holds up playing roughly every other day on his right knee.
Longtime San Francisco Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper is stepping away from the booth temporarily to undergo chemotherapy.
In a statement issued through the Giants, Kuiper announced Monday that he has been diagnosed with an unspecified medical condition that requires chemotherapy treatment. Kuiper said he intends to broadcast again in the 2021 season, though he cautioned that he may need to take some extra games off if he is not feeling well enough.
Kuiper is well-known throughout Major League Baseball, having broadcast for the Giants every season since 1986 with the exception of a one-year stint in Colorado in 1993. He has been on the call for all three of San Francisco’s World Series wins, as well Barry Bonds breaking both the single-season and all-time home run record.
Aaron Rodgers has less than 24 hours to decide if he wants to officially hold out, and one NFL reporter believes the Green Bay Packers are “daring him” to do just that.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk discussed the feud between Rodgers and the Packers during a Monday appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.” He said he believes it was very calculated that Packers CEO Mark Murphy said in his monthly column for the team’s website recently that the ongoing saga has “divided our fan base.”
“I think the Packers realize that Rodgers’ biggest fear is having the fans turn on him,” Florio said. “Those things weren’t written accidentally or extemporaneously. This was planned, read and revised. This was a deliberate message from the Packers to Rodgers and everyone else. I think what they’re trying to get Rodgers to do is realize that the fans are already turning and they’re daring him to not show up.”
Florio said he thinks many Packers fans are in denial and will go to “DEFCON 1” if Rodgers doesn’t show up to mandatory minicamp. However, he believes the Packers may be rooting for that outcome on some level.
“I think deep down (Murphy) wants him to not show up and (figures we’ll recoup) $30 million-plus and we’ll trade him next March anyway,” Florio said. “And we get a year to figure out what we have in Jordan Love.”
If the Packers believe all the talk that Rodgers is committed to never playing for them again, having him not show up would not be the end of the world. Like Florio said, they could then avoid paying him this season and he would probably still have the same trade value a year from now.
The consensus around the Boston Celtics is that the vacant head coaching position won’t go to someone who doesn’t have the necessary experience to succeed in it.
According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, there is “little belief” that the Celtics would turn the head coaching job over to someone lacking previous NBA head coaching experience. That likely rules out the vast majority of league assistants looking to ascend to a head coaching position for the first time. The lone exception seems to be Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups, who is highly regarded as a coaching candidate and was originally drafted by Boston as a player. Former point guard and current 76ers assistant Sam Cassell may also get a look.
The reasoning is simple: the Celtics think they should be contending now, and they want a steady hand on the bench. They believe the core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can do big things, and deep playoff runs remain the immediate expectation.
In other words, it likely means this guy won’t get the shot he wants. It certainly sounds like the Celtics are leaning heavily in favor of experience, for better or worse.
The University of Tennessee baseball team won its first regional since 2005 on Sunday, and head coach Tony Vitello did not hold back while celebrating the big milestone.
After the Vols beat Liberty 3-1 to win the Knoxville Regional, Vitello went sprinting toward the outfield and somersaulted into a pile of his players. The moment was an outstanding illustration of the connection Vitello has to his team.
Tennessee’s baseball program was in a bad place for years before Vitello arrived in 2018. He has managed to turn things around quickly for the Vols in just two seasons, with one having been canceled due to the pandemic. There has been talk that Tennessee may need to make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country and upgrade their facilities if they want the 42-year-old to stick around.
The Vols will now get set to host a super regional. Vitello is clearly enjoying his time as the team’s head coach, but you can understand why Tennessee is going to have to pay to keep him.
It is no coincidence that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a Super Bowl last year after signing Tom Brady, but the team clearly feels head coach Bruce Arians is an important piece of the puzzle, too.
Arians and the Bucs have agreed to a new contract that includes a pay raise, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports. General manager Jason Licht has also received a new deal that will keep him in Tampa Bay for multiple years.
The Buccaneers are bringing back every single one of their starters from last year’s Super Bowl team, which is something that has never been done in the salary cap era. They are committed to the team they have in place, and that includes management and the coaching staff.
Arians is 68 and one of the oldest coaches in the NFL, but he likely plans to remain with the Bucs for at least as long as as Brady is there.
Much has been made of how Damian Lillard might react if the Portland Trail Blazers go against his wishes in their coaching search. For now, that does not appear to be a major problem.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Lillard “is not making demands of any kind” as the Blazers hunt for a new head coach. Instead, Portland’s front office is communicating with the star guard throughout the process, but are following their own process as they prepare to make a hire.
