Good morning, I’m Dan Garland. The rain here I mentioned yesterday didn’t actually turn out. This means that the Yankees and Guardians will play a do-or-die game today at 4PM ET.
At SI today: AM:
🔥 Exciting quests ahead of the NBA season
🌵 Kyler gets a new receiver
🟠 What does the NFL think of Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker?
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The return of the NBA
The sheer volume of sports taking place at the moment is frankly enormous. The NFL is fully underway at this point. The MLB playoffs are starting to get serious. The NHL season just started, and I didn’t have time to do a package preview because of everything that happens in baseball. College basketball starts in three weeks. There is so much to keep track of, and it won’t get any easier, because The NBA regular season starts tonight.
The 2022–23 campaign begins with a bang with two exciting matches broadcast on TNT: 76ers at Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET) and The Lakers in the Warriors (10 p.m. ET). But instead of focusing on those two games, here are five long story lines for one season that I focus on.
MVP سباق Racing
The controversy over the league’s Most Valuable Player award is one of the biggest long story lines in the NBA. Any number of players can win it this year. with Jamal Murray at his side, Nikola Jokic He could win the award for the third year in a row. Giannis Antikonmo He is always among the most impressive players in the league. Veterans like Stephen Curry And the Kevin Durant can not be counted. How about a young black horse like Jason Tatum or Ja Morante? But the real reason I’m going to race for the best player is the possibility of a worthy young star finally getting a moment to crown. SI Sportsbook’s current MVP favorite is Luka Dongic And the Joel Embiid (in that order). Donči, who is entering his fifth season in the league, has improved steadily with each passing year and taken his game to the next level during the playoffs last season. Embiid has always struggled with injuries, but he played 68 games in his career last year, and it’s probably no coincidence that he averages 30.6 career points per game. Both men are among the most entertaining players in the NBA, and if the MVP race gets to both, it will be fun to watch them both.
Zion Williamson
There is a reason why Zion Williamson Landed on the cover of the latest issue of SI. He is one of the most exciting athletes to ever wear the NBA uniform. He looked set to break through after forming the All-Star Team in his second season, in 2020-21, but his momentum was stalled by a foot injury last year. Now he is healthy again and ready to throw more highlights, which is part of the reason why Rohan Nadkarni believes the Pelicans will be the funniest team to watch this season.
Can the Lakers recover?
LeBron James He hasn’t missed the playoffs in consecutive years since his first two league seasons, in 2003–04 and ’04–05. Did the Lakers do enough to avoid that fate after finishing 11th in the West last year? Perhaps, but whether they have enough to be among the top six teams in the conference and avoid participating in the tournament is a bigger question.
There are three things that will be key if the Lakers are to be a serious playoff contender:
- Darvin HammHis success as a coach for the first year.
- Anthony Davishealth. He’s only played 76 combined games over the past two seasons, but the Lakers especially need him to be available and efficient with James turning 38 this season.
- All Russell Westbrook dilemma. His poor game last year may be to blame for the Lakers’ struggle as are the injuries to Davis and James. One of Hamm’s biggest challenges will be deciding what to do with Westbrook. He got him off the bench at the end of pre-season on Friday but has not committed to keeping Westbrook out of the starting line-up during the regular season.
Clippers in full force
The other team in Los Angeles also deserves close attention. After a surprisingly successful 42-40 season last year, the Clippers will open this season with both of their top stars healthy again. Paul George He missed most of last season due to an elbow injury, while Kohi Leonard He sat all year after being torn up in the AFC Champions League in 2021 post-season. Most of last year’s list that kept its head above water without George and Leonard is still intact, with the addition of John Wall. The Clippers could be among the league’s elite.
The race to the bottom
Get ready for some dangerous tanks this season. Victor Wimpanyama He is such a transcendent prospect that he’s already closed out for first place in next summer’s draft. An 18-year-old who’s 7’2″ and can create his own shot on the ocean as well as protect the edge seems to be the type of player who would really deserve to throw out your season for a 14% chance of landing on him. It seems that many Which teams are ready to do this? Rudy Gobert And the Donovan Mitchell, jazz is the coincidence of the team that ranked No. 5 in the West last year. Tottenham is even worse, hiring only two players (Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson) who will earn more than $10 million this season. Also, the Thunder Scent, especially without the Chet Holmgren wound, is like the Pacers and Rockets. The question is which teams will eventually decide to join them in the hunt for the most pingpong balls.
