And with the 58th pick in the NBA Draft, the first leg of what is already panning out to be a long off-season is officially in the books.
In what is always a beautiful night for young players achieving their dreams and fanbases watching their dreams crumble before their very eyes, this year’s draft didn’t disappoint, giving out its fair share of winners and losers as it always does.
Fans were treated to games of “will-they-won’t-they” from the second and third overall picks, smokescreens for the ages with teams speculating about trading up or down in the draft (only to not do it), the NBA’s very own prospective set of Sedin twins and oh so much more.
With all that in mind and with months ahead before we can fully gauge the results of this crop of rookies, here are the winners and losers of the 2023 NBA Draft.
Anyone could’ve pencilled this team in as an obvious winner the second deputy commissioner Mark Tatum announced they’d secured the first overall pick. It’s almost too easy.
But tonight felt like the official start of something new, as Victor Wembanyama put on the Spurs’ hat and validated Gregg Popovich and San Antonio’s year of rest of relaxation (if you can call tanking relaxation).
‘I’m a damn Spur!’: Wembanyama emotional after being picked first overall
With the first overall pick they not only acquired the most mind-bending talent the league has seen in 20 years, but they also drafted a player mature beyond his years, serious about making a mark in this league, and according to JJ Redick, “enlightened.” His reaction to hearing his name called — despite knowing for a year that he’d be first overall — was humble, true and sentimental.
Wembanyama showed tonight that he can be everything the Spurs dreamed of and more. We knew they’d be winners, but now it’s official.
Another big winner for San Antonio here was the triumphant return of jorts (jean-shorts for the uninitiated), as the emcee for the Spurs Draft Party at the AT&T Center in San Antonio wore them so well you’d question why they went out of style. Oh, he also had maybe the sickest fade you’ll see in your life.
To call the Hornets losers here feels wrong considering just how magnificently talented Brandon Miller is. He wasn’t the consensus No. 2 player in this draft by any means, but he certainly wasn’t the consensus No. 3 either. The debate about who should’ve gone behind Wembanyama between Scoot Henderson and Miller is one that will be rocking the airwaves until they both retire.
Odds flipped between the two on an almost-daily basis leading up to the draft, with Henderson on top not 12 hours before the ceremony. With reports that current-but-on-the-way-out owner Michael Jordan is going to have the final say on the pick, gambling on who would end up in Charlotte might have been an ill-advised decision. Yet many a Hornets fan bet their life savings of optimism on the hope that they would select the G League Ignite product.
Many Hornets fans, including Hugo the Hornet (the team mascot), were left broke and disappointed.
In the minds of many, the Hornets ultimately decided to go with fit rather than best player available, choosing to pair incumbent point guard LaMelo Ball with the hyper-athletic and talented three-level scorer Brandon Miller. Not necessarily the wrong choice, but clearly not the one most were hoping for.
Winner: The Portland Trail Blazers and the off-season drama machine
It’s great that in a poor free agency class, teams have decided to create drama in fun new ways by turning the trade market into a free agency of its own.
We began this tumultuous off-season with the Wizards finally blowing it up, sending away Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis to create two new big threes in Phoenix and Boston.
Then, as rumours swirled around the Trail Blazers and the choices they were going to have to make after securing the third overall pick, the Hornets decided to force them to face that fork in the road of contending with Damian Lillard or finally accepting the youth movement.
‘They’re getting a special person’: Henderson on adding to Trail Blazers’ lineup
Portland’s point guard of the future just fell into their lap in Henderson while Lillard just became the most attractive asset on the market, allowing them to cash in for additional pieces and expedite their rebuild.
Additionally, this is a massive win for every team looking to enter the Lillard-sweepstakes. Hope you didn’t like the idea of Miami too much Jaime Jaquez, because you are officially on the trade block. Same with you Kobe Bufkin, don’t get too comfortable in Atlanta. Don’t think we forgot about you Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead, the draft might’ve been held in Brooklyn but don’t think about signing a lease just yet.
The off-season has just begun, and considering the Blazers are unlikely to field three diminutive point guards on the court at once, we’re in for a pretty fun one.
