Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, during the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, US, on Friday, July 10, 2026. The event brings together many of the biggest names in AI, media and technology. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg via Getty Images
When Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agreed in principle to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter for $12.5 billion, they still had a lot of work to do.
For starters, they, obviously, did not have $12.5 billion simply lying around ready to transfer over to Walter. As is common practice in the modern world of franchise ownership, Iger and Kushner — and mainly the latter — would need to go around and add minority investors to reach that $12.5 billion figure.
Naturally, that’s going to all go on behind the scenes. But notorious Celtics fan Bill Simmons seemed to have pulled the curtain back on some potential drama in his latest podcast episode on Friday when he encouraged people to aggregate that Kushner was struggling to find the money to buy the Lakers.
“The Lakers’ guy doesn’t have the money yet. That $12.5 billion he has to pay to Mark Walter? He’s still searching for five, six billion of it and doesn’t have it yet … Here’s the other thing. Guess who’s not putting in really any money. Bob Iger. He’s putting in the minimum. The minimum is like $63 million. That’s what he’s putting in. So Kushner has to find all this other money but this is a lot of money and the deadline is coming and I think they’re using the Buss family as scapegoats for why the deal’s dragging along. But he can’t find the other money. He needs to find like four, five billion-dollar guys that will come in and buy whatever percentage of the team.”
Well, it turns out that’s likely not true. Shocker.
While Simmons does still have sources around the league that are more often right than wrong, his green-tinted glasses got in the way on this one. Also on Friday, Ben Horney of Front Office Sports reported that Kushner are offering up stakes in the Lakers starting at $25o million and, more specifically, they’re not having any trouble finding takers.
The idea that Kushner is having trouble raising money for the deal is not true, one source tells FOS. There has been massive demand to get in on the Lakers deal, according to two sources, although it’s not clear who has expressed interest in buying in. The transaction could be completed within the next few months, one source says. Once the deal closes, Kushner will be majority owner, while Iger will be a minority owner and will oversee day-to-day operations of the team, the same source says.
And if you needed more reporting from a Lakers source, Dan Woike of The Athletic backed up Horney’s reporting that Kushner has plenty of interested parties.
There’s a note in here that I can confirm. According to multiple sources with knowledge, not authorized to speak publicly, there aren’t issues “finding money” for the $12.5 billion sale. https://t.co/ENaHFCLNlL
Who could have guessed that the most valuable and popular franchise in the NBA, and one of the most in the world, is not having any problems getting people to buy in.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Philadelphia Phillies watches his home run during the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Phillies are not going to be able to turn themselves into the Milwaukee Brewers. Nor should they want to.
Just because a team wins a title doesn’t mean everyone should rush to imitate everything they are doing. The Brew Crew’s run to their first championship in franchise history was magical, and likely not repeatable for anyone else. Heck, it was the 8th time in 9 seasons they had reached the postseason and the first in which they even got to the World Series.
Needless to say, the Phils should not aspire to be a small market baseball team. It’s good that they want to spend money on players. And even if they wanted to scale back, they are committed to a number of high-priced, immovable players replete with no-trade clauses and 10-5 rights. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things the Phillies can learn from the Brewers’ blueprint of success.
How has Milwaukee piled up two straight seasons of 100+ wins and, at long last, a World Series title on such a small budget? How did they finally navigate the October crucible?
Here are two things the Phillies should emulate.
Offensive Philosophy Shift
The Phillies dismissed longtime hitting coach Kevin Long following their wild card loss to the Braves and have replaced him with Peter Fatse, who was the hitting coach in Boston under Alex Cora. Both were fired in April after the team’s dreadful start. The Phils also announced Joe Cronin, also from the Boston organization, will join as an assisting hitting coach.
The goal, as outlined by Dave Dombrowski at his end-of-year press conference, is to make the Phils’ hitting apparatus function similarly to Caleb Cotham’s pitching machine that is streamlined from the farm system all the way up to the big leagues. Fatse will also be tasked with trying to get Phillies hitters to adapt a more patient approach more like the one they exhibited in the first three weeks of August rather than the free-swinging mess we saw for most of 2026.
Brewers hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach is getting his flowers right now, and well he should. He helped guide a Milwaukee lineup that finished with the second-fewest home runs in the Majors but the second-most runs scored. In an interview with MLB Network during the World Series, Vogelbach explained why Brewers hitters were able to be so productive with so little power.
"That's the goal as hitting coaches, to get guys to believe in themselves because you're not always going to feel great."@Brewers hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach details what makes this Milwaukee lineup so difficult to navigate ahead of Game 2! #WorldSeriespic.twitter.com/8a17bL8CGD
“It takes a special individual to be OK with taking strikes, and these guys are OK with it. They grind out at bats, they’re not scared to go 0-2, they know what they want. They don’t try to do anything else other than what their plan is going up there.”
More than anything, it’s a mindset and I think the mindset of these guys is special.“
Vogelsong was asked about hitters always wanting to get their “A” swing off and whether that actually is the right approach, especially against elite pitching.
“Homers are thrown, they’re not hit. You have to be ready for the mistake, but at the same time, you have to take what the pitcher gives you. Facing the Dodgers and the Padres and now this Rays team, sometimes you have to slow torture guys… take singles, walk, run the bases, and manufacture runs that way.”
That sentiment about players always wanting to get their “A” swing off resonated with me about these Phillies hitters who, it feels like, is obsessed with always getting off their “A” swing, no matter what.
The Phillies were obviously not a patient team, and haven’t really been during the Harper/Schwarber era. Their 34.8% chase rate was 4th-highest in MLB last season. Milwaukee’s 29.1% was the lowest. As a result, the Phils saw the 11th-fewest percentage of pitches in the strike zone last year, while the Brewers saw the 5th-most. But this excellent thread looking at Milwaukee’s hitting philosophy also shined a light on why the Phils have been easier to pitch to the last couple years, too.
Last year, the Phillies were tied for 3rd in the percentage of swings in which they were “early,” on all pitches. Look at the Brewers way down there at the bottom.
In the postseason, they were early more than any other team.
Philadelphia hitters have been befuddled by off-speed pitches, particularly changeups, for a long time. On off-speed pitches during the regular season last year, which includes changeups and split finger fastballs, Phils hitters were earlier on their swings more than any other team in baseball.
Their on-time rate for off-speed pitches was tied for 18th and their average miss in distance (3.9 inches) was tied for 9th-most.
Their goal, obviously, was to be ready to mash fastballs for homers, but it didn’t work. They were still tied for 24th in on-time rate for fastballs (including sinkers and cutters), and 25th in on-time rate just for four-seamers.
