Sports Notes

Colts

The Colts held on to their two most important free agent pieces this week. I’m not sure the process was right, nor am I sure the results were ideal.

First, they slapped the transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones. By doing so they immediately made wide receiver Alec Pierce a free agent, which was seen as a rather large blunder by NFL experts.

However, within a day Pierce re-signed with the Colts. He might be a tad overpaid, especially with the quarterback position in flux. However, it is always worth remembering that deals that appear huge when signed will seem perfectly reasonable as the salary cap increases over time.

Pierce is a fantastic downfield threat, and a surprisingly well-rounded receiver. But he’s never been an NFL #1 WR or put up huge numbers. With Michael Pittman traded to Pittsburgh, he will have every opportunity to prove he’s worth the new contract.

Provided the Colts have someone to throw him the ball this year.

Jones also re-sign a day later for $50 million guaranteed over the next two years. That seems like a lot to me for a dude who will have questionable availability and effectiveness next season. We aren’t even sure if his performance over the first half of last season was legit or a fluke. I don’t know that the team had much choice, though. Chris Ballard won’t survive another rebuild so he was stuck making sure Jones is on the roster next fall. Jones and the team insist he will be available for training camp. That seems aggressive to me, but Jason Tatum just came back from an achilles injury after 10 months and looks great, so I guess anything is possible.

The Colts think they have a quarterback. They have their top receiver back. Those were the two biggest needs of the off season, so I guess we give them an A there. We’ll see if either deal was worth it.

Bam

As you would expect, Bam Adebayo scoring 83 points Tuesday night, the second most in NBA history, generated some takes. Most of them were dumb.

A lot of folks had issues with how the Miami Heat both kept Bam in a game that had long been decided and continued to throw him the ball despite Washington throwing double and triple teams at him. I totally understand this perspective. It certainly runs against some of the unwritten rules of all sports to keep your best players in and let them keep scoring when destroying one of the worst teams in the league.

However, there is a special place in basketball particularly for chasing individual records like this. When someone gets on a hot streak, you keep giving them the ball. As long as you do it in the context of the game, it is usually ok to let a guy keep shooting if he’s trying to get 40 or 50 or more. Especially when it is a guy like Bam who is almost universally regarded as a good dude and consummate team player, and one of the last people you would expect to score 80+.

Lakers coach JJ Redick was critical of Bam being in the game. Which makes him a hypocrite as he’s left his players in games to keep various scoring streaks going. I don’t care if a guy is trying to pass Kobe or just trying to keep a double digits streak going. You can’t bitch about one when you’ve routinely done the other.

There was criticism of how many free throws Bam shot. Well, that’s on Washington for hacking him so much. Washington’s coach complained a little. He might want to tell his players that they aren’t required to foul Bam on every play. He was getting tired. Let him shoot and go grab the rebound. That’s one way to keep a dude from dropping 80 on you.

The stupidest takes were from the Kobe-stans.

Longtime NBA writer Sam Amick wrote that Bam should have stopped at 81, where he would have been tied with Kobe Bryant for the second biggest outburst. Amick’s argument was that Kobe was one of Bam’s heroes and it would have been a fine way to honor him. Never mind that if Kobe was in the same position, there is no way in hell he would have stopped scoring. He would have gone for 85, never mind just getting one more bucket.

Kobe scored his 80th and 81st points on free throws in the closing seconds of a game that LA was winning by double digits. It wasn’t the blowout of Tuesday’s game, and in fact the Lakers came back from being down by double digits at halftime. But let’s not pretend like Kobe got his record in a game that went down to the wire.

I think Bam Adebayo scoring 83 was awesome.[1] It’s a shame so many people are trying to devalue his achievement.

Big 12 Court

I’ve only watched a few minutes of the first couple days of the Big 12 tournament, so my opinion may change after the KU game tonight. But I think the LED/glass court at the Big 12 tournament is ugly. Players seem mixed on the surface, and what it is like when it lights up during breaks in play. I’ve heard from people who have gone to the games say it looks much better the higher you are.

On TV, though, it is way too monotone. All the grays and blacks suck the light out of the arena and it looks like the game is being played in a dingy cave.

Now if KU wins three straight this weekend, I may change my mind. For now I think the Big 12 commissioner should cool his marketing jets a bit and find the court that is the best for playing and watching basketball, not getting people talking about the surface instead of the game.