@MarkKnudson41
Strike One: You know you’ve got a pretty darn good basketball team when the biggest debate in the pre-season is about should start and hope to become the team’s third or fourth best scoring option. That’s where things are for the Denver Nuggets.
As constructed, these Nuggets are really good. They hoped to get a little better during the abbreviated off season, but then they lost a key piece of last season’s Western Conference Finals team when Jerami Grant unexpectedly signed with the Detroit Pistons as a free agent. Since then, they’ve added some intriguing new faces, including first round draft pick Zeke Nnaji and free agents JaMychal Green, Isaiah Hartenstein and Facundo Campazzo.
The newcomers have reportedly blended in nicely and observers have given Denver high marks in the mini pre-season. There are now some who think these Nuggets could be better than the team we were all so enamored with just a few months ago. Stay tuned to find out.
In the meantime, much of the talk on the eve of the regular season is about who will start at the small forward, or the “3” position. With guard Jamal Murray and center Nikola Jokic cemented in as the team’s top two scorers, the starter at the “three” spot – where Grant contributed mightily at both ends of the court a season ago – appears to be a competition between veteran Will Barton and up and comer Michael Porter Jr.
Logic would dictate that MPJ’s potential to become a dynamic force in the league and his solid performance (mostly) at the end of last season would make him the choice. After all, Barton was injured and missed the entire “bubble” period including the post season, so he wasn’t a factor when the Nuggets were at their best. However, Barton is on record feeling very differently. He told the Denver Post he believes he should be starting on opening night.
“Like I said, I’m a starter,” Barton said. “I looked comfortable out there because I’m just that good of a basketball player. I’m comfortable with playing with anybody on the planet. It doesn’t really matter… I put a lot of hard work into this game, and I think it shows when I’m healthy. I have no plans on being the sixth man. I have no desire to be that at all.”
Porter started the first two pre-season games, with Barton starting the third and final tilt. He did well. Asked for his thoughts after Barton spoke out, MPJ didn’t argue, saying Barton IS a starter in the league…but so is he.
So will Barton start over MPJ on this team?
He shouldn’t.
Continuity matters to any contending team, and what MPJ gave the Nuggets last summer should matter. They need him to develop. Denver will not finish this season better than they did last season if Porter doesn’t take a big step forward – especially on defense. He can do things no one else on the roster is capable of doing at the offensive end, and if he got rolling, the Nuggets might be unstoppable.
Barton’s skill set and energy level actually make him a great fit as a sixth man. He’s got the perfect style for the roll, if not the perfect attitude. While most expect guys like Monte Morris, PJ Dozier, Green and Campazzo to willing accept their roles off the bench, the whole thing could come apart if Barton is given that role too, and doesn’t accept it.
Stay tuned for that, too.
Strike Two: Going in, it sure looked like the 2020 College Football season would be a mess. And it most certainly was/is. It’s been pretty much a farce, actually.
No one felt that more than Steve Addazio and the Colorado State Rams, who finished their “season” playing exactly four games and having four others cancelled (after the original 12 game slate was trashed in late summer.) Three were cancelled by COVID-19 issues (one involving the Rams and the other two the prospective opponents) and one when the Utah State players (mis)used the opt out clause to not play over a dispute with the Athletic Director. That one ended up being a forfeit.
In 2020, it sucked if you wanted to watch the CSU Rams.
For the Rams, 2020 was the equivalent of a typical NFL August exhibition schedule. Four games where the scoreboard didn’t end up meaning much (okay, except for the retrieval of the Bronze Boot) but other things did.
So what did followers of the Green and Gold learn?
First, they learned that Addazio’s reputation as a “ground and pound” coach is accurate. Clearly this is a coach who favors handing the ball off to putting it in the air. To that extent, his senior quarterback – Patrick O’Brien – elected to use his final year of eligibility elsewhere and is transferring. In 2021, it’s a solid bet that one of three freshman just signed to national letters of intent will be under center on September 4th against South Dakota State. Whoever can hand off the best will likely get the nod.
