Tuesday’s “First Call” features one of what will be many Le’Veon Bell offseason updates. Connor McDavid’s potential “goal of the year.” Plus, the good, the bad and the ugly from the NBA.
Making it work
Is Le’Veon Bell staying with the New York Jets or not?
That will be one of the most widely tracked offseason stories in the league.
After just one season, there has been some speculation that the Jets may not be interested in keeping their prized free agent acquisition from last March.
Now Jets general manager Joe Douglas is trying to soften the idea of dealing Bell.
“We value Le’Veon,” Douglas said on the Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio on Monday. “We value the competitor. We value the teammate. We’re excited with him being in our program another year, going through our offseason again.”
The former Steelers running back had a disappointing 789 yards rushing last year. And Jets head coach Adam Gase was non-committal about Bell’s future when asked about him during a season-ending press conference.
Do that again
Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid scored a spectacular goal Monday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Connor. CONNOR. (@cmcdavid97)! That was mean! pic.twitter.com/lKdyx3FcCm
— NHL (@NHL) January 7, 2020
That was almost an NBA-Style no-look kinda move there from McDavid. “Posterizing” is usually a basketball term. But I think that just happened to Toronto’s Morgan Rielly.
McDavid had three assists to go along with that goal. The Oilers won 6-4. McDavid has a league-leading 69 points.
Speaking of the NBA
On the topic of slick moves, did you catch this one from Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young against the Denver Nuggets?
Trae Young fakes the behind-the-back pass and goes through his own legs while his opponents search for ghosts. pic.twitter.com/8JVPEB7BI8
— FOX Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnFSSE) January 7, 2020
Not bad, Trae. Now do it on skates like McDavid!
Denver ended up winning that game 123-115. Young had 29 points and 12 assists.
Look away!
That’s what the NBA looks like when it’s done well.
This what it looks like when it is done poorly.
Here’s 25 painful seconds of the Golden State Warriors versus Sacramento Kings game from Monday night.
Quite possibly the worst sequence of pro hoops you'll ever witness
— SI Extra Mustard (@SI_ExtraMustard) January 7, 2020
(via @ESPNNBA)pic.twitter.com/ufb0kpwNCt
Stunningly, the Kings eventually managed to score 111 points en route to a 111-98 win as they improved to 14-23.
Golden State missed its first 17 three-point shots before falling to 9-29. Only the 8-29 Hawks are worse.
That doesn’t look right
We showed you the good in the NBA.
We showed you the bad.
Now let’s show you the ugly.
Take a look at what happened to the ring finger of Philadelphia 76ers’ big man Joel Embiid’s left hand during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Actually, don’t. Have someone else watch this and have them tell you what happens.
Once they stop throwing up.
I feel like Joel Embiid’s finger probably shouldn’t look like this pic.twitter.com/BaNde7t7Nh
— Dave Loughran (@Loughy_D) January 7, 2020
Believe it or not, Embiid’s finger didn’t break. It was just dislocated. He came back into the game and scored 18 points while grabbing nine rebounds as his team won 120-113.
“I felt my finger snapping and I thought I fractured it,” Embiid said via ESPN.com. “They did some X-rays and said it was nothing.”
However, Embiid may have to miss Thursday’s game against the Boston Celtics.
