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good morning! Be like Jacob Poeltl today.

Expansion

Portland? Nashville?

Baseball development is progressing. Commissioner Rob Manfred wants it. Cities need teams. It should become a reality soon.

The Athletic baseball staff has some fascinating work to do this week, highlighting possible expansion locations.

Portland: Stephen J. Nesbitt writes that plans for a 32,000-seat stadium are already underway. Cities are participating, and so are investors.
Nashville: Andy McCullough reports that the foundation for an MLB team is already being laid. The name of the team has already been decided.

Las Vegas, Charlotte and others are also strong candidates for new teams. Manfred has said he wants a resolution between the Athletics and Rays embroiled in sticky negotiations over a new stadium before MLB officially expands to his 32 teams. But it’s coming, and A’s and/or Rays may also be in the new city.

We will be introducing more cities this week.

lebron tracker

Rating LeBron Scape

LeBron James will always be the top scorer in basketball. We plan to track his pace regularly on these digital pages, but be sure to bookmark the running tally on the site.

But James is on the precipice many This year’s milestones:

Points: 316 Away From the Chronicles of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is predicted to break the record on his February 7th.
Steal: he is the ninth Always at 2,170. He passed Clyde Drexler and he should move up to eighth this year.
Rebounding: 33rdcould overtake David Robinson for 32nd place tonight.
Assists: 6th place, but will have to pass Mark Jackson and Steve Nash this year to reach fourth just behind his fellow Chris Paul. It’s realistic for James to eventually pass his current No. 2 Jason Kidd.

Let’s summarize: More points than anyone, more steals than Drexler, more rebounds than Robinson and more assists than Nash. Plus many future seasons. But if James were to retire tomorrow, he would end up with the best statistical career of all time.

Jordan vs LeBron anytime. Save it for the offseason. Please rate what James is doing now.

feedback loop

sorry tampa

Yesterday’s Pulse Poll provided some surprising clarity about one aspect of Tom Brady’s future. Voting breakdown:

51% of you think he’s heading to the fox booth
46 percent i think he’s playing somewhere
only 3 percent I believe he’s back in Bucs

Vic Tafur has written a great article on why Brady’s popular theoretical landing site, Las Vegas, doesn’t make much sense in practice. We are still awaiting official word from Brady about his future.

briefs

Titans hire new GM
Ran Carthon is the new general manager of Tennessee, sources have confirmed. athleticCarson, the former 49ers director of player personnel, had his predecessor, John Robinson, dismissed despite overseeing a six-game winning streak before a slight setback this season. I have inherited it.

Michigan OC Takes Vacation
The program put co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss on leave after University Police opened an investigation into a suspected computer access crime at Schembechler Hall, where the football office is located, in December. After a season, he joined the Wolverines staff in 2021.

Gronk summoned
Account holders of Voyager Digital, a cryptocurrency company currently undergoing Chapter 11 proceedings, have sued Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for promoting the company. As part of the lawsuit, former tight end Rob Gronkowski (Voyager’s official brand ambassador) was subpoenaed to testify and could be added as a defendant in the lawsuit. Joining Brady, the Super Bowl champion became the target of a crypto lawsuit.

Hello, my name is

Jakob Poeltl holds the key to everything

Did you know that the NBA trade deadline is 3 weeks away? You can pretend you did. A frenzy is coming, but the main character could be an underrated center.

Yesterday, Shams Charania shared what he’s hearing as the deadline approaches, focusing on Spurs center Jakob Poeltl, a 27-year-old big man who could be the lead domino in trade talks throughout the league. Published a huge notebook of

Poeltl is best described as highly effective. He’s a good rebounder, a good offensive roller, and a good defender. He’s come into his own with some decidedly bad teams.
This brings us to the heart of Poeltl’s predicament: Shams said the Spurs want to keep him long-term, but the center wants to be a free agent after this season and play for the contenders. The Spurs… are not in that position and may not be able to afford the high price tag Poeltl commands on the open market. High chance of trading.

Celtics are interested. So did the Raptors, who drafted Poeltl in 2016 before trading him to San Antonio in the Kawhi Leonard trade. There will be other suitors.

Everything can flow from there. Shams’ full text is worth reading, along with information on other trade his pieces such as Terry Rozier, Eric Gordon, and Pascal Siakam. strap in.

pulse pick

・Last night’s big upset: No. 13 Kansas State defeated No. 2 Kansas in overtime.

・Derrick White is the best little shot blocker in the NBA, explains Jay King.

・David Ubben has great new features and chronicles the backstory of how Deion Sanders landed in Colorado. Featuring Jeremy Bloom and Grits.

・Here’s Sabreena Merchant’s WNBA Mock Draft. Aaliyah Boston is her No. 1, but her No. 2 is clearly emerging.

・Why can’t teams hire Sean Payton? A handy explanation of his contractual rights.

・Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is staying in Detroit, a big win for the burgeoning franchise. Johnson became interested in a head coaching job this offseason.

・Corey Pronman ranks his top 154 NHL prospects under 23. Always an enlightening read.

・John Hollinger predicts the Nuggets, Grizzlies or Pelicans will advance to the NBA Finals as Western Conference champions.

(Photo: Brad Penner/USA Today)

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