[www.basketballnetwork.net] — Sunday, October 16, 2022 3:29:34 AM
Ex-New York Knicks star Latrell Sprewell on being under house arrest – “I never said it was easy” Basketball Network
[nypost.com] — Sunday, October 16, 2022 3:02:00 AM
Former NBA point guard Nate Robinson battling kidney failure New York Post
[thesportsrush.com] — Sunday, October 16, 2022 12:50:59 AM
Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins’ Contract Extension Makes Warriors’ $275 Million Luxury Tax in 2024 Bigger Than Knicks and Grizzlies’ Combined Salaries The Sportsrush
[thespun.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 10:04:58 PM
NBA World Reacts To Concerning Nate Robinson News The Spun
[www.si.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 5:58:29 PM
New York Knicks Waive 3 Players Sports Illustrated
[www.hoopsrumors.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 4:29:00 PM
Lakers’ Ryan, Celtics’ Jackson, Knicks’ Arcidiacono Earn Roster Spots hoopsrumors.com
[www.nydailynews.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 3:15:07 PM
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson downplays his impressive preseason New York Daily News
[hoopshype.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 2:54:19 PM
Knicks keeping Ryan Arcidiacono for regular season Hoops Hype
[www.si.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 2:31:32 PM
Knicks Ex Dikembe Mutombo Battling Brain Tumor Sports Illustrated
[www.cbssports.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 11:46:09 AM
Knicks’ Evan Fournier: Scores four points CBS Sports
[www.sbnation.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 9:00:00 AM
The NBA’s 8 biggest winners of the preseason SB Nation
[dailyknicks.com] — Saturday, October 15, 2022 8:00:00 AM
Will this Eastern Conference foe be a threat to Knicks in 2022-23? Daily Knicks
69 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2022.10.16)”
Man, it’s been a long year. I’m so ready for some watchable basketball. Please just give me that Mr. Rose…
I know we had to deal him to open up space for Brunson, which we desperately needed. But man how good would this team be if we still had Burks coming off the bench playing back up 3 and not forcing him to start at PG?
IMO Burks was underrated here, most likely because he was old enough to shave. 🙂
Replacing his win contribution so we get the full benefit of adding Brunson and Hart is on Grimes and Quick who will probably get those minutes. They have to be productive.
And yes I know that would be a vet merc mucking is up with “useless” wins. But I’m just not sold on Grimes as a back up 3 and Burks was a guy who could go off for twenty on any given night and play solid defense, unselfish, etc. if we had him on the bench we would truly be an 11 deep squad. As it is, our bench might be an issue. I actually think our starting five is going to be solid. And the bench will have nights they’re good too. But DRose can only play so many minutes and IQ is hot and cold. OBI is better but his offense is reliant on other teammates getting him the ball. There will be nights D rose is out and nights IQ is off and on those nights having Burks would be huge.
I think Grimes will be a better player than Burks given the chance to develop and he needs to be in the rotation to develop.
Theoretical question
How many wins will we have this year?
How many wins would we have if we were able to trade Randle, Fournier, and Rose into cap space, replace them with Obi and Grimes in the starting lineup and then added some young G league or undrafted prospects to the bench?
We’d probably have the youngest team in the league and the win total would not be much different, especially because Grimes is probably going start this season eventually anyway and Rose is going to miss some games.
Point being, we aren’t adding a lot of useless wins and a young team generally benefits development wise from having a few veterans around anyway.
We know this is probably the last year for Rose. Fournier will be tradable with less time left on his contract IF Grimes takes over (even if we have to add a 2nd rounder). So the main issue with veterans is Randle (who is young enough to be productive for the duration of his contract anyway).
Does Randle turn himself around, become productive, and look like a positive asset or does he remain an issue and we have to keep looking for a starting PF if Obi doesn’t expand his game.
This is a very young team.
I am feeling very confident about our team being “watchable.”
There are two players who factor into the watchability equation more than the rest: Julius Randle and Derrick Rose.
As I’ve said, I don’t really hold grudges and believe in second chances.
So at this point, I’m “expecting” Julius Randle to be the most realistic version of his most watchable self. Meaning that it would be unrealistic to expect either a) the 2020-21 version, or b) an iso-free, focused on every single possession on both sides of the ball version. I think that it will take 20 games or so for Julius to get used to his new role in the offense and stop thinking too much. So during that time, he probably will not shoot all that well and will have lapses and frustrations, especially during that tough early 7-game stretch against contenders and playoff locks. I will be more focused on the trendlines and the ratio of good JR to bad JR and less on his advanced stats beyond USG% and TOV%. Hopefully the fans at MSG will be similarly patient.
