So there's good news and bad news. I'll give the good news first. I'm tied for 28th out of 110 in the men's Wimbledon pool. I've had 72 correct picks, 40 incorrect picks, which is 64% correct. Not too bad. I got 9 out of 16 of the round of 16 correct(Djokovic, Rublev, Shapovalov, Berrettini, Zverev, Federer, Sonego, Hurkacz, and Medvedev). The last 4 are two matchups, so I'm happy with that. I will miss a lot of my quarterfinal picks, so this might be as good as it gets for me. The bad news is my women's bracket. I don't know why I've been so bad this year. I'm 66 out of 75 with 51 correct picks and 61 incorrect picks for a 45% rate of correct picks. Absolutely terrible. I've gotten 5 out of 16 correct for the round of 16. I won't paste all that bc it's just red. But 3 of my 4 semifinalists are still in the tournament, so I'm rooting hard for Barty, Gauff, and Swiatek. I'll let you know how it shakes out.
Tyronn Lue has had an interesting career in the NBA, and if you’ve never thought about it that way, you probably should. He came into the NBA with little acclaim but rubbed shoulders with some of the best players in NBA history, broke several perceived curses, and might even be considered the Forrest Gump of the NBA. Nickname according to basketball reference is Lue Hefner
Ty Lue was born in Mexico, MO, not far from St. Louis, and attended the University of Nebraska in college from 1995-1998. At Nebraska he had a decorated career, leading the team in assists every year he was there. He helped his team win the NIT championship his freshman year, was named All Big-12 first team his senior year and 2nd team his sophomore year. He even had his #10 retired. He declared for the draft after his junior year, not bad for a 6’0” point guard. He was drafted 23rd overall in the first round of the 1998 draft by the Nuggets and traded to the Lakers with Tony Battie for Nick Van Exel, signalling the end of one of the Lakers’ most exciting players of the late 90’s. His coach at the time of his draft was Del Harris, but his 2nd year things changed as Phil Jackson was hired. The team took off as we all know. As a Laker, he was part of the late 90’s early 2000’s dynasty that featured Shaq and Kobe, Ron Harper, Brian Shaw among others and coached by the winningest NBA coach of all time, Phil Jackson. Aside from winning 2 championships with the Lakers, Lue was part of an iconic moment in game 1 of the 2001 NBA finals when Allen Iversion hit a step-back jumper over him causing him to fall after Lue contested the shot. AI stepped over him and the rest was history. That play that will always be shown in AI’s highlights, and probably in NBA finals montages. He also had braids at the time, showing he was not to be messed with. After the 2001 season, Lue signed with the Wizards where he would play with yet another legend of basketball, Michael Jordan, who came out of retirement to join the team after having a front office role since 2000. And that team competed, Jordan played well, but there was so much drama associated with Jordan and number one draft pick Kwame Brown. Rip Hamilton was also on the team. He stayed on the team for one more year where he played with Stackhouse before he signed with the Magic in the 2003 offseason, where he played with TMac and for Doc Rivers for 20 games before Doc was fired after a 19 game losing streak. Grant Hill was part of the team but injured for the entire season. He exercised his player option with the team following the season and was traded the next day with TMac to Houston for Steve Francis, creating one of the most exciting pairings of the mid 2000’s, TMac and Yao Ming. He was traded midseason to Atlanta. He bounced around to a few more teams after playing a few years with Atlanta. Played with the Dirk, J-Kidd Mavs and ended up as a director of player development for the Celtics in 2009 under Doc Rivers. He then became an assistant coach for Boston in 2011 and followed Doc to the Clippers in 2013. Then became associate head coach in Cleveland in 2014. He then replaced David Blatt in the 2015-2016 season and led the Cavs to their first championship in franchise history. He was fired in 2018 and rejoined Doc in L.A. in 2019. He then replaced Doc in 2020 as the Clippers HC. He then led the Clippers to their first western conference championship series, 2nd curse broken. He’s considered one of the best HC’s in the NBA, so there’s no telling where he’ll go from there, but we know where he’s from. Mexico, MO, where he has a street named after him. Oh and apparently his nickname is Lue Hefner. That’s a pretty magical career, and I couldn’t help but to make a video about it. Thanks for listening and follow us at Beyond Sports with Paul and Jeremy. My women's draw predictions below. My quarterfinals matchups are Barty vs. Andreescu (provided they both are healthy). Svitolina vs. Gauff. I'm excited to see if Gauff and build on her last Wimbledon success which really put her on the national stage. Pegula vs. Kenin is the 3rd quarterfinal. I'm really impressed with Pegula recently. The last QF matchup is Swiatek vs. Sakkari. My semifinals are Barty vs. Gauff and Kenin vs. Swiatek, with Barty and Swiatek advancing to the final. I have Barty winning. I think Barty is the craftiest player and can find a way to beat anyone when she's playing well, but she's had some injury problems her last 2 tournaments, which is why I am making this pick with a lot of skepticism, but so be it.
