The Cavaliers selected a point guard and pitch man.
Moments after the team selected Collin Sexton with the No. 8 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night Josh Sitton Color Rush Jersey , the Alabama playmaker made his appeal for LeBron James to re-sign with Cleveland.
”Man, LeBron, let’s do it,” Sexton said during ESPN’s telecast from the draft in Brooklyn. ”Let’s do it. I’ve seen you needed a few extra pieces this past season, and let’s do it. Let’s go back to the Finals.”
The Cavs believe Sexton – and perhaps a few more tweaks to their roster – will help convince James there is no reason for him to leave home for the second time in his career.
”I hope,” said general manager Koby Altman, adding the club has no plans to trade Sexton. ”I think the pick along with our youth and our momentum as a franchise, for LeBron and for everybody, I think there’s a real energy here. And I think the talent level of Collin I’m almost sure LeBron recognizes.”
Sexton averaged 19.2 points and 3.6 assists as a freshman for the Crimson Tide, and the 19-year-old also led the school to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. He’s confident, a proven scorer and he addresses a major need for the Cavs, who traded All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving to Boston last year and spent all season trying to replace him.
Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue started eight different point guards during the regular season.
Despite their issues at guard Gleyber Torres New York Yankees Jersey , James led the Cavs to their fourth straight Finals, but they sorely missed Irving and didn’t have nearly enough firepower to hang with the Golden State Warriors, who swept them and won their third title in four years.
Cleveland used the pick to draft Sexton – previously owned by Brooklyn – that it received from the Celtics in the Irving trade.
The Cavs’ front office led by Altman entered the draft in the dark on James’ plans. The three-time champion must notify the team by June 29 on whether he intends to opt out of his $35.6 million contract for next season – a move he is expected to make.
Altman said he has had ”really good dialogue” with James’ management team.
”LeBron has more than earned the right to approach his contracts the way he does,” Altman said. ”He’s done that before, so this is nothing new for us. We want to respect his space during this process. We don’t take him for granted. We love him, this city loves him. He means the world to us and this franchise.”
Sexton has been on Cleveland’s radar for some time. The Cavs scouted him throughout the season, and the day after they lost Game 4 in the Finals, Sexton worked out at the team’s facility and owner Dan Gilbert referred to him as a ”very intriguing draft prospect” on Twitter.
”Loved the substance and character that he was about, and then he came here and had an unbelievable workout,” Altman said. ”And what was really encouraging about the workout is he actually shot it a lot better. It looked more pure, looked more natural, and his work ethic I know is going to be even better. I don’t want to put too much into the workout Jordan Whitehead Color Rush Jersey , but it helped. And then you feel people, like, you feel them. You’re going to feel this kid.”
While Sexton certainly improves the Cavs’ backcourt and adds a young player capable of breaking down defenders, there is no guarantee it will do anything to impact what James will do.
In the meantime, Sexton has his fingers crossed that he and James will soon be teammates.
”He’s one of the best players to ever play basketball,” Sexton said. ”Just being able to come in and learn from him, it’ll be big for me and big for my growth.”
James will factor family and his quest to win more championships into his decision. The 33-year-old has been unusually quiet on social media since the Finals ended, and he has given no hints about his future.
If James doesn’t stay in Cleveland, there’s a strong chance he’ll look to join the Los Angeles Lakers, who have salary-cap room to sign two maximum contract players. James already owns two homes and a film production company in Southern California.
Based on his wardrobe for the draft, Sexton may have had an inkling Cleveland was going to take him. He wore a crimson-and-black tuxedo jacket that perfectly complemented the wine-colored Cavs cap he was given before taking the stage to shake hands with Commissioner Adam Silver.
Sexton burst on the national scene last season with several strong performances, including a 40-point game against Minnesota when Alabama had to play 10 minutes with just three players because of disqualifications.
He went on to be named the SEC’s top newcomer and a first-team all-conference selection.