As to Derrick Rose, I get the dilemma regarding rooting for a guy with his past. There are a lot of reasons why I won’t engage in that discussion, but I’ll just leave it at I don’t share these misgivings. I thotoughly enjoyed his play in 2020-21 and will continue to do so if he plays that way again this year. I hope we see 15-20 minutes of that on 3 of every 4 nights, and on night 4 we see either IQ in the role of backup PG or some time for Deuce to play.
Beyond those two, everyone else is supremely rootable and watchable, even Evan Fournier, who I think will be a big part of any success we have this year.
Finally there’s Thibs. I think this team is more Thibs-proof than those of the past 2 years. There’s no Elfrid or Reggie or Nerlens or Burks to obstruct the actually good young guys, and there’s no Kemba drama to gum up the works at PG. I probably care less about the Randle vs. Obi and Fournier vs. Grimes PT issues than most here. But that said, while there will be nights when Thibs leans heavily on the starters and vets, I am expecting on average less PT for Randle and Fournier and more PT for Obi and Grimes.
Overall, I’m expecting lots of very competitive games that come down to the wire and a finish in the 7-9 spot in the play-in. Anything above that will be gravy. Anything below that will be disappointing.
Small sample size, but if we get the Randle we saw in preseason, I’m ok having him on board. How good our record is should largely depend on how we shoot open threes, as our guys are encouraged to take those, particularly with RJ, Obi, and Randle. Maybe they’ll get even better looks if Mitch has added a rudimentary post game?
Plus we have to defend the three better than last year. I assume Fournier will get a quick hook for Grimes if he’s getting roasted, but maybe he’ll be better this year?
And yeah, I think these guys should generally be rootable/watchable.
“Finally there’s Thibs. I think this team is more Thibs-proof than those of the past 2 years. There’s no Elfrid or Reggie or Nerlens or Burks to obstruct the actually good young guys”
I should also have included Taj in that mix…
Given all the accolades Mitch is getting here now, someone should ask him how much having Taj around for the last couple of years helped with his knowledge and development. Remember when he couldn’t even stay on the court because he’d foul out? He’ has come a long way on the basics and offensive rebounding knowledge around the basket.
I still want to see him match up with some of the bigger stronger bigs around the league a few times to see what he can do around the basket on both ends.
Julius will be the easiest guy to root for if he changes his attitude to what it was and adapts his play. I don’t even think of it as giving him a second chance but just acknowledging his growth as a person and player.
In looking at the EC, which of the 8 teams ranked above us on paper (BOS, MIL, BKN, PHI, MIA, CLE, ATL, TOR) are most likely to underperform expectations and possibly finish below the Knicks in the standings?
My votes are for one or more of the following:
BOS: Coaching drama, lack of depth, injury-prone-ness
MIA: Age, loss of PJ Tucker or what he represents, overrating of specific players like Duncan and Herro
CLE: Lack of chemistry between Mitchell and Garland
TOR: Overachievers Barnes, Siakam, and FVV don’t overachieve
CHI: Lack of interior defense and rim protection, lack of elite 3pt shooting, DeRozan regressing somewhat, missing Lonzo.
NYT on Tankbanyama
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/sports/basketball/victor-wembanyama-nba-draft-2023.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Julius will be the easiest guy to root for if he changes his attitude to what it was and adapts his play. I don’t even think of it as giving him a second chance but just acknowledging his growth as a person and player.”
BE I was contrasting my view with the folks here who were/are convinced that Randle should have been gone even if it costs assets. There are quite a few folks who expressed that opinion, i.e. that there is little hope of him being a productive player because he’s a selfish head case.
i’m not sure if the stats support this (i know that’s lazy, i’ll look it up later, promise, maybe, i’ll do my best), but i always get the feeling those french coaches use evian better than we do…
it’s not like he suddenly becomes more athletic or anything, he does seem to play better…
full disclosure time – i’m fortunate to have a bunch of folks around me who seem to delight in calling bullshit: bullshit…
which is to say – i very well just maybe imagining the whole thing…it’s hard to know sometimes…
My only vote is CLE. I have learned my lesson never to dance on the Celtics grave (we swiped their backcourt and in return they got a completely washed Horford, yes!).