I'm excited to see if Serena can do better than my prediction. I see her losing to Gauff in the round of 16. We also could be seeing Venus's last Wimbledon match. But you never know with Venus. She loves playing and loves Wimbledon, so we'll see. Lastly, I'm predicting American women to have a good tournament, which is always great at a tournament playing around July 4. Enjoy the tennis and let me know what you think. If you thought a March Madness bracket was hard, try a major tennis tournament. You'll be lucky to get 50%. With that said, I'll give my picks for Wimbledon men. I'll post women's picks soon. The bracket I've shown leaves me with quarter finals of Djokovic vs. Rublev, Evans vs. Opelka, Berrettini vs. Umbert, and Federer vs. Medvedev.
I have Djokovic and Opelka winning to face each other in the semifinals, with Djokovic winning to advance to the final. Berrettini beats Medvedev in the semis to meet Djokovic in the final, where Djokovic wins. There are some first-rounds matches I find intriguing. Those are Kyrgios vs. Umbert, which I expect Umber to win, but it's hard not to watch Kyrgios play. Tsitsipas vs. Tiafoe will be a good match to watch. Tsitsipas hasn't shown that he's great on grass, and Tiafoe has played well on grass of late. Fucsovics vs. Sinner will be interesting to watch. I think Sinner needs to adapt his game to grass, but he has so much potential. Fucsovics is a veteran who can beat the inexperienced Sinner in a close match. Finally, Struff vs. Medvedev shouldn't be a first-round match. Struff is too good to have to play such good players right off the bat. I expect Medvedev to win, but it should be competitive. Let me know your thoughts. I'll get my women's bracket ready. Below is the official bracket Paul and I settled on during a two-part live show. The bracket was done on CBS, and I uploaded it before the Sweet 16. The accuracy is limited, but it was a fun exercise. Our champion was Illinois, which was bad in hindsight, but at least they won 1 game. We are 2nd in our pool right now, but our max is so low bc of losing Illinois.
We are really interested in how professional athletes can build wealth. The list below was complied by Forbes, and we've included their methodology. We compiled the table from their numbers and added notes detailing the players' major endorsements and how they made their money from 2019-2020. What we see if endorsements are a major source of income for the highest-earning athletes because it is money that can be generated without having to play, and might not even depend on athletic performance. Many of the highest earners are European, of them soccer is the sport with the highest paid athletes. Their salaries can be up to $70 million, which the NBA is the highest earning American sports, but the salary cap and limit on player maximum salary keeps the highest salaries to around $40 million. It would be great if American sports would adopt the European model, which we have said in our MLS podcast with guest John. I included the two highest-earning women athletes, both tennis players who have a lot of endorsements, which fits the idea of needing endorsements to generate lots of revenue for an athlete. Comment if you have any other takeaways from the data below. *All numbers are in millions of U.S. dollars.
