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.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