Chi is predicted to finish below us, though they are my vote as to an over performer to go above us.
Right, I accidentally left out CHI and actually assumed they’d be ranked above us…in that case, I disagree with the rankings and think they have an excellent chance to overachieve.
re: Evan Fournier, I don’t think he had a particularly good year last year relative to his career…his TS%, REB%, FT%, FTr, and AST% were all near or at career lows, and I don’t think he’s as bad on D as he is portrayed here. I think he suffered from being in a shitty starting lineup with lots of role confusion. Fournier seems to want to be an offensive glue guy, never had a high usage even on those shitty ORL teams. I think he’s one of those guys that will rise or fall with the players around him. The addition of Brunson will help him a lot, and so will better play from Mitch, Julius, and RJ.
Good question on the other east teams. I think they’ll all struggle for various reasons, which makes it interesting. A few takes:
BOS: Even with the drama, barring an injury to one of their big two, they should finish above us.
MIA: Again I think they’ll struggle, but too well coached and too many quality players to finish below .500.
CLE: Lack of chemistry and youth will probably have them struggle early, but that starting five makes me think they’ll figure it out and win close to 50 (48?).
TOR: Always a big question mark to me, but they always seem to win despite my disregard.
CHI: I do think they’ll finish below the Knicks.
I think all these teams will finish with between 42 and 50 wins, so if the Knicks play to their platonic ideal, they should be right in the mix.
And I see their ideal as 44-38, with Bos, Miami, and Cleveland finishing above them, Toronto also at 44, and Chicago at 42 (or 38…).
Would I put money on any of that? Nah, I hate betting.
if it’s okay to ask, why is that?
mine is fear of failure, i assume i’m going to always lose and spend most my time trying not to fail…
and i spend a bunch already on weed and food…add in kids, and now a pooch, i can’t really afford another vice…
Nobody’s picking Philly to underachieve? I probably wouldn’t, just because Morey did such a good job of increasing their depth this offseason. But Embiid has injury history, and Harden might be permanently past his prime.
The circumstances required for us to finish ahead of the Sixers would border on the miraculous, though.
Geo, bunch of reasons: I hate to lose, I’d rather give my money to people trying to do good than scumbag grifters, I have a family, and while I appreciate the rush of risk I don’t get any rush from putting my money on the line. Plus I feel like I’d need to spend years making giant spreadsheets like Strat, and I’d much rather do other things. Almost any other thing.
Plus I think the business of betting is a foul thing, and getting completely out of hand and destroying lives (always did, but becoming more common). And like fantasy sports, just another way of pushing the multi-billion-dollar machine, but much more harmful. (I actually did fantasy baseball before fantasy baseball, but with a pal and a piece of paper and pencil and a pitch-back machine. That’s my limit.)
And I hate those effing ads.
that’s a soapbox i myself would stand upon with you…
while i understand the danger it poses to both individuals and those around them…
there’s just so many different ways to indulge…we truly are living in the age of indulgent…with even more years now to journey along and indulge…
don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be middle class and above…
compared to other life metrics, not sure if that allows for more/less happiness/fulfillment (my scooter makes me feel like the silver surfer)…would seem so, but…
i imagine opportunities for more have increased…
i am glad if i ever do decide to bet, i can do it through my phone and not have to attend a casino…
Alan, Philly is intriguing. On one hand, with a revitalized Harden and a MVP candidate in Embiid, they look like a potential conference finals team. On the other, neither Harden nor Embiid have done the job in the playoffs. Maxey is kind of an X-factor, who knows how much PJ has left, and the rest of their roster (including Tobias) is pretty meh…I’m not high on Melton, House and Harrell. So yeah, their lack of quality depth can be an issue and if either Embiid or Harden misses a lot of games I could see them falling.
As it stands now, I stil think Boston will win over 50 games, and the Bucks will likely win over 50 as well, and sadly, probably the Nets. Then there are a bunch of teams in that 45-50 win category. All of those teams could pull a “Celtics 2021-22” and go on a run for a long stretch.
It should be a very competitive season, with us being the kind of team that gives the better teams in the East fits on any give night.
Possible underachievers:
Milwaukee and Miami have hardly upgraded their rosters and have some key vets one year older, whose performance might decrease, and injuries might increase.