Methodology Forbes' figures include all prize money, salaries and bonuses earned between June 1, 2019, and June 1, 2020. In cases where players continue to be paid beyond May for a regular season that is typically concluded by then, like the NBA and European soccer, we assign the full season of salary. With the delayed seasons due to the coronavirus, we reduced overall NBA salaries 25%, based on our estimate for the maximum salary cut; European soccer player had several months of their salaries slashed up to 70% depending on the club. We gave veteran MLB players only $286,500 for April and May, based on the agreement between owners and players. Football player salaries cover the 2019 base salary, plus bonuses earned over those 12 months, including option, signing, playoff and workout bonuses. Winnings for golfers and tennis players represent their prize money over that period. Endorsement incomes are an estimate of sponsorship deals, appearance fees and licensing income for the 12 months through June 1 based on conversations with dozens of industry insiders. The golfers’ income includes course design work. We do not deduct for taxes or agents’ fees, and we do not include investment income. Our list includes athletes active at any point during our time frame. NBA Draft 2020
LaMelo Ball - tools, tools, tools, tools… but they are all scattered around the floor, that’s Ball. He can do a little bit of everything, but nothing really flows. He can pass, but doesn’t pass guys open, he can shoot, but only in certain situations, he can dribble, but he is a big guard, trying to play like a small one, he needs to learn to dominate smaller guys, which he could eventually if he gets stronger, but who knows… He is another player that needs to go to a team where the coach can put it all together for Melo and keep it together. - Starter Anthony Edwards - Shooters shoot, and that’s exactly Edwards thing, congrats on him putting in the work to commit more on defense as the season progressed, however, he still doesn’t have the natural defensive gift but it's good to see him assert himself. His passing is just okay, he sees guys and can get them the ball in college, but many of his soft passes won’t get through, especially when people start playing his passing lanes. I think a good person for him to study would be Bradley Beal, many talk about his size and strength, I’d let those parts come to his game naturally, but I would rather him focus on how Beal excels as a shooter and how to get open shots - Core Starter/Fringe All Star Deni Avdija - He will do well with a team that runs in transition, he can find guys when seeking them out and make awkward passes, he also is a willing defender who tries to block shots and limit fouling. He reminds me of a Ben Simmons type, and like Simmons he needs to improve the consistency on his shooting; he is not as good of a natural player who sees the floor, but he will excel on a team with spot up shooters - Fringe Allstar/All Star James Wiseman - Solid Big, still figuring out how you use his frame fluidly, long and quick twitch. Would be a good addition to the Warriors, he definitely needs time to develop on both the offensive and defensive end, confidence is there, but it could hinder his growth since his game is built all around size length and athleticism - Starter/Fringe All Star Onyeka Okongwu - This guy jumps out on tape, when he gets the ball downlow, he can go straight to the basket or he can use post moves, he is also really good at drawing fouls. He is a big guy, but due to his lateral quickness and mobility, he is able to guard a wide range of positions. This guy gets boards and can block shots as well, I love his energy for the modern NBA, if he can develop a corner 3 he will cause a lot of teams problems, he has that Draymond-ish type of game - Fringe AllStar/Allstar Obi Toppin - He can score from any spot on the floor, but he is limited and a little older at this point of the draft, he should be a solid NBA player with a high floor/low ceiling guy. - Starter/Core Starter Patrick Williams - Stretch 4 that can guard multiple positions, as well as drive. He is also long and can guard multiple positions as well. He already has that corner 3 and looks fairly confident with his game. I am not sure how much improvement he will have but if he does, I imagine it will be on the defensive end, similar to a lot of those bouncy guys he can get out of position looking to help on defense - Starter/Core Starter Tyrese Haliburton - Smooveeeee, this guy can do it all, and has really good size for a Guard. He has excellent vision, and can really shoot the ball, he also has crazy length and can score in a couple of ways, if he is able to develop his defense he will be a dangerous player in this league - All Star Isaac Okoro - Dense wing player, who has a little bit of