Sports News

The Orlando Magic is, at best, the third worst team in the NBA this season. That’s why you probably didn’t watch their home game on Monday night against the Indiana Pacers. You didn’t miss much: For 32 of the 48 minutes of the game, it was a throw-away race between two bad Eastern Conference teams that didn’t go anywhere in particular. But in the remaining 16 minutes, this otherwise unforgettable game marks the triumphant return to action of Markel Fultz. Do you remember Fultz? Yes! This person!

Perhaps this will break your respect for this website and its hard-working staff when I tell you that not too long ago too many of us spent too much time debating in Slack whether Fultz belongs to Mount Rushmore in the NBA Draft. In the end, there was widespread agreement among the innocent participants in this discussion that the best choice to play a total of 33 games in two seasons for the team that drafted it was in fact a huge historic setback, even if he resurrected his career elsewhere. And this resurrection is still far from complete. Fultz really showed glimpses of how he could succeed on the NBA floor during his third season as a professional, but on his second NBA team, and it’s worth taking a step back anyway and appreciating how sad it was so far: Fultz, once hailed as a prospect by almost a generation not to be missed, operated a constant rotation of the insanely cursed Orlando Magic, and this was considered happy development.

And that was before Fultz suffered an ACL rupture two weeks after the 2020-21 season, ending the longest consecutive game of his career in the NBA, with a staggering 49. Between a broken shoulder and the ensuing absolute loss due to confidence in his jump, which struck him in Philadelphia, and a knee injury that now deprives him of most of the last two campaigns, Fultz was limited to just 114 NBA games in most of his five seasons as a professional. It’s kind of shocking to look back and realize that Fultz has never really been closer to a career as a NBA frontman than a few days before he was selected to enter the league. Nowadays, he is receiving a standing ovation for simply moving to the NBA on his own.

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The Broncos are firmly in the market for a quarterback with Aaron Rodgers, who is probably at the top of the list if he decides to leave the Packers.

But because Rodgers has a contract with another team, Denver general manager George Patton cannot speak publicly about Rodgers.

Still, the two-time defending MVP is the proverbial elephant in the room when Broncos staff are asked for a quarterback. Speaking to the media at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Patton said: “We just want the best person.”

“We don’t care if it’s a free agency. We don’t care if it’s a draft. “We don’t care if it’s a trade,” Patton said. “We will exhaust all possibilities to try to find the best person for the Broncos.

To that end, Patton noted that finding the right quarterback is always a priority until it happens.

“This is the most important position in the sport, so we are always looking,” Patton said. And we have Drew Locke under contract, we have Rip [Brett Rypien]. But we are always looking. And we will [leave] there is no stone upon stone to find this man. We know we need to play better than the quarterback, so we will be aggressive. “

If things don’t work out with the Rodgers trade, there are other veterans on the market, such as Jimmy Garopolo of San Francisco. Or they could turn to someone like Mitchell Trubyski at a free agency. Or the Broncos can make a QB, as they currently have number 9 as the overall pick.

“Obviously we’re going to sit with all of them, watch them compete with other really good quarterbacks,” Patton said. “And this class is an interesting class. You have five or six talented boys and they are all different. So we all really need to improve and put them in order, put them in order and see who is the best for the Denver Broncos if we go in that direction in the draft. ”

Whether the Broncos eventually acquire Rodgers or not, it certainly looks like they’ll have someone new behind the center when the season opens in September.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association reportedly made progress Monday in reaching a new collective bargaining agreement that will end a lockout imposed by the owner following a marathon negotiation session that lasted until the early hours of the morning. Initially, the MLB set a deadline of Monday (February 28) to reach an agreement before canceling the regular season matches and postponing the 2022 Opening Day. However, the league’s self-imposed deadline was postponed until 17:00 ET on Tuesday, according to Jeff Passan of ESPNand the parties continue talks throughout the day.

The MLB and MLBPA spent more than 16 hours at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, on Monday before calling it ET at about 2:30 p.m. As for the progress made during the marathons on Monday / Tuesday early in the morning, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that there has been “some progress” but “major gaps remain in key areas”.