Part of the reason for that is it appears hitters are always looking to get off their “A” swing and trying to attack fastballs. All. The. Time. The Brewers, on the other hand, stand farther back in the batter’s box than any team in baseball and are willing to be a little late on the fastball if it means being able to see spin and spit on pitches out of the strike zone.
Of course, you need power. What the Brewers did in the regular season and, in the playoffs in particular, is exceedingly difficult. As Jayson Stark noted in his recap of the Series for The Athletic…
The Brewers’ three home runs were hit by Sal Frelick (none in the regular season after July 11), David Hamilton (one after June 6) and Cooper Pratt (one against a left-hander all season). Which means …
They got no home runs from their Nos. 1-2-3-4-5-6 hitters — and they still won the World Series.
On one hand, seven other World Series champs have done that. On the other hand, according to STATS, none of those other teams played in the live-ball era (since 1920). Unbelievable.
Unrepeatable, is more like it.
The goal should not be for the Phillies to go homerless during a World Series from their 1-6 hitters. They’re not winning very many games if they do that. But it’s clear they cannot continue to sell out for power that just isn’t there most of the time and is especially scarce against great October pitching.
Is this a solvable problem with this current group of Phillies? That will be Fatse’s first job out of the gate. Can he convince hitters to stick to their plan at the plate, be patient, stop worrying so much about using their “A” swing every single time and be more reactive?
Clearly, you don’t want to stop Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber from swinging for power, but a bit more judiciousness would be welcome. As for the rest of the lineup, none of them are home run hitters, so they need to be following this model.
Fixing the Bullpen is Job 1B
If fixing the offense is Dombrowski’s No. 1 item this off-season, adding to the bullpen is 1B.
To his credit, he did make a couple of moves last off-season he truly believed would make the Phils’ bullpen more dynamic.
There was no way he could have foreseen Brad Keller being lost for half the season and most of 2027, and he did swing a nice trade, jettisoning Matt Strahm for Jonathan Bowlan. Bowlan wore down as his workload went beyond his previous norms, but was one of the few dependable arms for most of the season. But Dombrowski also was depending on a Jose Alvarado bounceback, which was no sure thing, and thought Tanner Banks could repeat his out-of-nowhere 2025 season. Neither happened. Orion Kerkering also fell apart over the season’s final month and was unusable over the final two weeks.
The run-scoring environment in the postseason is much harder. We’ve seen past Phillies’ offenses fall apart once the calendar flips to October, which puts more pressure on the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen. As has been well chronicled now, the last time a Phils reliever successfully converted a save opportunity was in Game 4 of the 2023 NLDS against Atlanta by Strahm.
Runs were even more at a premium in 2026 and virtually every postseason moment was a high leverage situation for Milwaukee this October, as noted by Stark.
The Brewers played 120 innings in this postseason. The game was within two runs at some point in 110 of them. That is 91.7 percent of the time. And if that feels like it’s a big percentage, it’s because it’s a really big percentage. In fact, according to STATS, it’s the highest percentage by any World Series champ in the wild-card era (since 1995).
Milwaukee’s bullpen run was historic, the fourth-lowest ERA (1.38) in playoff history (the 2022 Astros, you’ll remember, didn’t give up a single run throughout October). The Brewers would not have survived without an otherworldly performance by their ‘pen, even with the outstanding starting pitching they received. The Phillies have fallen apart because both their offense and their bullpen have faltered the last three years. If even one of those facets of the team had been functional, they likely would have at least won a few more rounds in 2024, ‘25 and ‘26.
The Phillies’ quest to “fix” the offense will obviously be the lead story this off-season, but Dombrowski and the front office have to be obsessed with finding as many potential impact relievers as possible this winter. They need to make a bunch of trades, even if it’s for players buried on other teams’ 40-man rosters. They need to do a better job of developing their own relief pitchers and come into spring training relying less on hope and more on stuff. And you don’t have to break the bank to do it.
The Brewers got Trevor Megill for cash and a player to be named later in 2022. They got Chad Patrick from the A’s for a washed infielder, Abraham Toro. DL Hall was part of the Corbin Burnes deal, so that was a high profile trade, but they drafted Aaron Ashby in the 4th round signed Abner Uribe as an international FA at 18 years old for $85,000. All of them finished with 1.3 WAR or better this year and were dominant in the playoffs.
Fixing the bullpen should not be a secondary concern.
It’s possible we see solutions to some of these problems come quickly, as team presidents and general managers try to get transactions done ahead of the end of the collective bargaining agreement and pending lockout on December 2.
GLENDALE, AZ - OCTOBER 24: Demetrio Crisantes #1 of the Salt River Rafters jogs back to the dugout during the game between the Saguaros and the River Rafters at Camelback Ranch on Saturday, October 24, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Steve Chadwick/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
Infielder Demetrio Crisantes (Dbacks No. 1 Prospect) is taking full advantage of the Arizona Fall League invite after rocketing through the Diamondbacks’ system in 2026. The Tucson native was drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Nogales High School, and made it all the way up to Triple-A Reno after spending 2025 with the High-A Hillsboro Hops.
Crisantes began 2026 on a rehab assignment with the ACL Diamondbacks, but was quickly back in Hillsboro and was promoted after just four games. He didn’t slow down in Double-A Amarillo – a level that is often ‘make or break’ for many prospects – slashing .319/.413/.548 with 19 extra-base hits through 35 games with the Sod Poodles. That was enough to earn the 22-year-old another promotion, where he played 50 games with the Aces and hit a cool .278/.343/.412 with 17 extra-base hits.
During that time, he also made two of his favorite plays of the season.
While it was a lot of travel, all of the promotions proved to be the highlight for Crisantes.
“I learned a lot this year, which was a blessing, and I didn’t expect this year,” he said. “I just wanted to go out and stay healthy and play a lot of baseball, and I got lucky enough to go to Triple-A and pick the brains of guys that play in the big leagues.”
Crisantes was really able to lean on Pavin Smith, Tommy Troy, Santiago Espinal and LuJames “Gino” Groover – all of whom played part of the season in Phoenix. They offered him some lessons, but the biggest lesson he learned was to “just be consistent with my game.”
“Just keep it loose, try to have fun,” he said, “but also take it seriously and just learn from the big leaguers.”
One of the biggest benefits of the Arizona Fall League is getting to spend time with prospects from other organizations. And there’s another player on the Salt River Rafters who had a crazy season of promotions like Crisantes – Rockies C/1B prospect Jack O’Dowd.