Better Sports Illustrated
The season-opening edition of Chris Herring’s NBA Newsletter, The Playmaker, has earned the daily cover tag. He detailed some of the league’s biggest burning questions, such as: Will the Lakers trade Russell Westbrook? You can sign up for it for free at SI.com/newsletters.
Conor Orr’s NFL power ratings are in a race to earn second place behind the Bills. Avi Creditor writes… that many USMNT players face lengthy layoffs ahead of the World Cup after MLS teams were eliminated from the playoffs early. …here’s what NFL members Albert Breer have to say about college stars like Hendon Hooker of Tennessee. … Jonathan Wilson explains why Karim Benzema was an illogical choice for the Ballon d’Or.
About the world of sports
NJ.com has a good breakdown of the discussion between the Yankees, Guardians and MLB Which led to the decision to postpone the fifth match until this afternoon. …the Panthers traded Robbie Anderson for the Cardinals one day after he was kicked out of the sideline. …The Titans and the city of Nashville have reportedly reached an agreement to build a new domed stadium. …Texas have fired controversial CEO Jack Easterby. …the reason the Steelers initially got Mitchell Trubesky off the bench was to face a locker room with one of his teammates.
The top five…
… plays from last night in the NHL:
5. The Maple Leafs equalizer in the last minute It is overridden upon review.
4. Bounce it unlucky Red Wings cost the game in overtime.
3. Canadians Late equalizer With their nets empty and Kirby Dach’s Overtime Winner.
2. No Ty Delandrea’s perfect look Help Tyler Seguin.
1. David Pasternak’s goal next between the legs of the defender.
drive
This season, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic will attempt to become the first foreign-born player to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award three times. Who is the only other non-American player to win the award twice?
SIQ yesterday: On October 17, 1991, Paul Coffey surpassed Penguin Denis Botvin to become the National Hockey League’s all-time leading scorer among the linebackers. Who passed Kofi later and now holds the record?
- Ray Burke
- Niklas Liedstrom
- Al McInnes
- Chris Chelios
Answer: Ray Burke. He collected 1,579 points during his career, compared to 1531 for Kofi. Burke surpassed Kofi’s score on October 25, 2000, With a pair of assists against the predators.
Interestingly, Porky and Kofi were contemporaries. Burke’s career began in 1979, while Kofi debuted a year later. Kofi set higher offensive numbers early in his career. Kofi passed Potvin in his twelfth season in the NHL and went on to increase the total during his 21-year Hall of Fame career. However, Bourke did not pass with Botvin until his 14th season. From that point on, Burke provided much better numbers. From the 1993-94 season until both players retired after the 2000-01 season, Burke had 482 points for 330 coffees.
From the safe: October 18, 1999
Bob Rosato / Sports Illustrated
Rarely is an NFL quarterback – let alone an A successful NFL Team – Uncharted as Kurt Warner in 1999. But after Warner unexpectedly led the Rams to an undefeated start, it was really fair to wonder, as did the SI cover, who is this guy?
Unlike many signal callers fans know from pursuing college football or enlisting, Warner was impolite and didn’t play major college football. It’s been six years since Warner’s graduation season in Northern Iowa. Best known for his work in a grocery store prior to playing in the Arena Football League, he was good enough to sign the Rams and send him to NFL Europe. In 1998, he was the quarterback in the Rams III series. But when veteran Trent Green hit an injury during the ’90s preseason, Warner was suddenly the initiator. St. Louis coach Dick Vermeil had modest expectations, to say the least.
“I thought he could be a solid backup, a guy we can handle,” he said. Vermeil told SI .’s Michael Silver. “When Trent fell, I told our team we could win with Kurt. I didn’t expect him to play well enough to win because of him.”
Warner exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. He led the NFL in touchdown assists, completion percentage and passer ratings, winning the MVP award while leading the Rams to the Super Bowl title. When asked to explain his success, Warner told Silver it was simple.
“I’ve been doing all these interviews lately, and people are searching for the secret to my success,” he said. “I tell them it’s my faith in Jesus Christ, and they don’t want to hear it. So they ask me the same question, over and over, even though they’ve already got the answer. The Lord has something special on his mind for this team, and I’m really excited to be a part of it.”
Dean Warner and family life are central Silver story.
“Such statements are a red flag to even the least skeptical, but once you meet Warner and hear his story, it is very difficult to question his faith,” Silver wrote.
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