Loser: Every fan base that thought they were going to jump into the top three
It’s rare that teams actually find ways to jump all the way up to the top of the draft, but in a year where the top three is as talented as this, imagining a way for any team to get there felt like a long shot.
But the rumours were rampant, as names of superstars were floated around, hinting the possibility of some massive shift. Fanbases of teams like the Toronto Raptors or New Orleans Pelicans spent collective years on websites like fanspo trying to figure out ways for Portland or Charlotte to give up their selections for packages centred around stars like Pascal Siakam or Zion Williamson.
It was all for naught, as no trades were seen until the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards swapped the seventh and eighth picks for a light package involving future second rounders.
The rumour mill felt as though it had come to a standstill once Portland said they weren’t going to field any more calls about Lillard before the draft. Then a report from TNT’s Chris Haynes said that teams were more skeptical of trading for Siakam because he was unlikely to sign an extension and would prefer to stay in Toronto.
Draft night was slower than expected, and though Twitter fingers were clicking through the night, Woj or Shams bombs were relegated more towards smaller trades and draft pick announcements.
When the Rockets fell into the fourth overall pick, the general consensus around the league was that their tank job had failed and they just missed out on the players that could right the ship.
Instead, they landed Amen Thompson, who was considered the third-best player in the class at points this season. In him they found a proper complimentary piece to the dynamic youngsters already on their roster such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr.
Thompson is one of the best distributors in this class, showing an adept feel for the game and an astute ability to make the right play and do it with flair. He’s one of the most athletic players you’ll ever see and with him running the floor alongside Jalen Green, the Rockets’ transition game could be one of the most electric in the league.
Then at pick No. 20, a player nobody expected to fall outside the top 10 landed in their laps in Cam Whitmore. The Rockets had reportedly been considering Whitmore with the fourth-overall selection but instead got their guy by sitting pretty and waiting for him.
The Rockets already have the youngest roster in the league, filled to the brim with raw talent eagerly waiting to be developed. In Thompson and Whitmore, they added two more guys widely considered to be top 10 players, effectively turning them into the big winner of the night.
Loser: Cam Whitmore
Houston’s win was Whitmore’s loss. He wasn’t supposed to land here, at least not with the 20th pick. Mock drafts routinely put him in the top 10 and seeing him fall past Utah at nine felt like an oversight.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on the broadcast that Whitmore had a combination of poor workouts and individual interviews in the pre-draft process, effectively lowering his stock.
When a run of teams that need wings like the Lakers, Heat and Warriors at 17-19 all pass on you, questions about what really went wrong start to get brought up. Though no official reports have been put out regarding the severity of his individual workouts and interviews, to have your draft position fall nearly 10-15 picks is astounding for someone as talented as Whitmore.
It’s estimated that with the fall from a potential top five pick to the 20th selection, Whitmore may have lost $14 million. Not an easy pill to swallow for an 18-year-old.
Winner: Every single Raptors fan’s TikTok algorithm
The Toronto Raptors didn’t just get the best shooter in this class, they got the funniest guy in this draft class bar none.
They made it clear that they weren’t drafting for fit, they wanted the best player available. In Gradey Dick they found both. They were likely looking for more shooting, not necessarily someone to lighten the spirit in a locker room that seemed tired at times. And yet, in Gradey Dick they found both.
As soon as the Kansas product was selected, a TikTok he posted earlier this year went viral on Raptors Twitter, showing the wing not known for his athleticism, busting a move like the scouting reports of him don’t know a thing.
Pair that with an all-time draft suit and Gradey Dick made sure to announce his presence to his new fanbase, adjusting algorithms city-wide like the Joker spreading laughing gas in the skies above Gotham.
As for his abilities on the court, for the third-worst shooting team in the league last season, bringing in a 40 per cent shooter that can hit it off of any action seems like the right call to transform your offence. Having him fall into their laps at 13 with rumours about him going 11 to the Magic or 12 to the Mavericks is just icing on the cake.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.
WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).
Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.
“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.
“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”
Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.
Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.
Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.
Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.
The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.
Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.
The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.
WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.
The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.
Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.
Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad
Forwards
Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);
Backs
Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