O’Dowd – son of former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd – was undrafted out of the University of Texas and played a year of independent ball before signing a minor league contract with the Rockies last offseason. O’Dowd started in Single-A Fresno and ended in Double-A Hartford.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it a little bit,” Crisantes said. “We both said it’s a grind, but it’s a good grind to have and it just gets us closer to the big leagues.”
But beyond O’Dowd, there are a bunch of other players from the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Washington Nationals that Crisantes gets to talk baseball with.
“I mean, it’s awesome,” he said. “You get to see organizations that we don’t play against during the seasons since they’re on the East Coast, and you start picking brains from other organizations, as well, and you learn a lot more things than what you would if you weren’t part of the AFL.”
And his own personal goals for the Fall League?
“Just to stay healthy, get more at-bats, get more reps at second, try to stay consistent with my defense – get that better and better each day – and just end this AFL on a healthy note.”
So far, Crisantes has been playing well. In 14 games for the Salt River Rafters through Wednesday, he is hitting .281/.349/.421 with six doubles, a triple and six stolen bases in as many attempts.
But in addition to getting more baseball reps, the Fall League is also a unique opportunity for Crisantes to play in front of his hometown crowd.
“It’s awesome, just so that my family can be here and hopefully one day when I’m in the big leagues here with the D-backs, they can come to every game at Chase Field,” Crisantes said.
“Just growing up and going to Chase Field and hopefully one day playing there is just going to mean so much to me,” he continued. “So thank God the D-backs drafted me, and (I’m) just excited to see what the future (holds).”
He has one memory of Chase Field in particular that stands out to him.
“I got a bat one time,” he said. “I think it was from Will Venable. We were on the field and I was asking about his bat. He knew I wanted it. He told me to take it, and I was like, ‘Wow. That’s definitely a lifetime memory.’”
As Crisantes continues his push towards the majors, he wants fans to know one thing about him:
“That I’m here to win, I’m here to compete, and come say hi to me. I’ll say hi back. I’m a chill dude, don’t be shy. And hopefully one day I’ll help the D-backs win.”
Milwaukee Brewers catcher Gary Sanchez works in the bullpen during spring training workouts Saturday, February 14, 2026, at American Family Fields of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
In so many ways, Gary Sánchez brought me back to baseball.
The summer between junior and senior year of university, baseball had become a very secondary thing for me. Navigating summer jobs and accommodations, what I wanted to take in my final year of undergrad, what kind of jobs I was angling for… these things were front of mind. And then Gary got called up, and it was different than his cup of coffee in 2015. Boy, was it different.
Twenty home runs in 53 games, a nine-win pace adjusted to 600 PAs, and a 43 percent strikeout rate. The Yankees ended up five games out of the playoff race, winning just 84 games, but boy did it feel like Gary was going to single handedly drag them into October. He finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting, and for whatever else his career would come to, the Yankees seemed to have a new franchise cornerstone. More than that, for a pretty bad team at the time, the newly-christened Kraken was now must-see TV.
Ten years on, Gary Sánchez has a World Series ring.
The 2017 season was maybe the best we would ever have it in the current era of Yankee baseball. The trio of Gary, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino, with Greg Bird pulling his own weight and then some, the club seemed set to dominate the AL for the better part of a decade. Judge is really the only one who hit his potential, a multi-time MVP that will go in the Hall of Fame but very well could do it without a single title.
Wednesday night was an emotional one for many reasons, not the least of which is that I really really really really really really do not like the Tampa Bay Rays as a franchise, to the extent that my attempt to engage with baseball rationally sometimes goes away. While I don’t necessarily view the Brewers as giant-slayers, with the best record in baseball and a pretty chalk run through the postseason, I appreciate them knocking off the Dodgers and have been quite pleased with the way their fans seem to embody the Midwest so well that I worry about parody.
And I’m happy for Christian Yelich, who has given so much of his time and sweat and his back to the franchise, even if I find him wearing an actual C a little too Jason Varitek-y for my taste. But mostly, I’m happy for Gary.
He emerged in 2017 as one of the best catchers in baseball, with appearances at both the All Star Game and Home Run Derby. He collected a single MVP vote with a Silver Slugger, and delivered one of my favorite hits in post-dynasty playoff history:
It would not ever be better than that. Gary would alternate between good and bad seasons at the plate for the next five years, while his defense became less and less reliable. I always felt Gary’s biggest problem was that he would tinker too much, going to the now-common one-knee down stance before the majority of baseball would, then spending 2019 focusing on blocking the ball while he bled runs from a framing perspective. He left the Bronx in that ill-fated deal with the Twins that brought Josh Donaldson to the Bronx, and since then he’s been a perfectly serviceable backup catcher for three franchises.
It never worked out for the Kraken the way that it should have. In another universe he and Judge have delivered the Yankees to the promised land, and we’re adding Sánchez to the next run of Top 100 Yankees we do. Instead, he’s in the supporting cast of the best team in baseball, while Judge is THE star of a show nearing the end of it’s run.
AUSTIN, TX - OCTOBER 23: Amen Thompson #1 of the Houston Rockets blocks the shot of Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs on October 23, 2026 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photos by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
We’re now a week and a half into the NBA season. Most teams have played four to five games. One team, the Atlanta Hawks, has played six.
Only the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies, both 5-0, remain undefeated. Only the Sacramento Kings (0-5) and Brooklyn Nets (0-4) are still winless. A wave of injuries — some short-term, some long-term — swept over the league to try and spoil some early-season excitement.
Here are a handful of the best stories from the past week as well as key news you may have missed.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 27: The shoes of Mitchell Robinson #4 of the Boston Celtics during the first quarter at TD Garden on October 27, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images
DENVER, CO - JULY 17: Jeff Criswell #46 of the Colorado Rockies pitches during the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Friday, July 17, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Ray Bahner/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking theRockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for theRockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
No. 31, Jeff Criswell (0.1 rWAR)
Drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft by the then Oakland Athletics, Jeff Criswell’s journey through professional baseball has not been a particularly smooth one.
After two seasons of solid results working his way up through the Atheletic’s minor league affiliates, Criswell was dealt to the Rockies before the 2023 season for reliever Chad Smith. He spent the entirety of 2023 at Triple-A Albuquerque where he struggled with spikes in both home runs and walk rates.
Criswell’s career hit another speed bump in the form of Tommy John surgery in March of 2025. He spent the entirety of the 2025 recovering from that surgery and entered this season looking to re-establish himself in the Rockies bullpen.