everything, I see him being considered a championship piece, he can pass, play defense and hit the long range shot, he also is down to dunk on guys and plays aggressively. I would actually suggest he checkout how D.Wade makes use of his passing and driving abilities - Starter/Core Starter Killian Hayes - This guy will be one of the top 5 players from this draft class if he is able to the right system, he can make shots and transition, create space, find guys, and has the size/strength/ and mentality to take advantage of smaller defenders. He does need to work on his athleticism some as well as ball handling, too often he can let the ball get loose and defenders will feast on that at the next level - Fringe AllStar/Allstar Kira Lewis Jr - Good college player with elite quickness, and a knack to find open guys, plays fast and typically smart, really solid on the drive despite his smaller frame - Role Player/Starter RJ Hampton - Long/bouncy player with tons of athletic upside - Starter Tyrese Masey - Lots of energy with this kid, he is always hustling and giving tons of effort, he still plays out of control at times, but he also has that rare trait to play out of control with control, similar to another prospect YAM, but not that wild. I love that he can make and find open shots, push the ball well, can make floaters, make in air passes, and is a more than willing defender, even if he needs to get more consistent, I love him as an energy guy, and would welcome him to myteam. He needs to learn how to get guys open, however, and this is probably the biggest knock, as a PG he doesn’t always find his teammates open shots, I would suggest watching a little CP3 and stealing some of his moves. Starter Devin Vassell- Long wing that can shoot as well as drive and get to the line, very athletic and needs coaching, but he could become a really good player eventually - Core Starter/Fringe AllStar Rankings 1 Tyrese Haliburton 2 Killiian Hayes 3 Onyeka Okongwu 4 Deni Avdija 5 Anthony Edwards 6 Devin Vassell 7 Patrick Williams 8 Isaac Okoro 9 LaMelo Ball 10 James Wiseman Post Draft Picks I like: Pick 1 Anthony Edwards to Minnesota is one that initially might seem like a head scratcher to some, but it makes sense; is it perfect no, but it's a solid situation for both. Edwards is never going to be a ball dominant player, he is a Wing and that’s it. Although he is the best with the ball in his hands, he is going to have to learn how to play off-ball if he ever wants to reach his potential. He can make a killing if he becomes an assassin at making the corner 3. Edwards already has a smooth release, good footwork, and a hand in his face is nothing more than a speck of dust at times. Keeping it simple on offense, will allow him to really work on his defensive game and his basic offensive consistency. If he can develop these parts of his game, then he can really become a unique player. Oh and his driving ability is going to be there, get ready for the show! Our most recent episode was my sports story. This is kind of a continuation of the fandom podcast we did in that it gave more insight into one of the hosts of the podcast. I talked about my love of baseball and how it changed through my youth and young adulthood. I did leave out some details though. I did play softball for 2 sessions in summer of 2018. That was a shock as to how bad I had become at baseball. I was playing infield, and I quickly learned I was not a 2nd baseman. I had played some 2B in middle school, but I was a terrible thrower to first base, as I had said I was in little league. But softball was a lower-stakes situation, so I was ok with that. The first game I was diving all over the infield making crazy throws and generally trying too hard. Once I realized that no one else was trying that hard, I had to dial the intensity back a bit. Also, the ground was like rock instead of dirt, and I skinned my knee every time I hit the ground, so I came home every week with a new scar, some of which I still have today. I eventually went to the right side where I played 3B and SS. I liked those a lot better, and my throws were more accurate. My arm still wasn't world class, so I had to get the ball out quickly. It was still frustrating to have my 1B not be able to catch the ball if it wasn't perfect, but I didn't bother to get mad about it. We weren't good, and that was ok. I fit right in in that respect. I didn't hit too well, but our score keeper always gave us hits if we got on no matter if it was by error or not, so I probably hit .400, which wasn't great, but looks good to a baseball player. After two sessions of that I had to hang up the cleats. It was hard on my body, and I had been out of the game too long, but it was fun to try to get back on the diamond and bring back some memories.
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