MLB began negotiations on Monday, informing MLBPA that it was ready to miss the games for a month and taking a more threatening tone, according to Evan Drelic of The Athletic. Hours later, numerous reports said the two sides had agreed on an expanded play-off format with 12 teams. However, discussions about the competitive balance tax (also known as the luxury tax), the minimum wage and the bonus pool for players before the arbitration continued.

More trivial issues, such as restrictions on moving to defense, were also reportedly part of the discussions. There were a total of 13 separate face-to-face meetings between the two countries at the spring training base on Monday. The bottom line is that there is a glimmer of hope that the season will start as planned on March 31, but there is still hard work on Tuesday when the parties meet again.

CBS Sports provided a timeline of the block here, but the short version is that the owners put the padlocks on when the previous CBA expired on December 1 – exactly three months ago. They were not obliged to do so, but this was described as a defensive maneuver. The league then waited more than six weeks to make its first offer. Since then, the two sides have held a series of personal talks. CBS Sports provides live updates for Tuesday’s talk. You can follow below.

Referee Mike Riley personally apologized to Frank Lampard for the mistakes made in the defeat of Everton by Manchester City.

Lampard accused VAR employee Chris Cavanaugh of being a “professional who can’t do his job properly” after losing 1-0 to Goodison Champions League champions last Saturday.

Cavanagh failed to advise referee Paul Tierney on a handball game by Rodri that would give Everton a late chance to equalize a penalty.

Everton CEO Denise Barrett-Baxandale sent a letter to the Premier League on Monday with the club’s concerns and apologized.

Of course, Riley, managing director of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, later called Everton manager and club chairman Bill Kenwright to apologize for the mistakes made in the incident.

After the match, Lampard said: “The decision is incredible and it loses our opportunity to get what we deserve. This is a VAR call. This is Chris Cavanagh. It wouldn’t take more than five seconds for him to realize it was a penalty. [Kavanagh] she had to either tell the referee to give it to him or tell him to go look at it. We lost a point because of a professional who can’t do his job properly. “

On Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a statement urging all major sports federations to ban Russian athletes from international competitions.

As the FIA ​​is a recognized IOC federation, the governing body of car racing is holding an extraordinary meeting of its World Motorsport Council on Tuesday to decide what response it should have to Russia’s military aggression.

One possibility is for Russian pilots to be banned from participating in FIA-sanctioned events.

Such a move could force Nikita Mazepin to leave Formula One and risk that Kvyat, who has to drive in the WEC this season, will also be removed from the race.

Writing on his social media channels, Kwiat expressed hope for a peaceful solution to the events in Ukraine, questioning pressure from sports authorities to take action.

“I really hope for a peaceful solution to this situation in Ukraine and that we can all live in peace,” he said.

“I hope that all parties can find a solution by sitting together and through a respectful dialogue. I am horrified to see two fraternal nations in conflict.

“I do not want military action and wars to affect the future of humanity. I want my daughter and all the children to enjoy this wonderful world.

I would also like to emphasize and appeal to all sports federations around the world, including the IOC, that sport must remain out of politics and that banning Russian athletes and teams from participating in world competitions is an unfair decision and contradicts what sport teaches us in principle. : unity and peace.

“Who else but us sports people will help unite nations together in the times to come?

The actions of the FIA ​​to ban Russian pilots and teams from participating in competitions will be followed by actions from other major sports federations, which do not show any tolerance for the events.

On Monday, FIFA announced that all Russian clubs and national teams had been suspended as a result of an IOC recommendation.

Even before the FIA ​​called a meeting, Mazepin’s future in Formula One with Haas was in doubt after his father’s company, Uralkali, removed its brand from the US team’s cars last week.

Haas is expected to decide in the next few days on its plans for the upcoming season, with the second pre-season test to take place in Bahrain next week.

Mazepin wrote on Twitter last week that he “does not control much of what is said and done.”

Ja Morant is on a roll. The rookie of the year for 2020 made his first All-Star team this season, has one of the best assists in the league, while reducing his turnover from the previous two years and scored the highest in his career and franchise 46 points in victory over the Bulls on Saturday.

He did even better last night: Morant scored 52 points, beating his old mark when the Grizzlies beat the Spurs 118-105. But it wasn’t just a night when Morant shot cool 22/30 from the pitch. He scored 52 while having two of the biggest roller games of the year.