The #Rockies are getting an early look at reliever Jeff Criswell, who underwent Tommy John right elbow surgery last spring. Realistically, game action should happen around mid April. He says he is just going day by day, following step-by-step instructions from the training staff pic.twitter.com/XD7Xyl1IJ0
Officially, that rehab assignment lasted just under a month with Criswell making nine total appearances between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. All told, he threw 10.2 innings with a 5.91 ERA. He was removed from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A on May 28.
Criswell did not, however, have to wait much longer to return to the big leagues. A little over a week after he was optioned, the Rockies recalled him to take Keegan Thompson’s roster spot.
The Rockies announced today the following transactions: – Selected the contract of INF/OF Cole Carrigg (#16) from Triple-A Albuquerque. – Recalled RHP Jeff Criswell from Triple-A Albuquerque. – Placed INF/OF Tyler Freeman on the seven-day concussion IL. – Designated RHP Keegan…
— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) June 9, 2026
Criswell looked sharp in his first two outings.
In addition to allowing no runs in an inning each against the Chicago Cubs and The Athletics, his fastball velocity was sitting 95-96 MPH, just like it had been in 2024. He walked a batter in each game and wasn’t particularly efficient, needing over 20 pitches to get through each inning, but those were minor concerns in the context of his return from surgery.
His second stint in Albuquerque lasted only 8.2 innings. Again in search of a fresh arm for the bullpen, the Rockies recalled Criswell on July 11. Criswell opened this second stint with the big-league team with a two inning appearance against the Cincinnati Reds.
This outing did not go nearly as well as his previous two for the big-league squad.
His first pitch of the game was smashed to the wall in the center-right field gap resulting in an inside-the-park home run for Spencer Steer.
That would not be the end of the damage as Criswell went on to allow three more baserunners including a home run by Elly De La Cruz in the ninth inning.
Unfortunately, a slight dip in velocity during that appearance against the Reds (down to 94.3) was a precursor for a return to the injured list. The next day, Criswell was placed on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain.
When his time on the IL was up, he was optioned once again to Triple-A where he finished out his season with the Isotopes.
All told, in his return from Tommy John, Criswell managed to throw 41.2 innings across 35 appearances between four different levels of the Rockies organization.
The results were not always pretty, as evidenced by his 5.73 minor league ERA and his 10.35 Major League FIP, but he has was able to get prove that he could take the ball and flashed the strikeout upside that made him an interesting relief option heading into 2025.
In 2027, Criswell will be 28. He has done enough to put himself in the mix for the bullpen heading into the spring. He will need to solidify a spot in the pen come next season or will likely see his 40-man roster spot given to a younger prospect.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 28: Jarred Vanderbilt #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers battles Baba Miller #18 of the LA Clippers for position during the second half of a game at Intuit Dome on October 28, 2026 in Inglewood, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In advance of Wednesday night’s game against the Clippers, I openly told anyone who would listen, “if Jarred Vanderbilt doesn’t play tonight, he might not ever play this season.”
Not only were the Lakers on the second night of a back-to-back, but both Luka Dončić and Ziaire Williams were then held out as precautionary measures with minor nicks and bruises, to go along with Adou Thiero and Cameron Carr remaining out.
That’s four players, two of them starters and three of them forwards, who contribute defensively by defending up and down the lineup to best aid in whatever defensive approach head coach JJ Redick is trying to execute on that given night. Surely, if Vando were to ever find time in the rotation, this would be the night.
And, to my joy — I’ve been advocating that Vanderbilt get a serious look in the rotation since before training camp started — it was indeed the night. With 3:26 remaining in the first quarter, Vanderbilt subbed in for Walker Kessler, sliding into the front court next to Sandro Mamukelashvili and flanking a three-guard lineup of Austin Reaves, Colin Sexton, and Quentin Grimes.
When Vanderbilt entered the game, the Clippers had just taken a 19-14 lead and were in the midst of a 12-2 run. Over the remainder of the quarter, the Lakers stabilized and outscored their crosstown counterparts to carry a 25-22 margin into the second frame.
Over the remainder of his shift, Vanderbilt’s fingerprints were all over the place. On one of his first possessions, he helped create a particularly chaotic sequence, fighting for an offensive rebound that ultimately got tipped away, hustling into a scrum for the loose ball and then helping to punch the ball up so Austin could recover the ball. However, Austin then threw the ball away for a turnover, so Vando pressured up on the ball-handler to tip the ball out of bounds and allow the Lakers to set their defense.
Then, in the second quarter, he had several good sequences defending Brook Lopez, once fighting extremely hard to front the post and deny an entry pass, and later defending him in isolation and sticking with him on a drive to help force an airball and eventual turnover.
Later in the quarter he also showed good activity stepping up to contest a shot at the rim, helped drop down on the defensive glass and mostly executed his within the team’s defensive scheme to pressure when on the ball, show help when needed, and just play hard and be active.
After the game, Redick said that Vanderbilt “is always going to play hard” and noted that because of that he will impact the game with his energy. That’s both good to hear and not entirely satisfying considering his +22 was second-best on the team while the player he’d replaced in the rotation was consistently part of lineups that were being outscored by a point a minute in the team’s four previous games.
That said, before the game, when Redick was pressed on the possibility of Vanderbilt getting some minutes at center, he had a longer explanation that implied we could see it that night but might also speak to why his minutes were non-existent until now.
“My conversations with Vando last year were a lot about putting him in a position to succeed and wanting to play him less at the five,” Redick said. “We had to the second half of Luka’s first season with us post-trade just because we didn’t really have anyone outside of Jaxson who could really play it. He did that by necessity and I think he’s better suited, obviously, to be more of a wing, a forward, be out on the perimeter defensively. But there’s going to be moments where he’s going to, by necessity, have to play some five.”
As is often the case, Redick’s explanation is both reasonable and makes sense. Seeking out situations for every player to be successful is the job of the coach and Redick deserves some credit for correctly recognizing that Vando does his best work hounding primary shot creators on the perimeter and not necessarily playing center. That said, when Redick also says that there will be moments where, ‘by necessity, Vando will need to play some center,’ I think he also needs to recognize now is one of those times.
I’m not going to use this space to crap all over Kevon Looney or point out all the ways he’s struggled from training camp and the preseason into the regular season. Instead, I think it’s better to simply point out that Looney is not a great stylistic fit for this version of the Lakers. His lack of foot speed and general challenges playing with pace on either side of the ball stick out like a sore thumb in most every lineup he’s played in.