We also learned that Addazio’s top priority this off season needs to be finding a special teams coach. He got lucky when standout punter Ryan Stonehouse opted for return for another season, but aside from Stonehouse’s booming punts, the Rams special teams units stunk in Addazio’s first season – and he himself was the anointed “special teams” coach. Oops.
Someone with some special team’s expertise needs to be brought in to handle that job. Like…yesterday.
We also learned that all the off the field stuff that the CSU athletic department went through in 2020 – some COVID related, some not…but and all of it self-inflicted – has given the program a black eye nationally, but perhaps not locally. Addazio brought in a new recruiting class of 21 that features seven in-state players. That’s a marked change from the recruiting philosophy of his predecessor Mike Bobo, who looked south every recruiting season.
Perhaps a dose of in-state passion and pride will help fix what ails the CSU program. We’ll see.
Strike Three: The “Hot Stove” League has been anything but this December, with good reason. Financial losses from the pandemic-wrecked 2020 season will be felt across the industry well into 2021 and beyond. That doesn’t mean big signings and trades won’t happen at all this winter, just that there will be fewer of them.
As it was a year ago at this time, the rumors that the Colorado Rockies are looking to perhaps trade their best player, Nolan Arenado, are running rampant. Only this year, it’s for a very different reason. Last year, it was a spat with General Manager Jeff Bridich that ended becoming public that fueled the speculation. This year, it’s all about the money. As in, the Rockies can’t afford Arenado anymore.
As we all know, Nolan is set to earn $35 mil this season as part of an eight year deal he signed before the 2018 campaign. He has that well documented “opt out” clause (how ironic in 2020, right?) that will allow him to nix the deal and become a free agent after the upcoming season.
Don’t bet on that happening. Only a fool (and his agent/union) would walk away from a $35 mil per year contract in the middle of an industry-wide recession. What’s most likely to happen is a mutually agreed upon trade that allows Nolan to keep his money and the Rockies to get out from under paying it.
Or will they?
Many industry experts expect the Rockies, should they find a willing trade partner for their superstar third baseman, to actually have to continue to pay some of his remaining salary as part of any deal.
That notion is ludicrous.
If Colorado management agrees to that kind of terrible trade arrangement – essentially paying Arenado to play for someone else – they deserve to end up in bankruptcy court.
Baseball history is full of examples of teams having to eat large amounts of salary for a player who no longer wears their uniform. Most of the time that player isn’t playing for anyone anymore, but on rare occasions, he might be wearing other colors at the end of his career. But that’s not typically what occurs while a player is still in his prime. And a poor 2020 aside, Nolan is at the peak of his game right now.
No, the Rockies should not accept ANY deal that expects them to pay any portion of Arenado’s contract moving forward. The singular purpose of trading the future Hall of Famer would be for salary relief. Staggering financial losses from 2020 for a team whose payroll already greatly exceeded its on-field performance obviously dictate a scaling back of salaries. Nolan won’t be the only recognizable Rockie to be on the move before it’s all said and done. The franchise is in survival mode about now.
There are a few teams out there – and exclude National League West rival Los Angeles from the discussion for obvious reasons – that could afford to take on Nolan’s contract. While you’d like to see him moved to the American League, that doesn’t appear to be as likely as him landing with say, the New York Mets, for example. A new Owner in Steve Cohen who was not in charge last summer and didn’t lose $100 mil and who is now the richest owner in Major League Baseball can afford to take on ALL of Arenado’s contract. The Mets don’t have a highly regarded farm system, so what Colorado might get it return from New York probably wouldn’t amount to much. But that would still be better than trying to snag a hot prospect or two from a team that would expect you to pitch in say, something like $18 mil a season to help pay the salary of a guy who’s be trying to beat your brains in every time he steps on the field against you.
Here’s hoping the Rockies brass stick to their guns, and if a trading Arenado is what needs to happen, they do it right.