”It just shows all my hard work paid off http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-nate-solder-jersey ,” Sexton said. ”I just grinded, started from the bottom and came back up to the top. That was the biggest thing, just show people what I can do.”
—
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Armed with their prized possession acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline, the San Jose Sharks have an opportunity to assume a commanding lead in their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff Series against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night at Honda Center.
Evander Kane scored two goals in his first playoff game and Joe Pavelski registered two assists to back a 25-save performance by Martin Jones in a 3-0 Game 1 victory on Thursday night.
Acquired by San Jose general manager Doug Wilson in exchange for a conditional draft selection in 2019, a conditional draft selection in 2020 and Danny O’Regan on Feb. 26, Kane has delivered what was asked of him upon his arrival in Northern California. Kane registered nine goals and five assists in 17 regular-season games and continued his production with a pair of decisive second-period goals.
Kane shrugged off the suggestion that the increased pressure of playing in his first postseason contest would affect his ability to contribute to the San Jose post season effort.
“I’ve played in a lot of big games before,” Kane said. “This is game one, obviously it’s exciting to be in the playoffs. It’s more so, just the first period, getting that out of the way and getting a feel for how I was going to feel, and how the game was going. I thought I got better as I went along.”
Kane arrived in Northern California with a questionable reputation after stops in Atlanta Nate Solder Color Rush Jersey , Winnipeg and Buffalo but has fit seamlessly in the Sharks locker room. He gave credit to his teammates effort in the victory.
“We played great,” Kane continued. “I think all four lines did a great job of checking. We got a lot of pucks that go up into the stands and that is credit to our team, with a lot of good sticks. I thought Eric Fehr’s line there did a great job checking. Along with Logan Couture playing really good defensively, down low there, winning a lot of battles. It was a great team win, and obviously Martin Jones made the stops when he needed to.”
The Ducks were thoroughly disappointed in their effort, a lackluster performance after closing the regular season with a 10-1-1 record in their last 12 games to secure home ice advantage as the second-place team in the Pacific Division.
Anaheim lapsed into the bad habit of taking costly minor penalties that was a deciding factor in the loss. They paraded to the penalty box six times, including consecutive penalties by Andrew Cogliano and Ryan Getzlaf, creating a 5-on-3 man disadvantage that led to Kane’s opening score. Anaheim could not get back on track in the pivotal second frame, getting outshot 17-9 and surrendering all three Sharks goals.
“You can’t afford to take seven minors and give the opposition an opportunity to practice their power play,” said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. “It takes any momentum you had building in the game and flips everything in their favor. San Jose did a good job in the faceoff circle and kept the puck in our zone. They might not have scored, but they had almost two minutes in our zone. It’s very taxing on your penalty killers.”
Carlyle struggled to explain the Ducks’ poor effort given their strong play in the final weeks of the regular season.
“We just didn’t seem to have our legs http://www.broncosauthorizedshops.com/authentic-su_a-cravens-jersey , our hands or our minds tonight. Three checks from our standpoint. We didn’t execute with the puck, we didn’t show any aggressiveness in our skating game and we showed we were weak mentally from the standpoint of undisciplined acts we committed.”
Faced with the possibility of dealing with an 0-2 series deficit as the series moves to the HP Pavilion with a loss, the game is essentially a must-win for Anaheim. While the veteran team is not panicking after only one defeat, Getzlaf knows the importance of the victory against a team the Ducks have only defeated once in five games this season.
“We just have to regroup. It’s one game and it’s best of seven. It’s about the process and getting better every day. We have to understand what we did wrong and build from it now.”
Ducks defenseman Josh Manson has confidence his team can bounce back and even the series.
“I think there’s a lot of character in this room,” Manson told the Orange County Register. “You know when there’s adversity, guys can step up to the table. We have guys that have won, and they know how to win games, and there’s guys in that room that can take over games. I think we do have a good group for response games.”
.
« s James hasa challenge. I want »
Weitere Artikel der Kategorie Allgemein
RSS-Feed abonnieren
Besucher
Forum Statistiken