And while his strength-based game and general know-how can promote success as an isolation post-up defender, when setting screens, or when walling off and pinning in players when he goes to the offensive glass, those situations are too limited and siloed within the larger construct of the game to be impactful over the course of a full shift.
What’s happened, then, is Looney ends up playing a handful of minutes in the first half, which go poorly overall, and then he does not return in the second half.
And while it was only one game and a specific matchup that was favorable for him in a lot of ways, Vando’s experience was completely different and felt like night and day in comparison to what we’ve seen with Looney to this point.
Not only did the Lakers win the minutes he played, but because his speed and activity were effective against a Clippers team that was trying to turn up the pressure and play faster themselves, Vando settled in nicely and ended up playing multiple shifts in each half. By the time the game was over, I think it was fair to say that his pairing with Mamu proved a bigger positive than the Kessler-based minutes simply because Vando and Mamu’s collective speed and quickness were better for this matchup.
Moving forward, even if the stylistic symbiosis may not work as much in Vando’s favor, I actually don’t think that should matter nor really impact the decision to play him. Because, bigger picture, he’s simply a better fit for how the Lakers want to play than the current alternative on the roster.
Maybe that changes when Thiero is back healthy. But until then, or until the Lakers make a move for a different archetype of backup center than Looney, Vanderbilt is the best solution.
Ultimately, then, Vando should play. And if JJ is thinking about his past priors or clinging onto the quote I cited above about Vando’s best role not being at center, I think he should revisit something he said earlier in the preseason, but in reference to a different player — Dalton Knecht. When JJ was asked about Knecht falling out of the rotation and what led to him being so far removed from consideration for playing time to the point he would later be waived outright, Redick laid it out simply:
“I think the biggest thing is the team changed. The team changed. The needs changed. The fit changed.”
I would argue the same is true for Vando, but in a positive way.
This is no longer a team that just traded for Luka and needs him to play small-ball center while playing with lineups where there aren’t a lot of other defensive options on the wing. It’s also not last year, when not only did the team play a more methodical style and not nearly as fast, but with non-spacing bigs like Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes holding down the center minutes, there just wasn’t a lasting role for Vando that could endure against most matchups.
No, this group not only has a spacing and playmaking forward/center in Mamu who is the perfect sort of partner for him offensively, but it also has rangier and athletic defensive playmakers on the wing who pair with and supplement Vando’s game in ways where everyone can elevate each other. Again, this may not work as well every night as it did against the Clippers. And against some opponents, it might not work at all.
But a one-game proof of concept is already more than what the alternative has shown. And, if for no other reason, that means this option should continue to get chances.
A lot of conclusions will likely be drawn from the Milwaukee Brewers’ romp to the 2026 World Series title. There will be a lot of talk about small market vs. big market teams and how the Brewers showed you don’t need a big payroll to win a championship.
That’s not the point of this article, but I will point out that money isn’t necessarily the end-all in terms of building a champion, but it will hinder the Brewers’ ability to sustain this success when some of their key players leave for big paydays elsewhere.
Instead, I wanted to focus on the Brewers’ roster and how it was built and see if there is anything the Phillies can learn.
Similar to the Phillies, the Brewers have been regular postseason participants in recent years, making the playoff field in eight of the past nine seasons. And like the Phillies, they came up short of the World Series every year. This lends some credence to the belief that sometimes all it takes for a postseason loser to become a winner is just one more year.
But while the Phillies have been criticized for “running it back” in recent seasons, the Brewers have evolved greatly since their run of playoff seasons began in 2018. That season, their best players according to WAR were NL MVP Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, and the pitching staff was topped by Jhoulys Chacin and Wade Miley.
I will never forget going nuts in my parent's living room when the Brewers traded for Yeli and signed Lorenzo Cain.
It set the foundation for what they have accomplished yesterday.
Since the Phillies’ run of postseason appearances began in 2022, I’ll take a look at the Brewers of that year, who missed the playoffs by one game. Yelich was still around, but his numbers had greatly decreased. Instead, the middle infield combo of Willy Adames and Colton Wong led position players, while co-aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff headed the rotation.
Fast forward to this year’s team, and the WAR leaders were Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, Jacob Misiorowski, and Logan Henderson. What do all of those players have in common? All are products of the Brewers’ farm system who have been called up in recent seasons.
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗠 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵
THE NAMES BEHIND THE NAMES
As the Brewers open the NL Division Series tonight, people will see the players on the field.
I don’t think I need to point out that the Phillies haven’t been turning out young players of that caliber in recent seasons. Instead of Chourio and Miz, we’ve gotten Johan Rojas and Orion Kerkering. (They desperately need Andrew Painter’s second half to be real and for Aidan Miller’s back to hold together.) The Phillies have been forced to compensate by heavily investing in free agents. Sometimes that works out well, but even in the best case scenarios, you get locked in to paying big money for a player’s decline phase. (Only seven more years of Trea Turner!)
As for the on-field product, the Phillies’ and Brewers’ lineups were quite different. The Brewers don’t rely on power hitting (31st in the league in homers) and don’t have any players who you’d consider lineup carrying superstars. But what they do have is a lot of very good hitters and few weak spots in the lineup.
Compare that to the Phillies who often struggled to score runs if either Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber weren’t on hot streaks. Bryson Stott is a fine enough player, but he should ideally be like the team’s sixth or seventh best hitter rather than having the third best OPS on the team.
Many people complain that the Phillies are loaded with players who just “swing for the fences” and don’t work walks, and they’re half right. The Phillies don’t walk all that much, but they don’t actually hit for power either. It’s not good when the two guys who walk at a high rate are also your only real consistent power threats. The Phillies have too many hitters who aren’t particularly good at any one aspect of hitting and seem to be guaranteed to go through horrific slumps for months at a time.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the Phillies season was that in August, they actually seemed to figure it out. While they were helped by a series of lesser opponents, they led the majors in walk percentage that month, and not coincidentally, they scored the third most runs in baseball, despite ranking just 24th in home runs.
Around the time the calendar flipped to September, the Phillies’ offense collapsed. Maybe it was just because they faced better competition or maybe opposing pitchers adjusted, but part of it seemed to be an abandonment of the patient approach they utilized August. That isn’t entirely surprising, because the Phillies don’t have a lot of hitters with a history of taking walks, and often times when they hit adversity, players will fall back on what they think got them there in the first place.
They didn’t strike out all that much, but the balls they did contact were not finding grass, with a league-low .130 BABIP. Maybe the poor showing was mostly due to luck, but it also felt like the Phillies were boom or bust with runners on base. Their overall numbers look fine, but that’s because in some games, they’d seem to get ALL the runners home and then go 1-15 with RISP over the next three.
