This may feel like a cop-out because Minnesota had the No. 1 overall pick and used it to draft Anthony Edwards, the best prospect in the draft according to most big boards and mocks heading into Wednesday night.
But look closer at the business Timberwolves president Gersson Rosas conducted on a whole, and you’ll see why Minnesota had itself quite the night.
Not only did the Timberwolves manage to secure Edwards, they also swung a trade that saw Ricky Rubio return to the Twin Cities, as well as trades that allowed them to land Leandro Bolmaro at No. 23 and Jaden McDaniels at No. 28.
Minnesota has a long way to go to compete with the West’s powers, but it took a significant step forward Wednesday. Edwards looks to be a seamless fit as a scoring wing, Rubio’s return will bring the team some much-needed veteran leadership, and the two other draft picks, talent-wise, are among the best in the draft — even if they’ll require additional seasoning before making an impact in the NBA.
Though the Kings started off the night poorly (more on that in the losers section below), their evening still ended up being pretty damn good for one reason only: Tyrese Haliburton.
Sacramento had the 12th overall selection Wednesday and Haliburton, a player that was expected to be a lock for the top 10 coming into the draft, managed to fall all the way down to them, making for a no-brainer decision.
Haliburton is a six-foot-five guard from Iowa State who should form a three-headed guard monster with De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield. His versatility will make him useful in multiple lineups.
When you acquire top-10 talent picking out of the top 10, it’s an automatic win.
The move Dallas made with the Philadelphia 76ers to acquire Josh Richardson was a good piece of business.
Yes, the Mavericks gave up Seth Curry, an undeniably good shooter, but they needed more individual shot-creation to help complement Luka Doncic. Richardson can provide that.
He’s coming off a down year in Philadelphia, but that version of Richardson isn’t indicative of the player he truly is. During his breakout season with Miami in 2018-19, Richardson was an aggressive three-level scorer who could take over games at times.
Doncic is a brilliant player, but there will be times where the Mavericks need a bucket and they won’t be able to go to him for a myriad of reasons. Having Richardson as a Plan B is pretty good.
Nate Darling
For the first time since 2009, a Canadian was not selected in the NBA Draft, but that doesn’t mean Canada wasn’t represented on draft night.
The Bedford, N.S., native reportedly signed a two-way deal with the Charlotte Hornets as an undrafted free agent.
Darling played this past season at Delaware, averaging 21 points and shooting 39.9 per cent from three-point range.
The six-foot-five, 200-pound guard may not have been drafted, but he still gave the country some Canadian content on draft night.
So hats off goes to Darling on the beginning of his NBA journey.
Emotions
Obviously, because of COVID-19, the NBA was forced to do its draft virtually, taking away some of the pomp and circumstance of the green room and players heading up on stage to shake the commissioner’s hand.
What the virtual draft offered, however, might have been even better: real-time looks at players realizing their dreams, surrounded by family and friends.
Instead of polished, prepared answers, we got to see these kids truly take in the moment, with many of them breaking down in tears of absolute joy, a good reminder that these NBA draft prospects are human beings.
The Bucks lost draft night before it even began, when the bombshell report came out that the reported sign-and-trade they had arranged with the Kings for Bogdan Bogdanovic hadn’t actually been approved by Bogdanovic himself.
Milwaukee made a huge splash Monday evening with word that it had, essentially, sold its future for Jrue Holiday followed by this move to bring in Bogdanovic — all in an effort to accumulate more talent around two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and convince him to stay (or just bet the farm and try to win a title before he leaves in free agency).
Now it looks like this plan is in jeopardy because of the hiccup with Bogdanovic, which left the Bucks in a bad position.
Of course, seeing as free agency hasn’t officially opened yet, this might be a case of Milwaukee doing damage control and trying to avoid any sort of anti-tampering penalties the league may be looking to punish them with for executing a sign-and-trade before the moratorium. But even if that’s the case, this still robs them of their negotiating power with Bogdanovic, who could take advantage of this gaffe to force the Bucks to pay him more than they might have previously offered.
Hopefully this situation gets resolved with free agency opening Friday, but for now the Bucks have a big, fat egg on their foreheads.
Thompson, of course, missed all of last season recovering from a torn ACL. To see him potentially miss more time would be a big blow for both the Warriors and the game itself.
No one ever wants to see a player miss time because of injury — especially stars like Thompson.
It’s still unclear how long he’ll be out for, but here’s hoping the best for him.
The rumour mill hasn’t been treating the Rockets kindly of late, with word that both Russell Westbrook and James Harden want out of Houston. The team’s lone move on draft night probably won’t help their cause much, either.
You may remember that heading into the draft Houston traded away Robert Covington for Trevor Ariza and a couple of first-round picks. Well, on Wednesday, the Rockets decided to move Ariza and one of those picks (No. 16 overall, which turned into Isaiah Stewart) to the Detroit Pistons in an effort to, essentially, create room to make use of the mid-level exception.
A puzzling move when you start thinking about the free agency market and if the Rockets would even find someone as good as Ariza using the mid-level exception, let alone Covington, whom they traded for Ariza in the first place.
Elton Brand
You have to wonder what Brand was thinking if he was watching Wednesday night. Daryl Morey, Brand’s replacement as 76ers general manager, is not even a full month into the job — but he’s almost completely undone everything the former boss did, accomplishing the brunt of his work on draft night.
First, before the draft, Morey managed to offload Al Horford’s albatross contract by attaching a couple of picks to it, while acquiring some needed shooting in Danny Green in the process. Then, during the draft, Morey swung the aforementioned deal with Dallas to get even more shooting by acquiring Curry, and then proceeded to add even more shooting by drafting Arkansas marksman Isaiah Joe in the second round.
The 76ers’ problems always came down to the fact their two best players — Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons — are best when operating inside, and they needed to find ways to space the floor better.
In the two years he was GM in Philadelphia, Brand never solved this problem. But Morey appears to be solving it in just a few weeks.
The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.
The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.
Trends of the Week
The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.
In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.
When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.
Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.
NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.
Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.
Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.
Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).
Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.
Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.
The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).
The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.
The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.