Brookly will have very injury-prone players, and of course, the drama.
Toronto last year played his starters heavy minutes, with few injuries, and some of them had their career year. Will it happen again this year?
Chicago is really thin. Without Lonzo, I think they will be definitely out of the picture.
Okay, since it’s a slow day, and a Sunday — I don’t really follow football except occasionally reading or tuning in to watch someone pummel someone else, but can anyone explain how the two NY teams are doing so well this year?
As of this moment the Jets are beating Green Bay 24-10, while the Giants, although it looks like they’re probably going to lose, are playing right with the Ravens. My dilletante take at the start of the season was it was another suck season for both teams.
I know “Saquon is back,”, but that’s not enough, even for just the Giants. Anyone have an explanation?
I see Philadelphia as a really deep team. They really can afford not to take risk with injuries and minutes of their starters.
Boston has the question mark of their new coach, and being thing at the C position, but they seem to be very well-covered elsewhere.
It seems that Brian Daboll is a really good coach, and/or that he hired two fantastic coordinators in Kafka and Martindale. There’s a smattering of good to great players here (Saquon, Andrew Thomas, several defenders), but the offensive line, the receiving corps, the defensive secondary, and so many other parts of the team are pathetic thanks to years of mismanagement by Gettleman. Coaching does matter.
holy shit, you’re right raven, who in the heck are these g-men and j-e-t-s…
I watched the g-men game and I still can’t believe they’re playing this well…
it’s amazing…
I almost feel like I’m being led to the gallows when it comes to watching the yanks and cleveland in a few hours…
at least the braves and dodgers are out of it…I wish the astros would lose more…
…and I take it back, a bunch of random crap and the Giants beat the Ravens.
I look forward to someone explaining this. All I got from the announcers was that somehow the Giants believe.
Edit: Thanks, Alan. So that’s the Giants. Jets?
Agree with Alan’s thesis. Giant’s, save for having Saquon back, have lesser personal than last year’s dismal squad due to Gettlemen and injuries. Yet they are playing infinitely better. The scheming for Daniel Jones has made him a meh QB, who can win against quality teams. And the defense with a depleted secondary also playing way above their heads. Virtually no mistakes and few penalties. We can only hope that the Knicks play up to the over their ostensible abilities of the Giants.
As a longtime Jets fan, I’m pretty positive about what I’ve seen thus far this year. I wasn’t impressed by Wilson until he won that come from behind game and since then he hasn’t been spectacular but he’s been effective. When you consider that their office of line has been decimated, it’s amazing they’ve been able to go on this winning streak. Today was a really quality win. They have lots of weapons at the skill positions, and their defense looks legit. They were all over Aaron Rodgers today. I think the Jets and the Knicks could be interesting analogues.
The Giants are making everyone play in the mud and I think that’s beautiful.
I think the 76ers are gonna win the EC this year if they aren’t derailed by injuries. Harden’s decline has been overstated (he’s playing pretty similar ball to OKC Harden these days) and they’re pretty deep. I don’t see the Celtics replicating their success to the same degree this year either (mild Horford decline + no Williams for a while, plus I’m really not confident regarding Gallo or Brogdon’s durability) and the Heat are rapidly aging. The Nets are the softest, most volatile team in the NBA and the Bucks will be great, per usual. Ultimately I think it’s gonna be a Sixers Bucks ECF
Tanking is/should be much less of a thing in the NFL than in the NBA, yet I have to confess that each time the Giants win, a small part of me thinks, “This roster is still so talent-starved, and we probably still need a new QB(*), and now we’re going to be picking mid-round at best.” But mostly, though, this has been awesome.
(*) Daboll and Kafka have definitely unlocked more of Jones than their predecessors were able to. And it’s also not entirely fair to judge him given how godawful the WR group is at the moment, and how much trouble the interior OL has had. But he still seems like he’s likely to top out at caretaker QB. And based on the Buffalo experience, I assume Schoen and Daboll are gonna want to get a higher-ceiling quarterback in there.
Lamar Jackson’s bet on himself isn’t going quite as well as Aaron Judge’s. That late interception was inexcusable.
Giants record seems like the ultimate proof of football variance.
IKF getting benched. Carlos Correa a very happy man right now.
Long way to go for the Jets, but definitely exciting to see them 4-2 at this point. 3-0 on the road is crazy!