Pitching wise, the Phillies’ rotation matches up favorably with the Brewers, and I’d take Jhoan Duran over Brewers’ closer Trevor Megill. But the Brewers were able to capably hold leads in the innings in between, something the Phillies couldn’t seem to do with consistency. As with the hitting, it would have been nice if they had guys in the minor leagues they could have called up (Alex McFarlane was a rare success) and if one of their few young pitchers (Kerkering) didn’t completely melt down.
So then, is there anything the Phillies can actually learn from the Brewers?
The Phillies need to get more out of their development system, but that isn’t a revelation. Hitting development has been an issue for a long time now, and it seems like dramatic steps need to be taken to fix it. Will the Phillies accept this uncomfortable truth and make the necessary changes? Perhaps they should take a revolutionary step of hiring people from organizations that have been good at development?
As for the players they do have, it sounds like Don Mattingly recognizes the problem with the offense and seems to think that with a full year as manager, he can improve things.
Don Mattingly has pointed to what the Phillies did in August (league-best walk & K rates, passing the baton) as something he’d like to see more of in 2027. An early look into how they could get there:https://t.co/w6hxbrpxVY
Can Mattingly actually make that happen are we in for more talk about walking more and patient at bats, only to see them revert back as soon as that approach hits a bump in the road?
Unless the Phillies are willing to make these changes, it feels like they won’t be the team celebrating at the end of the season any time soon.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ - MARCH 11: Josuar Gonzalez #2 of the San Francisco Giants looks on during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Casey Paul/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List is off and running, and in the coming weeks and months we’ll have so much to debate and argue over as we collectively rank the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization. But those debates and arguments have not started yet, because the opening chapter of this exercise was, as expected, a one-man show.
Yes, to the surprise of no one, shortstop Josuar González has been voted the No. 1 prospect in the Giants organization. That was never really a question. What is a question is: will he be the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball at some point this year?
González, who was No. 2 on last year’s CPL, had a dream 2026 season. After dominating the Dominican Summer League in his rookie campaign in 2025, the switch-hitter came to the states this season, and the only thing that could slow him down was his body, as he suffered a few injury setbacks.
The hyper-athletic González, who turned 19 earlier this month, opened the year in the Arizona Complex League, where he hit .343/.451/.515 for a .966 OPS and a 139 wRC+ in 30 games. He ended the year with Low-A San Jose where, despite being three years younger than the average hitter in the league, he somehow improved his performance, hitting .357/.444/.566 for a 1.010 OPS and a 151 wRC+ in 31 games. Across the two levels, he hit five home runs in 275 plate appearances, and had 26 total extra-base hits.
It was a year in which González, who will likely start his age-19 season in High-A, showed off all the tools. His bat-to-ball skills were phenomenal, and he posted exit velocities that would make plenty of Major Leaguers jealous. He controlled the strike zone brilliantly, with a 14.9% walk rate and just a 20.0% strikeout rate across the two levels. He swiped 21 bases in 27 attempts and solidified himself as not just the best defensive shortstop in the system, but one of the best in Minor League Baseball. And he did it all while being the type of athlete — fast, strong, explosive, and twitchy — that just feels like a star in the making. With González, the stats suggest that he’s one of the best prospects in baseball … but if you watch him, you’re somehow left feeling like the stats aren’t capturing just how good he is.
The only questions for González are if he can maintain this performance as he climbs the Minors, and if he can stay healthy. If the answer to those questions is “yes,” then you’re looking at a player who should be a unanimous top-10 prospect this time next year. When the Giants signed him out of the Dominican Republic last year, there were some pie in the sky comparisons to Francisco Lindor; two seasons later, those comps are looking far less outlandish than they initially did.
Now that I’ve got you all itching for the Minor League season to return, let’s add to our list. Picking the No. 1 prospect might have been easy, but chosing No. 2 will not be! As a reminder, voting now takes place in the comment section.
Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.
No. 2 prospect nominees
JacobBresnahan — 21.4-year old LHP — 2.92 ERA/4.32 FIP in High-A (98.2 IP); 5.06 ERA/3.60 FIP in AA (16 IP)
BoDavidson — 24.3-year old OF — .861 OPS/122 wRC+ in AA (315 PA); .923 OPS/138 wRC+ in AAA (234 PA); .714 OPS/100 wRC+ in MLB (22 PA)
JacksonFlora — 21.5-year old RHP — 0.00 ERA/3.41 FIP in Low-A (1 IP); great numbers in a small sample in the playoffs (Low-A and AA)
LuisHernández — 17.10-year old SS — .917 OPS/117 wRC+ in the ACL (228 PA); .594 OPS/48 wRC+ in Low-A (98 PA)
JhonnyLevel — 19.6-year old SS — .968 OPS/134 wRC+ in Low-A (217 PA); .836 OPS/119 wRC+ in High-A (331 PA)
RamonMarquez — 21.1-year old RHP — 1.86 ERA/2.67 FIP in Low-A (29 IP); 2.48 ERA/2.45 FIP in High-A (40 IP)
Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page.All stats are from the 2026 season.
Oct 19, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) celebrates after defeating the Cleveland Guardians in game six of the ALCS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Richie Palacios’ weak ground ball to secondbase officially ended the season for the Tampa Bay Rays and thus begins the months long offseason as team works to prepare its roster for the 2027 season.
The day after the World Series ended, players signed just for the 2026 season had their contracts officially expire and thus becoming free agents. The Tampa Bay Rays only had three players on their 40-man roster fall under this category: Gavin Lux, Jorge Mateo, and Freddy Peralta.
November 1st – GG
The Rawlings Gold Glove winners are announced. The Rays have two finalists this year: Chandler Simpson in left field and Taylor Walls at shortstop.
November 2nd – QO
Teams will have the opportunity to extend Qualifying Offers to their free agents. The Rays are not able to do this as Freddy Peralta was a trade acquisition, meaning he is ineligble to receive a qualifying offer.
The date is also the deadline for teams and players to make decisions on options in their contracts, whether to opt-out or to opt-in to their 2027 terms. The Rays have several players who fit this category: Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, Taylor Walls, and Cedric Mullins. Walls is different the other three though as the Rays would still retain team control over the Gold Glove finalist should they decline his option. The two sides would have to agree on a 2027 salary or head to arbitration.
Starting at 5pm, free agency officially begins and players are free to sign with whomever they desire.
