The Phoenix Suns finally found n acceptable deal for disgruntled guard Eric Bledsoe. The Suns sent Bledsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks for Center Greg Monroe, a 2018 1st round draft pick and a 2018 2nd round draft pick. Both picks are protected.
Bledsoe played 3 games for the Suns this seasons before he sent out that infamous tweet about not wanting to be with the Suns anymore.
Bledsoe is joining a 4-6 Milwaukee team that has dropped 4 straight games. The Bucks have a true superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo who’s averaging 31.9 points per game. Antetokounmpo has been doing a lot of the ball handing for Milwaukee, but with the acquisition of Bledsoe he’ll be able to help handle the basketball as well.
Milwaukee lost last night 124-119 to the Cleveland Cavaliers without Bledsoe. Bledsoe should make his Milwaukee debut on Friday on the road against the San Antonio Spurs.
While the Suns did get Monroe back in the deal it doesn’t appear that he’ll play for them. At first there was talk of buying out the remainder of his contract, but now it appears as though the Suns want to see if there’s any type of trade market for him. Monroe has an expiring contract which should be attractive to some teams. It’s not clear what the Suns would want in return for Monroe, but at 27 he’s doesn’t appear to be part of their rebuilding process.
The Detroit Pistons took Monroe with the 7th pick of the 2010 draft. Monroe spent 5 seasons with the Pistons before signing with the Bucks as a free agent before the 2015-16 season. Monroe averages 14 points a game in his career and shoots 51.1% from the field. His playing time had been cut to under 16 minutes a game this season.
Even though these two teams seem to be going in different directions they both currently have 4 wins on the season. Milwaukee was supposed to be a threat to the Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference while the Suns are looking to play their way into the draft lottery. You’d think that this trade will help both teams reach their goals.
Now it’s way. way too early in the season for anyone to be concerned, but when LeBron James is on your team and you get off to a 5-6 start to the season the experts are going to talk about it. The Cavaliers have lost 5 of their last 7 games, but did get a win last night over the Bucks 124-119.
James is averaging 28.9 points per game, but is playing 37.8 minutes a game. James is also the team’s leader in assists with 9.1 per game, steals at 1.45 per game, blocks at 1.18 per game and is the teams second leading rebounder with 7.3 a game. James has played in all 11 of the Cavaliers games this season, but you know down the road he’s going to need time off. James can clearly carry a team, but to have to do that for 82 regular season games and then into the playoffs isn’t going to be good for the Cavaliers.
Kevin Love (17.6), Derrick Rose (14.3) and Kyle Korver (10.5) are averaging in double figures for the Cavaliers. Love is also the Cavaliers leader in rebounds per game with 10.8. There’s plenty of help for James on this team; so getting him the rest he needs and being ready for the playoffs down the road shouldn’t be to big of an issue. Even if the Cavaliers aren’t the top seed in the Eastern Conference when the playoffs start they should still be considered as one of the favorites to go to the NBA finals again.
Nine players where given qualifying offers from their teams and if they choose to take them they would play for $17.4 million dollars next season.
The Kansas City Royals gave qualifying to 1st baseman Eric Hosmer, 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas and outfielder Lorenzo Cain. The Chicago Cubs gave qualifying offers to pitchers Jake Arrieta and Wade Davis. The Tampa Bay Rays gave a qualifying offer to pitcher Alex Cobb. The Colorado Rockies extended a qualifying offer to closer Greg Holand. The St. Louis Cardinals gave a qualifying offer to pitcher Lance Lynn and the Cleveland Indians gave a qualifying offer to 1st baseman Carlos Santana.
Now you wouldn’t expect any of these players to accept the qualifying offer, but by giving them the offer the team will get compensation if their player signs with another team. A club signing one of the players who didn’t accept would lose a draft selection, but no longer a first-round pick and possibly part of its international bonus pool allocation for 2018-19. Right now there are 166 free agent on the market who can start negotiating with teams starting Monday evening.
Major League Baseball started handing out awards starting with the Gold Glove.
In the American League Marcus Stroman (Pitcher) of the Toronto Blue Jays, Martin Maldonado (Catcher) of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim along with Brian Dozier (2nd base) and his teammate Byron Buxton (Centerfield) all won their 1st Gold Glove. Mookie Betts (Rightifeld) of the Boston Red Sox won his 2nd Gold Glove. Evan Longoria (3rd base) of the Tampa Bay Rays and Andrelton Simmons (Shortstop) of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won their 3rd Gold Gloves. Eric Hosmer (1st base) of the Kansas City Royals won his 4th Gold Glove while his teammate Alex Gordon (Leftfield) won his 5th Gold Glove.
In the National League Tucker Barnhart (Catcher) of the Cincinnati Reds and Marcell Ozuna (Leftfield) of the Miami Marlins each won their 1st Gold Glove. D.J. LeMahieu (2nd base) of the Colorado Rockies and Ender Inciarte (Centerfield) of the Atlanta Braves won their 2nd Gold Gloves. Paul Goldschmidt (1st base) of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Brandon Crawford (Shortstop) of the San Francisco Giants each won their 3rd Gold Gloves. Zach Greinke (Pitcher) of the Arizona Diamondbacks won his 4th Gold Glove while Jason Heyward (Rightfield) of the Chicago Cubs and Nolan Arrenado (3rd base) of the Colorado Rockies each won their 5th Gold Gloves.
Do you think they got these awards right? Is there someone else you think should’ve won a Gold Glove? Feel free to leave your comments.
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