How nice would it be if the Mets, Jets, and Knicks could all make the playoffs in succession?
Oh, and of course the Phillies take out the Braves…
Huge fails for the Dodgers and Braves.
It’s going to be fascinating to see what sort of cajones Joe Schoen has at the deadline. Saquon Barkley (a free agent after the season) could likely fetch a first round pick in a trade with his old team, the Bills. But it’s going to be really hard to face the press after making that kind of deal.
I’ve spent zero seconds believing in the Yankees this year. I hope you didn’t get taken in by their hot start. They’ve been the same team for most of the last 20 years: built to beat up bad pitching in the summer, easy to get out in October.
Cashman is overrated, and his infatuation with Aaron Boone is mind boggling. This team needs a change at the top.
He likes Boone because he can tell him what to do…he’s a lacky for cashass
I wouldn’t say I was taken in or nothing, but it would most certainly bring me cheer for them to beat the astros…at some point this millennium…
not sure what the odds actually are, but I’d put the line as even this evening…
okay, honesty time, I’d favor cleveland by a run and a half…
I am hoping that Cleveland eliminates the Yanks so that I could wholeheartedly root for Cleveland against the Astros rather than having to reluctantly root for the Yanks in “anyone but Texas” mode. But the truth is I don’t care all that much. Bring on the Knicks!
Odds are Cleveland plus a run and a half
I don’t know enough about football to have an intelligent take on the Giants. I’ve enjoyed watching them this season but also my well-developed Spidey Sense for a mediocre team destroying its draft position is going off. No real choice but to go along for the ride, though as Hubert said there will likely come a moment of truth.
Waiting until the last possible second to bench IKF after a season of basically replacement level play would be a hilarious bit to me if I wasn’t a Yankee fan…
There’s been articles on how offense is down around the NFL this season, particularly the passing. So that lends into the Giants style of them “… making everyone play in the mud” as Unbearable beautifully said.
And Alan I feel you, but what can you do when they’re winning the way they are? I figured Daboll and his staff would use the season to lay the foundations of how they want the Giants to play. But no one thought Daboll would get this out of them.
Or the magnum opus of the NFL’s two-decade push towards parity.
If the Guardians win this series on the strength of a bunch of huge .100 xBA hits I’m not gonna be happy
Let’s face it, there are very few really good NFL teams and a whole bunch of mediocre or bad teams. I mean, other than Buffalo, KC and maybe the Eagles, who’s good?
But really the product doesn’t matter to the powers that be, as long as fantasy football and legalized betting exist, NFL ratings will continue to far surpass other sports.
Does anyone beside me think the new sports team names Guardians and Commanders are insipid and uninspiring?
Just judging from the box scores the Yankees series seems more like good playoff series than the Mets one with good pitching and close games some of which were won at the final moment
The Mets series was an abject disaster. Just a very brutal way to end a long season of mostly hope. That and the Atlanta series really were two bitter pills, and that the Braves and Dodgers went out so meekly makes the aftertaste linger.
I literally minutes ago told a friend that I preferred WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM like a million times more than cOmManDeRs
they should have just named them CLEVELAND TONKA TRUCKS or WASHINGTON RACE CARS VROOM VROOM because that’s somehow less juvenile than gUarDiaNs or CoMmAndERs
some company got paid millions to rebrand them with those stupid useless insipid (as you said) names and it makes me fucking seethe even more than, for one, knowing that Yeat is (for the moment) richer than I’ll ever be
I’m gonna go sniff some glue now
They are bringing Wandy back?
“Does anyone beside me think the new sports team names Guardians and Commanders are insipid and uninspiring?”
They seem fine to me. Name changes are tough. I remember when the Bullets was changed to the Wizards, and that still seem weird.
Some background info:
re: Guardians: “The team’s name references the Guardians of Traffic, eight monolithic 1932 Art Deco sculptures by Henry Hering on the city’s Hope Memorial Bridge, which is adjacent to Progressive Field.”
re: Commanders: “After years of contemplation, Washington announced in January that the team’s nickname search had been cut down to seven options: Armada, Brigade, Red Hogs, Presidents, Commanders, RedWolves, and Defenders. A month later, the Commanders name was made official.”