November 6th – PG
The Platinum Glove award is handed out to the best overall defender from each league. Kevin Kiermaier (2015) is the only player in Rays history to receive the honor.
November 8th – AFL
The Arizona Fall League Fall Star Game will be held. One of the Rays top prospects, catcher Nathan Flewelling may be on the roster.
November 9th – ROY
The Rookie of the Year winners are announced. The Rays only have Victor Mesa Jr who could receive some support but isn’t likely to place among the top candidates.
November 10th – MOY
The Manager of the Year winners are announced. Kevin Cash is considered a strong favorite, although Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox is a heavy contendor.
November 11th – CY
The Cy Young award winners are announced. Drew Rasmussen is likely to receive some support but isn’t considered a favorite to win.
November 12th – MVP
The Most Valuable Players from both leagues are announced. Junior Caminero made a late season surge but will likely fall short of the coveted prize. He still might rank as the highest MVP candidate in franchise history though.
November 16th -HOF
The Hall of Fame ballot for the class of 2027 is unveiled. BBWAA writers will have until the end of December to decide their votes. Former Rays that could be on the ballot include Wilson Ramos, Asdrubal Cabrera, Wade Davis, and Scott Kazmir.
November 17th – R5 & SS
It’s the final day for teams to make add players from within their organization to the 40-man roster and thus protect them from the Rule-5 draft that will be held during the Winter Meetings. The Rays have often been very busy on this deadline and it has resulted in the team making trades. Most notably, the Rays acquired Junior Caminero for Tobias Myers due to this deadline in 2021.
Additional move: #Rays trade RH Tobias Myers to Cleveland #Guardians for INF Junior Caminero
Speaking of Junior Caminero, MLB will give out the Silver Sluggers on this date. Caminero is likely to receive one for his season at third base. Liam Hicks is also a possibility for his season.
The date is also the deadline for players to accept or decline their Qualifying Offers.
November 20th – ARB
This is the date for teams to officially offer contracts to all of their arbitration eligible players. The Rays roster currently has 17 players who the team could hold onto for the 2027 season but that list may be whittled down over the next several weeks. Should the Rays choose to not offer these players a contract, they will be non-tendered and become free agents.
December 2nd – CBA
The MLB CBA expires and a potential lockout begins. Should a lockout happen, the rest of the MLB offseason will be in a state of flux. Everything between the players and the teams completely freezes until a new CBA can be agreed upon. The last lockout began in December 2021 and lasted until March 10th, 2022.
December 7-9th – WM
If the offseason isn’t halted by a lockout then the MLB Winter Meetings will be held during these days in San Diego. The Meetings are usually the most exciting few days of the offseason as teams meet up to discuss franchise altering trade or record breaking free agency contracts.
December 9th – R5D
The Rule 5 draft. Team can select players from other organizations who are not on their 40-man rosters that have been with the teams for four or five years depending on if they were high school or college draftees. The Rays have had some success recently with the selection of Kevin Kelly; they were also considering snagging Liam Hicks during the 2024 Rule 5 draft.
December 15th – INT’L
The 2026 international signing period comes to a close.
January 8th – ARB
The file and trial deadline for teams and players to reach an agreement before heading to arbitration.
January 15th – INT’L
The 2027 international signing period begins.
January 19th – HOF
The 2027 Hall of Fame inductees are announced.
Feruary 9th – P&C
Pitchers and catchers officially report for Spring Training
We’re one step closer to getting Kam Williams back on the court for Kentucky Basketball.
With the regular season only four days away, Mark Pope spoke with the media and provided an overall positive update on the junior wing.
“For him, it’s day-to-day. We’re operating under such extreme caution that it’s going to be when he’s ready,” said Pope of Williams. “I don’t expect to see him touch the floor on Tuesday. That’s for sure. And then we’ll kind of go day by day.
“We’re in a little bit of terrain where anytime you have a Jones fracture, and you have a setback like you did, you just have to operate with extreme caution. That’s the space we’re operating in. So, we’re going to require every light to be green before we put him on the court for a game.”
Williams will bring an immediate impact once he hits the floor in the blue and white. Pope believes Williams will be a piece they can add to the team without adjustments and will bring a boost right away. “As this team grows, at some point Kam’s going to jump in and he’s going to give us another huge boost.”
We won’t see the 6-foot-7 forward in the season opener, but optimism continues to grow every day that we’ll get to see him pretty soon.
Following the Manhattan opener, Kentucky will host James Madison in Rupp Arena three days later; could that be Williams’ season debut? The game after that will be the following Tuesday, November 10, against the Kansas Jayhawks in Chicago, Illinois. That game under the bright lights would be quite the first game back, but it feels like one of those games may line up for Williams’ return to the hardwood.
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All any team can do is beat the teams in front of them. It has been fortuitous for the Buffalo Sabres, in the midst of their struggles to start the season, that their schedule took them to California to face two struggling talented clubs in the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks, and the Los Angeles Kings, who won their first home game against Ottawa on Thursday.
Buffalo followed up a win over the Sharks in which they clinged to a 1-0 lead until Zach Benson’s empty-net goal with a chaotic 7-6 victory over the Ducks at the Honda Center. The Sabres continued their trend of falling behind, trailing 3-1 in the first period after surrendering a pair of power play goals, but rallied with six straight goals, including a natural hat trick from Tage Thompson.
With Colten Ellis winning the last two games, is Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's place as goalie of the future in question?
The Sabres came dangerously close to blowing a four-goal lead, as Cutter Gauthier, Tristan Luneau, and Beckett Sennecke narrowed the lead to one, but the Ducks ran out of time to score the equalizer on Colten Ellis, who made a sprawling save with seconds remaining to preserve his second straight victory.
“I didn’t like the way we started the game, I didn’t like our discipline for the type of penalties we took early, but then you’ve got to like the middle 50 minutes, you’ve got to like the fact that our power play scored a couple,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the game. “All you need to do is concentrate on playing good defense, and you are going to get more offense. Your rush coverage, read where guys are going, we’re better than that.”
The win moved Buffalo to 6-4-3 and into a tie with Detroit and the NY Rangers, just one point behind Florida for the second Eastern Conference wildcard spot. Sam Carrick returned to the lineup and had an assist on Tyson Kozak’s first period goal, taking the place of injured rookie Konsta Helenius.
Helenius sustained an upper-body injury in San Jose on Tuesday, and was sent back to Buffalo to be evaluated.
