Up and at 'em

Uh……it’s here? Opening Day? Tomorrow. Wednesday, March 25th is the Official Start of Spring as Opening Day kicks off with Opening Night. The Yankees fly to SF for an 8pm EST first pitch. Logan Webb vs Max Fried.

And where might one watch this tilt? Netflix. Getchya baseball HERE. Netflix. Man, it’s early but a lot is comin at me. Netflix will staff Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, and Anthony Rizzo as pre/post game studio analysts. CC Sabathia and Hunter Pence will join Matt Vasgersian in the booth. Those are some real name brands there buddy. Yaknow what? I’m won over. I put this pen to paper ready to get salty about Opening Day being turned into Opening Night, but here I am ready to give it a go. Of course Netflix wants a primetime spot to roll out it’s baseball investment. And remember, Netflix continues to target singular sporting events rather than season long programming. Think Home Run Derby. Or Jake Paul Fight (fraud). NFL Christmas. Or Opening Day (Night).

Again, it’s early (for me), so no better time to rattle off NBA takes. There’s literally no better time (5:46am) to rattle off NBA takes. Allow me:

- Hot damn Giannis played himself. Giannis (31) wasted yet another prime NBA season by not forcing his way out of Milwaukee. Remember the trade deadline? Remember the Bucks getting SERIOUS about trading their franchise’s greatest player? Sure, but also remember how Giannis was supposed to be traded last off-season. Before Milwaukee burned the Dame Lilliard contract to the ground, signed Myles Turner, and handed real keys to Kyle Kuzma. This exercise was doomed from the start. And all parties are suffering. Bucks ownership sat down with Ramona Shelbourne for a PR-piece on why they operate the way they do (poorly). In it, they promised that Giannis will either be extended or traded this summer. Giannis will have one guaranteed year left on his contract and considerable leverage over picking his next spot, unless a Raptors/Kawhi home run offer emerges. But he’s also the same guy that’s wasted postseason after postseason since winning his first title in 2021. For context, compare Denver’s sustained success with Jokic post-title relative to the walls crumbling around Giannis. Giannis crumbled himself, but while Jokic continually plays meaningful post-season basketball, this will be another spring with Giannis watching from afar.

- You guys like talking foil characters? Me too. Can I present De’Aaron Fox? Fox had enough with Sacramento last season after they fired Mike Brown for no apparent reason. Listen, I absolutely love seeing players stick with their teams for an entire career, but I also love seeing Fox move from the dumpster fire Kings to playing with Wemby. Could you imagine him grinding another season in SacTown next to Russell Westbrook? Yeesh. Fox (and Klutch Sports) didn’t even campaign that hard to get out of town. He’s landed in a generationally advantageous spot. Had Giannis been a little more foxy last winter, maybe he too would be playing in San Antone.

- We talked about some of the structural issues facing the NBA and how it delivers great product on a night to night basis. For a moment, let’s talk about the hottest team in the sport: the Lakers. While they are clearly putting their best foot forward, observe the schedule they’re being asked to tackle. Since the All-Star break (mid-Feb), the Lakers have played every other day. Play Monday. Rest Tuesday. Play Wednesday. Fly Thursday. Play Friday. Over and over and over again. Mixed in with three back-to-backs featuring at least one road game. LA will wind up playing 20 games (a quarter of the season) in this stretch and while the results have been awesome, it has to tax the body to never have two consecutive recovery days. Boy are the Boys in Gold flying high right now, but will these miles catch up to them in April. And what if the league just didn’t do this?

- Creighton Head Basketball Coach Greg McDermott will hang it up after sixteen seasons. McDermott led the BlueJays to multiple Sweet Sixteen’s and one Elite Eight. He’s also the father of current Sacramento King and longtime NBA marksman, Doug McDermott. Doug’s carved out a classic journeyman specialist career. The kind of career we more commonly see from MLB relief pitchers. Sacramento is Doug’s 7th franchise. He’s earned more than $80m in 12 years. Congrats to the McDermotts.