So I guess Commanders wasn’t the worst of the options lol!
it really made the difference in our gun violence/mass shooting epidemic
this is so fucking sad
after years of contemplation
“after years of contemplation”
Apparently they considered over 40,000 suggestions…
after years of contemplation, I have decided to trade two first rounders for Andrea Bargnani
I dunno, the Braves and Dodgers getting bumped so quickly made me feel better about the Mets losing. And it made me feel better about the Mets’ future as well. Cohen will spend enough to make sure the Mets are fixtures in the playoffs, and as we’ve seen, the Wild Card is a perfectly viable path to the World Series. You just need to get hot at the right time.
The more I look at Dallas the more negative I get. The loss of Brunson obviously matters, but I think Dinwiddie played over his head after the trade also. There’s a pretty good chance he’s going to take a step back. Slotting Hardaway back into the rotation is a negative as far as I am concerned. He’s certainly not going to help their defense. Christian Wood is the wildcard. He could fit well on offense with Doncic, but defensively he might be a problem. They might struggle to make the playoffs in the west with teams like the Clippers and Nuggets healthy again and a few young teams ready to start making noise. It might be the the play in for them. That pick could wind up better than I expected before Dallas started doing dumb things again.
So many replys….
Re: Betting – I understand the distaste for it. Mobsters get rich off of wagering. I’ve run a “prize” fantasy baseball league for 32 years. It costs between $300-500 a year but it’s at least a 7 month game. The league is very competitive and owners are dedicated to maintaining their rosters even if they are “out of it”.
Re: Yankees We went to a neighbor’s for dinner. He’s a Red Sox fan so there was no TV. I was okay with it because I hate watching eliminations almost more than I like wins. I kept tab on my phone and am watching the replay now that I know they won. As for hatred against Boone and Cashman? I loved how Billy Martin managed. Boone manages based on modern analytics. It’s not Boone’s fault that the bullpen fell apart. But Chapman, Britton, Chad Green, Gil, Marinacchio, Effros and Holmes all fell apart (either skill or injury). This was a team built around the pen. And Cashman is, IMO, the best GM out there.
Re: Eastern Conference Ah. Hoops. The Nyets on paper are better than in real life. I couldn’t hate any NBA players more than Durant, Kyrie and Harden… well, maybe there was one: Simmons LOL. That team is a cesspool waiting to overflow. This has nothing to do with hatred of the Nets. It’s really about those humans. In terms of talent, I think Atlanta is overrated and so is Toronto. I have never been sold on FVV.
J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! That team is making me happy. I now live in Florida and due to the idiocy of the NFL deal with DirectTV I had to find ways to work around getting to see games. I pay for the MLB and NBA packages but had to find ways around the system. As dirty as it made me feel, the way that team is playing is f’n awesome. Did you know that 3 different player on the team have won Rookie of the Week? Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall? Hall may win for the 2nd time this week. They may also have comeback player of the year candidates and Quinnen Wiliams is making a push for DPOY.
Re: Guardians/Commanders They’re still the Redskins and Indians in my cranium. I can’t help it. BTW, they’re still the Tappan Zee and 59th street bridges.
Randle I am a big Randle fan – even after last year. Having a newborn baby when you already have a toddler is tougher mentally than any job. Add the fact that he had no real point guard. He definitely needs to fix that 3pt shot but I think this will work out great for the team.
it should have been the Washington Monuments and the Cleveland Plain Dealers.
I like the name “Wizards” much better than Guardians or Commanders. At least from what Z-man wrote, Guardians seems to have local meaning.
I was hoping Washington would go with the Sentinels. Leave it to movie folks to come up with a good name!
Am I the only one sad about this? I know I sound like an old man yelling at kids to get off my lawn, but I grew up with pennant races and a regular season that mattered. I find what they’ve done to this sport reprehensible, even going back to the first wild card and the split to 6 divisions.
The final year before they desecrated the regular season there was *epic* pennant race between Barry Bonds’ Giants and the Atlanta Braves where both teams won over 100 games and it went right down to the final day. No one will ever experience that again. Now 162 games is basically one big preseason for a three-week sprint. Why bother?
Mild criticism is not hatred.
I’m probably in the minority but I like Wizards as a team name quite a bit, they’re just absolutely terrible at marketing it because it could be used in really cool ways (and they have been mediocre for so long that no one cares either way). But yeah, Commanders and Guardians are terrible generic names that do nothing for me, they sound like random minor league team names.