One of the newest names to hit the trade rumour mill is Washington Capitals winger Ivan Miroshnichenko. The 22-year-old has struggled to get ice time with the Capitals and has dressed for just three games this season. Initially drafted 20th overall in 2022, it appears that the best option at this point is for Washington to find Miroshnichenko a new home.
According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Vancouver Canucks are one of the teams reportedly interested in Miroshnichenko. As for Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff, he reported the price being "at least a first-round pick." The question now is whether the Canucks should send the Capitals at least a first-round pick for Miroshnichenko.
The short answer is no. While Miroshnichenko is a talented young player, Vancouver is not in a position to send a first-round pick and potentially another asset for a player who has struggled in the NHL. For reference, the Russian winger has played 55 games so far in his career and recorded 14 points.
Now, in Miroshnichenko's defence, he hasn't been given many opportunities in the NHL either. He has spent the majority of the last four years in the AHL and has yet to play more than 22 NHL games in a season. That said, he has yet to show Washington he's earned a full-time spot in the lineup, which is why the situation has unfolded as it has.
Ultimately, while Miroshnichenko fits the Canucks' current rebuild timeline, the price of at least a first-rounder is too high. If he were a 20-year-old defender or center, the conversation would be different, but unfortunately, that is not the case. In the end, at this stage of the rebuild, Ryan Johnson and his team should be focused on acquiring as many picks as possible, rather than trading them away.
Mar 16, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson (43) and forward Ivan Miroshnichenko (63) celebrate Wilson’s goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
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There hasn’t been a lot for Jordan Ott and the Phoenix Suns to hang their hat on after stumbling out of the gate in the 2026-27 season, and the Rebellion’s greatest warrior has been on a milk carton since the Suns’ forgettable series against the Thunder.
A young leader desperate to find a counter to the overpowering weaponry of the Western Conference sends out a desperate plea for points, shots, and leadership, and a little bit of give of shit. But Obi “1” goes by Obi “15” now, and after his performance against the undermanned Thunder team, we can probably just call him Ben. A veteran who has come through many battles, from opening skirmishes of the bubble, to the Suns in 4 offensive, to the ill-conceived Bay of Bradley Beal that set back 19 million dollars through the 29 season. Our boy is tested, but possibly tiring. Luckily, the Suns have on their roster a new hope who, with the right tutor, time, and developmental plan, has the potential to wield a power even greater than Ben’s.
To be upfront, I haven’t exactly been pushing the pom-poms for Jalen Green since his arrival in the Valley as a player Houston was trying to discard after drafting him with the second overall pick. In the offseason, I wrote about five possible trades for Jalen Green, and if pressed, I could probably find another ten.
His contract size, youth, and potential make for a lot of exciting possibilities for mock trades. I, like almost every Phoenix Suns fan I’ve interacted with, was devastated when the Suns were forced to trade Kevin Durant and when that trade went through Brooks was the player the Suns wanted, and Jalen Green is the player the Rockets forced the Suns to take but since his explosive defensive effort in the play in win against Golden State to his early improvements in efficiency on offense my heart is beginning to thaw towards Jalen Green. Now, everyone wants him gone or thinks he should come off the bench. I don’t see that for Jalen Green, but if I don’t like what the Suns see for Jalen Green.
Jalen Green needs to make better decisions when he’s driving to the hoop. Jalen Green doesn’t need to be turned into a point guard or become a facilitator. One of these goals is asking Jalen Green to be a better Jalen Green. It improves Jalen’s efficiency, reduces turnovers, and makes the Suns harder to defend. The other goal is asking Jalen Green to be a different Jalen Green. It increases his cognitive load, puts him in spaces where he feels uncertain, and limits his impact as a scorer.
Jalen Green is an Uber-athlete. Regardless of the sport, when a team has an elite athlete, they can only fully utilize that athlete’s athleticism when they play instinctively. The more the Suns ask Jalen Green to process, the less they are going to get out of his explosiveness. The Sun’s have rostered themselves into a corner where they are going to need to ask players to sacrifice and to take on different roles than the roles they’ve previously played but they really need to reflect on who they are asking to sacrifice, and what they are potentially losing.
Ben can’t fight this war alone. Even in the ancient battles, Obi “1” had heroes standing next to him. Elite warriors. All-stars. All-time greats. Those Suns are gone, chased into retirement, or traded away to the dark side, but the question remains. How can the Suns put a second all-star around Devin Booker?
He almost had one last year, and the Book and Brooks tandem provided a stellar Cinderella season when hope was non-existent. The Villain’s star is dimming and was never quite bright enough to guide the Suns to the promised land of postseason success. The Villain is great, but Jalen Green’s light burns brighter. It’s not particularly close.
Skim the Suns’ roster and tell me who the second all-star could be? All fingers have to land on Jalen Green, who has the burst to collapse even the best defenses and could be one of the premier advantage creators in the NBA if he could figure out what to do when he gets in the lane. Jalen needs to improve his decision-making if he wants to take a step towards an all-star bid, but the good news is that Jalen wants to learn. Jalen wants to get better. Jalen wants to be legendary, and he does it with a smile while the Twitterati knife him in the back like it’s March in Ancient Rome.
What has Jalen Green done to deserve the outrage of a desperate fanbase? Nothing short of being a great teammate, accepting a clearly miscast role as the primary facilitator, and seeking out a Suns legend to help him try and get there.
And get there, he might. If the Suns let him be the player he’s supposed to be. Now, let me clear up some misconceptions about Jalen Green and his role on this Suns team.
Devin Booker is the point guard, and Jalen Green is the shooting guard when they share the floor together. Devin Booker could best serve this team by taking on the CP3 to Green’s Young Booker. Cp3 had the ball all game, but he knew when to pick his spots to score. Booker is having trouble with top defenses like the Thunder camping out on his midrange spots, ready to swipe the ball out of his hands. Let the young legs of Jalen Green drive into the gauntlet. Allow Booker to utilize his basketball IQ and gravity to get the Suns into the right positions. Focus your developmental efforts on teaching Green how to read the defense better on drives. Cut down the turnovers, pump up the open shots. Then, when the ball gets kicked out, it’s a pass away from getting it to Devin Booker to attack a defense in rotation, rather than finding Bridges, Brooks, or Green for a contested step-back. Allow Jalen Green to be the engine of the offense, and Devin Booker to be the steering wheel.
The Suns don’t have the money to sign a bona fide all-star or the trade capital to acquire one if they want to keep Book, so if they want to win a playoff series, they are going to need to create one. That player on the team with an all-star ceiling Jalen Green. If the Suns are serious about making this roster work, Jalen Green needs to be their new SG1. There’s no other path.
