By JOSH HELLER
Staff Writer
1. Notable NFL Draft Stories
Teams tried to build their futures through the draft, and some players fell right before the draft kicked off.
It started with Laremy Tunsil, expected to be one of the top three picks in the draft. Tunsil fell to number 13 to the Miami Dolphins. Right before the draft went underway, a video was published on Tunsil’s Twitter account showing him smoking marijuana through a gas mask. Tunsil said his account was hacked. Reports say that if not for the video, the Ravens would have selected Tunsil with their pick at sixth overall.
The first and second overall picks were expected ones, with Jared Goff going to Los Angeles and Carson Wentz going to Philadelphia. The order was not surprising, as Goff attended college in California, so he was a sure number-one, while Wentz was the second-best player on the board.
Another name to fall was Myles Jack out of UCLA. Jack was considered to be a top-ten prospect, and possibly even a top-five talent. However, there were concerns about a meniscus injury he suffered back in September. This turned many teams off. Jacksonville thought about taking him at number five, but went with Jalen Ramsey instead. Luckily for the Jaguars, they were able to trade up in the second round to grab Jack with the 36th-overall pick.
Many have called this one of the weirdest drafts of recent memory, and considering the number of storylines that unfolded on draft day, there aren’t many arguments against that.
2. Dee Gordon Suspended 80 Games
After testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs back in spring training, Marlins’ second baseman Dee Gordon was suspended 80 games without pay by the MLB.
Gordon, the N.L. batting king in 2015, tested positive for exogenous testosterone and clostebol, per the league. Gordon will lose nearly $1.65 million in pay, thanks to a five-year, $50 million deal he signed with the Marlins back in January.
In his sixth season, Gordon, 28, started the season with a .266 average before his suspension. The Marlins, led by new manager Don Mattingly, will now lean on Derek Dietrich to see increased playing time with Gordon sidelined. Gordon is slated to return to the team in mid-to-late July.
3. Walton Named Lakers’ Head Coach
After spending his first eight seasons as a player there, Luke Walton is returning to the Los Angeles Lakers as a coach.
The former Warriors’ assistant coach reportedly signed a five-year deal to coach the Lakers. Walton coached the Warriors while head coach Steve Kerr recovered from hip surgery. Walton led Golden State to a NBA-record 39-4 start, which led to their NBA-record 73-9 season. Many regard Walton as one of the up-and-coming coaching minds in the league, and the Lakers are taking a shot on him.
While Walton is used to winning in his two seasons as assistant coach in Golden State, he could be in for a rude awakening in Los Angeles.
The Lakers finished with a 17-65 record, the second-worst in the league, ahead of only Philadelphia. The Lakers stayed in the spotlight thanks to Kobe Bryant’s farewell from basketball, and now the spotlight turns to the young players in Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell and others. The Lakers are still in a transitional phase, and this upcoming draft and free agency period could spell out which direction the franchise is going in.
4. Leafs Win NHL Draft Lottery
The NHL Draft lottery took place last Saturday night, and, shockingly, the Edmonton Oilers didn’t come out on top.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ future looks even brighter now, as they secured the first-overall pick this summer. Toronto came into the lottery with the best odds for number-one, at 20 percent. The Maple Leafs are expected to take Auston Matthews with the first pick, but Finnish youngster Patrik Laine has looked phenomenal all season.
Vancouver had a tough time with the lottery, as they were projected to get the third pick, but instead fell to fifth. Edmonton had a similar fate, dropping from second to fourth. Calgary was expected to pick fifth, but instead fell to sixth.
Columbus and Winnipeg, meanwhile, had great lotteries. Columbus was projected to pick fourth, and rose to third. Winnipeg did even better, projected to get the sixth pick, and rose all the way to second.
This was the first season of the NHL’s new draft lottery system, with separate lotteries for each of the top-three picks, and it was pretty entertaining just to watch ping pong balls swirl around a machine.
5. Golovkin Maintains Dominance With Win Over Wade
Coming into his fight against Dominic Wade, Gennady Golovkin came in as the heavy favorite, and held up in devastating fashion.
Golovkin took down Wade in the second-round, knocking him out in a total of under six minutes. Golovkin, 34, raised his career record to 35-0, with 32 wins via knockout. Golovkin’s career knockout percentage was raised to .914, which is the highest in middleweight title history. His last match not ending in a knockout came back in June of 2008.
Wade was a mandatory challenger for Golovkin, prior to “GGG’s” hopeful matchup with middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez. This was Wade’s first loss of his career, though he had not fought any big names in the boxing world prior.
While Golovkin badly wants to fight Alvarez (46-1-1), Alvarez has not shown the same desire to fight.