It’s been reported that Lillard will have “major input” on who Portland ultimately decides to hire. That may be true, but it does not sound like he’s dictating the process, or even trying to. That still hasn’t stopped rival teams from keeping an eye on Lillard’s situation in case things go south with Portland.
We do know that the coach Lillard really wanted has taken himself out of consideration for the job. The process is just getting started, and there does not appear to be a clear favorite at this point. One would have to believe that Lillard’s approval would still be sought for a new hire, even if he isn’t dictating the process.
Nick Saban has signed another contract extension with the University of Alabama, and it sounds like the longtime head coach expects it to be his last.
Alabama announced on Monday that Saban and the school have agreed to a three-year extension. The new deal keeps Saban in Tuscaloosa through the 2028 season. Saban’s base salary will be just south of $8.5 million in 2021 and increase each year after that.
Saban said in a statement that the extension allows him to remain at Alabama through the end of his career.
“Terry and I are pleased and happy to sign another contract extension that will keep us in Tuscaloosa through the end of our career,” Saban said. “Our family calls Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama home, it’s a place where our roots now run deep. This agreement gives us the chance to continue to impact the lives of the young men and their families who choose to play football and get an education at Alabama.”
Saban is 69, so he will be in his mid-70s when his new deal expires.
Alabama has won six national championships since Saban took over back in 2007. We have heard countless rumors about him considering another jump to the NFL, but Saban’s latest contract extension is further proof that he has no plans to leave Tuscaloosa.
Aaron Rodgers has no intention of reporting to the Green Bay Packers until his ongoing feud with the team is resolved. The only way to resolve it may be for the team to trade the star quarterback, and yet another longtime NFL insider believes Rodgers is not going to change his mind.
Peter King of The MMQB wrote in his weekly column that he believes Rodgers “is solid on never playing for the Packers again.” But even with that in mind, King proposed a possible solution that would allow the two sides to coexist in 2021.
King thinks the Packers should consider promising Rodgers that they will trade him after the 2021 season. The team could also sweeten the pot by telling Rodgers and his representatives that they would work with him if the quarterback gives them a list of teams for which he would like to play.
There are several reasons Rodgers might be open to that scenario, assuming he does not want to retire. The 37-year-old was paid a $6.8 million roster bonus back in March. The Packers could, in theory, come after that money if Rodgers refuses to show up. He also probably has a better chance to win a Super Bowl in Green Bay than any other place he might end up if the Packers trade him this year, so that should appeal to Rodgers on some level.
Packers president Mark Murphy recently said the Rodgers situation has divided the team’s fanbase. With King’s scenario, both sides could sell the idea that they are making one last run at a Super Bowl together before mutually parting ways. That would be much better than the team and one of the best players in franchise history drawing out a long, tenuous divorce. After next season, the Packers could turn things over to Jordan Love.
If you saw the photos and videos of Rodgers living it up in Hawaii recently, you might get the impression that football is not at the forefront of his mind. However, he is the reigning NFL MVP and still at the peak of his game. We’d be shocked if he retired, so the Packers may want to consider exploring King’s idea.
The Dallas Mavericks reportedly tested the trade market for Kristaps Porzingis back in February, and they may have to do that again this summer.
The Mavericks hoped Porzingis and Luka Doncic would become the dynamic duo at the center of a championship caliber roster when they acquired the 7-foot-3 center in a trade with the New York Knicks, but that scenario has not materialized. Instead, there have been indications that the relationship between Porzingis and Doncic is icy. After the Mavericks lost Game 7 of their opening-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, Tim MacMahon published a story that calls into question Porzingis’ future in Dallas.
According to MacMahon, Porzingis has been frustrated with his role with the Mavericks. Rather than a 1B to Doncic’s 1A, the former No. 4 overall pick reportedly feels like an “afterthought.”
MacMahon noted that Porzingis hinted at his frustrations during postgame interviews late in the 2020-21 season. He has said things like the “ball actually moved tonight” and expressed confusion at being ignored late in games in which he had been playing well.
Porzingis played in just 43 games this season after recovering from a partially torn meniscus he suffered in the playoffs last year. Teams have reportedly felt that the latest injury and his 2019 torn ACL have limited his mobility and made him a liability on defense. That could make it difficult for the Mavericks to trade Porzingis, as MacMahon notes that teams do not view the $101.5 million he is owed over the next three seasons as a good value.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban made a surprising remark back in April that hinted at some issues between Porzingis and Doncic. Porzingis downplayed that, and it’s possible he has more of a problem with the situation than Doncic himself. Either way, you have to wonder if he will ask Dallas to move him this offseason.
