San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Writers’ roundtable
ularity contest. Twitter/NBA story we will ever see?
Finger: Just about every executive, athletic director, and even coach in the country has some kind of anonymous Twitter account to at least monitor what is being reported about their team. If Colangelo is responsible for the tweets criticizing his own players, however, that takes it to a whole different level that it is difficult to imagine many other executives reaching. It’s about as bizarre as anything this side of Notre Dame’s Manti T’eo mourning the death of an imaginary online girlfriend. McDonald: You can bet money, marbles and chalk members of the Spurs’ front office are using unnamed accounts to monitor Twitter. I can’t imagine R.C. Buford or anyone else actually using those secret accounts to chime in on anything. They are far too disciplined for that. It probably requires great restraint, however, with some of the flotsam populating Twitter these days. Is it the craziest Twitter/NBA story we will ever see? In this day and age, probably not.
Young: It’s hard to keep up with any pace during a regular season that is 162 games. I can make the case the Astros should hope the pace doesn’t keep up, to allow for things to calm down a bit. Last season the Astros hit a little skid near the end of the season and had some believing a World Series appearance was out. That was not the case, but it just goes to show how things can change in baseball, which is an up and down sport. Right now, the pitching staff is up. I don’t believe it will stay that way, though.
The Astros pitching staff is performing at a near historic pace. Can it keep it up and if they do is making the World Series a foregone conclusion?
Bragg: The odds are they won’t keep it up because someone is bound to suffer an injury. If they can stay injury free and Dallas Keuchel can come out of his funk, yes. The odds of a second straight World Series appearance are good, but it’s not a lock. Trade deadline deals can change the landscape in a hurry. Finger: Houston’s starters in particular have been as dominant as any group since Major League Baseball raised the mound in 1969. Asking them to preserve an ERA that low all season might be a bit much, but the Astros’ rotation should remain a huge team strength. That being said, making the World Series is never a foregone conclusion in a sport in which even the best teams aren’t much more than a 65-percent favorite in a seven-game series. McDonald: I don’t believe the Astros can quite keep up this pitching pace — history is history for a reason — but it they do, obviously they are the handsdown favorite to make the
World Series. Even if the Astros’ hurlers slip a bit, they are still probably a favorite
Who would you take with the Number 1 pick in the
NBA Draft?
Bragg: Mo Bomba from Texas is the most athletic player and has great size. The formula now is four superstar scorers and a mop-up guy to block shots, grab rebounds and kick the ball out. Finger: Arizona’s DeAndre Ayton seems to be the consensus choice, and I have no reason to go against it. Even during an era in which every team is spacing the floor and pushing the tempo, it is difficult resist building a team around a gamechanging center. Most teams have shooters now. If Ayton becomes what scouts believe he can be, few franchises would have an answer for him. McDonald: The overwhelming consensus seems to be the Suns are going to select Arizona big man DeAndre Ayton first overall, and that’s probably a wise choice. In today’s game, in which big men are often less valuable than guards and wings, I might be tempted to grab Real Madrid’s Luke Doncic. At age 19, Doncic has a skill set and feel for the game typically found in much older players. At 6-foot-8, he has the goods to be an oversized point guard in the NBA, if that’s what a team needs. He was just named the MVP of the Euroleague — the second-best basketball league in the world — as a teenager. The sky is the limit for him. Another name to look for early is Duke’s Marvin Bagley, who is going to be a steal somewhere early in the draft. Young: Other than myself ? Arizona’s Deandre Ayton has to be the pick. It just makes too much sense for the Phoenix Suns.